The Big Dig Page 15

  Lucy stared at the picture for a long time, her eyebrows knitted together. She traced her finger along the neckline of every bridesmaid, mentally replacing each locket with an emerald necklace. No, that can’t be it, can it?

  The necklaces had been pushed to the back of Lucy’s mind. She’d done it on purpose, too worried about what the actual truth might turn out to be. It’d been fairly easy, especially as she stewed over her mom’s mysterious visits to Esther and sailing excursions with Colin.

  Lucy stood the silver frame back up on top of the cabinet.

  So Kit had been right after all. When you stop looking for something, that’s when you find it.

  Chapter 17

  “Duh! It’s so obvious!” Kit exclaimed, smacking her forehead with the palm of her hand. “Bridesmaid gifts. I can’t believe we didn’t think of that!”

  “It’s only a guess,” Lucy said.

  “Hello! It makes perfect sense.”

  Colin pulled himself out of the hole. “It does seem to make sense.”

  Lucy had debated whether or not to share her theory. No one had mentioned the necklaces in a while, and she was perfectly happy to keep it that way. But if she was right about this, it proved her mom was innocent, didn’t it? She wanted Kit and Colin to know that.

  “You know what this means, don’t you?” Kit wagged her finger at Lucy. “One, that your mom didn’t steal anything. And two, she maybe almost got married.” Kit paused. “But then didn’t?”

  Lucy nodded and chewed thoughtfully on Colin’s leftover jujubes. She’d already thought of that, the idea that her mom may have almost gotten married before. But wouldn’t she have said something to Lucy? Isn’t that something a mother would share with her daughter? Apparently not, she thought to herself. Not my mom, anyway.

  As if reading her mind, Colin said, “Didn’t you say your mom didn’t talk much about her past?”

  “Yeah, but still.”

  “Well, it is possible,” Kit said, “that she got the necklaces for when she married your dad. And then she just changed her mind or something. Picked another type of gift.”

  Lucy rooted around in the bag for a green jujube. “Yeah. Maybe.”

  “Well.” Colin scratched his head. “If you want to know for sure, we could always ask my mom.”

  Kit clapped her hands together. “Yes! Let’s do that!”

  Lucy couldn’t think of a reason not to. She wanted to know, didn’t she? “Okay.”

  “Let’s go,” Kit said, standing up and brushing off her shorts.

  “What, now?”

  “Yeah. You got other plans?”

  “I, I—”

  “And you should go get the necklaces,” Kit said bossily, and then turned to Colin. “We should take them to show them to your mom, right? In case we have to jog her memory.”

  “I dunno.” Colin frowned. “It’s not like she’d forget Lucy’s mom was going to get married.”

  “Well, she could deny it if she doesn’t want to tell us. She could say something like, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ or, ‘That never happened,’ but then we could whip out the necklaces and say, ‘Oh yeah? Explain these then!’”

  “Um.” Colin’s frown deepened. “She’s not on trial for murder, you know.”

  Kit ignored Colin’s remark and said to Lucy, “We should take them. Go on.” She jerked her head in the direction of Josie’s. “We’ll wait for you.”

  Lucy looked over at Colin. He just shrugged.

  “Give me ten,” Lucy sighed. She reluctantly got to her feet and headed back to the house. Josie was snoring, asleep on the porch swing, an open Harlequin on her stomach. Lucy tiptoed past. Upstairs, she yanked open Josie’s dresser drawer, reached under the pantyhose, and grabbed the bunny. Tilting back the head, she scooped out the velvet pouch and slipped it into her pocket. She hurried back down the stairs and out the door. Josie was still snoring.

  Esther was at the counter slicing a loaf of bread when the three of them barrelled into the kitchen. She looked up when she heard them. “Hi guys,” she said. “I was just making sandwiches for the twins, but help yourself if you’re hungry.”

  “Mom,” Colin began, “Lucy—”

  “Josie dropped the bread off this morning. Apparently she gave up on the welcome muffin basket. She was out of wheat germ.” Esther shuddered. “Probably for the best, don’t you think?”

  “Great, Mom, but—”

  “And your dad called,” Esther said. “He hopes to be here real soon.”

  “Mom!” Colin shouted impatiently. “Lucy has something she wants to ask you.”

  “Oh.” Esther took in their serious faces and put down the knife. “I’m all ears.”

  “Just cut to the chase!” Kit was jumping up and down like she had ants in her pants. “Show her the necklaces!”

  Lucy spun around. “Do you want do it?”

  “No, no.” Kit shook her head. “This is your thing.”

  Esther gently placed a hand on Lucy’s shoulder. “Do you have something to show me, hon?”

  For a moment Lucy didn’t move. Then she said, “Yeah. I found these.” She pulled the velvet pouch from her pocket. Her hands were sweaty as she took out each necklace, slid them from their packets, and laid them in a row on the counter.

  Esther stood behind her, watching quietly.

