Chapter 30

I fell asleep early, and other than having Fran awaken me to take some antibiotics late in the evening, I slept like a baby, all night long. When I awoke in the morning, I felt far better than I had the day before, and one glance at the clock told me that I was recovering. It was just before six in the morning, but also just before sunrise, so it wasn't fully light outside.

As I moved to get to my feet, the cat, who had been curled up at the foot of the bed, yawned and stretched, then decided it was time for me to pay it some attention. I could only spend a short time indulging her wants though, nature was calling. Since I was alone, that morning's trip to the bathroom was a lot less exciting than the morning before. By taking my time with everything, I even had a sponge bath of sorts and didn't even hurt myself. So, I was already in the kitchen, sitting at the kitchen table with a freshly perked mug of coffee, before Mai-Lin came downstairs.

"Big Tom, you are awake already. Did you sleep well?" She smiled at me.

"I'm fine. Coffee is made and the kettle has just boiled, if you'd prefer to make yourself some tea." I grinned at her. "However, I've already washed this morning, if that's what you were thinking about."

"Thank you for boiling the kettle, but you are a mean man for washing yourself too soon. I had planned on being insistent with you this day." She giggled and blushed.

"Well, I think I'd rather wait for that until my belly feels better."

"Ah, but Lisa-Marie will arrive home at some time later this day and I will no longer be needed as an attendant to all of your needs and desires." She sighed softly as she checked the teakettle and turned the heat back on to bring it to a full boil.

"Oh, I'll just bet you could find a way to convince her to share." I grinned, then glanced up as Fran came into the kitchen. "Morning Fran."

"Well, good morning." She looked at me with raised eyebrows. "As sleepy as you seemed yesterday and last night, I'm surprised that you're up and around so early today."

"Oh, I'm actually feeling quite good today."

"I'm glad of that. I was worried about that twinge you felt last night when you laughed. I thought you might have pulled your stitches."

"Well, it doesn't feel like it. In fact I was thinking of dressing in regular clothes today and maybe even stepping outside for a bit. I'd like to get some fresh air and it looks like it's going to be a nice day to go outside."

"Just don't push yourself too hard or you'll end up back in that hospital bed" She warned. "However, I agree with you. Some fresh air might do you good."

We talked it over and she insisted that I wait to go outside until after David and Samson had arrived to help me down the steps, but I did ask her to go upstairs and bring me down some clothing. Then, while Fran was cooking breakfast and Mai-Lin was having her tea, I slipped away and managed to get dressed without their help. Dressing on my own was certainly different from before the operation. I had to be careful which way I bent or reached, but I managed it with only a tiny bit of discomfort. Fran was still cooking when I got back to the kitchen, but I didn't bother her. Instead I found a seat at the table and spent some more time opening a few of the letters and bills that had come in while I was under the weather. Mai-Lin had already gone out to work on the chores, but it wasn't long before she came back in, followed by Willy, who was carrying the milk bucket. One look at his face and I knew something was up; he was wearing a grin on his face that was a mile wide.

"Congratulate me, Tom." He gushed enthusiastically. "Last night Jean said she'd marry me, either later this spring or early this summer. We wanted check with you to make certain we didn't have our wedding too close to yours though."

"Way to go, Willy." I grinned and held out my hand.

I had to laugh. I'd never seen Willy so excited.

We discussed their wedding plans as we ate breakfast, and I warned him that I was leaving the date and time of ours up to Lisa-Marie, Pam and my Mom. That was one discussion I wanted nothing to do with. The only thing I was going to plan about the wedding was the honeymoon and I warned him that Lisa -Marie and I would be gone for at least a week then. He repeated that they wanted to plan their wedding soon, but they wanted to be sure it didn't interfere with ours.

We were relaxing with our coffee after eating when there was a knock at the door, and Triple Dub appeared with Jean.

"I found a hitchhiker on the road." He winked at me. "She said she'd had this local kid propose to her last night and was going to take him up on it. Her problem was that he'd run off on her. She claimed she needed my help to track him down, because she wants to hogtie him into taking her to town to talk to the priest about having the bans read. The way she was talking, I'm wondering if maybe they've got a reason for hurrying. Do you suppose that's possible?"

