Picket Fences! Part 45.2


"The other day, Kevin asked me if I was his dad", said Rhys.
"What did you tell him?", asked Claudia.
"I told him the truth. It won't no need to keep it from him no longer", said Rhys.



He gave her a romantic kiss.

They madeout.

"Can we do woo hoo now?", he asked.


And Claudia said YES!

"I love you Rhys", she said.

"Yeah sure, I know you do", said Rhys.


Then they both went to sleep.

Rhys woke up during the night and was lounging on the bedroom bench.


When Claudia woke, she went over to him.
"Rhys, is there something bothering you?", she asked.

"I couldn't sleep", he said, "Go on back to bed."

"I'm a good listener, if you need to talk about anything", said Claudia.

"Claudia, what am I suppose to do when I get old? Ain't no women gonna want to do woo hoo with an old man", said Rhys.


"You still have quite a few years before you need to worry about that. And I'm sure you're be just as desirable when you're an elder as you are now. 'You'll only as old as you feel,' isn't that what they say?", said Claudia.


"Yeah, you're right. I don't have to stop living just because I'm getting older", said Rhys.

"I ain't dead yet", he said.

"You're definitely NOT dead", she said.


"Thank you Claudia. Our little talk helped a lot", said Rhys, "I'll send Noah home this afternoon, but first I'm going to tell him and Ryan that Kevin is their brother. It's about time they all know."

Then Rhys left to go home with a new outlook on life.

Later that morning downtown at the Office Of Records . . .. . .


Ryan Sawyer has come seeking information about his mother Grace.

He walked into the office and asked the clerk "Could you help me, please?"


"Yes sir, what can I do for you?", she asked.
"I need to see the certificate of death for Miss Grace Sawyer", he said.
"All the town records are over there in that cabinet. Just sign the book before you open any files", she said.

He signed the open book on top of the cabinet . . .

He found Grace's file and sit down to read. It listed her birthdate, date of death, her address and where she was buried.

He placed the file back in the cabinet and thanked the clerk.


Ryan sit on the bench in front of the building. Jake the barber sit down beside him.
"I haven't seen you around before. Did you move to Buford Falls recently or are you just visiting", asked Jake.
"I'm visiting at the moment. Can you give me directions to Buford Falls Church . . . well, actually the cemetary", said Ryan.

"Sure, it isn't too far from here. You go left, up two blocks and you'll see it. The cemetary is right beside the church. You can't miss it", said Jake.


"Thanks for your help", he told Jake.

Then Ryan left in the direction Jake had said he would find the church.

He walked up two blocks and the church came into view at the end of the street and he saw the cemetary right beside it.

He found Grace's tombstone with the baby angels carved on it. It saddened him to see his mother's final resting place, but he couldn't mourn someone he never knew.

Ryan turned around when he heard someone say "May I help you?"
The voice came from a well-dressed, elderly gentleman, he presumed to be the pastor of the church.

"Thanks, but I already found what I came here for", said Ryan.
"Were you and Grace friends?", asked Rev. Woods.
"No, I never had the pleasure of meeting her", said Ryan.


"That's too bad. She was a wonderful lady", said the pastor.

"Did you know my mother very well", said Ryan.
"Grace . . . was your mother?", said the pastor.
"Yeah, in name only. It's a long story", said Ryan.
"Let's sit down and you can tell me, if you'd like", he said.

"Well, you see, when my mother found out she was expecting a baby by some good-for-nothing fellow here in Buford Falls and he didn't want to marry her. She came to her brother's farm in Pleasentview, where I was born. George and his wife Nora couldn't have childern of their own, so Grace let them have me. Nobody in town knew that Grace had given birth to me. They thought Nora and George had finally been able to have a child", said Ryan.


"I'm sure Grace must have thought she was doing the best thing for you at the time", said the pastor.
"Yeah, I guess she did. But George and Nora were both elders by the time I became a teenager and they died soon after I became an adult. They left me the farm, but I lost it during the depression", he said.
"When did you find out Grace was your mother and they weren't your real parents", asked the pastor.
"They left a letter with their lawyer explaining everything. It said that George's younger sister Grace was my mother. I didn't try to find her back then because I figured she wouldn't want to be reminded of that time in her life", said Ryan, "But now I wish I had tried to find her and gotten to know her before she died. "

"I think we all have things we've done in the past that we wish we could go back and do over", said the pastor.
"To be sure, YOU haven't ever done anything like that", said Ryan.


"Son, I'm that good-for-nothing fellow who loved Grace, but couldn't marry her. I was already married to a woman I didn't love and Grace never told me she was expecting my child", said the pastor.

"So you're my father", asked Ryan.

To be continued . . .