I Don't Want to Fall

Chapter 2: Ambrose

The only thing that kept pushing me forward in life now was my children. No matter what I had been through or was going through, I had to swallow it and put them first. I looked at them in the rear view mirror before starting the car.

They were the most precious thing in my life sitting in the backseat with chocolate brown hair atop their heads. Emerson's was a bit shaggy and ever so often needed to be brushed from his eyes. Emmie's was long with soft ringlet curls that I had brushed into pigtails this morning. They both had my eyes a warm honey golden brown color, and I saw both sets looking at me from their booster seats. Whether they heard the incident this morning, they never said a word. That is how they were with most of all this mess, but I knew they saw and heard more than they let on.

I started up my jeep and drove down the long gravel driveway of our new home with my cobblestone paradise in the rear view. Fang is laying on the front stoop.

Once we made it to the old dirt road, it would be awhile before gravel and then asphalt. Gavin had been frustrated with me moving here. He asked if I could have found a place further from civilization. I liked the peace it provided and privacy. I didn't mind the longer morning commute. Only one other place was even remotely close to me, and that was the old man's farm that was about 10 minutes up the dirt road.

His name was Ambrose Cunningham, and he owned all the land out here except the small portion he sold me with the little cottage on it. When I first came to see it, I remember he was a bit rough around the edges and spoke gruffly towards me as if he really didn't want anyone out here on his land.

He was a tall man with broad shoulders and seemed to be very strong for a man of his age. He could easily have passed as my grandfather and had a full head of silver hair. I overlooked his harsh demeanor and stand-off nature.

It took a while to get him to cave and let me see the place, but as soon as I got out here, I knew it was where I needed to be. I was drawn to it as if it called to me. I fell in love with it at first sight. It truly was like a fairytale cottage come to life with a small creek nearby, and I knew this was the place I was meant to be.

Ambrose watched me curiously as I looked around the old place. He said it hadn't been used in a long while that it had been in his family for generations. It needed some cleaning and sprucing up, but that didn't scare me off.

He had a deep voice that was sure of itself, strong and steady. He looked at me for a moment and finally asked, "Why would a young girl like you want to live all the way out here in the sticks? Most people would prefer to live closer to town or have a more modern home with all the fancy bells and whistles."

I turned to face him again, drawing my eyes from the trees, creek, and soft mountains in the distance. I answered him the best way I knew how.

"I never seemed to fit in the world of people, but surrounded by nature like this, I feel comfort and peace. I need that more than ever at this time in my life. I'm not a very social person anyway." I sighed softly.

He nodded and grunted in response. He seemed to think about things for a minute before breaking the silence around us again.

"You got some man or something you want to be bringing up here?"

I let out a small, sad laugh. "No, sir. It's a man who gave me all these problems and left me in this state. It's a man I'm trying to get away from. I don't want him here anymore than you sound to be interested in him coming up here."

He nodded again, looking at me in the eye as if he could see through my few words and knew more of the situation than I had told anyone. I had to look away before replying again.

"It would just be me and my twins. We are quiet people. We don't like a lot of trouble." I said, staring out into the distance.

I felt him stare at me for a minute, but I didn't turn back to him, and I didn't say more. From the corner of my eye, I saw him shake his head.

Just barely auditable, I heard him say, "You remind me of her so much."

I turned to look at him as the wind picked up blowing through both our hair, and the softness in which he spoke caught me off guard.

"Who?" was the only word I could utter in question to his last statement.

He sighed, "My little sister, She was the last one to live here after our mother passed. She died young, but she loved this place." He cleared his throat before continuing in his previous solid tone, "If you want to buy this place, I'll let you, but no man."

I felt my heart flutter when he accepted.

"I'd like to add a clause to the paperwork that if you go to sell or you personally will not own this piece of land, my family has first rights to buy it back. Also, it's illegal to kill wolves here. Being that you're here alone, if you happen to have a problem, let me know." He added.

"Agreed!" I answered, and that was how we came here to start over. Now, if only I could get Gavin to stay away.

Ambrose lived in a large white farmhouse, and regularly in the mornings or late afternoons could be seen in a rocker on the front porch as I drove by. He never waved but didn't seem to dislike me as much as he did others. When he saw Fang hanging out my passenger window the first time I brought him home, I swear I could see him laughing on his porch.

He lived alone, and in the months that we have lived here, I have never seen him have any visitors. This morning driving by, I saw an old red truck parked next to Ambrose's newer black one. It was odd and stood out.

Also, this was the first morning I didn't see him sitting in his rocker out front. It left me wondering for a moment, but after Emmie fussed for the music to be put on. The radio stations had trouble reaching out here, so I put in an old CD to appease her until we got closer to town.

Finally arriving at their school, I parked and got them out of their booster seats, and handed them their book bags and lunch boxes. They ran up to their teacher and new friends as I waved goodbye.

*******

I made it to work and took my bag in with me. I was working for a locally owned hardware shop. Thomas Blake owned and ran it with his grandchildren. Hailey Blake was 22 and beautiful with long blonde hair and soft blue eyes. She had many admirers, though she hardly noticed. She was taking online college classes to become a nurse. She was training her younger brother Kyle to help their grandfather run the store.

Old Tom, as the whole town called him, had lost his son when the kids were young in the Army. Their mother had battled cancer and eventually passed away about five years ago. All they had left was each other, and the three of them were very close-knit. Tom had hired me to help with the books and inventory as he wanted his granddaughter to focus on college. Kyle was supposed to take some business and accounting classes so eventually he could take over the store from his grandfather. Until then, I was here to help them muddle through.

"Morning Ellowyn," Tom greeted as I came in headed to the small office he had assigned me stuffed full with filing cabinets.

"Good morning, Tom," I smiled.

Suddenly, Kyle knocked over a pallet full of boxes of nails he was supposed to be organizing and setting out. His face went crimson as his grandfather laughed and left me to help him clean up the mess. Kyle was only 19 with dirty blonde hair and the same blue eyes as his sister. He seemed to be very clumsy, and his sister kept claiming to her grandfather that he was hopeless. Tom wouldn't hear any of it, though.

When I first moved here and started coming to town, Tom was very surprised when I told him where I had moved too. He said the whole town knew Ambrose and his grumpy temperament. He didn't want anyone up his way and was very rude, almost scary to any newcomer that got lost up that way.

Apparently, he posted a few times about that house before, but whenever someone wished to see it, he would refuse. One man made an offer without even looking at it, and Ambrose flat out called him insane. He said he didn't want a crazy person living near him. From what I had gathered from the talk in this small town, they all thought of Ambrose as a mean and crazy old man. He might have a hard exterior, but he was a good man. I would just shake my head at them. I told them that had not been my experience with him and tried to end the conversation or change the subject. I didn't quite like them talking about him that way.

The day passed by just like any other over the last few months. I was getting into a routine, and the simplicity felt nice. At 2:30 p.m., I wished Tom farewell, and Kyle fell off a ladder. They assured me he was okay before I left to get the twins from school.