Page 33 of Miles. Alton & The 9:04 (Modern Mail Order Brides #19)
A great deal happened in the Brown’s lives in three weeks, much of which Mae was still trying to wrap her mind around as they prepared for the arrival of her family.
The first week after returning from Chicago, Jiminy, still missing Petr but having found a new connection with Megan, arrived to help unload the moving truck.
Megan, delighted to have something else to do and another soul to talk to, happily aided Mae in setting up the barndominuim for her family’s arrival.
More shopping needed to happen for sheets, towels, bedding, along with stocking the pantry in the barndominuim with foods her family liked to eat since Thom was adamant that they were not staying in his house.
He didn’t think a quick tour of their living space by her mother, sister, nieces and sister-in-law was necessary either, but he understood women would want to be nosey.
He walked past the dining room, noticing the china in the cabinet.
These, he surmised, must have been in the boxes Mae had kept stored in the storage unit.
He recognized the blue Royal Albert place setting along with the matching tea set and dinner service.
He stared at the china cabinet, realizing his wife must have saved for a long time or really ran up a credit card to own the sets.
In his mind, he couldn't think of any friends to invite over to sit and have a meal on such regal dinnerware, but then he thought of Aunt Sue and Kimbrae having tea at the dining room table with the adorable petit four plates. He was smiling when she walked up.
“Admiring the china?”
“Yes, Wedgewood. Royal Albert. Must have set you back a few pennies,” he said.
“No, Elsa Stanhope gave it to me along with the dining room table and china cabinet,” she told him.
“You know, charitable, tax-deductible hand-me-downs to the poor, misfortunate black girl.
I didn't argue. I accepted all of that shit and put it in my storage unit. Look at it now in our nice home. Thank you, Elsa Stanhope.”
“Cheers to Elsa Stanhope,” he said, nodding in agreement. “Oh, I have something for you.”
“For me?” she asked, looking down at his crotch.
“Yeah, that too, but later,” he said, laughing.
Thom took her by the hand and led her outside, coming around the side of the house to a blue Hyundai Sante Fe. Mae's mouth dropped open at the sight of the SUV. She pointed at herself, then at the vehicle.
“It's not new, but it has low miles, god gas mileage and is gently used,” he said. “I hope it's okay. You have a lot to get done and need room to load in stuff you’re buying around town. You like it?”
“Thom, I love it,” she said, opening the door to her like new vehicle.
Mae sat behind the wheel, feeling the soft leather seats and taking note of the features.
When she started it up, she tried not to cry but couldn't help herself.
The tear fest didn't stop during the second week either, when Mae took a flight into Chicago to pick up her train engine.
She drove it to Alton, coming in on the 9:04 line and was shocked to see her husband in the old train station, hitting the switch to change the lines, allowing Mae to steer off the 9:04 line onto her private track which led into her own barn.
The barn also held her tools, toys, and all the items she had kept in storage to maintain her train engine.
She had her own garage for Big Black where she could drive the engine into the rear doors to park it and out the front doors to take Big Black for a ride on the lines.
Tears ran down her cheeks in sheer joy at no longer having to pay storage fees to house her baby or have men come over to mansplain to her how to care for her engine when she was the one who actually had the experience and knowledge, being a former engineer herself.
“This is simply amazing,” she told him. “I also have a gift for you.”
“A gift for me?”
“Yes,” she said wiping away the tears. Mae led Thom inside of the home and presented him with a small box, wrapped neatly with a red ribbon. He gave her a side eye-glance as he opened it, looking inside. Not understanding, he removed the item.
He spoke softly, “A brown rubber duck?”
“I’m adding to the collection on your dash in the Jeep,” she told him. “The next one I give you shall be a brown little duckling.”
He laughed, understanding the reference and meaning of adding the brown duck to his life. A smile formed on his lips as she pointed at the box. Inside was a slip of paper which looked very familiar. It was a deposit slip from K. Phillips and Associates, his sister’s accounting firm.
“What is this, Mary?”
Thom looked at it again and realized it was a deposit slip into one of his accounts. The deposit was for one hundred and fifty thousand. He looked at his wife, not understanding.
