Blue Heaven (Blue Lake) (24 page)

“How’s your mom, Marce?”

“She died a few years ago. Breast cancer. Pop didn’t last long after that.”

“God, honey, I’m so sorry.”

“Well, we’re all sorry about what happened with the parents. We missed you. And summer was never the same after we stopped coming up here.”

“I know.”

“Your mom got in contact after your dad died.”

“Yeah. She told me.”

“I’ve been thinking about getting in touch with you ever since. My sisters were merciless at Christmas.”

“Is Aunt Jean…”

“Still alive and holding as big a grudge as ever.”

Eva laughed. Her aunts had used the money when they’d sold Blue Heaven for college funds and big weddings for their kids. Neither of which had ever been even a possible in Eva’s future. But now she had this.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Eva hardly believed what had happened. Daniel. He was always doing stuff for her. She was getting ready to head out to the store when he pulled up with two men. One guy had a camera and the other a digital voice recorder.

Daniel introduced them, but after meeting her cousins’ spouses and children she spaced out immediately on the photographer’s name. Eric? Lars? The writer, she knew, was William, because Daniel talked about him so much.

She shook their hands. “You’re welcome to Kiwi and Blueberry cottages, to use for whatever you need. If you don’t feel like driving back to Port Huron, feel free to stay. Otherwise, they’re safe places to keep your equipment. We have a lot of kids on the premises this week.”

William and his assistant took the keys she offered and went to inspect their work spaces.

“Daniel, will you hold down the fort while I zip to the grocery story?” Eva’s words were light. Blue Heaven finally felt like home again, full of people she loved.

****

Her mom was awake when Eva returned from the store, sitting at the tiny kitchen table, looking out at the water. Bob had arrived, bringing Rock Band, which he was playing in the living room with Tyler and two local girls.

“What’s the photographer’s name?” Eva whispered to her mom over the din of The Beatles as she unpacked groceries.

“Boyd,” her mom said, as William, Daniel, and Boyd came down from the airplane addition, Daniel telling the story of how Eva had insisted from the day he met her on that addition, but how he had “held out” until the blueprints had been located.

“We’re going to take a drive through town,” Daniel said, coming into the kitchen where Eva was loading a sack of potatoes and two large bowls onto the table.

“Barbecue at six,” she reminded him.

“Yep,” he said, kissing her and winking at her mom.

Eva searched through the drawer for a second potato peeler and handed it to her mother. They sat at the table, working at their task, listening to the music until the kids decided to go back outside.

Into the silence, her mother said “I like your young man very much.”

“Me, too,” Eva agreed.

“I hid those blueprints and letters in the shed,” her mom admitted. “The day we came up to send your dad’s ashes off.”

Eva was puzzled.

“Why didn’t you just give them to me?”

“I wasn’t sure what was going to happen with the property. A few of your aunts had contacted a lawyer, saying that as Blue Heaven had always been in the Delacroix family, that upon your daddy’s death, it should revert back to them.”

“Mom! You never told me that.”

“Well. It had nothing to do with your cousins. Just a couple of cantankerous old biddies. You remember how they picked this place clean when Daddy bought them out? Every piece of Depression glass, every Hall’s bowl and milk glass pitcher? Well, Daddy secured the blueprints and letters back home, and nobody even inquired after that stuff. But I knew it was there, under our bed all these years. So when the lawyer contacted me, I found a tube and put the stuff in it and stuck it up in the shed. I figured whoever got the house should have the rest of it. Of course, I knew it would be you. But then I forgot about it. Glad you found it, dear.”

“And the lawsuit?”

“Judge threw it out. Not a leg to stand on.”

“My friend Jane brokered that deal.” Ex-friend but Mom didn’t need to hear that story. “She always dots the i’s and crosses the t’s.” Eva got up and opened her cupboard, drawing out an ancient deep bowl, rimmed in orange flowers. The bowl had once had been white but had grayed with age.

“Our old potato salad bowl!”

“They go for upward of $50 in antique stores these days.”

“My lord.” He mother flipped the heavy bowl to inspect the gold Hall’s stamp.

