Where Promises Die: A Second Chance Romance

by R. C. Stephens

  Greta frowned as she returned to the stove where a kettle had begun to whistle. “I’m just making some tea for the few guests in the other room,” she explained. Eisav noticed how Greta’s little girl hung onto her mother’s dress. He took in Greta’s happy demeanor and it made him feel content that his eldest sister looked well even though he didn’t know much about her present life.

  He finally placed his suitcase off to the corner since he was here to stay a while and walked further into the house where voices resonated from the family room. The old floorboards creaked with each step he took. He left home long ago but coming back made it seem like time stood still. The house looked the same: the old country kitchen, barren walls, same old rickety furniture. He finally walked into the family room, his gaze running over the area. Under normal circumstances, there would have been a house filled with guests, but apart from immediate family, there was no one here. Where were his parents’ best friends? Where was Father Joseph? Wouldn’t he be here to honor the man that dedicated his life to his cause?

  His gaze stopped on his mother, who sat in an armchair wearing a black dress and black scarf around her neck. Her mostly gray hair still had some black strands running through it. He wanted to bury the anger boiling in his stomach when he saw her, but it was close to erupting. He had been a child who needed protecting from his cruel father, and she was always a weak woman following everything her husband told her to do and say. He hated how she never stood up for him. He hated that in the past three years she hadn’t picked up a phone once.

  Eisav’s eyes quickly gazed over the room. Marie quickly ran up to him, bumping into him before giving him a hug. In a worn in pair of jeans and plaid shirt, she definitely didn’t look like the conservative sister he left behind. He wondered how much had changed since he’d been gone that everyone appeared so different.

  “Easy there,” he responded, steadying his sister before returning her hug.

  “It’s just so good to finally see you.” She grinned before pulling away. Her brown eyes twinkled, her fiery red hair was loose and wavy not tied up. Something had definitely changed. Was it his father’s death that set everyone free or was there something he didn’t know?

  Eisav forced a grin then pulled his attention away from Marie when he saw a young girl hunched in the corner on one of the couches. Her dark hair looked very long with raggedy edges like it hadn’t been cut in years. Her eyes were rimmed with darkness. She was wearing a tank top that revealed a tattoo of feathers, below a tattoo of an anchor. She definitely didn’t look like the middle sister he remembered, but he would recognize Ida anywhere. For a moment he actually felt disappointed that his father died and didn’t get to see the tattoos both he and Ida sported. The look on his father’s face would have been worth more than any money in the world.

  His morbid thought shifted as Ida lifted her head to meet his gaze her eyes filled with tears. As he took in her frail body that was too skinny, he could tell hardship had aged her. His heart ached, wondering what had become of her after she was thrown out.

  “Ida …” He took a seat beside her on the couch and noticed her hands shaking.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered under her breath as if she was trying to control her tremor.

  He was clearly alarmed. She was not okay. “Ida, I only wanted to help, but you sent my people away.”

  “I know,” she responded but wouldn’t make eye contact with him. She appeared ashamed, even though she had no reason to feel that way. She had been a child sent out on her own into the cruel world.

  “Why?” he asked, at a loss of words. This was not the homecoming he expected. Not that he knew what to expect.

  “It’s a long story. I should’ve accepted your help. I’m sorry that I didn’t. I’m a mess, but I don’t want to talk right now. Later okay?” She trained her gaze on her mother. She clearly didn’t want her to hear whatever it was she had to say.

  “Sure.” He patted her thigh and stood up.

  As he stood from the couch, he noticed both Grace and Jacob were not present.

  His heart sank as a million theories crossed his mind.

  His mother’s voice pulled him from his intense thoughts. “Eisav, come sit. We waited for your arrival. The wake begins tomorrow.” She nodded to the chair beside her. Since it wasn’t the time to ask her questions, he obliged and took a seat. “It’s good to see you, Son. We have a lot of things to discuss. I’m glad you made it home.”

