At the River’s Edge The Chesapeake Diaries (5 page)

“I should call Enid and see if she needs a ride to church in the morning,” Violet said somewhat absently as she searched in her bag for her house keys. “She hasn’t been getting around too well lately.”

“If you do see her, would you ask her if she’s interested in selling the place?” Sophie tried to sound nonchalant, but she could tell by the look on Violet’s face that she wasn’t fooling anyone.

“I’ll try to remember to do that.”

“I’d appreciate it. I’d even be happy if she just let me have a key to wander around inside a bit.”

“Oh, she doesn’t have the key anymore.” Violet pushed open her front door. “We have the key.”

“We? Who’s ‘we’?”

“We at the office. Curtis—your grandfather, that is—handled all the legal work for the Walsh family. Enid gave us a key so that Mike could check it from time to time, you know. Keep an eye on the place. Said since her whole family was gone she couldn’t bear to go inside herself.”

“So Uncle Mike has the key?”

Violet shook her head. “No, no. Mike brought all the files back to the office. Jesse might have the key …”

Chapter 4

J
ESSE
has the key?

Sophie’s stride lengthened and her pace picked up with every step.
Jesse has the key?

Walking briskly, her feet keeping time with her growing annoyance, she dug out her phone from her bag and speed-dialed her brother. The call went to voice mail.

“Call me, bro. You’ve got some ’splaining to do.”

She dropped the phone into her pocket and kept up the pace all the way to her grandfather’s home. But once there, she slowed her step, stretching out the trip to the front door, the better to take in the beauty of the old structure. Built of brick in the 1850s, styled after a Carolina manor house, it had been purchased by Sophie’s great-great-grandfather after the Civil War, and for almost 150 years, Enrights had called it home. It was the largest and grandest house in St. Dennis, and its inclusion in the previous year’s Christmas House Tour had had the town buzzing for weeks. Curtis Enright, her grandfather, hadn’t entertained since his wife, Rose, died almost twenty years ago. People had lined up to buy tickets once it was announced
that the Enright mansion, as the locals referred to it, would be on the tour.

It was an imposing sight, and it never failed to impress Sophie. Both the grounds and the house itself were beautifully maintained, and she couldn’t help but wonder what it might have been like to grow up here. She could, of course, ask her father. If she were speaking to him, which she was not. Having managed to screw up almost every area of his life, Craig Enright was reportedly now on his fourth wife. It had been years since he’d made any effort to contact any of his children from his previous marriages.

How could someone grow up with all this—not just the grand home, but the love and support, which from all accounts had always been there for Craig and his brother, Mike—and still have his life go so far off the rails? Sophie shook her head as she rang the doorbell.

“Well, well. Look who’s here!” Curtis Enright opened the door, a huge smile on his face when he recognized his granddaughter. “I didn’t know you were in town, Sophie. Please, come in.”

“Hi, Pop.” She stepped into the cavernous front hall and his embrace at the same time. She hugged him once, then once more before closing the door behind her. Did he seem just slightly thinner, perhaps a little more fragile than she’d noticed when she was here in December? “How are you feeling these days?”

“Fine, fine. Never better. Here, now, let me take that jacket.”

She slid off her peacoat and handed it over, then followed him toward the living room off to the left.

“Now, what can I offer you? Coffee? Some tea, perhaps?”
He paused in the doorway, her jacket still over his arm.

“Nothing, thank you.” She paused to look around, then smiled. “I like that nothing ever changes in this room.” She pointed to the wall of family portraits. “I like that they all seem to be watching out for you.”

Her grandfather laughed as he hung the jacket on the coatrack, then gestured for her to take a seat on the sofa. “As long as your grandmother is looking out for me, I don’t need the likes of them. They’re a nosy bunch. They keep an eye on everything, like they must know what’s happening at all times.”

“Think Gramma Rose is still hanging around?”

“Now what do you think?” Curtis’s smile was indulgent. It was obvious what he thought.

