Hailey wasn’t nearly as sore as she thought she would have been.After getting up and getting a shower, she was ready to face the day.Today, their hot tub was going to be delivered and set up for them, and she was excited about that.Some of her clothing was supposed to come today, too, and that made her happy.
“Why didn’t you want to go shopping at the mall?”She told Meggie that she hated shopping and had gotten out of the habit when she didn’t have anything to spend.“I usually order online too.I’llorder five or six things, then what I don’t like I send back.”She said she did the same thing.
“It makes it easier to shop from home, too, I think.”Hailey told her that she’d been shopping from home for so long that was why she didn’t care for the mall.“They don’t have all that many shops around anymore anyway.There are all kinds of shops that specialize in things like hats or games, but nothing that I’d go to if I needed something formal.”
“That’s the way that I feel.”The two of them were working on a balance sheet that Meggie had been working on for one of her many businesses.“I don’t see where all this money is going.Who is this person that the checks are being made out to anyway?Or is it none of my business?”
“No, it’s fine.I don’t know who it is either.I’m going to ask my grannie.She’ll know.”As she made the phone call to her mother, Hailey poured herself another cup of tea.She didn’t know why it was so much better at her house, but it was good.As she was sitting down, having got an answer, Meggie sighed in relief.“It’s a man whose wife was killed while on duty.She said that she’s been paying him her wage since the accident to help with his kids.She thinks that it’s about time to cut him off.The kids have to be out of school by now and probably out of college.”
“That’s very generous of her.I wonder how long it’s been going on?”She told her.“Yeah, I’d think that is long enough.Twenty years is long enough for them not only to be out of school, like you said, but well on their way to having a family of their own, too.How will you handle that?”
“Just send him a letter with one of the checks.I’ll give him six weeks to know that it’s going to be stopped, then after that, he’s on his own.Grannie said to only give him two weeks, but if he’s counting on the money, he’ll need a little more time.”Hailey thought that both ways were generous but said nothing.She wasn’t sure how to be rich yet.“Did Gleason tell you that he’s been doing well with his investments?Kinsey is jealous that he’s doing so well.I’m proud of him for taking the chances.That’s the way my grannie has done it over the years, too.Just taking a chance so that she can get a return on her money.”
“He showed me the list of investments that he has.I don’t know a great deal about it, but I’m learning.He said that he has a broker, too, who helps him run things.I think that’s the way that I’d do it too.”Meggie told her that she’d need to have someone watching all the time, too.“David said that they should sign all their own checks, too, so that no one other than them can do that.I think that’s a brilliant idea.I know it might get old having to sign checks for things like groceries and the electric bill, but at least he knows where his money is going.”
They talked about the way things were being paid, and she was amazed that, like Meggie, their house had an account at the local grocery store for staples.But they went to the bigger stores for things like meat and specialty items.
“I’m trying to get better at knowing the house, too.It’s big.”She said that she couldn’t believe that Gleason had wanted to go so big when he built his own home.“He said that he didn’t want to move anymore, and when the kids started to leave home, they’d still have their own rooms.I like that thought.Not about them leaving but of them coming home to stay.”
“The holidays are going to be something this year.This will be the first time they’ve had one since their grannie had died.We’re putting up a big tree with the ornaments that we’re picking up when we go places.He doesn’t have a single one.I would imagine none of them do.”
“I don’t either.And this will be my first too in a long time.”She asked about her parents.“They’re both still alive.I’m to be notified when they pass on.I don’t have much to do with them.When I was growing up, I’d hide myself away in our house so that I’d not be underfoot with them.I think they liked it that way.”
“That’s the saddest thing I think I’ve ever heard.You really don’t have anything to do with them?”She said that she gets a call sometimes at Christmas.“What about your birthday?”
“Never.Like I said, they didn’t like me underfoot, so I’d stay out of their way.There were times I thought they were surprised to see that I still lived at home with them.When I turned eighteen, I asked for some money to travel, and after giving it to me, I never bothered them for anything again.Like I said, sometimes at Christmas I hear from them.I won’t this year because I no longer have that phone.”Meggie thought that was about as sad as she could imagine.“It’s fine.I’m used to it.When they pass on, the attorney for the estate is supposed to tell me, but that’s all I know.Mother told me once that it was a nuisance having me call them, so I waited until they remembered me and called.It’s worked out well for the three of us.”
