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  “Anyway, it was just perfect,” said Louise. “It felt like he was right here among us.”

  “I think he was,” said Jane in a quiet voice.

  “Well, Daniel Howard can be proud,” said Lloyd with a wide grin. “Why, just look at how fine his three daughters turned out.” He glanced over to Ethel and added, “And his sister’s not half bad either.”

  They all laughed at this. Alice tried to imagine her father smiling down upon his family. She hoped he was proud of his daughters. But it troubled her that he hadn’t been able to spend some time with them all before his final departure. If only her sisters had been able to come more often.

  As the crowd slowly dwindled, Alice slipped away from the reception and got into her little blue Toyota and drove back toward the cemetery. She wasn’t even sure why, since they’d already paid their last respects at the gravesite earlier today. But with so many people present, Alice had felt lost in the crowd. She wanted a quiet moment on her own now.

  The grave was still awash in a sea of colorful flowers. Despite the family’s request that donations be sent to the chapel’s Helping Hands program in lieu of floral arrangements, they had still received a truckload of blooms. “It’s just the town’s own way of paying its respects and saying good-bye,” Fred Humbert had observed.

  Alice stood and looked at the new grave in front of the family headstone. Soon “Daniel Joseph Howard” would be neatly etched into the granite right next to her mother’s name, “Madeleine Louise Berry Howard,” along with “Together at last.” Alice smiled to herself when she tried to imagine the reunion that her two parents must have enjoyed in heaven that morning several days ago.

  “Are you happy, Father?” she spoke the words aloud, then glanced over her shoulder as if she expected someone to be listening. “You’re with Mother now. That must be nice.” She sighed and glanced at her watch. She had better get home before her sisters grew concerned about her absence.

  Louise and Jane were walking from the chapel to the house when Alice parked her car in the driveway. They didn’t ask where she had been, but chattered about the events of the day, how well it had all gone, and Aunt Ethel’s little jealousy attack when Lloyd had complimented Louise.

  “As if I’d really be interested,” said Louise in what Jane used to jokingly call her “highbrow” tone. Not that Louise had ever been a snob, but she did know how to get the upper hand when necessary.

  “Oh, come on, Louie,” teased Jane as she sat down in the porch swing and scooped Wendell into her lap. “You could do worse than old Lloyd.”

  Alice sat down in a wicker rocker without speaking.

  “What’s wrong, Alice?” asked Louise after a bit.

  Alice shrugged. “Guess I’m feeling sad.”

  Jane nodded. “Missing Father?”

  “I guess so.”

  “Well, it’s bound to be harder on you, Alice,” said Louise gently. “You lived here with him for years. It’s only natural that you’d miss him.”

  Alice swallowed against the lump in her throat.

  “So what’s to become of the old place?” asked Jane.

  “The old place?” Alice peered at Jane.

  “You know,” Jane waved her arms. “The old family home.”

  “The house has really gone downhill,” added Louise. “Needs painting and I’m guessing a new roof. What’s it been—about forty years since it was last done? I’m surprised it’s even holding up.”

  “I had offered to help pay for it,” said Alice weakly. “But you know Father, he just wouldn’t hear of it.” She stood. “I think I’ll go change into something more comfortable.” She could hear her two sisters still chatting pleasantly as she went inside the house. It was nice to see that they were getting along better today. Perhaps it was Alice’s turn to be “odd man out.”

  As she changed into jeans and a chambray shirt, she wondered why she hadn’t told her sisters the news about their father’s intentions for the family home yet. What was she waiting for anyway? Even though she’d made Aunt Ethel promise to keep quiet, you just couldn’t count on that woman to remain silent for very long, especially with important family matters like this. In fact, Aunt Ethel had already nagged her about it twice. Alice decided that she’d better explain the whole business at dinner tonight.

