Heart of Gold
“Feels like I’m on a runaway train, but it’s a good feeling.”
“Yeah?”
She raised up. “Are you having Garland Panic?”
“Just a little bit. Not sure how I feel about sharing our daughter.”
“Nothing wrong with that. I sort of feel the same way, but then I tell myself this isn’t about me. It’s about Zoey, and as her parents, we need to do our best to do what’s right for her.”
“Going to be real hard for me to compete against a rocker who wears leather.”
She laughed. “I don’t think that’ll be a problem. Miss Miami’s pretty grounded, and she loves her Daddy Reg—always has, always will.”
“I know. He seemed like an okay guy, though.”
“Yes, he did. And just think, when he takes Zoey to Rio or Nice for the summer, you and I can do the do in every room in the house.”
He laughed. “Never thought about it like that.”
“That’s why you have me.”
He kissed her. “I love you, Wilma.”
She laughed. “Go to sleep, crazy man.”
C H A P T E R
23
The month of October seemed to fly by. Zoey and the kids groaned under the mountain of work assigned at school. She did protest having to donate the buccal cells in her cheek to benefit her wretched cousins, but as Roni predicted, she went along with it because it was the right thing to do. Reg reopened the clinic, and after witnessing the extreme poverty in South Carolina while working with his dad and brother, he decided he needed to make health-care services more available to the children in the county. With Roni’s help he purchased a van, outfitted it with all the medical bells and whistles, and took it on the road. Zoey named it Dr. Reggie’s Health-Mobile.
The auction for the coins went well, and by midmonth those who’d participated saw a nice bump in the balances of their checking accounts. Lily and Trent didn’t allow Amari to buy as many video games as he wanted, but he purchased enough to get him through the long winter ahead, and the rest went into his college fund. Speaking of winter, Henry Adams was on the cusp. The warm reds and golds of early fall gave way to frost and temperatures that made everyone wear heavier outerwear to keep the shivers at bay. Snow shovels and window scrapers came out of hibernation, along with rock salt for walks and driveways. Folks no longer lingered in the parking lot of the Dog to chat; once their bills were paid, they hustled to their vehicles and turned on the heat. Daylight became scarce too, making it dark when people left for work and nearly as dark when they returned home.
After the townwide Halloween party at the rec, everyone began looking forward to the big Thanksgiving dinner. Rocky ordered all the turkeys and stored them in a big freezer over at Gary’s store. Folks were calling relatives to make certain they were still coming, and Sheila sat in the Dog and took down the names of those expected so she’d know how many to plan for. Diane finally made peace with her children, and she was ecstatic that they were coming to town for the holiday.
And then, just as the rec reopened and the bitter taste of the riot faded, life in Bernadine’s town went off the rails again.
It began with two visitors to Bernadine’s office. One was a scruffy and decidedly smelly young man with badly done tats up and down his arms named Tommy Stewart. She’d never met him before. The man accompanying him was dressed for business—lawyer business, as it turned out.
He stepped to her and stuck out his hand. “Name’s Steve Tuller. Pleased to meet you, Ms. Brown.”
“Same here. What can I do for you, Mr. Tuller?”
“May I sit?”
“Of course.”
She didn’t like the catbird gleam in Stewart’s eyes at all.
“My client was in your grocery store yesterday, and he purchased one of the prewrapped sandwiches from the deli.”
Her eye swung to the man in question. Putting two and two together, she already knew what was coming. “And he found—what?”
Tuller seemed a bit taken aback, but she didn’t say anything more, so he cleared his throat and continued. “He found a cockroach in the sandwich.”
Stewart leaned in. “And I’m sure you don’t want this news to get out—not this close to Thanksgiving. Who’s going to patronize a store that uses cockroaches as deli meat?”
Tuller cleared his throat. “My client is asking for twenty-five thousand dollars.”
“Oh, is that all?” she asked sarcastically.
“She told me you wouldn’t blink,” Stewart crowed. “Said you probably carry that much around in your purse.” Then, as if having heard himself, he blanched and shut up.
