Miss Janie’s Girls

by Brown, Carolyn

  Bringing Teresa and Kayla into her home might have made Miss Janie feel like she was redeeming herself for giving away her own little babies. She’d said that at that moment she knew she had absolution for her sins.

  Each of them had brought their own collection of baggage with them to Birthright. If Miss Janie was in her right mind, she might be able to help them figure things out.

  A smile tickled the corners of his mouth as he thought about everything that had happened in the past few days. “You sly old gal,” he laughed. “Somewhere in that tangled mind of yours, you’ve brought us all back to the house so we can sort out our problems, haven’t you?”

  It is what it is. The whispered answer in his head sounded like Miss Janie’s voice.

  Chapter Nine

  Noah was five miles outside of Tyler, Texas, that Wednesday afternoon when he got a phone call from Teresa.

  “Hey, are you still coming home tomorrow?” she asked.

  “No. I’m on my way home right now. I got finished early,” he answered. Her voice warmed his heart and made him wish he were already there, but he had at least another hour of driving. “What’s going on?”

  “Everything is pretty normal for this place, but Miss Janie can’t walk now. She slid down on the floor and couldn’t get up. Since then, we’re having to lift her. We need a wheelchair. A hospital bed and a bedside potty chair would be nice, too, and maybe a shower chair. Thank goodness she had a walk-in shower installed in the past ten years,” Teresa answered.

  He could have listened to her soft southern voice read the dictionary, but then, he’d been sitting in a car with no one to talk to for two days. “I’m actually about to reach the Tyler exit, so I’ll pick up what you need there and have it to the house in the next couple of hours. The job I was doing, plus another one, ended quicker than I thought they would.”

  “That’s great,” she said. “We’ll be looking for you.”

  “Got sweet tea made up?” he asked.

  “Always,” she answered.

  Her voice changed slightly, and he could imagine her smiling.

  “Sweet tea is about the only normalcy left here,” she continued.

  “Then by all means, let’s keep some made up. We need something normal around there,” he said. “I see a medical supply place up ahead of me. See you soon.”

  Blake Shelton was singing “Goodbye Time” when he ended the call. He sat in his truck and listened to the whole song. The lyrics of the song told the story of someone losing the love of his life and having to tell her goodbye. Noah wondered if the song wasn’t an omen—with Miss Janie’s new development, it wouldn’t be long until he’d be saying goodbye to her. According to his father, men did not cry, but as Noah wiped tears from his cheeks, he disagreed.

  “Goodbye time is tough,” he whispered, and tried to think of something he could look forward to saying farewell to. The thought of his PI work ending put a smile on his face instead of bringing tears to his eyes. He could choose his clients and his hours and be doing something for the people of his community at the same time. That would make Miss Janie happy.

  He was able to purchase all three items Teresa had asked for at the store, and the salesclerk even helped load the boxes into the back of his truck. For the next hour, he listened to the same country music station, and every single song seemed to have a message for him. Luke Combs was now singing “Beer Never Broke My Heart.”

  He could sure enough agree with every word except for the thing about beer. Whiskey and his own stupidity had been the two things that had caused him to hit rock bottom and get his heart broken in the process. On the day after Thanksgiving he’d have been sober for six years. He’d found a meeting in Sulphur Springs and tried to get in one a couple of times a month. So far that had been enough, but still the day might come when he would want to fall off the wagon, and if that happened, he knew where to go.

  Jason Aldean was singing “Rearview Town” when he turned off the interstate north toward Birthright. “Another omen,” Noah whispered. “Only it should say life in the rearview rather than town.”

  The crunch of gravel in the driveway sent Teresa’s pulse up a notch or two as she sat on the porch with Kayla and Miss Janie. Noah was home.

  That last word played over and over in her head. Was Birthright really her home? True enough, it had been the most stable place she’d ever lived. She’d seen a sign years ago at a craft fair that said “Home is where the heart is.” If that was the truth, then no place was home. Since she was a little girl, her heart had been floating around like one of those fancy satellites in space.

