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“Thank you.” As soon as they entered, the couple, a younger couple that looked like they were so in love, came to talk to Fraizer. As she made her way to the table to make sure that it was still in great shape, she saw that all the others had shown up as well. Mark was laughing when she told him that Fraizer still didn’t believe her that it had sold. “He’ll just have to make something else to replace it, I’m thinking.”
“Yeah, that’ll be easy to get him to do now that this one sold. However, it’ll never be like this piece.” She said that she had hoped not. Mark ran his hands over the smooth, glossy surface. “I knew that it would sell eventually. Not this soon—How long has it been in here? A month?”
“About that. I thought it would sell someday. Just needed to have the right person or, in this case, the right couple come along.” As the trucking company showed up, measuring and getting an approximate weight, Mr. Lonne came to talk to them. The man was as excited as she was to have it in his home. “These men will be delivering the table for you. You will need to make sure that they know where to go. Also, you’ll pay them directly.”
“Yes, that’s a good idea. Mrs. Cross, you’ve made our lives with this. We’ve been in here four times already to talk about it. Finally, I told my wife that we could keep visiting it or just have it in our home. I love the idea of having our families over for the holidays and this being in our dining room. There are some other pieces that I’m going to be having taken home as well.”
While Mr. Lonne talked to the shipping company, she helped Carol with the sale. Since Fraizer was here, he approved a ten percent discount on it for paying in cash. Who the fuck carried around that much money on the off chance of buying a table. Not that she really cared, but really?
The other items that they purchased—a dining wear set with twenty place settings. Actually, it had been two for ten people, but it was great to see them going to a good home. There were kitchen items, the matching canister set to the tableware, and a teapot with enough tea cups to go around. There was a cheese board that Fraizer had made, too, that they simply had to have.
The table being moved out had drawn quite a crowd of people. They made more sales while the table was being wrapped up than they’d done the previous day. Also, Carol was able to get a new thing that was being offered off to a good start. It was having purchases—after being paid for, of course—delivered to where the people were staying for a fee.
“I think that the closer we get to Christmas, we should offer gift wrapping. If you can find some paper that looks like it’s a scene from around here, I mean.” She had an idea that one of the family could design some unique wrapping paper and have it printed. It would be worth it to see how people reacted to that. “Also, you might think this is weird. I thought we should put out a jar for money to go to the Alford and Minnie Cross Scholarship fund. They would have loved that.”
“I love that idea.” Mark told Carol that if she found a jar now, he’d put the first donation in it. As soon as the jar was set behind the counter to be labeled, Mark put in a hundred dollars. “Granny and Grandda, they would have loved this idea, like you said. But I think too that they’d be really embarrassed for someone making a big deal about them passing. Thank you, Carol, for thinking of this. Hopefully, we’ll be able to send a few extra bucks to college with some lucky kids.”
Maddy didn’t know why, but she thought that the jar would be filled several times over the next few months. The Crosses had been well loved and adored by everyone that they met. It was a shame that they’d died recently. But she also knew from the family that they were happy together on the mountain in the sky, too.
~*~
The greenhouse was doing well with selling trees. It was mostly locals that he was selling to. A couple of them had told him that they’d been waiting for him to branch out with trees. Most of them just wanted to put some fruit trees in their yard. Gibb didn’t voice his concerns over that. Bears loved apples.
He’d never imagined that anyone would want to buy trees this time of year, but as soon as they got a new shipment in, they’d be out the door. Going over the books, Ewing came to visit him. They made plans to get some dinner together as Maddy was having a girls’ night out with the other wives.
“Did I tell you that I’ve been spending time with Rusty and Joey?” He turned to look at his brother. “Nah, she’s not my mate. Barron’s, either, if you were going to ask. We just wanted her to feel welcome, and she’s really a nice woman. And the little guy is fun to be around. Have you got to see him stretch? Christ, Gibb. It’s got to be the most beautiful thing you’ll ever witness. Anyway, she’s a smart cookie herself. I was talking to Mark about hiring her to go over the books for us. Rusty has a master’s in accounting. Her passion is numbers.”
“I thought, well, I guess I had hoped that she’d be a part of the family.” Ewing said she might well be yet. “What do you mean? You’re not serious about her, are you? That would be wonderful.”
“No. Not us but David. I don’t know if he realizes it yet, but he’s about as in love with her as you are one of your kids.” He asked him what he meant. “I think he thinks of Rusty as the child he never had. And he goes ape over little Joey. Yeah, I can see the two of them hooking up like father and daughter. They’re making plans to move in together, as father-daughter, as soon as this business with Paige is over with. Have you heard anything more about that device you found?”
