Chapter 9
I lay beside Lisa Marie until I was certain she was sound asleep, then I carefully got out of bed and slipped out of the bedroom so I didn't disturb her. After virtually tiptoing downstairs, I picked up the telephone and called home. First, I tried to get through to Pam and Joe to let them know about Lisa-Marie, but there was no answer there, so I dialled Mom and Dad's number.
"Hi Mom, it's Tom." I said when she answered. "How is the weather down there on the flatlands?"
"Oh Tom, it's a good thing you called, I was worried. I hope you and Lisa-Marie have stayed on your farm. The radio is warning people to stay off of the roads." She answered.
"Oh, I hadn't heard the warning about the roads yet, but I haven't been listening to the radio for a while. We're fine and we aren't going to try to drive down to school today." I was thinking fast. "I was trying to get through to Pam earlier and there was no answer, do you know what's going on?"
"Oh, they're over here helping us. The storm blew over part of the wind break down at the main cattle pens and we were all out there moving the cattle to the smaller pens for protection." She explained. "You're lucky you caught me, I was only in the house to get some supplies to treat a cow that got injured by flying debris. We're missing your help right now."
"Sorry I'm not there to help and I won't hold you up, but perhaps you could get Pam to call me later?"
"Certainly. Is it something important?"
"Nothing that won't wait Mom, and nothing earth shattering either. I think I should talk to Pam before saying anything to anyone else though."
"All right, be secretive then." She sighed. "Now I should run, I can call you later if you want."
"Okay Mom, that's fine. Bye for now."
I hung up the phone and then pulled out my wallet and dug out the card for the car salesman I had talked to during the week. I looked at it and hesitated about calling him to warn him that I probably wouldn't make the appointment we had made for the next evening, then decided to wait. After all the storm might blow out overnight, then I could probably make it through to the school the next day and still meet with him and his cohorts.
"That's a very deep frown." Fran said quietly, making me jump.
"Oh, I didn't see you come up behind me." I laughed to relieve my own embarrassment for reacting. "I was just trying to let people know that I don't think I'm going anywhere today."
"Good idea." She nodded. "I wouldn't have disturbed you, but I was wondering if Lisa-Marie was resting easily."
"Yes, it only took moments before she seemed to drop right into a sound sleep."
"That's good. I'm making up a few small packets of herbs in the kitchen, each one just enough for an individual cup of tea. The idea being that if she awakens and is upset during the night, all that anyone would need to do would be to boil water and steep the herbs." She smiled. "I was just checking the immediate results of how she was doing before I went ahead with the idea since each individual person reacts differently to any kind of treatment."
"Are you saying that something could have gone wrong?" I frowned.
"Oh no, I wouldn't expect that, but it doesn't hurt to check that I made the right choices for the herbs that will help her to feel better."
"Sorry, I guess my worrying isn't helping matters, is it."
"I doubt if you can help worrying." She chuckled softly, then to my surprise she hugged me.
"I think it's your nature to worry about your friends and lovers." She murmured softly in my ear as her body moulded to mine.
I suppose I mumbled something, and she chuckled again. I could hardly believe that a woman who was almost sixty could make me react as she did and I knew she must be feeling my arousal. In the position we were in, there was no way I could hide the swelling of the erection that her body brought on. She moved slightly, then as she started to pull away her lips brushed mine for an instant.
"Be good." She laughed softly. "I'm your sweet little old auntie remember? Besides I'm far too old to join your harem, although your reaction is very complimentary for an old woman like me."
Perhaps I blushed, because she broke into soft laughter and then patted me on the shoulder gently.
"All right Tiger, I'll quit teasing. Let's go to the kitchen and make up those packages of herbs." She laughed again.
With Andy and me to help, she made up several different small packages of prepared herbs, enough for a week for Lisa-Marie, but also enough for both Andy and me. When Andy and I questioned her about that, she laughed knowingly.
"I thought you'd ask. What I would like is to have you try these for a week or two. There's certainly nothing in them to harm you and I'd like you to have you see if you get any benefit from them."
"Do you see problems that we're having that we don't notice?" Andy asked.
