In response to her offer, Charles gave a smile that was almost shy. He found another cutting board in one of his well-organized cupboards, and together they sliced up some more vegetables and one very generous slab of ham. A few cuts into a red pepper, Nora worked up the courage to start. “I was just wondering if I could ask you a few questions about the town.”
“Of course,” said Charles. “This town is as much your home as any of ours, as far as we’re concerned. You deserve to know whatever you’d like to know about it. You are a Bird, after all.”
Nora nodded her thanks. “The house in the woods,” shebegan, tentatively easing into the topic. “It’s Richard’s dad who lives there, right?”
Charles stopped chopping for a beat. “It looks like you already know a decent amount about this place,” he said.
“Not as much as I’d like,” said Nora.
Charles went back to cutting. “Yes, that’s Grandad out there.”
“All alone?”
“Yes.”
“But why?” Nora asked, unable to keep the intensity from her voice. “Why does he live away from the rest of the family?”
“He prefers it,” said Charles. “Though I couldn’t tell you why. Years ago, the woods weren’t so dense and he was much more connected to the rest of us, but I suppose when you’ve lived as long as he has, the company of others might begin to bore you. He’s lived mostly in solitude for decades now.”
Nora wiped her hands on a towel and contemplated this. She understood being a bit of a loner, but not a complete hermit. Something must have happened to make him a recluse.
“Did you ever ask him why?” said Nora.
Charles shook his head. “I haven’t really seen him in years, if I’m honest. We were never especially close. Clashing personalities and all that. Ironic, since Mom and Dad gave me Oliver as a middle name. We used to be much more alike, but times are different now and so are we. He’s grown to be a stubborn man, and at his age I don’t see that changing.”
Stubborn. Nora wondered if that’s where her father had gotten it from. Or her brother. Or maybe even her. It was an odd thought, to have a genetic link to this strange man in the forest outside a town few knew existed.
“So you don’t see him, but do other people visit him?” Nora asked, remembering Phil leaving the house. If there was something suspicious about the man in the woods, Phil’s presence there would make sense.
“He and Patty have always been quite close. I think she goes out there a decent amount. Aunt Dorothy goes on occasion, and Phil brings him supplies when he starts running low. Otherwise he lives a pretty isolated life.”
Charles cracked four eggs into a patiently waiting frying pan and added the vegetables and meat they’d been chopping. The smell of food cooking immediately filled the small house, sending Nora’s tummy rumbles into overdrive. Charles directed Nora to the cupboard with the dishes, and she set the table while he scooped two perfectly formed omelets onto plates. They sat down at the round wooden table by the kitchen window, and Nora threw all sense of propriety to the wind, her first eggy bite roughly the size and shape of an inflated puffer fish.
When Nora finally felt her hunger ease, a bigger void crept into its place. It was an empty space she hadn’t expected to fill today, but she was already here, and the seal of secrecy had already been at least pierced if not yet entirely broken. She lowered her fork and wiped a rogue onion from her chin.
“Why did Dad leave?”
“Hmm?” Charles asked, chewing his own breakfast at a much more socially acceptable pace.
“I just don’t get why anyone would choose to leave this place.”
Charles swallowed his bite and gave Nora his full attention. His eyes were soft and filled with sympathy. “I wish I could answer that question. I wish I could understand. I’ve been trying to figure that out since long before you came along. Your father wasnever satisfied with life here. He always wanted more. I suppose he always wanted you, and your brother, and your mom, and his work, and everything else Virgo Bay just couldn’t give him. We tried, for what it’s worth. But I don’t think he would ever have been truly happy here. It’s just not the way he was built.”
“But you’re happy here?”
“I am,” said Charles. “I love this place. Can’t imagine ever wanting to leave for longer than a night or two at a stretch. But my brother and I always had different ideas of what life should be.”
“I think I could be happy here too,” said Nora.
This drew a gentle smile from Charles. “I don’t doubt that. I see a lot of myself in you, Nora.”
“You said Dad used to write to you. Do you still have any of those letters?” Nora asked, too intent on her own mission to acknowledge his words. Maybe there was something in those letters that could tell her why Martin Bird did what he did. Why he really left this place. Not that what her uncle said didn’t make sense, but it didn’t feel like the whole story. Nora couldn’t imagine trading a life without fear for a job or even a family.
“Afraid not.” Her uncle took a sip of water and began clearing the table. Nora trailed him as he continued. “I was still living at Mom and Dad’s at the time. They would have thrown the letters out years ago.” He put the dishes down and faced Nora square on, placing his hands on her shoulders. “But I’ll tell you one thing: the past is an easy place to get lost in. It’s tempting, isn’t it? Hazy and imperfectly remembered so we can fill it in as we see fit. Spend too much time there, though, and you miss out on everything happening right now, and everything that could happen in the future. I think Martin understood that better than any of us. He’d want you to keep looking forward.”
Nora forced a nod through the emotions swirling through her. “I’ll try,” she said.
“Good,” said Charles. He let go of her shoulders and took a step back. “You know, for all the times I’ve wished he never left, I’m very glad he gave us you. As much as I see myself in you, your father’s in there too. He lives on through you.”
