Bring on the Blessings (20 page)

“You’ll be fine.”

“I know, and so will you. Amari already in bed?”

“Yeah. Will you have dinner with me?”

She looked caught off guard for a moment.

“If you don’t, it’s okay.”

“No. I will.” She replied studying him slowly, as if searching for something. When?”

“Tomorrow, maybe. Day after?”

“Okay. Let me find out who can keep Devon, and I’ll let you know tomorrow which day works best.”

“Sounds good.”

She stood. “I need to get back; I left Devon sleeping.”

He walked her to the door and out to the porch. “’Night, Lil.”

“’Night, Trenton.”

He nodded and watched her cross the street and go inside. Inviting her to dinner hadn’t been something he’d planned. The words just sort of rushed out before he could snatch them back. It was done now though, and he was looking forward to spending some private time with her.

He was in the kitchen getting himself a bowl of ice cream when another knock sounded. The seventeen-year-old within hoped it was Lily coming back for something but
it was Malachi instead, and with him were Clay Dobbs and Bing Shepard.

“What are you doing here. Thought you were still in Vegas.”

“Got bored. I hear Bernadine put big-screen plasma TVs in the houses, so we came over to break it in right. KC’s playing the Dodgers tonight.”

Before he could invite them in they were already in.

“And we come bearing gifts just like the Magi,” Clay told him, indicating the large grocery bag in his arms.

“I’m allergic to frankincense”

“So am I,” Bing said, “So we brought beer.”

Malachi looked around and pushed a six-pack of Pepsi into his son’s hands. “Put those in the fridge for me. Where’s the plasma?”

Tickled and wondering how boring life would be without the three old lunatics in his life, Trent led the way.

Roni Moore Garland was dreaming that she was onstage again, playing the piano. Standing at the backup mikes were Zoey and Reggie, but Roni wasn’t playing any of her standards. The distinctive sweet notes of a Brahms lullaby lifted from her fingers on the keys and floated like gossamer over the empty concert hall, then she woke up. Still half asleep she was disoriented for a moment by the dark and the new bed, but the warmth of her husband’s body beside her and the sound of his gentle snoring immediately set things to right. With the music still floating in her head, she settled in to go back to sleep, then sat up again. The
hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she realized the beautiful music wasn’t in her head. As it filled her ears and the quality of the playing pierced the darkness, she gently shook Reggie and whispered, “Baby. Wake up.”

“What?” he asked thickly.

“Wake up. Sit up. Listen.”

Scrubbing his hands over his face, he struggled to do as she asked, and once he was sitting up, she said again, “Listen.”

“Did you leave the CD player on. What is that?” he asked finally, as fully awake as he could manage after being awakened from a dead sleep.

The unknown pianist had switched to another composer. “It’s Mozart.” Roni threw aside the bedcovers. “Come on.” She had no idea why or how her baby grand was playing, but she was very curious to find out.

“What if it’s somebody robbing us?”

She rolled her eyes. “Way out here? And I don’t think a thief would take the time to test a piano first if they were gonna steal it, but grab your 8 iron if you think you might have to clock somebody.”

He did just that and the two crept down the hall to check on Zoey first. The little lamp Roni had left on for her use was still on. Bernadine had told her as they were leaving her house earlier that the little girl was afraid of the dark, and Roni and Reg had hoped it would help her with her fear, but the bed was empty.

Her not being in the room made both their hearts beat fast with worry and fear, so they headed to the stairs. The
first thing they noticed was that every light on the first floor of the house was turned on. It was as bright as mid-afternoon. Next, they saw Zoey seated on the piano bench, her back to them.

Reg’s eyes widened with surprise. Roni made a move to enter the room, but he stopped her gently and shook his head. He didn’t want her scared by their sudden appearance. He mouthed and pantomimed, “Call Bernadine.”

Five minutes later, Roni met Bernadine at their back door and silently led her in. Zoey’s music filled the house with its beauty.

Bernadine looked on astounded. Reg was still watching and smiled when he noticed her standing with his wife. They all listened for a few more moments then tipped out to the deck so they could talk freely and without disturbing Zoey.

“Did you know anything about this?” Reg asked Bernadine.

“Does this face look like I knew? My Lord, where’d she learn to play like that?”

Roni cracked, “If you don’t have an answer, you know we don’t. I’ve heard classically trained grown musicians who don’t equal her skill. Her little legs can’t even reach the pedals.”

Bernadine was at a loss for an explanation and she desperately needed one.

