Page 79 of The Party Line

“She finally said the words that let him go in peace. I didn’t ask if she meant it or if she was just too tired to argue anymore. His last words were ‘Davis, I am so sorry I didn’t do the right thing by you.’ Then he was gone.”

“Is that the second secret? That she forgave her father?” I asked.

“No, ma’am. The second one is that last year, the doctor told her she had congestive heart failure and spots on her lungs that should bebiopsied for cancer. She told him no on the biopsy thing and that she was too danged old for any of that chemo crap. She and I had a good year together knowing that it was our last one.”

“Hey, now, how did she know that?” I argued.

“No one could ever tell Gracie Evans that she would finish this life on anyone’s terms but her own or that anyone else could set her expiration date. We decided on a time, and I tried to back out, but she wouldn’t have none of it. The cough had gotten worse, and she was in pain. Going up the stairs took three or four tries, and she would be exhausted at the top.” Now tears were rolling down his thin cheeks, settling in the deep wrinkles.

We both simply sat there for a few minutes. I was sure I knew what was coming next, but I didn’t want to hear it. The cardinal left his perch on the tree limb and flitted down the cemetery a ways until it came to rest on Davis’s tombstone.

“I guess that’s my second sign,” Jasper finally said. “So, to get to the end of this story, the date came that she had marked on her calendar. She had the pills ready, and all I had to do was crawl up in the bed with her and hold her until she went to sleep. She warned me that if I called 911 or Sarah before she quit breathing that she wouldn’t let Saint Peter open heaven’s gates for me. She told me she loved me and that I’d been the best friend a woman could ever want, and that she was going home to be with Davis. Her last words were ‘I loved him so much.’ And then she went to sleep. I held her until she stopped breathing. It was so peaceful, sitting there in her bedroom with her in my arms. I was with her when her dad died, and her passing was nothing like when we watched Clarence take his last breath.”

“Then you called 911 and Mama?” I sobbed.

He handed me the blue bandanna from his pocket. “That’s right, and if a doctor tells me that I’ve got maybe a year or two to live if I don’t get treatment, I will be doing the same thing she did. Promise me you’ll be the one who sits by my side until my soul has gone to be with Gracie and Davis.”

“I promise,” I whispered and hoped that I wouldn’t have to make good on it for a long time.

“Good, and now would you look at that? The cardinal has flown away. Gracie is at peace at last. Help me up, Lila. It’s time for us to go get our ice cream.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Iwas glad that the house was empty when I got home that evening. I really, really liked Connor. Maybe I was even falling in love with him. And Gina Lou had fast become a good friend. Still, I needed time to process what Jasper had told me. I went from room to room and mourned Aunt Gracie like I had not done at her funeral, or even since. I cried for the love she never had, for the way she must have felt when she found out Davis was her brother. But most of all I wept for the guilt she would have experienced knowing that she had been the princess and he was treated like a stable hand. He had lived in a tiny house in the backyard, and she’d had all the luxuries that money could buy.

I made my way up to her bedroom, shoved the panties off onto the floor, and stretched out on her bed. She hadn’t left all those little clues for me, but for herself in case she ever got dementia. The diary had been shoved into a drawer to rest beneath her underwear—panties that her mother had forbidden her to wear—so that she didn’t have to look at it and remember that horrible day when she lost respect for her father and also lost the love of her life at the same time. I wondered why it hadn’t been relegated to the shoebox with the dried roses and wine bottle, but I was sure she had her reasons.

I knew the big secret now, and I had vowed that I would never tell anyone, not even Connor. When Jasper had joined his precious Gracie and good friend Davis in eternity, the secret would be safe with me. I focused on the pink floral wallpaper and muttered, “But why did youeven want him to tell me? Why not my mother? That would have put her mind at ease about ghosts in the house.”

“Lila, are you there?” Mama’s voice echoed off the walls of the room. “Answer me. Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” I whispered. Maybe there were ghosts in the house after all. If Mama could answer my questions from a thousand miles away, then there had to be something strange going on.

“Your voice sounds muffled!” Mama yelled.

That’s when I realized I had butt-dialed my mother on my cell phone. I fished it out of my pocket and took it off speaker mode. “Is that better?”

“Yes, I was about to call the Poteet sheriff and send them out to Ditto for a wellness call.” Her tone sounded frantic. “All kinds of things shot through my mind. I heard you talking about ghosts, and a shiver went down my back.”

“I didn’t mean to call you. My phone was in the pocket of my skirt, and I must’ve rolled over on it and hit redial,” I told her.

“Where are you right now, this minute?” she demanded.

“I’m at home, in Aunt Gracie’s room.” I hopped off the bed and picked up all her underwear. “I’m doing a little straightening up in here and got tired, so I stretched out on her bed for a few minutes. Where are you?”

“We’re still in Nashville.” Mama’s tone told me she was excited. “We’re going to the Belle Meade Plantation today—that shows up in so many of the stories I’ve read. Did you and Jasper go to church this morning?”

“Yes, and then we went to Annie’s—I mean ... the Ambrosia, for lunch. Jasper declares it’s a one-and-done experience. I agree with him. The whole menu is changed, and they serve burgers on cold buns.”

Mama snorted with laughter. “I bet that went over like a lead balloon.”

“Yep, it did for Jasper,” I agreed and laughed with her.

“Did you take him to the cemetery after lunch?” Her voice sounded like it had a touch of homesickness in it.

“Yes,” I said, “and then to the Dairy Queen for ice cream after that. We’ve only been home a little while. He’s feeling so much better that he should be well by the end of the week when he takes his last medication.”

“Thank you,” Mama said and then sighed.

---