3 From the Ashes

by K. J. Emrick

  Darcy figured it would be hard for Sarah to know. She had been a young girl when she last saw her mother, and the only other thing she had was photographs. “Maybe you could be sure with a closer look,” she offered. Then, raising her voice, she said, “Elizabeth, could you come here for just a minute?”

  The woman turned, her auburn hair falling back for a moment to expose the burn scars, and then stood with her hand on her hip. “If you aren’t here to order anything, I don’t have time.” She looked straight at Sarah, with no recognition and no change in her expression. “So, unless you want something…?”

  It was Sarah who shook her head and told Elizabeth no. Then she took hold of Darcy’s elbow and pulled her back outside.

  On the sidewalk, Sarah leaned back against the wall of the bakery and closed her eyes. Darcy wasn’t sure what to say. “You don’t think that was your mother?”

  “No,” Sarah said immediately. “I saw her face. It’s not her.”

  “But the burn marks,” Darcy said. “Could she have had plastic surgery or something?”

  “It’s not her.” Sarah was insistent. “My mother could have changed her whole face over and I would know. It’s the eyes. I’ve studied her photos so many times, wondering what kind of woman she was like that I would know.” Tears came to her eyes as she tried to blink them away. “I would always know by her eyes.”

  Darcy felt horrible for Sarah. They were no closer to finding out what had really happened to her mother. If anything, it felt like they had taken a giant step backward.

  ***

  After Sarah had gotten ahold of herself enough to walk back to her car, Darcy returned to the bookstore. The festival was due to begin that night and everything was looking great in the town square. There was a sea of color as far as the eye could see and everything looked so festive. It made Darcy feel warm inside to know that something happy was taking place in spite of everything else.

  Darcy and Jon were supposed to meet up with Eileen, Grace and Aaron around five o’clock, after she closed up the store, and walk around the stalls with them. There was always so much to do at the harvest festival. She didn’t like that the festival would take so much time away from her investigation into Angelica’s whereabouts, but one more evening couldn’t matter, she figured.

  All day she tried to think of some way to move this investigation along. She was convinced that Angelica was still alive. She was almost positive the money that was being sent to Sarah was coming from her mother. The questions that remained troubled her, though. Where was Sarah’s mother? Why was she staying away? What had caused the fire at their manor house?

  She tried to talk to Millie all day, when Sue wasn’t looking. She caught a glimpse of her aunt, once, smiling and nodding like she was trying to encourage Darcy. Thanks, she thought to herself sarcastically. That’s a big help.

  Sue had been antsy since after lunch and Darcy finally took pity on her and let her go early to get ready for the festival. “Thanks, Darcy,” she said. “Randy agreed to meet me and Sarah for the festival and maybe he and I will have a chance to talk about…you know. Me and him.”

  Sue’s face colored as she smiled a wry smile. Darcy wished her good luck, remembering being young and in love herself. That was how she and her husband Jeff had ended up together, after all. She hoped Sue had better luck with Randy.

  Around four o’clock Darcy decided to close the bookstore up for the day. No one was coming in anyway with all the doings in the square. She called Jon and he said he was free to meet her early, too. It was nice to know that Jon was going to be with her and her family tonight. Her mother was going to be with them, and she might need his calm support.

  Leaving her bicycle locked inside the bookstore when Jon picked her up, they met up with the others outside of Grace and Aaron’s house. Eileen was very polite to Jon and Darcy began to wonder if her mother was honestly making an effort to be nicer to her daughters.

  They walked through the town, weaving in and out of all the crowds of people that were milling around, admiring all of the stands and booths that had been put together for the festival. There were colored lights strung between the buildings and all around the gazebo and trees in the town square. Darcy thought it looked a little like Christmas.

  “This is wonderful,” her mother said. “I had forgotten how pretty this town could be.”

  Darcy smiled. “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself, Mom.”

  “Well, I wasn’t sure I would when I first came.”

  Grace rolled her eyes. Darcy caught her eyes and they shared a look. Yup. That was the Eileen they both remembered.

