When the Sun Goes Down (28 page)

Read When the Sun Goes Down Online

Authors: Gwynne Forster

BOOK: When the Sun Goes Down
7.95Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
“Hi, Glen. This is Frieda. Everything all right there?”
“You bet. When are you coming? We’d like you to be here during the holidays.”
“I’ll get there, Glen, but so many wonderful things are happening to me right now that I don’t know my head from my feet.”
“That’s great, sis. Mom told us what’s happening, and I’m happy to hear it. But do your best to remain your natural, honest, and down-to-earth self. That’s what makes you so appealing. Don’t forget that.”
“Thanks, Glen. I appreciate that. Where’s Mom?”
“She’s ... Bless you, Frieda. I’ll call her. See you soon.”
“Frieda? How’d it go, honey? I know what the outcome had to be, and I haven’t been a bit concerned.”
“Hi, Mom. Everything is great. I got a wad of money, and I have no idea wh—”
“Wait there! What did you call me?”
Frieda had hoped Coreen wouldn’t make a big deal out of it. “Mom. Gunther shamed me. He said I was trying to punish you, and I wasn’t. It was easier than I thought.”
“I’m not concerned with your reasons; I’m grateful that you came to this decision. I ... I had tried to accept that it would never happen. If you were here, I would hold you and hug you for honoring me this way. How are you getting along with the Farrell children?”
“Wonderful. Gunther and Shirley treat me as if they’re happy that I’m their sister. Edgar apparently doesn’t plan to abide by the terms for his inheritance, because he left the country in a huff. Gunther said he went to Ghana, so the final settlement is about fifteen months away. I’m gon’ send some money to my two adoptive sisters, and I’m gon’ take my best friend to Italy next spring. If I can’t go, I’ll send her. I’m saving the rest, and eventually I’ll buy me a little piece of property.”
“What about school?”
“I’m doing that university course. In a couple of years, I’ll have my RN. I don’t know, Mom. I just met this guy, and he’s taking me to lunch. He’ll be here any minute.”
“You mean the man Gunther introduced us to?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Just be yourself, and he’ll adore you. Be sure and come for Christmas.”
“I may not be there Christmas Day, but you’ll see me just before or just after. Bye for now.”
“I’m so glad you called. Good-bye, my daughter.”
Frieda hung up, ready to embrace the whole world. “I guess there’s a time for all things. She my mom. I told her so, and I feel like I just had a good cathartic, or whatever it is you call those cleaning things. I sure wish Shirley could get herself straightened out. She such a sweet person.”
Minutes after Shirley left Riggs’s office with Frieda and Gunther, Riggs set in motion the mechanism by which she would get an opportunity to do what Frieda wished for her.
“One more thing,” Riggs said to his accountant. “We have to pay Carson for locating the will. He’s due six percent of a sibling share. I’ll give him a call.”
However, at that moment, Carson was dealing with a matter of life or death—his own. He had located the jilter whom he had chased throughout Atlanta the previous week. Satisfied with a job well done, he drove the rented Lexus into the garage beneath the hotel in which he stayed. As he stepped out of the car, the hairs on his arms burned his skin, and his nerves seemed to rearrange themselves throughout his body. From experiences during his years as a police officer, his antenna shot up, and he swung around just as the man raised his revolver.
Carson ducked behind the side of the car, but not quickly enough. He slid to the concrete, holding the fire-hot wound beneath his shoulder. With difficulty, he pulled the cell phone from his pocket, dialed the police, and reported that he’d been shot. Then he dialed 911 and asked for an ambulance. The police arrived first and took his report, and he awakened in a hospital room.
“You’re a lucky man,” a doctor assured him. “An inch lower and that bullet would have punctured your lung.”
“Yeah? If I was really lucky, the guy would have missed me. How long do I have to stay here?”
“A couple of days. We want the wound to begin healing, and we have to make sure it doesn’t become infected. You lost a good deal of blood, too, so I want you to drink a lot of that juice.” He pointed to the container of V8 juice on the night table beside Carson’s bed.
“You didn’t tell me when I can get out of here. Except for this pain, I feel fine.”
“Wait until you stand up. If there are no reverses, you can leave day after tomorrow.”
“What do you mean by reverses?”
The doctor squinted his left eye, seemed on the verge of saying something, and then changed his mind. “A fever would suggest infection, and dizziness could be due to too much blood loss. Be glad you’ve got a bed to lie in. Patience can be a virtue.”
“That’s a parable in which I truly believe,” Carson said, miffed at being lectured. “When did I get here?”
“Yesterday afternoon.”
“Well, I’ll be damned. I missed a whole day of my life.” The doctor left, and he dozed off. The ringing sound came from afar, growing louder and louder until he awakened fully, sat up, and got his cell phone.
“Hello. Montgomery speaking.”
“Riggs here. I was wondering if you’d drop by this afternoon and collect your pay for finding that will. Settling this estate has become a full-time job.”
“I’m still in Atlanta, and in a hospital, at that. A guy I fingered put a plug in my right shoulder, and I’m lucky. I saw him as he raised his revolver and jumped aside, or I’d have gotten it straight on.”
“You’re telling me you got shot in the chest?”
“Just below my shoulder bone. I hope to be out of here day after tomorrow. This is the last place I want to spend Christmas.”
“I should think so. As of now, your pay, at six percent of a share, is seventy-eight thousand dollars plus fifteen hundred for expenses. I’ll have a certified check ready for you. If the siblings sell the house, its contents, and the land, we estimate that you’ll get about ten thousand more.”
“You’re joking. That guy was loaded.”
“Surprised me, too. Anything I can do for you there?”
“Thanks, buddy, but the only thing I need is freedom from this pain. See you in a few days.” Riggs hung up, went into his reception room, and beckoned to Shirley.
 
