Guarded

by Angela Correll

  “He’s in Western Kentucky with Joe and won’t be back until tomorrow,” Annie said.

  “I’m heating up leftovers.”

  Annie brought out plates and silverware.

  “Sounds good to me.”

  They filled their plates and Annie said grace. The food tasted better this time around since the night before her emotions were topsy-turvy.

  “How are you feeling about everything?” Annie asked.

  “It was a good day of thinking and praying,” she said, taking a sip of her iced tea.

  “I was worried last night,” Annie said.

  The expression on her granddaughter’s face reminded Beulah of when Annie was a little girl with long, dark hair pulled back into a ponytail, eyes wide and wondering.

  “Grief is a funny thing. Sometimes it’s a nicely contained river you have to cross from time to time and sometimes it floods through like a dam has broken. I guess my dam broke last night,” she said, smiling at her granddaughter. “At least some of it was grief, but I was also looking at things wrong,” she said.

  “How do you mean?” Annie asked.

  “Oh, I reckon I idolized my older brother. I suppose I even canonized him if you could do that in the Baptist denomination,” she chuckled. “But I realized today I was wrong. He was human and needed grace, just like I do, every day.”

  Beulah took a breath and went on.

  “I also realized we don’t need to fear the truth. Not that we won’t have emotions or even damage from knowing truth, but it need not be feared when we have God to help us face things. What I’m trying to say … please see what you can find out about the Caivanos. We can still have Janice write the letter next week, but if you can find anything out on the computer, we should try it.”

  Annie nodded. “Well, good, because Janice has already been searching. And she’s reading the Italian sites, which only she could do anyway.”

  Beulah leaned over her plate of food, eager to hear the results.

  “There are lots of Caivanos, all over Italy,” Annie said. “There are several E. Caivanos, but nobody named Elena is coming up. When she typed in the Naples address, nothing happened. She’s even tried sites where you can see the building from the street, but nothing comes up for the address.”

  “Well, I guess that answers the question,” Beulah said, the words coming out in a sigh.

  “There’s another option,” Annie said. “Instead of staying on the farm next week, Janice and I can go to Italy and see what we can find by actually being on the ground.”

  Beulah pushed her plate away and crossed her arms on the table.

  “Oh no, I can’t let you spend your savings when we don’t even know if there’s anything to find,” Beulah said.

  “Janice has a buddy pass I can use through the airline. If the flight loads cooperate, we can fly free. We won’t know exactly when we will be able to leave or come home, which makes it a little risky. But a free trip is worth it. I don’t know when Janice and I could manage this time together, so it feels like the right thing.”

  “But where would you stay? Big city hotels are terribly expensive, or so I’ve heard.”

  “Janice has a big family and half of them are in Italy. Her cousin has an apartment in Naples we can use. Another cousin works for a rental car agency and can get us a discount. It won’t cost much. Janice is giving us a gift.”

  It was strange how this was coming about. In Beulah’s thinking and praying time today, she had an overwhelming peace God would make a way if they were meant to pursue these old family connections. Here it was. Janice’s offer to sacrifice a relaxing week on the farm for travel she did all the time was a gift and Beulah decided to accept it.

  “A fine idea,” she said.

  The surprise on Annie’s face nearly made Beulah laugh.

  “You didn’t think I’d want you to go?”

  “Honestly, I thought you’d be afraid to find out they might not be alive or they’d want nothing to do with us,” she said.

  “Those things might just be the case. Either way, I don’t want to go to my grave knowing we didn’t try. Janice’s offer to translate and take you without much expense, well, it’s too good to pass up.”

  Beulah poured another glass of tea.

  “You’ll still need food and you may even need other things we aren’t thinking about. I’ll give you money to cover anything else for the two of you.”

  Annie looked at her grandmother in wonderment.

  “You amaze me,” she said. “As soon as I know how you are going to react, you surprise me.”

  “Sometimes it surprises me,” she said and chuckled.

  The euphoric feeling of freedom gave way to a taste for something sweet. Then she remembered the chunk of date cake she had frozen for just such a time as this.

  Chapter Nineteen

  AFTER THEIR EARLY supper, Annie packed up her toothbrush and pajamas. She decided to spend the night at Jake’s cottage while he was in Western Kentucky so she could unpack the mess of boxes and take advantage of his satellite television and movie collection. Scott’s car was parked in Evelyn’s driveway, so she stopped to say hello before going on to the cottage behind the main house.

  “Annie,” Evelyn said when she walked into the kitchen. Scott’s smile was warm when he stood to his feet and he shook her hand when she extended it. Annie greeted Mary Beth, who always had the look of a pretty department store doll, with her porcelain skin and auburn curls framing her face.

  “We just finished eating,” Evelyn said. “Would you like something?”

  “I’ve had supper, but thank you. I’m staying in the cottage tonight while Jake is gone to get things organized.”

  “Thank goodness,” Evelyn said.

  “Everyone is going to so much trouble,” Mary Beth said. “We really appreciate it.” She looked at Scott.

  “We do. It’s special to get married here. Annie, did you know Mary Beth and I met over lunch in this house? It was Evelyn’s turn to host and they invited me since I was new in town.”

