House of the Forest by Diana Wallis Taylor

Author:Diana Wallis Taylor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2012-10-19T04:00:00+00:00

Gloria entered the house with her escort and introduced him as John Howard, an old friend. Laura had never seen him before, but then she and her mother didn’t get together often enough to know who Gloria knew. Her mother eyed the punch bowl and raised her eyebrows in a question. Obviously she and her friend expected something a little stronger than punch.

When Laura shrugged and gave a slight shake of her head, Gloria rolled her eyes heavenward and with a sigh went to sit down in the rocker. Her friend took a chair nearby. He didn’t say much but watched everyone with narrowed eyes.

The Matheson’s arrived, and Laura realized Sam wasn’t with them. Was he coming? Why did it matter? When he at last appeared in the doorway, she felt conscious of his presence in a way she wasn’t sure she could explain. She had to admit he looked very nice in a suit and tie.

One of the women from the church came by and brought some of the food left over from the reception and Alma Wilkins brought a Lemon cake. Beth busied herself in the kitchen putting the food away and laying out the desserts out with the help of Alice Matheson and Ginny.

Pete Wilkins and his wife apologized for not being able to stay. They had to return home as they had family visiting them.

Laura introduced everyone and the men shook hands. One by one they sat down in a circle in the living room, with Deke in the middle on the couch.

George Morgan broke the ice and asked the question that Laura felt sure was on everyone’s mind.

“So, Deke, tell us about your father. We’ve wondered about him.”

With all the eyes upon him, Deke appeared calm, but wary. He shifted his position on the couch, put his cup of punch down and considered the question a moment before he spoke.

“Well, as I told Laura, my father died a couple of weeks ago. He’d been living in an apartment in Van Nuys.”

George tossed in what he hoped to shock Deke with. “How long had he been out of prison?”

Deke was unperturbed. “Evidently only a few weeks.”

Ginny too had questions. “Can you tell us how he met your mother?”

“I was only around three or four when he went to prison. I didn’t know anything about his life before, other than the picture of my father, Estelle DuPont and a small boy that I ah, found in his apartment along with some clippings.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t know who the woman or the boy were until I read an obituary notice he saved. It said the boy had been hit by a car. It mentioned his parents as Ray and Estelle DuPont of Big Bear Lake. I guess my father was married to her before he met my mother”.

Ginny pursed her lips. “To my knowledge, Ray was never divorced from Estelle.”

Deke shrugged. “I don’t know about that. I think there’s something about seven years making a legal split, but then I’m not a lawyer.

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