Gabe served the omelet, poured coffee for Sam and himself and milk for Drew. “How about some fruit to go with your toast, Mr. Williams?”
“Call me Sam. No fruit. I have it later in the day or it upsets my stomach.” His eyes twinkled. “Digestive system isn’t what it used to be.”
He tasted his coffee. “You make a good cup of coffee, Gabe, I’m glad to say. Can’t stand it weak. Heard the two of you caused quite a stir at church yesterday. Sorry I wasn’t there to meet you but this is better. Always good to meet people across a table, you know.” He twinkled at Drew. “You remember that, young Drew. Now, how old are you?”
“I’ll be sixteen in a few months, Mr. Williams.” Listening to this interesting neighbor, Drew had slowed his usual eating pace.
“Growing so fast you’re going to be right up there with your brother in a few years. Bet you can’t buy the groceries fast enough,” he told Gabe.
His good humor made even Drew laugh, especially since he was pouring himself another tall glass of milk. “I’m thinking of putting him out to work to earn his keep,” Gabe said just to see what Drew’s reaction would be.
“Zeke was a smart man, you know,” Sam said. “He grew most of the food him and Sarah ate. Had a garden every year and began one this year. Guess you’ve seen it. When we’re through here I’ll show it to you, young Drew, and tell you what you need to do to keep it going so you can put some food on this table.”
The idea seemed to appeal to Drew. “Okay,” he said.
I like this neighbor, Gabe thought, and waited to see what Sam would put him through. He took a bite of omelet and sipped his coffee.
Sam started in a roundabout way while enjoying his breakfast. “Zeke and I were alike in not having the pleasure of seeing our kids grown and having kids of their own. His daughter, Elizabeth, only lived a few months. Robert died at twenty when a horse threw him while Edward went up to New York and disappeared. It wasn’t until years later that Zeke found out he’d died of tuberculosis and left two sons.”
Gabe forgot to eat, immersed in this picture of his father’s family of which he’d known nothing all these years.
“Since you and Drew are Bells, I take it that Edward Bell was your grandfather?”
“Apparently, but we never knew about him,” Gabe said.
“Your father’s name was?”
“Booker,” Gabe and Drew said in unison.
An expression of satisfaction was clear on Sam’s face and as Gabe poured more hot coffee, he warned himself to be vigilant because Sam appeared to be an expert at drawing information out of you. Therefore Gabe would offer only what he didn’t mind everyone knowing about the conditions of the will. He’d no idea what Great-Grandfather might have confided to Sam. He only knew what he wasn’t going to confide.
“Drew, I think I’d like another piece of toast to go with this good coffee,” Sam said. Drew got up to replenish the toast supply and Sam asked Gabe, “You’d be about thirty-five or so?”
“You hit it on the head exactly.”
“Single?”
“So far.”
“Your parents?”
“Both deceased.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Gabe and Drew. I thought maybe they were since they weren’t down here with you.”
The sincerity in his voice was unmistakable and Gabe found no false note in it.
Drew put a plate of hot toast on the table and a jar of strawberry preserves. When everyone had eaten some, Gabe decided he would offer some facts.
“We were born and raised in Manhattan. The only relatives on our dad’s side that we knew about was his brother, Jacob. Uncle Jake never married and had no children as far as we knew. Our mother, Virginia Riley, came from a large family and those were the aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents we knew.”
“What did Booker say when you asked about family on his side?”
“He’d say he didn’t have any, or that he didn’t want to talk about it, so early on we learned to leave that subject alone.”
“Your uncle Jake never told you anything?”
“Nothing. We didn’t see him on any regular basis. He’d breeze into town for a few days and we’d never know when he’d be back.”
“Is he still living?”
“He died a year after Dad.”
“I probably knew your great-grandfather as well as anyone in Grayson and better than most,” Sam said thoughtfully. “For years we sat at this table together, especially after we were both widowed. He never said a word about what was to happen to this property. The one time I mentioned it he said it was taken care of. I expected that and never talked about it again.”
He was silent and so were Gabe and Drew.
“He hadn’t been ill, you know,” he resumed. “He just died one day. The next thing I knew, there was a rumor flying around town that an heir from New York had been found. So naturally I was very concerned to meet that heir and see what he was like, you see.” He raised an eyebrow, his sharp glance on Gabe.
“I understand. You wanted to see if the heir was worthy of your friend.” Gabe looked at his inquisitor calmly. The two men measured each other and came to an agreeable conclusion.
“My great-grandfather apparently decided to make a search for Edward’s son,” Gabe said. “It must have been quite difficult because it was only a few weeks ago that Drew and I knew anything about this. We had a visit from an attorney who had worked for Great-Grandfather for some years. He established who he was and who we were. Then he read us the will. To say we were astonished doesn’t begin to describe our feelings.” He glanced at Drew.
“Blown away is what we were!” Drew said.
“It was very hard to believe. In New York inheritance scams are played on people every day, so it took some time to come to the conclusion that what the attorney told us was legitimate. I can’t tell you all the details, but we are the heirs and we’ll be here for a while as things work themselves out.”
Sam was nodding his head. “Your great-grandfather was deep, so I’m not surprised that he worked it out that way. You know, he was quite a scholar in his own way, particularly about Africa. Read books about it all of the time and when something would come on television about that place, he’d tell me to come over and we’d watch it together.”
“I have noticed a number of books about Africa in his office.”
“Those are just the ones he kept. He used his library card for a lot of others.” He drained his coffee cup. “Well, I guess I’ve taken up enough of your time for now. I’m real glad the two of you are here. Feel free to come over any time. It’s the white house with the green shutters.”
“What a character,” Drew said, cleaning off the table as Gabe cleaned up the pans. “I like him.”
“So do I, and I respect him. He’s no dummy.”
“He sure told us a lot about Pop’s family. Seems like every day we find out a little more. Don’t you think that’s crazy?”
“In a way, but on the other hand, we’re living where Pop’s family began, so even though it was a long time ago, people here know bits and pieces that we couldn’t hear about living in NewYork.”
“He forgot to show me the garden,” Drew remembered.
“I think he stayed longer than he’d planned but he won’t