  As Noah got out of the truck, she could see the tiredness in his face. Dark circles ringed his eyes, and his smile had dimmed. Whatever job he’d been on had robbed him of good sleep. She recognized the signs from the times when she had spent sleepless nights in the trailer worrying about whether one of her mother’s boyfriends might either knock her around or get all handsy with her.

  “Luther!” Miss Janie squealed and clapped her hands. “You made it home.”

  “I sure did. How are you, Miss Janie?” He crossed the yard.

  “Why are you callin’ me that?” She stuck her lower lip out in a pout. “You always call me Sarah Jane.”

  “Sorry,” Noah apologized. “You look so cute with your friends, I thought you looked like a Miss Janie today.”

  She giggled. “I kind of like it, so I forgive you. Come and tell me about the war. You know I always crave news about where you’ve been. You don’t write nearly often enough.” She held up her arms for a hug. “Mama says it’s because that woman you’re keeping company with takes up all your time.”

  Noah hugged her and then sat down on the top step of the porch. “Let’s talk about you instead, and you can tell Mama that I’m not dating that girl anymore. I’m getting serious about a nurse I met. What have you been doing since I was home?”

  A shot of jealousy chased through Teresa’s heart. Was Noah talking about himself, or was he pretending to be Luther? Had there been a recent serious relationship in his life?

  “I broke my legs,” she answered. “My nurses told me that you’d bring me a wheelchair to use until they get well. Did you remember?”

  “Yes, ma’am, I did.” He pointed toward the truck. “It’s right out there, and look what else I got you.” He brought a chocolate bar out of his shirt pocket.

  “You always remember how much I love candy.” Her old eyes sparkled as she reached for it.

  “Be careful,” Teresa warned. She could feel a blush creeping up the back of her neck, but she couldn’t get rid of the picture in her head of him with another woman, and she flat-out did not like it. “You might fall off the swing.” Kayla took the candy from him, tore the wrapper free, and handed it off to Miss Janie. “Noah is sweet to remember to bring you something.”

  “Why are you talking about Noah?” Miss Janie asked. “This is Luther, silly girl. Noah couldn’t buy candy. He only had whatever they took on the ark, and he lived a long time before I was born.” Miss Janie took a bite. “This is so good. I haven’t had one of these since you came home last time. Mama says that it’ll ruin my teeth and make me fat. Don’t tell her you brought it, okay?”

  Noah put a finger over his lips. “It’ll be our secret. What else does Mama tell you when I’m gone?”

  “That I must be a good girl and sit up like a lady and to stop rolling my eyes at her. Sittin’ up ain’t too hard, but sometimes I turn my back and roll my eyes,” Miss Janie said between bites.

  “Why do you turn your back?” Kayla asked.

  “Because if she sees me, she slaps my face real hard, and it hurts.” Miss Janie put a hand on her cheek as if she could feel the pain by talking about it.

  “Does Daddy say anything when she hits you?” Noah asked.

  Miss Janie shivered. “Her slaps don’t hurt as bad as his belt. He didn’t have to whip you because you were a good boy, but he says girls got to learn their place so they’ll be g
ood wives. Let’s go inside and get some milk. If you ask for it first, Mama won’t say no.”

  Teresa blinked back tears. Who would ever have thought, as kind and sweet as Miss Janie had been to her two foster daughters, that she’d been an abused child? She’d made the comment that she didn’t ever want to get married. No wonder, if she thought those whippings went along with being a wife.

  “How about I get your new wheelchair out of the truck, and we give you a ride in it?” Noah asked. “No racing through the house, though. You might break something, and that would make Mama mad for sure.”

  Miss Janie clapped her hands and squealed like a little girl. “I promise I’ll be careful.” She lowered her voice. “But I might race down the hallway if Mama isn’t looking.”

  “I’ll help you bring it and whatever else is out there,” Teresa offered, and stood up.

  Kayla moved closer to Miss Janie. “If y’all need me, just yell. I’ll stay right here with Miss Janie, in case she needs help eating all that delicious chocolate.”

