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Charlie
DrivingthroughRoseFallswas not what I had been expecting to do in my life. I hadn’t even known it existed until forty-eight hours ago when I received a call from Bill Doyle, my grandfather's estate lawyer. Under different circumstances, getting a call from an estate lawyer wouldn’t be too surprising after the death of a loved one. For me though, it was a huge shock considering my grandfather passed away two years ago. Why was I just getting this call now? And what the hell was in Rose Falls that I needed to see?
So far, all I had seen were old houses, abandoned storefronts, and some impressive land. If you ignored all the dilapidated buildings, the area itself was gorgeous. There were a lot of green lands, forests, and a river that ran along the town, and I had to assume there was at least one waterfall here somewhere. The most impressive part though, were the fields upon fields of roses. At first, I figured someone was planting them, but they kept going. All different shades of pinks and a few red. I had never seen wild roses, and this town was overflowing with them.
I followed the GPS to get me to the mayor’s office. In a normal city, it would be City Hall, and it would be a grand structure. Here in Rose Falls, it looked like the roof was going to collapse. I had no idea why I was here, but I was getting intrigued at least. My grandfather had always been a bit eccentric, and that was the nice way of putting it.
I couldn’t knock the man too hard; he did raise me from the age of ten, and he did one hell of a job at it. We didn't have much growing up. He worked hard in the fields. He owned a hundred-acre farm with cattle, vegetables, and wheat that he grew. I spent most of my weekends and summertime working in the various barns and fields, doing what I could to help. He did well. He made enough to pay for the property taxes and our bills, plus his workers. We weren’t rich by any stretch of the imagination, but we always had food. I could go on school trips, and we went out once a month for dinner and movie.
The biggest thing he did for me though was getting me involved in sports. I had tried a bunch of them before I arrived at football, and the second I threw that ball on that field, I knew I was home. What made my grandfather so great was that he saw the passion that I had for it. He didn’t tell me that I needed to go to college and get a real career. He didn't tell me to stop watching the games or stop practicing so much. Instead, he was right there with me. We would spend hours on the fields seeing how far I could throw the ball, and we would increase it all the time until I could throw from one end of a football field to the other. We would watch old games that he had recorded and talk about what the quarterback did right and wrong. He went to all my games and practices. He would invite the whole team back to the farm to celebrate our season. He was my biggest fan and supporter.
It’s why when I did finally make it to the NFL, my signing bonus went to him. A hundred grand. It was a lot of money, and he thought I had lost my mind. It was a fight to even get him to take it, but eventually he did. He put some towards future property taxes and he got some new equipment that he was in desperate need of. When he got too old, he sold the farm, and I had purchased him a house on a lake with good fishing for him to enjoy his retirement. Losing him two years ago was just devastating, and the grief was still there even now. I knew it would never fully go away. Losing a parent and a grandparent was especially hard. I was trying to live with it though. I was just thankful that I had him in my life, and Zoey got to have him for five years. She had a few memories of him, and I knew she would cherish them for the rest of her life.
When I had told him my long-term girlfriend at the time was pregnant, I had never seen him smile so big before. He was there through everything. Ultrasounds, the birth, he lived with us for two months while we adjusted to having a baby. I can’t even count all the times I got up in the middle of the night and he already had her, or he would be asleep on the couch with her curled up against his chest. He had been our saving grace, my saving grace again. He was eighty-nine when he passed. He had lived a good life. I just wished I could have had another eighty-nine years with him.
I pulled into the first parking spot I came across and got out. I could only see one other car here, and I had to assume that meant it was the lawyer. I headed into the building, and it was old looking as well. There was a desk at the front for a receptionist, who hadn’t been there in years based on the amount of dust accumulated. There were also two offices directly across from each other. One had an old plague on the door that said Mayor Campbell while the other was left blank. In the midst of all of this was an older man, roughly sixty, standing in the middle of the room waiting for me.
“I take it you are Mr. Doyle.” I said as I held my hand out. “Charlie Beaumont.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Beaumont. I truly appreciate you coming down here. I hope it wasn't much of a drive from Houston.”
“About five hours. I am confused as to why I am here though.”