  As the sun inched its way down toward the horizon in a clear sky, the mists collected at the edges of the square and around the buildings. Darcy knew what that meant. For the moment, she let trouble take care of itself. Maybe if she did that, it would iron itself out for a change.

  Things were going great as they sampled some of the food placed out by the different vendors and bought a few little things here and there. Darcy said hello to several people she knew, including Linda who was with her mother and sister, as did Grace and Jon and Aaron. Eileen smiled at a few. She’d been away from town for a long time but was still recognized by several people, which surprised Darcy.

  At one point during the evening, after the sun had gone down far enough to be only a bright line along the horizon and for the streetlights to come on overhead, Darcy saw Sarah walking with Sue. There was a young guy with them too, tall and pale and graceful in that way that some men could carry off so well. This must be Randy, Darcy thought. She smiled. No wonder Sue was working so hard to keep a relationship with him.

  Sarah and Sue were laughing at some joke when Darcy and the others came up to them. “Hello you two,” Darcy said to them. “Great festival isn’t it?”

  They both agreed. Sue pulled the guy with them forward by his wrist. “Darcy, this is Randy.” She said it with a smile, and Darcy couldn’t help but notice that he returned it when he looked at her.

  “Good to meet you Randy. I’ve heard a lot about you.” Darcy shook his hand and then she and Sue began talking about the festival and the town and just general small talk. Sarah joined in, and it was good to see her relaxed after the way the past week had gone for her.

  Randy told them he had to go help a friend for an hour or so but promised Sue he’d be back. They kissed each other lightly on the lips before he left. Darcy could see both of them were holding back because of the audience they had. Sue told him to hurry back.

  The group went back to their conversation, Grace and Jon telling the story of their latest arrest of Bernard Munson for stealing scrap metal. When they were finished, Darcy asked Sue, “have you gotten any of Henrietta’s jam yet?”

  “No, I was just heading there now. I hope there’s some left!”

  “Wow, the way you’ve been talking about it all week I figured it would have been the first place you went.” Darcy saw the look of confusion on Jon’s face. “I don’t know if you would have met Henrietta yet, Jon, but her jam is famous in town. We should go get some, too. She promised to save a jar for me.”

  “Hey, no fair!” Sue laughed.

  Eileen cleared her throat. “Actually, Darcy, I’m pretty tired. Perhaps Grace and Aaron could take me back to their place now?”

  Grace kept her face carefully neutral but Darcy could tell she didn’t think much of that idea. Her husband, Aaron, saw it too. “I tell you what, Eileen, how about I take you back?” he said. “Why don’t we let the sisters have some time together?”

  The look of absolute gratitude on Grace’s face showed the love those two had for each other. Darcy had always been impressed at how strong their marriage was. Her mom looked at her daughters, at Grace and Darcy, and smiled a genuine smile.

  “Very well, Aaron. Thank you.” She hugged Grace first and then Darcy, a bit less awkwardly then the last time. When Grace hugged Aaron, she whispered something in his ear that Darcy couldn’t make out. Whatever it
was brought a smile to his face.

  As they started to walk away, Jon kissed Darcy lightly on the cheek and said quietly, “I think I’ll help Aaron out. That okay?”

  She hugged him tightly. “I knew I loved you for a reason.”

  “Hey, Aaron, wait up,” Jon called out to him. “How about some company?”

  “Well, I guess it’s just us girls,” Darcy said with a smile. “Let’s go get some of that jam.

  ***

  Henrietta was serving a few people at her stand, the once tall stacks of jam jars dwindling rapidly. Sue bounced on her feet when they were almost there. “Come on, Sarah. You haven’t tasted anything until you’ve tried her apple-blackberry jam.”

  The four of them waited in the short line until it was their turn. Henrietta greeted Grace and Darcy with a warm smile. Her eyes twinkled in the glow from the strung lights around her booth and she wiped her hands on her white apron. “I was wondering when I would see you two. Oh, and you too, Sue. You never miss a chance to buy from me, do you?”

