Family Forever

by Valerie J. Clarizio

  Nate stepped forward and hugged her. Braden kept his distance. Dylan supposed Braden figured he was too old for this hugging business, though he was sure his teenage brother still worshiped the ground Marissa walked on, as he’d done from day one.

  Marissa crouched down in front of Luke and embraced the little boy. Her eyes watered. “I love you, Luke.”

  Luke clung to her. “Love you too.”

  Tears ran down her cheeks. Dylan’s chest constricted. His brother had grown very close to Marissa over the summer. He hoped this separation wouldn’t be too much for Luke.

  Before letting Luke go, Marissa kissed him on the cheek. “You be a good boy for your brother now, okay?”

  He nodded and stepped back from her. She didn’t really need to tell Luke to be a good boy, he already was a well-behaved child. Perhaps she just needed to fill the silence.

  “Well, I guess we should shove off and let Marissa be,” Dylan said, swinging his gaze between his brothers. “Braden, why don’t you take your brothers to the truck and I’ll catch up with you in a minute.”

  Braden nodded, and the boys exited the room.

  Dylan stuffed his shaky hands in his pockets and looked at Marissa. He wished her eyes weren’t still watery. She had no idea how difficult this was for him already, letting her go like this. He fought the urge to narrow the gap between them. “Remember, Marissa, like I told you before, you are more than welcome to come home anytime. All you have to do is call and I’ll pick you up. I’m for sure expecting both you and Cole home for Thanksgiving break, though, okay?” The thought of not seeing her for three months nearly killed him.

  A tear rolled down her cheek. His right foot slid forward but he caught himself. He wanted to hug her, kiss her, and hold her. At his hesitation, she nearly threw herself into his arms. Her firm grip was tormenting and pleasant at the same time.

  “I’m going to miss you guys so much. With as happy as I am to be here, I’m so unbelievably sad at the same time.”

  He held her, stroking her long, silky strands of hair. Her tiny body shook in his arms. Little did she know, he felt the same: happy she was going to experience the thrills of college life, and sad because he would miss her. Additionally, he knew this new phase in life would present different opportunities for her to explore, likely making her realize there was more to life than what she knew. Better, more appealing situations than what he could offer.

  “And I’m worried about the boys, and you. Who’s going to help you with them? It’s so much work for one person.”

  Did she forget that for nearly two years he’d done everything himself? He kissed the top of her head. “Don’t worry about us, we’ll be fine. We’ll certainly miss you, more than you can imagine, but we’ll be fine.”

  Knowing he needed to end this before it got any more painful, Dylan stepped back, putting enough distance between the two of them so that he could no longer reach her. “Marissa, I need you to do me a favor.”

  “Anything, what is it?”

  “I need you to not worry about us. I need you to embrace this experience, live it to the fullest, and enjoy it.”

  She eyed him strangely.

  He wasn’t sure if she fully understood what he was trying to tell her but either way, whether she did or didn’t, the end result would turn out the same. She’d either seize hold of another life opportunity or return home someday.

  “Can you do that for me, sweetheart?” Shit, the word ‘sweetheart’ was out of his mouth before he could stop it.

  Her knowing gaze intensified. “Yes.”

  “Well, I gotta get Nate to his troop meeting. Call if you need anything.”

  “Okay.”

  * * * *

  Marissa plunked herself down on the lower bunk and began analyzing what Dylan had asked her to do, but only got to do so for a minute before a thin dark haired girl bounded into the room.

  The girl fixed her gaze on Marissa. “Is that hottie that just left this room your boyfriend?”

  “No.” Unfortunately.

  “Brother?”

  “No, just a friend.”

  The girl stepped closer to her. “You have to introduce me to him. Does he go here?”

  “No, he’s out of school.”

  “All I can say is wow.” The girl stepped back into the hallway and looked in the direction Dylan had walked.

  “He is fine. By the way, I’m Ashley, your roommate.”

