Part 26 (2/2)
”He's a good judge. This kind of case is right down his alley.”
”Yeah, because he has a handicapped child himself.”
Hugh nodded. ”Right.”
There was a long silence, then a short laugh. ”You're shrewd.”
”Believe it,” Hugh said, and showed Drummond out. On the way back to his office, he felt good. He felt effective. He had made the points he needed to make.
Intent on driving to the hospital to share the news with Crystal, he took the elevator to the parking garage and climbed into his car. Once into broad daylight again, though, he glanced at his watch, changed his mind, and headed out of town.
Strapped in a bouncer on the kitchen floor, Lizzie was contentedly full. She was so intrigued by the play of morning sun on her own hands that Dana decided the bath could wait. An intrigued baby was a happy one, and they weren't due at the pediatrician's until nine. It was only seven-thirty.
Looking at the clock, Dana remembered that this was the time, back when they were close, that Ellie Jo's cousin Emma Young used to call. Emma lived in northern Maine and had been a farm woman for so long that even after the farm was sold and she moved to town, she was up at dawn. Dana would surely find her home now.
She dialed the number she had slipped from her grandmother's dog-eared address book the day before. She had felt guilty then, but there was no helping it. She didn't know where else to turn. As a last resort, she had driven around town and, under the guise of showing Lizzie off, had brought up the question of Ellie Jo's family, to no avail. No one had known her before she moved to town, which was soon after she met Earl. Emma was the only one who had known Ellie Jo back in Maine.
”h.e.l.lo?” came a scratchy voice. Dana figured the woman was eighty if she was a day.
”Emma? It's Dana Joseph.”
”Who?”
Dana spoke louder. ”Dana Joseph.”
There was a pause, then a cautious ”Are you calling about my cousin Eleanor?”
”Yes and no.”
”Is she dead?”
”Lord, no,” Dana cried. ”Is that what you thought?”
”What?”
Dana shouted, ”My grandmother is fine.” There was no point in elaborating.
”When phone calls come after long periods without, they don't always bring good news,” said Emma in her broad Maine accent.
”This one does. I have a new baby.”
There was another pause, then a scratchier ”How new?”
”She's two and a half weeks old.”
The woman's voice rose. ”And I wasn't called when she was born?”
Dana backpedaled. ”I'm sorry. I've been a little overwhelmed. We haven't done anything about birth announcements.” Emma had certainly been on Dana's list. But Ellie Jo might have called.
”I was at at your wedding,” Emma continued. ”Your grandmother needed warm bodies, and I was the token Joseph relative. In every other regard, she shut me out of her life. And do you know why she did that?”
Dana waited. When Emma didn't go on, she said, ”Not really.” Ellie Jo had simply said that Emma was a crotchety old lady out to hurt anyone whose life she envied.
”Because I dared to say something about her Earl that she didn't like,” Emma went on. ”The man was not who people thought he was. She didn't want anyone to know.”
Dana held her breath, then asked, ”In what way was he not who people thought?”
”He was a bigamist.”
”A what?”
”A bigamist-oh, but I shouldn't have said that. Ellie Jo told me I was just jealous because she had married a good man and I hadn't married at all. She said I was an ugly person-that's what she called me, an ugly person-and she slammed down the phone.”
”A bigamist,” Dana repeated. It was almost ludicrous, given what Dana remembered of her grandfather. He had been devoted to his wife, daughter, and granddaughter, doting even when work took him out of town.
A thin wail came from the other end of the line. ”I shouldn't have said that. She'll be even madder at me now.”
Dana sensed she was losing the woman. Quickly, she asked, ”Was Earl from African-American stock?”
”From what?”
”Was his family African American?”
There was a pause. ”I said he was a bigamist.”
”What about your father? And your uncle.” The uncle would have been Ellie Jo's father. ”Did they have African-American blood?”
”Blood where?” the elderly woman cried. ”What are you talking about, Dana?” Her voice left the phone. ”h.e.l.lo? I'm right here.” She returned to Dana. ”Here's my ride. She takes me in town for my morning tea. Will you tell Ellie Jo that I love her and that I'm sorry if I made her mad and that she's still the only family I have?”
”I will,” Dana said, though she doubted the woman heard before she hung up.
She sat a while longer watching Lizzie, thinking she would have better luck with Emma face to face but knowing Ellie Jo would have a stroke if she found out. Besides, Dana had seen pictures of her grandmother's parents and grandparents. They certainly looked Caucasian. If any had looked African American, Emma Young would have known what Dana was talking about.
No, Dana didn't think that the source of Lizzie's looks was Gram Ellie's side of the family. Earl's was another matter, but a bigamist?
Then she spotted the time. Unstrapping Lizzie, she wrapped the warm little bundle in her arms, took her to the open French doors, and held her there in the sun. ”Oh, Mom,” she murmured, ”isn't this the sweetest little girl you have ever seen? Did you feel this way when you had me? Or is it something about Lizzie?”
She was thinking that there were lots of somethings about Lizzie that made her exquisitely special, when the phone rang. Returning to the sofa, she picked up the cordless, then froze. She recognized the area code: 518. Actually, she recognized the whole number. Father Jack was calling.
With deliberate care, she moved her thumb away from the Talk b.u.t.ton and, heart pounding, waited until the ringing stopped. He didn't leave a message.
Coward, she thought.
Tossing the phone aside, she took the baby upstairs. Minutes later, she had her undressed and in the bathroom sink, which, when lined with a facecloth for traction, she found to be easier than the Mercedes of infant bath seats they had bought.
Dana drizzled warm water on the baby's skin. ”Ooooh,” she cooed, ”isn't this lovely?”
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