Silver Lining

Silver Lining

Preface

She opened the mailbox and peered inside. There were the usual local ads, a utility bills, and something unfamiliar. When she reached farther to remove the contents of the mailbox, she discovered it was a small, black leather notebook. She had no idea who sent the notebook or why it was in her mailbox, only that it was there and she felt compelled to remove it. She would open it and view its contents later, if there were any. It was feeding time. There were chickens, horses, and a golden retriever mix, all waiting patiently for their evening meals. They were hungry as usual.

Chapter 1

Money! It was always about money. And finding a woman who earned it and could help support him. That was her first thought two months into the relationship. But she quickly dismissed it as having been too sensitive to spoken words of those who were not as proficient in the use of language. Instead, she had given him 7 years of her life. Her love, compassion, moral support, friendship, and loyalty. His mother had even said “thank you for taking care of my son” on her death bed. But she figured it was not meant the way she initially interpreted the statement. It was now confirmed though, after having spent 7 years with him, supporting his hobbies, putting up with this lack of direction, putting up with his father’s constant irrationality and paranoia, and more recently, listening to his rants his latest interest, the Mafia. He wanted to end it. Permanently.

He ended it just before his father died. He was getting a large inheritance, wanted to buy a larger, more comfortable home, like the one we both dreamed of. At first he was hesitant, perhaps because he didn’t want to end the relationship, but was following his dying father’s wishes. He asked her for listings of homes in the area and pretended she would be a part of it. Then, one day, after pretending for an hour, she shockingly announced they would not be moving together. He wanted to “find” himself and that mean they should split up. He would leave her the current home worth about $10,000 on a good day, to do with it what she wished.

After the initial shock wore off, she began to think about her options. She had always wanted to move farther South, to a warmer climate. She would be closer to family, job opportunities, and to where she wanted to end up in retirement. The decision was made. Her adult son, the new dog, and the horses were moved in a month’s time. One day for the move and all went as planned. She wondered about such luck because as long as he had been in her life, nothing had gone smoothly. Still angry and bitter, she hoped the move and the fresh mountain air would help her heal quickly. She had to get on with her life.

Chapter 2

Tears streamed down her cheeks for just a few minutes. Emery couldn’t wait for Spring. Looking out the window at the ice on the trees reminded her of her home for the past 30 years. She started her journey South hoping she would pick out her final and permanent destination before too long. That hadn’t happened yet and at times she was frustrated with her progress. She knew she was kidding herself. She didn’t have the kind of money it took to buy property, even a small, modest home with a few acres for her animals. She had to put up with keeping the horses on her mother and stepfather’s farm next door. She was lucky enough to rent the house next door owned by an elderly man. But, trying to keep her horses healthy with her stepbrother around and his horse in the pasture was a full time job. He believed he was always right about everything, thought he ran the farm, and was not willing to compromise on anything. He fed his horse dog food and claimed many people did the same. When emery began raising chickens he caught one in the pasture and sliced it open, claiming the dog had attacked it. Emery knew better but her stepfather would never acknowledge her stepbrother's wrongdoings, even if he was not her stepfather's son.

Since then, he had let the horses out one night after her stepfather went to bed, claiming her stepfather had left the gate open. She had witnessed her stepfather closing the gate after working in the garden, so she knew better. Later that week he cut the fence by the lower gate and one horse was out in the yard. He claimed she broke through the fence. But when Emery inspected it after he had fixed it she noticed it had been cut. Working in the dark again after the stepfather had gone to be, he had not seen the lowest strand of wire and the horse cut her lower leg on it. Could have been worse, but Emery was upset all the same. Her horse did not deserve that. She had merely gone through what she thought was an opening in the fence. Possibly chased by him. Funny how he was able to grab the wire cutters off his back porch so quickly when they had to repair the fence. He had never kept them so close by before.

Chapter 3

Several few months went by. Emery met a wonderful man who thought the world of her. She was making plans to live with him at his mountain retreat. It was small and humble, but with acreage for the animals. It was a beautiful place, even more beautiful that where she was currently living. They both dreamed of having a larger place in an even warmer climate. Though Winters in the north were sometimes brutal, they could be just as brutal in the mountains. He had been laid off for a while and had previously faced serious health issues.

She had been working two jobs just to make ends meet. The costs of electricity and heating the rental home were astronomical, compared to her previous home up north. She entered contests, worked even more hours and did everything she could to try and earn some money to save for a down payment on a home. $15,000 to $20,000 would go a long way in putting a down payment on a small farm with a few acres. That would help them tremendously. While her partner worked hard to build on to the living quarters of his own property, he also wondered about using the property for collateral on a loan. Emery did not want him to do that. The property belonged to a grandparent who hand left it and was special to him. It was his property. It had real value and it had sentimental value.

Chapter 3

All the animals had been fed. It was an unusual day. There were no evening lessons to give remotely and no pressing advertising work. pressing. Emery would have the night off. After reheating leftovers from the previous night’s roasted chicken and vegetables, she looked over at the little leather notebook on the kitchen table. She figured she might as well open it, as she had plenty of free time and not much on TV to watch. The local stations were very limited here in the mountains and 3 of the 6 channels were for home shopping.

As she opened the book, Emery noticed her grandmother’s name on the inside cover. She wondered who had delivered the notebook, as the executor to her grandmother’s estate, which was her uncle, had recently passed away. How did it get in my mailbox without being packaged? she wondered. Someone must have driven by and placed it there. She slept soundly so it could have indeed happened in the middle of the night. Rarely did she wake to noises unless they were very loud, like thunder.

There was not much writing in the book. The first few pages contained dates that meant nothing to her. However, Emery came to a page with her name on it and instructions for an account in New Jersey. It was apparently winnings from her partial ownership of a couple race horses. One was named Silver Lining, but she could not remember the name of the other horse. She vaguely remember her grandmother talking about them decades ago. It was fitting her grandmother would leave this type of inheritance. She had known and understood how much her granddaughter had loved horses. The instructions told her to call the number or write the address printed on the page for more details. She had invested $5,000 on part ownership of the horses and was confident they had been winners.

The next day, Emery called the number in the notebook, explaining why she was calling. She was informed she would need to fill out a claim form and provide 2 forms of identification. She performed a background check on the legal group before faxing the documents and everything checked out. Later in the day, after she faxed the documents, she received a call from the legal representative for the racehorse investment group. She would be receiving a check for $20,000, proceeds of the winnings from the horse, plus interest. She was informed that Silver Lining had won most of the earnings. The other horse, Moon Shadow had not performed as well. Emery wanted to tell everyone when she heard the good news. She wanted to call her partner and share the good news. After all, they were planning a future together and $20,000 would help them on their way to the small farm they wanted. But she was too excited to share the news with anyone. She decided to good fortune and happiness sink in for a moment, while she decided what to do next.