Chapter 13
Phillip came running through the path he'd cut earlier and found his dad with the trunk of the car open, "Dad! We have solar power and a tractor with a hog," he said as he came up beside him.
"We have a solar powered tractor and a hog?" David asked.
"No!" Phillip said panting.
"Well, slow down and start over," David said.
"I said, we have solar power and a tractor with a hog," he repeated.
David still looked at him a bit confused, but Laura, who came up carrying the weed eater, clarified it for him, "There is solar power as an alternate power source for the well. And the previous owners left their tractor and brush hog."
"Oh!" David said. "That makes more sense. Too bad though; I was looking forward to seeing the solar powered tractor; not so much the hog though," he said with a grin.
"Da-a-a-d," Phillip said with some exasperation.
David reached in the trunk and handed Phillip several grocery bags, "Take those inside for me son." Phillip took the bags and went inside the house. By that time Susan made it up the path with Billy, "Hey," he said and greeted her with a kiss.
"Hey back," Susan said. "How was your meeting?"
"Interesting, I'll tell you about it later. For now, let's eat," he said. "I'm starved."
Laura put the weed eater on the porch and went inside while David pulled out the sacks with their dinner. He'd stopped by a Mexican restaurant knowing that Susan had really missed her TexMex while living in New Jersey. They went inside together and soon the family was munching on tortillas with salsa and queso, fajitas, cheese enchiladas, salad and plenty of soft drinks and water. After dinner, Susan sat back and sighed, "Wow that was good. I've really missed that," she said.
David smiled at her, "Thought it would be a nice surprise."
"Speaking of surprises, have you looked in the corner?" Susan asked pointing behind the couch.
David turned his head and looked over to the corner where the baby grand was sitting, "When did we get a baby grand?" he asked.
"We didn't," Susan said. "That's Greg's."
"Why is House's baby grand here?" David asked.
"I was hoping you would have the answer to that question, because that's not all," Susan said getting up from the table. "Follow me," she said. David got up and followed her out of the house with Phillip in tow.
Laura stayed in the house with Billy and started to clean up dinner. She turned on the kitchen faucet and let it run until it ran clear and then filled a large pot with water and put it on the stove. She turned the knob which did not light up, "Oh, I forgot. No propane," she said to herself. She put the pot in the sink and added liquid soap and put their flatware in it to soak. Fortunately the plates and everything were all disposable, so she gathered the leftovers and put them in the refrigerator and threw away the trash which got her to wondering how they were going to dispose of their trash. Having cleaned up dinner, she picked up Billy from his bouncy seat where mom had put him during dinner and went over to the guest house.
"I'm telling you, I didn't do this," Susan was defending to David when Laura walked in.
"Then how else did it get here?" David asked.
"The lady at the mover's main office said your signature was the only one on the work order," Susan replied.
"I didn't order for anybody to pick up anything anywhere other than our house," David said. "Is this all his furniture?"
"Everything from the furniture to the artwork is here," Susan said.
"I want to know how it got here," David said.
"I don't have an answer for you," Susan said, "but it seems to me that if I didn't do it and you didn't do it, it was either Blythe or Greg."
"How would Blythe know we were moving? We've never spoken with her," David said.
"If it wasn't her, then the only other possibility is Greg," Susan said.
"What about Dr. Wilson?" Phillip asked.
"I don't think Wilson would do this without talking to us first," Susan answered. "Besides he's not even at home right now. It has to be Greg."
For once David didn't argue with her and just looked around, "I guess we should clean this place up too."
"I need to finish several things at the main house before I tackle this one," Susan said. "Speaking of which, Phillip, go get that unopened gallon of industrial bleach and meet me at the well house."
An hour later, Susan started the well treatment. She circulated bleach through the pressure tank and the well and then turned the water off. She spent some time going through the well house to see what all was there. The previous owner had left a replacement bag of salts and there were two spare water filters. She traded out the filters and replenished the salts. As soon as the bleach had set in the well and plumbing overnight it would be good to go. David had found the user manual for the tractor and was going through it to learn about the care and maintenance. Susan came out of the well house and walked over to him as he was bent over looking at the undersides of the tractor and comparing it to the diagram on the page, "It was good fortune that the previous owner left this here," she said. "I really don't understand it."
"My understanding, according to the realtor, is that she never liked it out here. Her husband was one of those doomsday folks and he had moved the both of them out here against her wishes and started preparing for the apocalypse. He died of a sudden heart attack and within a week, she had packed up the house and moved to the city wanting nothing to do with this place. She left everything she wouldn't need as part of the purchase price."
"So you knew we had a tractor already," Susan said.
"Yes," David said. "And supposedly there are several implements as well."
"Well, there's a front loader attached and the brush hog is over there," Susan said. "She started walking around the pole barn, "and there's an auger over here. That's all I see. We'll probably want to get a box blade and it would be nice to have a tiller attachment, but we can get along with just a push rototiller."
"Did you know that the guest house was a guest house? Because you never mentioned it," Susan asked.
"No, I never bothered to look at it, I just assumed it was an outbuilding," he answered.
"Mom!" Laura hollered from the house. "Somebody's hungry!"
"Well, I've been summoned," she said turning back to the house.
"Hang on a sec, I'm coming with you," David said.
