Last One Home (5 page)

“Where did she go?” Lily asked, cutting into her thoughts.

“To Florida.” The less said, the better. Karen’s hand was poised with the spoon above the stroganoff, which she immediately resumed stirring.

“Weren’t Grandma and Grandpa upset? Didn’t they go after her?”

Not wanting to get into the particulars and looking to distract her daughter, Karen asked, “Are you finished with your homework?”

“Yes! Tell me more about your sister. Is she younger than Aunt Nichole?”

“No, she’s the middle sister.”

“You never talked about her.”

“There was a reason for that, Lily. Cassie made a mess of her life. She didn’t set a good example, and I wanted to protect you and Buddy. We didn’t hear from her for a very long time.”

Lily took a minute to digest this and was about to ask more questions when the door off the kitchen opened and Buddy raced in. “Dad left me at the field.” His young face was streaked with tears and was red and angry. “I was the only one left and Coach had to stay with me and he was upset and—”

“Buddy, I’m sorry,” Garth said, and tried to hug his son, but Buddy was having none of it. He jerked free of his father’s hold and then rubbed his hands down his face to wipe away any evidence of emotion.

“Wash your hands,” Karen called out. “Dinner is on the table.” It wasn’t, but it would be in short order. She dished up the stroganoff, the freshly cooked peas, and the salad and placed them in the center of the table, while Lily poured the milk. Then, grabbing her purse and briefcase, Karen headed out the door.

“Make sure Buddy does his homework,” she reminded Garth.

“Will do.”

“And that the dishes get put in the dishwasher and the stove and countertops get wiped down.”

“Okay, okay. What time will you be home?”

Karen glanced at her wrist. “I shouldn’t be any later than ten.”

“I’ll wait up for you,” Garth said, and kissed her before sitting down at the table with their two children.

As it turned out, Karen was home at 9:45 p.m. As she expected, Garth was planted in front of the television. At first glance the kitchen was reasonably clean, and other than the TV, the house was relatively quiet, which meant both kids were in bed for the night.

Garth turned around when he heard the door open. “How was the meeting?”

“Okay, I guess. We decided against the carnival for the last day of school, thank God. We appointed a committee to come up with an idea for another fund-raiser. We agreed the carnival is simply too much work.”

“Good.” Garth sounded distracted.

“Everything go okay tonight?”

“Sure,” Garth said.

“You okay?” she asked, setting her purse aside and moving into the family room.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” he asked, studying her. He held out his arm in silent invitation for her to join him on the sofa.

Karen nestled down next to her husband and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders as she leaned against his torso. “Did you have a good day?” he asked, and kissed the top of her head.

“A busy one.”

“Every day is busy,” he commented, and it was the truth.

Karen released a long, slow sigh. “Cassie got my letter and called. Lily answered the phone and asked about her.”

Garth’s lips lingered on the top of her head. “What did you say?”

Her daughter’s questions had nagged in the back of Karen’s mind all evening. “I wasn’t sure what to say. I should have thought this out more carefully before I wrote to my sister. It only makes sense that the kids would have questions.” Karen remained uneasy about the situation with Cassie. “Nichole and I did the right thing, didn’t we?” she asked, twisting her head so she could look up at her husband.

Garth nodded, his look thoughtful. “You are generous to offer her the furniture.”

“But that and everything else is all stuff neither Nichole nor I wanted.” Most of it was old and outdated and not worth much. What amazed Karen was how emotional and grateful Cassie had sounded. She wasn’t entirely sure, but it seemed she’d heard tears in Cassie’s voice.

“Are you feeling guilty about splitting the money from the sale of the house with Nichole?”

Karen sighed again, unsettled and unsure. “I don’t know what I’m feeling anymore. Cassie was Dad’s favorite, you know. It about killed him when she ran off with Duke. She didn’t tell Mom or Dad until after she was married that she was pregnant with Amiee.”

“Pregnant?”

Karen could see her husband was adding the years up in his head. She answered his question before he could ask. “Mom mailed her gifts and was all excited about her first grandchild. She hoped to make peace after the way she left, but we never heard anything back.” For the first time, it occurred to Karen to wonder if her sister had even received the baby gifts.

“What happened with Duke?”

Karen didn’t know. “They’re divorced. About five years ago, shortly after Dad died, Cassie phoned Mom, looking for help.”

“Help?”

“Money. She’d left Duke and wanted to get back to the West Coast. Mom was still dealing with the aftermath of Dad, and she asked Nichole and me to help Cassie.”

Garth frowned. “You never mentioned this before.”

She probably should have talked to Garth—he might have had an idea on how to handle Cassie, but Karen had been angry and disinclined to help her. In addition, she was overwhelmed dealing with the aftermath of their father’s sudden death. Those days remained a blur in her mind.

“At the time nothing had been settled with Dad’s estate and Mom was in a financial crush herself, with the bills piling up. Paying for Dad’s funeral was far more expensive than any of us realized it would be. It fell to Nichole and me to come up with the cash to help Cassie and we simply weren’t in a position to do it. We also felt that she was too irresponsible. To just send her cash after the mess she’d already made would be like throwing it away. Of course, there was the money from the sale of our parents’ house, but that had been set aside as retirement income, and had come well after Cassie’s call, anyway. In retrospect, I wish we had been able to help her more, but it was such bad timing.”

“What about Nichole? She couldn’t do anything to help Cassie, either?”

“You’re kidding, right?” Her youngest sister had never been especially good with money and left those matters to her husband, Jake. “Right,” Garth responded with a half-laugh.