Reg asked, “The social workers didn’t say anything about this?”

She shook her head. “But I’m going to start digging soon
as the sun comes up. There are too many missing pieces on this child, and we need to find them.”

Zoey played until dawn, at which point she curled up on the highly polished piano bench and fell into an exhausted sleep. Reg gently picked her up in his arms and carried her upstairs to bed. He hoped she’d finally found peace.

T
here was no peace and quiet in Riley Curry’s life and hadn’t been since Genevieve’s leaving a few days ago. His attempts to duplicate her great cooking fell way short, so he was forced to eat basic stuff like boiled eggs and sandwiches. Because she’d always managed the household tasks, he had no idea how much detergent she used to do a load of wash. Only later, when suds started rising out of the top like foam, and the machine began shaking and bouncing around, did he it occur to him that maybe he’d put in too much soap and too many clothes, but it was too late. Praying the thing didn’t blow up, he left it whining, screaming, and bucking in the basement laundry room.

His attempts at cooking had left every dish in the house dirty, and more than a few pots were black on the inside from all the food he’d burned. Wishing he’d gone ahead and let Genevieve buy the dishwasher she’d nagged him about wanting ten years ago, he’d valiantly washed up the plates, glasses, and silverware, but the burned pots were
still on the stove because he had no idea how to remove the black crust inside.

Pleased that the kitchen was relatively clean, he was on his way to watch some TV when he heard Cletus’s trademark snuffling. Years ago, much to Genevieve’s displeasure, Riley had removed a section of the wall from the back of the house so that a swinging door and a ramp could be installed to allow Cletus to go in and out as he pleased. He was coming inside now. The hog was so large and weighed so much that the house’s floor groaned under his weight. Like a child returning home from school, Cletus lumbered slowly into the living room. He was light gray in color and had a tendency to sunburn if he wasn’t careful, which was why Riley made Genevieve slather him with suntan lotion.

“Hey, big fella. How are you? Pretty hot out there, ain’t it. You need lotion?”

Cletus snuffled as if answering, and Riley smiled. “All righty. I’ll get it. Come on in. Just sitting here waiting on the news.”

Usually Genevieve shared the couch with him, but because he was mad at her, he refused to miss her company. “Who needs that damn Genevieve anyway? We’re doing just fine without her, aren’t we fella?”

Cletus came farther into the living room. His bulk sideswiped an end table and sent one of the fancy-dancy porcelain lamps Genevieve had inherited from her mother crashing to the floor. “
Aw,
Clete!”

The pig snuffled with high-pitched noises as if explaining it wasn’t his fault, and Riley apologized. “I’m sorry.
Genevieve taking off has got me so mad I’m taking it out on you. Let me get the broom. Damn table was in your way, wasn’t it?”

Riley did know where the broom was kept so he got up. When he came back Cletus had pushed aside the coffee table and hunkered down in the space where the table had been, between the couch and the color TV. His bulk filled the room.

Riley swept up the broken pieces of the lamp, put everything in the trash, and sat again. “How ’bout we watch a little Animal Planet until the news comes on?”

He switched channels, navigated around Cletus to grab a seat on the couch, and stopped. A stench that could only have come from Cletus filled his nose. Looking down he saw a pile of hog poop. “Dammit, Cletus. You were supposed to do that outside. What the hell’s the matter with you?”

Cursing, he went to get some newspaper, gloves, and a shovel. When he came back, he said, “Move so I can clean this up.”

Cletus didn’t budge. In fact, if Riley hadn’t known better he would’ve sworn the hog was ignoring him. “Move big fella and let Daddy clean up.”

This time the hog did glance at him, but in a peeved sort of way before turning his attention back to
Meerkat Manor.

Riley poked him gently with the end of the broom. “Move, would you please?”

Nothing.

“Move, dammit!”

Finally, the hog lifted his bulk and got to his feet. He
moved closer to where Riley stood and began to pee. Had Riley not jumped away his shoes would have been soaked. “Cletus!” he scolded angrily. “Get outside. Now!”

But Cletus turned, walked back to his spot in front of the TV, and settled down again.

For the next little while, Riley wheedled, cursed, and tried reason in an attempt to get Cletus to obey but was summarily ignored. Mad as all get out by then, he yelled louder, threatened, even tried to bribe him by dangling a snack cake under his snout.

Nothing.

So finally, he got behind the hog and tried to push him up. Straining and shoving for all he was worth, Riley set his feet for better purchase, but he slipped in the pool of waste, lost his balance, smacked his head on the coffee table, and was out like a light on the floor before he knew what hit him.

