Finding the Way Back (26 page)

Suddenly my grandmother was a real person to
me, a young woman who had trials and tribulations, trying to make
it through life. “How sad,” both Connie and I murmured together. “I
never heard her called Teo for short. How sweet,” I said.

“I know your grandfather wasn’t an angel but
he did try to do something good for your grandmother, and it’s not
easy to look at a woman’s mistake every day,” she ended
cryptically.

“What do you mean? Look at what every day?” I
asked, confused.

“Laney, your mother was born six months after
they were married,” Ruth said slowly, lifting her cup of tea and
raising an eyebrow.

“Oooh!” Connie gasped.

“What? Are you kidding? Does my mother know
this?”

“I’m not sure who knows anymore but it was a
bit of a scandal at the time. People didn’t openly talk about
illegitimacy back in those days. By the time your mother would have
been old enough to understand, people moved on to other scandals.
Soren could be a bit scary and no one wanted to get on his bad
side. They both held their heads high and acted as if the child was
his.”

I looked down at my tea. I’d gotten so
wrapped up in the story I hadn’t touched it yet. It was an
interesting perspective, Grandfather protecting Teoline’s honor. He
must have had some good qualities. I realized I had been making
Soren one dimensional in my mind.

“Oh my, I’ve monopolized the conversation.
Everyone have some lefse or a sandwich. I’ve forgotten my manners
in the midst of all this talk,” Ruth said, indicating the
treats.

Everyone took some treats from the tray.
Buttering my lefse I added a few spoonfuls of white sugar then
rolled it up. I brought the tea to my mouth and took a sip, then
fought not to spit it out.

“So what kind of tea is this?” I asked,
trying to be polite and disguising my displeasure.

“It’s Earl Grey, but I add my own secret
ingredient,” Louise said.

I wondered if that ingredient was dirty pond
water. Picking up the lefse I made sure to take a small bite, and
was glad I did. “So Louise, are you by any chance a budding
chef?”

“I’m so glad you can tell!” Louise answered
ardently. “I have been watching those cooking shows—you know, the
ones where it’s a contest to make something new from the same old
recipes. I call it Nor-fush, for Norwegian fusion cooking.”

She looked so pleased I didn’t know how I was
going to get out of the house without eating the rest of the lefse.
Trying to hide my dilemma, I put down the lefse and took another
sip of the tea, forcing it down.

“Is the secret ingredient garlic?” Connie
asked, wincing after a sip.

“Oh my, yes! That’s one of them,” Louise
answered, bringing her finger to her lips. “But I’m not sure it
works,” she answered hesitantly.

“This is lovely, dear, but I think I
preferred it when you put the rhubarb juice in the tea,” Ruth said,
patting Louise on the hand.

The phone rang in the other room and Louise
got up to answer it. “I hope you’ll excuse me. I wouldn’t answer
but we are waiting for a phone call from Mother’s doctor.”

Hoping for a chance to dispose of my snack, I
wondered how I could also distract Ruth. “No, of course, you must
answer it.”

As soon as she was out of the room, Ruth was
on her feet. Moving faster than I would have thought possible for
her age, she grabbed her cup and the pot then rushed over to the
sink, dumping both down the drain. “Quick bring your tea over, and
hide the lefse.”

We wasted no time asking questions. Connie
picked up our tea cups and dumped them in the sink. Ruth then
filled the pot with water again and put it on the stove to warm.
Looking around I snatched the three remaining pieces of lefse off
the tray and the piece that was on my plate and rushed to the
garbage.

“You can’t put it in the garbage she’ll see
it there,” Ruth whispered quickly. “I don’t want to squash her
creativity so we won’t mention that her experiment didn’t work.
When you moved in I would have suggested she bring you something
but this has been a bit of an issue lately.”

I had to think fast. Glancing down at the
lefse I made a quick decision. As I shoved the lefse in my bra, I
could hear Louise hanging up the phone. Connie put her lefse in her
pants pocket. Why hadn’t I thought of that? Connie and I made a
dash to our chairs and tried to look innocent which wasn’t easy
when you have lefse shoved in your bra, although I reassured myself
that it would at least help shroud what I lacked in that area.

