A Million Little Lies Read online

  Suzanna’s grin grew broader. This wasn’t just any bed; this was a bed with a heritage. A heritage that belonged to Darla Jean Parker. A plan flitted across her mind then doubled back and settled in. Not just now, but before the day was out she would ask Ida about it. No, not Ida. Grandma Ida.

  Ida turned back toward the landing. “Let’s check the other room. Then we’ll strip the beds, take the drapes down, and start cleaning.”

  She led the way across the short hallway to a second door.

  “Now this room’s going to need a lot of work,” she said, fumbling for the light switch. “Definitely a new bed and fresh wallpaper…” She snapped the switch, and the overhead brightened the room. “This is the room Bill intended for you, but then, well, you know what happened.”

  Suzanna stood there, her eyes wide and her throat too choked to speak. In the center of the room was the canopy bed Ida had told her about. The organdy covering now drooped on one side, dusty and yellowed with age, but seemed no less beautiful. Her eyes scanned the room trying to take hold of every detail: the ballerina lamp on the nightstand, a partially-finished doll house in the corner, the small rocking chair. The love that had gone into creating this room was obvious. It was still here.

  “Your granddaddy built that dollhouse for you.” Ida circled the bed and lifted the canopy ruffle back into place. “He started it before your christening and worked on it for a long while, even after Tommy left town. When he didn’t hear from Tommy for all that time, he finally realized we were not likely to see you for a good long while. He gave up working on the dollhouse, carried it up here, and set it in the corner. ‘The next time we see Darla Jean, she might be too old for dolls,’ he said. That day he closed the door to the third floor, and I didn’t open it again until now.” Pausing a moment, she gave a lingering sigh, then added, “Losing you just about broke your granddaddy’s heart.”

  As Ida went on, saying how after so many years she’d forgotten about the dollhouse, Suzanna thought of her own childhood and then of Annie’s; both soiled by anger and sadness, nowhere was there a memory to compare to the childhood Darla Jean had left behind. Her eyes filled with tears; then she turned and allowed her head to fall onto Ida’s comforting shoulder.

  Wrapping her arms around Suzanna, Ida made the shushing sound a mother makes to a fussy baby. When the tears subsided, she held her at arm’s length and said, “Your granddaddy wouldn’t want you crying your heart out like this. He thought this would be a place of happiness, not tears.”

  “I know,” Suzanna said and started sniffling again.

  “Well, then, why on earth are you carrying on this way?”

  “Because seeing all this makes me realize how much I missed, how empty my life and Annie’s life has been.”

  “Well, if it makes you that sad, I’ll have the junk man come and cart it all away, kit and caboodle. You won’t ever have to see it again.”

  “You can’t do that!” Suzanna exclaimed. “We’ll give Annie this room; it’s what Granddaddy would have wanted.”

  “Allow a seven-year-old child to sleep up here with a stranger in the next room?”

  “We can rent the second-floor bedrooms instead, and I’ll take the other room up here. It’ll be kind of like being where Granddaddy wanted me to be, and I’ll get to sleep in the bed that belonged to your mama.”

  “Why would you want to do that? The downstairs rooms are much nicer. The furniture’s newer. They’re bigger and airier.”

  Suzanna sniffed back the last of her tears. “I know, but there’s a part of Granddaddy that’s still in this room, and I want Annie to have the chance to know what a wonderful man he was.” She hesitated a moment then smiled ever so slightly. “This may sound silly, but that bed and the things in here make me feel as if I can reach out and take hold of the past. It’s like I haven’t lost anything; it’s been right here waiting for me. Being able to live with the things that meant so much to you and Granddaddy kind of makes up for all I missed out on.”

  Ida’s eyes filled with water, but she held back the tears and began bustling around the room gathering the things she claimed needed washing.

  That same day they threw the third-floor windows wide open, took the curtains down, and allowed the scent of the wisteria in the back yard to roll through the long-forgotten rooms.