  “And me, the first weekend I was alone and without the kids after the divorce,” Mary Beth said. “We couldn’t think of a more perfect place.”

  “I knew Evelyn and Grandma’s after-church Sunday dinners played a role, but I didn’t know y’all actually met here.” Evelyn motioned for her to sit down at the table and she did.

  “We’ll be forever grateful to Evelyn and Beulah and their ministry,” Scott said.

  Annie hadn’t thought before about Evelyn and Beulah’s Sunday afternoon dinners being a “ministry,” but maybe ministry didn’t always mean a tax status. Annie liked Scott with his short dark hair and athletic build. He was warm and approachable, unlike other ministers she had known in her youth. The young Grace Community church had been a refreshing option for both Jake and her after coming back to Somerville.

  “I’ll let y’all get back to wedding planning.”

  “Take one of my cinnamon rolls for breakfast tomorrow morning,” Evelyn said as she put a gooey roll onto a plate and handed it to Annie. She doubted it would last until morning.

  Inside the cottage, she dropped her overnight bag on the couch and stared at the boxes stacked and pushed to the corners of the room. Jake had practically lived out of a suitcase for weeks, ignoring the things he didn’t need on a daily basis, which appeared to be very little.

  She started with clothing and hung each item in the closet or folded it and placed it in the chest of drawers. Finishing one box of winter clothes, she tackled another.

  There was an intimacy to handling another person’s clothing. It made her long for these daily domestic rituals with Jake when such things as this would be part of their life together. She was barely able to enjoy the fantasy when a sobering thought barged into her mind: Did my father feel this way about my mother before they married?

  With one of Jake’s shirts hugged to her chest, she sat on the bed. Did my father long for intimacy before it arrived with such smo
thering sense of responsibility? And when the claustrophobia came, did it come on like a sharp pain or muscle spasm? Or did it make a gradual entrance into the relationship, like a rising tide that ebbed its way into the sand?

  These were questions she had never thought to ask her father. She never wanted to spoil the little time they spent together with hard questions. Now she regretted that neediness. If she had dealt with those things earlier, maybe they wouldn’t be popping up now at the very worst possible time.

  ***

  Later that night, Jake called her as she readied for bed.

  “How’s it going?”

  “The goat farm was educational,” he said. “They’re making gourmet cheese in an old tobacco barn and the set-up is nice. It’s good to see what other people are doing and how they’re doing it. What about you?”

  “Well, I do have all your clothes put away. I’m leaving the books for tomorrow morning. Right now I’m in my pajamas and looking at your movie collection, which is pretty high testosterone for my taste.”

  “You’re spending the night?” Jake said. “I hope it’s a more permanent arrangement soon.” She smiled into the phone but didn’t trust her voice.

  “It looks like Janice and I are going to Italy next week instead of her coming here for a visit,” she said.

  “Italy?” Jake said.

  “Crazy, I know, but it’s all coming together.”

  Annie filled him in on the details.

  “Sounds like a good idea,” he said. It was a moment of silence before he said, “I’m glad you’re getting to the bottom of it, but I will miss you.”

  The emotion closed around her throat and she could not respond.

  “I love you, Annie. Don’t ever doubt it.”

  After she hung up, all her intentions of watching a movie disappeared, ushering in sadness after the uncomfortable phone call. Jake had sensed something was wrong. Of course he did. How could he not?

  If she talked to her father, possibly he could answer some of her questions and make sense of everything. It was early morning in Spain, probably not a bad time to reach him. After a brief pause, she scrolled through and found his number.

  After several rings, Annie was nearly ready to hang up when a female voice finally answered.

  “Hello?”

  “Is Ed there?” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

  “Who is this?” The woman had an American accent.

  “His daughter,” she said, her voice stronger now. “May I speak to him?”

  “Daughter?” the woman laughed. “Ed doesn’t have a daughter. He’s not here right now anyway, but next time you call, you may as well say who you really are.”

  The line went dead.

  Annie sat in stunned silence and stared at her cell phone.

  ***

  Vesta was seated in a wheelchair in the sunroom, her glasses dangling from her neck by a delicate metal chain. Annie pulled a chair up next to her and sat down.

  “I read through all the papers and didn’t find anything,” Annie said.

  “Neither did I,” Vesta said, studying her. “Are you giving up?”

  “Oh no. It’s why I’m here. I want to know where to go now,” Annie said.

  “William Champ, I believe. He’s the one I would try next. His letters can also be found at the History Center.”

  “It will be a while before I can get there. I’m going to Italy in a few days,” she said. And then she told Vesta the whole story about Ephraim and his Italian child.

  “My, my, what an exciting adventure!” Vesta clasped her hands together and, for a moment, she envisioned the old woman as a young girl.

  “Italy was a place I always wanted to go. So much history!”

  “It’s beautiful, although all of my experience has primarily been in the city of Rome on layovers, so I can’t quite say I’ve seen the country.”

  Vesta put on her glasses and peered at Annie as if she were a bug under a microscope.

  “You don’t look happy for someone going to Italy,” she said, taking off her glasses. “There’s more you’re not telling me.”

