said. “I’m not allowed to play here. I can’t be in here unless an adult is with me.”
“Well, I’m an adult and I’m with you, so you can be here.”
He grinned at her. “Yep.” He quickly looked solemn. “I mean yes.”
“Are you not allowed to say ‘yep’?”
“The kids at the playground say it all the time, but Mrs. Tucker and Grandmother say I should talk properly at all times.”
“Hmm.” Marnie would not allow herself to say anything else about the subject. “I didn’t notice those portraits over the fireplace when I was in here before.”
“That’s Grandfather and his brother, Uncle John.”
“I see.”
“They died before I was borned.”
“Born. They died before you were born.”
“Yes, before I was born.” He struggled to not put the final -ed on the word, and Marnie smiled at his efforts.
“This doesn’t seem like a room I want to spend much time in. Let’s go on, shall we?”
The next room on their tour was the library.
“I came in here the other day,” Marnie told him. “There are a lot of books, but I don’t think I saw any for children.”
“Daddy uses this for an office sometimes when he works at home. That’s the only time I can come in here. He gives me paper to draw on while he works. I don’t think there are any kid books in here.”
“That portrait, is it your grandfather?”
“Yes. It’s Daddy’s father. Daddy says that makes him my grandfather,” he said, looking at Marnie to see if she followed.
“Yes, that’s right.”
The next two doors down the hall were ones she had not opened the first time she ventured into this part of the house. Jonathan put his hand on the first door they came to as he spoke. “This is a great big closet with a lot of old stuff in it.” He advanced to the next door and opened it. “Alice said they call this the ladies’ card room ‘cause folks used to play cards in it a long time ago, when my grandfather lived here.”
“Let’s see the next room,” Marnie suggested.
They entered the sunny room at the end of the hall.
“Sometimes Mrs. Tucker likes to sit here. I bring my cars and play on the floor while she reads.”
“It’s a very nice room. I like it a lot.”
“Me, too.”
Marnie thought the side yard that was visible from the sunroom would be an ideal place for a swing set and other outside toys for Jonathan to enjoy. She wondered if he had a set somewhere.
“Jonathan, do you have a swing set or climbing set or anything like that in the yard?”
He looked sad when he answered. “No. I have to get Daddy or Mrs. Tucker to take me to the park to play on stuff like that.”
She wondered if she could convince David to have some play equipment installed in the yard come spring—if she was still there by then. She couldn’t imagine David tolerating a wife who had done all he told her she had done.
The next room on the tour was on the right as they left the sunroom. Jonathan told her matter-of-factly, “This is the men’s card room.”
In it was not only a poker table, but a pool table as well, with all the trappings that accompanied it. Balls were scattered around the massive table, and a rack on the wall held pool cues.
“Does your daddy teach you how to play pool?”
“No. He said he will when I get older.”
The next room on that side of the hall was the room she had previously discovered. Bright and sunny, it was welcoming to the pair.
“I think I like this room best,” she told Jonathan.
“I like it, too,” he agreed. “I like my room and the playroom and this room bestest of all.”
“What do they call it?”
“The TV room.”
“Do you come here and watch TV?”
“Sometimes Daddy and I do, when it’s raining and we can’t go outside to play. We come in here and watch a movie.”
Marnie sat in one of the overstuffed chairs that were scattered around the room and patted the one beside her. “Come sit here so we can talk.”
Jonathan did as he was told, sliding back to snuggle into the pillows lining the chair.
“Remember when I said you could help me remember?”
He nodded his head enthusiastically.
“I want you to try to remember any time you saw me in any of these rooms we’ve talked about this morning. Remember who was there with me and what was going on, what I said, and what the other