Finders Keepers

by Catherine Palmer

“Are you mine?” he asked.

  She stared at him, her eyes brimming with tears and confusion.

  Never mind her answer, he thought as he turned and headed down the porch steps. The definition of ownership had changed. It wasn’t so much who or what belonged to him. It was whom he belonged to.

  Zachary had surrendered his will to God, and then these people had walked into his heart—Elizabeth, Nick, Montgomery, Boompah, even Ruby McCann and Luke Easton. If they needed protecting, he would guard them. If they needed comfort, he would do his best to provide it. If they needed security, he would become a bulwark against Phil Fox and anyone else who threatened their peace.

  Though he couldn’t understand exactly how it had happened, Zachary knew the past two and a half months in Ambleside had altered him profoundly. He had become a part of the lives of the people here, and they were now a part of him. No, it was more than that. As he got into his car and shut the door, he knew the meaning of the passion he felt.

  This was the place where he had fallen in love.

  “Shame about Ellie, isn’t it?” Phil Fox stood just inside Ambleside Chapel’s fellowship hall and swirled red Kool-Aid around in his plastic cup. “And her so young. Really makes you think.”

  Beside him, Elizabeth stared at the paper plate of uneaten food in her hand. Why did people bring so much food to a funeral? Was there some unwritten law that said a good potluck meal would comfort the bereaved? And why did people say stupid things, making inane comments like those of Phil Fox, who probably had never spoken a word to Ellie Easton?

  In the past three days, Elizabeth had hardly eaten or slept. Somehow, Luke had managed to tell Montgomery about her mommy’s death. The two children had spent each night since then on Elizabeth’s foldout sofa, holding each other tightly and crying themselves to sleep. Zachary had dropped by the shop countless times, asking if there was anything he could do. And Luke … oh, Luke Easton had grieved.

  Elizabeth closed her eyes. Never had she known a man to be so torn apart by loss. He had raged and wept, he had shouted and stormed, he had curled into himself and sobbed in silence. All she could do was organize the growing supply of food in his refrigerator, vacuum his floor after all the guests had come and gone, and pack away Ellie’s things.

  “That little gal of hers is going to face a hard life without a mama,” Phil said, taking a bite of green bean casserole. “’Course, I guess you’d know more about that than most folks, Liz. Pearlene tells me you lost your parents when you were small.”

  Elizabeth nodded, unable to speak.

  “Myself, I look for Luke to marry pretty quick. I’m with Pearlene on that one. A man like him doesn’t need to just sit around, you know. He’s young, he’s got a good trade with all that carpentering he does, and he’s got that little gal to take care of. Beats me why they gave her that weird name. What is it, anyhow?”

  “Montgomery.”

  “That’s a city in Alabama, you know. We used to have a bus come in from there of a Tuesday, but not anymore. Things sure do change. This town just isn’t the same place.” He stuck a bacon-wrapped sausage in his mouth and chewed for a while. “We’ve got to move ahead with the times, is my motto. I guess you know I’m planning to block Zachary from taking over the old Chalmers house. I’ve had a meeting with a lawyer in Jeff City.”

  Elizabeth lifted her head. “A lawyer, Phil?”

  “Sometimes a man has to go to extremes.” He clamped a hand on his belt buckle and adjusted his trousers. “And I’m willing to go the distance on this one.”

  “Oh, Phil, why do you want to block Zachary? You know Grace gave him that mansion, free and clear. What are you going to get out of it by talking to a lawyer, for Pete’s sake?”

  “I’m going to better this town.”

  “Better it? How?” She was beginning to feel angry now. “Are you planning to preserve the mansion?”

  “I’m going to see that the property stays with the city. It belongs to Ambleside, and nobody’s going to take it away.”

  “The property isn’t going anywhere. The question is the fate of the mansion. You’ve never made any pretense about liking that old house. I’ve heard you say it ought to be torn down.”

  “Well, it’s an eyesore. You’ve got to admit that.”

  “Then why block Zachary? He’s planning to tear it down and build an office. Let him have it.”

  “Nope. That’s not what the founding fathers would have wanted.”

