by Amelia Rose
Red had called on Billy and Mitch to help him with the cooking. What that meant was most of the day they spent around the pits, shooting the breeze and drinking ice cold beer. It was his first real holiday celebration where he felt welcomed rather than an obligation. There were a few times that Moira found a reason to come over and sit on his lap. She was sipping her own long neck down throughout the day. She would change it up with some sweet tea on occasion.
One of the times she came over, she carried a tray of chilled watermelon. She offered each of the guys a piece before sitting down on his lap. Leaning back, she munched on her own piece of watermelon. He took the moment to sniff her hair. He loved the way her shampoo smelled mixed with the smell of the fresh country air. Before pulling back, he kissed her neck gently.
Billy smiled but ribbed him. “Come on, man. In front of her older brother and daddy? Don’t you think you should save that for some other time?”
He laughed as Moira threw her watermelon, hitting her brother on his t-shirt. Red laughed as Moira began lashing into her brother.
“Make up your mind, Billy! First you get on to me for not dating… now that I am, you get on to my boyfriend for kissing me in front of y’all. Seriously.”
Red shook his head. “Princess, you’re something else. Just because we didn’t want you to be an old spinster at twenty one doesn’t mean we want you getting fresh in front of us!”
Mitch laughed. Apparently, Red had been a little more in his drink than he’d realized. Moira’s jaw unhinged as she turned a deep red. Mitch answered for her.
“I apologize for offending your sensibilities and your daughter’s virtue, Red. It won’t happen again.”
Red chuckled but Billy answered. “It isn’t her virtue we’re worried about… it’s yours.”
He held Moira closer as he answered. “I’m willing to take my chances.”
******
After the barbeque, Moira helped her family get the fire pit ready. They would light the fire after they did fireworks. Of course, some of the ones they had were brought across county – or state – lines but they would be beautiful. Plus, with the closest neighbors already invited, it wasn’t like they had to worry about the sheriff coming out for it. In fact, he might’ve been invited to see the fire works himself.
What she hadn’t told Mitchell, and wouldn’t until a bit later, was that she’d set it up with her daddy, Billy, and Andrew to give him the day off. She wanted to spend the fifth of July recuperating underneath what she’d come to call their tree. It was no longer just hers and he looked just as calm as she felt when they sat there. She planned to pack a picnic and they would take enough stuff out to stay out with the horses for the day. She’d even planned to have Billy take a bucket or two of water for the horses out there in the morning in his truck.
That night was as magical as the day had been. They sat around at dusk, watching as lightening bugs began to come out. She watched Mitch’s eyes as they widened in wonder. She couldn’t help but think it was odd that he’d never seen any lightening bugs. She went with the idea of what he said… he’d only known the Austin city limits growing up. She couldn’t recall seeing a lightening bug in all of her time spent in the city. Maybe it wasn’t as farfetched as she thought.
When the fireworks went off, she stayed nestled in his side, looking to the sky, with her hand on his thigh. When the firecrackers were finished, they all moved to the bonfire. She sat with Billy and Mitch on Billy’s tailgate.
As the night wore on, she looked up at Mitch’s face. He was looking around, obviously taking everything in. It made her nervous that he’d finally realized what a backward place she’d come from. He’d probably had way better holiday parties in the city with all the people and big city fireworks. Finally, the beer and her lack of confidence got the best of her mouth.
Taking his hand, she got Mitch’s attention. “This probably ain’t nothing like the fireworks and celebrations you’re used to. Sorry for that.”
He pulled her close to his side as he looked down into her eyes. “Why on Earth are you apologizing?”
She shrugged as she averted her gaze. “I don’t know. I guess it’s just really different than you’re used to and I feel bad.”
She relaxed a little when he kissed the top of her head and rubbed her shoulder. “Don’t be sorry. Not for something this wonderful.”
Her brow scrunched down as she looked up into his bright blue eyes. “Wonderful? What’s so wonderful about sitting on a tailgate, listening to some country station on the truck radio?”
He chuckled. “I can imagine many worse ways to spend a good Fourth of July.”
It was her turn to chuckle. “I highly doubt that.”
She put her hands on his cheeks, bringing him in for a tender kiss. It was the only way she could think to thank him.
******
Mitch was surprised when Moira showed embarrassment for the day they’d had. It’d been beautiful. More than that, it’d been perfect. It’d been the first time in his life that he’d felt part of a family. He felt grateful for the O’Connor family and everything they’d given him in the short weeks he’d been there. As much as they’d accepted him, the least of the things they’d given him was a check. They’d given him friendship, good food, a family, and, more than that, they’d given him Moira.
Still, how could he tell her about the last fourth he’d celebrated? He couldn’t say that was even the proper term. He’d just turned nineteen. He and his mom had spent the day together. She was off her meds again and had just run from her most current group home. The day had started out pleasant enough but ended with a fiasco at the fireworks.
