Page 20 of Sensing Selma
Mother’s gaze had turned inward, and her lips had pressed a sad line. “Your father had a lot of big dreams. But he also had a tendency to be all over the place. He wanted to bring tropical plants to the garden, and he wanted to remodel our private bathroom. He once got it into his head that he should trim the trees along the drive...topiaries. He saw himself as a sort of artist who could trim trees to look like a cat or a bird or an umbrella.”
“Father? An artist?”Holly had said. “That’s hard to imagine.”
Mother chuckled as she looked at us. “He discovered quickly enough that he had no talent for it.”
I looked at her and smiled. “Is that what happened to that line of trees we used to have? Father destroyed them?”
“Pretty much,” she said with a laugh.
It was good to hear her laughter through this hard time. But her smiles, her laughter, her well-being was fleeting. Her smile mingled with tears and the finality of it all.
“If only my physical state wasn’t so bad,” Mother lamented.“I could have helped him with the house, done more around, been able to do more on my own instead of constantly needing help from anyone.”Tears welled up in frustration.
Instantly, my heart fell.While I was too worried about the financial state of my situation, as well as Holly’s and Mother’s; Mother was going through the worse, blaming herself for Father’s failure, feeling the tremendous guilt of everything, yet helpless to do anything about it.
“Mother, don’t blame yourself,” I said.“It isn’t your fault.Things happen, and we just have to make the best of it.”
I’d longed to tell her of Brad’s plans to talk to his brother, but I feared getting her hopes up only to let her down.
However, when I’d helped her to bed that night, I’d clumsily sought the words that would reassure her.
“No matter what, remember that we’ll always be there for you.We still have each other.We’re still a family.Try to think of this as an adventure.”
She’d smiled, closed her eyes sleepily while patting my hand.
But now, as I stood on our front porch and sipped my coffee, I watched Jeremy come up the drive with heavy pessimism. My heart pounded. Had Brad already spoken to him?
He pulled up to the door and got out. “Enjoying a last coffee in your old house?”he shot out.
Okay, so clearly Brad hadn’t talked to him yet. That, or he hadn’t succeeded in convincing him.
“Good morning, Mr.Baker,” I said. “Have you brought your measuring stick and trusty notepad today?”
He shot me a questioning glare.
“I am here today to ensure that every room on the upper levels is empty.”
“Well, of course they’re not,” I said. “While my mother has recently been moved downstairs, my sister and I are still sleeping in our own rooms.”
He made a show of looking at his watch. “You have four days, Miss Selma. Four days until you are officially out of this house. I suggest you get your personal items out of this house, or I will have no choice but to consider those items as my own.”
I took a sip of my coffee, disgusted by the man. How could such a foul man have raised such a level-headed little brother?
I leveled my gaze on him. “You would keep the bed of an old and infirmed woman?”
“If there is value in that bed, then yes, I will keep it.”
Thankfully, Brad pulled up at this moment, stopping me from telling Jeremy what I really thought of him.
“It’s about time you show up, little brother,” Jeremy shot at him the moment Brad stepped out of his car.
While both were elegant, luxury cars, Brad’s was shiny and clean while Jeremy’s was dusty, and food wrappers along with used tissue paper crumpled up into little balls, littered the front passenger seat.
Brad smiled and winked at me as he walked up to his brother. “Sorry about that, boss.”
Jeremy puffed his chest out and arrogantly sniffed the air. “Come on,” he said as he passed by me and entered the house. “We have work to do.”
Brad reassuringly patted my arm as he passed me. “I’m going to talk to him,” he whispered.
