A Spicy Secret (12 page)

12

On the first Thursday in February, Kate stood in front of the tracking poster, her hands on her hips.

“Why are you glaring at the poster like that?” Mary Beth asked. “It really is a nice design.”

Kate turned to her, still glaring. “Because it’s already February, and we’ve only gotten seven more blankets since Norma, Valerie and Stella gave their nine, plus my one. And no one brought any to the Hook and Needle Club meeting this week. That means we only have seventeen total, and we have almost thirty-five more blankets to color on this thing. That means we need one hundred and three more actual blankets! In four months! I don’t know why I thought we could possibly make that many!”

“Kate, Kate, Kate …” Mary Beth put her hands on her shoulders and then drew her in for a hug. “It’s going to be fine. We’ll collect plenty of blankets. And even if we don’t meet the goal, we’ll still be doing good for those poor orphans.” Kate felt herself start to cry, her shoulders shaking, and Mary Beth pulled away, holding her at arm’s length.

“Aw, honey, why are you crying?” Kate kept her head down, trying to hide her tears, and felt Mary Beth leading her to the chairs. A tissue got pressed into her hands after she sat down. “What is it? Surely you aren’t crying over the blankets. What else has got you feeling so down?”

The younger woman couldn’t help it—she started to deeply sob. “It’s not the blankets. Well, maybe them too. I’m just—it’s just—I mean—” She stopped talking, too overcome with tears to continue.

“Whatever it is, you can tell me,” Mary Beth said in a soothing voice. Kate felt her stroke her back, just like she’d do for Vanessa when she was upset, and that made her cry even harder.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, pressing the now-shredded tissue to her face.

Mary Beth handed her the full box of tissues. “Seriously, it’s OK. Just tell me before I imagine the worst and start kicking some booty.”

Kate smiled a little through her tears. Before she could speak, Annie breezed in carrying a couple of big plastic bags, stopping short when she saw Kate’s distress.

“What’s wrong, Kate? Why are you crying? Mary Beth, why is she crying?” she demanded.

“I have no idea, but I think she was about to tell me,” Mary Beth said.

Annie plunked herself down on the chair on Kate’s other side, dropping the bags at her feet. She didn’t even bother to remove her coat.

“It’s just ….” Kate blew her nose. “I feel so silly. But Vanessa has decided she wants to learn to drive, and she wants her very own car. And she’s asked Harry to buy one for her. For some reason, I had no problem with her friends driving her around, but her own car? That means she’s really growing up. She’s never had any interest in having a car before.”

“When did she tell you this?” Annie asked.

“This past Saturday.”

“Kate! It’s Thursday! Why didn’t you mention anything sooner?” Mary Beth scolded.

“I don’t know,” she sniffled into another tissue. “I guess because I feel dumb. And I didn’t want to start crying at work. And yet here I am, crying. I’ve been crying myself to sleep, and crying after Vanessa goes to school, and choking up.”

“Oh, honey,” Annie said. “I know exactly how you feel. I thought I would just die when LeeAnn went off to her first sleepover camp. I cried so much that Wayne joked that he should invest in a tissue company. And that was just
camp.
I had to keep reminding myself that all parents have to let their kids go sometime.”

“And she’s a smart girl to ask Harry for a car,” Mary Beth said. “It’s something they can do together that they’ll actually both like: look for cars.”

Kate started another round of tears. Mary Beth and Annie just looked at each other.

“
I
wanted to take her shopping for a car. I took her shopping for her first bra, and a dress for her first communion, and her Halloween costumes. And he—”

“We get it,” Mary Beth said, interrupting. “You did all the things with and for her that a
mom
should do. Don’t you think you should let Harry do this thing a
dad
should do?”

Kate sniffled some more and said, “Yes, I suppose so. He wants to do it this Saturday. She’s excited. He’s excited. And apparently he’s been putting money away for years to buy her a car. Who knew? The man won’t help me out when she needs new shoes, but he’s been saving for a car. And apparently he’s got enough money that she won’t have a car payment.”

“Well, think of it this way: It means Harry does care for her more than he lets on,” Mary Beth said. “Let them have their fun. And let him pay for a car. You know Vanessa will always be your little girl.”

“And you won’t have to worry about her driving,” Annie said. “LeeAnn could be so scatterbrained; I cringed every time she drove somewhere. But she never had an accident. And Vanessa is so much more together than my daughter was.”

