Memories from Acorn Hill Read online

  “We wouldn’t have thought that, but I am glad you told me.”

  “And, of course, there’s the difficulty in getting around,” said Mrs. Winston. “Laura refuses to get a cane or a dog or even to do the most basic training that’s been offered to her. I think she’s in denial right now. All her friends have been very helpful to her at school. Naturally, her grades have gone down and we may have to consider a special school, which she refuses even to discuss with us.”

  “Oh, it must be a difficult time for everyone.”

  “Yes. I suppose I hoped this trip might give us all a break and maybe that something would change. Of course, my husband thinks I’m crazy. He can’t understand why I insisted on bringing our blind daughter to a strange place….” She paused and looked close to tears again. “Maybe he’s right.”

  “Oh no,” said Alice as she patted Mrs. Winston’s hand. “I think it’s a wonderful idea to come to Acorn Hill. Who knows what might happen here? I usually work part-time as a nurse at the hospital in Potterston, but I’ve taken the week off, so I hope you’ll feel free to call on me if you need anything. I will try to do whatever I can to help Laura feel right at home.”

  “Thank you, Alice.”

  “I’ll let my sisters know about everything,” she assured her.

  “Well, I feel much better now.” Mrs. Winston smiled. “Perhaps you’re right. Who knows what might happen?”

  “Yes,” said Alice. “I believe that God really does work in mysterious ways. I think that by the time you leave next week, things will be looking up.”

  “Oh, I hope so.”

  After the two women parted, Alice went off in search of her sisters. She found them on the back porch, with their backs to her. They were discussing whether to plant the geraniums that Jane had started in the sunroom.

  “I think it is far too soon,” said Louise with authority. “We might still get frost.”

  “I can watch the weather forecast,” said Jane in a slightly irritated voice. “I’ll cover them if necessary. I’m just so tired of looking at those empty flower boxes outside the kitchen and I—”

  “Excuse me,” said Alice.

  “Oh, I didn’t hear you,” said Jane as she pushed a dark strand of hair from her face. “We were just trying to decide about—”

  “Yes, I heard your discussion.” Alice suppressed a grin. “And just for your information, I will not act as a tie-breaker in this little dispute.”

  Jane laughed. Louise smiled, then said, “Thank you for taking care of the Winstons for me. That was a very aggravating phone call. A gentleman from Pittsburgh wanted to make reservations for Easter weekend, and even though I told him we were booked full, he just would not give up. Then he asked about Memorial Day weekend, and once again I had to tell him we were full. Well, he started getting quite irate with me.”

  “You should’ve told him that we’ll never have room for him,” said Jane.

  “I tried to keep my patience,” said Louise. “Finally he asked about a weekend in August that was open, but, to be perfectly honest, I wanted to tell him that it was booked too.”

  Alice chuckled. “So did you go ahead and make his reservation?”

  Louise nodded.

  “So when exactly is Mr. Sourpuss coming?” asked Jane. “I think I’ll make sure to be out of town that weekend.”

  Louise gave her youngest sister the look—the look that she had been giving Jane since she was a little girl—the look that meant “don’t even think about it.”

  “Well, maybe we should just put up a sign,” suggested Jane. “You know, like they have in restaurants: ‘We have the right to refuse service.’”

  “That certainly wouldn’t be hospitable,” said Louise.

  “Especially for an inn that’s called Grace Chapel,” added Alice.

  “I suppose you’re right,” said Jane.

  “Speaking of disgruntled guests,” said Alice as she closed the door between the porch and the kitchen. “I need to tell you about Laura Winston.”

  “My goodness,” said Louise. “I don’t think that I have ever seen such an unfriendly teenager. If I were her mother I would—”

  “You don’t understand,” said Alice, then she quickly explained the situation in detail.

  “Oh, the poor thing,” said Jane. “That’s so sad. To become blind at any age is a tragedy, but at seventeen? Just when life is beginning to unfold.”

  Louise shook her head. “I had no idea. Goodness, I feel so bad having judged her.”

