Weeping Willows

Chapter 24

Things You Never Knew

                Before Elizabeth could reach the nurse, Ryan stopped her.  Leaning in slightly so he could talk low enough no one else could hear.

                “There was an emergency with another resident that the nurses got pulled away to attend to.  Margaret came in after she knew the coast was clear.  It’s not the first time she’s taken advantage like that.”

                Elizabeth mulled his words over but was only passively mollified.  She nodded her head to let him know she would let it go.  He smiled lightly at her but was still on guard just in case.  Relenting Elizabeth turned her attention back to the class.

                “So, you and Ryan have antiques to look at?”  Millie inquired lightly.

                “Grandma.”  Ryan sighed in exasperation thinking she was going to try and match-make again.  She waved her hand at him in slight agitation.

                “This has nothing to do with what you’re thinking young man, so you hush.  I was just curious at what Elizabeth was talking about.”  There were quiet grumbles of agreement from the rest of them and Ryan threw his hands up knowing he was no match for the curious minds of the seniors.

                “I was going through the attic of the house and it was loaded with stuff that was left behind.  I’ve barely gone through anything yet, but I’m really excited to get started.”

                “What have you found so far?”  Mabel asked her eyes on the project in front of her but clearly the old woman’s attention had been captured.  The way she had asked it though made Elizabeth wonder what she was getting at.

                “So far I’ve found some art supplies, some old boxes of clothing that I think belonged to said artist, and William Bennett’s old military trunk.”

                “I don’t recall the family having any artists in it.”  Millie stated stopping her painting to give it some thought.  Her brow wrinkled in concentration as confusion colored her eyes.

                “Could someone else have lived in the house after the Bennett’s that it could be from?”  Ryan inquired trying to help jog his grandmother’s memory.  The old woman shook her head, but it was Mabel that answered.

                “No one has lived in that house since the family lived there.  As far as I know it was still owned by the descendants and they hadn’t ever wanted to sell it before even though none of them wanted to live in it either.”

                “I wonder what changed that made them sell now.”  Fanny pondered.  “And selling it while the family heirlooms were still there too.”  Elizabeth and Ryan looked at each other their curiosity now just as peaked as the elderly student’s.

                “Who sold you the house Lizzy?”  Ryan asked.

                “It wasn’t a private seller; I went through a reality company.  The only person I had any contact with was the agent in charge of the property.”

                “Curiouser and curiouser.”  Mabel uttered looking at Elizabeth with a sly sideways glance before going back to her project.  Her words making everyone pause and look at her funny even Eddie.  Elizabeth could have sworn she was hiding something, but she doubted Mabel was going to tell them anymore.  She was now humming happily, painting away on her piece with bright colors as if the conversation had never happened at all.

                “Mabel?”  Eddie quietly called to her across the table causing the old woman to look up at him and smile serenely.

                “Was there something you needed Eddie.”  Blowing out a large sigh he shook his head in response.  He glanced around at everyone and shrugged his shoulders as Mabel went back to working away.  At this everyone moved their attention else where all looking a bit morose.

                “Mabel has Alzheimer’s dear.  Sometimes she has moments of absolute clarity and other times she can’t remember something from a few minutes ago.”  Millie explained causing sadness to settle around Elizabeth’s heart.

                “Her clear moments seem to be coming less and less these days too.”  Kenneth interjected as he sadly watched Mabel working away blissfully unaware of anything that had just transpired.

                “That’s probably a good thing after the life she had.”  Alice added into the conversation.  Interest peaked, Elizabeth couldn’t help asking.

                “Why is that?”

                “Her husband was a mean one.”  Millie groused in anger startling both Ryan and Elizabeth with the sudden mood change.

                “He used to hit her.”  Kenneth glared at the table as he said it.  Alice sighed sadly turning in her seat to join in.

                “You have to understand it was a different time back then.  It wasn’t that things like abuse didn’t happen, but it wasn’t talked about like it is today.  He didn’t hit her often, not that that made it okay when he did.  But he did completely control her life.  She wasn’t allowed to have people in the house when he wasn’t home, and she couldn’t go anywhere without him.”

                “She was a prisoner on that property, but she never saw it that way.  She loved him too much.”  Fanny added in having come over to join in as well.

                “Remember her gardens?”  Millie asked making the small group nod and smile wistfully.  “Since she couldn’t do anything else Mabel took up gardening.  The whole property was like some kind of fairy wonderland.  It was a sight to see.” 

                “Is he here living with her?”  Elizabeth asked hating to say the words in case the answer was yes. 

                “He passed away when he was 68 years old, I think it was.  Heart attack, it was sudden and had caused so much damage they couldn’t save him.”  Alice told her.

                “Couldn’t have happened to a better person.”  Kenneth grumbled his fists clenched in anger.  Millie reached a frail hand out and placed it upon one of his clenched fists.  On the other side Fanny did the same.

                “While no one will dispute that since we all met Joseph ourselves, his passing was incredibly inconvenient for her.  He had controlled all their finances, so when he passed Mabel had no idea how to do anything.  All she had ever been allowed to do was cook, clean, and garden.”  Alice sighed lost in the memories of that time.

                “I would have never guessed.  Mabel seems so content.”  Elizabeth pointed out watching the woman in question.

                “It’s because she doesn’t remember the bad times hon.  Her memories of that scum are of the charismatic young man she fell in love with once.”  Fanny smiled sadly at her while squeezing her shoulder in comfort before she went back to her table.  They all turned back to their painting the topic clearly done for now.

