The Courtship of Levi Moore

By: Nicholas Hall
(© 2019-2020 by the author)

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

nhall@tickiestories.us

Chapter 18

“Just the smile in your eyes, it
Can light up the night
And your laughter’s like
Wind in my sails

 ‘Cause I know, a love that will never grow old.” 

(Gustavo Santaolalla and Bernie Taupin from the song “A Love That Will Never Grow Old” in the movie- Brokeback Mountain.) 

Holding up my hand, I announced, “We need to take a break here! I need to take a leak and refresh my drink. I’m certain, although you’re all younger than I am, your bladders are just as full. I think Matt and Jacob need to do the same and refresh their drinks as well. This next part is most difficult, I think, for all of us.”

I thought the boys would line up at the bathroom door waiting their turns, stupid me, instead they stepped off of the screened-in porch, and in the midst of the hordes of mosquitoes and other biting bugs, unwrapped their beach towel sarongs, held their dicks, and pissed on the lawn.

My business finished in the bathroom, I joined Matt and Jacob in the kitchen where Matt was fixing our drinks. Elgee and Rick bounded into the kitchen, towels draped over their shoulders leaving them bare from head to toes, cocks waggling (well, one not as much as the other) as they headed toward the refrigerator.

“Need some sodas, Uncle Levi!” Elgee declared with a grin and a waggling of his eyebrows, taking a quick, but knowing glance at Rick’s sizeable appendage. “Wouldn’t want to wither up from lack of fluids.”

I doubted that very much, but kept my comments to myself. I did, however, stop them before they scuttled to the porch to join the rest of the gang.

“Okay, we need to know, the three of us, your Uncle Matt, Uncle Jacob, and me, what’s happening between Ray and Sebastian. We believe Ray and Sebastian knew each other before today. Can you explain it, please?”

“You bet,” chortled Rick, “I asked the same thing. A cousin of ours was running in a high school invitational track meet being held at our high school track. There were a number of other schools invited. I think we sort of hoped Ray would take an interest in track, but evidently, from what I saw this evening, he took an interest in something else.”

Ray waited after school for the meet to begin. After it started, he watched until his cousin ran, not placing unfortunately, and decided to take a city bus home. He had to piss and knowing he couldn’t on the bus or wait until he got home, he went to the boy’s restroom under the grandstand. Although public, it was used primarily by the boys from the other schools since the high school locker rooms was a fair distance away, across the field and through the gym.

He was standing at the urinal draining his bladder when someone else stepped up to the urinal next to him. Ray glanced down, spotted the rather substantial uncut appendage, and zeroed in on it. The other boy had pulled his running shorts down, sans jock strap or underwear, and hands free, was pissing as well. He sort of coughed and Ray realized he’d been caught. The two looked at each other, sort of sizing each other up and deciding what was safe or not. The other boy reached across tentatively, put his hand around Ray’s smaller, stiffening dick, smiled and said, “god, you’re cute.”

Ray, entranced by the fine example of teen male in front of his eyes, grinned back, responding, “You’re huge,” and reached over to get a grip on what was wobbling from the crotch of his “new friend.”

The door opened and both boys dropped the other’s dick like it was hot poker and turned their attention to their own business. Ray finished first and beat a hasty exit from the restroom before he had a chance to seek a name or telephone from his groping companion.

“He learned today it was Sebastian,” Rick advised, “I think they’re going to continue where they left off. Hell, I had no idea Ray was gay! Hope his butt can take that monster.”

“I think he can,” Elgee giggled, “after all I can take yours,” reaching down to give Rick’s flaccid penis a squeeze, bringing a blush to Rick’s face.

The boys left the kitchen and as they did, Jacob commented, “I’ll bet he’s an expert on horses; he’s hung like one.”

Matt and I agreed, although Matt did have a twinkle in his eye as he gave a quick, knowing glance at Jacob’s butt.

Returning to the porch, it didn’t take a very alert or observational person to see Ray and Sebastian were in the process of “getting to know each other” better. Matt raised his eyebrows and gave a slight flick of his head in their direction!

