For Every Season (29 page)

“You have no idea.” He grinned, clearly teasing. Rhoda found nothing amusing. Perhaps she needed rest more than Camilla, but mostly she wanted some support from Samuel, not a fight.

Camilla laughed. “I might understand a little. The first time I woke up in that car, I heard you two yelling at each other. I probably wouldn’t have recognized who it was had it not been for the day you came by to flag the trees. I used to think you and your brother were at fault, but now I’m not so sure.”

Camilla’s words stung. Maybe Rhoda did need to compromise more, regardless of what she personally wanted. She’d work on that, but Camilla’s offer was not the place to start.

Bob adjusted the fleece blanket that had slipped off of Camilla. “Samuel, according to the courthouse records, the property is in your name.”

“Yes, it is. But that was done for a lot of reasons that had to do with getting a loan. Rhoda, her brother, their Daed, and Jacob also invested in the land.”

“Nonetheless, legally you have the final say.”

“True.”

Rhoda’s blood began to warm. “Samuel King,” she mumbled through gritted teeth.

Camilla glanced at Bob, a slight smile of victory on her lips. “Since we’ve narrowed it down that the roadblock is Rhoda, who is just being stubborn, I say the issue is settled.” Camilla pointed at the plat. “Of the places Bob marked, choose your favorite.”

Anger burned through Rhoda, causing her face to prickle. “Camilla, you said I should keep my kitchen separate, perhaps even in my name, and now you’d go around me because the land is in Samuel’s name?” Rhoda took the plat from Samuel and folded it. “And you, Samuel. Didn’t you give me your word before we left Pennsylvania that you’d not go behind my back or around me ever again?”

“You’re right here.” Samuel gestured at the room. “And I haven’t agreed to
do
anything. We’re talking … or at least trying to.”

Rhoda took a breath. “My answer is no, but thank you.”

Camilla held out her hand, and Rhoda took it. “Child, why?”

The sincerity in Camilla’s voice erased much of Rhoda’s anger. “I’ve explained why.”

“But there’s another reason. There has to be, because saying no is against everything you’ve been searching for. It’s the answer you need. So tell me the real reason.”

Rhoda shook her head. “We’ll talk later … when you’re better.”

“Talk about what?”

“Not now.” Rhoda patted her hand. “Just rest.”

“This is about Jojo, isn’t it?” Camilla asked.

Rhoda stood and moved to the window. “I believe you have a granddaughter.”

“Rhoda, you’re not only stubborn; you’re like a hound with a bone.” Camilla sighed. “You
think
you know. Trust me, all that’s going on is that you’ve picked up on pieces of information you’ve heard or read or seen in the newspapers or overheard people say. My son was a kid himself when he died. I don’t have a grandchild.”

Rhoda’s mouth was so dry she couldn’t swallow. She prayed for the right words. “I see snippets at times, as if God is trying to get a message to you. And I know it sounds crazy, but I think you’re wrong.”

“I don’t believe in God. Never have.”

Rhoda had wondered about that. “Still … I saw what I saw.”

“If God exists, I’d have a few things to say to him. Zachary became religious, and about six months later he was dead. You care to try to explain that?”

“He does exist, and we can’t begin to fathom what He’s like. How could we? People struggle to understand one another, and we’re from the same century, the same country, and we experience many of the same things from attending school to falling in love. And yet really understanding another human being is almost impossible.”

Samuel tapped the folded plat on his knee. “There’s a verse that basically says on this earth all things are in subjection under His feet, but for now we don’t see all things under Him.” Samuel fidgeted with the plat. “To me, what’s being said is we live on a fallen planet, and we don’t yet see it redeemed from all evil.”

Camilla stared at Samuel, looking lost in thought before her face twisted in pain. “My first husband left me for a woman who could bear him children. That’s when I began believing I had no value at all. So I started living with whomever I wanted. At forty-two years old, I came up pregnant. I was terrified, but I thought it was my chance at the American dream—a family. My child’s father was successful at business, but other than that he wasn’t much. Since I believed I was worthless, I signed a prenup that gave me nothing if we divorced. I was just grateful he agreed to marry me.” She searched Bob’s face.

He rested his hand on her head and nodded. “He was the problem, Camilla. Not you. Nobody can make up for what’s missing in a person’s heart.”

