Page 4 of Locke

The food really was good. It was country delicious, what Martha called it, and stuff that would stick to your ribs, too. Sitting in the living room after most of the people had left, he stared around the room and what, after all these years, they’d done to make the house just the way that Martha had wanted it.

There were no more frilly curtains but shades now in earth tones that made the room seem friendly and welcoming. The old-fashioned furniture, stuff that had more than likely been a part of the room when it was redecorating when Martha moved in all those years ago with her husband. Where it once had a library that was dank and dark, it was now brightened up with floor-to-ceiling windows that allowed fresh air and sunshine in. It was his favorite room in the house.

He remembered Martha sitting them all down after they’d been staying there for a month. She told them what she wanted done with the house and the money that she had stashed around so that William wouldn’t find it. So far as he knew, he never did either. They were more than happy to help Martha out with whatever she needed.

The six of them learned a trade while working on her home. While he went to school to become a registered nurse to care for her when she was feeble, Martha made sure that he and his brothers learned how to trade stocks, invest in things, and to take their money to the next level. She was the only one that they’d ever told about the winning, and as far as he knew, she’d taken it to her grave, too. With her help, they not only doubled what they’d come here with, but they’d done the same to Martha’s money. She had been sitting close to fifty million when she passed away.

There had been other lessons as well. How to escort a woman down the street and into a place of business. She told them how to treat a woman, how to pamper one, and to love one just by being themselves. Locke had even learned how to box, fight with a knife, and fire a gun, the same as his brothers. They were all well-educated, too, going to college and getting a degree in different areas of the financial world. There wasn’t a stone left unturned when she was teaching them, and they couldn’t have been happier about it.

The camera that he’d put in his father’s home had long since been outdated. They watched him the first few months while he tore up things looking for them. After a while, they simply didn’t care anymore and left him to himself. Four years ago, they heard that he’d been killed in an automobile accident where he’d been a drunk driver and ran into the lake by their home. The townspeople were thrilled, it seemed, and since his death, they had had a town picnic on the day that he died every year. He did wonder, on occasion, if anyone wondered about them. Then, he decided he didn’t care about that either.

“Have you given any thought as to what we’ll do now? I think that after talking to August, the two of us are going to live around here. We all have a nice house but for you. The doc said that Martha only lived as long as she did after that stroke is because you were there for her. I think it was her being angry at William, and him wanting to put her in a nursing home is what got her to sticking around, too.” They all laughed at Zander when he spoke. “What are we going to do now that she’s gone. That’s all I can think about, too, that she’s left us alone.”

“Me too. She isn’t going to be there when we go out on a date, reminding us to take a ‘rubber’ with us. She just said it that way so that we’d laugh.” Knox laughed as his eyes filled with tears. “I’m going to miss her laughter too. And her singing. Neither of which she did all that well. But she knew all the words, and she said that was all that mattered.”

“Remember that one Christmas? We all were snowed in, and she had us dressed up in her late husband’s coats to walk to the store and help Mr. Tanger out? Not only did we get his furnace up and running, but when the truck showed up, we helped load up his store with all the things that he’d ordered.” There were other stories like that one. Where they helped out one or more of their neighbors when they needed it. Pretty much the entire town had been helped by them at some point or another.

There had been a tree falling down on the back half of Mr. Granger’s house. The six of them out there with borrowed chain saws cutting all the wood up into burnable pieces. Or the time that Mrs. Bay had lost her husband and needed help with their children. Locke had bandaged more knees in the summer than he did anything. Making sure that kids got their shots, too, before school began. They, he and his brothers, had been all over the town at one point or another, helping not just the townspeople but also making sure that buildings were safe to be living in, too.

Locke didn’t have a home to call his own. He had fallen in love with the Grable home from the moment that he’d walked into it. His brothers, all of them, had not only a home, but they had been making great headway into making it their own, too. Furniture that they picked out themselves. Staff too who took care of not only them but the house as well.

Going to his bedroom, what he surmised was going to be the last time he was able to set foot in the house, he finished packing up his things except for the suit that he’d be wearing to the reading of the will. He couldn’t for the life of him think what she could have been leaving them all. She knew that they were wealthy and that they didn’t need anything from her other than the love that she’d freely given them.

Instead of going to bed, he made his way to the kitchen. While he wasn’t hungry, he did need something to tie him over until tomorrow. Pulling out the box of cereal that both he and Martha shared a love for, he was just pouring some into a bowl when there was a knock at the front door. Glancing at the clock, he wondered who could be knocking at this time of morning.

Locke hadn’t realized that it had been raining until he opened the door. The person standing there was soaking wet and looked as if she’d fallen into a few muddy puddles when she’d been walking. He asked her what she wanted, and he was surprised when she looked up at him and smiled.

“Locke, I presume.” He nodded before he thought better of it, and she smiled even wider. “My grannie sent word to me that she had died—That sounds weird when I say it out loud. Anyway, I came as soon as I could. I guess I was too late. I saw the obit in the paper.”

