Previously Loved Treasures (Serendipity #2)(56)

“Give it up, Max,” Wilbur replied disdainfully. “You weren’t swindled out of anything. This was Ida’s house. She was free to do whatever she wanted with it.”

Max went into a long spiel about his brother building the house and family being family, but before he got to the end Wilbur held up his hand.

“Enough! You know Ida didn’t want you bringing your dirt here to this house. You do it one more time, and I’ll personally heave your ass out on the street!”

Wilbur was twenty years older than Max, but he was bigger, stronger, and in much better shape, so it wasn’t an empty threat.

“You ain’t throwing nobody nowhere,” Max snarled. “You ain’t the owner of this house, and you got no say in what I do.”

“Caroline does. And do you think for one moment she’ll go against what Ida wanted?”

“Yeah, well, she ain’t the one handing out threats.”

“That’s because I haven’t told her yet. But once more and I’ll—”

“Screw you,” Max said and turned toward his room.

~

As he lay in bed that night, Max began to think of ways to get even. He had a lot of scores to settle: Caroline, Buddha, a smart-ass cop, Freddie, and now Wilbur. As the list rolled through his mind, Max crossed off the cop; too dangerous and not worth the risk.

It was near dawn when Max finally drifted off to sleep. By then Wilbur had replaced Buddha at the top of the list, and Caroline was now number two. Wilbur would be easy. He had an upstairs room and was an old man. He could stumble and fall down the flight of stairs, and no one would be any the wiser. Wilbur had weight on his side, but Max would have the element of surprise.

Once Wilbur was out of the way, handling Caroline would be easier.





Wilbur Washington





I know, you think I’m getting involved in something that’s none of my business, but honestly speaking it is my business. I told you how it was with Ida; knowing my feelings, do you think I could turn my back on a thing like this? If Ida was the one who caught Max sneaking his lady friend out, do you think she’d sit back and let it be? You know darn well she wouldn’t. What kind of a man would I be if I didn’t stand up for what she believed in?

Maybe having a lady friend in your room isn’t the worst sin in the world, but it doesn’t matter. This is Ida’s house and Ida’s rules.

I’m hoping a warning is enough to dissuade Max from doing it again. That would be the easiest way of dealing with the problem. It’s not something Caroline should have to worry about. She’s got enough problems. I see what a scoundrel Max is, but she doesn’t. Caroline still thinks of him as family, and facing up to the bad side of your family is something nobody is anxious to do.

Perhaps I’m being a foolish old man, hanging on to the yesterdays of life when those days have come and gone. My mind understands the truth of what is, but my heart isn’t willing to accept it. I keep imagining Ida’s still here. I walk through the hallway and glance toward the kitchen thinking I’ll see her there by the stove. When I’m lying in bed and hear footsteps overhead, I immediately think it’s Ida. It’s not. It’s her granddaughter. When Rose and Sara moved in Caroline moved upstairs into Ida’s loft, and the strange thing is that bits and pieces of Ida now seem to be seeping into the girl. I can hear it in her voice, in the way she laughs, even in the way she’s taken Sara under her wing. When I catch a sideways glance of Caroline, there are times I can almost believe she’s Ida. Maybe that’s why I feel so protective of her.

Sure, I should have told Ida how I feel. I know I should have. It’s too late to do anything about that now, but it’s not too late to do something for her granddaughter. Max is Caroline’s uncle, not me. But he’s certainly not someone she can count on. Caroline may not be a child, but she’s na?ve when it comes to the ugliness of life. She needs someone to watch out for her, and if she’ll let me do it I’m more than willing.

I’ll talk to her about it. I’ll say, I may not be your real granddaddy, but I think I can be a pretty good a substitute if you’ll have me. Regardless of what Caroline says I’m going to keep right on watching out for her, because I know it’s what Ida would have wanted.





In the Dark of Night





The evening after his confrontation with Wilbur, Max arrived at the dinner table acting as though all was right with the world. He’d shaved and was wearing a fresh shirt.

“You look very handsome this evening,” Caroline said.

Although Max’s inclination was to tell her to stick it up her butt, he nodded graciously and sat. It was important to throw them off guard, to make everyone think he’d settled into accepting she was the rightful owner of the house and everything was hunky-dory.

It was easy enough to put on the sappy act with Caroline, and the others were too dumb to catch on, but Wilbur was more of a problem. When the old man looked across the table Max could see his eyes were narrowed, his brows squeezed together, and his mouth a ruler-straight line with no up or down.

The look on Wilbur’s face made Max jittery, so he focused his eyes on the pile of peas he’d been pushing to the side of his plate. He usually disappeared after dinner, but on this particular evening he followed the others to the parlor.