Sugar and Spice Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

October 18 Saturday

Davidson Apple Orchard

Maynard, Massachusetts

  

THE FIELD WAS full of dead loosestrife as far as the Kelly family could see. Gone was its purple-colored blanket from last summer when they drove by to visit friends.

Ethan and Violet were strapped into the back seat. Patrick Kelly drove their nine-year old Toyota. Nicole used the visor mirror to keep her eyes on the kids. As usual on a drive, they sang to the DVD of folk songs, which over the years they almost had worn out.

This was a Kelly family ritual. In the middle of every October, they packed a picnic lunch and headed for the Davidson Apple Orchard in Maynard. After picking enough apples for pies and apple sauce, they would eat a picnic lunch at the tables outside the barn.

Patrick loved family rituals like this one. This was the first year that they were using the new wicker picnic basket complete with china, glasses, silverware. He’d given it to Nicole at Christmas after she admired it at the Harvard Coop. He was lucky his wife was prudent when it came to spending money, so he liked indulging her when he knew there was something she really wanted.

Before starting to pick, they wandered into the Davidson barn. Inside were quilts, yarn, and knitted scarves, hats and mittens for sale. They could also buy baskets or bags of apples.

Ethan and Violet always wanted to pick the fruit not buy it, which they did until Nicole announced it was time to eat the potato salad and cold chicken she’d prepared. She had not brought a dessert. Everyone had picked one of the apple tarts that the Davidson Orchard made and sold.

Patrick returned from the barn with four glasses of freshly squeezed cider. “Perfect.”

“Thank you,” Nicole said. Despite being married ten plus years, they made it a point still to say please and thank you, only partially as an example for the twins.

“Yesterday was strange with you gone all day,” Nicole said.

“Missed me, Babe?” He didn't want to tell Nicole how yesterday had worn on him. "How do you do it?" he'd asked Bill.

"I'm on the verge of burning out," Bill had said. ""Let's get back to work." 

Well, today was beautiful and Patrick could forget yesterday. 

Because his office and their house were the same, it could be several days when he didn’t leave the house. Nicole was the one who normally dropped the kids at school and picked them up. Now he’d been out two days in a row. Getting out felt good for a change. Maybe, he thought, they should get a dog so he would be forced to walk it.

Nicole kissed his cheek. “Somewhat. Lot less interruptions without you and the kids. Kinda liked it but only as a once off. I caught up on office stuff then curled up with a book.” She looked over her shoulder to make sure the kids were okay on the trampoline. That along with swings and a slide were near the picnic tables. “You were so whipped last night, you didn’t tell me how it went.”

“Since they aren’t patients, I’m not bound by confidentiality.” Last night, Patrick had fallen asleep on the couch almost as soon as he walked through the door. He and Bill had gone out for Chinese food after the Landers had left. Bunker and Lee said they needed to go see the Franklins.

Nicole had thrown a blanket over him when she discovered him asleep, still in his clothes. He woke to find himself alone. When he entered their bedroom at 3:30 in the morning, she was doing those soft putt-putts, her version of snoring.

He wasn’t apt to discuss potential child murderers in front of the kids, so this was their first moment once the kids finished eating and were playing on the trampoline and slide.

“Tomorrow, I’ll do a report. It will probably be stuck in a folder somewhere or buried in a database. I’m not sure what their timeline is, but I needed today,” Patrick said. “Yesterday was . . . yesterday was unbelievable. Four little girls, our twins’ age, planning a murder.”

“That’s hard to believe.”

“There’s still a lot that needs to be checked out.”

“What will happen to the girls?”

“I wish I knew. There was no crime committed. Thinking about a crime isn’t illegal, is it? And the girls are so young. Bill is perplexed as I am on what to do.”

“Will the fact that these are relatively well-off parents make a difference?”

“I’d like to say no, but we both know that’s not the case. It’s just how much of a difference.”

“It’s hard to believe. HJPS is considered a good school. The kids who go there have everything.”

“We both know material stuff doesn’t necessarily produce a good kid.”

Nicole busied herself clearing the table. There were other families waiting for it. “What’s next?”

“I’ll finish my report tomorrow to give to Bill. He’ll decide if they should take the matter before a judge. The girls are so young. Usually, it’s age 12 that the Department of Youth Services steps in.”

“Foster care?”

“Probably better off with their parents.”

“Counseling?”

Patrick shrugged. “And I can’t imagine they would be allowed to go back to that school. If I were Clay Franklin’s parents, I would . . . I’m not sure what I would do. And the poor headmistress. She’s new to the job.”

Before they could say anything else, Violet and Ethan ran up to them. “Can we go home now? Can we bake an apple pie and make apple sauce like we did last year?” Violet asked.

“And the year before and the year before?” Ethan said.

Nicole brushed her hair from her eyes. “I know. I’ll take the kids bike riding on the Charles so you can work after lunch.”

They were quiet as Patrick felt his muscles relax. “Even with all my training, I can’t imagine what everyone involved is going through.” He didn’t say how lucky he felt that his own family was so happy.