Herbert had watched the bank officials post foreclosure signs on his property. He’d seen the auction people come and start categorizing his beloved furnishings. The bank manager himself had collected all of the jewelry he and Gladys owned. If this was just a scheme to shame his younger brother, Harrison had gone to complete extremes.
A sense of dread washed over Herbert. Was it possible it was all real? Could Harrison really allow Herbert to lose all that he’d worked so hard to maintain? He put down his fork and noted that his wife was watching him apprehensively. Even Susanna and Gary had a look in their eyes that he couldn’t quite identify. Was it betrayal? Did they feel he’d failed them? Surely not. How could they? He might have trusted the wrong person, but he had done nothing wrong. One of these days he would make the right investment and win them a fortune.
He forced a smile, but they only looked away.
Would they always believe he’d failed them? Curse Harrison for putting that idea in their minds, if so. This was all his brother’s game. That was all it was. And the sooner Harrison showed up in San Marcial, the sooner Herbert would set him straight.
A week later, after a quiet but successful hotel opening, Susanna was determined to find her parents proper accommodations.
The townsfolk seemed enthusiastic about their new hotel, and so far there had been half a dozen guests with the promise of more. Susanna had even managed to get into something of a routine. Each morning she went to the rooms that had been vacated by guests. She opened the window to air out the room, then stripped the covers and hung them over the foot rail of the iron bed in order to air those as well. She then put the sheets and pillowcases into a pile for laundry. She dusted and swept and then moved on to the next room in order to let things settle before finally returning to make the beds with clean linen and close things back up. It seemed a good order in which to handle matters.
But even with this sense of accomplishment and organization, Susanna couldn’t ignore that her mother had caused something of a personal riot in the family. Mother hated the hotel and simply would not live there a moment longer. She’d already gone to the train station four times to check the schedule for trains back to Topeka.
There were certain things her mother would complain about for a time and then let go, but Susanna knew the idea of a proper home wasn’t one of them. Mother was impossible to please. She complained or cried from morning to night. Susanna had done her best to reason with her, but Mother wouldn’t hear it. She just kept on with the demand that someone needed to find her another place to live.
“I wasn’t born to this kind of life,” Mother would reiterate. “I cannot bear it. My constitution is such that I will surely die.”
Day after day she remained in her room, crying or raging. From time to time she came out long enough to make everyone miserable. Susanna found herself reaching a breaking point, even though she knew this was Uncle Harrison’s punishment for her parents.
She had brought a good amount of money with her, although she hadn’t yet had time to go to the bank. Between her mother’s fits and her father’s incompetency, Susanna found it necessary to do most of the chores to see the hotel properly run. Once Father was able to check in a guest and direct them to their room, he took over the front desk, but that didn’t help with the laundry and cleaning responsibilities, which her mother should have had to do. Mother, however, refused, leaving Susanna to work alone. She rarely addressed Susanna directly unless it was to nag and whine about their living accommodations or lack of luxury.
“This is completely uncalled for,” Mother announced as Susanna ironed sheets one day. “We are above this kind of thing. You must contact Harrison and demand what is rightfully yours,” she said when Father entered the room.
“Maybe you should contact him and tell him yourself,” Father replied, plopping onto the small sofa.
Mother began to cry again, and Susanna knew a great argument was soon to follow. Mother would tell Father he was a fool to allow his brother to do such an abominable thing to him. That a competent man wouldn’t let himself be pushed around.
Susanna focused on the ironing as her mother began her tirade. Father wasn’t truly a bad person. He was just unwise. He was fooled by his own sense of importance and supposed wisdom. Just as her mother had illusions of being an important member of high society, her father firmly believed himself to be a financial master. This setback was just a minor inconvenience, and as soon as his brother was able to straighten things out in Topeka, all would be forgotten.
She sighed. Her parents had a strange inability to face reality. But, of course, others had aided in their delusion. Even Uncle Harrison admitted that much. That was, in fact, why he felt he must take a hard stand now. Otherwise, Gary would turn out to be no different.
Poor Gary. Susanna had tried to speak to him, but this situation had changed him. He was angry and disrespectful. He blamed Father for ruining his life and future plans. He had been bound for college in the fall, without direction or purpose. His grades were abominable, and had it not been for the promise of hefty donations by their father, Gary wouldn’t have even qualified for attendance. Now, with the money gone and no donations forthcoming, Gary’s invitation had been rescinded, and college was no longer an option.
Susanna really couldn’t blame her brother for his anger. She was beginning to have plenty of her own. If she’d been smart, she would have remained in Topeka with her in-laws.
2
When Mother’s campaign of whining and crying only escalated the next day, Susanna decided enough was enough. Uncle Harrison might not want her parents living elsewhere, but frankly, if they didn’t move off the premises, Susanna knew there would be trouble.
She took it upon herself to start scouting for a house. Anything would do, she told herself. She could use her own money. They didn’t need to know about it. She spoke to several store owners before happening upon one who happened not only to know of a small house for sale but also owned it. Carson Medford appeared to be in his sixties, yet there was a twinkle in his eye and a spring in his step that suggested he was far from old. He left his store in the care of his hired clerk and escorted Susanna to the house’s location.
“I used to live there with my wife, but after she died, it seemed ridiculous to have all the room over the store sitting empty and me living in a house that I could just as easily sell.”
They approached a charming adobe house. It was rectangular in appearance with a couple of deep-set windows on the front.
“It’s only a few blocks to the hotel. This would work out very nicely,” Susanna declared.
“I haven’t even advertised it for sale. Things move pretty fast around here, and there’s always a headquarter official looking for a house. I don’t know why, but as I prayed about it, I didn’t feel compelled to put it up for sale yet. But when you asked, it just felt right.”
“So you’re a man of God.” She smiled. “I, too, put my trust in the Lord. I began praying for a house when I realized how miserable my mother would be staying at the hotel.”
“We’re all pretty inspired by the new hotel. Your uncle spared no expense, and it has urged the rest of us to spruce things up. We’ve got over a thousand people living in town now, so we might as well make it as nice as we can. Here we are.” He unlocked the front door. “It has two bedrooms. It’s not a big house, as I said, but it is solid. The walls are a foot thick, and the house stays cool in the heat of the summer and warm when the cold weather comes.”