“It’s a tracker. And Rusty was right. It did have components in it to make it explode. As close as it was to her artery, I think she would have bled out had it gone off. I’m sure that was the plan.” Ewing said that was just sick. “I know. Also, I’ve heard from Howard. He’s a nice enough guy. I mean, he’s pretty beaten up about how this is all going on, but he’s going to go to court with Rusty to turn full custody of Joey over to her. And he’s paying her the money that she was promised too. That’s pretty stand-up if you ask me.”
“It is. When are they going to hook up?” He told him that they’d arrested Paige just yesterday. “Really? Great. On what charges? I’m assuming that you can’t prove that she tried to kill Rusty about the child, can you?”
“I don’t know what’s going on with that. Mark hired an attorney for her, and she’s working closely with Mark. I don’t remember her name, but Mark said that she comes highly recommended in cases like this.” Ewing asked a couple more questions that he didn’t have an answer for when he opened up his computer to order more trees. “I do know that the device has been looked over by the top people in DC. Sunny is having some experts come in and talk about the thing tomorrow. I’d like to know that this woman isn’t going to hurt anyone else.”
“Yeah, me too. To think that she wanted to kill her own child. The little guy isn’t at a point where he could piss anyone off, and there she was wanting Rusty to abort that. I think for as far along as she was, isn’t that considered murder?” Gibb told him that he wasn’t sure. “You don’t know a hell of a lot for having the woman staying in your home, dumbass. What good are you anyway?” Gibb laughed.
“I’m a man that stays out of the affairs of women. As you pointed out, Rusty is a smart woman; she and Joey are safe here, and that was my main goal in having her stay. I will and have helped her when she asked. But for the most part, I stay out of it.” Ewing said he was a coward. “You bet your life I am. Especially with the women in this family. Have you noticed that they do things together? All we need to do is piss one of them off, and we’ll have all of them angry with us. I’m staying out of it until asked. And when I am asked, I do what they want. I’m also a smart man in knowing that I’m stupid compared to all of them. Also, I think that they could kick my ass without any trouble should I step out of line. No. I have two daughters, a female houseguest as well as a wife. I’m learning my place and sticking to it.”
“Pussy.” They both laughed. “However, I do see your point. I said something the other day to Jamie, and before I could get home, all four of them were up my butt about it. I only meant it as a joke, but it didn’t go over well. I guess you might be right.”
“I am right. And when your mate comes, and I believe we’re all going to have mates before the end of the year, I suggest you get into the habit of saying,what can I do to help youinstead of saying,here, let me do that for you. I swear, you’ll thank me for it.” As they made their way to the little deli restaurant that had just opened up, they talked about the holidays. “I’m putting up a huge tree. Thad and I have already been scouting around the woods for the biggest one we can find. I never thought of having kids at Christmas time. It’s a good deal more fun for me since I was just a kid.”
The two of them were still talking about both holidays coming up and what they were going to do to their home after ordering dinner. Ewing was the one who usually decorated his home, and the others would just admire his. But this year and from now on, Gibb was going to be outdoing his brother at every step. He and the kids had been looking at all the blowup things every chance they got. It was going to be epic, he knew.
After dinner, he and his brother went to his home. The faeries weren’t around where Ewing could see them, and he was sort of disappointed that he couldn’t share the news about them with his family. He’d have to find someone to talk to about it. All this good fortune, and it was for his family, could be helping them out as well. But it hadn’t been his decision to make, and he was going to follow the rules.
Maddy coming home with the kids made him happy. Thad helped him clean up the living room. They’d made a slight mess having a popcorn tossing contest and were telling him about staying at Mark’s house. He’d allowed the kids to pick up all the scrap wood that had been left over from the construction crew, and Thad was excited to learn how to carve wood.
“You already have the basis down.” Ewing did a little carving as well, and he was giving Thad some of his old tools tomorrow. “When you play around with the rocks and shining them up, you’ll be able to do the same with the wood. Making pieces that will last a lifetime for you.”
When the two of them wandered off to his workshop, he went to the kitchen to find Maddy. That was usually where she ended up at the end of the day. Kissing her on the back of the neck while she talked to the girls, he sat down and took a couple of carrots off of Belle’s plate while he listened. Maddy asked him what he thought.
“I wasn’t paying attention.” She tsked at him. “I’m sorry. I was thinking about different things today—to which I got a great deal done, thank you very much, and I didn’t tune in to hear what you said. But I want you to know that I agree with your side one hundred percent.”
Belle laughed and said she was going to her room. Maria just rolled her eyes at him as she, too, left him. Confused about what was going on, he asked Maddy. She sat down and looked so sad that he wanted to slay dragons for her. Instead, he held her hands while she explained.
