Cameron smiled. “Another Brendan, huh? Named after the man who started us all. Good to have some more Pope men on this mountain. I’ve been the only man left with that name since my father’s passing.”
And just like that, Shirley’s sons took their first steps into the family.
Annie Cauley, Shirley’s aunt, slipped up behind Shirley and whispered in her ear.
“We cleaned the house. You have food in your refrigerator. The appliances have been serviced. John will show the boys around outside. You come in now and sit where it’s cool while you tell the movers where you want to put your things. After your call, and mentioning your sons were bringing their own things, we took down the old beds in the spare rooms and stored them all in the attic. Your mom’s living room furniture was past hope. She’d written in her last wishes to have it donated, so there’s plenty of room now for your stuff. And don’t worry. All the family heirlooms are still where she had them. The cupboard. The pie safe. The sideboard. And your great-grandpa’s old secretary desk. We’ll have you set up and comfy before nightfall.”
Walking into the old home place without her mother to greet her was bittersweet, but Shirley took the home as the blessing it was, and by the time night fell, the moving van was long gone. All her sons had their own beds up in their own rooms, and she had her things around her again. Clothes were unpacked and put away, and they’d just sat down to supper at the kitchen table.
There were no sirens or dogs barking outside. No cars honking. No streetlights. Just the glow from the security light between the house and the barn, and their cars, lined up in front of the house like a used car lot.
Shirley looked at the faces of her sons, at the food before them and the familiarity of the room in which they were sitting, and then she sighed.
“Well, we’re here. And right now, I am at peace. Once again, my mother has saved my sanity and your futures.”
“Amen,” Aaron said.
“I’m thankful,” Sean said.
“I’m thankful,” Wiley added.
“Me, too,” B.J. said, and then pointed at the platter of cold fried chicken. “Somebody please pass the chicken. I’m starving.”
Their laughter was sudden, but it felt good to have something to laugh about.
* * *
The next few days were about settling in. Shirley walked the woods with her sons, showing them the woods and the creek where she and her brother had played in when they were little, and the pond where fish never quit biting. And then one bright morning, she took them to the place where the mountain laurel grew, and scattered her mother’s ashes.
“Love you, Mother. I’ll miss you forever. Rest in the peace you have given to us,” Shirley said, and wiped tears as her sons gathered around her. On the walk back, she showed them the creek that ran through their property. “This creek water is cold year-round. It comes from a long way up, out of a spring in the rocks at the top of the mountain. It runs all the way down through Jubilee, to a river miles and miles away.”
“Did you play here when you were little?” B.J. asked.
Shirley smiled. “When my brother and I weren’t doing chores or going to school, we lived in these woods, waded in these waters. Pope Mountain was our playground.”
Aaron saw the far-off look in his mother’s eyes as she gazed down into the swift running water, and knew she was remembering better days.
As they began to settle in, they talked about getting chickens for a chicken house long since empty, and after a week of sleeping in and lazy days, her sons began looking for jobs. Finding out that their relatives ran a lot of the businesses in Jubilee was a boon they hadn’t seen coming.
After getting Wi-Fi and Internet to the house, Sean set up his own IT office in their home, and his online website, then he began growing a new clientele.
Wiley was ecstatic when he got hired as a daytime security guard at one of the music venues and came home beaming, carrying in uniforms, his badge, and the weapon he’d been issued.
Shirley celebrated with him, but the irony was not lost upon her of having an ex-husband serving a life sentence, and two sons who’d chosen careers in law enforcement.
B.J. got a job driving a delivery van for his Aunt Annie at her bakery in Jubilee, but for the time being, Aaron was staying home to help his mother settle in. He missed being on the force and wasn’t sure where to go from here.
And then one morning not long after their arrival, Cameron called to ask if it was okay if he dropped by that evening after all of the family was home, that there was some family business they needed to know about. Instead, Shirley invited him and Rusty to eat supper with them, and they accepted.
* * *
“I haven’t cooked for anyone but family in so long I’ve forgotten what it’s like to have company,” Shirley said as she took a big beef roast with vegetables out of the oven and set it on the counter to rest.
Aaron grinned. “You’re a good cook, Mama, and you know it. Do you want me to put the leaf in the table?”
Shirley beamed from the compliment as she nodded. “Yes, to the table leaf. With seven at the table, we’ll need it.”
He went to get the leaf from the hall closet, while Shirley began cleaning fresh vegetables for a tossed salad. She had three apple pies cooling on the sideboard, a basket of dinner rolls beside it, and fresh green beans warming on the stove that she cooked and seasoned with bits of ham. All she needed was for Wiley and B.J. to get home from work, and the company to arrive.
Moments later, she heard a car driving up.
“That’s Wiley,” Aaron said, and then they heard the rumble of B.J.’s Harley as he pulled up to the house. “And that’s B.J.”
“Good. Then all we have to do is wait for Cameron and Rusty.”
“What does he want to talk to us about?” Aaron asked.
“I don’t know, but we’ll find out soon enough,” Shirley said, then winced when the front door slammed.
“Sorry!” B.J. yelled. “The wind caught it. I’m going to shower! Won’t be long!”
Shirley grinned. B.J. had been slamming doors all his life. Today it was the fault of the wind. Tomorrow it would be something else. Truth was, B.J. was always in too big of a hurry to catch it.
Seconds later, Wiley came in the back door. “Thought I’d park out back and leave room for company out front. I’m gonna change.”
Now Shirley could relax. All her boys were accounted for.
* * *
“Cameron, I need help,” Rusty said, and turned her back to him so he could zip up her sundress.
Cameron turned away from the dresser to come to his wife’s aid. She was holding her long curly hair up off her neck so it wouldn’t get caught in the zipper, and he couldn’t resist a kiss below all those red curls.
“I’d just as soon be taking this off you as putting it on,” he said.
Rusty laughed. “Hold that thought and you can do that later,” she said. “We don’t want to be late.”
Cameron grabbed the zipper tab and pulled it all the way up, then kissed the back of her neck one last time.
“Done and done,” he said as she turned around to face him. “Damn, but you are a beautiful woman, Rusty Pope.”