The Beach at Painter's Cove

by Shelley Noble

  And now it was left to Fae to break their trust and tell someone. She didn’t want to burden the Collinses, they were always so kind and helpful, but she didn’t know who else to turn to. Certainly not George. And not Issy; Leo had made that perfectly clear.

  “You might as well see the rest.” Fae walked out of the kitchen and back to the library. Ben and Chloe followed her. She went straight to the desk and pulled open the top drawer.

  “Good heavens,” Chloe blurted out. “There’re so many.”

  “And what the hell are they?” Issy asked from the doorway.

  Chapter 8

  “Issy!” Fae threw up her hands, sending papers flying into the air. “Why aren’t you gone? I mean, aren’t you supposed to be in D.C.?”

  “Yes. But I changed my mind,” Issy said, coming into the room. “What is all of this?”

  “Nothing. Just a few . . .” Fae trailed off as she bent down to pick up the papers that had fallen to the floor.

  Issy snatched up a pile before she could get to them. She looked at one, slid it to the back, and looked at another. “What the heck? Have any of these been paid?”

  Fae shrank back.

  “Issy, lighten up,” Ben said. “She came to get help and was just showing us these when you came in. Why don’t we all go sit down, preferably over coffee, and try to all get on the same page.”

  He put his hand on Issy’s shoulder. She knocked it away. She wasn’t ready for any more surprises and the last thing she needed was sympathy.

  They went back to the kitchen, Chloe guiding Fae with a protective hand.

  “Sorry,” Issy said to Ben, who had fallen in beside her. “Knee-jerk reaction.”

  “It’s okay. If you’re going to lose it, I’d rather you lost it with me, or even Chloe, than with Leo and Fae.”

  “I didn’t mean to, but what else can possibly go wrong?”

  “It’s a few unpaid bills. You can work out a deal with the utility company.”

  Issy bit her lip. This was probably how Fae felt before showing the Collinses the utility bills. Wanting to protect the family. Wishing the problem would just go away. But Issy would have to tell them the rest. It was stupid not to. Maybe between them they could come up with a plan. And she couldn’t protect Fae or Leo from the actuality of their situation much longer. Maybe they even knew about it.

  “It’s a lot worse. It’s—” She stopped. Mandy and Griff were coming down the stairs.

  “We’re having a breakfast picnic,” Chloe chirped. “Hurry up and let’s get ready.” She effortlessly handed off Fae to Ben. “Come on, you two.”

  The children scrambled after her.

  “Where’s Steph?” Issy called after them.

  “Reading some book. She wouldn’t come down.”

  “First, coffee,” Ben said. “And tea for Fae,” he added, depositing Fae in a chair at the table. She’d started to cry and Issy hurried over to her. Put her arms around her. “I’m sorry, Aunt Fae. I was just so surprised. I’ve had a rough few days and I took it out on you. Forgive me.”

  Mandy and Griff were watching, wide-eyed. Chloe grabbed a tablecloth and napkins from the pantry and sent them outside to cover the picnic table.

  Fae patted Issy’s hand. “I didn’t want you to find out. Leo was very insistent that we not burden you with our problems.”

  Who else could they have burdened? George? Jillian? Dan and Vivienne were supposed to be taking care of them and had failed miserably. Maybe even cheated them. Who was she kidding? Definitely cheating them. There was no money, no way to stay afloat, and Issy didn’t have a plan.

  Once coffee was made and Mandy and Griff were settled outside, silence fell on the four people sitting around the kitchen table.

  Issy put down her cup. “How long have you not paid the utility bills?”

  Fae had been holding her mug of tea, letting the steam curtain her face. But her hands jerked, tea splashed, and she quickly put down the cup. “We never pay any bills. We never see them. Wes left it all in Dan’s hands. The bills go directly to him. He handles everything.

  “Until last fall.” Fae took a sip of tea. Frowned into her mug, and Issy wondered if she was reading tea leaves and had forgotten they were talking.

  “Aunt Fae?”