  Alice walked downstairs to find the porch vacant and the house quiet. Perhaps her sisters were resting in their rooms now. She walked around and looked at the familiar scenes that had been a part of her life for so many years. As she ran her hand over the oak banister, it occurred to her that her reason for remaining quiet about the house was most likely due to fear. She was afraid that Jane and Louise might want to sell the old place. And who could blame them really? Jane could probably invest her share into the restaurant business. And perhaps it would help Louise to relocate closer to her daughter. But then where would that put Alice? Of course, she knew she could always find another place to live, but it would never be home—not like this.

  She decided to walk into town and pick up a pint of half-and-half. Jane had mentioned that she liked to have real cream in her coffee in the mornings. Besides it was a good excuse to get some exercise. Normally she walked with Vera three mornings a week, but that had been put on hold during the past few hectic days. She missed her good friend’s company. Even though Alice was ten years older than Vera, the two had bonded right from the start. Alice still remembered the day Fred first introduced his fiancé to Alice and how much she liked the sensible young woman. When Alice hosted a church bridal shower for Vera, their friendship was sealed.

  Alice decided to stop by the Coffee Shop and say hello to Hope, whom she had spied at the service earlier today. She’d had on her waitress uniform, and Alice had guessed she’d taken time off in order to come. Alice had wanted to speak to her then, but never got the chance.

  The Coffee Shop was quiet, not unusual for this time of afternoon. The bell on the door had barely rung before Hope popped out from the kitchen. “Hi, Alice,” she said as she set down a bag of sugar. “What’re you up to?”

  “Just taking a walk to get out of the house.”

  Hope nodded. “Yeah, all that family time can be trying sometimes.”

  Alice smiled and sat down on a stool by the counter. “Do you have any iced tea?”

  “You bet.”

  “Hello, Alice,” called the only other customer, Craig Tracy, seated in a booth by the window. Alice barely knew him but had heard her father mention his name from time to time. Most folks still considered Craig a “newcomer,” meaning he hadn’t been born and raised in Acorn Hill. As a result most weren’t too sure about him yet, although Fred Humbert had recently spoken highly of him. Craig owned a small florist business called Wild Things, and judging by the number of arrangements on her father’s grave, he’d been fairly busy this past week.

  “How’re you doing, Craig?”

  “All right. Sorry to hear about your dad. He was a great old man.”

  “Did you know him well?”

  “Yes. He and I used to chat on a regular basis.”

  Hope set a tall glass of iced tea in front of Alice. “Yeah, Craig and Daniel used to get pretty rambunctious in here sometimes, especially when they were talking about religion.”

  “Just enthusiastic,” Craig corrected her. “Daniel had some impressive beliefs, and I didn’t mind challenging him when I could.”

  Hope laughed. “Not that you could rattle him. Despite his age Daniel was sharp, and there’s no denying he enjoyed a good debate.”

  Alice smiled. “That’s the truth.”

  “That was a nice service today,” said Hope as she filled up a sugar container. “I especially liked what you had to say about your dad.”

  Alice tried to remember her exact words, but it was a little blurry. She hadn’t written down her thoughts, but had simply spoken from her heart.

  “The part about how your dad got you out of school and drove you to the mountains after your dog died made
me cry,” continued Hope.

  “That was a special day.”

  Alice visited with the two of them for a bit longer before she headed on over to the store to buy the half-and-half and a couple of plump red tomatoes that were too tempting to pass up. Thankfully, the weather had cooled a bit today. Maybe autumn was around the corner after all. As she crossed Hill Street she sighed at the comforting familiarity of the buildings. So little had changed during the course of her lifetime.

  Yet, just as she stepped from the street onto the curb, it hit her that something was very different. She wondered what it was as she continued walking toward home, and then finally decided it was simply that Father would no longer be walking down these sidewalks. That fact alone made the town seem changed somehow. As she strolled past the chapel and turned up the walk to her own house, she decided that the loss of her father would most definitely alter her world. Although this needn’t be a negative thing. God was still in control of her life. Father had always been a man to welcome change. Perhaps it was time for her to follow his example and accept that she was stepping into a whole new era. Who knew what tomorrow might bring?

