They talked back and forth for over two hours. North couldn’t remember at any time in his life that he’d had been able to speak to his father like this. He was sure that none of the others had their fathers either. Each of the uncles were talking quietly with their sons around the waiting room, and he was happy for it. Aunt Holly would have been thrilled to death about it.
Wats came toward them a little before midnight. Abby had awakened about two hours ago, and Uncle Wesley, Wats’s father, had gone to get them all something to eat. He couldn’t remember what it was, just food to fill the void, but he was grateful for it. North had also been able to get Abby to eat a little.
“Mars is going to be fine, thank goodness. The first bullet hit him close to the spine, but thankfully it didn’t do any damage. The second one hit him in the upper back, and we were worried that it had nicked one of his arteries near his heart. Close, but with a lot of care and him resting, he’ll be up and around in a week. He doesn’t need to be down that long, but I’d feel better if he was. He’s had a lot of stress lately, and I don’t want him up and around so that he can hear anything else about our mothers.” Uncle Wesley told Wats that he was proud of him and then hugged him. “I guess you heard that Eita is dead. I’m sorry to say this, but I couldn’t be happier about that. She could have murdered Mars had it not been for Mr. Farley.”
“I’m glad as well.” Everyone turned to his dad when he spoke. “I’m not at all sorry that she’s not going to be coming home and causing any of you any more trouble. I’m not sure how I feel about her being dead, to be honest with you. But to have her out of your lives, all of you, makes me feel better. Eita wasn’t stable, I don’t think. I don’t know when it happened, or if she’d always been that way. But she was not right in the head. I’m sorry to say that I don’t believe any of the women in this family have been for some time.”
“Here, here.” North wasn’t really surprised to see his uncles agreeing with his father. What did surprise him was to find out that they had all decided that they weren’t going to help them out of the messes that they were in. Uncle Aidan continued speaking. “I’ve spoken to Mr. Farley about Holly’s funeral, and if it’s all right with Mars, we’re going to go ahead and bury her as scheduled tomorrow. Then have some kind of memorial later for her. When Mars is up for it.”
North hadn’t thought of the funeral service tomorrow, nor the mess that might be in the chapel. He would get with the older man and see what it would cost to have it cleaned up. He’d even pay for the entire carpet to be replaced. He didn’t care what the man needed; North would gladly give it to him. Without his intervention, who knew what might have happened with Christa and his mother.
Uncle Josiah asked if he could speak to Abby alone, and when he and she disappeared around the corner, he sat down with his father. Pulling out the ring that Holly had given him, North handed it to his father. He looked at it for a long time before he handed it back. Smiling, he told him where the ring had come from.
“My great grandfather bought that from a vendor when he was in Paris for a meeting of some kind. He took great pride in telling everyone that he’d only paid something like ten dollars for it. And I’m sure he did. My great grandfather was a cheap person.” North smiled when his dad laughed. “What he never knew, and I’m so glad that I was with my great grannie when she did it, was that she’d taken the ring to the jeweler and had that set put into the ring. The other one, just a shiny rock that I’m sure the vendor had hundreds of, wasn’t worth the effort put into it to make it look that good. But the band there and the setting was worth a fortune. She told me that the old buzzard, what she called him, should know better than to brag about how he’d gotten her something so cheap. If I remember correctly, when it was given to Holly when she turned nine, it was worth just over a hundred thousand dollars. Grannie told me that she wanted someone in her lineage to use it to ask someone that they loved to marry them. I surely hope you do that, son. It would make me happier than I could have ever been to see you happily married and a good father.”
Unsure what to say, he decided that he’d have the others ask their fathers about their rings. If they didn’t know, then he was sure that his father would know. Now he had a great story to go along with asking someone in the future to marry him.
He had to think that there was someone out there for him. If he didn’t believe that, then what was the point? North decided that he’d keep that going in his head. That he was worthy of something finding him. He was worthy of being loved.
Chapter 9
Mars woke up having someone beside him. Unsure what was going on, he was thrilled beyond words to find it was Abby. Asleep in the chair on the other side of her was North. Next to him was Clayton. He asked him quietly how he was doing.
“Okay, I guess. I don’t know exactly what happened, but I’m only in a little pain. Why are you here?” Clayton nodded, but Mars didn’t understand why. He smiled at him and told him that he was here to support him. “I’m sorry. I don’t have any idea what happened at the funeral home. I know that I was hurt, but by who or with what, I’ve no clue.”
“Eita shot you. Twice. When you sheltered Abby in your arms, we think that might have pissed her off more. When Christa, who had a gun as well, aimed at you to kill you or Abby, Lance Farley knocked her backwards, and Christa killed Eita. She was shot once in the head and died instantly. The others, my other nephews, put Christa on the floor and wrestled the gun from her.” Mars could only stare at his uncle. Then to make sure he heard right, he asked about Eita. “Yes, she’s dead. I don’t know how I feel just yet about that. It happened yesterday, in the event that you’re wondering how long you’ve been here.”