  “A letter came to the house. It said we were past due and to call the utility company. Leo said there had to be a mistake and she would call Dan. We didn’t hear any more about it and thought everything was fine. Then they sent a man around. I paid them something. Just until they figured out the glitch.

  “But it happened again; I paid them again, but I told Leo that I wasn’t going to keep spending what little we had on things Dan should be taking care of.

  “She didn’t want to bother him, so I called. He was shocked, said it was the first time he heard of it. Made it sound like Leo hadn’t called him. And that he would straighten it out. But he didn’t. How could he not have noticed the absence of utility bills?

  “And now Vivienne and Dan have both disappeared. Left their children. Who would do such a thing?” Fae’s mouth clamped shut and her eyes widened. “Oh, I’m sorry, Issy. I should hold my tongue when I’m upset.”

  “No need to apologize, Aunt Fae. And we don’t know that Vivienne has left for good. Mandy said she’d gone to ‘look for Daddy.’ Maybe all isn’t lost.” Pipe dream, Issy. Don’t plant the seeds of false hope. Things were looking pretty bleak.

  “Steph said she was supposed to call today. If she doesn’t, I think I should fill out a missing-person report, don’t you?”

  “I suppose we must.”

  “Is there anything more?” Issy asked. “Are there other bills you know about?”

  Fae shrugged. “I mostly live in my cottage, take care of myself.”

  “You do have electricity and heat?”

  “Of course I do, but Dan doesn’t pay for it.”

  “Then who?”

  “I do. I have a little stipend. It pays for me and helps out Leo. No one could live on the stingy allowance Dan gives us. But please don’t tell Leo any of this.”

  “Why? She needs to know.”

  “What good will it do? Wesley trusted Dan and now Leo trusts Dan. That’s a given.”

  Issy nodded that she understood. In Leo’s eyes, Wesley could do no wrong, ergo . . . “But you don’t trust Dan.”

  “I never did. I told Wes not to put him in control, George told him. But Wes knew what he wanted.” A tear fell into her tea. “What he wanted was Max. Max was artistic, sensitive, cared about people. And he died in that senseless war.

  “When Vivienne married Dan, Wes reimagined him into Max. There was no reasoning with him.”

  She rummaged in her large pockets, brought out a handkerchief, and wiped her nose. “Max would have taken care of us willingly. Even George would have seen that we didn’t go without.”

  Fae put the handkerchief away. “We’ll just have to pay the bills ourselves. Leo can only draw money from one account without Dan’s signature, but there may be enough money in it. Did you notice when you cashed her check?”

  Here it was. Issy would have to tell them. Her stomach seized up; for a staggering moment she thought she was going to be sick right at the table. But she pushed it away.

  “Or I could put some toward the payment and hopefully Dan will fix it when, or if, he gets back.”

  Issy was pretty sure Dan wasn’t coming back. She was more than ever convinced he and Vivienne had taken the money and run. Now the others would have to know, too. Even if George’s people found the money, he’d said the chances of getting it back were slim. They needed to take care of things now.

  “It’s not just the utility bill, Aunt Fae.” Issy hurried on before she lost her courage. “The market bill hasn’t been paid in months.”

  Fae covered her face with her hands.

  “That’s okay,” Chloe said. “People sometimes get behind. It happens to everyone. Mr. Ogden will understand.”

  Ben shot Issy a c
oncerned look.

  “There’s worse.”

  Fae moaned.

  “I went to the bank. The accounts are empty. They’ve been completely cleaned out.”

  She heard Chloe’s intake of breath, Ben’s expletive, and Fae’s cry of pain. Issy felt numb, depleted, as empty as the inside of a blown egg—and about as fragile.

  The Whitakers were broke and they were about to lose everything.

  No one said anything for the longest time; they just sat looking at each other.

  Issy glanced at Fae, trying to gauge how much of this she was taking in and if she was coming to her own conclusion. “None of this is your fault or Leo’s.”

  “Dan is responsible for everything,” Ben said, an edge to his voice Issy had never heard before.

  “And they blamed Mrs. Norcroft,” Chloe added indignantly.

