meet Tuesdays and Thursdays,’ Betty informed her, ‘you should come to our luncheon this week. We’re having bouillabaisse, a bit fancy for my taste but it was Ivy’s turn to choose.’
‘Ah, maybe,’ Ava replied carefully.
‘We’re also the members of the Knitting and Crochet Guild, and the Apple Pie Society, but it gets slightly cumbersome to rattle off all of our titles,’ Barbara brushed an invisible speck of lint from her sleeve.
‘Barbara is our club secretary,’ Bunty told her helpfully.
‘Apple Pie Society?’ Ava replied.
‘We’re in charge of the yearly Apple Pie fair,’ Barbara nodded her head. ‘People come from all over to taste our pies. Lorna Pritchard has an orchard over on the west side of the island; it’s over a hundred years old, comes from her daddy’s side of the family. Of course, the name is a bit uncouth. I’ve always thought Pritchard’s Orchards doesn’t have very much panache for such an old esteemed orchard. I have suggested to her and her husband Richard on several occasions that they might want to change it. Of course, he’s lucky he didn’t have to take her name when they wed, I mean, can you imagine being married to someone named Richard Pritchard? Ridiculous.’
‘Be kind Barbara,’ Bunty admonished her.
‘She’s just sour because she never married,’ Ivy whispered. ‘When she dies it’s going to be a case of ‘return unopened’ if you know what I mean.’ She lifted a thinly penciled brow.
‘God has another plan for me,’ Barbara lifted her chin, ‘besides you never married either.’
‘That’s because I’m too much woman to limit myself to just one man,’ Ivy attempted to flick her hair, but merely succeeded in lifting it up in one great flap and plopping it back down in exactly the same position, right to the millimeter. Seriously, the woman needed to lay off the hairspray. Ava sincerely hoped Ivy didn’t smoke because she was most likely, extremely flammable.
Ava couldn’t help the smile threatening to tug at the corner of her lips as she listened to the chattering women.
‘Anyway dear, why don’t you show us where you’re staying. Seeing as our darling Hari is no longer with us, we feel a certain responsibility to make sure her only grandchild is well taken care of, so just think of us as your surrogate family.’
‘Uh huh,’ Ava’s eyes widened, not really sure what to say to the eccentric but well-meaning guild of old ladies.
Ava glanced around and noticed Bailey had stealthily slunk away. It seems she didn’t know how to take their sudden visitors any more than Ava did.
‘Come along then,’ Bunty took Ava’s arm and wrapped it companionably through her own as she began to steer her in the direction of the house. ‘Do you know, I haven’t been up here in years? The last time was with Hari.’
‘Was it really?’ Given no other choice Ava fell into step beside Bunty. ‘Did she come up here often?’
‘Not often,’ Bunty shook her head, ‘but occasionally. Sometimes she’d bring me for company, at other times she wanted to be left alone with her thoughts. She always felt a pull toward the house, something others couldn’t understand. To them it was just an old wreck used to frighten unruly children and over imaginative teens.’
‘Is there any truth to it?’ Ava asked as they ambled along, with Ivy and Barbara bickering behind them, followed by Esther who wandered along happy to just be with her friends, and Norma, who was so engrossed in her knitting that she was being herded by Betty so she didn’t accidentally collide with a tree.
‘Ah so you’ve heard some of the gossip then, have you?’ Bunty smiled.
‘I guess.’
‘It was only a matter of time I suppose. Let me guess? The rather handsome young Kelley Ryan?’
‘He thinks its haunted,’ Ava snorted.
‘Yes well, Kelley always fell into the over imaginative teen category.’
‘What do you think?’ Ava asked curiously.
‘I think everyone who looks at the house sees what they want to see,’ Bunty replied. ‘Killian sees a sad old building in need of repair; Kelley sees a mysterious old house filled with restless spirits and secrets, and Hari…’
‘Yes?’ Ava asked, ‘what did she see?’
‘Hari,’ Bunty shook her head and sighed, ‘saw her family’s greatest shame. I think she loathed the house as much as she loved it. She was bound to the house, and it was a bondage that held her in its thrall until her last breath. She could never escape it.’
‘Why did no one ever live there?’ Ava glanced at Bunty. ‘Why did