  “I did the exact same thing myself,” admitted Alice.

  “Well, we must do everything we can to make her stay here as pleasant as possible,” said Jane.

  “Yes,” said Alice. “I told Mrs. Winston that Laura would be in good hands here.”

  “How about the teen thing?” asked Jane. “Laura might enjoy meeting some new—”

  “I already mentioned it to her,” said Alice. “She wasn’t interested.”

  “Oh.”

  “I suppose someone else could invite her again,” said Alice. “It might be the kind of situation where we need to be persistent to get—”

  “Yoo-hoo,” called a familiar voice.

  “Hi, Aunt Ethel,” said Jane.

  “What’s going on here?” asked Ethel. “Some kind of secret sister meeting?”

  “No,” said Louise. “Alice was just giving us some information about a guest.”

  Ethel’s eyebrows lifted. “Oh my. Certainly my nieces are not gossiping, are you?”

  “Not gossip,” said Alice, then Louise explained the situation with Laura.

  “Dear me,” said Ethel. “That’s too bad.”

  “So, we’ve decided that we should try to reach out to her,” said Alice. “Maybe one of us can break through to her before the week is up.”

  “Speaking of guests,” said Ethel, turning her attention to Alice, “when is that handsome animal doctor showing up here?”

  Alice felt her cheeks growing warm. “Not until tomorrow,” she told Ethel. “His last letter said he expects to be here late Saturday night.” She suddenly turned to Louise. “That is, unless that has changed too. Did he mention—”

  “I don’t recall him mentioning a change in his arrival time,” said Louise.

  “So what else has changed?” asked Ethel.

  “Why don’t we go inside,” suggested Jane as she opened the door into her kitchen. “It’s getting a little crowded out here.”

  As soon as they were in the kitchen, Louise told Ethel about Mark’s mystery guest and once again all attention was back on Alice.

  “Who do you think it is?” asked Ethel.

  Alice just shrugged. “I don’t have a clue.”

  Just then, they heard the bell in the foyer ding, and Louise excused herself. “That’s probably the Langleys,” she said as she hurried out.

  “A full house this week?” asked Ethel.

  “That’s right,” said Jane as she put on the teakettle. “Tea, anyone?”

  “Do you have any of those delicious ginger biscotti left?” asked Ethel hopefully.

  Jane grinned as she produced the cookie jar and peeked inside. “Lucky for you, there are just enough left for a little tea party.”

  Chapter Three

  Alice had offered to put away the tea things while Jane made a quick run to the grocery store and Louise went off to search for a heating pad for Mr. Langley. The poor man had strained his back loading his wife’s luggage into the trunk of their car and had been in pain the whole three hours that it took them to drive to Acorn Hill. Alice had promptly prescribed treatments of alternate hot and cold packs, along with ibuprofen and rest.

  “Send me your bill later,” the elderly man had teased her as Louise and his wife helped him to make his way slowly up the stairs.

  “Just remember, I’m not a doctor,” said Alice. “I hope that I won’t wish that I had malpractice insurance.”

  “I don’t put much stock in doctors anyway,” said Mr. Lang
ley.

  “Well, I’m sure that you’ll be feeling much better by tomorrow,” Alice assured him.

  Now Alice hummed to herself as she puttered about Jane’s cheerful kitchen. A real departure from the antiques and the more formal feeling of the rest of the house, Jane’s bright, paprika-colored cabinets, perky curtains, and black and white checkerboard tile floors always made Alice happy. Just as she was hanging up the dishtowel, she heard the familiar ding of the bell in the foyer.

  She removed her apron and patted her hair in place. It was still a day early for Mark and his friend to be arriving, but, on the other hand, no other guests were expected at the inn. When she entered the foyer, she saw a young man looking up at the high ceiling. He seemed out of place. In fact, he was a rather untidy young man with shaggy blond hair and oversized pants that appeared to be almost falling off his narrow hips.

  “May I help you?” she asked with a smile.