  Marissa had already assumed that due to the fact she wheeled a suitcase behind her and intentionally entered their specific room. A moment later, a middle-aged man and woman entered the room, their arms laden with plastic storage bins.

  Ashley gestured toward them. “These are my parents. Gary and Shelly Sinclair.”

  Marissa stood. “Hi, I’m Marissa Geyer.”

  Ashley’s parents smiled warmly.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Marissa,” Shelly said as she set her bin on the floor.

  Marissa helped Ashley and her parents with the second load, and then Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair helped them unpack and settle in.

  While working, she learned her roommate was actually a small town girl as well, from a city about fifty miles east of the campus. She had a good feeling about Ashley and her family and hoped they would make good roomies.

  Once most things were in order Ashley’s parents said their goodbyes and left. They seemed like sincerely nice people.

  Marissa had learned Ashley was the youngest of three girls. Though her sisters had attended different colleges, they had given her clear direction on what to expect on campus. Marissa, on the other hand, already felt like she was floundering. Yeah, Cole and Dylan had prepared her for some things, but she had been too embarrassed to ask them many of the questions she had. With a quick glance at her roommate, Marissa blew out a sigh of relief. Everything would be okay, Ashley seemed to have a grip and that would certainly help.

  Marissa followed Ashley through the club booth staging area where they checked out the many different organizations available to join, each enticing them to their tables with free food, beverages, and some rudimentary swag.

  After some time, Ashley took off to meet up with some of her friends from high school. She had invited Marissa to go along. Both physically and emotionally exhausted, Marissa thanked her but declined. Over the past several months, she’d become an early to bed, early to rise person. She supposed that was because the Jacobs boys woke early and usually required some sort of attention from her, whether it was something as simple as breakfast for Luke or running him or his brothers here or there. Her heart grew heavy, she missed them already, all of them.

  Marissa had just slid between the crisp cool sheets when the cell phone Dylan gave her started to chime, and lit up the dark room. Cole’s face flashed across the screen.

  “Hi, Cole.” Did she need to sound so desperately eager?

  “Hey, Marissa. All settled in?”

  “Yep.”

  “So, what are you doing now?”

  He read into her pause.

  “You’re going to go out and meet some people, right?”

  “Well…”

  “Please tell me you haven’t climbed in bed already,” Cole interjected.

  “I’m just tired. It’s a lot to take in.”

  “Okay, here’s the deal. You are in college now. You are supposed to have mindless fun while studying hard, of course. Other than maintaining good grades, you have zero responsibility—no cooking or cleaning up after my brothers. This is about you. Have fun.”

  “I know, it’s just…”

  “No excuses and I know I don’t have to tell you this but I’m going to. Dylan wants you to experience full-blown college life. He wants you to get a quality education, and have fun.”

  Cole knew her all too well. She’d do whatever Dylan asked her to do.

  “Did you do anything today?” he asked.

  “Yeah, actually, my roommate and I scoped out some organizations to join.”

  “Tha
t’s a start. Did you actually join any?”

  “Not yet, but I’m thinking about joining the Christian Club and Accounting Club. I picked up their paperwork and I’ll check them out more tomorrow.”

  “Good. And what about your roommate? Do you like her?”

  “Yeah, she seems real nice. Her parents were here for a bit, they seem nice too.”

  “Where is she now?” Cole asked.

  “Out,” she responded sheepishly, knowing he wasn’t going to like her answer.

  “That’s what I figured. That’s what students are supposed to be doing right now.”

  Marissa sighed. “I know. I’ll get into the swing of things.”

  “Please promise me you’ll do that.”

  “I promise.”

  “Okay, I gotta go, things are happening here.”

  Sometimes Marissa wished she was more carefree like Cole, but that simply wasn’t her nature.

  She flopped over and hugged her pillow, pretending it was Dylan. How on earth was she going to make it all the way to Thanksgiving without seeing him? Yeah, he said he would pick her up anytime she wanted to go home, but she needed to prove to herself she could be strong and do as he asked—experience life. But would her already homesick heart survive?

