Part 1 (2/2)
Hannah turned to smile at him. ”Yes, you did. But there's enough in that bag for a month and you're only going to be gone for three nights.”
”I know. It's just that I've never left Cuddles before and I wanted to make sure she had everything she needed.”
”But how about the time Marguerite took her up north?” Hannah asked, remembering the vacation Cuddles and her former owner had taken last summer.
”That's different. I didn't leave Cuddles. Cuddles left me.” Norman was silent for a moment and then he began to grin. ”That sounds a little crazy, doesn't it?”
”Not a bit. I'd feel the same way.”
Hannah reviewed the plan in her mind as they walked to Norman's car. Once the reception was over, Norman would be driving his mother and Earl to the international airport in Minneapolis where they would catch a midnight flight to Rome. They were touring Italy for their honeymoon, somewhere Carrie had always wanted to go. Norman would see them off and then he'd drive to the hotel where he'd be staying for three nights. On Monday he'd meet up with some friends from dental school who were opening a clinic in St. Paul, tour the building they'd chosen for their clinic, and then they'd all go out to dinner together. On Tuesday he'd attend the grand opening, stay over that night, and drive back to Lake Eden Wednesday morning in time for his first appointment. He'd pick up Cuddles that night after work, and his cat would have almost seventy-two hours to spend playing with her best friend, Moishe.
”Do you think we should check on the cats before we drive out to the reception?” Norman asked.
”We can stop at the condo if you're worried about them, but I'm sure they're fine. I filled the Kitty Valet with food before we left and Moishe's always been a real gentleman about letting Cuddles eat first. They're probably snuggled up on the couch together, watching the Animal Channel.”
”You're right. No sense in disturbing them.” Norman opened all four doors of his car to let the heat out before he gestured for Hannah to get inside. ”I'll get the air conditioning on right away,” he promised.
It was a hot afternoon and Hannah was glad that the air conditioning in Norman's sedan was better than the air conditioning in her cookie truck. Even if she turned it on full blast, someone blowing over the top of an ice cube would be more effective. Riding in Norman's well-maintained car was a welcome treat, and by the time they pulled out of the church parking lot, cool air was already beginning to pour out of the vents. ”I just love your car!” she said with a sigh, leaning back against the headrest.
The moment the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them. They'd just come from a wedding and that meant both of them had weddings on the mind. It would be natural for Norman, who really wanted her to accept the proposal he'd tendered over a year ago, to say, Marry me and I'll buy you one just like it. Or, Just say yes and I'll make everything easy for you, Hannah. Or even, Did you see how happy Mother was? I'd make you even happier if you'd marry me.
But Norman didn't say any of those things. Instead, he just laughed. ”You don't love my car. You love my air conditioning.”
”It's true.” Hannah hung her head in pretended shame. ”I'm just a fool for a good-looking condenser and powerful vents.”
Norman chortled. There was no other word for it. It was a sound that was midway between a chuckle and a gurgle and it made Hannah smile to know she'd caused it. There was no greater gift than making someone laugh. People who laughed were happy.
It was a huge party. Almost everyone they knew in town was there, but the Swensen sisters had found each other and snagged a table. Hannah, Andrea, and Mich.e.l.le were seated at a rectangular table at the edge of the dance floor. Their mother, Delores, sat at one end, looking no more than a decade older than her daughters.
”And you're going to fill in at Granny's Attic while Carrie's on her honeymoon?” Hannah asked Mich.e.l.le.
”That's right.” Mich.e.l.le turned to smile at her mother. ”I've got a whole month before I have to be back at Macalester, and Mother's promised me a commission on any antiques I sell.”
”And an hourly wage on top of that,” Delores amended her youngest daughter's statement, and then she turned to Hannah. ”Mich.e.l.le will be able to stay with you for a while, won't she, dear? I'm having the hardwood floors redone and it could take several weeks.”
”Not a problem. Mich.e.l.le can stay with me anytime she wants.”
Mich.e.l.le turned to give Hannah a grin. ”Thanks!”
”I should be the one to thank you. The last time you stayed over, you made breakfast for me. And the day you left, you stripped your bed and washed the sheets. Not only that, you emptied the drier and folded all my clothes. I love it when you stay with me.”
All four Swensens looked up as a man stopped by their table. It was Lonnie Murphy, the deputy sheriff Mich.e.l.le dated when she was in town. ”Hi, Sh.e.l.ly. Do you want to dance?” he asked.
”I'd love to!” Mich.e.l.le smiled, got up from her chair, and took Lonnie's arm. She looked genuinely delighted to be asked as they stepped out onto the dance floor.
Hannah hid a grin. Mich.e.l.le hated to be called Sh.e.l.ly. It was the name her fourth grade cla.s.s had given to the box turtle they kept in their terrarium. She'd once told Hannah she thought that Sh.e.l.ly was a great name for a turtle but not for her, and she'd engaged in several hair-pulling fights on the school playground with anyone who'd dared to call her by that nickname. Obviously things had changed. When Lonnie called her Sh.e.l.ly, Mich.e.l.le just smiled at him. Hannah figured that must be love, or at least a close facsimile.
”Delores. Just the person I wanted to see.” Bud Hauge approached their table. He owned the welding shop in town and Hannah knew he'd worked on several broken antiques for her mother.
”Bud.” Delores acknowledged him with a nod. ”Don't tell me you can't weld the rocker on my treadle sewing machine.”
”Okay. I won't tell you I can't weld your sewing machine.”
”Bud!” There was a warning tone in their mother's voice and Hannah exchanged grins with Andrea. Delores had gone to school with Bud and he loved to tease her.
”Just kidding. It's all ready for you, good as new. I'll drop it by Granny's Attic tomorrow morning.”
”Thank you, Bud. That's perfect. I'd like you to take a look at something else we bought. Have you ever done any restoration on grave art?”
Bud gave a little shrug. ”I don't know. They bring it in, I weld it. What's grave art?”
”It's a tribute for a grave, a statue or some kind of decoration chosen by the family. Commonly they're made of marble or granite, but this one is metal.”
”What is it? An angel or something like that?”
”No, it's a fish.”
”A fish?” Both Andrea and Hannah spoke at once since Bud appeared to be rendered speechless.
”I believe it's a walleye pike. It's not so unusual if you consider that families like to personalize the graves of their dearly departed.”
Dearly departed? Hannah stared at her mother in shock. She'd never heard anyone use that phrase outside the walls of a church. ”So some dead person inside, whoever he was, liked to fish?”
”I a.s.sume so, dear. We have several examples of grave art at the shop. They're from the family mausoleum section of Spring Brook Cemetery and they date back to the eighteen hundreds.”
”They're tearing down part of that section, aren't they, Mother?” Andrea asked.
”They're relocating it, dear. The city council feels that the crypts are in such bad repair, they could be dangerous.”
”How could they be dangerous if everyone who's in them is dead?” Hannah asked.
Andrea and Bud burst into laughter, and Hannah noticed that Delores did all she could do to keep a straight face. ”That's not very nice, dear,” she chided her eldest daughter.
”But it's funny,” Bud said, still chuckling.
”And it's true,” Andrea added.
”Well, be that as it may, the council decided to take down the crumbling mausoleums and relocate the...um...contents.”
”All of them?” Hannah asked, remembering how she used to ride her bike out to the old part of the cemetery and walk past the giant stone angels and carved headstones. ”I used to love the pink granite mausoleum with the columns in the front.”
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