Anna's Visions (23 page)

Grammy patted Tori’s hand, but she had a stern look in
her eyes. “That money is ill-gotten gain, and if we spend it, it will only
bring us sorrow.”

“I knew you were going to say that. It’s not
technically mine and it came from illegal activity, but it sure is tempting,”
Tori said.

Grammy puckered as if she had a bitter taste on her
tongue. “I know, but we can’t spend it. Dirty money is the worst thing in the
world.”

“Then what are we supposed to do with it?” Tori asked.
“We can’t just burn it.”

Grammy propped her elbow on the table, rested her chin
in her palm, and drummed her fingers against her cheek. Then her eyes
brightened. “I’ll tell you what we’re going to do with it. We’re going to take
the devil’s money and use it for the good of God’s children!”

Tori waited for further explanation, wondering what
Grammy had in mind.

“You leave it where it is until Christmastime!” Grammy
said.

“Christmastime?”
Tori asked. “What’s Christmas got to do with it?”

“Let me finish,” said Grammy. “Every year at
Christmastime, the Salvation Army has bell ringers on every corner of Madison.
We’ll drive through town and drop a stack of bills in every bucket. Just imagine
what kind of joy that could bring!”

“I like that idea, Grammy.” Tori pictured hundreds of
children opening unexpected gifts on Christmas morning. “Maybe Cody will have
finally done something good in his life – even if he’ll never know about it.”
She paused. Should she tell Grammy that Cody was dead and how she had killed
him? Tori decided against it. It was her and Jill’s secret they would take to
their graves. It had to be that way. Instead she said, “What do we do with the
rest of the stuff?”

“Flush it down the commode!” Grammy said emphatically.

“Okay, it’s all arranged,” Tori said in agreement.
“May I go to my room now?” She didn’t want to talk about anything else that
would remind her of Cody.

“Go, and take your mind off the past.” Grammy waved
Tori away with her hand.

As Tori fell into the feather bed, a feeling of warmth
and security enveloped her. For a long moment she just lay still and enjoyed
that sensation. Then she walked over to the dresser, and picked up a picture of
her and Wes. It had been taken on the night they were crowned king and queen of
the prom. She held the picture to her heart, remembering the love, remembering
it slipping away.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she set the picture
facedown, feeling empty to the depths of her being. But she knew that she had
to face reality. Wes was out of her life – but at least she still had a life!
Only the day before there had been a serious doubt if she’d ever see another
sunrise. She knew that she needed to be grateful for the chance to start over –
with or without Wesley Asner.

Suddenly, to her surprise, a feeling of peace came
over her as she realized she’d finally taken the first step toward moving on.

Tori walked back into the kitchen and found Grammy
standing by the window, looking out at the Morgan family cemetery. Grammy
seemed to be in a trance as she whispered, “I know. I know.”

“What do you know, Grammy?” Tori asked.

Grammy jumped when she heard Tori and dropped the mug
she was holding, sending it crashing to the floor. “Tori, why are you always
sneaking up on me? You’ve done it since you were a little girl. Someday you’re
going to give me a heart attack!” Grammy shook her head and looked down at the
broken mug.

“Sorry, Grammy.
I’ll clean up the glass. You just sit down.” Tori
hurried to the pantry to get a broom and dustpan. After she had cleaned up the
glass, she helped Grammy fix lunch, which they had ready when Poppy came in
from the field.

They ate on the front porch, Grammy and Tori on the
swing and Poppy in his metal rocking chair. When they finished, Poppy kissed
Tori’s forehead, and headed back to the fields. Grammy was a bit chilly, so
they went back inside, and she managed to get a fire started in the fireplace.
“Oh, how I loved to gaze at that beautiful masterpiece with logs burning in
it,” Tori said.

She took the plates into the kitchen, and then
returned to the living room and sat beside Grammy on the sofa. They talked
about Tori’s childhood and laughed at the antics that Tori and Jill had pulled
during their grade school days, which drove the teachers crazy.

Tori glanced at her watch. “It’s four-thirty. I hate
to see this wonderful day end, but I guess I need to get going. Momma and Daddy
will be home soon, and so will Jill. I need to spend some time with them, too.”

Grammy hugged Tori. “Yes, your parents have been
through a lot. I’d like to have you stay, but that would be selfish, and
there’ll be other times.”

“Thanks, Grammy,” Tori said, giving Grammy a kiss, and
rising from the sofa. “I’ll be back soon. I promise. Love you.”

Grammy didn’t get up and walk Tori to the car as she
used to. She merely squeezed Tori’s hand. “Love you too.
sweet
.”

When Tori reached the door, Grammy called out, “See
you later, alligator!”

“After while, crocodile!” Tori laughed as she shut the
door behind her.

