The Last Option
Chapter Fifty-Six: Sad News

Bernard, Bryan, Lucille and Camila stayed almost until dawn talking about everything, telling each other anecdotes and reliving memories, many of them from the childhood of the two brothers. It seemed they had finally made peace, and the suspicion and hurt that kept Bryan angry were gone. And of course, Bernard's sleepiness and wine lethargy were also gone the instant his brother hugged him in the hallway.

At one point Camila expressed her desire to sleep a little, because her long trip had exhausted her, and they all agreed to do it, getting up again at almost noon. It was Sunday.

The only ones up early were Candace and little Nathan, who were playing in the living room when Lucille showed up to start preparing lunch.

"Holy God! We forgot about you, my little ones!" Lucille said with concern. "You must be hungry. That's why adults shouldn't drink, we forget the responsibilities."

Lucille went into the kitchen and noticed two freshly washed plates and two glass cups on the sink. A bag of sandwich bread and a jar of strawberry jam were still on the center counter. She realized that Candace had made sandwiches for the two of them. She opened the refrigerator and looked at the milk container. It had less content. She immediately returned to the room and stood next to the children who were playing, watching them. Nathan looked up and smiled at her. Lucille smiled at him too.

"Forgive me for neglecting you, my girl," she told Candace. "It won't happen again. Good thing you are a very intelligent and independent girl. Thank you for taking care of your little cousin."

Candace got up and hugged Lucille, who also hugged her and kissed her on the head. Then she went back to her games with Nathan.

Lucille busied herself making lunch. When everyone got up, they enjoyed a great meal. Then they sat back in the living room to continue catching up. Bernard remembered that this time of year was the Annual Marshall High School Art Club Chocolate Roll Festival, and he wanted Camila to witness why Searcy County is called the Chocolate Roll Capital of the World.

That afternoon everyone attended the festival, with a large number of stalls from companies, schools and people presenting the most varied ways of making and eating chocolate rolls, and where different contests were held for creators and consumers, the former competing for the best roll of that year, and the seconds to see who could eat the most in a certain period of time, or simply act as judges to determine the winner of the first. Of course, many consuming participants did not make it to the end of the competition for fear of diabetes.

Camila was excited, she had never seen so many chocolate rolls in her life, nor that there were so many presentations. There was also interest and fascination on the faces of tourists, who traveled to Marshall and surrounding county towns from all over the country to enjoy the festival. The most important in the state.

During his tour of the festival with his family, Bernard met an old acquaintance, a man about his age, who could not hide his surprise at seeing him.

"Bernard! What a surprise to see you here!" the man greeted him with a smile and then turned his attention to the others with him. "Hello, ma! Bryan. How are you?"

"Hello, Doug," Lucille said, returning the greeting. "It looks like you are doing well."

"Hi, Doug," Bernard greeted him, shaking his hand. "It's good to see you again."

"If I had known you were at home I would have gone to visit you. When did you come back?"

"We arrived yesterday. This is Camila, and the child is my son Nathan."

Doug shook Camila's hand with a smile and patted Nathan's head gently.

"Beautiful family," Doug said. "And what happened to Margaret? How is she?"

"She passed away giving birth to the boy, Doug."

Immediately, the smile on the man's face disappeared, and he stared at Bernard, who also stared blankly at him.

Douglas Barnes was a respectable and prominent lawyer in his community. Since high school he had always been in love with Margaret, and tried more than once to win her love without success, since she only had eyes for Bernard. He even tried to approach her family in search of her father's approval, but Anthony was not in favor of imposing a partner on his daughter, and very decently and with all the affection in the world recommended him to cease his attempt to conquer her. Resigned, he saw his last hopes go with her when she left town with Bernard.

"I'm so sorry to hear that, Bernard," Doug said after reacting to the news. "I'm really sorry."

"Thank you, Douglas."

A few seconds of silence.

"I was about to contact ma Lucille to locate you," Doug said, "because I have some bad news for you as well."

Bernard was taken aback by Doug's words, for apart from the common interest they both had in Margaret when they were younger, he had nothing else in common with him.

"Bad news? What's this about?"

"When Margaret left Marshall, her father, Anthony, was very depressed for a while, and then decided to leave as well to do humanitarian relief work in Africa. Before he left, he asked me to take care of his house, and when the time came, to sell it." "And are you going to sell it?"

Bernard didn't want to tell him that he had been in touch with Anthony recently.

"No, Bernard. I just received a communication from Africa notifying me that Anthony died a week ago, and I also received his will. Since he had no other known relatives, I thought it was strange he left one and I opened it in front of a judge in the city. He is leaving you everything, which is just his house with everything in it, an old car and some money he had saved."

The news hit Bernard like a bucket of cold water. He turned pale and everyone noticed. They looked for a stool to sit him down while he recovered.

"I'm so sorry, Bernard," Camilla said, hugging him as they sat together on the bench. "I know how much you loved Anthony."

"I'm sorry, Bernard," Doug said. "He also left a letter for you with the will. I'll get it to you early tomorrow morning."

"In a way, I expected that," Bernard said, coming out of the shock of the news a little and with an expression of deep sadness. "When I said goodbye to him that time I felt I would never see him again. And I think he felt it too."

"The organization he volunteered for arranged his funeral," Doug continued. "His last wish was that his remains not be repatriated, even though he loved his family very much. He asked to be cremated there in Africa and to have his ashes scattered on the African savannah. He made many friends there who loved him very much and had no qualms in fulfilling his wishes."

"He said he wanted to die doing what he loved," Bernard said, saddened. "Thank God he did."

"I'm sorry to break this news to you again, Bernard. We will meet tomorrow morning at Anthony's house to deliver everything to you." "I'm also very sorry to have given you the news of Margaret's death like that. I know how much you loved her too."

"No problem."

Doug's face also showed an expression of sadness that he couldn't hide no matter how hard he tried. Camilla wondered what the story was between the two men, while Lucille and Bryan also offered their condolences to both of them. Later that day, having recovered somewhat from the news of Anthony's death, Bernard took Camila to see a movie at the Kenda Theater, the only drive-in theater still in operation in all of Arkansas. It was the first time she had ever been to a drive-in and she was excited. They were screening a classic movie with Natalie Wood that day, and Camila left the place in awe.

Late at night at his family's house and before going to bed, Bernard told Camila about Doug and his efforts to conquer Margaret. At one point, his family had supported Doug's pretensions, asking Bernard to end his relationship with her, and that is why they had decided to leave town, leaving him upset with his family.

"You didn't tell me that she had another suitor," Camila commented.

"That wasn't important to me. She was the most beautiful girl in this town, and when she noticed me I was the happiest man on earth."

They were sitting on the rattan furniture on the porch of the house. Bernard moved closer to Camila, and hugged her tightly while kissing her forehead, and then on the mouth.

"And I still consider myself the happiest man on earth," he told her after kissing her a couple more times, as she rested her head on his shoulder, "because I had the most beautiful girl in Marshall, and now I have the most beautiful girl in New York."

"Liar," she told him softly with a faint smile.

"Well, it's an irrefutable truth."

Bernard kissed her on the forehead again, as he worriedly thought that the next day he would tell her what he planned to do so that little Nathan would inherit what belonged to him.

He hoped she would understand and support him in his task.

If not, he would have to do everything he could to win her love back, once it was all over.