When she made a scene, convinced by the voices she heard that the fireworks were really dousing the crowds in carcinogens that would cause them all to die, the cops had been called. They’d had to arrest her and then she was held for her safety and the safety of others. She’d spent the rest of that summer in a psychiatric ward. In fact, the night had ended so badly, it caused Mitch to promise to find summer work anywhere outside of Austin from there on out. He’d been successful too. That’s what’d brought him to the circle.
He couldn’t tell Moira the real reason city spent holidays weren’t that great. He knew she’d run if she learned about his mom, who, at Christmas, was still going from shelter to shelter, her disease, and his young life in foster care. Instead, he reassured her by thanking her for the wonderful day.
He also knew he would have to see what he could do to track his momma down. He knew, as of May, she was still talking to her social worker. He had given the social worker his contact information so he knew he’d be told if anything crazy happened. Still, at this point, his momma was a ward of the state. He hadn’t wanted guardianship of her when he’d turned eighteen. He hadn’t felt prepared when he realized even trained professionals couldn’t keep her in line.
Chapter Ten
By the end of July, Mitch found that the rhythm of life was something he’d become accustomed to. The aches and sore muscles were gone and he’d found that his body was used to waking up before dawn. He thought about keeping the schedule going once school started and using the extra time for studying or working out.
One morning, as he mucked the stalls, he was thinking about his fall schedule and how he’d have extra free time. As he realized all the extra time he’d have because of his new sleeping schedule, he thought to himself, Maybe I can just use the time to visit with Moira. We’ve already decided to caravan back to school together. Don’t see why we can’t just carry things over into the school year.
Almost as though he conjured her into being, she came in with his first mug of coffee in the morning. Her grin was bright. He gazed at her as he took his first sip of the black stuff. Over the summer, she’d gotten a nice tan going on and her hair had lightened up as well.
He stroked Caliber’s face as they drank their coffee in silence. Over the last couple months, he’d found Caliber warming up to him as Moira did. He
still wouldn’t chance riding the old man but he would welcome pets without nips or putting his ears back unlike when he’d started in May.
After their coffee was done, they began walking to the house for breakfast. The coffee, then breakfast had become their morning ritual. One of their other rituals was going to have lunch under what she’d started calling their tree.
He held her hand as they strolled. “So, how does lunch under the tree sound today, Beautiful?”
She smiled. “I love when you call me that. I can tell you mean it.”
He chuckled. “That doesn’t answer my question. It only tells me you like the nickname I’ve given you.”
Her grin broadened. “Yes, silly. Of course we can plan on lunch. I’ll let Grannie know to have the basket packed. I noticed in the barn that Caliber is warming up to you. That’s going to upset my family – especially Billy. He’s been trying to get that horse to like him for years.”
He laughed. “Yeah, well, maybe it’s the treats. I have to confess, I give him a couple sugar cubes each morning.”
Her smile turned sly. “I won’t tell him that when I rib him about it, of course.”
Shaking his head, he followed her up the porch. “Do whatever you need to. That’s a family matter I won’t get involved in.”
She laughed. “Good idea.”
******
The morning felt like it went as slow as molasses as Mitch looked forward to lunch. He had come to really enjoy their time under the tree. There it was like they were really alone and the world was theirs. They’d talk about their dreams and aspirations for after school. Moira was still reluctant about coming home after college but she knew he’d been talking to Red about becoming a full time ranch hand once he graduated.
He found he liked the lifestyle of the ranch and finally felt he was a part of something. He also had been talking to Red about ways to improve the ranch. These changes would make the ranch more productive while making life easier for the workers and owners.
He was grateful that Red seemed willing to hear out all his ideas. The man may not have been college educated but he was far from stupid. He wanted to do what was best for his ranch. Some of the ideas he hadn’t agreed to try but he’d been open to all of them and hearing the details involved.
Finally, Moira showed up with their picnic lunch. They saddled up the horses in comfortable silence. When they rode out to the back, she spoke over the horses.
“So, I brought a pad for you to doodle if you want to.”
He nodded. “That’ll be nice. I haven’t really taken the time to draw this summer. It will be nice.”
She grinned. “I hoped you’d say something along those lines.”
The rest of the ride was quiet as they both looked at the scenery around them. Their lunch was wonderful. It was leftover fried chicken from dinner with some potato salad and cornbread. Once they’d polished it off, they both settled in to draw.
He was just getting going on his landscape when he saw Billy’s truck coming toward them. He jerked his chin the way of the dust cloud.
“I wonder what’s going on to bring Billy out back.”
Moira shrugged. “Who knows? With him it could be anything.”
When Billy walked over to him, his face was clouded with concern.
He looked to Mitch. “Hey, you’re needed back at the house. There’s someone named Michelle Lee here to see you. She said it’s important and about your momma.”
Mitch felt his eyes widen. That was his momma’s social worker. He could only nod as he feared that his two worlds were getting ready to collide. All he could think to himself, as he went mechanically to his horse, was, Whatever brought her from Austin had to be bad.
******
Moira watched as Mitchell walked to the mare without a word. He looked scared. She wondered what on earth could cause that kind of ashen pallor to cross his face. Instead of asking him to hold up, she looked to Billy.
