By Summer's End (Christian Fiction)

Holly
Holton pressed the key into her hand. It had arrived in the mail only moments
before, along with a letter from her great uncle. “My home belongs to you
now,” the old man had written in a shaky hand. “I hope you’ll enjoy it as much
as I have.”

Her uncle Benjamin noted that she would
be hearing from the executor of his will shortly, but that he wanted her to
have the key in order to access the home as soon as her circumstances allowed.

Holly stared at the key for several
long, stunned seconds, and then read the short letter a second time. Was her
uncle still alive? Perhaps living in a retirement home? Had he passed away?

She wasn’t certain what to think, or
even whom to call. She hadn’t received a letter from his executor, nor had she
ever received any correspondence from her uncle before. She searched her
brain, wondering, had she even met the man?

Still shocked from the receipt of the
key and letter, she dropped into a chair at her dinette table. She ran a hand
through her blond hair and narrowed her blue eyes in thought.
Had she met
Uncle Benjamin before?

Yes.
Yes!
One time, perhaps sixteen
years earlier. She’d been about twelve years old and had attended a family
reunion with her father’s parents—long since dead now. That’s right. She had
met him. She recalled a man already getting on in years. He was tall, thin,
slightly stooped, and still had had a cap of thick silver hair.

She remembered a man of few words, with
a sweet serene smile, who had spoken to her only briefly. But what had they
talked about? Had she made some sort of impression on him then? She couldn’t
think of a single reason why he should leave anything to her, let alone his
home.

When the door to her small apartment
opened, Holly plastered a welcoming smile on her face. Her half-sister Brianna
entered the living room, shrugging out of her coat as she simultaneously closed
and locked the door behind her.

“How was your day?” Holly asked,
smiling.

“Fine.”

The girl refrained from making
eye-contact and started for her room. She remained so stoic and
uncommunicative, it broke Holly’s heart. Of course, she had reason for her
melancholy, but…

“How would you like to go out to dinner
tonight?” Holly asked.

“Why?” the girl asked glumly.

Holly’s smile brightened. She had
wonderful news to share. She’d just inherited a house! “Well, I have some
interesting news.”

“Does it have anything to do with me?”
the girl asked in a bored tone, pretending to study the black polish on one of
her fingernails.

“Actually, yes, it does, considering you’re
living with me now.”

The girl emitted a beleaguered sigh. Holly
was well aware that Brianna was living with her under protest, since the court
system hadn’t granted her petition to live with a friend. After her parents
had been killed in a car accident, Brianna hadn’t wanted anything to do with Holly.
Sadly, Holly could understand why. The two girls hadn’t had a relationship
prior to the tragic loss of Brianna’s parents.

Although the girls had the same father, Alex,
he had divorced Holly’s mother when Holly was twelve and had gone on to remarry
and have another family. He had seemingly forgotten about Holly.

As much as Holly had wanted to be a part
of his life, and her sister’s when the girl was born, neither her father nor
his new wife had had any interest in fostering any kind of relationship with her.
She had been heartbroken, but thanks to a loving mother and stepfather, had
come to terms with the absence of her biological father. Tragically, she had
lost her stepfather to a heart attack when she was nineteen and her mother to
illness five years later.

She’d been devastated and knew that she
more than anyone could understand what Brianna was going through.
Unfortunately, Brianna was tight-lipped and unwilling to share her feelings
with her big sister.

And why would she confide in Holly? She
was a virtual stranger to her.

“Hey,” Holly said brightly, “why don’t
you finish up your homework so it won’t be hanging over your head all weekend?
Before you know it, it’ll be time to leave for dinner. I’ll let you choose the
restaurant.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Well, then, it’s a good thing we won’t
be leaving for a couple hours. Come on,” she urged, “let’s go out. I don’t
feel like cooking tonight.”

Brianna watched her suspiciously. Holly
understood that too. Why would Holly suddenly suggest dinner out when she
always prepared meals at home? Holly was frugal to the point of obsession, so Brianna
probably had been taken by surprise.

“We can’t afford to go out,” the girl
said, her voice monotone.

Holly took a shoring breath, endeavoring
to retain her patience. Even a fun outing was a reason for Brianna to
challenge her authority—not that she really had any sort of influence with her.
Brianna had only the week before run away from home and Holly had had to track
her to her friend’s house in her former hometown. The situation had required that
she take a day off of work and had involved the local law enforcement. Holly
had lost a full day’s pay, which she could ill afford.

Brianna had fought tooth and nail to
remain with her friend, but even a brief visit to the home had shown Holly that
Brianna could not stay there under any circumstances. The home was in
disarray, empty alcohol containers were everywhere, and a whole cast of
unsavory characters seemed to be lounging in every room of the small home.
There was no evidence of parental supervision anywhere and Holly was mortified
that Brianna was drawn to a clearly dysfunctional home situation. She had to
wonder what kind of a life she’d lived with their father. One day, if Brianna
ever showed any sign of warming up to her, she would ask her. But she wouldn’t
press for now.

Holly forced a smile. “We deserve a
treat. Both of us.”

The girl looked doubtful, but finally
acquiesced. “Whatever.” She headed for the one bedroom in the apartment.

Holly had given it to her and had begun
sleeping on the pull-out sofa the very evening Brianna had moved in. She felt
the girl deserved a room to call her own after everything she’d been through.

Holly folded the letter from her uncle
and tucked it carefully into a top drawer in the kitchen. She held the key
briefly, stared at it as if it might suddenly evaporate, and then placed it in
the drawer.