“She died five days ago in her sleep. Here at home the way that she wanted.” The woman asked if she could come in, and he stepped back so that she could enter. “You seem to know me, but I don’t know you. You called Martha your grannie, correct?”

“She was my grannie, yes. I’m her son’s oldest. He had four children, but the other three are gone. Dad, a terrible name for the man, hadn’t ever acknowledged me, but it mattered little. Grannie took care that I’m legally known as his child through DNA testing. But she told me to wait until she called for me to come around. Something about her will changes.” He asked her how long ago did she contact her. “We spoke weekly. Never spoke much of my father other than the six of you taking such good care of her, and he hated you. She also told me that you had given her more years than she deserved by taking care of her as her live-in nurse.”

“It was my pleasure to care for her. She is…was a wonderful person. I loved her like my own.” She told him that she’d loved him as well. All of his brothers. “What’s your name? I’m sorry, but this is the first I’ve heard about William having any children. I didn’t even know that he was married.”

“He wasn’t. I’m his through odd circumstances. My mother had an affair to make up for the fact that the man she was married to at the time was having numerous affairs when they were together. It was a one-night stand that resulted in me. I’m sorry, my name is Alexandra Grable. Mom put his name on the birth certificate and also had a DNA test performed so that there was never any question of me being his. Turns out, he had a couple of other kids, but they were put up for adoption soon after birth. I’ve been looking for them but without much luck. Can I have a glass of water? And whatever is cooking in the kitchen? I’m starved.”

He was as well, he told her. Taking her into the kitchen, he was surprised to see Ms. Bee, the cook, in the kitchen cooking them both up a plate of leftovers. As soon as her plate was sat in front of her, she began eating. Locke watched her as she smiled at him after looking at him with a mouthful of food.

“I’ve been too nervous to eat much the last few days. I had to make sure that you were just the man that Grannie said that you were. And you’re more than that. She said that there were few really good men in the world, and she thought that you and your brothers were the only good men left in the world.” He thanked her. “No problem.”

They ate in silence after that until they both cleaned up their plates. When he was given a cup of hot tea, she sipped his cup and then asked if she could have one too. It was the strangest thing, sharing a meal and tea with a near stranger. He told her that.

“To be honest, I don’t think of you as a stranger. More of a long-distance relative. I know so much about the six of you that I believe that I could name them all without introductions. There were times when Grannie was talking about you guys that I was jealous of not being a part of your lives too. She told me that the fact that you guys broke down in front of her house was something of a miracle. I know that she lived a good deal longer because of you guys.” He said that he’d become a nurse so that he could care for her. “Nah, that’s not what she meant. Being her nurse certainly helped, but she said that you guys were her knights in shining armor. She loved you like her own.”

“As did we her. She was a wonderful person, someone that I’m going to miss for the rest of my life.” She put her hand over his, and he turned his hand over to hold hers. “I’m sure that you didn’t come here to hear me waxing poetry about your grandmother. Are you staying anywhere close?”

“I was hoping to be able to stay here. If you don’t mind. And yes, I was notified that the reading is in the morning. Grannie told me to come here, but I hadn’t any idea if you’d be up for company. So, can I?” Locke said that there was plenty of room, and then she winked at him. “Thank you so much.”

When she stretched and yawned, he yawned as well. Exhaustion took him to going to his room after showing Alexandra where she could sleep. It was strange for him to have someone other than family in the house. He only wished that he’d been more proactive about finding himself a home like his brothers had. Rolling to his side, he closed his eyes after setting his alarm. It was going to be a long day tomorrow, and he hoped that he would be up for it.

~*~

Alexandra took a long, much-needed shower. It was nice to have one after all that she’d been through in the last few days. She’d not said anything to anyone because she was terrified as to what people would say, but she was about as broke as she’d ever been in her life. It depressed her so much that she leaned her head on the tile wall and cried.

She hoped that her grannie would leave her a little money. Just enough that she could pay for an apartment. It would have to be furnished, of course, but even if it wasn’t, she had her air mattress that she could sleep on. Getting food hadn’t been an issue as she’d become a pro at finding stuff in the dumpster. As much as she hated to admit it, she was wondering if she should just end her life. It wasn’t as if there was anyone left who would mourn her passing. But what kept her from doing it was the fact that there wasn’t anyone that would find her decaying body in the place that she’d been living in. Getting out of the shower, she wrapped herself in the same clothing that she’d had on yesterday. And the day before that as well. Washing out her panties and bra, it was nice to have something clean next to her skin. Going to the kitchen, Alexandra found that Locke was already up and dressed in a suit and tie. She felt wholly underdressed in her jeans that had seen better days and a shirt that she’d gotten from one of the million and one places where she’d worked.

“I don’t mean to be presumptuous on this, but there is a closet full of your grannie’s clothing if you want to find something there to wear. I can show her room and you can pick from there.” She told him that this was all she had, wondering not for the first time how much this man made her feel welcomed. “You look to be about her size. If you’d like to go and see if anything fits you.” She shed some tears then, and her temper flared up.

---