“It’s true that she is very responsible,” Kate said, drying her tears and finally looking at them. But then she noticed the tracking poster and started crying all over again. “But wh … what about the blankets?”

“Kate’s worried we won’t meet our goal,” Mary Beth mock-whispered to Annie over Kate’s head.

“Oh, Kate! Of course we’ll meet our goal. In fact, I just stopped in today to drop off the two blankets I’ve finished so far!” Annie reached into one of the bags and pulled out the green shell-stitch blanket she had made and handed it to Kate. She then reached into the other bag and pulled out the blue-and-white afghan. “I finished the blue-and-white one a few weeks ago, but kept forgetting to bring it in. So here you go! Two more for the cause!”

She stood up, walked over to the poster, and grabbed a yellow marker to fill in the space. “There!” she said cheerily, signing her name in the area she’d filled in. “Now we’re up to nineteen! I also stopped in to pick up copies of your beautiful crochet pattern. I promised the ladies over at Ocean View Assisted Living that I’d bring them some supplies. I think about six or seven of them want to get involved. I’m also going to give them a bunch of the yarn LeeAnn sent me over a year ago. I don’t think I’ll ever use it all, no matter how hard I try, and heaven knows you two keep stocking yarn I want to buy.”

“I hadn’t even thought about Ocean View,” Kate hiccupped. “Mary Beth said that Katrina had brought in a few of the ladies from Seaside Hills, including a resident she hadn’t met—her name is Kathleen, I think.”

“No, I don’t think that’s right,” Mary Beth said. “Maybe Katy?”

“I’m sure it will come to you,” Annie laughed. “Anyway, someone had already taken a poster to Ocean View.”

“Who? And why were you there?” Kate said, hiccupping some more and wiping away the last of her tears. “Ugh. I hate the hiccups. It’s the worst part about crying. Well, that and the terribly attractive puffy eyes.”

“I especially love getting a red nose,” Mary Beth said, hugging Kate again.

“Crying is
not
fun, but occasionally, we need to let it out,” said Annie. I know this sounds corny, but tears truly do cleanse the soul.” Annie leaned in, smooshing Kate from the other side. She let go and leaned back in her chair. “I have no idea who put up that poster at Ocean View. I’d gone there to visit Cecil Lewey. You know he used to work with my grandfather. Oh, and I told him about the recipes, but he said he didn’t remember anyone living in the carriage house while Gram and Grandpa owned it.”

“So, that means we’re looking at someone who lived there either during the Swanns’ tenure or before your grandparents bought Grey Gables—right?” Mary Beth said.

“I think so. Anyway, Cecil mentioned that some of the ‘inmates’—yes, that’s what they call themselves—really wanted to participate in the project, so I figured I’d help them out. I meant to go sooner, but time got away from me.”

“That’s nice,” Kate said, her voice muffled by yet another tissue. She managed a weak laugh and added, “I mean, not that they call themselves inmates, but that you’re taking them stuff.”

She jumped up, seeming to be mostly back to her old self. “Do they need needles? Will anyone be doing knitting? The girls picked out an easy pattern for the teen club to knit. Let me just get you some copies.” She dashed into the back room and then returned and handed them to Annie. “And here’s my card. Be sure to have them call the store if they need any help.”

“And you be sure to call me if you have any more crying jags about your baby growing up. Or come on over to Grey Gables. We can cry together. My baby has eight-year-old babies of her own. How do you think that makes me feel?” Annie said, smiling. “All right. I gotta run. I can’t keep the inmates waiting. I hear they start banging cups or something.”

****

As Kate unpacked and stocked yet another shipment of yarn that afternoon, she realized she’d been more than silly to worry about making their goal. If just half the skeins of yarn they’d sold were used, they’d probably be able to put the blankets end to end and reach Haiti from Maine. Plus, as Mary Beth said, it was only February. The mission group wasn’t leaving until June. And she felt better knowing that Annie had cried over her daughter going to camp. She couldn’t imagine Annie ever crying over anything.

“Guess it’s just a mom thing,” Kate said aloud.

“What’s a mom thing?” Mary Beth asked as she walked over to help Kate with the new stock.

“Crying over your baby getting older.”

“I don’t know personally,” Mary Beth said, “but I think it probably is.”