For a moment or two, Cletus observed him lying there unconscious, then turned his massive head back to the television to await the next show.

Malachi was going to try and wrangle an appointment with the always busy Bernadine Brown so they could talk about renovating the D&C.

Las Vegas had been great. Not having to fork over a dime had made it even better. His first week had been paid for by a woman he’d met at a vet conference last year. The second part was to have been courtesy of a waitress he’d met while visiting Kansas City back in the fall. It had been easy to send the vet, whose name was Diane, to the airport in a
cab at the end of their stay, then grab a cab of his own over to the second hotel, where he sat in the lobby of Circus Circus to await the arrival of Karen, the waitress from Kansas City, as if he’d just flown in. He’d cut the Karen part short, however, by claiming to not feel well and came home.

As far as he knew, neither lady knew about the other, and if they did it hadn’t been an issue, which suited him just fine. He was tired though.
Not as young as you used to be
, the sage voice inside his head whispered, but Malachi ignored it like he always did and kept driving.

He drove over to Trent’s place first and found him inside watching
SportsCenter
and sipping on a cup of coffee.

He poured himself a cup. “Didn’t get to ask last night, but did anything happen here while I was gone?”

“Not much. Amari and Preston are over painting Ms. Agnes’s fence.”

“What did they do?”

So he told them.

“Dummies,” Malachi said. He took a seat on the couch with Trent. “What else?”

“As you can see we’re all moved in.”

“I like the houses.”

“Me too.”

“Do you know whether Bernadine is home or not? Want to talk to her about the D&C.”

“Haven’t seen her this morning, but give her a call.”

Malachi studied his son. “And you and Lily?”

Trent shrugged. “We’ve signed a peace treaty.”

“Good. Now you can see about marrying her the way you were supposed to in the first place.”

“Don’t start, Dad. Weren’t you the same one on me about marrying Rocky?”

“That was before Lily came back.”

Trent shook his head. “Instead of matchmaking you ought to be seeing about a new cook.”

“Nobody wants the job. Can’t blame them. Place is a dump. Pay’s not much better.”

“So you’re tearing it down?”

He gave a small shrug. “Maybe. Want to see what Bernadine has in mind first. Maybe I’ll just walk over and knock on her door.”

“Suit yourself. I’ll be heading out to check on the painters soon as I’m done here. Call me on my cell if you need to catch me.”

“Will do.” Coffee in hand, Malachi walked across the street.

She was coming out of the house just as he arrived.

“’Morning.”

“Hey there. I didn’t know you were back. How was Vegas?”

“Great. Had a good time. These houses you’ve built are something.”

“Aren’t they fabulous? They’re the concrete manifestations of my dreams. Trent’s been a great boss. I’m going to buy him a 24-carat-gold baton when everything’s finished for the way he’s been conducting this building opera.”

“You’re kidding right?” he asked, chuckling.

“One never knows, does one?” she replied with a catbird smile. “So, what do you want to do about the D&C?”

He shrugged. “How about I drive you over there and talk about it.”

“How about we drive?” she said pointedly.

He grinned and saluted her with his cup. “Can’t fault a brother for trying.”

Amusement danced in her eyes. “I’ll meet you there.”

When they arrived, Malachi opened the door and politely let Bernadine enter first. The silence inside echoed cavernously.

“Lot of memories in this old place,” he voiced in wistful tones. “Graduation parties, birthday parties, a ton of retirement parties over the years. We watched ball games here, had
Soul Train
lines, and told a lot of lies inside these walls.”

Bernadine looked around with the eyes of a woman who now knew more about renovation and construction than she had on her first visit. “Ideally, what would you like to see?”

“To have it up and running like it used to be. It’s never been a fancy place, but it was ours.”

She took a slow stroll, visually evaluating the walls, ceiling beams, and the two holes in the roof. “How about we gut it and start over?”

“If you’re paying, I’m all for it.”

“Every town needs a place where you can sit and eat, so yes, I’m paying.”

Braced against the edge of the one of the tables, arms folded, he asked, “What man would be crazy enough to divorce you?”

She grinned. “
Ah,
here we go.”

“No, I’m serious. You’re smart, good-hearted, not to mention gorgeous. Was he doing crack?”

“No, his secretary. He didn’t divorce me. I divorced him.”

He nodded understandingly. “How many years did you put in?”

“Thirty.”