  Chapter Six

  All three women appeared to be waiting for Alice’s entrance when she stepped into the kitchen. She could tell by their troubled expressions that something was wrong. She set her small bag on the counter and asked if there was a problem.

  Louise cleared her throat and then announced, “Aunt Ethel has just informed us that Father left the family home to the three of us.”

  Aunt Ethel smiled somewhat nervously. It was clear that she was going nowhere just now, when she had a front row seat for what might prove an interesting show.

  Alice took in a deep breath. “Aunt Ethel, I told you that I planned to tell them. Why couldn’t you just wait until—”

  “Well, it just slipped out, Alice,” her aunt explained quickly. “I simply mentioned to Jane that Lloyd was telling me about a new realtor in the area who’d probably be interested in listing it—”

  “Why didn’t you tell us, Alice?” asked Jane. “Were you worried that we’d want to sell it?”

  “Not really, I just—”

  “Is there anything else we need to know?” asked Louise.

  “No, of course—”

  Aunt Ethel adjusted her pink cardigan sweater. “You know, I’ve read that dividing up a family’s wealth can create some nasty feuds.” She nodded her head so vigorously that both sets of chins bobbed at once.

  “Father didn’t have any wealth,” said Alice in a firmer than usual voice. “He stopped taking a salary ages ago and his retirement pension was barely enough to pay for the utilities and taxes, let alone food. He had absolutely no savings whatsoever. During his final years he decided that it was wrong for him to store up riches as long as there were people going hungry in the world.”

  “So there’s not a lawyer or a will?” asked Louise with slightly raised brows.

  “No, Louise, Father asked me to handle it for him.”

  “Then why didn’t you tell us—”

  “Jane, Louise,” Alice tried to keep her voice level. “It’s not as if I was trying to hide something from you. I was just waiting for—”

  “No one is accusing you of hiding anything, Alice,” said Louise. “But it would have made things clearer if Father had written down his wishes. Are you absolutely certain that he didn’t?”

  “He told me what his wishes were—”

  “But have you checked in his study, Alice, or in his desk or journal?”

  Alice shrugged. “Feel free to look around.” Suddenly she felt like sobbing, but instead turned around and slowly filled the old copper teakettle with cold water, then set it on the stove and clicked on the flame. She could hear her aunt talking about things like Grandmother Howard’s oak dresser and her mother’s sterling silver coffee set, but it wasn’t long before the sentence fragments simply floated over her like a stream of white noise. She stood and silently watched the blue flame of the stove, waiting for the teakettle to whistle and break this spell.

  The three other women were in her father’s study where Alice suspected they were now going through his personal papers. Fine, she thought as she carefully poured the steaming water into the rosebud covered porcelain teapot, let them. For all she cared they could discover some hidden document stating that every single piece of their family’s possessions was meant to go to—to China! That would be perfectly fine with her. What did it really matter anyway?

  She took her favorite cup and saucer, the one with dainty little violets, and set them on a tray with the teapot, then quietly tiptoed up to her room before she closed her door. She decided she wasn’t really hungry, and Louise and Jane could easily fix their own dinner from all the leftovers tonight. She was bone tired right now, and who knew what tomorrow would bring? She suspected that she was overreacting. Perhaps they were all overreacting. After all, they had just lost their father, and there were numerous matters to be sorted out. Certainly it all could wait until morning.

  After a night of fitful sleep, Alice got up before the sun. She pulled on her gray hooded sweatshirt, comfortable jeans and walking shoes, then slipped out of the house and started along the route that she and Vera usually took. She hoped that the exercise might help to clarify her thoughts. Then, almost done but still feeling a bit frustrated, she decided to stop by her old walking buddy’s house. Since it was Saturday, she suspected that Vera might not be up yet, but Alice hoped that she’d forgive this early intrusion. She knocked on the door, reassuring herself that Fred was probably awake.

