Jubilee's Journey (Wyattsville #2)(88)

Olivia had expected it might be an apartment building or a garden apartment complex with shaded walkways running between buildings. Instead it was a two-story house. A house with an almost brown lawn and a look of sadness hanging over it.

“This don’t look so good,” Ethan Allen said.

“It’s probably a lot nicer on the inside,” Olivia replied, “and, besides, it has a backyard and a doghouse.”

“Dog ain’t gonna be happy sleeping in no doghouse,” Ethan grumbled.

Olivia eyed the house again. “You three wait here. I’ll go check it out, and if it’s a place we’d be interested in I’ll come back and get you.” She stepped out of the car and started up the walkway.

The kids watched as she pushed the doorbell, then disappeared inside the house. Olivia was gone for nearly fifteen minutes, and returned to the car with her mouth in a pout. “Not the sort of place we want to live,” she grunted. With no further explanation, she pulled out and headed for home.





They had just stepped off the elevator when Olivia heard the telephone ringing. She hurriedly pulled the key from her purse, unlocked the door, dashed across the living room, and grabbed the phone.

“Good afternoon,” the woman said. “Is this Missus Doyle?”

Olivia thought it might be Anita but didn’t recognize the caller’s voice. “Yes, it is,” she replied cautiously.

“This is Carmella Klaussner.”

“Carmella?”

“Yes. We met at the hospital. You remember, my husband Sidney’s the one who was shot in the same holdup as your boy.”

“Of course I remember,” Olivia answered, “but the Bicycle Ball isn’t until October. We don’t have tickets yet—”

Carmella laughed. “I’m not calling about the Bicycle Ball. I’m calling to tell you the good news; Sidney was released from the hospital yesterday.”

“That certainly is good news,” Olivia replied, wondering why Carmella chose to call her about it.

“Sidney is anxious to reopen the store,” Carmella said, “but before he does we’d like to have a chance to talk to you and your boy.”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Olivia gave a weary sigh. “Paul will be returning to school in September, and I don’t think he should be taking on a full-time job.”

Carmella gave a big hearty laugh. “All the more reason we need to talk. Sidney has something special for the boy.”

“Something special?”

“Yes, but I’m not going to spoil the surprise. I know Sidney wants to be the one to tell Paul about it. ”

Carmella’s voice had the sound of happiness jangling through the words, so Olivia had to assume it was something good. She asked if Carmella and Sidney would like to come to dinner the next evening.

“That sounds wonderful,” Carmella said and hung up without giving the slightest hint about Sidney’s surprise.





The day had brought both good and bad, but in the end there had been no resolution to anything. Olivia served an early dinner, then just after seven o’clock settled down to call Clara. She had a million mixed thoughts troubling her and needed to talk.

Olivia dialed the number and waited. She listened to a dozen or more rings, then finally hung up. Odd that Clara had not stopped by; odder still that she was not at home at an hour when she’d generally be watching the news. Olivia waited a half-hour and called again; still no answer. She tried another five times and got nothing more than a ring in her ear. At nine o’clock she decided that if she didn’t reach Clara by nine-thirty, she would go in search of her. Olivia could already feel an ache in her bones, an ache that meant something was not as it should be.

At nine-twenty Olivia shrugged on her sweater and was ready to walk out the door when Clara knocked.

“Where on earth have you been?” Every word had worry attached to it.

Clara, winded as if she’d run a marathon, answered, “I had a bunch of errands to do.”

“Errands? In the middle of the night?”

“It’s not even nine-thirty.”

Olivia looked at her watch: nine-twenty-five. “It seems much later.” Shepherding Clara into the kitchen, she brewed a pot of chamomile tea. “It’ll calm our nerves.”

“I’m not nervous,” Clara replied. “Just tired.”

“From what?” Olivia asked. Again she got that vague say-nothing answer, so she moved on to tell of her day. “We went to look at an apartment but it was way on the other side of town, and—”

Clara’s mouth dropped open. “You didn’t take it, did you?”

“I didn’t have the chance. The ad said doghouse and yard, but to be on the safe side I asked if having a dog was okay. ‘Sure,’ this guy says, ‘I got no problem with dogs.’ So then I ask about the schools. All of a sudden he starts looking at me like I’ve got two heads. ‘Schools?’ he says. ‘Why you wanna know about schools?’ I thought it was pretty obvious, but I answer and tell him, ‘I’ve got three children.’”

“And?”

“He starts yelling about how he can’t stand kids. ‘Dogs is okay,’ he says, ‘but no kids!’”