Raising Attabury: A Contemporary Christian Epic-Novel (The Grace Series Book 5)

by Stallings, Staci

  January 12, 1935

  I cannot bear to think it, but today I received word of my dear mother’s passing on to the next life. Because of the snow and traveling being nearly impossible from Kentucky right now, the letter arrived only today though it was sent nearly two weeks ago. Louise said Mother fell ill just after Christmas. They did not send word at the time because they thought she would recover. She did not. She went to join Papa in our Heavenly home on the 29th of December.

  It is difficult for my heart to believe.

  Kentucky feels so very far away right now. Heaven itself seems closer.

  Rest in Peace, my beautiful Mother. Rest in peace.

  Without reading even another word, Dani quietly closed the book. The entry wafted through her mind and over her heart. She wondered then about Kentucky. Was that where Mrs. Attabury had come from? As she thought about it, she realized it had to be. 1935. It seemed a completely different lifetime.

  Dani thought back to where they had found the diary, and she could almost picture Mrs. Attabury in the parlor or in her bedroom upstairs, taking the diary from its hiding place to write the sad words. Surely her mother had already been buried by the time she got word of her death. Such a different time. Such a different life.

  Sitting there, Dani wondered how she would have reacted to moving so far away from home with little hope of seeing her parents or brother again. She wasn’t at all sure she could have done it, or would have done it. Mrs. Attabury must have been head-over-heels in love to do such a thing.

  Gently she replaced the book in its new home, not wanting to disturb the tender emotions it contained. Standing, she went to take a shower though in truth the words stayed with her until she got out and called her own mother. As she listened to the latest drama, Celeste and her father had officially moved in together, Dani couldn’t help but think that one day she wouldn’t have this conversation. Her mind went back to the wreck. How quickly life could change with no warning for any of them.

  “And here I am,” her mother said, “sitting in this house that could be gone tomorrow. Then what?”

  “Then,” Dani said gently, “you’ll figure out something to do and move on.”

  Chapter 15

  It’s not looking good for me to get out of here early, Dani texted on Friday at ten. She had hoped the meeting would wind down, and she could get to the paperwork before noon. But impossible was looking more likely.

  You need me to get Ja after school? His text came in, and she stared at it, thinking he couldn’t be serious.

  You don’t mind?

  No. No problem. I’ll get Ja and we’ll get packed. Get there when you get there and we’ll head out.

  At the head of the conference table, the engineer droned on about the weight restrictions on the solar panels, pointing out the issues on the projected image on the screen. “Every stress point will have to be reinforced…”

  Dani didn’t hear any of it because her heart was going over and over his words. She read the text twice and reread it again to make sure it had said what she thought it did. Finally, she could think of no other response. K. Thank you.

  In seconds a text came back. Have a great rest of your day.

  Swallowing the disbelief and confusion, she typed back. You too. Carefully she laid the phone on the table and tried to pick up what they were talking about. It wasn’t easy.

  Although the phone was in his pocket, it was getting easier and easier to just leave it there. When Eric made it to the progress meeting after lunch, he headed to the coffee and got himself a cup. His gaze slipped over and held on the young man standing there, texting. He looked pained and worried. Without really moving, Eric took a sip of his coffee, and in seconds the young man shook his head, let out a long breath, and shoved the phone in his pocket. Not wanting to pry but worried for the young man’s obvious troubles, Eric tipped his head. “Everything all right?”

  Surprise and concern of a different kind jumped into his eyes. “What? Oh. Oh. Yeah. Yes. Everything… everything’s… fine.”

  However, the lie was obvious to anyone who cared to listen. “You sure about that?” To soften the question, Eric took another sip from the little cup.

  For a long second the young man’s eyes asked if Eric was serious about wanting to know. “It’s just that my dad had an accident a couple of days ago at work.”

  “Oh? What happened?”

  “He was on a ladder taking their Christmas lights down, and it wasn’t very stable. He fell off it and broke his leg and messed up his hip.”

