Hope laughed and crawled into the tent, where she repeated the threat loudly. There was silence for a moment, then whispers, and, before long, they were all giggling and playing together again.
“Thank you for giving us the night,” Adrienne said.
“I’m so sorry that I can’t let you stay here.”
“I know. I didn’t think you would. But it would have been nice if it had worked. The kids could walk to school. It would be so nice to be so close to everything.”
“What will you do?”
“Homeschool, like usual. Find somewhere farther out… where people won’t be as likely to bother us.”
“Out where the others are? Jenny and the other families?”
Adrienne shook her head. “No… maybe for a day or two until we sort something out. But I couldn’t live out there. Not where…” She dropped her eyes and swallowed.
Erin understood. Not where Rip had been killed. It didn’t feel safe to Adrienne. The others might have decided to overlook the tragedy, but she couldn’t.
“We’ll find somewhere else,” Adrienne said.
“Do you have a husband? Someone to help you?”
“Sometimes,” Adrienne said with a shrug. She didn’t offer any more. Maybe, like Rip, her husband was not reliable, taking off to gamble or pursue other vices.
Or maybe he was gone looking for work. Or employed in a work camp hours away. Erin shouldn’t judge someone she’d never even heard of by the same standards as someone as self-destructive as Rip Ryder.
Chapter 33
At home, Erin didn’t tell Terry about the family living in the woods or the fact that she had put them on notice that they had to leave. It was her property, and she wasn’t required to report trespassers or squatters to the police. She had taken care of it on her own. Without Adele’s or Terry’s help. Although she felt terrible for having to do it, she was proud of herself for having the strength to just go ahead and do what she knew had to be done.
There was more to Erin Price than met the eye. She wasn’t a shrinking violet. Wasn’t just a baker or a business owner. She was the type of person who stepped up and did what needed to be done.
But she was glad it was done and out of the way and hoped that Adrienne would just quietly move her family out of the woods without Erin having to do anything more about it. She knew that squatters could be hard to get rid of. Sometimes a person had to get the police or courts involved to get them off of the property. She really hoped that Adrienne would not be like that.
Instead, when she and Terry sat down to relax and visit for a while before bed, she asked him about Jenny. She had inquired before, when they had been at the restaurant with Vic and Willie, but the conversation had not gone in the direction she had hoped.
“How was Jenny Ryder when you told her about her husband?” she asked. “I wonder if I should go out there again… see if there is anything I can help with. I feel bad, her being alone with a new baby and all of those kids. It can’t be easy for her.”
“I’m sure it isn’t. But I’m not sure she would accept any help, even though your intentions are pure. People don’t like it when you poke your nose into their business.”
“I know. But how was she?”
Terry considered what he could tell her. “She was… not as emotional as I expected. But that doesn’t mean anything. Everyone has their own way to deal with grief. Some people weep and wail, and others nod and go on as if you had told them what time it is. Neither one tells you how close they were or how they are really feeling.”
Erin nodded. “And you don’t know how they are going to act after you’re gone… or after a few days when it starts to sink in.”
“Exactly. Someone like Jenny Ryder, who has led such a hard life, will be used to dealing with opposition and not showing any sign of weakness. So I wouldn’t expect her to bawl her eyes out in front of me. I would have expected more… but that doesn’t mean anything.”
“What is she going to do?”
“I couldn’t tell you.”
“How is she going to be able to manage? With those kids and a new baby and no breadwinner? What is she going to do?”
“I am not privy to her life plan. Maybe she has a business we don’t know about. Knitting. Reading audiobooks. Writing web content. Just because she doesn’t own land or a house, that doesn’t mean that she’s necessarily destitute. Some people like to live off the land. Not to put all of their hard-earned cash into real estate.”
Erin hadn’t thought about that. She was only assuming that they were poor because they were homeless and because the children looked skinny and were not well-dressed. But they could just as easily be burning off a lot of energy playing outside, and their clothes reflected that fact. Or Jenny didn’t see the need to get expensive new clothing when they were living out in the sticks and just bought whatever she could get cheaply at a thrift store. Or she was given clothing by other members of the community.
“She could be like the millionaire rancher,” Erin said. “He walks into a store in blue jeans, with manure on his boots, and everyone assumes he’s just some kind of laborer. When he might own half the county and likes working with his hands.”
“I doubt if Jenny is a millionaire rancher.”
“But she could be anything.”
“Yes, exactly.”
“Do you think… what did she say to you about the remains? I assume if you’re done gathering all of the evidence you need, she has to claim the remains if she wants to bury or cremate him.”
“Or she can not claim them and leave it to the county to dispose of them.”
“Is that what she’s going to do?”
“She didn’t say specifically. I told her she could contact the funeral home in town and they would help her with the arrangements and request his remains… but she didn’t say if she was going to. Just thanked me. There really wasn’t much for me to do. She didn’t want to talk about Ryder or what might have happened.”
