Reap What You Sew (22 page)

A knowing smile crept across Todd’s face. “Then you understand.”

Indeed she did.

Dixie reappeared in the mouth of her chosen aisle and held a book in the air. “If Mrs. Deland hadn’t been called out of town at the last minute
and
Mrs. McClacken wasn’t the speed reader she happens to be, I would not be giving you this book right now, young man.” With determined strides, Dixie closed the gap between herself and Todd. “Think you can read this in four days?”

“I—uh—”

“Just say yes, Todd. It’s easier that way.” Tori stepped down off her stool and rested a hand on Dixie’s shoulder. “I’m shocked we have a copy on the shelf.”

“Mrs. McClacken returned it just this morning. Only reason it’s on the shelf at all is because Mrs. Deland released her hold until after she returns from her trip.”

“In four days?” Todd interjected.

“In four days,” Dixie confirmed.

Todd took the book from Dixie’s outstretched hand and studied the cover, the fingers of his free hand moving to trace the whimsically written title. “I’ll have it read by then.”

“That’s good. Courtney Deland isn’t the sort of woman you want to tangle with, is she Victoria?” Dixie looked left, then right before lowering her voice despite the empty library. “She doesn’t take too kindly to not getting her way.”

Todd’s finger paused just above the final letter. “You get those here, too?”

“Those?” Tori asked.

“Yeah, you know, the-world-revolves-around-me-at-all-times type.”

Dixie snorted. “Of course we do, young man. And so does Leeson’s Market… and Debbie’s Bakery… and every other place you can think of from here to Kingdom Come. It’s life. There’s not much we can do about them except grit our teeth.”

For a moment, Todd said nothing, his finger resuming the
n
’s path until it cleared the cover. When it did, he looked up, his focus moving from Dixie to Tori and back again before reaching into his back pocket and securing a business card from its depths. He held it out to Tori. “My cell phone is on here. Will that do in place of a library card?”

She took in the rectangular slip of cardstock, her gaze coming to rest on the tiny director’s chair graphic in the lower right corner. “I like the picture.”

A flash of crimson caught her by surprise. “At the moment, it’s a stretch. But not for long. Not if I have my way.”

Dixie plucked the card from Tori’s hand and studied it closely. “You want to be a director?”

Todd gave a single nod. “More than anything.”

“Then make it happen,” Dixie said as she handed the card back to Tori.

“I intend to.” Tucking the book under his arm, Todd pushed off the counter and made his way over to the front door, stopping briefly when he reached his destination. “Thanks for the book. You’ll have it back on your counter by tomorrow night.”

“You can have four days,” Tori reminded.

“I only need one.” He pushed the door open then pulled the book from beneath his arm and pointed it toward them. “Hey, for what it’s worth, sometimes you don’t have to grit your teeth. Sometimes, if you’re really lucky, a brownie will do the trick.”

Chapter 19

Tori loved each of her new friends for a reason specific to them, a quality or trait that set each of them apart from the other.

Nina, her assistant, was both calming and grounding, like the library they shared in common. Rose, although prickly at times, was the quiet hand Tori needed when life got a little uncertain. Dixie was a constant reminder that people and attitudes could change. Beatrice’s quiet innocence was a breath of fresh air if she simply took the time to notice. Debbie was a living, breathing example of the importance of hard work. And Melissa’s devotion to her husband and children made it impossible to ever forget what mattered most in life.

But it was Margaret Louise who’d impacted Tori’s life most significantly, teaching her about steadfast loyalty and the healing power of friendship in a way no one ever had before. So while she hated to see any of them in distress, knowing Margaret Louise was hurting was downright painful.

With the sides of the fabric square back-to-back, Tori began pinning the batting into place, her focus torn between the rag quilt starting to take shape on her lap and the need to ease Margaret Louise’s worry. “Please know I’m trying to figure out what happened to Anita Belise. And I will, I promise you that.”

