Mist on the Meadow (18 page)

Wolf dragged him down the stairs.

“Wolf!”

Uncle Pete’s voice commanded respect, but
Wolf was done respecting his elders. He turned and pointed at his
uncle. “I should have let Marshall give you that separation
contract yesterday. You don’t give a damn, and you know what? I’m
not willing to let the company go to shit because of your
irresponsibility.” He opened the closet beside the front door and
yanked out Chuck’s red flannel coat, his other hand firmly on
Chuck’s collar. “Put it on.”

“What’s going on?” Aunt Corrine asked.

And for the first time since he arrived, Wolf
regretted the way he’d barged into his aunt’s home. His stomach
churned and his nose tingled with pent up emotion. “I’m sorry, Aunt
Corrine.” Then he pushed Chuck out the door and followed
behind.

* * *

Marissa lingered over the pan of cinnamon
rolls. She inhaled the aroma deeply while she squeezed icing over
the top.

I can do better.

“Your friend Wolf was waiting outside for us
to open,” Angela leaned against the worktable in the center of the
kitchen.

“Oh, really?”

“He’s becoming a regular customer. Funny he
didn’t ask to say hello to you.”

“Funny why?” Marissa squeezed too hard and an
air bubble sent a blob of icing onto the table.

Angela laughed. “I got the feeling the coffee
was an excuse, as if he was leaving when I got here.”

Marissa’s cheeks warmed. “What makes you say
that?”

“You’re blushing! I’m right, aren’t I?”

“Ladies, we need more muffins,” Becky called
from the front.

Marissa pushed the cinnamon rolls toward
Angela. “Here. Put these on the tray. I’ll get the muffins.” The
muffins she’d pulled from the oven right before she’d locked lips
with Wolf Harper.

She’d never been that bold with a man
before.

What had her grandmother done? Uncle Balt’s
journal said her grandmother had been a maiden lady. Had Rosalie
jumped Friedrich the same way Marissa had jumped Wolf? That
behavior would have caused quite a scandal in Rosalie’s day.
Marissa winced. She didn’t want to think of her grandmother lusting
after a man.

“I see that faraway look in your eyes,”
Angela whispered as they reloaded the bakery cases. “Who are you
going to tell, if not your best friend and business partner? I told
you about my Christmas sailor.”

“Okay, maybe I’m attracted to Wolf Harper.”
Marissa glanced toward the door to make sure Becky wasn’t within
earshot.

“And maybe he’s attracted to you?”

Noah had told Marissa Wolf was attracted to
skinny women, “model” types. The attraction might be a side-effect
of the whole psychic business. “I’m not his type. Isn’t that what
Noah said?”

Angela pushed Marissa back into the kitchen
and pulled the swinging door shut behind them. She stood in front
of Marissa with her hands on her hips. “Okay, enough of this
beating around the bush. Do I need to sanitize the worktable?”

Marissa giggled and shrugged. “Maybe the
desk.”

“No way!” Angela gave Marissa a quick hug. “I
don’t know whether to be happy for you or caution you. It’s been a
long time between boyfriends, Rissa, but you picked a doozy this
time. Was it a one-time thing? Are you going to see him again?”

Angela would think she was insane. And how
could Marissa be sure that it wasn’t a passing fancy? A result of
neural stimulation that neither of them had likely experienced
before? That whole long-term, kids-in-the-yard stuff might be a
fantasy produced by overcharged endorphins.

“Noah said he was messed up,” Angela said.
“Do you want to get involved in someone else’s problems?”

Marissa was already involved. “It’s too soon
to talk about any of this,” she said. “I hardly know the guy.”

Angela giggled. “How was it?”

Mind blowing.
Heat pulsed through her
core, the touch of his hands on her body still fresh. “It was
okay.”

“Liar.” Angela laughed.

“How was your Christmas sailor?” Marissa
countered.

“I was worried about him being younger, you
know, but there’s a definite advantage,” Angela said. “Stamina. I’m
not saying Wolf is old and decrepit or anything.”

“But you get maturity and experience with
older,” Marissa said.

“And how much experience does Mr. Harper
bring to the table, um desk?”

And then they both burst out laughing.

Noah pushed open the kitchen door. “What’s so
funny?”

Which only made them laugh harder. Noah
shrugged and returned to the front of the café.

