Part ten
Some time later, Jim and Trixie were sitting close together, talking in low voices. At the sound of approaching footsteps, they both looked towards the door and saw William arrive.
“Trixie, could you please come and have a word with the doctor?” he asked. “I think he has one or two questions for you.”
She nodded and rose, following him to where the doctor waited. To her relief, the conversation was short and to the point; the older man’s manner also assured her that she had done nothing wrong. It was with a sense of completion that she returned to where Jim waited. She entered the room to find him in easy conversation with William.
“How did you go?” William asked, waving her to a seat next to Jim.
“Fine,” she answered. “I only had to tell him what I’d already told you. I think he got the more coherent version, though.”
“I didn’t find anything incoherent about what you said to me. In fact, you were a good deal more calm and collected than poor Sarah. She was a little hysterical.”
Trixie’s face contorted with regret. “I wish I’d stopped her. I just didn’t think quick enough.”
He shook his head. “She was angry and determined to get past you. And, I don’t think it would have mattered, much. I’m just glad that you were there for Ivy. What happened later didn’t affect her, but maybe your being there with her did.”
Trixie nodded, but made no other answer.
“Now, the other thing I need to discuss with you is your position here,” he told her.
“I’ll just …” Jim began, indicating the door.
“Stay,” Trixie told him. “I don’t mind.”
Jim nodded and leaned back.
“The main task you were hired for is over now, of course.” William gave her a sympathetic look. “I had hoped for your sake that it might last longer, but I have no say in these things. I’m really pleased with the work you did and the way that you treated Ivy. I think it made a big difference to her last days.”
“I hope so,” Trixie answered. “I liked her.”
“So did I.” He smiled. “You made such good progress, too. Now, I won’t need you here for the next little while, but later, if you’re still available, I’d like you to come back and help me for a short time. You have the advantage over me in that you now know where everything is in this house. I’d like to use that knowledge, to save myself some effort. I’m not as young as I was, you know, and I think it will be worth my while to pay you out of my own pocket.”
“Thank you. I’ll definitely do that, if I can,” she answered, smiling. “And if I can’t, I’ll do what I can to let you know where everything is.”
“That would be very good of you.” He sighed. “I don’t know if you want to stay here today, or if you’d prefer to leave … either way, you’ll be paid for today.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she tried to argue. “I don’t mind–”
“I mind.” William’s voice was firm. “I’m not rushing you out, but you’re also free to go when you choose. I’ll contact you via your parents’ address, if that’s convenient?”
She nodded. “I’ll stick around for a few more hours, I think, in case you need me for anything, then I’ll leave this afternoon for Sleepyside. Is that okay with both of you?”
Jim nodded his approval and William voiced his, saying, “Perfectly. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and see the funeral director. The doctor is satisfied, so I’m hoping that we can go ahead and plan the funeral for Thursday or Friday. There aren’t any relatives to travel from anywhere, so I don’t see any reason to delay.”
“You’ll tell me when the funeral is, won’t you?” Trixie asked, all of a sudden. “I want to be there.”
“Of course. If you’re still here when I come back, I can probably tell you then, otherwise, I have your parents’ phone number.”
“Thank you, William.”
“No problem at all, my dear.” He smiled. “You’ve saved me a lot of trouble; this is the least I can do.”
William hurried away and Jim leaned back in his seat. He put an arm across Trixie’s shoulder and pulled her back against his chest.
“What are you thinking of doing now?” he wondered.
She shrugged against him and nestled in more comfortably. “Not sure. I don’t know that I want to leave the house just yet. Sarah is a bit upset, I think, and I don’t want to leave her alone here with just Ivy, if I can help it.”
“Nothing bad can happen to Ivy now,” he reminded her, in a gentle voice.
“I know, but something bad could happen to Sarah.” She sighed. “It’s hard to remember that Ivy is gone. I still kind of feel like she needs to be protected.”
“Tell me about her,” he requested. “What was she like?”
Snuggling closer, Trixie began to relate all she knew and all she had deduced. She did not get too far before Jim got distracted and began kissing the side of her face.
“Do you want to hear this or not?” she asked, in a teasing voice. “You’re making me lose where I’m up to.”
“Yes, I want to hear it …” he murmured, continuing to kiss her, “… later.”
With a soft laugh, she dropped the subject and kissed him back.
“Ahem.”
The voice had a disapproving note to it, which caused the pair to break apart. They looked to the door, finding Sarah standing there with an expression on her face even more disapproving still.
