The Hawkins Place

After Mo left for her place Sunday night I felt lost. I was already missing her and I didn't have much to do anymore.

Andy was almost done with everything upstairs, so we moved all the tools from the back porch into the carriage house so he could go to work out there. I was going to miss having him around, but the work was almost done. Monday night Mo called and said Julia the decorator could come Wednesday if that was okay, and I said the sooner the better. Within two weeks we had more new furniture in the living room.

It was now the end of April and the wedding was set for May the sixth. It was only going to be the two of us, plus Grace, the Preacher, Aggie and a couple of Mo's friends from Asheville. The women had reserved a room at Doyles Cedar Hill Restaurant and that was going to be it.

By the fifth I couldn't sit still. By the morning of the sixth my hands were shaking. It went so fast I hoped somebody was taking pictures because I probably wouldn't remember much of it. We had our time at the restaurant, and then we headed for the coast. We had rented a suite on the ocean for a few days and that was going to be our honeymoon. We spent most of the rest of our honeymoon in our suite at home

It didn't take us long to find our routine. It was like we had always lived together.

The library was set up as Mo's office at least temporarily, and I had my desk in the corner. I was writing a journal about all that had happened since arriving in Murphy. Well maybe not all. Mava played a much more minor role in this version. I had photos I had taken as the work progressed along with photos we had found. It was turning into quite a picture book with photos of the house in prime condition, then in neglected condition, and then the restored condition. It would be quite a provenance for the house. I never thought of myself writing but it was coming easy and I was enjoying it.

I was starting to hear from the house again. I couldn't tell what was going on, but it had a heavy feeling to it. There was going to be another significant event in our lives.

The tables had turned for Aggie. Now she was coming over a couple of times a week and eating with us or with me if Mo was away. I liked being a bigamist. If Mo was away, Aggie would help me sort pictures and find entries in the old journals to include in my tale. If Mo was there and not busy, the three of us would sit by the fireplace and talk.

One evening as I sat at my desk and Mo was away I felt a sudden sadness, a loss. It caused me to stop and hold my breath for a minute and stare at the library wall. I just let it happen. The front door opened and Aggie came in and came straight to me. I stood up and we hugged and cried. Grace was dead. We knew it. We felt it. That had been the reason for hurrying. Once Grace had seen the house restored and Mo and I married she was ready to go. She had visited her past and made peace with it many months ago. She had chosen her time to go.

We got the call late that night from a friend of Grace's in Atlanta, long after Aggie and I had grieved. I called Mo and told her she was needed at home and that was it. That was not a message to be delivered by telephone. Aggie and I sat and talked, hugged, kissed and cried for our loss, not Grace's.

It wasn't long after Grace had left us that it became apparent that Mo now had Grace's talent. Often times the two of us didn't even need to talk. We even knew the instant Mo got pregnant. I was excited and in shock. It wasn't planned.

Now the house doesn't talk anymore and we have a good life. Just me, my two wives and baby James. Oh yes, and James seems especially alert.

The End