Till Death Do Us Part

by Lari Smythe

  Chapter 8

  The game was totally engrossing, but I occasionally noticed Benjamin or Elizabeth look up at me. Jason's mom even look up once. I tried to ignore the possibilities—there was nothing I could do about it now—but I knew they were talking about me and no doubt my relationship with Jason. As far as the game, I explained to Melanie and Tink what was going on—kind of a play-by-play. That at least kept my mind off what the parents were talking about. Cathy was quieter than normal, but I think she was a little freaked out about my family being there. At halftime, I walked down to Elizabeth, Benjamin and Jason's mom.

  "So, Dad, Mom, what do you think?"

  "A remarkable game, and your young man is extremely proficient in his role."

  I noticed Jason's mom's grimace at Benjamin's use of the phrase, 'your young man'.

  "Mom?"

  "I can certainly see why you are so proud of Jason. He is a remarkable athlete." Elizabeth turned toward Jason's mom. "You must be very proud as well."

  "Thank you, I am. I wish his father was here to see him play."

  "It is such a shame about your husband. Izzy told us of his unfortunate demise."

  I felt it, the same time I saw the recognition in Elizabeth and Benjamin's faces. We weren't alone, but whoever it was, was distant, only a faint scent on the breeze. I looked to the top of the bleachers and Melanie and Tink were both already standing. Cathy was clutching the side guardrail, her face hard, but distant—she was having one of her visions.

  Benjamin and Elizabeth stood.

  "Would you guys like to go and get some hot chocolate?" I covered.

  "That would be nice," Elizabeth said as Benjamin stepped out onto the aisle.

  Melanie and Tink were quickly down the stairs to join us, too quickly. Jason's mom started to get up.

  "Would you like me to bring one back for you? I'm going to get one for Cathy, I know how your knees are when its cold."

  "Thank you." she said. "That's very thoughtful."

  Benjamin bowed and Elizabeth curtsied. "It has been a pleasure to get acquainted." Elizabeth said.

  "Indeed," Benjamin added, "and a pleasure getting to know your son."

  Without further conversation, I led them at a fast human pace around the track toward the concession stand and exit. I hated leaving Cathy like that, but I knew she was used to her visions and that she would probably be a little more at ease with my family further away.

  "Could it be—" I began.

  "Too faint to be sure one way or the other." Tink said. "What do you think, Benjamin?"

  "The prevailing wind is from the East, the direction we came, perhaps it originates near home."

  "Then the one who is tracking us." Melanie surmised. "Nathan is there, alone."

  We stopped in a dark area of the track, furthest from any bystanders.

  "You will make our apologies to Mrs. Whitaker." Elizabeth said to me.

  "No! No, I'm coming too."

  "Not necessary." Benjamin said. "It does not seem likely it is our pursuer."

  "Then who?" I questioned.

  Just then, there was a muted thump on the ground behind me.

  "Nathan!" Melanie rushed into his arms. "You're okay."

  "We have company," Nathan said to Benjamin, "but I do not believe we are in any danger."

  "Why is that?" Melanie asked for all of us.

  "The individual has been close, but shy's away if I get anywhere near her."

  "Her?" I puzzled.

  "I'm not completely sure, but yes, I think our visitor is female."

  "Interesting." Benjamin stroked his chin.

  "A trap?" Elizabeth suggested.

  "No, I don't think so." Nathan said.

  We all turned to Benjamin for his plan of action. "Izzy, you will make our apologies to Mrs. Whitaker. It appears that there is no immediate danger, so we will go and look into the situation."

  "Leaving me out again." I complained.

  "Nonsense." Benjamin scolded. "There is simply no need for you to leave the game or disrupt your evening with Jason."

  "Okay," I huffed, "I'll stay for the game, but I'm coming straight home after I drop Cathy off at home."

  We all glanced around our immediate surrounding. We were alone, out of the lights and anyone's field of view. Just like that, they jumped the fence and were gone. Moments later, Cathy appeared out of the shadows.

