“So the only way I could track you down is to show up on your poor, dead father’s doorstep. He would be so disappointed, but I’m sure he’d expect no less from you.”
The sting wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been considering the source. There was a reason my father and uncle had little contact with Lou Perkins. From a young age of maybe three or four, or so the story goes, she had a way of blaming others for all of life’s problems, whether it was a hangnail, a parent’s death or a sixth divorce, it was always someone else’s fault and she enjoyed making those someone else’s’ pay. I didn’t know her enough to know one way or another if the stories were true, but I’d continued to keep my distance. Toxic family was worse than no family or at least that was my parents’ motto and I kind of stuck with it.
I glanced behind me, relieved to see Mason walking toward us. He’d managed to pull a sweatshirt over his head and wore a concerned expression as he approached.
“I didn’t know you were trying to find me,” I said, puzzled by her frustration.
“Don’t give me that. I’ve left four messages a day for the last couple months.”
“I haven’t gotten any messages,” I said quietly.
“So now you’ve taken up the hobby of lying. Figures. You know, you killed your father. He died of heartbreak.”
“Honestly, I haven’t received any messages.” I ignored her second statement altogether, but it certainly lent credibility to my dad’s philosophy about his sister. The truth was that drinking killed my father, but it was truly none of this woman’s business. It never had been and never would be. I’d rather stand and take abuse than tarnish my dad’s good name.
“It doesn’t matter now. I’ve finally found you, and it’s about time you give me what’s owed,” she continued.
“Wait one minute. You can’t come charging onto this property and speak to someone like that. How do you know you even have the right phone number?” Mason asked.
I was relieved with his voice of reason in such a charged moment because all I wanted to do was throw her off the property and maybe kick her on the way.
My aunt repeated the number she’d apparently been calling endlessly and Mason smiled, squeezing my shoulder.
“Well, that’s your problem. You’re off a digit. You’ve been leaving your messages with a stranger.”
My aunt’s narrow lips tightened even more, and I looked deep into her eyes, wondering if there was even one similarity between her and my dad. I couldn’t pick out one. She had eyes so dark I couldn’t even see pupils, and her narrow nose looked extremely persnickety to compliment her tight, greying bun.
“What is it I can do for you?” I asked, unsure of her sudden interest in this part of the family.
“I’m glad you asked.” She started searching in her oversized tote, digging around and shoving things aside, until she gripped what she wanted. “I’d like a copy of your father’s will. I’m owed something and I want to ensure it’s taken care of.”
I gave her a quizzical look as I took the folded sheets of paper from her. I’d been planning on sending out the notifications to my aunt and cousins whom my father specifically disinherited. If she was expecting something from the estate, she was going to be gravely disappointed.
“Go ahead. Open it up.”
I unfolded the papers and saw a copy of a check.
“That’s a copy of a check I sent him two years ago, and then the one underneath is a copy of one I sent him last year.”
My heart clenched. Why would these checks be made out to my father?
“He needed money so I loaned him what he needed. Twice. He knew he couldn’t count on you so…”
My head spun with this information. Why in the world would my father borrow money from a woman he despised? The amounts that he borrowed weren’t that much, but they’d be enough to get Aunt Lou to track me down. The first check was for five thousand dollars and the second for three thousand.
My parents’ house was paid for so the amount from Aunt Lou wasn’t to cover a mortgage payment, but I’m sure there were plenty of expenses that popped up, especially once he no longer worked, but why wouldn’t he come to me if he’d been in need?
“I’d like a check within the week. My address is on the bottom. I’ve also added expenses for having to come up here more than once to try to find you. I expect to be paid all of it.”
I stared at her and swallowed down the sadness and anger that coated my mind and body. My father needed me and I wasn’t there for him. Instead, he turned to a woman he never trusted and didn’t consider family, but maybe that was why he reached out. He didn’t want to be judged.
I let out a sigh and put my hand on the doorframe.
“Aunt Lou, I will hand this over to our attorney. The estate hasn’t closed, but I’ll be sure to have him look at this.”
“That won’t do. I want my money within the week. I need it, and I expect it.”
“I’ll do my best,” I tried again.
“If you think you can swindle me—”
“That’s not what she’s saying, but as executor of her father’s estate, there are protocols she must follow. If there’s nothing else, we ask that you leave the property.”
“You might want to look at that third sheet of paper, Victoria. If I don’t get my money, I’ll take the house. You mark my words.” She spun on her heels and marched down the steps.
I closed the door, but my hands were shaking as I tried to comprehend what just happened. Mason turned the pages to the third sheet and read it over.
“Can she take the house?” I muttered.
He narrowed his eyes and kept reading.
“I’d say it’s weak at best. She’s not on the deed and while this is an attempt at a contract, I’d be willing to bet most of the legalese would be struck down in a court. Send this over to your attorney as soon as you can.”
“I’m the attorney. The estate attorney that my dad hired to draw up the will has long since retired. I’ve been handling everything myself to save money. Obviously, not as well as I thought.”
“You’re doing great. No one can predict the long, lost relatives who pop up. But it never fails.” Mason rubbed his jaw and handed me the papers back.
