Friday morning didn’t dawn as much as gradually fade to a lighter shade of gray as the clouds hung low and the rain pounded the earth.
“Yuk, so much for running. Come on, Zoe. Oh, no you don’t, you still have to go out.” Brenna pulled the big dog to the back door by her collar and pushed her furry behind out the door. She closed the door quickly and peeked out the window to see what Zoe would do. She stood on the porch for a minute looking dismal and then took off for shelter under the nearest tree, making quick work of her morning duties. Brenna let her back in, ready with a thick towel. The cats also disdained to go outside and she allowed them more time inside. “But the first one of you to do his duty in here is mincemeat!” Olivia opened one lazy eye and went back to sleep. No respect, Brenna thought.
Well, this weather was just too depressing. For the first time, she wished for an attached garage so she could make it to the Blazer without getting drenched; she could go to the library and get new books. Come on, girl, snap out of it. Okay, she would have breakfast along with fresh-roasted coffee beans from Portland and then put up the border in the dining room. Maybe by the time she finished, the weather would improve a bit.
Vain hope. A few hours later, she stood in the middle of the dining room floor and surveyed her efforts. The border circled the walls in flowers, and the woodwork and hutch gleamed with lemon polish. Okay, a hot bath as reward for all her effort; she needed one anyway by now.
As she stirred scented bubble bath into the hot running water, she looked around the bathroom. All she had left to do was paint these walls and maybe the upstairs hall. Then in the summer, she would enlist her friends to help her with the outside of the house. Her spirits lifted as she considered what she’d accomplished. Pulling up her hair, she shed her old painter sweats and slid into the high porcelain tub, the latest decorating magazine in hand.
Brenna’s hopes were rewarded later in the afternoon as the rain dwindled to sprinkles.
“I can live with this. Let’s go to town, girl.”
Zoe bounded out the back door followed by Brenna, her arms full of library books.
“Oh, no.” Her new rose bush was getting black spots on its leaves. She’d have to stop by Bob’s and find out what to do; she was clueless.
Mrs. McNair must have been feeling a little housebound also because she nearly talked Brenna’s ear off. A lot of town gossip about people Brenna didn’t even know was running in one ear and out the other when something jarred her attention.
“And Julie, the postman’s wife, is confined to bedrest because she keeps having contractions. She has a friend up to stay with her from Eugene, you know, to clean the house and cook. I heard you were planning her baby shower. I guess you’ll have to hold off on that now.”
Brenna forced a smile, irritated. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to see how things go, won’t we?” She turned on her heel and pushed open the heavy exit door, glad to escape any more gossip.
Driving farther down the street, she parked across from Mel’s and crossed to see if Wendy was working.
She was standing at the counter, all caught up on her work since the heavy rain had kept most patrons away. Brenna slid onto her now-familiar vinyl stool at the counter.
“Pie, please. And hot coffee.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Wendy smiled. “anything else, ma’am?”
“That’s it for now, thank you very much." Brenna smiled. "By the way, had you heard Julie’s confined to bedrest?”
“Kind of throws a crimp into our shower plans, huh? Mrs. McNair was in to tell us about it as soon as she knew.” Wendy poured steaming coffee into a thick white mug and slid it toward Brenna.
“What a busybody. She told me I’d have to put off the shower. We could probably have it at Julie’s house. Who wants to have their first baby shower after the baby comes? She probably needs things now.”
“She does. Gary said they were going to do most of the shopping in the last couple months because they had to save money for it.”
“Well, there you go. I’ll sound Gary out about how things are going and if their house is big enough for a shower.”
“You haven’t been down there yet?”
Brenna grimaced. “I’m afraid I’m not much of a neighbor. I value my privacy.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Wendy assured her. “Some people move down here for that very reason. There are long private driveways on property all over the county. It’s easy to hide here if you want.”
“At least I’m not the only one. I’ll let you know what I find out, okay?”
“Sounds good, I’ll talk to you later,” Wendy replied, clearing the dishes off the counter.
Brenna crossed the wet street, the scent of spring flowers and trees surrounding her as the damp air held it close to the earth, blended with the tangy scent of the ocean. I really do love it here, she thought, climbing back into the Blazer. Zoe greeted her with unfailing devotion made evident by slobbery kisses.
“No, thank you, you beast! I love you, too. Let’s go see Helena, okay? It’s been too long since we visited her.”