“Well?” Angela asked again.

“He rocked my world,” Marissa said, and then
she waved a finger. “Hands off.”

Angela raised her arms. “He’s all yours. I’m
happy for you, but I have to be honest. He gives me the
creeps.”

Marissa shook her head and followed Noah to
the front. She smiled to the patrons who were dining in. Becky
reloaded the amenities bar with straws and napkins while Noah
waited on customers. Marissa grabbed a cloth and proceeded to the
dining area to wipe vacated tables. Pieces of a complimentary
newspaper were scattered across the bar section. As Marissa pulled
them together and refolded the paper, she read a blurb about the
Illinois senator who was doing town hall meetings at local
businesses. Publicity for the café, at the senator’s expense? She
glanced toward the kitchen and made a mental note to ask Angela
what she thought of the idea.

“At least let me talk to a lawyer.” Chuck
squirmed in the passenger seat, sweating in spite of the fact that
the temperature outside was below the freezing mark.

Marshall Stachowycz might be able to help,
even though what Chuck needed was beyond the scope of the corporate
attorney.

“Wolf! You have to say something! Think of
the family.”

Wolf veered the car into a parking lot.
Kicking the shit out of his toadie, older cousin sounded more and
more interesting. He threw the gear shift into park and rounded on
Chuck. “Family doesn’t cover for their friends in an accident that
kills his own family. Family doesn’t then let those same
friends
ruin the family business.”

Chuck cowered against the passenger side
door. “I was scared, Wolf. They said no one would ever know as long
as we didn’t say anything. And Rudy had the scholarship. It would
have ruined his life.”

“
His
life? You’re worried about Rudy
Kadlec’s life?”

Then the simpering idiot started to bawl
again, but he had made one intelligent point. Chuck needed a
lawyer. Even though he deserved every bit of punishment Wolf could
dream up at the moment, Chuck was an ignorant stooge. And he’d only
been a passenger.

Wolf pulled out his cell phone. He had to do
something
.

“Don’t you ever take a day off?” Marshall
asked as he answered the phone.

“I need your advice on an ugly piece of
business.”

“He’s going to kill me!” Chuck shouted in the
background.

Wolf shot a glare at Chuck. “You should be so
lucky.”

“Sounds like your cousin,” Marshall said.
“Want me to hold him down?”

“He’s in a heap o’ trouble, but he did have
one smart idea. I do believe the pissant needs a lawyer.”

“What’d he do this time?”

Wolf recapped the situation, while Chuck
relaxed into his seat.

“You realize this isn’t my specialty,”
Marshall said, “but I do know Illinois doesn’t have a statute of
limitations on hit and run, but this sounds like more than that. If
they can prove it, he’s toast. Eleven years later—it’s hard to
place someone in the driver’s seat. That being said, as long as
your cousin lawyers up, they probably wouldn’t waste their time
pressing charges against him. They’ll want the driver. However,
that won’t prevent the police from threatening him within an inch
of his life.”

“Which he deserves,” Wolf said. “So do I turn
him in?”

“Not without a lawyer standing beside him,
preferably not me.”

Wolf nodded.

“Wolf, I don’t want to pretend I understand
how you feel, but I have to ask. Is it going to make a difference?
I mean, at least you know now, right?”

“Oh, there’s more.” And then Wolf relayed
what he knew about Elliot.

“You couldn’t let me enjoy my holidays?”
Marshall asked. “What do you have on this Elliot character? You
were about to give your uncle the boot, too.”

“And I still think that’s a good idea. There
isn’t any question about his lack of oversight.” Wolf rubbed his
forehead. “You’re the lawyer. What do you propose?”

“Let me see what I can do.”

Wolf disconnected the call and glanced at his
cousin. “This isn’t over.”

“Wolf, look, I’m sorry, but you have to
understand. I don’t know how you found out what you did, but the
two of them will say I was driving. They’d try to blame me.” Chuck
tilted his head. “Wait. How did you know I was in the back seat? Is
there another witness?” His eyes lit up. “Maybe we
should
go
to the police.”

Wolf clenched his jaw. He couldn’t tell his
cousin he’d had a ‘vision.’ That defense wouldn’t hold up in court,
either. “I don’t think the witness will speak up.”

“Dammit!” Chuck stared out the window. “So
what now?”

