Close to the Broken Hearted Read online

  “Hi,” my mother said after the call was answered. “I’m looking for Addison?”

  “This is Addison.” Right away, I recognized the accent. It was strange how people from different places talked in different ways. Even people from the same country.

  “Hi, Addison, my name’s Leah Teal. I got your number a while ago from my boy, Abe. Apparently—”

  She didn’t have to go any further, because Addison picked up the conversation right there. “Leah! I was wondering when you were gonna call. I was startin’ to think you weren’t, after all this time. I’m so glad that you did. I have so much to tell you. There’s so much you and I have to talk about. I assume Abe has told you who I am?”

  “Well,” my mother said slowly, “he’s told me who you say you are.”

  “Ah yes, you’re a police detective. I mustn’t forget that.” I heard her laugh. “Trust me, I promise you I am exactly who I say I am. I have no reason to deceive you. I did not go all that way to just pretend to be Billy’s sister.”

  “Yes,” my mother said, “. . . about that. And I’d also like to know why you were followin’ my little Abe round in your car. Seems a mite creepy to me.”

  “Let me guess,” Addison said. “Billy never told you he had a sister?”

  “Well, that would be a correct guess.”

  “Figured as much. I was sort of the black sheep of the family. Hard to believe, hey? Knowing Billy? But trust me, take all Billy’s faults and multiply them by a hundred and you have a version of me back in those days. At least in my parents’ eyes.”

  “I didn’t really find too many faults in Billy,” my mother said, a bit perturbed. I was getting the distinct impression she didn’t rightly like this woman and it bothered me that they might be getting off on the wrong foot.

  “Well, that’s something!” Addison said. “Good for Billy. Maybe my memories are all mixed up. Wouldn’t be the first time I got something wrong. Anyway, I did not call you to find fault with your poor dead husband, God rest his soul. And I am so sorry for your loss. Even though my condolences come at such a late date.”

  “Thank you,” my mother said. “It was a very hard time for me and the kids.”

  “I can imagine,” Addison said. Then she stopped and reevaluated. “Actually, I can’t. I don’t have children. But I can only hope that things have gotten better since Billy’s passing.”

  “They get better. You know what they say,” my mother said, “that time is the great healer. Why don’t you tell me why it is you did contact my little boy, Miss Addison? And again, why were you followin’ him like some sort of stalker?”

  There was a hesitation on the other end of the phone as Addison took a breath so loud I had no problem hearing it from where I stood. My mother even pulled the receiver away from her ear.

  “Well, first off, I was worried if I came straight to you, you might not believe me, or worse, you might just throw me out of your house. I had no idea what Billy had said to you ’bout me.”

  “He said nothin’,” my mother said. “I already told you that.”

  “I didn’t know that at the time. Anyway, I needed to give you some important news, and going through your boy seemed like the best way to go about it. You have to admit, it worked. We are talking on the phone. Maybe I made the wrong approach, I don’t know.”

  “What news brought you round these parts then?” I could tell my mother was starting to get impatient.

  “I wish I could say it was the good kind,” Addison said. “But unfortunately, it is not. You see, my mother has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s and I would really like her to see her grandchildren while she is still in a state that she’ll remember them. You know what I mean?”

  “Grandchildren? You mean Abe and Carry?”

  “Yes, of course. She still remembers seein’ Abe.”

  “Where would she possibly remember him from? She’s never met him.”

  There was a pause on the other end and then Addison said, “Actually, that’s not true. Not exactly. She’s met Abe. Once.”

  Now my mother was on full alert. I could tell her whole body went tense at this news. Even I wasn’t quite sure what the heck Addison was talking about. I’d never met this grandmother. I’d surely remember something like that. But the idea of meeting them now made my skin tingle all over.

  “I think you need to come back to Alvin and come on down to the station,” my mother said. “Answer a few questions there for me.”

