Hello Loved Ones (23 page)

“No.” She was ready. Seeing the house helped.
Here’s
what he’s moved on to.
This
is where he pretends he doesn’t have a daughter named Sally.

They knocked on the front door and after a moment an attractive young woman answered. She wore a large wedding ring on her finger. Sally took a deep breath. Hadn’t she expected as much?

“I’m sorry,” the woman said. “We don’t entertain door-to-door solicitations.” She had a soft voice with a southern drawl.

“Do we look like we’ve got something to sell?” asked Cash hotly. Let
him
do the talking? Sally made a gurgling sound in her throat as she tried to think of something to say.

The woman studied them with wide blue eyes. She had to notice Cash’s purple nose, but she was polite enough not to stare. “You look like those high school kids with the magazine subscriptions and what not.”

Why did she have to be so pretty? The girly type. That’s what her dad liked. And Sally hadn’t even brought lipstick! She managed to thrust her hand out.

“I’m Sally. I’m here to see my dad.”

She steeled herself for a reaction. A cool bitchiness maybe, or the door slamming in her face.

“Your…dad,” the woman repeated.

“My….
dad
.” Sally stared at her, waiting. Anger flared in her and took her by surprise.

“Oh! You’re Richard’s daughter!”

“Is he here?”
Just try to keep him from me. Just try!

“I’m sorry. Please come in,” the woman said, with a welcoming gesture.

“Nice digs,” Cash muttered as they stepped into the foyer. He was right. It was like stepping into a television set. The room was painted a canary yellow that you only see on advertisements. The very air glowed from some inner, uncontainable happiness. There were soft pastel rugs on the floor, gauzy curtains at the window, and in the middle of it all was a baby in a playpen.

“Oh,” Sally said, staring at the cutest baby boy she’d ever seen. He was dressed like a miniature man, in overalls and a red plaid shirt. She put her hand on the back of a chair to steady herself. “What’s
his
name?”

This was going wrong. She was shaken when what she wanted was to be bright and bubbly for her dad. But poor Lenny! He’d been replaced. They all had.

“This is Willard.” The baby let out a squeal and started banging something against the playpen. The woman hurried over and lifted him out. “And I’m Aurelia.”

Sally glanced at Cash. What kind of name was that? But he only raised his eyebrows at her like he was impressed. It wasn’t fair! What right did she have to be so classy and poised? To have everything yellow and soft and clean? This…this…
Aurelia
got a lovely house and a cute little baby and
her father
for a husband when back in Holland Sally’s mother struggled to raise three kids on her own. They had
nothing
, and this woman had everything.

“How long have you known my dad?” Sally said stiffly.

“Only a few years.” Aurelia jiggled the baby on her hip. “But I haven’t seen Richard in some time.”

Sally’s jaw dropped. “He left you too? And the baby?”

The woman’s face opened in a slow
oh!
She started to smile, but a deep voice barked from the hallway.

“Who’s there?”

A man stood in the adjoining room, hugging the wall as if he didn’t want to be seen. Her dad? Sally stepped forward.

“It’s Richard’s daughter,” Aurelia said quickly and Sally froze, confused.

“Who’s the quiet one?” the man asked.

“That’s Cash,” Sally said slowly. “He’s my…” Friend? My driver?
Just some guy I met.
“He plays ball for Holland Christian.” Stupid, but it seemed like a guy thing to say.

The man jerked his head. “Are you staring at me?”

“Marvin! It’s all right.” Aurelia went to him and took his arm. She led him into the living room in such a way that Sally realized. The man was blind.

“This is my husband, Marvin.” She placed him in a chair and set the baby in his lap. He made a face as the baby squawked and tried to grab his nose.

Sally nearly squawked too. “Aren’t you married to my dad?”

Aurelia laughed. “Richard is our tenant,” she said. “He rents the cottage out back.”

“Whoa,” said Cash softly.

“I see,” said Sally, before catching herself. Was that rude to say in front of a blind man? Besides, she didn’t see anything.

“He’s been gone, what would you say, honey? About three weeks.”

But that would mean— “What about my letter? I wrote to him here at this address, and he wrote back.”

Aurelia went to the foyer. “We keep his mail for him,” she said, holding up a cardboard box. “He gets it whenever he’s back in town.”

Sally looked in the box and saw it immediately. Her letter, on top, unopened.

She reached in her pocket and took out the letter from
him
. From him! She opened it.
With love, your dad
.

She felt slow and stupid. “So who wrote this?”

Cash took it from her and read it. “You’ve been had,” he said quietly.

She felt a wave of nausea and wished she could sit down. Her mother. It had to be. Who else would go to such lengths to keep her from her dad?

“Can I give him a message?” Aurelia asked. “When I see him?

Sally shook her head. A slow burn began behind her eyes, but she would not cry. Not in front of Miss Southern Hospitality and her creepy, blank-eyed husband. Did she have a message? Only one thought popped into her head.
Where have you been all my life?
Like a line from a movie. She tried to think of something else, but Marvin cleared his throat.

“Don’t touch anything over there!”

Cash had turned his attention to the wall, where four guitars were leaning in stands.

“Those are valuable,” said Marvin.

“Where’d you get this Fender?”

“Cash,
please
.” She wouldn’t leave it to these two to tell her dad anything. They’d reduce this trip to a
by the way
… moment instead of the brave and bold statement it was meant to be.

“Do you know where he is?” she asked. “Where can I find him?”

