The Mill River Redemption Page 6

  “Strange,” Ivy said. “Let’s see what’s in it.”

  Josie ripped open the end of the envelope and reached inside. She withdrew two small keys on a ring, a business card, and a handwritten note, which she opened and read aloud.

  Dear Josie,

  I have recently learned of your arrival in Mill River and the reason for it. Let me first express my condolences for the loss of your beloved husband.

  I understand that a house fire took your husband’s life and most of your belongings. The keys that accompany this note are for the house next door to the home of Ivy Collard. It is a modest house, but it is in very good condition. If you find it to be a suitable home for you and your daughters, I would be honored if you would accept it, along with a modest sum for the purchase of some new furnishings, as my gift to you.

  Paperwork to transfer ownership of the house to you has been prepared by the Gasaway law office in Rutland, listed on the enclosed card. You may schedule a time to sign the appropriate documents at that office at your convenience.

  I wish you and your daughters a very Merry Christmas.

  Best wishes,

  A resident of Mill River

  Josie stared at the note, blinking. This can’t be real, she thought as she turned the keys over and over in her hand.

  “Well, I’ll be dipped—” Ivy started to say, but Josie was already heading through the kitchen. Even though she was still in her pajamas, she slipped on her boots and exited through the side door without her coat.

  The Bookstop was on a corner lot with only one neighboring house, so Josie plowed through the snow in the front yard until she stood before the home next door. It was white with green shutters and about the same size as Ivy’s. A Realtor’s FOR SALE sign protruded from the snow at the edge of the lawn.

  The walkway leading to the front door of the house was freshly shoveled.

  Josie went to the front door and inserted one of the keys. As she turned it, the lock opened with a quiet click. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

  Someone had obviously been by to turn on the heat, because it was comfortably warm inside. The entryway opened up into a living room on the left and faced the bottom of a staircase on the right. Josie slipped off her wet boots and walked cautiously across the living room carpet. On the far side, there was a fireplace and a door to a small room that could be used as an office or for storage. Toward the middle, the living room connected with a dining area, which led, in turn, to the kitchen. A door under the staircase on the right side opened to reveal a small bathroom.

  Josie backtracked to the entryway and climbed the stairs. The second floor was much smaller, consisting of two bedrooms, one larger than the other, with a bathroom in between. The whole house was painted and carpeted in neutral shades and seemed immaculately clean.

  She came down the stairs and went back through the living and dining rooms into the kitchen. Through a sliding glass door, Josie could see a nice yard surrounded by a white privacy fence. The kitchen already had a refrigerator, dishwasher, and range. It’s not huge, but there’s room for more than one butt, she thought to herself with a smile. Finally, Josie opened the door at the far end of the kitchen and entered a small mudroom. A new-looking washer and dryer were there, as well as a utility sink and a built-in ironing board. An exit from the mudroom led into the small attached garage.

  Could someone have really given her this house? It was perfect. Not too big, but with plenty of room for the girls to grow up. Rose and Emily could share the big bedroom upstairs, and she got teary-eyed when she realized that they would be able to play to their hearts’ content in the fenced backyard. It was close to Ivy, in a safe little town where amazing things happened for no reason. Josie felt a little light-headed.

  With one hand against the wall for support, she went back to the living room and noticed a small Christmas card propped open on the mantel of the fireplace. Inside, in the same handwriting as that of the letter she had just opened, was written “Welcome home, Josie.”

  Josie sat straight down on the floor. She was trembling and crying, trying to make sense of it all. Who could possibly do something like this? Who would? She wondered whether Tony had somehow managed to do this from wherever he was now. If it wasn’t Tony’s doing, it was staggering to think that a stranger could show her such benevolence.

  At that moment, the front door opened and Ivy came in with Rose and Emily in tow.

  “Mommy!” Rose said, as they all rushed over to her.

  “Josie, are you all right?” Ivy asked. She leaned forward with her hands on her knees while Rose and Emily jumped into Josie’s cross-legged lap.

  “I’m fine,” Josie choked. “Just a little overwhelmed, that’s all.”

  “Well, it’s happened again, I guess,” Ivy said, shaking her head.

