Chapter 14 #2
“Do you have a girlfriend?” Then when David saw the sudden smile on Tate’s face it said it all.
“I do. Her name is Briar Lowe. She was just awarded a four-year scholarship, all expenses paid, to Tulane University, in New Orleans. She also graduates early as I do. We’ve been planning our paths for years.
We’ll be going in different directions for a while, but she’s always going to be home to me. ”
David nodded. “That’s good, grandson. You have a real good head on your shoulders.”
Tate grinned. “Old soul.”
David chuckled. “After breakfast, your granny Retha and I want to take you all to Granny Barton’s house. It’s where I was born, and where Lilith spent a lot of her childhood, learning her granny’s ways.”
“I saw it in a vision months ago. Mama is gonna cry so many happy tears,” Tate said.
David paused. “Uh…you saw us…you know…?”
Tate shrugged. “She was fretting some time back about needing to find a place to live when her and Dad moved back here. All I said to her was that there was a house already waiting. I didn’t know who it belonged to, or how she was going to come by it, but I saw it.
We drove past it on the way to The Hall, but I didn’t say anything.
And you need to know it is going to be the blessing she needed. ”
“Well, I’ll say,” David said, took off his straw hat to scratch his head, put the hat back on, and then grinned. “Anyway…I’m getting hungry and we need to get these eggs back to the house.”
Tate saw pieces of his mother in his granddaddy’s face. It was a good feeling. Then he smiled. “I’m pretty much always hungry, so I’ll be right behind you.”
A couple of hours later, they got in their respective cars, with David and Retha leading the way to Granny Barton’s house.
Lilith could hardly sit still. “It’s going to be bittersweet, going back to Granny’s house and her not in it, but I’m anxious to see it again. Daddy said he and a bunch of kinfolks have been helping him paint and repair off and on for about a year.”
Tate listened as they drove without offering any conversation. He didn’t want to lie, so the easier way out was to say nothing.
A short while later, they turned off the road and went up the driveway to the house. Lilith’s parents got out and went straight to the house to unlock it, then waited. As soon as Abel and Lilith reached the front door, David handed them the house key.
“From this day forward, this house is yours. It was your granny’s last wish, to keep it for Lilith. She swore the day would come when Abel would bring you home.”
Lilith gasped, then started to cry. “Oh, Abel! Oh, Daddy! I don’t know what to say! Thank you! Thank you!”
Abel reached for her hand. “We didn’t see this coming, but it is such a blessing.
Let’s go check out our new home, darlin’.
And Tate, get in here and claim a bedroom.
This is going to be your landing place from now on.
Wherever you go in life, you’ll know where to come when you need a place to lay your head. ”
Tate followed them in, witnessing the delight and wonder at the heirloom pieces left for them to use.
The antique pie safe. A walnut sideboard.
A handmade rocker made of ash wood sitting beside the fireplace, and a beautiful stone hearth that his mother said was made of Tennessee marble, a kind of metamorphized limestone, that had been cut from a nearby quarry long ago.
And all the while he was aware he was just an onlooker.
This was not the place where he would put down roots, but getting his parents out of Star Ridge was everything.
His mother’s homecoming was a long-awaited and well-deserved event.
* * *
Three days later, they were on the way back to Star Ridge.
They’d spent the last night with his Bandy family, and during the ongoing conversation, something they’d said about Tate’s near-death experience when he was a child reminded him that Mr. Autry would have an answer for him, one way or another, when he got home.
The closer they got to Star Ridge, the more antsy Tate was getting. He’d sent Briar a text to let her know they were on the way home, but Briar wasn’t the only one waiting for him.
The return of Dan Stennett’s son made national news, and the interview Stennett gave about Tate Bandy’s part in saving his son, coupled with the warning Tate had given Amy Wall from TV station KSDK, had dropped a nineteen-year-old boy into the national spotlight.
Now the media wanted more. Interviews. Photos.
Background. Verifying rumors that his gift came through his father’s bloodline.
Like vultures, intent on picking a carcass clean.
* * *
They were about a mile outside of Star Ridge.
Lilith had gone quiet.
Tate was driving, and Abel was asleep in the back seat. Coming back to Star Ridge was an adrenaline crash for his parents, and the skin was crawling on the back of Tate’s neck. It felt like he was driving into yet another storm, but of a different kind, and he felt the need to warn them.
“Dad, I need you to wake up.”
