by Rachel Burns
Chandler promised her they would have a normal life and nothing like it was here.
That evening Karen drove them home because the men were a little drunk, and Cathy wasn’t used to using her leg yet.
Chapter 28 – Time Goes By
A couple years later, when Brianna once again became pregnant, everyone was happy with her. They helped her, so she had enough rest, but they knew she could do it. Cathy and Chandler had a daughter who was their pride and joy.
The family was growing, and everyone was healthy and happy.
Scott held Brianna’s hand and was very calm the second time around. They were blessed with a beautiful daughter, who they named Christina.
On a day-to-day basis no one noticed that Brianna had problems. She always smiled and saw to it that her family had what they needed. She loved her children and her husband.
When Alex was sixteen and almost grown, Brianna started to feel more tired. Looking up at a son who was taller than she was made her dizzy, she told Scott if he noticed.
Brianna tried to talk about making plans for when she wasn’t alive anymore. However, Scott told her they could talk about that later. It still had time he told her.
Scott had seen his Brianna fight all sorts of sicknesses and health problems, but she always came out the winner. He had pushed his worries about her heart to the back burner. He didn’t take it very seriously anymore.
Scott was careful she didn’t overwork herself and that she got enough rest, but he didn’t honestly think she would die at a young age. He pictured them sitting together on the porch and watching their grandchildren playing in the garden. They had so much to live for.
Alex came into the kitchen and stared at his mother. “Mom, have you got a moment?”
“Of course.” She washed her hands and dried them on the towel.
“I don’t know how to tell you this.” Alex started pacing up and down. “I was parking and – nobody got hurt – I scratched the paint off of the font fender. There is an area this big where the paint is gone.” He lifted up his hands to show his mother. “Dad’s going to kill me.”
“Alex, he isn’t going to kill you. Sit down and tell me how it happened.”
“I was parking backwards and looking where I was going. I wanted to pick Sam up. It was on the way to school. The school bus was coming, and I wanted to be out of the way because of the little kids. I backed into his driveway, and the front of the car arched, and I scrapped the car under their mailbox. It fell over. They said not to worry about the mailbox. Still, I was hoping you could bake something for them as a thank you.” Alex looked away from his nodding mother. “I really am sorry. Dad is never going to let me drive again.”
“Of course, he will. You’ll only get better with practice.”
“He’ll see that differently. This is the worst day in my life.”
“That’s terrific. It means you have had a great life up until now.” Brianna tried to cheer her son up.
“This isn’t a joking matter, Mom.”
“I know, honey. I’ll talk to your dad. I’ll tell him, and then I’ll set him loose on you after he has cooled down. Chances are he will just make you pay for the damage you caused. That will mean less time with your friends and more time at work, but you are getting quite the muscles with those grain sacks. Your dad used to work there too. He’ll understand.”
“I wish I had your faith in mankind.” Alex got himself a glass of water and sat down at the table to drink it. His nerves were slowly calming down.
“Alex, I need you to run to the store and get these ingredients for me. Please hurry.” Brianna laid a list down in front of him.
“You want me to drive to the store?” He emphasized the word drive.
“Yes, please. Your father will be home any minute. I think it would be best if you and the car weren’t here when he came home.”
The kitchen door opened, making both Brianna and Alex jump. Christina walked in and pointed over her shoulder. “There’s a dent in Alex’s car.”
Alex hung his head. “Even she noticed it.”
“Alex, I told you to do something. You have to help me, so I can help you. Christina, do you have time to help me with some baking?”
“Sure. What are we having?” Christina had her father’s sweet tooth.
“Cheesecake for your dad, and a carrot cake for the owners of the mailbox your brother knocked over.”
Alex sighed and left the kitchen. He decided to take his time getting the ingredients. Then he thought that might make his father even madder at him.
Scott came home and found his wife in the kitchen baking with their daughter. “What are the two most beautiful women in the south making for me tonight.”
“We’re making you a cheesecake because Alex knocked over Sam’s mailbox and dented the car. We are also making something for Sam’s parents.” Christina blurted everything out. She was a terrible tattletale.
Brianna had been working on trying to cure her daughter of being so cruelly blunt.
“What?” Scott left the room. He was back in a flash. “Alex isn’t in his room,” he declared upon returning.
“I sent him to the store to get a few things I need,” Brianna told him, her heart was pounding. She needed to calm him down, so she could calm down.
“You let him drive?”
“No, I forced him to drive. He didn’t want to. He feels very badly about everything. I wanted him to get right back in the saddle. I was thinking he should work every Saturday until the damage is paid off, and not just every other like he was before. This should be a learning experience for him.”
“Valuable lessons can be learned, walking to and from school, not to mention work every Saturday.”
“Scott, being able to drive is an important lesson. We want him to be a confident driver before he moves out and goes to college. He has to practice now to obtain that.”
“I’m going to go outside and wait for him.” Scott was furious.
“Don’t you want to hear what happened first?” Brianna asked him.
“My son can fill me in.” Scott went outside and paced up and down.
Scott was the first thing Alex saw when he rolled up. He very carefully parked the car and went out to his obviously mad father. His mother hadn’t been able to calm him down.
“I know it looks bad, Dad, but I’ll work and get the money together to pay for this. This was my fault, and I’ll take care of everything.”
Scott was walking around the car, looking at the damage. The only thing he could think to say was ‘How?’