  “Yeah,” he said, looking over his shoulder uncomfortably. “I think I’m supposed to be here, at this inn, you know. I mean I’m supposed to be meeting someone here.”

  “Are you here with Dr. Mark Graves?” she asked.

  He nodded. “Yeah, sort of. I mean he told me to meet him here. Is he here yet?”

  “No. I don’t believe he is arriving until tomorrow evening.” She held out her hand. “I’m Alice Howard. My sisters and I run this inn.”

  He shook her hand, then quickly pulled his away. “Yeah, right. I’m Adam. Adam Peterson.”

  She could tell that he did not recognize her name. But then, she thought, why should he? Why would Mark have bothered to tell this young man about me? “So are you going to be staying here?” she asked. “In the inn, I mean. I was told that Dr. Graves was bringing a friend and—”

  “Yeah, I guess so,” he said quickly. “Mark told me to meet him here and I was going to spend time with him next week. I thought he said to come today. Am I too early or something?”

  “No, no,” she said. “You’re fine. Your room is all ready for you. Would you like me to show you up now?” she offered.

  “Yeah,” he said. “That’d be cool.”

  “Do you have any bags?” she asked.

  He hoisted a dusty black backpack over his shoulder. “This is it.”

  “Okay, then I’ll take you up.”

  “That’s all right,” he said, after glancing up the stairs. “You can just give me the key and tell me where it is. You don’t have to go up there or anything.”

  “Oh, it’s no trouble,” she said as she headed up the stairs ahead of him. She hated to admit it to herself, but something about this young man bothered her. She did not want to judge him, but his manner made her uncomfortable.

  “How long have you known Dr. Graves?” she asked him after they reached the top of the stairs.

  He shrugged, then turned his attention to Wendell, who was happily warming himself in a shaft of sunshine. “Oh, like forever, you know. He’s been around since I was a baby.” He set aside his backpack as he knelt to pet the cat.

  Alice smiled. “Friend of the family?”

  “Yeah, I guess you could say that.” His back remained to her as he continued to stroke Wendell.

  It seemed fairly clear that Adam was not about to divulge any unnecessary information, so Alice opened the door to the Sunset Room and simply said, “This is your room.” She had already decided that Mark should have the Sunrise Room, since it was the room that she had decorated … with some help from Jane. It seemed logical that his friend should have the room just across the hall.

  “This is nice,” Adam said as he looked around.

  “I hope you’ll be comfortable.” Alice went through the information about when they served breakfast, that there were restaurants in town for other meals, but that he and Mark were invited to have dinners with the sisters.

  “Where’s the TV?” he asked as he dropped his backpack to the floor with a loud thump.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “We don’t have televisions in the inn. We like to provide a quiet place for our guests to relax and unwind. We do have a library downstairs from which you are free to borrow books, and my sister Louise occasionally plays piano in the evenings….” She could tell by his expression that this did not impress him in the least.

  “Yeah, okay,” he said. “Whatever.”

  She forced another smile as she made her way to the door. “Well, make yourself at home and let us know if you need anything.”

  He nodded, but just continued to stand there in the middle of the room as if he had no idea how he had gotten there or why he had come. It was, in fact, a mystery to Alice too. She asked herself, Who is this young man and what does he have to do with Mark Graves? She tried to push these questions from her mind as she made her way downstairs.

  “Hello, Alice,” said Mrs. Winston as she and her husband met Alice at the bottom of the stairs. “We’re going out for a walk just now.”

  Alice looked at the couple as they headed toward the door. “Laura’s not joining you?” she asked.

  Mrs. Winston sadly shook her head. “She said she wants to take a nap.”

  “She sleeps too much,” said Mr. Winston as he opened the door. “Some fresh air would probably do her good.”

  “Well, we can’t very well force her, dear,” said Mrs. Winston.

  “Have a nice walk,” said Alice, feeling sorry about the stress that this couple seemed to be experiencing.

  “I’m back,” called Jane from the kitchen.