She stood quietly for a moment,
envisioning her uncle’s home in her mind’s eye. Of course, she had no idea what
it looked like or what condition it might be in. What if it was a dilapidated
older home, more suited to demolition than human habitation?

She gave herself a shake and glanced
heavenward. “Lord, forgive me. You’ve just given me a gift and I should be looking
on the bright side. Brianna and I have a home!”

Holly began tidying up the small
apartment—it was surprising how quickly the place became cluttered with two
young women living there—and then sat down to pay bills. It was Friday and she
couldn’t bear the idea of those bills looming over her for the duration of the
weekend. It was better to face the music and be done with it.

She began by paying her household bills first,
followed by the small balance on her single credit card. She saved the hospital
bill for last. With a steadying breath, she picked it up and stared at it for
a long moment. The balance read $34,717, substantially reduced from the
original $61,033, but still daunting, nonetheless. She’d been chipping away at
the bill for the past three-plus years, applying every extra penny toward it.

When her mother had originally become
ill and sought treatment, it had been a shock to discover the owner of the
small bakery where she had worked for years had dropped medical coverage on her
employees. She hadn’t told them she’d stopped paying their premiums, allowing
them to continue working under the misimpression they were covered. Upon
learning her mother had no insurance, and was suffering from a catastrophic
illness, Holly had agreed to assume responsibility for her mother’s healthcare
bills without hesitation, and despite her mother’s vehement protests. Her
mother had ultimately passed from her illness, but Holly had no regrets for her
actions. They had bought her an additional six months with the mother she
adored. She would have paid any price to be with her mother even a single day
longer.

Holly hurriedly wrote out the check for
nearly seven hundred dollars per a prearranged payment plan with the hospital
and stuffed it into the envelope. If she continued on course, she figured she
would have the debt paid off in just over four years. On that day, she would
celebrate, because though she had no regrets for incurring the debt, she would
certainly be glad to be out from under it. As a teacher at a preschool and
daycare, she didn’t earn much to begin with, but the lion’s share went toward
her debt.

Holly suddenly thought of her uncle’s
house. Was it paid off? Certainly it had to be, wouldn’t it? Would her uncle
have left her a home with a mortgage? No, that wouldn’t make sense. And if
the home was paid off, and now belonged to her, it would free her up to apply the
money she currently put toward rent to the hospital bill.

Leaving the kitchen, Holly sat down on
the sofa in her living room. Moving into her uncle’s home would mean leaving
her job and her town, since if she remembered right, Uncle Benjamin lived out
of state. Just to be sure, Holly rose and walked into the kitchen. She pulled
the letter from the drawer and this time, honed in on the address he’d written
at the bottom of the letter. Uncle Ben lived in Washington State.

She struggled to remember what she knew
of the state. Nothing, really. From high school, she recalled it was called
the Evergreen State. It was easy to deduce the state had an abundance of
trees. If memory served, the state was known for rainy weather and a volcano
that had erupted sometime in the early eighties. She hoped her uncle’s home
wasn’t within close proximity to a live volcano.

She returned the envelope to the drawer
and went back into the living room and sat down. Her mind began to race. If
she did make the move to Washington, she would have to secure other employment,
although she was certain she could find another job in a preschool. Perhaps
she might even apply at a private school or church.

She wondered, would Brianna be okay with
leaving her school? She had only attended her new school for a short time. Holly
knew she was struggling to both make friends and to come to terms with leaving behind
everything she knew in her old hometown. Would it be unfair to her to expect
her to start fresh once again?

Or would it be unfair to her to forgo
the opportunity to offer her a real home? Holly suspected both she and her
sister might benefit from change—moving would mean both would have to put down
new roots. Maybe they might even forge a relationship, since they would be in
the same boat—starting over. Maybe they could actually become a team, facing
and overcoming obstacles together.

Currently, Brianna viewed Holly as an
adversary. Oftentimes she was downright hostile toward her. Regardless, Holly
loved her, despite never having the opportunity to know her until now. Years
before, when she’d heard she had a baby sister on the way, she had been
thrilled. She had expected to have a relationship with her, but had been
sorely disappointed.

Her father’s abandonment of her hadn’t
caused her to harbor any ill-will toward her baby sister. In fact, she had
sent her cards and gifts for every special occasion. She wasn’t deterred from
sending the gifts, even when her father and his new wife marked the items
‘Return to Sender.’ Each time the cards and gifts were returned to her, Holly
placed them in a large container for safekeeping. She had told herself long
before that she would one day track down her sister and give her the items, as
a means to demonstrate to her how much she truly cared for her, regardless of
what her father and mother might have told her.

Holly had yet to give the items to her
sister, however. The time just hadn’t seemed right. Considering she had given
the girl the gift of savings bonds for many special occasions and milestones in
her life—her stepfather had suggested it—she was fearful Brianna might cash
them and use them to hop a train or board a plane. She feared she might lose
her and never be able to find her again.

As she sat, contemplating her future and
the upcoming decisions she would soon have to make, she felt her eyelids
growing heavy. It had been a long Friday at work. Before too long, she
drifted off to sleep.

“Well, are we going or not?” a voice
intruded on her dreams. It had been a good dream too. Holly and Brianna had
moved into their new house. It was a stately Victorian, beautifully appointed
and boasting every modern amenity. Despite being on a large acreage, the
entire property was manicured and beautifully landscaped. It was
perfect
.

“Well?” Brianna demanded.

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