The guests started to leave the next morning. First to go was Ashley, who hadn’t come back to the house after the funeral dinner, presumably to avoid being tainted by being in the presence of such blatant sinners. She left the motel early the next morning, with a comment to her younger sister Megan that if she got a good start and kept moving she could be back in Rochester in time for a church program that evening. Even Megan wasn’t very sorry to see her go.

Everybody else from the family and a few extras like Donna congregated at the house after the funeral. Since the funeral dinner had run late, Eric and Eunice announced there would be no formal meal, but that if anyone were hungry they were welcome to raid the refrigerator, which had leftover pizza from the night before. Not many took them up on the offer.

The evening mostly consisted of gathering around the living room, sharing family memories. Even though it had been for a funeral, it was the first time in years that all of them (except for Jeff and Ashley, of course) had been together, and there was catching up that still needed to be done.

Eric was right in the middle of it, and he had as many family memories to share as anyone else, if not more. After all, he’d been around the family longer than any of the kids or grandkids, even though in a way he was in an outer circle. But the evening grew late; one by one and two by two people started heading off to the motel, or to bed. Eric was one of the last to go, feeling that he needed to see everyone off; finally he was able to turn out the lights and go up to Mark’s old room, glad to have the day over with.

He awoke at his customary early hour, and was down in the kitchen pulling breakfast together when the first contingent from the motel arrived, consisting of Brian and Elaine, along with their children Dustin and Shanna. That was good; he’d wanted to talk to them at least semi-privately and a good time for it just hadn’t arisen the day before.

But Elaine had the same idea. “Eric, Shanna says you’ve invited her to go on a canoe trip. What’s this all about?”

“Nothing is settled yet,” Eric said. “You remember Gary, of course, from when he and I took you and Mark on the Abitibi that time. He’s kicking around the idea of doing another canoe trip about that easy so he can take his sixteen-year-old great-grandson out to give him an idea of what it’s like. He asked me to go a while back, and I couldn’t say yes because of your father. Now it may be possible again, but we’ll need a fourth person. Shanna appears interested in doing the trip, and I think this one would be as good for her as it was for you.”

“Yes, I remember that trip well,” she grinned. “I’m afraid I’ve told a few stories about it. It was a great time, even though it’s probably something I wouldn’t want to do again. I don’t want to come out and say yes right now, but I’m certainly willing to entertain the idea of Shanna going along.”

“That’s probably good, since I have no idea if this trip is going to come off or not. It’s still in the misty stage. I haven’t run the idea past your mother yet either. I have little doubt that she’d be agreeable to my going, but I feel like I ought to ask her before I make any commitments.”

“You’ve been pretty close to Mom for a long time, haven’t you?”

“I said at the funeral yesterday that your father was my best friend. My other best friend is your mother, and we’ve been through a lot, especially the last two years. So I feel it’s only polite to ask her.”

Elaine dropped her voice to a whisper. “Eric, you’re aware of this idea Ann has been pushing around about having Mom move down with her, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am,” he said. “She hasn’t approached me directly on it, though. That’s something your mother is going to have to make her own mind up about. If she asks me for my advice I’ll give it to her, but I’m not going to push it on her the way Ann is doing. She has enough stress in her life right now and she doesn’t need more.”

“Eric, do you know that sometimes you’re too nice for your own good? I don’t think it’s a good idea at this time and I think Ann has been way out of line at pushing the idea at her right now anyway.”

“From what I know, that’s about how I read it,” he agreed. “But like I said, it’s your mother’s choice, not mine.”

Other people started showing up about then, so there was no more time to talk about the proposal. From what Eric could see Ann was still pushing hard about it, but was getting responses that were lukewarm, at best. Eunice had said nothing to him about it, at least directly, so presumably the whole thing was still up in the air. And maybe it was all air; he’d have to wait and see.

Donna soon came into the kitchen. “Eric, Bradley and I have to be heading to the airport before long,” she reminded him. “Are you going to take us?”

“I can, if nobody else wants to,” he replied. “How long before you have to go?”

“Oh, we have half an hour, maybe,” she said. “I’ll go tell Bradley, but then you and I need to talk for a few minutes, just ourselves.”

She was back a few minutes later. Eric took her out onto the front porch, and closed the door for privacy. “All right?” he said. “What was it you wanted to talk about?”

