Jubilee's Journey (Wyattsville #2)(36)
I’ll give this Frances Margaret Jones a call and see if she knows anything more than she’s saying. On Monday I can take a run over to Wyattsville and check on the kid in the hospital. We’re talking about a few hours maybe. I’ve got no problem with that.
This job forces you to be cynical and focus on the facts, but when something is out of sync my gut starts arguing with reason. Right now I’ve got a serious case of indigestion. It’s telling me kids who cart around family pictures, a Bible, and a baby sister aren’t the type to be robbing stores.
It doesn’t stand to reason—but then I’ve been wrong before.
The Long Weekend
After Loretta called on Saturday, Olivia immediately grounded both Ethan Allen and Jubilee.
“Neither of you are to step foot out of this house,” she said, “and there are absolutely no exceptions.”
“What if Dog gets loose and I’ve got to go chase him?” Ethan asked. “What if—”
Before he could grab onto another outrageous thought, she repeated, “No exceptions!”
Olivia had a growing fear grumbling through her stomach and was not in the mood for discussing the fine points of their punishment. Not only was finding Anita proving to be far more difficult than she’d originally thought, but Jim Turner had for the third time called a special meeting of the Rules Committee to discuss the disruption a child brought to the building. At the latest meeting Jim insisted he’d seen Ethan Allen riding his bicycle across the lobby, a stunt which he believed would ultimately be the ruination of Wyattsville Arms. When a heated argument broke out, Fred McGinty told Jim that being president of the association wasn’t the same as being God and that he should stop making a mountain out of a molehill. When the other members of the committee applauded, the meeting ended.
Fred assumed the complaint was forgotten, but Olivia knew better. Jim Turner was a man who didn’t forget. If he got wind of a second child being in the apartment, there would be an eviction notice shoved under her door within hours. It was a necessity that she keep both kids out of sight until she could locate Anita Walker-Jones or Missus whatever her married name might be.
Ethan Allen had barely finished his breakfast when he began wheedling to go outside. It was Saturday morning, and chances were good his friends already had a basketball game going.
“You need anything from the store?” he asked.
“No, I don’t,” Olivia answered. “And I’ve already said you’re staying in today.”
“But errands ain’t the same as—”
“No.”
It continued all morning. Ethan had seventy-six arguments for going out and not a single reason for staying inside. First he complained checkers were boring. Then they couldn’t do the one thousand piece puzzle because some of the pieces were missing. When Olivia suggested a game of cards, he looked up with a grimace.
“I ain’t interested in playing Old Maid,” he said emphatically.
He went on to say he wasn’t one bit interested in straightening the mess in his room or watching television shows meant for little kids.
“What about Jubilee?” Olivia asked. “Maybe she wants to see those shows.”
“She ain’t interested either,” Ethan answered.
“Let her decide for herself,” Olivia said. She turned to Jubilee and asked, “Don’t you want to see the Saturday Cartoon Carnival?”
For a moment it looked as though Jubilee was going to nod yes, but then she looked over at Ethan Allen and defiantly shook her head in exactly the same way he’d done. “Unh-unh,” she echoed. “Cartoons is for babies.”
Ethan Allen gave a proud grin.
Now defeated on two fronts, Olivia handed over the poker chips and a deck of cards. When they settled at the family room table, she whispered in Jubilee’s ear, “Please don’t tell your Aunt Anita I allowed you to play poker.” She turned and started to walk away, but Jubilee’s answer trailed after her.
“I don’t think Aunt Anita gives a damn,” she said.
Olivia turned back in her tracks.
“Jubilee! Who taught you to say such a thing?” she demanded. She knew the answer when Ethan Allen slinked down in his chair and started looking smaller. After an obviously overdue reminder of her rules about cussing, Ethan Allen settled into playing cards and gave up trying to gain his freedom.
Although the child’s answer had shocked Olivia, she walked away with an odd feeling of gladness. She could see how Jubilee had indeed latched onto Ethan Allen as a substitute for her brother. Apparently it didn’t matter whether a person was seven or seventy, when you lose someone you love you cling to any life raft floating by. Right now Ethan Allen was her life raft. For now it was a workable solution. Finding Anita would change things. It would give Jubilee a new life of loving and being loved.
Having one child to care for had been more challenging than Olivia ever thought she could handle, and this sample of having two was proving nearly impossible. She couldn’t imagine why young couples rushed to add a second, third, fourth, and sometimes fifth child to the family tree.
Weary of thinking such weighty thoughts, Olivia brewed herself a cup of cinnamon tea and sat at the kitchen table. Although she tried to concentrate, map out the possible ways a person could be found, the slightest sound threw her off track. The children laughing, a horn beeping, the rustle of trees—they were all saying something, but Olivia didn’t know what. She was lost in thought when the doorbell bonged.