A.L. Jambor - Where's Audrey? (18 page)

“He did! That’s something. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know. I guess there wasn’t time.”

“Do you think he will?”

“I think he will.”

There was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” Mel said.

It was Linda. She peeked inside.

“Why don’t I see if your grandma needs some help?” Lisa said. She got up and walked past Linda. Linda closed the door.

“Look, I know you have a lot of reasons to hate me, but you don’t know what my life has been like. You can’t judge me. I’m sorry I haven’t always been there for you, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care.”

“What do you want, Linda?”

“For one thing, I want you to call me mom. For another, I want you to…give me a chance.”

Mel looked at her. She looked pathetic. Something was wrong. Linda was hurting.

Mel scootched to the edge of the bed and put her feet on the floor. “What’s going on, Mom?”

Linda’s eyes were downcast. “I went to the doctor. I have…cancer.”

“Really, Mom, cancer?”

“I’m not joking. I really do have cancer.”

“Have you told Grandma?”

Linda sat on the bed next to Mel. “No. She has enough going on right now. She told me about Audrey. Thank you for helping her with that.”

“It was pretty awful. What kind of cancer?”

“Breast. The doctor says if I have a mastectomy, I should be fine. I can even have it reconstructed.”

“Then it’s not that bad.”

“You don’t think losing my breast is bad?”

“But you’ll have a new one. You’ll be alive.”

Linda looked into Mel’s eyes. She was hoping to see some compassion in her daughter’s eyes, but there was none.

“How can you be so cold?” Linda asked. “Even if I weren’t your mother, wouldn’t you at least feel something as a woman?”

“I do feel something. But I know that with a mastectomy, you should be fine. Especially if they caught it early.”

“But it’s my breast!” Linda cried.

“It’s tissue. Easily replaced tissue. Come on, mom, it’s not like you’re entering a hospice.”

“My God, I don’t even know you.”

“No, you don’t. That’s what I was trying to tell you before. You don’t know me, but you expect me to act like a daughter to you.”

Mel got up and went to the window. Snowflakes were falling past the window. She saw a couple of mourners walking across the parking lot. “Things must be breaking up down there.”

“Will you come out when I have the surgery?” Linda asked.

“I have to work. I’ve taken all the time I can this year.”

“I need you.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t do it.”

“I’ll have to ask my mother,” Linda said.

“She’s been out of work a while. She could have used your help when she was in the accident. I don’t think
she
can take any more time off either.”

“I’ll ask her anyway.
She
cares about me.”

“Yes, she does,” Mel said. She turned around and looked at Linda. “And she knows you don’t give a damn about anyone but yourself.”

“I’m sick,” Linda said. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

“But you’ll get better.”

Linda hadn’t expected such a cold reception. The little girl who could be so easily manipulated had turned into an ice queen. Linda didn’t know what to do. She had expected Mel to drop everything and come to her aid, but the girl wasn’t even concerned about Linda’s cancer. What kind of person was she?

Linda got up and left the room. She slammed the bedroom door hard. Mel turned back to the window. She put her hands on the window frame to hold herself up. She was upset and had held it in.

Now she started to cry. The conflicted emotions running through her were wearing her down. She wanted to hate her mother, yet despite everything Linda had done in the course of twenty years, Mel felt compassion for her. But her pride had kept her from showing it.

After everyone left, Mel left the bedroom. She found Laura sitting in the dining room and sat with her.

“Your mother has cancer,” she said.

“I know. She told me.”

“She wants me to come out there and be with her.”

“What about your job?”

“I told her I’d have to think about it.”

“I told her I couldn’t come.”

Laura reached across the table and took Mel’s hand. “Thank you for taking the time off for Audrey. I’ll go.”

“Again, what about your job?”

“I’ll get another job.”

“I didn’t think it was that easy.”

Laura sighed. “I know you don’t care for her, but she is my daughter. I care about her. She’s frightened and she doesn’t want to be alone.”

“She should have thought of that twenty years ago.”

Laura narrowed her eyes. “Mel, this isn’t like you.
Do
you hate your mother?”

“No, I don’t hate her. I’m just so mad I could hit her.”

“I guess you have a right to be mad. But please, for my sake, let it go. She needs positive thoughts right now.”

Mel felt pain in her neck. She had been holding herself so tightly that the muscles in her neck were cramping.

“I will. For you.”

Chapter 27

Mel called Conner to tell him about Grace’s funeral and he told her they had a positive ID on Audrey’s body.

“I talked to Jason’s attorney,” he said. “He convinced Jason a plea bargain would be in his best interest and he had to give the details in open court. Audrey died in her sleep. He found her and panicked, cut a hole in the floor, and buried her, hoping no one would find out. That way he could collect her Social Security and stay in the house. Just like we thought.”

“What’s gonna happen to him?” Mel asked.

“He’s going away for ten years. With good and gain time he should be out in seven. He didn’t kill anyone, but the government doesn’t like people who steal from them.”

