Chapter 2

While our families accepted the fact that Lisa-Marie and I had decided that we were meant for each other, I can't say the same for all of our neighbours or even for those people we thought of as our friends. In fact the next few months, while Lisa-Marie and I were still going to high school together, were quite interesting to say the least. Luckily, Pam had never let my brother Joe formally adopt Lisa-Marie, so that at least meant that her last name and mine weren't the same. However since we made no secret of how we felt about each other or about the fact that we were dating, all those people who thought we were blood relatives tried their best to raise a stink, thinking our relationship was some form or other of incest.

The first day after we were back in school after my abortive dance date with Sherry, she met us in the hall as Lisa-Marie and I walked in holding hands. She seemed to understand instantly that we were a couple and demanded to know what was going on. When I told her that the way she had treated me at the dance had made me realise that I loved Lisa-Marie, she simply exploded in anger, accusing me of being all sorts of things and calling Lisa-Marie a bitch and a whore. If someone hadn't hauled her off, I think either Lisa-Marie or I might have lost our temper.

Sherry couldn't have done a better job of advertising if she had tried. In only minutes rumours were flying around the school and by lunch time we were met by people in the hall, waving bibles and shouting that Lisa-Marie and I were "incestual sinners" and sure to burn in hell.

The Principal, Mr. Milford, broke up the impromptu demonstration and took us into his office.

"Now, exactly what is going on?" He asked quietly. "What is this talk about incest?"

"I wish we knew." Lisa-Marie was almost in tears. "Tom and I are dating and people think we're related but we're not, not really. It's complicated. My mother, who was married and then widowed when she was pregnant with me, is now married to Tom's brother Joe."

"So you aren't related then." He growled.

"No sir. We are not related in any way. My biological father was in the army and died while serving for Canada on a peace keeping mission. My mother remarried when I was seven years old and she just happened to marry Tom's older brother."

"Your mother married Tom's brother? Isn't there an age problem in this puzzle?"

"No sir and it's not a puzzle." I sighed. "First off, I'm a bit more than year older than Lisa-Marie and my older brother is actually seventeen years older than I am. Joe is actually a year older than Pam, who is Lisa-Marie's mother."

"Hmm. Well, after having the whole situation explained, I can certainly see where the confusion would arise." He nodded his head.

The long and short of it was that we got sent home while he tried to straighten out the mistaken impression that had built up around us over the years. He actually came out to the farm that night to have a talk with our parents and he suggested that we stay at home for the whole week, so that he could "get a handle on things." In fact, he'd brought along our books and assignments from school. For that week, we did our school work at home.

During that week, while he was trying to defuse the situation at school, Dad and Joe managed to get into town and spoke to some of the more influential people that they knew explaining the situation. On top of that both Mom and Pam had their hair done and made sure that the biggest gossips in town knew the real story about Pam having had a daughter long before she ever met and married Joe. It was surprising how many people had either forgotten that little fact or else didn't know about it in the first place. Since the biggest gossip mongers as well as some of the most influential men in town were telling our version of the story, the kafuffle about our being together soon died down.

I think what happened on November 11^th that year put a final end to the vicious rumours. I'd never paid much attention to Memorial Day or to the services held in honour of all the men who had served and died in the defence of Canada, probably because it seemed to me that no one I knew was affected by the deaths in those old wars. However, that year Lisa-Marie was asked by the local Canadian Legion branch to lay a wreath at the town cenotaph in honour of the present day soldiers who died while serving in peace-keeping duties around the world.

The photographer for the local paper realised that a pretty blonde teenager laying a wreath on Memorial day was newsworthy, so her picture appeared in the local newspaper. Along with it was the story of how she had never met her father because he had died before she was born, leaving Pam as a pregnant widow. The reporter had interviewed Pam, so she explained that she'd been a single mother for years after her first husband had died, then she had met Joe and married him.

There was no mention of the fact that Lisa-Marie was dating me, but the word got around and the rumours stopped altogether. Oh, there were occasional times when someone would bring up the subject and try to make us the butt of a joke, but Lisa-Marie and I managed to ignore them. Actually I think the whole issue brought us closer together during my last year of highschool.

Lisa-Marie and I had talked over what we wanted to do after highschool and although we knew that the home farm wasn't big enough to support three families, we both wanted to stay as close to the farm as we could. Since I was planning on getting into some kind of farm business, that fall I went off to Agricultural College for three years. Meanwhile Lisa-Marie went on to finish her last year of highschool, then took a two-year business administration course that was aimed toward running a small business. We had our lives carefully planned, finish school, get a job, and then get married, unfortunately sometimes plans get changed.

I only had two months left to complete my final year at the college when one afternoon, I got called in to see the Dean. He had asked me to sit down and we chatted for a moment, then his face grew serious and I knew something was wrong.