  Chapter Nine

  “They’re here!” Nate yelled from the living room.

  Luke rose to his feet, leaving his toy tractor behind, and joined Nate in front of the living room window. Dylan followed and watched out the window also, as Cole drove up the driveway. As soon as the car disappeared around the side of the house, the boys ran into the kitchen and impatiently waited for Cole and Marissa. Dylan yelled up the stairs to let Aric and Braden know Cole and Marissa were home for Thanksgiving break.

  Dylan had wanted to pick up Marissa from school himself but Cole had already made arrangements to pick her up on his way home from Madison. Marissa had only come home once since school started and it happened to be a weekend Will was off so Dylan spent most of his time in the barn and doing fieldwork. He hardly had a chance to talk with her. But this was his lucky weekend, not only a four-day weekend, but the farm was fully staffed. It was going to be a complete family-time weekend. His Aunt Mitzi, Uncle Bob and their two teenaged daughters, Jessica and Bianca, were also spending a couple days with them as well, traveling up from Kentucky. The house was going to be bursting at the seams with family. Perfect.

  Braden nearly flew down the steps. No sign of Aric. He was probably playing video games as usual.

  Marissa and Cole entered the house through the doorway separating the kitchen from the garage. Dylan hardly had a chance to pull the duffle bag from her hand before she crouched down, wrapped her arms around Luke, and showered his cheeks with kisses. Nate stepped in and hugged her while Braden hung back eyeing Marissa like she was a piece of chocolate cake, his favorite. Dylan thought maybe he would cave and hug his crush but he didn’t. Perhaps at the age of fourteen, he was too old for that now.

  Cole stepped forward. “Hello, I’m home too.”

  Dylan nearly chuckled, poor Cole, he’d become second choice on the ‘coming home’ scale.

  Braden nodded at Cole. “Hi.”

  Luke and Nate welcomed Cole with nearly the amount of enthusiasm they’d shown toward Marissa.

  Dylan caught Marissa’s magnetizing gaze. He wanted to hug her, feel her soft body pressed against his just like the day he dropped her off at school when she hugged him so tightly he could feel the pounding of her heart as it beat against his chest. He wanted to kiss her, both then and now but kept his distance, hoping to tamp down the rush of excitement coursing through his veins at the mere sight of her. Over the past couple of months, he didn’t grow to want her any less than when she’d left for school, in fact, just the opposite. Thoughts of her beautiful blue-eyed gaze, warm smile, and milky white skin invaded his brain, morning, noon, and night. The crazy hectic life he was living right now as he tried to keep up with all his brothers’ school activities, the housework, and the farm was exactly the distraction he needed for the time being. Without it, he’d go mad thinking about her.

  “Welcome home, Marissa. I’ll put your bag in your room. I can’t wait to catch up with you but right now I need to work on some Thanksgiving dinner preparations.”

  “I’ll help, just get me up to speed with where you are at.”

  He nodded. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Hey!” Cole yelled after him.

  Dylan spun back around. “What?”

  Cole pulled his duffle bag from his shoulder and held it out toward him. “Aren’t you going to put mine in my room?”

  Though Cole was teasing, Dylan would be getting the last laugh, Cole had now been displaced from his second room. Aric had moved into Cole’s room quite some time ago already, and the last time Cole came home for a visit, he bunked in Luke’s bed in Luke and Nate’s room. With their aunt’s family coming to visit, Cole was about to be displaced again.

  Dylan grinned at his brother. “Well, here’s the deal. Aunt Mitzi and Uncle Bob are taking my room, Luke and I are sleeping on the sofa sleeper in the living room, Jessica and Bianca are taking Luke and Nate’s room, and you and Nate have your choice of putting your blowup mattress in Braden or Aric’s room, I don’t really care which but you might have better luck and less whining involved if you bunk with Braden.” Dylan chuckled. “Maybe you can even pay one of them for use of their bed. That’s up to you guys to figure out.”

