Missing in Mystic Grove

by S F Bose

  “What did you do with the ring then, sweetie?” Shelly asked.

  “I put it in my pocket. The stones on the ring were so pretty and I knew they were magic, so I was going to keep the ring. But then I decided to give it to Holly as a surprise. I kept it wrapped up in my mitten and today put it in her ‘Special Things’ bag for school” Jade replied. Holly put her arm around Jade’s shoulders.

  “So you didn’t say anything to us about the ring because you wanted to surprise Holly?” Shelly asked. Jade nodded.

  Dante looked at Holly. “Where were you during all of this, honey?”

  Holly’s eyes bugged out and she shrugged.

  “The dogs,” Jade said in a stage whisper and Holly’s eyes lit up.

  “That’s right! The big door to the dining room was open and we heard dogs barking in the hallway. I wanted to go play with them, but Jade didn’t. I ran over to the door and looked but I didn’t see them. I waited for a while. Then I went back to coloring.”

  “Oh dear,” Shelly said, giving me a stricken look.

  “Shelly, this was just a mistake. Jade thought Marie threw the ring away,” I replied.

  Shelly shook her head. “But that poor woman must have been so worried.”

  “She did throw it away,” Jade said adamantly.

  Dante leaned forward. “Honey, Mrs. Wescott didn’t throw it away. She meant to drop the ring into her purse but missed and it fell on the rug. She didn’t realize it was gone until later.”

  Jade absorbed what her father had said.

  “Really?” she asked.

  “Really,” he replied and nodded.

  Jade took a deep breath and looked at the shiny ring on the table. After a minute, she replied, “Well then we should give it back.”

  Dante and Shelly smiled. “We will, honey,” said Shelly.

  “We’re so sorry,” Dante said, looking at me.

  “It was clearly an accident all the way around,” I replied.

  Sam sat forward and spoke quietly. “The problem is Marie doesn’t want her husband to know she lost the ring.”

  After a pause, I floated a solution. “I could get Marie to come to the kitchen without her husband. Then we could give the ring back to her there,” I suggested.” Everyone liked that idea.

  We packed up Holly’s bag with everything but the ring, which I put in my pocket. Sam walked out of the main dining room with the Cloutiers. We had agreed he would take them across the main hallway, up the stairs to the landing, across to the west hallway and into the kitchen.

  I stayed at the table until Sam texted me that they were safely in the kitchen. Then I popped up and went over to the Westcott’s table. I smiled brightly at Ray and Marie.

  “Could I steal your wonderful wife for a moment? There’s something I’d like to show her in the kitchen,” I said. Ray Wescott smiled.

  “Of course,” he agreed.

  “Is something wrong?” Marie asked, standing up. She was frowning.

  “Oh no, not at all. I just want you to see something. We’ll be right back,” I said to Ray. Then I steered Marie around to the swinging doors and into the kitchen. We walked the length of the kitchen to the farmhouse table where Sam and the Cloutiers waited with Grace, Grandma Addie, and Nana Anna. Grandma was beaming.

  “What’s going on?” Marie asked.

  I took the ring from my pocket and handed it to her.

  “Oh my! You found it!” she exclaimed, her eyes bugging out. “Where was it?”

  “We’re so sorry, Marie. When we played poker last night, you dropped the ring on the carpet instead of into your purse,” Dante said.

  “Oh no! That’s what happened?” Marie asked, sliding the ring onto her right ring finger. “But who found it? We searched everywhere around that table.”

  Dante cleared his throat. “When you dropped the ring, Jade saw it and thought you’d thrown it away. She tried to tell me…but I didn’t listen to her,” Dante said, looking at his daughter with some sadness. “I’m sorry I ignored you, Jade.”

  “That’s okay, Daddy,” Jade replied and smiled.

  Shelly looked at Marie. “She didn’t realize it was an accident when you dropped the ring on the floor.”

  “I’m sorry,” Jade said to Marie in a small voice. “I thought you didn’t want it. I never take things that aren’t mine.”

  Holly moved closer to Jade and took her sister’s hand for moral support.

