The Apple Diary by Gerri Hill

Author:Gerri Hill [Hill, Gerri]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bella Books
Published: 2023-12-14T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-eight

“You were gone most of the day.”

Madilyn nodded. “Yes. We went over to the creek. Took us a while to find the old orchard. The roads out there are almost completely grown over.”

He handed her a glass of brandy, then sat down on the sofa. “What was it like?”

“The orchard? Nothing but dead trees. The valley grasses had grown over it too. As Dylan warned, it’ll take a major undertaking to get it going again.” She took a sip of the brandy. “I’m not sure that’s something I’d want to do anyway. I think Grandma Belle’s idea of leaving it for the wildlife was a good one.” She smiled. “I saw deer. A mother and two babies. They were on the other side of the creek, but we were still pretty close.”

“We used to hunt down there when I was a boy. It wasn’t something I was ever fond of, though. Once Belle and I married, she wouldn’t hear of it,” he said with a chuckle. “That was my excuse then.”

“Where did you used to swim? Was it near the orchard?”

He nodded. “There were a couple of spots I would go. The old road there forked into two and they each went around the orchard. I would take the upper road to the creek. There was a nice swimming hole there. Now that’s not where my mother used to go. I think I told you, once a week she’d drive out there with a picnic lunch. All by herself, usually, but she did take me a time or two. Showed me where she would picnic. Lovely spot across the bridge. I took Belle there too, but I don’t recall that we ever had a picnic. When I was a boy, though, I would swim near the bridge too.”

She thought back to Isabel’s diary. Wasn’t there an entry where she said Lorah had driven them across a bridge?

“That was a nice spot,” he continued. “I put a rope swing up in one of those big hemlocks one year.”

She frowned. “What bridge, Pops? I don’t remember you ever mentioning that before.”

“Oh, I’m sure that old thing is long gone. My grandfather had it built well downstream of the orchard. He used it to get to the other side instead of having to drive all the way around and come in from the north.” He took a sip of his brandy. “I don’t think he got to use it much. He died shortly after that. My father would use it some. There wasn’t really anything for him to check on over there. He never leased any of that land out, but I do recall him venturing down there some. Maybe it was his escape.”

“His escape? You mean from here? Or from you and Isabel?”

He smiled at her. “Probably, yes. As I told you, he and my mother didn’t have an ideal marriage, although I don’t recall there ever being any fighting between them. They simply didn’t communicate with each other.” He waved his hand.

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