"Well, Tom is worried about several things that he can't change himself, so it's needless worry and I've given him herbs that will help him to relax, but still think straight. Then too since he's going to be going to school, I've given him one packet for each day that will help him overcome his loneliness and sexual frustration at night to let him sleep easily."
"Oh, I see." Andy giggled. "Well, what about me? What do I need?"
"Well, since you're pregnant, I've mixed a mild treatment that should prevent morning sickness, as well as one to calm and relax your tensions. Then too, since you've just gone through a bad breakup, I've added another herb that's supposed to help prevent heartache."
"You can forget that one." Andy laughed almost viciously. "Maybe you should add one to calm my anger though. If I caught that son of a bitch right now, I'd kick him where it hurts. It's a good thing he won't be around."
"Well, it should help with that too." Fran smiled.
After that brief explanation about each of our individual packets of herbs, she began to talk about the various herbs, explaining what each one was and what it was supposed to do. She even had some small booklets tucked into one corner of her basket that explained the same things in detail, so she gave both Andy and me a copy.
Anything further she was going to say was interrupted when I happened to look out the kitchen window and saw Willy walking up the road. I glanced at my watch and realising it was almost chore time, I decided I'd go help him. I was heading for the door to put on my cold weather clothes when the phone rang, so I answered that on the way.
It was Pam wanting to know why I'd wanted her to call. I spoke to her for several minutes trying to explain about Lisa-Marie. At first Pam sounded quite worried, but when I mentioned that Fran was with us and had started to treat Lisa-Marie with herbs, she seemed to calm down. I didn't realise it, but I'm sure they knew each other, because once I'd mentioned Fran's name, Pam wanted to talk to her. Using the chores and her desire to talk to Fran as an excuse, I said my goodbye's and passed the phone to Fran, then went to get dressed so I could go help Willy.
It was cold outside and even after walking the short distance to the barn, I was glad to get out of the wind and the cold.
"Hey Will, need some help?"
"Oh! Hi Tom. I think I can handle it easily enough, but I won't turn down the company." He grinned at me. "I see you've got a visitor."
"Yeah, Fran Lowther." I grinned back. "It was your sister's idea."
"What?"
"It's a long story, but to make it short, Lisa-Marie has a hard time with her periods and she's been taking drugs to help. Andy was telling me that Fran Lowther could help her with herbs. Since I'm all for using natural methods of medication if possible, Andy and I drove down to see Fran and she followed us back here."
"Umm, do you know about the rumours about Mrs. Lowther and Silas?" He looked at me like he was about to tell me bad news.
"Yes." I laughed. "Actually, I know the truth, not the rumour, directly from the horse's mouth. If you want to know about it, just ask Fran, she's not at all bashful about talking about that. Now, I have a tidbit of news for you, do you know where Fred is?"
"No!" He dropped the bale of hay he was carrying and spun to face me. "Where is the prick?"
"Toronto." I grinned.
"Toronto? How the hell did he get the money to go to Toronto? And, why the hell would he go there?"
"Well, from what I heard, he tried to talk Fran's sons into hiding him down at her place. They didn't like that idea, instead they took him to a bar and took up a collection to get travelling money for Fred. Then they bought his ticket, put him on a plane, and warned him that if he came back, he'd be sorry."
Willy's face went from a deep scowl to a frown, then a grin as he chuckled, a malicious sounding chuckle. He looked at me for a few seconds and his face changed to a neutral look.
"Did you talk to the boys?" He asked quietly.
"No, they hadn't gotten back from the airport." I shook my head negatively. "Why?"
"Oh, I just wondered." His smile took on a knowing look. "You haven't met Mrs. Lowther's sons, have you?"
"No, I don't think so, why?"
"Well, you'd remember if you did." He chuckled maliciously again. "Some people seem to think those boys aren't all human, or at least not civilized."
"Fran's sons? You've got to be kidding me." I stared at him in bewilderment. "I can't believe that after meeting Fran Lowther."
"Oh, they really are great guys, but they look a little wild." He chuckled, still talking as he carried on with the chores. "First off, they're huge, about six foot six, maybe more, and they both have muscles like Atlas. Then too, neither of them shaves or gets a regular haircut. They look like cavemen."
