Lunch At The Blue Peacock

Lunch At The Blue Peacock

Another Blue Peacock Short Story

By Kathy Hayes

Ellen looked at the invitation that had arrived in the mail. Plain envelope, no return address, no clues. Inside was a simple message. Please join me for lunch at The Blue Peacock, Thursday 1PM. No signature.

Ellen dropped the invitation on the counter and put up her groceries. She laid out the ingredients for dinner in the fridge, double checking all the ingredients.  

Ellen felt some anxiety about going to a luncheon when she did not know who would be there. Oh well, it is a public place, it should be a safe environment. 

The Blue Peacock was a restaurant in the little resort village of Oaks On The Lake. Oaks was a beautiful, small village in the Appalachian mountains. Appalachia was full of charming small resort villages that catered to tourists year around. The weather permitted the resort to stay open year around and they offered a wide variety of outdoor activities. The homes and businesses there were all built around the lake. Besides year-round homes, there were also vacation homes built by the wealthy. Most of the homes were modest cabins, but there were also small mini mansions scattered in the hills around the lake.

Ellen lived in the small town of Willis, 30 miles from Oaks. She had spent many summers at Oaks with her parents, who had a small lake cabin they shared with her aunts and uncles. She had many happy memories from her summers at Oaks.

When Ron came home, Ellen told him about the strange invitation.

“Maybe just one of your girlfriends planning a surprise lunch for you. I am sure it will be fine. You should go.”

“I suppose I will go, but it isn’t my birthday or any occasion I can think of.”

“Well, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if your birthday was Thursday, would it?”

“I suppose not. Supper will be ready soon.” All three children were sitting at the dining room table doing homework. Sophie, age 8, didn’t have homework, but she liked to take part in the daily homework routine. Amanda, age 10 and Seth, age 12, were both working on their Chromebooks, trying to get homework done so there would be some tech time after supper.

Ellen dialed her mother, but there was no answer. Ellen’s father passed five years earlier, and she made a habit of checking in on her mother daily. It was strange for her not to be home this time of day. She would try to call later, or maybe even in the morning.

Supper was a noisy event in Ellen and Ron’s home. The children all competed to tell what happened at school, with Ellen and Ron asking enough questions to keep them engaged. When she brought out dessert, she said, “Ron, I was thinking. Maybe we could take the children to the cabin for Thanksgiving. Wouldn’t it be fun to get away for a few days?”

The children all chimed in, begging to go on a mini vacation and they all loved Oaks. Early on, the children had made friends with some of the local children and always looked forward to visiting with their friends.

“Okay,” Ron said. “Looks like everyone agrees. Are you sure no one else will use the cabin that week?”

“I will double check tomorrow. Of course, if Aunt Eddie and Uncle Gene were using it, we could still go, but I will check.”

The next day, Wednesday, was a busy day. Ellen had several errands to run, and she wanted to call her relatives to see if anyone planned to use the cottage over Thanksgiving. Again, she tried her mother and didn’t get an answer. Still not worried, she went about her day. Ellen decided she would spend the night at Oaks. She didn’t need a cabin, and she didn’t want to open their cabin just for herself for one night. She called The Blue Peacock lodge and booked a room for Thursday evening. Ellen had been working on a business plan to open her own bakery, and she needed time on her own to put her thoughts to paper.

Thursday morning arrived and Ellen packed a small overnight bag for her trip. She had told the children and Ron goodbye at breakfast. Check in at The Oaks was 11AM, so she could leave at any time. She could check in and get settled before lunch. 

When she arrived at The Oaks, she walked to the front desk in the lodge. The Blue Peacock shared the restaurant name with the lodge. 

“Hi Derek. How are you?”

“Mrs. Willis! So nice to see you again. I saw your name on the reservations list. Not using your cabin tonight?”

“No, not tonight, but we are going to bring the children up for a week at Thanksgiving.”

“Great,” Derek said. “We have a lot of children’s activities scheduled for that week. I think they will have a good time.”

Derek tapped the bell on the counter and a young man came to the counter to get Ellen’s bags and show her to her room.

Ellen studied the young man and said, “Justin, isn’t it? Milly and Ben’s son, right? Wow, it seems you grew up overnight!”

“Hi Mrs. Willis. Good to see you. Let me show you to your room.”