When Tori arrived home, her parents and Jill were
already there. Momma had supper on the stove, and they were sitting at the
kitchen table. Tori walked through the side kitchen door, and they all stood
and hugged her at the same time.

They shared a wonderful meal, just as they’d done
hundreds of times before – but to Tori it all seemed new and even more
wonderful than ever before.

After dessert, Tori and Jill helped her mother clean
the kitchen while Tori’s father retired to his recliner to read the evening
newspaper. Just like old times,
Tori thought, and her heart filled with
joy.

At ten o’clock, Jill went home, and shortly after
Tori’s parents went to bed.

Tori tried to watch television, but she couldn’t
concentrate on the program, so she decided to call it a day, too. She made her
way upstairs, shut her bedroom door, undressed, slipped into pajamas, and
crawled into bed. She curled into the fetal position, tucked the goose down
pillow under her ear, and smiled.
All the comforts of home.
She closed her eyes and thanked God for bringing her home.

She was just drifting off when she thought she heard
the faint squeak of her bedroom door hinges opening. She opened her eyes and
strained to see by the dim light of her bedroom window. Cody Baxter’s silhouette
stood in the doorway, and he was holding a knife.

She opened her mouth and tried to scream, but her
throat was paralyzed and she couldn’t make a sound. As she watched in horror,
he lumbered closer to the edge of her bed. She leaped up, darted around him,
and managed to avoid the blade as he swung it viciously at her head.

She raced down the stairs, taking them two at a time,
but before she could reach the bottom, she felt his powerful hand on her
shoulder and saw him raise the knife to sink it into her back. He was foaming
at the mouth like a rabid dog.

Suddenly, Tori bolted upright in bed and flipped on
the light on her nightstand. Sweat ran in rivulets from under her breast as she
realized it had been a terrible nightmare.

Tori mopped her brow on her pajama sleeve, quaking in
fear. As she lay in bed wide-awake, she thought about her first two days back
in Madison. She was filled with a wide range of emotions, from sheer joy to
abject terror. Cody Baxter had proven that he still had a hold on her – even in
death.

She wondered if it would ever be over. In the
stillness of the night she could feel Cody’s evil eyes burning the flesh off
her bones.

Anna’s Note

September17, 1976

I thought the day Tori
was
born was the happiest day of my life with the exception of the day I gave birth
to my own daughter. Today, I think this is the happiest day of my life. My
sweet Tori
is
home. My sweet granddaughter will be
close to me for the rest of my days. Maybe the past three months, as horrible
as they were, have taught her some valuable lessons. Lessons she had to learn
on her own. She has truly been through the school of hard knocks. Thank you
God!

Anna West- Morgan

Chapter Sixteen

Many nights Tori lay in bed remembering her return to
Madison. Her memories were both sweet and sad. She had escaped Atlanta with her
life, but she’d been home for three months and still hadn’t heard a word from
Wes.

Although she’d accepted the fact that he was out of
her life, her heart still yearned for a letter or phone call. However, even
amid that sadness, the days and months following her homecoming had also been
some of the happiest of her life.

Time seemed to pass quickly now that she was older,
and it was hard to believe it had been a year and a half since she graduated.

A month after she returned to Madison, she was hired
by the Madison County Hospital to work in the records department. Her new job
kept her mind occupied and it seemed to help her not to obsess about Wes.

One Friday afternoon as Christmas approached, she was
lying on her bed at ten minutes to five, waiting for Jill. The weekends Billy
came to visit Jill were hard on Tori, because she figured that Wes was also in
town.

Tori spent every day doing her best to set aside the
known shackles of the past for the untested waters of the future, but she was
still having trouble letting go. “Wes is an old love turned memory,”
she
said, and sighed.

When she heard the second step crack like thunder, she
knew that Jill was coming up the stairs. Even though Tori had always hated that
sound, she had to admit that the second step made a great alarm.

Jill hurried into the bedroom, rubbing her hands
together, and then stuck them on Tori’s stomach, saying, “It’s cold enough to
freeze the nose off a brass monkey out there!”

Tori squealed as she fended off Jill’s cold hands.
“Hey, stop!” Tori said grabbing Jill’s arm and pulling her onto the bed. “Help
me make a Christmas list. I’ve been saving my money so I can buy some nice
gifts. I just don’t know what to get for everybody. You’ve always been good at
that sort of thing.”

“I’m pretty good with getting things that fit people’s
personalities, if I do say so myself,” Jill said, taking the pen and twirling
it in her fingers like a baton. “I think I can come up with some good ideas.”

Tori handed Jill the tablet. “Well, let’s get started
then.”

Tori giggled as Jill wrote down several gag gifts for
each person on Tori’s list – things that fit their personalities but no one in
their right mind would really want.