Ray, seated on the floor between Sebastian’s outstretched legs, had his beach towel draped across his lower torso and legs, effectively covering himself and Sebastian from knees to midriff. Sebastian had his towel around his neck and shoulders and over Ray’s shoulders as well, with Ray’s head resting up against his chest. Both of the boys had their hands concealed.

Sighing, imagining what might be or was going to be happening under those towels, I continued my story.

“The call came early on a Friday morning in late September. I was in the kitchen making coffee and answered the phone just as David entered the room. I answered it and quickly handed the phone to David. It was his mother and the news wasn’t great, in fact, terrible! He gave a quick sob, regained his composure enough to relay to me what just transpired, and advised to go wake Matt and Jacob.”

Jacob was home after working a twenty-four hour shift in the emergency room, sound asleep, cuddled up to Matt when I stepped into their bedroom. Matt’s eyes snapped open, saw the distress on my face, tears streaking down my face, sensing something drastic was wrong, asked in a whispered voice, “Dad?”

“No, Grandpa Coleman. Dad’s on the phone with Grandma right now.”

“Well, shit!” he gasped hoarsely, tears welling up in his eyes, overflowing from his face to cascade down on Jacob’s shoulder, his breath coming in short hiccupping motions, waking Jacob.

Everyone reacts and experiences grief, loss, failure, in many different ways. There’s never any easy way to break the news, especially when you’re in the first stages of grief yourself. David just lost his father, his business partner; Lettie’s just lost her husband, her life’s partner, the man she loved above all else, the man she bore her children by; Matt lost his only grandfather, his fishing partner, who loved him no matter where he came from; and the loss Jacob and I’d feel was just as great since the ones we love now have a void in their lives, holes in their hearts which will heal but always ache in a special way.

“Better get up, make arrangements to travel, since I’m certain your Dad will want to be underway as soon as possible.”

Matt would have to arrange for a few days off from the law firm and Jacob would have to have someone cover his shifts for him. Since I was employed on a part-time basis, it’d be easier for me, I hoped. I returned to the kitchen in time to hear David tell his mother we’d be leaving as soon as we could pack and make arrangements. He did ask if she was alone and she told him a neighbor lady was with her.

Turning to me, “Better pack for a week or so. Might be better if the boys drove themselves since I’m certain we’ll have a great deal to do, even after the funeral. Mom called Lawrence and, since he’s the oldest and executor of the estate, has him calling my aunts and uncles on both sides of the family. They’ll notify their own families.”

It wasn’t going to be an easy journey or a stress-free time ahead of us. I was to find out things would actually be very complicated and not without some controversy, although easily solvable.

The entire family gathered at the house on Spirit Lake on Saturday. Lawrence and Susan arrived before noon on Friday before David and me, followed by Matt and Jacob. Matt and Jacob took the room they ordinarily used while David and I settled ourselves in David’s old bedroom, the one he’d used since he was a boy. Other family members, Joel and Beth and Michael and Ann were staying in a motel in Brainerd.

Lindsey, according to Lawrence, would arrive as soon as possible. It’d been difficult locating her. A call by Fred, her ex-husband, to Craig, their oldest, put Lawrence in contact with her and so informed her of their father’s death.

We sat at the kitchen table, Mother Coleman and the rest of us, sans Lindsey, and discussed the funeral plans. Lettie and John already had pre-paid funerals and most of the arrangement were already made. Music had been chosen in advance, burial site, pall bearers, and meal afterwards and the funeral director was making the arrangements. The family needed to decide when they’d prefer the service to be held and the visitation.

“The sooner the better,” Lettie declared. “John and I believe – believed- long waits and wakes only postpone the inevitable. My husband’s dead and there’s little I can do about it except bury him, mourn his loss, and move on.”

