Fellowship & Fairydust

Nancy quickly pulled Emily behind her while Helen began inching her way to the rear door as another middle-aged woman rushed out of the house. 

“Mary, don’t! I said they could come!” 

“But why would you let her come here!” blurted Mary Turner. Nancy figured that meant the other woman was her sister, Edna, the one she talked to on the phone. 

“If you would stop and listen to me for five minutes, you would know! Idiot.” The two glared at each other for a moment before Mary huffed and crossed her arms, the rolling pin sticking out, aimed at the girls. 

“Fine, but make it snappy. And this had better be good.” 

“Gloria’s dead, Mary, and these girls think they might have figured out Josiah’s clues to start searching for his will.” 

Mary’s whole demeanor seemed to change as she glanced at Emily. “Gloria’s dead? Oh, you poor thing!” She wrapped Emily up in a hug. Emily smiled nervously and patted Mary’s back. “How are you feeling?” 

“I’m, uh, feeling a little bit better, um, thank you.” 

“Isn’t there something else you need to say, Mary?” 

Mary sighed. “Yes, I’m sorry for the way I acted upon your arrival. I just, I get so mad without letting my sister explain everything to me.” 

“Ain’t that the truth,” mumbled Edna with a roll of her eyes. 

“May I ask why you two didn’t like Gloria and Emily?” asked Nancy. 

“Well,” began Mary, but she was interrupted by a little voice. A little girl of about six years old walked towards them. She was a pretty child, with bouncy gold curls, sparkling grey eyes, and a dimpled smile. 

“Auntie Mary, Auntie Edna, who are these pretty ladies?” 

“Judy! I thought I told you to wait inside!” said Edna. She turned to the others. “Might as well get everyone inside too. Come on.” She grabbed Judy’s hand and led them into the small house. The girls gasped when they entered. It might have been small, but it was cute. 

“Wow, I like what you’ve done with the place,” said Helen.

Mary smiled. “That’s all Edna’s doing. She was always better at color coordinating than I ever was.” 

Edna scoffed. “Well, you were the tomboy of the three of us.” 

“The three of you?” asked Helen. 

Edna nodded. “Mary’s the eldest, then me, and Judy’s mother, Anne, was the youngest.” 

“Where is Judy’s mother?” asked Nancy slowly, already dreading the answer the instant the question came out of her mouth. 

“Mommy and Daddy are in heaven with Granpa and Granma,” said Judy matter-of-factly. 

“Judy?” said Edna as she knelt down to her level. “You see that girl?” She pointed to Emily. 

“Yes, she’s really pretty.” 

Emily smiled. “Thank you.”
“That’s Emily Crandall, her mommy is in heaven with your mommy and daddy.” 

Judy gasped as she glanced at Emily. “Do you miss your mommy like I miss my mommy?” 

Emily teared up. “Yes, yes I do, Judy.” Helen rubbed her shoulder.

Nancy thought it best to turn the conversation to the reason for the visit and knelt down. “Judy, would you like to see a magic trick?” 

Judy’s mouth dropped. “Really?” She glanced at her aunts. “May I see it?” 

“We all want to see this,” said Mary. 

“Oh, where are my manners? We haven’t been introduced!” exclaimed Edna. Introductions were quickly made as Mary walked over to a shelf and took the clock down. Emily pulled the book out of her purse as Nancy took the clock from Mary. Emily quickly dried her tears and flipped the book open to the first poem. Nancy got situated with the clock before nodding at Emily. Emily nodded back and read off the numbers in the poem. Nancy rotated the hands into place for each number, but nothing happened. 

She shook her head. “Next one.” Emily read out the numbers and Nancy rotated the hands into position for each. This time, there was a distinct click, followed by a gasp from Judy. Nancy pulled on the little drawer and took out the paper. She handed it to Mary. “Do you want to read it?” 

Mary, though obviously surprised, merely shrugged. “Why not.” She took the paper from Nancy, opened it, and cleared her throat. But then she stared in shock at the paper. “Well, this is definitely something Josiah would write,” she finally said. 

“Well, what did he write?” blurted Helen, probably a little too impatiently. 

“Yes Mary, what does it say?”  

Mary cleared her throat again. “Three minus one is two; And two plus two is four; Ring the bell at three o’clock; You’ve done this all before.” 

Edna sighed. “Yup, that totally sounds like something Josiah would write.” 

“But what does it mean?” asked Helen before looking pointedly at Nancy. Nancy wasn’t paying attention, she was thinking about the poems. So far, each poem had four lines each, with the second and fourth lines rhyming. The third line each had something to do with the time, in this case, three o’clock, and the first two always had numbers. She also thought about the times, twelve, six and three. Could the last one be something at nine o’clock? And what did they all mean? Was there another clock they had to find to put those numbers into? “Hello? Earth to Nancy?” 

Nancy blinked and realized that everyone was looking at her. She grinned sheepishly. “Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts.” 

