“I don’t know about that,” Sandy said. “You haven’t seen the epic battles between Charlie and Aden.”
Samantha smiled.
“To answer your question, yes it’s hard for me that Charlie and Sissy and Noelle and Nash and Teddy are taking this huge risk,” Sandy said. “But they really want to do it. I feel like it’s my job is to help them test themselves while they’re here in our house. Someday, they’ll be on their own. If they don’t test themselves now, how will they know what they can do?”
“My Dad was kind of like that,” Samantha said.
“Did it work?”
“I still hate him for it.” Samantha smiled. “But yes, I know my capabilities and my limits, especially in the wilderness.”
“I have to let Charlie try to help,” Sandy said. “I want to nurture his better instincts. At the same time, I’m willing and able to pick up the pieces if it all falls apart.”
Samantha nodded.
“Auntie Sami?” Paddie’s voice came from the other side of the door. “Mrs. Valerie is looking for you.”
Samantha smiled at Sandy. She nodded and Samantha left the room. Sandy closed her eyes. She thought she was the only one who was worried about Charlie. Samantha’s concerns made her own worries seem all the more valid and worrisome. Sandy scowled at herself and turned off the light.
“Pan!” Ivy’s high pitched voice came down the hall.
“Look it’s Charlie!” Honey said.
Sandy groaned to herself. She’d better get over there before it got too wild. She trotted past Samantha and into the fray.
~~~~~~~~
Tuesday afternoon—1:35 p.m.
“I think that’s about it,” Jacob said, as he walked into the kitchen of the yellow house. “I have to get back to Lipson.”
Jeraine looked up. He had been working at the kitchen table. He pulled off his reading glasses and stood up.
“I made a list of the things we need to finish.” Jill gave Jeraine a copy of the list. He looked at it, smiled, and set it down. Jill took Jeraine’s hand that was holding his reading glasses and put it up to his face. She gave him the list again. He looked embarrassed, but put on his glasses and read the list. “Most of it will be done by contractors, but things like those storm windows? Jake or Sam will need to put them on when they come in. Jake or I will be back to check everything when we’re done.”
“When do you think that will be?” Jeraine asked.
“We’re going to do some planting, but we’ll wait to finish things like sprinklers until the spring,” Jacob said. “So we won’t be totally finished until sometime next year.”
“It looks nice though,” Jeraine smiled. “Miss T is so happy. She slept like a baby last night. This house . . . It’s a really big deal to us.”
“Yea!” Jill clapped her hands.
“What were you reading?” Jacob asked.
“It’s some stuff my dad asked me to take a look at,” Jeraine said. “Our family has some land in Dearfield.”
Jacob leaned over the table to take a look. Jill sat down at the table to look at the map.
“Where you got kicked by the Donkey?” Jill smiled.
“I’m gettin’ my teeth fixed tomorrow,” Jeraine said.
“I didn’t say anything about your teeth,” Jill said.
“Hmm.” Jeraine gave her a sour look. She had to look away to keep from laughing.
“This is a geological survey,” Jacob said and stood up.
“That’s right,” Jeraine said. “Dad thinks there’s something fishy about it. Well, actually, don’t tell Miss T, but her dad thinks there’s something going on out there. He talked to my dad about it, and my dad requested this stuff. ‘Course it’s all print, no digital. I can’t make heads or tails of it either way. And I’m not stupid. I certainly don’t need no white man explaining nothing to me.”
Jeraine looked Jacob up and down. Jacob raised an eyebrow at him.
“How about a friend?” Jacob asked.
“Since when are you and I friends?” Jeraine scowled.
“Since you’re standing in a house I own and fixed up for you?” Jacob asked.
Jeraine nodded. He thought for a moment, and then laughed at himself.
“Would you take a look?” Jeraine asked.
“Sure.” Jacob leaned over the maps. “I don’t know if I can help . . .”
“Just another pair of eyes . . .” Jeraine said.
“Would you look at that . . .?” Jacob pointed to a deep underground fault zone that ran down the center of Lipson Constructions’ large project.