The funeral was set for Monday with visitation Sunday evening at the funeral home in Brainerd and another prior to the hour of service at the little rural church John and Lettie attended. Burial would be in the small cemetery behind the church. There was a large crowd at the funeral home on Sunday and a large crowd at the church on Monday. John was a very popular and well-known businessman as well as giving a great deal to the community’s where they lived.

Lindsey made her appearance Sunday about two hours before the visitation. Fred and the boys arrived separately. Lawrence, bless his soul as the oldest son, was the rock of the family, standing by his mother’s side, offering her support and assisting with meeting well-wishers. The rest of us lined up to his right, from the next oldest to the youngest. Matt, Jacob, and I stood just off to the side and mingled with well-wishers and family members.

Lindsey, on the other hand, behaved as if she was the only one aggrieved, “displaying a phony” grief, in David’s words, when it seemed necessary to do so.

Matt, observing some of this commented, over a cup of coffee in the reception room, while David and I took a break, “I’d watch her, Dad, I think she’s going to be a problem and make things very complicated.”

Speaking of rocks, Matt and Jacob certainly were for David and me. I thought of him as much as a son, although he addressed me as Uncle Levi. David and I felt the same concerning Jacob. They were a great, loving couple and we were so lucky! His comment was prompted through overhearing her hiss to Uncle Lawrence when Fred, Craig, and Clayton, Lindsey’s boys, approached the casket, “What the fuck is he doing here?” referring to Fred.

Lawrence turned, looked coldly at his sister, responding, “Because I invited him. He is the father of Dad’s grandsons!” Lindsey knew at that moment to shut her trap and decided she needed to visit the lady’s room. Fred and the boys joined the rest of us in the reception room where we had a chance to visit.

It was nice to see them again. I’d been a several years when we’d last gotten together. They visited Spirit View the same time we did. Both boys worked one of the “Popper” wagons through their college years and Matt and Jacob spent much of the time laughing and sharing stories of their experiences at that time.

Listening to Fred now speak about how his life continued, quite nicely it seems, without Lindsey, how he never remarried or had no intention of ever doing so, and his enjoyment of his sons, made me appreciate David more than ever.

David continued, all of those years since the explosion on that fateful Thanksgiving Day, to express his love for me in many ways. Not especially with large gifts or purchases, but with those little sentimental, meaningful things; working side-by-side while on the carnival circuit, never criticizing but always expressing his appreciation of some little thing I’d done for him, giving me a light kiss or hug as he walked by showing me he valued me not only as his lover, but as his mate, life partner, one who’d he’d sacrifice everything for, or such as now in the midst of sorrow, send a smile in my direction to lift my spirits, saying “I love you” in the midst of his own sorrow.

His smile could change my outlook, raise my spirits from despair to hope, change my worry to assuredness, light up my life in so many ways, convincing me our love for each other could never die, even in death. An involuntary shudder shivering up my spine and clenching my stomach brought David from his chair, ostensibly to seek a refill of his coffee, and motioned me to join him.

“Problem, Levi?”

Nodding, “Nothing really important, but I wonder what kind of shit-fit your sister’s going to throw once she realizes how Dad Coleman changed his will and the extent of his estate since she packed up and left.”

Lindsey seemed to drop out of sight, “gone to ground” as Dad Coleman put it, not responding to letters from him or her brothers. As a result, decisions were made, partnerships established through limited liability companies and joint ownerships, and purchases made. All of these financial and personal decisions affecting the family and her father’s actions were sent to her, informing her of the actions, requesting her concerns or objections, and asking her to respond. She never responded!

“I guess we’ll find out,” David said pensively, “in the next several days.”

Personally, I wasn’t looking forward to it and neither was David by the tone of his voice and facial expressions, but there’d be no avoiding it! She wouldn’t be one happy camper!

The funeral service was simple, yet extremely meaningful and comforting. The pastor was not only John and Lettie’s minister, but a dear friend as well. Yes, we were saddened by Dad Coleman’s death and knew we’d miss him terribly, but life was over for John Coleman, but not for us. He wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

At graveside, Lindsey put on a great show of grief, crying, sobbing, and lamenting aloud her loss. David made no comment and neither did her brothers. I did over hear one of her sons murmur to his brother, “sure she’s not shit-faced again?”

