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The Fifth of Fall
Chapter 2:
She closed the door behind her once the secretary allowed her in. The office she had just walked into seemed to want to represent the work done within it. The walls were painted a dull grey color; the carpeting seemed to her the same dull grey. All in all it was a dull and gloomy looking room. But what was one to expect when you walked into a meeting about the hearing of a will, sunshine and daisies?
The man behind the desk looked up when he heard the door close shut behind her. He was a balding man, with thin wire glasses sliding down the bridge of his nose. To Ann he resembled a mouse.
"Oh, Ann is it?" He squeaked even sounding like a mouse. "Yes well I believe we spoke earlier on the phone, I'm Mr. Daniels. I was your mother's lawyer, not that she ever needed my help. She was a good person, your mom." Mr. Daniels looked down for a moment. Ann fidgeted where she stood before walking toward one of the chairs near the desk. Mr. Daniels was now straightening some papers which lay in front of him and then after sifting through them pulled out an off white sheet.
"Well, if there's no else coming, shall we begin?" He asked her. Ann nodded, still not having said anything to man in front of her.
Mr. Daniels pushed his glasses up so he could read better. After a second he put the paper down. Ann watched in silence as he did this, and then met his eyes. He smiled softly at her.
"It appears that this will be a quick meeting for us Ann. Your mother left everything she owned, everything she cherished to you." The words sunk in and made sense to her.
She had been the only thing her mom had had after all. Both her grandparents had died before she was born and her mom had never really spoken about what life had been like before she was born, she just knew that it had always been just her and her mom and no one else.
"Thank you Mr. Daniels, if that's all you need from me," She stopped as Mr. Daniel's cleared his throat.
"There's one last thing," And now he picked up the will again and read from it.
"Ann," Mr. Daniels began, reading her mother's words.
"I'm sorry for keeping so many secrets from you. I had meant to tell you but every time I tried to I just couldn't say them. My dear daughter, my last request to you is that you spend at the very least two years with your father in his hometown of Mineral Village. Please get to know him, that's all I ask. Also could you tell him that Geena still loves him? I love you, Ann and I will miss you." Mr. Daniels finished and passed Ann a tissue.
She stared at the offered tissue before realizing that she was crying again.
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After the meeting, Ann packed what little clothes she had and bought a ticket for that weekend to head to the small town whereher father was apparently waiting for her. After he finished telling her of her mother's last request, Mr. Daniels had went on to tell her that he had already contacted her father and everything had been set up. All she knew about the man was that his name was Doug.
It was surprising really. All these years she couldn't remember a single time when her mother had mentioned this Doug. She couldn't help but wonder what else her mom hadn't told her, what her 'secrets' were.
On the day of the trip the weather was dreary; Ann took this as a bad sign. Hank drove her to the docks where the ferry was waiting for her. It was a small boat, made just for the trips between Mineral Village and the city she guessed. She didn't know much about the place she was headed to but she knew it was a quaint place untouched by modern technology. In other words, it was probably going to be really boring.
"Well, this is goodbye Hank," Ann said with a faint smile at the man before her. Behind her the captain, an aging fisherman by the name of Greg, stood waiting.
"The kitchen will miss you, Ann." Hank stated bluntly. Ann chuckled feeling yet again tears well upin her eyes. Holding her head high she grinned.
"I'm sure you'll find someone to replace me sooner then you think," And she winked. The two turned their heads at the sound of the captain's cough. Ann sighed.
"Well I have to go now." She said softly, holding her hand out to shake hands goodbye. Hank took the handshake.
"You take care, Ann." Hank frowned as he watched Ann turn to walk towards the boat. As the gangway was being pulled aboard Ann waved goodbye to her employer and, she supposed, friend.
She continued to stand at the railing, watching the cityscape till it was nothing but a faint outline of what it really was. She would miss it, after all she had been born in the city, raised there and now all of a sudden she was being thrown back to nature. Pushing herself away from the rail she walked over to where the captain was and sat on the bench conveniently located to the rear of the helm.
"You looking forward to meeting your dad, miss?" Greg asked. He himself didn't spend as much time as he used to at Mineral Village, but he still knew who the young lady's father was. He was, in fact, still in shock over the discovery that Doug had a daughter to begin with.
Ann stopped staring at the empty expanse that was the sea.
"I can't really say… since I have no idea what to expect. Do you know Doug?" She asked suddenly curious. Greg nodded and scratched his head.
"Doug's a good man, I can tell you that much." He said with a smile exposing a toothy grin. "He owns the local Inn, I don't know if you know that or not." Ann stared, her eyes not really looking at one thing.
"I didn't know that," She whispered.
"Yes Ma'am, best cook in the whole town I'd say." He threw a look over his shoulder to where she sat, his grin fading when he realized her attention was drawn elsewhere.
'So that's where I get it from then,' Ann thought to herself as a stray seagull caught her eye. Following its motions, she watched as it circled the boat before getting bored and flying off. She envied the bird with its wings and ability to leave whenever it should choose so.
Silence prevailed over the rest of the trip, Ann only got up off the bench to grab a sweater as the night cold swept in. She soon began to see lights appear through the fog. Greg told her it was probably the lights from the homes. He said it was a shame they were arriving at night, they'd miss the beautiful view of a mountain he called 'Mother's Hill'.
"They say," Greg began. "That beyond the waterfall at the base of Mother's Hill lays the home of a Goddess of Harvest. I don't know whether it's true or not but I like to believe it is." The story excited her; she had always been a believer of faerys.
It was thirty minutes later and they were preparing to dock. Ann stood where Greg told her to so she could help with the docking. The whole time she had been staring at the small wooden pier poking out from the sandy beach.
Standing there was a middle aged man with fiery red hair and amustache. His face seemed stuck in a perpetual scowl but despite this he seemed almost nervous; it made her remember her own nervousness.
Time seemed to slow down as she and Greg worked together to get the boat docked. Eventually they got the job done and Ann went to get her baggage as Greg let down the gangway. She watched him do the task out of the corner of her eye and it made her think that only a few hours earlier she had been in the same situation.
Bags in hand Ann walked off the boat and stood to the side as Doug and Greg shook hands. They said a few words, then Greg turned to say goodbye to her and then walked towards the nearby beach shack. She watched intently as he slid the key in and walked into the house. Then it was just the two of them, neither one knowing what to say. It was Doug who spoke the first words.
"You look just like your mother…" His voice was gruff and had a hard edge to it. Ann ran her tongue over her dry lips before speaking.
"Thanks, I guess," Another pause.
"I can take some of your bags." Ann blinked and before she knew it, he had two of her three bags in his hands.
"Thanks." She repeated, dreading the following silence again.
"Well it's late, we should head for the Inn, I'm sure you're tired. We can talk tomorrow morning." Ann nodded and followed behind her father into the cobblestone paths of Mineral Village.