“Obviously,” muttered Helen. 

“Did you come up with anything?” asked Emily hopefully. 

Nancy shook her head. “Not really, I mean, unless thinking that the next poem we’re going to find is going to have nine o’clock in the third line is something.” 

“Why would you think that?” asked Mary. 

Nancy quickly told them about the first two poems and why she came to that conclusion. Marry nodded, clearly impressed. 

“Why, I wouldn’t have thought of that,” said Edna. 

“That’s why we leave the thinking to Nancy,” said Helen, smiling proudly at her friend. 

“But we can’t let her do all the thinking for us,” Emily blurted. “Though, she is better at this than I am.” 

Nancy chuckled. “It’s fine. I’m sure everything will be clearer when we get the fourth poem.” 

“We’ve been saying that for the last two poems,” said Helen. “Nothing still makes sense.” 

“Well, maybe if there’s something in the deposit box at the bank and the safe at Riverview Manor that could help clear this all up.” 

“Well, we know the last one has to be the combination needed for the one at the bank,” said Helen. “And by the sounds of it, the poem we’ll find at Riverview Manor will be for the safe. But the one we found at Lilac Inn and this one? Still not making any sense.” 

“Well, maybe we should think a little more about it,” said Nancy. “Besides, we still haven’t been to Riverview Manor, and won’t be able to until the Tophams return.” She glanced between Mary and Edna. “Right now, I’d like to solve a smaller mystery, the mystery of why the Turners didn’t like the Crandalls.” 

Edna and Mary glanced at each other before looking at Emily. Edna sighed. “It’s no mystery, really, I’m sure Emily’s already told you exactly why.” 

“Edna . . .” 

“Aren’t you tired of this, Mary, aren’t you tired of being so full of hate  you can’t think or see straight? I know I am. I want to get to the bottom of this as much as Nancy. We should have been there for her when her mother passed, and we weren’t.” She looked at Mary, but when Mary gave no answer, she turned to Nancy. “At first, we really liked the Crandalls. We were really good friends, Anne included. We were there for Gloria and Emily when Scott passed away in that freak accident that killed him. They were there for us when Anne and her husband Greg died in that car crash and we took Judy in. All of us came to like Josiah’s presence in our lives. He added something new, refreshing, and bold. He was rich too, that we knew, but we didn’t care, the old fellow was fun to be around. Gloria had even suggested that Josiah should get with Mary.” 

Mary scoffed. “Like that was going to happen. He was a great guy, but too odd for me to live with.” 

Edna chuckled. “Quite true, but Gloria really just wanted us to be happy, really truly happy, and we wished the same for her and Emily. Then Gloria found out she had breast cancer, and Josiah found out that his heart couldn’t take much more. I think, I am beginning to think that might have had a lot to do with it. We had already lost Anne, Greg, and Scott, and now we were losing Gloria and Josiah too? I know I almost couldn’t take it. But Gloria was going in for chemotherapy and seemed to be doing well. It was just Josiah we had to worry about, and it didn’t help that he was dropping hints about leaving us all something once he had passed away, even the Archers and his only living family, the Tophams. He was definitely ready whenever death came, but we weren’t, not yet.” 

“No, not yet,” said Emily sadly. Edna sat down on the other side of Emily and rubbed her shoulder. 

“No, not yet, though we all knew it would be sometime soon, he wasn’t exactly a spring chicken anymore. He was almost ninety when he passed.” 

Mary nodded. “Yeah, and then, well, the Tophams arrived.” 

“You’re getting ahead, Mary, it started some time before Josiah passed.” She glanced around at her audience. “It was just me, Mary, and Gloria who was visiting Josiah that day. Emily was at school, and Judy was having a playdate with one of her little friends, back when we were living in a better neighborhood.” She let out a huff. “Josiah had dropped yet another hint that he was leaving us a good portion of money in his will, but that we should continue to save whatever we could for a rainy day. Gloria scoffed and said that at that rate, she would need two shares. I do believe now that she meant it as a joke, but we had heard some bad news concerning our rent, and, well, we managed to get it in our heads that she was being serious. We didn’t exactly leave on the greatest of terms, but we didn’t exactly leave on bad terms either. But, then the Tophams came, and they, well, they pretty much started trying to turn us against each other. It was easy for them to turn us against the Crandalls because of what we perceived Gloria meant.” 

“The Tophams were stirring up trouble between the four of you?” asked Nancy. 

“Wouldn’t surprise me,” muttered Helen. 

“They haven’t been stirring up much trouble lately,” said Emily slowly. 

“Well, if they left town while we were piecing together the clues Josiah left, then they’re probably at it again.” 

“You can’t be sure of that, Helen,” said Nancy. “Mr. Topham could have needed to go out of town this weekend for work purposes.” 

Helen huffed. “Fine, whatever, but I still think they’re up to something, and I wouldn’t put it past Jane to be in cahoots with them.” 

“Wait, what?” said Edna. 