Lawrence announced, before the family dispersed to motels and elsewhere, his brothers and sister and their mother were to meet with the family lawyer and accountants on Wednesday at the house to discuss the provisions of the will.

“The discussion will also include a review by the accounting firm of the current status of various investments and business relationships Dad had at the time of his death. As executor, I’ve been privy to the content of the will and have directed the attorney to make the necessary legal arrangements and proceedings.”

Matt announced to us, he and Jacob would be staying until after the meeting on Wednesday and either leave then or the next day.

Wednesday morning, David’s brothers, wives, Lindsey, Fred (over her objection), David and I, Matt and Jacob gathered in the living room at the house. Lindsey snarled something about my presence as well as Matt and Jacob’s. David silenced her by simply announcing Matt was his attorney and I was his partner in life, finishing with “so, stuff it up your ass!” Not very polite or seldom done in polite company, but it was effective.

Here’s where the complications began as Matt so adroitly pointed out to us earlier.

At first glance, the will, as the lawyer read it to us, appeared to fairly simple and straight forward. The main beneficiary was Lettie, John’s widow, inheriting all property and assets not held in a business relationship with rights of survivorship and not bequeathed elsewhere in the will. An educational trust was established for the grandchildren and those thereafter for education beyond high school. Only the interest from the trust was to be used. Additionally, a bequest was made to Lindsey in the form of a stock and bond portfolio and about twenty-five thousand dollars in a savings account.

The accountants reviewed the various accounts and properties, and approximate value of those assets not held in a business relationship with rights of survivorship, noting John Coleman was a very wealthy man at this death. There were a number of savings accounts, certificates of deposit, a substantial stock and bond portfolio, and a couple of rental properties bequeathed to Lettie, insuring she’d have no want for any physical thing throughout her life. She was well taken care of.

“Basically,” the attorney concluded, “that’s the will and the provisions found therein.”

“Wait a minute,” Lindsey demanded. “He had more in property, such as the farm here at home, his real estate business, and god knows what else. Why the hell didn’t David, Lawrence, Joel, and Michael receive the big bucks and the rest I got? This all smells damned fishy to me. He was worth a chunk of cash and it’s not even mentioned.”

She was mad, furious in fact, thinking she was being cheated out of money she thought belonged to her. Lindsey wanted more than the will provided, especially for her. Lettie tried to calm her down, but was unsuccessful.

“I’m getting screwed,” she shouted, “because you bastards,” pointing at the rest of us, “pulled a fast one and grabbed the money out from under my nose. Where the hell is Ma going to live? The farm wasn’t even mentioned. You going to have her live with one of us? Don’t think you’re going to saddle an old lady with me, I’ve got things to do yet in my life.”

That last remark was the straw that broke the camel’s back. David was about to step forward and slap the shit out of her, when Lawrence raised his hand, commanding, “Sit down and shut up Lindsey! Your questions will be answered.”

Matt, speaking from a chair near David, “Perhaps Aunt Lindsey….,” interrupted by Lindsey snarling, “I’m not your Aunt. You’re no blood relationship to me, no matter what David says.”

Matt waited until her diatribe ceased, calmly saying, “Before I was interrupted, I started to say, the important part of the will Aunt Lindsey seemed not to understand was the part pointing out all those assets not held in a business relationship with right of survivorship and being relatively unfamiliar with various business transactions which took place over the past several years. Uncle Lawrence, would you be so kind to explain the situation to her?”

“I’d be happy to, Matt,” Lawrence responded. “Lindsey, over the past few years, beginning shortly after you made such a scene at Thanksgiving several years ago, Dad and I, as well as your other brothers, made every effort to contact you sending you letters explaining what was happening and asking for you to respond. You never did.”

“I threw all of that shit away without opening it,” she snarled back.

