Page 86 of Monster Daddies
Where the hell are my clothes going?she wondered. No one was going to want to steal old jeans, and the backyard fence didn’t even have a gate. Who was going to climb over the top just to take used clothes? It made no sense.
And yet… what other explanation was there? If it had just been the underwear, she’d have assumed the wind had picked them up and blown them away. But jeans? That would take some pretty powerful blowing, and there hadn’t been anything like that.
Ellie was no Sherlock, but when it came to this mystery, she couldn’t let it go. The itch to figure it out had sunk in, and she was determined to find out what was happening. Besides, she didn’t have the money to buy new clothes right now.
Of course, she also couldn’t afford to buy security cameras for her backyard, so she was going to have to come up with something else, hopefullybeforeshe ran out of clean clothes.
Chapter Two
Missing underwear wasn’t the only puzzle in her life. In fact, lately her entire world seemed to be surrounded with mystery. It wasn’t a new experience, but things had come to a head with the passing of her aunt, and, of course, the surprise inheritance.
It seemed that good old Aunt Rose hadn’t liked Ellie’s parents much, and the feelings were mutual. There’d been some argument before Ellie was born. She’d never been given the details, but apparently the blowup had been huge and permanent. They’d never spoken again, even though there was no other family on that side, so Ellie had never met her mother’s sister.
All she knew of the woman was what she’d gleaned from catching the occasional whispered reference, when her folks didn’t know Ellie was listening. They rarely spoke of her otherwise, and never to Ellie, but now and then she’d walk into a room at just the right time to hear something that she justknewwas about Rose.
And it was never much, because they shut up the second they saw her. Never anything that would explain it all. Instead she had collected an assortment of adjectives like eccentric, solitary, introvert, and one life-changing one… lepidopterist. That lastone had caught her attention because it was a word she’d never heard before, and of course she had to go and find out what it meant.
It was somewhat disappointing. For a few minutes she’d thought she’d stumbled onto a key to the mystery, but Lepidopterist wasn’t an exotic disease, or some weird religion. It was… butterflies. Her aunt was apparently into studying moths and butterflies.
It was a letdown, but she got interested in the subject in spite of herself. Before she knew it, she was reading everything she could find about lepidoptery. She thought her parents might take notice of it and discourage her. After all, if Rose was interested in the subject, it had to be bad, right?
But they didn’t seem to make the connection and showed no concern. Her mother even took her to the library to get a stack of books about moths and butterflies. While it started there, it wasn’t long before her interest spread out to include all insects, and then animal life in general. By the time she’d finished high school, she’d been set on majoring in biology.
And she’d done it, walking away with a BA. Of course, she’d only realized later that she’d need to further her education if she wanted to be more than a substitute science teacher. It paid well enough, and she didn’t mind the work, but substitutes could only follow the plans they were given, and they were never in the same class for more than a few days.
Finding a permanent position was almost impossible without years of moving around as a substitute, and she didn’t qualify for a real teaching position anyway. She’d have to go back to school, pass state exams, and then the student teaching— it was all a lot to think about, especially when she wasn’t even sure teaching science was what she wanted to do long term.
There had to be something more exciting. She wanted to do research, maybe discover a new species and write about it. Thatwould be an adventure, but those dreams weren’t practical. They didn’t pay the bills.
It was a problem for future Ellie to solve. Though once she got settled in, she did intend to take the required training so she could jump back into subbing. It paid a lot more than clerking in a grocery store, and if she decided to go on and be a teacher permanently, the requirements were a little easier in West Virginia.
But she couldn’t help noting that her life had been shaped by a woman she’d never met. She was here in a state she’d never intended to live in, because of the house Rose had left her. She had a science degree, and hopefully, someday, would actually get to use it more directly, because of Aunt Rose and the mystery that surrounded her.
She wondered if the woman had known she’d influenced her niece’s life even before the inheritance. Probably not. How could she? But it was true. Ellie had even toyed with the idea of going to visit Rose. She wouldn’t have told her parents, of course, but she’d thought hard about taking a road trip down to West Virginia to solve a few mysteries. She wished she’d gone through with it, because now it was too late.
Whatever mysteries Aunt Rose had held, had died with her. Ellie didn’t even know why she’d been left with the house, not really. The most obvious explanation was that their family tree was very small. Other than her parents, there just wasn’t anyone else left.
Still, she could have left it to a charity or something, and Ellie was grateful the woman hadn’t let the grudge carry over to her only niece. Or maybe Rose specifically left it to her out of spite. What better way to get one last dig in at her sister, then by passing her over in the will, and leaving everything to Ellie.
Guess I’ll never know.If the latter had been her goal, it might have worked. It was hard to say, but her parents were definitelyupset when the letter from the lawyer arrived. First, because they hadn’t known Rose was dead, but also, because it clearly stated that all her worldly possessions had been left to Ellie, including the house.
And then there was the stipulation that Ellie had to live in the house for at least six months before selling it, if she chose to, nearly sent her mother, Sally, into a complete meltdown. Which was odd really… her mother was usually very composed.
“You can’t possibly be considering this, Eleanor!”
“Mom… it’s a house. Are you seriously telling me I should turn down a house? Who does that?” Ellie demanded, shaking her head. “With house prices the way they are, it’s practically the only way I’ll get one before I’m forty.” She wasn’t exaggerating either. In her city, at least, even renting a decent place was out of her reach, which was why she still lived with her parents.
“You don’t want this house.” Her mother folded her arms across her chest and gave Ellie a firm look. The kind of look that would have made her back down when she was sixteen, but she wasn’t a teenager anymore.
She was twenty-eight years old and had been given an amazing gift. It would be ridiculous, irresponsible even, to turn it down. She had no interest in moving to West Virginia, a place she’d never even visited, but it was only six months. If she didn’t like it, she could spend the time preparing the house and then put it on the market.
“C’mon, Mom. Of course I want a free house,” she said, sighing.
“Just because something is free, doesn’t mean it’s good, or…” Sally trailed off. She looked past Ellie, eyes meeting her husband’s with an obvious plea for backup.
Bill cleared his throat and shifted awkwardly. “Ellie, I think what your mother is trying to say, is that this might be more than you want to take on right now. Houses require a lot ofwork. There will be repairs, maintenance, taxes, and unexpected emergencies that you won’t have the money to cover. Besides, weren’t you planning to go back to school soon?”
Ellie could only stare at them both. Why were they being like this? How could they not see this as an amazing opportunity? “Dad, even if I hate owning a home, and can’t keep up with everything, it doesn’t matter. I only have to live in it for half a year, then I can sell it and have enough money for another place, or maybe to pay off my student loans.”