“Your wife is dead, and you’re here supporting me. I’m confused.” He heard laughter and looked at North when he stretched and stood up. “I think I’ve died and this is my version of hell. What’s going on here?”
“Eita tried to kill us.” Abby kissed him on the mouth. “They said that I could rest here so long as you didn’t move around very much. You were shot once in the back and once in the upper back, which they were afraid would have hurt your heart. But you’re doing much better than they thought.”
Nodding at them, still unsure of why Clayton was here instead of home grieving about his wife, he looked at North again. He was sporting a black eye, and it looked like a few stitches over his nose. He asked him what had happened to him.
“I was trying to get the gun from the women, and one of them popped me a couple of times in the face. I didn’t notice it until today when I looked in the mirror. We only just found out from the police that they were all carrying weapons. Just so you don’t have to worry, they’re all in jail right now.” He asked him how he felt about that. “Safe. I feel like I’m safe for the first time in all my life. Even at your mom’s, I never felt like this. They can’t hurt any of us from where they are anymore.”
“My mom? We were supposed to bury her today.” He started to sit up, but Abby held him down. “I know that I’m hurt, but my mom, she needs to have her final resting place.”
“I hope you don’t mind, but I went ahead and okayed her being buried on time.” Mars didn’t say anything to Clayton when he spoke. “You’re right about her needed her resting place. It was all we could do, my brothers and I, to let her go. We screwed up badly with her and with you, and I don’t know that we’ll ever be able to tell you just how sorry we are. I know that I can never forgive myself.”
“She never hated you. Any of you.” Clayton got up, sobbing, and left the room. “I didn’t mean to hurt him more. He’ll come back, won’t he?”
“Yes. He’s been in and out of here for the last few hours. They swap out, our fathers.” North got up too and shook his hand. “I need to get out of here myself. I want to get going on some things. Nothing important, just turning in my resignation to where I’ve been working the last few months. Then I need to find me a
place to open up my own practice. My dad and I are going to try very hard to work together. I guess you could say that we’re giving each other a new outlook on life.”
After he left, Mars laid there and thought about the last ten minutes.
“Too much?” He nodded at Abby. “Yeah, I thought so. There are some other things too, but nothing that can’t wait. I’ll feed it to you a little at a time when I think you can take it. I love you, Mars.”
“That helps a great deal. I love you too, Abby.” She told him what had been going on. That Eita had been cremated after the police were finished with her body. That Clayton had moved out of the big house in favor of one of the condos in his area. The others, the uncles, had also taken steps in getting a lawyer about their non-involvement in what had gone on over the past few decades. “I remember seeing North using his phone to record what was going on. I’m guessing that he’s turned it over to the police too?”
“He did. I think he’s struggling with things that he won’t talk about. I know from talking to him for a little while that he’s worried that you’ll hold this thing with his mom against him. I popped him in the head when he said that.” Mars thanked her. “You were lucky that she didn’t aim just an inch to the right of the first shot. It would have severed your spinal cord and you would have been paralyzed from the neck down. The other bullet wasn’t nearly as bad as it would have been had you turned toward her when she fired. It missed your heart, but not by much. I love you, Mars.”
“I love you very much too. What is going to happen to me now? I mean, I don’t have anything permanently wrong with me, do I?” She told him that he was just fine except for the pain he might have. “Yes, it’s been creeping up on me for the last several minutes. When can I go home?”
“That I don’t know. Wats is your doctor, and he said that he’d be in later to talk to you about limitations and such. He didn’t seem to think that you’d have any—limitations, I mean—but he does want to talk to you.” The nurse came in while he was thinking about the pain, and she asked him if he wanted anything for it. Telling her yes, she left them to get him something. “I pushed the button for you. You were all squeezed up in the face, and I knew you were hurting. I should get off the bed now so that—”
“Don’t leave me.” Abby laid back down so that her head was on his good shoulder. “I need you to be here long enough for me to not be in pain for a little while. Just don’t leave me. All right?”
“I won’t. I mean, I might have to pee or something, but I should be all right. Uncle Lance is bringing me in something else to wear if you have to stay. In case you didn’t notice, I have on scrubs. So did North.” He said he didn’t want to think about that. “All right. The guys are still at the condo. The planters have all been taken away, and the ones that we picked out are at the condo too. I believe that each of them are looking for houses. I also went ahead and did what you decided, and told them that there were empty condos there if they wanted to use them. Your mom left them each one so that they could come and go as they pleased, and could rent them out if they chose not to live there. But it’s completely up to them as to what they wish to do. Clayton is in one of them, which I didn’t think you’d have a problem with. The police are going over the room that Eita called her own to look for clues or evidence. Whatever they needed, Clayton said that they could have.”
“Thank you for that. I don’t care if they stay with us indefinitely.” She said she might have a problem with that if they brought their wives home to live with them. “Okay, that’s a good point. We’ll have to put limitations on it for them.”
The nurse came in and gave him some medication in his IV. The dulling of his pain was almost instantaneous. It didn’t knock him out, but it did make the pain a great deal more tolerable. He held tightly to Abby as his mind worked out some details that he needed to get started on. Abby, he knew, would help him with them if he wanted her to.
