Page 37

37

Evan

I met Mr. Hallock for the first time on a Wednesday when he and his family showed up at the restaurant for lunch. “Please, can you join us?” he asked.

I really should’ve been focused on preparing for our busy lunch shift, but I knew the older man was ill and had still come all this way, so I decided to make it happen. Besides, I really did want to speak with him about the manor.

I seated them on the far side of the restaurant, so we could speak candidly without other guests listening in, then got the young woman Christie had hired to help me manage the dining room to finish getting the tables ready before the rush hit us.

Mr. Hallock bragged about how beautiful it all looked. “I’m so glad you kept the décor. We hired a woman who’d been a designer back in the nineteen thirties to design the first floor. It was hard to convince her to come out of retirement and put this together for us,” he said.

“I love it. We just cleaned up and reupholstered the furniture. It’s great.”

He smiled. “I know you’re busy, but I wanted to come tell you about your grandmother and great-grandmother before it’s too late for me to do so.”

“Thanks, I’d like that,” I said, and the old man nodded happily before launching into his story.

“Your grandmother came to live with my mother and father after her mother’s incarceration. Neither of my folks thought she was guilty. Leon Cordelia had several enemies, and they even said it was more likely he’d pissed off the wrong person. It was an open secret that his son Andre took his own life, although I think at the time, the powers that be would’ve done whatever was necessary to convict Inez. Telling lies and faking a death certificate was a means to an end for that dirty bunch of crooks.”

He shook his head sadly, before continuing, “Regardless, it was your great-grandmother, Inez, who found the old fart. Now, it’s so obvious what happened. The old man’s death led to Andre’s suicide. Andre left the estate to your great-grandmother. But Leon’s cohorts… they maneuvered things, rigged the courts, and got Inez convicted so they could steal this place. It wasn’t until Andre’s will was found in the Portland Library that we understood all that.”

He took a drink of water, his hands shaking ever so slightly. “Your grandmother, she was my babysitter back in the day,” he chuckled. “She was always such a riot. I loved her.”

He sighed, his mind clearly awash in memories, then he looked up at me. “Did you know my mother and your great-grandmother were best friends? We lived in the cottage where Deke tells me you’re living now. I grew up there for a while. After Inez was taken away, we moved to the farm. But the cottage, that was always my home. It’s a great house,” he said, winking at me before continuing.

I listened intently as he shared memories of the cottage, the lake, and the swans. “Oh, I loved growing up here. I know things have been bad for your family, first your great-grandmother, then your poor grandmother,” he said.

“My grandmother? What happened?” I asked, and he paused, looking sad.

“She didn’t tell you? I probably shouldn’t either, but, well, things like that shouldn’t be kept secret,” he said, leaning in close and speaking softer. “Your grandmother was a product of rape. My mom talked about it. Then I’ll be damned if the same didn’t happen to your grandma. Years later, after I got the contract to turn the manor into a hotel and restaurant, I tried hard to get your grandmother to move back here, to live in the cottage by the lake. We’d all been happy there once.” He shook his head sadly. “She refused. It wasn’t until the end that she decided to take a stand. To fight for her mama’s good name.”

He took another drink and then squared me with a look. “Your family has more rights to the estate than anyone. I’m glad I got to be a steward for a while, but this should’ve always been yours. If only I were younger or in better health,” he said, looking over at Deke before sighing, a small smile forming on his face. “Things move on, though. Deke is taking over and doing great things with the company. You and that Beacroft boy will do good things here too. Deke thinks so, and my grandson has a second sense about him when it comes to these things.”

My eyebrows rose at the mention of Cary and me, but I just smiled at him. “Um, sir. Can I ask? We found a trunk of my great-grandmother’s things in the cottage. Were there other things that belonged to her?”

Mr. Hallock shook his head. “No, son, I’m afraid not. The only reason those things were there was because your grandmother never came back for them. The entire second and third floors of the manor had to be gutted and rebuilt to make it into a hotel with bathrooms and modern facilities. I’m afraid nothing’s left of those days.”

I nodded, figuring that would be the case. “Thank you, sir,” I said, and was about to leave since the lunch rush had begun.

“Son, remember what I said. This is your place, your birthright, and despite all the pain, there’s been as much, if not more, beauty. Think about that before tossing it away.”

I nodded and shook his hand. “Thank you. I really appreciate you saying that.”

I rushed to help with the crowd, but occasionally I looked over to find Mr. Hallock looking in my direction. There was sadness in his expression, and I guessed it was for not having known me, or not having much time left to get to know me.

He’d cared about my grandmother, that I could tell, and I had to wonder since he grew up with her, if maybe he hadn’t thought of her as a sibling.

I knew from the attorney that he’d testified before the estate committee on my grandmother’s behalf. Now, I understood more about why.

By the time the crowd settled, the Hallock family had gone. It made me sad because I knew I likely wouldn’t see the old man again. I wished my grandmother had been willing to confide in us about her life here and the family she’d had, even if they hadn’t been her biological kin.

Considering the details, I couldn’t blame her. As I helped the bussing kids finish the tables, I wondered what my life would’ve been like if I’d grown up here, playing in the woods between the estate, the river, and the Pacific. It was hard to imagine it being more different from the childhood I’d had.

All things considered, though, I grew up happy. Poor, sometimes wondering where the next meal would come from or where we would live, but happy and loved unconditionally by my dad and my grandmother.

We might’ve been the products of some bad, if not tragic, unions, but that didn’t negate the beauty of the family we’d created in spite of it.

Mr. Hallock continued to fill my thoughts as the days wore on. Finally, I decided I wanted to visit him again. Unfortunately, the following weekend, Deke called Cary to ask if he’d act as a pallbearer at his grandfather’s funeral. Despite the progress he’d been making with the chemotherapy treatments, he’d suffered a stroke the night before and had passed away in his sleep.

Even though I barely knew the man, his death brought up all the heavy feelings of loss I was still suffering from when my grandmother and dad had died. Cary found me that night curled in a ball in the middle of my bed, crying my eyes out.

I probably should’ve been embarrassed, but having his arms wrapped around me felt better than anything else. I needed to feel like, at least for a while, someone cared enough to hold me while I mourned the loss of the only people who’d ever loved me.