Ruth was waiting for the pot to boil when
Louise walked in. “Mother, you didn’t need to strain yourself. I
could have made more tea. You all drank that so quickly.”

“We were all so parched we must have just
gulped it down. Sit down, Louise, I can still make a pot of tea,”
Ruth said to her daughter good-naturedly.

“So are you the painter, Louise?” I asked
trying to distract her with another subject. “I love all the
decorative rosemaling. Did you paint it yourself?”

She beamed with pride. “Thank you, yes. I
took some painting classes at the community college. Unfortunately,
I’ve filled the house, so now I’m trying to see what I can do with
creative cooking.”

I got up to take a closer look at the plate I
liked. It had a red background with a prayer written in Norwegian
around the outside rim. The middle was a distinctively intricate
swishing design. “Did you create the designs yourself?”

Louise and Connie joined me at the hutch.
“Some are my own interpretations but I have tried to copy
traditional designs also.”

“They are very beautiful. I would love to
have some items done like this. Do you paint for others? I would
pay you for it,” I said sincerely, straightening up as sugar from
the lefse filtered down toward my stomach.

“I would love something also,” Connie added.
“Just think how much our mothers would like something like this for
Mother’s day or Christmas.”

“Oh, my goodness,” she said laughing,
obviously touched. “I’ve never painted for anyone else, but I sure
could. I could also teach you to do it if you’re interested.”

I smiled going back to the table. “Thank you
very much, but I’ll start with just buying something from you if
you don’t mind. I have my hands full clearing out the old house,
and I’m not sure I have the time right now to take up a new
hobby.”

“I would like to try it,” Connie added. “I
love to paint. I have an art degree but I concentrated on other
mediums. Watercolors, sculpture, and a little drawing.”

Louise looked pleased. “Splendid! I’ll get
some materials together and give you a call.”

“Thank you, Louise. That would be great,”
Connie said.

Ruth brought the newly-made tea to the table
and we all had another cup, discussing television shows we liked
and some of the local gossip.

It was such an enjoyable afternoon I hated
for it to end, but eventually we had to say our good-byes, with
promises of another visit soon. As I moved to the front door, Tiny
followed, licking at my feet, and I realized my bra was leaking
sugar. I tucked my blouse in as Ruth gave me a knowing smile. I
just hoped I could get out of the house without leaking too much.
Connie and I returned to our house in such good spirits only to
have them dashed.

Simon was sitting on the front doorstep.

Chapter
Twenty-Eight

Why on earth would Simon be here now? He
looked up at me as I walked past him, but I chose not to
acknowledge him. We let ourselves in the front door and he followed
me back to the kitchen.

“What do you want, Simon?” I asked, pulling
out the garbage can. I turned my back to Simon and reached into my
shirt to pull the lefse out and drop it in the trash. He noticed
what I was doing and had to comment. “Can I give you a hand?” he
asked smirking.

“Simon, I just asked, what do you want?” I
didn’t smile or soften my tone as I tried to brush the sugar off my
stomach, only making it more sticky. I gave up and turned to look
at Simon.

“Laney, I’ve been worried. I’ve heard some
disturbing rumors about you and that guy that was here. You do
realize he’s known as some sort of con artist. He tries to make
people believe their houses are haunted.”

“Simon, I don’t think anything I do is any of
your business anymore so stay out of it.”

“You’re still my business. I care about you.
I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. Laney, I miss you.
Maybe I didn’t recognize what I had when I had it. I’ll admit I
made some mistakes.”

“Mistakes? Seriously, some mistakes? Is that
what you call cheating, lying and deceiving?” I asked, my voice
raising. “Not to mention being controlling and degrading.”

“I’ve never been able to live up to your
standards, Laney. Our problems weren’t just my fault. The cheating
was a symptom. We were already having problems. If you had tried
harder rather than run the first moment something didn’t go your
way, maybe we could have worked it out.” I knew that face. The
sincere, strong, I’ve got my shit together look.

