The House on Sugar Plum Lane (10 page)

When she reached the stoop, she rang the bell. Moments later, Maria's oldest son answered.

“Come on in,” he said. “I'll tell my mom you're here.”

“Thank you.” Barbara had no more than stepped inside when she spotted her mother seated on a beige sofa near the fireplace. Her hair, which appeared to have been freshly shampooed and colored with the steel-gray rinse she'd always favored, had been curled and combed. And she wore a splash of pink lipstick as if she'd been waiting for company.

A whisper of guilt blew through Barbara, and she wondered if her mother had been sitting like that last Tuesday, waiting for her to show up. But under the circumstances, she'd had no other choice but to postpone the visit.

Barbara made her way toward the elderly woman who appeared to be stooped, even while seated. “Hello, Mother.”

Her mom seemed to be more focused on the gnarled, liver-spotted hands in her lap than on her visitor or even the talk show playing on the television.

“How are you doing today?” Barbara asked.

Ellie glanced up, her faded blue eyes lacking the spark they'd once had. “I'm okay.”

Her once-white sweater had yellowed with age, and her pale green blouse was worn. The stitching was coming apart along the collar.

“Next week,” Barbara said, “when I stop by, I'll bring a couple of new outfits for you to wear. Won't that be nice?”

Ellie merely looked at her.

Barbara would purchase something bright and cheery, something stylish.

Maria entered the living room, followed by two little girls. The dark-haired child was her daughter; the blonde had to be a friend or neighbor.

At the sound of children's voices, Ellie looked up and smiled. She motioned for the little blonde. “Come over here, Angel. Let me get a look at you.”

Not surprising, the child froze in her tracks and glanced at her friend.

“It's all right,” Maria's daughter said, nudging the girl forward. “You can talk to her. She's nice. She's just old.”

The blonde took a shy step forward, and as she neared the elderly woman, Ellie reached for her hand and gave it a little pat. Then she looked at Barbara, her tired blue eyes lighting up as though she'd broken free of the Alzheimer's disease that had trapped her essence. “She's beautiful, Barbie. I knew she would be.”

The poor little girl appeared to be ready to bolt, so Barbara stepped in to defuse the situation. “She
is
beautiful.” Barbara removed the child's hand from her mother's grip. “What's your name, sweetheart?”

The child opened her mouth, but Ellie was the one who answered, her voice stronger than it had been in a long time. “It's Angel.”

The blonde shook her head, her pigtails swishing from side to side. “No, it's not. I'm Callie.”

As the child drew back to where her friend stood, Maria furrowed her brow and mouthed, “Who's Angel?”

Barbara shrugged. It wasn't a name she recognized, but her mother became so confused these days that it could have been any combination of personas from the past. It could even have been someone from a television show.

Who knew what was going on upstairs with her mother?

“Angel looks a lot like you did as a little girl,” Ellie said, as if she'd suddenly recognized her daughter after all. Still, her words made no sense.

“My hair was brown,” Barbara said. “Like Daddy's. Remember, Mom?”

Her mother brightened. “Harold! Of course I remember.” She turned to Maria, hope springing in her eyes and voice. “Has the mailman come yet? I'm sure there will be a letter today.”

“He's already been here,” Maria said. “I'm afraid there wasn't any mail, Ellie.”

Barbara wasn't sure why Maria played along with the old woman. It was best to tell her the truth, to make her accept reality.

As Callie and Sara left the room, Barbara turned to Maria and asked, “How's she been doing?”

“Yesterday was all right, but it's been a rough morning.”

“What happened?”

“I came downstairs to tell her breakfast was ready, but she wasn't in her bed. I sent the kids out in the backyard to look for her while I went out front. I found her in the middle of the street.”

“Why? What was she doing? Going home?”

“She said she was looking for Harold, that he was coming by to take her to the beach for a picnic and a day in the sun.”

Barbara clucked her tongue and blew out a sigh. She wasn't sure why Joey—and Maria, too—insisted upon keeping Mother at home when she was so clearly ready for the safety an Alzheimer's care center would provide. She'd have to talk to Joey about this later and insist that it was time to move her.

“Are you going to be here a few minutes?” Maria asked.

“Yes. Why?”

“I need to walk Callie home. Would you mind keeping an eye on things? I won't be long.”