Tuller stared, shocked. “What? Who said that?”
Stewart hastily shook his head. “Nobody told me nothing. I made it up.” He began taking furtive looks at the door, as if contemplating bolting.
“Who put you up to this, Mr. Stewart?” Bernadine asked calmly. She had a pretty good idea, but she needed it confirmed.
“I want to talk to my lawyer.”
Tuller snapped, “You have a lawyer. Me!”
He slumped in his seat and mumbled something that sounded like “She said this would be easy.”
“Mr. Stewart, do you know Astrid Wiggins?” Bernadine asked.
His eyes went wide. He started to twitch, then forced himself to sit still. “No. Never heard of nobody with that name.”
She sat back, crossed her arms, and met the narrowed eyes of Tuller, who asked her, “You think Mrs. Wiggins put him up to this?”
“You’re his lawyer. Ask him.”
“Well, Mr. Stewart?”
“I found a roach in my sandwich from her store,” he declared, pointing at Bernadine. “And I want to be compensated for my pain and suffering.”
“And if I find out this is all a scam,” she countered, “I’m going to sue you.”
His eyes went big, and he stood. “I gotta go. My boss at the gas station said if I’m late one more time, he’d fire me.” That said, he ran out of the office.
Tuller looked embarrassed and angry. “I hope you’ll accept my apology for taking up your time with this nonsense. I had no idea. We’re a top-flight firm, and we’d never be associated with something this rancid.”
“Apology accepted. Did he contact you directly, or did someone call on his behalf?”
“I can’t divulge that, but rest assured no one from my firm will bother you again.” He handed her his card. The firm’s name—Tully, Green, and Kent—was printed tastefully across the top.
“Thanks for your time, Ms. Brown, again. My apologies.”
“No problem. Have a good day.”
Furious over the extortion attempt and convinced this was more of Astrid’s antics, Bernadine picked up the phone to call Gary, but a call came in before she could hit him up on her speed dial, his name on the caller ID. Before she could say hello, he said in a rush, “You need to get over here. Health Department’s shut us down. The store’s infested with cockroaches!”
She bit back an expletive and exhaled an angry sigh. “Okay. Be right there.” She hit the intercom, told Lily to grab her coat, and they left for the store.
Inside, Gary had all the employees gathered around him. He was saying, “I’ll let you know when we can reopen. Sorry this had to happen so close to the holiday.”
“Will we get paid while during the shutdown?” Gemma Dahl asked.
Seeing Bernadine, Gary looked to her for the answer. She nodded affirmatively.
Everyone seemed to relax after that. He offered a few last words and sent his staff home.
The first thing he said to Bernadine was, “Health Department guy is still here. Roaches are everywhere. Once we get rid of the infestation, then we have to get the place professionally cleaned from top to bottom and dump all the food—including the canned goods.”
Lily asked, “Why the canned stuff, too?”
“Roaches lay eggs that could be on the tops of the cans. People open the cans—”
Bernadine waved away the res
t of the disgusting image. “Okay. How much longer will the Health Department be here?”
A male voice behind her said, “We’re done.”
He introduced himself and then gave them the bad news. “You have a real problem here, folks. You got roaches everywhere—deli, bakery, even the meat coolers. And with all the steps the state mandates to bring it up to code, you’re probably looking at ten days before you can open again.”
As if to emphasize the severity of what they were up against, a cockroach skittered across the floor. Gary stomped on it.
Bernadine blew out a breath.
The inspector shook his head. “I’ve given Mr. Clark the names of a couple of local fumigators and cleaning agencies. Sorry to do this. I know you all just opened, but I have to shut you down.”
“We understand,” Bernadine said. “Thanks for your time.”
After he departed, she told Gary, “Go ahead and call the fumigators. I’ll call Barrett and have him pull the videos from the surveillance cameras for the past few days.”
Gary stepped on another of the insects and said angrily, “These things had to have been brought in, Bernadine.”
