The Cradle Robber by E. Joan Sims

Author:E. Joan Sims
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: mystery, sleuth, cozy, detective, murder
Publisher: Wildside Press
Published: 2012-01-30T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-three

Mother was right as usual—Aggie was whining for a romp in the orchard. I walked with her down through the sad and sorry sight of the stumps of the fruit trees that had brought such pleasure into the lives of so many Sterlings over the years. It was still hard for me to look at the devastation the tornado had wrought without crying. And I was worried about Cassie. There had been no new phone calls from her.

My daughter and I were at a new place in our lives—that juncture when I have to prepare to say goodbye. These are the years when she will start a career, and then a family that I will see only at holiday time. I’ll be the grandmother in the “Over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house we go,” song. I’ll hug them briefly, then have to let them go again. They’ll love me—a lot, I hope, because I plan to be the world’s greatest grandmother—but it will never be the same. I’ll miss that “down the hall in the next room” feeling of closeness I have now. I’ll miss the minutia of everyday life with my daughter. I’ll be a red ring around a certain date on the calendar in her kitchen. She’ll look forward to coming home, then be happy to return to her own house to unpack and get back to her life once more. I’ll be the one waiting and dreaming for the next circled date to come around.

And right now I had no choice but to let her handle things her own way. She’d told Mother that quite clearly. I could worry all I wanted—gnash my teeth to splinters, but I had to wait until I was summoned.

I sat on the stump of a chestnut tree and cried my heart out.

Aggie is not good for much, but she is sweet when you’re blue. Since I don’t get the blues that often, the dog is useless—if not downright dangerous most of the time; but when I’m sad, she seems to sense it and tries to comfort me.

She nuzzled her wet little black nose up under my hair and licked away the tears on my chin. I laughed, wiped away doggie spit, and playfully ruffled the new growth of feathery fur on her chest. She growled immediately and danced away after a bumblebee.

I walked slowly back to the house, admiring Billy’s brickwork on the repaired chimneys and the new shingles on the roof. At least, I thought, Grandmother’s house will be looking good.

Aggie hopped up on my bed and plopped on her/my pillow for another few hours of her perpetual doggie nap while I went to freshen up a bit before my drive down to Cloudt’s. Even after my nap in Horatio’s car I was still tired. It had been a long and eventful day and I was sorry I offered to get dinner. I could very easily have forgone the barbeque and crawled up next to Aggie to gather some more shut eye.

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