Exceptional continuation of story The Interloper : The Downfall Chap 2 by dragonpoet

During Natalie's convalescence, I tried as best I could, with the help of Natalie's journal of gardening tips, to keep the garden going. Natalie gleaned, from my horribly mediocre descriptions, the state of the garden. She sighed in resignation and thanked me for trying. Since it took Natalie a month to resurrect the garden after my term as gardener, no flowers or herbs were sold for six weeks. This caused Aggie and Henry to begin complaining again like the lazy spoiled brats they were before the move. They blamed me for loss of income from the garden, even though they never lifted a hand to help. They complained even though they now knew I was baking my pies, doing all the household chores and driving to town to sell the rest our products. During this time, Dad was slowly falling into idleness in his deep grief over Mom's death. With much pushing and prodding from Henry, they got the harvesting done so we could get the flour and corn meal we needed made. Then Dad all but locked himself in his room. He only came out for meals. It seemed a bit of a waste for he only picked at his meals. But it did give him some social time with us. Sometimes he did ask how we and the farm was doing. Though he really didn't seem interested in the answers. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Dad started coughing again. Due to his lack of sun and nourishment, his coloring and body were disappearing in front of our eyes. He refused to go to the doctor. Soon, we knew he was committing slow suicide from heartbreak. When he thought he was days from death, he called his lawyer and updated his will. Two days later he died. His funeral was patterned after mother's. He was buried next to her in the cemetery. Now the four of us were alone on the farm. It seemed very empty and quiet. But we were glad dad was back with mom. At the reading of the will, we found out that father had rescinded the equal distribution between the children to make Henry the sole heir. The three girls were just given yearly allowances. This made Aggie furious for she believed that since she was the oldest that she should be the heir. She left the room like a whirlwind swearing she would fight tooth and nail to get her birthright back. This caused a feud of epic proportions between the both of them. They both quickly forgot about Natalie and I. They also neglected their farm duties. For some reason they kept up their personal extra incomes which were being used for their legal battles instead of being put in the bank. The bank account balance was spinning down the drain. It was depleting so fast our banker put a hold on further withdrawals. After this the feud weakened but the resentment remained. During this time, Natalie and I split Aggie and Henry's forgotten duties. I took Henry's and Natalie took Aggie's. We still made our bi-monthly trips to town. Now Natalie and I had the right to complain. Though we didn't because it would fall on deaf ears. When watching Natalie on our trips, I noticed how she interacted with a man named Michael (I thought I once heard Mother say he was 'beneath our station'). These inter- actions were the definition of true love. He worked at the garden store and kept his long chestnut colored hair pulled back and braided in the Celtic style. This was probably one to Mother's strikes against him. His deep blue eyes were often turned towards Natalie when he wasn't with a customer. Within a few months Michael proposed. Natalie said a resounding "Yes". We all agreed Natalie wouldn't wear the ring until they got Aggie's and Henry's approval. After meeting Michael and seeing how they acted towards each other Aggie and Henry readily approved the marriage. This is the first thing they agreed on in a long time. So, after a nine-month engagement there was a small family wedding at the local church. It was just our families and a few friends we made from town. It was about 20 people. The reception was at the share-croppers cabin. It had a flowered arch in front of the door and inside would be the dance floor created by moving the furniture to the side. The dinner was to be served in a covered pavilion in the backyard. The food was made by some town's restaurant workers and the music came from a phonograph and records brought by one of the guests. The cooks were also invited to eat with us. They had a week-long honeymoon at the local hotel given as a present by Michael's parents. While they were gone, we redecorated their room with new curtains and linen for the bed that Michael sent from his house. The master bedroom was cleared of my parent's furniture which was replaced by furniture purchased by the newlyweds before they got married. We also added fresh cut flowers in every room and a bottle of champagne.

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