“You wanted to speak to me, Sarah?” Trixie asked in a bright voice.
“I wanted to tell you that I’m leaving,” she answered. “The … er, the … I mean, they’re about to take her away.”
“Oh! There’s something I’d better do,” Trixie realised, jumping up. “She was holding something.”
Alarm sprang up on Sarah’s face for a moment, then a guarded expression took its place. “No, she wasn’t.”
“I gave her something to hold,” Trixie explained. “She asked me for it. I didn’t take it away when she went to sleep, so it must still be there.”
Sarah shook her head. “No, there wasn’t. She must have dropped it or something. Or maybe the doctor put it away.”
Trixie glanced at Jim and tried to communicate to him that she did not want Sarah to be allowed to leave.
“Come with me, Sarah,” she asked. “We’ll go and look together.”
“No, I really have to be going,” the other woman argued.
To Trixie’s relief, Jim seemed to have picked up on her hint. “It won’t take a minute. I think it would be a good idea to sort this out right now. We wouldn’t want there to be accusations later, would we?”
The veiled threat worked. Sarah nodded and allowed herself to be guided into Ivy’s suite. Her steps faltered as they reached the doorway to the bedroom, where two men were manoeuvring an empty stretcher.
“We just need to check up on something that Ivy was holding when she died,” Trixie explained to them. “Have you seen it? It was an old-fashioned pocket watch and chain. She had it in her hand – the hand closest to the wall – and resting against her chest, with the chain hanging down her side.”
“It’s not there now,” the man closest to Ivy replied. “That hand is still on her chest, but it’s empty.”
“I wonder where it’s gone,” Trixie mused. “We’d better start looking for it, I guess. Maybe it’s on the side table or something?”
“I don’t see it,” the man answered, “but feel free to look for yourself.”
Trixie left Jim to keep watch over Sarah and stepped into the room. A quick glance around showed her that the watch was nowhere in sight. She opened and closed the few drawers in the room, without result.
“Could it be over there?” Sarah asked, pointing to the opposite side of the room.
Both Trixie and Jim glanced in that direction, but there was nothing to see. Sarah was moving across to stand near Trixie, but Jim moved to where Sarah had been standing.
“Is this it?” he asked, picking it up and holding it aloft by its chain. It swung in gentle circles, catching the light as it moved.
Trixie smiled. “Yes, that’s it.” She picked up the family portrait, then turned to the two men. “Sorry. We’ll get out of your way, now.”
From there, Trixie made a slow return to the front of the house, delaying as much as she could. On the way out of the suite, she took her time hanging the picture back on the wall and ensuring that it was straight. She was not certain of what had just happened, but felt that the circumstances were suspicious in the extreme. To her relief, she found that William was returning and that she could hand over the difficulty to him.
“They’re just about to take away the body,” she told him, in a sympathetic voice. “I just remembered that I’d given Ivy her father’s watch to hold and that I never took it back from her and we just went to find it. I don’t know how it got on the floor in the next room, but that’s where we picked it up. Here; I think you should take it for safekeeping.”
To his credit, William seemed to pick up on the subtle hints in Trixie’s expression and words and turned his attention to Sarah.
“I think we need to have another chat before you leave, Sarah,” he told her. “There are still one or two matters that I’d like to discuss. Can you wait until Ivy has gone, please?”
She nodded. “Of course.”
At almost that moment, they were obliged to move away from the doorway in order for the stretcher to pass by. All of them stood by in silence as it passed. Sarah averted her eyes, but the rest of them watched it go. The rear doors of the vehicle closed behind Ivy and the two men got in the front and drove away.
“I think I’ll go and pack my things,” Trixie announced. “You’ll find me in my room if you need me.”
“I don’t think I will need anything more from you today,” William answered. “I want to say goodbye before you leave, but that’s all, really. Oh, and the funeral arrangements. Ten in the morning on Thursday; no viewing, closed coffin. She was really far too old to look anything but ghastly in death and I want to spare her that indignity. I’ll write down the address and give it to you before you leave, okay?”
“Thanks,” she answered, smiling at him. “That sounds good.”
He raised an eyebrow. “The arrangements I’ve made, or my writing down the details?”
She grinned. “Both. Sorry; I get a little incoherent, sometimes.”
“She learned it from my sister,” Jim added. “You think that was bad; you should hear the two of them together.”
