Finders Keepers (22 page)
“That night when you said that prayer … that surrender prayer, I realized I needed to let go, too. Right now, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be doing or where I’m supposed to be going, but I just want you to know that I’m backing off on the mansion. I want you to be happy.”
“I’m happy right now.” He slipped his hands up her arms and stroked her shoulders with his thumbs. “I’m happy when I’m with you, Elizabeth.”
“Oh, Zachary …” She tried to suppress the bubble of joy that rose up inside her. “I feel like a teenager who sneaked out of class.”
“To go smooch with her boyfriend?”
“We’re not smooching.”
“Now we are.” He drew her close and gave her a long, warm kiss. “Still feel like a kid?”
“Definitely not.” She drew in a deep breath. “Zachary, I’m so … scared. That’s the best word for it. I’m scared.”
“Of me?”
“Of this.”
“Kissing?” He turned her around so she was leaning against the post. “Kissing is not scary,” he said softly. “Thinking about losing you is.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Zachary.”
“Luke didn’t think Ellie was going anywhere.”
“We can’t live in fear of loss. We have to let go of the past. We have to keep on living, keep on embracing life and all the things God has given us.”
“Is this the same Elizabeth Hayes I talked to at an antiques auction? The woman who reveres an ancient glass-topped counter at which stood countless customers from days of yore? The woman who patiently dusts an old metal coffee grinder that hasn’t seen a coffee bean in a hundred years? Is this the woman who never lets go of the past?”
“Out with the old, in with the new,” she said, shrugging. Then she stretched upward and brushed a kiss across his lips. “I guess I’ve changed a little since that morning at the mansion.”
“Mmm. Good changes.”
“You’ve changed, too.”
“Yep. I’ve been drawing Victorian curlicues on all my architectural renderings. I actually sketched a cupola on the roof of a nursing home the other day.”
“No!” she said in mock horror. “Not a cupola!”
“Indeed. And if I’m going to add cupolas and if you’re going to allow kissing, we ought to figure out a way to keep this trend moving forward. Which means I’d better keep my hands on that property over there.”
Elizabeth turned in his arms and faced Chalmers House. The heat of summer made the old pink bricks shimmer like a mirage. “Are you saying we should join forces against Phil?”
“How about if we join hands and hearts … and see what God has in store for us?”
Elizabeth tried to make herself breathe. She knew he was asking for a bond that went beyond the casual friendship they had enjoyed. He was asking for a commitment, and with that commitment, he would expect her to risk. Risk her own happiness. Risk the tender heart of her son. Risk losing the comfortable stability of her world and face the possibility of terrible pain.
Without waiting for the storms of fear to assail her, Elizabeth clutched his hands and stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. “Yes,” she said. “I’m willing.”
“Then we’d better haul our backsides over to Sawyer-the-lawyer’s office and figure out how to keep Phil Fox away from my property.”
“Amen,” she said as they linked arms and descended the steps of the Ambleside pavilion.
“Phil Fox, that sly devil.” John Sawyer shook his head in admiration. “He’s got something up his sleeve, and unless Pearlene spills the beans, you folks had better stay on your toes.”
Elizabeth leaned forward and touched the photocopy on the lawyer’s desk. “Do you think the town charter is a legal document?”
“I suspect it might hold up pretty well.”
He folded his hands, fingertips touching, and leaned back in his big leather chair. Elizabeth fought the urge to jump up. She had left Nick and Montgomery in the care of Boompah, who had taken the children to her house to play on the swing set. Luke Easton had vanished earlier in the day, right after Ellie’s funeral service, and no one could find him. The last thing Elizabeth needed to be doing was listening to Sawyer-the-lawyer hem and haw over the town charter.
“It does have Zachary Chalmers’s signature,” she offered. “But it wasn’t voted on, and it doesn’t have any seals on it, or anything. So, do you think it’s binding?”
“Well, now, that depends.” The attorney rocked back and forth, the springs in his chair squeaking loudly. “It’s obviously authentic, and a good lawyer could argue its validity either way. A true town charter is a legal document. It’s kind of like a constitution, you know.”
