Page 45 of Trouble Comes in Threes

“I take it you didn’t see anything,” she said under her breath. “Other than Miss Mildred falling off a table. I would have loved to have seen that.”

“Neely Kate,” I admonished.

“Okay, I don’t. Not really. The question is, what do you want to do about your vision?”

“We can’t warn Miss Mildred to stay off tables. She’d likely climb on top of one out of spite.”

“True.”

“I guess we let fate take its course,” I said absently, wondering why the older woman had suddenly become so violent. “Do you know why Miss Mildred moved in here?”

“Because she’s old?”

I shot her a look.

“I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “She has a cane now. Maybe she was having trouble getting around. We know she doesn’t have kids to help take care of her. She doesn’t have anyone.”

She was right, and there wasn’t much I could do about that.

We headed for the front doors, but as we passed the great room, I saw Miss Mildred sitting by herself, staring at the wall with a blank expression.

Despite my good sense telling me this was a bad idea, I walked over to her.

“What are you doin’?” Neely Kate asked in a low, insistent voice.

“Give me a minute.” Seconds later, I squatted in front of my nemesis and gave her a soft smile. “Hey, Miss Mildred.”

She blinked as if coming back to reality, and it took her a moment to see who’d caught her attention. “What do you want?” she asked, with enough venom to make most people run for the exit.

I ignored it.

“I was thinking it’s been a while since you’ve seen Violet’s kids.”

Her face hardened. “At least a year.”

“Since you left the New Living Hope Revival Church,” I said.

“You want to talk about that?” she spat out.

“No,” I said softly. “I want to arrange for Ashley and Mikey to come see you.”

“Why?” she asked, distrust in her eyes, while Neely Kate let out her own “Why?”

“Because Violet liked you,” I said. “And I think you loved her like a daughter. It’s obvious you care about her kids. So I thought you might like to see them. Mikey’s getting so big.” I paused. “Did you know he’s on a soccer team? He had his first game a couple of nights ago.”

“Did he score a goal?” she asked in a meeker voice than I’d ever heard her use.

“He did.” I tilted my head. “How about I bring him by this weekend, and he can tell you all about it?”

Her chin quivered. “Ashley too?”

“Of course.”

Miss Mildred looked like she was about to cry. Then her eyes hardened. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I know you miss them, and I think they miss you too. And because they need more reminders of Violet. I’d love it if you could tell Ashley some stories about her mother when she was her age. I think she really needs it.” I stood. “We’ll see you this weekend, Miss Mildred.” Then I ignored the shock on Neely Kate’s face and headed for the door, leaving her to follow.

As soon as we were in the parking lot, I wasn’t surprised when she said, “What just happened?”

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