Chapter 51: Chapter 51
Dak pulled his SUV into the drive of Memory’s Victorian home, glad to see Ralph’s work truck parked to the side, a ladder propped over the west wing. He imagined the roofer was already assessing the situation. Dak checked the time. It was already almost 1:30. He’d told Ralph his meetings might run long, but he had no idea he’d be almost an hour late. Frustrated, he pulled the keys out of the ignition and dropped them in his pocket, heading up the snow covered drive.
At least he’d gotten the offer on the factory put together and sent off. His agent said she thought they wouldn’t hear anything until after the first of the year, but that was understandable. It was a solid offer, and he was confident even Corbin Beardly couldn’t compete with. When he’d run into him the night before at the diner, Corbin had mentioned having something up his sleeve, said he was onto something pretty special, something Dak would be envious of. That had been enough for Dak to write the offer. Even if he lost his shirt in the transaction, it would be worth it to keep the likes of Corbin Beardly from buying any more property in Christmas Falls.
The sound of footsteps from the roof alerted him that Ralph was close by. “Ralphie! I know I don’t have to tell you, but be careful, man! You’re pretty far up there!”
A familiar face poked over the edge of the roof, smiling down at him. Ralph was Dak’s parents’ age and had worked with his mom when Dak was just a little kid. But he was the best, and the fact that he was willing to come all the way over here on Christmas Eve spoke volumes about the sort of man he was. “Hey there, Cody. You’re right. Whole thing’s shot. Even most of the support beams over the ballroom are going to need replaced.”
“Darn,” Dak said, though he was nodding. He’d thought as much. “How much?”
“Uh... hard to say just from eyeballing it. And of course it depends on what sort of shingles she wants. Those antique replicas aren’t cheap if she wants something like that. But... my best guess would be between thirty and forty.”
A queasy feeling took over his stomach, but Dak had to agree. That’s about what he’d been thinking. “All right. I know this isn’t a local job for you, but I’d really appreciate it if you could do it for me, Ralph. This is a special place, and I wouldn’t trust it to anyone else. I’d pay you more.”
“’Course I will, Cody—uh—Dak. Sorry.” Dak waved him off. Most of his mom’s friends still called him Cody, just like she often did. “I’d do anything for Connie. Let me look at my schedule, and I’ll see how I can work it in.”
“Thanks, Ralph. I really appreciate it.”
“No problem. This house is a real beauty. What are you planning to do with it?”
“Well, I’m not buying it, Ralph. It belongs to... a friend. It was her grandmother’s before she passed, and now she wants it to be a home again. But we might use that ballroom for a senior citizens center—assuming the leaks haven’t caused any foundation issues or any other issues.” If they had, he’d take care of that, too, eventually, when Memory let him.
“Want me to come take a look? I’m not a foundation guy, but I know enough about water damage to say if you should be worried or not.”
“That would be great. Thanks.”
Dak wandered over to the porch, waiting for Ralph to make his way down the ladder. A pair of cardinals were sitting on the window ledge, tweeting, the red feathers of the male bright against the white of the house and the glare from the snow. The brown one was just as pretty as she fluttered around chirping like she had something to say. “Hello, little birdies,” he said quietly, hoping Ralph didn’t hear and think he’d lost his mind. He remembered what Lorelei claimed had happened at the snowball fight. He was sure a lot of that was her overactive imagination, but it was odd to see two cardinals here that looked similar to what she’d described.
“All righty,” Ralph said, his work boots crunching through the snow. “You got a key?”
“Sure do.” Dak pulled the key he’d gotten from Memory earlier that morning out of his pocket and climbed the porch steps. The birds hopped over one windowsill so that they were closer to the door as Dak unlocked it, holding it open for Ralph.
The roofer walked inside a few steps and then stopped. “Wow—this place is even more beautiful on the inside.” He stood inside of the doorway with his hands on his hips, looking at all of the architectural features Dak had marveled over the day before. “Needs some work, of course, but this place’ll be real nice again with a little bit of work.”
Dak agreed. In fact, it was already really nice. With some work, it would be a home again.