“Shirley, I just spoke with Carson. Are you aware that he’s in a hospital in Atlanta?”
The shock of his words reverberated throughout her system. “
What!
Who said so?”
“I spoke with him a minute ago.”
“Thanks.” She hung up and dialed Carson’s cell phone number.
“Hello, Shirley. I assume Riggs just called you.”
“Yes, he did. Tell me how you are.”
“Do you care?”
“I didn’t call to be clever, Carson. You know I care. I want to know how you are. What hospital are you in?”
“Don’t tell me you want to come down here and look after me.”
“Are you asking me to eat humble pie? All right, I’ll do that. I’ve been miserable without you, and I ... Please forgive me for being selfish. Carson, for goodness’ sake, tell me how you are.”
“I’m ... I hurt something awful, but this is nothing compared to the pain I’ve had since the last time I saw you. I ... You have to understand that my integrity is important to me and that I’m never going to violate it.”
So he wasn’t going to make it easy for her. She’d have to put everything on the table, to bare her soul. Well, she’d asked for it. “I love you,” she said. “I need you, and I don’t want to live without you. Can you forgive me?”
His silence unnerved her, for she knew that whatever he said was likely to be his final answer. “If you tell me that you understand and accept that my ability to make a decent living depends on my reputation for honesty and integrity, and that you agree I did the right thing in giving that information to Riggs, I’ll believe you.”
She let herself breathe again. “I knew then that you were right and I was wrong, but I was too stubborn to admit it.”
“And now you’ve changed?” he asked in a voice laced with bitterness.
“Oh, yes,” she said. “The ache in my heart helped adjust my mind to a capacity for reason. I’ve never been so miserably unhappy.”
“When I get back there, we’ll get together.”
“Will you let me know when your plane arrives so I can meet you at the airport?”
“I’ll let you know.”
At least she had a chance with him. She hung up, took the elevator to the building’s lobby, stepped out, and stopped. A man with a brilliant smile on his face walked up to Frieda, kissed her cheek, took her hand, and left the building.
Good for you, sis. I’m praying that day after tomorrow will bring me the same and more.
 
Gunther started the fire in his living room fireplace and asked himself how anything so beautiful as the flames dancing before him could be so dangerous. Mirna walked in with a pan of cut chestnuts, sat down, and placed the nuts on the ashes at the edge of the fire.
“What we gon’ do for Christmas, Mr. G? It’s just a week away.”
“I know, but I’ve been too busy to think about it. I’ll call Frieda and Shirley and see what they can come up with.” He phoned Frieda first. “I’m hoping that you, Shirley, and your dates will have Christmas dinner here,” he said after they greeted each other.
“Ain’t this something? Last Christmas, I made calls to my two adoptive sisters, but I spent the day alone. This year, you, my mom, and Cory want me for Christmas. I’ll try to see Mom just before Christmas, but I hate to give up the chance to bond with Cory and his boys.”
“You and Cory can have dinner here and open some gifts on Christmas Eve. And you can be with him and the kids Christmas Day. Okay?” She agreed.
“I’ll see if that suits Shirley.” He phoned his younger sister. “Carson still has some issues with me, but he said we’d be together. Can we invite Ogden and Marsha, too, or would that be more guests than you want?”
“That’s fine. It’s a crowd, but you, Frieda, and I can help Mirna. I’ll call Ogden and invite him and Marsha.”
 
This sure is something,
Frieda thought.
I was about to go to Walmart to get presents for Cory’s children when I remembered that I could shop in Bloomingdale’s.
She bought things for everyone on her list, including designer perfume for Coreen and a leather handbag for Mirna, who, she recalled, had never had one.
“Lord, that’s more money than I spent on presents the entire thirty-six and a half years of my life.”
She arrived at the Treadwell home the day before Christmas Eve. “I can’t stay too long, Mom. I promised my girlfriend I’d help her cook Christmas Eve dinner. She’s Gunther’s housekeeper.”
Coreen looked closely at Frieda, seeing more than her eyes beheld. “You must be the most genuinely nice person I ever met. I’m proud to be your mother.” She took Frieda’s hand. “Since you can’t be with us Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, I’m having a pre-Christmas lunch for the whole family.”
Frieda handed Coreen the package containing an ounce of Dior perfume and could barely maintain her balance when tears sprang from her mother’s eyes. “This means everything to me,” Coreen said.
“I know, and to me too,” she answered.
Coreen had included her as a member of her family, and the warmth of all those around her confirmed it. As she sat among them, sharing her first Christmas with the woman who gave her life, she couldn’t help thinking that she could accept Eric as a brother and Bates as her stepfather, but she would never be able to fit Glen in the category of brother. She could consider him a friend, even a close one, but after having writhed beneath him in ecstasy, she could never regard him as her brother, step or otherwise. What she’d felt for him had long since dissipated, and how happy she was for that. A few hours after eating the first food her mother had ever cooked for her, she bade them Merry Christmas and took a train to Baltimore.
 

Other books

Down the Rabbit Hole by Monica Corwin
Slightly Foxed by Jane Lovering
How To Succeed in Evil by Patrick E. McLean
Save My Soul by Zoe Winters
B0161IZ63U (A) by Trevion Burns