  Stepping aside to let Esther see, Lucy watched her as she leaned in to get a better look. She could tell Esther recognized them.

  “Well?” Kit said impatiently.

  “I forgot all about those,” Esther whispered, seemingly to herself.

  “You’ve seen them before,” Lucy said. “You know what they are.”

  “They’re your mom’s,” Esther said. “She bought them a lifetime ago. At least, that’s what it feels like now.”

  “Are they bridesmaid gifts?” Kit blurted.

  Esther nodded. “They were supposed to be.”

  “I knew we were right!” Kit pounded the counter with her fist.

  “What are you talking about, we?” Colin piped up. “Lucy. Lucy figured it out.”

  “We helped,” Kit shot back.

  “On what planet?” Colin said.

  Lucy clenched her teeth. “Could you two please?”

  “Sorry,” Colin said.

  “Sorry,” Kit said, but in a lower voice, and to the floor.

  Lucy edged closer to Esther. “There must be a story that goes with them. Can you tell me?”

  “Well, I…” Esther began picking at her fingernail polish. She stopped and glanced over her shoulder as if maybe she was hoping someone would show up and interrupt them.

  “Please?” Lucy said.

  Esther drew in a deep breath. “Your mom, she, uh, she was engaged before, when she was really young. Things didn’t go as planned, and the wedding never happened.”

  Lucy digested the information. She had figured it was something like that. It felt different now, though, hearing someone say it out loud, confirm it. “And then what?”

  “That’s it, pretty much.”

  “Oh.” Lucy had hoped for more. “Why didn’t she ever tell me?”

  “I’m sure she would have. She was probably waiting until you were older.”

  Kit picked up one of the necklaces. “Why did she keep them? Why didn’t she return them?”

  “She couldn’t.” Esther flipped over the necklace in Kit’s hand and pointed to the circle of gold behind the emerald, the back of the setting. “If you look real close, you can see they’re engraved with each bridesmaid’s initials.”

  “What?” Lucy took it from Kit. She was right. How did she not notice? There they were. “E. M.?”

  “That one would be Ellen’s,” Esther said.

  “Is yours here?” Lucy asked.

  “No.”
Esther shook her head. “I was maid of honour. I asked her not to get me a gift. Figured as a newlywed, she could use the money.”

  Lucy checked the others. They all had tiny letters. “I wonder whether if I’d seen the letters I would have guessed they were gifts.”

  “Maybe,” Esther smiled. “I’m not sure I would have. I don’t have great detective skills, though.”

  Lucy passed one to Colin so he could see too. He waved it away. He seemed to be studying his mom. “Why didn’t it work out?” he asked.

  Esther didn’t answer right away. “I’m not sure if it’s my place to say,” she finally said. “Lucy, I think maybe you should talk to your dad, and maybe he should be the one—”

  “My dad knows, and he didn’t tell me either?”

  Esther sort of winced.

  “You should just go ahead and tell me, because if he didn’t want me to find out from someone else, he should have told me himself.” Lucy stuck out her chin. “So should my mom have, for that matter.”

  “It’s not always that easy,” Esther sighed. “When you have to tell someone something, and you’re worried about what they’ll think, worried that it might change things.” Her eyes darted around the kitchen like she was trying to avoid looking at anyone. “There always seems to be an excuse to put it off.”

  “Mom.” Collin rolled his eyes. “What are you even talking about? Just tell her, would ya?”

  “Look, I—”

  “Mom!”

  She stared up at the ceiling for a moment. “Fine,” she said shortly and pulled out a stool.

  Lucy leaned against the counter, Kit on one side of her, Colin on the other.

  “Laura started going out with Dean at the start of high school,” Esther began quietly. “Dean Clark. Great guy, popular, good at everything. They were still together in grade twelve, and on Valentine’s Day they got engaged. They planned to get married right after graduation and move to Halifax. Dean was going to Dalhousie on an engineering scholarship, and Laura had found a job at a nursery school near the university. Seemed like they had it all figured out.”

  “And then what?” Kit asked, her eyes getting bigger by the second.

  “As the wedding got closer, I think Dean kind of got scared, got cold feet. The thought of university, studying, working, a new wife, was starting to sink in. A few weeks before the wedding, he called it off. He stayed to graduate, then he packed his stuff and moved to the city alone. Laura was left behind, broken-hearted and humiliated.”

  Lucy pressed a hand to her chest. “Oh, no.”

  “And you can only guess what it was like living in a small town. The gossip was non-stop. And let me tell you, people are not always kind. They grabbed onto this, came up with ridiculous stories, and beat it to death, just because nothing ever happens here. Hard to find anything better than a good scandal.”

  “Poor mom,” Lucy said. “What happened? Did she ever see him again?”

  “No, she didn’t.” Esther lowered her eyes and went back to scraping her nail polish. “Dean died shortly after all that mess.”

  “What?”

