Back Home Again (20 page)

Chapter Twenty-Six

T
hanks to Aunt Ethel, it wasn’t long before every citizen in Acorn Hill and half the county had heard the story of the sticky-fingered contractor.

“Just goes to show you,” said Lloyd Tynan at a church board meeting. “Better watch out for those outsiders.”

“That’s right,” agreed Florence Simpson in her I-told-you-so voice. “I wouldn’t dream of hiring an outsider to work on my house.”

“Well, fact is, we were all outsiders at one time,” said Fred.

“Not me,” said Lloyd proudly. “I was born and raised in Acorn Hill.”

“So was I,” said Fred. “But that’s not what I mean.”

“You mean our ancestors,” said Florence. “Well, I happen to be third generation in this town.”

“Look,” Fred continued. “My family has been here for generations too, but at one point they were the outsiders-the newcomers.”

“I suppose you’re right about that,” said Lloyd with a thoughtful nod.

After the meeting ended and they were having cookies and tea, Alice overheard a snippet of conversation between Aunt Ethel and Florence.

“Now, Florence, if this is going to work, you’ll need to keep it under your hat.” Aunt Ethel had a warning tone to her voice.

Florence huffed. “Well, of course, Ethel. Don’t you think I know how to keep a secret?” Just then Aunt Ethel noticed Alice and put her finger to her mouth as if to silence her friend.

“As I was saying,” said Florence loudly. “I think it’s an absolute shame that Acorn Hill is going to miss out on having an inn.”

Alice felt her eyebrows rise and wondered if she hadn’t just stepped into the Twilight Zone, but in the next minute the two women were chattering away about Bingo Night. Well, go figure!

It took a couple of weeks, but Jane and Alice, with occasional and much appreciated help from Fred, somehow managed to get the bathrooms on the second floor up and running.

“You girls are really something,” said Aunt Ethel as she watched Alice proudly flushing the last toilet.

Alice sighed. “It’s an accomplishment all right, but we still have the roof to figure out.”

“Goodness.” Aunt Ethel’s eyes grew wide. “You certainly don’t intend to climb up there and replace that slate yourself, now do you?”

“I don’t know,” said Alice. “If we actually had some slate, I might consider it.”

“
Tsk-tsk.
It’s just such a shame,” Aunt Ethel said.

“It isn’t over with yet, Auntie.”

“Is there any hope of catching that scallywag and getting your money back?”

Alice shrugged. “It doesn’t look like it.”

“Too bad.” Aunt Ethel looked around the renovated bathroom with approval. “Everything looks so nice too. You girls were so close.”

“We haven’t given up yet, Aunt Ethel.” Alice picked up the tools that were still spread across an old towel on the floor. “Louise is making a little money teaching piano. I’ll go back to working full-time next month. Jane is selling her baking to the Coffee Shop. We might be able to get enough money for the roof.”

“When?” Aunt Ethel peered at her with obvious skepticism.

Alice forced a smile to her lips. “Oh, in a year or so.”

Aunt Ethel shook her head. “Too bad.” Then she smiled in a curious way. Alice almost asked her what was so amusing, but then decided perhaps it was better not to know.

Valentine’s Day came and went with no possibility of opening the inn anytime soon. Louise had already informed the Reddings that their reservations had to be canceled “due to unforeseen circumstances.” Even with the plumbing nearly in order, there was still a myriad of smaller jobs that needed to be completed before their final inspection would be approved, things like a wobbly handrail and a fire exit and some electrical outlets that needed to be replaced. More troublesome than all of that was the general condition of the rapidly deteriorating roof. With heavy rains in February, the attic had turned into what now appeared to be a bucket brigade. Alice and Jane kept a vigilant watch and emptied the buckets regularly, but it was obvious that it was only getting worse.

It was a sunny day in early March when Alice came home from work to see a curious sight in their front yard. Pallets and pallets of what appeared to be roofing material were stacked everywhere. It was not slate, she could tell, but it was definitely some sort of shingle.