  A few neighbors stopped by, still Eisav was surprised that more people hadn’t arrived to show their respects. Something was definitely off, only he couldn’t put his finger on it. He spent a good hour mingling with the handful of guests in the house. Each one applauded his success and asked if he was married in the same sentence. Eisav didn’t mind the questions. He expected them to look sideways upon seeing the colorful artwork adorning his biceps and triceps. He’d grown up around these people and was used to their narrow-minded ways. What irked him most was the fact that there was no sign or mention of Grace.

  Hours later the guests had left and the house fell eerily quiet. Marie retreated to her room with Ida, and Eisav found himself back in his childhood bedroom. As he lay back on his bed in a room that brought back bad memories, he wanted to escape to his forest like he always had. Still in the same T-shirt and jeans he he’d traveled in, he got up from the bed and went downstairs, passing through the kitchen, his mind focused on the quiet and calm of the forest—a place that had once been his love nest with Grace. Just as he made it to the kitchen, he came to a dead stop when he took in the young woman with long chestnut hair sitting at the kitchen table between his mother and Jacob. No one had felt his presence since the two women were deep in conversation, and Jacob seemed transfixed on his cell phone. Eisav’s stomach dropped out from under him. He wanted to lunge at Grace, pick her up in his arms, and kiss the hell out of her … but that didn’t seem appropriate, considering he hadn’t seen or heard from her in three years. Instead, he stood frozen as he watched her interact with his mother. Things had clearly changed between them. There had been a time when Dina refused to give her the time of day.

  Jacob’s eyes were the first to shift toward him. The moment his eyes landed on Eisav, he shot out of his chair. “Brother?” It almost sounded like a question, as if Eisav was merely a hallucination. He walked over to Eisav hesitantly and extended a hand.

  Sensing his brother’s uncertainty, Eisav shook his brother’s hand.

  Eisav felt Grace’s gaze on him before he saw it. Then he slightly turned his head and stared into the most beautiful jade eyes he had ever laid eyes on. Her eyes were as bright as he remembered. Her face more mature, cheekbones more pronounced. Grace stood up from the chair slowly, her eyes filling with tears that only threatened to fall as she took slow steps toward him. Eisav could sense her nerves as she stared at him as if she were shaking from the inside out. She seemed hesitant and anxious as she gave Jacob a sidelong glance.

  Eisav ended the long handshake with his brother and let out a long, shaky breath followed by one word. “Gracie.”

  Grace continued her slow-motion walk to close the space between them before gently wrapping her arms around his neck but maintaining a distance between their bodies. She felt like a dream in his arms. He dreamed of holding her too many times, but in his dream her body was flush with his, her breasts pressed into his chest while the rest of her body ached to be close to him. The Grace of his dreams was never so cold, distant, and hesitant. Still, he couldn’t help but sniff the floral scent of her hair as he allowed the memories of yesterday to wash through his mind. A few moments passed, but Grace didn’t let go. With Grace in his arms, he barely noticed his twin standing off to the side with a clenched jaw and fists held tight. Time had fallen away as Eisav reveled in the feel of her heartbeat against his.

  Until Jacob cleared his throat and snapped, “Grace.”

  Grace pulled her head off Eisav’s chest and stared at him, almost in a trance. Then her cheeks f
lushed and she bowed her head, retreating for her seat back at the table. Eisav felt even more confused than she looked. Why did she pull away from him like that? Why did she care that Jacob snapped at her? Eisav tried to gauge the situation, so he looked back to his brother who was still standing in his spot with rigid posture. Then he trained his eyes back on Grace, looking at her face, trying to read something in her eyes. He had always been able to tell what she was thinking just by looking at her; the problem was that she was now a woman who he hadn’t seen for three years. She was unreadable. He hated that there was this divide between him and his soul mate, but he was also determined to win her back no matter how long it took. She had always been his everything, distance and time would never change that for him. When he looked down to Grace’s trembling hand on the table, his heart skipped a few beats. He forced himself to take a large gasp of air. That couldn’t be an engagement ring on her finger, and yet it very much looked like one.