“That’s a shame.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Many men, present company included, do a lot more thinking from the waist down than from the brain down unfortunately, but in your case—the brother was insane.”

She dropped her head. “Do you get up in the morning flirting?”

He shot her a grin, “Depends on the lady.”

Their eyes met and held.

She broke the silence. “Can we go back to talking about the Dog and Cow? And who names a place that, anyway?”

“Dogs and cows were mostly what I treated in my practice. I was also drinking in those days.”

She shook her head. “You are something.”

“So are you.”

At that moment, Bernadine had to admit she was very attracted to Malachi July, so she gave thanks for the voice that shattered the vibe.

“Malachi?” It was Clay Dobbs. “You home?”

“Yeah.”

Clay entered. He looked surprised to see Bernadine standing across the room. “Sorry,” he said apologetically.
“Didn’t mean to interrupt. Just came by to see if we’re playing cards tonight?”

Bernadine replied reassuringly, “It’s okay. I was on my way out anyway.” She looked to Malachi. “If you’d do up a list of the things you want included in the design, I can get the architect started.”

“Will do.”

She nodded good-byes to the men and strode out.

After her exit, Malachi said, “That kind of woman could make a man go straight.”

Clay said, “Forget it. You couldn’t catch her if she was walking and you were flying a Stealth Bomber.”

“Put your money where your mouth is.”

“It’s like that, is it? Well, tell you what. We’ll take up the bets tonight at the card game, but I got fifty says she makes you cry in your Pepsi before the first snow falls.”

“You’re on.”

“Warning you, Bernadine Brown is going to break you down.”

“Just bring your money,” Malachi countered, grinning.

“Speaking of breaking down. Genevieve’s left Riley. She’s staying with Marie.”

The two old friends looked at each other and Mal asked, “She going to divorce him?”

Cal shrugged.

“You’ve been waiting a long time.”

Cal sighed. “I know, but I’m not low-down enough to hit on another man’s wife. I still love her though.”

“I know.”

“I’m just going to wait and see what happens. It’s all I got.”

“Yeah. I’ll see you tonight.”

Cal waved and was gone.

Up the road apiece, it was bit hard for Riley to see, what with a swollen-closed black eye and the big gauze bandage he’d had to place over the gash he’d gotten from hitting his head on the coffee table. He still had no idea how long he’d been knocked out, but it was dark when he’d come to, so he guessed a couple of hours. After waking up, he’d staggered to his feet, slipped in Cletus’s offal again, went down again, and hurt his shoulder. As a result his right arm was in a sling he’d made out of one of Genevieve’s scarves.

Since the day of Riley’s fall, Cletus had been in front of the television watching Animal Planet, and it didn’t appear as if he was planning to leave anytime soon. Riley had asked the hog a hundred times what was wrong, but Cletus continued to act like he’d never seen Riley before in his life. Riley didn’t know what to do. Because of his limited vision and aching shoulder, cleaning up the messes Cletus kept making was becoming harder and harder, and the stench was unbelievable.

Yesterday he’d made up his mind to stop feeding Cletus inside the house in hopes he’d wander outside where his bowl was. The only problem was, years ago when Cletus was a piglet, Riley had taught him a trick where he’d stomp his right hoof to let folks know he was hungry. It had been cute back then, and for Riley, a measure of the hog’s sky-high intelligence. Well, after having his foot stomps ignored
all day and being told the food he wanted was outside—go out there and get it, Cletus had apparently had enough. He stood up, looked Riley in the eye, and stomped and stomped and stomped until the windows rattled, pictures danced on the walls, and the knickknacks in Genevieve’s curio cabinet jumped up and down. It was like something out of an old Stephen King novel. The whole thing scared Riley so badly he hustled out, brought in the huge bowl of rice cereal and milk Cletus liked to eat with late night TV, and left the room.

So now, his house was wrecked, the place stank to high heaven, and he was no closer to getting Cletus out from in front the TV than he had been when this began. He went outside and sank down onto the old couch. He’d been spending more and more time outside because it was next to impossible to breathe inside due to the incredible stink, even with all the windows open. He shook his head mournfully. He had no idea what to do. Genevieve came to mind.
This was all her fault. If she hadn’t taken off in a huff…,
he thought crossly. He’d be willing to bet she could get Cletus out of the house, though. All Riley had to do was talk to her, convince her of the errors of her ways, and she’d be so happy to be forgiven she’d come back. Once she did, she’d get Cletus out, clean up the house, and he could go back to watching the nightly news in peace.