  “Yow. That sounds rough. Is he okay?”

  “Okay might be stretching it. He’s in the hospital. Mom’s with him, but I think he’s giving them all fits. I hate it that I can’t be there to help her.”

  “Where do they live?”

  “North of Houston an hour or so. It’s just hard being so far away. I wanted to stay close, but this job came up, and I had to take it, you know?”

  Eric nodded. “I can imagine.” The pause stretched between them, and he stuck out his hand. “I’m Eric Richardson by the way.”

  “Oh. I know who you are. I’m Brayden Hadley. I just started here the first of the year, still trying to get my sea legs under me, figure things out.”

  “What’s your field?”

  “Materials engineering. I’m going to be working on Phase 4 on the Greensboro project.”

  The smile Eric gave him was genuine. “Well, welcome aboard.”

  “Thanks.”

  The change in Attabury when they got there on Friday night was nearly unfathomable. For one thing, the porch was now finished. Instead of falling down and dangerous, it looked almost inviting. For another, the inside stairway had been completed with dark wooden treads. Coupled with the exquisite handrail and spindles, it was breathtaking. The handrail itself was majestic, solid, with an old-fashion charm and elegance that would be impossible to duplicate with a modern one.

  “Wow. You’ve really outdone yourself with this,” Eric said to Caleb as the four of them stood at the base of the newly refinished masterpiece. “It’s absolutely incredible.”

  “It’s stunning,” Dani said, her voice brushing against awe. “I can’t believe it turned out this good.”

  “Well, thank Rachel,” Caleb said. “She would not rest until the guys got it in just right.”

  “Doesn’t surprise me a bit,” Dani said with a grin at Rachel. “She’s really something else.”

  “Stop it. You’re embarrassing me,” Rachel said, blushing. “I’m just doing my job.”

  “Well, you’re doing a fantastic one,” Eric said.

  When Dani looked over at him, it wasn’t with jealousy or anger as it had been in the past when he had noticed someone else. She couldn’t say she was madly in love with him anymore, but at least she didn’t hate him now. Maybe that was a good thing. “So what are you going to tackle next?”

  “The windows for one. I thought maybe we could do some of the back ones tomorrow while you’re here,” Caleb said.

  “Oh, joy,” Eric said with a laugh. “I’ve barely recovered from last week.”

  “He’s not joking,” Dani said. “I was beginning to wonder if we should take out stock in Ben Gay.”

  “Eww.” Rachel pinched her eyebrows together. “That stuff is disgusting.”

  “But it works,” the guys said together, and they all laughed.

  “We got the tub down from upstairs finally,” Caleb continued. “It’s really time to figure out what you want to do in there. I’ve priced some claw foots out of Raleigh. We can go either way, but it’s time to make that decision.”

  Dani looked at Eric who looked at her.

  “It’s up to you,” he said with a shrug. “I won’t be taking many baths.”

  She thought about it. Up until a couple weeks before, she wouldn’t have seen the need for one, but since being sent to her room for a bath or two, she was becoming a fan. “Can we swing it with the budget?”

  Caleb nodded. �
��The money’s there either way. It mostly depends on what you want.”

  A moment and she exhaled. “I say, ‘I want the tub.’”

  “That’s all I needed to hear. I’ll get it ordered.”

  “Oh,” Eric said, remembering, “I brought my camera. Do you mind if I…?”

  When Caleb laughed, he shook his head. “I keep telling you, this is your house. If you want to take pictures of it, I’m not going to stop you.”

  They spent an hour or more as Eric took pictures of the project. He and Caleb walked the upstairs, downstairs, and even around the outside. Meanwhile, Rachel and Dani went room-to-room talking design—colors, wallpaper, furnishings, flooring. Rachel made notes, though of just what Dani wasn’t sure because mostly she was noncommittal about everything. It was just completely overwhelming. What to do with the doors—refinish or get new ones? What to do with the floors—hardwood, carpet, laminate, tile? Bathrooms, trim, closets, which turned out to be much smaller than Dani had thought they would be.

