Summer's Promise. Irene Brand
Chapter Four
A car drove into the compound and stopped behind David’s vehicle. The driver honked her horn.
“I’m parked in the middle of the road. I’d better move,” David said. With a wide smile, he waved genially to the woman, hopped in the car and moved it closer to the rail fence that surrounded The Crossroads.
By the time they started up the steps, a half-dozen cars had entered the area. A bell rang, the clatter of feet sounded inside the building, and David and Summer hurriedly stepped to one side as twenty or more children ran out the door and down the steps.
A tall, angular woman appeared in the doorway behind the departing children, and she smiled when she saw David and Summer.
“Sorry you got caught in the stampede. I’m Edna Stollard. Are you Mr. Brown?”
David stepped forward and shook hands with her. “Yes, I’m Bert’s brother. This is Summer Weaver, Spring’s sister.”
“I’m pleased to meet you,” Miss Stollard said, “but not under these circumstances. The Browns’ deaths have been a blow to the staff and students of The Crossroads. Let’s talk in my office.”
They entered a narrow hallway, where many students were standing beside their lockers, and Edna said, “Most of our students live on campus. The ones you saw leaving live in Mountain Glen, and their families transport them back and forth to school.”
The building had a scent that Summer associated with schools—dust, chalk and stale food—reminding her of the elementary school she’d attended in Ohio. Edna motioned them into an office at the rear of the hallway. It was a crowded room with many filing cabinets, but she moved papers from two chairs to provide a place for David and Summer to sit.
Edna Stollard had a round, rosy face, devoid of makeup, and the kindest brown eyes Summer had ever seen. Her straight hair had been dark-brown at one time, but now it was streaked with gray, parted in the middle and pulled back into a tidy bun at her nape. Edna wore a dark-blue cotton shapeless dress and a white sweater. She obviously didn’t give much thought to current fashion.
“I’d expected some of the family to come and gather up the Browns’ belongings,” she said to David, “but I concluded from your phone message that there’s another reason for your visit.”
David took Bert and Spring’s last wills and testaments from his briefcase and handed them to Edna. “As you know, since you witnessed their signatures, Bert and Spring wrote these before they left here a month ago. Did they discuss the wills with you?”
Edna shook her head. “No. The Browns were in a hurry to leave and they asked The Crossroads’ cook and me to witness their signatures.”
“The contents certainly came as a surprise to us, so please read one of them. Bequests are the same in each will.”
David didn’t watch Edna as she read. He stood and looked out the window to the campus. Two adults monitored the activities of students playing basketball on an outdoor concrete court, while other children walked toward the dormitories. The buildings were plain, but the natural beauty was hard to surpass. The school compound was situated in a large alpine valley. High mountain ranges surrounded the valley, and yellow and reddish hues tinged the trees at the highest elevations.
Edna cleared her throat, and David returned to his seat. Summer sat quietly, a resigned expression on her face, hands clenched in her lap. She looked vulnerable and uneasy, making David wish he could shelter her from the fallout of their siblings’ requests.
Edna glanced at the papers again. “They made some highly irregular requests,” she said.
“That’s the way it appears to us, too,” David agreed. “Except for the children, it seems that Spring and Bert weren’t at liberty to make the requests they did.”
“No, of course not. Appointments to work at this school are made by our mission board. I’m really surprised, for it isn’t like Bert to make such an erroneous move.”
“We’ve figured out that Bert and Spring may have been worried about what would happen if they did die,” Summer said, “and they wrote these documents before they started on their trip. They probably thought they’d have plenty of time to discuss the provisions with us.”
“Assuming the mission board would appoint you to take over The Crossroads, what qualifications do you have to handle this work?”
“Perhaps we should make it plain, Miss Stollard,” Summer said, “that we aren’t interested in doing what Bert and Spring requested. We’re not suited to fill these positions, and they should have known it.”
David chuckled. “Summer does have a Master’s degree in Business Administration, but we’ve never worked with children. Both of us have jobs that are important to us, and frankly, we don’t want to disrupt our lifestyle.” He hesitated before he added, “And neither of us have the necessary spiritual qualities.”
“You aren’t like your brother and sister?” Edna questioned in her deep, calm voice.
David and Summer shook their heads emphatically.
“Not spiritually,” Summer said.
Edna glanced out the window. “Are you planning to spend the night here?”
Summer’s face blanched at the thought of negotiating that winding road after dark, but she didn’t want to stay here, either. The surroundings intimidated her and she wanted to leave. What had they accomplished by coming to North Carolina?
David looked at Summer for a decision, and she said, “What’s the purpose in staying? We aren’t interested in coming to The Crossroads even if the mission board would appoint us.”
“Miss Weaver,” Edna said, “something has to be done with the Browns’ belongings. The house belonged to them. It’s not part of the school property.” She looked at David. “Since you’re the executor, you’ll have to settle their affairs here.”
“I didn’t know they owned the house,” David said. “Did you?” he asked Summer.
“I’d forgotten about it, but I believe Daddy did buy the property and finance building the house. He wanted the kids to have a home of their own, rather than to live in a mission house as they had in Bolivia.”
“Wherever they got the money, the house and a half-acre lot belonged to Bert and Spring,” Edna said.
“It looks as if we will have to stay overnight,” Summer reluctantly agreed. “I don’t want to return to Asheville for the night and have to ride up that mountain again in the morning.”
“Our return plane reservations aren’t until day after tomorrow anyway.”
“Where are your homes?” Edna asked.
“I live in New York City,” Summer said. “David’s home is in Atlanta.”
“Then I can see why Mountain Glen doesn’t appeal to you,” Edna said, an amused expression on her face. “Let’s go to The Crossroads’ cafeteria and eat supper. Although Bert was the administrator over there, I’m supervisor of both schools. I’ve lived here in Mountain Glen for over forty years.”
Summer regarded the woman in amazement. How could anyone have survived forty years’ living in this secluded area and still radiate such serenity and optimism? In Edna’s character, she detected the same inner strength Bert and Spring had possessed. Whatever made them different, Summer knew it was something she lacked.
As they walked toward The Crossroads, David said lightly, “We wondered where the school got its name since there aren’t any roads to cross.”
“The name has nothing to do with the location. Bert chose the name because every teen attending this school comes with difficulties—a broken home, a police record, rejection and many other problems. At this point,