All's Well That Ends Well

by Roseanne Dowell

  “Sounds perfect. It’s so peaceful here.” Almost too peaceful. After spending almost two months in the house, I’d rather be out among people. I enjoyed being with Ed, don’t get me wrong, but I craved excitement. Fun.

  “Do you think we can do something fun, exciting?”

  “I don’t know, Bea, your still recuperating.”

  “Balderdash. The only thing wrong with me is I’m bored. How about we go out dancing?”

  “Dancing? Are you sure? I thought we came up here to relax.”

  “I’ve been relaxing for two months. I’ve had enough relaxation for a lifetime. Let’s call Ethel and Greg.”

  Ed shook his head. “I don’t think so. You’re not up to dancing yet.”

  Nothing I hated worse than to be told how I felt like or what I was up to doing. You’d think by now Ed would know it. But nope. He stood his ground. “Fine, than let’s go to the casino.”

  “Now honey pot, you know how I feel about gambling.”

  “I don’t much care how you feel about it. If you don’t want to go, stay home. I’m going with or without you.” Just because he didn’t like something, didn’t mean I shouldn’t. “I’ll call Ethel. She’ll go with me.”

  “Now, Bea…” He looked at me with that disapproving look he sometimes got.

  Not that it made much difference. I crossed my arms and tapped my foot. I was going, no ands, ifs, or buts. Like Ed, once I set my mind to something, there was no changing it.

  “Fine, go if you have to, but you’ll pardon me if I don’t go along. Gambling and me just don’t mix. And you’re only taking a hundred bucks.” Ed shook his head and mumbled something about damn fool women or some such thing. I wasn’t sure.

  I called Ethel right then and there before he changed his mind. Not that Ed ever stopped me from doing what I wanted. Leastways, not at this point of our lives.

  Chapter Twenty

  “I swear, Bea, you’re as giddy as a teenager. Sit down already, you’re making me nervous.” Ed stood in front of me.

  “I can’t help it. I’m excited. This is the first time I’ve been out for something fun in months.” I sat, stood, and started pacing. “Besides, you know how I love casinos.” I looked out the window. I hated waiting for anything, but especially for someone. Where was Ethel? It wasn’t like her to be late.

  It’d been a long time since I’d been to a casino. I felt like it was my first time. Although I’d never been to this casino before. I’d heard it was elegant. Built in an old department store.

  Finally, Ethel pulled up. I kissed Ed and hurried outside. One would think an elephant danced in my stomach. My hands sweat from anxiety. I didn’t know what to expect or how anything worked. Silly, I know, it wouldn’t be any different than other casinos. Maybe it was just the idea of being out. Of doing something fun for a change.

  Ethel parked and we hurried to the entrance, both of us as excited as teenagers going to a prom. The brass-enclosed entryways remained from the early days of Higbee shoppers. The cast iron handrails and much of the woodwork, including the panels that wrapped around the bottoms of the huge columns, gave the casino an art deco, 1930 department store feel. I remember Mama talking about shopping there in the old days.

  Everything was very grand looking, large crystal chandeliers, and lots of gold. The drink girls walked around wearing gold corsets and heels. The carpeting picked up the gold theme, with gold design in a brown background. Huge display windows clad in sheer gold fabric panels allowed people outside to see lights and figures, but not faces. I felt underdressed in the luxurious building even though I wore my best slacks and silk blouse.

  Music played through a speaker, and several people greeted us, checked our IDs, and directed us to the service desk. Sounds of people laughing and talking at the game tables filled my ears. My pulse quickened and I caught my breath. I don’t recall being so excited before.

  Several people stood behind a large desk, reminding me of a hotel lobby desk. They signed us in and gave us our credit cards. They also gave us a free pair of sunglasses, not that we needed them, it was dark outside and no reason to wear them inside. We walked through the game tables to the back toward the slot machines. Flashing lights, bells and different sounds tempted us to sit. I headed toward one machine and Ethel went to one a few seats down.

  Apparently someone forgot their card in my machine. I pulled it out and motioned to an attendant. “This was in the machine.”