“She and my dad never got along. Once he moved out of the house, he actually never spoke to my aunt until my mom made him. Neither did his brother. It’s hard for me to reconcile my dad reaching out to her for anything, let alone money. I really can’t wrap my head around it.”
“Do you talk to your uncle?”
“I do every once in a while. He’s in London. He works for a company that transferred him there six or seven years ago. I never told him about my dad’s drinking, and I certainly never told Aunt Lou. I didn’t want people to think of him in a different way.”
“His brother might know. Your dad might’ve thought he was good at hiding it, but it often comes out in ways no one expects.”
“Possibly.” I let out a sigh. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
“My mom’s an attorney. I can have her take a look at everything, if you’d like.”
“Really? She wouldn’t mind? Maybe you should ask her before volunteering her services?”
“Nah. It’ll be fine. The sooner the better to get this wrapped up, and if she is owed money, let’s get it figured out.”
“According to the checks, she is. But I’ll look over his statements and see if he cashed the checks. The idea that she could take the house…”
A chill went up my spine.
“Don’t let your mind go there. We’ll get this solved. Don’t let it worry you. Just think of the beautiful day ahead of you, and I’ll get in contact with my mom.”
I nodded and even though they were only words, I felt immensely better, and for the first time in my adult life, I let my guard down. I had someone to catch me if I fell, and right now, it seemed as if I were tumbling down a sinkhole.
“Dude, why do you keep looking at me?” Brendan as
ked Delilah far louder than he needed to.
Several students snickered and Delilah’s face turned bright red. Class had barely started, and by the looks of it, things were off to a smashing start. The end of summer school was definitely nearing.
“I’m not,” she mumbled, but it was too late, the damage had already been done.
Brendan smiled, enjoying the attention.
The truth of the matter was that Brendan loved the attention Delilah showered on him. Unfortunately, he liked the power of what he could do with it more. I recognized the signs from my own relationship with Tanner. The fact that I’m seeing it in high school speaks volumes as to the state of Tanner’s mind.
Apparently my little chat with Delilah hadn’t really swayed her from focusing on Brendan, but I understood. At that age, it felt like the end of the world if the person you liked didn’t feel the same way. Actually, at any age that feeling was horrible.
“Brendan, why don’t you kick off the class for last night’s reading about Susan B. Anthony and her successful fight to end suffrage. What does the term suffrage mean and what happened in 1920?”
He shrugged his shoulders and replied, “Susan B. Anthony helped people suffering in 1920.”
My brow rose and the class erupted into laughter, and this time it was Brendan’s turn to light up.
“Not quite.”
Delilah’s hand shot up, and I was grateful that at least that part of our talk had gotten through. She no longer acted as if history wasn’t important to her. I nodded and Delilah began.
“She helped pave the way for women’s voting rights. She died in 1906, but she’s definitely one of the women who helped contribute to the passing of our nineteenth amendment to the constitution in 1920.”
“Nice work.”
I knew Brendan hadn’t done the reading. He was the only one who hadn’t turned in his homework. It wasn’t that I’d wanted to target him, but seeing him do that to Delilah didn’t sit well.
“I wanted to talk to you guys about a little challenge. As a class, your average grade is a B-, which means that a few students are struggling a little more than others. I’d love to see every single student get a B or higher so I wanted to provide an incentive. If we can lift the class average to a solid B, I’ll treat everyone to pizza and ice cream at Marina Park on our last day of school and you won’t have any assignments to turn in the last two days prior.”
There was an immediate charge in the room as the students rallied behind this goal.
“In order to achieve this, I’ve divided everyone into groups, and once a week, we’ll split off into our small groups and work on the topics that were more challenging for that week, whether it’s memorization or terminology, this will hopefully get everyone on the same page.”
I caught Brendan giving Delilah a glance when she wasn’t looking, and I realized there was far more at work than Delilah liking Brendan. It wasn’t one-sided, but the way Brendan was going about it wasn’t healthy in the slightest.
“We should go outside and study. It’s too stuffy in here,” Adam shouted from the back of the room. He was excelling in this class. His exuberance for baseball somehow spilled over into his studies once we managed to focus on baseball for an entire class session, specifically the civil rights movement and Adam’s hero, Jackie Robinson. It was thrilling to see the students’ excitement over issues they were passionate about mixed with relevant historical movements in the United States. This was what made teaching so much fun.
“You know I would love nothing more, but if you remember, the storm we had last night and through the morning turned the ground to mush. Okay, everyone, let’s open up that book and turn the page to three fifty-seven. Who would like to read paragraph one?”
“I’ll do it,” Adam replied.
“Great.”
Adam began reading the passage about space exploration, and my mind wandered to my earlier encounter with my long-lost aunt. I’d managed to look up some information and what I’d turned up was nothing. Adam stopped reading and I snapped to again, feeling bad I’d zoned out.
“How many of you have seen Apollo 13?” I asked.
Only one hand sprang to the ceiling. I really was getting old.
