by Madyson Grey
“Just wait here and minute and let me run up to my apartment and bring down what I got for you,” she said.
She returned in just a couple of minutes with the beautiful statue known as “The End of the Trail,” hand carved from a piece of redwood. It stood about fifteen inches tall and was mounted on a highly polished redwood slab.
“It’s exquisite!” Victoria exclaimed. “Thank you so much, Lena. It is just beautiful.”
“Yeah, thank you, Lena,” Rafael added. “That is really cool.”
“I’ll find the perfect place for it in the morning,” Victoria said.
She yawned and stretched and declared it was time to turn in. Rafael was in full agreement.
“We’ll tell you everything in the morning,” they both promised.
The three of them started for their respective rooms, but Lena stopped to give Victoria a hug.
“I’m so sorry about your mother,” she said again.
“Thanks, Lena, but I’m OK,” Victoria said. “We’ll talk about it later.”
Rafael and Victoria waited until Lena went to her apartment, then they set the alarm, turned out the lights downstairs, and headed upstairs to their room.
“Everybody I’ve ever known always say that they enjoy traveling, but that they are so glad to be home again,” Victoria said. “I’m not sure that I feel that way tonight. But then this is my house, but is it my home? There’s a difference, you know.”
“Yeah, I know,” Rafael said.
“I know every nook and cranny of this house. I grew up in this house and lived here for nineteen years. It used to be home, and it still feels familiar. Kinda like an old shoe, I guess. It feels familiar, but it doesn’t go with anything anymore.”
“Are you ready to resume house-hunting?” Rafael asked gently.
“I think so. The only other thing I’ve considered is hiring an interior decorator to come in and completely redo this place so that no trace of Mother is left. That includes redoing Daddy’s office. And their bedroom. Maybe if it were redone to where it looks totally different, I could move us in there. I dunno. I think moving is probably the best thing. Then we can start out fresh and new in our marriage. Put all these ghosts behind us. And maybe not tell Mateo where we live!”
“Yeah, there’s a thought!” Rafael said. “Tell you what. This weekend we’ll start looking around again. How’s that”
“That sounds good. I’ll get the RV emptied out tomorrow and cleaned up and ready to go again, and then Saturday we’ll do some more house hunting.”
Chapter Seven
Victoria spent Friday finding places for all the souvenirs they had bought on their trip. She did laundry and cleaned out the motorhome, restocking it for the next trip. Lena helped her so they could talk as they worked together. Mostly they told each other about their trips. But the conversation eventually came around to Mateo’s theft and Marian’s suicide.
Lena didn’t have anything new to add to the story she had already told Victoria on the phone the day it happened. She just repeated her regret that it had happened at all. Then they discussed Marian’s death. Victoria trusted Lena enough to reveal her feelings about her mother’s death without being condemned for them. Lena was perfectly understanding, and affirmed Victoria’s right to her own feelings, much as Rafael had.
Lena also understood Victoria’s decision to not have any memorial service for her mother. But she did think that she could find contact information for Marian’s brother, her only sibling. That was a surprise to Victoria, because she had never really known anything about him, except that he existed. She knew that his name was Mackensey Smith, or Mac for short. As far back as she could remember, she had never seen him.
Lena went into the master suite and poked around in the drawers of a small writing desk that Marian had used for correspondence. She came up with an old address book, and skimming through it, she came to what she was looking for. She showed it to Victoria, who was amazed that this information was available.
“I wonder why Mother never talked about him,” she mused. “She never said anything about him either good or bad. I wonder if she rejected him, or if he rejected her.”
“The only thing that I ever heard was that he went to work for some outfit on the east coast and left Marian to care for their parents all by herself. Apparently Mac was some older than Marian. Ten or twelve years or so, if I remember correctly. There were two or three older children, and then quite a few years later, Marian was born. A change-of-life baby we used to call them. So Marian’s parents were quite old when she was a child. Or at least comparatively old. In their fifties anyway.
“She cared for both of them from the time she was about sixteen until they died, which was about the time she and your dad were married. I think the two oldest children died even before the parents did. So Mac and Marian were the only two left to care for them. She resented him for leaving her to care for them. It interfered with her attempt to climb the social ladder. Which she was doing even in high school. Did you know that your mother competed in the Miss California pageant when she was 18?
“Yes, I’ve heard all about that,” Victoria sighed.
“I used to overhear Marian telling David that Mac had called or written now and then, but eventually the calls and letters stopped. I often wondered if he had died, but I think he just gave up trying to contact her.”
“Wouldn’t surprise me,” Victoria said. “But I do wonder if he is alive. I think I’ll try to locate him using a search engine on the Internet first, just to see if I can.”
She went into her bedroom to get her laptop. She took it downstairs to the kitchen counter, connected to the Internet and opened her favorite search engine. Then she typed in “Mackensey Smith,” hit enter, and waited to see what would come up. Amazingly enough, a link to a social media site came up with his name on it. She clicked on the link and the page opened. She gazed at the photo of the man called Mackensey Smith, searching his face for any sign of family resemblance to her mother. There was a faint resemblance, or was it her imagination?
