Chapter Three
Susan walked the trail down to the stream where David had taken her that first night. The porch swing was still set up and Susan had started working the garden, cleaning out the debris and preparing the bed for plantings. It was late, but she would be able to plant bulbs that would bloom in the spring and was thinking about planting mums and pansies. The mums were a perennial and would be green throughout the growing season and bloom in the fall. Pansies would provide some color over the winter. This spring she would add other perennials and annuals so that the garden would have color year around. She bent down and started cleaning out the next area.
Susan had been working for about a half hour when David came around to where she was and sat down on the porch swing, "Did you finish with the tractor?" Susan asked.
"Yes," David said.
"Phillip really seems to enjoy working on the tractor," Susan said.
"That and everything else; he's turning into quite a grease monkey," David acknowledged.
"I was thinking that he might enjoy taking a class next summer at the local Vo-Tech in small engine repair," Susan said. "What do you think?"
"I think he's too young to attend the Vo-Tech; don't you have to be in high school already?" David asked.
"Hadn't thought about that," Susan said. "I guess he could learn on his own. He'd probably learn more taking things apart and putting them back together anyway. When I was little and my dad took me over to the House's, Greg was always putting things back together. His mom used to give me two cookies and send me upstairs to find him."
"He didn't mind you hanging around? Most teenage boys wouldn't want a little girl hanging around," David said.
"He told me once that he was curious about me. By the time he was twelve he'd already figured out that my dad was his dad too, so he tolerated my presence. Apparently I talked too much," Susan said with a laugh in her voice as she continued to work.
Susan and David's conversation continued shifting from one subject to the other while Susan continued working on her flower beds, "Do you want to put in a garden fish pond? David finally asked.
"No, I don't think so," Susan said. "We have this natural spring running water along the creek bed. I may dig it out a little to deepen it a bit in this area and plant some lilies and rushes, but I'm not going to mess with building a garden pond and adding a fountain or a waterfall. I'll let nature fill in the minnows, frogs and whatever else decides to inhabit the area."
"I'm kind of surprised given how much you enjoyed the garden pond at the house in New Jersey," David said.
Susan smiled, "I have real nature here, and besides in the 'vast forested land' of our back yard in New Jersey, we didn't have to worry about raccoons stealing koi or other fish out of the pond for an exotic meal."
"Good point," David said.
"Don't worry; there will be plenty of wildlife taking advantage of all my good work here without adding fish and fountains. And, I'll be constantly battling to keep the deer from eating my flowers or armadillos from digging all the plants up out of the soft soil looking for bugs and such," Susan said. The baby monitor crackled as Billy's voice came through, "Sounds like I'm being paged." Susan stood up to head back to the house and then stopped when she heard another voice come through the monitor.
"What?" House's voice came through the speaker. "You think just because you're awake that you should be getting all the attention? Forget it, I'm here so it's all mine now."
Susan looked over at David and smiled. David got up from the swing and joined his wife and together they walked up to the house passing by the pole barn and seeing that Phillip now had the lawn mower completely unassembled and spread out all around him. "Are you going to be able to put that all back together?" David asked. Phillip looked up at his dad and grinned in answer. David and Susan continued to the house and by the time they walked inside House had changed and dressed William and was carrying him into the living room while Billy was doing his best to remove his uncle's nose from his face. House handed the baby to Susan who took him back to her room to nurse and the men went into the main area.
"I thought you were sleeping." David said.
"Brain wouldn't shut up," House said.
"Are you hungry?" David asked.
"I could eat," House said.
David rummaged through the refrigerator, "We have some left-over fajita stuff from the Mexican restaurant in town."
"That's fine," House said.
He sat down at the table while David worked on heating up the fajita mixture and some tortillas. While those were in the microwave, David pulled out a bag of tortilla chips and tossed it over to House who opened the bag and took out a few before setting the bag on the table. Next David opened the refrigerator and removed some of Susan's homemade salsa and put some on the table. It wasn't long before everything was on the table and David sat down with House at the table. The men had each eaten a couple when Phillip came inside. He smelled the fajitas and went in to wash his hands. He frowned when he saw House sitting at the table with his dad, so he grabbed a plate and filled it with everything except the meat and then took the plate back to his room leaving the men staring after him, "He's mad," House said.
"He'll get over it," David said.
"Are you?"
"No. I didn't believe Susan until after we got out here and I figured out that it was you that submitted my CV for this job," David said.
"I didn't submit your CV," House said.