  “Thank you,” Miss Janie giggled and took another bite.

  When they’d crossed the yard and were almost to the truck, Teresa remembered to say, “Welcome home. Miss Janie missed you.”

  “Thanks.” He grinned. “Is she the only one who missed me?”

  Granted it had been a while, but Teresa knew flirting when she saw it, and Noah was definitely flirting with her. She air slapped him on the arm. “Of course not. We all did.”

  “Well, it’s good to be back.” His smile got even bigger. “I missed being home.”

  He didn’t say he missed her in particular, but the twinkle in his eyes gave her hope. Then the smile faded, and he pulled the box with the wheelchair out of the back of the truck.

  “This sure happened fast,” he said.

  “I expected a gradual thing, too, but one minute she’s shuffling along with a walker and the next she’s flat on the floor and her legs won’t work.” Teresa followed him across the yard.

  “The doctor said we could expect anything, and the decline could be slow or come along in the blink of an eye,” Noah said.

  “What were you doin’? Or is it classified?” she asked.

  “Surveillance for an old friend,” he told her. “I got all the information he needed, so now he doesn’t even have to go. I owed him because he’s the guy who helped find you and Kayla for Miss Janie.”

  Well, thank God for that guy, whoever he is, she thought.

  “Looks to me like you could use about twenty hours of sleep,” she said as she watched him use his pocketknife to open the box.

  “Is that the voice of experience I’m hearing?” He pulled the chair out, popped it open, and attached the footrests.

  “Yes, it is. Anytime I could work a double shift, I did it,” she answered.

  “You’re working triple shifts every day here,” he reminded her as he picked up the chair and started toward the porch with it.

  “But here I only have one patient, not a whole wing,” she told him.

  “How do I get into that thing when my legs don’t work?” Miss Janie frowned at the two of them. “The doctor says my hip isn’t broken, so I don’t know why they won’t work.”

  “Maybe they’ll get well if you stay off them,” Kayla said. “And we’ll carry you to the chair like we did when we brought you out to the porch.”

  “Good thing I didn’t eat two candy bars.” Miss Janie giggled. “I’d be so fat you couldn’t pick me up.”

  Teresa had to fight more tears. The poor old girl had lived with abuse like she and Kayla had, and she’d never talked about it.

  “Did Aunt Ruthie ever punish you with a belt?” Teresa asked as she and Noah put Miss Janie into the wheelchair.

  “Aunt Ruthie loved me.” She lowered her chin and looked up at Teresa. “She said she never married because she wasn’t going to have a man tell her what to do, and if she ever had a child, she’d never whip it with a belt.”

  Noah and Teresa locked eyes over the top of Miss Janie’s head. Without saying a word, they both understood a little more of Miss Janie’s struggles and how those had made her the woman she’d come to be.

  They managed to get the chair through the front door, and Teresa wheeled her into her bedroom. The other two followed behind her. This was sure easier than trying to carry an elderly woman from the bed to the porch or to the living room several times a day.

  When Teresa parked the chair beside the bed, Miss Janie held up her arms for Noah to lift her up and lay her down. “How’d you like that ride?” he asked.

  “It don’t go fast enough,” she said. “Now, y’all get on out of here and let me go to sleep. The babies will wake up in a little while and need me.”

  “Time travel,” Teresa whispered to Noah and Kayla.

  “And some folks deny the possibility of such a thing.” He laid a hand on Teresa’s shoulder. “If y’all got this under control, I’m going to clean out my truck, then get a shower and do a load of laundry.”

  “We got it.” Teresa was surprised that her voice went an octave higher than normal, but that her pulse raced from his touch—not so much. That happened every time Noah was even close to her. For several minutes after he’d gone, she could still feel the warmth of his hand on her shoulder. She hoped Kayla couldn’t see her discomfiture.

  Once Miss Janie was settled in and had closed her eyes, the women tiptoed out of the room and eased the door shut. Kayla led the way to the kitchen and poured two glasses of sweet tea and then set a platter of cookies on the table.