“Of course. If you will just come over here with me. We can sit down and get started,” he said as he started to make his way towards the mayor’s office.
Given no other choice, I followed him and took a seat in an old rickety chair. I was surprised it didn't break under my weight. He took the chair across from me as he pulled out different documents from a briefcase.
“Now, as you are aware, your grandfather passed two years ago roughly now. However, there was one detail within his will that couldn’t be resolved right away. We had to wait until another individual passed or retired. That individual was the former mayor here, Luke Campbell. He was seventy-nine and passed away in his sleep two nights ago.”
“Alright. I am just confused as to what any of this has to do with me or my grandfather,” I said, not really following where he was going with this.
“Your grandfather purchased Rose Falls roughly seven years ago now,” he began, but I cut him off because there was no way he was saying what I thought he was saying.
“Wait, my grandfather didn’t own any land. I would have known about it.”
“From my understanding, he wanted this to be a surprise for you and your daughter. When I met with him seven years ago to discuss all of this for his will, he was very adamant that it was to be a surprise. He wanted to purchase the land for your future, but also Zoey’s future. There were only two stipulations to the transfer of the deed over to you. The first, your grandfather didn’t want to remove Mayor Campbell out of respect for him and all the years he dedicated to the town. It was decided that whenever he wished to retire or died, then it would be transferred over to you. The second stipulation was that it went to both you and your wife.”
“My wife?” I asked confused, because my grandfather knew I wasn't married. He knew that Elizabeth and I broke up when Zoey was three. And there was no getting back together with her. She had taken off with another man, and we hadn’t heard from her since. Not even a Christmas or birthday card for Zoey in four years.
“Yes, he doesn't state her name. Just that you need your wife to be able to secure the deeds to the land. If you do not have a wife at the time of the signing, then a new mayor will be appointed until you get married. Will that be a problem?”
“No, that’s fine. I’m just a bit shocked he didn’t even get to meet her,” I lied.
Oh, it was a big fucking problem, but I wasn’t about to share that with him. I had no idea what to do about any of this. The most logical would be to tell him I didn’t have a wife, and I held zero interest in ever getting married. But then the land would never go to me, and I had to assume it wouldn’t go to Zoey.
“Out of curiosity though. What would happen if I got divorced or I wasn’t married? I know you said a new mayor would take over, but does that mean I still own the land?” I asked.
“A new mayor would take over and without proper ownership, the land would eventually be put up for sale. There is a three-month leeway for the ownership to be transferred over. In terms of divorce, things do happen, and that would be fine as long as you have had ownership of the land for a year at least.”
“That’s good to know. Thank you. I’m not expecting to be divorced, but life does happen, and it’s good to be prepared. I am assuming you would also need her signature.”
“I would, yes. It would need to be signed in person and notarized to make it all official. You would be the town mayor, and you could make any changes you wanted. I know the town isn’t much to look at, but back in the day, it used to be a great tourist town. The choice is yours of course. You can refuse the transfer, and it can go up on the market. The money from the sale would go into your grandfather’s estate, and then be inherited by whomever is on the estate.”
That would be the easier option. To allow it to be sold and not have to worry about any of this. It wasn’t even just the stipulation about a wife, which I didn't have and had no idea how I would even find one within three months. It was the town itself. Maybe seven years ago it was something to look at, but now, everything was mostly closed. It was rundown, and I suspected the population was mostly over sixty. It would be a lot of work to turn around and make profitable. I didn’t need to worry about money, but I also didn’t want to be bled dry either.
Still, even knowing all of that, I couldn’t bring myself to say no right out of the gate. I had been hoping for a fresh start for Zoey and I. Something that didn’t involve football. I had retired four years ago, but I was still coaching and helping at the stadium with the team. I hadn’t really severed all ties, and it was getting harder for me to go there. I wanted a fresh start. I wanted a new adventure, and owning a small town like this would be the definition of an adventure. It would be something that Zoey could have when she got older. A real legacy that could be passed down through the generations. How could I say no to something like that?
“Looks like my family is moving,” I said with a warm smile. Now I just needed to find a wife to complete this family. Maybe there was an app for that?
