Spanish Bay (14 page)

The others were still not home when they got back to the ranch, and so they took Frank to his room to play. Chris was curious to see if Frank had any idea what had happened to his parents.

“Frank, do you remember the accident?”

There were visible signs of distress on Frank’s face, and he grew agitated.

“I’m so sorry you had to live through that, bro. But I’m here now, and Neil. We are going to make sure you are kept safe, okay? But unfortunately, the accident killed Mom and Dad. God has called them back to heaven.”

Chris felt completely helpless. How do you explain the death of your parents to a six-year-old? And how do you explain that to a six-year-old who doesn’t speak, making it impossible to know how much he understands?

“You see, they didn’t suffer, they were killed almost instantly. And now they are angels in the sky, looking down on us, making sure we are safe.”

Chris pointed to the ceiling, and Frank looked up. He started to wail in distress.

Chris hugged him tightly. “I know you love them very much. We all do, and we all miss them. But as long as you remember them, they will always be there for you, right here, in your heart.” Chris pointed to Frank’s chest.

THE FUNERAL WAS a somber process for the entire family, but it went better than Chris had anticipated. Alexandra and her kids came; even Skip was relatively sober for the day, and no one made a scene. The minister conducting the service was professional and, given the circumstances, Chris felt it was a good service. Afterward, Mr. Jackson wanted to speak with the adult children, and Chris made sure that Jessica attended, too. “She’s only a few months shy of being eighteen. She should hear this herself.”

Mr. Jackson took them to his office, while Neil, the Horners and Frank drove back to the ranch. They knew the meeting could take a while.

“I’ve looked over your parents’ estate,” Mr. Jackson began, and his voice carried the weight of what he was about to announce. “There is no will, so whatever comes out net of all this, will be divided equally among the six children, with provisions to be made for Frank, and—I’m sorry to say this—you, Jessica. However, I have a hunch that by the time we’re all done, you may already be old enough to handle the inheritance. Sadly, many of these legal matters take time.”

“Bad news?” Chris asked.

“Well, Chris, that’s one way of putting it. The ranch is collateral for a large business loan your father took out. Things haven’t been going great for him, and I guess his love affair with the bottle didn’t help. So there’s that. Selling the ranch would solve that problem, but this is not the ideal time to sell such a large piece of real estate. And time is the enemy of all real estate deals—the quicker you have to sell, the less money you’ll get. On the other hand, there are a couple of small life insurance policies. It’s not a lot of money, and it doesn’t cover the entirety of the business loan on the farm, but it’s enough for you to delay decisions concerning the ranch.”

“How much?” Alexandra wanted to know.

“Thirty thousand each, so sixty thousand dollars. The loan on the ranch is one hundred thousand. You’ll still have to pay off forty thousand dollars to the bank.”

“But the ranch is worth a lot more than that, isn’t it?”

“Sure,” agreed Mr. Jackson. “We haven’t valued it yet, but I’m certain it’ll be worth a lot more.”

“But I don’t want to sell the farm,” Jack protested.

Alexandra laughed. “That’s none of your concern, Jack.”

“Well, actually it is,” Mr. Jackson pointed out. “Since he’s an adult, he has the right to vote on this. And whoever will be appointed guardian of Frank and Jessica will, too. You’ll need a majority agreement on selling. If not, you can always demand to have your part bought out by the others, or just abide by the decision, whatever that is.” Mr. Jackson looked around the table. “What do you think, Chris? I hear you’ve been speaking to Andrew Junior?”

“Yes, I have. I say we keep the ranch, and Junior agrees with me. I have his power of attorney right here.” He held up the letter the navy had delivered by courier a couple of days earlier. “That’s three votes against one, not counting Frank and Jessica.”

Alexandra was fuming. “I’ll get custody over Frank and Jessica then. Then we’ll have a tie, and that would mean we’d sell, right?”

Mr. Jackson nodded gravely.

Chris’s temper flared. “Stop it, Alex. You know as well as I do that nobody will grant you custody of Frank, nor Jessica. And you really don’t want that responsibility anyway.”