"I'm sorry Tom, but I'm afraid I have some sad new for you." He said. "Your father just called and there's been a serious accident. Your Uncle Silas had a bad fall."

The immediate thought that flashed through my mind was that I was going to have to quit college, which was a shame since I was so close to the finish of my full credits. I knew instantly that I should go look after Uncle Silas and his farm again, then the Dean carried on speaking slowly and carefully.

"There isn't any nice way of saying this, so I'll just pass on the facts as I understand them. It seems there was a heavy wind storm that damaged the roof of his barn and your Uncle was trying to repair it. The ladder he was using collapsed from under him. The neighbour who found him couldn't do anything for him. It seems that he must have fallen in such a way that he broke his neck and died instantly. At least you can take comfort that he had no pain."

I couldn't say anything aloud, it was as if my throat had swollen closed and I suspect that I was in shock. After all, this was the first time that anyone close to me had died.

"Your father mentioned that you and your uncle were quite close." The Dean said quietly. "I realise that you're completing your last year with us and you may be feeling pressed to cram for your finals. However I've looked at you grades and since they're certainly adequate, I'd recommend that you take a week or two and go home to take care of all the necessary details."

It was a chilly February day when we buried Uncle Silas and there weren't many people there. There was only the preacher, the six of us from my family, and about a dozen of Uncle Silas' neighbours, all farmers and their wives, but the small turnout wasn't surprising. Uncle Silas had been a very quiet, almost solitary man.

After the funeral I was surprised that several of the farmers that I'd met a few years before when I was helping look after Uncle Silas' farm came around to me and quietly shook my hand. One of them paused long enough to explain that his son was going over to the farm every day to do the few chores that needed to be done and that it was no trouble for him to carry on until we could make other arrangements.

When I thanked him, he just waved his hand as if it was nothing special.

"Nothin' anybody wouldn't do for a friend." He said quietly. "Do you folks know what's goin' to happen with the farm?"

"Not really, not yet." I sighed softly. "I know Uncle Silas left a will and that it's to be read the day after tomorrow, so we don't really know too much about mortgages or debts or anything yet."

"Yeah, Silas was pretty quiet about things." He nodded. "He sure thought a lot of you though."

"He was family." I smiled. "That counts for a lot with us."

"Huh! Well, there's family, and then there's family." He said shortly, then he walked away leaving me with a strange feeling about him.

"I wonder what he meant by that?" Lisa-Marie asked.

"I'm really not sure." I answered. "I hardly remember him or any of Uncle Silas' neighbours."

"But they all seem to know you."

"That's because I was the outsider." I shrugged. "We each found out a bit about the other, but they have the advantage, they could compare notes."

"I suppose." She smiled, then shivered. "It's cold."

It was later that day that I found out Uncle Silas' neighbour hadn't been talking about his family, but had meant ours. Late that night Mom explained part of the story when she and I were alone. It seems that she dated Uncle Silas once or twice before meeting Dad. When she'd become engaged to Dad, Uncle Silas and Dad had argued and afterward they hadn't talked for years, not until after I was born. Even she didn't know the whole story, but she guessed that all those years, Uncle Silas had felt that Dad stole his girl.

Uncle Silas hadn't told anyone about his will, so when it was read, we were all astounded to find that he had left the farm and almost everything else to me. While the rest of the family each got a few mementos as well as a small sum of money, the rest was mine. There were no mortgages on the farm, no debts, and enough money in the bank to do some necessary improvements with enough left to plant a crop and get the farm through a growing season. Suddenly I was a full-fledged farmer with animals and fields to care for.

I was completely flabbergasted. Having lived with Uncle Silas for a while and having seen how he scrimped and made do with what he had at hand, I'd thought he was in debt and fighting his way out. Instead, he had been a frugal man and I was gaining the benefit of his years of economical living. I simply couldn't believe his munificence toward me.

While I was stunned, the rest of my family was ecstatic. I think their reaction even astounded the lawyer who had read the will to us, but the fact that he found their reaction strange didn't stop him from shaking everyone's hand. When he came to me, he paused, telling me that he'd register the change of title of the land and would advise the bank of the change of name on the bank account. The last thing he told me before he left was that I'd have to have proof of identity at the bank and that it might take a few days to do the paperwork before I could do anything with the money.

After he left, we were alone and I found myself being hugged by everyone in the family and having both Dad and Joe shake my hand in congratulations, then Lisa-Marie stunned everyone.

"All right, that does it!" She announced firmly as she stood in front of me with her hands on her hips. "You told me that when you had a full time job and a place to live, we'd get married. Now you've got a farm with a house and it's all paid for. So when do I get to hear wedding bells, Buster?"

"Umm..." I managed to stammer.

"Oh honey. You have to see that house first." Mom interrupted my stunned attempt to speak. "I think Tom has a lot of work to do before any woman would be willing to live in that!"

"It's not that bad." Dad protested. "That's a good solid old house."