“Of course not.” Barbara glanced at her wristwatch. “I'll be here for at least a half hour. In fact, if you have an errand to run or need a break, I can stay for forty-five minutes or so.”

“You don't mind?”

“No, it's silly for us both to be here.”

“Captain is in the backyard,” Maria added. She didn't have to explain. She wanted Barbara to look out for him, too. But he was no trouble. He, at least, seemed to have all of his faculties and wasn't prone to wander.

“No problem,” Barbara said. She appreciated what Maria was doing, even though she paid her for her mother's board and care. She sympathized with her, too. There had to be an easier way to earn extra money while working from home.

As Maria trailed after the girls, Barbara took a seat next to her mother on the sofa.

“She's a sweet little thing,” Ellie said.

“Who?”

“Angel.”

“I'm not sure I know who Angel is, Mother.”

“The child my daughter gave away.”

Barbara cringed at the reminder of both the mistake she'd made and the solution she'd come up with to correct it.

For more than forty years, her mother had been upset about the decision to put the baby up for adoption and had never failed to remind Barbara, one way or another. It had created untold stress on their relationship. But at least Ellie had never revealed the secret to a living soul.

But what would Barbara do if it all came out now?

It was definitely time to insist her mother be put in a home.

Maria seemed like a nice person and a good mother, but Amy was still a little uneasy about letting Callie go with someone new for the first time. So when the doorbell rang, suggesting that Maria had brought Callie home, she placed the last of the books she'd been packing into a box and hurried to the door.

Maria, who stood with her youngest boy and the two girls on the stoop, held a plate covered in plastic wrap.

“Look what we brought for you, Mommy!” Callie's beaming smile announced that she'd had fun while she'd been gone. “They're tortillas. And they're really yummy with butter and sugar on them.”

“They look delicious,” Amy said, taking the plate her neighbor handed to her.

Maria chuckled. “They might not be round, but I can assure you they taste good.”

“Thanks for letting Callie help.”

“It was a pleasure. She's a sweet little girl. It's going to be nice having you two live next door.”

Amy forced a smile, yet didn't respond. She'd eventually tell Maria what she was doing, but probably not until after she'd packed all of Ellie's things and was ready to give up possession of the house and forfeit the six months' rent.

“Mommy,” Callie said. “Will you put on the movie now? Sara's little brother wants to watch
Cars.
Okay?”

“Of course.” Amy turned to Maria. “Do you have time for tea? I'm ready for a break from packing.”

Maria seemed to give it some thought before saying, “Sure, I've got a few minutes.”

“Good. Then we'll make it a quick cup.”

Amy set up the movie for the kids, and after they were seated and glued to the screen, she led Maria to the kitchen, where she put on a teakettle of water and took two china cups from the cupboard.

Next she opened the pantry in search of the tin of Earl Grey she'd brought from home. But when she noticed the Kitty Delight behind a can of Campbell's chicken noodle soup, her hands stilled. “I've been meaning to ask you something. Did Ellie have a cat?”

“She used to have an old gray tabby named Pretty Boy, but he died around Christmas time. And just before she began to…fail, she sort of adopted a stray that used to hang out in the neighborhood.”

“Is it still around?” Maybe Amy should leave some food and water out for it.

“No, I haven't seen it.”

“Did her family take it?”

“No, they wouldn't have done that. Her grandson's wife had an allergy to pet dander, which is why she kept dragging her feet about moving in with them. She hated to give up her cat. And her daughter…well, Barbara isn't the animal-lover type. I have no idea why the cat took off, but we live next to a canyon, and the coyotes are sometimes a problem.”

“That's too bad.”

“Yes, it was. Both Pretty Boy and the stray provided company for Ellie in the evenings. She didn't get many visitors.”

“How sad.”

“I think so, too.”

“Didn't her family come by to see her?”

“Her grandson stopped by regularly, but he was pretty busy, so it wasn't all that often. And her daughter is involved with several different charity organizations. Still, you'd think that…” Maria paused.

“Think what?”

Maria shrugged. “I'm sorry. That was unfair of me. It's just that Ellie was a wonderful neighbor. And she was a good friend to my aunt.”

“Just being in her house has convinced me that she was a special lady. I've been drawn to the paintings on her wall. She was a good artist. I even found an accordion in the closet, so I suspect she was a musician as well.” Amy didn't mention the journals or the fact that Ellie might have been a writer, too.

