Page 20 of Unexpected Gifts

Luke waited for his father to continue, knowing it was best to be patient. Walter Hayes didn’t do anything fast.

“Yeah, well, I thought I might find myself a new project,” Walter said. “More of a good deed type of thing.”

“Okay? What did you have in mind? Volunteering at church or the food bank?”

“Nah. Something bigger than that. It’s been weighing on my mind, actually. As a man who considers himself to be a good Christian man, I haven’t really been acting that way.”

“How so?” His father was the best man Luke knew, except for maybe Nolan, who was practically a saint.

“We let Ramona worry herself, possibly to death, about how to keep a roof over those kids’ heads. A roof that’s not in the greatest shape, I might add. I sat over here, retiring.” He made air quotes around the wordretiring. “While that poor girl needed help. I’m telling you, that house is falling apart.”

“Where are you going with this?”

“You remember how much fun we had remodeling your mother’s kitchen?”

“Sure.” It had been fun. He and his father, with occasional help from the other boys, had had a blast. They’d done pretty much everything themselves except for plumbing and electricity and bringing in the granite slabs to the countertops. He and his father didn’t talk much, but they didn’t have to. They understood each other in a way that only two people so alike could. Both of them loved this land and their farm and their family in a quiet, steady way.

“I’ve been thinking we should do some repairs and remodeling over there for Abby. That kitchen’s a mess. The roof needs patching. And there’s termites in the porch. Won’t be long before they make their way into the house. They’ve got leaks in multiple places, not to mention the state of the bathrooms.”

He stared at his father, shocked at the suggestion. “Huh. Okay. Interesting.”

“What do you think?”

“It’s not a terrible idea,” Luke said. “But how do we pay for it? Even doing most of the work ourselves, the costs are significant.”

“I spoke with Logan earlier. Ramona had a small life insurance policy. Part of it went into college accounts for the kids, per Ramona’s request. But there’s enough left to fix up the house. That is, if Abby wants that. She may be planning on selling and getting out of Dodge.”

The idea of her taking children away from their home physically pained Luke. “She said she won’t do that.”

“That right?”

“Yeah, I asked her. She said it would be unconscionable to take the children away from their home.”

“See there? That Abby Parker’s good people. More reason to help her out. She’s given up all her plans to come here and take on two kids and a ramshackle farmhouse.”

“It’s a lot of work,” Luke said. “It could take months and months.”

“Not if we can get your brothers on board, as well as some of my buddies down at the store.”

By the store, he referred to Max’s shop. It was a long tradition that his father and three of his cronies hung out there, playing checkers or gossiping. Or both.

“Me and the boys—we’re all getting fat and lazy,” Walter said. “What’s that they say? If you don’t use it, you lose it. I’m losing it by the minute.”

Luke chuckled. The men to whom his father referred were hardly fat. They’d all worked hard all their lives, on farms or construction, and deserved to rest or enjoy themselves.

“Listen to me, kid. I sat over here fat and happy while Ramona had the whole world on her shoulders. Like I said, maybe it’s what weakened her heart. We don’t know.”

“It was hereditary.”

“Maybe so. Maybe not. All I know is that I wasted an opportunity to give back to our community—to someone who needed it. Someone we considered a friend and a neighbor. And now Abby’s come here to take care of these kids instead of getting on with her own life. Her sacrifice is inspirational, don’t you think?”

He supposed it was. But what choice did she have? She couldn’t walk away from the children when she was all they had.

“I figure if we all pitch in, we can have that place fixed up by spring.”

“Okay, sure. As long as it doesn’t interfere with my work here.”

“We’ll have to come up with a plan for the kitchen—have her pick out what cabinets and granite she wants and that kind of thing. It’ll take months for stuff to come in, but we can fix the porch and roof as soon as the weather allows.”

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