“Do they have money?”Hailey told her that they did when she left home, but she didn’t know now.“You should contact them and tell them that you’re married and give them your new number.That’s all, just that.Maybe they’ve had a change of heart and are missing you.”
“I plan on giving them my new number.They’ll give it to their attorney.But they won’t care that I’m married any more than they did that I’ve had holidays without them.It used to hurt me when I couldn’t talk to them, but I’ve since told myself that it’s all on them.I guess I could have been more of a daughter to them, but it’s too late for that now.And I’m all right with it, I guess.Perhaps when I have a baby, I’ll let them know that they’re grandparents, but they won’t want to be bothered by that any more than they did me when I was a child.”
“I think you have a sadder childhood than the guys did.He only beat her the one time, but other than that, I guess they had an all right relationship with their mother.But not their dad.But you didn’t do anything wrong, and they still cut you out of their lives.”She told her that she really was all right with it the way it was happening for her.“I think I’m going to find them and see what I can find out.If you don’t want to know, tell me, and I’ll just look for myself.”
“I don’t mind if you want to look.It would be nice to know if they’d had anymore children than myself.When I left, they were in their late thirties, so still young enough to have another child.”Meggie didn’t waste any time but went ahead and called in a search for them.In a matter of minutes, she had a hit on them.“What did you find out?”
She was curious to know now what was found.If someone had asked her even a week ago if she wanted to find out where her parents were, she’d tell them no.Now she not only wanted to talk to them but wanted to know what they’d been up to all these years.It had been nine years since she’d left home, and she was really curious if they had another child or not.
“Your mother is in the paper for her clubs.”Hailey didn’t know anything about what sort of clubs she’d be in.“One of them is the Rose Club.It’s called something else, but I know from Grannie that’s what it is.Your father still goes to work every day, too.”She gave her the address.
“That’s where they lived when I was a child.”She said that she figured as much.“Anything else?I am really curious if they had other children than me.”
“The article only talks about them.There is no mention of you at all.It’s been in the paper because your father has been working at the same job since he was fourteen, and they gave him an award for that.”She said she didn’t even know what he did for a living.“He’s the president of the company that his family has owned for more than six generations.I guess they wanted to know what he was going to do when he retired.”
Printing out the article so that she could read it, there was a mention of her in the article.It said that she was off doing things that she’d always wanted to do, and they had lost contact with her.She did wonder if they had run that in the paper since she’d lost her phone, but didn’t know the date on the article.Finding out when it was, it was about the time she’d started working for theGolden Sheep.Picking up her new cell phone, she called them before she lost her nerve.
“Hello, Dad.”She had had to go through the staff to get to talk to her dad.When she told the person who answered the phone who she was, she was told to wait one moment.That’s all it had been before her dad was on the line.“It’s Hailey Pennington.I’ve recently gotten married.”
He didn’t say anything, but she could hear his breathing in the background.When she asked him if it was all right that she’d called.He said it had been wonderful.She didn’t know what else to say, so she waited for him.
“I’ve been trying to reach you for the past five years.”She said that she’d lost her phone recently but hadn’t heard from him.“I’ve had an investigator looking for you, too.He was able to narrow down that you were working somewhere in Ohio.”
“I live here now.”She told him where they lived and Gleason’s name.“We were just married the day before yesterday.It’s been a quick romance.”
“Your mother passed away last year.I was trying to get in touch with you to let you know.The damned attorneys haven’t had any success in finding you either.I just hoped that you’d call again.”She noticed that Meggie had left her in the office alone and was grateful for that.“I miss you, child.I know you’re an adult now, but I miss you very much.I guess we didn’t know how good we had it until the end of your mother’s life.She had cancer, you see.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.I truly am.Had I known, and you would have allowed it, I would have been there for the two of you.”He said he wanted her to come home now.“I have a husband who would be coming with me.Is that all right?”
“Of course.I would love to meet the man who took your heart.I was a selfish man, both your mother and I.It wasn’t until the end, there, like I said, that we realized what fools we’d been in letting you leave like you did.I would be happy to see you both again.Anytime.Soon would be good.”She asked him about the article in the paper.“Oh, that.That was a fluff piece that your grandda ran.He and my mother are still alive, too.They’ve been pestering me to no end to get in touch with you.And here you are calling me.I just don’t know what to say about that.”