“A budget is very important to you,” she told him.
“I am giving you back half, if not more, of what you’ve spent to ensure I’m content in my life with you.
The money you have, you sacrificed, sang, and worked hard to earn.
Yes, you want to spoil me, but it doesn’t mean you have to go broke doing it.
As I said, I’m not a pauper by any means. ”
Thom felt a bit choked up. The money wasn’t an issue, since he had it, and really wasn’t doing much with it, but counting it like he would sheep. He wanted to make her happy and give her those things; he didn’t expect her to pay him back.
“Keep looking in the box,” she told him.
Inside, was a neat card, with a note, and photo of a rain forest. Again, he felt confused. His cheeks growing red, thinking maybe, perhaps, he understood.
“I didn’t know whether you had a passport, so our honeymoon is in Puerto Rico,” she said. “We are going to spend a day or so in El Yunque National Forest, hiking, discovering waterfalls, and snapping photos of the wildlife.”
“Mary, this is all, so wonderful,” he said, looking down at the small box which contained answers to unasked questions. His wife understood him. “You asked Kimbrae to put these funds into my account?”
“She is now my accountant as well,” Mae said. “I simply asked her to replace the funds removed from your accounts to pay for the additions, with the funds from one of mine.”
“Just a boss ass baller, aren’t you?”
“And you know this, my love,” she said with a wink repeating his earlier words. “Relax. I've got you.”
Mae said, laughing. She winked at him, heading outside again to look at the vehicle he’d purchased.
The color was a similar blue to the color she’d painted on the dining room walls.
Her husband paid attention to the details.
She had more work to get done and more details to handle as she prepared for the arrival of her family.
****
M EGAN ARRIVED AT THE beginning of the third week, helping with the details of the family housing.
“How big is your family, that he had to build all of this?” Megan asked.
“Brother, wife, two kids. Sister, husband, two kids, and my parents,” she said. “Thom wanted them to be comfortable, plus he has a large family as well, so when they come, there is room.”
“Cool. This is neat, is this like a teen zone?”
“Yes, there is a gaming unit, a tv, a streaming device, and lots of microwave popcorn,” Mae said, laughing.
She and Megan spent three days preparing the space for her folks’ arrival, and they came in on the Lincoln Silver Line on Friday, supposedly arriving by 11, but the family couldn't get to the station in time for the 7:15 a.m. departure.
They left later on the 9:50 and did not arrive until nearly two in the afternoon.
Megan volunteered to serve as a family Uber to get the Westons from the train station to the homestead in her vehicle.
Thom was on the platform when the family arrived with entirely too much luggage for a simple weekend stay.
He squinted his eyes in question, knowing in his heart that come Monday morning, all of their asses would be back at the same station getting the hell out of his town.
He offered a smile as he greeted the patriarch.
“Mr. Weston, you and your wife will ride with Mary,” he said. “Jae, Doc, and the girls you're with me. Fae, Rick, and the boys, you'll ride with our friend Megan.”
Rick looked at Megan and frowned. Megan, not biting her tongue, said, “Or you can take a cab; either way, it's fine by me, or you can get in the truck and I drop you guys off.”
Rick held up his hands as if he were surrendering, and Fae smiled at her. “Are you my sister's friend?”
“Only her best friend, I guess, second to you,” Megan said, offering a wide smile as the family piled into the vehicles.
In the past three weeks, with so much activity happening on the property, Thom had fencing and privacy gates installed to keep nosey people and lookee loos from getting too inquisitive to come explore the homestead.
The gates made him feel a bit more secure with Mae being on the property alone most of the day.
The cars drove past the old train depot, crossing over the tracks and passing the main house. They drove around back coming to the barndominuim. Rae Weston was leaning forward in the seat.
“Mae, you live in this?”
“No Daddy, Thom and I live in the house we passed, the one over there,” she said. “Here is where you guys are staying this weekend.”
“We aren't staying with you?” her mother asked.
“You're here, therefore you're with me,” Mae said, cutting the engine. “Come on inside and take a look about.”
The kids were out of the vehicle first as Thom opened the doors to the unit. The family piled in, staring, looking, uncertain what they were seeing.