“Not at all? She must have said something.”
“I had my questions… but she wasn’t too inclined to answer. I got only grudging answers as to how long it had been since she saw him last, where she thought he had gone, and so on.”
“I gathered from what she and the others said that they figured he was off drinking or gambling. Or maybe off with another woman. They weren’t terribly complimentary about him.”
Terry nodded. “Yeah. I don’t think she had an easy time with him. Some people say that a marriage certificate doesn’t make a difference, but I think in a case like that… a marriage certificate would at least say he was committed to the relationship. And the lack of one showed that he wasn’t.”
Erin nodded. And what about her relationship with Terry? They hadn’t ever talked about getting married, rarely even alluded to it. She knew that as far as the Baptist ladies were concerned, she was committing a sin by having a relationship with Terry without being married to him. She had been the temptress who had come into Bald Eagle Falls and led the most eligible bachelor into sin. While Terry was not a regular churchgoer, he was a Christian, and therefore a good catch for the young women in the church.
Where would their relationship go? Erin wasn’t sure. But if she’d been entertaining the thought of having children with him, she thought she would want to be married first.
“Were all of Jenny’s children Rip’s? Or was she with somebody else before?”
Terry cleared his throat. “That didn’t come up in the conversation. She wasn’t very inclined to talk as it was. I think that if I was to start off with questions like that… I might not have gotten any answers to the rest of my questions.”
Erin laughed. “I suppose asking a woman who her children were fathered by might not start you off on the best foot.”
Terry took a drag from his beer, nodding slightly in agreement.
“She had… how many? Five? Including the baby?”
“I didn’t ever get a really good count. They were
running around and playing games. And who knows if all the children were even hers. I think the families there kind of watch whoever’s kids happen to be over. They’re camped close enough together that the kids can mix.”
Erin got the inkling of an idea. She frowned, thinking about it for a moment, and then reached for her planner to start jotting down a list.
“Uh-oh,” Terry intoned. “What is it now?”
“No, it’s nothing. I was just thinking that before when I was trying to give them food, I said that I thought they didn’t have enough to eat. That they were too poor to be able to look after themselves.”
“Yes…?”
“What if I took over a care package, but it wasn’t because they need food, but because they just lost their father and husband. Or almost-husband. People take each other food when they’ve lost someone. Casseroles, desserts, things for the funeral, food that they can just warm up so they don’t have to think ahead or do any work in the beginning, when it is so hard and they might be entertaining guests.”
“Ah. So you think you could take food over there and say it was for the funeral.”
“Right. And people take food to mothers with new babies too. To cut down on the amount of work they need to do. And Jenny has both. She’s lost Rip and she has a new baby. If anyone needs a lighter load, it’s her.”
“Maybe you’ve found your way around the pride thing.”
“I hope so. And I was thinking—it was because of what you said—that if I can get a load of food to Jenny, that with the other kids coming and going, they can get enough to eat too. There will be too much for just the Ryders. If their community really does take care of each other, then they’ll distribute the food around the rest of the families, so that everyone gets some, and no one is singled out as being more needy.”
“So, what are you writing out?”
“Just… what I think I should take out with me.”
“You’re not just going to take all of your day old out with you?”
“Well… no. I have some in the freezer, plus whatever is left over tomorrow, but I might want a few extra little things too… just to make it a little easier. And maybe if I pick up a few things from the grocery store…”
“You’ll end up crossing the line. From a thoughtful gift to making them feel like it is charity.”
“Oh.” Erin sighed. “Okay. I’ll scale back. Not too much. Do you think… if I mention it to the ladies who come to the bakery, some of them might contribute too?”
Terry considered this, his fingernails scraping across his five o’clock shadow. “I don’t think very many of the church ladies feel like the squatters are… part of the flock. But if you mention it to them… maybe make the assumption that they would behave in a properly Christian manner toward the needy whether they are members of the congregation or not… I think that the guilt would probably ensure that you got a few donations.”
“Good.” Erin nodded. Over the next couple of days, there should be a good number of the ladies coming in to stock up for Sunday dinner. Most of them liked to have soft white rolls to go with their roast beef dinner or whatever their traditional family meal was on Sunday. She could go out to see Jenny after the ladies’ tea on Sunday, assured of having a good amount of food for her and the other families in the settlement.
“Don’t forget about refrigeration,” Terry warned. “If you overdo it on the casseroles, they are just going to spoil. Those families don’t have refrigeration.”
“Oh. Okay. Yeah. I wouldn’t have thought about that. I’ll encourage the ladies to donate foods that are shelf-stable, if they can.”
“Cream of mushroom soup will be better for the squatters in the can than in a casserole.”
“Right. And it’s less work for the church ladies.” Erin smiled. “Win-win.”