  “What’s happened again?” Josie asked.

  Ivy straightened up. “The secret gift thing that happens every so often in Mill River. It seems like just when folks in town really need something, it just appears. Or sometimes, it’s given to ’em, anonymously, like this.” Ivy smiled. “It’s happened for years, but nobody has figured out who’s behind it. Nowadays, most people just accept the random gifts as part of what normally happens here.”

  Josie didn’t answer. Her mouth was having trouble forming words.

  “This house has been on the market forever,” Ivy said. “I guess it was just waiting for you to get here.”

  “Mommy, is this going to be our house?” Rose asked.

  Josie squeezed a daughter in each of her arms and pulled them against her. She noticed a new feeling building in her very center, a small, reassuring spark of something. Hope? Optimism? Maybe even the beginnings of a realization that everything was going to be okay? Whatever it was, it started because of a stranger’s gift of shelter. She would draw on the spark, build on it to go on, to give her girls a safe and happy life. And even after they were grown, even if someday she could afford to move to someplace bigger or newer, she promised herself that she would continue to live in this house as a humbling reminder of the miracle she had been given.

  “Yes, baby,” Josie said with her face nestled in red and blond hair. She closed her eyes. “This is our house. This will always be our house.”

  CHAPTER 7

  EARLY IN THE AFTERNOON ON JULY 1, THE BOOKSTOP HAD a flurry of customers. The date was not lost on Ivy, and she had been keeping an eye on the houses across the street to see whether Rose and Emily would show up. When she finally had a spare minute, she fixed herself a glass of iced tea, plopped down in her porch swing, and hung her cane over the armrest. It felt wonderful to slip her feet out of her sandals. She was still there, holding her empty glass, dozing and humming to herself, when a male voice spoke to her.

  “Hey there, Ivy, how are you?”

  She opened her eyes to see Kyle Hansen, his daughter Rowen, and Claudia Simon coming up to the porch.

  “You look comfortable,” Claudia said with a smile.

  “I’m good, and I am,” she said. “Anything I can help you all find?”

  “Well, I guess we’re not sure yet,” Kyle said. “Rowen’s birthday was last week, and she wanted to come by and see what’s new.”

  “Dad and Cla—I mean, Miss Simon, gave me twenty dollars!” Rowen said. “Ten dollars each, because I turned ten years old.”

  “And it’s been burning a hole in her pocket,” Kyle added with a laugh.

  “Well, the most recent book in the Greek demigod series you love just came out,” Ivy said. “I’ve still got a few copies left. And there are some other good titles, too. Have a look, and holler if you need anything.”

  “Awesome!” Rowen said as she pulled open the front door.

  Claudia followed close behind and turned to Kyle. “You coming in?”

  “Nah,” Kyle said. He sat down in the swing next to Ivy. “But take your time. I’ll wait here for you and keep Ivy company.” Once they had entered The Bookstop, Kyle turned to I
vy and grinned. “Women and their books.”

  “Women?” Ivy said.

  “Women. Believe me, Rowen’s ten going on thirty. Sometimes it freaks me out how fast she’s growing up.”

  Ivy’s attention was suddenly drawn to a sleek black BMW sedan that pulled up along the curb across the street. It was followed by a U-Haul truck, which parked directly behind it.

  “That’ll be Rose and her family,” Ivy said, more to herself than to Kyle. “I knew she’d come.” She’d heard from Rose only once since the wake, to offer an apology for her comment about the urn and ask for a copy of Josie’s letter. Her great-niece hadn’t given any indication that she intended to spend the summer in Mill River. Ivy was gratified that her feeling that Rose would show up had proved correct.

  “That’s your niece, right?” Kyle asked. “I think I remember her from Josie’s wake.”

  “Great-niece, yep, one of ’em,” Ivy said. “The other one’s Emily, and I expect her to be along any time.”

  “I’ve heard bits about the situation from Fitz … something about their mom setting up some sort of plan to force them to start talking to each other?”