She hurried into the house and called for her sisters. “What’s going on out there?” she asked when she finally discovered the two them huddled in the small office that Louise had created under the stairway.

“Oh, Alice,” said Louise with overly bright eyes. “Have you heard the news?”

“What?” Alice felt her heart leaping with excitement. “Has Jim come back? Did he order those—”?

No,” Jane shook her head. “This has
nothing
to do with Jim.”

“What then? What’s going on?”

“It’s the town,” said Louise as her eyes overflowed with tears. “They’ve all been working together these past few weeks. Just everyone—” Her voice broke with the emotion.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Jane. “We have no idea who organized the effort, but people from all over Acorn Hill have contributed—and generously. Did you know that the hospital even had a secret jar for donations, the hardware store and the Coffee Shop too? Why, just about everyone. Fred said that Vera even got the grammar school involved by having a big bake sale.”

“And your ANGELs helped out too,” added Louise. “They’ve been doing yard work around the town and saving every single penny for the Grace Chapel Inn roofing fund.”

“Lloyd and Aunt Ethel even talked the chamber into donating some bingo funds,” added Jane. “They said it was okay since we’ll be an official business in this town before too long and they invited us to join the chamber.”

Alice felt her knees going weak as she sat down in the desk chair. “This is so unbelievable.”

“Isn’t it amazing!” Jane’s cheeks were flushed with excitement. “Only six months ago we felt like we were fighting an uphill battle just to get the townsfolk of Acorn Hill to accept the possibility of an inn.”

“Now, they’re helping to fund it,” Louise finished for her as she wiped her nose with a linen handkerchief.

“Not to change the subject, but Fred called just a bit ago,” said Jane. Her face grew more serious now. “He said that he spoken to Clark Barrett.”

Alice felt a wave of regret as she considered the old trustworthy contractor that they had chosen to bypass in order to hire Jim Sharp. “What did Clark have to say?”

Jane sadly shook her head. “Clark was skeptical of Jim from the start. I guess he’d heard rumors from some of the tradesmen in the area.”

“I wish Clark had said something back then,” said Louise.

“Perhaps we should’ve invited Clark for a bid back then,” offered Alice weakly.

Louise sighed. “Yes, it’s plain to see now that it would’ve been wise to have gotten a second estimate.”

“Anyway,” continued Jane, “Fred said that Clark hadn’t wanted to interfere, but that he’d heard that Jim might have had some problems.”

“Problems?” Louise’s brows lifted.

Jane nodded soberly. “Fred said that Clark had heard that Jim had a gambling problem, but at the time he wasn’t sure that it was true, so naturally he didn’t want to spread a rumor.”

Louise shook her head. “Well now, that would explain a thing or two.”

“That’s too bad,” said Alice.

“Yes,” agreed Jane. “As angry as I was at Jim, I do feel a bit sorry for him now. It would be awful to not only steal someone else’s money but then to have gambled it away too.”

“A horrible way to live,” said Louise.

“We should keep him in our prayers,” suggested Alice.

“You’re right,” agreed Louise. “After all, God must’ve brought that man along our path for a reason. We can certainly pray for him.”

“Well, on to more pleasant things,” said Jane as her face brightened. “Fred said that he and Clark would be organizing a work crew.”

“Clark actually wants to help us?” asked Alice.

Jane nodded happily.

“Why, that’s wonderful,” said Louise.

“Fred said that their crew would be coming by during the next few days to get the old roof torn off and replaced. All we need to do is to feed them.” Jane smiled. “I assured him that we could do that with no problem.”

“Fred asked what else it would take to get our licensing
approved,” said Louise. “So Jane and I gave him the little tour and he said that his crew would take care of those things too.”

Alice just shook her head in total amazement. “I feel like I’m dreaming. But, please, don’t wake me up.”

Louise laughed. “Well, remember what you said about God helping those who help themselves.”

She nodded. “I really didn’t think God would let us down.”