David was in the process of taking a bite when House said that. He paused for a moment and then finished his bite, "You didn't have my CV sent directly to the university president?"
"Nope," House said.
"What about your furniture?" David asked.
"I didn't do that either," House said. "The fact that you had it here was as much a surprise to me as it was to you when they unloaded it from the moving truck."
Susan walked in from the back room having finished feeding Billy and put him in his swing. "Well, I guess we're having fajitas for dinner."
"This is just an afternoon snack," House said with his mouth full. "What's for dinner?"
"Well, I was planning on spaghetti, but I don't know now," she replied.
"Sounds good to me," House said.
Susan laughed, "Alright, spaghetti it is then. We'll eat a little later than normal." She reached for a tortilla and filled it. "I'm surprised Phillip isn't in here; I could have sworn I heard him come in."
"He took his plate in his room," David explained.
"Oh," Susan said looking over at House. "Don't worry, he'll come around."
House took another bite of his fajita after adding a generous amount of Susan's salsa. "Doesn't matter," House said after he swallowed. He pushed his plate away and got up from the table. He started to the piano, but hesitated for a moment as he passed Billy and pulled on his nose. Billy laughed and reached for House's hand, but he'd already pulled out of reach. House sat down at the piano and began to play. He closed his eyes and was totally immersed allowing his music to express the feelings he could not. Susan got up from the table to start clearing it and David moved to the couch and picked up a book he'd started reading the night before. Phillip came out of his room and took his plate to the sink. The sound of his footsteps as he walked by brought House out of his muse and he opened his eyes. As Phillip put his plate in the sink, House modulated the song to another. Phillip stopped in his tracks and stared at House. His face grew red and he turned and stormed out the front letting the door slam behind him.
The door slamming startled David out of his reading and he stared after Phillip. He put his book down and started to get up and follow, "David?" Susan said getting his attention. "Let him go. He needs to work things through on his own for a while." David nodded, sat back down and picked up his book again.
Susan finished the dishes and slipped to the back room and brought out a few toys. She pulled Billy out of his swing and sat him on the floor and put a few toys in front of him and then sat down across from him, "Why don't you put that donut thing around him so he doesn't have to work so hard to stay sitting up?" David asked.
"Because I want him to work hard," Susan said.
"I don't remember Phillip struggling so much," David said.
"How old was Phillip when he started sitting up?" Susan asked.
"I'm not sure," David said.
"Laura was six months," Susan recalled. "Billy is just five months. I think the fact that he is sitting up at all is pretty good. I'm not worried about the shifting around, he's figuring it out. He's already a lot steadier than he was last week." Billy reached for a plastic block with holes in it and brought it to his mouth.
"Marie never let Phillip put anything in his mouth; every time he'd try she'd take it away and wash it."
"Really - and how did Phillip react to that?" Susan asked.
"At first he just looked surprised, but as he got older he'd get mad. Finally she gave up and let him gnaw on everything. She was getting pretty sick by that point so she didn't have the energy to fight that battle and I didn't think it was that big of deal," David said.
"She was an idiot," came the comment from the piano across the room.
David looked across the room rather annoyed, "She wasn't an idiot; she was trying to keep him healthy."
"It's lucky she died then, she would have ruined his immune system in addition to the genetic condition," House said.
"Greg," Susan said. "There's no reason to be so condescending. She was a new mother and she didn't know any better."
"Hmmph," House said and went back to his playing.
"Don't worry about it Susan, he can't help it if his mother didn't teach him any manners," David said antagonistically.
"She taught me manners," House said stopping playing, "I had more manners thrust at me than you ever had; I just don't give a ….,"
"Greg; please," Susan implored interrupting the expletive. House got up from his piano and walked out the side door of the house. Susan watched him through the window as he walked down the path.
Susan sighed with exasperation, "Great, I have an entire family of pouting boys – except for you little man." She looked back at Billy who had discarded the block and had leaned forward on his arms in the direction of his mother. His legs were tied up under him, but after a bit of squirming he was able to free them and end up on all fours. Susan watched him as he worked his way her direction. He looked up at her and grinned. "Well, come on," Susan said. "You're almost here. David, are you seeing this?"
"Yes," David said watching his youngest work.
A couple more squirms and wiggles and Billy's hand reached his mother's leg. He laughed and squirmed his way into her lap and promptly reached for her nose. Susan laughed and hugged him close, "You're growing up so quick," Susan said. She kissed him on the cheek and blew a raspberry.