When they got to the house Susan took Billy and sat on the couch to feed him. David brought over a baby blanket and covered her and sat on one side and then Phillip came over and sat down next to her and tickled Billy's feet that were sticking out from under the blanket. Giggles were heard from under the blanket and Billy kicked his feet in response. Susan told Phillip to go to each faucet in the house and turn them on one by one and let them run until he smelled bleach and then to turn them off. He got up to take care of that when Laura asked if it would be OK if she played on House's piano for a while. Susan leaned her head back on the couch and relaxed. Billy finished and David took him from her and held him as they listened to Laura play. Soon Billy had dozed off and David got up to change him and put him in his crib that Susan had set up in their room until he was old enough to quit nursing at night. Afterwards he would move into Phillip's room and the boys would share. He came back in the living room and asked Susan if she would like to go for a walk, "I have something else to show you," he said.
"Will you keep an ear out for Billy and an eye on Phillip?" Susan asked Laura who nodded while she continued her music.
Susan followed David out the door. When they reached the bottom of the steps, he held his hand out and Susan took it. Hand in hand they walked down the path that Phillip had cleared earlier until they reached the small clearing where the pole barn and well house were located. David led Susan around the buildings down a dirt path. At the bottom of the path was a porch swing sitting next to a spring fed creek bed. A small amount of water was flowing and tumbling gently over the rocks as it moved downhill, "I was looking at our property on Google maps and saw this area in the satellite view," David said. "I couldn't tell if it was landscaped or anything, but I could see the creek and I was pretty sure this swing was here."
"I can't believe the spring is running this far into the summer," Susan said. She walked over to the swing and inspected it for spiders and wasp nests and then sat down. David sat down next to her and put his arm over her shoulder.
"What do you think?" he asked.
"I love it," she answered. "This fall I'll start working on it and making it into a nice place to sit and relax of an evening or early morning." She leaned back into his shoulder.
"Susan, I'm so sorry," David said.
"What for?"
"For not believing you," David said. "I do now."
"Because of the furniture?" Susan asked.
"That's only part of it," David said. He went on to explain about his conversation with Stan. Finally after telling her everything he said, "I think during the course of diagnosing his son, House learned about Stan and the university here. Somehow, he either found out about or manipulated the opening here and made sure that my CV made it to Stan. I think we're here because he wanted us, or rather wanted you here," David said.
"Greg likes you David. He told me that when you asked me to marry you," Susan said. "He knows we're a matched set and he approves."
"That means a lot to you," David said.
"Yes it does."
"Do you suppose he picked out this house as well? Am I that predictable?" David said.
"No, I don't think so. I don't even think he manipulated the position, but I do think he found out about it and made sure your CV was seen, but he couldn't know if you would be offered the position or if you would take it or not. Did you see your CV?"
"Yes. It was mine. It was the version I had on my computer at work."
"Greg was an expert at breaking into Princeton's computer system, so he broke in and took your CV, and probably snooped through all your files while he was there, but he didn't change anything. He wanted you to have the chance, but you were offered the position on your own merit. I also think you finding this place was all you," Susan said. "It does work out well though. He'll have a place to stay that he may or may not choose to use, but it'll be there for him if he wants it." They sat quietly for a while then Susan said, "Thank you."
"For what?" David asked.
"For believing me," Susan said. "I could be wrong. He could very well be dead and all of this is just a weird series of coincidences. I could very well be delusional."
David chuckled, "Well if so, you just drug me into your delusion." He bent his head down to kiss the top of her head, "I'd rather be delusional with you than be completely sane without you."
"Sometimes you say the corniest things," Susan said.
"Yeah, well I'm a nerd. I have an excuse," he said. They sat as the evening gave way to the night, "Mrs. James, may I kiss you under the stars?"
"I was kind of hoping you'd do just that," she said softly. "And someday in the not distant future when our privacy is a little more assured, that you do a little more than that under those same stars."
David grinned as he lifted her head towards his, "Sounds good to me," he said softly and kissed her with that gentle passion she so loved and found herself even after a year and a half still marveling that she could be handled with so much loving gentleness. After several minutes they broke apart, "Shall we take this to our bedroom?" David asked standing and holding his hand out. Susan took his hand and they walked back to their house. As they got closer they heard Laura still playing on the piano, but as they stepped up on the porch, they realized that there was more than just piano. They stopped and listened as Laura and Phillip played together. They could hear Laura giving the chord changes to Phillip as he fumbled through the song with her on his guitar. After a while, they heard Phillip complain that he was never going to get it and Laura encourage him. They went through the song again and this time Phillip was able to make the changes faster.
"See?" Laura said, "It just takes practice."
"My fingers are sore, I'm going to stop now," Phillip said getting up and putting his guitar away.
Susan and David took that moment to walk inside never letting on they were listening. They walked through the living room toward their bedroom, "Goodnight Laura," Susan said.
"Goodnight," Laura replied as she watched them pass. She smiled to herself and modulated the piece into a serenade.
Phillip walked back into the room and sat on the chair he'd moved by the piano earlier, "What's that piece? I haven't heard you play it before."
"It's not anything really. I'm just playing in a serenade style. Mom and dad just walked through looking like...well you know. I thought they might enjoy some nice romantic music."
"Ugh, you're such a girl," Phillip said. After a few moments he couldn't stand it anymore, "I thought you didn't want to know when they were...you know."
"I don't, but this is different," Laura said as she played. "They went on a romantic evening stroll together under the stars and..."
"Oh, stop. You're going take me throw up," Phillip said.
"Well that would definitely kill the mood," Laura said. She resolved the last phrase and let the music softly end, then closed the piano and got up.
"Laura?" Laura looked Phillip's direction, "I gotta pee."
"And you're telling me this because...?" Laura asked.
"Mom said the bleach needed to soak in the water lines overnight," Phillip said.
"Well you have a choice, you can either use the toilet and don't flush, or go outside and water a tree. It's not that difficult," she said. "Goodnight."
Phillip watched her walk down the hallway to her room and shut the door. He shrugged his shoulders went outside.