Fire and Rain

by Andrew Grey

  “I know you do. But let’s get your teeth brushed and then you can get dressed and go see your friends at school. I’m going to go see Jos and make sure he’s okay.”

  “I wanna go with you,” Isaac said, whimpering, and Kip’s will collapsed like a house of cards. He’d take him with him and hope there was some good news.

  “Okay. Eat your cereal and then go get dressed, and we’ll go up to see Jos.” What the hell else was he going to do? Jos was Isaac’s only family—well, other than the ice-queen aunt, and Kip was putting off calling her because as soon as she got her hands on Isaac, she wouldn’t let go.

  Kip finished his coffee and called Donald to give him an update. “We’re on our way up to the hospital now.”

  “Okay. I hope he gets better fast,” Donald said. “You know things will get very complicated quickly if he doesn’t.” Kip knew that all too well. He wasn’t a relative and had no real standing to make any decisions for Isaac.

  “I’m done,” Isaac said as Kip hung up with Donald.

  “Then let’s get ready to go.”

  Isaac hurried away, and Kip made a few phone calls and then went to check on him. Isaac was in his room. He had put on a shirt, but it was backward, and he was jumping around to get into his pants. Kip grinned and helped him into the pants and got his shirt on right. The kid was so adorable. Kip had never given much thought to having kids, but now, after having Isaac around, he could see him and Jos with a house full of kids, maybe a baby.

  “Can you put your shoes on?” Kip asked, and Isaac ran and got a pair of shoes. Kip found some socks and watched as Isaac flopped down on the rug and pulled them on. Kip made sure the Velcro on Isaac’s shoes was all set, got him a coat, and then took him to the living room and let him watch cartoons while he cleaned up as best he could. He was shocked at the mess a little boy could leave in his wake inside of five minutes.

  Before they left, Kip called in to the department. He had some personal time, so he used one of the days. His captain had children and was pretty understanding when it came to family matters. Besides, Kip took shifts for guys who needed coverage all the time, so he didn’t feel too guilty.

  “Are you ready?” he asked Isaac when he was done.

  Isaac jumped up and grabbed Pistachio, and Kip turned off the television. Then he took Isaac’s hand and they left the apartment.

  The rain had stopped sometime in the night. It was still cloudy, but the sun was desperately trying to peek through. Somehow Kip got Isaac in the car without him racing off to play in one of the nearby puddles. He saw him eyeing them, and on a different day he might have made a run for it, but instead Isaac sat quietly while Kip buckled him in, and then Kip drove as quickly as he dared to the hospital, his nerves ramping up by the second.

  He was a police officer, trained to handle difficult situations, but he felt like he was seconds from falling apart. If for no other reason, he held it together because Isaac was in the car, and pulling off the side of the road so he could go to pieces with fright and worry wasn’t an option. He parked the car and held Isaac’s hand as they crossed the parking lot to the hospital. Isaac held Pistachio tightly under his arm. He was an amazing little boy, just like his brother was an incredible man.

  “Josten Applewhite,” Kip said.

  “I’m sorry, but he’s too young to go up with you,” the lady said.

  “Isaac is Josten’s brother.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  Kip was in no mood, and he wasn’t going to let anything keep Isaac from seeing his brother. What if the worst happened? He didn’t want to think about it. Kip pulled out his wallet and showed her his badge. “I’m not here in an official capacity, but this little boy is going to see his brother.”

  “Okay,” she said. “He’s in room 304.”

  “Thank you.” Kip lifted Isaac into his arms and carried him to the elevator. They rode up, and Kip kept wondering what he was going to find when he got there. He walked down the hallway, past room after room, and then stopped outside 304. He pushed open the door and stepped inside.

  Jos lay on the bed, looking much as he had the night before. The machines were still there, flashing their numbers.

  “Jos,” Isaac said, squirming to get down. He hurried to the bed and patted Jos’s hand. “You need to wake up.”