                Elizabeth stood a bit longer watching Mabel a few tables away.  She was dressed just as brightly today as she had been last week.  She had on a lavender sweater with large bobbles sewn along the neckline catching glints of light making them sparkle.  Her pants were peach and yellow pinstriped corduroy.  Today she had on ballet flats made with silver metallic thread that sparkled just as much as her top did.  Every now and again Mabel would stop painting to look at the flowers outside.  Elizabeth wondered if they reminded her of the gardens she used to have once.  Her heart went out to the older woman unable to match the battered victim she once was to the brightly dressed happy vision that sat at the table with Eddie.  Millie must have been watching Elizabeth get lost in thought before she pulled her back.

                “When are the two of you going to start working on the antiques?”  She asked nonchalantly recapturing her attention.  Elizabeth giggled quietly when Ryan let out a light groan and rolled his eyes at Millie’s not so subtle tact.

                “It won’t just be Ryan and me but January too.”  Elizabeth pointed out making Ryan snicker at Millie’s slight pout at having her schemes dashed.

                “I like that girl.  We haven’t seen much of her lately though.”  Kenneth stated causing Millie’s scowl to be turned on him.

                “She’s been incredibly busy working on a few projects lately.”  Ryan offered as an excuse.

                “More than likely she took on a bunch of work to avoid Charles here.”  Fanny added from across the room making her table mate bellyache in protest.

                “Maybe I’ll talk to her about a joint project we could do for a class in the future.  We’ll have to see what we can come up with.”  Elizabeth offered making a mental note to talk Jan into it so that her elderly fan club could see her.  Excited chatter filled the room as she walked around offering input on the projects as she went.  From the response her suggestion garnered she would definitely have to get Jan up to the center.  They all clearly missed seeing her.

                Class continued on pleasantly today as the sister’s seemed somewhat subdued from any antics.  That or they were plotting something and if that was the case she was slightly scared to know.  As she predicted once everyone got into a groove with their work the conversations swung to the gossip about town yet again.  She shook her head trying not to listen to what they were saying.  Elizabeth never liked participating in such activities before and tried not to do it.  Of course, there were times where she had with her friends in the past, but it was more for the entertainment of each outlandish tale they had heard then actually believing in or trying to get the rest of them to believe what was said.  Actually, most of the gossip Elizabeth and her friends had talked about was the rumors they had heard about each other. 

                Most of those consisted of Lauren’s love life but there were the ones about Nell’s older boys and what trouble they had caused.  Nell usually used those to confront the boys in a vague enough way they admitted to all kinds of things.  There were the rumors about Courtney the shut in, which she really wasn’t.  There were even outlandish rumors about Elizabeth’s family.  Since her father was once a CEO of a major corporation that led the family to be rather well-off, vicious gossip circled around about each of them.  One’s like the typical business underhandedness, her love life, and her brother David’s marriage.  There was even one going around about her brother having a family.  That one Elizabeth found the most absurd rumor yet and of course they hadn’t told his wife.  He had loved Nicole dearly and they had even been talking about having children.  After being on the wrong end of hurtful falsehoods that ran rampant, she refused to spread tales she heard about others.

                Elizabeth shook her head at the rumors flowing freely about the room now.  None of them were malicious by nature but more like entertainment news on the people of Crystal Springs.  If it was a way for them to amuse themselves and feel like they were still actively a part of the community.  Who was she to ruin their fun?  She also had to admit that the rumors about Ryan that they were openly asking him about were comical.  Elizabeth was trying to hide her snicker as he uncomfortably stammered his way through the answers while turning five shades of red.  It definitely made her curious as to what were the truths behind some of the more colorful ones they were asking about.  Some of the elderly, Charlie mostly, were asking him pointed questions about previous girlfriends then turning to gauge Elizabeth’s reaction to them.  She was no amateur in schooling her face and refused to give the reactions he was looking for.

                Towards the end of class Elizabeth went around to gather the pieces back up while Ryan jumped up to help by distributing cleaning cloths for each person to clean their hands off.  He was so quick to do anything else besides answer Charlie’s inquires that it didn’t make just her laugh.  His playful glare was only directed at her however making Elizabeth laugh louder.  As retribution Ryan followed her from table to table picking up supplies while not so subtly flirting with her.  He even went so far as to affectionately touch her, nothing inappropriate of course, but it was enough to cause an elderly riot as the chiding turned in her direction.  Millie proudly beamed at the two of them which was what finally made Elizabeth blush like a tomato.

                As each person passed her, they made sure to add in a parting remark.  It was beginning to feel a lot like the childhood rhyme your friends would tease you with, k-i-s-s-i-n-g, type of thing.  Instead of chastising them for it she let them have their fun smiling sweetly and waving bye to each one.  Mabel however stopped in front of her gaining Elizabeth’s full attention.  She frowned slightly at the sad atmosphere that had come over the elder woman.

                “Just be careful who you give your heart to Lizzy.”  With a wane smile Mabel reached out to her and squeezed her hand before walking off leaving a very stunned and confused Elizabeth in her wake.  Was it possible Mabel remembered more then she was letting on to the others or could her warning mean something else entirely.  Elizabeth wasn’t quite sure.  She pondered the conundrum as she watched Ryan finish up his tasks.  Millie waited patiently for him at the table waving Kenneth on without her content to wait for her grandson.  Mabel’s warning swirled through Elizabeth’s thoughts surely the words hadn’t been to warn her about Ryan.  So far, he seemed like a pretty stand up guy and everyone who knew him had nothing but glowing things to say about him.    Her gazed passed by him landing on the sister’s table.  Bertha had left but Agnes was sitting there patiently waiting for Elizabeth.  Thoughts of Mabel still occupied her mind as she approached the table.  If Mabel hadn’t meant Ryan, then who were her words a warning against?  Agnes motioned for Elizabeth to take the seat beside her.  Blowing out a steadying breath she turned her attention to the other woman.  One problem at a time.  She chided herself as she turned to talk with Agnes.