“I should take you in to Harper Electronics
and make you earn your paycheck.”

“Wolf, I’m sorry,” Chuck said again. “We were
kids. I was scared. Elliot started screaming for us to drive away,
I didn’t know what to do, and then we agreed not to say anything.
And then Grandma kept saying it wouldn’t make any difference.”

“You can stop talking now,” Wolf gazed out
the window, at the roof of the car, anywhere but at the useless
lump beside him.

Chuck’s cell phone rang. He looked at the
display and then at Wolf. “It’s Elliot.”

Wolf put a hand on the phone. “You don’t know
anything. Got it? You don’t tell him anything about the last 24
hours. Nothing.”

Chuck answered the call and Wolf watched the
color drain from his face. Chuck locked eyes with Wolf. “What do
you mean?” he asked.

Wolf watched Chuck’s Adam’s apple bob, his
eyes grow wide with fear all over again.

“Why would I say anything?” Chuck asked. “I
thought that was over. In the past.” His hands started to shake and
then Chuck disconnected the call. “You have to find me someplace
safe to stay.”

“What’d he say?”

“This is your fault, Wolf.”

“What’d he say?” Wolf asked more loudly, in
case the idiot missed the question the first time around.

Chuck grabbed the sleeve of Wolf’s coat. “He
said if I say anything that I’ll be the one who takes all the
blame. And he said to tell you he knows about your girlfriend.”

* * *

Marissa walked into her apartment, directly
to her bedroom to pick out clothes for the wake and the
funeral.

She slid hangers along the bar in her closet
in search of dark colors. Alone, the grief overwhelmed Marissa. She
dropped onto the edge of her bed, leaned her forehead against her
hands and gave in to the tears. Memories overwhelmed her as the
minutes passed until Marissa remembered Uncle’s Balt’s final gift.
Hex. Marissa smiled through her sniffles. Uncle Balt was gone, but
she had family to comfort her, and the cat to care for.

She nodded her resolve and stood before her
clothes once more. Marissa grabbed a dark pant suit for the wake
and a black dress for the funeral. With accessories gathered into
an overnight case, Marissa hurried from her apartment to the
comforts of home, where she’d grown up, a short drive away.

She marched up the staircase to her childhood
bedroom. What she needed was to soak in a hot bath while she read
more of Uncle Balt’s journal. What she found was a locked bathroom
door and a missing brother. Marissa heard the shower, but knocked
anyway.

“Max. Hurry up.” She should have showered at
her apartment, should have washed off the scent of her morning’s
activities before someone guessed what she’d been cooking before
the café opened.

Marissa went back to her room and gently
turned the pages of the journal. Uncle Balt had recorded her
grandmother’s life, one word at a time. The journal was all that
remained of either of them. Marissa held the book to her heart and
closed her eyes. Every word was precious, but she needed answers.
Was her experience with Wolf something she could expect every time
her newfound skills exercised themselves? She held the book before
her and scanned several pages.

Max appeared in her doorway, clad only in a
towel “Thought you couldn’t read German.”

“We’re leaving in half an hour,” her father
called up the staircase.

She smiled and closed the journal. “Seems I
can pick out a word here and there.” Her father’s warning wouldn’t
give her time for that long soak. The journal would have to wait.
Marissa returned the book to the strongbox and took her turn in the
bathroom.

Thirty minutes later, the family traveled to
Milwaukee together, like when Marissa and Max were kids, with one
notable exception. Uncle Balt wasn’t going to be there.

At the funeral home, aunts and uncles and
cousins and second cousins and friends filled the small room.
Marissa and Max endured endless comments about the inevitability of
growing up and how long it had been since the family had all been
together. In the front of the room there was a picture of Uncle
Balt, probably thirty years earlier, when his thinning hair was a
faded shade of red.

Marissa’s ears strained to hear Uncle Balt’s
voice. What she wouldn’t give to hear him call her his
Liebling
once more!

I will be in the quiet moments
, he’d
told her. But where would she find one?

She needed a break from the reminiscing and
the consoling. Marissa left the parlor for the room designated for
immediate family and poured herself a cup of coffee before she
settled into a heavily padded chair that tried to swallow her up.
Unconsciously, she looked for Hex. Amazing how much a part of her
the cat had become in only a week. It was nice to know he’d be
there when she got home.