“So, is it Zachary Chalmers’s will?”
“No. And neither is that letter of Grace’s you found in her Bible. As far as the future of the house is concerned, you could argue that they both ought to be thrown out. That would leave only Grace’s official last will and testament, which gives the house and the property to Zachary to do with as he sees fit.”
“Until Phil stepped in, that’s how it stood,” Zachary said. “I was going to raze the mansion and build offices.”
“On the other hand, both the charter and the letter indicate a strong desire on the part of the property’s owners to keep the mansion standing for perpetuity. Phil’s lawyer could make a case that if you inherit the mansion, you’ve got to preserve it.”
“How am I supposed to do that, unless they want to provide restoration funds?”
“Well, I think that’s what Phil is banking on. He’s hoping to wedge you into a tight spot where you can’t afford to keep the mansion standing, but you can’t tear it down either.”
“And then I’ll just turn it over to the city.”
Elizabeth let out a hot breath. “If Zachary gives Grace’s house to the city because the town charter says it’s supposed to remain standing, then how is Phil going to get the right to tear it down and put in his parking lot?”
“You’ve got me on that one,” Sawyer said. “I’m stumped. Are you sure he doesn’t have some plan to restore the building himself?”
“Every time I talk to him,” she replied, “he tells me what an eyesore it is. He makes no bones about his dislike of the mansion. He wants to tear it down, and he wants a parking lot.”
“So the congestion around the square won’t be so bad?”
“So Pearlene’s customers won’t keep bothering Al Huff over at the gas station.”
“You’re saying Phil’s got a personal interest in this matter. He’s got a lot to gain by putting in that parking lot.” Sawyer tapped his fingertips together. “All the same, if Phil’s lawyer uses that town charter to keep Zachary from razing the mansion, I can’t figure out how Phil thinks he can turn right around and have the city tear it down. It just doesn’t make sense.”
“Maybe he’s planning to move the mansion,” Elizabeth offered.
“The cost would be prohibitive,” Zachary said. “I’ve already looked into it.”
“You have?” She cocked her head in surprise. “I didn’t know you’d thought of anything but tearing it down.”
“I’ve considered it from every angle.” He picked up both the photocopy of the charter and the letter from Grace’s Bible. “Look, John, see what you can find out for us about these documents. I want that property, and I’m willing to fight to keep it.”
“Are you sure? It could cost you a pretty penny in legal fees—and then you’d still have the expense of tearing the thing down and building your new office complex. Maybe you ought to negotiate with Phil.”
“What do you mean?”
“Offer him a trade. Tell him you’ll give the town the Chalmers property in exchange for a nice piece of acreage at the edge of town. Then he can take a wrecking ball to the old place and pave his parking lot, and you can build your office.”
As Zachary pondered this, Elizabeth twisted her fingers together.
No,
she prayed silently.
Don’t let him give up, Lord. Grace wanted Zachary to have the house and the land. She cared about him, and she knew he needed roots. In the best way she knew how, his aunt loved him. Give him his birthright, Father, please.
“No,” he said, standing. “I’m not backing down that easily, John. I never understood the value of a legacy before I met Elizabeth. I thought family Bibles were just old books. And I thought a ramshackle mansion deserved to make way for progress. But that was before I knew that my aunt had always kept a vase of fresh flowers in the hallway—flowers that fascinated a little boy and charmed an old man. It was before I realized that a moth-eaten red coat could bring back the memory of the tender love of a stranger. It was before I recognized that houses and land aren’t just the focus of architectural design. They’re places where people build their visions and leave their hopes. That land is Chalmers land, John. It’s my land. And Phil Fox isn’t going to take it away from me.”
Elizabeth felt like cheering. Sawyer-the-lawyer grinned from ear to ear. “You ever thought of running for mayor?” he asked. “I’d vote for you.”
Zachary laughed. “I think that’s Phil Fox’s goal, and I’d rather not do battle with him on too many fronts.”