Sophie, not so much.

“Oh, Pop, you know I have a problem believing in things I can’t see.”

“You hear that, Rose? Sophie can’t see you, so she doesn’t think you’re here.” He took a seat next to her on the sofa and turned toward the windows as if addressing someone. “What do you have to say to that?”

Rose Enright had been gone for decades, but to hear Curtis tell it, his wife had never really left, her presence made manifest by the occasional whiff of gardenia that had been her favorite fragrance when she was alive. Sophie had never believed in ghosts, though she had to admit that from time to time, she did, in fact, catch a sudden floral scent when she was in the house.

Like now.

“How did you do that?” Sophie’s eyes narrowed
and scanned the room, searching for a vase of flowers but finding none.

Curtis laughed. “You know it isn’t anything I’ve done. You just don’t want to accept what your senses are telling you.”

“I don’t know what my senses are telling me, Pop.” She dismissed what he considered the obvious.

“Well, let’s just say I know what I know, and we’ll leave it at that. Now, when did you arrive in St. Dennis and why didn’t I know you were coming?”

“It was pretty much spur of the moment. Jesse’s wedding is in a few months, and I got to thinking about how little I’ve seen him since he moved to St. Dennis, so I thought I’d take a week off and spend some time with him. I just arrived a few hours ago.”

“Nice that your boss let you take a whole week off with such short notice.”

“I have a lot of time accrued, and I was between trials,” she explained. “I wouldn’t have asked for the time if there was something going on next week.”

“Well, then.” Curtis leaned back into the sofa cushions. “Tell me about the most interesting case you tried in the past six months …”

An attorney who’d practiced for more than sixty years, Curtis had retired with some reluctance. He loved the law and made no effort to hide the fact that he missed his work terribly. Sophie was more than happy to share her courtroom experiences with him. For more than an hour, they discussed first one, then another case, him commenting from time to time (“Hmmm. Doesn’t seem the defendant was very well prepared for your cross. Good for you, keeping one step ahead of ’em.” Or, “Had a case like that one
time …”) and her occasionally stopping to ask him what he’d have done with the same case and set of facts.

“I’m certainly proud of you and the way you’ve taken to the law, Sophie. It’s a shame you’re tied to the DA’s office back in Ohio. We could use you down here in St. Dennis.” He eyed her carefully. “Any chance you’d be willing to think about joining Jess at Enright and Enright?” Before she could respond, he noted, “You know, with your uncle Mike and I both retiring last year, the firm is really only
Enright
now.”

“I think Jesse can handle it on his own, Pop.”

“I’m not so sure.”

“Jesse’s a good attorney.” Sophie was taken aback slightly. Was her grandfather implying that he didn’t think Jesse was up to his professional standards?

“Of course he is. He’s a fine lawyer. I wouldn’t have turned the firm over to him if I’d had any doubts about his ability. I couldn’t be more proud of the boy. But even the best of us can’t be in two places at the same time, nor do two things at once. Enright and Enright has always been the go-to law firm in St. Dennis. I need to be able to count on the next generation—
your
generation—to make sure it stays that way.”

“Pop, I’m sure Jesse is doing his best.”

“You’re missing my point. Since your uncle Mike retired and turned over his files to Jesse, the workload is more than one lawyer can realistically handle if he wants to have a life. I’m assuming Jess wants a life, since he’s getting married soon. I’d hate to see him start his marriage working an eighty-hour week.”

“What about Mike’s kids? Didn’t one of them graduate from law school?” Because her father and his
brother had been estranged for many years, Sophie had met her cousins only twice. She tried to recall what they’d told her about their career plans.

Curtis dismissed the comment with a wave of the hand. “Lightweight.”

“Do you really think Jess is having a problem?” Jesse
had
mentioned a burgeoning caseload, but she assumed he was just throwing her a lifeline.

“If he isn’t now, he will be before too much longer. Give it some thought. That’s all I’m asking.”