"Of course we've got a reason for hurrying, you dumb bunny." Jean turned and swatted him on the shoulder. "If I'm the first of Granny's grand-kids to marry and have a baby, I inherit another quarter section of land. Then I and my future husband could thumb our noses at Daddy."

"How many grand children did your grandmother have?" I asked quietly.

"Just Fred and I, but I don't want him to have that quarter section. It's the one right next door to the Martin's home quarter. Well, just across the road allowance, so it makes sense to me that we should have it if we can. It's not that I think Fred is going to get married and have kids right away, but I don't want to take chances." She paused and grinned. "Besides, I think Will would make a really good daddy, don't you?"

"Will? Don't you mean Willy?" Triple Dub grinned at her.

"I'm going to call him Will." Jean stuck out her tongue at Triple Dub. "A married man shouldn't have to answer to a kid's name."

I glanced at Willy and saw that he was blushing, but grinning widely too. Then I turned back to watch Triple Dub. I'd never seen him open up like he'd been doing the last two days and I certainly wasn't going to interfere in his byplay with Jean. It seemed he was finished with his teasing though and completely surprised me by pulling out a kitchen chair, spinning it around and straddling it, then looking at me intently.

"Mom and I talked a lot last night." He said quietly, then paused.

"And what did she say?" Jean demanded and I nodded, since he was looking at me.

"And, she thinks we should consider the idea of forming a company; you and Willy and I, with Mom, Jean and Lisa Marie either as silent partners, or something of that sort. She thinks we should farm the land this year, and if it works out, then we should see if the group can come up with enough collateral to buy out the two Freds, both senior and junior."

"Holy Shit." I stared at him open mouthed. "A buy out like that takes a lot of collateral."

"Wait a minute. You don't know the whole story. There's more and it's not bad news, but it's not good news either." He shrugged. "I didn't know it before, but Fred senior owed a lot of money to Gran when she died. Aunt Mattie talked her into lending him money three different times. However, he hasn't even been keeping up the payments on the loan. I guess he assumed that when Gran died the loan was forgiven, but he didn't even take the time to go to her funeral, let alone the reading of her will. The half section he and Emily Jean are living on belongs to her, free and clear, but the other half section, which is his, is mortgaged to the hilt. The three quarters that are split between Jean and young Fred have some taxes owing, but not much. Mom isn't sure, but she thinks it's all on young Fred's quarter."

"It is. I made sure the taxes on my quarter section and the one next door to it were paid last year." Jean said vehemently. "I used the money Daddy paid me for rent on my land to do it, then I put the rest in the bank. I made sure the money in the bank was in my own name and no one else could get at it without my signature too. Mom warned me about that, because she thought my crappy brother might try a smart one."

"But Mattie is still alive." I protested. "How can you have inherited the land?"

"It was from Grandpa's will." She said quietly. "He's the one who set it all up. It's kind of crazy, but Granny holds the title on the home quarter for me and collects ten percent of the income after expenses. It's the same on the quarter that my brother has, but she collects all of the rent on the great-grandchild quarter until one is born. At that time it reverts to the same deal and the new parent gets the majority of the income. When Granny dies, Fred and I inherit the titles outright, but if a grandchild isn't born by then, we split the great-grandchild quarter fifty-fifty."

"Jeez, talk about complicated." Willy said quietly.

"Yeah, I guess." Jean sighed. "I suppose I've got a crazy family. Mom has a half section of land. Dad owns another one. Fred is in line for at least a quarter. So am I, but if I get married and have a baby before my brother does, I'll end up having a half section. I don't know why Grampa set it up this way, but I don't think he trusted either his own son or his grandson very much."

"Well, while we're dragging out the family laundry, you might as well hear about my side of things." Triple Dub sighed. "I've got four uncles that all left home as soon as they turned eighteen; Mom was the only one who stuck around. She married a carpenter, but he and Mom made time to help Gran and Gramps whenever they needed help. As a result of that Mom and I were the ones who inherited the land. All my uncles got was a small cash settlement, and I think even that surprised them. I don't think they expected anything."

"Hey, any inheritance of money is unexpected." Fran said quietly.

