Chapter Twenty-Six

"Must a been one dandy of a discussion 'tween the two of you," Mitch commented the second I slid in behind the wheel. "Was gettin' too worried to even catch me a nap."

"He wants a reconciliation," I told him as I looked straight ahead into the stormy weather.

Mitch reached down for his hat and fidgeted with it as he too stared at the rain belting against the windshield.

I was the one who finally broke the silence. "I told him no."

More silence.

"What about your daughter? You ever get around to discussin' her elopement?"

"We called everyone we could think of, but nobody knows anything. Or if they do, they aren't saying."

"Anything I can do?"

I looked over at the same time he was glancing my way. For a second there, when our eyes met, a warm feeling washed through me. I smiled, then I answered his question with an offer. "You can come home with me. I think there's a couple of steaks in the freezer we could fix. Then maybe-"

I stopped because his eyes were already telling me no before he actually said the word.

"Have some things to take care of. Rain check, okay?"

I wanted to tell him we could do it later, after he took care of whatever business he had. But somehow I knew this evening wouldn't suit. Mitch was giving me time alone to think long and hard about my ex's proposal of reconciliation.

"Another night will be just fine," I told him. Then I watched him leave the car, huddled forward as he braved the storm.

I turned the key and flipped on the wipers so I could watch him make his way across Front Street and disappear down the alley to the municipal parking lot where his truck was parked.

I had no desire to head home to an empty house so I could think about Allen. It was Alicia and what she was on the verge of doing that consumed my thoughts as I drove east on Broadway. There was one other person who just might know something, I decided. Joe was like a third grandfather to Alicia. She confided in him when her father or I wouldn't do. Or more specifically, when she needed an ear to bend without the threat of being talked out of something she really wanted to do.

I parked at the rear of Joe's property. Downstairs lights were on inside the house. If I was lucky, I could time it right to dash for the house during one of the brief periods when the rain eased to nearly a drizzle before it soaked everything in its path seconds later. After all, I was nearly dry from my last mad dash into Allen's office building. And it didn't make a whole lot of sense to waste time digging around in the trunk for the umbrella I kept in there with my newspaper shoulder bag and God only knew what else.

With hand firmly gripped on the door handle, I waited for the right moment. It was near at hand. One, two, three, go. I jumped out of the car, felt my ankle start to turn, but got it straightened out before damage was done. Then I started up the backyard, a little too slow to make it to the porch before the next pounding rain struck.

Whoever was inside must have heard my feet land on the porch floor, because the door was opening as I reached up to knock. Angel greeted me with a pleasant smile and invited me inside like she would a good friend.

"Is Joe here?" I asked as I brushed dripping bangs off my forehead.

"He's visiting with Ethel's family," I was informed before Angel lit one of those long matches off the side of its box and held it to the front burner on Joe's old gas stove.

She sat the tea kettle over on the heat, and turned back to face me. "He mentioned she has a sister still living."

I nodded to acknowledge that I already knew this, then took a load off at the table after Angel told me to have a seat. "The water will be hot in a minute for tea."

"You do drink tea, don't you, Fay?"

"Yes," I said, when I was thinking that a shot of something stronger would be preferred.

"You really shouldn't bother. I have to be going-"

"Nonsense. Joe will be home soon. So you might as well wait. Besides, it'll give us some time to start fresh."

I had no desire to sip tea and shoot the breeze with this peculiar young woman. But then again, it would be the perfect opportunity to bring up a few things that had been on my mind.

For some reason, I felt it necessary to closely watch Angel spoon loose tea into the kettle. It might sound crazy or just really paranoid, but I think I half-suspected she might slip something other than tea in there.

She didn't. At least as far as I could see. When she offered sugar, I said no thank you when I normally take two heaping spoonfuls. When she gracefully lowered her petite self onto the chair across from me, I fired off question number one.

"So tell me, Angel, how is it Joe never once mentioned having a daughter, and out of the blue, you appear?"

The question or the tone in which it was ask didn't appear to create any change in her. She sipped her tea and looked over at me without a trace of emotional upheaval showing in her expression.

"Joe had no idea he had fathered a child. I had no idea who my father was until my mother died recently."

"So did she leave you this long letter explaining things?"

"Not exactly. She kept a diary in a safe deposit box. It was all written down in there. The safety deposit box also contained my original birth certificate that names Joe as my father."

I have no idea of the amount of time that passed while we shared tea and conversation. By my third cup of the bitter tasting brew, I was telling Angel to add my usual spoonfuls of sugar. And by the time I finally did leave Joe's house, I not only had begun to trust Angel Adams, but was also beginning to like her.

It was only after Joe returned and confessed to being totally exhausted and ready for bed that I left. But not before I watched Angel drop pills into his mouth she said the doctor prescribed to help him sleep.