by Emerson Rose
My dad jumps up and looks down at me, his face is as red as a second degree burn and for a second I worry his blood pressure might cause a vein in the side of his head to explode. My dad is a handsome man, more so than most his age, but he is downright ugly when he’s pissed, and he’s pissed as hell.
“What the fuck are you talkin’ about boy? That land is Hill land, always has been. Those fucking Deardon’s have been trying to convince everybody it’s theirs for one hundred years but my great, great, great…”
“Great Grandpa scraped together every nickel and dime he had for thirty years to buy that land and it’s ours. Yeah, Dad, I’ve heard the story all my life but somewhere along the way you were misinformed. It belongs to them, I told them to send my lawyer a copy of the warranty deed. I asked how this could have happened and they said it was never presented to the recorder’s office for public notice. Simply put, it was a clerical error one hundred years ago.”
“No, no fucking way.”
“Do you have proof? Do you have the deed to that particular area of land? No, you don’t and you don’t because it’s not yours.” Tired of having him look down on me as if he were superior I stand up. He’s so close that we are toe to toe and I can feel puffs of his hot angry breath on my face.
“Why are you doing this?” he asks through clenched teeth.
“I’m not doing anything, Dad. Your insurance company won’t cover the house’s damage. They investigated and found it’s not yours. I had nothing to do with it. I do have something else to tell you though and if you’re mad now you’re gonna be really pissed when you hear it.”
He growls and turns away to pace down the long porch and back.
“You’re gonna tell ‘em they can live in that house aren’t you? That’s why you’re doin’ all this, you wanna let those traitors contaminate our land. What is wrong with you? Don’t you see they’re broke so they’re manipulating the system? They probably used whatever money they had left to pay somebody off at the register’s office. They’re crooked liars and if you think they’re going to set foot on this side of the main road, you’re sorely mistaken.”
“Dad, this stupid family feud has gone on long enough. I don’t understand why you give two shits about what some relative did a century ago and that land is a miniscule plot on a ridiculously huge ranch.”
“My ridiculously enormous ranch, Beau, mine. What’s got you so fired up to be charitable and hospitable to those people anyway? What’s your motivation?”
“I don’t need a particular motivation to be a decent human being and, as I said before, it’s not my doing, the insurance company informed me about it.”
“Then you keep your mouth shut and they’ll never know. You can fix that roof yourself we don’t need the damn insurance money.”
While he raged he inched closer and instead of being toe to toe, we are now nose to nose. With his nostrils are flaring and his eyes bugging out of his head I decide it’s time to lay this next part on him.
“I will not.”
“You fucking will too.”
“Do you want mom to know the real reason you don’t take her to the Belfair anymore? How about the way you fucked your son’s friend in the house he built for her? You know she thought I loved Carmen don’t you? She thought Carmen was her only chance at having grandbabies someday. All that’s bullshit but she doesn’t know it and all I have to do is call Carmen and she will come and back me up. Do you want to hurt her like that when she’s going through all of this? Do you want her last memories to be of her cheating bastard of an ex-husband?”
He was ready to tell me go to hell and tell her whatever I wanted because she’s not going to remember any of it soon anyway, until I threw in those last two key points. Number one being that I can still contact Carmen. We don’t speak but I have her number and I’ve called blocking my number to see if it’s still hers every year since I told her to fuck off.
Number two is the reference to him being mom’s ex-husband. Eighty percent of this ranch is built on my grandfather’s land, my maternal grandfather. When mom and dad got married, dad expanded, but the deed to the majority of it is in my mother’s maiden name. And, as stated in their prenuptial agreement that her father insisted she have, it always will be, until she dies and then it’s left to her one and only son, me.
“You wouldn’t hurt your mother like that, you love her too much,” he seethed.
“Unlike you.”
“Tell me son, what is your motivation? Why the sudden interest in housing the poor homeless Deardons?”
He makes me sick, he didn’t even deny not loving my mother. I used to love this man. I worshiped his every move and I thought he was such a noble, honest, dedicated, husband and father. Proof positive that love is blind.
I have nothing to hide. He knows I have a reason, a big one, to stick my neck out like this when it’s going to cause so much grief between us. So I give him what he wants, my motivation, Charlotte.
“Charlotte Deardon.”
He jerks his head back scrunching up his face in surprise.
“That sadiddy cheerleader goody goody from high school? Didn’t that whore go to college somewhere to be a vet?”
When the word whore passes his lips my fist connects with his jaw and I watch my six foot two father real backward and almost fall over the railing on the porch.
“Don’t you fucking talk about her like that. She’s no whore.”
He blinks and holds his jaw working it back and forth like he’s checking to see if it’s broken.
“Have you lost your motherfuckin’ mind boy?”
“Nope.”
“Well I’m thinkin’ you have and I’m callin’ your bluff. I don’t think you’ve got the balls to tell your mama I’ve been unfaithful and frankly I’m surprised it’s a woman who’s got you all tied up in knots like this. It’s not like you to give a flying fuck about any female.”