“Hey, Lena,” she called. “Come here. I found something.”
Lena came in from the family room where she was dusting.
“What do you think? Does he look like Mother?”
Lena studied the photo for a moment.
“I’m not sure,” she said. “He kinda does a little bit. See here the way his eyebrows are rather straight, not arched. Your mother’s were that way naturally. She redid them to make them arched, but her natural eyebrows were straight like this man’s. They have the same nose, too, and the same dimple in the chin. Can you send him a message?”
“Yeah, I think I’ll do that. But first, I’m going to look at his page here and see if I can learn anything about what kind of man he is. He looks like a decent sort. Not a weirdo or anything.”
“No, he looks harmless enough,” Lena agreed.
Victoria clicked on the “Message” button and when an empty box appeared, she began typing in a message.
Hello,
My name is Victoria Thornton. I am the daughter of David and Marian Lee Smith Thornton. I would like to know if you are Marian’s brother. If so, I would appreciate it if you would reply.
Thank you,
Victoria
She clicked on the button to post the message.
“I wonder how long it will take him to write back,” she mused.
“Yeah, me, too,” Lena said.
“Wow! Here he is already,” Victoria said after no more that a couple of minutes.
Hello Victoria,
Yes, I am Marian’s brother. I am curious as to why you are contacting me. Has something happened to Marian? And how did you find me?
Mac
Victoria hit reply and typed as fast as she could.
Hi,
Yes, something has happened. It is a long and ugly story to tell the things that have happened within the past three months, but the bottom line is that my mother murdered my fath
er about three months ago, and then committed suicide a little over a week ago. I had heard one time that she had a brother, but all I knew was your name. She never spoke of you. But our housekeeper knew where to find your name in Mother’s things, so I just did a search for you and came up lucky.
I have no idea why you and Mother have been estranged all these years, but I did think you deserve to know that she has died. I am not going to have a memorial service for her. She and my father are buried side by side over at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, not too far from where I live.
If you wish to maintain contact with me, here is my email address: [email protected].
Victoria
She hit send again and waited for his reply, if one should come. It did.
I am sorry to hear that you have lost both of your parents in such a short time and in such a tragic manner. You have my deepest sympathy. Thank you for letting me know about their deaths.
It’s a long story about why Marian and I became estranged. Probably just as long and ugly as what has happened to you recently. Just different. I would be pleased to keep in touch with you, if you are willing. Maybe sometime we could even meet. I live down in San Diego now. Are you in LA?
Mac
Victoria’s fingers pounded out her answer.
Yes, I’m in LA. I was living in Seattle and working in an art museum when Mother called to tell me that Daddy had died. So I came down for his funeral. Then there were so many complications, and so much that I need to be here for, that I quit my job up there and moved back home.
I was recently married to Daddy’s protégé. His name is Rafael Rivera. We just came through San Diego yesterday and the day before on our return home from our delayed honeymoon. Had I known about you, I would have contacted you so we could meet. But we can arrange a meeting most anytime you are available.
Would you mind telling me a little bit about yourself? Are you married? Do you have children? What do you do for a living? I think I just covered those questions about myself, but if you have others, that’s OK.
Victoria
Mac’s reply took a little longer this time, but only because it was longer.
Yes, I’m married. Her name is Diane. We have 3 grown children and 8 grandchildren. Diane and I have been married for 45 yrs. I’ve been a contractor most of that time, but am retired now.
In a nutshell, the basic reason that Marian shut me out of her life was because I took a job in Portland, Oregon, with my father-in-law as an apprentice to him. He was a contractor, and he offered me a great job opportunity and a decent wage, and I felt that I couldn’t turn it down. Trouble was, our dad had late stage liver cancer, and our mom had dementia. Marian refused to put them in nursing care. Instead she tried to insist that I stay in LA and help her care for them. But I couldn’t. So she got mad and wouldn’t have much to do with me. Sometimes I could get her to tell me how the folks were doing, but after they died, she shut me out entirely. I finally gave up trying and just let her be.
There’s a little more to it than that, but that’s the condensed version. I am shocked, however, that Marian would murder David and then kill herself. There must be a lot more to this story, but you don’t have to tell me if you aren’t ready to.
I would enjoy meeting you. Since I’m retired, and so is Diane, we could get together somewhere anytime it’s convenient for you. Just let me know.
Uncle Mac
Victoria leaned back against the back of the barstool. Marian was a difficult person to understand. She would care for her sick parents until they died rather than put them in a home, yet she shuts her only living sibling out of her life just because he couldn’t be there to help her. What a paradox! Caring, yet selfish.
Uncle Mac,
I will talk to Rafael when he gets home this afternoon about when we can meet. I’ll get back to you here, OK?
Victoria
That will be fine. I look forward to hearing back from you. Take care.
Uncle Mac
Victoria snagged the photo of Mac Smith off of his social media website and saved it to her hard drive. She would have a story to tell Rafael today when he got home from the office. Boy, would she!