  "Wasn't your family just here?"

  "Yeah, they had to leave, to look into—"

  "Your visitor." she said.

  "Yes."

  "I don't think she's dangerous, at least not to you or your family."

  "She? That's what Nathan said."

  "I definitely got a female vibe. I think she's looking for you, but that part was kind of fuzzy."

  "We have to go back to the game." I said. "To keep up appearances. My family is going to find out what's going on."

  "You sure?"

  "You don't feel any danger, do you?"

  "No."

  "Neither did Nathan, so we'll just have to go with that for now." I looked out into the darkness where my family had disappeared and then back to Cathy. "Feel like some hot chocolate?"

  "Sure, I'm freezing."

  We walked over to the concession stand and got what looked like the last of the hot chocolate. We were halfway around the track when the second half kicked off.

  "You think Jason will notice?" I said.

  "That your family left? Maybe, but I'd be more worried he's going to notice how worried you are." Cathy said.

  "Guess I'll have to put on a happy face."

  "Yeah, Alex said if we beat these guys we have a legitimate shot at states."

  "I'll have to take one for the team, right?" I shrugged. We laughed and started up the bleachers. I gave Jason's mom her cup of hot chocolate and explained that my parents had gotten cold and decided to call it an evening.

  "Well, your mom did look awfully cold. I think maybe she get's a little stiff from the cold like I do." Jason's mom said. "Could you sit for a minute?"

  "I don't know." I looked at Cathy.

  "I'll save your spot." She turned and started up the bleachers.

  I sat down, but neither Jason's mom or I said anything. The awkwardness finally got to me. "I didn't know they were going to come tonight. I don't want you to think we were ganging up on you after our talk, Sunday."

  "No, no, I didn't think that at all." She took a sip of hot chocolate and then smiled. "Although it would have been a good plan. Your mother is charming and I can definitely see the old world charm you spoke of." We stood with the crowd as they groaned. Matt had fumbled and the opponents recovered the ball. We returned to our seats as things quieted down. "Your mother and I have a great deal in common concerning you and Jason's relationship, but we agree that as mother's we can't live your lives for you. We both vowed to make sure we are there for you should you need us."

  "And you're okay with that?"

  "Yes, I think after seeing how deeply involved your parents are with you, and how much they trust you, I can afford Jason the same courtesy."

  Not exactly a shining endorsement of our relationship, but I would take it. I glanced up at Cathy. "If you don't mind, I don't want to leave Cathy alone."

  "No, of course not. Thank your parents for sitting with me."

  "I will." I got up.

  "Make sure Jason sees you when you get to your seat, he seems distracted."

  "Sure." I raced up the steps without spilling a drop of hot chocolate. "Want mine?" I asked as I scooted in next to Cathy.

  "Thanks." She took a few sips as the steam enveloped her face. The wind had calmed considerably. "Jason doesn't look right, his head isn't in the game."

  "Maybe he'll do better now that I'm up here with you—where he can see me."

  "I hope so. This isn't that great a team, but Alex says when you have the kind of power our team does, you always have to worry about a slip up."

  "I'm sure Jason's just distracted beca
use my family left." I stood as the opposing team's quarterback through a deep pass toward the sidelines. The receiver made a great catch and sidestepped into the end zone. They missed the point after to make the score 27-21 in their favor. This was the first time we'd been behind this late in a game.

  Alex only made it to our fifteen yard line on the ensuing kickoff—getting ahead of us seemed to energize our opponents. I looked over at Cathy as she stood. There was only one minute fifty seconds left in the game.

  Jason's first pass was a quick read, but he and the receiver weren't on the same page and the ball went sailing over the receiver's head and hit one of the opposing player's right in the hands, but he couldn't handle it and the ball fell harmlessly to the ground. Jason kept looking up at me.

  The next play was a run, but again, the energized defense stopped Matt after just a few yards. Jason looked up at me again. I glanced down at his mom and she was looking at me too.