“I’m telling the Deardons about the land, period. You make it hard on them living there and I’ll have Carmen here to fill mom in on your infidelities faster than you can blink. In fact, if I remember right, she’s over in Clearwater this week for a rodeo. She could be here before sundown. Oh, and one more thing, Charlotte did go to college to become a vet and since we need a vet I hired her full time. I also told her she can live in my house… indefinitely.”
He closes his eyes white knuckling the porch railing. Every muscle in his body is coiled tight ready to attack. I wait for him to do something, anything, punch me, scream, tell me again to fuck off but he doesn’t.
He opens his eyes keeping them trained on the wooden planks of the porch as he descends the steps and stomps toward the closest barn.
I won. That’s twice in two days, first Charlotte and now land and a place for her parents to live. I’m not sure if he’s done with me or not and I don’t care. I did what I set out to do and that was to inform him that the Deardon’s would soon be living in Carmen’s old house in the West Othello prairie.
Today didn’t suck so bad after all.
15
Voilà! We have a home.
Charlotte
When I arrive at the hotel my mother is on the phone with someone important and Dad is sitting next to her listening to her end of the conversation with bated breath.
I know the person is important because my mother sounds like a slave speaking to her master. Yes sir, no sir, I’d be happy to meet with you sir, this is incredible news sir.
“What’s going on?” I ask Stella who is sitting on the bed closest to the door, watching mom with one eye and her phone with the other. She’s on her phone a lot lately. I suspect it’s got something to do with her new secret boyfriend. The one I haven’t had time to investigate.
“Dunno, some lawyer.”
“Why’s Dad look like he’s going to pee himself?”
“I think it’s something about the Hill’s land that he’s always saying is ours.”
I’m impressed. Beau didn’t waste any ti
me getting this arranged and it’s a good thing because I have to get back to school. Three of my professors emailed me this morning asking when I could make up the tests and clinical times that I’ve missed since I’ve been gone.
“Really?”
“Yeah, and there’s a house on that land now so if I’m deciphering her end of the conversation right they might have a place to live.”
“Wow, that’s great.”
“Don’t get excited, I might be wrong.”
I would try to squelch my happiness but since I know she is right I don’t bother.
“What a relief, I have to get back to school. This couldn’t have happened at a better time.”
“Don’t count your chickens, like I said, I could be wrong.”
Ignoring her I look around the tiny room for a sleeping Jake Jr. but he’s nowhere in sight. “Where’s Jake Jr.?”
“With Cammie at her apartment. She told him he could live with her until he finds a place of his own, which you know as well as I do means he will be living there forever.”
“No way.”
“Yep, told ya, she’s totally into him.”
“So weird.”
“Shush, girls, mom’s talking business,” dad says holding his pointer finger over his lips, like he did when we were little girls snickering in church.
I mouth I’m sorry to him and Stella stands motioning me towards the door. We step outside into the perfect spring weather imaginable. The sun is shining bright, there is a light breeze blowing and the distant scent of wildflowers.
“Where the hell were you last night?” She fires her question off hard bursting today’s streak of perfection like a giant bubble.
“Gosh, snappy much?”
“Answer the question.”
“What’s your problem?”
“Charlotte, you didn’t expect me to believe that vague ass text about spending the night with a friend from high school did you?”
“Well, yes, I guess I did.” It wasn’t a complete lie. I did spend the night with someone from high school. I didn’t know him back then but whatever.
She taps a cigarette from her pack and snorts, “You can lie to other people but this is your sister, fess up or I’ll make something terrible up to tell mom and dad.”
Shifting my weight from my left to my right I glance down at the ground and listen to her light her cigarette while I consider which would be worse. Telling her the truth or letting her make something up. Neither will get me a world’s best daughter award but Stella has an active imagination. Who knows what she’ll dream up?
“I was with a man.”
Her eyes pop and she coughs up the smoke she just inhaled.
“No, did you finally give it up?”
I nod and she squeals dropping her lit cigarette on the ground and hugging me so hard I gasp for breath.
“Oh my God, you didn’t just go out and fuck somebody because I gave you a hard time about losing your virginity did you?”
“No, of course not.”
“But you said it had to be somebody exceptional, special. How’d you find that in less than twenty-four hours?”
How had I done that? I still haven’t sorted through all of that myself.
“I uh, I don’t exactly know.”
“Huh? You knew him didn’t you? Was it a boyfriend from school who came down here to support you and just happened to sweep you off your feet, literally?” She laughs at her own joke and I cringe at the irony of her conclusion.
It wasn’t a boyfriend from college but he certainly swept me off my feet trying to support my family and me. Literally.
“No, I told you I don’t have time to date at school.”
Her face screws up in confusion. “You fucked a stranger?”
“No, oh my God.”
“Who then? Come on now, you know I’ll find out. You may as well tell me.”