“I agree, and I’m sure the cameras will let us know who ’s responsible.”
“And when we find out, they’d better leave town,” Lily said.
That evening, Bernadine called an emergency town meeting for the adults. Everyone knew about the infestation at the store, and they were pretty angry.
“All Gary’s hard work down the drain,” Genevieve said furiously. “Do we know who did this?”
Bernadine said, “Yes. Let Barrett finish setting up the video first.”
Once he was done, they dimmed the lights and fed the surveillance video through one of the big-screen monitors.
“One of the reasons I went with this camera system was because of the way it’s camouflaged,” Barrett said. “If the bad guys think there are no cameras, then we can catch them doing this . . .”
And on the screen was Tommy Stewart, pushing a grocery cart. It was early in the morning, and there were not many people inside the store. He stopped at the deli, picked out one of the prewrapped sandwiches, and placed it in his cart. From there, he and his cart meandered their way to the door of the men’s bathroom. He glanced around as if to see who might be near. Seeing no one, he and his sandwich slipped inside. Because there were no cameras in the restroom, it was impossible to see what he might be up to. A short time later he exited.
Jack asked, “Who takes a sandwich into the restroom?”
“Someone who’s planning to sue us for having cockroaches in that sandwich.”
“What?” Reverend Paula asked.
She gave them a quick rundown on her meeting that morning with him and his lawyer, and who she believed was the brains behind Stewart’s stupidity.
“Wow,” Clay exclaimed. “So she’s an extortionist now, too.”
As the video continued to play, Stewart placed the sandwich back in the cart and moved on.
“Now watch closely,” Barrett encouraged.
Stewart was alone in the aisle that held the bread, chips, and cookies. He looked around cautiously, then withdrew a midsize manila envelope from inside his coat. He took another quick glance at his surroundings, then up at the ceiling.
Barrett said, “Making sure he’s not on camera.”
“Idiot,” Trent declared disgustedly.
The envelope was quickly opened, and the contents—dozens of cockroaches—emptied onto the floor and the shelves holding the food.
Cries of outrage and disgust filled the room.
They all watched as he emptied the contents of three other envelopes in various aisles around the store before pushing his cart nonchalantly to the cashier stations. He was next seen trying to hit on Gemma, but she wasn’t buying. She rang up the few items on the belt and sent him on his way. The last shots were taken by the parking lot cameras. They showed him smiling proudly as he walked to his old Ford and drove from sight.
Everyone began talking at once.
“Where’d he get that many roaches?” Lily wanted to know.
“Probably from the Franklin feed store,” Trent told her. “They sell them to people who own birds and reptiles.”
“Gary said all our turkeys are being thrown out,” said Rocky, “so I’ve no idea what we’ll be eating for Thanksgiving.”
“Oh, dear,” Sheila cried.
Gary added, “I’ve called suppliers from here to Topeka and back, trying to get more, but all their turkeys have been promised to other customers, so looks like we’re out of luck. Sorry, everyone.”
Tamar said, “Not your fault. I’ll take care of the turkeys. It’ll take more than cockroaches to spoil our Thanksgiving.”
“Are you sure?” Bernadine asked. “We could maybe fly some in from somewhere.”
“No. I have it covered,” Tamar assured her.
“Too bad it wasn’t Astrid on the video. Then maybe we could press charges and put an end to her madness once and for all.”
Lily said, “She’ll get hers. Karma’s only a bitch if you are, and right now, Astrid is in the crosshairs.”
“I hope so. I hate that she’s sitting over in Franklin, gloating and toasting the closing of our store.”
Everyone else did, too. Astrid 2, Henry Adams 0.
On her way back to the Power Plant, Bernadine got a text from Roni, informing her that the DNA test results were back. The celebrated rocker Conor Sullivan was indeed Zoey’s father. Bernadine was glad to finally have something to smile about.
After dinner, Roni and Reg decided to break the news to Zoey about the test. Cass was in the guest room, so they’d have privacy. She’d rejoin them when the time came to hook up with Conor and their mother on Skype.