"I take it you think Fred might have been intimidated?" I grinned.
"Oh, Yeah!" He laughed viciously. "On top of that, they can be a bit rough. If they wanted to put the fear of God into Fred, they probably did a very good job of it. I couldn't possibly think of a better pair to escort him out of town, even if I'd have liked to have been along."
"Well, I'm glad he's gone too. The only thing that worries me is the idea that he's been sent somewhere where no one suspects him of being a bastard."
"Yeah, there is that." Willy nodded. "Of course the only reason he got away with what he did here was because he was a sneaky little prick. I think a big city like Toronto would have a lot of those anyway, so people would be on the lookout for guys like him."
"I guess." I sighed, then thought about the idea of living in a city. "I suppose I'm a country boy, but I'm glad it wasn't me. I'd hate to live there."
"Well about now, I'll bet Fred is wishing he didn't live there either." Willy grinned as he gathered the last of the eggs from the chickens. "Just think what he must feel like. He's got limited finances, he's in a strange city and he's got no friends to lean on. He's going to have a rough time because he's a country boy too and he doesn't know his way around."
"Yeah, I guess." I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm glad it's not my worry. Anyway, to change the subject, Andy isn't going to be staying alone this week. Fran doesn't want Lisa-Marie to go to school until she gets those drugs out of her system and she wants to keep an eye on her, so both of them will be here along with Andy."
"Okay, then they're going to be wanting milk and eggs. I'll leave these here and talk to them about what they want me to leave each day." He nodded. "You aren't planning on trying to drive to school tonight are you, not in this damn blizzard?"
"Nope, but I'm hoping the blizzard blows out and a snowplow goes by sometime tomorrow to clear the roads. If I can, I need to be in the city by tomorrow night. I've got a deal going on to try to sell my car and get a pickup truck. On top of that, I don't want to lose any more class time than I have to."
"You're selling the car? Why, what's wrong with the pickup truck that Silas bought a couple of years ago?"
"What pickup truck?" I stared at him in surprise. "I didn't know he had anything except that old two-ton truck."
"Uh, after he gave you the car, he bought a pickup." Willy looked at me strangely. "I thought you knew."
"No." I laughed unsteadily. "Where the hell is it? I've looked in the machine shed and it's certainly not there."
"Oh!" He laughed loudly. "He had me help him change the doors and fix up that old shed where he'd been keeping the car. That's where he kept the pickup."
"Hell! That old shed!" I broke into laughter myself. "Since Uncle Silas died, I've looked around the farm a bit, but I never even thought to look in there, I don't know why."
Willy just shook his head as he grabbed the milk bucket and headed for the cow.
"I really thought you knew." He chuckled as he sat down on a single-legged milking stool. "It's a 4X4 Chevy pickup, full size, with a small V-8 automatic, about four years old or so. Nothing fancy, but in darn good shape and I'd think it had pretty low mileage. In fact, I'd say it was almost perfect for what you need."
"I'll be darned." I leaned against the pen across the way from him. "He couldn't have driven it much if I never saw it."
"No, he didn't. Probably only a couple of times a month, but I'm betting that you could go start it up and drive it away right now." He grinned. "I talked him into running an electric cable to the shed, so he used to plug in the block heater in the winter time. I'll bet it's plugged in and ready to go."
"I get you to come with me after the chores are done and we've popped in the house for a few minutes to warm up a bit. Maybe I'll keep the old car for a while."
"Oh Man, I would!" He laughed. "I really like that old car."
"Yeah, I do too." I agreed. "I was going to have a hard time parting with it."
It was only a few minutes later when we walked back to the house in the driving snow and went inside to warm up with a cup of coffee. For the first few minutes, Willy seemed to be quite shy with Fran and she seemed a bit reserved with him, but it didn't take long before they were more relaxed with each other. I think Willy asking Fran to pass on his thanks to her sons for shuffling Fred onto a plane and out of town probably helped. I know we all had a little chuckle at Fred's expense about how uncomfortable he probably was, then the conversation drifted on and Willy mentioned the pickup truck that I hadn't known existed.