“They say here . . .” Jeraine picked up a book and put on his reading glasses. “They say they use those fissures . . . uh . . .” Jeraine’s changed his voice to a geek voice. “To promote the expansion and release of petrochemicals.”
Jeraine took off his glasses and looked at Jacob.
“What the hell does that mean? Any fool who looks at this can see that you put pressure in over here . . .” Jeraine pointed to the location of the current fracking sites.
“It’s going to come out over here.” Jacob pointed to the underground fault.
“That’s what I’m saying.” Jeraine nodded. “Isn’t that where Rodney’s been working?”
Jacob nodded.
“What’s this?” Jill put her finger on the map.
Jacob leaned over to look.
“Isn’t that the outline of the project?” Jill said. “I mean, it looks like it. It’s configured here—road, buildings, area for a subdivision.”
Jacob groaned.
“That isn’t it.” Jeraine leaned over to take a closer look. “I’ve gone out there to meet with my . . . uh . . . friend, Aden. Where you’re pointing is about thirty miles . . .”
“Northeast,” Jacob said. “Right. I wonder how it got moved.”
“Probably couldn’t get this land,” Jeraine said.
“No, that’s not it,” Jacob said.
“How do you know?” Jeraine scowled. “It could be it.”
“It’s not,” Jacob said.
“Now how do you know?” Jeraine asked.
“I own this piece of land,” Jacob said. “I bought it a few years ago along with some neighboring farms.”
“Jake transferred all his property holdings into Katy’s name when we got married,” Jill said. “The land belongs to her and the boys.”
She gestured to her belly.
“Why would you buy some farms in the middle of nowhere?” Jeraine asked.
“Dad took a contract for a sewer project out there,” Jacob said. “It was before I came back to Colorado. I was helping him finish up these projects. We were working out there and . . .”
Jacob blushed. Jeraine raised an eyebrow and gave the same look Jacob had just given him.
“You can tell a friend,” Jeraine said.
Jacob pointed to the map.
“There were three houses, pretty close together, on three farms,” Jacob said. “The houses are . . . gorgeous. Original fixtures, hand crafted, beautiful old growth wood, leaded windows, everything in perfect condition . . . The families had fallen onto hard times and they were going to lose the land to the bank. I bought them to save them from a . . ..”
Jill and Jeraine looked at him. He flushed.
“They wanted to build a subdivision on them,” Jacob said.
“You mean this subdivision.” Jeraine pointed to the one Jill found on the map.
“Probably.” Jacob nodded.
“So why didn’t they build it?” Jill asked.
“The owner wouldn’t sell?” Jacob wrinkled his nose.
Jeraine and Jill laughed at Jacob.
“Hey, thanks.” Jacob held his hand out to Jeraine. “This is very helpful.”
“You bet.” Jeraine shook his hand. “Any idea what I should tell my dad?”
“Hold off for now,” Jacob said. “Let me see what I can figure out.”
Jacob helped Jill to her feet.
“Let us know if ther
e’s anything else you need fixed,” Jill said.
“You know I’m going to buy this house,” Jeraine said.
“Never doubted it,” Jacob said.
Jeraine walked them to the door and they left.
“This is really a great house,” Jill said.
“It is.” Jacob nodded. He opened the passenger door and helped her into the jeep. He checked the back to make sure his tools were there and got in the driver’s seat.
“So what’s going on?” Jill asked.
“What do you mean?” Jacob asked.
“Why didn’t they use your land?” Jill asked. “I mean it’s funny to think you didn’t sell but . . .”
“They never asked,” Jacob said.
“What the hell?” Jill asked.
“Exactly.”
Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty-One
Tea
Tuesday afternoon—4:35 p.m.
“I wanted to check to see you needed anything else done?” Ivy asked.
Standing near the bottom of the basement stairwell, Ivy’s arms were full of Noelle’s old clothing.
“What do you mean?” Delphie asked.
“She wants to know how to pay for everything,” Honey said.
“Oh.” Delphie smiled. “You helped clean out the room.”
