Black Water Creek (4 page)

Chapter 5

Kelly tip-toed past Ed still snoring in his easy chair into the kitchen. Sue was finishing up drying the dishes and putting them away. “What can I do for you, dear? Is the little guy sleeping?”

“Yep, out like a light,”
Kelly smiled. “It’s been a long day for both of us.” She picked up the last remaining plates in the rack and handed them to Sue. “Do you happen to have a computer? I don’t have my aunt’s phone number but I think I could probably look it up online.”

“We sure do,”
Sue wiped her hands dry on her aprons and took it off. “It’s getting on in years, but still gets the job done. Just like me.” She winked at Kelly and led her out of the kitchen and down the hall.

She sat
Kelly down at the computer desk in one of the bedrooms set up as an office. “Help yourself. Would you care for a cup of tea? Maybe something stronger? I’m actually thinking about grabbing one of Eddie’s beers. A cold one sounds good about now.”

Kelly
couldn’t hide the mild look of shock flash across her face and she laughed. “Sorry. I guess I didn’t peg you as a beer drinker.”

“I’m not usually, but every once and while it hits the spot.”

“I’m good, thanks.”

Sue
excused herself while Kelly hit the power button on the old beige computer tower and CRT monitor. Her anxiety rose as the computer groaned into life. She was nervous about calling her aunt unannounced and couldn’t help imagine what her reaction might be. Kelly always tended to overthink awkward situations. As the operating system logo flashed across the screen, she heard her Aunt’s voice in her head, angry for calling late and bothering her. What if she told her not to come? What if Aunt Sarah told her to go back to Don and leave her alone?

She was being ridiculous and knew it. As the web browser launched
, she tried to picture Sarah the last time she saw her at Mom’s funeral, hugging her tightly and smelling slightly of peppermint.

Kelly
searched for a white pages type website and finally found a decent looking one. She entered her aunt’s last name and town and was relieved to find only one entry: FOSTER, SARAH A. It listed an address on Hickory Street in Allenton but she didn’t know if that was the right street or not. Correct address or not, that had to be her aunt.

She reached for the desk phone and paused for a moment, debating whether or not to ask
Sue if it was alright to make a call. She didn’t want to lose her nerve and figured Sue wouldn’t mind, so she quickly dialed the number and held her breath. She glanced at the computer clock, wondering if it was too late to call her elderly aunt while the phone rang its seventh time on the other end. She was just about to hang up when the connection went through. A man’s voice answered.

It threw her for a loop and she almost hung up. She
stared at the phone number displayed on the computer screen but had no way of knowing if that was the number she dialed or not.

“Hello?” the man said again.

“Hi. Um…I’m sorry, I think I must have the wrong number. I’m looking for Sarah. Sarah Foster?”

“
Sarah Foster,” the man repeated. “No, this is the right number. Who is this?”

“
Kelly Raney, her niece. I’m her sister Katherine’s daughter.”

The man on the other end let out a big sigh but
didn’t say anything.

“Is
Sarah there? Could I talk to her?”

“I’m Phil Albert, the owner of the apartment building here. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but I guess nobody else has. Your aunt passed away.”

A soft croak escaped from Kelly’s mouth as she stared at the screen, mesmerized by the seven digits of her aunt’s phone number. The silence over the phone line was deafening.

“Miss? Did you hear me?”

She nodded her head and cleared her throat before finally answering. “I don’t understand. Passed away when? How?”

“
We’re not sure. They think it was about a week ago, maybe more. One of the kids pulled the fire alarm yesterday afternoon as a joke. As we all waited out in the parking lot for the fire department to arrive, I didn’t see your aunt, even though her car was in the lot. I figured she was home, but she never came out.

“Once we got the all clear
, I knocked on her door for a quite a while and got worried when she didn’t answer. So I let myself in and found her on the kitchen floor. They say she had a stroke.”

Kelly
didn’t know what to say, so she didn’t anything at all. She just kept nodding her head.

“Are you still there?”