“Wow!” Lena said. “That’s amazing! It’s amazing that you could even find him on the Internet, and amazing that he seems to be a nice man and interested in meeting you.”
“Yeah, no doubt,” Victoria said. “It’s kinda weird to all of a sudden have an uncle that I barely knew existed. I don’t have any aunts or uncles on Daddy’s side because he was an only child.”
“I know,” Lena said.
Victoria turned off the Internet and closed the laptop. She wondered what else she would find in Marian’s desk upstairs. Now that she was dead, she had every right to go through all of her things and keep or dispose of them as she pleased.
“I’m going to be in the master suite,” she told Lena. “Who knows what other skeletons Mother has hiding up there.”
“Yeah, who knows,” Lena said, her heart suddenly in her throat. “No telling what you might learn.”
But on the way upstairs, Victoria remembered that what she was supposed to be doing that day was going downtown to see Mr. Hall. So instead of snooping through her mother’s things, she got ready to go instead.
Victoria turned around and came back downstairs.
“I forgot that I have to go see Mr. Hall,” she told Lena. “I’ll see you later.”
On the way over to Mr. Hall’s office, she worried about not having an appointment. Well, maybe she’d get lucky and he wouldn’t be busy right that minute. Hopefully, she wouldn’t take very long anyway.
When she got to the Thornton Building, she poked her head in to Rafael’s office first to see if he was busy. He was, but he welcomed her in anyway. She told him that she was here to see Mr. Hall, if he wasn’t too busy to see her.
“I failed to think about getting an appointment,” she confessed. “I just knew I needed to see him, so I just got in the car and came down. But you’ll never guess who I had an Internet conversation just a little while ago.”
“Who?”
“My uncle, Mackensey Smith. My mother’s only living sibling.”
“Good grief! How in the world did you learn about him?”
“I knew that she had a brother, but all I knew about him is his name. But Lena found his name and phone number written down in an old address book of Mother’s. So I looked him up on the Internet and found him on a social media site. I messaged him and he came right back to me.
“I told him that Mother and Daddy are both dead and he said he was sorry. He told me a little about why he and Mother were estranged, and it had to do with him leaving Mother to care for their ailing parents all alone, while he moved to Portland to take a job. But he said the job was important to him and he tried to keep in contact with Mother, but after their parents died, she shut him out completely. He says there’s more to it than that, but that’s what he’s told me so far. He lives in San Diego with his wife, and wants to meet me. I told him I’d talk to you and see when we could arrange a meeting.”
“Take a breath, girl,” Rafael said. Wow! You’ve had quite a morning, haven’t you? The surprises just never stop, do they?”
“At least this is a good one. I think,” Victoria said. “I hope it is. He looks like a nice man in his picture. Also there is a small family resemblance to Mother.”
“We will certainly plan to meet him, but we’ll do it away from the house. Just on the outside chance that he turns out to not be a nice man, we don’t want him knowing where we live,” Rafael said.
“Yeah, good plan,” Victoria agreed. “Well, I’m going to leave you alone and go try to see Mr. Hall.”
Rafael got up from his desk and walked around to give his wife a kiss before she left him.
“I’ll see you later this afternoon, honey,” he said.
“Yeah, see you.”
She took the elevator up to the floor where Mr. Hall’s office was and we
nt inside. She asked the receptionist if it were possible to get in to see him right then. The receptionist looked at her appointment book, and then called Mr. Hall to ask him if he would see Victoria right then. She told him he had no other appointments for the next hour, so he said to send Victoria in.
The receptionist got up and went over to open the door for Victoria, who went into Mr. Hall’s office.
“Hi, Victoria,” he said warmly. “Please, have a seat.”
“Hi, Mr. Hall,” Victoria said. “I’m sorry to barge in like this without an appointment. I didn’t stop to think about calling first. I just needed to see you, so here I came.”
“That’s all right. As long as I’m not with another client, I am glad to see you anytime,” he said cordially. “What’s up?”
“Have you heard that Mother died last week?” she asked.
“Yes, it was on the news,” he said. “I’m so sorry. You’ve had a really hard time lately, and now this.”
“It was on the news?” Victoria asked. “Oh, brother. Well, now all her country club friends know all about her. But that’s why I have come. Do you have her will, too, or do you just have Daddy’s?”
“I just have your dad’s will,” Mr. Hall said. “You’ll have to see Robert Kyte to discuss your mother’s will.”
“I was afraid of that,” Victoria said. “He didn’t seem too friendly to me the one other time I talked to him.”
“Don’t worry about Bob,” Mr. Hall said. “He sounds cold, but he’s really a pretty decent guy. He’ll work with you on settling your mother’s estate.”
“But now how does Mother’s death affect Daddy’s will and the property we hold jointly?”
“Your dad’s will specifies that the property was to be held jointly as long as you both were alive. But if one of you dies, then the property all reverts to the survivor. Which is you in this case.”
“So that means that the house and car are all mine without question?”
“Yes, and they were anyway, because of her criminal actions. So you have nothing to worry about regarding the house, the car, or anything else. But as far as your mother’s money goes, you’ll have to see Bob Kyte about that.”