  “Wait,” Addison said. “Let me explain before you freak out, okay? Your father brought Abe over to my parents’ place once when Abe was a lot younger. He didn’t stay long, but long enough that my parents got to meet him. They simply adored him. And they will love Carry too, although they’ve never met her. They’ve only watched her grow up through photographs.”

  “Photographs? What photographs?” My mother was trembling now, she was so panicked. None of this was making any sense to me and I was sure it was making no sense to her either.

  “Leah, listen, please calm down. I can hear it in your voice that you are stressing about this. It’s not so complicated. Your father met my parents at Billy’s funeral, and ever since that day, until he became too sick to do it anymore, your dad had been sending my parents pictures of their grandchildren on a regular basis. And boy, did they ever love him for it. You know what I mean?”

  My mother just stood there in silence, saying nothing in return. Behind her eyes it was like the gears of a clock were spinning. “But . . . but why? I don’t understand. Why didn’t he tell me?”

  “For the answer to that, you would have had to have asked your father. And again, I am so sorry for your loss. He was a good man.”

  “You . . . you knew my pa?”

  “I met him once, but my parents spoke very highly of him. They still do.”

  “Your folks, they was at Billy’s funeral?” my mother asked.

  “Yeah. Only they stayed out of sight because they didn’t think you’d want them there. They assumed Billy would’ve told you nothing but bad things about them, given his past and everything.”

  “I . . . I don’t understand,” my mother said. “What past? Were you at the funeral, too?”

  There was a hesitation and then Addison replied, “No, unfortunately, I had a more pressing engagement up in Boston. But that’s another story and not one I want to get into right now over the phone. You know what I mean?”

  “So your pa,” my mother asked, “is he still alive then, too?”

  “Yes, my father is alive and well, thank goodness. He looks after my mother. If he weren’t here to do it, I don’t know what would happen. Right now, my mother’s not so bad, but she’s going to get worse, you know what I mean, right? Anyway, they would both really appreciate it if you could find it in your heart to allow them to see Abe and Carry just once before my mother’s condition worsens. Right now, most days, she’s still pretty much normal. Lucid. You know what I mean.”

  “I . . .” My mother stumbled. “Listen, Addison, I appreciate that your ma is sick and I am sorry for that. But you have to understand, this is a lot comin’ at me all at once. I need some time to come to terms with it. I gotta sort through it and make heads or tails out of it. I gotta figure out if I even believe it.”

  “I understand.”

  “Where are your folks now?”

  “They live about twenty miles your side of Columbus up in Georgia. It’s about a three-hour drive from Alvin. Of course, it would be much easier for my mother’s sake if you could go see them, but if you would rather, I am sure they would make the trip out to you if it meant seeing Abe and Carry.”

  My mother took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm herself. “I’m gonna go now, Addison. I’ll call you back when I’ve had a chance to digest this.”

  “Thank you, Leah. I appreciate you even considering it. You’re a very nice person.”

  My mother put the receiver back in its cradle. She was white as a cotton shee
t hung out to dry on a spring day. Her hands were still trembling. Turning, she slid her back down the cupboards until she was sitting on the floor staring straight ahead, looking way off into the distance the same way Preacher Eli had done that day we’d shown up at his house in Blackberry Springs.

  “You okay?” I asked quietly.

  “I’m not sure,” she said. “You have grandparents alive on your pa’s side. They want to see you.”

  I’d already heard, but hearing it again sent lightning bolts from the bottom of my feet surging up through my body. I had new family. Family I hadn’t even known about.

  “We gonna go?” I asked, trying to keep my excitement contained, although I’m certain my mother saw it in my eyes and heard it in my voice. It’s hard to wrestle back that kind of energy.

  “I dunno yet.”

  “Oh,” I said.

  Two houseflies were buzzing around the room, zigging and zagging, making complex patterns through the air. I stood and watched them. My mother kept staring at something way past that kitchen wall.

  “Anythin’ I can do for you?” I asked.

