Chapter 3

The next morning I was awake at my regular time, five thirty in the morning, and I slipped from bed, deciding to let Lisa-Marie sleep in while I went downstairs to put on the coffee. Then, because the kitchen still had a strong pine odour I went outside for a few minutes to smell the fresh air. I was trying to be quiet, but I must have made enough noise to disturb Lisa-Marie. By the time the coffee was perking and I was thinking about frying a couple of eggs for myself, she appeared in the kitchen, smiling happily.

"Your mom is wrong. I'm gonna love this place." She crowed as she walked over and wrapped me in her arms. "The only problem I can see is that my lover disappears on me in the morning."

"I wouldn't have if I'd known you were almost awake, but you worked so hard yesterday that I thought you might need a little extra sleep." I laughed, then before she could argue, I covered her lips with mine.

After a morning kiss and cuddle session, Lisa-Marie insisted on cooking breakfast and asked me to find a pencil and paper so she could write down the window sizes in order to calculate how much material she was going to need for curtains. After we ate breakfast, that's what we did, moving from room to room throughout the house taking window measurements. We were still at it when our four young friends showed up.

That day we got a lot done, but nowhere near as much as the day before, which wasn't really surprising since the first day of hauling out rubbish hadn't called for much thought. Besides that, we had to break up into pairs to do smaller tasks. First Lisa-Marie and Jean took the car to get supplies and material for curtains, then Fred and Andrea offered to take the old truck and empty it, which left Will and me alone.

"Well Boss, what do we do now?" He grinned at me.

"Well, Lisa-Marie has been belly aching about the lack of hot water. I think we'd better find the hot water tank and see if we can fix that. Now is the best time, since no one is around to use hot water and we have a chance to do it undisturbed."

"Yep, take away a woman's hot water and she'll get grouchy as a bear." He laughed.

It turned out that one of the two heating elements in the tank was burned out. Uncle Silas must have known about it because there was a new element sitting on top of the tank, it just hadn't been replaced. So we shut off the power and water, drained and flushed the tank, then replaced the element. As soon as we filled it with water and turned on the tank, you could hear the sound of the elements working.

After that we spent the next few hours fixing little things. Uncle Silas must have known about all the problems, but just didn't have the energy to fix them, because there were all sorts of supplies to fix things in the basement. We spent most of the morning replacing washers in dripping taps, fixing latches on doors, replacing light bulbs and an assortment of other little things. I hadn't realised just how much time it took to do all those little things and I don't think Willy had either, Lisa-Marie and Jean had shown up and were making us lunch before we knew it. Fred and Andrea showed up just as we were going to sit down.

After a quick lunch, we found that the water was hot and all of us set about cleaning walls, woodwork, windows, and almost everything else. In fact, that's how we spent the rest of the day until our four new friends had to leave to go do their own chores.

As far as work was concerned, the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening soon became a washout. It started with the phone ringing. It was my Mom and to my surprise, she wanted to talk to Lisa Marie.

I got a real kick out of Lisa-Marie's end of the conversation, knowing that Mom had probably expected us to come back home early because the place had been so "old-fashioned and dirty." Instead Lisa-Marie went into a real spiel about how much we had gotten done and ended it by saying that we had hauled a two-ton truck full of garbage to the dump. Her eyes were sparkling as she grinned at me. She paused while Mom was talking, then said quietly. "Well, we did have help. Some of the young people from around the neighbourhood dropped over and gave us a hand."

Mom must have said something again, then Lisa-Marie spoke once more. "We could move in today and I wouldn't mind a bit. In fact, I'm looking forward to living here. We haven't had any problems. Well, except that the hot water tank was taking forever to heat back to temperature. But Tom fixed that with a new element."

I think she was delighted to tell Mom all the things that she loved about the old house and I was enjoying the expressions on her face as I watched her talk, then I was disturbed by a knock on the door.

When I opened it, there was a young woman there with a toddler in her arms, asking if I had seen a stray dog around, but I couldn't help her at all. Lisa-Marie must have cut her call to Mom short though, because she came up behind me and told the woman that she had seen a dog running beside the road earlier in the day, She said that the dog looked like it knew where it was going and she'd assume it was heading for home.

Since Lisa Marie's description fit the woman's dog, she got directions, then left to see if she could find it. She'd hardly left when the phone rang again. This time it was Pam.