“I'd completely forgotten about that accordion.” A slow smile stretched across Maria's face. “One day, when I was a teenager living in Fairbrook with my aunt, she played for us—polka tunes, mostly. From what I understand, she taught herself to play by ear.”

“Really? I play the piano, and so did my mother. But we had years of lessons.” Amy wished she could reel in her words the moment they came out. She'd been thinking that Ellie had passed on some kind of musical gene, but she wasn't ready to reveal who she was and why she was here.

The teakettle on the stove began to whistle, and she got up, glad for the interruption. As she poured hot water into each cup, Maria scanned the kitchen.

“It feels weird being in this room and having tea with someone other than Ellie. We had a lot of chats in here, especially when I learned I was pregnant with Wally. She took the place of my aunt and said all the right things.”

“You mean about childbirth and that sort of thing?”

Maria glanced down at the cup and frowned as though it was a long story and not one she was proud of.

“I spent my teen years living with my aunt, Sofia. But one summer, I went to visit my cousin Rita in Los Angeles. I met a guy named Ray Huddleston there. He was a blue-eyed charmer, and one of those guys who had all the girls in the neighborhood panting at his feet.” She opened her tea bag and placed it into the cup of water. “Needless to say, when he started paying attention to me, I was flattered. And after dating him for a whopping two months, he asked me to marry him, and I agreed.”

She'd introduced herself as Maria Rodriguez, Amy thought. Hadn't she taken Ray's name? Or had she taken her own back after the split?

“
Tía
Sofia, my aunt, tried to talk me out of it, saying she'd seen his kind before. That he was a heartbreak waiting to happen. But I thought she was too old to know what she was talking about.”

“And she wasn't?”

“Nope.” Maria dunked the tea bag into the water several times, then removed it and added a spoonful of sugar from the bowl that sat on the table. “She had Ray pegged pretty well.”

“Did you marry him?”

“Yes, I'm afraid I did.” She took a sip from her cup. “We stayed in the L.A. area, where he had family and friends. I didn't know too many people, but that didn't matter. I loved him, and before long, I got pregnant with Danny. Ray seemed happy about it, but he was away from home a lot. I tried not to complain, telling myself he was a good provider, that a lot of women would be happy to have a guy like him.”

Maria didn't need to tell Amy about the loneliness of going through a pregnancy alone. For one reason or another, Brandon had missed out on nearly all of the exciting events: hearing the heartbeat for the first time, staring at the ultra-sound in awe, decorating the nursery.

“I began to hear rumors that Ray was seeing someone on the side.”

“Was he?”

Maria nodded. “I confronted him, and he admitted to having an affair. He swore the woman meant nothing to him, that he loved me. And I believed him.”

As far as Amy knew, Brandon hadn't cheated on her, but she couldn't let the fact that Maria had married a real jerk make her think that she and Callie should have settled for less than they deserved.

She took a sip of her tea. “I take it things didn't get much better?”

“They did for a little while. I was determined to forgive and forget. About the time Sara was six weeks old, we were facing another anniversary. I wanted to do something special, even though we couldn't afford anything big. So I got a sitter for the kids, then went to the grocery store to pick up everything I needed for a romantic dinner at home, including candles and sparkling cider.

“On the way to the market, I saw his truck parked in front of the Starlight Motor Inn. My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach. I knew he'd done it to me again. I made a U-turn, parked next to his pickup, then banged on the door until he answered. Just as I'd suspected, there was a woman with him.”

Amy reached over and placed her hand over Maria's. “I'm sorry. You deserve so much better than that.”

“I know.”

“How long have you been divorced?”

“Three years, but there's more to the story.” Again, Maria seemed to wrestle with her memories, with the decision to share them with Amy. “About six months after I left L.A., Ray came here, apologizing and begging me to take him back. He thought we could make a fresh start in Fairbrook. My aunt had just passed away, and I was heartbroken and lonely.”

“Did you? Take him back?”

“I hate to admit it, but yes. He'd only been here a few days.” She blew out a weary sigh. “Just long enough to conceive Wally. And then the police showed up, looking for him.”

“What had he done?”

“The woman he'd gotten involved with was married, and when her husband found out, there was an ugly fight. Things escalated, and the other man was shot. Ray claimed it was self-defense, although I can't understand why he would have had a gun in the first place.”