“Yes, I’m sorry. I’m just, God, I don’t know what to say.”

“I’m sorry
, too. I didn’t know your aunt very well but she seemed like a nice lady. I happened to be walking in when you called. I’m waiting for some of her friends from the church to arrive so they can pick out an outfit for the funeral. I’m actually relieved you called because nobody around here seems to know how to get in contact with any of her family.”

Kelly
wiped a tear from her cheek and instantly felt guilty for feeling sad not for her aunt, but for her own misfortune.

“That must be them at the door now. Would you mind if I took down your number? I’m sure somebody from the church or coroner’s office will want to get in touch with you.”
She rattled off her cell phone number and said goodbye, hanging up the receiver and not even remember doing so.

Chapter 6

Kelly
woke with a start and panicked when she reached over and felt Keegan’s side of the bed was empty. She sat up too quickly, her back throbbing from yesterday’s stress and sleeping in a strange bed.

Relief washed over her as she opened the bedroom door and heard Keegan’s voice from down the hall. She found him perched on his phonebooks at the kitchen table, face covered in pancake syrup behind a stack of flapjacks big enough to feed a linebacker. Ed sat across from him, frowning at the local newspaper and sipping a steaming cup of coffee.

“Oh good, you’re up.” Sue stood over the stove, spatula in hand, waiting to flip another cake. “I hope you don’t mind, but I decided to let you sleep in a little. You looked so exhausted last night.”

“That’s okay.”
Kelly tousled Keegan’s hair and kissed him on the top of his head, slightly sticky from the syrup.

“How many pancakes can I put you down for?”
Sue asked.

“I’m not
really hungry but the coffee smells magnificent.”

Ed got up from the table and poured her a big cup. She wrapped her hands around it
, enjoying the aroma before taking a sip. Keegan tossed his fork on the table and started to climb down, proclaiming he was full.

Kelly
put down her mug. “Hold on there, mister. You’re a big sticky mess. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

“I’ve got it, you sit and enjoy your coffee
.” Sue grabbed Keegan around the waist and picked him up. She carried him to the bathroom, making goofy noises the whole way and tickling him.

Ed smiled. “Does her a world of good, having that boy around. Just yesterday she was complaining about her back
, but she just picked him up like he was light as a pillow. Probably didn’t even think about it.”

“She sure is great with him.”

“I know she misses working with kids. And it’s got to be at least five years since we last took in a foster.” Ed folded the newspaper and pushed it off to the side. “Sue told me about your aunt. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you.
To tell you the truth, I’m not sure how I feel about it. I barely knew the woman.” She risked a glance from her coffee and looked Ed in the eye. “I don’t know if Sue told you I was having problems at home, but that’s why I was going to Aunt Sarah’s house. I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

“I suspected as much. Problems with your man?”

She nodded and took another sip of coffee, trying to wash away the lump forming in her throat.

Ed sat quietly for a moment, lost in thought and softly drumming his finge
rs on the table. Sue sang to Keegan in the bathroom down the hall. Some impromptu tune about hand washing.

Kelly
grew uncomfortable, racking her brain for some solution to tell Ed of how she and Keegan would be on their way that morning and out of the Sheridan’s hair. They were good people and she didn’t want to be their problem.

Ed pushed away from the table and checked his watch. “I don’t have to be at the shop for another half hour or so. Why don’t you get dressed and meet me out
back? There’s something I want to show you.”

*****

Ten minutes later Kelly stepped out onto the porch, closing the door behind her. Maybe it was the record setting warm temperatures of the previous month or her stubbornness to not accept the fact that winter was coming, but the cold morning air took her by surprise. Ed leaned up against a post at the edge of the porch, puffing on a pipe and staring off into the yard.

“
Brr! I’m not ready for this.” She tucked her hands under her armpits and shivered, partly because of the cold but mostly because she was nervous. While she was getting dressed she pictured Ed bringing her outside so he could tell her bad news. Maybe how her place was with Keegan’s father and how he was going to drive them home that morning.