Margaret Louise looked up from the batting she was cutting and forced a smile to her lips. “I ain’t worried, Victoria. The truth has a way of landin’ right where it needs to be, even it if seems to take its sweet time gettin’ there.”

She thought back to her impromptu meeting with Todd and her stomach tightened. If she’d replayed his parting comment once, she’d replayed it a million times, her mental jury just as torn on his meaning as it had been at the beginning. Yet she couldn’t run his statement past Margaret Louise, couldn’t seek the opinion and insight she’d come to value like no other.

No, she needed to put all of that aside and be for Margaret Louise what Margaret Louise was for her.

Realizing she’d made an error with the pinning, Tori painstakingly removed each one she’d placed, the unfamiliar lines around her friend’s mouth making it hard to concentrate on much of anything. “Is your mamma all right?” she finally asked.

Margaret Louise bowed her head over the yards of batting, carefully measuring and then cutting each six-by-six-inch square, the faintest hint of a shrug lifting her shoulders a smidge. “I s’pose.”

“You suppose?”

This time her friend’s shoulders rose and fell more noticeably. “She’s got a safe place to lay her head each night so I s’pose she’s all right.”

Tori’s stomach churned at the sadness in Margaret Louise’s voice, the woman’s normally happy tone missing in action along with her smile and her optimistic disposition. “It’s hard for you to have her there, isn’t it?”

“I hate myself for it.”

She dropped her strawberry-shaped pincushion and stared at her friend. “Margaret Louise, please. You did nothing wrong putting her in Three Winds. You have such a full life with Melissa and Jake’s family… and your cooking and your sewing, too. You simply don’t have the time to attend to Annabelle’s every need.”

“That’s not an excuse. Jake Junior and the others are just fine without Mee-Maw hoverin’ ’round all the time. They’ve got a fine mamma and daddy of their own. And if my mamma was with me, I could still cook. And even sew most days.”

Squeezing her eyes closed, she tried to think of something to counter what she was hearing, something that would help loosen the guilt that had Margaret Louise in its unrelenting grasp. “And you’re right,” she finally said, opening her eyes to meet her friend’s. “You could back off from Jake Junior and Julia and Tommy, and Kate, and Lulu and Sally, and even little Molly Sue. But then seven of the sweetest children I’ve ever known would be missing something very important in their lives, something they’ve known since the first day each one of them came into this world.”

A single tear slipped from the corner of Margaret Louise’s left eye, a pudgy hand reaching upward to swipe it away. “They have each other… and the new baby that’ll be here just as spring is dawnin’. But Mamma, she’s got nobody ’cept me. And she’s feelin’ mighty lonely at Three Winds. I see it every mornin’ when I stop by with her favorite breakfast pastries, and I see it every afternoon when I go back to read with her.”

Pushing the top row of fabric squares from her lap, she scooted over to the section of sofa that put her in closer proximity to her friend. “She’s got Leona, too. Let her take on some of this burden.”

“Mamma is not a burden,” Margaret Louise whispered. “Some people are good mammas in spite of the mamma they had… because they want to make things better for the next generation than they had themselves. Me? I’m the mamma I am
because
of Mamma.”

Tori nodded. “Anyone who sees the two of you together knows, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you love Annabelle. Annabelle knows it, too.”

“Does she?”

She reached out, rested her hand atop Margaret Louise’s. “I wish you could see the way she looks at you sometimes. The love, the admiration, the pride… it’s all right there on her face when Annabelle looks at you.”

The woman worked to control her emotions. “All I see when I look at her is loneliness.”

“Then you’re not seeing what’s there.” Tori held Margaret Louise’s hand a few seconds longer then released it with a quick squeeze. “But let’s say you’re right to an extent. Let’s say she is a little lonely where she is. After all, she lived with her sister until just recently, right?”

Margaret Louise nodded.