To Karen’s way of thinking, Cassie was simply suffering the consequences of making a bad decision. She didn’t mean to be unkind or unforgiving, but how did anyone learn responsibility if
their family kept bailing them out? It was like with kids—you had to let them learn from their mistakes or they’d just keep repeating them.

“That’s all water under the bridge now,” her husband reminded her.

“You’re right, of course.” Still, Karen remained unsure how best to explain to their children that they had a second aunt that they knew nothing about until now. “What should I tell Lily and Buddy?” she asked, seeking her husband’s advice. “They’re sure to ask, and I feel we should be prepared to explain why she hasn’t been a part of our lives all these years.”

“Tell them …” Garth hesitated, and then shrugged.

“See, it isn’t as easy as it sounds.”

“What did you say to Lily earlier?”

Again Karen wished she’d handled her daughter’s question with a bit more finesse. “I explained that I hadn’t mentioned Cassie because she wasn’t a good example. Lily would have drilled me with more questions if you and Buddy hadn’t arrived when you did.”

“Knowing Lily, she won’t let up until she has answers, so you’d best think of what you want to tell her now.”

Karen scooted closer to her husband, enjoying the feel of his arm around her. It was far too tempting to close her eyes and lean against Garth. Thinking about Cassie and the mistakes her sister had made drained Karen. Of the three sisters, Cassie had shown the most promise and she’d screwed up her entire life over a man.

“She accused Dad of being jealous of Duke,” Karen murmured.

“Was he?”

Garth’s question surprised her. At the time the accusation had seemed ludicrous, but in retrospect Karen realized that Cassie had probably been right. As her father’s favorite, he’d carefully
scrutinized the boys Cassie dated more than he ever had any of the boys who showed interest in Karen or Nichole.

“Dad never liked Duke and he forbade Cassie to see him.”

“A lot of good that did,” Garth commented.

He was right. “Cassie started sneaking out of the house at night, and then Mom and Dad caught her.”

“I can only imagine what that scene must have been like.”

Karen couldn’t remember her father ever being more upset. A shouting match had ensued, and it was shortly afterward that Cassie ran away and married Duke.

“She didn’t ask about the cameo,” Karen murmured, a bit surprised. She would have thought that was the first thing Cassie would want to know.

“Cameo? You mean the one Nichole wore at her wedding?”

Karen rested her head against her husband’s arm. “It belonged to our grandmother. Grandpa brought it back from World War Two as a wedding present for our grandmother. Dad wanted Cassie to have it. Like I said, she was always his favorite.” Karen did a poor job of hiding her resentment. “After she ran away, Dad gave the cameo to Nichole.”

“Why not you? You’re the oldest.”

“I got Grandma’s pearls.”

Cassie had loved the cameo and their father had let her wear it for special occasions while a young teen. Karen sincerely doubted that she’d forgotten about it. She must assume that the cameo was part of what she would collect from what remained of their parents’ lives. If that was the case, she was bound to be disappointed.

They were both silent for a few minutes. “Do you know what you’re going to tell Lily and Buddy?” her husband asked, reminding her that she had yet to answer the question.

“Not yet. I’m going to think on it awhile.”

“That’s good. We want to approach this carefully.”

Karen agreed. The late-night news flashed across the television screen. Was it that time already? She had an early-morning appointment with a young couple purchasing their first home. They were scheduled to sign the final papers at seven-thirty before they were due at work, which meant Karen would need to be at the office by seven.

“Are you ready for bed?” she asked Garth.

“In a bit,” he promised.

Her husband was generally the first to retire for the evening, and his willingness to stay up for the news surprised her. He must have noticed her hesitation because he glanced her way. “Can I wake you?” The question held a much deeper connotation.

Karen smiled and nodded. “You can wake me anytime you want, Garth.”

He smiled and then playfully growled.

How fortunate she was, Karen mused, as she headed for their bedroom, to have a husband who loved her.

Cassie had a fifteen-minute break between clients and was sitting in the break room, checking her cell for messages. Earlier Rosie had connected her with her cousin Russell, who said he might be able to get Cassie a weekend job working for the catering company that serviced the suites for the Sounders’ soccer games. She already had a health card from the time she worked in a fast-food restaurant while going to cosmetology school. If she got hired as a server for even two or three of their games, she’d be able to earn enough to rent a truck and drive to Spokane to collect the furniture Karen had mentioned. Her sister had made it plain she didn’t want to be paying storage fees for more than two months.

Cassie had her feet braced against the chair. When she saw she had a voice message and who it was from, both feet dropped to the floor like a bag of concrete.

Habitat for Humanity.

This was it. Cassie was about to learn if she’d been accepted as a candidate for the program. She’d had to supply every bit of identification she’d accumulated in her entire life, including her birth certificate, her Social Security card, an income tax return,
and bank statements. Plus she had to have worked six months with proof of income.

Megan Victory, who’d helped Cassie through the application process, mentioned that in addition to everything else, Cassie had to show proof of a savings account. Cassie opened an account with the minimum deposit. She learned that before she would be eligible to move into her new home, she’d need to have enough saved to pay the first year’s home insurance premium.

Anyone applying through Habitat had to be serious about wanting a home to go through this process. Once all the paperwork was compiled and Cassie had filled out the application, she met with the family selection committee. Following the interview, she then had to be approved by the board of directors. It’d been a month she’d been waiting for their final decision.

For a long time Cassie simply stared at her phone, unable to find the courage to play the message. Her biggest fear was that she hadn’t been considered a good candidate.

Teresa, the shop owner, came into the break room and grabbed a soda out of the communal refrigerator. She took one look at Cassie and paused. “You feeling okay?”