Chapter 4

"Wake up Daddy and see the sun. It's like a big red ball." I could smell coffee. I guess I overslept or didn't want to let go of the dream I was having. Ashley brought out a cup of what she had brewed and sat next to me. The kids watched with us until the sun was completely sitting on the horizon. I made my excuses and headed out back to the outhouse. Ashley had put the washbasin out with a jug of water.

I came in asking, "Does anyone want a bath?"

Ashley snickered. "Not me, the tub is too small and you have to stand up in it." I laughed out loud and Ashley blushed.

"Someday it will happen. You taking a bath in the wash tub. It will be an experience." I almost said "again."

"Maybe." We were flirting and it had to stop before the kids got on to it.

Pancakes, eggs, bacon and orange juice out of the cooler and more of that mountain air made breakfast.

We all hated to leave. It felt as if Ashley and I had a nest here--the two girls our chicks. They turned around as we passed down the trail and I could see they felt something for this place as well as Ashley and I. "We'll be back kids, and it won't be long either."

After we hit the blacktop we motored right along at a steady pace. I was happy. Going up to the cabin always did that to me. I hadn't been checking behind me. I was startled when I heard a short burst on a siren. I pulled to the side and waited for the trooper to get out and come up to me. "License and registration please."

Ashley sat looking straight ahead. The girls sitting behind me were afraid that I was going to jail. "Was I speeding?"

"No, but I recognized the jeep. I didn't realize the Prosecutor was a passenger at first. I was just checking. Also I see you have two passengers in back. I'm glad to see you have them restrained. This address you have on your license. Is that current?"

"No. I have only just rented an apartment from Mrs. Winslip. Before that I haven't had any permanent address for a few months due to a divorce." I waited for the next question.

Ashley spoke. "Officer Hanify isn't it? Why did you stop us?"

"Ma'am when I realized you were the passenger, I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"You will be seeing this jeep often if you patrol along here a lot. Mr. Burns and I own a cabin up in the hills together. It is my jeep, but Mr. Burns will be driving it alone and with me. He is my employee and also my tenant. Is there anything further you need to know?"

"No Ma'am. Maybe I was a little quick to stop you, I apologize."

This was awkward for him. I honestly thought he meant well. "I'm glad you did stop us. At least I am reminded to notify the DMV of my address change. I also thank you for watching out for Ashley along the road here. I will feel safer if she travels here alone with you on the job. These are my two children, Marie and Lindsey, sitting in the back. Oh, and thank you for only giving Ashley a warning for speeding the last time you stopped the jeep. It would have been embarrassing for her to get a ticket."

"Milo is right. I did appreciate just the warning you gave me last time. I have been watching how I drive since then. Honest."

"I believe you have. Nice talking with you Mr. Burns. You have two lovely children. I have two boys myself. Nice seeing you again Ma'am." He went back and got in the cruiser and pulled around us and went on down the road.

"That was a nice little social visit. How do you do it, Milo? Didn't you feel bad about being stopped?"

"Not really. I knew I wasn't speeding. If something was wrong with the jeep I wanted to know about it. You of all people should know the police are here to protect us."

"I know. You are right as usual. Why did I resent being stopped? You almost forced me to thank him again."

"I know that too, but aren't you glad you did?"

"Now I am, but I wasn't to begin with. I felt he had no right."

"But last time he did have a right. This time he didn't really and he pretty much apologized, which he didn't have to do. I suspect he is one of the better officers on the force. At least that was the way I read him."

We passed him later as he sat waiting for a speeder. We all waved as we went by and Ashley smiled. I glanced at her later and could see she had a satisfied look on her face.

We were home early enough for Ashley to make a potato salad and I built a little charcoal pit near the gazebo. I had found some camping utensils in the garage and one item, although used for toasting bread, I found could be used for holding hamburgers--and you could cook six at a time. Ashley was making patties when two kids, a boy and girl ran up and said hi to the girls. "Can we play in the house like we did last time?"

I looked at Lindsey and Marie and I could tell they were hoping I would say yes. I nodded okay and didn't even look at Ashley. I knew this was something she wouldn't have done. Hell, she wouldn't even be out here cooking where the neighbors could see her. Just as all the little ones disappeared into the gazebo, Kim and Will came around the corner looking for their two offspring. I waved them over and they came hesitantly and started to apologize.