  “We need a plan,” Issy said. “George said he would look into things, but—”

  “George knows?” Fae let out a keening sound that made them all jump.

  Chloe and Issy both rushed to her side. Fae grabbed Issy’s wrist. “You mustn’t let him.”

  “Let him what?”

  Fae shooed the question away with a flutter of both hands. “I have to think.”

  “Aunt Fae. I think we all need to think together on this one.”

  “You don’t understand.”

  “Then enlighten us.”

  “Leo mustn’t know.”

  “Why? She’s going to have to be part of the decision making,” Issy said. “Because decisions have to be made.”

  “It will kill her. Such perfidy from her own children. Go back to the city, Issy.”

  Issy’s breath caught on a stab of pain.

  “Fae.” Ben’s voice was like a douse of cold water. “Issy is trying to help you.”

  “I know,” Fae moaned. “But she can’t and it will drag her down with us.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “He’ll put us in a home.” Fae began to cry in painful gulps. “I promised. I promised.”

  “You mean he promised. George promised not to insist on assisted living?” Chloe said.

  “What? Oh, he’s always threatening to send me, but it isn’t up to him.”

  “Do you mean Dan?” Issy asked.

  Fae nodded.

  Issy’s fist clenched under the table. “He’s threatened to send you and Leo away from the Muses.”

  “If I mentioned the bills to George.”

  “Well, Dan’s not here, and we won’t let that happen,” Issy said as brightly as she could. She was pretty sure it sounded close to hysterical.

  She saw Ben frown at her. He knew as well as she did that nothing could stop them from losing their home if they didn’t come up with enough money to keep it.

  And Issy couldn’t accomplish that alone. She was used to making her own decisions. If she needed a second opinion, she went to Paolo. She wished he was here. He had more experience with family than she did, raised by two old ladies and a sister who resented her. It wasn’t exactly experience to inform a good decision.

  But Ben and Chloe came from a big, close-knit family. And they cared about Fae and Leo. She could depend on them to help.

  “She’ll have to be told,” Ben said. “But we’ll wait until she’s settled back at the Muses. Maybe there’s some factor we don’t know yet.”

  The screen door banged and Mandy and Griff ran in.

  “We’re dying of boredom,” Mandy cried. She stopped cold, and held out a hand to keep Griff behind her. “What?” Her face crumpled.

  “Nothing,” Chloe said, jumping up. “It’s just grown-ups having coffee.”

  “No, it isn’t. Aunt Fae is crying and Issy’s mad. When is my mom coming home?”

  Griff started to cry.

  Issy just sat there and watched. She felt sympathy for Mandy and Griff but she didn’t know how to deal with them and didn’t want to. Chloe was all over it.

  “Everything is fine, we were just trying to decide what to do.”

  Which was true, thought Issy, but not in the way the kids took it, because they immediately starting making suggestions—the movies, the beach, walk to town and buy ice cream, go to Fun Town; they’d gone to Fun Town last year.

  “You can come to town with me,” Fae said, standing up. “I’d meant to go to the hospital before story hour but it’s getting too late. Would you like to go to story hour and then you can get ice cream?”

  “Yeah! Yeah!” They both jumped up and down.

  “I’ll go get my things and when I come back we’ll begin the parade.”

  “We’ll need parade clothes,” Mandy said. “Come on, Griff. Let’s get crazy.”

  Chloe laughed. “Issy, you and Ben discuss a few things. I’ll go rouse Steph and get these two into parade mode.”

  The kitchen emptied out to silence. An awkward silence.

  Issy got up and poured them both more coffee, then went to the sink to look out the window. Somehow it was easier to say things with her back turned to him.

  “I’m sorry you and Chloe got dragged into this mess. I had no idea.”

  “We didn’t either. I don’t even know what to say, except I’m sorry, Issy. I’m kind of clueless in general, according to Chloe. I get involved in water temperatures and marsh environment to the exclusion of other stuff. But Chloe is good about checking up on people. And I know she’s always making Leo and Fae food and dropping it off. And I’m sure she didn’t have a clue either, or she would’ve put her nose right in it, and badgered me until I did, too.”