  “Nothin’.” Whatever she was fixated on was far, far away. “If this is all true, my daddy lied to me the last four years of his life.” She turned toward me with the weirdest look in her eyes. “First I find out your pa lied to me, now I find out my pa lied to me. Has anyone told me the truth my entire life? Nothing makes any sense anymore, Abe.”

  “I tell you the truth,” I said.

  “I certainly hope you do.”

  “I do. I always do.”

  “Let’s try to always keep it that way, okay?”

  “Okay,” I said. “How ’bout we pinky swear on it?”

  But it turned out she didn’t feel much like pinky swearing on anything.

  CHAPTER 11

  Leah showed up at work and gave a light rap on the office door of Police Chief Ethan Montgomery. She had already said hello to Chris and made a pit stop at the coffee machine to fill up her mug.

  “Come in!” Ethan called out.

  She opened the door and popped her head inside. “Got a sec?” Ethan was sitting, as usual, in his large padded chair behind his big oak desk. He had his own cup of coffee, freshly poured, on the desktop in front of him. He motioned to the chair on the other side of his desk. “Sure. Come on in. What’s on your mind?”

  Leah closed the office door and took a seat.

  “Well, as you know, that woman showed up and told Abe she was his ‘aunt’ and all.” She took a sip of her coffee.

  “I thought we straightened all that out with the background check on Billy. He had a sister. Her story’s good.” Ethan didn’t touch his mug. It just sat there, pretty much dead center between his hands, steam rising from the top.

  “Well . . . just cuz Billy had a sister don’t mean this woman is her. This woman could be anyone.”

  Ethan Montgomery rolled his eyes, or came as close to it as Leah figured he dared do in front of her. He knew she had a temper. “Come on, Leah, you aren’t that dumb. Now why would this woman show up on your doorstep claimin’ to be Billy’s sister? ’Specially after all this time? Ain’t like there’s any sort of inheritance or nothin’ to be had. Least none that I know of.”

  Leah laughed. “None that I know of either.” She held her mug in her lap with both hands. It was hot and she kept having to shift it from one hand to the other.

  “Well . . . there ya go.”

  “It’s just that—”

  “It’s just that you don’t like anything drumming up memories of the past. I know. I’ve known you since you were just a bean sprout. You’ve always been the same way. Got that from your momma.” Now Ethan grabbed his coffee and drank some. He put his mug right back down where it had been.

  Leah took a few deep breaths. Suddenly, she wasn’t sure why she was even in Ethan’s office. She felt stupid for coming to him, like a little kid coming to her father for advice on something he couldn’t possibly help her with, like when she first started liking boys in school. She glanced nervously around the room: at the law books stuffed along the shelves on the walls, at Ethan’s big oak desk that barely fit width-wise in the room, at the floor, at the blinds hanging down the windows that looked out into the large room (they were always closed)—anywhere and everywhere but at him.

  “What’s really on your mind?” he finally asked, his chair squeaking as he leaned back, coffee cup in hand.

  That chair had squeaked for as long as Leah could remember. Now it annoyed her that he hadn’t bothered to fix it, or oil it, or do anything about it. Then she realized it was just her mind finding something to fill itself with other than answering the question he had just directed her way.

  “Abe wants to meet this new family of his that’s suddenly popped up out of nowhere.” The windows behind Leah looked out on to the street. Through those windows, the sun peeked out from behind a cloud, its light breaking through the boughs of the fig tree that stood outside.

  “You mean the aunt? I thought they met already?”

  “There’s more than just the aunt. There’s grandparents, too. Billy’s ma and pa. They live just outside of Columbus in Georgia.”

  Ethan leaned forward, putting his big forearms on his desk, bringing his hands almost as far forward as the pictures standing along the front. “Now how do you know that?”

  Leah looked away again. Above her head, the large wooden ceiling fan slowly turned. “Cuz I called her. The aunt, I mean. Abe made me do it.”

  Ethan laughed. “Abe ‘made you’ do it? What did he do? Pull out your gun and hold it to your head?”