  “It’s a wonder there even is a closet in the little bedrooms,” Rachel said. “For the period of the house.”

  As the sun fell outside, the small pieces of light from beyond the boards did as well. Dani put her hands up to her arms as the oppression of the darkness took over. The flashlight did little to expel it. “You think we can talk about this tomorrow?”

  “Sure,” Rachel said. “No problem. Derek and Jaycee will be here tonight sometime. I really think they’ll have some good ideas for the paint colors and trim-work. They’re geniuses when it comes to this stuff.”

  Together they went down the top three steps to the landing and turned. The staircase was beautiful from top or bottom. “You really did a great job with these stairs,” Dani said. “I just love them.”

  “Score one for Rachel. There’s a first time for everything.” Rachel shined the flashlight onto the walls that divided the hall from the living room. “So what do you think about gold for in here? That’s pretty much the color it was before, I think.”

  Dani sighed. “I really can’t decide if I want to stay true to the original or to try to make it a little more modern. I don’t want it to feel like a mausoleum when we come.”

  “Character and charm,” Rachel said. “That’s what they call it on H&H.”

  At the bottom, they stopped.

  Rachel leaned over to her. “I’ve been cramming.”

  “Oh?” Dani twined her arms.

  “Don’t tell anybody. They think I know what I’m doing, and I don’t.” With a shrug and a tight smile, Rachel’s eyes changed from confident to wary and overwhelmed in a single heartbeat.

  Concern piled on top of Dani, and she tipped her head and dropped her gaze, both trying to understand and to not get caught in the whipsaw. It wasn’t the idea that her lead designer didn’t know what she was doing. It was that someone else might feel as overwhelmed and incompetent as she always did. “So I’m not the only one?”

  Rachel’s gaze jerked up to her. “The only what?”

  A second and Dani’s eyes slid up to her friend. It felt like a confession. “That doesn’t have a clue what I’m doing.”

  Wisps of confusion traced across Rachel’s gaze. “With the house?”

  It would be so easy to lie. So, so easy. Pinching her mouth to the side, Dani tipped her head. “With everything?”

  “Yeah,” Caleb’s voice came from the kitchen and rounded the corner barely preceding the two men, “I’m going to have to come to Raleigh at some point so we can pick out the… Oh!” He stopped short when he saw them more out of surprise than trying to not let them hear. “I was wondering where you two got off to.”

  Both women shrank opposite directions but said nothing.

  “What do you say we head off to our place for supper?” Caleb said. “We can talk more there.”

  The uneasiness that the house always put her into had somehow transferred from worries over it to worries about her friend. Friend? She kept referring to Rachel that way, but was she really a friend, or would this relationship go by the wayside once the flooring was done and the curtains hung? Dani wasn’t at all sure, but she did understand the look in Rachel’s eyes just before the guys showed up. Well, she understood it for herself anyway. That someone else might feel that way still surprised her.

  At Caleb and Rachel’s, Dani made sure to help with things. They paid Pete who had been watching the kids, and she wondered what they would have done without everyone’s help.

  “So have you read any on the diary?” Rachel asked as they were finishing getting the meal ready.

  “Oh. A little,” Dani said, buttering the bread. “It’s kind of strange.”

  “How’s that?”

  “I don’t know. Some of the entries are just like random words, and some…”

  Rachel puzzled at the fading of the words. “Some?”

  Shaking her head, Dani fought to figure out how to word it. “Like there was this one about the day she found out her mom had passed away. I mean, wouldn’t that be so weird to be hundreds of miles away, no phone, no contact with home? I’m sure by the time she got that letter, her mother had already been buried. Just hard to even imagine that, you know?”

  “It is strange when something like that happens,” Rachel said, stirring the spaghetti. “I remember when I found out about Nathan. It drove me crazy for the longest time. My mind kept going through how and when and where and all the details that I never knew and never would know.”

