"I… I don't really know what I want to do. It's all… well it's all so sudden."
Walter nods. "Although I've had a few weeks to process it… it's not getting any easier." He swallows and blinks slowly, a sure sign he's holding down his emotions just like me.
"Did you have a service, you know, a funeral?"
Walter arranges the cutlery in front of him. "He's buried in the town cemetery. It will be a while before we can put a headstone, but there's a wooden cross to mark it. I can take you there if you'd like."
I nod, but I don't mean it. My feelings about everything are way too complicated for me to deal with immediately. It's going to take time. Maybe I'll never be able to face that reality. "And you said something about Dad requesting that I clear out his things? Why did he say that?"
"I don't know," Walter says. "Maybe it's his way of being close to you again. Maybe it felt right because you're his only blood-related child. Maybe because you're a woman now. We'll never know. Actually…" Walter reaches onto the seat next to him and places an envelope onto the table in front of me. "…this might explain everything. I haven't opened it. Its contents are for you." He gazes at me expectantly, as though I'm going to open this letter in front of him and tell him everything that it says when in reality, I don't even want to pick it up.
At that moment, the waitress appears with our food, and I slide the envelope off the table and into my open purse. Like the grave, the letter is going to remain unseen, for now at least.
We tuck in, and I ask Walter about the family. Jolene has blossomed from a scrappy toddler to a straight-A student who's talking about studying medicine. "So, what do you want to do, Maggie?" Walter asks.
I could tell him about my hopes of becoming a writer. I could tell him how I've been acing creative writing since I was a little girl. I could tell him a whole host of things, but none of it is going to happen now. "I don't know yet. Still undecided."
"Do you know about Danna?"
"What about her?"
"She's… well, she's moved to Broadsville and shacked up with ten men."
"Shacked up? You mean, she's house sharing?"
Walter shakes his head, his eyes bulging. "I mean, she's in a relationship with ten men. They're all brothers… well, adopted brothers. They have a ranch, and Danna's become a proper country girl."
"TEN!" The people at the table next to us turn their heads.
"That's exactly what we said. But she's really happy. She invited us all up there for lunch… I don't think I've ever seen her looking more radiant."
"Radiant? Ten men… how does that even work?"
Walter's grinning, and I can tell he's enjoying gossiping like an old maid. "Who knows? That's not the kind of thing I want to get into with my niece. What goes on behind closed doors is none of my business. I was worried at first, you know. It sounded like she was being sucked into some kind of weird and deviant cult, but I get why they want it. All the boys live and work on the family ranch. They want to keep it all together as one family unit."
"So, she's going to have kids with all of them?" The idea fascinates me more than I would have expected. I haven't had one man who was a reliable presence in my life. What would it be like to have ten lovers who are all looking out for me? Ten brothers who are focused on making one happy family.
"I don't know if that'll be possible, but who knows. If you'd asked me if this would have been something Danna would have done, I'd have laughed in your face and bet my life savings against it. But there she is anyway."
"I guess people can be full of surprises. Like Dad, taking on eleven foster kids."
Walter nods.
We eat and chat more about general things like the changes to the town and who I might remember and bump into while I'm here. I've been anticipating only staying for as long as it takes to fill a few boxes and clean the house ready for sale. Now, I have no idea what I'm going to do.
When Walter is done and wiping his bearded face with a napkin, he tells me he'll take me over to the house. "You can stay there tonight," he says. "If you want to, that is. Or you can stay with me. You're welcome. You know that."
"I think I'll stay at the house," I say. My morning nausea might be easier to conceal if I'm not under Walter's roof, and I don't want to be here for longer than I have to be.