“He deserves more.”

“Yeah, he does. But he will have to pay it back once he gets out.”

“What about her home?” Mel asked.

“That’s part of the fraud. The park wants it out. No one wants to live in a house that had a body buried under it.”

“But it belonged to Audrey. It must be worth something.”

“Not the way it is. It was an old home, Mel. It wasn’t worth more than two or three thousand dollars.”

“That little? Geez. She really didn’t have anything. I guess I should come down and pack up her things.”

“I could do it for you.”

“But then I wouldn’t have to come down,” she said.

“That’s true,” he said.

“I’ll see what flights are available and get back to you. You could start collecting boxes for me.”

“I can do that. I’m glad you’re coming down.”

“I am too.”

After Mel hung up the phone, she went to find Laura. Mel had been given a week’s bereavement time. If she could get a flight leaving the next day, she’d still have a few days off to spend with Conner. She found Laura in the living room on the sofa, watching her favorite soap opera, and sat next to her.

“They’ve identified Audrey,” Mel said. “I thought I would go down there and pack up her things.”

“Oh, that’s too much for you. We’ll hire someone to do it.”

“But I don’t mind, Grandma, really I don’t.”

Laura smiled. “Lisa told me there was a nice-looking policeman helping you while you were down there.”

“His name is Conner and he is nice looking.”

“He wouldn’t have anything to do with your desire to pack up Audrey’s house, would he?”

“He might.”

Laura put her hand on Mel’s. “Okay. But be careful.”

“He’s very nice. A good guy.”

“They all are when you meet them, dear. Just be careful.”

“I will.”

“Can Lisa go with you?”

“She has to go back to work.”

“Well, find out how much the plane ticket costs. I was able to transfer Grace’s savings into my account. There wasn’t much, but there’s enough for the plane ticket.”

Mel snuggled next to Laura. “Thanks, Grandma.”

“For what?”

“For being so good.”

Conner met Mel at the airport that Friday. He drove her to his apartment and showed her his bedroom.

“I’ll sleep on the couch,” he said.

“I’ll sleep on the couch. This is your home.”

“It’s okay. I usually fall asleep on it anyway.”

He had boxes stacked in one corner of the room. “We’ll take them over there tomorrow. I’ve got the week off.”

She went over to him and put her arms around his waist. “Thank you for helping me.”

He bent down and kissed her. “It’s no problem. No problem at all.”

The mobile home was in complete disarray. The police had done a search when they arrested Jason and left everything on the floor. Mel sighed when she saw it. Nancy, the park manager, had asked Mel to get any personal items out of the home by the end of January. The home was being removed and a new one brought in to take its place.

Conner helped her get the place cleaned up. Audrey had kept very little. She had pictures on the shelves, but no photo albums. Her clothes were confined to the closet and her dresser. Jason had occupied the spare room. She boxed up his things and asked Conner to find out what Jason wanted to do with them. He, too, had very little. Mel still didn’t understand what had caused her aunt to let him move in.

There was a file box under Audrey’s bed. Mel was surprised the cops had missed it, but was glad they had. It contained a will.

In the will, Audrey asked that she be cremated (thank God) and that her ashes be cast into the Gulf of Mexico. Mel liked the idea. She could do it before she left Florida.

It took three days to fill the boxes Conner had collected, and another day to drop them off at Goodwill. In the evenings, she and Conner would have dinner and get to know each other. By the end of the week, Mel was in love. He was a good, stable person, and she adored him. She hoped he felt the same way about her.

On her last day in Florida, Conner rented a boat. Audrey’s body had been released to a funeral home and her body cremated. Mel and Conner picked up her urn on their way to the docks and Mel sat it between them in the car.

“I feel like I have to say something,” Mel said.

“Most people say something from the Bible.”

“I don’t think Audrey was religious.”

“Then maybe a poem.”

“I feel so stupid. I don’t know any poems.”

“Then don’t say anything. I don’t think she’ll care.”

“I don’t want my life to end this way,” Mel said. “My, God, Conner. She was gone for three months and no one asked why.”

He reached over and put his hand on hers. He didn’t say anything. As they approached the docks, Mel put her arm around the urn.

“This is it, Audrey.”

Mel got out of the car and bent over to get the urn. She held it in her arms and closed the car door with her hip. Conner waited for her.

“Do you want me to carry it?” he asked.

“It’s not heavy. I think I have it.”

It was a gorgeous day. The wind was light and the sky was true blue. Conner went to the rental stand and signed for the boat. It was a small motor boat big enough for two.

He got in first and held out his arms for the urn. She gave it to him, he put it down, then he gave her his hand so she could get in. Conner sat near the motor and started it while she kept her hands around the urn. She just kept thinking how unfair it all seemed. Her aunt had been ninety. If Mel had never been born, Audrey would have had no one to fulfill her wishes.