  As Suzanna rubbed lemon oil into the curves and crevices of the ornate bed, she allowed her mind to run free with thoughts of Ida as a young woman and, even further back, Ida’s mama, a young bride slipping out of her corset and gown and climbing into this bed to begin life as a wife and mother. When the headboard gleamed with a shine that reflected the smile on Suzanna’s face, she knew this truly was the beginning of a new life for her and Annie.

  She may not have been born Darla Jean Parker, but she now was and she would not allow anything to change that. Nothing. Not the past, present, or future. And certainly not any lingering thoughts of her daddy or Bobby Doherty.

  Changing Times

  The Rental

  ONCE SUZANNA AND ANNIE WERE settled in the attic rooms, the two women began readying the second floor for renters. The closets were emptied out, the furniture polished to a shine, and a stack of freshly-laundered towels placed on each dresser.

  On Thursday afternoon, with the house now in pristine condition, they sat together at the kitchen table and composed an ad to run in the classified section of The Town Crier. After almost two hours of going back and forth over what was the most appealing description, they discovered the cost of the ad was based on word count and shortened it considerably. In the end, the ad simply offered two large comfortable guest rooms for rent at reasonable rates. Although they eliminated the part about an oak-lined street and charming ambiance, the ad did state that the rooms overlooked a garden and the house was within walking distance of town. At Ida’s insistence, it also indicated, “Female Preferred.”

  “We’ll be sharing the hall bath,” she’d said, “and a woman can never be too careful, especially with a child in the house.”

  That Sunday there was only one telephone call, and it was not an inquiry about the rooms. When Suzanna picked up the telephone, Pastor Higgins asked if Ida was ill since he’d missed seeing her at Sunday services. After that there was nothing. Not a single call.

  “Weekends might not be the best for rentals,” Suzanna suggested. “Perhaps we should try the weekday edition.”

  Ida agreed, and on Monday morning she telephoned the newspaper and told them to run the ad for the remainder of the week. She also tweaked a few things they thought might help. Instead of reasonable rates, the second ad gave a firm price of $17 a week and added free parking and telephone.

  The next three days seemed to linger on forever, and by Thursday, when they had not received even one inquiry, Suzanna began to worry.

  “Perhaps we’re going at this wrong,” she said. “Newcomers might not be reading the newspaper. We need to pin a notice on the bulletin board at Piggly Wiggly and the bus station. Those are places where it’s sure to be seen.”

  Ida frowned. “Piggy Wiggly is okay, but the bus station? Who knows what kind of transients that will bring?”

  Looking Ida square in the face, Suzanna raised an eyebrow.

  “Annie and I came through that bus station,” she said. “Cousins is a relatively small town; there’s only a handful of people stopping here anyway. Relatives mostly or someone coming for a job.”

  When Suzanna reminded Ida that if they didn’t rent the rooms it would be difficult to hold onto the house, she finally agreed.

  That afternoon Suzanna donned the one sundress she had, took the hand-lettered signs, walked to town, and thumb-tacked them to the bulletin boards. At Piggly Wiggly, she also stopped in to see the manager and asked if they had a position available.

  “I’ll take anything,” she said. “Cashier, packer—”

  “Sorry.” He shook his head. “There’s nothing right now.”

  “Oh.” Disappointment stretched
across the full width of her face.

  “Maybe in December,” he offered. “There’s a chance Debbi Hicks, our bakery clerk, might be retiring. If you’re still interested, stop back then.”

  Suzanna promised to do that, then walked out with her feet dragging and her shoulders slumped. As she passed the First Federal Savings building, she thought about applying for a job, but that thought disappeared almost as quickly as it came. She couldn’t even get a job at Piggly Wiggly. Without references and a work history, she wouldn’t have a prayer at the bank. Even if she’d used her own name, what job experience did she have? Being a clerk at the Snack Shop was not much of a qualification. On top of which, she’d dropped out of high school just weeks before she was to graduate.

