Page 45 of Nash Falls

“Mr. Nash?” she said. Parker looked frightened, and gave a quick glance behind her.

“Hello, Rosie, and it’s just Walter, okay?”

She kneaded her fists into her thighs and jerkily nodded. “Right, okay, W-Walter.”

“I came to pick up some things, and also to tell you that my father left you a life interest in the house. You’ll also inherit a substantial amount of money from him.”

“Money?” she said cautiously.

“Yes, a quarter of a million dollars.”

She slumped against the wall. “Where did Ty getthatkind of money?”

“He didn’t tell you about his Agent Orange settlement?”

Open-mouthed, she shook her head. “No, nothing.”

“Well, that’s where it came from. I will have those funds placed into your account. You will be responsible for the property taxes and utilities and such, but the house is yours for as long as you are alive.”

The decision to give her the life interest had been made on the plane ride back. He had also decided to let Parker believe that his father had left her the life estate outright. He had a pretty good idea why his father had given him the right to make that decision.

Nash saw tears trickle down her cheeks and he diplomatically glanced away.

She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Well, that… that was so awfully, awfully kind of him.”

Now Nash looked at her. “He obviously thought a lot of you.”

“Well, I thought a lot of him, Mr. N—Walter.”

“I’m just here to go over some of my parents’ effects.”

“Um, Walter, can I… show you something first?”

“Okay,” he said, looking puzzled.

The house was spic-and-span clean, and many of the furnishings looked relatively new, while a very few he recalled from his childhood. His mother had been a disorganized person, with odd things ending up in odder places. But his father’s military background had lent itself to a neatness approaching compulsivity. Nash had also always kept his personal and business spaces meticulous.

Like my father, he thought soberly.

“Just up the stairs here,” said Parker.

It was an enclosed staircase. Nash remembered the various times he had jumped from the top step to the bottom to land on some pillows and blankets he had piled there. Once he had crashed into the wall, sending his mother into hysterics, but prompting a show of blunt appreciation from his father.

“That’s how you take on life, sonny boy, with both feet and damn the consequences.”

Yes, damn the consequences.Nash touched his forearm where he’d broken both the radius and the ulna when he’d collided with the wall. He felt himself smiling at the memory but then quickly became all business again as they reached the top landing and Rosie led him to Nash’s old bedroom. She opened the door slightly and peeked through the gap.

“Okay, she’s awake.”

A startled Nash said, “I’m sorry,whois awake?”

In answer she pushed the door fully open and led him inside. “My mother.”

CHAPTER

22

THE WOMAN LYING IN THEbed looked to be well into her eighties, thought Nash as he drew a bit closer. The twin-size bed seemed to dwarf her emaciated frame, although he noted that her legs were long with bony knees propping up the covers.