“All right. Talk to you later.” I went over to the awaiting car and climbed in the door that Aaron held open.
On the way back home, I had to explain to not only the children but their father as well that we would not be stopping for ice cream. Even though what happened was a form of self-defense on Kyle’s behalf, there were still better ways to have handled the situation. I was adamant about only promoting physical violence when and where necessary. I didn’t know who wore the biggest pout—Kennedy, Kyle, or Aaron.
Chapter Seventeen
Aaron
I watched from the doorway as Patience finished up the night’s reading with Kennedy. I’d just put Kyle down to bed after we finished up a round of video games and some drawing. I could hardly believe that this is what my nights had become. Playing video games and drawing before watching my wife complete up her nightly routine with the children. I was also beginning to realize that there was absolutely no place I’d rather be. I was starting to loathe the idea that I had a business trip the following week, even though it was only for two nights.
Patience’s lips turned upward as she shut off Kennedy’s light and passed me, closing the door. I barely moved, instead forcing her body to brush up against mine. I grinned inwardly when I saw the vein in her neck kick up in its beating rate. I followed her into our bedroom, shutting the door behind us. As she went to wash her face and brush her teeth for the evening, I changed into my pair of pajama bottoms and remained shirtless, per usual. I’d gotten in the habit of sleeping without a shirt, even though the idea had always made me cringe as a child and young man. The thought of someone seeing my scars and daring to ask about them always made me agitated. But ever since our very first time together, when she kissed my scars, that agitation went away. It was why I had no problem when Kyle asked about them. The tattoo, on the other hand…
“What are you thinking about?”
I lifted my gaze to see sepia eyes staring at me.
“Kyle.”
“What about him?”
I folded my arms across my chest, tilting my head but remained silent.
Patience sighed, moving to sit on the bed, cross legged. “Ask me.”
“Does he–”
“I think so.”
Everything in my body clenched. My hands tightened into fists and my lips balled up.
“Aaron.”
I shook my head, unable to answer her.
“Aaron!”
I turned my back.
Patience came to stand in front of me, hands at my sides.
“I did this.”
“Stop it! Kyle being teased by another little boy is not your fault. It’s that boy’s parents for not raising him better.”
“But his dyslexia is my fault.”
There it was. My dirty little secret. One of them at least.
“It’s no one’s fault.”
“It’s why he hates reading.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know for sure. He’s never been diagnosed because he’s still so young. Most of the professionals say to wait until at least the second half of first grade to actually diagnose dyslexia.”
“Meanwhile he remains picked on by shithead kids at school.”
“Meanwhile, his father can help him.”
“How?” I demanded, feeling hopeless.
“Aaron, Kyle’s not broken. And neither were you,” she affirmed, her grip tightening around my sides. “Y-your father was a jackass, and made you feel ashamed of being a poor reader. You weren’t even diagnosed until after his death. You were a child. He was the adult. It was his responsibility to take care of you. Do that for your son. Show him how you learned to read.” She got on her tiptoes and pulled my face between her hands. I stared down at her. “You run one of the most successful businesses in this country. And you didn’t learn to read until you were eight years old. You don’t think that’s something to be proud of? Show our son what he’s capable of because you’ve already done it. He’ll listen to you.”
I lowered my forehead to hers, wrapping my arm around her waist, pulling her to me.
“How do you always do that?” I asked, nuzzling her neck and pressing a kiss there.
She shivered. “Do what?”
“Make me feel like I’m ten feet tall.”
“You are ten feet tall. To me.”
I groaned and spun us both, moving us to the bed, while tearing at the short, silk gown she wore. I loved the way the silk laid against her walnut skin. I made a mental note to order some silk scarves the following day.
“Ah!” she yelped as I pushed her down onto the bed. “You’re so damn rough!”
A devious smile spread over my lips. “Just the way you like it.”
“Hmph!” came her response. “You know,” she began, breathless as I ran my teeth along the column of her neck, “it’s not nice to call eight year olds, shitheads.”
I paused, then remembered calling the boy who’d picked on Kyle those words. “He is a shithead. And so is his father,” I answered in between kisses to her breasts and belly.
Patience snickered. “You called him that the first time we ever met.”
I stopped, moving over her to peer down into her face.
“You don’t remember. Dinner at my father’s. Wallace stole my Harry Potter book and when I kicked him you grabbed him by the throat much like you did today. You’d think he would’ve learned back then.”
“He’s not particularly smart. His company has shrunk in value by nearly half since he took over. And he is a shithead, just like his father and just like his son is destined to be. And you got saucy with me after I kicked Wallace out.”
Her eyelids sprang wide.
“I remember.”
“You called me a little girl! That pissed me off.”
“I’ve pissed you off a lot more since then,” I retorted at the same time I eased my pajamas down and slipped inside of her. I covered her mouth with mine. That was enough talking for one night.
****
“Kyle, wake up,” I whispered, lightly shaking him by the shoulder.