“Yep, it’s a nippy one all right.” He stepped off the porch. “Let’s go for a little walk, that’ll warm you up some.”

She followed Ed through the perfectly manicured lawn and past a large vegetable garden. A few brown corn stalks were all that remained after that seasons harvest. An opening in the picket fence led to the back half of the property, unmowed and natural. They walked down a dirt path through waist-high prairie grass and small shrubs among magnificent oak trees. The leaves were starting to turn to bright shades of red and orange. Despite her nagging anxiety, Kelly couldn’t help but appreciate the beauty of the property.

“Our house is one of the oldest in town,” Ed said. “I never found a solid clue on the exact year it was built but I’m pretty sure it was around 1
900 or so.” Ed drew from his pipe and exhaled. Kelly passed though the small cloud of sweet smoke and the scent took her back to memories of her father.

T
he river came into view as they rounded a bend in the path. A small cottage sat by the water’s edge. “This here,” Ed pointed at the building with his pipe, “was built as an in-law suite of sorts, I’m guessing. At first I thought the cottage came before the main house. After I poked around a bit, I realized it was built at least fifteen or twenty years later. Subtle changes in construction materials that I noticed.”

Ed continued.
“For years after we bought the place I just let it sit, not ever really knowing what to use it for. Plus, it needed a lot of work and money was tight in those days. After I got my job at the county and before I opened the auto shop I started fixing it up.” He opened the door and they stepped inside. “I figured it would make a nice little guest house one day.”

Kelly
wasn’t sure what Ed considered fixing up but it wasn’t obvious from where she was standing. The kitchen was a mess. Broken cabinets, cracked linoleum floor, peeling wallpaper. The living room didn’t fare much better. The carpeting looked like it was home to a murder scene it was stained so much and the dark wood paneling on the wall made it feel like she was in a basement.

“I know it doesn’t look like much but it’s got good bones,” Ed said. “A little cleaning and some paint would really spruced the place up.”

Kelly stuck her head into both of the small bedrooms before checking the bathroom. It wasn’t too bad in there but outdated and dirty like the rest of the house.

“Not to mention, you can’t beat that view.” Ed stood in front of the
living room picture window overlooking the river.

Kelly
rubbed her hands together and blew on them. “It’s an…interesting little place, Ed.”

“I’m glad you think so. I thought it might be a nice place to stay for you and your boy.”

“Stay here?” She looked around the living room again.

“You’re welcome to stay in the guest room in the house until it’s ready, but why not? I’d say it’s perfect. Unless you’ve got somewhere else to go, of course.”

Suddenly the cottage took on a new feel as Kelly looked past the dirt and stains. She pictured comfortable furniture in the living room, a simmering pot on the stove. Keegan lying on his tummy in front of the fireplace, looking at a book.

“I don’t know. You and
Sue have been so nice already. I mean, I couldn’t just take it.”

Ed held his hands up. “Now hold on there. If you’re anything like me you’re not much for accepting charity. I’d charge you a fair rent
. Just a little something so you can hold your head up. Nothing worse than feeling like a freeloader. Some people don’t mind it a bit and that’s what wrong with this country these days.”

“Absolutely. I would insist on paying rent.”

“In the meantime, I’ll charge you elbow grease until you can find a job in town. Help me fix this place up and it’s all yours.” He checked his watch. “You think about it, I gotta get to the shop. If I’m not around breathing down everybody’s neck, nothing gets done around there.”

Kelly groaned.
“I somehow forgot all about my car. I need to afford to get that fixed before I can even think about getting a job.”

Ed closed the door behind them. “Hopefully it won’t be as bad as we thought. Try not to worry about it so much.” They walked up the driveway that bordered the yard and led to the road.
Ed paused by his car. “Go on inside and get warmed up. We’ll talk about it some more tonight.”

“I will. Thanks, Ed. For everything.”
Kelly surprised herself by wrapping her arms around him and giving him a hug. She was relieved when he hugged her back and gently patted the back of her head.