“Look, Eric, I don’t know how to say this,” she said. “But it gets pretty lonely for me down in Bradenton. I have friends there, sure, but they’re get-together-for-coffee friends and nothing more. I . . . uh . . . wouldn’t mind having some company sometime. I know you’ve been pretty tied up here with Jeff, but that’s over with now. But with this deal Ann has been pushing . . . ”

“I get the picture,” he smiled. “I really doubt it’s going to come off, but if it does it could be an option, and it could be an appealing one, Donna. We had some good times together, but that was long ago and we’ve both changed a lot in the forty years since we went up the Inside Passage on the Hawksbill. I’m not going to say yes at this point, but I’m not going to say no, either.”

“It doesn’t have to be anything permanent,” she told him. “I wouldn’t mind it if you came by for a short stay, or whatever. Like I said, it does get dull and lonely down there, but at least it’s warm.”

“I’ll give you that,” he said. “You know, considering everywhere else I’ve been, I’ve never been in that neck of the woods. Back before Jeff had his stroke he and Eunice and I drove down to see Mark and Lori in Panama City Beach, but that’s as close as I’ve ever gotten.”

“That’s not real close to me,” she said. “But it’s not bad. Come down and see me some time. I don’t bite, and maybe we need to talk things over when we’re not under as much pressure as we’ve been the last few days.”

“There might be a chance we could work that out,” he replied. “But really, it’s all up to Eunice, short term or long term. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”

“Just don’t put it out of your mind,” she told him. “Keep it there as an option. I realize you feel a duty to Eunice and I’m glad you do. That’s the kind of guy you are, Eric. You are loyal to your friends and you keep your promises. While at times that’s actually been a bit of a pain in the neck for us, you wouldn’t be the guy I’ve liked all these years if you weren’t that way.”

“Like I said, I’ll keep it in mind.” He stopped for a moment, smiled at her, then added. “But no promises, at least for now, all right?”

“I understand that’s how it has to be,” she nodded. “But do consider visiting, even if you wind up bringing Eunice with you.”

“I’ll certainly do that,” he said. “But I think maybe you ought to be saying your goodbyes so I can get you and Bradley on the way to the airport.”

“All right,” she said. “But like I said, just don’t close the door on it, OK?”

It took a while to get Donna and Bradley out into the minivan, and on the road to the airport. There was a little conversation about things that had happened over the weekend, but none about the offer Donna had just made. That didn’t mean that Eric wasn’t thinking about it most of the way to the airport, but he reached no conclusions other than knowing that it was a valid option if things happened to go that way. If they would, there was no way of telling.

Due to security restrictions, there was little Eric could do at the airport other than drop Donna and Bradley at the terminal, along with their baggage. Eric wished Bradley well and received the compliment in return. Donna was a little more warm, “Don’t forget,” she said. “Come down and see me sometime. I’d be glad to have you.”

“I’ll give it some thought. Take care, Donna, and have a good trip.”

“You take care yourself, and I hope things will work out so they’re right for you, whatever that is.”

“I do, too, Donna. Next time, OK?”

“Next time, Eric.”

Eric had a little more time to think about it on the way back. In a way, maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea. He and Donna had shared a lot, although it had all been a long time ago. There had been good times and bad; for the most part, the good had outweighed the bad. They’d had some serious differences back when they’d been in their twenties, but now that they were in their seventies, maybe a lot of those had evaporated.

He parked the minivan in the garage and went into the house. It was getting to be toward midmorning, now, but there was fresh coffee in the coffee pot, and there were still doughnuts left from the box someone had brought that morning. He filled a coffee cup, and snagged a forlorn-looking chocolate crescent that looked like it would be happy to be eaten.

“Oh, good,” Eunice said as he bit into the roll. “You’re back. Megan, Chad, and Makayla have already left for the airport, and Mark and Lori and Shelby want to get on the road soon. They think if they drive all night they can have Shelby back to college with a chance for a good night’s sleep before she has to go to class on Monday.”

“I seem to recall sleeping through a couple of eight-o’clock Mondays,” he smiled.

“I may have done it once or twice myself,” she agreed. “But come into the living room. Ann has something to say before anyone else leaves.”

“I’ll bet I know what that’s all about,” he nodded.