“Had you taken the time to even open it,” he continued, “you’d have discovered Dad was extremely upset with the way you behaved, deciding to make some drastic changes to his will and make, develop, or increase some business relationships with his children, specifically your brothers. You would’ve been a part of it, but you evidently felt there was no need. First of all, the real estate business was a partnership between Dad and David for many years. When David received his relator’s license, he became a partner. Dad and I were partnered in my office in Iowa since I opened it until I repaid what he loaned me. Dad set up limited liability companies with Joel, Michael, and me with assets and investments, with agreements signed by David, in amounts to the approximate value of his share of the real estate office in Brainerd and for other items of interest. You were sent the papers but never returned them, hence he moved ahead.”

“As if it’s any of your business, Michael’s is Clearwater Investments, LLC and Joel’s is J and J Investments, LLC. Both with rights of survivorship. Over the years, both David and I formed business relationships with Dad in terms of investments and property. Each of us had a separate LLC with Dad, with rights of survivorship. Mine was L and J Investments, LLC and David’s is Lakeview Investment’s LLC. We agreed we’d forgo any cash settlement or bequests at the time of his death.”

“How about the farm?” Lindsey demanded. “Surely that should be included in the estate.”

“Lindsey, honey,” Lettie said softly. “John and I didn’t own the farm.”

“What the hell you talking about?” she growled at her mother.

“David bought the farm on land contract from Dad about ten years ago,” Lawrence explained, “with the proviso, approved by the rest of us, Mom would have life occupancy here. He’s been paying the taxes and making improvements over those ten years as well. You would have known this had you opened your mail.”

She sputtered for a moment, finally shouting, “I’ll sue your fat asses off!!”

Matt smiled, nodded his head responding, “See you in court, along with several of my cousins who are attorneys as well, Aunt Lindsey.”

She stormed off, muttering and swearing revenge on her brothers. Good thing she didn’t push anymore and ask what Fred and his boys received, she really would’ve shit bricks then!

“Well,” Lawrence said to the attorney, accountants, and the rest of us, “I thought that went well, didn’t you?”

David and I stayed for several days visiting with Lawrence and Mom Coleman finalizing plans we’d made, as a family, years before when John and Lettie put forth the proposal to sell the farm to David and me and for us to take up residence there should death or incapacitation of one or both John or Lettie bring about the need for us to care for them.

“So,” I relayed to the boys, “Matt and Jacob returned to Iowa while David and I set the wheels in motion for us to move to Spirit View Farm and David to take over Coleman Real Estate and Land Office. This meant meeting with the staff explaining the change in management, appointments with accountants, and changing names and signatures on bank accounts. There was no problem with licensing since David kept up the licenses he needed in Minnesota to not only sell but run the office and broker sales.”

The move went quite smoothly. Basically, we had only our personal items, except for our bedroom furniture to move, and various books of mine, financial records, and professional books. Dad Coleman’s office at home would serve David’s and my needs for business purposes, household, and professional concerns and preparations for my needs. Hopefully, I’d be able to secure another part-time instructors position somewhere in the area. I hated leaving the position I held in Iowa, but necessity ruled and the administration was quite understanding.

I really hated to leave our home in Cedar Falls. It was my first real home with a man I dearly loved and spent so many intimate time with. It was the home we raised Matt and watched him find the love of his life and go to college together. They were now both successful; Matt in law and Jacob in medicine. It was the home I lived in to earn my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. I cried my eyes out the day we left, consoled by David’s presence, hugs from Matt and Jacob, and knowing they’d enjoy the home as we had. After all, it was Matt’s first home as well.

With Matt and Jacob still living there, we continued to store our carnival business vehicles, joints, and other items needed there. Coleman Enterprises, LLC- Entertainment Unit, operated from there as well.

We settled in at Spirit View Farm quite nicely, both of us pleased to live here and fortunate to have Mother Coleman with us. She only added to the happiness David and I felt. He continued to be the love of my life and Mother Coleman was quite correct when she commented one day, “David, the way you treat your sweetheart, you’re going to spoil him rotten.”