The geraniums in their hanging baskets outside the rest home had been battered by the rainstorm and red petals were strewn across the grass. Entering, Brenna turned to greet the secretary and saw her tear-filled eyes.
“Hi, are you okay?” Brenna asked, afraid of the answer. Don’t let it be Helena, please, I didn’t get to say goodby.
“Rusty died this morning,” the secretary replied sadly. “A blessing, really, for him. He was in pain lately.”
Tears welled in Brenna’s own eyes. “We never did have that dance.”
“Oh, to Rusty, joking about it was the closest he knew he’d come to dancing again. He was quite the dancer when he was younger. So, as far as he was concerned, he was on your dance card and that was good enough for him.”
“Does Helena know?”
“She knew before we told her. The things she knows sometimes...”
Brenna smiled. “I know what you mean. Is she up to visiting?”
“Sure, it would be good for her, especially today.”
Brenna walked down the quiet hallway, pausing to look through Rusty’s door. The air smelled of disinfectant and the bed was newly made, the linen drawn tight enough to bounce a quarter on. She blinked back tears from her eyes and went on down to Helena’s room.
The older woman turned her head as Brenna entered. “I see you’ve heard about Rusty. Don’t be sad, dear; it was time for him to leave.” Brenna went to sit with her in front of the window.
“He’d been talking more about his wife lately. Marvella died ten years ago and he’s missed her terribly. They used to win every swing dancing competition in the area years ago.”
“Really? When you first meet older people, it’s hard to imagine what they were like when they were younger.”
“Do you have a hard time imagining me as a young woman?”
“No,” Brenna replied, unable to find a reasonable explanation for how well she knew Helena. She fell back on the usual excuse. “Maybe because I live in your house.”
Helena smiled. “Maybe.”
“When Molly and I were up in the attic, we found an old photo album. Would you like to have it here?”
“Oh, no, dear. Everything from the past that matters is far clearer to me in my head than in photos. I feel my family closer to me all the time and can see them as clearly as if they were standing next to you.”
They fell silent for a moment, looking out at the beach covered with debris washed up during the storm. Here and there, people walked slowly, heads down, looking for whole sand dollars and shells. A little girl with long brown curls whooped and went running after her mother, her hand held high clasping a large sand dollar.
“My, she found a prize, didn’t she? Whole ones are hard to find.” Helena smiled.
Brenna wondered if Victoria would have had hair like the little girl’s. She wasn’t comfortable bringing up the subject though since Helena had nev
er mentioned her.
Helena’s eyes followed the little girl as her father turned and swung her high into the air. “My daughter has hair like that. And blue eyes like mine.”
Okay, now, I’m confused, Brenna mused. Is she leaving me again?
Helena brushed her hand over her eyes. “I’m feeling tired, Margaret. Would you help me back into bed?”
Brenna paused, unsure how ambulatory Helena really was, but the older woman was already pulling herself to her feet so Brenna took her arm and assisted her to bed.
“That reminds me, I bought you a new shawl when I went to Portland. I’ll bring it next time I come.”
“Why, thank you, dear. Give the family my love. I just need to rest today.” Helena closed her finely wrinkled eyelids and fell asleep. Brenna smoothed her soft white hair back and kissed her goodby.
She was snuggled in her rocker with her nose in a new book when Adam called that evening.
“Hi, how was your day?” she asked him.
“It was okay, a regular day." He cleared his throat. “I was wondering...we have a fire department dinner every year and I was wondering if you’d like to go with me.”
“Isn’t that what we just did?”
“No, the spaghetti feed is just something we do once in awhile to keep all the families and community in touch with what’s going on. The dinner is pretty formal, Ivan closes the restaurant for us; he’s a firefighter too. The officers give out awards and stuff and the band plays afterwards if anyone wants to dance.”
Brenna smiled, remembering dancing in his arms. “That sounds wonderful. When is it?”
“Next weekend. Isn’t that Molly’s weekend off?”
“Uh huh.”
“Tony doesn’t have the nerve, but he’d like to ask Molly to go with him. We’d have to double-date; he hasn’t been out since his divorce.”
“That’s great, I know she’d love to. We were talking about him after the spaghetti feed.”
“Good, you let me know for sure and then I’ll call Tony. It’s next Saturday night at seven. I have to work all this weekend so I’ll call you Monday if that’s okay.”
“Great, I’ll talk to you then.” She sighed and smiled as she replaced the receiver. So far, so good.
Chapter 36