Roni said, “We need to talk to you about something, Zoey.”
She looked away from the Nascar DVD on the living room’s big flat-screen and into their faces. “Am I in trouble?”
“No,” Reg reassured her. “Not even a little bit.”
She exhaled audibly. “Good.”
They sat down.
Reggie took the lead. “Remember the test we had you do with the cheek cells a few weeks back?”
“Yes.”
“Well, we lied about what it is was for. It wasn’t for your cousins, but for a paternity test.”
Confusion knitted her brows. “Like the ones rappers have to take for their baby mamas?”
Roni chuckled, and Reg nodded. “Someone was claiming to be your bio dad, and if it turned out not to be true, we didn’t want you to be hurt.”
Zoe’s eyes widened. “Was he telling the truth? Who is he?”
“He was telling the truth. It’s Cass’s brother, Conor.”
Zoey’s hands flew to her mouth, and tears filled her eyes. “For real? He’s my dad?”
They nodded.
“Oh god,” she whispered.
“Is that okay?” Roni asked. “If you don’t want to be part of their family—”
“No. I do. I do.” Then she paused. “I don’t have to go and live with him, do I?”
They laughed. “No.”
“Good, because I don’t want to leave you guys.”
Tears filled Roni’s eyes. “That’s nice to hear.”
“As Amari says, let’s not get this twisted. So, that makes Cass my aunt?”
“Yep.”
“Oh, wow! Now, that’s sick. Crystal is going to be so jealous.”
“And,” Reggie added, “you have four little sisters.”
“Get out!” Her jaw dropped.
“True,” Roni said, tickled by the utter awe on her daughter’s face.
“I’m the oldest? What’re their names? Do they live in Ireland, too?”
“How about we have Cass come in and get your dad on Skype, so they can fill you in on everything you want to know.”
Tears ran down Zoey’s cheeks again. “I thought nasty Aunt Yvette and her kids were my only other famil
y outside of yours.”
“Nope. You have lots of other people to love now.”
She came over and gave Reg a big long hug and a kiss on the cheek, and did the same with Roni. “Thank you for finding my dad.”
“You’re welcome, but thank Cass. She was the one who figured it all out.”
“Can I go get her now?”
“Go right ahead.”
She took off running. “Auntie Cass!”
Roni looked at Reg. “It worked out.”
“Indeed it did.”
They shared a hug and a kiss and left the living room to join Cass and Zoey.
Over at Bernadine’s, the doorbell sounded. When she answered it, she was surprised to find Austin Wiggins and a tall, beautiful young blonde standing on the porch under the light. Was this his daughter?
“Hi, Ms. Brown. Hate to bother you, but can we come in for a sec?”
She hesitated, wondering if Astrid was somehow involved in the visit, but then stepped back to let them enter.
As she closed the door, Wiggins said, “I just wanted to stop by before I leave town. This is Lindy. Lindy, this is Ms. Bernadine Brown.”
“Pleased to meet you, Ms. Brown,” the blonde said in her baby-doll voice.
“Same here, Lindy.”
“I’ve filed for divorce. Lindy and I are on our way to Vegas. We’ll get married as soon as I’m free.”
Bernadine picked her jaw up off the floor. “Congratulations. I hope you’ll be very happy.”
Lindy volunteered the answer to the question burning inside like a lit match.
“Wiggy and I met a little over a year ago. I was runner-up in the Ms. Heifer contest at the county fair, and he was one of the judges.”
“You were robbed. You should’ve won.”
Lindy giggled and kissed his cheek. “Isn’t he sweet?”
The encounter was so bizarre, Bernadine didn’t know what to say, so she settled for smiling.
Wiggins said, “I just wanted to stop in and say good-bye and apologize for the hell Astrid’s been causing. When she told me I couldn’t run for reelection, that was it.”
“I see.”
“Well, guess we’ll be going. Make sure you see the Franklin paper Thanksgiving morning.”
“Astrid’s going to be so surprised,” Lindy said.