  “Alice.” Fred looked slightly surprised when he opened the door wide. “Come on in, I just put on a pot of coffee.” Then he smiled. “Of course, I forgot. You don’t drink coffee, do you?”

  “Perhaps it’s time for a change,” she said decisively as she stepped in the door with her chin held firmly.

  His brows rose slightly. “Oh boy, something must really be wrong.”

  “Who’s that?” called Vera.

  “Alice is here, honey,” answered Fred.

  “Oh dear.” Vera appeared in the kitchen wearing sponge rollers and a pink bathrobe. “Were we supposed to walk this morning?”

  Alice shook her head. “No, I’m sorry to wake you up so early, Vera, but I really need to talk.”

  Vera smiled. “Oh, good. I thought maybe I’d forgotten.”

  Fred set three mugs of coffee on the kitchen table. “You take anything in yours, Alice?”

  “Alice doesn’t drink coffee, Fred.”

  “I do now,” said Alice.

  “Good grief,” exclaimed Vera. “What on earth’s the matter, Alice?”

  Alice poured out her story to her two good friends. Somehow hearing the words out loud made it all seem a little less disturbing. Before long the three of them were actually laughing at the idea of Louise scouring through Daniel’s study in search of some secret papers or clandestine will.

  “Sounds like Louise is a bit out of touch,” said Vera.

  “Well, I’m sure it seems odd to her that Father didn’t have a lawyer or do something more official,” Alice defended.

  “Did she know her father very well?” asked Fred.

  Alice shook her head. “I’m not really sure.”

  “So what do you think they’ll want to do with the house now?” he asked. “Surely they’ve noticed that it’s in need of some serious repairs.”

  Alice shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I’d hoped that we could keep it somehow, but I suppose that’s not the most practical idea.”

  “It’s possible that they might want to sell it,” said Vera. “In some ways it seems the sensible thing to do.”

  “Won’t be easy to sell a big place like that.” Fred refilled his coffee cup. “Don’t know anyone in town needing that much room these days.”

  “Besides that, it’ll probably cost a fortune to repair it,” added Vera. “Maybe you’d be better off just getting rid of it altogether, Alice.
You could always buy a smaller house.”

  “Maybe.”

  Fred glanced at the clock above the table. “Guess I’d better head down to the store. I’ve got an early shipment of rakes and brooms coming this morning.”

  “Thanks for listening,” said Alice. “And for the coffee.”

  “Looks like you’re not going to be much of a coffee drinker,” said Vera as she looked at Alice’s still nearly full cup.

  Alice sighed.

  “The kettle’s hot. How about some tea?”

  “That’d be nice.”

  “Too bad there’s not some way to make money with the old house, some kind of cottage industry or antique shop or something. My sister Wanda up in Vermont is thinking about turning her house into a tearoom to help her make ends meet.” Vera set a cup of golden tea in front of Alice. “Although I doubt there’s much money in that sort of thing.”

  “You know, Vera, there is something I’ve fantasized about for years.”

  Vera leaned forward with interest. “What? Is it a man?”

  Alice laughed. “Well, no, although I’ve probably fantasized about that too. But sometimes I used to dream about turning the house into a bed and breakfast. Of course, I never mentioned this idea to Father. I couldn’t imagine he’d go for something like that. But now I wonder …”

  “I don’t know.” Vera frowned. “Acorn Hill isn’t exactly your tourist type of town.”

  “But it’s such a sweet little place, old-fashioned and quaint. Don’t you think city people would find it charming?”

  “If they could even find it at all.”

  “And it could help the local businesses. More visitors means more commerce.”

  “Maybe, but don’t forget there are plenty of folks in this town who like things just fine the way they are.”

  “I know.” Alice sipped her tea and daydreamed a bit more, imagining the interesting sorts of people she might possibly meet in her bed and breakfast. “But sometimes change is good, Vera.”

  “What about your sisters and their part interest in the house? I wonder what they would think of this idea?”