That's how the evening went. People dropped around to the door and each time it was another of our new neighbours. If there wasn't someone at the door, there was someone on the phone. It was as if word had gotten around about us, so everyone wanted to say "Hi" and express their condolences about Uncle Silas, then they would welcome us to the neighbourhood. Each time we'd thank them for their care and we'd explain that we weren't moving in permanently for a few months. Some of the neighbours who came to the door would come inside for a few moments. Others simply wanted to speak to us out on the porch. No one stayed long, all of them just seemed to want to put in an appearance, leaving soon afterward.

I was quite happy when it grew late enough that we weren't disturbed any longer and we could slip off to bed. Somehow that night, just cuddling Lisa-Marie in my arms was almost all I wanted. We lay there and talked for hours, finally able to concentrate on each other completely.

I don't remember falling asleep, but I awoke, looking into Lisa-Marie's clear blue eyes and smiling face.

"Do you know that it's twenty-four hours since you made love to me?" She whispered.

"Hmm, maybe I should do something about that omission. What do you think?" I grinned.

She convinced me that I should.

That morning, we weren't quite as late getting down to breakfast. In fact we were up and around early enough that I actually got to talk to Willy just after he'd finished the chores. He promised to be back later and I suggested that we might do some work that needed to be done around the barn.

That day was much quieter in every way. First, only Willy and Jean were there. Jean spent the day helping Lisa-Marie with the new curtains, and since Willy and I had to do essential repairs around the barn and the yard, we were apart most of the day. It meant that the whole day was a lot more relaxed, yet somehow it wasn't as enjoyable as the first two days had been.

That evening, Lisa-Marie and I were undisturbed as we sat at the kitchen table with all of Uncle Silas' paper work, trying to make sense of whatever system of keeping track of the income and expenses of the farm he had used. After an hour, we decided that the easiest way to handle it was to sort the bills and the cheques by date and create our own system so we'd have an idea of what he had been doing. By ten o'clock that night, we had roughly sorted everything and I insisted that we put the piles of paper away so we could get some rest.

"Upstairs woman, it's Friday night and I want to dance, horizontally if possible." I grinned as we set the last file folder into a cardboard box and tucked it in the closet. "After all, it's been more than twelve hours since I've seen that lovely body and held it close. Let's go dance to our own music."

"Mmm." She murmured as she wrapped her arms around me. "And what sort of beat do you want to dance to at this private dance club of yours?"

"Perhaps a waltz to start with, maybe later we can see what else the conductor wants?" I found her lips, then lifted her in my arms.

There is something about Lisa-Marie and candlelight, the combination is so beautiful it defies description. Once more we put ourselves to sleep to the beat of a primal orchestra that no one else could hear.

The last day of our four-day 'trial honeymoon' was spent finishing as much of the old records off as we could. Lisa-Marie insisted that in the future we were going to do a lot better. I agreed with her and we both agreed that eventually we were going to need a desk, a filing cabinet, and a proper ledger. The kitchen table, a cardboard box, and an old loose leaf scribbler just weren't good enough.

None of our young friends came over to the house during the day. However Lisa-Marie had insisted that she wanted to have them all over for dinner, so she'd invited them the day before. I think she wanted to prove to them that I wouldn't starve. With that in mind, we spent several hours preparing that meal and trying to make it special. I tried to help, but I think I was more of a hindrance. At least Lisa-Marie tried to make me feel that I was helping. Eventually it was almost ready and we were able to get cleaned up just in time for the four friends to arrive. Lisa-Marie was able to serve a great meal.

We had a great evening and we were with good company who were getting to know each other better every day. When we had finished eating, we sat around talking and telling each other about our past and about our dreams for the future.

Of course Lisa-Marie and I told the story about how we'd first met, how our lives had intertwined and how we'd finally realised that we were meant for each other. Then Lisa-Marie astounded me by teasing Willy and Jean, making them blush. Fred and Andrea surprised me by teasing them even more. That's when we found out that Fred and Andrea were planning on getting married in the summer and that Jean was going to be Andrea's bridesmaid while Willy was going to be the best man. We were told that we'd get an invitation too, so not to plan anything for the first Friday in August.

That's when we admitted to them that we weren't sure of what date we were going to have our wedding. We knew it was going to be toward the end of June, we just hadn't chosen and exact date yet, but we told them that we'd let them know and make sure that they had an invite to it too.

"Us too?" Willy asked, grabbing Jean's hand which made her blush again.

"You too." Lisa-Marie grinned. "Both of you, if you come together."

When they both glanced at each other, then nodded, Andrea cheered. "Finally, they've agreed to go on a date and they're even going to go with each other."

"Jeez, Sis, do you have to rag on us all the time?"

"Well dammit, sometimes you act as shy as old Silas..." She started to say and then stopped, her eyes swinging to look at me.