Chris knew, of course, that if Alex really did apply for custody, as a local married woman, she had a much greater chance of getting custody than he ever would. Rural Texas was, by and large, still a very traditional society, where women stayed at home and looked after the kids, while the men were at work, providing for their families, even if that didn’t mean much more than food on the table and a roof over their heads. Love was no requirement—certainly not for the weakest of the weak.

“Why don’t I go ahead and have someone value the property, so that we know what we’re dealing with?” Mr. Jackson suggested. “There are many ways you could do this, Alexandra. Jack could lease the farm and pay you a monthly sum. That way, the farm could be an investment for you?”

Alexandra scowled at him, blinded by the dream of sudden wealth and enraged that it was being snatched away before she even got her hands on it.

Jack butted in. “Alex, you know that the farm isn’t worth that much now. Dad’s been letting it fall apart for years. If we sell now we’ll get hardly anything. Just look at the house and the barn. The roofs leak, the fences need mending, and we could really use a couple of good harvests. I’m pretty sure we’d have lost the farm anyway if Dad would’ve been running it much longer.”

“I’ll take that into account when we value the property,” Mr. Jackson said. “I think that’s all we can do for today. How much longer will you be in town, Chris?”

“I don’t know yet. I have to talk to social services about Frank, but I really need to get back to California to my café.”

Mr. Jackson smiled. “No problem. We can correspond through the mail or by phone.” He got up to signal that the meeting was over and shook the Miller kids’ hands.

Alexandra stormed out first; Chris, Jack and Jessica returned to the ranch together.

For a while they journeyed in silence; Chris was thinking through the events of the day—no doubt they all were. He was concerned about leaving Jack to fend off Alexandra, but at the same time Chris needed to get back to Sally’s Café.

“Jack, listen. If Alex gives you any trouble, talk to Junior. He said he’d be willing to help you financially. I’ve been thinking that maybe, once we’ve valued the property, we could see if we could buy her out? I’m not sure how you feel, Jessica, but if Jack wants to stay here, I think we should let him.”

Jessica nodded. “Sure. I wouldn’t mind staying here myself. I’ve always wanted to work with horses, and maybe this is my chance. We could fix up the old barn and rent out boxes for other people’s horses, you know, town folk who don’t know where to put them. I’ve been looking into that a bit, and some of those stables charge a lot of money. We could make a buck and still undercut them significantly.”

Chris looked at his sister and smiled. “I had no idea you were interested in anything like that.”

“Well, dear brother, you obviously don’t know me very well. I’ve been spending literally every free minute of my time working as a stable hand these past three years.”

“Stable hand?” Jack scoffed. “What are you talking about? You were always over at your friend Tiffany’s house…” He was confused, and so was Chris.

“Tiffany was just a cover story. She knew I was at the Benson ranch, but she lied for me, in case Mom checked up. Believe it or not, she never called. Not once in these past three years.” Jessica began to cry, as the realization of the loss of her mother mixed with the realization that she had never really been loved.

The silence resumed, but as they approached the house, they noticed the strange sedan parked in front.

“Seems the moment of truth regarding Frank has come,” Chris said, solemnly. Indeed, inside the house, Ms. Taylor was sitting on the couch opposite the Horners. Neil was in the kitchen feeding Frank.

“Hey, Chris,” Joe greeted as Chris came through the door. “Why don’t you join us? I’ve just been telling Ms. Taylor here what a wonderful job you’ve been doing with Sally’s.”

Ms. Taylor got up and extended her arm in greeting. Chris took it and gave her a firm handshake.

“Welcome to our home, Ms. Jackson. We were told that you might come over. I’m glad you’re here.”

“Why, thank you, Christopher. It’s a pleasure meeting you. You’ve got some lovely in-laws here. They speak very highly of you, and that fiancé of yours—my, my what a handsome fella! You’re a lucky guy.”

Chris blushed.
In-laws? Fiancé? What had they told her?
He sat down next to Joe on the couch and smiled pensively.

“So,” Ms. Taylor began, “I understand that you wish to look after your brother?”

“Yes, ma’am, I do. I’ve always loved Frank, and I took care of him for as long as I lived here.”

“I understand. Might I ask why you left so suddenly?” Chris blushed at the question.