“Okay. Great. We’ve only got one person who’s seen it. We’ll be watching the first half on Monday and the second on Tuesday. Hopefully, it’ll get us in the mood for writing about space exploration, the challenges, the risks, and the rewards.”
“Like finding aliens?” Sarah joked.
“That could be a potential risk or reward, depending on whether they’re friendly.” I smiled.
“We should watch E.T.,” she offered.
“A classic.” I nodded. “We’ll see. Okay, so I’d like to see the rough draft of your two-page paper on Wednesday. As usual, I’m free to stay after on Tuesday, if any of you’d like feedback. The final paper will be due the following week.”
The discussion was lively and stayed mostly on track as we discussed NASA and space exploration. It wasn’t until I saw the clock that I realized class was almost over. I began handing back corrected papers from the day before, along with which group they’d be in moving forward.
I saw Brendan give Delilah another sideways glance as I handed him his paper and that was when it hit me. I needed to distract her, show her options in life. Brendan was definitely messing with her psychologically, giving her false hope. It wasn’t healthy. With only five minutes left in class, I instructed the students to find their group members, and I dashed into the hall, calling Delilah’s mother to divulge my plan. After explaining my observations to Marcy, she wholeheartedly agreed with my idea and promised to pick her daughter up from the marina after school.
I walked back into class as the bell rang. Delilah got a text from her mom and she looked up at me.
“If you’re game, I wanted to show you the museum and this cute little marina next to it. They restore old boats in the summer.”
Delilah placed her book in her bag and glanced back up at me. “Sure. I guess.”
“Perfect. Maybe you can give me some ideas about what the students might like if we go there on a field trip.”
“Okay.”
It only took us about fifteen minutes to get down to the waterfront. I parked my car along the side of the road and hopped out. Delilah grabbed her bag out of the backseat and looked over at the pier and then at me.
“Who are all those guys?” she asked, pointing at a group of six or seven teenage boys.
“They’re interns. They’re getting credit for helping to restore that old boat over there.” I pointed at a large sailboat, which had seen better days.
“The Sailing Society restores one boat each summer and they depend on volunteer help for most of the work.”
“Hmm.” Her eyes were glued to the group of guys and I had to hide my laugh. “I don’t recognize any of them from school.”
“That’s because I doubt any of them are from your school. They come from all over the state. Many of them are in Running Start too.”
She eyed me and shook her head. “What’s that?”
“You can get high school and college credit while taking college classes and they’re paid for.”
“No way.”
I nodded. “Yep. It’s a pretty great thing for those students who are up for the challenge.”
We walked across the street and over to the pier to check out the boat that several of the guys had gone back to work on.
“How do you qualify?” she asked.
I knew Delilah would be an awesome candidate for Running Start, and if she started next year, she could get almost two years of college paid for.
“There are forms to fill out and you have to test into classes to make sure you’re ready for the coursework, but I can promise you, you’re ready. It’d be a piece of cake for you.”
“You think?”
“I know.”
A really cute guy jogged over to us. He looked to be around seventeen.
He’d obviously been working a lot outside because his skin was deeply tanned, and his hair bleached from the sun.
“Anything I can help with?” he asked, his eyes falling on Delilah.
“We wanted to check out the project and, if we had time, tour the museum.”
“Awesome. This was a good day to come. The museum is closed.”
“Oh.”
“But I can give you guys a private tour. Mr. Thomas wouldn’t mind.”
“Are you sure? We don’t want to be a bother.”
“Yeah, I don’t want to get anyone in trouble,” Delilah seconded, but I noticed she was completely entranced with the boy in front of her.
“He’s my grandfather. It’ll be fine. I’m Josh, named after Joshua Slocum—”
“Captain of the “Spray” and author of Sailing Alone Around the World.” Delilah gave a wicked grin. She was completely in her element.
“No one knows that, especially not a chick,” Josh said, shaking his head. His green eyes brightened as they locked on Delilah’s. I felt like the perfect little matchmaker from above.
“And I’m Miss Aickens,” I said, sticking out my hand for a handshake. Josh barely shook my hand as he stayed transfixed on Delilah, who ate up every moment of his attention.
“Want me to show you around?” Josh asked Delilah.
“Yes, please.”
Realizing I was the third wheel, I slowed down my pace and watched the two wander down the pier as Josh explained the history of the boat and why it was important to our town. When I’d imagined this mini-field trip, I certainly hadn’t planned for this type of success. Goodbye, Brendan, and hello, Josh.
My phone buzzed and it was a text from Mason. We’d planned on leaving the school together, but I couldn’t find him when it was time to leave, and I didn’t want to bother him in case he was on the roof or something. With my luck, he’d fall off reaching for his cell.
Got some news. My mom looked up some information for you. Still at the school?
I watched Josh and Delilah staring and pointing at the boat while the other boys worked away. They didn’t seem too bothered by Josh’s departure from the work that needed to be done. Maybe it was guy code for when a pretty girl came around. Delilah started giggling, and I couldn’t help the elation that flowed through me. No need to focus on a boy who played games when there was one who knew what he wanted.
Finding Love in Forgotten Cove (Island County Series Book 1) Page 12
