Finders Keepers (21 page)

Wiping her cheek with the back of her hand, she led Luke across the porch. Zachary watched as she seated him on the old white swing and tucked a pillow behind his back. Taking his hand, she spoke in a low voice for a moment, the voice of a mother to a child.

“Zachary,” she said, crossing the porch to his side. “You’d better call Pastor Paul. I don’t understand why Luke is acting this way. The things he’s saying—he’s scaring me.”

“He’s going through hell.”

“But he’s a deacon, and he’s always been so … so …”

“He loved his wife, Elizabeth. He’s lost the woman he loved.”

“I know.” She nodded, brushing a tear from her cheek. “She went into a coma, and then she just stopped breathing. She just … just didn’t breathe anymore.”

“Are you OK?”

“I don’t know how to make things better.”

“Stay here with Luke. I’ll go get Montgomery and Nick.”

He turned, but she caught his hand and pulled something from the pocket of her slacks. “I’m supposed to give you this. It’s the town charter. Pearlene made you a copy of it.” She pressed the document into his palm. “Fight for what’s yours, Zachary.”

“Are you mine?” he asked.

She stared at him, her eyes brimming with tears and confusion.

Never mind her answer, he thought as he turned and headed down the porch steps. The definition of
ownership
had changed. It wasn’t so much who or what belonged to him. It was whom he belonged to.

Zachary had surrendered his will to God, and then these people had walked into his heart—Elizabeth, Nick, Montgomery, Boompah, even Ruby McCann and Luke Easton. If they needed protecting, he would guard them. If they needed comfort, he would do his best to provide it. If they needed security, he would become a bulwark against Phil Fox and anyone else who threatened their peace.

Though he couldn’t understand exactly how it had happened, Zachary knew the past two and a half months in Ambleside had altered him profoundly. He had become a part of the lives of the people here, and they were now a part of him. No, it was more than that. As he got into his car and shut the door, he knew the meaning of the passion he felt.

This was the place where he had fallen in love.

“Shame about Ellie, isn’t it?” Phil Fox stood just inside Ambleside Chapel’s fellowship hall and swirled red Kool-Aid around in his plastic cup. “And her so young. Really makes you think.”

Beside him, Elizabeth stared at the paper plate of uneaten food in her hand. Why did people bring so much food to a funeral? Was there some unwritten law that said a good potluck meal would comfort the bereaved? And why did people say stupid things, making inane comments like those of Phil Fox, who probably had never spoken a word to Ellie Easton?

In the past three days, Elizabeth had hardly eaten or slept. Somehow, Luke had managed to tell Montgomery about her mommy’s death. The two children had spent each night since then on Elizabeth’s foldout sofa, holding each other tightly and crying themselves to sleep. Zachary had dropped by the shop countless times, asking if there was anything he could do. And Luke … oh, Luke Easton had grieved.

Elizabeth closed her eyes. Never had she known a man to be so torn apart by loss. He had raged and wept, he had shouted and stormed, he had curled into himself and sobbed in silence. All she could do was organize the growing supply of food in his refrigerator, vacuum his floor after all the guests had come and gone, and pack away Ellie’s things.

“That little gal of hers is going to face a hard life without a mama,” Phil said, taking a bite of green bean casserole. “’Course, I guess you’d know more about that than most folks, Liz. Pearlene tells me you lost your parents when you were small.”

Elizabeth nodded, unable to speak.

“Myself, I look for Luke to marry pretty quick. I’m with Pearlene on that one. A man like him doesn’t need to just sit around, you know. He’s young, he’s got a good trade with all that carpentering he does, and he’s got that little gal to take care of. Beats me why they gave her that weird name. What is it, anyhow?”

“Montgomery.”

“That’s a city in Alabama, you know. We used to have a bus come in from there of a Tuesday, but not anymore. Things sure do change. This town just isn’t the same place.” He stuck a bacon-wrapped sausage in his mouth and chewed for a while. “We’ve got to move ahead with the times, is my motto. I guess you know I’m planning to block Zachary from taking over the old Chalmers house. I’ve had a meeting with a lawyer in Jeff City.”

Elizabeth lifted her head. “A lawyer, Phil?”

“Sometimes a man has to go to extremes.” He clamped a hand on his belt buckle and adjusted his trousers. “And I’m willing to go the distance on this one.”

“Oh, Phil, why do you want to block Zachary? You know Grace gave him that mansion, free and clear. What are you going to get out of it by talking to a lawyer, for Pete’s sake?”

“I’m going to better this town.”

“Better it? How?” She was beginning to feel angry now. “Are you planning to preserve the mansion?”

“I’m going to see that the property stays with the city. It belongs to Ambleside, and nobody’s going to take it away.”

“The
property
isn’t going anywhere. The question is the fate of the
mansion.
You’ve never made any pretense about liking that old house. I’ve heard you say it ought to be torn down.”

“Well, it’s an eyesore. You’ve got to admit that.”

“Then why block Zachary? He’s planning to tear it down and build an office. Let him have it.”

“Nope. That’s not what the founding fathers would have wanted.”

“How do you know what the founding fathers wanted?”

“Because I have read the charter.” He stuffed a hunk of hot roll in his mouth and then punched the air with a buttery finger. “I’m an elected official of this city, and I’m going to do my duty by my constituents.”

Elizabeth picked up a sausage ball. “Well, I’m one of your constituents, and I want to know what you’re up to.”

“None of your beeswax.”

“Oh, Phil, good grief!”