“Aw, he’s mostly just a big talker. Big schemes, big dreams.” He rolled his big chair back and stood. “Head over to Dandy Donuts some morning and listen to him expound. Fancies himself quite the orator, Phil does. One morning he’s all hot and bothered to take out a corner of the square for a brand-new parking lot. The next morning, he’s up in arms because Jacob Jungemeyer’s sick and the Corner Market’s been shut down. ‘Gotta bring us in a Safeway,’ he shouts. ‘Gotta keep Ruby McCann in fresh milk.’”
Elizabeth laughed. “I guess Phil’s not exactly a fearsome force.”
“Well, he’s talked quite a few people into thinking he’s somebody pretty important. And he has managed to accomplish a few good things during his tenure on the council. The city council rezoned some lots downtown, got some sewer lines put in over on the west edge of the city, fixed up the sidewalks over by Ambleside Chapel. Yeah, Phil has his good points. Like I said, though, you’ll have to watch your step with him.”
As Zachary thanked the attorney, Elizabeth moved to the window and watched the last cars pulling away from the chapel. Ellie was gone, but Montgomery needed to go on living. Boompah still needed someone to listen to his Gypsy stories. And Ruby McCann still needed her fresh milk each morning. Life had to go on.
“How about dinner?” Zachary asked when they had stepped out onto the sidewalk. “Your place?”
“Inviting yourself over, Mr. Chalmers?”
“It’s closer to the action than my apartment.”
“What action?”
“Well, I think I’d better eat a quick bite and then start looking for Luke.”
“Where do you suppose he could be?” As they walked, she focused on the distant row of shops across the square. Not far from Finders Keepers stood the empty home of Ellie Easton. Empty of her warmth, her tenderness, her love.
“I don’t know where Luke is,” Zachary said. “But I know if I’d lost someone I loved as much as he loved Ellie, I’d be in bad shape.”
He slipped his arm around Elizabeth and drew her close.
“There were bad guys over at Grace’s house, Mommy,” Nick said, grabbing Elizabeth’s hand as she stepped into her living room. “They were walking all around, and they scared me to deaf.”
“Bad guys?” She looked at Boompah.
The old man shook his head. “I didn’t see anyone, but the children tell me it’s a true story. I’m sorry, Elizabeth, but my back doesn’t let me walk around very much these days. I watch Nikolai and his friend, but I cannot quickly go all the way to Grace’s house.”
“Did you talk to the bad guys, Nick?” Elizabeth asked, kneeling to face her son.
His green eyes widened, guilt stricken. “I’m not supposed to talk to strangers.”
“I know that, but I think maybe you and Montgomery did talk to them, didn’t you?”
Pale faced and clutching the ends of her red braids, Montgomery nodded. “We did, Miss Hayes. We talked to them, but they talked to us first. It wasn’t our fault, I promise.”
Zachary sat down on the couch and took the little girl on his lap. “Hey, Montgomery,” he said. “Were you scared, too?”
“I was brave. I told Nick that I saw somebody walking around over at Grace’s house, and we’d better go find out who it was. So we went across the grass to the porch, and that’s when the man came out.”
“What did he say?”
“He said, ‘You kids get outta here.’ And I said, ‘My mommy died, and you aren’t being nice to me, and I don’t like you.’ And he said, ‘We’re busy here.’ Then he shut the door. So Nick went right up to the door and knocked.”
“Oh, Nick, you didn’t.” Her heart faltering, Elizabeth studied her son. How many times had she prayed for God’s protection over this vulnerable little boy? He was so trusting, so innocent. Though she had warned him about strangers, she didn’t doubt he would willingly walk into someone’s trap.
“Yes, I did,” he said, his small chest swelling. “I’m not going to let any bad guys talk mean to Magunnery. She’s my friend, and she’s sad about her mommy.”
“I know she’s sad, sweetheart. But those men were strangers.”
“Not after I talked to them. They’re named Bob and Don, and they live in Jefferson City. Do you know what they do for a job, Mom? They walk around in old buildings to see if they’re falling down. And you know what they said about Grace’s house? They said it’s falling down.”