  “How’d you feel about what Miss Janie told us about her dad’s belt?” Kayla asked. “You ever experience that kind of thing?”

  Teresa took a big gulp of her tea and then set it down. “Of course. Did you?”

  “My stepdad loved to beat on me. I was the cause of everything that went wrong at our house, no matter what. Stuff that happened when I wasn’t even there was my fault,” Kayla admitted. “But I got to thinkin’ while she was sayin’ those things, if she could become the sweet lady who took us into her home after the treatment she got from her parents, then maybe there’s a chance for me to be less bitter.”

  Teresa nodded at the thought. “My mother was draggin’ men into the trailer all the time. Sometimes for a weekend, sometimes a month or two. They liked to knock me around like they were my daddy, or else try to feel me up like I was their girlfriend. I learned to sleep with one eye open.” She stopped and took a long drink of her tea. “I’ve been thinkin’ more about things this past week than I have in years. Old hurts and memories of the divorce that I thought I’d destroyed have surfaced. I guess it’s coming back here that’s brought them out again. I’m not sure there’s enough time left in my life for me to ever be a sweet old lady.”

  Kayla narrowed her green eyes at Teresa but didn’t say a word.

  “Don’t glare at me, woman,” Teresa said. “I didn’t say I couldn’t change somewhat. I said I might never be a sweet old woman.”

  “That’s better.” Kayla pushed her chair back, rounded the table, and got out a quart of ice cream. “We never know what the future might hold. Ever see that really old movie called Overboard? Goldie Hawn found her family and wound up with a bunch of little boys before the end of it.”

  Teresa nodded. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

  “There are single men out there with families who might be the very person waiting to fall in love with you,” Kayla answered as she opened the silverware drawer and took out two spoons.

  Teresa was wondering if there really were any good men left in the world, and if there were, did she even want to be with one of them, when Noah walked into the room. He wore a pair of gray sweatpants, a snow-white T-shirt, and no shoes. He went to the coffeepot, and in minutes, the aroma filled the whole kitchen. While the coffee perked, he took the lasagna that was left over from supper the night before, cut off a slab, and stuck it in the microwave.

  Watching him right then, livi
ng in the same house with him these past weeks—Noah was one of the few good men left in the world. Any man who would put his life on hold to come to a place like Birthright to take care of his ailing great-aunt had to be a good person. What would it be like to be in a serious relationship with him? Was he the single man Kayla just mentioned?

  “Y’all can have that ice cream and cookies,” he said. “I’ve lived on sandwiches and junk food since I left. I’m so glad to find some leftovers in the fridge.”

  “Good thing you got here when you did,” Teresa said. “Anything Italian doesn’t last long around here.”

  “Or Mexican,” Kayla said. “Teresa made enchiladas yesterday. You should’ve been here then. I ate the last of it this morning for breakfast.”

  “Y’all are killin’ me,” he groaned. “Will you make more next week?”

  “Yep, but you have to be here to get any of it,” Teresa answered. “If you’re off on one of your trips, then you’ll lose out, again.”

  “Believe me, honey, I’ll be here.” The microwave dinged, and he took the lasagna to the table and sat down. “I’ll have some of those cookies for dessert. As Miss Janie used to say, ‘It don’t get no better than this.’ Y’all know something—I believe being around Miss Janie has healing powers.”

  Noah definitely seemed more relaxed and less tense than he had been before he left. What exactly had happened on that trip?

  “That’s what we were just talking about,” Teresa said. There was that squeak in her voice again, but then, Noah’s knee was right next to hers under the table.

  “I’ve been wondering . . .” Kayla dipped deep into the ice cream. “Y’all don’t laugh at me, but something I overheard Sam and Miss Janie talking about a couple of days ago has stuck in my mind. What would it take to start up a place here in Birthright for the senior citizens? You know, like they have in the big cities, only smaller—where old folks can gather up and play dominoes and have lunch together.”