Trixie felt a pang of loneliness at the reminder of Honey’s absence, but tried to push it back down. She left William and Sarah to their discussion and went to bring order to the chaos that was her room.
“What was that about?” Jim asked, as they walked in that direction.
Trixie shrugged. “I’m not really sure. But I don’t think she was stealing the watch, as such. I think she was making a last-ditch attempt to stop it from being passed down.”
“But why?”
She hesitated, putting the key in the door. “She’s trying to keep the peace in her family – I don’t know the details – but she’s afraid that they’ll fight if there’s a legacy to split among them.” She nodded to the still-closed door and sighed. “I’m not looking forward to this job.”
He chuckled. “That bad, huh?”
Trixie nodded. “I never was good at being tidy. I’m just too impatient.”
She unlocked the door and threw it open, revealing a space strewn with random belongings.
“Looks like you’ve been burgled,” Jim joked, surveying the wreckage.
Trixie rolled her eyes. “It’s not that bad.”
Her words proved prophetic, as the clean-up took less than ten minutes. As soon as her bags were packed, Jim took them out to stow in the car. Trixie remained behind, thinking. She had experienced so much in the short time she had lived in this room. She had looked in different ways at her own life and the lives of others. She had gained insights into many things that she had never before given conscious thought. Just today, she had seen death and affirmed life – and she had begun a new stage in her relationship with Jim.
Hearing footsteps approach, she looked up. She had expected to see Jim, but instead saw William. He held out a sheet of paper, neatly folded.
“Everything you need to know,” he told her, smiling. “Thank you, once again, for all you’ve done here. I’ll see you on Thursday and – I hope – again, later on.”
“I hope so, too.” She smiled. “I was just thinking about how much I’ve learned while I was here. It’s been great.”
He nodded, seeming to understand. “They do say that a wise man learns from his mistakes and a wiser one from other people’s.”
“I think I’ll try to be wiser,” she answered, just as Jim joined them.
He and William shook hands and each expressed pleasure at having met. Then, William turned to leave.
“Oh! I’d better give you these,” Trixie called after him, holding out the keys. “And I’d better get on the outside of the house so that you can lock up.”
He shook his head. “I’ll be staying here for a little while. There were one or two things that I wanted to do.”
Trixie and Jim then left him to it and went out to the car. Trixie kept her eyes on the house as they pulled away, watching until it was out of sight. She let out a heavy sigh.
“I don’t know why, but I can’t help thinking that I’ve left things unfinished,” she told Jim. “I shouldn’t feel like that. I did everything I came to do.”
“You intended to stay longer,” he commented. “It wasn’t supposed to end this way.”
She shook her head. “Ivy told me that she intended to live to a hundred. That would’ve given her another four years. So much can happen in four years – just look at what’s happened to us in that time.”
Jim paused as they rounded a corner. “How much would happen to Ivy in four years? How much living can you do from the inside of one house, never going anywhere and hardly seeing anyone? How much of a life is it when you can’t remember important things, when you imagine that the dead are still alive?”
“Does there have to be a certain quality of life for it to have a value?” Trixie asked, suddenly angry. “Ivy didn’t want to die, even though she was trapped in that house by her memories of her mother.”
“I didn’t say that.” Jim’s voice was mild. “I was just suggesting that your comparison was not a particularly good one.”
Her temper subsided as suddenly as it had arisen. “I suppose not.”
They travelled in silence for a time, then Jim asked, “Is it okay if we take a detour? There’s a restaurant I know and I’d like to take you to lunch there. No one’s expecting us, as far as I know.”
With a jolt, Trixie realised that they had not eaten and it was now well after noon. “That’s fine by me.”
“Good. It can be our first date.”
Our first date. She repeated the words in her mind. A slow smile spread across her face.
A few weeks later, Trixie was called back to Ridgefield for a few days by William, with the suggestion that if her friend was available, he might come with her. Trixie asked him if Jim needed to supply some character references, but William assured her that was not necessary. They arrived at the appointed meeting place, which was William’s home, and were greeted at the door by his wife, whom Trixie had met briefly at the funeral.
“Come in, come in,” Mrs. Heffernan invited them, throwing the door open wide. “Call me Linda. William will be here soon and, in the meantime, I’ll get you settled into the guest rooms. He did mention that you’re staying here, didn’t he?”
“Yes, he did,” Trixie answered, holding up her overnight bag. “Thank you so much for having us.”
