Until the Stars Fall From the Sky

by Mary Crawford

  I discretely cough since they’ve completely forgotten that I’m in the room. I hold up my paint covered hands and look up at Ty with a playful grin on my face as I ask, “Can I interrupt your flirting session long enough for you to open the door for me? You do realize you’re trying to hit on my girl’s best friend, right? So, you better treat her right.”

  “I was just trying to give the woman a compliment,” Ty replies, shrugging. “I’m finding it remarkably tricky to do.”

  I turn to Heather and quirk my eyebrow as I inquire, “Why you giving him a hard time?”

  Heather casts her eyes down to the ground as she answers, “I wasn’t really trying to be rude. I just thought he was kidding. Your friend can be a bit overwhelming.”

  “Heather, if I choose to joke with you, I can promise you that you’ll know all about it, Darlin’”, Ty remarks brushing one of Heather’s blond corkscrew curls that had escaped from her Rosie the Riveter bandana out of her eyes.

  “I guess I’ll consider myself forewarned, Cowboy,” replies Heather tartly.

  Kiera whips around the corner, her braids flying behind her. I grin when I take in her appearance. “I knew you were helping Tara with the mural, I just didn’t realize you were doing it with your nose and pigtails.” I tease as I grab a clean shop rag and get it wet with warm water and gently start wiping the paint off her face.

  “Jeff, I can do that!” she exclaims with exasperation, grabbing the cloth. “I’m not a baby. I just lost my balance trying to paint dragonflies in Mindy’s room.”

  “I know you’re not,” I retort. “It just gives me the perfect excuse to touch you and kiss you right here.” I kiss her nose, “and here,” as I kiss her cheek, “and here — ."

  “I see your point and concede, my PC,” replies Kiera with a laugh as she kisses me. The green paint on the tips of her pigtails adds to the design on my paint-splattered shirt.

  As I’m kissing Kiera, I hear the door open and I hear my mom’s voice drift in, “Jeffery, I hope you don’t mind, I substituted pasta salad for potato because I thought it’d keep better in the heat. I brought a new grape salad that got good rankings on Pinterest too. Oh, hi dear. You must be Kiera. Well, no wonder my son fell in love with you. Look at that gorgeous hair.”

  “Geez-o-Pete,” Kiera mutters under her breath, “you could have given me some warning that I was going to meet your parents today. I would have dressed much differently and put on some makeup.” She grabs the wet rag from the counter and attempts to clean her hands. After she dries her hands, she holds her right hand out for a handshake.

  My mom grabs her hand and shakes it without hesitation as she reassures Kiera, “I’m Gwendolyn Buckhold, Don’t be silly Kiera. We barged in on your remodeling project. You’re supposed to be in work clothes when you paint. That’s the best part of decorating. I’m excited to help. I can’t wait to meet the girls.”

  I put my arm around Kiera’s shoulders as I say, “Mom, this is Kiera Ashley and she is very, very important to me. It’s like Grandpa used to say, she’s my everything. The girls are an amazing bonus. You’re going to lov — ”

  Just then, my stepfather lets loose with a string of profanities. After he stops to take a breath, he shouts, “Shit, I don’t even know what to call you. The ‘dream team of diversity’? Nightmare is more like it. It’s bad enough that I had to take in Gwen’s mutt’s and raise them as my own when everyone could tell they weren’t mine. Your stupid sister went and had a bastard of her own. I thought I was in the clear with you. I thought you were smarter than that,” he paces as he continues his rant. Obviously, you’re as dumb as the rest. You had to do her craziness one better. You’re going to marry a fuckin’ retarded cripple. She probably can’t even put out which is why you have to go and steal someone else’s kids.”

  For a second, it is so quiet that I can hear the sound of each person breathing. I hear my mom quietly gasp.

  “Kevin Delbert Buckhold, turn around and get your pompous, no good ass out of this house and out of my life and don’t come back. Ever!” my mom demands firmly. “You can have your precious name and influence. I’m tired of taking your abuse. I will not have you insulting my children or the people they love anymore.”

