Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers.
"Go see who's at the door Mother. I can't have this chicken dry out or Frank will have a fit and I have to stir the gravy so it doesn't get lumps. We cannot have lumpy gravy," Helen instructed in her Do Not Fuck With Me Tone."
"Don't get your knickers in a twist; I'm moving as fast as I can. Hey, there's a damn fancy black car parked at the curb. Someone must be lost because Lord knows we don't know anyone in this neighborhood who drives something that pricey," Edna called loudly over her shoulder as she hustled to the front door.
Helen went completely still and silent at her Mother's comment of strangers arriving on their porch. She mentally ran over the list of people in the Burg she deemed acceptable and even a few she knew over in Hamilton Township, yet realized her mother was right. They didn't know anyone who drove fancy cars. She was torn between her 'duties' in the kitchen of creating the perfect meal and wanting desperately to know who was at the front door but in the end she stayed where she was and continued on with the 'perfect' chicken.
Surely her mother could handle this one thing. Goodness knows giving someone directions shouldn't be that hard; they'd lived in the same house for years now.
Just her and Frank and Edna. Helen and Frank had a daughter, Valerie but she and her family were eating dinner at her in-law's house, so it would just be the three of them tonight.
There was another knock on the door before Edna managed to get it open. Helen's ears perked up as she heard a deep baritone timbre ask if Francis W. Plum was at home. She stopped stirring the gravy and leaned closer to the door in order to hear the next sentence. 'Is he expected back soon?'
"Yep," Edna informed the unknown visitors, "my Son-in-Law should be home anytime now. Won't you and your companion please come in?" The couple on the porch shared a glance before nodding in agreement and stepping inside the house.
Several curtains in the neighborhood were fluttering as faces peeked out of windows and eyes focused on the Plum house. Everyone was trying to get a glimpse of the sleek, black and most definitely foreign car parked at the curb, but mostly they were zooming in on the couple, who even from the backside, seemed to be very attractive.
The man was at least 6 feet tall with jet-black hair which he'd pulled back into a pony-tail. It was in stark contrast to the woman beside him. Her auburn hair hung in loose curls down her back and the color seemed vaguely familiar. 'Who could that be?' Was a phrase being uttered under their breaths all along the tree-lined street. It would continue to niggle at the back of their minds while everyone watched the Plum front door closing as the man followed the woman into the house, gently guiding her with a hand at the small of her back.
"I can get some coffee and cookies from the kitchen," Edna went on as she ushered them into the living room. "Please, have a seat. Helen," she called to her daughter, "we have company. Will you please bring out some refreshments?" Her exuberant voice traveled into the kitchen where Helen didn't fail to notice the apparent glee in her tone.
"That's very kind," Helen heard the woman speak for the first time, "but we don't need refreshments. Maybe some water while we wait for Mr. Plum? We don't want to inconvenience you in any way."
"Oh, nonesense, it ain't no inconvenience. Oh and I apologize, I forgot my manners. I'm Edna Mazur, Frank's Mother-in-Law and you are...?"
"Forgive me for not introducing ourselves. My name is Carlos Manoso and this is my wife, Stephanie. We've been trying to find Mr. Plum for a very long time. If you don't mind, that's all we'll say on the matter until he arrives home. I understand he drives a cab, and sometimes stays at his lodge until dinner time, isn't that correct Mrs. Mazur?"
"How on earth do these people know Frank? He never mentioned a Mr. and Mrs. Manoso ever in his life,' Helen thought to herself as she smoothed down her apron.
Holding the tray of refreshments after making sure dinner was ready to dish up as soon as Frank got home, Helen entered the living room only to come face to face with the couple sitting on her plastic covered couch.
Shattered.
The tray and tea pot made of fine china shattered on the floor once Helen got a good look at the woman sitting in front of her.
The woman that had Francis W. Plum's hair.
And she had his firm, angled face.
The same crystal blue eyes of her beloved husband.
"Helen, Helen!" Edna slapped her daughter's face bringing her around. She'd fainted dead away the second she got a look at the visitors.
"Wh-wha-what happened?" Helen asked no one in particular.
Sitting up with her mother's help, Helen kept her eyes firmly on the couple in front of her.
Was the look on the woman's face due to her current predicament of having china broken around her?
Or was there something else making her stare defiantly into Helen's eyes?
Everyone heard the slam of the car door and Frank's voice when he came inside his home.
"Helen, do we have company?"
Time stood still.
Frank came around the corner and face to face to the past he's always regretted walking away from when he was in the service. He knew instantly it was her.
"I've been looking for you for years. I've exhausted every Army connection I have and here you are, out of the blue. My baby girl!" Frank exclaimed, holding his arms out for a hug from the complete stranger.
Glancing at her husband with his slightly tipped lips, the woman flew into Frank's arms.
"Daddy, I found you!"
"I'd almost given up hope. Especially when I heard your Mother died. Helen, come over here and meet the daughter I told you about before we were married. Remember Elizabeth who I was in love with? This is our daughter. I'm sorry honey; I don't even know your name. I just knew I had a daughter that has been lost to me for all these years, " Frank told her, as he motioned his wife over to the woman still encircled in his arms.
Tears were flowing down Frank Plum's face as he took in the beauty in front of him.
Small in stature, like her mother, yet he could see himself in her features as well. She had the same color hair, the same straight nose. The same sturdy jaw line. Her eyes were even the same shade of blue as his but the shape was her Mother's.
His lost love, Elizabeth.
"Mom gave me your middle name, well a version of it anyway. I'm now Stephanie Francesca Manoso and this is my husband, Carlos."
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A/N. These characters belong to Janet Evanovich.
The pleasure of twisting of a knife into the heart of Helen Plum is all mine, as well as a friend of mine who helped me flesh this story out.
Hope you enjoy this twisty tale of family.
And many thanks to my beta - without her red pen this would totally not be readable. Thanks Ms. Shelley!
TBC.
Evil Cackle of Laughter.