Ellen and Justin chatted on the way to the room. He asked about the children and Ron. Ellen asked about his parents. Justin showed Ellen to room 205. It was one of the larger rooms with a view of the lake. The fall colors were in full swing and the view from 205 was breathtaking. When Derek left, Ellen unpacked and set up her laptop on the small desk. Ellen had prepared spreadsheets for her new business. Ellen sat down to work and before she knew it, it was 12:30. She made her way downstairs to the restaurant. She could order a drink while she waited.

In the restaurant, she told Bob, the long time head server, that she was meeting someone at 1PM, but she didn’t know who. If he thought that was strange, he didn’t show it.

Bob showed her to a corner table and brought her a drinks menu.

“Bob, I will just have a sweet iced tea, a little too early for alcohol.”

Ellen was sipping her tea and checking her email on her phone, so she was unaware when someone walked up to the table.

Ellen looked up, surprised to see her mother standing before her.

“Mom, what are you doing here?”

There were two men standing behind her mother. Ellen did not know who they were or if they were even with her mother.

“I am here to have lunch with my beautiful daughter.”

“You mom? Why didn’t you just call me and ask me to lunch? You know I would have come. What’s up?”

Ellen’s mother sat down across from her daughter, and the two men seated themselves nearby. 

“Mom, who are those men? What is going on here?”

“Ellen, there is something I have to tell you. I wanted to do it here where we have so many happy memories. This is a hard thing for me to do, and I don’t expect you to understand what I am about to tell you. These young men are my police escort. I am staying at the Willis city jail. They have been very good to me there, and they have been kind enough to let me tell you this news on my own terms. I should have done this years ago, but there never seemed to be the correct time to tell you about my crime.”

“Mom, you are being dramatic. What kind of crime could you have committed? Are you feeling okay? I should have been keeping a closer eye on you. There must be….”

“Ellen, I want you to listen to me. Listen to everything I have to say. Then, if you want, we can talk about it.”

“Okay mom, okay. I will listen.” Ellen eyed the men at the other table and thought, well, they look like cops.

“As you know, your father and I were older parents. I was forty and your father was forty-four. We had been trying to have children for twenty years. It just never happened, and we had settled into our childless lifestyle. Thirty years ago in vitro was not that common and was cost prohibitive. Adoption was an option, but we never followed through. We were living in Randolph and your father was working at CMW as an accountant and I was an RN at the hospital, in the obstetrics wing.”

“A new neighbor moved in next door to us. Her name was Rene. She was a lovely girl, but misguided. Her father owned the house and set her up there. When she moved in, she was six months pregnant. I befriended Rene and tried to be supportive of her situation. She told me she did not know who the father of her baby was. At the time she became pregnant, she was turning tricks in Leesport.”

“Mom, where are you going with this? I am confused about why you need to tell me this now.”

“Ellen, just let me finish. I was on duty when Rene went into labor and I assisted in the baby’s birth. It was a beautiful baby girl. Considering Rene’s lifestyle, the baby was healthy. She didn’t take care of herself, but I will give her credit. She did not drink or take drugs while she was pregnant. After the baby was born, it was a different story. Constant parties with loud music. Drugs and alcohol flowing in that house like there was no tomorrow. I tried to talk to Rene about this lifestyle, but she told me it was none of my business. I called her father to report what was going on and he also told me to mind my business. The parties got noisier and longer. I was very concerned about what was happening with the baby. I often took her diapers and formula, just to make sure the baby had what it needed. She took my gifts and could not hide the disdain she felt for me.”

“It was a chilly night in September when things went awry. The traffic in and out of the house that evening was concerning. I contemplated calling the police, but your father thought we should stay out of it. I thought I should call the Department of Human Services the next day. Around 3AM, gunshots woke us. It sounded nothing like firecrackers. There was no mistaking the sound. There was a tremendous amount of screaming and crying. We got up and went outside and people were pouring out of the house, jumping in the cars and leaving. Then it was quiet. All the lights were on in the house. Your father and I walked over to Rene’s. The front door was open. The music coming from inside was deafening. We walked into the living room and there was drug paraphernalia everywhere. Although the living room was a mess, we saw nothing amiss. Hubert walked over and turned off the TV that was blaring MTV. It was then that I could hear the baby crying. As I walked from the living room and into the kitchen, I pulled up short and screamed for Hubert to come. There, in the middle of the kitchen floor, was Rene, and she was dead from a gunshot wound to the head.