Abel woke up, and Lilith looked at her son. “What’s wrong?” Abel asked.
“We’re almost home, and I’m not sure what I’m driving into,” he said.
“What do you mean?” Lilith asked.
“I think there are all kinds of people…strangers…in town. They’re all looking for me. Not sure why. I don’t feel any danger, just hassle and intrusion.”
“Every public thing you do has consequences,” Lilith said. “That little boy you saved. His kidnapping was all over the news. Maybe you were given public credit as well for his return, just like Amy Wells did on her broadcast after the police stopped her stalker.”
Tate sighed. “All that does is make you part of the collateral damage of who I am. You and Dad are going to have to leave to find peace.”
“You haven’t finished school,” Lilith said.
“Maybe I have. Maybe I haven’t. I have to talk to Mr. Autry when we get home.”
“What’s going on?” she asked.
Tate eased past a stop sign and took a left off Main Street. “It has to do with the first time I began first grade and then was kept out a year. It may mean something. It may not.”
“What about the strangers?” Abel asked.
“I’ll deal with them,” Tate said. “You and Mom are officially relieved of being bodyguards and guardians. If you don’t know who’s at the door, don’t answer it. You can just be my parents now.”
“We’ll stand back,” Abel said. “But we’re never going to ignore what’s happening to you. That’s called being a parent. Understood?”
Tate grinned. “Yes, sir. Understood.” He pulled up beneath their carport.
“Lilith, honey, you open the door and go on in. Tate and I will get the bags,” Abel said. As soon as Lilith went into the house, Abel saw a news van turn a corner and head toward their house. “And…here they come.”
Tate didn’t even look up. “Feels good to be out of the car. I’ve got these two. You get Mom’s stuff. I’m right behind you,” Tate said, and in the door they went.
Tate carried the two big bags to his parents’ bedroom and left them near the bed. His bag was sitting just inside his bedroom door. There was already a knock at the door as he was putting his phone on the charger.
“I’ll get it,” he said, and strode through the house and opened the door.
There was a camera aimed at him and a reporter ready to shove a mic in his face.
The first words out of his mouth were, “Are you serious? You think stalking and sneak attacks are going to get you a scoop? We drove eight hours to get home. We just walked in the house. Nobody’s even had a chance to pee, and here you come unannounced. How many of you people are already in town?”
The reporter stuttered. “I’m not sure. Maybe four or five different…”
Tate rolled his eyes. “Good grief. Okay…here’s the deal.
I will meet with all of you…once…and all at the same time.
You can take turns asking questions and then we’re done here.
I’m sure you know by now where the gazebo is in the city park.
I will be there in a couple of hours. And I’m leaving it to you to share this news with the other media present, because if you don’t let all of them know, then there won’t be an interview with anyone. Understood?”
He closed the door in their faces and went back to his room to gather up his dirty clothes.
Abel was grinning as Tate walked through the kitchen on his way to the utility room.
“Not even time to pee,” he said, then chuckled. “I guess you are ready to take care of business,” he said. “I’m about to call Curly to let him know we’re back and that I’ll be at work tomorrow. Your mama is outside, fretting about the tomatoes that went unpicked.”
Tate nodded. “And I need to check in with Mr. Autry about something.” He started his load of laundry, then went to the kitchen to use the landline and called the school again, and Della answered.
“Star Ridge Public Schools. How may I direct your call?”
“Hi, Miss Della, it’s me, Tate Bandy. Is Mr. Autry in?”
“Oh, yes…he is. Just a moment.”
Tate heard a click, then Vernon Autry was on the line.
“Tate! I trust your trip was enjoyable,” he said.
“It was eye-opening, for sure. So, about those credits…”
“We had a school board meeting while you were gone. I, along with the counselor and all of your teachers, made a decision regarding your request. We took the extra year you almost finished into consideration, along with that perfect SAT score, the IQ test, and your age issues, and voted unanimously that you have more than qualified to receive your high school diploma. It’s signed, stamped, and all yours.
You can pick it up in the office from Della anytime.
You have the opportunity to do just about anything you want in life.
We all want to wish you the best in your future endeavors. ”
Tate breathed a long sigh of relief. “Thank you, sir. Thank you.” He hung up. Now he needed to talk to Briar before anything else occurred.
Abel was outside helping Lilith pick tomatoes when Tate walked out the back door and into the garden.