Greenbriar Manor

Dodger

Brooklyn looked on as the boys left for school. He remembered that long ago. He wandered the house and field while they were gone. There was a new girl on the property, and he was struggling to identify her place here or where she would end up. He knew his sister was prone to meddling. He thought of handing her the old, faded doll if things would not be so lonely.  But, he had always promised his cousin and his mom that he would watch out for her, and he would as best he could. No matter what this Manor would conceal. All of the original family were gone. Only these two old relations remained. One had been disturbed at the desk they had painted, and he wondered why. He knew eventually she would sell the place and he and Mari would be alone in the treehouse again. Maybe someday it would change. But the boys were growing quickly and soon they would find other playmates and he would have to go down the hill to the house and see his mother again. She had not seen him in many days. 

The maid had seen his sister and he worried she might ask questions. In all his years at the manor, no one had ever asked to see his home. He was not even sure that they could venture between the forest hills to the homestead. It was covered to the windows in ivy and moss. The girl had made it as far as the clearing and he was not sure how he felt about that. His mother did not take kindly to visitors on their land. He was hoping though for Mari to get a friend and stop looking for things left in the past. Maybe finally she would leave their cousin to the past. 

The boy's mother walked out into the stable and left a small table of sandwiches and juice for him. She knew that he was not well cared for by his own mother. He wished his mom could be better again. Maybe that other girl knew something of that life. She had seemed so happy when she found the letter. She spent hours in the library and wandering around after she brought linens. Maybe she found something in this place that the two other children that had lived here so long ago did not have--Home. 

What a wonderful thought. Three rooms were full out of the ten. There were many open spaces for friends and loved ones in this place. Nothing would make the Greene's happier than family coming home. Nothing would make the place here happy for him but it would make things easier. But first he had to work with the women who came back with her son to want to stay longer than her fears led her to believe. If only she could be the mother that he never had. If only he could find a way to go home and take Mari with him. Even yet to build his own family from the ruins of this old dark home shut up with secrets. Brooklyn straightened his hat and walked down the clearing with his dog behind him to meet the boys. They were singing and talking about school and had some new baseball cards. He would play catch another day and wait in the shadows to know this girl and monitor his sister's temper. They must give them a home. Somehow.