“Ellen, I didn’t even think about it. It went to the bedroom and there on the bed was the baby. Just lying on the bed. No pillows surrounding her, no crib. Just in the middle of the bed. Her little three-month-old face was red and scrunched up with displeasure. I scooped the baby up and told your father we were going home.”

Ellen felt sick. She did not like where this story was going. However, she stayed quiet and let her mother continue without interruption. 

“We no sooner got into our house than the police arrived. Multiple squad cars, multiple ambulances. We expected a knock on the door from the police. You know, on TV they always canvas the neighborhood, taking statements from everyone. No one ever knocked on our door. We kept the curtains drawn and watched from behind them.”

“At 6AM, your father and I had a plan. Since we never had children, we had a tidy sum saved, and we decided now was the time to spend some of it. We resigned from our jobs that day. We hired a real estate agent and told him to sell the house and all the contents.”

“Ellen, we meant to just keep the baby until the authorities turned up, but when no one came to check, we just could not resist the tiny bundle. The next day, the murder was front page news, but no mention of a missing baby. We could take care of the baby and give her a good life. We made a life altering decision that day, and I am embarrassed to say we never looked back.”

“Oh mom, what are you telling me? I don’t understand.”

“We bought a minivan, loaded all our belongings and memorabilia, and left Randolph. It was easy. My parents and Hubert’s parents had all passed. I had two sisters and a brother living in Willis. We decided we would head there. It was easy to get a birth certificate. I told the pediatrician that we had delivered you at home and with the move, we had just failed to file for a birth certificate. Dr. Saulsbury said he would take care of it and before you knew it, we had a birth certificate and an official name for our baby.”

Ellen leaned over the table with her head in her hands. She was trying to grasp what her mother was telling her, but it made little sense.

“You are telling me I am that child? The child of a murdered woman and an unknown father. What about Rene’s father? Didn’t he want his grandchild? Did he mount a search for his grandchild?”

“The news featured Rene’s father the next day after they found him in his trunk. Rene’s father was a small-time thug with a lot of enemies. The case was closed and no one ever mentioned a baby.”

Ellen looked over at the police officers at the next table. 

“Mother, you didn’t kill anyone. Why are you being held in jail?”

“Well, darling, it is illegal to steal a child. No matter what the circumstances. It is my attorney’s opinion that I will receive a lenient sentence after I am bailed this afternoon. I just want you to know, I do not regret the decision that I made thirty years ago. Raising you and watching you grow and succeed has been the greatest joy in my life and I would not trade one minute of it. If I have to serve some jail time, I accept that.”

“Please don’t hate me Ellen. I should have sat you down and told you this story long ago. While I never wanted to make you feel insecure, it is your right to know where you come from.”

Ellen stared at her mother for a moment. Should she jump up and down and scream at her mother? That would happen on TV. Ellen’s life played through her mind like a black and white movie. Ellen’s mother was present in all those memories. Mr. Bubble pool party at age five, first sleepover, dance lessons, cheerleader camp, graduation, marriage, childbirth. Ellen searched her mind for clues or dysfunctional behavior. She could find nothing in her mind. Her childhood was idyllic. Ellen reached across the table and took both her mother’s hands in hers.

“Mom, I could never hate you. I love you very much. Now we have to figure out what our next move will be. I am going to check out and drive back to Willis. I will meet you at the jail and I will make sure you get bailed today. Who is your attorney? I need to meet with him and form our strategy.”

Ellen walked over to the talk with the police officers. “I am driving back to Willis and I will meet you all at the jail. Thank you for bringing her here.”

The police officer gave Ellen information about where to go and what she would need in order to get her mother bailed. Ellen and her mother exchanged hugs and Ellen assured her mother everything would be fine.

Ellen had a lot of information to digest. As Ellen drove back to Willis, she tried to organize in her mind what she had been told. She had so many questions and she needed to get a DNA home test. Her mother told her biological mother and grandfather were dead, but there must be somebody out there that had a biological connection to her. But how much did she need to know? 

Ellen brought her mother back to her own home once she had gotten her released on bail. She installed her mother in the guest room and told her they would talk later. Ellen went downstairs and called Ron at work and told him her plans had changed and that her mother was staying with them for a while. Ron had questions, but she told him she would explain everything when he got home.

Ellen sat down with a mug of hot tea. It had been a long day, and she felt drained. Thankfully, she had a pizza delivery service on speed dial. Tonight would be pizza and family meeting. The little ones would not understand, but she would hide nothing from her children. The important thing now was to take care of her mother, the woman that had been there for her always.