“I do too, but I think I should at least let her speak her piece.”

Well, here it comes, he thought. At least I have Donna for a fall-back position if it’s needed, but I hope it’s not. When you get down to it, that’s still unknown territory.

Still feeling a bit as if he was in the outer circle of the family members present, Eric just leaned against the door post in the living room, resolving to keep his mouth shut unless asked something.

“All right,” Eunice said. “While we’re all still here, there’s something that needs to be talked about. Ann, you made a proposal to me earlier, and I’ve been aware that you’ve been talking about it behind my back a lot. I think it’s time we got it out in the open. Just so we all understand what you’ve been saying, would you go over it again?”

“Uh, Mom,” Ann said, glancing at Eric. “I’m not sure this is the right time.”

“There can be no better time. We have everyone present who would be affected. Now, what is it you want.”

“Uh, I guess,” she replied reluctantly; it was clear that she didn’t want Eric involved. “Mom, I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and uh, considering your age and all and the fact that Dad is gone, I think it would be best if you moved down to Evansville to stay with Bob and me. I’ve, uh, felt I didn’t do enough when you and Eric were caring for Dad, and I want to make that up to you.”

“Just so you don’t think I’m weasel-wording you around, I will tell you right up front, the answer is no, at least for now,” Eunice replied. “It’s a bad idea for a number of reasons, and the biggest reason is that you’re only confronting your own guilt, not the other facts of the matter.”

“But Mom! It’s a good idea! Who’s going to care for you if something happens?”

“I will agree that at my age there’s a chance of something happening. In fact, there is at your age, too. Believe me, I am aware that things can happen at my age. I’ve had two years to learn it especially well. But for the moment I’m in good health and can take care of myself. I have no desire to leave the home I’ve lived in for over fifty years to ease your guilty feelings, and there are a number of other good reasons.”

“But Mom! It’s not about my feeling guilty because I couldn’t help you care for Dad! There are other reasons, too. If you come and live with us, at least you’ll have family around.”

“Ann, the time for your feeling guilty has passed. If you’d wanted to feel guilty, you would have been up here more to help out with caring for your father. Eric and I were easily able to handle it very well without you, and the odd occasions you showed up for a day or so actually caused us more work, not less. If you had really wanted to do something, you could have showed up for a week sometime to give us a little break. There were times we really could have used it. It was often hard to keep up a good front for your father, but we managed it, and almost entirely without your assistance.”

“But Mom! I know I should have been here more, but it’s very hard to break away from my job for that long.”

“I’m aware of that, and it’s why I never pushed you about helping out,” she replied. “But like many things in your proposal, you haven’t thought it through. Let’s suppose just for a minute that I were to move down there with you. Wouldn’t you be leaving me at home alone every day while you and Bob went off to work? And that in a strange town, where I know nobody, and where I have no friends?”

“Mom, it wouldn’t have to be like that.”

“It wouldn’t have to be, but in time it would be, and you know it as well as I do. Now again, if I were in worse shape, it might be a plausible idea, but at the moment I’m not, and there’s no need to change. I will tell you this, though: if I were to be in the shape your father was in, and needed that level of care, you would probably have to quit your job to give me the same level of full time assistance Eric and I gave to him. Are you ready to make that decision, Ann?”

“I would if I had to.”

“I wonder about that, and I wonder how much you’d resent having to do it,” Eunice replied. “Believe me, that resentment would be worse than the guilt you feel. But that’s not the only reason I’m saying no to your idea, and I’m saying it right out in front of everyone so you can’t go behind my back about it anymore. As I said, I have lived in this house for fifty years. I’m comfortable here, and I have friends here that I wouldn’t have in Evansville.”

“But Mom! Isn’t it going to be troublesome to have to keep the house up by yourself?”

“No more troublesome than it has been the last several years. Most of those things I have enjoyed doing. It has been difficult with your father being ill, but Eric and I managed to do it. It should be less trouble now that your father is gone.”

“But that means you’ll be depending on Eric! What’s to say that he’ll be here if you need him?”

“Of course it means I’ll be depending on Eric,” she smiled. “I’ve depended on him a lot the last few years, especially since your father had his stroke. You may not be aware that Eric promised both your father and me that he would be here for us in your father’s time of need. You are certainly aware that promises are important to Eric, and he keeps them to the best of his ability. He certainly kept that promise. In fact, on the whole I would have to say that he was more your father’s caregiver than I was.

