Annie's Rainbow - Fern Michaels [17]
“It’s too late to cry,” Norma said.
“When did Grace die, Mom?”
“A long time ago. Maybe it was yesterday. Sometimes I can’t remember. Don’t tell anyone.”
Annie felt light-headed. “I won’t tell anyone about Grace if you don’t tell anyone I took the money.”
Norma’s head bobbed up and down. “That sounds fine to me. Should we shake hands?”
“Why the hell not,” Annie muttered as she extended her hand. Norma pumped it vigorously. “How did Grace die, Mom?”
“They punished her and she died. Billie said we have to mind our p’s and q’s or the same thing will happen to us. I mind my p’s and q’s,” Norma said primly.
Annie turned around and took a deep breath. “I don’t think we should talk about this anymore. Let’s talk about something nice.” She made a mental note to find out who Billie was.
“This certainly is the long way home. Did you take a wrong turn, young lady?”
“More than one. Why don’t you take a nap on that nice pillow. I’ll wake you when we get home. Mom, do you remember that frilly flowered dress, the one with the purple and pink flowers? You had a sun hat with a big purple ribbon on it that you used to wear in the garden.”
“I told you, young woman, they steal all my things.”
“I’m going to buy you one just like it,” Annie said. “No one is ever going to steal your things again. I promise.”
When Annie looked in the rearview mirror she saw that her mother was sound asleep. “Goddamm it, I will not cry. I absolutely will not cry. I am so sorry, Mom. I did the best I could. Even Tom did the best he could at the time. I thought we were on top of things. I really did. From now on you are going to be safe and happy. I don’t care what that makes me.” To make her point, Annie leaned her head out the window and shouted at the top of her lungs, “Do you hear me? I don’t give a good goddamn what that makes me. I don’t care if I go to jail. I don’t care if I fry in hell. So there, damn it!”
Norma Clark slept deeply and soundly during her daughter’s tirade.
Annie woke while it was still dark outside. It was her day to open the shop for the early-morning coffee trade. She was bone tired, but, as she put it, it was a good kind of tired. Elmo had arranged for Norma to be looked after by two women until there was an opening at the Westbury Center. He had been delighted when he described the facility, saying each resident had his or her own apartment with a small walled garden. Security, he went on to say, was high-tech with a twenty-four-hour monitoring system. The part he liked best, he said, was that patients with Norma’s condition wore a decorative bracelet that allowed the orderlies to know where they were at all times. The grounds contained a pool, a hot tub, a small petting zoo, a tennis court, as well as a basketball court. A community room with a fully stocked library, a sixty-inch television, and a stereo system rounded out the amenities. The bottom line, Elmo said, was, “It’s not as expensive as you might think. With Norma’s social security and the part of your father’s pension that reverted to her, you and Tom only have to pay two thousand dollars a month. That’s just six hundred more than what you were paying in Raleigh. With things going the way they are, I think you can handle it, Annie.”
“I can’t count on Tom, Elmo. Tom said Mona refuses to pay another nickel. He’s got three kids, and he’s already holding down a part-time job at night. For now, I have to pay the whole thing.”
“You’ve made a pretty penny since opening day. This is just a guess on my part, but I think you’re going to have to hire a few part-timers. The two nights we stayed open till nine were very profitable. However, I’m the first to admit that five in the morning till ten at night isn’t a pace anybody can keep up with. When you own your own business, you’re married to it. I’m the living proof. When you’re dealing with a cash business, you need honest people working for you. Like you and Jane when you worked for me. I