Jessica interrupted, “It wasn’t his fault. It was mine. I sort of, accidentally, outed him before our parents and our daddy threw him out.”

Ms. Taylor took notes and nodded. “I see. Well, we can’t hold that against you, now, can we? See, Christopher—may I call you Chris?” He nodded. “We at social services know that being gay isn’t a choice or a lifestyle. So you don’t have anything to fear from me. And I think it is admirable that you wish to look after your brother. You have my blessing, and I must say, I think you are a very brave young man to do so. However, I must also make sure you are aware of what it takes to raise a child, particularly a child with special needs, such as Frank. You are lucky you are not alone, and Neil seems as willing as you are to do this. I just have to make sure that we follow the law. Do you understand? I’m not your enemy. I’m simply here to ensure your brother receives the best possible start in life.”

Chris relaxed a bit. This social worker wasn’t anything like he’d expected her to be.

For the next four grueling hours, she interviewed him, asked questions about their life in California, their plans for the future, the apartment, how suitable it was for Frank, and Chris’s plans for his brother. She also toured the house, to see how Frank had lived until now; she asked about Alexandra and her intentions, making clear that she did not see her as a fit guardian, given her own record with the department; finally, she talked some more with Chris and Neil together.

“Now this is really none of my business, but are you boys planning on tying the knot? You see, Frank needs a stable environment, and a married couple is, by definition, more stable than a single father, even if he is in a relationship. It’s just how our law works.” She laughed at her own nosiness. “And you make such a cute couple.”

Neil blushed and said, “We haven’t really had a chance to talk about all this. With the funeral et cetera, we’ve been too busy to consider a wedding.”

“I understand, perfectly. Just keep that in mind. It might give you bonus points, although, from what I’ve seen today, and from what I understand California law looks like, Frank will stand a much better chance of getting proper treatment and development therapy than he has here.

“It may take a while for the paperwork to become final, but you have my blessing and that of my department. You can take him home.”

Chris exhaled loudly, with a big weight taken off his shoulders. “What about Jessica?”

“What about her?” Ms. Taylor asked.

“She won’t be eighteen until February. Can she stay here with Jack, or will you take her away?”

Ms. Taylor chuckled. “Listen, Chris, a seventeen-year-old girl, who is plotting to open up a rental stable with her older brother, is the least of this department’s problems. If you need a piece of paper, I’ll get you one, but otherwise, let’s just assume that Jessica’s file got lost in the stack. Frank is different case altogether, given his age, his disability and with him leaving the state. But in a case like Jessica’s, we don’t get involved unless we have reason to believe she’s in any danger. Let’s let time take its course and before you know it, the dear Lord will have resolved this by granting her another birthday…”

“Thank you!” Chris said. “I think we can all live with that.”

After Ms. Taylor had left, the family sat down for dinner, making plans for the immediate future. For now, Jack and Jessica would stay behind in Lubbock—backed up by the Californians if needed—run the ranch and develop their plans until the property was properly valued and assessed. Once they had all the numbers on the table—and they all had a hunch it would be after Jessica’s birthday—they would reassemble and make their decision then. They would also decide whether or not they needed to buy Alexandra out. In any case, they’d be five against one, and the ranch, unless financially necessary, would not be sold.

Jack had a lot of work to do. He needed to get estimates on what it would cost to run the ranch, the help he would have to hire, the cost of building supplies to fix the house and the barn, and so on. He’d be busy for sure, just as Chris would be. Yet the mood at the table was upbeat.

After dinner, Joe made reservations with the airline for their return flight, which would be even more complex now they had to bring the second wheelchair—a chair that couldn’t be folded and was much more cumbersome to transport.

Frank was fast asleep already, Jack and Jessica were planning and discussing ideas for the ranch, Sarah was doing the dishes, and Chris and Neil decided to go for a walk.

“It’s our last night here,” Chris said. “It’s nice and warm out. Let me show you one of my favorite spots on the property.”

They left the house, and Chris guided Neil down a beaten track, away from the main house and the adjacent barn, back toward a hill.

“Will I even get up there?” Neil asked, staring up at the vast dark hill.