"I'm glad you came along. I'm just putting burgers on and you can help us eat them. The kids will want a hot dog, but that is about all. Ashley, meet Kim and Will from down the street. Will helped me unload the shrubs. Kim is the pretty lady with the big tummy. I say this so you don't get Kim and Will mixed up. Kim and Will, meet Ashley Winslip. She is my employer, my landlady and is the widow of my very best friend who died a short time ago in Iraq. She also has a condition that he wasn't aware of when he died. Kim, maybe you could fill Ashley in on what and when to expect changes that will be happening to her very soon. Feel free to use my apartment."

"Milo, damn you. You did it to me again. You wait, I'll get even."

The two women headed for my place and some privacy. Will asked, "What was that all about?"

"The day I met Ashley about a month ago she was down, I mean as far down as a person can be. I stopped her from going any further down. I found out since that time that even though she has lived here most of her life, she didn't have any friends. The worst of it is, she didn't know how to go about finding any. I don't know if your wife and Ashley will become friends, but she at least has an opening. She is going to need a lot of support getting over Calvin, her husband, and getting through her pregnancy. She thinks she is plain, but if my friend picked her for his wife, she has to be beautiful underneath her exterior features."

"That's sad."

"No, I think that is life. That is for her anyway and I hope all of her heartbreak is in the past. Good, the burgers are almost done." I shouted into the gazebo, "Hey kids, I'm cooking hot dogs out here. Come grab yours. We Dads are going inside to eat. There are Eskimo pies upstairs when you finish playing."

Upstairs it was the usual, what do you do, where did you grow up, go to school, etc. Will and Kim were the Grovers. Kim had a law degree, but Will kept her pregnant, so she had never practiced. Will worked in a bank as a finance officer. Ashley shared her life and I shared mine. The kids came in for their ice cream--twice.

Will was looking out the window overlooking the gazebo. "You have company. It is Mr. 'Busybody' Peterson. I kind of feel sorry for him. He is in his seventies and lost his wife last year. Since then, he has become quite a bother."

"What did he do?"

"He was an architect, I think."

"Good, just the person I want to see."

I went downstairs and met him as he was leaving. "Mr. Peterson, I have an extra hamburger and a beer. Won't you join us?"

"Well I might. I like what you are doing with the Nelson lot. I still say it is a shame the way this building looks from the street."

I opened the door and led Ralph into my apartment where the Grovers and Ashley were sitting. "You know the Grovers and this is Mrs. Ashley Winslip. This is Ralph Peterson. I'll get your burger and beer. Tell Ashley what you think about this building and I apologize for blindsiding you, but someone has to tell her."

Ralph was speechless. Ashley was laughing. "Mr. Peterson, don't mind Milo, he does this to everyone. You are right about the building. It hasn't bothered me that much, because I don't have to look at it, but I can see why it would to people going by. Do you have any ideas?"

"Well not really. Just something to break up the plainness of it all."

"Well ask Milo. He has ideas about everything. He hasn't said anything, but knowing him, he will hit me with something someday, and it will be just what is needed. Go ahead and ask him. I'm as curious as you are."

"Will tells me you are an architect. If you can tell me if what I have in mind is feasible from a safety, structural standpoint and don't charge Ashley anything, I'll get her to foot the cost of it while we build it. I'll even let you boss the job. How's that for a deal?"

"God, I'd give my right arm for something to do. Tell me your ideas."

"Okay, visualize this. The building has five windows equally across the expanse of the front. There are no openings in the lower levels and that is good I think. Now this living room takes up exactly one half the expanse on the outside and we have three of the windows in this room, one in the kitchen and one in the bedroom. Say we build a balcony outside of this room."

"Stop right there. How are you going to hold up the balcony?"

"The building is basically a New England saltbox. Say we bring the roof out flat from the drip edge of the short part of the roof that is facing the street. Visualize this again. Five columns from the ground to the roof, one on each end and two on the corner of the balcony and one in the center. Those three will be holding the balcony and the only one that would obscure the window would be the one in the center. But that shouldn't bother because it would be out ten feet from the building.