She plucked at the fabric on the arm of the recliner. “My son was a tenderhearted boy. So precious. And I loved him with all my heart. For months at a time his dad would be decent. He’d play ball with him and come to his recitals and tennis matches. But then he’d go on a binge, drinking and beating me. My son begged me to leave him. He didn’t understand. We were far from rich, but his dad was a good provider, and I … I thought I’d be useless on my own. I was nearing retirement age. Who was going to hire me? But if I stayed, I could give my son everything he needed—music and tennis lessons, summer camps, and the best schools. When my husband was sober, he’d give sacrificially. If I’d left and he’d paid only child support, we would’ve lived in poverty. I wanted Zachary to have his choice of colleges, but he never got that far. He left home at sixteen, and he hated me for putting him through the emotional turmoil of a loving, hateful dad. He said I’d ruined his life because I cared more about security than peace.” Camilla stared at the wall in front of her. “Funny, but I finally found the courage to leave his dad after that.”

Rhoda moved back to the love seat. “In my mind I saw you in front of a medical building, arguing with Zachary and Jojo. I don’t understand what I saw.”

All color drained from Camilla’s face. “I understand it. I was there.”

“Then you believe me about having a grandchild?”

Camilla swiped at a tear. “It was an abortion clinic.”

Hurt for Camilla outweighed everything else, but Rhoda felt foolish not to have put it all together. No wonder Camilla was so certain she didn’t have a grandchild.

Camilla’s eyes brimmed with tears. “I stayed in my car the whole time they were inside that building, and they were in there for more than two hours. Jojo left the clinic in control, but when she saw me in my car, she burst into tears. My son came to me, and he said I’d made everything harder for Jojo. He told me to leave them alone, and even though I cried every day, I did as he asked. I owed him that much.

“About six months later he contacted me. I walked on eggshells, hoping for a chance to reconnect with him. We’d meet somewhere neutral for coffee or lunch, and we kept the conversations as light and breezy as possible, but we
couldn’t talk about our reality or it’d shatter us. I asked about Jojo, and he’d said that topic was off-limits. I supposed they weren’t together anymore. At one point he asked for us to see a family counselor. We did twice, and I thought healing was taking place, but before the third visit came around, he was killed in a car wreck—by a trucker who fell asleep at the wheel.” The pain reflected in her eyes was unbearable.

Bob stood beside her, a hand on her shoulder as he held the glass for her. “Is it possible Jojo changed her mind?”

She sipped from the straw. “No. She left that clinic completely broken.”

Bob set the drink on a side table. “Rhoda?”

She shrugged. “I wish I could say for sure. Sometimes I see a piece of something and I assume the wrong thing, but isn’t it worth investigating?”

“They weren’t married, and I don’t even know the girl’s last name.” Camilla ran her unbandaged hand through her hair, as if trying to pull a memory from her brain. “Whenever Zachary would say her name, I’d think Jojo Jade.”

Rhoda paced the floor, needing to release some of her pent-up nerves. “Dumont. Look for Joella Dumont.”

“I told you they were underage, and I didn’t sign a paper.”

“Would his dad?”

Camilla’s eyes bugged out. “What? Zachary disowned him … but if that boy wanted to marry her bad enough, and if he caught his dad in the right mood, he could’ve talked him into anything.”

Rhoda’s chest ached. “The day I came through the woods following your music, I heard a little girl’s voice. She called you Grandmamma.”

Camilla gasped. “When Zachary was little, he always said he wanted a grandmamma. My parents were dead, so we agreed that when he had children, they could call me that.”

Rhoda had to sit.

Camilla lay back, breathing deep and weeping. “I might have a grandchild. But if this is true, how can I find her?”

Bob scratched his chin. “Zachary told you he was living in Maine, and you said his car tags indicated the same thing. So maybe that’s where the child was
born. We’ll start looking at records, but it’ll take a while since we’re not sure when the child would’ve been born.”

Chills and excitement skidded through Rhoda in waves. “After he told you to leave them alone, when did he contact you again?”

“It was four years ago, but I don’t really remember the month.” Camilla thought. “Wait, it was right after Thanksgiving. I remember because when the phone rang, I was carving the leftover turkey to make a potpie.”