  "He thinks you're in danger." Cathy said.

  "But I'm not."

  "You need to tell—"

  I raced down the bleachers as we hiked the ball. Jason got sacked. I ran past Lisa and the cheerleaders as the clock ticked down below a minute. "Time out! Time out!" I yelled as I crashed into the fence.

  Coach turned around at the commotion I'd made and without hesitating, called our final timeout.

  "You have to stay back from the fence." A security guard said as he walked up to me.

  Coach appeared at the bench. "It's okay, she's with the team." He yelled to the security guard.

  The guard must have known about our little season dedication thing, because he got this kind of evil glint in his eye. "Okay, but she stays behind the fence."

  "Send Jason!" I yelled at Coach. He disappeared behind the boys on the sidelines, but seconds later Jason ran over to me.

  "I'm okay, we're okay, everything is okay."

  "But—"

  "There's no time to explain. Run our play with Alex. Line up however you want to confuse them, but run our play." I grabbed him—it was impossible to kiss him through his facemask so I kissed his throwing hand. "Just do it—all in."

  The referee blew the whistle, the timeout was over and the entire game—the entire season was riding on this one play—one pass. From what Jason had said in the past, the defense would be looking for us to just get a first down, and along the sidelines since we had no more timeouts. It was a long shot, Jason had never thrown the ball that far, but I knew he could do it. I ran down the fence line to where I could see them line up and the end zone. Alex turned and looked toward the goal from the huddle—no doubt doubting Jason could throw the ball that far.

  They lined up in a spread formation which surprised me, it telegraphed it was going to be a pass, but when Jason started grunting out numbers, the receivers moved in tight—except Alex. One of the defensive players noticed just as their coach did, but we'd snapped the ball. The other coach was running toward the official trying to call timeout, but it was to late. Now, all we could do was hope that all the hard work and determination that Coach had talked about would be enough.

  Matt took on two rushers knocking one down in what almost looked like a hold, but he gave Alex time to run down the field. Jason launched the ball to the empty center of the end zone. Matt and the other defensive lineman crashed onto Jason. The back judge threw his yellow flag. The entire home field side of the stadium stood as the ball reached the apex of it's trajectory. I'm sure most of them saw Alex racing toward the end zone but thought he could never get there.

  I glanced over at Cathy. She was screaming her lungs out. When I looked back, Alex dove for the ball. The referee came running in from the sideline looking, no staring at Alex the entire time. When Alex rolled over on his back, the referee's hands went up to signal a touchdown!

  I screamed and jumped up and down as Lisa led the cheerleaders in a cheer, but beyond her, there were whistles blowing and hands waving at midfield. The stadium fell silent as the referee's huddled together to talk about the flag that had been thrown. I looked at the scoreboard and the game clock was at zero. Finally, one of the referee's stepped out by himself and addressed the home side of the field, making motions with his arms to signify the infraction. Personal foul—roughing the passer—blow to the head, number 35 of the home team is ejected from the game. The home side of he stadium started booing. "Penalty declined—touchdown is good! He raised his hands to signify the points. The game was tied, but we would be allowed to attempt the extra point.

  An extra point in high school is not automatic. We hadn't missed any this year—there were some close ones, but we hadn't missed—but the defense would be coming hard for this one. Their coach called Hagerstown's final timeout, a tie was as good as a win for them, their coach would have something special for this point after attempt.

  We didn't take the field until the referee blew the whistle. The boys jogged out to the end zone, but I noticed Jason was with them—in the middle where it wasn't obvious. They stayed huddled around the spot where the ball would be placed. The defense lined up, and when the referee blew the whistle again, we broke into formation for the kick except Jason was the holder. He stood as the ball was hiked and rolled toward his blind side as the kicker went through the motion of kicking the ball. The entire defense crashed in on the line while Jason jogged into the end zone untouched. The referee ran toward him with both hands in the air, the point after was good for two points. But there were whistles again from the pile of players on the field. This time however, there was no referee huddle.