  “Sure don’t,” Sue agreed. “I’m hoping you have some of my favorite left.”

  “Right here,” Henrietta said as she picked up a small glass jar with a bright white and green label. “I have some nice raspberry this year, too. Turned out good.”

  Darcy and Grace looked over the kinds she had to offer and picked a couple of jars each. Sarah hung back a little, idly watching the rest of the festival. Henrietta made change for Darcy and then thanked her as she turned to ask the next people in line what they were interested in.

  “You want anything, honey?” she said to Sarah.

  Sarah turned back from watching a juggler with bowling pins. “No, thank you. I’m—”

  She stopped, and stared. Darcy scrunched her eyebrows down as she saw the way Henrietta’s expression changed from surprise to carefully neutral.

  Sarah’s hands shook as she put them up to her mouth. She stepped closer, ignoring everyone’s stares. Darcy couldn’t believe it when she finally understood.

  “Mom?” Sarah asked Henrietta, hope making her voice tremble.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Sarah, you can’t be sure?” Darcy hadn’t meant it to come out as a question but with so many dead ends resulting in nothing up to this point she was sure this would be another one.

  Sarah put her hands down on the edge of the booth’s counter. Henrietta swallowed but didn’t look away. “It’s you. It’s you,” Sarah kept repeating.

  “Uh, Darcy, what’s going on?” Grace asked her.

  Darcy shook her head. “Henrietta. You know what she’s asking, right?”

  “I...I…” the woman stuttered, swallowed again. “I can’t…”

  “Darcy, it’s her,” Sarah insisted. “Look at her eyes.”

  Darcy did. At first she didn’t see it, but then she called up an image of the photo Sarah had shown her of her mother. The eyes. The eyes were the same.

  When she’d brought Sarah to see Elizabeth in the deli, so sure that she’d found Angelica, Sarah had said she would always know her mother by the eyes. That her mother could have had plastic surgery, even, and she would still know her by the eyes. Sarah had been right. Henrietta’s eyes were the same ones from that photo.

  It suddenly made sense to Darcy why she had never been able to put an age to Henrietta. Plastic surgery. She had paid to have her face altered to look older even though she wasn’t. Apparently had the shape of her nose and cheekbones changed as well. But there was no denying it.

  Henrietta, the kindly old woman who lived just outside of town and came in just once a year to sell her jams, was Angelica Fender. Sarah’s mother had been here the whole time.

  “All right,” Grace said, annoyed. “Somebody needs to talk to me. What in the world is going on?”

  “Grace I need you to arrest Henrietta,” Darcy told her sister. “She’s Sarah’s mother.”

  “Darcy!” Sarah objected. “You can’t have her arrested!”

  “She faked her own death, Sarah. And ask yourself this. Where did the money come from that she’s sending you? Why did your father get his arm and leg broken before the fire happened? We’ve solved one part of the mystery. There’s a lot more to find out. Your mom has a lot of explaining to do.”

  “But Darcy…”

  “No, honey,” Henrietta—Angelica—said. Her voice was suddenly that of a much younger woman and Darcy began to realize just how complete her disguise had been. “Your friend is right. I have a lot of explaining to do. I don’t want to run anymore. I don’t want to hide from you anymore.”

  Angelica slowly untied the apron from behind her and let it drop to her feet. Tears were heavy on her cheeks. “I’m your mother. I’m so sorry, Sarah.”

  Grace took out a cell phone to call one of the officers on duty to come down to where they were. “You’re going to explain this to me, right Darcy?”

  Darcy went over to Sarah and put an arm around her shoulder as Sue held her hand. “Once we’re down at the police station, Angelica can explain it to all of us.”

  ***

  Grace settled them in one of the police station’s interview rooms. Her, Darcy, Sarah, and Angelica. Randy had returned just as they were walking Angelica out through a gawking crowd of people. Sue realized how personal and embarrassing this was for her friend. She quietly wished Sarah good luck and left with Randy, promising to catch up with her tomorrow.