  “How do you know what the founding fathers wanted?”

  “Because I have read the charter.” He stuffed a hunk of hot roll in his mouth and then punched the air with a buttery finger. “I’m an elected official of this city, and I’m going to do my duty by my constituents.”

  Elizabeth picked up a sausage ball. “Well, I’m one of your constituents, and I want to know what you’re up to.”

  “None of your beeswax.”

  “Oh, Phil, good grief!”

  “Good grief, yourself. You’ll thank me in the end. One of these days, you’ll see I’m doing the very best thing for this town, and you’ll thank me. You and Pearlene have the most to benefit by what I’m planning, so don’t you ‘good grief’ me.”

  “You’re back to the parking lot idea, aren’t you?”

  “My lips are zipped.”

  “We don’t need a parking lot. Zachary says all we have to do is take out that strip of grass around the square and repaint the lines, and we can have angled parking.”

  “Angled parking?” He picked up a brownie. “And I guess Zachary Chalmers is going to stand there and direct traffic while everybody and their brother tries to back out onto River Street? Angled parking would give us more fender benders than a bumper-car track. Can you just see Ruby McCann trying to back out her big DeSoto from in front of the Corner Market every morning after she’s bought her milk? She’ll wind up backing through the plate-glass window of Bud Huff’s hardware store, sure as shootin’. And then we’ll have Bud coming to city council meetings complaining as loud as his father does now.”

  “The town charter says the mansion should be preserved, not torn down to build a parking lot. You’re planning to try to get city ownership of that property, aren’t you? And then you’re going to tear down the mansion yourself.”

  He pulled a finger across his lips. “As tight as a Ziploc bag.”

  “Phil Fox, you know that charter orders the mansion be kept standing. ‘Preserving the house for perpetuity,’ it says. ‘A memorial to the Chalmers family and a cornerstone of the town of Ambleside.’”

  Phil squinted his eyes. “How do you know what that charter says?”

  “My lips are sealed,” Elizabeth said, tossing the sausage ball back onto her plate, “as tight as a Ziploc bag.”

  “Well, I’ll be jiggered.” He searched the fellowship hall. “Where’s Pearlene?”

  As Phil left Elizabeth’s side and began shouldering his way through the gathering, she sagged against the wall. Zachary emerged from a cluster of townsfolk. “I thought you were going to bean him with the sausage ball,” he said.

  “I should have. I felt like he was about to eat me alive.”

  “My hunch is that he wasn’t discussing our recent loss in the community of Ambleside.”

  “He met with a lawyer, and he’s planning to get city ownership of the Chalmers House property. Then he’s going to tear down the mansion and put in a parking lot.”

  Zachary took a sip of Kool-Aid. For a moment he didn’t speak, his gray green eyes searching hers. “We’ve just buried Ellie Easton,” he said. “In light of that, I don’t see that parking lots or office buildings or old mansions matter much at all.”

  “They don’t,” she said. “But life does go on, and somehow we have to find purpose in it.”

  “That doesn’t sound very optimistic.”

  “I don’t exactly feel like dancing in the aisle right now.”

  “How about walking around the square?”

  She glanced at th
e crowded room. “Nick and Montgomery …”

  “They’re playing on the jungle gym outside. I checked on them while you were dueling with Phil.”

  “They’re playing?”

  “They’re kids. Life does go on, Elizabeth.”

  “All right.” She put her plate in a nearby trash can and joined Zachary, slipping her arm through his. “Once around the square. For life.”

  Somehow summer had caught Elizabeth by surprise. Nick was still in class, though summer school required only half days. She had turned on the air conditioner in the window of Finders Keepers, but the river breeze had kept the air from feeling too sultry. Now, as she strolled the square with Zachary, she breathed in the dense, humid air of full Missouri summer.

  “The statue of Harry Truman,” he announced as they drew abreast of the bronze figure of the former president. “And here we come to the old cannon. I wonder how long those two have graced the southern corners of the square.”

  “As long as I can remember.” Almost too tired to walk, she laid her head against his shoulder. “Grandma and I used to take the bus to Ambleside to shop. I thought of it as a big place.”