“Good grief, yourself. You’ll thank me in the end. One of these days, you’ll see I’m doing the very best thing for this town, and you’ll thank me. You and Pearlene have the most to benefit by what I’m planning, so don’t you ‘good grief’ me.”

“You’re back to the parking lot idea, aren’t you?”

“My lips are zipped.”

“We don’t need a parking lot. Zachary says all we have to do is take out that strip of grass around the square and repaint the lines, and we can have angled parking.”

“Angled parking?” He picked up a brownie. “And I guess Zachary Chalmers is going to stand there and direct traffic while everybody and their brother tries to back out onto River Street? Angled parking would give us more fender benders than a bumper-car track. Can you just see Ruby McCann trying to back out her big DeSoto from in front of the Corner Market every morning after she’s bought her milk? She’ll wind up backing through the plate-glass window of Bud Huff’s hardware store, sure as shootin’. And then we’ll have Bud coming to city council meetings complaining as loud as his father does now.”

“The town charter says the mansion should be
preserved,
not torn down to build a parking lot. You’re planning to try to get city ownership of that property, aren’t you? And then you’re going to tear down the mansion yourself.”

He pulled a finger across his lips. “As tight as a Ziploc bag.”

“Phil Fox, you know that charter orders the mansion be kept standing. ‘Preserving the house for perpetuity,’ it says. ‘A memorial to the Chalmers family and a cornerstone of the town of Ambleside.’”

Phil squinted his eyes. “How do you know what that charter says?”

“My lips are sealed,” Elizabeth said, tossing the sausage ball back onto her plate, “as tight as a Ziploc bag.”

“Well, I’ll be jiggered.” He searched the fellowship hall. “Where’s Pearlene?”

As Phil left Elizabeth’s side and began shouldering his way through the gathering, she sagged against the wall. Zachary emerged from a cluster of townsfolk. “I thought you were going to bean him with the sausage ball,” he said.

“I should have. I felt like he was about to eat me alive.”

“My hunch is that he wasn’t discussing our recent loss in the community of Ambleside.”

“He met with a lawyer, and he’s planning to get city ownership of the Chalmers House property. Then he’s going to tear down the mansion and put in a parking lot.”

Zachary took a sip of Kool-Aid. For a moment he didn’t speak, his gray green eyes searching hers. “We’ve just buried Ellie Easton,” he said. “In light of that, I don’t see that parking lots or office buildings or old mansions matter much at all.”

“They don’t,” she said. “But life does go on, and somehow we have to find purpose in it.”

“That doesn’t sound very optimistic.”

“I don’t exactly feel like dancing in the aisle right now.”

“How about walking around the square?”

She glanced at the crowded room. “Nick and Montgomery …”

“They’re playing on the jungle gym outside. I checked on them while you were dueling with Phil.”

“They’re playing?”

“They’re kids. Life does go on, Elizabeth.”

“All right.” She put her plate in a nearby trash can and joined Zachary, slipping her arm through his. “Once around the square. For life.”

Somehow summer had caught Elizabeth by surprise. Nick was still in class, though summer school required only half days. She had turned on the air conditioner in the window of Finders Keepers, but the river breeze had kept the air from feeling too sultry. Now, as she strolled the square with Zachary, she breathed in the dense, humid air of full Missouri summer.

“The statue of Harry Truman,” he announced as they drew abreast of the bronze figure of the former president. “And here we come to the old cannon. I wonder how long those two have graced the southern corners of the square.”

“As long as I can remember.” Almost too tired to walk, she laid her head against his shoulder. “Grandma and I used to take the bus to Ambleside to shop. I thought of it as a big place.”

“You never went to Jefferson City?”

“Not often. Grandma couldn’t drive, but she kept Grandpa’s old Buick in working order long after he was dead and gone. When she became sick, and I was old enough to get my license, I used to drive her to the doctor in Jefferson City. After her appointment, we’d go over to Zesto and get a vanilla Coke with two straws. We thought we were in tall cotton.”

He laughed. “And here we come to the Ambleside pavilion.”

“The scene of countless band concerts, church picnics, political speeches, and weddings. Ruby McCann calls this pavilion the social center of the town.”

“Does she now? Well, I’ll swan.”

Elizabeth felt a smile creep across her lips as Zachary escorted her up the pavilion’s wooden steps. How long had it been since she’d found anything to laugh about? She felt as though she were carrying a heavy tray on her shoulders, a tray piled high with burdens. Nick needed to learn his addition facts. Montgomery refused to sleep in her own bed. Boompah’s back was giving him trouble again. Luke Easton had ordered Pastor Paul out of his house. Twice Elizabeth had found Luke drinking alone. The woman who had contracted Elizabeth to furnish the buildings in Jefferson City was impatient with the amount of time she had taken off during the illness and death of Ellie. And now Phil Fox had reverted to his parking-lot campaign.

“What was that sigh for?” Zachary leaned one shoulder against a white post.

“Did I sigh?”

“It almost blew me over.”

“Must have been that garlic cheese dip.”

“You didn’t eat the cheese dip,” he said, slipping his arm around her waist and pulling her close. “You didn’t eat anything in there. I was watching.”

“It’s hard to eat when your stomach is in knots.”

“My insides have been tied up ever since I met you, Elizabeth.”

She lifted her head and met his eyes. “It’s because we’ve been fighting about the mansion.”

“Wrong.”

For a moment she couldn’t speak as he looked intently into her eyes. “Zachary, that night at the Foxes’ house—”

“I don’t want to talk about the Foxes.”