Billy had been given the tour. He couldn’t quite get over it. He kept teasing Ian that his house was bigger than the whole town they came from. Ian was enjoying the look on Ronnie’s face as he pulled Billy from room to room, pointing out everything he thought was important.
Ian couldn’t help but feel there was something on Billy’s mind. He smiled and laughed and was the Billy he had always known, but there was something behind it all, intrepidation, like he’d drawn the short straw.
He would wait. Some time later in the evening they’d be alone. Once Ronnie was in bed and Ian was safe from the clutches of that cat, he’d get Billy out on the patio, a couple of glasses, crack open a new bottle and they’d talk.
Reese sat down on the coffee table right in front of Ronnie and rubbed the boys knees. “Hey, buddy. I want to chat with you just a minute.”
“’Kay.” The boy chirped.
Billy nodded and got up from the couch and walked outside. Reese slipped over right beside the boy, where Billy had been, and slipped his arm around Ronnie. “Listen, you know where I’ve been this week, right?”
Ronnie nodded, but said nothing. “There’s not a whole lot left, but your Grampaw, and Billy and I have been working real hard to clean everything up and make it…well, at least look nice.”
“I know.” Ronnie said. He started to skootch forward a bit, but Reese pulled him back, as far into his lap that he could.
“We’ve found a few things, not a lot.” Reese made the boy look at him. “But a few things we thought you might want to have.”
Billy re-entered the living room and put a cardboard box on the coffee table in front of them. He looked at Reese and the boy and sat down on the edge. “Buddy, you may not be ready to look at this stuff yet, but someday you’ll want to. We’ll put this anywhere you want, until you’re ready to go through it and remember.”
Ian got up from his chair and went over to the boy. He kissed him on the forehead. “Ronnie, I know it’s hard, believe me I know exactly how much it hurts, but hopefully it will bring back as many good memories as bad.”
“There’s a box for you, too.” Billy said.
“Actually, there’s a whole lot of stuff in the plane.” Reese kept softly rubbing Ronnie’s arm, but looked at Ian. “We just pulled out the two boxes we could fit in the back of my little compact. The rest we’ll get out when you decide…”
“I will, if you will.” Ronnie interrupted.
“What?” Ian asked.
“I’ll go through that box, if you’ll go yours.” Ronnie said.
Ian couldn’t help but catch the look in Tippy’s eye. “Right now?”
“Right now.”
He nodded his head and Billy got up and went back out to the patio. Jesse picked up the box for Ronnie while Colton moved the coffee table. Ian sat in the floor by the couch as Billy brought a cardboard container and sat it in front of him.
“If there’s a cat in this box, you are both dead meat.” Ian said, breaking the tension with laughter.
“Actually, the kitten has already been taken care of.” Reese said.
“There was another kitty?” Tippy asked.
Billy looked up. “My daughter found the Mama cat and the other babies. My sister took in the mother, I let Vonnie have one and my oldest brother gave one to his grandson. That left just one.”
“David Turner wanted it.” Reese said.
“Mr. Turner?” Ronnie looked up.
“Yep. Called me all the way in Virginia and told me to bring it to him. He was waiting on the tarmac when we landed.”
“I am surprised.” Tippy said.
“It was love at first sight.” Reese said. “Poor little thing was so scared the whole flight. As soon as it took one look at Mr. Turner, he jumped right into his arms. Mr. Turner just held it and stroked it to sleep. When the limo pulled away he had a huge grin on his face.”
“I’m glad.” Ronnie said. “Mr. Turner needs somethin’ to love and somethin’ to love him back.”
“But a cat?” Ian curled his upper lip.
“Hey!” Ronnie looked at his father. “No comments from the peanut gall’ry.”
Ian opened the lid to his box. He looked in and immediately looked up at Billy. “Why did you guys save this thing?”
“What is it?” Tippy peered into the box.
He reached in a pulled it out.
“Okay…that’s hideous.” Colton agreed. “What is it?”
Ian rolled his eyes. “It’s a wind chime I made in the sixth grade.”
Ronnie giggled. Ian looked at him. “Remember that laugh when you bring a shop project home. ‘Kay?”
“Do you remember what you did with it?” Billy asked.
“I gave it to Aunt Hil. She smiled and said she loved it, then hung it in a far corner of the house where no one could ever see it. Even she knew it was awful, but she was kind enough to spare my feelings.”
“She didn’t think it was awful.” Billy said. “The first time I met her she took me right to it. She was so proud of it. She told me you had made it for her and she hung it outside her bedroom window. She said every time she heard it, it made her feel like you were thinking about her.”
“And now it’s passed on.” Tippy smiled. “You know my grandmother once told me that wind chimes were the doorway to heaven. That people in heaven could look out through them when the wind blew, kind of like curtains on a window.”
“I’m not sure whether that’s sweet or creepy.” Jesse said.
“Oh you…” Tippy walked over and took them out of Ian’s hands. “These aren’t the prettiest I’ve ever seen, but I know the perfect spot to hang ‘em.” Off she went.
Ian looked over at Ronnie. “Bubba, what you got in there?”
Ronnie opened the lid to his box and his eyes got large. “My tractor!” He reached in like it was Christmas pulling out a large metal tractor with wheels. In swift order, out came a carrying case, a little melted, that contained five little matchbook cars in good condition. There were a few other odds and ends, a few books, a jacket and a stuffed monkey named Bertie.