"It may be solid, but it's old fashioned and it's dirty!" Mom retaliated. "There are two things in that house that are fairly clean, the kitchen sink and the toilet seat. The kitchen sink is fairly clean because he used it for washing up everything he could fit in it and the toilet seat is fairly clean because he rarely sat on it, he only used it when it was too cold to use the outhouse."

"But..." Dad started to say.

"No buts!" Mom snapped. "Tom, you need to take Lisa-Marie to see what she'd be getting into if you moved in now. Neither of you has to go back to class for the rest of this week, why don't you take some food and some clean bedding, then go spend a couple of days in your new house. That way you'll know just what she thinks needs to be done before she joins you there permanently."

"But... just the two of us? We'd..." This time it was Lisa-Marie who seemed to be trying to protest.

"Oh for goodness sake girl! Are you worried that we might know you'll be sleeping in the same bed? You've been going out with each other for more than three years. If you haven't tried him out yet, it's darn well time you did." Mom was trying to sound stern, yet trying to hide a grin at the same time. "Just call this a trial honeymoon, but treat it as a camping trip because I think you'll find that you're roughing it."

I was standing there open mouthed and happened to glance at Pam, wondering if she'd protest about her daughter spending a day or two with me. Instead of looking upset, she grinned and winked. Lisa-Marie caught it and turned toward me.

"Well, want a trial honeymoon?" I managed to say before she could open her mouth.

"Trial hell! This is probably the only honeymoon that we're ever going to be able to afford." She snapped. "We're dirt poor farmers now, you know."

The grin on her face took any sting out of her quick-witted remark.

I didn't expect that we'd get away before sometime the next day, but somehow with everyone helping us to pack 'essentials' into the car, we were ready to go in the late afternoon. As we left, we both got huge hugs from both Pam and Mom along with well wishes from Joe and Dad.

"I wonder what Uncle Silas would think of our doing this?" I asked Mom while still holding her.

"I think he's probably looking down and cheering." She smiled. "He certainly liked Lisa-Marie and he simply loved you from the day you were born. Of course it didn't hurt that your middle name happens to be Silas either." She smiled.

I suddenly realised how she had ended the fight between the brothers and now I didn't mind my middle name as much, although I had hated it when I was younger and had done my best to get everyone to forget it. One year of being called Tom Silage by school bullies had done that. Now though I smiled and hugged Mom again.

"Now get going and remember, I want you to really listen to whatever changes Lisa-Marie wants you to make in her new house, do you hear?" She frowned.

"Yes Mom." I grinned, hugging her once more and giving her a quick peck on the cheek before getting into the car.

Now I don't know many people who would have thought of the next four days as a honeymoon, because we spent those four days working like little beavers, stripping all of Uncle Silas' years of accumulated old clothes and assorted junk out of that old house as well as cleaning it from top to bottom. Perhaps the fact that we'd been raised on a farm so we were used to getting up early and working late made it seem easy, but I think it was the five nights that made all the difference. That was when Lisa-Marie and I could go into the bedroom and be guaranteed that no one was going to disturb us.

It didn't hurt either that the weather cooperated. While we were there it was warm and dry and since we'd had an early melt that year there was hardly any snow around, even though it was still February. There was slightly more snow as we neared the farm than there had been back home, but a chinook wind was blowing and we enjoyed the view of the mountains to the west. Actually, our new farm was almost into the foothills, but that certainly didn't worry us. We were young and we were happy, this was an adventure that we were enjoying together.

We arrived at the farm just in time to meet the young neighbour who was looking after the chores around the place. We'd introduced ourselves, explaining that I was the person who had inherited the farm and that Lisa-Marie was my fiancée. His name was Willy and he lived about a half mile down the road on the nearest farm. He was only a few years younger than we were and a truly likeable guy who impressed both Lisa-Marie and me as someone we wanted for a friend.

I found myself suggesting that since I wanted to go back and finish off my college degree in Agronomy and since I wanted to fix some of the things that I knew needed repair before we moved to the farm permanently, I wanted to hire him to carry on doing the chores for the next two months. Otherwise I was going to have to sell all the animals and I really didn't want to do that.

He countered with a suggestion that he might be able to help me out on weekends as well and the wage he asked for was a bargain. We came to a deal in only minutes. Then he excused himself, explaining that he had to get home because his supper would be waiting and his mother hated him to be late.

As we walked toward the old two story house, Lisa-Marie wrapped an arm around me and squeezed gently.

"I think he looked at the two of us and wanted to get away before we embarrassed him by being the least bit physical." She giggled.

"Oh come on!" I laughed.

"Well, I do!" She snorted. "As soon as you told him that I was your fiancée, he looked at me and he blushed."

"I think he's just shy." I grinned and opened the front door to the old house. "Meanwhile my dear, may I invite you to tour your new/old house?"