Coming Home Again - Part II

The sun was about half way down in the west when Dustin and Jenny reached the lawyer's office across town from the church where they had attended his Grandfather's funeral that morning.

Mr. Lucius Gray opened the door to his office and graciously offered them a seat and a cup of coffee or glass of iced tea. They both said, 'tea', simultaneously, and laughed as their eyes met. Saying the same thing at the exact same time had been an old habit of their growing up years...or finishing a sentence for the other because each knew exactly how the other thought.

Dustin suddenly realized how much he had missed Jenny in all the years away from home. He had never been more thankful to have her in his life.

Their moment was broken by Mr. Gray's question.

"What can I do for you, Dustin?".

"I need your help", Dustin replied. "Grandfather told you everything about his business. I'm sure you would have contacted me in the next few days about Grandpa's will. At least, I hope he had a will."

"I'm sorry about your Grandpa's passing, Dustin. I couldn't make it to the funeral because I was in court this morning. Yes, he had a will. I need to go over it and perhaps check a few technicalities, but Wilbur left the farm, house, land, and everything to you."

"That is what he always said he would do. Mr. Gray, do you know anything about two men trying to pressure Grandpa into selling them the property or threatening him with forceful tactics. I've heard that the land developers want to take all the land around the farm for hundreds of acres to build a shopping mall."

"There has been some talk of a new mall, and Wilbur said he had been contacted about the land, but I do not know the names or contact information for the men he talked to. I will do some research to see if I can locate them. If they come by the farm, be sure to get their business cards or phone number and get the information to me as soon as possible".

"I will", answered Dustin. "I will be expecting a call from you to get together about the will when you are ready".

A few minutes later, Dustin and Jenny were back on the interstate driving toward the farm.

As they drove down the old gravel road leading up to the farmhouse, they both gasped at the same time because the same car they saw at the church that morning was pulling away from the house and heading out the long driveway. At the end of the driveway, they turned the other way on the old gravel road and sped away from Dustin's approaching car.

Dustin wasted no time getting back up the driveway to the spot under the big oak tree where Grandpa always parked and getting out of the car, with Jenny matching his movements heading to the front door.

"Wait", Dustin interrupted. "Let's walk around the house, all around the yard and see if they dropped anything that would give us a clue about who they are".

"Good idea", said Jenny.

Dustin started to the left of the house and asked Jenny to go around the right side and they would meet in the back yard to make the rest of the search together.

He hated the thought of strangers coming around his Grandpa's (now his, maybe) house and property when he wasn't there.

Both of them walked slowly, sometimes moving to the left or right, checking flower beds and overgrown grassy areas to see if they had dropped anything.

"Nothing" they both said in chorus.

Dustin reached for Jenny's hand and they walked toward the old barn. Unbarring the door, Dustin led Jenny inside. They sat down on some big bales of hay in the stall where Grandpa had kept the horse he gave Dustin for his 12th birthday. Memories washed over him and Jenny felt him shiver. She leaned over on his shoulder and squeezed his hand tighter.

"I'm so glad you are here with me, Jenny. I really don't know what I would do right now without you". Looking down into her big brown eyes, he saw tears glistening there. Without knowing he was about to, Dustin drew her close and kissed her lips, not wanting to let go. She held him close so he kissed her again.

They sat stone still for an indefinite amount of time...maybe 5 minutes, maybe an hour. Time seemed to stand still. Dustin wanted time to stand still. He had received a wake-up call about how fast life can change. He had left home, left Jenny, so long ago. Now he knew he never wanted to leave her again.

They sat together, holding hands, until Jenny could feel Dustin's body relax and she knew he was a different kind of exhausted than he had ever been before.

"Come on, let's go back to the house and you take a nap. I will fix us some dinner and when you wake up and have a good meal, you will feel better".

Dustin complied and walked back to the house with Jenny.

They walked back around to the front door and Dustin pulled his key out of his pocket. When he reached out the key toward the latch, they both gasped again. The door was slightly ajar...it had been opened somehow. The strangers had gone into his Grandpa's house!

"This is getting to be too much", Dustin almost moaned. He pushed the door open and breathed a sigh of relief. There was no mess, no sign of a search. "Maybe they didn't actually go in. Maybe they left because they saw us coming in the distance. "

Jenny seemed to know what Dustin was thinking. "Let's do a tour of the house, especially your Grandpa's office and bedroom. If we don't see anything disturbed, you go ahead and take your nap", Jenny implored. "It's getting late. You can go talk to Sheriff Murphy in the morning".

Dustin shook his head, "yes", and walked down the hall to his old bedroom. Stepping inside, he could see through the dimming light that it had not changed. Nothing had changed. But everything had changed.

He lay down on the bed and was asleep by the time Jenny came to check on him about 5 minutes later.

The kitchen was down the hall from Dustin's room, so Jenny could make a bit of noise with pots, pans, and dishes as she prepared a quick meal for them. Before she started preparing the chicken to fry and cutting potatoes for salad, she would make a cake.

Jenny had worked summers in her Aunt Ellen's bakery during high school and her years at the community college. Aunt Ellen was a baker if there ever was one. It took her only a few minutes to find the flour, salt, baking powder, milk, eggs, butter, and cocoa. She needed no recipe and in a matter of minutes, she had preheated the oven, mixed up the batter and had the cake baking.

She fried some chicken tenders in the wrought iron frying pan and sliced up potatoes to stew for salad.

With dinner nicely underway, she lifted the cake layers out of the oven and quickly whipped up her homemade chocolate icing. Some mini chocolate chips, chocolate sprinkles, piped chocolate icing stars, and fresh cherries would dress it up and make it look really special for Dustin.

When Dustin walked into the kitchen two hours later Jenny had dinner on the table. Right in the middle of the table stood a triple layer chocolate cake decorated in what she called "Aunt Ellen style". She was thankful at that moment for all the hours she spent in the back room of the bakery learning how to bake and decorate cakes.

The look in Dustin's eyes was the best thank you she could ever receive. Jenny pointed to his chair and watched him sit down. She sat in the chair to the right side of him and passed bowls to him until he had a plate full of food. Then she took two salad plates and cut each of them a slice of the cake, placing one beside each of their dinner plates.

This was what Jenny had been waiting for, even though she had not known it. It was the reason she had not dated much in all the years he was away. She had not even known this was the reason. No one could compare with Dustin. Never had. Never would. As they began to eat. Jenny felt a contentment that she had never known before.

To Be Continued...