I stood looking at him in disbelief. I wanted
to reach out and hit him or shake him. Something to let him know
how frustrated I was with him. “This is the first time I ever heard
you say you wanted to work anything out. I caught you, you moved
out. When exactly was I supposed to work on it?” I didn’t even know
what to say to the man. I just remained quiet, glowering at
him.

He moved forward and grasped my arms pulling
me towards him. I put my hands out to push his chest but was
ineffectual. He leaned forward and dropped his head to plant his
lips on mine before I even knew what was happening.

“Hey, Laney, you in here?” I heard Emmett ask
from behind me as he came in the front door. I shoved Simon away
from me as hard as I could. He let go of me but not before Emmett
had seen us. “Excuse me,” Emmett said, surprised. “I didn’t know
you were in the middle of something.” His face had become a mask of
politeness but his eyes flashed in anger. He turned and strode out
quickly and, flustered, I ran after him.

“Emmett, wait,” I called. He stopped and
turned. “It’s not what you think,” I said breathlessly. “It sounds
like such a cliché, I know, but it’s true.”

“Dean’s going to come by later. I just
stopped to see how you were doing after last night’s investigation.
You don’t owe me an explanation, Laney.”

“Of course she doesn’t,” Simon answered,
coming up behind me.

“I’m not talking to you,” Emmett snapped, his
face turning red.

“Hey buddy, you can just keep walking. The
door is that way,” Simon said. With that Emmett left quickly
without a look back.

I started to follow after Emmett. I had to
make things right. I had to make him understand. I was almost to
the front door when I felt Simon grab my upper arm and pull me
backward.

“Don’t go chasing after him. It’s really not
lady-like to chase after men.”

Instinctively, I wheeled around and my hand
came up, slapping him hard across the face. Everything went into
slow motion as Simon’s head spun to the side. The force of my blow
added to his backward motion, propelling him faster than he
expected. His feet tripped underneath him and he landed on his
back, the wind knocked out of him. He lay still for a moment.

I could feel my eyes go wide as I brought my
hands up to my face. I was shaking, but it wasn’t from fear—I was
laughing. I looked up and Connie was standing in the doorway, and
she burst out laughing as well.

Simon looked at me with reproach. “I could
really be hurt here,” he whined. “I almost hit my head against the
recliner.”

“The point is almost. Oh, get up, you’re just
fine.” I said to him. Neither Connie nor I could stop laughing.

“I could press charges for assault,” Simon
said from the floor, milking the situation.

“What are you going to say? That you pushed
yourself on me by kissing me then forcibly grabbed my arm? This was
your fault, and I have a witness, lest you forget.”

I looked down at the man I used to love, the
man I used to pin my hopes and dreams on. It was all gone. I felt
none of that now. “You need to leave. I didn’t ask you come here.
What happened? Did your girlfriend dump you for a change?”

“See, that’s just what I was saying, you
never tried, you never stuck up for me. You just push me out and
now you’ve gotten physically abusive.” Simon climbed quickly to his
feet, obviously unhurt.

“Simon, you’re being unreasonable, we’re
divorced. I realize now, I don’t even like you. We were never even
friends. I thought you loved me once, but that wasn’t real love.
You wouldn’t have treated me the way you did if you’d ever had any
respect for me.”

Simon’s face turned an ugly shade of puce and
I could tell he was ready to blow his top. Connie still stood in
the doorway. She was no longer laughing. She just looked at him
with her head tilted to the side. Simon was exposed. He used to try
to keep his loathsome behavior invisible to others so they wouldn’t
know how he really acted. There was nowhere to hide now. Turning on
his heel, he left, leaving a miasma of repugnant anger behind
him.

“You were married to that unbearable,
controlling man for how long?” Connie asked. “You need a medal for
not kicking his ass to the curb after about a month.” She stood
looking out the front window to make sure he left.

I was still shaking as I sat down on the
couch and brought my feet up under me. “I can’t believe I let him
control me. The one thing he got correct was that it was both of
our faults. I let him walk over me. I lost myself in him and his
life. I used to be so independent before we were married. I don’t
know what happened to me. I think he was in the right place at the
right time, and I wanted to get married and have babies. He just
seemed so together like he had the secret to happiness and I wanted
to know that secret.”