Karen D. Badger - Yesterday Once More (44 page)

Maggie wiped a tear from the corner of her eye as she laughed at Jordan’s words. “You’re such a goofball sometimes. So, as one member of the mutual admiration society to another, does that mean you’ll marry me?”

Jordan grinned. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

Maggie squealed as she threw her book on the bedside table and stood on the bed. She danced around joyously as Jordan laughed.

“Now who’s the goofball?” Jordan exclaimed.

Maggie threw herself at Jordan and straddled her lap. She kissed Jordan soundly. “I love you so much, Jordan. Thank you for loving me, too.”

“That’s so easy to do. I was gone the first time you visited me in my dreams.”

Maggie looked confused. “You’re a complicated woman. You talk in riddles sometimes. I realize there are things about you I don’t know, but my heart is telling me to trust you anyway.”

Jordan nodded. “Thank you.”

Maggie grinned. “I’ll call the justice of the peace tomorrow and—”

“Whoa,” Jordan said. “Slow down a bit. Why don’t we plan this out? I want it to be special, not just the two of us standing in front of a total stranger saying ‘I do.’”

And besides, I still need to save your life before we can spend the rest of it together.

“I don’t want to put it off forever.”

“Neither do I,” Jordan replied. “Let’s wait until the weather breaks, say, maybe April or May?”

Maggie nodded. “Okay. I’ll compromise. My birthday is April 16. That’s about a month from now. I’m still going to call the justice of the peace tomorrow though. It’s not too early to begin planning!”

Jordan smiled. “What am I getting myself into here?” she teased. “I hear redheads are notorious for determination and hot tempers.”

Maggie leaned down and whispered into Jordan’s ear. “I’ll show you hot, but it won’t be my temper.” “Oh, God!” Jordan exclaimed as she scooted down in the bed, taking Maggie with her.

Jordan walked across the yard and stepped into the barn. She stopped short when she heard voices.

“Did you hear the news?”

Jordan recognized John’s voice as she waited for the reply to his question.

“News? No. I’m pretty much out of the loop these days.”

Jan
. Jordan’s interest was piqued as she covertly listened to the conversation.

“Maggie was in here about an hour ago to take Shawny for his morning ride, and she told me she and Jordan are getting married.”

“What?” Jan shouted. “Say that again!”

“I said Maggie and Jordan are getting married. Apparently, she proposed last night and Jordan said yes. Maggie was all smiles this morning. I haven’t seen her that happy in a long time.”

“Jesus Christ,” Jan said. “Did she say when?”

“She said something about having it on her birthday.” John replied.

“April 16,” Jan whispered.

John looked at the date on his watch. “It looks like we’re going to have a party in about a month.”

“Damn,” Jan said.

“Look, Jan. I know you and Maggie used to be together, but maybe you should just accept that she’s in love with Jordan now and let it go.”

“I don’t have to accept anything, old man. I knew that Lewis woman would be bad news the moment I laid eyes on her. I won’t just sit back and let her take everything away from me.”

Jan’s attempt to intimidate John apparently did not sit well with him. “Well, I reckon I wouldn’t be making an enemy of Jordan seeing as she’ll be your boss soon.”

“We’ll see about that,” Jan spat.

Jordan heard footsteps coming in her direction, so she quickly stepped out of the barn and pretended to enter for the first time, just as Jan was leaving. “Good morning, Jan,” she said cheerily.

“Fuck you.” Jan stamped past Jordan and headed to the bunkhouse.

Jordan watched her go as she continued to enter the barn. Stopping face to face with John, she asked, “What’s up with her?”

“She isn’t very happy with the fact that you and Maggie are getting married.”

“I see,” Jordan replied.

“I think it’s grand,” John said and extended his hand to Jordan. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you John.” Jordan looked around. “What can I do to help you today?”

“You don’t need to help me with anything, Miss Jordan,” John replied.

Jordan put her hand on John’s shoulder. “John, I’d appreciate it if you cut the ‘Miss Jordan’ shit, okay? I’m still just Jordan, and I still want to pull my weight around here. So, what do you say you and I clean the stalls together?”

John smiled. “You got it, Jordan.”

* * *

Jordan spent the entire day in the barn with John, cleaning stalls, stacking hay bales in the loft, and doing general repairs. When the sun began to set, she called it a day and sent John home. As she crossed the yard toward the house, she noticed a truck approaching the barn from the north pasture.

The truck was soon close enough to read the name on the door. J. T. Robinson, Artesian Well Drilling.

The well in the north pasture! Maggie, do you realize what you have just done?

Jordan immediately went in search of Maggie. “Maggie, where are you?” she called when she entered the kitchen.

“In here,” Maggie replied from the living room.

Jordan found her in the far corner of the living room, sitting at the desk organizing paperwork. Maggie turned to face her, smiling broadly.

“Hey, baby,” she said.

Jordan forced herself to remain calm. She realized that there was no way Maggie could have realized the ramifications of placing the well in the north pasture. “Hi, love. I just saw an artesian well-drilling truck come out of the north pasture.”

“They’re finished already? That was fast,” Maggie replied.

“I didn’t realize you were having a well drilled.”

Maggie shrugged. “I almost didn’t remember about it myself,” she said. “It’s been scheduled since last fall. It was supposed to be finished at about the same time the new barn was, but Jack Robinson fell behind due to some health issues. By the time he was able to get back to work it was winter, so it had to wait until now.”

Jordan nodded. “I see. Where in the north pasture did you have it dug?”

Maggie continued to sort her paperwork while talking to Jordan. “That’s the unfortunate part. It’s pretty far from the barn. Jack couldn’t find a spring to tap into any closer. I’m afraid we’ll have to lay pipeline between the new well and the barn for it to be useful.”