Bertie went to the laundry room, everything else was arranged in places of honor in Ronnie’s room. There were a few other things, Ian was informed, things belonging to either Janie or Kyle still safe in the plane. They would be brought over and stored until Ian felt Ronnie would either be ready or old enough to appreciate them.
Ian’s box was mostly roots wrapped in wet newspaper. What was able to be rooted and transplanted from the mass of shrubs and flowers around the house where brought to California to take root in a new home. Ronnie obviously a budding gardener, wanted to get them in the ground immediately. Tippy and Ian talked him into waiting until the morning.
As Ian made sure his son was fast asleep and the feline demon spawn was purring away beside him, he kissed the boy’s forehead and closed the door. Billy was getting unpacked and most of the others had left for next door.
Tippy was still in the living room cleaning up a few stray bits of mess. “He asleep?” She asked. Ian nodded. “Well, Baby Doll, I’ll run home. I promised Ronnie I’d come over first thing and help in the garden. He’s so excited.”
She kissed Ian on the cheek and squeezed his hand. “Breakfast here in the morning?”
Ian nodded. “Tippy could you stay and help me just a minute?”
“Sure, Baby Doll. What you need?”
Ian went to the closet and pulled out an old crock and another box. “This is stuff we brought back the first time. I just shoved in here and didn’t want to think about it. Will you help me put it away?”
Tippy smiled. “Of course, Baby Doll.”
He handed her the crock and slipped the box out. “And this…what do you make of this?” Ian turned around holding up the painting Ronnie had found in the barn and traded for things now in ashes on the ground.
Tippy’s mouth dropped open and looked at the painting in the stairwell on the other side of the room. “Where did you get that? It looks almost like…”
Ian nodded his head. “Ronnie said he and Kyle found it in the barn. It has Herman Elysian’s signature on it. Any idea how it made it from this house to Lost Mountain?”
“Baby Doll, I wouldn’t have the slightest idea.” She looked closer. “It’s beautiful.”
“I’m wondering if maybe our little Untitled Masterpiece there is actually a series…obviously it is of at least of two.”
“Herman painted all the time.”
“What happened to it all?”
“He gave it away. Like the one in your office, he gave that one to David Turner, but I’ve never seen anything else like that one until now. What are you going to do with it?”
“I’m not sure.” Ian flipped it so he could look. “My study. I love looking at the other, it inspires me for some odd reason. As soon as I’m sure it doesn’t bother my boy, I’ll hang it in the study.” He leaned it against the wall and picked up his box and went back into the living room.
Of course, Tippy was busy picking up the little objects that had been dropped in the old crock. “This is cute.” She held up a little old man with wings.
“There’s a little old woman in there somewhere to match.” Ian put his box on the couch and folded back the flaps, first pulling out an old black skillet. “I’m going to put this in the pantry and just use it to make breakfast on special occasions.”
“No honey.” Tippy shook her head. “Your Aunt Hil wouldn’t like that. You put that with the other pans, and use it everyday.”
He nodded. “Most of this is stuff that Janie gathered. She said it was things that Aunt Hil had told her over the years she wanted to make sure I got.”
Tippy stopped taking kick knacks out of the crock and went to sit beside Ian. She rubbed his back and looked in with him. “Her Bible.” She smiled.
Ian took it out and held it close, smiling as best he could. “Her family Bible.” He opened it up and carefully turned some of the yellowing pages. He stopped a moment and looked up. “She has my name and Ronnie’s written in it.”
“Of course, she does.” Tippy said softly.
When he closed it, Tippy took it and tenderly laid it on the coffee table. His face brightened when he took out the next, a big cedar box. It took most of the bottom of the box. Ian held it to his face and breathed.
“I always loved the smell of cedar.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“I was never allowed in her bedroom, but from the door I could see this sitting on her chest of drawers. She kept everything she thought was important in here.” Ian moved the now empty box from the coffee table and placed it tenderly there. He carefully opened the lid.
“This is so well made.” Tippy touched the wood.
“Her grandfather probably made it for her. There’s a rocker, too. I know he made that. Reese made me bring it. He said he’d put it somewhere until I needed it.”
“Needed it?”
“To rock my own babies in, the way Aunt Hil rocked me and my mama.” Ian took his fingertips and touched a few of the pieces of cheap jewelry the box contained. There were some folded papers, a few coins, the sort of keepsakes that no one could possibly think was worth saving, but the person who put them there. “Aunt Hil…” was all he could say.
Tippy looked up and saw Billy standing there. “Is that…?” Billy got on his knees beside Ian and looked with sad wonder at the contents.
“Did you know Miss Hilary, too?” Tippy asked.
Billy smiled, not looking up. “Oh, yeah. She loved every one she met. When I came to visit the first time, she stole my heart and never gave it back.” He picked up a little blue string of glass beads. “Vonnie loved these. Any time we visited Miz Hil, she’d let her wear them. Vonnie thought she was so grown up.”
“Vonnie?” Tippy asked.
“My daughter. She’s four.” Billy said.
Ian pulled out the string and put them in Billy’s hand. “Here, don’t let her ever forget.”
Billy gave them a kiss and put them back in the box. “They belong here. Some day, when Vonnie’s older you can give them to her. We’ll make sure she never forgets.”
Tippy slipped out, leaving the two men on their knees in the living room sharing silent memories. They picked up little pieces, passing them back and forth like they were gold, instead of inexpensive odds and ends that for the moment made some one they had both cared about deeply live again.
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