  “Well, you are just an ungrateful bitch,” my stepfather pouts sulkily as he spits in my mother’s face, “I should have just killed your bastard kids when I took their wisdom teeth out. I almost did, but I wanted you to see them suffer.”

  I start to step forward, but Kiera puts her hand on my elbow to stop me. She nods at Ty who takes his badge from his back pocket and clips it to his front belt loop. She catches her dad’s eye. Denny walks over to his gun safe, removes a handgun, and hands it to Ty.

  “Mr. Buckhold, you’ve already been asked to leave once and as the property owner, I’m going to ask you again, more politely than I’d like to, given the circumstances. I will spell it out. You are not welcome in my home. Please leave immediately.” Kiera declares calmly but firmly. “Make one move to hurt any of us or the kids now or in the future and things will not go well for you. If you think you can intimidate me by calling me a few names and throwing a few cuss words in my direction, you’ve got another thing coming. In my job, this is just another day at the office. The good news for Gwendolyn is that I like her and I love her son, so she’s going to have allies she never dreamed of. So, given the fact that my Dad served in Operation Desert Shield, Tara kick boxes, I trained with Olympic swimmers, Jeff’s a lifeguard and Ty’s a law enforcement officer, I’d cut my losses and just leave if I were you.”

  “I’ve taken self defense classes at the senior center,” offers Gwendolyn, helpfully.

  “I’ve taken it too. Well, not at the senior center; I took mine at the Y,” adds Heather as she quietly hands my mom a napkin to wipe her face.

  Kevin snickers as he sneers, “They must not have taught you much, since I beat the shit out of you a couple of weeks ago.”

  “Well, there you have it. We all have something to contribute. If you don’t cooperate, Mr. Buckhold, things could be awkward. See, the really interesting thing is that because I have a life-threatening condition, my home is video monitored and everything is recorded off site. The best thing for you to do would be to turn yourself in to the officers standing outside the door. If you’d feel more comfortable, Ty can escort you,” Kiera responds, cool as a cucumber.

  Even I’m not sure if she’s bluffing. Given some of the stuff we’ve done in all of the rooms of this house, I’m not sure which outcome I’m rooting for.

  “Shit, there’s nothing I hate more than a smart bitch,” he whines. “Fine, I’ll leave, but you won’t win. I can always find her. I’ll never let her go. I’ll kill her before she gets away.”

  Sure enough, as Kevin walks out the door, there are police officers waiting for him. He can’t seem to resist the urge to make a lewd gesture with his hand at his crotch and flip the women off.

  Denny smiles and taps a small sign from a security firm on Kiera’s front door that I’ve walked by many times. It says “Smile! You may be recorded by home surveillance.”

  I raise my eyebrow and glance over at Kiera as I murmur, “Seriously Pip? A heads up would have been cool.”

  Kiera blushes fire engine red and snorts as she answers my unspoken question, “Relax PC, It’s only activated if I push my panic button.”

  “Okay, that makes me feel slightly better given how we’ve been known to wander around the house. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, but that doesn’t mean that I want to share you with some horny security guys. By the way, it would have been helpful to know you have a panic button when you were having your health crisis.” I state emphatically.

  “I know,” she acknowledges. ”To be honest, I forgot Dad bought me the system because I wasn’t allowed to use it in the dorms in college. So, after you brought up your concerns and with the girls coming, I had him dig it out just to be safe. Besides, I wasn’t really having a health crisis, I w
as having spasms. It’s different.”

  “I still think pain is dangerous for you. So, we’re going to avoid it if we can, okay?” I argue.

  Kiera smiles at the absurdity of the conversation as she says, “I think I can agree to that goal.”

  “I hate to ruin this little Kodak moment, but are you guys saying we have video proof that my husband has been hurting me?” my mom asks, her voice trembling.

  I walk over to my mom and as I hug her, I lay my cheek along the top of her head. I pull back and look into her eyes as I reply, “Barring any technical difficulties, I think that’s exactly what we’re saying, Mom. You now have the leverage you need to be free.”

