The Patricia Kiyono Christmas Collection (31 page)

“
Several doctors, according
to Mike. He took her to a specialist the other day. But Loretta
won’t let her sons into the doctor’s office with her, and she won’t
tell them what the doctor says. And with the HIPAA laws, they can’t
find out.”

“
Must be rough on
them.”

“
It is. They can’t get help
for her if they can’t find out what’s wrong with her.”

“
Loretta’s always been
stubborn. I just hope her stubbornness isn’t going to hurt her in
the end. If she’s suffering from something serious, the longer she
denies it, the worse it gets. Say, maybe she’ll cheer up and come
out of her shell if she knows her son has a new
girlfriend.”

“
I am not his
girlfriend.
I’m hardly a
girl anymore.”

“
Lady friend,
then.”

“
That makes me sound like
a… a…”

“
Lady of the
night?”

They both laughed. “There is no good way to
put it, is there?”

Before they knew it, they were pulling into
the high school parking lot. The Zutphen residents got off, and the
bus left. Since it was a Saturday, the lot was empty except for
their cars.

Donna took Helen’s arm. “Help me to my car,
would you please? I can walk there, but not with my suitcase.”

“
Of course.” Helen pulled a
suitcase in each hand. At Donna’s car, the older woman opened her
trunk, and Helen put it inside.

“
Should I follow you home
and bring the suitcase in your house for you?”

“
No, my son should be over
later. He can bring it in. But I just want to tell you how nice it
was to see you smiling. Not that you’re a grump or anything, but I
haven’t really seen you so happy since Joe died. You deserve to be
happy. I had forty-one good years with Frank before he passed, but
before he left this earth, he told me that he didn’t want me to be
alone. I don’t think Joe would want that for you, either. So if
that little voice in your head is telling you to push him away, you
just tell it to be quiet. Unless Mike has a secret wife hidden
somewhere, there is absolutely nothing wrong with you two having a
relationship or a fling or whatever they call it now. You can’t let
other people tell you what’s right or wrong.”

Joe? Are you trying to tell me
something?

On Sunday morning,
Helen woke early and was ready for church long
before Paul arrived to take her. She’d even applied a little extra
makeup and took extra care with her hair, taming the waves until
they fell in a becoming hairstyle. It had been a long time since
she’d felt inclined to put any effort into her
appearance.

On the one hand, it was a good thing. A man
had made her feel feminine, and in turn she valued her appearance
and took care. But it would not be a good idea to make these
efforts just for Mike. Oh, he was a very nice man from a good
family and had a steady job. But he’d never spoken of a family — no
wife, no children. Had he never married? If not, why not? If a man
hadn’t married by the time he reached his age, he probably never
would. He would probably never want to give up his bachelor ways.
She didn’t feel right asking his brother such personal questions.
No, if it looked like things were starting to develop more, she’d
have to ask Mike himself.

Goodness, who would have believed it? A
relationship with a man? At her age? Until this weekend she would
have considered it impossible.

But she could dream. As long as she didn’t
turn into a pool of drooling mess in front of him, he’d never have
to know about the images that played in her mind in the comfort of
her own room after dark.

She poured herself another glass of ice
water. Hot coffee wasn’t going to work today.

At least she didn’t have to cook dinner.
Nancy had sent her a text message the previous day, while she rode
the bus back to Zutphen. “Don’t worry about dinner tomorrow. I’ve
got it covered.” What a sweetheart her son had married. She was
able to come home from her trip and relax. For a moment,
anyway.

Jonathan and his family
arrived at around the same time they did, so they entered the high
school auditorium together, taking their usual row. She sneaked a
peek across the aisle to where the Sikkemas sat in the front row.
As if she had called him, Mike turned toward her and his lips
curved in that killer smile. She nearly melted into her seat.
Feeling her face heat, she cast him a quick smile before looking
away. A church service was
not
the place for the thoughts she was having. They’d
likely kick her out if they could see the videos rolling through
her mind.

Pastor Sikkema apparently delivered a
rousing sermon, but she couldn’t for the life of her remember a
word he’d said. Joe would have been disappointed — he always liked
to discuss the service afterward. Next was Sunday School, and Helen
did her best to listen to a lesson on spiritual gifts. Since her
classroom was next to the auditorium, she could hear the younger
children rehearsing the songs for their portion of the pageant.
Helen’s group would rehearse later in the afternoon. The two groups
would do a combined rehearsal the Sunday before the pageant as well
as the Wednesday before.

Finally it was time to leave. Paul drove
them all to his home, where Nancy had a pot roast in the slow
cooker. Most of the dinnertime conversation centered on Helen’s
trip.

“
I heard there’s no cars on
the island. Did you walk everywhere?” her grandson
asked.

“
Yes, or we rode bikes.
There were horses, too.”

“
Did you ride a horse,
Grandma?” her granddaughter asked.

Helen laughed. “No, I didn’t ride a horse. I
did go on a bike ride. That was fun.”

“
Who did you ride
with?”

“
It was… one of the other
people on the trip. There were lots of people on the bus tour out
of Holland.” No need to raise any questions, but Nancy gave her a
knowing look.

The rest of the dinner passed quickly.
Finally Helen wiped her lips on her napkin and sat back in her
chair with a sigh. “Thank you so much for dinner, Nancy. The pot
roast was delicious.”

“
You’re so welcome, Mom. I
figured it was about time you got a break from fixing Sunday
dinner.”

“
I never minded, since I
get to see my kids and grandkids, but it is nice to have a break.”
Remembering her appointment with her financial advisor, she turned
to Paul. “Oh, before I forget, I need to have my checking account
statements for the last several months.”

Paul frowned. “Why?” He rose from his chair
and picked up his plate.