“You’re quite welcome. I couldn’t stand the thought of you staying in Ivy’s house when I could have you here instead. Now, Jim, this will be your room. Trixie, yours is upstairs, if you’d like to follow me.”
A few minutes later, they joined her in the living room where she pressed refreshments on them and urged them to sit and relax. Trixie was not at all inclined to do so, but complied only out of politeness. They heard the front door open with a key and William came into the room.
“Oh, good. You’re here. How was your trip?”
They exchanged small talk for a few minutes, then the topic turned to the things they were there to do. Trixie wanted to know when they would get to go to the house.
“Tomorrow,” William answered, in a firm voice. “There’s no need to rush. Today, you get settled in and tomorrow you can get started.”
Jim smiled, probably because of the expression on Trixie’s face. “Trixie isn’t much of a fan of waiting. She’d rather get down to it.”
“I have noticed that about her,” William answered, smiling, “but in this case, I am the one who needs a rest. You’ve come to help me, remember, Trixie. That means that I have to keep up with you. I have no intention of setting to work at four-thirty in the afternoon.”
“Sorry,” she replied, ruefully. “I’m getting ahead of myself again.”
“Tell you what. Why don’t the two of you go out for an hour or so. So long as you’re back in time for dinner, I don’t mind where you are at this point in the afternoon today.” He smiled. “Will that help with working off some of that excess energy?”
Trixie nodded. “I think that’s a good idea.”
After a short amount of discussion on what time dinner would be served and the places they might like to go, Jim and Trixie took the advice and went out for a walk around the neighbourhood to expend some energy. A cooling breeze was taking the edge off the heat of the day and the street was lined with shady trees that offered some protection from the sun. A walk, hand in hand, was just what Trixie needed to calm herself. She returned to the house ready for anything.
In the morning after breakfast, the three of them went over to Ivy’s house. A number of changes were apparent as soon as they entered. Several boxes stood stacked against the wall in the front hallway. The side table which had been in that place had disappeared, as had the painting which had been on the wall above it. The edges of the floors were coated in a thin layer of dust.
“We’ve already started work on getting the house emptied,” William explained. “It’s mostly been things like kitchen equipment and other, non-personal items. Now that you’re here, I want to start locating the more sensitive items, to take them back to my house. So, where do you suggest that we start?”
Trixie thought for a moment. “Myrtle’s attic room. It’s got the most sensitive items of all, and it’s at the top of the house – so we can work our way down to the bottom.”
William nodded. “In that case, lead the way.”
He picked up a few boxes, not yet taped into shape, and a roll of packing tape, before following her up the stairs and into Myrtle’s room. When they got there, the bookcase was fastened across the opening and Trixie stretched as high as she could to unlatch it. She went up the stairs and the two men followed her.
“I don’t know what to do with all of that,” William commented, waving at the mess that still covered parts of the floor and the roughly-packed boxes that Trixie had filled. “I don’t think I can see well enough up here to even tell what’s worth anything.”
“Should we just take it downstairs?” Jim suggested. “I could work on that, while Trixie does the important things.”
For the next little while, they worked together, packing the items in the attic and taking them down the stairs to make two more piles in an empty room. Before long, the space was empty. After that, Trixie went through each bedroom in turn, showing William where personal things were located. This yielded little and he expressed the opinion that almost everything else on that floor was due to be thrown away.
From there, they moved to Ivy’s suite and progress slowed. William was reluctant to take such quantities of papers into his house, especially since most of them were worthless. They began to sort them into those important enough to save, those to be destroyed and those safe to discard. By the end of the day, they had made significant inroads into the task. They all carried boxes out to the two cars they had brought and loaded them inside. The boxes filled with junk from the attic, however, they left behind to be reviewed another time.
All three were weary and covered in dust and grime by the time they returned to William’s house. They got themselves cleaned up and were well fed by Linda, before getting an early night. It would all be happening again the next day.
“There’s someone coming to pick up a legacy this morning,” William noted at breakfast on the last morning of their stay. “He’s the last living descendant of Ivy’s father. I thought you might like to meet him, Trixie.”
She nodded, her mouth full. When she had swallowed, she replied, “That would be great. Where are you meeting him?”
“At Ivy’s house,” was the answer. “That’s one reason why I’ve left the more functional furniture until last – we still have somewhere to sit down.”
Before long they had gone to keep that appointment. They arrived at the house a good fifteen minutes before the visitor and had the opportunity to tidy a few other things up first. William showed the man, who was called Dennis Butler, inside and offered him a seat and some refreshments. Both of these offers were accepted.