“So they arrested him?”

“Yes. And can you believe it?” She slowly shook her head. “He had the gall to ask me to provide him with an alibi for that night. But I refused to lie for him. Now he's serving a twenty-year prison sentence.”

And Amy thought
she
had problems. “I'm sorry, Maria.”

“Me, too. It's been rough, but we've all put it behind us now.” Maria glanced at the clock on the wall. “I hadn't meant to stay so long. Or to vent. I really should get home.” She scooted back her chair and got to her feet. “I'm sorry for…”

Amy placed a hand on Maria's forearm and gave it an affectionate squeeze. “Don't be. The next time we have tea, I'll probably be the one venting. It's nice to think that, when I do, you'll listen to me.”

“Thanks.” Maria smiled, her brown eyes lighting up.

Amy wondered if she'd smile and be understanding when she learned that Amy really didn't plan on moving into Ellie's house at all. That she was only here to snoop. But maybe it wouldn't matter. Maybe they'd somehow reached a level of friendship that allowed them to share things they'd be embarrassed to tell anyone else.

She hoped so, because next time she and Maria talked, she just might let the cat out of the bag.

 

On her way home to relieve Barbara, Maria couldn't believe she'd opened up and let Amy know her darkest secrets. But her new neighbor had been easy to talk to, and it had been so long since she'd had someone she could confide in.

As she entered the living room, where the kids had been locked on the television screen, Wally fussed about going home before
Cars
was over.

“He's being so good,” Amy said. “I don't mind if he stays.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. As soon as the movie's over, I'll bring him and Sara home.”

So Maria agreed, thinking that she'd come back and check on him later. As she closed the door and strode down the sidewalk, she spotted Eddie in her yard rather than in Amy's. He was pruning the hedge that ran along their shared property line.

“I appreciate you doing that,” she told him, “but I can't afford to pay you.”

“You don't need to. Consider it a favor. I can't very well trim one side without it looking weird, so it's no big deal.”

It seemed like a big deal to her. She couldn't remember the last time someone had done something to lighten her load.

The sun glistened off the ebony strands of his hair, and when he tossed a smile her way, his eyes twinkled. She could almost imagine acting upon the attraction she felt, upon the kindness he'd shown, but it was crazy to let her thoughts stray in that direction.

Eddie was clearly the kind of guy any young woman would be lucky to date. But Maria wasn't just any young woman. She was a mother of three, with a slew of bills that kept her adding and re-adding her check register at the end of the month, hoping to make ends meet.

A breeze whipped a strand of her hair across her face, and she tucked it behind an ear.

“Mom?” Danny called from the house. “Good. You're home.”

Maria tore her gaze from Eddie, relieved to have a reason to quit gaping at him. “What's the matter?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to know if I can go to Jason's house. His mom said he isn't contagious anymore.”

“All right, but where's Captain?”

“He's in his room, looking for his glasses.”

“Will you help him find them before you leave?”

“Aw, Mom. Do I have to do
everything
around here?”

Did she ask too much of him?

Or was he only trying to make her think that she did?

Her maternal instinct told her it was the latter. “Check outside. He was reading earlier in the lawn chair under the shade.”

Danny clucked his tongue, then dashed off.

Maria looked at Eddie and shrugged, offering him a what's-a-mom-to-do? expression.

“You're a good mother,” he said.

“I try, but at times like this, he makes me wonder if I'm falling short.”

“That's part of a kid's wiring.”

“To make his mother question herself?”

“Actually, I think it's a ploy to have his own way. But don't let self-doubt get to you.”

That was easier said than done.

“If his dad was standing here right now,” Eddie said, “he'd tell you the same thing.”

That was doubtful, but she kept her thoughts to herself.

Moments later, Danny returned, a bit out of breath. “Captain's got his glasses. You were right. He left them outside. So can I go
now?
”

“Okay. Have fun.”

But before her son could run off, Eddie placed a man-sized hand on his small shoulder. “You only have one mother, Danny. And she's got a lot on her plate. It's not too much for her to ask your help. She deserves your support and your respect.”

“Yeah, but…”

The boy and man eyed each other, and the silence spoke volumes.

“Yes, sir,” Danny said, turning to Maria. “I'm sorry, Mom.”

Eddie gave him a warm grin and a pat on the back. “Thanks for doing your part.
Now
go have fun.”