"That's the basic construction. Thoughts to dress it up in line to make this compatible with these estates, you could start adding and that is where you are going to have to get Ashley to loosen her purse strings. Doorways, one in the kitchen, one in the bedroom, going out onto a curved extension to the balcony. Roof treatment--short posts with a railing, similar to what you would find around a widow walk, up in the Massachusett's seaports. Same treatment for the edge of the gallery and the curved entrances. Windows--peaked eyebrows with a little fake gallery for the two windows on the end. On the ground level--nothing except some flagging in and around the columns. How I'm doing so far?"

Ralph sat in his chair with his eyes closed, then he looked at me. "I can see it. It is beautiful. You really are serious in letting me be part of this?"

I looked at Ashley and she was smiling. "Will this stop you from telling everyone I own an eyesore?"

"I'm sorry, can you forgive an old lonely man?"

"Nothing to forgive. It is an eyesore and I'm ashamed I haven't done something about it sooner. But then the man with the vision wasn't here to show me what was needed."

Will and Kim had been sitting quietly. Kim spoke, "Milo, before you start this, could you do the room we are making into a nursery, please? I want it just like the one where your two girls are sleeping."

At that moment Ralph Peterson's eyes traveled upward. "Jesus Christ, who did this ceiling? I haven't seen this done in years."

I was laughing. "Ashley, who worked the hardest and got the most plaster on her?"

Ashley blushed. "Milo did it and I helped. In fact the little stars and some of the moons are mine. But it isn't done and Milo won't tell me how it is going to look when it is finished. He is going to have a viewing Tuesday evening after the ceiling men leave. Would you like to see it?"

Kim spoke up, "You should see the other two rooms. They are beautiful."

Ashley proudly led Ralph around. He didn't say much. While he was with Ashley, I promised Kim I would do her nursery before the baby came. I had approximately six weeks. They left and Lindsey and Marie came in. Ralph asked when I would have time to get together on the new project and I promised to be available on Thursday.

I said as we went downstairs, "I was out of work for over four months and willing to do anything. I couldn't find a thing. I met Mrs. Winslip and look at me. I have all kinds of work."

"People just didn't know you were an artist, Son. They will know soon when the house is completed. You better plan on hiring some help and go into business. You are too good to not do what has just been a hobby for you. Ashley said you used to have a business and lost it from no fault of your own. And she also said that you took her and had her doing things that she would never attempt to do on her own. You have the knack to go somewhere, now that you have got started."

I shook his hand and went back to Ashley and the girls. The girls had gone to their room. "Well?"

"I was upset with you, Milo, when you left me with Kim like that."

"And?"

"Now I'm glad you did. She told me all about being pregnant and I'm going to a Lamaze class with her and Will. He is her coach."

"And?"

She looked hopefully at me. "Would you be my coach?"

"I have already planned on it. If you don't believe me ask Mrs. Hamlin. She agreed that as long as it was my friend's baby and he couldn't, it would be appropriate."

"When had you planned on telling me all of this?"

"When you asked me to."

"Will you do whatever I ask you to?"

"Pretty much."

"Then kiss me."

I wanted to be at Mrs. Brown's at six in the morning. I could see Ashley staggering sleepily across the lot on her way to get breakfast for the girls. I waved and got a half-way one in return. I edged flower beds and did things that wouldn't make much noise until nine-thirty and then could start clipping the shrubs with power equipment. This was the official July Fourth holiday. I saw Mrs. Brown look out the window once and Mr. Brown came out at ten-thirty and asked me in for coffee. I had coffee and pressed, I ate more than half of a coffee ring that they set out for me.

I worked until one p.m. and said I would be back to finish tomorrow morning. I wanted to be done here by ten-thirty to be ready for the painters at eleven. Ashley was letting them in at eight to get ready for the real work by the time I got there. This afternoon I hoped to finish all of Ashley's mowing on her lot. After this, it would be just a matter of only using a lawn mower. To be done right, the ground should be ripped up and reseeded, but this wasn't the time of year to do it and have a good catch on the seed.

When I got home, Ashley had dinner ready for me. Fried fish, carrots, mashed potatoes, green salad and a cake for dessert. "You treat your handyman damned good. That was a fine meal."

Before I went out to mow, I called Jean. A young female answered with a grunt. "Hi, this is Milo Burns. May I speak to Mrs. Burgess please?"

"I guess so." Attitude! "Jean, it's your ex."

"Milo, I didn't expect a call from you. Are the girls okay?"

