Part 19 (1/2)

”Lloyd!” Latisha yelled. ”You better get on in here if you want a brownie. I'm about to eat 'em all up.”

Lloyd grinned and got up from the ottoman. ”She means it too. Anyway, I thought you'd want to know that something's still going on at that toolshed.”

”It's a mystery, though, isn't it?” I said, dismissively, and picked up the newspaper as if I had some interest in it. But underneath I was squirming at the thought that we'd left a trail at the toolshed. It was comforting to know, though, that no one seemed to be following it to the real culprits.

Hearing more commotion in the kitchen than the usual, I threw aside the paper and went to see what was causing it.

”Why, Mr. Pickens,” I said, surprised to see him standing there with a pleased smile on his face and his suitcase at his feet. Lillian was delighted to see him, as always, and Lloyd had just released himself from a big hug, while Latisha stood back, eyeing the new arrival with curiosity.

”I'm home!” he said, spreading his arms as if he expected us to cheer. ”Where's Hazel Marie? Where're my babies?”

It took a while to explain the visit to the doctor and to a.s.sure him that it was a routine visit and that all was well.

”'Cept they got the colic,” Lillian said. ”So you better get ready to do some floor walkin'.”

”I can do that,” Mr. Pickens said, somewhat smugly, although I doubted he knew what he was talking about. He'd had plenty of experience with wives, but none that I knew of with infants.

”J.D., guess what! ” Lloyd said, excitement catching in his voice. ”Something's still going on at Miss Petty's toolshed. She told us somebody has been messing around in it, probably at night, and I think she's scared to death. She didn't say she was, but she called the deputies about it because she says she's not going to put up with it. Can you believe that?”

”Whoa, slow down,” Mr. Pickens said. ”Come help me unpack and tell me all about it.”

As they headed for the bedroom, Latisha tagging along behind, Lillian looked at me, her eyes big with concern.

”What we gonna do, Miss Julia?” she whispered, her voice quavering.

”They don't have a thing on us, Lillian. They think it was children, and they'll go on thinking that. n.o.body saw us, well, except Ronnie and he's not talking. We don't have anything to worry about.”

”I hope you right.” Lillian turned back to the stove and stirred something in a pot. Then abruptly she stopped and said, ”What if somebody else 'sides us been in there? What if they lookin' for the same thing we was lookin' for? What if that somebody else saw us there an' was hidin' in a bush, watchin' everything we did?”

”Lillian, Lillian,” I soothed, ”you're just thinking up things to worry about. There was n.o.body else there when we were, and there won't be if we have to go back.”

”No, ma'am, uh-uh. You not gonna catch me goin' back there. I already have my fill of it.”

”Well, I'm not planning a return trip, believe me. I'm just saying that we have nothing to be concerned about.”

Just then Hazel Marie and Etta Mae, each carrying a baby, rushed in, along with a gust of cold air.

”Where is he?” Hazel Marie asked, her eyes s.h.i.+ning. ”His car's outside, so I know he's home.”

”Right in yonder,” I said, pointing toward the bedroom. ”He's unpacking.”

”Here, Miss Julia,” she said, plopping a baby in my arms. ”Hold Lily Mae for me. I'll be right back.” She dashed for the back hall, but she didn't get very far. Mr. Pickens met her, and there was a warm and to those who were in the line of sight a somewhat embarra.s.sing reunion. Hazel Marie smothered his face with kisses until she got to his mouth where he stopped her for a good long while.

Latisha, standing right next to them and watching intently, said, ”My goodness, that look jus' like teevee.”

Etta Mae laughed as she began to unwrap Baby Julie, shedding blanket, cap, and sweater, one after the other. ”Looks like I'll be heading back to the sunroom. Here, Miss Julia,” she said, exchanging babies with me, ”let me swap with you and get that one unwrapped.”

”At least in the sunroom you'll get a full night's sleep for a change,” I said. ”And we'll see how Mr. Pickens likes changing and feeding every two hours or so.”

”It'll be interesting, won't it?” Etta Mae laughed, then expertly took both babies to their crib, sidling past their parents who were still making a spectacle of themselves.

After that, there was a constant coming and going with Lloyd going out to Mr. Pickens's car to retrieve his hanging bag and Mr. Pickens folding up the cot that Etta Mae had been sleeping on and Hazel Marie putting away his clothes and Latisha following two steps behind Mr. Pickens everywhere he turned, and one baby after another announcing dinnertime.

I was finally able to catch Mr. Pickens alone in the back hall. ”Mr. Pickens,” I whispered, ”I would deeply appreciate it if you wouldn't ask about Sam in front of the others. He's working on his book and won't be here for dinner, so if you wouldn't mention it, I'd be grateful.”

Those black eyes bored into mine as he studied me, quickly recognizing a deeper concern in what I'd said. ”Want to tell me a little more? Maybe I can help.”

”No, not at this time, I don't think. I just don't want to discuss it in front of the children, and Hazel Marie has enough on her mind without adding anything. But,” I went on, not wanting to close any door that might shed some light on my predicament, ”maybe later we can talk.”

”Anytime,” he said, and put a comforting hand on my arm. ”I'm always ready to listen.”

I nodded and moved away as Hazel Marie called to him. I was left thinking that I might indeed talk to him in his capacity as an investigator about a certain knothole in a toolshed, but as an adviser on marital problems? With his credentials, I hardly thought so.

Chapter 38.

”Lillian,” I said as soon as we'd finished breakfast the next morning, ”I want you and Latisha to take a break. You've been working night and day ever since those babies have been here.”

”No'm, Miss Etta Mae been the one gettin' up at night. I been sleepin' most of the time.”

”Still, you need some time off. Take the weekend off and rest up.”

”I guess I will, then, but who gonna do the cookin' 'round here?”

”I expect we'll manage all right.” Although, frankly, I wasn't sure how well we would.

Lillian had been running by her house occasionally to check on water pipes and so forth, but it had been some time since she'd spent a night there. I thought she and Latisha both would be pleased to be going back, but Latisha pitched a fit.

”I thought we was livin' here,” she wailed. ”What Lloyd gonna do without me around? An' them babies need me!”

It took awhile for Lillian to calm her and to a.s.sure her that she'd be back after school every weekday. ”We got to see 'bout our house,” Lillian told her. ”And think of all the play-pretties you got waitin' for you.”

”Well, I don't know, Great-Granny,” she said, wiping her eyes with the hem of her dress. ”Look like every time that big ole black-eyed man come, we have to leave. An' that's just a pure-tee shame.”

My heart went out to her because she had truly latched on to Mr. Pickens, following him around throughout the house and gazing at him in awe. That's what happens when a child grows up without a father-Lloyd was doing the same thing. Mr. Pickens had a huge gap to fill in the lives of those two fatherless children, and I had to admit, so far he was doing fairly well at it.

And why wasn't Sam here helping him? I wasn't the only one who needed him, and he should've thought of all he meant to these children before he took off and took up with Helen Stroud.

And just as I began to build up another head of steam over Sam's lack of consideration, he called.

”Julia? ” he said, as the sound of his voice weakened my knees. ”James said you came by yesterday. Is there anything I can do for you?”

Yes, yes, you can come home! The words flashed through my mind, but I bit them back.