  “Buddy, I don’t….” Kip’s voice caught in his throat when Jos’s eyes slid open and that familiar blue, the warmest color he’d ever seen, shone in the dark room. Isaac burst into tears, and Jos lightly stroked his head. Kip wasn’t even sure if Isaac knew why he was crying, but Jos stroked his hair as Isaac put his head and shoulders on the bed.

  “I’m okay,” Jos whispered. “I’m gonna be fine.”

  “I thought you were going to the angels like Mama,” Isaac said, sniffling, and then he began crying once again.

  “I’m not, and I’m going to be here for you for as long as you need me,” Jos said, comforting his brother gently. Kip stayed back, watching the two of them with a smile on his face.

  “I heard you come in,” Jos said over Isaac’s head. “I couldn’t see you, but I knew you were here and that it was time to wake up.”

  “I wasn’t….” He stepped closer, approaching the other side of the bed. Kip took Jos’s hand. “You have no idea how bad you scared me. When I found you by the side of the road—” He gave up trying to talk.

  “We looked for you,” Isaac whispered. “You were in the street, all wet, and you didn’t move, like Mama.” Had Isaac seen his mother die? The thought hadn’t occurred to Kip until that moment. He would have to ask, but he hoped Isaac was talking about when he saw his mother at her funeral.

  “I was crossing the street, and I heard brakes. That’s the last thing I remember,” Jos said. “I’m okay now, and I have both of you with me. That’s all that matters.”

  A nurse came in the room, and she smiled and left right away. She returned a few minutes later and began checking Jos out and fussing with his pillows. “Don’t talk too much. You need to rest. I called the doctor and told him you were awake, and he said he’d be up to see you soon.” She was smiling from ear to ear. “You had us all a little worried.”

  “He’s my brother,” Isaac said with the hint of a smile as he wiped away his tears.

  “That’s wonderful. Your brother is a very strong man, and I’m sure he knows how lucky he is.” She gave Isaac a smile, and he leaned against the bed, putting his head on the mattress once again. Kip figured he’d crawl in with Jos if he could.

  After checking everything, the nurse left, and Kip leaned over the bed. “I’ve never been so scared.”

  “I’m okay,” Jos said.

  “I know. I have to say I didn’t remember that chair I gave you being so uncomfortable, but the dang thing gave me time to think about a lot of things. I wanted to do what was right for you, so I kept quiet. But I’m not going to be quiet anymore. I love you, Jos. Everything fell into place when I saw you last night. Life is way too short to wait for what you truly want.”

  “But….”

  “I want you with me. I kept quiet before, and I let you move out, and worse, I nearly lost you. If you doubt you can make it on your own, just think of everything you’ve done. You’ve rebuilt your life almost from scratch, and you took care of Isaac, all while capturing my heart. I think you can do anything.”

  Kip leaned closer and felt tears come. He nuzzled Jos’s cheek softly.

  “Are you going to get mushy?” Isaac asked.

  “Is it okay if I do?” Kip asked, and Isaac turned away. Kip took that as permission and kissed Jos lightly. “I do love you so much.”

  Jos sighed softly. “I love you too. It’s been lonely without you. I guess I thought I needed to be on my own.”

  “You’ve spent a lot of time on your own, and so have I. So maybe the real challenge is learning how to be together, because that’s what I want, and I hope it’s what you want too.”

  “I do. I was happy being with you
. Do you think Donald will be mad if I move back? He did help me find the apartment.”

  “I think he can find another family that will need it as badly as you did.” He wanted to shout and dance for joy. “Now let’s get you better, and we’ll worry about the rest a little later.”

  Jos sighed and closed his eyes.

  “Is he sleeping?” Isaac asked.

  “Yes,” Jos whispered and then smiled, which made Isaac grin and put a smile on Kip’s face as well. He pulled up the chair and sat down. When Isaac came over to him, Kip lifted him onto his lap, and pretty quickly Isaac drifted off to sleep. He obviously hadn’t slept much more than Kip had. When the doctor came in, he said that they were going to run some more tests now that Jos was awake, and that he had a cracked rib, but he was hopeful Jos would make a full recovery.