"I suppose, but Mom and I inherited a working farm." He shook his head. "We were trying to figure it out last night, but what record keeping Gran did was rough, to say the least, and we got thoroughly muddled. You see we've got a section and a half of land that's all in one bundle. On that land, there's a house, barn, outbuildings and fences, then there's a ton of old machinery and equipment. What was stored away under lock and key by Gramps is probably all okay, but any that was out where Uncle Fred could get at it is a mess. Grams had several IOUs for stuff he busted and just abandoned wherever it broke. On top of that, we inherited Gram's mortgages against Fred's farmland, three of them. Theoretically, he owes us almost as much as the actual land is worth. Neither Mom nor I know what the heck to do about that, because he hasn't made a payment against it in the last two years."

"You mean Daddy hasn't paid any of what he owed Aunt Nettie for two years?" Jean asked in astonishment.

"That's right. We don't understand it either. After all, he paid the rent on Gran's property while he was farming it, but he didn't pay anything against the mortgage." Triple Dub shook his head. "For some reason he seems to think he can simply walk away from that debt scot free, especially now, since Gran is dead. When I talked to him about it, he simply ignored me and in fact, he seemed to act as if he'd inherited Gran's farm, not us."

"Oh boy." I sighed. "I think you've got a problem. Have you talked to a lawyer about it?"

"No, not yet." He snorted. "I hate to do that, but I guess we have to do something."

"I am sorry to interrupt, but I must know; will this mean that you are not selling me the house?" Mai-Lin asked quietly.

"Oh no." Triple Dub looked at her and smiled. "Mom thinks someone should use the house, but she knows I don't want to live in it, certainly not there. There's no change about selling the house to you. If I were to live around here, I'd want a little cabin, down on the creek quarter. Then I could put up a barn and corrals as a place to winter my horses."

"Thank you." Mai-Lin sighed. "I do not understand the reason you must tell us all of this though."

"Well, if Tom and Willy start to work together on our farm, Mom and I felt they should know all about it, because it does affect the whole deal." He shrugged his shoulders.

As he'd been talking, I'd watched his mood change. When he had come in with Jean, he'd seemed bright and happy, but now he looked like he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"Wait a minute, did Daddy sign a mortgage on the money he got from Aunt Nettie?" Jean frowned. "If he did, just take him to court."

I looked at her in astonishment and so did everyone else.

"You would take your father to court?" Mai-Lin looked shocked.

"If he owed me money that he'd agreed to pay back, but wasn't making payments? You can bet your little Chinese patootie I would, just as fast as I could find a lawyer." She snarled. "My father's nothing but a bully. He tries to push people around, but he gives in when he's up against someone who is stronger or smarter than he is. That's when he runs off with his tail between his legs.

I didn't know what to say since she'd shocked me with her vehemence. I think everyone else felt the same way, because there was a moment's silence at the table.

"I was wondering, Big Tom. When would we be able to move the house from Mr. Wilson's farm to my small corner?" Mai-lin said, breaking the short silence and thankfully changing the subject.

"First, we'd need to decide on a site for it. Then we need to run in any underground service, like septic and water lines. As well as that, it'll need a solid foundation. That means we'll have to wait until the frost is out of the ground and the soil has dried enough to handle the equipment. We'll have to get a backhoe to do that since the footings for the foundation have to be below frost level." I smiled at her enthusiasm. "The big problem will be getting the machinery in to do anything since it's so close to the creek and the ground there will be wet for a long time. Then to the weight of the house and the moving truck means we have to wait until the soil is firm enough to handle it. I'd expect it won't be moved until late spring or early summer, probably late June or early July."

"Oh, but that is so long." She frowned at me. "What is this frost level thing you mentioned?"

"That's how far down the ground freezes in the winter." I smiled. "As the ground freezes, the water in the soil expands. As the ground freezes deeper and deeper during the winter, the soil nearer the surface is heaved upward by the soil under it expanding, but it doesn't move the same amount all over. If you don't set your footings deeply enough, it can lift one portion of the footings more than another, cracking the concrete in the foundation or even changing the level of the whole house."

"But I must have my garden planted sooner than June or July." She protested.