Rhoda rubbed her arms, trying to dispel the chill bumps. “I think he either had held his daughter or it was close to her birth. His sense of hope and joy were strong, and he needed to connect with his mom. And when the time was right, after more counseling, he would’ve told you about your granddaughter.”

Bob held his wife’s hand. “There’s a records office in Augusta. We can go there and look through the birth records. We’ll verify her birth date and then put ads in the paper looking for Jojo. We’ll hire investigators if need be.”

“What if Jojo doesn’t want me in her life?”

Rhoda’s head pounded from the energy pumping through her. “One issue at a time, okay?”

Camilla stared, wide eyed. “Of course. Sorry.”

Rhoda felt like clothes on a line during a storm.

Samuel leaned in. “I’ve never been more proud of you.” His soothing voice made her relax a bit. She looked him in the eyes, and he nodded. “And that’s really saying something.”

His words made her eyes sting with tears, and she took a deep breath, relaxing. She’d done it. She’d finally managed to share what she needed to.

Someone knocked at the front door, but Camilla and Bob were whispering and teary eyed.

Samuel stood. “I’ll get it.”

A few moments later Rhoda heard the front door open and then … Was that arguing? She slipped out of the living room and went to the foyer.

Jacob
. Her spontaneous smile waned as she heard his cutting words.

“So why is it,
brother
, that whenever I return, you’re with Rhoda, even when she’s not at the farm?”

Rhoda’s chest constricted. That awful sense of powerlessness returned. She
was caught between a rock and a hard place. If she defended Samuel being here, she’d make Jacob feel as if he’d been stabbed in the back. If she allowed Jacob to stew in his anger against Samuel, she was guilty of coming between the brothers.

She decided to respond as if she hadn’t heard anything. “Jacob.” She went to him and embraced him. The warmth of the hug wasn’t what she’d hoped for, but she didn’t let go. Her disappointment in his harshness with Samuel faded, and she rested her head on his chest. “You’re home.”

“I am.” He kissed the top of her head. “Is Camilla okay?”

“Minor injuries.” Rhoda backed away and cupped his face with her hands. “I’m so glad you’re home.”

“Jacob, right?” Bob moved forward, his hand extended.

“Yeah.”

“Come on in. My wife and I are trying to talk Rhoda into something. I think we have Samuel convinced. How do you feel about Rhoda’s canning kitchen being built on your property?”

Jacob rested his hands on Rhoda’s shoulders as they went into the living room. “I think there’s no money to do that right now.”

Jacob took a place on the love seat beside her, watching as Samuel brought in a chair from the kitchen. There was a couch on the far side of the room, but Bob had set up this area to surround Camilla so they could easily chat.

Bob explained about the accident, and Rhoda cringed when he told about Samuel and her sharing a horse so they could make eye contact with Camilla and keep her calm.

Rhoda interlaced her fingers with Jacob’s as Bob then explained their desire to invest in the business by making it possible for them to build the canning kitchen.

Bob passed him the plat. “Samuel seems to think it’s a fine idea.”

Jacob released her hand and studied the plat. “I’m sure my brother likes the plan. It’d keep
everyone
so close.” He looked at Samuel. “Right?”

Samuel’s jaw clenched, but he said nothing.

“Well,”—Camilla laid her head back, closing her eyes—“much has happened in the last twenty-four hours. We can’t sort it all out tonight. You need
to think on our offer, and Bob and I will think about my granddaughter.” Camilla smiled, eyes still closed. “Thanks to Rhoda.”

Jacob frowned and held out the plat to Bob. “Why’s she thanking Rhoda for a grandchild?”

Bob took the plat. “You don’t know?”

Rhoda’s head began to pound. “We haven’t talked about it.”

Despite noticeably bristling, Jacob managed a smile. “I’ve been gone too much, but I’m putting that behind us as fast as I can.”

Was his absence all that kept them from talking about serious matters?

Jacob held her hand. “It sounds as if Rhoda and I need to talk before I’ll know what to think.” He turned to her. “How did the battle with the frost go?”

Rhoda looped her arm through his. “Really great, we think.”

He brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers. “You look exhausted.”

“Between that and Camilla’s mishap, and … other things I’ll tell you later.” Like Phoebe losing the baby and Rhoda’s insight concerning Jojo.