“So, it’s out in the middle of the field?” Jordan asked.

“Unfortunately, yes.” Maggie stopped what she was doing and turned to face Jordan. “Why the sudden interest in the well?” she asked.

Jordan recalled the present location of the working artesian well on the property nearly one hundred years in the future as being within ten feet of the new barn’s location, and wondered if the contractor had even tested for springs closer to the barn. Claiming dry land in the immediate vicinity of the barn was certainly a way to make additional money off Maggie by laying pipeline.

“Did the contractor produce evidence that the land is dry near the barn?”

“No. I just assumed he was right. What are you implying?” 

“I’m working on a hunch here. Could I ask you to humor me by getting another opinion?”

“I... I guess so,” Maggie replied hesitantly, “but I just paid $3,000 to have that well dug.”

“If my hunch holds true, it will cost a lot less money to have the well re-dug than it will to hire Robinson to lay pipeline.”

“Okay. You’re the boss on this one.”

“Thank you, love,” Jordan replied as she kissed the top of Maggie’s head. In doing so, she glanced at the paperwork laid out across Maggie’s desk. “What are you doing?” she asked.

“Ugh. Tax time. Every year I have to sort out receipts and bills in preparation for having the taxes done. I hate it.”

“How about next year, I set up a spread sheet on the computer so you can keep track of debits and credits as they occur? Then, at the end of the year, all you’ll have to do is print out reports in any flavor you want. Sound good?” Jordan asked as she glanced again at the paperwork. As she looked away, something caught her eye. It was a letter from Pritchard and Yeats law firm, the firm that handled Maggie’s father’s estate.

“That sounds wonderful. But I’m afraid I’m not very computer literate,” Maggie replied.

Jordan continued to stare at the paperwork—at one document in particular.

Where have I seen that logo before?

Jordan replied, “It’s easy. I wouldn’t mind holding your hand through it until you’re comfortable doing it yourself.”

Maggie grinned. “I’m game. Any reason to hold hands with you is good.”

Jordan committed the name above the logo to memory in the event it came to her later. “Okay. I’m going to leave you alone so you can finish what you’re doing. How about I start dinner?”

Maggie was immediately on her feet. “Baby, no offense, but I think I’ll make dinner.”

Jordan tried to look offended, but was secretly glad. The last time she tried to make dinner, they ended up ordering takeout. “I really don’t mind.”

“The paperwork can wait. I’ll make dinner,” Maggie said.

“Well then, let me help, okay?”

“Only if you promise not to burn the water this time,” Maggie teased.

“Deal.” Jordan chuckled.

* * *

As March 29 approached, Jordan became increasingly agitated. She felt very frustrated by the knowledge that Maggie was about to die. She had to find a way to prevent it, yet she couldn’t change the events leading up to it. All she could do was keep herself busy and hope she was prepared when the time came.

Jan had made herself scarce since she discovered Jordan and Maggie were to be married. She spent a great deal of time training and exercising the horses and avoided the immediate area of the farmhouse during daylight hours. Jordan did, however, notice that Jan spent a significant amount of time in the barn after John left for the day and after Jordan and Maggie retired to the house. Each morning, Jordan rose early and went to the barn to search for evidence of what Jan was up to, but each time, she failed to find anything. Finally, on Wednesday, March 27, only two days before Maggie’s death, Jordan allowed her suspicions to get the best of her. She sought out Jan in the bunkhouse to confront her.

Jordan knocked loudly on the bunkhouse door and waited for Jan to answer. After several moments of silence, Jordan knocked again. Still no answer. Finally, she reached down and turned the knob. The door opened easily.

The bunkhouse was dark. Jordan stepped inside and turned the light on. Everything was neat and orderly. Jordan walked across the common room and pushed open the door to Jan’s bedroom. She stepped inside and turned on the lamp that was on top of a nearby dresser. Again, Jordan found nothing out of place in the room. With paranoia running rampant in her brain, Jordan began searching drawers for anything that appeared suspicious. A thorough search of each dresser drawer yielded nothing. She sighed deeply and was about to leave the room when she noticed the bedside table had a built-in drawer. She quickly crossed the room and pulled the drawer open.

Jordan stared at the contents of the drawer for several moments before reaching in to extract an envelope. She held the envelope up and realized it was addressed to Maggie, but what was most disturbing were the return address and the familiar logo below it— Pritchard and Yeats, Attorneys at Law. Jordan’s hands shook as she opened the flap and removed the letter inside. The letter was dated October 29, 2018.

Damn! That was more than four months ago.

Jordan closed her eyes and tried to remember back four months and suddenly realized why the logo looked so familiar to her. This must have been the letter Jan was reading the morning after she moved into the bunkhouse.
That’s where I’ve seen the logo before.
She read the letter and became angrier and angrier with each line of text.

“Maggie needs to see this,” she decided as she folded the letter and placed it back in the envelope.

Jordan closed the drawer of the nightstand and turned the lights out behind her. She left the bunkhouse then charged directly toward the house. Maggie was in the kitchen preparing dinner.

“Hey, baby,” Maggie said. “Good news. The new well contractor just called and said they hit pay dirt, or pay water as the case may be. They found a water source exactly where you told them to drill, just off the corner of the new barn. How did you know?”

“That is good news,” Jordan replied. “I hate to minimize it, but I have some news of my own that’s more important, but unfortunately, not as good.”

Maggie frowned. “What is it?”

Jordan handed the letter to Maggie.

“What’s this?” she asked as she opened it.

“Read it,” Jordan encouraged.

Maggie extracted the letter from the envelope and read it out loud.

October 29, 2018

Miss Downs, please find below a description of the information you requested relative to a recent change made to the deed of the horse farm in Shelburne, VT, based on the wishes of your father, Gary Downs.