They steadily peeled the mountain of potatoes and had almost finished when the cousins came in, showered and ready to work. When Marcie entered the kitchen ten minutes later, it got a tad too crowded. Eva asked her mom if she’d like to sit on the new porch.

“Just let me beat this sour cream into the mayo.”

“I’ll mash the egg yolks,” Marcie said, slicing into a bowl of boiled eggs.

“Aunt Alice,” Marcie said, adding the yolks to the mayo and sour cream mixture, “my mom made the same potato salad you did. I can cut up the green onions and celery for you.”

“Thanks, dear.” Eva’s mom allowed her to lead her out to the porch.

They heard the voices rise from the beach and saw big water, blue to the horizon, where it almost matched the sky.

After a few minutes, Marcie came out with a stack of paper plates and asked where they were eating.

“Upstairs,” Eva said.

“We aren’t eating in the office like in the old days?”

“Have you seen it up there?” Georgie said, beer in hand. “It’s perfect.”

“We don’t have the old table anymore anyway.”

“My dad took it for a workbench,” Georgie admitted.

Daniel was back from his tour, and had fired up the grill.

“Steaks in ten,” he said.

“I’m not sure the potato salad will be cool enough by then,” Eva’s mom worried.

“It’ll be great, Aunt Alice. I set it in the sink, full of ice. And then I put ice over the top of it too. After I wrapped it in foil, of course. Works every time.”

Eva’s mother did not look convinced, but nor did she look concerned. She took the stairs slowly, admiring the burnished wood of the banister Daniel had carved.

“Your young man is as talented as he is handsome,” her mom said.

Eva knew that, knew the list was even longer. Daniel was also kind, intelligent, creative, compassionate…and somewhat clueless about what it would take to make their relationship work. She kept thinking about the lack of condoms. Was he changing his mind about having a family?

“It’s like a tree house up here,” Paulette said. “All these windows.”

“How your father would have loved this,” Mom said, tears in her eyes.

Eva hugged her mom. She didn’t want to let her go. Not today, not ever. But most of Mom’s friends were in Sarasota now, and the winter weather there was kinder to her bones.

Everyone gathered like locusts at the full tables.

Eva opened a bottle of wine and offered it around. She poured a glass for herself and sat next to her mother. She still couldn’t quite believe Mom was here.

“Just waiting on the steaks.” Bob brought up a platter of burgers and hot dogs that the kids and a few of the men dug into. Eva and her mom sat on the sofa, a little apart from the rest of the family, but closer than they’d been in such a long time. It was more than enough for Eva, especially when Daniel, William, and Boyd appeared, Daniel laden with a huge platter of New York strips.

Dinner was just like Eva remembered it from all those years ago. The location had moved up, as had their ages, but the feeling of family love was the same.

****

After her cousins had departed from a week of sun and fun, Eva realized a trial run had been a good thing. She’d figured out what worked (muffins and coffee in the morning) and what didn't (putting wet towels in the dryer before running them through the washing machine). Wanda, Luke’s mother, had come by to help her clean on Friday, the morning of departure for everybody, including her mother, who missed the quiet of her condo in Florida and her mysterious friend Ernst.

“He’s a dear man, and you’ll meet him at Christmas,” was all her mom would say about Ernst.

Because Wanda had things so clearly in hand with the laundry and the bathrooms and the rest of it, Eva was able to take her mom to the airport.

“He's a keeper,” her mom said. Eva knew she was talking about Daniel. “It's about time I had some grandkids.”

“I hope so, too, Mom.”

“I predict he’ll propose before Christmas. Then you can both come down to see me.”

Eva just smiled. If only.

At the airport security checkpoint, with one final hug, Eva said, “I love you Mom.”

“And honey, you know I love you. You're my girl.”

Why did saying goodbye have to be so difficult? Would it be this bad when she had to say goodbye to Daniel in September? Would it be worse?

She drove back to Blue Lake and mentally prepared to spend a week living with her boyfriend. Playing house. She hadn't told her mother about that.

Chapter Thirty-Three

After giving her family the run of the bungalow, Eva felt more relaxed about letting guests use the house. She packed up her laptop and cell phone, some clothes and makeup, and then it hit her.