Both Andy and Fran were as surprised as Willy had been that I hadn't known about the pickup truck or about where Silas had kept it. They all teased me about it, but I took their teasing in good humour because it seemed to me that I deserved it. Actually I was quite happy not to be in a position where I was forced to part with the old car right at that moment. I realised that the car still meant too much to me, and brought back too many good memories about Uncle Silas for me to part with it easily.
After we'd had a cup of coffee and had warmed up a bit, Willy and I went out to the old shed and found the pickup. There it sat, covered with a fine sifting of powdered snow that had drifted through the cracks in the walls of the old shed.
It was dark Blue and had a canopy over the full length box. Since it was a full size pickup, it barely fit inside the shed. The keys were in the glove box along with the registration and insurance papers. When I cranked it over, it started on the first try. I only ran it for a few minutes, then shut it off because I wanted to check the fluids before I ran it much. I couldn't even get around to the front, let alone under the hood with it parked in the shed and I certainly didn't want to pull it out of the shed in a blizzard.
I got out of the cab and shut the door, grinning like a mad fool and Willy was grinning almost as much.
"Well? Will it do?" He kidded me.
"It's great." I laughed happily. "The only problem is that it's shoe-horned into this shed so tight that I can't even check the oil. I certainly don't want to keep it here on a regular basis."
"Yeah, I think Silas was going to build a garage next year. He did buy some plywood and timber that stored up in the equipment shed last fall."
"Okay, but we've got two cars as well as the pickup and I'd like to have enough room to move around them. I imagine there won't be near enough material to do what I'd want." I smiled. "We can go see what he bought, then if you'd like, I think the tractor will probably start. Since it's got a front end loader to dig through any snow drifts and a cab to keep us warm, I could give you a ride home."
"Now that sounds like one hell of a deal. I wasn't looking forward to facing the wind as I walked home, not even one little bit." Willy laughed as we closed the doors and turned to slog through the snow to the equipment shed.
When we opened up the door on the equipment shed and turned on the lights, the tractor was facing us and ready to go. Uncle Silas had seldom bought new equipment, but he did go to auction sales and when he bought anything, he bought only good used equipment, then kept it in top shape. The tractor was a perfect example of that. It was an old John Deere, built in the 1960's and although it was well used, it was well maintained. Like the truck, it had a block heater installed and even thought it was a diesel, it started easily.
Ten minutes later, lights blazing against the falling darkness, we were on our way down the road to Willy's Dad's place at a roaring ten miles an hour. The cab of the tractor had never been designed for two full-grown men, but it was certainly a lot better than being outside in about ten degrees of frost, a bitter wind, and driving snow. We did run into one large snowdrift that I scooped out of the road in short order. In fact, I'd driven Willy home and was back in my own yard, putting the tractor away inside of forty-five minutes.
The temperature was dropping, but the snow had stopped and the wind was falling as I closed up the equipment shed for the night after glancing quickly at the pile of 2X4s and plywood that Uncle Silas had bought to build a garage. I was going to need more material than he'd anticipated, but at least it was a start. With that thought in mind, I headed for the house for the night.
"Hey guy, I was starting to think you were going to stay out and play in the snow all night." Andy greeted me with a grin. "Thanks for running Willy home."
"Huh, with it getting dark, I sure didn't want him to walk. It's getting too darn cold for that."
"Well, wash up and sit down. Supper is almost ready and Fran is upstairs checking on Lisa-Marie to see if she's awake enough to eat."
"Oh, did she wake up while I was out?" I asked as I hung up my parka and toque.
"Well, yes and no. She's not really awake. It's more like she was almost in a doze. Very strange."
"I'll wash and then go see her." I took the stairs two at a time.
I was only in the bathroom for a minute, but even in that short time, I realised that Fran had added to the female paraphernalia already there. Now there was a small bowl of leaves and bits of twigs sitting on top of the toilet tank. I think it was called a potpourri or something like that. I just shook my head, wondering if every woman had to put her own brand on any bathroom she used more than once.
In the bedroom, Fran was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding Lisa-Marie's hand and they were talking quietly.
"Am I interrupting something important?" I asked.