  He grabbed her hand forcefully. “What is this?” he asked as if he had the right, which he believed he did. No matter what, she was always his. It had been something marked by nature before he even understood what love was.

  “Eisav, I …” Grace began to murmur.

  “It’s an engagement ring,” Jacob cut in with a proud smile.

  Eisav’s eyes turned wide. He didn’t know if he should attack his brother, scream at Grace, or get the hell out of there. Fearing he would do something he would regret later, he took the best option and went running out the kitchen door.

  Grace stood swiftly, wanting to run after him, but Jacob placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll get this. You stay here,” he said, and she knew it was not a request, so she took a seat back at the table as her heart hammered in her chest. She never expected to see him again. She believed he would never return home. During the three years they had been estranged, he never once made contact. She did what she had to do and moved on … with Jacob.

  “Jacob, I should be the one to go.” His mother now stood from her chair and caught Jacob by the arm before he left through the door. “I have some explaining to do. It should be me that goes after him this time.”

  As Grace sat in the chair unable to move, her insides were ripping apart. It felt as if she had seen a ghost. Only he was there and real and now that he had finally returned, she couldn’t have him because she promised herself to another man. A man who worked hard and proved to be loyal and trustworthy. As she trembled, she felt Jacob’s gaze on her. She sensed his jealousy over her reaction to seeing Eisav. Making him jealous was the last thing she wanted. He had been so supportive of her all this time. He didn’t deserve this from her, and yet she couldn’t control her feelings or emotions when she saw Eisav. He had always been it for her, then he was gone and she was left to fend for herself. She learned to open her heart to Jacob, and now she loved him too.

  “Mother, he’s probably gone into the forest. Don’t you know he’s a woodsman? It’s not a place for you. It’s a far walk, and I don’t know the last time the area was tended too. It’s probably a disaster waiting to happen,” Jacob explained as his mother put on a raincoat.

  “Thanks for the concern, but you don’t need to worry. Your father had the Grimsby boy tending to the forest. Everything has been cut and pruned,” she explained.

  Isaac had been sick with cancer for the past two years. It was an uphill battle he knew he wasn’t going to win. Caring for him day in and day out had drained Dina emotionally and physically. It had become too much for her to care for Isaac and the farm, so they hired the Grimsby boy. He was doing a fine job caring for the animals and the land while Jacob was off at College and Grace and Marie were busy working in town.

  As Dina was putting on her boots, Grace was concocting a way of escaping from Jacob so she could speak with Eisav. It had been three long years since he had been torn away from her. She prayed and dreamed of him returning one day. She just never believed that it would take this long—or that he would be too late.

  “I’ll be back later, Grace. Can you check to see that Ida’s okay? Ask her if she needs anything.” Dina smiled. Her future mother-in-law’s new warmth was a recent result of coming to terms with Isaac’s terminal illness and the vast mistakes they had both made in their marriage and in raising their children.

  “Sure,” Grace returned the smile, and Dina went after her prodigal son.

  Eisav trekked across the farm, making it to the forest in record time. He was practically seeing colors as his feet trudged through the grass. His breaths were coming fast and quick as his mind went into overdrive, trying to process the fact that Grace—his Grace—was somehow engaged to his brother. Over the years the thought of Grace moving on had crossed his mind. He assumed at some point she had moved on, but never in his wildest dreams could he have ever imagined for the other man to be his twin. When Eisav arrived to a fallen tree, he stopped and dropped to his knees as his world tilted sideways. All the dreams he had of coming home had now been dashed. He began to wonder if it had been Jacob’s plan all along to get him out of the way then move in on Grace. He knew he shouldn’t feel hurt by her decision, but somehow her decision to marry Jacob stung like a sword plunging through his already punctured heart. Eisav realized he needed answers, and Grace was the only one who could provide them. He was also too angry to even begin a conversation with her because, although deep down he knew he was as much to blame as she was for not making contact. The irrational side of him felt like she should have reached out somehow. That it would have been easier for her to hide from his father than for him to make contact while she was still living here. He also felt deeply hurt that his soul mate, the only woman he ever loved, had agreed to spend her life committed to another man. It sure as hell didn’t make sense. He knew Grace like the back of his hand, how much she loved him. At least he thought he knew. He couldn’t imagine what circumstances would allow her to fall into Jacob’s arms—or even worse his bed.