  “Thank you.” She smiled, took it from me, and walked away. I sat down and inserted my card, and pushed the buttons. Bells and music came from the machine. Lights flashed, I’d hit the jackpot.

  Suddenly someone pushed me.

  “That’s my machine and that’s my card!”

  I slid off my seat almost falling to the floor. What the heck?

  “Those are my winnings.”

  “I beg your pardon. This is my card.” I pulled it from the machine to show her. “I gave yours to an attendant. These are my winnings.” I grabbed the slip of paper from the machine, barely getting a chance to look at it.

  “I’ve been playing that machine all day. Those are my winnings.” She shoved me away from the machine and reached for the coupon. I managed to move it just in time.

  “Who do you think you’re pushing?” I thrust her away from me. She fell against the woman at the next machine, causing her to fall off her chair into the player at the next machine. That player fell into the crowd of spectators who’d been watching her play. Next thing I knew several women lay on the floor.

  The crazy lady, who insisted I had her winnings, got up, lunged at me, and rammed me against the machine. I pushed her away in the other direction. Again she fell into the person at the next machine. Like dominoes people fell off their seats and landed on the floor.

  Several security guards rushed toward us. One grabbed my wrist and another grabbed her, holding us back from each other. They escorted us to an office where head security told us to leave.

  “She has my winnings,” the woman shouted.

  I shook my head, looked at the attendant who still held her back from attacking me. “If you recall I gave you a card before I sat down. I assume it was hers.” I showed the attendant my card.

  “That’s right, I remember.”

  “Well you’re still both going to have to leave. We can’t have inappropriate behavior here. Please, collect your winnings. We’ll escort you out.”

  “I need to find my sister.” This was insane. My big night out and it was over already. “None of this was my fault. I was minding my own business when she…” I nodded to the crazy lady. “Showed up and started pushing me around.”

  “That may well be, but instead of calling for help, you responded by pushing her back, which caused quite a havoc.”

  “You didn’t expect me to stand there and let her push me around, did you?” I stomped my foot. I didn’t want the evening to end. “This is insane.”

  “Please, ma’am, find your sister and pick up your winnings before I ban you completely.”

  I spluttered. I mean short, loud noises actually came from my mouth. Never had I been so tongue tied. Okay, yes, a few times, but never in my life had I been so humiliated. The very idea of being banned from the casino devastated me. I caught my breath and left to find Ethel, escorted by a very handsome man about half my age.

  Ethel hurried to me when we approached the machines. “What happened? Where did you go? Did you see that fight?”

  “We have to leave.”

  “What do you mean we have to leave? We just got here.” She looked toward my handsome escort. “What’s going on?”

  “The fight you mentioned involved me. Someone accused me of cheating. We have to cash in our winnings. Come on, I’ll explain in the car.” To my surprise, my winnings came to five hundred dollars. At least the evening wasn’t a total loss.

  “You’re not going to mention a word of this to Ed,” I said after I explained the whole thing to Ethel.

&nbs
p; Ethel grinned, a look I knew well. I’d have to pay. “What’s it worth to you?”

  “Honestly, Ethel, can’t you just keep a secret without expecting something in return?”

  “Not when it’s this good. Imagine you getting into a fight at a casino.” Ethel laughed. “Lottie, Lillian and Mama are going to love this. Well maybe not Lillian, she’ll be horrified.”

  “Ethel, you can’t tell anyone. It’ll surely get back to Ed.”

  “Oh, what’s the big deal? So what if Ed knows. It’s not the end of the world. So you got in a scuffle. Who cares?”

  “You don’t understand. Ed’ll never let me go to the casino again.

  “Oh, posh. Ed never stopped you from doing what you want to do. Who are you kidding? You talk like he’s a prison guard or something.”

  “Of course he’s not a prison guard, but he does have definite opinions on some things and I’m telling you, he won’t let me go again.” Ethel just didn’t understand.

