Page 50 of Christmas Home

“That’d be wonderful. Thank you,” Corey said.

Chris smiled, carefully picked up both pictures, and darted out the door.

“What do you think?” Ruther asked Corey.

“I think it’d be a great way to enter the community. Make a very public nod to the past and your family’s history here.”

“Besides the name?” I asked and was surprised I’d said anything. It wasn’t like me to comment. Maybe it was because it seemed obvious that since the town was named after his family, that should be enough.

“Yes, besides the name,” Ruther said and playfully bumped against me. “My family were Quakers. My third great-grandpa was lynched, probably right where we’re standing, because he dared to stand against the Confederacy. I no longer practice Quakerism, but I think it’d be good to honor my roots.”

I nodded, feeling embarrassed that I’d intervened.

Corey and Ruther were discussing what they’d do with a building if they put a replica in its place when Chris walked back in with the photographs and handed Corey a flash drive with the digital copies.

“You’re thinking about replacing the building?” Chris asked.

“Maybe,” Corey responded, “but we need to speak to the mayor and town council. We wouldn’t want to maintain it, and what purpose would it serve?”

I did look up then, interested all of a sudden. “Crawford City doesn’t have a good, neutral spot for groups to meet. There’s the church, but some people aren’t comfortable with churches as meeting places, like my support group. It could be a community center, especially if it’s just outside the main streets of town.

I thought of when I’d helped Ruther out of the woods. The path we’d followed had looked like it used to be a road or a driveway or something. I knew exactly where they were talking about.

Ruther looked at me and nodded. “It could be a community center. These old buildings weren’t fancy; they were built to be anything but. Simple, one-room buildings with hard, uncomfortable benches. We could restore it to be historically relevant, but the benches and stuff could be moved out of the way for meetings.”

Chris looked around the room. “What’s the potential for building a basement?” he asked.

Both men stared at him, then shrugged. “Not sure, why?” Ruther asked.

“Because this room is getting out of hand fast. If you were to build a basement under the main structure, we could use it to store Crawford City's historical references. That way, it could be part of the library system.” He quickly laughed. “Not that we’d have any money to help finance it. We barely have enough funds to function here, but we could staff it with volunteers if it was tied to us.”

“That’s a good idea, Chris, thanks,” Ruther said, shaking his hand. “We have a lot to think about.”

I followed them out of the library and noticed that the nerves Ruther seemed to have developed when we’d gone in had vanished. We walked across the street almost like we were drawn to where the meeting house once stood.

The old bank had been converted long ago and now stood empty. We wandered down the dead-end street, and I could see the old motel from where we stood. “So, this is where it used to stand,” Corey said, looking at the photo on his phone.

“That’s the hardware store back there,” Ruther said, pointing along the ridge where you could barely make out the building.

“Nothing’s been here for a long time,” Corey said, wandering to the overgrown area that butted up against the derelict railroad.

“It’d be a nice museum too,” I said. “Most little towns have some sort of historical society thing. I’m surprised Crawford City doesn’t.”

Both men nodded and then continued looking at the lot. “It’s what we said we wanted to do,” Corey said. “Making a difference, not just throwing up buildings.”

“The structure itself wouldn’t cost much, not if we built it like it originally was.”

“We could build a separate building for the archives,” Corey suggested. “Something that matched the style of the meeting house. I’m sure your family’s original home wasn’t the mansion.”

Ruther cringed. “Yeah,” he quickly said, and I could see the tortured look setting in, which caused me to step closer and take his hand.

“I’m sure Chris would research that for you,” I said. “He seems to be on top of all that anyway.”

Ruther smiled down at me and leaned in. For a moment I thought he might kiss me, but Corey kept on talking about the site, drawing Ruther’s attention. “This could be a great way to start the project if the cost isn’t prohibitive.”

“Could you possibly put a park here too? Would there be enough room?” I asked. “Seems to me that’s something missing in Crawford City as well.”

Both men smiled. “Sounds like we need to talk to Lance.” Ruther looked at me then and squeezed my hand. “Wanna walk over to the pizza place with me? We’ll let Corey entice Jake and Lance with pizza, and if history is any indication, it’ll take at least an hour to get our dinner.”

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