Phillip worked quite a bit slower, but once he found out where the measuring spoons were and so on, he did a creditable job of preparing the pumpkin filling.
Since Robin’s mom was coming, I felt obliged to follow Lizanne’s example in making my own cranberry sauce, but that’s the easiest thing in the world, and I got that ready while the pies were baking. Phillip ran the vacuum for me while I cooked the sweet potatoes and put them through the food processor for the sweet potato casserole, and I decided after that was done, we could rest. Every dish went into the dishwasher, I started it running, and then Phillip and I watched a stupid game show on television. We competed with each other to see who could shout out the answer the fastest, and in general we had a silly good time.
I called out for Chinese-we considered ourselves on the cutting edge, in Lawrenceton, having a Chinese restaurant that delivered-and though it was late in the evening to be eating, I was feeling relaxed, since the house looked good, I’d gotten a head start on the cooking, and, most of all, my brother just couldn’t be involved in any way in Poppy’s death.
Tomorrow, I would meet Robin’s mother, and while I was a bit anxious about that, I figured since Robin spoke so lovingly of her, she couldn’t be too formidable… And after all, I’d been a grown woman, married and widowed, for many years now.
Just when I was feeling fairly saturated with satisfaction, the phone rang. I reached over to the table by my chair, gestured to Phillip to turn down the volume on the television, and answered it.
“Aurora,” Mother said.
“Hi, Mother. How are things at your house?”
“John is doing fairly well,” she said, giving me the most important news first. “John David hasn’t been arrested, thank God. Melinda called. He was over at her house, and he announced he was taking the baby and they were spending the night in a motel. He said he felt like he’d been enough trouble to people and that he should spend some time with his son.”
I held the phone away and gaped at it. Would wonders never cease? “That’s amazing,” I said, finally realizing I had to say something.
“Yes,” she said a little dryly. “I thought so, too.”
“Can you and John come over tomorrow to have a glass of wine with Phillip and Robin and Robin’s mother?”
“His mother? His mother’s in town?” Mother was shocked out of her weariness. “Oh my Lord, you should have told me!”
“Yes, she’s over at his apartment now. She’s coming to Thanksgiving here tomorrow.” I knew Mother had too much on her shoulders right now, but it was good to hear her sounding more like her normal self. “What about you and John? If you want to come here to eat, I’ll have plenty. Did John David tell you any plans he might have? Should I invite him?” Three extra adults would be stretching it, but I could manage. I had assumed that John David would be staying with John and my mother and that they’d be eating together, though celebrating would be impossible.
“Of course John and I will come over for a glass of wine, and to meet Robin’s mother. But I don’t think we’d be exactly up to a festive meal. I’m feeding us out of the refrigerator tomorrow, since I just couldn’t work up the energy for anything else. I think we have enough food here to last us for two weeks, and we actually have a smoked turkey breast and a ham. John David is coming over here. What time would you like us to drop by?”
I had planned to serve the holiday meal at one, so we settled on three o’clock. I told mother I’d call John David at his motel and at least invite him to come eat (no matter how much I secretly hoped he would decline). I remembered one more question for my mother before I hung up.
“Has John David heard from the police about when he’s going to get Poppy’s body back to bury?”
“It seems as though there’s a backlog in Atlanta, so it won’t be until Monday at the earliest.”
“Oh no.” Though in a way it was a relief that Poppy’s funeral wouldn’t be within the next couple of days, I didn’t want to think about that backlog.
“I’m so glad the Wynns decided to go back home,” Mother continued. “I know they had things to take care of, because they left to come over here in such a hurry. It’ll be much better if they just come back when the funeral’s settled. I think they assumed they’d be making the arrangements, and it took them aback when John David told them what he was going to do.”
“The Wynns are leaving? Where are they now?” I had actually forgotten about the Wynns, and to my shame, my Thanksgiving plans had never included them. I carried the cordless phone over to the door of the room the Wynns had been using and glanced inside. Their things were still there. Hmm.
“Why, I don’t know.” Mother sounded surprised. “Aren’t they-they haven’t come to your house and gotten their bags?”
“No,” I said, anxiety making my voice sharp. “I haven’t seen them since last night.”
“I talked to them about four today,” Mother said, “and they told me they were leaving. Where do you suppose they could be?”
“I don’t know.” I had a shameful, petulant moment of wishing someone would just do the predictable thing. I don’t deal well with prolonged upheaval. “Do they have any good friends left in town?”
“You know, they didn’t have a lot even when they lived here.”
That was true, though I’d never posed it to myself that way.
The Wynns, tall and thin and aggressively healthy, bright and articulate, had never been the most popular ministerial couple in town. The church youth group had been popular, though, because Marvin Wynn, awkward with his own belated child, was a whiz with other people’s children.
I sighed, trying to aim it away from the phone. All I wanted to do was go to bed. But I had to track down my guests, and I had to relieve my mother of this anxiety.
“I’ll call around a little,” I said. “I’ll get back to you. Maybe they’re with John David, playing with the baby. Which motel?”
I called the Lawrenceton Best Western, and John David was in.
“Poppy’s folks didn’t leave our key with you?” John David sounded tired, and numb. I could hear the baby crying in the background. “They wanted to get some family heirloom to take back to their house with them-something of Sandy’s mother’s. I told them I had no idea where it was but said they were welcome to go over there and look. They were supposed to leave my house key with you.”
“How long ago was that?”
“Hours. I thought they were long gone back home.”
“I guess I’ll go over there and check,” I said. It was the last thing in the world I wanted to do, but it was what I should do.
“Please do.” There was a long pause. John David said, “I don’t know what they could be doing in our house for so long. Poppy always had a very tense relationship with her parents. If you’d do this, I’d really appreciate it. I’m just not up to dealing with them tonight. This little guy is missing Poppy.” I knew my stepbrother was referring to Chase, but I think he was also talking about himself.
It was pitch-black, and I didn’t know what I would find over at the house on Swanson. I wanted someone to go with me, preferably someone bigger than I, or at least well armed. My dad and his wife would kill me if I took Phillip to a place where he might have
Bryan, to my near dismay, was delighted to hear from me, and willing to go to Poppy’s and meet me there.
Phillip, engrossed in his TV show, gave me an offhand wave as I left. It took only five minutes to get to Poppy and John David’s place, but the lawyer was already there. Bryan was wearing jeans and a sweater, which for him was really letting his hair down.
I apologized again for getting him out of his house so late in the evening.
“No problem,” he said. “I’m a full-service lawyer. Besides, all I had to do was sit around and watch a tape of