  TWO DAYS later, Jos came home—not to his apartment, but to Kip’s house. He was still sore and the rib was painful when he moved around, but Kip got him up into bed, and Isaac stayed with him for hours.

  Jos was napping while Isaac played quietly in the living room when Kip got a phone call from Carter.

  “I got the papers I requested today, and I think I’ve found something interesting. Jos and Isaac’s grandfather set up trusts for them, and guess who the trustee is?”

  “Aunt Kathy,” Kip said.

  “Exactly. They weren’t huge, but large enough, and I bet good old Aunt Kathy figured if she had custody of Isaac, then she could ‘invest’ his money in her business. According to the terms of the will, Jos’s money is already his, and it’s just sitting there. She doesn’t control it because he’s over eighteen.” Carter sounded so happy. This was the kind of thing he lived for—the answers to the puzzles that their job presented. It was his gift.

  “She won’t control any of it soon,” Kip said. “Thanks. Send me what you have, and we’ll get a lawyer to look into it. Heaven help her if she’s done anything wrong.” Kip hung up and paced the room. He was so angry his hands clenched into fists and then released again. After calming down, he went upstairs and found Jos slowly making his way from the bathroom.

  “What happened?” Jos asked as Kip helped him back into bed.

  “Carter called. He’s been looking into your aunt for us.”

  “I remember,” Jos said as he settled under the covers.

  “Well, he found something. It appears your grandfather left a trust fund for you and any other of his grandchildren. You’re old enough to claim your share of the trust. He named your Aunt Kathy as trustee. We think that if she got custody of Isaac, she planned to invest his portion of the trust in her business.”

  “Oh,” Jos said quietly.

  “She should have told you about the trust when you turned eighteen, but instead she kept quiet and the money away from you.”

  “So what do we do?” Jos said, as calmly as anything.

  “We’ll get a lawyer, and he’ll take care of it. I also think we have enough to pressure your aunt to let someone else act as trustee for Isaac.”

  “Okay,” Jos whispered.

  “Aren’t you mad? I mean, if you’d have had that money, you and Isaac might not have ended up on the streets. Heck, your aunt found you, and she still did nothing to help. That….” Kip stood and began pacing the floor as his anger grew fast. “How can you be so calm about this? She….”

  “We knew she was up to something, and now we have our answer.”

  “But if you had known, you wouldn’t have been on the street and….”

  Jos sat up slowly and got back out of the bed. “I also wouldn’t have met you. So how can I get angry about that?”

  “Because you deserve to be. I wouldn’t give up anything that happened. I swear I’d do all of it again, a million times over, if it meant I got to have you and Isaac in my life. You know that. But the fact that you went through all that you did—”

  “I know, and I’ll probably be angry about it later. But right now I’m too tired, and I don’t want to think about her.” Jos held onto his arm. “Would you help me get my robe? I want to go downstairs. I’m tired of being in the bed.” Jos looked at him with heat in his eyes. “Unless….”

  “You’re not up for that,” Kip said. “But if you promise to take it easy, I’ll take good care of you later.” Kip hugged Jos gently and wondered how on earth he had ever found a man like him on a rainy night in a doorway.

  “You always have,” Jos said, resting his head on Kip’s shoulder. Kip didn’t want to let go, but he reached for Jos’s robe and helped him put it on. Then he slowly guided Jos to the stairs and down to the living room, where Isaac was sitting at the coffee table with paper and crayons, drawing away.

  As soon as Isaac heard them, he looked up and grinned. “What are you drawing?” Jos asked as he sat on the sofa.

  Isaac handed the page to Jos, and Kip leaned over the back so he could see it too. “That’s me, that’s you, and that’s Uncle Kip. I drawed you holding hands but not yucky kissing.”

  Kip rolled his eyes, and then, just for fun, he lightly kissed Jos on the cheek. “How about we frame it, and then we can hang it on the wall?” He knew just the place for it—right next to the pictures of his mother and father. “It can be our first family picture,” he whispered to Jos, who turned, smiled, and kissed him.

  Epilogue

  “I’LL BE right there,” Jos called when the doorbell rang.