  Walking home, Suzanna moved one foot in front of the other almost mechanically. At first their plan had seemed perfect, but now things weren’t looking quite so good. Finding a renter was more difficult than they’d anticipated, and she was beginning to fear that landing a job would pose an even greater challenge. With the attic rooms now opened up, she no longer wanted to consider the thought of leaving. She wanted to remain in that house as much as Ida did. Moving meant letting go of the memories she’d found tucked into the corners of those third-floor rooms, and worse yet was the thought of Annie not having the canopy bed that Granddaddy had intended for her. She simply couldn’t bear that. If they didn’t rent the rooms, it would be up to her to find a way to keep the house. Ida was too old to work, and somebody had to be there when Annie came from school.

  There was no getting around it; Suzanna had to find a job. Lost in thought, she walked so slowly that at times it seemed as though she had come to a standstill. She was looking down at her feet when an image flashed through her memory. Her daddy, his face drawn into an angry scowl, his arm raised, his finger pointing to the door as he told her to go and stay gone. She’d moved in with Earl because she had nowhere else to go. It was different now. She had a home with someone who loved her. Who loved Annie. After all those years of hardship, she couldn’t let this slip away. She had to find a way to make it work. She owed it to herself. Even more importantly, she owed it to Annie.

  A renewed sense of determination rose in her, and she quickened her step. She would not be defeated; there were plenty of other jobs. She could clean houses, take tickets at the movies, or find a shop willing to try her as a sales clerk. She’d be bold about it, admit up front that she had no experience then offer to work the first week for free to prove she could do the job. A prospective employer would surely see the value in that.

  By the time she arrived home Suzanna was bubbling over with ideas, but Ida nixed them all. With her face set in a stony expression that obviously meant business, she told Suzanna, “You’ve gotten yourself in a tizzy for no reason. I have absolutely no doubt that we’ll find renters for those rooms, and besides, the idea of cleaning people’s houses for a living is preposterous. There’s no money in that. You’re a smart girl with charm and personality…”

  She cast a critical eye toward Suzanna’s sundress then continued, “You’ll find yourself a good job but not dressed like that. You need a proper outfit. A suit maybe or a tailored dress.”

  “I can’t afford—”

  With the frown lines deepening across her forehead, Ida replied, “Darla Jean, I didn’t say you should buy anything. Next week, the LoCicero Shop is having their annual sale, and I’ll be taking you in so that Miss Dixie can outfit you properly.”

  “But, Grandma, you can’t afford—”

  “Hush! I do not want to hear another word about what I can or cannot afford. I may not be wealthy, but your grandfather certainly did not leave me destitute. It may be a stretch to keep this big house, but we have more than enough to live comfortably.”

  Having said her piece, Ida headed back toward the kitchen.

  Suzanna followed in her footsteps. “I didn’t mean—”

  Ida stopped and turned. “I know you didn’t, but you’ve got to stop worrying and trust me.” As the anger faded from her face, it was replaced by a sly grin. “I may be up in years, but I’ve still got all my marbles. While you were gone, I made a few phone calls.”

  “To who?”

  “People who can get the word out about us having rooms for rent. Bill had quite a few friends in town, and those friends were more than happy to help. Bo Cascio, the office manager at the tool and die company, said they’ve got a new receptionist starting next week, and Delbert Stanfield, the loan officer at First Federal, said an insurance agent just rented a storefront on Clover Street.”

  ——————

  AS IT TURNED OUT, IDA learned the receptionist would be living with her sister and the insurance agent was a man with a wife, three boys, and a golden retriever. A third week rolled by without any responses. Then one afternoon when Suzanna was outside planting some impatiens in the back yard, the call came.

  The young man said he was Gregg Patterson and that he’d been referred by his sister-in-law who was a friend of Pastor Higgins’ wife.

  “Christine Davis, the English teacher at Barston Junior High is going on maternity leave, and I’ll be filling in for her this semester.”

  With the sound of disappointment threaded through her words, Ida replied, “The room is better suited for a woman.”

  It was meant to be discouraging but not absolute. Although she’d not told Darla Jean, she too was getting a bit concerned and wanted to hear him out.

  “I’m kind of desperate,” Gregg Patterson said. “I start work on Monday and still haven’t found a place to stay.”