  “Oh, Jade, I know you would never take anything that wasn’t yours. I should have been more careful when I tried to put the ring in my purse. I’m so happy you found it and kept it safe for me. Thanks to you, I have it back. Can I have a hug?” Marie asked.

  Both girls smiled and rushed Marie. She bent over and hugged them. Then she hugged Dante and Shelly.

  “So Ray will never need to know it was lost. I’d suggest bringing it up to your room and putting it in whatever safe place you use. We’ll tell Ray you went up to take an aspirin for a headache and will be right down. How’s that sound?” I asked.

  “Perfect. I told him earlier I felt a headache coming on. I don’t know how to thank you all,” Marie said looking at all of us, her eyes shining with tears.

  “Just come back and visit us again,” Grandma said, smiling at her.

  “We will!” Marie said. “Guaranteed!” She hugged Grandma Addie, Nana Anna, and Grace.

  Then Grace took Marie out the inside kitchen door to the west hallway. She’d make sure Marie got to her room safely by taking the back stairs to the second floor.

  In the meantime, Dante and Shelly explained to their daughters that they needed to keep the story of the ring a secret. They told them that Mrs. Wescott didn’t want her husband to know she’d lost the ring. Both girls listened closely and nodded.

  “So we pretend it never happened? Like make believe?” Jade asked.

  “Exactly,” Shelly said, and both girls smiled.

  “We can do that,” Holly replied, and Jade nodded.

  “Perfect,” Dante said, smiling at his daughters.

  “Why don’t we go work on a jigsaw puzzle in the parlor? It’s still early,” Shelly proposed, and both girls cheered. Soon, they trooped out the kitchen door with Nana Anna leading the way down the west hallway to the front parlor.

  Grandma couldn’t stop smiling. She hugged Sam and then she hugged me.

  “I knew you two could do it. You saved the B&B!” she said. Her blue eyes twinkled. Sam looked at me and smiled.

  I felt a flood of relief. “Failure was never an option, Grandma,” I replied with a straight face. What I was really thinking was Thank heavens my hunch about Marie’s ring panned out!

  Chapter 22

  Sam and I went back out into the dining room to our small table. I had a cup of caramel cappuccino coffee and Sam had a mug of hot water. He sat down with a grunt of relief.

  “I’ll be right back,” I said and went over to talk to Ray Wescott.

  “Ray, your wife ran upstairs to get an aspirin. She wanted you to know she’ll be right down,” I said.

  Ray removed his glasses and tilted his long face as he looked up at me.

  “It must be all the stress over the ring.”

  My jaw dropped. “I…I…uh…ring?” I could feel my face heat up as I looked down at him.

  “Young lady, I am not a stupid man,” Ray said. The twinkle had left his eyes. He twirled his glasses a few times by one stem. Then he put them back on and regarded me quietly. The jig was up.

  “You know then,” I said and flopped into the chair across from him.

  “Marie and I have been married for forty years. After a lifetime together, I can read her moods like the weather. When she’s happy, it’s warm and sunny. When she’s upset, it’s like a storm surrounds her, no matter how much she tries to hide it. I knew something had happened last night and discovered later it was the ring.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything?” I asked.

  Ray sighed. “If Marie didn’t tell me, then t
here was a reason she didn’t want me to know.”

  “Ray, she just didn’t want to worry you. She felt so badly about losing the ring. She loves it so much. When you were playing cards with the Cloutiers, it was loose on her finger so she decided to put it in her purse. She was sure she had dropped the ring into one of the front pockets. Instead, it hit the carpet and bounced. One of the little girls thought Marie had thrown it away. She decided to give it to her sister as a surprise.”

  “Really? What a fluke!” Ray replied, his eyebrows shooting up.

  “It was. I’m sorry. I guess we should have encouraged her to tell you,” I said.