  It felt like intruding to ask, but Dani couldn’t shake the feeling that she should know. “Uh, so who was Nathan?”

  Her hostess’s gaze jerked over to her. “My… first husband,” she said very slowly. “Did you not know about that?”

  Oh, lands. If she had, she would never have asked. “No. I didn’t. I’m so sorry, Rachel.”

  A second and Rachel smiled softly. “That’s okay. It is what it is.” The stirring slowed. “He was military, overseas when it happened. Like I said, I think a bomb went off or something, but beyond that, they never really bothered to tell me.”

  Horror crashed over Dani. How had she gotten in the middle of this tragic conversation? “I am so sorry,” she said again both over the story and for having said anything at all.

  “No. Really. It’s okay.” Rachel let out a breath. “I don’t talk about it much. Most people don’t really want to hear about it.”

  Although Dani could certainly relate, she did her best to cover that. “That must’ve been really hard.” She thought through all the questions. “If you don’t mind me asking, how long ago was that?” Her gaze slipped to the doorway and beyond that the children playing.

  “About eight months before Natalie was born.” The sniff was soft. “They just showed up one day out of the blue.” Her eyebrows bounced. “I think I was making lunch for Rhett or something like that. You know, it’s weird because I don’t even really remember. I remember the knock and going to the door. Before that, after that…. Not much of anything is even there when I think about it.”

  “So, where were you living?”

  “Oh. Here. Right here. In this house.” She shrugged. “Weird though because now it looks so different than it did that day.” Her laugh was a breath. “I can’t believe the whole place didn’t fall down on us the way it was back then. It was horrible.”

  It was odd how some pieces of the story began to fit better, and others suddenly made no sense. “So you hired Derek and Caleb to redo it?”

  Rachel laughed again. “Hardly. I couldn’t afford Oscar down the street to fix the leak in the bathtub much less for someone to redo the whole place.”

  “Then how…?”

  Slowly Rachel shook her head. “You remember when Hurricane Gabriel came through last year?”

  “How could I forget?”

  “Well, it blew a tree out of the ground in my front yard, and the thing landed right in my window upstairs. What wasn’t already falling down got water damaged to no end. They came to hel
p out with people around town, and I got chosen to be one of them.”

  “Really?” Dani’s brain was playing catch-up as fast as it would go. “And Caleb?”

  The smile was shy, and Rachel’s gaze fell to her shoes. “They put him as lead contractor on this project, and…”

  “He fell in love with you.”

  Her smile turned into a blush. “I think it was kind of mutual.”

  Dani laughed. “I can tell.” Seeing the whole situation with new eyes, she shook her head. “That is amazing, how all of it came together like that.”

  “Yeah, sometimes God knows what we need even when we don’t.”

  Although she wouldn’t have attributed it to God, Dani was glad for her friend’s good fortune. “Well, it certainly worked for you.”

  The meal was wonderful as every other one they had enjoyed at Caleb and Rachel’s was. After the meal, they sat in the living room with the fireplace going just talking. It was amazing how relaxed and comfortable he was in their presence, Eric thought more than once. They’d only known each other a little over a month, yet it felt like they’d been friends forever.

  When it was time to call it a night, they said good-bye at the door. He promised not to be late for Bible study, and Rachel said she would be out at the farm around 8:30. With that, they headed out into the cold February night. At the SUV, he bundled Jaden into the back, climbed in himself and waited only another second for Dani to get in. Figuring it would be a quiet ride, he started the vehicle and turned up the heater.

  “They sure are nice,” Dani said, her voice much softer than usual.

  Eric looked at her, and she was looking beyond him at the house with eyes he couldn’t read. “It’s so weird how they just feel like old friends even though we don’t really know them.” Carefully he pulled out into the non-existent traffic, turned around and headed for the farm.

  “Did you know she lost her husband?” Dani’s gaze had left the scene outside and fallen to her hands. “He was killed in the war, overseas.”