It was four-thirty in the morning, and I had barely gotten an hour of sleep. But it was worth it for what I had planned. Ever since that first day, Kyle came down with me for my early morning workouts. Most times he would fall back asleep while in the basement, but others he stayed up with me throughout the entire workout.
“Morning, Daddy,” he said groggily.
“Morning, son. Let’s go.” I picked him up out of bed and led him by the hand down the stairs, reminding him to keep his voice down so his mother and sister could still sleep. The lights in the den sprang on once we entered the room.
“Whoa!” Kyle exclaimed.
I looked around at the walls.
“What happened?” he questioned, confused.
“I made some changes.” During the night, I’d done some work in my office, researching techniques on helping young children with dyslexia. I printed out tons of charts and graphs that had phonetic alphabet on them, basic words, and more. After laminating the charts, I did some rearranging of the gym equipment, clearing a space to hang the charts on the wall, creating a small reading nook, complete with a child-sized table and chair.
“This is for you,” I explained.
Kyle’s face scrunched up. “I don’t like reading, Daddy.”
I squatted low next to him and turned him to face me. “I know. I hated reading when I was your age.”
“Really?”
I nodded. “It was hard. I got made fun of a lot so I stopped even trying for a long time. Got into lots of trouble at school, beating up kids, yelling at teachers.”
“You yelled at your teacher?” His eyebrows rose high.
“I did. All because I didn’t want them to make fun of me.”
“You still don’t know how to read?”
“I know how to read today. When I was eight, I came to live with your grandma and grandpa Townsend. They took me to some special people who told
me the problem wasn’t that I was stupid but I had a learning disability. They promised me that if I worked really hard, I could learn to read like everybody else.”
“Did you do it?”
“Yup. I still have trouble sometimes but I’m a much better reader.” I sighed, feeling a relief having explained all of this to my son. I never wanted him to feel like I had as a child. To that day, only a handful of people in the world knew about my dyslexia. I’d thought I’d moved past the shame my father had drilled into me as a kid but not until Patience told me about Kyle’s condition did I understand that I still carried some of it with me.
“You think I can learn to read, Daddy?” Kyle looked from the wall to me, turning those hazel eyes that were the spitting image of my own on me. “Like Kennedy and Mommy?”
“Not only can you, but you will because I’m going to help you. You’re a Townsend. We don’t give up…on anything.” I held his chin in my hand to keep his gaze on me. “Understood?”
He nodded.
“Good. Let’s start with a workout.” I had Kyle assist me in a series of exercises. Some of them were designed to help stabilize and strengthen the core. Those I had him do along side of me. I’d learned years prior that strange as it may sound, a strong core was great for balance and coordination, which aided eye muscles to work in sync. That was important for tracking, or reading in a much more fluid manner. I’d never shared that one of the reasons I was so rigorous about my daily workouts was to assist in my overall reading ability, among other things.
After the workout, Kyle and I moved to the area that I’d set up for him. We began with the basics, starting at the alphabet and identifying each letter and their sounds. I lost track of time until Patience came down stairs and saw us in the middle of me reading out loud to Kyle. The expression on her face alone was worth every lost minute of sleep the previous night.
Chapter Eighteen
Patience
If it’s not one thing, it’s another. Those were my exact thoughts as I rushed out of the park where I’d gone for a stroll during lunch. Unfortunately, I was already on edge, having had that creepy feeling that I was being watched. As I was scouring my surroundings, but finding no one even paying me any attention, my phone rang. It was my father, I thought. But nope. It was his friend, Wilhelmina, again. My father had had another heart attack.
“Daniel, I need to get to Williamsport General,” I told my driver over the phone, again hating that I didn’t have my own car for times like this. While waiting for Daniel, I went in and told Moira of the issue with my father and that I needed to leave. She insisted that I go. On the way to the hospital, I checked the time and realized I had a few hours before the kids were out of school. Maybe I would know what was going on by then.
I raced through the hospital doors, grabbing the first nurse I could find to tell me about my father’s condition. She wasn’t much help but she did lead me to where Wilhemina was.
“Wilhelmina,” I stated, getting her attention. I stopped short when I saw the tears in her eyes.
“Oh, Patience.” She lunged at me, pulling me in for a hug. “He’s not doing well.”
I pulled back, shaking my head, confused. “How can that be? I just saw him this weekend. He was doing well, laughing and playing with the kids.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. The doctors aren’t saying anything except that it happens sometimes. But go in, he’s been asking for you.” She pushed me toward the closed, wooden door of the hospital room.
I glanced back over my shoulder before turning the knob and entering. My stomach dropped when I saw my father lying in the bed, appearing so lifeless. He had tubes coming from his arms, chest, and nose. His chestnut skin looked almost ashen in color.
“Dad,” I called lightly.
His eyelids fluttered open. “Patience.” His voice sounded so weak.
“How’re you feeling?” I asked, taking his hand in mine.
“I’ve been better,” he chuckled lightly but stopped short needing to take a breath before continuing.