  She lifted her chin and met Vesta’s penetrating stare. “I’ll bet you never had a student lie to you,” she said.

  “Maybe once, but it never happened a second time,” Vesta said.

  Annie smiled and she could see the corner of Vesta’s mouth crease just a bit, even while she tried to be stern with her.

  “It’s my name. Around here, I’ll always be known by what the Taylors before me have done. Lately, I’ve worried that I might really be like them … like my father.” She whispered the words, glad to have finally said them to another human.

  Vesta studied her for a minute before she spoke.

  “Listen, child, Jeremiah says: ‘Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.’”

  Vesta straightened in her chair and leveled a steady gaze at Annie.

  “When you come back from Italy, I want a report on what that means to you.”

  ***

  Janice had carefully watched the Rome flight loads and she was quite certain they would make the next day’s flight. Annie pulled out her suitcase, the one she had used on so many work trips, but now gathered dust under her bed.

  While she cleaned it off and began packing, she thought back to the last time she used her suitcase. She and Janice had been on a flight to Rome together when a random conversation with a passenger unraveled Stuart’s lies to her. She had just agreed to move in with him and planned to make the move when she landed. Her roommates had already found a replacement. What she learned on that flight made her realize he was not who she thought.

  To make matters worse, when Annie had landed, she found out her airline had been sold and she had lost her job. That fateful day had sent her running home to Kentucky and her grandmother. What had seemed like complete devastation at the time ended up being the best. She came home just as Jake was considering a move back to the farm. It had all worked out better than she could have dreamed. If only she could return to those blissful days after she and Jake reconnected and before the ghost of her father’s sins began haunting.

  Annie packed clothes and toiletries in her suitcase and placed a photocopy of the letter from Lilliana Caivano, and the picture of Elena Caivano, in her purse along with her passport. There were even some euros stashed in her suitcase from that last trip to Rome.

  Janice’s number popped up on the cell phone lying beside her suitcase.

  “Hey,” she said. “I’m just packing.”

  “There’s a problem,” Janice said.

  She sat on the edge of her bed. “What is it?”

  “Have you been watching the news on those wildfires out West?”

  “Out in California?”

  “Right. Jimmy just got called out. He leaves tonight to spend a week out there relieving crews who have been working nonstop. They’re sending a whole unit from Brooklyn.”

  “They use city firefighters for forest fires?” Annie said.

  “Jimmy and some others had special training with the military. He’s on a reserve list for emergencies like this.”

  “Yeah, but the kids are gone, right?”

  “Left today. The problem is Mama DeVechio. Annie, the last time I had to work and Jimmy was on an overnight call, she invited people we don’t know into our house for pasta. Our DVD player went missing along with every small electronic device not tied down. The woman can’t stand to be alone. I guess it was growing up in a big family and in a village where everyone did everything together. If I leave her here for a week we’ll be robbed blind.”

  “Oh no, so we can’t go?”

  Annie couldn’t hide the disappointment.

  “There is one possibility. What if Mama DeVechio stayed with your grandmother for the week? She can ride buddy pass with me down to Lexington and I’ll pick her up on the way back. As long as she has access to a kitchen, she’ll be
happy as a clam. I’m sure she would love to see the farm. What do you think?”

  Mama DeVechio and Beulah. Annie nearly laughed out loud even though she had never even met Mrs. DeVechio. Janice’s stories about her mother-in-law were infamous. It would stretch her grandmother, but Annie had a feeling she would do it.

  “Let me ask her and I’ll call you back.” Downstairs, she found her grandmother in the kitchen, kneading dough.

  “Janice called and we have a small problem,” Annie said.

  Beulah reached for a towel and turned from the kitchen counter. Wiping her hands, she said, “What’s wrong?”

  Annie explained the situation.

  “Janice is mighty kind to do all of this for us. I can only return the favor. Of course, I’d be happy to have Mrs. DeVechio stay. The guest room is ready, and at least this way it will be used.”

  “Oh, thank you,” she hugged her grandmother. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. Janice says she’s a little feisty, but you both like to cook and you both like having people over to eat, so there are already two things you have in common.”

  Annie didn’t mention Mama DeVechio had invited strangers and Janice and Jimmy had been robbed because of it. As her grandmother had said once, “You don’t have to tell everything you know.” After all, Mama DeVechio couldn’t possibly invite anyone her grandmother didn’t already know.

  Back in her bedroom, Annie called Janice to tell her the news before she finished up the last-minute packing. With one final check of the guest room to make sure it was in order, she dressed for dinner at Evelyn’s.

  ***

  “So what’s this Mama DeVechio like?” Lindy asked.

  Jake, Beulah and Lindy all sat around Evelyn’s kitchen table.

  “I’ve never met her,” Annie said. “She moved in with Janice and Jimmy a few months ago.”

  “How long has she lived in America?” Evelyn asked.

  “She grew up in Italy, but I’m not sure when she moved here. Mrs. DeVechio lived with Jimmy’s sister until she decided to move to Florida. Apparently, Mrs. DeVechio didn’t want to go, so she stayed with Janice and Jimmy for a month and it seems to have worked out as a more permanent arrangement.”