“Ann, you have no idea how hard these last two years have been. It has been very difficult to see the man I loved for so many years reduced to barely a shell of himself. Eric and I tried to keep up a good front for him, but there were many times that I wound up crying over what had happened to him. Were you here to dry my tears, to give me the strength to carry on? No, you weren’t, but Eric was. In two years, he was never out of the house by himself for more than a few hours at a time, and then it often was to fill in on making deliveries. I might add that your father was happy to see him doing that, since he knew that first things came first. In fact, Eric gave me many more opportunities to get out of the house by myself, if for no more reason than to catch my breath so I could come back and face reality some more.

“Now, Ann, the part that irritates me the most about your idea is that it totally ignores Eric. What am I supposed to say? ‘Thank you for all your help, Eric? Now, I’m selling the house and going to live with Ann, so you’ll have to find a bridge to live under.’ That’s not going to happen, Ann. Eric has been a good and lifelong friend to both your father and me, and there is no way I’m going to pay him back for his friendship like that, no matter how guilty you may feel. Can you imagine how guilty I would feel if you were to force me to do something like that? The guilt you feel today wouldn’t even be a warm-up to that.”

“But Mom! Uncle Eric isn’t family, and I am.”

“You just answered that yourself. Your Uncle Eric may not be a blood relative, but he’s been more family than you have been. Your father’s greatest regret the last few years was that his family had scattered so widely that he rarely got to see anyone. On the other hand, Eric was here before you were born, and he was here long after you moved on out to start your own life. I will not treat him like you propose, and that’s final.”

“Mom, we could make some kind of arrangement . . . ”

“No, Ann. The arrangements have already been made. Back before your father had his stroke, we had our will rewritten. If your father and I should pre-decease Eric, he will have lifetime tenancy of the house, along with a trust fund for the maintenance of the property. That would hold true if I’m not capable of caring for myself, but I would hope that either one of us would care for the other if it were needed.”

That surprised Eric enough that he decided he couldn’t keep his mouth shut like he’d planned. “Eunice, I didn’t know that.”

“To be honest, Eric, it was done so long ago that I’d half-forgotten it. I should have mentioned it to you sometime after Jeff had his stroke, but somehow I just never did. Nevertheless, it remains in force. Even if Ann was to convince me to go through with this idea of hers, you would still be provided for. You deserve it, especially after the friend you’ve been the last couple of years.”

“But Mom! Who’s to say if Eric will be around? You know he’s taken off for months at a time all his life!”

“Those days ended long ago,” Eunice replied. “Oh, I’m aware that he’s talking about taking a short canoe trip with Gary, and possibly taking Shanna along, but at worst that would only be for two or three weeks. Nothing has been decided yet, but I frankly hope it does work out. It would be a good experience for Shanna, and he deserves the breather after over two years of caring for your father.”

“And you actually propose to live here with him like that?” Ann replied, her sense of propriety obviously affronted.

“What would be different than it’s been for several years? Especially the last few years when we worked so hard to care for your father, and with so little assistance? Ann, for many years I’ve loved Eric. No, not loved him romantically, but loved him as if he were the brother I never had and always wished I did. He has been much closer to me than any of you have been, and that’s just been the way it’s worked out. But I’ll ask him directly: Eric, do you have any problems with staying here the same way it’s been for many years?”

“None whatsoever,” he replied flatly. “As long as you want me here, I’ll be here for you. That was a promise I made to Jeff, and I’ll keep it to the best of my ability.”

“And that, Ann, is the final point,” Eunice said. “I will not go along with your proposal. I will stay here with Eric as long as I am able. Now, we don’t know what the future will bring, so in a year or five or ten or even fifteen years things could change. But for now, I’m happy with the way things are, and I’d be very unhappy if I were to change them just because you feel guilty. It’s not going to happen, Ann, so drop it, now and in the future.”

“If you say so,” Ann replied. “I still don’t think it’s a good idea for you to stay here and wish you would at least give a little honest consideration to what I proposed, but I guess your mind is made up.”

“Yes, it is,” Eunice smiled. “And you might as well get used to it, because I’m not going to be changing it anytime soon.”

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