  Grace had called Jon and filled him in as best she could, passing the phone to Darcy as she read Angelica her Miranda Rights before beginning what promised to be a very complicated interview.

  “It’s really her, Jon. I can’t believe it.” Darcy stepped away from the table a little bit and kept her voice low. “I can’t talk now. Can you make it back?”

  “Sure. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

  Hanging up she passed the phone back to Grace. “Henr—Angelica here,” Grace corrected herself, “just waived her rights and says she wants to speak with us,” she explained.

  Angelica’s cheeks were still wet. Her tears had washed away a layer of makeup that she had been using to make her skin appear paler. She had left behind her cane at her booth in the square, apparently not needing the device that Darcy had never seen her without. It was no wonder no one in town, even those who had known her before the fire, had recognized her now. Between the cosmetic surgery and the incredible act she had been putting on, Angelica had literally become a whole new person.

  “I don’t want to keep these secrets anymore,” she choked out now, carefully keeping her eyes away from Sarah. “I’ve lied for too long.”

  “Mom…” Sarah hesitated when she called Angelica that, like the word was strange to her or hurt to say. “Just tell me why, please? You’ve let me and dad think you were dead all these years. Why?”

  A sad smile crossed Angelica’s lips. “There are too many questions in there to know where to begin.”

  “How about you start at the beginning,” Grace said, her notebook out and a pen ready in her hand. Darcy knew the camera in the corner would be recording everything, too, but her sister had always been this thorough.

  “The beginning?” Angelica repeated. “The beginning of the story was wonderful. When I first married Louis, he had just inherited the business and the family fortune. We were so in love in those days. Everything was perfect. We tried for a few years for a baby. I wanted a family so badly. Then I got pregnant with you, Sarah. I was so happy.”

  Darcy watched Sarah’s face. She was lost in her mother’s story, the untold story of her life that not even her father had told her.

  “Louis was rich back then,” Angelica continued. “I can’t say that I married him for the money but it certainly didn’t hurt.”

  Darcy nodded. “His family inherited money from the land sales they made.”

  Angelica looked surprised. “That’s right, actually. When this area was first settled back in the 1700s, it was Louis’ ancestors who got the land grant. They kept the area
in the family until his great-great-grandfather started selling off pieces at a time. The money from it had amounted to a small fortune.”

  She took a sip of water from the glass in front of her. Grace scratched some notes down and waited for Angelica to continue. “Then something happened that I really hadn’t planned on. Louis and I fell out of love. Oh, it was just small things at first and I figured, hey, everyone goes through this. We’ll get out of it. Only, we didn’t.”

  Sarah made a small strangling sound and shifted in her seat. Angelica looked at her then with sympathy. “Oh, honey. I really didn’t want you to hear about all of this. Ever. I was young, and stupid, and there’s no real way to explain it other than to say it happened.”

  “What happened?” Grace asked, pen hovering over paper.

  Angelica’s eyes took on a faraway look. “I fell in love. Again. His name was Milton Strader. He swept me off my feet and made me feel like I was sixteen again. We fell so hard and so fast that we…well, we decided to do something stupid.”

  “No. Oh, no,” Sarah whispered.

  “Did Louis know about the affair?” Grace asked her.

  Angelica hesitated, and then she nodded. “Yes. He found us one day, a few weeks before the fire at the manor house. He was so mad. I’d never seen him that mad. He rushed Milton and kept punching him and Milton did the only thing he could.” She took a deep breath, the memory obviously painful. “He defended himself. He hit Louis with a baseball bat. Ended up fracturing poor Louis’ arm.”

  There was silence as everyone in the room soaked that in. Then Grace prompted, “Then what happened, Angelica?”

  “Well. Louis ran. He just ran to his car and drove away. He was so mad or so in pain or something that he drove the car into a ditch and broke his leg, too. He was so embarrassed by the whole thing and by what I had done that he just told everyone his injuries all came from the accident. It was just easier. I never told anyone the truth.”

  Sarah had been wringing her hands over and over. Now she clenched her jaw together as her face reddened.