  “In Halifax. Hit by a car when he was walking home late one night. I couldn’t believe it when I got the letter from your mom. Dan and I were out in Banff, working by then. I always felt bad I missed the funeral.”

  “It all just sounds so awful,” Kit said.

  “It was pretty rough. After a while I finally convinced her to come out and stay with me. She really needed a break. I thought a change of scenery would do her good.” Esther reached over and tousled Colin’s hair. “She helped me out when you were born.”

  “Stop.” Colin flinched under her hand.

  Esther rolled her eyes and picked up one of the necklaces again. “I think I remember Laura once mentioning removing the stones and making them into a ring or something—to remember him by. I guess she forgot.”

  “Or never got around to it,” Lucy said.

  The kitchen was quiet.

  “That’s the whole story?” Lucy finally asked.

  Esther swallowed. “That’s the whole story.”

  At that moment, the twins came slamming into the house.

  “There you are!” Esther jumped off the stool. “I was wondering when you two would finally show your faces!”

  “We’re starving!” they cried in unison. “We need food!”

  “Let’s go wash up first,” Esther said. She tried to manoeuvre them towards the hallway.

  “Mom!” Teddy said, jumping out of her reach. “We can wash our hands ourselves.”

  “I know. Just, uh, you look extra dirty.” Esther herded them out of the kitchen.

  Lucy gathered up the necklaces.

  “Let’s get out of here before they all come back.” Colin held the back door open and they filed out onto the deck.

  A second later, there was a bunch of racket from inside. A clink, then a splat, then, “Hannah!”

  “She knocked over her milk,” Colin said. “Hannah always knocks over her milk.”

  Then, “I’m not eating squares. Triangles! I only eat triangles!”

  “It’s true,” Colin said. “Teddy only eats triangle sandwiches. You’d think Mom would catch on.” He started down the steps. “I’m going to the hole for some peace and quiet. Coming?”

  They crossed Colin’s lawn.

  Lucy felt Colin looking at her. “You okay?” he asked. “You have a funny look on your face.”

  “Oh. That’s just my ‘Wow, I can’t believe my mom never told me any of this’ look. You must be getting used to seeing it by now,” Lucy said sarcastically. “Maybe you just don’t recognize it because now my dad’s part of it too.”

  The corner of Colin’s mouth twitched. “So are you okay?”

  “I guess. I don’t know. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel—besides in the dark, I mean. I think I said it before, but I guess she was allowed to have a life, right?”

  “Yeah,” Kit said. “But that’s some life. I can’t believe all that happened to your mom and you never knew a thing!”

  “You’re not helping,” Colin said.

  Kit shot him the evil eye. “Sor-ree. I’m just sayin’, it’s pretty amazing. I think it should be made into a movie, or a book, or something.”

  Lucy glanced over at Colin. “What’s wrong? You have a funny look on your face too.” She leaned closer to him so she could whisper. “You know Kit’s only being Kit.”

  “It’s not that.”

  “Then what?”

  “It’s my mom.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’ve just been going over it all in my head. When she said that was the whole story?” A muscle twitched in his jaw. “I kind of got the feeling that it wasn’t.”

  Chapter 18

  Lucy kept her fingers crossed on one hand as she dialled the phone with the other. She was pretty sure her dad was getting back from wherever he’d been today. Please be home, please be home.

  The ringing stopped, but before Lucy could open her mouth to say hi, she heard, “Look. What’s done is done. I just wish you’d—”

  “Dad?”

  She heard him suck in his breath. “Lucy?”

  “Yeah, it’s me.”

  “Gosh, pumpkin. I’m sorry.”

  “Who did you think it was?”

  “Oh. I, uh, we, we have this new intern in the office, and he, uh….”

  Dead air.

  “Yeah?” Lucy prodded. “What did he do?”

  “Motion,” her dad said. “He filed the wrong motion.”

  “Geez. You sounded so mad.”

  “He keeps calling to apologize. I thought it was him again, but it was you. What a nice surprise!”

  “Dad. Everyone makes mistakes. Promise you’ll accept his apology. You don’t want eve
ryone at work to think of you as the cranky guy.”

  “Okay, pumpkin. Don’t worry about it.”

  “Dad, promise.”

  He sighed. “I promise. So hey, how are things up there?”

  “I talked to Esther.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “She told me about Mom and how she almost got married to her boyfriend from high school.”

  More dead air.

  “And I know you already know,” Lucy added.

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Don’t you think Mom should have told me? Or you should have told me?”

  “Why?”

  His answer caught her off guard. “Um, because.” It was the only reply she could think of.

  “She was going to tell you.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  “And as for me telling you, well, I guess I just didn’t see the point.”

  “The point is so I could know my mom better.”

  “You do know your mom. You lived with her every day for fourteen years.”

  “Thirteen,” Lucy said flatly. “And a quarter.”

  Her dad sighed again. “Your mom was a very private person. She had lots—”