  “That man worships the ground you walk on. He pampers the living day lights out of you. He doesn’t deny you anything. It’s your imagination. Or maybe you want him to forbid you to do something. Is that it? I can talk to him if you like.”

  “Don’t be facetious. You don’t know Ed the way I do.”

  “Oh for heaven’s sake! Fine, I won’t say anything. You’re so thin skinned it’s pathetic. You know what you need?”

  “I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”

  “You need a weekend away, just us girls, and maybe Mama.”

  “Where do you suggest we go?”

  “I think a shopping trip. We’ve not done that in a long time. Remember how we used to take Mama shopping once a year? Why’d we stop?”

  A shopping trip. Ethel just might be on to something. “We could do that. An overnight trip, right? Just us women like we used to do. Mama would love that.” She was right. I needed to get away. “Let’s do it.”

  “Okay, we’ll call them when we get home and set up a date. It’ll probably have to be after Ed’s party.”

  “Yeah, you’re right, we’d never be able to arrange something before then. You promised to take me shopping. You will, won’t you?”

  Ethel shook her head. “I think you need to get out on your own. You’ll never get back to normal if you don’t try. It’s time you quit acting like a baby. Ed’s got you so spoiled you think you can’t do anything by yourself.”

  “Maybe you’re right. He’s been over protective of me lately. Tomorrow, I’ll go shopping. How about we meet up at Lottie’s for lunch? I’ll buy.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  “I can hardly wait. And don’t forget, no spilling the beans about what happened tonight.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Ethel was right. I needed to get out by myself. It felt good to drive again. I even enjoyed shopping for Ed’s gift. I’d found the perfect thing. Ed always wanted a garden scale railroad. I got him an engine and three cars, plus a gift certificate for him to buy the track. It’d be perfect out at the cabin.

  I stopped at the deli and picked up several Rueben sandwiches and potato salad for lunch. The heavenly aromas of corned beef, pastrami, and cheeses whetted my appetite. I was already hungry and could hardly wait to get to Lottie’s.

  I no more got into my car and a green car flew past me. That was enough. This time I was getting to the bottom of this. Fortunately there wasn’t much traffic, so I took off after him. I assumed it was a he because of the way he was driving. Not only was he going too fast, he was weaving in and out of traffic.

  Not to be left behind, I stepped on the gas and followed suit, praying I wouldn’t be the one to get a ticket. He turned down Lexington and I screeched around the corner almost on two tires. I slowed down enough to keep him in sight. I didn’t want to kill myself after all. Besides, I had a pretty good idea where he was headed.

  My hunch came true at the next corner. Yep, he turned down Sycamore. I eased up on the gas a bit more. Besides, I had no idea what I was going to do when I found him. I thought about calling Callie, but for what? Because a guy flew by me hell bent on some kind of mission? No, that wasn’t going to fly. Callie already thought I was fanatical.

  I turned down Sycamore just in time to see him pull into the drive with the dilapidated garage. What was he doing? He stopped, got out and two guys came out of the mechanic shop. Not wanting to draw attention to myself, I turned around in one of the driveways and headed back towards Lottie’s.

  Something was going on in that garage, I’d bet my life on it. No time to investigate now, especially with three men hanging around. I headed back to Lottie’s.

  Visiting with Lottie and Ethel was fun, but I could only take so much of Lottie’s grandchildren. Maybe it was still the effect of the bump on the head. I was tired and just wanted to take a nap, so I left. I’m not a nap person, never was. Sleep is a waste of time in my opinion. But today I needed one and not one where I dozed off on the couch. I was climbing into bed.

  Ed met me at the door. “What’s this I hear about you getting kicked out of the casino? Can’t you go anywhere without getting into trouble?”

  My look must have shocked him. How the heck did he find out?

  “I swear, Beatrice, you really are a magnet for trouble. What’s going on with you, starting a fight?”

  “Starting a fight? Listen here, Buster. I didn’t start anything. I don’t know what you heard, but someone better get their facts straight.”

  “Really? You? Little Miss Innocent? I know you better than that.”