  The sound of crunching branches caused Eisav to quickly lift his head. He assumed it was an animal making its way over to him, but when he wiped the tears that had blurred his vision, he saw Ida walking through the bushes. “Eisav, I thought I heard someone or something out here.” She held her hand to her chest.

  “Sorry.” He shrugged. As he took in Ida’s appearance, he had some questions for her. He noticed her trembling hand as she took a drag of a cigarette and wanted to know why she had a tremor. He had lived the life of a rock star, but never got mixed up with drugs. It was becoming clearer and clearer with each passing moment that Ida had gotten into something bad. Maybe that was why she evaded his effort for help.

  “Ida, come take a seat.”

  Ida and Eisav had always been close. Not only did they hang out in the same places as teenagers in Des Moines, but Eisav also watched out for her from afar. Now it tore him up seeing his broken, older sister before him. It seemed like his family or the life he once knew was torn apart. His family had been damaged for a long time, but coming home solidified that notion. It now appeared he was maybe living with a sense of denial all these years. He dreamed of a perfect reunion one day with Grace and his sisters, even though he never held out hope for his parents.

  Ida took a long drag of her cigarette.

  “Don’t tell Mom I smoke. She’ll be pissed.” She glanced at her brother sideways and forced a smile.

  “Ida, you know me,” he replied, picking up a twig off the ground so he could twiddle it in his fingers. He had so much hurt inside him, so much confusion running through him he could barely sit still.

  “Yeah, I do. Greta told me when you got yourself thrown out of here …” She smiled sadly.

  “So you were in touch with Greta all this time?” Eisav inquired since she had evaded his own attempts to make contact.

  “I was in touch for a while, yeah …”

  “Where’ve you been, Ida?” Eisav asked, his tone soft, his heart breaking for his sister who had clearly lost her path.

  “The ques
tion is where haven’t I been? New York, Chicago … Michigan, Buffalo … then back to Michigan. When your investigator friends came to find me, I was already hooked on drugs. I couldn’t bear for you to see me that way. I was ashamed of what I had become.” She paused for another drag and slowly blew out circles of smoke.

  “I wanted to help you.”

  “I know, but I was at a point where I thought I could handle things on my own.” Ida laughed again. It sounded bitter and cold. She narrowed her eyes. “Eisav, I had a hundred bucks when he threw me out. I hitched a ride out of town, slept in homeless shelters. I’ve been raped, sold my body for sex … and yes, I smoked crack, which let me tell you is a mother fucker to get off. I was in an inpatient facility in Michigan when Mother called to tell me the news. I was advised not to leave because I don’t have my shit together, but I figured I’d be okay coming here. I mean there isn’t a drug in sight, right?” She took another puff of her cigarette. Eisav wondered what she meant by that because they both knew where to score drugs if they had wanted to badly enough.

  Eisav’s heart sank as his sister’s words penetrated his mind. His fucking father was a cruel bastard. How could he treat his daughter that way?

  “I wanted to help you, Ida. I still want to help.”

  Ida looked at him again with a cool stare. He took in the black circles around her eyes and the welling of tears threatening to spill. She was in a lot of pain like him, yet he did not break. At least not the way she had.

  “My friends listen to you on the radio. Heck, they were getting high to your music, and I could never admit to anyone who you were. I’m not the girl you knew. I’m not the same girl who snuck out of the house to have some fun in Des Moines. I’m a fucking mess,” she said, throwing her cigarette to the ground and placing her hands in her hair, pulling at it.