  My mom sinks down onto the arm of the couch and starts to tremble. Denny walks over to her with a glass of sweet tea and a plate of Heather’s appetizers. “Honey, take a sip and have a bite to eat. The adrenaline is gonna hit you in a bit and this will help settle you. For the record, what you did was incredibly brave. That scumbag was a flaming idiot to harm you or your kids in any way and obviously too stupid to realize it,” he says as he walks over to the sideboard and picks up a cell phone that was casually propped against some books. He slowly pans it around the room, then clicks it off as he adds, “One thing you don’t ever have to worry about again is whether we have your back. I pushed the record button on this baby as soon as I heard him raise his voice. I see too many weird situations on the road to let this stuff fly.”

  A tear slides down my mom’s face as she tentatively takes a sip of tea and eats a small bit of pita bread with grilled tomato and cheese. “I know you must think I’m awful too,” she whispers in a tortured voice, “I tried to leave when Jeffery was six, but then he threatened to rape Donda. I had to stay for my baby — she was only eleven. Then, she got so sick with the anorexia and the drugs. After that, I had to stay so we could afford treatment.” Her shoulders sag in defeat.

  I look at my mom in complete shock as bile rises up in the back of my throat. I scrub my hand over my face and take a long drink of root beer before I take several deep breaths and ask, “You mean, all of those years I begged you in tears as a child to rescue us--that’s what he was using to keep us hostage? Why didn’t you say something? Mom, I worked for the prosecutor’s office, for Pete’s sake. We could have buried him under the jail.” I shake my head in frustration.

  Kiera slips her arm around my waist and gives my hip a light squeeze as she responds to my mom, “I’m sure Gwendolyn wishes she could have done things very differently, but life doesn’t have a rewind button. Gwendolyn, I know a lady is never supposed to ask these things, but are you over 21?”

  “Yes, I would say so! I turned 66 in March. Jeffery was my surprise baby,” she retorts, “why?”

  Kiera reaches into her pocket and pulls out her phone as she replies, “This call has been going to the on-call person at my work in case we needed assistance. As a mandatory reporter, I’m required to report your abuse to the police because you are being subjected to elder abuse.”

  “So, it’s not just going to be my word against his this time?” my mom asks, her eyes starting to brighten with hope.

  Denny steps up and starts to lay his hand on her shoulder then drew it back and stuffed it back in his pocket. “No, ma’am. As near as I can tell, everyone in this room is willing to step up and testify on your behalf, not to mention that you have a surveillance tape and two cell phone recordings. I’d say his goose is pretty well cooked,” Denny advises with a tight smile.

  “Don’t forget that the dumbass fully confessed to a truckload of stuff even after I identified myself as a LEO,” adds Ty with a smirk. “I hope he likes prison food.”

  Donda comes out of the nursery and pulls the headphones out of her ears as she announces. “I was jammin’ to my iTunes up on a ladder while I was painting dandelion seeds and butterflies and you’ll never guess what I saw.”

  I try to hide my smile as I answer, “Strangely enough, I think we can.”

  Donda doesn’t wait for my answer before she forges ahead, “The King of Perverts is outside getting frisked outside a very marked cop car,” she chortles. “What happened? Did they find his stash of kiddy-porn?”

  “He’s been arrested for domestic violence and elder abuse. He spit on mom and threatened to kill her right in front of a cop. He also admitted to beating her up last time.”

  “There are witnesses to this that he can’t discredit as being crazy or having a drug problem?” Donda inquires skeptically.

  I nod as I reply in a serious tone, “Yes indeed Donda. A former MP, a social worker, a law enforcement officer, a sign language student and a CSI tech among others, not to mention that we have the whole thing backed up on tape. We have Mom’s back.”

  “Well, I’m willing to have her back too,” answers Donda, “I have stories that will make your skin crawl. I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to nail his country club ass. What do you think his picture perfect partners would think if they knew the real truth?”

  “I suspect we’ll soon find out,” I assure her with a smile, “with the things he admitted to on video tape, it’s likely the Board of Dentistry will pull his license. I’ll help you and Mom fill out paperwork for restraining orders.”

  “So, why are you stepping up to the plate now, little brother?” Donda sneers, “Why didn’t you stop him earlier?”