“I believe he’s in Holland.”

“Holland? But I live in Holland! Was he going to see me?” Her heart leaped before she could remind herself. He. Never. Read. Her. Letter. There it was, in the basket. Proof positive. Yet a part of her believed that he
just knew
she was looking for him.

“Um…” Aurelia pressed her lips together and gave her a soft look. “ I don’t know dear. He goes there quite often.”

Sally stuck a hand in her hair and pulled, like she could straighten out her confusion of thoughts. There was a bright side. There was no pretty wife, no replacement baby, no bouncy green lawn that he preened over.

“Maybe my mom called him and told him about my letter,” she said, beginning to pace a small patch of the carpet. “And he told her what to say to me. He told her to let me down easy.” She stopped and pulled her letter from her purse. “That’s why she wrote
this
.”

“I thought they didn’t talk,” said Cash.

“Maybe they do!” Sally turned to Aurelia. “Does he ever say anything about my mom?”

“He talks about a place called the Torchlight,” Marvin interjected. “I get the impression it’s a favorite hang-out.”

“That’s a bar,” said Cash.

Sally swallowed hard and said, “Is he, you know, a drunk?”

“What’s it to you?” Marvin growled from the couch.

Aurelia snapped her head around. “Stop it!”

Cash touched Sally’s elbow. “Let’s go.”

Sally nodded and they backed toward the door.

“Thank you,” Sally said. Aurelia turned, looking flustered. She opened her mouth to speak but Sally had the door open. “Thank you. Goodbye.”

They hurried out to the car.

“Jeez!” said Cash as he started the engine. Sally couldn’t wait to get out of there, but there was Aurelia, hurrying down the walk toward them. She bent over, putting her elbows on Sally’s open window.

“I just wanted to say, I believe Richard has mentioned you once or twice. My husband didn’t realize....” She patted Sally’s arm. “Good luck.”

Sally gave her a thin smile. Maybe she wasn’t so pretty, up close. Maybe Sally had only imagined that the air in there was super-charged with happiness. Maybe at this very moment her dad was standing in
her
living room, finding out that she was gone, simply vanished and no one knew where, and his heart was racing and he was thinking that ten years was such a long time. Much too long to be gone.

Prudy

Prudy was pacing her front porch, convinced that if she kept looking down the block she’d see Sally round the corner, when the phone rang. It was Phillip.

“You heard?” he said.

Her heart lurched. “Heard what?”

“My car was stolen.”

She was confused. “That’s terrible, but—”

“Prudy, it’s
Richard
. Richard was in my car.”

“Richard? Stole your car?”

“It looks that way.”

“Was Sally with him?”

“I don’t know. The police told me he had some kids with him. I think Lenny was driving.”

“How could that be? Isn’t Lenny at the church?”

“I don’t know.”

She made a frustrated sound. “He works for you now. Shouldn’t you know where he is?”

He sighed. “I’m not at the church, am I? I’m here in my kitchen talking to you. And then I’m going to the police station.”

“Why are you yelling at me?” Maybe he wasn’t yelling exactly, but he sounded like he wanted to.

“I have an appointment at the funeral home in Burnips this morning,” he said. “How am I going to get over there?”

“This is not my fault!” There was a long pause. “Phillip?”

“I’ll see you at the station.”

Prudy ran the seven blocks to the police station. Her side ached, but each time she slowed the questions came faster. How on earth could Richard and Sally end up together in Phillip’s car? What had he done to her? And
Lenny
? What did he have to do with any of this?

The desk sergeant looked up as she burst in. “I’m Mrs. Van Sloeten,” she said, trying to catch her breath. “You found my daughter?”

He checked a piece of paper in his hand. “A state trooper pulled over a Richard Van Sloeten. Your husband?”

She nodded. “Estranged.”

“He was with his kids in a stolen car on US131.”

“What kids? My kids?”

“Are you missing more than one?”

“I have three kids. Maybe he’s taken all of them.”

He removed his glasses. “Has he threatened to take them?”

“No! I haven’t heard from him in years. But why would he steal a car? That’s bad, right? It’s got to be bad.”

“They should be here any minute. Why don’t you have a seat?”

Not more waiting!

“Was my son Lenny in the car? Pastor Voss said something about Lenny.”

The sergeant shook his head. “I don’t have a complete report yet. Just be patient.”

“Could you at least check—Nell Van Sloeten. My oldest daughter. She should be upstairs for the crossing guard orientation. Can you see if she’s there?”

He frowned. “I’ll check.” He ambled down the hallway and poked his head in another room. She heard the door open behind her and Phillip came in. He was sweating in a dark suit. Before she could speak to him the sergeant returned with a concerned look.

“She was on the roster but didn’t show.”

“Phil, he has all of them!”

This was a kidnapping! What did Richard want with her kids? Had Sally’s letter touched off something crazy in him?

“Calm down,” said Phillip, taking both her hands in his. “Let’s just wait and see.”

He hadn’t touched her in sixteen years. Not even a handshake. Something terrible was happening.

“The stupid banquet!” she said, shaking him off. “That’s what started all this.”

Phillip sighed and gestured toward the row of chairs. Reluctantly she sat and he settled himself beside her.

“Speaking of the banquet,” he said after a moment. “It obviously means a lot to Sally.”

“You think?” She knew sarcasm wouldn’t help, but neither did stating the obvious.

He cleared his throat. “You know, we could let them go together.”