Erin managed to work the homeless families into casual conversations with her customers over the next couple of days. It was fairly easy to bring them up, with the shocking news of Rip’s death. It was still at the top of people’s minds, and all Erin had to do was talk sadly about the family Rip had left behind. His destitute widow and fatherless children, including a newborn. So sad, and she hoped that a lot of people would help out, showing a lost sheep that they cared.
“How many children are there?” Lottie Sturm demanded. “We should get their names and ages to put on the prayer list.”
“Oh… yes. I can find out,” Erin agreed. “I guess… when I’m out there…?”
“We should know before you go out,” Lottie disagreed. “We should be praying that the spirit will move them when they receive our gifts. That their hearts will be softened and open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit so that they recommit their lives to him.”
Erin swallowed. She nodded her agreement. “Sure. Of course. But, um… how am I going to find that out before I go out to see them? They don’t have a phone, I can’t reach them that way.”
“Talk to the school. You explain what it’s for, and they’ll give you the names and ages of the children.”
“I don’t think they go to the school. They’re outside the city, and I think they probably homeschool. It would be too far for them to drive in every day.”
“Well then, you can still go to the school for their records.”
“If they homeschool…”
“They have to register with the school district,” Lottie said with a firm nod. “That’s the law. If they don’t, they risk getting in trouble for the kids being truant. They don’t want trouble with the police and the school district.”
“Oh. I didn’t know they did that. Okay. Do I just… you think the office would give me that kind of information? Isn’t it confidential?”
“Not if you ask the right way,” Lottie assured her confidently. “You’re not asking for anything confidential—just first names and ages. You don’t need last names, or marks, or what grades they are registered for, or birthdates, or any of that kind of thing. Just first name and age. Everybody in the community already knows that information, so it can’t be confidential. They’re just making things easier so that you don’t have to go to all of the other families and say, ‘Are any of your kids the same age as any of the Ryder kids? And what are their names?’ They’re just collating the information for you. That’s all.”
Erin laughed. She had a feeling that the school might see it differently, but she could at least try. If the school couldn’t help, then maybe she could talk to the Fosters and to Adrienne. Between the two families, they would probably know the names of all of the Ryder children.
Chapter 34
As it turned out, dealing with the school was easier than she had expected. Instead of going into the office, she called up Vice Principal Fitzroy, whom she had coordinated the bake sale with. He had been perfectly happy to help. After alternately cursing and cajoling the computer for a few minutes, he had managed to make it give him first Jenny’s full name, and then those of each of her children’s.
“They’re not all school age yet,” he told Erin. “But the district registers them with early childhood learning in situations like this, so that they can evaluate whether any interventions are needed and we know who is coming up before they are in first grade. It’s important with families like this who are…” he dropped his voice confidentially, “indigent. Less likely to be seeing doctors or public health nurses. If you have a child in need of early language intervention, and you don’t find out about them until they are six, well that just won’t do. It’s early language intervention. And it isn’t so early if you wait until they are six or seven.”
Erin made noises of agreement. She was afraid that if she asked anything, Vice Principal Fitzroy would tell her all of the family’s confidential issues, and she didn’t want to know them.
“So the oldest child’s name was…” she prompted, hoping to get him back on track.
Fitzroy read off the name of the oldest child, age eight, and went down the line to the two-year-old. Erin wrote each
of them down.
“And then she has a newborn,” she added. “I don’t know his name.”
“Oh, does she have another one?” Fitzroy asked. “We’ll need to get his details. I don’t suppose you could do me a return favor…?”
“I’ll do my best,” Erin promised. “Thank you for everything.”
Terry offered to go out to see Jenny again with Erin, but she knew that Jenny probably would not take too kindly to her bringing a policeman with her. Terry had done the death notification, so it wasn’t like she wouldn’t know that he was on the police force.
Instead, she went with Vic in Willie’s truck, like they had done the previous time. It was quicker this time, since they knew where Jenny was. At least, Erin hoped that she had stayed in the place and had not run away or gone deeper into the woods with her children. Erin found herself holding her breath as they went down the last road, straining for a view of the children and the tents. When they came into view, she nearly cheered aloud. She let out her breath.
“Good, then. That’s good. She’s still here.”
Vic nodded her agreement. The children stopped playing to watch the truck pull in, and then went back to their games. They had seen this truck and these women before. It wasn’t novel enough to end their game.
Jenny was lying on a blanket on the grass with her sleeping baby snuggled up to her, the dappled shadows from the trees overhead swaying back and forth over the baby’s bare skin.
Wasn’t it bad for him to have sunlight directly on his delicate skin? The UV rays couldn’t be good for him. It wasn’t direct summer sun, but still… Erin would have thought that you had to be more careful with a baby. Keep him wrapped up to protect his skin.
Jenny opened her eyes and watched them approach, but did not get up or invite them to come any closer.
“Hi,” Erin greeted cheerfully. “I don’t know if you remember us. We were here the other day and…”
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