The Gowns
Hidden Treasure

 
If you give, you will receive, dear one.
If you let go, you will lay hold of my heart.
If you change, you’ll be exactly what you are!
If you love you’ll be loved. In fact, you’re loved already!

Previously...
 

Billy held his girlfriend Jay in his arms; the light in their eyes had dimmed even as the sun broke lazily through the gap in the curtains.

“Someday...”

The Armitage home...Burlington, Vermont...

Jay pulled the large trunk from under the tool bench after clearing a path by setting the numerous bundles of newspapers on the front lawn. He continued to shuttle the bundles out the garage while Billy looked for a screwdriver.

“You don’t have to break it open. Give me a second; I think Terry kept a set of keys for all the odd locks and things right over the…here…” Nancy Armitage said as she found the key ring hanging from a nail on the tool bench shelf.

“Probably very odd looking,” Billy said as he walked up to his mother.

“You know your dad,” she said with a shrug. Terry Bellino had died nearly six years before and she and Billy still referred to him in the present tense. They loved Pat Armitage dearly, but they would always have room for both him and Billy’s late father. He nodded at her and spoke up.

“We don’t know what we’ll find in there; it could be electric fan parts or old fishing reels, you know? But just in case, let’s open up outside away from all this dust.” He blew his nose on a paper towel from the roll over the shelf light, and the blackened paper proved his suggestion prudent.

“One second…..” Nancy searched in her sweater pocket and produced a small plastic bottle of sanitary hand cleanser. She squirted it onto her hands and the boys’ hands in turn before wiping them with more towels from the roll.

“Okay, let’s see what treasures we can find.” Billy said, kneeling down on the grass by the front porch as he inserted the key into the lock. The lid creaked as he lifted it, and the bright sun above provided a momentary glare that shone from the metal stays on the underside of the lid. A heavy looking blanket sat on top, barely disturbed even after years of neglect.

“Careful!” Jay said loudly just as Billy went to life the blanket; saying it in Billy’s ear didn’t help at all other than to amuse Jay as Billy nearly jumped off the ground with a start.

“Funny…Okay…let’s just see.” He peeled the blanket back carefully, revealing a garment bag; older than anything he’d seen since it was made from a sturdy canvas-like fabric instead of the cheap thin vinyl you might find.

“Here…..put it over here,” Nancy said, pointing to a folding card table she had retrieved from the house. As Billy picked up the bag, he noticed an envelope fall to the ground; likely stuck between the bag and…another garment bag.

“To my child...” it read in simple block letters, but there was no mistaking Terry Bellino’s writing. Nancy picked it up quickly before the boys could read the writing.

“What’s that?” Billy asked her as she put the envelope in her sweater pocket.

“It looks like an old bill; I bet we either paid this or they gave up trying to collect $25.78,” she answered, quickly adding,

“You know your Dad….he never let accounts run longer than a couple of months….God bless him, he made sure everything was taken care of.” Nancy smiled and Billy nodded before turning his attention to the garment bags lying on the table behind him. Nancy breathed a sigh, her face warm with near shame over the deception, but she wanted to make sure before talking to her son.

“You want me to open these? The zippers have little locks on them, like they’re really old.” Billy asked.

“Oh….let me see what the key ring holds,” Nancy fibbed once again. She knew exactly what the garment bags held, and she already was fingering the key on the ring in her hand.

“No small keys,” she shook her head for effect, but the gesture still reflected her feeling as her face began to grow warm.

“Honey; it’s already past noon. We should get something for lunch. Why don’t you and Jay run over to Samson’s Market and pick up some cold cuts and some fresh rolls. I’ve got that potato salad and there’s plenty to drink.” She handed Jay a twenty and a ten before continuing.

“Put the bags on my bed upstairs and run out.” I think we’ve done cleaning for the morning. It’s so humid and it’s supposed to thunder shower this afternoon. We can finish this later after the rain lets up,” She put her hand out and felt the soft sprinkle that had begun.

“Take the Jeep, okay?” She handed him the keys to the Cherokee and kissed him on the cheek.

“What’s that for?” Billy asked as his mother turned to walk into the house. He and Jay followed her up onto the front porch and into the house.

“So now you’re too old to let your mom kiss you?” She teased. Billy blushed a bit and Jay smiled. He only wished his mother was as affectionate; she loved him and all, but affection and the name McCarter were mutually exclusive.

“Pick up a bag of chips if you like.” She smiled and sat down at the kitchen table. A moment later the boys were gone and she was alone, with only her embarrassed shame over her lie to keep her company.

She arose and went upstairs. Walking into her room, she closed the door behind her and locked it before walking gingerly to the bed, where the two garment bags lay side by side. Near twins, she recalled, oddly since everything about the garment bags was about duplication; perhaps even deception.

She knew what the bags held; she had helped Terry with them they day they were purchased. Nevertheless, she pulled the small key ring out of her sweater pocket and found the key that fit the locks. Inserting the key carefully, she turned it slowly until she heard the click.

A moment later the lock from the other bag was nestled in her sweater pocket as she put her hand to her face; nothing she could do at this point could ever change what was inside the bags and her embarrassment grew as she slowly pulled the zipper to the first bag down just enough to reveal the contents. Reaching into the sweater once again, she produced the envelope and placed it inside the garment bag before returning the zipper to the top. She once again locked the bag.

Moving to the second bag, she pulled the zipper down part way in the same manner as the first. She sighed at the sight on the contents of the second bag as well before walking over to her dresser. She pulled the top middle drawer open, revealing scarves and hankies and gloves and such. Reaching under the pile, she produced another envelope similar in size as the first, but in another’s handwriting; cursive as neat as a pin, her mother might have said, and in magenta ink. It simply read, ‘Welcome to the family.’ She bit her lip as another, deeper sigh, escaped her mouth, followed by,

“I sure as heaven hope you know what we’re doing here, Terry.” She looked upward and blinked back a few tears before placing the envelope in the second bag. She zipped it back up and replaced the lock, closing it with a sharp click.

Picking up the second bag, she walked out of her bedroom and past Jay’s bedroom before walking into the third bedroom at the end of the hall. A few seconds later she repeated the process, except that she walked into Jay’s bedroom.

Sliding the closet door to one side, she reached in and pulled all of the clothes to the right before hanging the garment bag at the end of the closet. She then pulled all of his clothes back in place, separating them randomly before closing the closet door. She looked up once again, almost as if she had heard a voice. She nodded and smiled, wiping new tears that had begun to spill onto the carpet by her feet.

“I do trust you, and I trust God for this….I just hope we’re doing the right thing, Terr, because one…..you won’t be here to help me if we’re not, and two, if we’re wrong, it won’t be us that gets hurt.” She sighed again at the thought before walking back downstairs.

Next: Legacies