  “You never went to Jefferson City?”

  “Not often. Grandma couldn’t drive, but she kept Grandpa’s old Buick in working order long after he was dead and gone. When she became sick, and I was old enough to get my license, I used to drive her to the doctor in Jefferson City. After her appointment, we’d go over to Zesto and get a vanilla Coke with two straws. We thought we were in tall cotton.”

  He laughed. “And here we come to the Ambleside pavilion.”

  “The scene of countless band concerts, church picnics, political speeches, and weddings. Ruby McCann calls this pavilion the social center of the town.”

  “Does she now? Well, I’ll swan.”

  Elizabeth felt a smile creep across her lips as Zachary escorted her up the pavilion’s wooden steps. How long had it been since she’d found anything to laugh about? She felt as though she were carrying a heavy tray on her shoulders, a tray piled high with burdens. Nick needed to learn his addition facts. Montgomery refused to sleep in her own bed. Boompah’s back was giving him trouble again. Luke Easton had ordered Pastor Paul out of his house. Twice Elizabeth had found Luke drinking alone. The woman who had contracted Elizabeth to furnish the buildings in Jefferson City was impatient with the amount of time she had taken off during the illness and death of Ellie. And now Phil Fox had reverted to his parking-lot campaign.

  “What was that sigh for?” Zachary leaned one shoulder against a white post.

  “Did I sigh?”

  “It almost blew me over.”

  “Must have been that garlic cheese dip.”

  “You didn’t eat the cheese dip,” he said, slipping his arm around her waist and pulling her close. “You didn’t eat anything in there. I was watching.”

  “It’s hard to eat when your stomach is in knots.”

  “My insides have been tied up ever since I met you, Elizabeth.”

  She lifted her head and met his eyes. “It’s because we’ve been fighting about the mansion.”

  “Wrong.”

  For a moment she couldn’t speak as he looked intently into her eyes. “Zachary, that night at the Foxes’ house—”

  “I don’t want to talk about the Foxes.”

  “That night when you said that prayer … that surrender prayer, I realized I needed to let go, too. Right now, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be doing or where I’m supposed to be going, but I just want you to know that I’m backing off on the mansion. I want you to be happy.”

  “I’m happy right now.” He slipped his hands up her arms and stroked her shoulders with his thumbs. “I’m happy when I’m with you, Elizabeth.”

  “Oh, Zachary …” She tried to suppress the bubble of joy that rose up inside her. “I feel like a teenager who sneaked out of class.”

  “To go smooch with her boyfriend?”

  “We’re not smooching.”

  “Now we are.” He drew her close and gave her a long, warm kiss. “Still feel like a kid?”

  “Definitely not.” She drew in a deep breath. “Zachary, I’m so … scared. That’s the best word for it. I’m scared.”

  “Of me?”

  “Of this.”

  “Kissing?” He turned her around so she was leaning against the post. “Kissing is not scary,” he said softly. “Thinking about losing you is.”

  “I’m not going anywhere, Zachary.”

  “Luke didn’t think Ellie was going anywhere.”

  “We can’t live in fear of loss. We have to let go of the past. We have to keep on living, keep on embracing life and all the things God has given us.”

  “Is this the same Elizabeth Hayes I talked to at an antiques auction? The woman who reveres an ancient glass-topped counter at which stood countless customers from days of yore? The woman who patiently dusts an old metal coffee grinder that hasn’t seen a coffee bean in a hundred years? Is this the woman who never lets go of the past?”

  “Out with the old, in with the new,” she said, shrugging. Then she stretched upward and brushed a kiss across his lips. “I guess I’ve changed a little since that morning at the mansion.”

  “Mmm. Good changes.”

  “You’ve changed, too.”

  “Yep. I’ve been drawing Victorian curlicues on all my architectural renderings. I actually sketched a cupola on the roof of a nursing home the other day.”

  “No!” she said in mock horror. “Not a cupola!”