David replied, “Yeah, I know, Mom. Isn’t it great?”

He never stopped courting me in all of the years we were together.

Settling in seemed to be easier for David than it did me. The winter came sooner, was colder, longer, and snowier than I was used to, so it did take some time for me adjust to our new home. The greatest advantage to those cold winters, was snuggling up to David on those nights when the wind blew and snow fell, feeling his stiff, velvety heat inside me quenching my own fire with his voluminous, thick liquid.

Learning to run the tractor with a snow blade on it wasn’t much of a challenge since I’d been used to driving our trucks. At least, I didn’t have the long sidewalk to shovel like I did at our home in Cedar Falls. Of course, then I had Matt and Jacob, and David, of course, to help until the boys went away to school at Iowa City.

The move was easier for David, although I’d visited here many times, than me because it was his childhood home. The lake and surrounding area was his playground. I expected David to have many boyhood friends in the area but I was surprised there weren’t that many. David was a loner, comfortable in his own skin and with his own company, seeking little company outside his family, until I came along. I was the first and only one he’d ever taken such an intense interest and love for.  Of course, it pleased me greatly, not only were we lovers but best friends. Who could ask for anything more?

I missed the cultural life and academic life a college or university town offered. The connection to those activities and ambiance I enjoyed while living in our old house was missing for me. David saw that in me as well and tried to provide what he could. There were activities in Brainerd in terms of the fine arts and music, a weekend every now and then in the Twin Cities, a trip to St. Cloud, or elsewhere helped immensely. I suppose if I’d obtained an instructor’s position right away, the void would’ve been ameliorated, but I didn’t. I wasn’t depressed, but missed those activities. As time went by, however, I learned to adjust quite nicely thank you very much!

Our first summer, I learned the lake, where to fish, what to fish for, and what to use to catch them. We waterskied, went swimming, and discovered a special beach on one of the many islands in the lake where we could skinny dip and make passionate, unbridled love on a blanket, free from prying eyes. If I’d been another gender, David would’ve impregnated me a hundred times I’d venture. We both were insatiable in our desire for each other.

I also learned to garden and raise chickens from Mother Coleman. I found working in the garden, harvesting, and enjoying the results of our labor most rewarding and relaxing. I enjoyed the fresh veggies from the garden and the fresh eggs from the chickens. I didn’t mind feeding and watering them along with collecting the eggs. I wasn’t that keen on cleaning the chicken house however. Chicken shit seems to permeate everything. David helped and then we showered together. He made certain I was well cleaned, outside and inside by using his special, thick long cleaning tool!

Mother Coleman passed away in her sleep five years after her beloved husband.

*******

I stopped my dialogue, thinking Matt or Jacob would mention the visits they made to the farm for summer vacations, holidays, especially Christmas, or the reunions we had at the lake, but they didn’t. I thought they might comment on Grandma Coleman’s death but didn’t do that either.

Sebastian, taking advantage of the break, brow furrowed in thought, head resting on Ray’s shoulder, and hands somewhere under the blanket near Ray’s crotch, asked, “Uncle Matt, how did Grandpa Coleman become so wealthy? It seems to me, listening to Uncle Levi, he had some money or something before they moved up here.”

Matt thought a moment; “You know that’s the very same question I asked Dad and all he’d say was Grandpa made some good investments and he inherited some from his father. Evidently Great-grandfather Coleman had a ‘golden touch’ when it came to making money and Grandpa Coleman and Dad inherited it. You’d never know they had some wealth from the way they lived or acted, but they did.”

John Coleman also said never flaunt it or pretend you’re better than the next guy or it’ll come back and bite you in the ass. His children, not including Lindsey, did quite well on their own as well. His partnerships with them paid off big time. As far as David and me, well, we did alright as well, but preferred to keep our business to ourselves and Matt and Jacob. They knew very well where the money came from and how we added to it. They were doing the same.

Elgee changed the subject unknowingly by asking, “If Uncle Levi lives here, where do you and Jacob live?”