“She’s had a lot of changes lately. Her sister, whom she’s lived with for years, passes away. She leaves behind her home to move here to Sweet Briar to be closer to you and Leona. She is surrounded by new faces every day. Perhaps what you’re seeing in her eyes, Margaret Louise, is anxiety… or stress. Leaving behind all that is familiar can be rough on anyone, let alone a ninety-two-year-old woman.”

“Mr. McAllister said something similar to me this mornin’. In fact, he seems to think Mamma’s increased confusion is because of all the changes in her life lately.”

“Makes sense to me,” Tori said. “In fact, I’d bet good money that’s what all of this is about. Give her a little time, and you might be surprised how things turn around.”

Margaret Louise picked up her scissors only to set them down again a few seconds later. “It’s still hard to see her like this, though.”

“Of course it is. She’s your mamma. But you can’t take all of this on yourself. This kind of stress isn’t good for you, either.”

Margaret Louise’s cutting hand stilled. “My blood pressure was sky-high yesterday mornin’ at the doctor’s. I had to beg and plead for him to let me go.”

Worry knotted in her chest. “Your blood pressure was high?”

“I guess I’ve been more worried ’bout Mamma than I realized.”

She watched her friend for a few moments, a question forming on her tongue. “Is Annabelle the only thing you’re worried about?”

Silence hovered around them as Margaret Louise cut yet another square of batting.

“Margaret Louise?” she prompted again.

“I s’pose I’m a bit worried ’bout that actress’s death and whether or not helpin’ Leona is gonna land me in jail. ’Cause if that happens, Mamma won’t have nobody lookin’ after her.” Margaret Louise pulled the scissors from the batting and plucked a few stray pieces of fuzz from the blades. “Now don’t get me wrong, Melissa would try her best to care for Mamma, she’d probably even bring the whole brood over to see her on a near-daily basis, but that sweet thing has enough on her plate without havin’ to worry none about my mamma.”

She pushed off the couch and walked to the center of the room. “You’re not going to jail, Margaret Louise, you’re just not.”

“Do you have another suspect?”

Spinning around, she met her friend’s questioning eyes. “No. Not yet. But—”

“
I
made those brownies, Victoria. Leona might have asked me to, but
I
made them. That’s gonna land me in a whole tub of trouble.”

“I’m gonna figure out who killed Anita.” She retraced her steps back to the couch and dropped onto the very corner of the last cushion, her knees touching Margaret Louise’s chair as she did. “We could figure it out together, you know. We’ve done a pretty good job with that in the past.”

For just a moment, a glimmer of excitement flashed in Margaret Louise’s warm brown eyes, only to disappear just as quickly. “I have to focus on Mamma right now. She needs me.”

“She needs both of her daughters, Margaret Louise.” There, she’d said it. “Leona needs to do her part, too. For Annabelle,
and
for you and your blood pressure.”

Margaret Louise continued cutting, her hands guiding the scissors through the yards of batting. “Leona was always closer to Daddy. It’s not that she didn’t love Mamma, ’cause I know she did, but she just couldn’t handle Mamma’s… little quirks. They embarrassed her.”

She felt a swell of irritation and released it through her words. “Leona isn’t a little girl any longer, Margaret Louise. She doesn’t have to worry about what her friends will say when Annabelle…” Her words trailed off as she searched for the most delicate way to complete her sentence.

“Steals things?”

Her face grew warm. “When she helps herself to things.”

“It’s okay, Victoria. I’m used to her stealing things by now. But Leona still struggles with it and I can’t fault her for that.”

“She doesn’t have to be okay with what Annabelle does, but she can still help with Annabelle.”

A slow smile inched its way across Margaret Louise’s face, the welcome sight hitching Tori’s breath. “Everyone is different, Victoria. And everyone handles hurt differently. No one way is wrong and no one way is better. It’s just simply the way God made us. All we can do is learn to accept one another and lend a guidin’ hand when we’re able.”

She peered at her friend though lashes that were suddenly tear dappled. “Margaret Louise, I’ve never known anyone quite like you before. How did you get to be so wise?”