“Don’t try to speak. You need to save your strength so you can get out of here. The twins are looking forward to their next visit.”
A smile touched his lips. “They’re so precious. Thank you for letting me spend time with them.”
I lowered my gaze from his to the floor. I suddenly regretted my decision to not tell him about Kyle and Kennedy before recently.
“Don’t make that face. Everything happens as it should. You did what was right by your children. A mother protects her children. That’s all yours ever wanted for you.”
I lifted my head, surprised. My father never spoke of my mother to me. Save for a few stories here and there and some pictures of her when I was younger, it was as if she didn’t exist. As if I’d appeared out of thin air instead of being born on the same day my mother died.
“She loved you so much. I can’t wait to tell her how lovely you turned out when I get up there to see her.”
I frowned. He was talking crazily.
“Shh.” I leaned in a pressed a kiss to his forehead. “You need to rest now. The doctors should be in soon and tell us what’s going on. We’ll figure out how to get you well again.” I smiled at him. “I’ll sit with you until they do.”
“I’d like that.”
I pulled up the low sitting chair that was in the corner of the room to his bed and sat, wrapping his hand in mine. My father floated off to sleep. I hadn’t realized I, too, had dozed off until Wilhelmina shook me by the shoulder.
“Patience, why don’t you go get some coffee while I wait for the doctors?”
I sat up, looking at the clock on the wall. It was close to three o’clock. I’d already texted Michelle to see if she could have her mother pick the kids up with Diego.
“Okay,” I whispered, before heading out the door. I started in the direction of the cafeteria but just opted for a walk outside. Though it was fall and the weather was getting cooler, there was still plenty of sunlight and warmth outside. I pulled out my phone to send another text to Aaron. He’d called, telling me he’d be at the hospital as soon as he was out of his meetings for the day. I tried to tell him not to bother but he was insistent.
By the time I’d made it back up to my father’s hospital room, I was glad Aaron would be showing up at the hospital. I’d need his strength.
“I’m so sorry, Patience,” Wilhelmina cried as soon as the elevator doors opened and she saw me come off. “There was nothing the doctors could do,” she got out in between tears, before falling into my arms. “He’s gone.”
****
Nobody likes attending funerals, but if you live this life long enough, you can bank on attending at least a few. As the reverend prayed while lowering my father’s casket into the ground, I mentally counted the number of funerals I’d been to. There was a friend of mine who’d died in a car accident in college. A cousin of mine when I was a teenager. My father’s funeral now made three that I’d attended. I wondered if he’d taken me to my mother’s funeral. That would make four but I doubted it. Then I wondered why I was thinking about it at all. Shouldn’t I be crying or something? I glanced around and saw Wilhelmina’s shoulders shaking as she sobbed. My own mother-in-law had tears in her eyes. Robert’s expression gave away his grief. But me? I felt…numb. How do you mourn someone you barely even knew?
“Come on,” Aaron urged, taking me by the waist once it was time to toss the dirt onto the casket and leave for the repast. It was held at Townsend Manor.
The entire ride over, I was silent. Feeling only Aaron’s hold around my hand. I listened but didn’t respond when Deborah commented on how beautiful the ceremony was. Robert had indeed spoke quite eloquently of his and my father’s school days together. I moved through the rest of the afternoon in that state, seeing but not really seeing, eating but not really tasting.
“How’re you holding up?”
I stared at my mother-in-law, not for the first time noting how beautiful she w
as.
“I’m okay. How’s Robert doing? I know he and my father were good friends.”
Deborah looked to the other side of the living room where they were. Robert was speaking with Aaron. I caught Aaron’s eye and gave him a small smile before turning back to his mother.
“Robert’s holding up. He’ll miss their annual fishing trips.”
I nodded and cleared my throat.
“The twins?” she asked.
“Michelle’s mother was kind enough to watch them along with Diego for the day. I thought they were too young to be here.”
She nodded. “I agree.”
“They’re always welcome to spend the night here so you and Aaron can have some private time.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that.”
“Don’t thank me, it’s more my own selfishness. I love them and the house is so quiet now that all the boys are grown up.”
I laughed a little with her. We continued to talk some more until a few of the guests began to leave. Each one coming over and giving me their condolences. I grinned and beared it as best I could.
“We need to pick the kids up,” I told Aaron as he held the door open for me.
He frowned. “Michelle said they could stay the night with them.”
“I know, but I changed my mind. We need to get them.”
He shook his head. “No, you need ti–”
“I don’t!” I looked around to see a few stares my way, realizing I was yelling. “I don’t need time to rest or whatever you were going to suggest. I just need our kids. Under the same roof as us tonight.”
Aaron gave me the stare he often does when trying to decipher the meaning behind my words. He finally nodded. “Okay.”
I sighed my relief, grateful that I wouldn’t have to fight him on this. I didn’t have the energy.
Chapter Nineteen
Aaron
“Daddy, will you read to me?” Kennedy asked, jumping up and down on her bed, her curls and long nightgown flailing about as she did.
“Only if you stop jumping.”
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