Gathering Water

by Regan Claire

  I’m really hoping I had subconsciously recognized that feeling back at the house, because if not, then jumping on some dude’s bicycle and heading home to his parents’ house was really the dumbest thing I’ve ever done; I like to think it was just intuition leading me there.

  “Oh, I’m Della Doe Deare.” I didn’t mean to say my full name, it’s just that I wasn’t used to the ‘Deare’ part and had already said ‘Doe’ when I remembered it wasn’t my last name anymore.

  “Your name is what?” Connor asked in a very rumbled voice.

  Before I could repeat my name, Cash spoke up. “So, about that. Dad, you may want to take a look at this.” And then, the dirty thief pulled my folder from the back of his pants (ew), and tossed it up to his dad. I immediately started choking on the orange juice I’d been drinking, the acid burning up my nose as I started to splutter.

  “What is-“

  “Della are you-“

  “Just read the da-“

  “You-ou-ou i-idiot-“ It is remarkably difficult to yell at someone when your lungs are filled with a pulpy citrus drink. And when everyone is trying to say something at once.

  It’s not like he was paying attention anyway. Cash went on eating the rest of his breakfast and, with all the commotion and my being distracted by my inability to breathe, he also finally got hold of my bacon. By the time I was done hacking up my lungs, Connor was well into the folder and my plate was woefully depleted of pork products. I’d never had very much personal information before, and now that I did everyone and his friggin’ father was reading it. I wondered if I should just go up and grab it out of Connor’s hands when he forcibly shut it, his face chalk-white and for a split second his eyes looked full of tears.

  “Cash, if this is some sort of joke, it’s not funny.” I was starting to feel a bit awkward. The man was clutching my VIF and his eyes had traded their almost teary look for something fairly icy, making me afraid to ask for it back.

  “No joke dad. Hey mom, there’s a great Youtube video I want to show you inside, we’ll be right back guys.”

  Ellis didn’t get a chance to reply before her son pulled her up by the arms and pulled her back in the house. While it was nice to know he treated everyone like his personal doll, I was bewildered that he thought this was a good time for internet browsing, and why he’d just leave me outside, alone, with his father when he was the one who’d invited me there.

  “Is everything in this folder real?” Connor asked me in the same stern tone he had used with his son.

  “Well, yeah. But that stuff is really private, and very important. I’m gonna kill Cash for stealing it… uh, not really, but do you mind giving that back please?”

  “Where is your father and why didn’t he tell us all this? What exactly-“ I knew the start of a tirade when I heard one, so I decided to cut him off right there.

  “Look sir, I don’t owe you anything. I’m not your child, and I haven’t done anything wrong. Oh, and I don’t have a father. You obviously didn’t read very carefully when you were going through someone else’s private things.” I punctuated the last word by reaching across the table and grapping the folder from his hands.

  “Do you know who I am?” he asked, like he was someone important like a mobster or something.

  “No! I just met you! I think I’m going to go. Thank you for your hospitality or whatever. Tell Cash to stay away from my house in the future.” I was convinced my ever-trustworthy people instincts had finally expired, because this was turning into a nightmare. I stood up and started to make my way around the house to leave, to avoid seeing Ellis and Cash inside, when Connor stood up and called out to me.

  “Wait! Just, sit back down.” I ignored him and kept walking. “Just… Della, Gabriella was my sister. Now just park your butt in that chair so I can think for a minute.”

  Well, that certainly caused a pause in my step, one which Connor took advantage of by grabbing me by the elbow and directing me back to the table where I sat in stunned silence for who knows how long. The exact situation I’d been trying to avoid had come up much, much sooner than I had anticipated.

  “Now, would you please explain to me what is going on? I didn’t read much further through those papers after finding out my baby sister died after giving birth to a child no one knew she was pregnant with, and I’d much rather hear you tell me everything than have to read through the rest of that damn folder!” he exclaimed.

  I felt equal parts guilt and bewilderment at the crack in his voice when mentioning my mother; it was as if he didn’t already know about her death, which was impossible since the police file clearly stated that family was notified upon her identification.

  “Wait, didn’t you already know? I mean, the police file,” which I pulled out to show him, “says that her next of kin was notified after she was identified. See, right here, they talked to her father ‘Tobias Neale’, they told him everything.” And I handed the report to him and watched as his mouth pursed in consternation while he read.

  “Oh Gabby,” he sighed softly to himself. “Della, you said you don’t have a father. Did Gabby have a friend out there who took care of you?” he asked almost hopefully, though the answer was obvious.

  “If she had a friend out there then she wouldn’t have been labeled as a Jane Doe for most of my life.”

  “So you were adopted?”

  “No. I was fostered out. Nobody would take me, and I didn’t exactly have family that would take me in.” He flinched at that. “I didn’t even know my mother’s name until my birthday, and that was only a few weeks ago.”

  “I don’t know what to say.” He truly did look flummoxed. “If we had known… Della, you do have family, and believe me when I say that I will find out what the hell my father was thinking when he decided to keep this from us. I wish I could deny that he knew, but the man was always a bastard when it came to Gabby.” His voice hitched again. Why would my mother leave a home where she had someone who loved her as much as her brother obviously did?