  “It’s probably Donald and Carter,” Kip said from the kitchen. “They were going to come a little early to try to help out, and we figured Isaac and Alex could play for a while.” A mild crash followed by muttering told Jos that something was giving Kip trouble. “It’s all right.”

  “Okay.” He opened the door, and a streak raced past him, Isaac squealing a little as Alex came in the house.

  “I got lots of Legos,” Isaac said. “Can we go to my room to play?”

  “Yes. But remember you have to clean up any messes you make,” Jos reminded him.

  “We will,” Isaac promised, and then the boys were off like streaks of lightning.

  “Welcome to the funhouse,” Jos said, closing the door against the cold before hugging Donald and then Carter. “Kip is in the kitchen doing battle with the turkey. I think it’s winning.” He hung up their coats.

  “Red and Terry said they might be a little late. Red got a call at the end of his shift.”

  Jos nodded. “I planned for that.” He was beginning to understand what it meant to be in a relationship with a police officer. Kip often got home late, and more than once Jos had sat on the sofa worrying when there was a report of an incident in town.

  “It’s part of having them in our lives,” Donald said as he beamed at Carter. “Wouldn’t change a thing… except the fact that he doesn’t always call home.” Donald bumped Carter’s shoulder. “Where would you like me to put this?” Donald lifted the bowl he was carrying.

  “In the kitchen,” Jos said as he led the way. Kip was washing up some potatoes, and Jos figured the pan had been the crash he’d heard a few minutes earlier. Jos made room in the refrigerator and slid in the salad bowl.

  Kip put the potatoes on the stove and sighed. “I think that’s the last of it for now.” The turkey was in the oven and scenting up the kitchen. The rest was on the stove ready to be started. “Anyone ready for a beer or wine? I know I am.”

  “Whatever you’re having,” Carter said, and Kip went to the basement and returned with wine. Jos got the glasses, and Kip uncorked the bottle and poured. After serving their guests, he handed Jos a glass and put an arm around his shoulders.

  “You went quiet,” Kip whispered.

  He did that sometimes. The turns his life had taken still overwhelmed him sometimes. Mostly now they were good things, though, but he found that change of most sorts tended to make him nervous.

  “I thought you might have to work today,” Carter said.

  “Darryl closes on Thanksgiving. It’s a family time for them. They always spend the holiday with Billy’s b
rothers, and it seems like kind of a big deal.” He sipped from his glass and let the happiness in his life take over. The bad stuff was history. Sometimes it returned in his dreams, and more than once he’d woken in a panic thinking he was outside, especially during storms, but it was getting better.

  “A woman and her daughter moved into your old apartment,” Donald said. “They were so happy to get it, and the landlord was really understanding.”

  “He seemed nice when I talked to him.” He and Isaac had officially moved out of the apartment and in with Kip just a few weeks ago. The things with his aunt were still up in the air, but the lawyer was handling it, and Jos was more than happy to let him. It didn’t sound like Aunt Kathy had much fight in her, and it was only a matter of getting all the paperwork done. He had his money, and Kip had helped him get an account set up for it. He was determined to live on what he made and leave that money for emergencies and Isaac’s future. There was no way he and Isaac were ever going to end up on the streets again. That alone gave him peace of mind.

  The doorbell rang. “That must be Red and Terry,” Kip said.

  “I’ll get it, I’m closest,” Carter said and left the kitchen. Jos set down his glass to follow him. He heard Terry and Red laughing and then was hugged by both of them. He took their coats and the bottles of wine before leading them all into the kitchen, where they got glasses and conversations built.

  “Jos,” Red said as he came into the room. “Kip asked me to give this to you. We spoke to the judge, and he agreed to release it as long as you agree to return it if needed.” Red dropped a gold coin pendant in his hand. “He said it was important to you.”

  Jos nodded and looked at it. His mother’s necklace, the only thing he and Isaac had left of her. He honestly hadn’t expected to see it again. He swallowed as he slipped the gold chain around his neck. “It is,” he whispered.