Home by Nightfall (31 page)

“God, now what?” Tanner said.

Riley sat down at the far end of the table and went on to tell them exactly what he’d told Susannah—that he was not the same man he’d been before the war and just didn’t want to have anything to do with horse farming anymore. “I’m really not cut out for this place now. I remember it, but I see it through different eyes.” He looked at Susannah. “You told me to find something that will make me happy and fill the emptiness I’ve felt since I arrived here. I don’t mean to say that you didn’t all try to help, because I know you did. You tried hard.” He sat forward and folded his hands on the table. “What will make me happy isn’t here, and I need the money to get to where I’m going. Now that Pop is gone, I’d like to get my half of the inheritance and go find it.”

“Goddammit, is everyone leaving?” Cole demanded, clearly angry.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“First these two,” he gestured at Tanner and Susannah, “and now you? Does
anyone
give a damn about what happens to this place besides me?”

“Until last fall, I wasn’t even a consideration. I was dead, you know.”

“That wasn’t
our
fault! That’s what the army told us!”

Jessica gave up the battle with her napkin and threw it on the table. “I can’t believe any of this.”

“Riley, I’m not the Bank of Powell Springs,” Cole said. “I can’t afford to give you half of what this is all worth. You must know that. We’ve never had that kind of cash just sitting around, gathering dust and interest.”

“Wait a minute!” Susannah interrupted. “Cole, do you have any idea how much money we’re talking about?”

“Not exactly. I’d have to talk to Parmenter and the bank. Why?”

She turned to Tanner. “You said you have some money tucked away—”

The men all began talking at once, their voices raised.

“I can’t afford to buy him out, either! I might have if Bert Bauer hadn’t swindled me out of my last dime all those years ago.”

“Well, he’s dead too. Take it up with his corpse!”

“I would but I don’t know what Gannon did with it!”

“Oh, shut up!”

“I resent that tone—”

Susannah brought her fist down on the table hard enough to make the remaining dishes jump. “All right!” She got to her feet and lifted her voice. “All right, that’s enough! Can you people hear yourselves? Tanner! Riley! Cole! No, we aren’t all blood relatives but we’ve been like family to each other for years. This is not
how a decent family behaves. And now that Shaw is dead, we’re a
decent
family!” Some muffled snickering erupted that eased the tension a little. She lowered her voice again. “You can forgive someone for a hurtful thing they say, but you’ll never forget hearing it. So everyone be quiet before this gets any more out of hand.”

The men looked at the table. Jessica smiled up at Susannah.

“Now, then,” Susannah continued. “Tanner, if it were possible, would you be interested in buying a share of the farm?”

“Well, yeah, but I don’t know how much we’re talking about here, and—”

“Never mind the ‘buts.’ Cole, are you interested in this proposition, if everything is equitable?”

“Sure, but—”

“
No ‘buts’!
Riley, would you be willing to take less than half if it’s fair, considering what you know about everyone’s circumstances?”

“Maybe.”

She gave him a sour look. Jessica beamed at her with unconditional admiration and nodded her head in approval.

“I guess.”

She sighed. “Well, then, it looks like we have some figuring to do. Riley, when are you leaving and where are you going?”

“As soon as I can. I’m going back to France to find Véronique.”

Susannah sat down, feeling as if the strength had gone out of her legs. “Really? Everything I’ve read about it in the papers says life there is hard.”

“It is. But I was happy there. Or as happy as I could be given what I’ve been through. Anyway, they’re in the process of rebuilding. The Germans are paying for part of it. And Véronique is there. I miss her and my life with her. I believe she will fill that emptiness in me, and she needs help too.”

“Geez Riley, that’s a long way to go. We’ll never see you again,” Cole said.

Riley shrugged, “Possibly not. Well, probably not.” He actually winked at them. “But until last fall, I was dead, anyway.”

The first Saturday in March proved to be a bright spring day, an unusual occurrence in that part of the country. The wedding for Emmaline and Whit had taken place at City Hall, with Mayor Horace Cookson officiating. The only others present besides the bride and groom were Josh and Wade. Afterward, a dinner was held in a lovely private dining room on the second floor of the hotel. The Braddocks including Riley, the Grenfells, Granny Mae Rumsteadt, the mayor, and of course, the boys, were in attendance.

Susannah thought she’d never seen such an elegant presentation. White table linens, candelabra with eighteen-inch candles, cut-crystal glassware, more forks and spoons than she could account for, bone china—she didn’t know the hotel even owned such nice things. The wine and champagne flowed, wedding cake was cut, and toasts were made.

As the evening wound down, everyone stood around chatting, and Susannah had a chance to pull Em aside. She wore a pale-pink dress and a lovely matching tulle shawl she pulled up over her head. Her face had healed, just as she’d wanted. “You look so beautiful! And this is all so very nice. Em, I’m truly happy for you.”

“Thank you, Susannah. We made the arrangements, but special friends, people who know us, all pitched in to pay for it. Virgil Tilly, Tanner, Cole, even Granny Mae. Virgil was invited too, but you know he wouldn’t close the saloon on a Saturday unless he was dead. Still, I’m so grateful to everyone.”

Susannah kissed her cheek and squeezed her hand. “I wish you all the happiness you deserve, and that’s a lot!”

Em turned to look at Whit, handsome in his black suit and tie. “I never thought something like this would happen. Never in a million years…”

“Well, go enjoy it!”

Whit clinked a spoon against a glass to get everyone’s attention. “Folks, I want to thank all of you for coming to celebrate with us. We know we’re lucky to have such good friends. Now, you can stay as long as you want, but Mrs. Gannon and I are going to retire.”

This announcement was met with applause and laughter. The newlyweds left the room, and Emmaline had her arm hooked through Whit’s. Josh and Wade began to follow, but they were collared by Cole.