  Ray waved a hand and sighed. “Marie can be very stubborn. I knew she was upset about something after we played poker. Initially, I thought it was the DeMarco boy because he made her nervous. However, today Marie stopped wearing the ruby ring. She said she had a rash and put Band-Aids on her right ring finger. So when she was in the bathroom this morning, I looked in the small box she uses for jewelry when we travel. The ring wasn’t there. That was when I knew it must have gone missing. Later, I asked her if something was wrong and she said everything was fine. So it was my decision to not press her on it.”

  “Marie wanted us to investigate the missing ring before she told you,” I replied.

  Ray Wescott nodded. “I knew that when we saw you in the parlor. You shook your head at Marie and I felt her sadness. It killed me, but I was glad you were helping her.”

  “She was trying to protect you and you were trying to protect her,” I said quietly.

  “That’s what you do for people you love,” Ray agreed and smiled.

  I nodded. “I’ve done that myself. It’s not always easy keeping secrets though.”

  Ray smiled. “It’s worth it in the end. I want you to know that this secret is safe with me. I won’t say a word and I’ll pay any expenses involved.”

  I shook my head. “No expenses. We’re just happy Marie has the ring back.”

  “Thank you for everything you did,” he said and reached over to pat my hand. “Rest assured we’re going to get Marie’s ring resized,” he added, and I smiled.

  I saw Marie approaching us and waved at her. She smiled and waved back. I stood as she reached the table and watched her slide into the chair next to him.

  “Liz said you have a headache, sweetheart?” he asked.

  “The aspirin is already working,” she replied. They stared at each other and Marie put her hand on Ray’s hand.

  Smiling, I walked away. I don’t think either one noticed.

  Chapter 23

  I rejoined Sam at the small table and took a big gulp of coffee.

  “Ray Wescott figured out that Marie had lost her ring and that we were helping her,” I said.

  Sam’s eyebrows shot up and he looked over at the Wescott table. “Really? Why didn’t he say something?”

  I shrugged. “He felt if she wanted him to know, she would have told him. When she didn’t, he kept quiet.”

  Sam sighed and shook his head. “We could have interviewed both of them.”

  “I admire them. They were protecting each other,” I replied, and Sam made a face. I made a face right back at him and he laughed.

  We watched Marie and Ray Wescott leave the dining room arm in arm. Then the DeMarco family decided to regroup in the front parlor. When Tony and Susan stopped by our table, Sam and I both stood.

  “Thank you again.” Tony said and shook our hands.

  “I don’t have the words to explain what a life changing day this has been,” said Susan. Then she hugged both Sam and me. They both hurried toward the dining room door. Minutes later, Megan was bickering with Nick about something as they passed by our table, but both gave us a wave. We waved back.

  “It’s like they’ve been cousins and known each other forever,” I said, and Sam smiled.

  Finally, Josh stopped by our table.

  “First, I wanted to apologize for all the drama,” he said. “Dan wasn’t sure he wanted to meet Mom. I think he was afraid for some reason. So I went over to his place to try to persuade him to join us for dinner. I couldn’t tell my family about him until I was sure he’d come here to the B&B.”

  “You did a great job,” Sam replied.

  “It did turn out well,” Josh agreed and smiled shyly. “Mom and Dan are really hitting it off. I’ve never seen her so happy. He and Nick are coming here tomorrow to have Thanksgiving dinner with us. And we’ve invited them to our house for Christmas.”

  “It’s a fairy tale ending,” I said.

  Josh shook his head and looked at us with wide eyes. “It gets even better. Do you know the Blackwells?”

  “Nancy and David? Sure. They’re our neighbors. Great people,” I replied.

  Josh shifted on his feet. “Well, Nancy picked up that Nick and I had both been in the Marines and stopped by to chat with us. She said that she donates Great Dane service dogs to ex-military, people with balance issues, and so on. I explained that I had been diagnosed with PTSD and Nick said that he’d been diagnosed with acute anxiety. So Nancy gave us her card. Next week, Nick and I are going out to the Blackwell farm to learn about the service dog process. I’d like to explore whether a service dog would be a good option for me.”

