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“My old room has that already. I’ll go and see what we need in some of the others.” After both men left her, she looked at Katie again. “Are you ready to help me be the mother of four children? At one time?”
“You’ll do great, honey. If not, I’ll shoot you and take them for myself.”
Merce was still sitting there when Del touched her shoulder. After telling him what his mother said, all he did was laugh. She didn’t think she’d been kidding.
Getting the rooms sorted out was much easier than she’d thought it would have been. Sobie, their new cook, said she had a son about the age of her new children. Carter, just shy of his seventh birthday, came over and told her what he thought she should put into the room. A computer was high on his list, as well as giving them the space of different rooms later. If he was right, she was going to buy him a computer too. Merce might even do it if he turned out to be wrong. But when he turned to her and looked serious, she knew the kid was going to go places when he grew up.
“Don’t push them, Mrs. Archer. I have a friend in school that was adopted when he was five. Everyone always asks him what it was like to live with people he didn’t know. I thought he didn’t like that, so I didn’t ask him. We’re best buds now because he’d come to me when he’d had enough. His new mom? She’s too clingy, he told me. And the dad is trying to make him a sports lover.” His face told her that Tom didn’t care for sports much. “They’ll need space, and to be able to know they can come to you. You don’t have to keep asking them if they need you. They’ll figure you out.”
“Have you figured me out, Carter?” He looked at her from head to toe. She didn’t think he was just making himself look reflective either. “I’ve never had a child before, much less four of them.”
“You’re a nice lady, and you’re smart. You can help with their homework without making them feel stupid. You didn’t me when I came in here and told you to get rid of the girly rugs.” She told him she’d have not noticed them. “No, and that’s another thing I want to tell you. Kids are way smarter than you think we are. We know things that would make your hair turn white, as my grannie says all the time.”
She wondered what Carter knew but didn’t ask. Giving him space, she hoped he’d come and hang around with the kids too. Merce gave him ten dollars for his help and told him he could have whatever he wanted for his room. Or his sister’s, if he wanted it.
“Thanks. I know you’re going to use the bunk beds for the girls, but if you get rid of them, I’d like them. When I have a sleepover, there ain’t nowhere for everyone to sleep.”
Merce was going to get him a set. In the few minutes he was there, Carter had taken a great deal of worry off her. She could do this. A least she hoped so. If not, then she’d ask for help. There certainly was plenty of it to go around, she thought with a laugh.
Chapter 7
Merce didn’t want to make this call, but she’d made a promise, one that she intended to keep. As she pushed in the numbers, she thought of how she was going to tell this woman that her brother was gone, and though he’d already been cremated, his ashes were not going to be picked up by his wife.
“Hello.” The voice sounded happy, almost too cheerful, and Merce hated this even more. Asking to speak to Heather Grey, she heard the other woman laugh. “This is her. You can tell me anything you want, but I’m not buying anything. That gets me into trouble.”
An odd way to answer the phone, she thought, but Merce began speaking. “I’m sorry, Ms. Grey, but I’m calling to let you know that your brother is dead. He was killed several days ago.”
Not knowing what to expect, Merce jerked the phone from her ear when Heather began wailing and screaming about her brother. The pain in her voice was palpable. She either hadn’t heard Merce telling her she was so sorry, but she had more information or was ignoring her. It wasn’t until another voice sounded that Merce listened to the newcomer with more interest.
“What the fuck, Hey-hey? What’s the matter with you?” In a babbling voice, Heather explained to the other woman that her brother was dead. “Yes, he is. It was my dad. Why are you—? Is someone on the phone talking to you?”
“Yes. She said he was killed.” The other voice said he’d died a while back, and there wasn’t any reason for her to bet getting upset now. “Oh. I guess I don’t need to be crying either, huh?”
“No. It’s be
en a long time. Who is that you’re talking to?” Heather told her she didn’t know who was on the phone. “Why don’t you let me have it, and I’ll figure it out for you? That way, you can go and eat your breakfast and get ready for your job.”
“Okay.” The singsong voice told Merce she might well have had the wrong person. “I’m going to have to tell Mr. Watson I got to answer the phone. Maybe he’ll let me answer it at work.”
“Don’t count on it, Hey-hey. You did get upset for nothing. Go eat, and I’ll take you to work.” The voice of the stranger was soft. Playful to Heather. But when she spoke to her, Merce could tell how protective she was of the other woman. “What the fuck are you calling here for and upsetting Hey-hey? Whoever you are, you’d better believe she isn’t going to be harmed by your shit again. Do you understand me?”
“She’s mentally challenged, isn’t she?” Merce didn’t know why she’d said that aloud, but she knew it to be true. “You’re the Heather Grey I think I was supposed to talk to. I thought the other woman said she was Heather, but I don’t know for sure now. Are you the sister of Mark Grey?”
“She is Heather Grey as well. I’m her niece. And yes, I’m the sister of Mark Grey.” Before she could tell her the news, Heather began speaking again. “Mark is dead then. I guess I assumed it was a scam to get my aunt to give you money. Not that it matters to you, but you’re right on her being challenged. Thank you for that, at least—not calling her retarded. What happened to Mark?”
“He was being arrested for several things at once but grabbed an officer’s weapon two different times. The second time he killed an officer at the scene. The second officer died later of his wounds. Mark was killed justifiably.” She said she didn’t doubt it. “You’re aware, I’m assuming, that he was married.”
“Yes. Judy Grey. I’ve never met her. Mark would call here, telling me about the shit she was supposed to have done to him. I didn’t believe it, of course. Mark could never tell the truth because a lie was easier for him. Is she dead?” Merce told her she was in the hospital but doing much better. “He told me he had to knock her around a little. I would have helped her, but I had had enough of his shit when he was living around here. And my aunt had as well. Besides, my thinking was if she didn’t want to be knocked around, she should have gotten herself a gun and blown his fucking head off. But then, that’s just me. What else did you want? If you think I’m going there for any reason, then you can get that shit out of your head right now. I don’t now or ever want to have anything to do with Mark, or his death, for the rest of my life.”
“What about your sister-in-law? She might need you.” Heather told her that she had enough dealing with her aunt. “You’re caring for her then?”
“I am. I have been since I was eighteen, and she needed someone other than a nursing home, which would take what little money there was for her. Or I should say what little money was allotted to her. My father thought she was a burden, just not his.” Merce told her she was sorry. “No worries on your part. Hey-hey and I are getting along just fine on our own. So you can understand why we’re not going to be sucked into any drama. We have enough here on our own.”
“I guess I can understand that. Judy is the one that asked me to find you and let you know that Mark was dead. Also, she’s going to have a baby. There had been many before this one, but without Mark around to knock her about, she might be able to bring this one to term.” There was silence on the other end, but Merce thought she might not get a second chance to tell the other woman this. “There was insurance as well. I’m not entirely sure how much there is, but Judy should be all right.”
There was very little noise in the background. Merce might have thought she’d been hung up on but for the singing from Hey-hey, that she could hear. Just as she was going to ask Heather what was going on, she spoke again.
“Hey-hey and I will be there in a few days. If you can stop her from getting the insurance, I’d appreciate it. I don’t want any of it. I’m going just fine on my own here, but if Judy is saying she’s having my brother’s child, she’s lying.” The line was cut off this time, and it left Merce with more questions than it did answers about a great many things. Putting her phone on the desk, she sat there staring off into space, letting her mind think about what was going on with Judy and Mark.