"Sure they are great. I need a favor. Would you be free Wednesday night to baby-sit?"

"I could, I guess. For how long?"

"I was hoping you could come and stay all night. The girls would love to have you. They have a lot to tell you about what we have been doing."

"Where are you going to be?"

I was silent for a minute acting like I didn't want to answer. Jean got the message. "Okay that was out of line. I don't need to know. You can leave your cell number."

"That would be great. Why don't you come for dinner and we can eat together like we did when the girls were younger. It will be nice for them. Bring your husband if you want to, although I don't have many good feelings toward him."

"I'll come alone. Can you pick me up? My car isn't working right now."

"Sure, I'll have the girls with me so they can show me which house it is."

"Lindsey and Marie, Wednesday night I have to go somewhere on business. Your Mom is coming to stay here with you. We'll have dinner together just like we used to. I'll be home early Thursday morning and maybe we can go out for breakfast or something. I have to meet with Ralph Peterson about ten, so I will have to take your mother home before then. Are you okay with this?"

"Just Mom and nobody else?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. I miss Mom, but I don't like living where we have to with her. Can't we stay here with you Daddy?"

"I don't see how sweetheart, but I will ask her."

"Try awful hard Daddy."

Ashley was taking all of this in and when she had a minute she just said how sad for the little ones. I went to work and when I finished, I looked back over what I had accomplished. Pretty damned good I thought. The gazebo, the shrubs and the huge expanse of ground that would green up and become lawn someday.

I showered and took Ashley and the girls out to Wendy's. Ashley wasn't impressed and made the comment that someday I was going to have a live-in cook. Then she flashed me a smile and it made my day.

Tuesday morning I finished a little early. Mr. Brown saw me picking up my tools and loading the last bit of trash. He came out with a check in hand. "You gave Tildy an estimate for eighteen hours and it could have been twice that and I would have been happy. This is the check for that and here is a tip for working so hard and keeping it neat while doing the job. I would like to ask if you could keep an eye on the shrubs and when they need trimming, you go ahead and do what needs to be done. Thank you so much and I am curious to see your apartment tonight. I'll see you then."

I rushed home and met the painters. They were all set to begin. They had already covered the floor and everything that needed it. I had them make the bluebells in the girls' room just a little darker than they would be in nature. The roses, a few were almost crimson and others fading to pale pink. Thank God I had a big spray to work with.

When we reached the living room, I didn't know what I wanted and wouldn't know until I saw it finished. The painters were fabulous to work with and patient when I kept changing my mind. Finally about three in the afternoon I had what I wanted. The painters went to work and put the sparkle coat on and by four they were loading up. I asked one worker to stay and help me mount a special light I had contrived in the center of the room and attached it to the wires that so concerned Ashley originally.

Ashley and the girls had been banished to the house on Bellevue Avenue and that is where I was fed some nourishment. I was beat, but I had people coming this evening to see what the effect I had created amounted to. Mr. and Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Hamlin, Kim and Will Grover and family, and finally Ralph Peterson. Ashley, this was her project as well as mine, and I was hoping the special effect I had worked into it would draw us closer.

Everyone was gathered together and I asked that they all look at the bedrooms first and not pay too much attention to the living room. Everyone was impressed with the bluebells and the roses. Lindsey and Marie wanted to go to bed so they could look up at the colored flowers on their ceiling.

"Not yet kids. I would like everyone out in the living room to find a seat. All of you people that can get down on the floor, I want you to lie there looking at the ceiling. Ralph, Mrs. Hamlin and Kim, please lay back on the couch and everyone close your eyes. It will take a minute, because I am closing all of the shades so it will be dark in here.

"Okay you can open your eyes now."

"Daddy I can't see anything."

"Just a minute Marie." I started the fan hanging from the center of the ceiling turning ever so slowly. On the end of each paddle I had installed a small light which was on a dimmer. As the paddles gradually made their first revolution, I slowly brought the lights brighter and increased the speed ever so slightly. The whole effect was like stars popping out of the night sky little by little as the evening progressed.

The moons in the far corners, I had the painters cover with gold glitter and had them do a silver glitter on the stars that were Ashley's contribution. I spoke. "Lindsey and Marie, what does this remind you of?"

"Our night at camp last weekend. It is beautiful Daddy."