  “Della, I’d like you to hang around a little longer. I know this has got to be strange for you, but I’ve got to go inside and make some phone calls.” He left swiftly, like a man barely holding his composure, hesitating as he passed me to squeeze my shoulder in the closest thing I’d ever had to parental touch.

  A few minutes later Cash came outside.

  “Come on cousin, I’ve got a great eavesdropping spot. Haven’t had to use it since I was a kid, but it’ll still work. Lets go hear what my parents are saying.” He again pulled me along like I was a baby-doll.

  “You could have said something! You jerk!” I was happy to have someone to be mad at because the conversation with Connor - my uncle - had left me feeling overwhelmed. “Ugh, I think I hate you!” I moaned quietly, being uncharacteristically dramatic. Something about the way Cash acted put me at ease, even then.

  “No you don’t; we’re cousins. That’s like built-in best friends. Now you can yell at me later, but be quiet or we won’t get to hear what they’re saying.” He pulled me around to the side of the house, the porch conveniently wrapping around much the way it did at my house, to a spot right next to an open window.

  “I made sure it was open before they went in there.” He whispered to me conspiratorially, pulling me down to sit underneath the window next to him. My new cousin had obviously done this a million times before, because you could hear his parents inside perfectly. Connor was telling Ellis what had happened, and I started nervously twisting the armlet around when I heard her gasp and softly cry.

  “I wondered, since it’s been so long. But poor Gabby, she must have been so scared out there by herself and pregnant. And that poor little girl.” I assumed I was the little girl that Ellis was referring to.

  “I can’t believe dad already knew. What was he thinking? Twelve years he’s known and he didn’t say a single thing. All those times we’ve talked about it. I just don’t know what to do.” Connor’s voice was equal parts anger and sa
dness. I heard them shuffling around a bit before the voices started again.

  “What about Della, is she really Gabby’s little girl? Why didn’t she tell us she was pregnant?”

  “I think she is. Now that I know, I can see my sister all over her face, and she’s got my grandma’s eyes. I think that’s the worst part about Dad’s knowing. There was a little girl and he couldn’t open his go-“ but his wife interrupted.

  “I don’t know what Toby’s reasons were, and I doubt that whatever they were was sufficient reason for hiding this, but that isn’t the matter at hand. What do you want to do about Della?” Ellis sounded pretty composed now, though her voice was still pretty thick with tears.

  “I may not have been able to take care of my baby sister, but I can certainly take care of her girl. She doesn’t think she has a family, and we need to change that. I can’t stand the thought of Gabby’s baby not knowing her family.”

  Before I could hear any more Cash pulled me up and away from the window.

  “Bet you a dollar you’re gonna move in now.”

  “Did you get dropped on your head as a child?”

  “Ha, seriously though. You’re moving in.” And he really did sound serious.

  “Thanks, but no thanks.”

  “Look, you may not know us, but family is a really, really big deal to us. My dad was just killed a little bit hearing about your mom. He’s always felt guilty for her running off, and I know for a fact that he’s hired at least one private detective to track her down. Now, he just found out that his baby sister, who also happened to be my mother’s very best friend, is dead. You are the niece he didn’t know existed.” He poked me in the shoulder, causing me to step back with my arms crossed. “And if you don’t let them try and help you, it’s going to eat at them until he goes crazy. It’s not like it’ll be forever, and it’s not like you’re staying at the Ritz or something now. And you probably have some questions about things, and it would be easier for you to learn about the, uh, family stuff here.” He crossed his own arms in front of me and lowered his voice. “So, you’re moving in, and you’re gonna like it.” He sounded completely serious, too.

  “I think I have a say in where I live, thank you very much. Besides, they don’t even know me, only crazy people invite strangers to live with them,” I responded, not appreciating his bossy tone.

  But his words were sinking in pretty fast; my mom really did mean a lot to these people and I again wondered why she would have run away when she had people that loved her so much. I was both hopeful and terrified of their asking me to move in.

  After a few minutes of me glaring at Cash, his parents came back outside and asked me to come in for a talk. I was emotionally numb due to the circumstances, and I marveled at my own calm since any sane person would have been freaking out. I now know that the calm I was experiencing was a defense mechanism; after a little while all the emotions would come crashing down at once.

  I followed the two of them to a home office with a slightly open window in the corner and I figured Cash was sitting under there to listen again. There was a small couch against the wall and I felt the leather stick to my skin as I sat. Ellis sat down next to me, and Connor pulled over the chair from his desk, though he stayed standing.

  “There were a few things we wanted to talk to you about, if that’s all right, Della,” he said.

  “Uh, sure.”

  “Well, we really loved your mom a lot. I guess it shouldn’t have come as such a shock to us that she was… gone, but when you love someone you don’t want to think about something bad happening to her. Ah, the, uh, family has some plots at the local cemetery and we were hoping that you wouldn’t mind our getting her remains shipped here. We’d also like to have a funeral for her. She, uh, she had a lot of people who loved her who would want to pay their respects.” My uncle was having a hard time talking and even though it was my mother, I felt really bad for him; after all, he’d actually known her.