“All right.”
Scratch Pop as a potential advocate for my big career change
.

“How are you feeling nowadays?”

“Fit as a fiddle. Just a bit of a lingering cough from time to time, but otherwise, couldn’t be better.” He cleared his throat.

“Pop, do you think you should be living here alone in this big house?”

“Now, you know I’m not alone,” he replied softly.

“I hope you’re not referring to Gram. Because if you fell in the middle of the night, I doubt she’d be calling 911.”

“If I need 911, I’m capable of calling them myself.”

“Not if you aren’t near a phone.”

“I have a cell phone, and believe it or not, I do know how to use it.”

“You take it to the bathroom with you if you get up at night? You have pockets in your pj’s or your robe?”

“Don’t get smart with me, young lady.”

“I worry about you. Jesse worries about you, too.”

“Well, thank you very much, but I don’t need anyone fussing after me.”

“But Pop … if you fell … if you got sick …”

“And what’s the worst thing that could happen if I do? I die?” He snorted. “You think I’m afraid of dying?”

“But …”

“Listen, missy, I’m more afraid of living another ten years than I am of dying before this one is over.” He reached over and patted her hand. “This will be hard for you to understand, because you’re so young, but I look forward to the day when my Rose and I are together again in the same dimension. Yes, she’s here with me—more and more all the time, so I’m thinking maybe my time is drawing closer—but we’re in two different spheres, she and I.”

“Pop, is there something you’re not telling me? Has your doctor …?”

“No, no, nothing like that. Not to worry.”

“Are you taking medication for anything?”

“I have a few prescriptions for some meds for my heart.”

“Are you taking them?”

“When I remember.”

“Did your doctor tell you to take them every day?”

“I suppose.”

“And you wonder why I’m worried about you living by yourself, being alone all day?”

“I’m not alone all day every day. I have Mrs. Anderson—she’s the housekeeper, cook, Jill-of-all-trades. She comes in around eight thirty, makes my breakfast, runs errands some days, does the laundry, keeps the house clean, makes lunch, cleans a little more, makes dinner before she leaves.” He recited the list of chores as if from rote.

“She comes in all seven days?”

He nodded. “Most weeks.”

“Well, at least there’s someone who could help you up if you hit the floor.”

Curtis laughed heartily. “I’m steady as a rock, Sophie. I’m not worried about taking a fall. Besides, I do have visitors. Mike stops in, Violet Finneran stops in, Jesse’s over here every other day, old friends come by, though there are fewer of them around these days. Why, there’s any number of people who can help me up if I ‘hit the floor.’ ”

It would be impossible to miss the note of sarcasm in his voice.

“I’m hardly a recluse.” Curtis’s voice softened. “I appreciate your concern, but there’s no need for it. I’m well, but if the good Lord decided to call me home tonight, I’d be just fine with that. I’m just waiting to go, Sophie, and I’m not one bit afraid.”

“I really don’t want to think about that.” She thought about all the years she and Jesse had been estranged from their grandparents. “It seems like we’ve just found each other again.”

“In that case, we should be smart enough not to waste any of the time we might have together talking about foolish things.” Curtis slapped his hands on his thighs, then stood. “Want to see my latest project?”

“Your latest project?” Her eyebrows rose.

“Indeed.” He reached for her hand. “Let’s get our coats and take a walk.”

Sophie slipped back into her jacket while her grandfather retrieved his coat from the front hall closet. Then he led her into the wide hall toward the back of the house, through the kitchen, and into a glassed-in area he referred to as his conservatory. Off to one side
was an arched doorway, through which she could see the greenhouse.

“Are you growing something new?” Sophie started toward the greenhouse door when he tugged on her hand.

“I left all that to your grandmother. It’s all I can do to keep her old favorites alive. Easier now, though, that I have help. You can wander through here later if you like.” He steered her to the door that opened onto the backyard. “My project is out here. I’m very excited about it.”