“That was fun,” Ivy said.
“Fun or not,” Delphie said. “You helped us move one step closer to figuring out what’s in this house. Now we have some things to give away, some items to return, and . . .”
“We’ve finished one more room!” Valerie said, as she came down the hall toward them. “Whoo hoo!”
Valerie put her arm around Delphie’s shoulders, and they went up the basement stairs.
“Can I help you up the stairs?” Ivy asked Honey.
“I can take the lift,” Honey said.
She slid from her basement wheel chair to the chair lift. Remembering what it was like for her when she moved to the Castle, Honey turned back to the girl.
“Why don’t you come up and help me fold Maggie’s clothes?” Honey asked. “The kids will be home from martial arts soon. They go running with Jacob about five. Did you get some workout clothes?”
Ivy shook her head.
“I bet they won’t go running today since you’re here,” Honey said. “But don’t quote me.”
Ivy walked beside Honey up the stairwell. Honey plopped off the stairwell lift and into her upstairs wheelchair. When she turned around, she saw how full Ivy’s arms were.
“First, let’s get you something to hold all of those clothes in,” Honey said.
“I’m okay,” Ivy said.
Honey smiled and wheeled to the closet where they stored luggage. She rolled out a suitcase.
“I don’t know where I’m going, Miss Honey,” Ivy said. “I don’t think I’m going to stay at Mrs. Heather’s house. They’re going to see if I have any family and . . .”
“That’s all right,” Honey said. “We can always get another.”
Honey set the suitcase on the couch and unzipped it.
“I lived in the motels on Colfax when I was a kid,” Honey said. She patted the couch. “It was weird when we moved. I was . . . mmm eight or nine I guess when my mom got a good job.”
“I never lived in the motels.” Ivy set the clothing down on the couch cushion. Honey picked up a shirt, set the hanger on the couch, and folded the shirt. “I lived with my grandmother until a couple of years ago.”
“What happened to your grandmother?” Honey asked. She set the shirt into the suitcase and picked up another. Ivy copied Honey’s actions.
“She died,” Ivy said.
Honey glanced at Ivy with surprise.
“What?” Ivy asked.
“Didn’t they take you into social services? Try to find your family?” Honey asked.
“Sure,” Ivy said. “But the place was weird and . . . Everyone was a lot happier if they got the money from the state, you know for fostering me, but they didn’t like me there so much.”
“Wow,” Honey said.
“Plus, I wanted to find my . . .”
Ivy stopped talking and focused on the clothing. In the silence, they made quick work of folding her clothing and putting it in the suitcase.
“You know, I bet you could wear some of my clothes,” Honey said.
“Do you have normal clothes?” Ivy asked. Her hand went to her mouth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything bad. I . . .”
“Most people in wheelchairs wear regular clothing,” Honey said. “At least I do. Come on, let’s look and see what I have.”
Honey picked up the suitcase and wheeled to her apartment.
“Be very quiet,” Honey said. “MJ and Maggie are sleeping in her room.”
Honey gestured to the baby monitor hooked onto her wheelchair. Ivy heard MJ snore and gave Honey a bright nod. Honey opened the door to the apartment and wheeled up the ramp to her wheel-in closet.
“You can really have anything. Most of this stuff doesn’t fit me now that I’ve had Maggie,” Honey said. “If I were you, I’d get some of the nice stuff. You don’t have anything to wear to dinner or whatever.”
“Do you think I’ll need it?” Ivy asked.
“If you stay around here, there’s always something,” Honey said. “We’re virtually going to Valerie’s premiere next week.”
“Virtually?” Ivy asked.
“By the computer,” Honey said. “It’s something the movie producers set up so that family can go. We’re getting dressed up. MJ’s wearing his dress uniform. It’ll be Jackie’s first outing.”
Ivy nodded. Honey took a dress out of the closet and held it up to Ivy.
“You were saying something about finding someone?” Honey tried to ask the question in the most nonthreatening way possible. “Oh here’s a nice one.”
Honey pulled out a pair of black silk pants and a silk top covered in pink roses. Ivy took the hanger from Honey.