“Who?” said Mary. The girls took turns telling them about everything that had happened after Gloria’s death, and why Emily suspected that the person who called herself Jane Willoughby was not the real Jane Willoughby.

“You’re sure she couldn’t be the real Jane Willoughby and just be not as trustworthy as Gloria thought she was?” asked Mary. 

Emily nodded her head firmly. “I’m positive, there’s been a few things that didn’t sound right, or had too many changes in comparison to what Mom told me.” 

Mary shrugged. “Hey, as you get older, you can get more forgetful of things that happened in your youth, it happens.” 

“I don’t think so, not with these things,” said Emily. 

“Come on Mary, let it be. She’s been around this Jane longer than we have, and Gloria taught her to have a good head on her shoulders.” 

“True,” said Mary. Everyone’s attention was grabbed by a tiny yawn. The little tyke was rubbing her eyes. 

Edna walked towards her. “Oh, we need you to eat something before you go to sleep, Judy.” 

“But I don’t wanna go to bed,” muttered Judy, still rubbing at her eyes.

“Did she even have a nap today?” asked Mary, glancing at her watch. 

Edna shook her head. “I had to take her with me to run errands. And then you had to run out of here like a crazy maniac, waving that rolling pin like a sword when these lovely girls arrived.” 

Mary huffed. “Alright, fine. Let’s get you a quick snack before nap time.” 

Judy pouted groggily at her. “I don’t wanna nap. I wanna visit with Emily, Nancy, and Helen.” 

“Don’t worry, darling, they’ll be here when you’ve finished your nap. Auntie Mary and I invited them over for dinner.” 

Mary scoffed. “You invited them to dinner, you didn’t tell me a thing until they were pulling into our driveway!” 

Edna shot her a look. “Because I was trying to avoid the whole rolling pin thing.” Mary rolled her eyes, but she picked up Judy and walked into the kitchen. Edna sighed. “Mary thinks that because she’s the eldest, she always knows better than I do.”

“It’s usually the case!” came Mary’s voice from the kitchen, followed by a little giggle from Judy. Nancy, Helen, and Emily stifled their own giggles while Edna just rolled her eyes again, though she was clearly amused. The next minute, Mary had walked out of the kitchen, holding Judy, and went down the hall. 

“Well, now what? That was pretty quick,” remarked Helen as she pulled out her phone to check the time. “It’s not even three yet.” 

“Oh! Miss Turner, may I get a picture of the poem?” 

“Of course, dear! And call me Edna, it would be easier.” Edna straightened out the paper on the coffee table where Mary had left it as Nancy pulled out her phone. Nancy took a few snaps of the poem before picking her phone up. 

She smiled at Edna. “Thanks.” 

“No, thank you.” Edna’s eyes began to water. “Without you, there would have been no hope of us being able to continue caring for Judy.” 

Nancy patted her hand. “I’m glad to be able to help.” 

“Well,” said Mary as she re-enterd the living room, “Judy’s out like a light. Hopefully she’ll go to sleep at a decent time tonight.” 

“With us here, that shouldn’t be a problem,” said Helen confidently. 

“I hope so, otherwise you can stay up with her all night until she falls asleep,” said Mary. Helen grinned sheepishly. 

“Well, why don’t we plan dinner, and then we’ll talk?” suggested Edna. The plan was agreed to, and Nancy and Helen made a quick run to the grocery store to pick up a few things to go with dinner, plus an extra few days’ worth of groceries. The Turners didn’t want to accept their generosity, but the girls insisted, and they finally relented. Judy was up a while by the time dinner was being started on, and she got to show the girls her favorite toys, few that there were. They stayed until eight o’clock and helped get Judy to bed before leaving. The ride back was mostly quiet, when they did talk, it was about finding more ways to help the Turners until Nancy could find the will. When they arrived at Lilac Inn, they had begun brainstorming ways to help the Turners and were racking their brains trying to figure out the clues Josiah left. 

“There you are!” blurted Jane the instant they walked into the door. The girls noted her worried expression as she walked towards them. “Oh Nancy, your stepmom has been trying to get a hold of you!” 

Nancy blinked. “My stepmom?” She thought for a moment. “Oh, you mean Hannah! She’s not my stepmom, but why was she trying to get a hold of me?” 

“She wouldn’t say, just that it was urgent and that you had to call her right away!” 

Nancy quickly pulled out her cell phone, and gasped. Hannah had tried to call her numerous times! And no wonder Nancy didn’t hear the calls, she had left her phone on silent. She glanced at the four. “Excuse me, I’d better call Hannah back and see what’s going on.” She hit the dial button as she raced up the stairs to her room. 

“Nancy! Oh thank goodness you’re alright! I’ve been trying to get a hold of you!” 

“So Jane told me! Sorry about that, Hannah, I had my phone on silent the whole day.” 

“You need to come home right now.” 

“What? Why?” 

“Someone broke into our house and . . . oh Nancy, we’ve been robbed!”

 

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