  “Indeed. And if I’m going to add cupolas and if you’re going to allow kissing, we ought to figure out a way to keep this trend moving forward. Which means I’d better keep my hands on that property over there.”

  Elizabeth turned in his arms and faced Chalmers House. The heat of summer made the old pink bricks shimmer like a mirage. “Are you saying we should join forces against Phil?”

  “How about if we join hands and hearts … and see what God has in store for us?”

  Elizabeth tried to make herself breathe. She knew he was asking for a bond that went beyond the casual friendship they had enjoyed. He was asking for a commitment, and with that commitment, he would expect her to risk. Risk her own happiness. Risk the tender heart of her son. Risk losing the comfortable stability of her world and face the possibility of terrible pain.

  Without waiting for the storms of fear to assail her, Elizabeth clutched his hands and stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. “Yes,” she said. “I’m willing.”

  “Then we’d better haul our backsides over to Sawyer-the-lawyer’s office and figure out how to keep Phil Fox away from my property.”

  “Amen,” she said as they linked arms and descended the steps of the Ambleside pavilion.

  TWELVE

  “Phil Fox, that sly devil.” John Sawyer shook his head in admiration. “He’s got something up his sleeve, and unless Pearlene spills the beans, you folks had better stay on your toes.”

  Elizabeth leaned forward and touched the photocopy on the lawyer’s desk. “Do you think the town charter is a legal document?”

  “I suspect it might hold up pretty well.”

  He folded his hands, fingertips touching, and leaned back in his big leather chair. Elizabeth fought the urge to jump up. She had left Nick and Montgomery in the care of Boompah, who had taken the children to her house to play on the swing set. Luke Easton had vanished earlier in the day, right after Ellie’s funeral service, and no one could find him. The last thing Elizabeth needed to be doing was listening to Sawyer-the-lawyer hem and haw over the town charter.

  “It does have Zachary Chalmers’s signature,” she offered. “But it wasn’t voted on, and it doesn’t have any seals on it, or anything. So, do you think it’s binding?”

  “Well, now, that depends.” The attorney rocked back and forth, the springs in his chair squeaking loudly. “It’s obviously authentic, and a good lawyer could argue its validity either way. A true town
charter is a legal document. It’s kind of like a constitution, you know.”

  “So, is it Zachary Chalmers’s will?”

  “No. And neither is that letter of Grace’s you found in her Bible. As far as the future of the house is concerned, you could argue that they both ought to be thrown out. That would leave only Grace’s official last will and testament, which gives the house and the property to Zachary to do with as he sees fit.”

  “Until Phil stepped in, that’s how it stood,” Zachary said. “I was going to raze the mansion and build offices.”

  “On the other hand, both the charter and the letter indicate a strong desire on the part of the property’s owners to keep the mansion standing for perpetuity. Phil’s lawyer could make a case that if you inherit the mansion, you’ve got to preserve it.”

  “How am I supposed to do that, unless they want to provide restoration funds?”

  “Well, I think that’s what Phil is banking on. He’s hoping to wedge you into a tight spot where you can’t afford to keep the mansion standing, but you can’t tear it down either.”

  “And then I’ll just turn it over to the city.”

  Elizabeth let out a hot breath. “If Zachary gives Grace’s house to the city because the town charter says it’s supposed to remain standing, then how is Phil going to get the right to tear it down and put in his parking lot?”

  “You’ve got me on that one,” Sawyer said. “I’m stumped. Are you sure he doesn’t have some plan to restore the building himself?”

  “Every time I talk to him,” she replied, “he tells me what an eyesore it is. He makes no bones about his dislike of the mansion. He wants to tear it down, and he wants a parking lot.”

  “So the congestion around the square won’t be so bad?”

  “So Pearlene’s customers won’t keep bothering Al Huff over at the gas station.”

  “You’re saying Phil’s got a personal interest in this matter. He’s got a lot to gain by putting in that parking lot.” Sawyer tapped his fingertips together. “All the same, if Phil’s lawyer uses that town charter to keep Zachary from razing the mansion, I can’t figure out how Phil thinks he can turn right around and have the city tear it down. It just doesn’t make sense.”