Joelle’s Discovery Part Two

‘I met Frederick in school when I was fifteen and he was seventeen and I never went with anyone else. We waited ten years to get married. It was the depression then and for a long time we didn’t have money to get married. But finally, Frederick gave me a diamond ring and promised me that we would be married on whatever day I chose. We were married three months later on the lawn at the church. It was a perfect spring day.’

Since she had found her grandmother’s book in the attic, Joelle was so absorbed into her story, she almost did not finish clearing the attic. But with Jake’s help, the attic was cleared and most of her grandparents’ possessions brought to her parents’ house.

Upon their next visit to the house, Joelle and Jake discovered just how many repairs it needed. When it was furnished and full of her grandparents’ personal items, it seemed like the house was just perfect. With a sigh, Joelle considered the work to be done. As she thought of it, she imagined it resembling a newer version of her grandparents’ home, but wondered how a new paint colour would benefit the living room. She also imagined updating the kitchen just a little to better match a table and chair set that she had in store for her and Jake as a wedding gift. It would all be more worth it when it came to selling the house.

Joelle kept all these thoughts to herself, looked at Jake, and wondered what he thought. He was pensively eyeing the kitchen cupboards. Joelle’s cell phone rang from inside her pocket and interrupted her contemplation. She pulled it out and flipped it open.

“Hello?” she asked.

“Hi, sweetie, how are you?” It was her mother, Beatrice.

“Fine,” answered Joelle, “What’s up?” Her mother did not often call her on her cell phone; Joelle supposed it must be important.

“Do you remember your grandmother’s Murano vases and her Armani figurines?” said Beatrice.

“Yes…” said Joelle, still looking around the kitchen.

Joelle could hear Beatrice sigh gently. “Well, they’re not here. Did you keep them there or bring them somewhere else?”

“I brought you everything I found. Are you sure they aren’t there?”

“No,” Beatrice assured her, “Look for them again, please, and let me know if you find them. They’re very valuable.”

“I know, Mom,” Joelle replied, trying to keep the sigh out of her tone of voice.

After their short conversation, Joelle closed the phone and thought on her mother’s request. The little house was almost empty and looked quite bare without all the familiar items that had been her grandparents’ possessions. If the Murano vases and Armani figurines were not at her parents’ house, Joelle could not account for them.

Nor did she have the time to look for them.

“Are they missing something?” asked Jake.

Joelle nodded. “The Murano vases and Armani figurines apparently. But I’m sure we brought everything over there.”

“Why didn’t you ask her to look again?” said Jake.

“They’re important to her,” Joelle reasoned, “If she says she doesn’t have them, she doesn’t have them. She probably wants them back because she gave them to my grandma in the first place.”

“Well that’s… understandable,” Jake replied, although hesitantly, “I guess. Ask your brother and sister about them. I’ll have another look in the attic.”

Ask Jake ascended the stairs, Joelle opened her phone again to call her brother Matthew. Reaching his answering machine, she left a message with Beatrice’s request. Just as the phone was ringing her sister Margaret’s number, Jake returned to the kitchen. Joelle left a message on her sister’s phone as well.

Joelle shrugged as she placed the phone in her pocket. “Come on, let’s go. I don’t know what mom expects from me,” she said, “I haven’t seen those vases or figurines in a long time, and it seems like a trivial concern to me right now.”

“It’s okay,” said Jake soothingly as they walked toward the door, “I’m sure they’ll turn up somewhere.”

They walked through the front door and stepped into the spring sunshine. They strolled across the lawn and talked of their wedding plans. The wedding was only a month away and most of their plans were set. Joelle was beginning to think about the small details and the busy month ahead of her. The inheritance of her grandparents’ house was in a way quite timely, and yet so untimely.

“So,” said Jake as they ambled along the sidewalk, “Have you decided what you would prefer to do with the house?”
“Oh Jake,” replied Joelle with a little sigh, “Everyone thinks I should sell it. It would sell well. But I don’t care about the money I can get for it. The house is what I have left of grandpa and grandma. That, and this book.” She motioned with the book in her hand.

Jake glanced at the book. “It’s a good story, isn’t it?”

Joelle smiled. “It’s a side of my grandmother that I never knew. I mean, I knew she had a fascinating childhood, but I never knew about so many of the events of her story.” She paused, looking at Jake and thinking, “You know, her father was a foot soldier in the first world war. What a horrible time to live through.”

“Like anyone who lives through a war…” added Jake.

Joelle nodded. They were long past the house now, wandering along the sidewalk. Joelle looked briefly back in the direction of the house. She remembered again all the fun she had as a young girl at grandma and grandpa’s. She had thought she would like something new and that the money from the sale would help her and Jake in buying a new house. But the familiarity of the old house called to her. She stopped and faced Jake, taking his hands in hers.

“Let’s keep the house,” she said with a smile, “But it’ll need those repairs we talked about.”

“So we’ll make the repairs,” Jake agreed, “And it doesn’t matter what others think we should do with it. The house is yours.”

“Ours,” she corrected.

“Ours,” he repeated, smiling as he kissed her cheek.

Joelle wrapped her arms around him and smiled up at him. But her smile disappeared as quickly as it came. “I do wonder what happened to my grandmother’s things.”

“That’s a mystery, isn’t it?” said Jake.

He smiled at her until the smile returned to her face. Taking her hand, he began to walk again and they continued their stroll along the sidewalk.