“Come on, get serious,” Tori said. “Christmas isn’t
that far away!”

“Okay, give me some time to think.” Jill sat back on
the bed and chewed on the pen. A moment later, she looked at Tori and said,
“You know something? With all the excitement of you being home and all the
rejoicing we’ve been doing I forgot about that tin box that we took from Cody’s
place. I think we need to find a way to pry it open. Where did you put it?”

“I’ve already pried it open–”

“What was in it?” Jill
asked,
her eyes wide. “Have you told Grammy about – of course you have? Was it the
right box?”

Tori laughed. “Hold on, girl, and I’ll tell you
everything, but you have to keep it a secret. Do you promise?”

“Of course I promise!” Jill said
,
looking a little hurt that Tori would even imply that she’d ever betray her
trust. “Didn’t I risk my own life to go and get you? Now stop stalling and tell
me all about it.”

“Well, to start with, I found a marriage license for
Cody and some woman in Texas, but I didn’t find any divorce papers, which means
I was never legally married to him.”

Jill threw her hands in the air and said, “Hallelujah
– but that’s no big surprise. He was such a weasel that he wouldn’t have
thought twice about being a bigamist. That would have been the least of his
sins.”

Jill seemed to be satisfied, so Tori let it go at
that. She told Jill about the list of foster homes, but she carefully avoided
everything else.

“Well, that explains a lot,” Jill said, nodding her
head. “I guess Grammy’s vision was to set your mind at ease about being married
to Cody. It was important news, after all.”

“The best!”
Tori exclaimed. “And it really was a relief to find
that out, but can we please get back to my Christmas list?”

They spent the next two hours talking, writing, and
giggling, and before they knew it, seven o’clock had rolled around.

“Is Billy coming in this weekend?” Tori asked, trying
to sound nonchalant.

“Yeah, but he said he wouldn’t be in until about noon
tomorrow, so if you want, we can have a sleepover tonight.”

“Oh, that would be great!” Tori said. “We can watch the
Friday night movie together. We haven’t done that in a long time!” Tori slid
off the bed. “Come
on,
let’s see if we can find some
Jiffy Pop downstairs.
You, me, and popcorn.
Who could ask for anything more?”

When they were in the kitchen, Tori opened the pantry,
scanned the shelves, and found a pan of Jiffy Pop. “Just like ole times. To
heck with Billy! To heck with any man!” she said, and laughed.

“You’ve got that right!” Jill turned on the gas
burner. “You know, I’d like to go with you to Grammy’s tomorrow, but I need to
stay home and wait for Billy – I guess.”

“Yeah, I wish you could come, but I know you should
wait for him,” Tori said with a sigh.

They watched the tin foil rise magically as the
popcorn inside began to expand, and when it had stopped popping, Tori dumped
the popcorn into a bowl. Then they grabbed two sodas from the fridge and headed
for the living room.

They watched the movie, ate the popcorn, laughed and
talked so much, they had no idea what the movie was all about. They finally
went back upstairs a little past midnight, where they talked about Christmas
until Jill fell asleep in mid-sentence.

But Tori couldn’t go to sleep. Since Jill had
mentioned the box, Tori couldn’t stop thinking about the black book she had
found in it. What should she do with it? She thought about it for a long time –
until she had an idea.

She slipped out of bed, tiptoed downstairs, went into
her father’s study, and sat in front of the typewriter. Her plan was to send
the book to the FBI anonymously. That way they might be able to arrest a number
of people – without knowing she had ever been involved.

She finally decided it would be best to mail the book
to Madison’s chief of police with a note explaining what it was and suggesting
that he pass it on to the FBI.

Every click of the keys sounder like thunder in the
stillness of the den, but no one came down to investigate the noise, so she
kept typing until the letter was complete.

She went back upstairs, eased open the bottom drawer
of her dresser where she had hidden the black book, and tucked the letter
inside. She’d mail it on Monday. With that plan in mind, she went back to bed,
sighed with relief, and fell asleep.

* * * *

Tori and Jill were up early the next morning even
though it was Saturday and they could have slept in. As they dressed, Tori told
Jill, “I’m not going to bother about breakfast this morning. Grammy will have
bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy ready when I get there.”

“Fine,” Jill said sarcastically. “You just go ahead
and have a great breakfast and a fabulous visit with Grammy while I gnaw on a
piece of dry toast and wait for Billy to come whenever he feels like showing
up.”

“Hey, you made the choice.” Tori ducked a pillow Jill
had sent sailing her way.

In the kitchen, Tori grabbed Mother’s car keys off the
pegboard by the back door and Jill and she walked out of the house together.

“See you later, alligator,” Tori said.

“After while, crocodile.” Jill headed for her house.

