It was two months to the day when they had tea, and Grandmother and Auntie decided to stay on at the cottage. Two months and no more had been said. Mary was hounding Annie constantly, wanting to know when she and Danny could move out. Annie didn’t have an answer because nothing was ever planned. Caught up in motherhood, she let it sit on the back burner. But now it was nearing fall time, and a great time for cleaning out closets and sprucing up places, and Annie made the decision to approach them about things before Mary did. And everyone knew Mary had no time for fluffing feathers. Her approach would be anything but soft.
The temperatures had dropped, and so had the leaves of the many trees on the property. The vivid green and glossy leaves of the stately magnolia added a splash of color among the yellow and red leaves of the various oaks and native varieties. Annie drew her sweater close and pulled in a deep breath of the clean, refreshing air. “Here goes nothing,” she said, stepping down from the porch.
Rapping on the door, she waited for them to respond.
“Hello,” Annie said, closing the door behind her.
“Is it that time?” Patty asked, grabbing her shawl that had been draped over a chair.
“Where’s Grandmother?”
“In the little girl’s room,” Auntie said, wrapping the end of her shawl up over her shoulder.
“Listen, Auntie Patty. Have you and Grandmother discussed anymore about the Charleston house?”
Patty shook her head. “I’ve tried to approach the subject a few times. She was so for it before. I don’t know what’s happened.”
“Is she still considering moving back into it?”
“No, I don’t think so. She may not want to admit it, but she knows we’re better off here. And now that Jack’s dad is coming once a week and taking us into town, it’s been nice.”
“Yes, I think it’s very sweet Robert is doing that.”
Just then, they turned their attention to the clipping noise of Grandmother’s cane.
“Hope you have a good appetite. I made lasagna,” Annie said.
“As long as you have a nice red to go with it.” Patty smirked.
“Yes, Auntie. I always have a nice bottle of red in the rack.”
She tried not to mother them too much, but she stood by as they walked over to the main house. Annie watched carefully, and Grandmother appeared to be pretty stable on her feet. As Annie stared at her shoes, her jaw dropped. Grandmother had on orthopedic shoes. For as long as she could remember, Grandmother and Auntie wore the latest designs and matching shoes to go with them. They’d never be caught in orthopedic anything. But times were changing, and no matter how hardheaded Grandmother was, she also knew when she’d lost the battle.
She couldn’t help herself and offered a hand to the ladies as they ascended the stairs. Surprisingly, neither of them opposed her gesture.
“Something smells wonderful,” Patty said, making her way to the couch to join Ashton. She held out her arms, and he climbed onto her lap.
“Hello, Jack,” Grandmother said, slipping into a chair at the dining table.
“Good evening, ladies,” he said.
Patty smiled and then went back to talking to Ashton.
“Fall is in the air, isn’t it?” he said as he popped the cork on the wine.
“Perfect time to clean out garages and closets,” Annie said, taking the cue.
“And painting. Well, any type of repair or maintenance to property. I’ve got a few things to do here,” Jack said.
Annie’s gazed bobbled from Grandmother to Auntie and back to Jack. Had he said too much? Nothing got by these two.
“What sort of things do you have to do here?” Grandmother said.
“The front porch needs a coat of paint, for one,” Jack said.
Annie listened as this conversation went on and on. Finally, convinced that either they were not getting the big picture, or they were trying to string poor Jack along, Annie put a stop to it.
“Have you spoken to Mary, Grandmother?” Annie asked as she took the casserole dish from the oven and set it on a trivet to cool.
“No.”
“Oh,” Annie said, leaning her back up against the counter. “Is something wrong?”
“No. Why would you think that?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because it’s been a while, and you haven’t reached out to her about the house.”
“The house?” She cocked her head. “What is it that I need to discuss with my flighty granddaughter regarding my property? Please enlighten me.”
Jack poured more wine, lifting his glass and drinking. Annie kept her gaze on him before turning her attention to Lilly. “You don’t have to discuss any financial things with her, but you did say she could move out. She’s waiting for that day.”
“Ahh,” Grandmother said. “She can move out whenever she wants. We’re not stopping her.”
“Grandmother Lilly. Stop playing games. You said you would consider selling the property. You can’t just drop it on us one day. It takes planning. The house needs some repairs, we have stuff to go through, and it will take weeks if not months to do all of that. The weather is nice now, and we can get a lot accomplished.”
“It’s overwhelming to think about it all,” Grandmother said, lowering her gaze.
“I know it is. But we’re here to help,” Annie said, moving to Grandmother’s side.
Finally speaking up, Patty offered some advice. “We’ll start with the closets. Then we’ll move to the furniture.”
“We?” Grandmother sneered.
“Yes, we. It’ll be fun. Annie, Mary, you and me. We’ll get out the boxes of pictures and memorabilia and go through them. It will help with the process. The girls might want some of it too.”
“Give me the phone,” Grandmother demanded.
Annie moved quickly and obeyed, handing her the cell phone.
She moved the phone in and out as she adjusted her sights. “Oh, just call her,” she said, handing Annie the phone.
“It’s ringing,” she said as she handed it back to Grandmother.
While Annie served up the lasagna, they listened as Grandmother spoke to Mary. It was short and sweet, but Grandmother got her point across. She gave Mary permission to start looking for places to live, and also about the idea of going through the boxes.
“Satisfied?” Grandmother said, tossing the phone down. “It’s all settled. Danny and Mary will start looking for a new place, and we’ll go through the decades of memories and get it ready to sell.”
“Grandmother. It’s not me who you have to satisfy.”
“Lilly. It’s time,” Patty said.
“All right. I reserve the right to wait on my satisfaction until I hear the amount we’ll receive for such a historical property.”
“I’m sure you’ll fetch a very fair price. It’s a beautiful house, Lilly,” Jack said.
“I guess we might as well enjoy you all appreciating your inheritance while we’re still around to see it,” Lilly said.
“It’s not about inheriting money, Grandmother. It’s about letting you have a voice in how things are done before you’re gone. It has to give you some comfort to know that your wishes will be honored because you’re around to see it done.”
“My real wishes were to keep the house in the family. But that’s not to be.” A tear bobbled on her lower lid.
“I’m sorry it didn’t work out that way. Jack and I have our place here on the island. We can’t move into Charleston,” Annie said.
“It would be closer to the bakery,” Lilly said.
“Yes, but I’m not even going there very often. In fact, I’ve been considering letting someone take it over.”
Patty gasped. Grandmother snarled.
“Jack’s wood business has taken off. He can’t even keep up with the orders. He needs help.”
“How are you going to help?” Patty asked.
“Bookkeeping, taking orders, marketing, that sort of thing.”
“That would be a great help to him, I’m sure,” Patty said.
“Well, isn’t this just dandy. Everyone’s life is being uprooted. We’re selling our family home and destroying the last historical artifact we have of the McPherson name; Annie is going to hand over her business she started from the ground up, and we’ll all just be happy as clams.” Grandmother snorted.
Annie’s gaze wandered to Jack. Nodding once toward the wine, he picked up the bottle and topped everyone’s glass off.