“
Howard Tillema wants to
see them.”

He froze. “Why does Howard want them?”

“
Because I asked if I had
extra money so I could go on the bus trip. He said I should have
plenty of money for it and said I should go more often. I told him
I barely get enough money each month to pay my bills.”

“
You told him that? Why?
And why didn’t you ask me for the money?”

“
I told him that because
that’s what you always tell me. And secondly, you were out of town
and I needed money to pay for the trip right away.”

She paused to wipe some gravy from her
youngest grandchild’s face.

“
Anyway,” she continued,
“Howard seems to think that the amount I get each month should be
more than enough for my expenses plus a lot of extras like trips
and clothes and furniture. He said last year was a good one for my
investments and that unless I had some expenses he didn’t know
about I should be more than comfortable. I told him I hadn’t spent
a dime on anything extra in years, and that you’re very strict
about my budget. So he wants to see the statements. Do you have
them?”

Paul shifted in his seat and looked away.
“They’re online. I’d have to print them off.”

“
Okay. So will you please
print them off so I can show him I’m not wasting money?”

“
Yeah. Sure. I’ll do that
tonight.”

Nancy paused while taking the dishes to the
sink. “Why wait that long? Do it now before you forget. I can take
Mom and Rusty to pageant practice, and you can give them to her
when they’re done.”

Paul groaned and went into his study.

Twenty minutes later he returned. “Sorry,
Mom. The bank’s website is down for maintenance. I won’t be able to
get it until tomorrow.”

“
Oh. Well, that’s all
right. Howard told me I could get them from the bank if I needed
to. I’m supposed to meet Howard on Thursday, so if you get them
printed out I can get them from you on Wednesday.

“
Listen, Mom. If it’s just
a matter of you needing more money, I can give you more each month.
I’m sure there are ways we can squeeze more out of your
budget.”

“
I don’t see how. There’s
not much else I can give up. I need my cell phone in case I have
problems on the road, especially without road service—”

“
Paul, don’t tell me you
cancelled your mother’s road service!” Nancy scolded her husband.
“What if her car breaks down or she gets in an accident? You can’t
expect her to walk to the next gas station. She could call one of
us, but what if she can’t reach us?”

Paul frowned. “I suppose that’s something I
shouldn’t have cancelled. I’ll add it back on.”

“
And since Mike has been
kind enough to mow the lawn, I haven’t had to pay the neighbor’s
son to come over and do it.”

“
What happened to your lawn
service?” Nancy asked. “I thought Dell’s Lawn Care was doing
that.”

“
No, Paul cancelled that
this spring, the same time he cancelled my cable television. I
don’t miss that, because he showed me how I can get most of my
favorite shows online. But I miss the way Dell always took good
care of the yard.”

Paul started to turn red, and Helen wondered
why her unflappable son looked so uncomfortable. “Well, uh, I hear
the market has been good lately so your investments are doing
better. I’ll be able to give you more for your spending money. In
fact, why don’t I give you some now? You should get some new…
clothes for the holidays.” He reached for his wallet.

“
Put that wallet away. I’m
fine. It’s not like I’m going hungry or my clothes are falling
apart. There are people who get by on a lot less than me. I just
decided that I was going to splurge for a change and go on that
trip. As it turned out, between renting out the apartment to Mike
and the garage sale, I didn’t need much extra at all. If I have to
cut back some more to make up for it, it’ll be worth
it.”

“
Well, I feel bad that
you’re having to do without. Dad wouldn’t like it.”

“
If he knew it was
necessary, he’d be the first to give up something. He gave up
smoking when you were small because he realized we could buy more
groceries if he didn’t buy cigarettes. Now, why don’t I help put
this food away?” Helen picked up the condiments and headed for the
refrigerator.

“
Mom, it’s okay,” Nancy
intervened. “You probably want to get to the school early to take
care of some things before your rehearsal. The kids can help with
cleanup. Right, kids? I’ll just run you home.”

She did have some details to take care of
with the pageant. “Thank you so much, Nancy.”

“
Mrs. DeGroot? This
is Tammie at Heritage Financial. I’m calling to
postpone your appointment with Mr. Tillema.”

“
Oh. All right, when does
he want me to come in?”

“
I’m not sure. He’s in the
hospital, and his wife didn’t tell me how long he would be there.
She just asked me to contact everyone in his appointment book to
let them know he wouldn’t be able to meet with them.”

“
Oh dear. I hope it’s not
serious. Thank you for calling.” She hung up, at a loss. She’d
really been looking forward to finding out from Howard what he
thought about her budgeting. She probably should have been more
aware of what was going on with her money, but it had been so much
easier to just let Paul take care of it. In many ways he was so
much like his father. And if she couldn’t trust her own son, who
could she trust?

Well, she’d worry about that later. Right
now, there were more pressing matters to attend to. The Christmas
Pageant was six weeks away, and her cast continued to shrink.
Another family had moved away from Zutphen Church. The father had
found a better paying job in Grand Rapids, and with fuel costs
rising, the family had moved to be closer to his job. It was sad
for the community, and the city leaders were scrambling to find
ways to prevent more people from leaving.

But for Helen, that meant she needed to make
adjustments to her script, because she’d lost a child who had
several lines in her play. Should she redistribute the lines among
the remaining children, or coerce other children to take them? Or
should she rewrite things so that his lines weren’t necessary?

She sighed, sank into her recliner with her
notebook, and started to write.

Her mind was focused on her revisions, so
the knock on her door took her by surprise. Mike stood there, and
her mood suddenly brightened.

“
Hi. It was such a nice day
I thought I’d take care of cutting the grass this morning, unless
you’re having company and don’t want the noise.”