  “Yes,” Ivy said, and she glanced over at Josie’s quiet house next door. The shades were drawn and the lawn was in desperate need of its weekly mowing. She hadn’t gotten used to seeing the house so still, with no sign of habitation. She gave Kyle a quick summary of Josie’s plan to explain why the sisters would be spending the next couple of months in Mill River.

  “Well, it’s unusual,” Kyle said. “I don’t know whether you can ever force two people to like each other who don’t, even if they’re related. In fact, some people who don’t get along are best left separated.”

  The sounds of car and truck doors slamming came from across the street. Ivy and Kyle watched as Sheldon, Rose, and Alex filed through the front door of one of the little houses that faced The Bookstop. After a few minutes, they came back out with Sheldon leading the way and Rose’s screeching bringing up the rear.

  “Sheldon, can you really not grasp how bad this is? Or, maybe it just doesn’t matter to you, since you’re not the one who has to spend the next two months in a shoe box with no air-conditioning!”

  Sheldon seemed to be doing his best to ignore Rose’s ranting. He kept his back to her as he unlocked the U-Haul, slid up the metal door, and began unloading boxes. Even though she didn’t have a great view from across the street, Ivy could have sworn she saw Sheldon flinch when Rose started up again.

  “So what if the truck’s due back tomorrow? You could stay the night and still get it back in plenty of time. It’s not like you have a job or anything else to get back to.”

  Ivy sat up a little straighter. Rose’s comment was worrisome. If it were true, it might explain the reason behind Rose’s return.

  Kyle whistled low under his breath. “Sounds like one happy family. Fitz told me what happened with Rose at the wake … you know, with the ashes … and I sort of thought he was exaggerating. But now …”

  “He wasn’t,” Ivy said. “Rose is one hot mess, that’s for sure.”

  At that moment, Claudia and Rowen came back outside with a few books apiece.

  “How’d you make out?” Ivy asked. “Find everything all right?”

  “Oh, definitely,” Claudia said. “I think we could spend hours in there.”

  “I could live in there,” Rowen said. “Miss Ivy, I got the Percy Jackson book you told me about and the first one in the Wimpy Kid series. A lot of my friends at school are reading those.”

  “I know you’ll love both of ’em,” Ivy said as she got out of the swing and slid her feet back into her sandals. “Let me ring you up.”

  After she had completed the purchases, Ivy grabbed her cane. “Since my bum knee seems to be behaving today and I haven’t taken a lunch break yet, I’m going to walk across the street and visit with my niece and her family.”

  “Did Alex come?” Rowen asked. “The boy who was at Mrs. DiSanti’s house?”

  “Yep, he did,” Ivy told her. “Looks like he’s going to be here with his mom for the summer.”

  “Can we go say hello, too?” The little girl looked up at Kyle. “Please, Dad? I’ll bet he doesn’t know anybody his age but he probably wishes he did.”

  “Sure, that’d be a nice thing to do,” Kyle said. “We don’t have anything else going on, anyway.” He raised his eyebrows at Ivy and said in a whisper, “Told you. Ten going on thirty.”

  Ivy led the way toward the moving truck. Rose came out of the house and saw them just as they reached the sidewalk.

  “Hi, Aunt Ivy,” she said. Rose wore skinny jeans and a black tank top. She pushed her dark sunglasses up onto her head and wiped the sweat from her nose as she approached. “I was going to knock on your door once we got everything inside. Sheldon has to get back to New York tonight.”

  “That’s okay, honey. I had a little break and thought I’d come over.” Ivy kissed Rose on the cheek and squeezed her in a tight hug. “You doing all right? I’m glad you decided to come. Your mom would be happy.”

  “Yeah,” Rose said in an irritated tone. She lowered her voice. “Trust me, this isn’t something I’m too happy about.”

  Ivy fought the urge to laugh. “I know. It’s probably selfish of me, but I’m glad you’ll be so close by for a while. Alex, too. Hey, you remember Kyle Hansen, one of our police officers, and his daughter? And his friend, Claudia Simon? They were over at The Bookstop when you pulled up. Rowen wanted to say hello to Alex.”

  “And we wanted to welcome you, too,” Claudia said, extending her hand to Rose. “I’ve lived in Mill River for only a short time myself, but it’s a wonderful place.”

