A Conard County Courtship

It must have rolled well for ten or twelve years before it caught up with him. Tim didn’t understand exactly how the scheme had worked, but Bob had persuaded people to entrust him with their money to invest, and most had only given him amounts they never needed back, or if they needed to pull something out, they’d been able to.

But Vanessa’s parents had been different. They’d thought their investments were growing so well that Bob Higgins had managed to persuade them to give him even more, promising them a fortune. They’d mortgaged their ranch and had learned the bleak truth when they needed money from their investments to pay that mortgage.

Tim didn’t pretend to understand how it all had worked or why Higgins had persuaded the Wellings to mortgage their ranch. Maybe because he was getting to the point where he needed money to pay clients a return?

Regardless of it all, the Wellings had left town, and Bob Higgins had been exposed and sent to jail.

But he could see no earthly reason why the man would have deeded his house to Vanessa. No good reason.

He joined the line of parents waiting in their vehicles at the elementary school. The temperature had begun to drop, and the teachers were blowing clouds of fog when they spoke and hurried the children along. Cheeks quickly brightened to red, and there was little of the usual horseplay. The cold had shocked the kids, too.

Tim started to smile as he watched his son, Matthew, race toward the truck. The boy reminded him of his mother, Claire, with his round face, a splatter of freckles across his nose, and a dark blond hair. Every time Tim saw him, he felt an ache for Claire.

Leaning over, he unlatched the door and threw it open for the boy. Matt scrambled in then used both hands to close the door. As usual, Matt did everything at top speed.

The door was open long enough, however, for Tim to feel the dangerous cold deepening outside. If the forecast held, they might need to close school tomorrow. Occasionally it grew too cold to expect children to walk to school or to bus stops.

“How was your day, kiddo?”

“Okay,” Matthew answered. He grinned as he struggled to buckle himself in, showing off the two new front teeth that were emerging. He’d just outgrown the child seat, but was still having trouble with the regular seat belt.

“Just okay?” Tim asked.

“Well, Orson turned green around his neck and got all ruffed up.” Orson was an exotic lizard who lived in a large aquarium. “Ms. Macy said something must have scared him. That was probably Tommy. He kept banging a penny against the tank.”

“Why did Tommy do that?”

Matthew shrugged. “I guess it was fun. Everybody was pretty mad about Orson, though. He doesn’t bother anybody.”

“I don’t imagine he does. Lots of homework?”

“Not much. Two work sheets.”

At last able to pull out of the line, Tim drove back toward the Higgins house—although he supposed it was the Welling house now—and listened to Matthew’s cheerful recounting of the day and his pride in bringing home his very first library book from the school.

It wasn’t as if Tim hadn’t been taking him to the public library all along, but the school library was something special.

“Where are we going, Daddy?”

“Back to the house I’m working on. There’s a lady there now—she owns the house. So...”

“Company manners,” Matthew said with a sharp nod of his head. “Is she a nice lady?”

“I think so, but I just met her before I came to get you.”

“She’s not a witch?” Matt asked, scrunching up his face and making his small hands into claws.

“What have you been reading?” Tim asked, eliciting a giggle.

“Fun stuff. Ms. Macy says I’m too young for Harry Potter, though.”

“Oh. Did you want to read it?” He suspected Ms. Macy’s objection arose more from what some parents around here thought of children reading about wizards and magic.

“Joey’s brother did. He loves it.”

“Well, I’ll see what I can do about getting a copy from the library. You can try it and see.”

For that he received an ear-to-ear grin.

Occasionally when he talked with his son, Tim felt a nostalgia for his own childhood, when everything had been simple and magical. Other times, though, when Matt was having a problem of some kind, Tim was more than glad to be so much older. He suspected that feeling would grow when Matthew hit his teens.

This time he pulled up right in front of the house. Vanessa had parked in the narrow driveway, so there didn’t seem to be any reason to leave curb space. Especially with the temperature dropping so rapidly.

Matthew started to pull his backpack out with him, and Tim stopped him. “You won’t need that until we get home.”

“But I want to show the new lady my library book!”

Tim let him go but wondered if Vanessa would be pleasant, bored or annoyed. Matthew wasn’t her child, after all, and for all he knew she had little patience for youngsters. Still, how annoyed could she be over a library book?

“Company manners,” he reminded Matthew as they walked toward the front door.

“I know, Dad.” The boy’s tone was a touch exasperated, making Tim smile faintly. How fast they tried to grow up.

Vanessa was still sitting in the kitchen with her coffee. Apparently she’d felt no urge to explore the house. Sooner or later, she would have to do a walk-through with him. He could understand her being angry with Higgins, but the house? No, she hadn’t wanted it, but surely she didn’t have anything against the house. It was an inanimate object.

“Ms. Welling, this is my son, Matthew.”

She had lifted her head at the approach of their footsteps, and now she managed a faint smile. “Hello, Matthew. If you want, you can call me Vannie.”

“Vannie?” he repeated as if memorizing it. “I got a new library book. Wanna see?”

Kids, thought Tim. They got through the rough spots as if they weren’t there, skipped over the awkwardness of first meetings and just accepted everyone as a friend.

“I’d love to see,” she answered. Her expression remained pleasant and her tone neutral. Okay, she’d be polite.

“We can’t take too long, Matthew. Vannie’s going to need to get some groceries before the snow starts.” He looked at Vanessa. “The cold out there will snatch your breath.”

“Already?” She frowned faintly. “Here or the motel, huh?”

“Well, I have a guest room, if you’d rather. No problem for me.”

The offer was out before he knew it was coming, and then Matthew seconded it. The idea of having someone new in the house seemed to appeal to him.

Vanessa’s hesitation appeared obvious. Matthew was already running on about how they could read his library book together, but she had drawn away. He could feel it. Pulled back into herself.

“Look,” he said finally. “I’ll guide you to the motel if you want, but like I said, mostly truckers and transients stay there. This house is okay if you want to stock it up. I was only thinking about you being here alone if the blizzard gets bad. You’d be stuck, and the phones here aren’t working. Cell phones can become unreliable when the air’s full of blowing snow.”

He could have sworn she felt torn in a bunch of different directions. But then she surprised him.