"Oh no, not at all." Fran looked up at me and smiled. "I was just telling Lisa-Marie that you wouldn't be long because I'd heard the tractor come back in the yard."
"Hi Tom." Lisa-Marie said quietly, her face looking a lot more relaxed than it had been. "I think Fran's herbs are already helping. I don't seem to be hurting nearly as much as I was, even when I was taking all those pills. I mean, it should be time for another pill, but I don't think I need it yet."
"Hey, that's good news." I grinned and went around the bed to sit on her other side and take her other hand in mine.
"Brrrr, you're still cold." She smiled up at me. "How are the roads?"
"Well, on the way to Willy's the road was mostly clear, but I found a three-foot drift across the road in one place. It started from that willow patch down at the first slough. Other than that, it was just small stuff. We've got a few drifts around the yard, but nothing major."
"But you aren't going to try to drive to school tonight are you?"
"No." I shook my head.
"Good, and I've decided to stay home this week too. Maybe Fran can take me in to town tomorrow so I can see a different doctor, that is if the storm passes and the roads aren't too bad."
"I think that's great news." I grinned and then bent to kiss and hug her.
"Brr, your body still feels chilly. Why don't you go eat something, then you can warm up before you come back and snuggle for a while?" She smiled at me.
"Perhaps you should come down and join us?" Fran suggested, taking the words out of my mouth.
"Well, I'm not really hungry." Lisa-Marie sighed softly. "Can't I just stay here and rest a bit more? It's been weeks since I've felt so relaxed and I'm really enjoying it."
"I think you should get up for a little while. You'll sleep better tonight if you do." Fran smiled, but her tone was almost insistent. "If you start to feel really sleepy, you can come back up and crawl under the covers."
It took a few moments, but we finally convinced Lisa-Marie to put on slippers and a robe so she could come join us at the table while we ate, even if she didn't feel like eating much herself.
Andy and Fran had found a small roast in the freezer portion of the fridge and had done a pot roast in the oven. When Andy opened the oven and then the roaster, I'm sure I started to drool because it smelled so good. I know I certainly did justice to the wonderful meal that they had prepared and even Lisa-Marie had a small helping even after all her protests about not being hungry. In fact all of us ate well and it was after we were all relaxing over a cup of herbal tea that I looked at Andy and grinned.
"What would you have done if the power had gone out because the storm knocked down a pole somewhere along the line?" I asked.
"Oh, no problem." She grinned right back. "You've got a wood burning cookstove. I'd have had it going in no time, we'd have needed the heat anyway, right?"
I glanced around the kitchen at the old wood burning stove as well as the electric one, then back at Lisa-Marie and Andy as they and Fran chuckled at my expense. I didn't mind a bit.
"You know, for a day that started out so damn crappy, this has been a day that's really turned out well." I sighed. "All day long we've had people and things show up that make me extremely happy to be here. Right now I'm extremely grateful to Uncle Silas for all the things he left me."
"Well, I think you should remember that he got all of those things for himself." Fran chuckled softly. "I think he'd have been pleased that they are here for you to enjoy and that you have the good sense to appreciate them."
"Well, I heard him tell Dad that you were a lot like him in a lot of ways." Andy smiled softly. "So I think he knew that if his things were to go to anyone, it should be you."
"I think the whole family agreed with that." Lisa-Marie added. "Besides, I think he knew that he was going to give you and me a boost that we'd never have gotten otherwise. For an old grouch, I think all of us loved him, even if it was a different way for each one of us."
That conversation set the mood. The rest of the evening was spent telling stories about Uncle Silas and appreciating him for what he was, a very opinionated man who lived life according to his own standards. Each of us had our own favourite stories to tell and we shared them with each other, laughing at the humour of the man that many thought was without humour and just an old grouch. Finally when got late, we all hugged and made our way to our beds.
As Lisa-Marie and I lay there, relaxing in each others arms, she sighed deeply.
"You know, you're right. I think this has turned into a far better day than I expected." She whispered in a very sleepy voice.
I chuckled and managed to collect one short kiss before I felt her relax into sleep as if she had been poleaxed. I held her gently, but it wasn't long before I joined her in slumberland.