Seventeen

I was happy to see the snow had really stopped. Not that I didn’t love it, but I was looking forward to spending the time with old and new friends at the monthly themed party Christmas Dinner at the Campground on Christmas Day, which was just a few days away.

It would be a much-needed break from all the hullabaloo of the murder. Hopefully, Hank would get the word out nationally that they were on the lookout for Valerie Young. Last night before he left, he did say they’d called in the FBI to get her on the most wanted list, which meant that any sleuthing from this point on was just merely for my curious side.

Which was in full bloom, since I found myself going over to the camper Nadine had rented after I’d gone to the office, checked the voicemails, and answered a few emails while I waited for more coffee to brew to keep me warm on my walk down there.

The camper was one of the cutest little things I’d ever seen, and I hoped Nadine had found some joy in staying there while she was here. She certainly wasn’t messy. Her suitcase was still open on the bed. I looked through it and noticed she’d brought items that were comfy like leggings, a few big sweaters, and some fuzzy socks. It looked like a writer ready to hunker down outfit to me. If there were such a thing.

The items in the bathroom were what I’d expected to see from a famous person. Only the best haircare products and perfumes that I’d gotten accustomed to when I was married to Paul West. Those items were long in my past and the Dollar Tree was my cosmetics counter since I had a limited income. Even seeing Nadine’s things didn’t tug at my heartstrings or make me long for those items. It was just stuff. What I felt inside and had gained from Normal was a true family, friends, community, and a sense of belonging.

All of this nostalgia made me think of Mary Elizabeth. At some point, I was going to have to be true to my promise and sit down with her to discuss whatever it was she wanted to discuss about our relationship.

After going through the camper one more time, I figured no one was going to come back. As I began to pick up the items to take up to the office, I looked under things to try to find Laura’s manuscript. Wouldn’t that be a great Christmas gift I could give her.

“Yoo-hoo!” Mary Elizabeth’s voice called out from the front of the camper. “I seen you come in here, May-bell-ine.”

I truly wished she’d just call me Mae.

“Back here,” I called back and swallowed my emotions. “Why don’t you come back here and help me get Nadine’s things together for Dawn.”

I didn’t have to repeat myself. She was back there before I could pick up anything else to put in the suitcase.

“How did the date go?” She smiled with a twinkle in her eye. “Darlin’, he’s cuter than a litter of puppies,” she gushed.

I couldn’t help but smile. Mary Elizabeth always had a way with words and with how she saw the world. When I was living with her, it just got on my nerves. Now I actually liked hearing them again. That’s why I decided to tell her about the date and how we’d made snow angels.

“I know it seems so childish, but Paul was so much older than me when we briefly dated.” I put the makeup items in Nadine’s bag. “I wasn’t truly enjoying just living. Paul threw me into the social scene and all the fine things that money could buy.”

As I talked about my life with Paul and how I’d finally realized money wasn’t what was important to me anymore, the more I saw she was truly listening. Not interrupting or even giving her advice. She was actually not butting in but listening to what I was saying.

“I guess I better stop rambling and get back to the office.” I closed the suitcase and looked at Mary Elizabeth. Her silence was deafening. There were some tears rolling down her face. “Are you okay?”

“This.” She held her hands open towards me. “You. You have turned out to be a joy. I know it was hard for you to come live with me. You had your own mama, but I felt so sorry for you. I wanted to try to give you a different life than you knew before so the pain you were feeling from your old life was not as bad.”

It was my turn to truly listen to her. I’d never let her do that. I sat on the edge of the bed in front of her and let her talk.

“I love your curls.” She reached out and touched my hair. “I wanted you to be so happy and I knew those little rich girls could be so mean. I only wanted you to fit in and have a life where no one felt sorry for you because you were orphaned. I wanted them to see the true beautiful you and for you not hide behind your curls. That’s why I got your hair straightened. That’s why I made you take so many classes.” She wiped the tears from her face. “I see now that you found your way. Without me, you found your way.”

She sat down next to me. There we were sitting on a camper bed next to each other in silence. An act so simple, though we found it so hard to do years ago without fighting one another, when we truly wanted best for each other.

“Mary Elizabeth, I’m so grateful you gave me a home. It wasn’t your job to fix me. I was and will always be so sad about my family. But I wasn’t mature enough to see the life that you were trying to give me. I was a teenager that thought you were trying to take my mom’s place. Trying to undo everything my family’d ever taught me.” I pointed to my chest. “But I know that she gave me the best of her and you gave me the best of you, making me who I am in here.”

“I do love you, Mae,” she said the words I had longed to hear for the ten years I’d been gone.

“I love you too,” I gulped back my pride, “Mom.”

Her tears turned to sobs as she grabbed me in one of her big southern mama hugs that she tried to give me when I was younger. it felt right giving her the title she had tried so hard to get. For the first time, I truly felt like my own mom would want me to give Mary Elizabeth that title from her as her gift from heaven.

There were no other words said between us as we sat on that bed for what seemed like hours but was only a few minutes.

“Now, we got that out of the way.” She stood up and brushed off her sweater like she was just sweeping it all away. It was her way of brushing it under the rug and moving on. This conversation would never be spoken of again, we both knew that. “We need to head to the office with this stuff and work on our investigation.”

“About that. . .” I showed her out of the camper and sent a quick text to Henry that he could clean the camper and get it ready for the next renter.

On our trek through the snow on our way back to the office, I told her about Reed being in jail for violating the restraining order and how Valerie had skipped town, making the FBI’s list of most wanted for the murder of Nadine White. I also told her about Laura’s manuscript and how I’d been trying to find it in the camper.

Mary Elizabeth poured herself a cup of coffee and refilled my cup once we were back in the office, out of the cold.

“I bet Valerie has it and is going to publish it herself.” Mary Elizabeth made a light bulb go off in my head.

“What did you say?” I asked. A text chirped from my pocket.

“I said that Valerie probably took it and will publish it for herself.”

“You!” I jumped for joy.

“What? That screamin’ of yours would scare the beard off Jesus!” She looked shocked.

“I think you just solved the last piece of the puzzle.” I couldn’t be any happier in this moment.

“Me?” She drew back.

“What if Valerie Young was Nadine White’s ghost writer?” When the words came out of my mouth, I knew I was right. I grabbed Nadine’s renter file and my purse. “I need you to watch the office while I go somewhere.”