And I realized that it wasn’t. Sometimes the history between two people is best not told to the children or grandchildren of those people, for their own protection, as it was.
I hooked my arm over Lady and rose. “Okay, so is there anything else that I should know? Any aunts and uncles going to fall out of the woodwork on me?”
Malene shook her head sadly. “No. That’s it. There isn’t anyone else that you need to be on the lookout for.”
“You sure?”
She shot me a scathing look. “Yes,” she snapped. “I’m sure.”
I crossed to the door but stopped before leaving. “I need some time, Malene. You’ve kept a lot of information from me, people from me. What if Willard had died before I ever knew this about him? What if you had? I already regret that I don’t have a mom and dad to reach out to when I need guidance or advice. You’re all the family I’ve got. We should be hugging each other, not keeping secrets.”
Malene didn’t say a word as I opened the door and left. It didn’t surprise me, but it did sting. I wanted her to call me back and apologize and tell me everything, but I knew that would never happen, not with Malene.
“You think y’all will ever be friends again?” Lady asked when we got home, which may I remind you, was right across the street.
I sighed and gently put her on the floor. “I don’t know. Probably, but I need to know if there’s anything else she’s hiding. Lady, I don’t know if Malene ever would’ve told me about Willard. The only reason she did was because Leola suggested that Malene was hiding information from me.”
I slumped onto a chair, and Lady padded over, pressing her wet nose onto my leg. “It’ll be okay, Clem. I know it will. Don’t you worry.”
I scratched behind her ear. “Thank you. I hope so. I hate to think that it won’t, that we’ll all end up estranged.”
“I don’t think you’ll end up ‘strange’ at all.”
I stifled a laugh as I pulled Lady up onto my lap. “I hope we don’t end up strange, either. After all, we’re all the family we’ve got.”
Lady paused before cocking a brow at me. “Does this mean that you’re related to that Leola Vass?”
I shuddered before replying, “Unfortunately I think it does.”
Chapter 25
For the next couple of days I laid low, not taking many phone calls and only leaving the house to visit the barn. Hadley, luckily, wasn’t there whenever I arrived, and I was happy to keep things that way.
After all, I was ninety-nine percent sure that she was a murderer.
But anyway, I didn’t hear from Rufus much during those few days, only enough to know that he was hot on the trail of some spell or another. To be honest, my own guilt kept me from talking to him very much because I felt like I was doing to him exactly what Malene had done to me.
And that guilt hurt, y’all.
Still, I was ready to get a few minutes with him, enough time to finally tell him the truth—which he deserved to know.
I’d stopped by Willard’s Pharmacy a few times to talk to Willard, but every time he’d been busy and to be honest, I’d chickened out of telling him why I’d showed up, that I knew who he was. Yes, I could have just rung his doorbell, but every moment that I stepped outside, Malene was pulling her curtains back, watching.
It was as if she’d cast a spell to find out when I was leaving so that she could spy on me.
Mental note—ask Rufus if Malene had such a spell.
Anyway, the day of the apple festival finally arrived, which meant that I would be around Rufus and Malene, along with the other quilting ladies.
“Am I coming with you?” Lady asked.
I shook my head. “No, it’ll be too dangerous.”
She lapped some water from her bowl and smacked her lips. “You might need me. I can talk anyone to death.”
There was an idea. “You can, but you don’t need to, at least not today. There’s a lot that we have to set up, and it’ll take time.”
“Okay,” she said, moping. “Just be careful.”