  “No, he played a guilt card I wasn’t ready for. Turns out he found a picture of Billy in my closet years ago and has been carryin’ it around with him ever since. Never told a soul. Told me it’s his good luck charm. Told me since nobody ever wanted to talk about his pa he had to just look at the picture and imagine what he was like.”

  Ethan turned sideways in his big chair and crossed one leg over the opposite knee. He looked out the long rectangular window beside the large bookcase. “Wow,” he said. “That kid’s good. Gotta give him credit.”

  “Made me feel horrible. Like I’ve hidden his father away from him all these years on purpose.”

  Ethan paused, then turned to her. He waited until she looked up and their eyes met. “Well, haven’t you, Leah? Isn’t that exactly what you done?”

  Leah felt tears coming. “Oh, don’t you go tellin’ me stuff like that. I already feel bad enough.” She took another sip of coffee, but barely tasted it. Her senses were all focused on her guilt.

  “Well, if you came in here lookin’ for sympathy, I think you picked the wrong guy.”

  “Actually, I came in here lookin’ to make some sense outta things. See, turns out I got a few problems to reconcile.”

  Ethan’s eyes narrowed. He was interested now. “What sorta problems?”

  “Well, for starters, Billy lied to me throughout our entire relationship. Never once mentioned his sister and barely said a word ’bout his ma and pa. You’d think they’d all come up at least in passing.”

  “You didn’t just assume he had a ma and a pa?”

  “Oh, you know what I mean. And when I spoke to Miss Addison—that’s the sister—she told me the reason he never talked ’bout her was on account of her bein’ the black sheep of the family. But then she said something strange. That it was funny, her bein’ the black sheep in a family with someone like Billy in it. She was tryin’ to say Billy had to be pretty bad or somethin’, I guess.” Leah looked into Ethan’s dark eyes. “What do you think she meant by that?”

  Ethan took a big gulp of coffee. When he set his mug back down, it seemed almost empty. He slid it across the desk from one hand to the other. “I don’t rightly know, to be perfectly honest. I didn’t know the boy that well, but from what I did know, he seemed like a fine gentleman to me. Did well by you and those kids. And if there had been anything too bad, it’d shown up on that backgro
und check we done.”

  “That’s what I keep thinkin’. But she made it sound like he was a bona fide hell-raiser. I tried to get something specific out of her, but she wouldn’t give me any details. In fact, most of what she told me was vague. Especially when it came to her life and Billy’s. She was more open about her folks.”

  “Some people are like that. You know that better than anyone.”

  “I know.”

  “So, what else?” Ethan asked her.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You said Billy lied to you, for starters. What’s the rest?” Another big drink of coffee and this time Leah thought Ethan’s mug was completely empty. His hands played with it on his desk, spinning it one way then the other.

  She hesitated. This was the part she wasn’t sure she wanted to talk about, especially with Ethan Montgomery, because of all the people she knew in Alvin, he might be able to actually tell her the truth. And she wasn’t sure she really wanted to know the truth.

  Above her that big fan continued to turn, always so slowly.

  She let out a sigh.

  “You’re gonna tell me eventually,” Ethan said. “May as well just get through it.” He gave his mug another spin.

  “All right then,” Leah said. “According to this Addison woman, my pa knew her folks for the last four years of his life. She says they was at Billy’s funeral, but stayed out of my way on account of they thought Billy would’ve told me things about them that would’ve made me not want them there. But they met Pa and he struck up a relationship with them.”

  She watched Ethan carefully while she said this, with the eyes she had developed during her dozen or so years working as a detective for the Alvin Police Department. And she was pretty sure in those eyes she saw something. Ethan had shifted in his seat uncomfortably during her little talk. He’d stopped playing with his mug, but he’d covered any other reaction well. Still, she thought she definitely saw something underneath his calm demeanor; she was certain he knew something and was weighing whether or not he was gonna tell her.