To do this properly, she’d have to clear out all of her personal things. Her guests would not like opening drawers to view Eva’s nightgowns or blue jeans anymore than Eva wanted their eyes on her stuff.

She went out to the living room where Wanda vacuumed under sofa cushions.

“Do you know anybody in town who does house moving? Like with a small truck but boxes and those wardrobe things where you just transfer your clothes still on their hangers?”

“Walt Samson and his brother do that. ‘Large Guys, Small Price.’” Wanda was already looking up the number in her cell phone directory.

“When do you need them?”

“Ten minutes ago.”

Wanda spoke into the phone and then handed it to Eva, who explained her dilemma to Samson’s wife, Rita.

Rita assured Eva that the men could fit in a quick run today. Just as she was disconnecting, she got a text message ping from Mr. Augustine.
Jane moved to a mental health facility while doctors determine if she is fit to stand trial.
Eva closed her phone and put it in her pocket.

By the time Large Guys got to Blue Heaven, Eva had piled all the clothes from her two dressers onto her bed. Her big suitcase was already full and stashed in her trunk. That had her week’s wardrobe in it. This was everything else. The men made short work of boxing up her clothes, jewelry, and shoes while Eva cleared the bathroom cabinets and her private office papers.

She followed the truck to Daniel’s and told the guys she’d be doing this all again in a week, in reverse. They didn’t seem fazed. But she did. She had an uneasy feeling that this week would either make or break her relationship with Daniel.

“Hey, babe!” Daniel came out of the house. “Planning on making this a permanent move?” He was teasing her, but she thought it might not be the worst idea in the world.

“Sorry for all the stuff.”

“No, that’s fine. I get it.”

“You guys can store everything upstairs.” Daniel led the way to two bedrooms, one empty, one with a twin bed and dresser but nothing in the closets.

“I’ve got my personal stuff in my car,” Eva said as they stepped out of the movers’ way.

“You’ll keep that in my room. I cleared one side of the closet for you. And some drawers.”

“Thanks, sweetheart.” She gave him a quick kiss that the movers caught on their way down for more of Eva’s stuff.

“So you’re okay with giving your quarters to strangers?”

“More than I thought I’d be.” She wondered when the right time to bring up their future would be. Probably not yet. Her makeup wasn’t even on the dressing table yet. “Wanda said she’d look out for Mama and the kittens, but I miss them.”

“Bring them here.”

“Really?”
Good sign
, she thought. “I might have guests who are allergic. If I continue to rent out the bungalow.”

The movers left and Daniel hauled her suitcase up the stairs while she took the lighter carry-on with her toiletries.

“What smells so good?”

“Salmon. Hungry?”

“I am. But I need to unpack first.” He had his arm around her as they looked into the room. How she would love to give it a face-lift. Except for the bed, which was just fine.

“I’m the same. Got to get a feel for your new territory.” He kissed her when he said it. “Please treat this as your home.

“There are three bathrooms up here,” Daniel said. “Bob and I have bathrooms in our suites, and I thought you’d be more comfortable in the suite bathroom, so I had my cleaner move all my things to the bathroom across the hall.” He pointed to a powder blue room on the other side of the hall from the bedroom they were standing in, the one that connected to Daniel’s room. Since she’d last seen this room, he’d brought in an Art Deco dresser, a sweet velvet reading chair, a pretty reading lamp, and a vanity table. No bed. It was like a little sitting room.

“I thought this could be your dressing room.”

“So where will I be sleeping?” She wanted to make sure.

“With me.” He sounded indignant and a little rattled. “Is that a problem?” He dropped her suitcase and put his arms around her waist. He touched his forehead to hers as if he was trying to read her mind.

“Well, there’s Bob.”

“He knows. He’s fine.”

She let him pull her all the way into his room and when he tugged her onto the bed with him, she went willingly. They rested that way, fully clothed, his arms around her, her head on his heart.

“I've never lived with anyone except my mom and dad,” she said.

“Not even a roommate?"

“Nope.”

“Well, except for my short time in college, I've only ever lived with Bob.”