“No, boys. You’re staying with Granny Mae tonight, remember?”

Everyone laughed again, but the kids just looked puzzled. “Oh, yeah. But what’s so funny?” Josh asked.

Susannah imagined that Whit and Em never expected to find happiness at this stage of their lives. But they had, and she was glad for them.

“Mrs. Grenfell?”

Susannah smiled and turned. “Yes, Mr. Grenfell?”

“I think we should have dinner here once in a while. It seems like you spend half your life in that kitchen.”

She sighed. “It does seem that way sometimes.”

He lowered his voice and said, “Granny Mae’s café is a fine place to get a good meal, but it’s nothing like this. Once this business with the property and so on is figured out, what would you say to coming here for dinner and spending the night, just you and me?”

“I think that would be wonderful. And you look very handsome in your suit, by the way.”

“Well, I had to try and look at least half as nice as my wife.”

She rolled her eyes and finished her champagne. “You never know where that flattery will get you.”

He took the glass from her hand and put it on a nearby table. “Oh, I think I do.”

• • •

Over the next few weeks, Riley put his affairs in order once again, just as he had before he left for France the first time. This time, however, he needed a passport, which he went to Portland to obtain. In the meantime, Tanner and Cole tried to get together the information they needed to offer Riley a deal.

Tanner’s take on the whole business was somewhat irreverent. One night when he was tired and frustrated by the complicated transaction, he told Susannah that until last fall, Riley would not have been entitled to anything. He’d been declared dead and that was that. Lawyer Parmenter said the matter of inheritance was a gray area, but certainly Cole did not want to cheat his brother—out of Tanner’s money.

Eventually, though, they did reach an agreement. Susannah and Tanner owned less than half of the property and business, but enough to satisfy them and Riley as well, who deposited the
money in the bank. Carrying cash that distance seemed like a risky adventure, so he arranged to have it wired to him when he reached France.

He would take the train back across the country, then find a tramp steamer in New York bound for England or France. It would probably take a month or so to get there, allowing for train travel. Plus tramp steamers didn’t set sail unless they had a contracted cargo.

At last, in early April, the day arrived to drive him to the train station in town to say good-bye. All of the same people had been there when he’d come home last fall, except his father. Tanner was there instead. Riley’s limp was much better now, but he still used a cane when he got tired.

Susannah watched as Riley clutched his valise and she had the weird sensation of watching a moving-picture show in reverse. Powell Springs did not have a theater yet, but she had seen one in Portland once.

“Does Véronique know you’re coming?” she’d asked him one night at dinner.

“I wrote to her the day I came home and you were all squabbling. That was where I had been. Mailing the letter. She knows I am on my way by now.”

Cole stepped forward. “We’ve come a long way in the last six months, and a lot has happened.”

Riley nodded and shook his brother’s hand, then embraced him briefly.

“Be happy, old brother. If you decide to come back, we’ll be here.”

He spoke to his sister-in-law and took her hand in his. “Jessica, you were the one who really made the biggest difference in
my life. You found a doctor to help me, and at least I know who I was and who I am now.” He hugged her as well.

“Tanner, I know I’m leaving the horses in good hands, and it’s a relief.” Tanner nodded and said nothing, but he smiled.

Then he turned to Susannah and gave her a look that made her think of a man looking back on all his years from a vast distance. He took her hand. “You were the love of my first life. No other woman had touched my heart the way you did. If I’d stayed, we wouldn’t be standing here. But war changes everything, rarely for the best. So we are left to rebuild what we can.”

Her eyes swam with tears and she kissed him. “Will you write to let us know you got there?”

He smiled. “I promise.”

“Be safe, and have a
good
life, Riley.”

He straightened and replied, “
Je m’appelle Christophe encore.
”

The conductor called for final boarding, and Riley turned and climbed the steps into the car.

They all waved as the train hissed and began to pull out of the station. They watched until he found a seat and waved back.

“Good-bye, Riley,” Susannah intoned, her throat tight.

• • •

The night that Véronique’s labor began was clear with a bright full moon. Old wives’ tales claimed that more babies were born during the time of the full moon. In this case, they might have been right. At dawn, Édouard hitched up the farm cart and donkey he had bartered to obtain, and went into town to fetch the midwife Véronique had already spoken with. It would be much faster than walking, but he hated leaving his wife alone even for the time that
would take. Still, it was either a midwife or him, and he knew nothing about delivering a baby. And since she was a bit old for a first child, he wanted someone with experience to take care of them.

When he returned, Véronique’s water had broken and she was actively laboring away. The midwife, Madame Sylvie Durand, bustled in and ordered Édouard outside while she examined her patient.

With a greased hand, she felt around in the birth canal. “This is surprising, Véronique. You are well on your way, unusual in a first birth. Good girl!”

Well on her way did not mean
right away
, though. Listening to her scream, Édouard felt as though he were back in an aid station with the worst of the battle-wounded. Madame Durand was enthusiastic and cheered her on, but it looked and sounded like the worst kind of torture to him. He had to restrain himself from jumping out of his chair—where she had ordered him to sit and stay put, as though he were Chien—and dragging her away from Véronique. He had not been present for the birth of his first child, so he had missed all this.

Toward noon, when it seemed that Véronique could not possibly go on, he heard the cry of a new life. He stood up.

“Congratulations, Monsieur LaFontaine! You have a fine, strong son!” Madame Durand announced.

“V-V-Véronique?”

She waved a feeble arm in the bed.

“You have a bed or a cradle for the child?”

He went into his former room and brought out the cradle they had gotten from the Society of Friends. During the winter, Véronique had patiently stitched a mattress and a quilt for him.