  Ivy watched Rose’s smile falter for a moment before it quickly reappeared even wider than before. “I actually grew up here,” Rose told her, “and it really hasn’t changed much.”

  “Well, Claudia lives just over on Main Street, next to St. John’s, and Rowen and I live in an apartment above the bakery,” Kyle said. “We’re all close by, if you need anything.”

  “That’s very nice of you,” Rose said with the same fake smile. “My son is inside getting his room set up, but I’ll tell him you asked about him. I’m sure he’ll be happy about that.” She gave a cursory glance to the books in Rowen’s hands. “Alex loves to read, too, so you’ve got something in common.”

  “You know, I couldn’t help but notice your car up there is parked alongside a fire hydrant,” Kyle said. “I’m not sure who’s on patrol right now, but Fitz is pretty strict about people parking near hydrants and in handicapped spaces. I’d hate for you to get a ticket on your first day here. You could swing around and park across the street, at least until the truck’s out of here.”

  Rose stared at Kyle, blinking, for a moment before she answered. “Fitz’s wife was my mom’s best friend. I highly doubt he would let anyone ticket me, especially when I’m trying to get things moved inside. Which reminds me, I’ve got to get some stuff unpacked before my husband leaves. Would you excuse me?”

  “Of course, honey, go on,” Ivy said.

  “Nice seeing you again,” Claudia added.

  “Likewise,” Rose said. She squeezed Ivy’s hand and smiled before she walked back to her house.

  No sooner had the front door closed behind Rose than another car pulled up along the curb and beeped its horn. Ivy turned around to see Emily smiling from behind the wheel of her old hatchback.

  “Right on time,” Ivy said. “Well, you all might as well stay for a few more minutes and say hello to my other niece.”

  Emily’s old Subaru stood in contrast to the BMW parked further up the street. The Impreza’s faded silver finish was scuffed and had several dents in various places. The engine rumbled loud enough to be heard a few blocks away, and the interior of the car was crammed with boxes and bags. A large dog with floppy brown ears and a brown-and-white-splotched coat sat in the front passenger seat with its head stuck out the side window.

&nbs
p; “Aunt Ivy!” Emily said as she climbed out of the car. Her younger niece caught her in a huge hug so exuberant that Ivy had to lean on her cane to steady herself.

  “I’m glad you made it all right. I was a little worried about you, driving cross-country all by yourself in that old car.”

  “Aw, my car’s fine. Needs a new muffler and probably a new clutch, but I’ll get all that taken care of once I’m moved in. And I wasn’t by myself.” Emily opened the front passenger’s door and clipped a leash to the dog’s collar before it jumped down from the seat. “This is Gus. Gus, meet my aunt Ivy, and”—she looked at everyone standing next to her aunt in turn—“Kyle, was it? And Rowen? And, I’m so sorry, I can’t seem to remember your name, but I remember you were at my mom’s wake, too,” she said to Claudia as her cheeks turned a bright pink.

  “I’m Claudia Simon.”

  “Claudia, that’s right! I should have remembered. Anyway, I found this big boy years ago at a shelter in California. The staff had him in the kitten room while they were cleaning out cages, and all these tiny babies were climbing all over him, jumping on his head, chewing on his ears, and he just lay there with his tail wagging and let them do it.” Emily reached down and massaged the dog’s ears while she spoke to him in low, drawn-out manner. “Dis big boy jus’ wuvs wittle kitties. Who wouldn’t fall in wuv wif such a sweet puppy?” Gus whined in reply and thumped his tail against the ground.

  “Oh, can I pet him?” Rowen asked.

  “He seems gentle, but it’s up to Emily,” Kyle said.

  “Sure,” Emily said. “Just let him smell your hand first, so he gets to know you a little.” Rowen gave her books to Claudia and approached Gus cautiously with her hand outstretched. The dog stood up, sniffed and then licked her hand, and lowered his head a little as she began to stroke him.

  “You didn’t bring all that much,” Ivy said. “Not compared with your sister, anyway.” She jerked her chin up toward Rose’s U-Haul and rolled her eyes. “They got here just a minute ago.”