“But isn’t it incredible that God is using some of the very people who originally opposed us to help us now?” Jane looked even more stunned than Alice felt.

“Yes.” Louise nodded firmly. “Fred said that Florence Simpson even helped out.”

“You’re kidding?”

“No. Fred said the church board did a little secret fund-raising on its own, and Florence actually oversaw the whole thing. Of course, he said that she expects that the church will get as much support from us when it’s time to replace the roof there.”

Alice laughed. “Leave it to Florence to use this to another advantage. But that’s all right with me. I’ll be more than glad to help raise funds for the church’s roof.”

“So I’m getting ready to send out those brochures now,” said Louise.

“And I’m updating our Web site,” added Jane.

“There’s so much to do,” said Louise. “Our goal is to be open by Easter week.”

“Goodness, that’s only a few weeks away. Are you sure?”

“It’s a matter of faith,” Jane reassured her.

Alice had to smile to herself to hear Jane speak in such a manner. But then they had all come such a long way during the past six months. And, it seemed, miracles still happened.

For the next week, there were young men and even a few women traipsing through the house, consuming large quantities of food, climbing up and down ladders and scrambling around on the steeply pitched roof. Clark proved extremely useful as he supervised the workers and kept the operation moving like clockwork. There was the constant cacophony of hammers and drills and Louise’s piano students plunking away on the piano. But it was a happy sort of noise. It reminded Alice of an old time barn-raising.

By the end of the week, the new roof was completely installed. It wasn’t slate, of course, for Fred said that was too expensive, but it was solid and weatherproof and the soft taupe color, picked out by Vera, blended quite nicely with the new paint.

Everyone gathered outside after church on Sunday to visit and admire the work that had been done. And all seemed to agree that the house, the renovations, and even the prospect of the inn were very good things.

“But we have another surprise for you girls,” said Aunt Ethel with a knowing grin.

Vera winked at Aunt Ethel. “Don’t give it away completely now.”

“Don’t you worry,” said Aunt Ethel. “I just want to make sure they don’t have any other plans.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Jane.

“We want the three of you to join us in the assembly room at two,” said Vera.

“It’s a surprise,” said Aunt Ethel. “Don’t be late.”

So at exactly two in the afternoon, Louise, Alice and Jane trekked over to the chapel. They could hear the laughter and twittering of female voices as they went down the stairs.

“Surprise!” yelled the women.

“Why, it looks like a shower,” said Alice as she looked around the decorated room in confusion. She spied the white crepe paper bows and bells and all the usual trappings and trimmings that she often put out for a bridal shower. “But who’s getting married?”

Patsy Ley laughed. “We don’t have to wait for someone to get married to throw a shower, do we girls?” The other churchwomen nodded and happily agreed.

“We wanted to throw a shower for Grace Chapel Inn,” said Vera. “A linen shower.”

“That is so thoughtful,” said Jane.

“What a beautiful idea,” agreed Louise. Alice noticed there were tears in her older sister’s eyes.

So for the next couple of hours, the three of them took turns opening box after box of sheets and towels and candles and soaps and everything you could ever want for a bed and breakfast.

“But how did you know what to get?” asked Alice when they were finally done.

“It was Vera,” admitted Aunt Ethel. “She wrote out the colors of the rooms and bed sizes and bathroom colors and everything.”

“Thank you all so much,” said Louise. “You have no idea how much this means to us.”

Later on that evening, after the sisters had put away their shower gifts, they gathered around Jane’s kitchen and shared a pot of orange pekoe tea.

“This town is amazing,” said Jane. “Really amazing.”

Louise nodded. “Yes, I’ll have to admit there were times early on when I wasn’t so sure, but these people are truly wonderful.”

Alice smiled. “They truly are,” she said.

“Do we have everything we need now, Louise?” asked Jane.

“Well, not everything, but we’ve got enough to make a
respectable start. According to the book I’ve been reading on bed and breakfasts, we should have at least three sets of sheets per room and enough towels to supply each guest with two sets per day for up to three days.”