Thirty-Four and a Half Predicaments
Page 57

“We could only speculate. I remember we’d gotten a light snowfall and her tiny baby was bundled up in a pink bunting outfit. I told Dora she couldn’t see Mr. Buchanan, but she raised a stink, shouting his name until he opened his door. I tell you, he looked pale as a ghost when his eyes landed on the baby. Then he took her into his office and shut the door. They were in there for a good ten minutes, and when the door opened, Dora was crying and saying, ‘What about our baby, Henry?’ She ran out with the infant and Mr. Buchanan told me to hold his calls. He sat in his office the rest of the afternoon with the door closed. Miss Ima Jean came in the next day, fit to be tied, and fired the girl who did the filing.”
“Why?” Neely Kate asked.
“Because she was young and pretty. Like Dora. We figured word got back to her that Mr. Buchanan had carried on an affair with his bookkeeper and fathered her baby.”
I felt like I was gonna be sick, but Neely Kate grabbed my hand under the table and held tight. Jessica noticed my reaction and looked like she wanted to bolt from the restaurant.
Gloria continued, too involved in the story to take much notice of how we were reacting to it. “I’d just married Jessica’s father a few months earlier.” She fluffed her hair with her hand. “Otherwise I would have been tossed out on my keister too.”
Looking at her now, I wasn’t so sure about that.
“So Dora didn’t come back after that?” Neely Kate asked.
“Shoot no. The factory burned down three days later, and then none of us worked there. Henry decided not to reopen. Dora died in a car accident a week later and Henry hung himself a few days after that. We figured he realized he loved her and felt guilty about turning her away.”
I tried my best to keep my measly breakfast down, but it was all too much. “Excuse me,” I mumbled as I stood, my chair scraping the floor with a loud screech. I ran to the bathroom and locked the door behind me, losing what little I’d eaten in the toilet. Tears burned my eyes, but I fought them back. Mason had warned me that finding out about Dora might destroy my fantasies of her. I just hadn’t expected to hear whispers about anything of this magnitude. Did he know this part? Had he been trying to spare me the seedy underbelly of the past until he could gather all the facts?
A few minutes later I heard a knock on the door and Neely Kate’s voice. “Rose? Are you okay?”
I wiped my tears and took a deep breath. Neely Kate was going through something ten times worse than me, and here I was hiding in the bathroom like a baby. Besides, all of this had happened twenty-five years ago to people I didn’t even know. Water under the bridge. I opened the door and forced a smile. “I’m fine.”
She studied me with a frown. “You don’t look fine.”
“It was just a shock is all.” My smile widened. “I’m good now.”
Neely Kate didn’t look convinced, but she glanced back out into the dining area. “Jessica and her mother left. Gloria said she needed to get to her dentist appointment. She talked so cotton pickin’ long, she almost missed it.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“I’ve already paid for breakfast. Let’s go over to the office and figure out what to do next.”
I took another deep breath and pushed it out. “Okay.”
We walked across the street, both of us silent. What Gloria had said was tumbling around in my head and sending me into a panic. What if Daddy wasn’t my father after all? Then Violet and I weren’t even half-sisters. Aunt Bessie and Uncle Earl wouldn’t be related to me. It would mean I was truly an orphan.
Neely Kate unlocked the door and led the way into the office. Bruce Wayne had already headed over to the nursery. He’d left a note saying he had to come back later for some paperwork and would take Muffy to the nursery if I didn’t have plans for her. I fought my growing anxiety and texted him to say it was fine. As Muffy jumped up on my legs with excitement, I couldn’t help thinking he’d be much better company for her than I would be today. “My daddy’s not my father.”
“Now Rose,” Neely Kate said in a firm voice as she unbuttoned her coat. “Don’t freak out. Gloria Gunner is the biggest gossip I’ve ever encountered and that’s sayin’ something. Besides, your daddy worked at the factory too.”
I nodded. “Yeah. You’re right.”
She pointed to the back table. “Sit.”
I did as she said, unfastening my coat on autopilot.
“Get out your notebook and let’s sort through what she just said.”
“Good idea.” I dug out the notebook and journal, then set them on the table. Muffy put her front paws on my legs, desperate for attention, so I absently rubbed her head.
A trill erupted from the brown messenger bag Neely Kate was using as a purse today. She groaned and pulled out her walkie-talkie, then gave me an ornery look as she pressed the button. “Yes, White Gopher?”
“That’s White Tiger. Over,” Miss Mildred boomed. “Have you talked to the suspect?”
“You mean Dick Cumberband?” Neely Kate winked and covered her mouth as her shoulders shook with silent laughter.
“It’s Dirk Picklebie.” Miss Mildred’s voice screeched over the two-way radio. “And don’t be saying his name over the air. Over.”
Neely Kate rolled her eyes and pushed her button. “We were talking to Gloria Gunner. Dirk McGuirk is next on our list.” Then, as an afterthought, she added, “Over.”