  I wasn’t in the mood for a fight. Whatever Ed heard or who he heard it from wasn’t true, but I didn’t feel like discussing it. “Let’s talk about this later. I’m tired and I need to lay down.”

  “Are you okay? You’re not sick, are you? Does your head hurt? I knew it. It was too soon for you to go out on your own. You shouldn’t be driving yet.”

  “Put a sock in it. I’m just tired. I’m not sick. My head doesn’t hurt, but it’s starting to with all your nagging. Can’t a person just be tired?”

  “Not you. You never lay down. You’re not going out again without talking to the doctor. What if you would have passed out or got into an accident? You could have hurt someone, killed them.” Ed took my arm. “Come on, I’ll help you to bed.”

  I shook him off. “For heaven sake, Ed, I’m not an invalid. I’m quite capable of getting myself to bed.” Lord, sometimes that man drove me crazy.

  Nothing better than a nap to refresh a person. Made me hungry too and the delicious aroma of garlic and Italian herbs drew me to the kitchen. Nothing better than Ed’s spaghetti sauce either. I hoped it was with meatballs. Ed made the best spaghetti and meatballs.

  “Hi, honey pot. You have a nice nap?”

  “I did, as a matter of fact.” I walked to the stove and looked in the pot. Yep, he made the meatballs. “So, who told you about the casino and just what did they tell you?”

  “Well now, after the way you talked to me earlier, I’m not sure I want to tell you.”

  I gave him a look. He’d darn well better tell me.

  “Matter of fact, it was your mother.”

  “My mother?” Surely he was kidding.

  “Yes, your mother. She saw you and Ethel come in and was coming over to talk to you. She said you pushed a woman into a group of people twice. Said it was like watching dominoes fall.”

  “Why didn’t she come to my defense? I can’t believe she thought I started that.”

  “Well now, suppose you tell me what happened? I called and asked Ethel while you were asleep, but she said she didn’t really know.”

  “You called Ethel? You couldn’t wait for me to wake up and tell you? That’s having a lot of a faith and trust in someone.”

  “I was worried cause of your accident.”

  “You thought it affected my brain? Like I’m crazy?”

  “Now, honey pot, that’s not it at all. I was just worried about you. Come on, sit down and t
ell me your side.”

  “My side? You act like the whole thing was my fault.”

  “Now I never said that.”

  “You didn’t have to say that. You implied it.”

  “You’re over reacting.” Ed took my hand. “Come on sit down and talk to me.”

  “Over reacting? The very idea.” I left the room. The nerve of that man, acting like it was all my fault. And why the heck didn’t my mother come to my aid? Why didn’t she find out what was going on?

  Ed followed me into the living room. “Are you going to tell me what happened or not?”

  “What difference does it make? You’re not going to believe me.”

  “That’s not true. Come on, honey pot.”

  “It was really very simple, actually.” I told Ed what happened. “Why didn’t my mother come to my assistance?”

  “She said there was a crowd and before she knew it, you were gone. When she asked the security guard what happened to you, they told her you were escorted out.”

  Luckily it was my mother and the story wouldn’t be all over town. “When did she tell you?”

  “She called while you were out shopping. You should probably call her.” He handed me the phone.

  So much for keeping it a secret.

  “By the way, I’ll be going on a trip with my sisters soon.” I punched in my mother’s number. Let him stew on that. Ethel, Lottie and I had the whole trip planned out. By now they should have contacted Mama and Lillian.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  As it turned out, Ethel contacted a friend who let us use her cottage the weekend before Ed’s birthday. Even Lillian seemed in a good mood. We had plans to spend the day shopping. Ethel’s friend Jayme left a message she’d be out of range for the phone, but she’d check in later to see if we needed anything.

  Not five minutes after we arrived, a fuse blew while Ethel made waffles. We looked for the fuse box but couldn’t find it. Should have been in the garage in my opinion, but nope, nowhere in sight. Unfortunately, the refrigerator was also on that line. Nothing to do but plug it into a different outlet in the dining room. I even called Ed, but without being there, he wasn’t any help.