  Alice went in and offered to help unload groceries.

  “Thanks,” said Jane.

  “How about if I bring them in from the car and you can start putting them away,” said Alice, “since you do a better job at fitting everything in place than I do.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” said Jane as she put a jug of milk into the refrigerator.

  Alice finally brought the last bag from the car and then sat down at the table to watch as Jane continued to put things away. “We got a new guest while you were out,” said Alice as Jane filled a large ceramic bowl with apples.

  “Really?” Jane turned and looked at her. “Is it Mark?”

  Alice shook her head. “Guess again.”

  “Mark’s mysterious friend?” Jane balanced the last apple on top.

  “What is this about Mark’s friend?” asked Louise as she came into the kitchen. “Have they arrived already?”

  “Not they,” said Alice. “Mark’s friend is here. At least I think he’s Mark’s friend. To be honest, I felt a bit confused.”

  “Why is that?” asked Louise.

  “I’m not sure. But something about him seemed, well, a bit odd.” Alice shook her head. “Perhaps I’m just imagining things. I don’t know.”

  “Who is Mark’s friend?” demanded Jane.

  “He’s a young man named Adam Peterson,” said Alice.

  “A young man?” Louise frowned. “How young?”

  “I didn’t ask, but I’m guessing maybe college age. I’m not sure.”

  “Do you know what his relationship is to Mark?” asked Louise.

  Alice took an apple from the bowl and went to the sink to wash it off. “He said he’s known Mark his whole life. His sister doesn’t have a son named Adam. So he’s not Mark’s nephew.”

  “No, that’s right,” Alice said, then took a bite of the apple.

  Jane’s eyebrows shot up. “Maybe he’s Mark’s long-lost son!”

  “Son? How can that be?” Louise asked. “Mark Graves has never been married.”

  “Well, you don’t—”

  “Jane,” said Alice. “Mark has never mentioned any son.”

  “Well, I’m reading a novel about a young man who is searching for his birth father and he’s—”

  “That is exactly why you should read something besides fiction,” Louise said. “Goodness knows how it fills your head with strange ideas.”

  Alice chuckled. “Well, I’m reading a murder mystery, Louise. Do you think
I might become dangerous?”

  “Harrumph,” Louise said, giving Alice an exasperated look.

  “Well, what was this young man like?” asked Jane. “You said his name was Adam?”

  “Yes,” said Alice. “To be honest, he seemed unhappy.”

  “Well, that is about right,” said Louise. “We already have a depressed teenager and a guest who is suffering with a bad back. Why should we not have an unhappy young man as well?”

  “Won’t we be the jolly bunch for Easter week,” said Jane as she put several pounds of butter into the refrigerator.

  “Remember,” said Alice. “Part of our mission in this inn has always been to help people. Maybe that’s what this week will be about.”

  “You are absolutely right,” said Louise.

  “I’m still curious,” said Jane. “I’d like to know what Adam has to do with Mark Graves. And why it was so important for them to spend this week together when everyone knows that the only reason Mark is coming back to Acorn Hill is to see Alice.”

  “Oh, Jane,” said Alice. “Mark is coming here because he really likes our town and wants to—”

  “Go on, Alice,” said Jane, waving a hand at her older sister as she took a bite out of her own apple. “You can go ahead and act as if there’s nothing between you and Mark if you like. But I’m not buying it.”

  Alice dropped her apple core into the trash and just shrugged. “I guess only time will tell.”

  Jane nodded as she chewed and finally said, “Yep, Alice. That’s exactly what I’m counting on.”

  Just then they heard a loud crash from the direction of the foyer.

  “Oh dear!” cried Louise.

  The three sisters hurried out to see what was wrong.

  “Oh, Laura,” exclaimed Alice when she found the girl squatting in front of the shattered pieces of a broken ceramic vase that had held a flower arrangement. She took Laura’s hand in her own. “You’ve cut yourself.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Laura, pulling her hand away. “I shouldn’t have come down by myself. I just thought that—”