Vanessa barged into the store. Once again, it sounded like the bell would fall off. She chattered away as she dropped her bag behind the counter and shucked off her puffy pink coat.

“Mom, can you believe it? Dad is actually going to take me to look at cars, and he’s actually gonna buy one for me! What do you think I should get? I
reeeeally
want you to go too, but that would be just weird because—well, it would be. But this almost makes up for all the terrible things he’s done. What color do you like? I kinda like green. Or maybe blue. Oh wait, white. No, white gets dirty. Oh, hey, Mary Beth. So, Mom, will you look at cars on the Internet with me tonight? He’s taking me to Portland because he says they’ll have a better selection, and then we’ll eat somewhere nice. I am so excited!”

“If you plan on standing there, the least you could do is help your mother and me with this shipment,” Mary Beth said dryly when Vanessa took a rare break to breathe.

“OK, sure, no problem.” She babbled nonstop until the store closed, and Mary Beth shooed them both out to go home.

“See,” she whispered to Kate, “Vanessa is definitely still your little girl.”

****

Kate got home from work at four thirty that Saturday afternoon. Vanessa and Harry hadn’t gotten back from Portland yet. She wanted to call her daughter to check in, but she figured that was a bad idea. She tried working on a blanket—just a few more rows and her third one would be done—but she kept putting the crochet hook down and staring off into space. She tried to watch something on TV and got the same results.

She finally decided to give Annie a call. The phone rang quite a few times before Annie picked up, sounding breathless.

“Annie, it’s Kate. Am I interrupting something?”

Annie laughed. “No, I’m just out of shape, and I ran down the hall to grab the phone. I was just taking a tuna casserole out of the oven when it rang. How are you?”

“Um—” Kate started to answer, but then she stopped, unsure how to go on.

“Let me guess. Vanessa’s not home from Portland.”

“Nope, and I’m going a little nuts. I wondered if you’d like to come over and keep me company while I wait. I’d come to you, but of course I want to be at home when Vanessa and Harry get back.”

“Of course!” came Annie’s immediate reply. Kate felt a sigh of relief bubble up. “Would you like me to bring the casserole? I have no idea why I made it—clearly I’ll never be able to eat the whole thing—but it just sounded good.”

“That would be very sweet of you!” Kate felt her stomach rumble. “I just realized that I haven’t eaten all day.”

“Well, we have to do something about that!” Annie said. “I just need to do a couple things, and I’ll be over.”

Kate hung up and surveyed the kitchen and living room. She went into “company-is-coming” mode—straightening the books and magazines on the coffee table and putting many of them back on the bookshelf, flipping the couch cushions over, dusting the TV, and then cleaning up the kitchen and putting dishes into the dishwasher. The doorbell rang just as she finished setting the table.

“Annie!” she said, opening the front door. “Come in! Let me take that dish from you. And put your coat anywhere.”

“I’ve always thought your home is darling,” Annie said, shrugging out of her coat and putting it on the back of the recliner.

“Thank you! Vanessa and I really like it. Obviously it’s not huge, but it’s pretty cozy, and we both have our own space. Follow me—I have some tea brewing.”

Kate headed to the kitchen with Annie’s casserole dish and set it on a trivet on the counter. She then poured tea into two brown pottery mugs and put them on the table.

“I don’t know when Vanessa and Harry will get back. Should I put the casserole in the oven on warm, just in case?”

“That’s probably a good idea,” Annie said, pulling out a chair at the table and sitting down. She put a spoonful of sugar in her tea from the sugar bowl on the table and then took a sip. “Just on warm, though. I might have already cooked it too much, and I for one am not a fan of burnt tuna.”

Kate laughed in agreement. She turned on the oven and then set the casserole inside.

“So, how are you holding up?” Annie asked after Kate sat down. “Have you heard from Vanessa?”

“No. And I don’t expect I will. She’s very careful to keep her parents separate. But I hope and pray they’re having a good time, and that they have found a car they can both agree on. Do you know that my child actually does know how to drive? I had no idea. Harry took her after school yesterday to get her license, and she passed the test with flying colors.”

“When did she learn?”

“She conveniently forgot to mention their driver’s safety class at school. Apparently if it’s on school grounds, the kids don’t need a learner’s permit, and the parent doesn’t have to give permission. Of course, she could have gotten Harry to sign a permission slip.”