“Hey, Billy, can you please clean this up? The look on his face tells me this is something serious. I want to be there with him when he gets the news.”
Billy nodded. “Take the truck back. It’ll be quicker. I’ll take the horses back.”
She only answered with a nod as she went over to Mitch, putting her hand on his shoulder as he went to mount. “Hey, Billy said he’ll take the horses and stuff back. Let’s take the truck. It’ll be quicker.”
He paused for a moment with his foot in the stirrup. She worried at his hesitation but knew enough to stay silent. Finally, he brought his foot down as he nodded.
Heading to the truck, she looked to him. “Let me drive. You look a mess.”
He only nodded again, staying silent. His face looked a mess of emotions. She hoped it wasn’t anything serious.
The drive to the main house was tense and silent. Only one time did she try to broach the silence.
“What do you think it is?”
He only shook his head. He didn’t have any other answer for her. She didn’t know what to make of that but knew enough to let it go.
When they pulled up in the driveway, she watched as Mitch barely waited for her to put the truck in park before scrambling out to go inside. It was almost like he didn’t want her to witness his conversation. She shook her head as she ran into the house behind him.
Chapter Eleven
Mitch walked into the kitchen to find Miss Lee at the kitchen table. She was sipping on some of Grannie’s sweet tea. When she caught sight of him, her face was grim and her glass instantly went to the table.
She folded her hands. “Do you want to talk here or is there somewhere more… private?”
He looked around. There was only Grannie and Moira. Whatever the news was, he was certain they would find out sooner rather than later anyway.
He sat at the table, across from her, shaking his head. “No, whatever needs to be said can be said in front of them.”
She nodded as she glanced over to Moira as she sat next to him at the table. He saw Miss Lee’s eyes widen slightly when she saw Moira put her hand over his on the table.
With a nod, he asked Miss Lee. “What is it about Momma, ma’am?”
She cleared her throat. “Well, your momma didn’t show up for her appointment two days ago. It left me concerned. The only other times that’s happened was when she’d been hospitalized. Even then, I usually knew because the hospital would contact me.”
He looked into her eyes, afraid to hear what was coming. But he was more afraid to look at Moira. “And?”
“Well, Mitchell, I started calling around town for her. You know the usual places she’d end up.”
He nodded, waiting for her to continue.
“Your momma’s passed away.”
He felt his shoulders slag. Part of him was relieved her trials, and his, by proxy, were over. He then felt guilty for feeling relieved that his momma had died. He could only form one word.
“How?”
Miss Lee reached across the table to pat his other hand. “It was pneumonia, Mitchell. Take a breath. It was pneumonia.”
He released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He didn’t realize how much he’d feared her losing her life to something so much worse. With schizophrenia, it could be anything from suicide, police killing her because they weren’t aware of her mental condition, to rape and murder at the hands of someone with no shame or morals. In this case, a simple illness from life on the streets had taken her.
He nodded. “Okay. Where is she?”
“County morgue right now, they let me identify her because I’m her social worker. They said they’d give me a couple days to contact you. I just wanted to tell you in person instead of over the phone.”
He nodded. “Thank you for that, Miss Lee. I have some things to square away with work but I’ll be there as soon as possible to plan the funeral.”
She nodded, moving from the table. “Okay, Mitch. Call me when you get back in town. Your momma was a favorite of mine.”
<
br /> He smiled in some appreciation. “She always liked you too, ma’am. You know, you were her longest standing social worker. She always fired everyone else.”
Miss Lee chuckled and nodded her head. “I know, sweetie. You know why she stuck around with me?”
He shook his head. “No, she never did say. I just know you and I were the only two people she never lost trust in. Even during her episodes.”
She nodded. “During her first episode with me, she wanted to fire me. I told her she could if she went one place with me first. That was a fiasco but it worked after I handed her my cell phone and agreed to go to our destination on public transit so there’d be witnesses if I was trying to kidnap her.”
He chuckled. “Where’d you take her and why on earth were you so accommodating?”
He watched as Miss Lee’s eyes and smile took on a sad look. “I took her to the cemetery to see my identical twin sister’s grave. She’d taken her own life when we were in college, during her first schizophrenic break. I told her about my sister and what we’d been through together.”
“No kidding. No wonder you were so understanding and no wonder she liked you so much.”
She nodded. “I’d hoped that she’d been able to pull herself together for you. Unfortunately, she couldn’t as much as she wanted to. Your momma was so proud of you. She always had been. Her crowning moments were seeing you graduate high school and knowing you were almost done with college. She knew she was a burden and was so proud of what you’d accomplished in life.”
She paused to look at Moira and didn’t finish.He shook his head. “It’s okay to talk about me being raised in the system. At this point, she’d have found out before I headed back to Austin.”
She nodded, looking between the two of them. He was scared out of his mind at what Moira would have to say about everything but he would have to deal with that later.
Miss Lee continued. “It was hard for her knowing she could never keep herself together long enough to get you back. Still, she said part of her knew it was better for you too. She was quite torn.”