  “Isn’t there a hotel over there in Barston?”

  “Closed for renovations, and the rooming house is full up.”

  Still apprehensive about having a man in the house, Ida asked, “Did your sister-in-law tell you Cousins is a good twenty miles from Barston, and with rush-hour traffic…”

  “Yes, she mentioned that, but as I said, I’m desperate.”

  Ida then wanted to know exactly who his sister-in-law was, how long she’d known Pastor Higgins’ wife, if he had additional references, and whether or not he was a smoker. After he’d answered those questions, she bombarded him with a dozen more. Only after she was satisfied with his answers did she say that he could come and look at the room.

  As she hung up the telephone, she wondered if she was making a mistake. The thought of having a strange man in the house with two women and a little girl was not only worrisome but downright exhausting.

  Feeling the need to be her sharpest when she interviewed him, Ida decided to take a short nap before he arrived. She was sound asleep at 5:30.

  ——————

  SUZANNA CAME IN FROM THE yard with clumps of dirt stuck to her knees and a flower petal caught in her hair. As she was removing her muddy sneakers and garden gloves, she heard the bell but figured Ida would answer. Minutes later a heavy knock sounded. She brushed a few leaves from the front of her tee shirt and hurried to the door, expecting it be a neighbor returning one of Ida’s casserole dishes or Lois coming over to play with Annie. Instead, it was a man dressed in a chambray shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He had a nice smile and wore glasses; a cluster of dark curls dropped down on his forehead.

  “Hi, I’m Gregg Patterson,” he said and stuck out his hand.

  She returned his handshake without any mention of her name, then stood looking at him inquisitively.

  “We spoke earlier, about renting the room…”

  “Oh, you must have spoken to Ida.” She caught the mistake and quickly corrected herself. “Grandma Ida, that is.” As she leaned in a bit closer, she could see his eyes were the same blue as his shirt. “I’m Darla Jean Parker, her granddaughter. Come on in. Grandma might be napping, but wait here and I’ll get her for you.”

  “Please don’t, there’s no need to wake her. If you could just show me the room, I’ll write a check and leave it with you.”

  Suzanna gave an apologetic half-smile. “I wouldn’t feel
right doing that. Grandma was pretty insistent about only renting to a woman. I’m surprised she even said you could come to look at—”

  “I know,” Gregg said. “She explained the situation and gave me a third degree that would make the FBI proud.”

  When he grinned, his smile had a certain warmth to it. The kind of warmth that made her wish she was wearing some makeup and wasn’t quite so scruffy-looking.

  “Please excuse my appearance,” she said and returned his smile. “I was planting flowers out back. There’s a lovely garden and both rooms overlook it…” As she spoke she reached back, pulled the rubber band off of her ponytail, and shook her hair loose. “A good-size closet and driveway parking if you need it.”

  “I can park on the street if need be. During the week, I’ll be using the car every day to drive back and forth to Barston.” He went on to explain that he’d be working at the junior high school as a substitute for the English teacher who was taking a maternity leave.

  “Oh, so you’ll only be staying for a few months?”

  “No, a full year. Mrs. Davis is taking an extended leave. And,” he added hesitantly, “I’m kind of hoping something permanent opens up in the meantime. My brother, Philipp, and his wife live in Barston, and since that’s all that’s left of our family I’d like to settle down somewhere nearby. Phil offered to let me stay with them, but I don’t want to intrude on their privacy.”

  They chatted for a few minutes more. Then Suzanna asked if he’d like to join her in a cup of coffee and wait for Grandma Ida. “I’m sure she’ll be down in a few—”

  “I’d love to,” he cut in and smiled again.

  ——————

  IDA OPENED ONE EYE AND peered at the clock.

  “Good grief! It’s after six!”

  Hurriedly climbing out of the bed, she slipped her shoes on, smoothed her hair, and started downstairs. Halfway down she heard the sound of a man’s voice, followed by a peal of laughter coming from the kitchen. When she rounded the dining room and stepped into the kitchen, Annie jumped out of her chair and ran over.