  Cole zoned in on Braden, his conniving grin widening. “Braden, my favorite brother…”

  Braden was becoming more like Aric every day, smart with the tongue. “I need to see some green, and not singles.”

  Cole lurched toward Braden, grabbing him, and playfully wrestled with him in the center of the kitchen for a moment before taking it into the living room where they continued until Braden cried ‘uncle’ and lost his bed to Cole.

  Cole stood and straightened his clothes. “There, now that’s settled. When’s Aunt Mitzi getting here?”

  “I suspect any time now. I plan to serve dinner at six,” Dylan replied.

  Dylan’s own words repeated in his head. I plan to serve dinner at six. If someone had told him several years ago that he’d be the party responsible for preparing holiday dinners he would have thought they were out of their minds. But now here he stood, about to baste a turkey. His life certainly wasn’t turning out as imagined.

  He was excited to see his father’s sister and her family. It had been a while. They hadn’t visited since last Thanksgiving.

  Though a bit bizarre, his Aunt Mitzi was a kindhearted woman. When his parents passed, his aunt had offered to help with the boys, but his grandfather stepped in and insisted he do it. He didn’t want to disrupt Mitzi’s young family or relocate the boys to her home in Kentucky. And then, when he had the stroke, Mitzi offered to help again, but by this time Dylan had graduated from college, was home, and assumed the responsibility.

  Dylan was happy to be seeing her. Even with the distance between them, she had been a great help to him through the years. He’d called her countless times, especially in the beginning, asking for advice. She was so much like his dad in many ways, yet different in others. The biggest difference was the farm. Though they were raised the same way, his dad loved the farm, and his aunt couldn’t wait to leave and explore the world. Like Cole, Mitzi took to the arts. Her strongest suit was watercolor paintings that were now distributed worldwide.

  By the time Dylan returned to the kitchen, Marissa had already begun peeling the mound of potatoes he had set on the countertop. Luke stood by her side, chatting with her while she worked. With work to be done, all the others had made themselves scarce from the kitchen. Making use of his idle hands, Dylan pulled open the oven door and basted the turkey, then he pulled the largest bowl he owned from the cupboard and began mixing the stuffing.

  Marissa glanced over her shoulder and smiled that beautiful smile he thought of so many times in the past three months, an
d longed to see in person. “The turkey smells good.”

  “Thanks. I hope it stays moist, I may have started it a bit early.”

  “I’m sure it will be perfect.”

  “So, Aric said that none of you have had any luck with the deer hunting yet? Said you guys have only seen four does between the three of you.”

  She talked to Aric. When? Had he even come downstairs since she got home?

  “Yeah, it seems to be slim pickings this year. Braden and I each saw one doe on opening morning, and Aric saw one, too, and one on Sunday.”

  “When I talked to Aric on the phone Monday he said his friend got a nice eight pointer.”

  “You called Aric?”

  “No, he called me.”

  “He did?”

  She flashed him a puzzled look and shrugged. “Yeah, we talk to each other a couple times a week. Not as often as I do with the rest of your brothers, but some.”

  He knew Braden, Nate, and Luke talked to her because they did when he talked to her, once a week when he called her, but judging from what she’d just said they were all communicating more than he’d thought. And here he’d purposely forced himself into only calling her once a week as to give her the space he thought she needed to explore and enjoy her new world.

  “Maybe you guys will have better luck tomorrow. Aric tells me that rarely does a year go by that you and he don’t get deer. He said he doesn’t even know why Cole bothers to buy a license since he rarely goes into the woods or gets a deer.”

  Dylan chuckled. “Yeah, Cole isn’t one for the cold outdoors. I think he hunts out of obligation.”

  Marissa set the pot of potatoes on the stovetop. “What do you want me to do next?”

  “Everything’s pretty set for dinner. We could set the table. I’ll grab the table leaves from the closet. There’s a long red tablecloth in the drawer next to the built-in hutch, and we’ll set the table with the china.”

  “You use that beautiful antique china?”

  “Only for holidays, and the boys know there will be hell to pay if they break any of our Grandmother’s china.”