  “That’s great! You’ll love the Blackwell farm. Nancy will put you both to work. She has kennels with both puppies and younger dogs. There are a couple of trainers there who teach the dogs everything they need to know to be certified as service dogs. If you decide to apply for a service dog and are approved, they’ll work with you and whatever dog you’re matched with too,” I replied.

  “I’m looking forward to the visit,” Josh said and smiled broadly. It was startling how the smile transformed his face. I wanted to tell him he should smile more, but I feared that would make him self-conscious.

  “You’re going to drive back to Mystic Grove yourself?” Sam asked.

  Josh nodded. “Yeah, I’m not quite the mess my parents think I am. Although I do have a lot of things I still need to work on. I asked Megan to come too, so that will relax my folks.”

  “I’m happy it turned out so well,” I said.

  “Me too. Thanks again,” Josh replied and smiled at both of us. I jumped up and hugged him. Sam shook his hand. We were all smiling as Josh left the dining room.

  Chapter 24

  Sam sipped some of his water and then sat back and looked at me.

  “What tipped you to the ring being in the little girl’s bag?” he asked.

  “A cupcake topper.”

  “Cupcake topper? What’s that?” he asked.

  I looked at him in surprise. “The plastic decoration in the middle of a cupcake. Turkeys. Smiley faces. Unicorns. You know.”

  “Oh! I didn’t know those things had a name. How did a cupcake topper tip you off?”

  I explained how I’d seen Holly pick up a brightly-colored cupcake topper from the floor and put it in her bag of “Special Things.”

  “It just clicked that she might have picked up Marie’s ring and put it in her bag last night. It was a lucky hunch. Both Holly and Jade were there with their parents. They often play on the floor. However, because they were kids, I overlooked them as witnesses,” I said and shrugged.

  “Hunches are good,” Sam replied. “That was excellent work.”

  I sipped my coffee and smiled. “Thanks. In the end, both cases turned out to be fun. And Grandma is beyond relieved. She’s back to her nice old self.”

  “I noticed. I’m not getting those occasional death glares from her,” he replied and we both laughed.

  After a pause, he asked, “So when are you going back East?”

  “Back East?”

  “To your job as an interpreter,” he said. I remembered then that I hadn’t been exactly straight with him about my current work situation.

  “Oh, that. Well, actually, I’m not going back. The traveling burned me out. I also missed my family, so I gave notice and came home. When you asked befo
re, I didn’t really want to talk about it,” I said. I don’t know why, but I still didn’t want to tell him about the unpaid leave of absence.

  Sam nodded. “So when did you quit?”

  “Two months ago. In September.”

  “Two months. Have you been looking for another job? Or will you work here at the B&B?”

  I inhaled and puffed out my cheeks as I thought about my fruitless job search. “I’ve been looking, but so far nothing has really jumped out at me. Grandma has been encouraging me to become…how does she put it? ‘A gainfully employed, responsible citizen,’” I replied and laughed. “Until then, I’ll help out at the B&B.”

  Sam nodded and sipped his water. “You live upstairs with your family?”

  “No, I live in the coach house out back with two cousins and my younger sister, Katie. But Katie’s traveling down South and will probably not be back until spring. She’s an artist and photographer,” I replied. I missed my younger sister.

  “Hunh. You have an interesting family. What was the name of the place you worked at again?” asked Sam.

  “Worldhead Global Security in Virginia.”

  “Virginia? I don’t think I’ve ever been there. Tell me about some of your interpreting jobs,” Sam said.

  I took a sip of coffee to buy a little time. I couldn’t tell Sam anything about the Covert Services Group or the work I had really done at Worldhead. I decided to tell part of the truth.

  “To be honest, Sam, there’s not a lot I can share. I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement for each project I worked on. So I can’t tell you any more than I already have.”

  Sam’s brown eyes darkened as he tried to stare me down. He was either attempting to read me or get more details about my work. Years of playing that game with my siblings and cousins had made me a master at the stare-off. Sam finally looked down at his water.

  “Okay, that’s reasonable,” he agreed, but sounded disappointed. He took a pen out of his pocket and started twirling it between the fingers of his right hand.