“I’ll tell you if you tell me who you’re sleeping with.”
She wiggles her fingers missing the comfort of her cigarette settled between them and shuffles her feet. Ha! I got her. I’ve been going nuts trying to figure out who she’s sleeping with and now I get to return the favor.
“That’s not fair, I’m not allowed to tell you. You just don’t want to tell me.”
“Not allowed? What is he some politician or something?”
“No, I just can’t.”
“Stella, he’s not married is he? God please tell me you’re not a home wrecker.”
“I’m not a home wrecker, he’s not married.”
“The why can’t you tell me?”
“I just can’t.”
“Well then, neither can I.”
“Charlotte, just tell me. I promise to tell you my secret as soon as I can. It’s just, things are complicated right now ya know?”
I inhale a deep breath, cross my arms over my chest, and blow it out in a huff. I really want to tell someone about it. Granted my sister isn’t the best person to tell, she hates the Hills like a proper Deardon is supposed to.
She’s going to flip her shit when she knows I gave enemy number one my prized virginity.
Or will she? Maybe she’s grown up too, maybe she thinks this stupid feud should be over like Beau and I do?
“Beau Hill,” the words pop from my mouth without another thought.
She sucks in a breath and her arms fall limp to her sides. She’s quiet for the longest time and I’m about to follow up with something undoubtedly more stupid when she speaks.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why would you do it with him? I didn’t even know you knew each other.”
“We didn’t, I mean we kind of did from elementary school and I saw him in the halls in high school but we had never talked until this week.”
“So how the hell did this happen?”
“I was sitting on dad’s truck at the ranch saying goodbye to our home and he saw me. He came over and started talking to me.”
“So you jumped into bed with him?”
“Of course not it wasn’t like that at all.” Why did I tell her? What was I thinking? Now I’m going to have to make up a story because I’m not telling her about Beau’s plan.
“He asked me to dinner. I told him no so he asked me to breakfast and no, he didn’t mean it like that. He wanted to take me somewhere special for breakfast, it wasn’t a come on line.”
“Breakfast?”
“Yeah, you know the meal you eat at the beginning of the day.”
“Shut it Charlotte. I know what breakfast is. This is serious, where did he take you?” She crosses her arms over her chest and I notice for the first time that she’s wearing a very cute off the shoulder periwinkle colored blouse with skinny jeans and black strappy sandals. Very un-Stella.
Biting my lip I hesitate and with perfect timing mom flings the door to our hotel room open. She’s got a smile a mile wide spread across her face and dad is right behind her looking pretty much the same way.
“You’re never going to believe this!”
“Ya’ll are moving into a house on the Hill’s property,” Stella says with no enthusiasm and a touch of sarcasm. Mom’s smile falters but not for long. I elbow my sister in the ribs for ruining her moment.
“Yes, it’s like the good Lord above took pity on us and finally set things straight with that land. It’s not Hill land, it’s ours.”
“Just like I always said,” dad says standing up tall and proud for the first time in days with his hands hooked in the front pockets of his jeans.
“Who figured it out? I mean, after like, a hundred years suddenly it’s ours?” Stella asks.
“That was a lawyer on the phone, he said the Hills tried to file a damage claim, after the tornado, on a house they built on that land. When the insurance company checked into it they found out the land wasn’t theirs!”
Mom is so excited she’s vibrating. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so happy. I wish she knew it was the generosity of a certain
Mr. Beau Hill and not a mistake at the register’s office that is going to be putting a roof over their heads.
I wanted it to be a secret when Beau first suggested it but now that I’ve experienced his overwhelming generosity hands on… really, really hands on, I wish he could get the credit he deserves for saving my family.
“That’s great news, Mom, I’m so happy for you.”
Stella leans away from me scrunching up her face. “I’m so happy for you?” she repeats my words sounding irritated. What’s her problem?
I frown, “Yes, of course I am. They’re going to have a place to live now, that’s definitely something to be happy about.”
“It is isn’t it?” mom says clapping her hands together. “Now let’s go have lunch together at the diner and celebrate.”
“You guys go ahead, I have some stuff to do,” Stella says squeezing between my parents to get back into the room.
“I already ate but I’ll join you,” I say and reach out to embrace both of my parents. I kiss mom on the cheek and my dad does the same to me.
“Who did you eat with honey?” mom asks stepping back into the room to grab her handbag off the table.
“My friend Tara, she’s the girl I spent the night with last night, we just grabbed coffee and a pastry.”
Stella harrumphs but mom and dad are riding so high on their good news they don’t notice.
“Tara, I don’t think I remember her, was she a cheerleader?”
“No, she was more of a bookworm, you probably don’t remember her.” She doesn’t remember her because she doesn’t exist, a lie I couldn’t have gotten away with back then because she knew every one of my friends. But it’s been four years and I’m counting on her memory not being so sharp.
“Oh.” She swings her purse onto her shoulder and pauses with her hand on the strap while she tries to remember the fictional Tara.