  “That’s okay. It’s just, they didn’t know who she was when she died so I don’t know what they did with her, like where they buried her and stuff.” It had never occurred to me to try and visit my mom’s grave. I didn’t even know if they had a name on her tombstone, or if she was cremated or something.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of it,” Ellis said as she grabbed my hand as if to comfort me.

  “There’s one other thing. I know that you don’t know us, but you’re family and family sticks together. At least ours does. If you don’t already have a place, we’d really like for you to stay here with us,” Connor said, just as Cash had predicted.

  “I was planning on staying at the house my mother left me,” The two stared at me like I was a crazy person. “There’s a lot of work to do, I know, but it’s not that bad.”

  “Well, you can at least stay here until the place is ready to be occupied. You can’t sleep at a construction site.” Ellis replied, in a very maternal manner that instantly put my defenses on high.

  “It’s really not that bad. I slept there last night and I was fine until Cash barged, I mean, came in and woke me up,” I told them.

  “Della, I’ve been in that place, and I can’t tell you how happy I am that you plan on restoring it. But it’s really not the best place to live until it’s been fixed up a bit. The roof needs replacing, and who knows if the floors are safe to walk on. If you are really uncomfortable staying here, there’s a perfectly good bed and breakfast down the street, owned by one of our cousins so I’m sure she’d let you stay free of charge,” he said, clearly hoping I would change my mind.

  The fact that it was run by yet another family member was not a mark in its favor. I may have been wrong about their abandoning me, at least about Ellis and Connor, but I was still hesitant to rely on family just because of blood ties; I’d met a lot of kids in the system who were taken from their family and knew that a blood relation doesn’t automatically mean a good relation. Ellis and Connor, and yes, even Cash, seemed okay though.

  “I don’t know guys…” I let myself trail off, my mind going a million miles a minute.

  “Oh, of course you need to think about it. Why don’t you take the day to think, and let us know what you decide tonight at dinner? You are coming for dinner, right?” Ellis sounded so eager, I think she really just wanted to delay my saying no.

  “I don’t have any other plans, so sure.” I couldn’t believe I had just agreed to dinner. Yet again my timid plans for myself had fallen completely apart.

  Before I walked out of the room, they wanted to make sure I was okay with their calling a few people to them about me and my mom. When I mentioned that I had already met with Ed and John McCay the day before, Ellis laughed and said they should’ve answered the phone the night before when John called, and that by now the whole town probably already knew.

  CHAPTER SIX

  I went back to my house pretty soon after that, refusing the offer of a ride. Cash called out that he’d come around to pick me up for dinner “whether I liked it or not” and I just waved him off as I walked down the street, stopping two houses down to take off my shoes so I could feel the sandy street beneath my feet.

  Luke was already at the house, sitting on the tailgate of his truck. In the excitement I had completely forgotten he said he was stopping by that morning.

  “Where have you been off to all morning?”

  “Oh, shit. Sorry Luke, I got invited to breakfast down the street. I forgot you said you were stopping by. I hope you haven’t been here too long.”

  “Watch your language.” He chided more familiarly than I was comfortable with. “Down the street? You wouldn’t have been over at Connor’s place, now would you? I thought you weren’t interested in being around your family quite yet.”

  “Well, I wasn’t interested. But Cash is an evil heathen, and he tricked me into coming… after barging in and waking me up this morning! Is family always so… ugh.” And I hopped up next to him and proceeded to tell him all about the m
orning’s activities. He thought my lantern-battering was especially hilarious, and said he couldn’t wait to bring it up next time he saw Cash.

  “So I was thinking, Della. You really ought to get an inspector out here and find out exactly what type of things need to be done before you get started, with a special look at the electrical end of things.”

  “Do you think so? This job is going to be a lot more difficult than just a layer of paint, isn’t it? How much does an inspector cost, and when should I get one out here?”

  “Well here’s the thing,” he scratched the stubble on his chin, “A good friend of mine, we were in the same class in high school, well he’s an inspector-“

  “Great! Do you think you could give him a call?” I wanted to get started right then.

  “If you’d let me finish my sentence, you would have heard that I already did. In fact, he was free earlier this morning, and stopped by as a favor to me. I hope you don’t mind that we poked around inside a bit.” With that said, he reached into the cooler sitting behind him and pulled out a couple of lemonades, handing one of them to me. I really should have been a little upset by his doing that without me; it was definitely overstepping my bounds. But it was really thoughtful, and helpful, and one less thing that I would have to worry about or pay for. I went ahead and forgave him, making sure he knew not to do something like that again.

  “He gave me a list of things you need to look into. He said you need to get an electrician and a plumber out here. Since the power and water aren’t on he couldn’t really test it, though he mentioned a few spots that need some definite updating.”

  I looked at the list of things that needed attending to, and knew without a doubt that I was in over my head. “Oh no! How much is all of this going to cost? How am I supposed to take care of all of this?” I had a fair amount more money than I had anticipated, but I really didn’t want to use it all up just repairing the place, and with the number of things on that list I was really concerned that I’d run out of cash before I ran out of projects.