“Here is the item in question,” William explained, pointing to the elaborate candlestick, which was set on a nearby table. “I don’t suppose it means all that much to you, but Ivy and her sisters were adamant that it should go to one of her father’s relatives.”
Dennis shook his head. “I’ve never been much on family. My sister died when she was twenty-five, way back in 1963, and she was always the one I was closest to. Since then it’s not really been a priority of mine. I had a career I enjoyed and that was enough for me when I was still working. Now that I’m retired, I still have plenty to do, but no one to tie me down.”
“You don’t have any family at all?” Trixie asked, feeling a pang of sympathy for this man.
He shrugged. “I’ve got some kind of cousins around somewhere. I keep in touch with a couple of them. I’ll leave this thing to them. My guess is that they’d have more claim to it, anyway.”
“Why do you say that?” William asked. “Ivy was quite sure …”
Dennis chuckled. “She would be – she came from the side of the family that heard her father’s side of the story, or his creative reinterpretation, anyway. My grandmother told me the other side, where old Silas was a scoundrel and a cheat and a thief and left her mother in the lurch to run off with someone else’s wife. From her story, I wouldn’t be surprised if this heirloom rightfully belongs in the other man’s family – those second or third cousins I mentioned.”
“After Silas’s first wife married the man whose wife had died trying to run off with Silas,” Trixie elaborated, nodding. “It’s kind of tangled, isn’t it?”
“You shouldn’t look too closely at your forebears; you probably won’t like what you’ll find,” Dennis told her with a laugh. “Not that it matters too much to me; I don’t have kids and I’m not about to have any at my time of life.”
“You had quite a few things in common with Ivy,” Trixie noted. “Did you ever meet her?”
“No, I never did meet her, and from what I’ve heard we had almost nothing in common. The basic outline may be similar, but the details are almost as different as you can get.” He paused, shaking his head. “I travelled the world and met all kinds of people. I lived in out-of-the-way places and experienced lots of things that most people have never even heard of. My whole life, I’ve been free to do as I pleased and she was here, trapped. That’s no kind of life, at least, not to my way of thinking.”
“Ivy was satisfied with her life,” Trixie told him. “It seemed that way to me, too, but she insisted that she was.”
“I guess that’s all that’s important, then.” Dennis rose from his seat and went to pick up the heirloom. “I might just give this to my mother’s cousin Gloria. She’s sentimental enough to probably want it.”
He turned it over in his hands and examined the underside carefully, carrying it over to the window to gain some more light. “Yes, look here: the initials C.E. carved in. You can just make it out.”
“Calvin Ellis,” Trixie supplied. “The man who was cheated by Silas.”
Dennis nodded. “I didn’t know his name, but that would be the one. My guess is that he made this himself. There’s one rather like it in Gloria’s house. She’d probably like to make it a pair.”
“Well, it’s yours to do with as you will,” William answered. “By the sounds of it, that would also be in keeping with the intent of the legacy.”
Once more, Dennis nodded. “I’ll give her a call and see what she says. I don’t especially want it; I’ve always made it a point to travel light through life. I don’t see any need for reminders for a past that isn’t even mine. And, on that note, I think it’s time to leave you to it. Thank you for your hospitality.”
William replied in kind and escorted Dennis to the door, leaving Jim and Trixie where they were. Trixie leaned her head against Jim’s shoulder, thinking deeply about what had just happened. After a moment, she felt that she needed to express those thoughts.
“Do you agree with him? Is it really not all that important to think about your past, or your family’s past? Are things from your family not important at all?”
Jim paused for a moment. “I can see his point, but I can’t say that I see things the same way. I’d sure like to have some relics of my family’s past. I mean, I know intellectually that my parents and grandparents and so on must have lived, since I’m here as their descendant, but I don’t really have anything that ties me to them.”
“It’s not quite the same thing, though, is it?” she asked. “Dennis chose to walk away from his family, but nobody chose to leave in your situation; nobody got a choice.”
“Maybe not.”
They lapsed into silence. William still had not returned and there was no sound to indicate where he might be. Before long, Trixie needed to add something else.
“Do you think that there really is a choice to be made between family and adventure?”
Jim shrugged, causing her head to move. “I don’t think so. Ivy had neither.”
“True.” She sat up and looked at him, smiling. “So, are you up for an adventure? With me?”
Jim returned her smile. “That’s the question I’ve been waiting for.”
The End