  One referee stepped out into the open and signaled—defense—off sides—penalty declined, "two point conversion is good. That's game." He and the other referee's started a quick jog toward the sidelines as the home stands erupted in boos. We all started cheering, we won, 29-27.

  Jason looked over at me, but before he could get to me, I raced up the bleachers toward Cathy. I did not want this to be about me. I could see Jason's mom's face was beaming as I approached. We made eye contact so I felt like I had to stop.

  "He was magnificent." I said.

  "I don't know what you said, but thank you. He was magnificent."

  "I just told him that everything was good. We're still good, right?"

  She smiled. "We're still good."

  "Could you tell Jason I won't be able to see him tonight?"

  "Is there a problem?" She surprised me by standing.

  I heard the cleats on the bleachers and turned as Jason swept me up into his arms. He staggered to maintain his balance—cleats weren't made for dew soaked aluminum surfaces.

  "Put her down, before you hurt her." Jason's mom said. "You heard me."

  Jason gently set me down like a China doll.

  "Excuse me, coming through," Cathy said in passing, "great game, Jason." She stopped halfway to the bottom. "I'll meet you at your car, okay?"

  "Sure."

  Jason looked at his mom, and then at me. "So what's this about not being able to go out?"

  "We have unexpected company."

  Jason's eye's tightened.

  "She's an old friend of the family." I added to reassure him that we were safe.

  "She?" he confirmed.

  "I don't know her name, we haven't met. They're expecting me."

  "So she is an old friend."

  "Yes."

  Jason's mom looked suspicious like she suspected we were covering.

  "Elizabeth and Benjamin expect me to be there."

  "And I can't—"

  I shook my head and Jason picked up on the fact that she might not observe my eating habits.

  "Darn, I was looking forward to celebrating with you."

  "Take your mom."

  Jason looked over incredulously, "Right, not sure we'd have much to talk about."

  "You might be surprised. Right, Mrs. Whitaker?"

  "Actually, I'd like to tell you all about meeting Izzy's parents—they speak so highly of you." she said, and then added. "We sat togethe
r until they had to leave. We got along splendidly."

  "Seriously, you talked with Izzy's parents?"

  "Listen," I interrupted, "I gotta run, I still have to take Cathy home."

  "I could take her home." Jason's mom said.

  "That's okay, it's on my way, but thanks." I noticed Coach looking up at us and he gave me a thumbs up. "Coach is looking for you." I said to Jason. "Walk me down?"

  Jason turned to his mom. "See you at the pizza place?"

  "I'll get a table."

  Jason and I headed down the steps toward the field. When we got to the gate, the security guard from before said, "Nice arm kid—hell of a throw—wouldn't be surprised to see you playin' on Sunday in a few years."

  "Thanks." Jason said. We walked on toward the team. "What was that all about?"

  "He's the guy who wouldn't let me past the fence. I think he knew about us—about me and the team—probably saw the helmet thing before the game."

  "Hugh." Jason grunted. We ran to catch up with Cathy and Alex.

  "Nice game." I said to Alex.

  He looked past Cathy and flashed a smile. "Thanks." Suddenly his face got serious. He dropped his arm from Cathy's waist and turned to face Jason and me. "This was that game—the one that sneaks up on you—the one you lose, but never know how or why—what did you say to him?" Alex nodded toward Jason.

  "I told him to run our play—to trust himself and to trust you."

  Alex shook his head. "I knew the play when he called it, I remembered, but when I saw the path of the ball, I thought no way I can get there."

  "But you did." I said.

  "He sure did." Cathy said, slipping her hand into his.

  "Your boy here sure did make me look good." Alex said.

  "I think it's the other way around." Jason said.

  Cathy and I folded in by our guy's side and continued walking toward the bus.

  I looked down at my hand in Jason's and then up into his beautiful, longing eyes. This had been a very special night in so many ways.