Emilie Richards - Endless Chain

They were only half a mile up Old Miller Road when Helen started expounding on Christine. “Maybe that Christine Fletcher is pretty, if you like women who make ‘pretty’ their life work. She dyes her hair, you know. Nobody’s hair is that color.” Helen said the last in a tone that brooked no resistance.

Tessa, who was driving, resisted anyway. “No, her hair is natural, and she’s stunning. And you were not very nice, Gram. Do you really expect her to remember everybody’s name in between trips?”

“I expect her to try. She doesn’t like us, and that’s a fact. I’m not sure I cotton to Sam Kinkade, you understand, but I did expect better from him.”

“You adore Sam, and she seems pleasant enough.”

“I won’t ask Elisa what she thinks. You can hardly say, can you, girl, when you’re hoping to get a job there.”

Elisa tried not to laugh. “I have no opinions about anything.”

Tessa laughed for her. “We’re going to leave poor Elisa out of this.”

Helen shook one finger at her granddaughter. “You just mark my words. Either Christine will take Sam away from us, or he’ll tell her to hit the road. But there won’t be a wife in that parsonage anytime soon, at least not one with dyed red hair.”

Tessa changed the subject. “Elisa, have you been in the area long? Are you from the valley?”

“No, I’ve only been here six months.”

“What brings you here?” Helen asked.

For a moment Elisa was stumped. Clearly a job had not brought her. If it had, it was unlikely she would be looking for another so soon. If she claimed the reason had been family, then someday she might be expected to produce them.

“A friend invited me to share her home while I looked for work. I was ready to leave...Texas.”

“I would imagine so.” Helen sounded as if she could not conceive of anyone who wouldn’t prefer Virginia.

Tessa slowed at a crossroads, then sped up again. “Do you like it here?”

“I like everything but the rain.”

“It’s not usually like this. Last summer was dry. This summer is wet. Maybe next summer will be just right.”

“Too dry, too wet, just right... Sounds like you’ve been practicing your Three Bears,” Helen said. “Getting ready for the baby.”

Elisa wanted to slip out of the spotlight. She leaned forward. “I couldn’t help but notice there’s a baby on the way. Will it be soon?”

“It better not be,” Tessa said. Elisa thought there was a touch of anxiety in the reply.

“She’s due in January,” Helen said. “And she refuses to find out the sex. And she hasn’t chosen names because that’s bad luck.”

“No, we haven’t chosen names because there are too many choices.”

“Because it’s bad luck,” Helen repeated.

Tessa sped up some more, as if she hoped to distract or drop off her grandmother quickly. “Do you have children, Elisa?”

“I’m not married. My roommate has two. I enjoy them.”

“I never did see the point of babies,” Helen said. “Of course, Tessa’s will be different.” She said this as if Tessa had better make sure of it.

Rain began to fall in earnest, not the teasing harbinger of a storm but the real thing at last. Tessa snapped on her windshield wipers and slowed to a crawl. “I’m certainly glad you didn’t try to walk home in this.”

Elisa was glad, too. She was frightened of storms, although she did not let that deter her from going out in them if she had to. She didn’t have the luxury of giving in to haunting memories or of forgetting why she was afraid.

“You don’t even have an umbrella,” Helen chided.

Elisa looked at Helen instead of the storm outside the window. “In a real storm, an umbrella means nothing. And I didn’t want to carry anything I didn’t need to.”

“Well, we’re almost to the park,” Tessa said. “Isn’t that the turnoff just ahead?”

Elisa saw she was right. The trip was so short, so easy, in a car.

Tessa pulled into the drive leading to a village of less than a dozen mobile homes separated by tiny, sloping lots. One home, just off to the side, had a canopy and a sign in front announcing it was the office, although in truth, little business was ever accomplished there. Some of the homes were fronted by awnings adorned with hanging plants; some had storage sheds; some had a rosebush or flower borders. In a field just yards away a chestnut mare grazed on dandelions and crabgrass.

Elisa pointed to the fourth home on the right, which had a metal awning over a small plywood porch. “Right there.”

Tessa pulled alongside it. “Will they mind if I park under the canopy by the office for a minute? I’m going to get out and clean some mud off the windshield. My wipers aren’t getting it.”

“You need new wipers,” Helen said. “And that’s a fact.”

“No one would mind,” Elisa said. She thanked Tessa, who assured her again it had been no trouble; then Elisa said goodbye to Helen. She got out and stayed on the porch to wave goodbye as they turned and started toward the office, just across the gravel road.

The door was locked, which surprised her, since she had expected Adoncia to be home. To the drumming of rain on the metal awning, she slipped off her backpack and fumbled through it for her key.

Once the door was open, she started inside, but something made her turn, perhaps a noise that didn’t seem to be part of the storm, an instinct. She saw Tessa, parked now under the office canopy, slumped against the side of the car. Elisa leapt off the porch and sprinted across the road. Helen had emerged by the time she got there, and the two of them caught Tessa before she slid to the ground.

Between them they managed to get her to the steps leading up to the office. She was semiconscious, although Elisa thought she had passed out completely for at least a few seconds.

Gently she nudged Tessa’s head toward her knees. “Take a deep breath,” she said. “It will pass quickly. Just stay there until you feel better.”

Tessa made a noise one degree from a moan. Helen was wide-eyed with alarm. “She’s as healthy as a horse. Eats right, does everything right. I don’t know what could be wrong with her.”

“Has she been having fainting spells?”

“I don’t know. She hasn’t said a thing to me, and if she’d told her mother, I’d have heard about it, believe me.”

“I’m...fine.” Tessa lifted her head, then rested it on her hands.

Elisa sat beside her and rubbed her back. “Has this happened before?”

“No.” Tessa took a deep breath, but she still sounded frightened. “Something is obviously wrong.”

Elisa weighed silence against her own comfort, but she had little choice. “I wouldn’t worry too much, not unless a doctor tells you to. It could be several things, all minor.”

Tessa looked up. “How do you know?”

“I—I have a sister who had the same thing happen to her.” Elisa smiled her reassurance. “She told me exactly what her doctor said. Iron deficiencies or infections of the inner ear may cause fainting in pregnancy, but most likely the baby is just pressing against a nerve or a blood vessel. None of those things are serious. There’s no danger to you or the baby, but of course you must go in to be checked as soon as possible.”

Tessa looked somewhat relieved. “I thought...”

“She thought she was going into labor and losing the baby,” Helen said bluntly. “And so did I.”

Elisa squeezed Tessa’s hand. “Most likely your doctor will tell you to be sure you change positions often when you’re sitting. Perhaps he’ll point out that since you’ve had this episode, you shouldn’t drive or sit in a car more than necessary.”

“It was a long drive from Fairfax, and I came right over to get Gram.”