“Jill got this for me for our honeymoon. We didn’t end up going,” Honey said.
“How come?” Ivy asked.
“I got sick,” Honey said. “Try it on.”
Ivy pulled off her top and Honey went back to looking at clothes.
“My mom had an older sister, like twenty years older,” Ivy said. “She told my dad all about her. My dad promised he would find her so that my mom would have some family, besides us, I mean. Then Mom died. We moved here so that my dad could keep his promise but then he had to go to Iraq. Grannie moved to take care of me while Dad was gone and then . . . She got kinda stuck with me.”
While Honey pretended to be absorbed in her clothing hunt, Ivy buttoned the silk blouse.
“Grannie and I,” Ivy’s voice clouded with sorrow, “we used to have the most fun looking for my mom’s sister. Grannie would do all this research during the week, online and stuff. On the weekends, we’d go on these grand adventures. We went to Leadville. We’ve been to almost every graveyard in Colorado looking for my mom’s sister. Grannie thought it was a great mystery. That’s what she would say, ‘This is a mystery for the record books.’ She was a lot of fun.”
“You must miss her a lot,” Honey said.
“I do,” Ivy said. “I really do.”
“Did you ever find her?” Honey asked.
“My mom’s sister?” Ivy asked. “No. I don’t really think she existed. I think it was just a fun game my Grannie would play with me.”
Ivy pressed herself into the hanging clothing so that Honey wouldn’t see her cry. Honey gave the girl her space.
“Let’s see,” Honey said. “I have a few running shoes. I bet we’re about the same size. Do you want to try them so you can go running?”
Ivy wiped her face and nodded.
“Let’s get you dressed in some of my workout clothes,” Honey said. “I have a lot. You can go with them if they decide to run.”
“I’d like that.” Ivy grinned. “I’m pretty good at running from the police.”
> Honey chuckled. She took some workout clothing from her closet and gave it to Ivy.
“It’s just a lot,” Ivy said. “Are you sure you want me to have it?”
“Most of this stuff I bought with my own money from work,” Honey said. “If you want, you can always babysit to make up for it or whatever.”
Ivy brightened. She liked the idea of having a way to pay back. She sat down to put on the shoes. They were a little big. Honey took a look and agreed that they were okay for now. Plus, she would probably grow into them.
“You remember Delphie?” Honey asked.
“The lady with the red hair?” Ivy asked. “She’s nice.”
“Right.” Honey gave Ivy a workout top. “You probably won’t believe it, but she’s a true psychic.”
“Really?” Ivy asked. “Pan said she was but I didn’t believe him.”
“I bet if we ask her, she’ll know where you’re mom’s sister is,” Honey said.
“Do you think so?” Ivy’s smiled covered almost all of her face. “Can we do it now?”
“I don’t see why not,” Honey said.
Ivy walked out of the closet with only a top and the shoes on.
“You have to get dressed.” Honey called after her.
“Shhh,” Ivy said. “The baby’s sleeping.”
Honey smiled at the girl. Ivy grinned and put on some exercise tights.
“Let’s go find Delphie,” Honey said.
Honey wheeled out of the apartment and into the Castle. She followed Delphie’s laugh to the kitchen where Delphie and Valerie were drinking tea.
“Honey! Ivy!” Delphie said. “Would you like some tea?”
Delphie got up from the table to turn on the electric kettle.
“Is that your baby?” Ivy asked.
“This is Jacquotte,” Valerie said.
“Jacquotte?” Ivy asked. “That’s a big name. I wouldn’t know how to spell it.”
“We call her Jackie,” Valerie said. “Would you like to hold her?”
Ivy nodded. Valerie pulled out a chair. Ivy sat down and Valerie passed the baby to her.
“Do we have more of the cookies you made?” Delphie asked Honey.
“I’ll get them.” Honey wheeled to the pantry. “Delphie, Ivy’s looking for her mother’s sister. She and her Grannie weren’t ever able to find her.”
Silt, Denver Cereal Volume 8 Page 11