Happiness filled Tori’s soul as she drove to the
Morgan farm. When she walked into the house she instantly smelled the wonderful
aroma of freshly baked pineapple upside-down cake and fresh brewed coffee. The
old familiar smell of Grammy’s kitchen filled her heart with joy.

Tori stuck her head through the kitchen door. “Good
morning, Grammy.”

Grammy was sitting at the table, in deep thought, and
jumped when she saw Tori. “Child, when are you going to learn? You’ll be sorry
someday – when I drop dead of a heart attack!”

“I tried to make some noise as I came through the
house. I even let the screen door slam,” Tori kissed Grammy on the forehead.
Then she saw the cake on the counter and reached out to stick a finger through
one of the pineapple rings.

Grammy quickly pushed herself out of the chair and
swatted Tori’s hand. “Get your fingers off that! If you want a piece of cake,
cut one,” Then her tone softened. “On second thought, sit down. I’ll cut you a
piece.”

A few moments later, Grammy set the plate in front of
Tori and she stuck a bite into her mouth. She was enjoying the sensation of the
cake melting in her mouth when she heard a knock on the front door. Tori jumped
up. “That’ll be Jill. She just couldn’t stand the thought of me being here
without her!”

“Well, tell her to come into the kitchen. I’ll cut her
a piece of cake, too,” Grammy said.

Tori opened the door. She gasped and fell against the
door jamb, clinging, waiting for air to return to her lungs. The sight she was
beholding had knocked the breath out of her. She gazed upon the broad smile,
the two strong arms reaching for her, then the deep voice saying, “Come to me
Tori.
My darling Tori.
I’ll never let you go. You are
my life.”

Tori let out a bloodcurdling scream as she fell into
the arms of Wesley Asner, who held her tightly as she screamed and laughed and
cried at the same time.

Patting Tori on the back gently, Wes choked through
his tears, “
It’s
okay, Tori. I’m here, and I’m never
going to leave you again.”

Grammy stepped out onto the porch. “What’s going on
out here?” Then she said, “Well, I’ll be!”

Tori didn’t turn around to see the expression on
Grammy’s
face,
she just listened to the tone of her
voice.

“Well, you’re not Jill, but it sure looks like you’ll
do,” said Grammy with a chuckle.

“He’ll do just fine.” Tori looked up at Wes and then
kissed him deeply.

She could tell that Wes was thoroughly confused, but
after they had finished their kiss, he looked up at Grammy and said, “I’m not
sure who you were expecting, but it it’s okay with you, I’ve come to reclaim my
girl.”

“Well, if you two can tear yourselves away from your
happy reunion, I’ve got some cake and coffee ready in the kitchen,” Grammy
said, smiling broadly.

“That sounds perfect.” Wes gave Tori a playful
squeeze. Hand-in-hand, Wes and Tori followed Grammy back inside.

Once seated at the kitchen table, Tori and Wes pulled
their chairs close so they could lean on each other as they ate. It was the
happiest moment of Tori’s life.

“This cake is amazing,” said Wes. “You don’t know how
much I’ve missed your cooking, Grammy.”

“Well, we’ve kind of been missing you around here,
too.” Grammy winked at Tori. “I’m guessing that Tori probably won’t be spending
the night here like we had planned.”

“Well,” Wes said, looking somewhat shy. “I’d like to
take your granddaughter out somewhere tonight, if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t know,” Grammy said coyly. “What do you
think,
granddaughter?”

“I think I’d love to go just about anywhere with this
character
.”
Tori playfully nudged Wes with her body.

“Well, all right,” said Grammy, milking the situation
for all it was worth. “I suppose we can change our plans just this once, given
the circumstances.”

“Thanks, Grammy.” Tori jumped up and gave Grammy a
hug. “There will be other chances. I promise!”

“Now you two get out of here. But I want a full report
later, you hear?”

“That’s a promise,” Wes said as he stood and kissed
Grammy’s cheek. “We’ll call you tomorrow.”

Then he took Tori’s hand and they hurried out of the
kitchen, but before walking through the door, Tori looked back and saw Grammy
wiping away her happy tears with a dishtowel.

Tori followed in her mother’s car until they reached
the Madison City Limit sign. Then Tori waved as Wes turned right and she turned
left.

She headed down Maple Street, her heart racing as she
pictured Jill’s face when she told her the wonderful news. As Tori pulled into
the driveway she noticed that Billy’s car wasn’t in the Moss’ driveway. Her
high spirits wilted. Jill had already left with Billy for the day.

She parked and stepped out of the car but before she
could was all the way out she heard Jill’s sweet voice.

“Come here and give me a big hug. I’m so happy for you
and Wes.” Jill grabbed Tori, and they started doing one of their pee dances.