"There was more to Silas than you know, and more than I can tell you, because it's not my place to say anything." I said quietly.

That change of conversation also changed the party mood and it wasn't long before our four friends left, promising that they'd see me on the weekend and telling Lisa-Marie that if she came out to the farm, she was to let them know so that they could come and say "Hi."

Not only the party mood had changed, I found that suddenly I was missing Uncle Silas. Perhaps on paper this was now my farm, but that night in my head, this was still his place, his house. I sat down at the table and cupped my hands in front of my lips, blowing into them as if they were cold.

Lisa-Marie must have recognised the gesture as something I did when I was upset. "You miss him a lot, don't you?"

That did it. Up until then I hadn't really grieved for Uncle Silas, but suddenly I was weeping and sobbing as she held me in her arms and cuddled me to her chest. I cried for a while, then she talked me into going upstairs, having a shower with her, then crawling into bed. When we were laying there cuddling together, she reached out and stroked my arm.

"Tom, I never got to know Uncle Silas well, could you tell me about him?"

"I suppose I could." I sighed as she rested her head on her hands and her hands on my chest in order to watch my face. "To most people Uncle Silas probably seemed to be a stubborn, taciturn, old grouch who refused to cut anyone any slack and who held a grudge like no one else in the country, but I always saw a kinder side of him. To me, he was always very stern, but he was just as fair. To him a man's word was his bond and a man who broke his word was worse than a thief. The old saying 'as honest as the day was long, ' always seemed to me to be meant for him too, and he was strict, but he was probably stricter with himself than he was anyone else. Most people didn't see that, but I saw that side of the man."

"I'm sorry I didn't get to know him better." She sighed softly. "Whenever I was around, he seemed so quiet."

"Oh, Uncle Silas never talked much. But he was the guy who took me out in his old pickup and taught me to drive, just out there" I gestured over my shoulder. "We went out in the pasture behind the barn and I drove around in circles until I could manage to steer and shift at the same time. Then we drove out through the gate and he had me drive up and down the dirt road a few miles. Come to think of it, he was the one who bought me my first bicycle and my first .22 rifle too."

"I always thought he spoiled you at Christmas." She murmured. "I guess I was jealous."

"I suppose he did." I answered slowly. "But I never thought of it that way. I always felt he made me earn things."

She murmured in reply and I started to tell her about the times I'd spent with Uncle Silas, what we'd done and where we'd gone. I talked on about him for a long time, until I realised that Lisa-Marie had fallen asleep in my arms. After that I lay and thought about him for a while longer.

Finally, I reached out and turned out the bedside light, then closed my eyes. I'd talked away the worst of my grief. I knew that there had been only one Uncle Silas, but he was gone now. However, he would still live in my memory and that was going to have to be enough.

The next morning we both slept in a bit later than usual. Since we had to be back to class the next morning and had some things to do at home before we left to drive back to our individual schools that evening, we were rushed. We had to pack up our clothes and things, toss them in the car, then leave almost as soon as we'd had a shower and breakfast. After pausing long enough to call Mom and let her know that we were on our way, we set out. We did pause at Willy and Andrea's home so that we could give them the basket and plates to return to the Granger sisters along with our thanks, then we had to run.

All the way home, Lisa-Marie and I talked about things we planned and hoped to do at the farm. I suppose the time seemed to pass slowly because we wanted to brag to our folks about everything. I know that fifty-mile drive from our new home couldn't have taken any more than an hour at the most, but it seemed to take forever. Luckily Joe's pickup truck was parked at Mom and Dad's place, which meant I had a half mile less to drive.

When we pulled up, both of us almost ran from the car to the house and burst inside with huge grins on our faces.

"Hi Everybody." We said happily, then Lisa-Marie ran over to Mom and threw her arms around her, giving her a huge hug.

She had turned to her own mom and was hugging her before Mom seemed to recover from her surprise.

"Can I be so silly as to ask why I got hugged first, Lisa-Marie?" Mom asked even while I was wrapping my arms around her for a hug of my own.

"Oh, that's for the wonderful idea you had, sending us out there for a break. I love that house. Although it really was a mess when we first got there, just like you had warned me it would be."

"You like that old-fashioned place?" Mom asked in surprise.

"She loves antiques and old things." Pam laughed aloud. "When you said it was old-fashioned and that she was going to hate it, I could see her eyes light up. I was fairly certain what would happen."

"And you didn't say anything while I sat here after they left, saying that I expected them back that same night because I expected her to be so disgusted with the place?"

"Joe and Dad would have throttled me if I had." Pam laughed. "Besides, I'd have looked pretty darn silly if I'd argued and they had come back that night."