  “You’ve already done more than I could hope for and Chloe is great with the kids. I think all of us Whitakers missed that gene.”

  “You didn’t. You just haven’t tried it yet.”

  “Let’s just say these three aren’t inspiring my biological clock to start ticking. I should have kept better tabs on Leo and Fae. If I’d stayed in touch with Leo, I might have been aware of any incipient problems. I’m really good at doing that with my work. I pretty much stink at it with my family.”

  “I think it’s them more than you.”

  “Thanks.” She turned around. Found him standing right there. He put down her coffee cup and gave her a hug.

  “Why did I let myself drift away from my family?”

  “Because they hurt you. They didn’t mean to. Did you know that Leo and Fae—and Wes—cried after you left for college?”

  Issy pulled away. “They did? But they made me go.”

  “They pushed you to go so that you wouldn’t ultimately feel trapped and resent them for it.”

  “I would never . . . they didn’t say that.”

  “They didn’t have to. Leo and Wes always felt they’d driven their own children away because they’d held on to them too tightly. They wanted you to be free to make your own choices.”

  “But I—I didn’t choose too well.” Issy covered her mouth with her palm.

  “Hey, I didn’t mean to make you cry. Chloe will have my head.”

  “You didn’t. We’re just a lachrymose family.”

  He chuckled. “I just thought you should know.”

  She looked up at him. “I’m glad you told me. I don’t know why we’re all so secretive and I don’t know why they thought I would feel trapped here. I loved it here.”

  “Maybe you loved it too much.”

  “You know, for a scientist—”

  “I know. I should stick to Phragmites and sediment accumulation. I just wanted you to know that . . . well, you can count on Chloe and me for anything we can do. We’re not financially useful, but whatever we have—”

  Issy eased away and they both turned to face the window.

  “George says they’ll have to go to assisted living. The state-run kind. He said he wouldn’t help them financially.”

  “What? You think George would let the family go bankrupt? Have the house go on the auction block?”

  “He said as much.”

  “It does mak
e sense, in a way,” Ben said. “I think Fae was only half right about George and Max. George might not have the artistic talent his brother Max had, or the passion. He has a passion, just not for art, and I know he turned it against the Muses and the family when Wes went over his head to Dan. Maybe even before. But can he force Leo to sell?”

  “I have no idea. Does she own it? Is it protected? I don’t even know what Wes’s will said. They didn’t invite me to the funeral.”

  “That’s why you weren’t here?”

  “I was in Paris. By the time they bothered to tell me he was dead, it was too late for me to book a flight.”

  “Ah, Is. Leo was inconsolable. She wasn’t thinking straight. Fae had to do everything. Not who I’d put in charge of any organization. At the last minute Vivienne stepped in and . . .” He trailed off. “I’d better get going. My Phragmites are waiting. Hang in. I’ll be back in time for dinner.”

  “She what?” Issy called after him.

  “She took over the details.” The door slammed after him.

  Vivienne. Of course. Issy had been making allowances for her sister ever since they were little. It was Issy’s fault they were at Grammy’s. Vivienne was old enough to remember their life in Hollywood and thought of it as home. She missed her mother more than Issy did. But now, at last, Issy was done making excuses for her. Right now she’d gladly scratch her eyes out.

  But Vivienne wasn’t here and Issy was. And it was obvious she was the one who was going to have to fix the mess.

  She didn’t have any savings worth speaking of. New York was expensive and museum work didn’t pay all that well. Whether they finally reclaimed the money or not, she needed money now. She didn’t even know where to begin. George? Vivienne? Dan? Giant fails.

  There was one person who did have money and, as far as Issy was concerned, owed them big-time.

  And Issy had her cell number. She hadn’t used it in years, but today she didn’t think twice. She walked out to the conservatory, where she knew she wouldn’t be disturbed, and made the call.

  It rang several times.

  Issy was about to hang up when “Take that, you filthy bastard” erupted loudly from her phone. A loud crash. A thud.