Ralph finally moved aside so that Dak could go in, but just before he closed the door, a flutter of feathers caught his attention as the two cardinals flew past him at top speed, their wings almost grazing his face as they cut to his left and headed toward the ballroom.
“What in the world?” Ralph said, staring at the birds as Dak stood with his mouth hanging open.
“I don’t know.” He left the door open, hoping he could shoo them back out, and went after the birds.
They stopped at the ballroom door, the male pecking on the glass while the female fluttered her wings, tweeting at Dak like she was trying to say something. They weren’t afraid of him, that was for sure. “Why do I feel like we’re in an episode of Lassie, only instead of a dog trying to tell us a kid’s in a well, two birds want us to know there’s something in that room?” Ralph asked, coming up behind him.
“That does seem to be the situation,” Dak agreed. “Okay, little birdies. Move aside... and I’ll open the door for you.”
“What if we can’t get them out again?” Ralph asked as Dak took a few more steps toward the door.
He didn’t answer the question. He’d cross that bridge when he came to it. Something told him it wouldn’t be a problem. He opened the door on the right enough for the birds to fly in, which they did. They both immediately perched on the window near the only chair in the room, the one he’d gotten the impression Memory had left there for some significant reason.
The birds settled down, no longer flapping their wings or chirping frantically, so Dak and Ralph approached them slowly. “What in the world?” Ralph asked.
Dak shook his head, folding his arms and studying them. If Lorelei’s story was true, and these were the same birds... maybe they had some sort of connection to Memory’s Grandma Helen. Was it possible she’d fed them often, and they’d sort of become like pets? But that didn’t explain what they’d been doing all the way across town at the snowball fight.
“What’s this?” Ralph asked, picking up a piece of paper out of the chair. “Looks important.”
His forehead wrinkled, Dak said, “I have no idea.” He was certain there hadn’t been any paper in the chair yesterday when he and Memory had been there. Glancing around the room, he wondered if someone else had been here since they’d visited. Maybe her dad or Kirsten?
“It’s a life insurance policy,” Ralph said, studying the paper. “For... Helen Graham. You know her?”
Dak’s mouth dropped open. “What? Let me see.” Ralph extended the paper, and Dak snatched it out of his hand, his eyes bulging. “How in the world...?”
“I don’t understand,” Ralph said. “Who is Helen Graham?”
“Memory... the woman who owns the house... Helen was her grandmother. She’s been looking for this paper for almost a year.” He’d read enough of the form to know it was the missing policy. Lowering it, he looked at Ralph. “This was not here yesterday. I’m sure we would’ve seen it if it was.”
“Huh....” Ralph looked back at the chair and then at the birds. “That’s strange.”
“You can say that again. I need to call Memory.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and took a few steps away, hardly noticing when the birds flew back to the door and Ralph went to let them out.
Still unable to believe what had happened, Dak prayed Memory would actually pick up. He figured she was probably swamped with last minute shoppers, though, especially since she was closing the store early for Christmas Eve, so he wasn’t too surprised when her phone went straight to voicemail. He glanced up at the ceiling as he listened to her sweet voice on the recorder, aware that he was standing about in the same spot he’d been in yesterday when he’d finally gotten up the courage to kiss her. He couldn’t help but smile. “Hey, Mem. Give me a call as soon as you get this. You will not believe what’s happened. You don’t need to worry about paying for that roof anymore. Talk to you soon.” He hung up, glad Ralph was back so he could take a quick look around and they could both head out.
“They flew right back out the door and off into the trees.” He was still shaking his head, and Dak couldn’t blame him.
“I think we may have just witnessed a Christmas miracle,” Dak surmised. “I’m going to see if I can find an envelope to put this in so it doesn’t get wet if it starts snowing again. I’ll be back.”
“All right. I’ll take a look around, but from what I can see, they got the tarps on in time.”
“That’s good news,” Dak said, wondering where he might find an envelope. He’d been concerned about telling Memory how much it was going to cost to fix the roof, but now that she would have the insurance policy to pay for it, he wouldn’t have to worry about figuring out how to convince her to let him cover it. Maybe by the time she wanted to do the rest of the work that needed done, he’d have convinced her that he was more than willing to share everything he had with her—including his heart—for every Christmas to come.