“My mom had some clothing in her room that I’d like to donate. I don’t want to do it, you understand, but after all that has happened, I’m not sure that I could ever do it alone.” She told him that she’d help him. “I’d like for you to take everything in the way of clothing to a shelter. I don’t know if they can use it or not, and there really isn’t all that much. She mostly wore scrubs when she was getting off work or going in. There are a few shirts that she’d wear out, as well as some pants, but not too many of them.”
“Men wear shirts, Mars. Women wear blouses. Also, they’re slacks, not pants.” He kissed her for making fun of him. “I’ll take care of them when I leave here. I know that I said I’d not leave you, but I really do need to stretch out on a bed and sleep. You’ve worn me out, and we’ve not even had sex yet.”
“It’s making love, not sex.” She smacked him gently on the arm. “I’m ready for something else if you have information. Well, I don’t know if I’m ready for it, but you can tell me something, and I’ll deal with it. What else is there?”
“All right. Your uncles are making plans to try and patch things up with their sons. And all of them are going to try very hard to get to know you, and through you, their sister. I don’t know, but I really don’t think any of them had a clue what was really going on. Even your grandfather, they think, was taken in by the wives. Hank thinks that hearing those things about Holly from the others is what did him in. He died only a few months after you were born. I’m sure you knew that.” Mars told her that he knew that he’d died, but he hadn’t known when. “Clayton is going to talk to you about living in the big house. Why do they call it that, by the way? Sure it’s big, but can’t it just be a house? Anyway, he said that as the firstborn grandson, it should be yours anyway after him. I told him that I’d talk to you about it, but that decision would be completely up to you as I don’t care where we live so long as we’re together.”
“I’ve never been inside of it. It is big, I guess. Mom used to tell me that it had four wings. I used to think that it should be able to fly when I was a kid. But she said that she loved her part of the house. There was so much that she could do, and no one would ever bother her. Mom loved to read, and she could do it at her heart’s content.” He thought about the things that she had told him about the house. “It’s been in the Wilkerson family for several generations. Each family added something to the house to make a statement. I don’t know what has ever been done to it, to be honest, but I used to think that I’d love to see more trees in the front of it. Mom told me once that there were no trees so that anyone passing by the house could see how much wealth was inside. All I ever thought was inside was meanness and hate.”
“I drove by it on my way to Uncle Lance’s, coming from town or even from one of the larger stores in Columbus. I, of course, knew who lived in the house, but even when North and I would talk about the house, he didn’t seem all that impressed with it either.” Mars knew that about North. The others too. None of the others had grown up in the house, but they’d been there for holidays and such. “I’ve been looking at houses. It saved me from leaping on you and smacking you around until you woke up. I know you have all kinds of money, but it never occurred to me how expensive houses were. I mean, to me, it seemed that the smaller the house, the more it cost.”
“I know. That’s why when we decided to purchase the condo village where we lived, Mom and I decided that we’d make sure that it didn’t cost too terribly much to live there. We don’t even have dues like other condo places do. I mean, we have rules, don’t get me wrong, but we rarely have any trouble with anyone getting out of hand.” She asked him why there were five of them empty. “I don’t know. I would imagine that Mom did that while I was working. She might well have thought that the boys, as she called them, might want to settle down around here, and she wanted to make it easy for them. Mom loved us all equally.”
“She talked about all of you when I’d go to see her. Which wasn’t as often as I wished I could have. I have a job
that takes me away at times.” He only just then realized that he had no idea what she did for a living. He told her that. “I’m a photographer. I used to have a small place in the mall that made some good money. But then I did a friend’s wedding a few years ago, and that got me a lot of networking. So now I travel all over the United States to take wedding pictures. I kind of love it. I can pick the days when I want to work. And I have fun with the brides and grooms. I’d like to get myself a dark room, but I’ve never been in one place long enough to set one up.”
“Wherever we live, you really should do that. I have a knack and a love for chemicals. I set a darkroom up once just to see if I could make it work by buying my own chemicals and printing a few pictures. Like a lot of things I figure out, once I had it down, I didn’t hang with it. I like mixing compounds up for drugs for people. I think I could help out a great deal by mixing them up to suit a particular person.” She told him that she’d not been aware that someone could do that. “Of course. There are compound pharmacies everywhere. You’ve heard of headache powders, right? That’s the only way you could get meds a very long time ago. You had someone mix them for whatever ailed you.”
They talked about a great many things as they laid there on the bed. He told her about his job and that he’d quit it. She told him how she had a job to do in a week. Small things and large things like that.
They were getting to know each other in the quiet after the storm-like setting. No one bothered them much. Abby did get out of the bed when the nurse told him he could sit up a little. They talked about their birthdays, the holidays, and what they wanted in a home. And they talked about children and how many they wanted, things that he knew they should have probably talked about before they got engaged. Mars didn’t care. He was in love, and he knew that they had the rest of their lives to get to know all the nitty gritty things about each other.
Marsden (Wilkerson Dynasty Book 1) Page 12