“Just down the lake. Our place is named ‘Edgewater.’ At one time it was an old resort run by an older couple who did little to keep it up. It came on the market after their death and, fortuitously, we’d decided to move up here since Jacob had a better than outstanding offer to join a group of physicians in practice up here. Dad made an offer on the place, it was accepted, and we moved, living with Dad and Uncle Levi until we could demolish the old resort and build our new home. Of course, we had to scramble with relocating Coleman Enterprises, LLC. The ‘Poppers’ and other equipment are stored in one of Dad’s self-storage units built especially for them. We pay rent to Lakeview Investments.”

*******

Their home was a four bedroom, two story, four bathroom home with a Great room containing a stone fireplace. The room and the home offered a great view of the lake Matt and Jacob loved so well. They’d often said once they retired they were going to move back here. There was plenty of room for company, especially Jacob’s family and Matt’s brother Mark and his family to visit, which they did quite often.

The move happened far before retirement. When the property became available, David and I bought it, with the intention of giving it to them. They’d lived in Iowa for about ten years after we moved before the opportunity came for them to move. Albeit, I must admit, knowing there’d be a place to live while building a new home was quite an incentive for them to begin seeking or confirming the opportunity for employment here. We were so happy they were this close. Matt opened his own law office in Brainerd and Jacob went to work with an excellent group of physicians.

*******

“Speaking of where we live,” Jacob said looking at his watch, “it’s getting that time of day and we need to get home, get Sebastian and Adam situated, and let Uncle Levi get some rest.”

“So soon?” questioned Sebastian, quite comfortable with Ray settled on his lap.

I fear if we’d postponed Matt and Jacob leaving any longer, Ray would have a stiff, long pecker shoved up his poop chute the way the two of them had been wiggling around. I wanted to suggest they use some lubrication, but decided they could sort themselves out once they returned to their own homes. Davenport wasn’t that far away and unless I missed my guess, the two of them would find a way to get together.

“Not a bad idea,” I added. “You boys will be leaving the day after tomorrow and we still have few things to do in order to get you on your way safe and sound.”

Looking at my watch, I noted aloud, “It’s well after ten now, so bid your new friends goodbye.”’

Jacob and Matt both gave me a hug, saying they’d see me in the next couple of days after company left.

We stood on the porch, waved goodbye to Matt and Jacob, Sebastian, and Adam, and headed off to bed ourselves.

I headed off to bed, foregoing my usual nighttime drink. I’d just crawled in, when a light tap came on my bedroom door. Bidding whoever it was to come in, Elgee and Rick appeared at my bedside, dressed only in their boxers. Before I could say, “what can I do for you?” they both crawled into bed with me, one on one side and one on the other.

“Well,” I commented, “I haven’t had such good looking bedmates since your Uncle David died.”

They both giggled, but Elgee became real serious.

“Uncle Levi,” he began, “Rick and I were talking about Uncle David’s sister, Lindsey. If she threw such a shit fit when her father died, how did she react when her mother died? And, if it’s any of our business, was she cut out of her mother’s will because of being the turd she must be?”

“No,” I said softly, slipping an arm around each of the boys, “Mother Coleman would never do that. She was a kind, loving, forgiving woman and bequeathed her estate, a quite substantial one I might add, equally to all of her children, except for leaving specific amounts to her church, several charities, and some to build a shelter and facilities and to expand the small park near the boat landing at the end of the lake.”

“Uncle Lawrence hired a private detective to locate Lindsey prior to the funeral, but she failed to appear. Her portion of the estate was placed in trust for her to claim if and when she desired to do so. It was enough to keep her in fine, expensive booze for several lifetimes.”

“Did she?”

“No, she passed away from complications related to alcoholism about three years after Mother Coleman and the estate went to her two sons.”

To be continued...

***

Thank you for reading “The Courtship of Levi Moore” Chapter Eighteen

Thank you. 

Nick Hall

Posted: 04/17/2020