  “Because I didn’t know the whole story.” I explain, as I pace in front of the sideboard, running my hand through my hair, “I’ve been trying to help you guys for years. One of the reasons I chose Pre-Med was to try to find out information about your health issues so that I could help you. After Gabriel, was born, I set my sights on finding a legal route out for you and Mom. When I had suspicions, everyone denied them. I should have tried harder because if I had known what he did, I would have torn him apart limb by limb.”

  “I thought you were trying to take Gabe from me and rub it in my face how smart you are by showing that you could study anything and still get good grades while I struggled to take random classes at community college,” Donda admits.

  “Are you kidding me?” I ask her incredulously. “I never planned on being a parent to Gabriel. I was just waiting for you to get better. You almost died twice and I drove myself crazy trying to figure out why. I used to think it was all my fault — that somehow I was responsible for it all. Now, in one afternoon, all the puzzle pieces seem to fit much better.” I stop and face my mom and sister as I state firmly, “Listen to me, both of you. None of this is your fault. Kevin Buckhold is a sick and perverted man and the blame for this belongs solidly at his feet.”

  Kiera touches me on the back of my shoulder. I turn to her and kneel on one knee in front of her. She looks directly at me as she softly asks, “Jeff, are you listening to yourself — I mean really listening? This is not your fault either. Not your mom’s choice to stay, not Donda’s medical issues, not Kevin’s abuse. None of it is your fault. It wasn’t then and it isn’t now.”

  Kiera wheels over to my mom and Donda and takes each of them by the hand as she gently says, “Just so we’re clear ladies, it’s not your fault either. I believe you. Abusers are so good at what they do because they are master manipulators and can spot and exploit weakness. You did the best you could with the tools you had. Now, you have a bigger, better back up team. This time he won’t know what hit him.” She reaches up, hugs my mom, and then embraces a very startled Donda.

  Donda stands up and scrubs her eyes with the hem of her work shirt. I can see my sister try to collect herself and be tough in a move I’ve seen many times before. “I’ve got fluffy little weeds to paint, but — ”

  This is not the time or place to rehash family drama. I don’t know about everyone else, but I need some time to process what just happened. So, I go along with her attempt to change the subject. “Wishy flowers,” I correct Donda with a grin, “Mindy calls them wishy flowers. She wants Becca to have an old fashioned bear and wishy flowers.”

  “Anyway, as I w
as saying, I’m starving,” she continues. “If someone wants to grill me a medium steak, it would be awesome. I’ve got three or four more flowers to paint.”

  “I’ll get right on that young lady,” Denny remarks, walking over to the sink to wash his hands. “You want pesto or Cajun seasoning with that?”

  “Cajun of course. Do I look like a refined kind of gal to you?” Donda teases.

  “I think that’s a question a smart man shouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole,” Denny winks as he preps the steaks for the grill.

  ~*~

  As we were eating dinner, Heather asks Kiera, “Hey, you never said anything about that green dress you wore on your date, did it fit okay? Did you like it?”

  Kiera’s hand freezes halfway to her mouth and her brows drew together in confusion at the abrupt change of conversation. “Of course, I love it! It fits like a glove and it is gorgeous,” she answers enthusiastically. She turns to my mom and continues, “Gwendolyn, you should see this thing, it’s a work of art.”

  “I know dear, Jeffery showed me pictures of the two of you at the dance that a fellow patron took. You looked stunning,” my mom comments.

  “You didn’t tell me about any pictures,” Kiera exclaims shooting me an annoyed look.

  “One of my coworker’s took a picture of us slow dancing,” I admit. “In all the chaos, I must have forgotten to show it to you. I use it as the splash screen on my laptop. I’m sorry I didn’t mention it, Pip.”

  Kiera smiles as she replies, “It’s really no big deal. I’m just surprised someone found me interesting enough to take my picture.”

  I lean down and kiss her, enjoying myself so much that I almost forgot her dad and my mom are sitting at the table. I pull away and say in a slightly rough voice, “Pip, you were easily the most fascinating woman there. You lit up the room.”