Alex repeated the story. Scott gave Alex a long speech about going slow and looking in every direction. He told Alex the mailbox could have been a child, making Alex feel even worse.
Brianna had Alex drive her over to Sam’s house where they apologized and gave them the cake.
Brianna was glad to be home when it was dark. She was having one of her spells. Things would go dark in front of her eyes for a moment. A second later, she was fine again. Her spells mostly happened when she was tired.
When the news was over, she and Scott went to bed.
“Do you think you overreacted with Alex?” she asked her husband of seventeen years.
“No, I just acted the same way my father did when I scratched up the car. What Alex did was nothing compared to what I did with Rebecca.”
“What did you do?” Brianna asked.
“I was Alex’s age, and I thought I was a true adult because I could drive a car. The bad thing was my mom had me constantly driving my sisters around. I was eager for Rebecca to get her license, so she could help out with that. She had her learner’s permit, so I took her out to the barn and explained everything to her. I explained things too quickly in my haste to get out of carting the others around.”
Scott had to laugh for a moment before he could continue. “I told her to back out of the barn. We both had our eyes fixed on the wide open barn door. Before I knew it, she had driven straight ahead in
to the wall. That’s why the back of the barn has a different color than the rest. It’s newer wood.”
“That explains why your Dad was so mad when he caught Cathy and I doing the same thing.”
Scott laughed and moved closer to his wife. “Thank you for making a cheesecake. I didn’t really need it. That was all acting. I agree with you. He needs to practice and accept the consequences of his actions. I think we have great kids.”
Scott wrapped his arm around her and moved her to the middle of the bed. Brianna opened her legs for him and lifted her nightgown up, so it wouldn’t be in the way.
Scott pulled down his boxers and looked at his wife. They had a routine for this. Everyone knew their part. He brushed his fingers over her clitoris until she made exactly the right sound. They knew each other’s bodies so well in the meantime.
Scott slowly entered Brianna and rocked his hips. His hands rested on her knees and thrust into her. His backside was resting on his heels, and his back was straight.
Brianna laid her hands over his. She was thinking she shouldn’t be doing this. She didn’t feel well, but this felt so great. “I love you, Scott.”
“I love you too, darling.” He leaned over her and kissed her. He kept thrusting because it was already late, and they needed their sleep. This weekend he would take his time and make love to her properly. Tonight was only a quickie.
When they finished, Brianna pulled down her nightgown and rolled on her side. Scott gave her a kiss and whispered that he loved her in her ear before he lay down next to her.
Brianna looked over her shoulder at him. “I love you too, Scott.” She rolled back into her comfortable position and closed her eyes.
Scott was awakened by the alarm the next morning. He sat up and turned it off. “Brianna, time to get up.” He stood up and stretched before he went into the bathroom to shave.
When Brianna didn’t join him, he called out to her again.
He brushed his teeth and showered, figuring she probably wanted a couple of more minutes of sleep after the chaos yesterday. She would get dressed after the kids were out of the house. She did that some days.
After his shower, he went back into their bedroom and called to her again. She didn’t move. Normally, she would tell him she wanted to sleep for five more minutes.
“Brianna, do you want to sleep in today? Should I see the kids off to school?” He walked around the bed, so he could look at her face. Her body wasn’t moving, not in the slightest. He watched to see if her chest was rising and falling. It wasn’t.
He reached out and touched her. She wasn’t cold, but she wasn’t warm either. She was gone.
Scott sat next to her and stared at her. He’d had so many years to prepare for this moment, but he hadn’t done it. He had always pushed it off for later.
Scott sat next to her as long as he could. He feared the children would wake up and see their mother like this. He didn’t know what to do, so he went into the kitchen and quietly called his mother.
“Mom, – Brianna didn’t wake up this morning.” He was overcome with tears.
“Scott, are you okay? Tell me what happened,” Karen called out. She hadn’t been able to understand him.
“She’s dead.” It took Scott a moment to be able to continue. “She passed away in the night. I don’t know what to do. The kids are still sleeping.”
Karen needed a moment, so she could think straight. “Honey, you need a doctor to declare her dead. Leave her lying in bed. I’ll send Chandler over to you. I’m going to get dressed and come and help you with the kids. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Everything is going to be all right.”
Karen knew she was lying to her son. This was one of the things that not even a mother’s presence could fix.
Scott went back to Brianna and laid down next to her, so he could look at her.
It was impossible to believe that he wouldn’t be able to look at her face anymore. They were going to come and take her away, and he would never be able to see her again. He wouldn’t be able to talk to her when something happened, and he needed her opinion. He would be sleeping in this bed alone for the rest of his life.
There was a knock at the door. He realized he only had a towel wrapped around his waist. How could he think about getting dressed when his wife was dead? Another wave of tears hit him as he slipped into a pair of jogging pants. He went to open the door and saw Chandler and Cathy.
“The kids are still sleeping. I didn’t know what to say to them. I still don’t know.”
“It’s okay. You were right to let them sleep. They can’t go to school today anyway.” Cathy tried to hug her big brother, but he pushed her away.
“Maybe there is still something you can do?” He didn’t honestly believe that, but the thought of her not being in his life anymore was simply so wrong. It was unfathomable.
Brianna and the kids were the constant in his life, the pillar upon which everything else rested on.
Chandler dredged doing it, but he had to. He checked Brianna over and declared her for dead.
Scott asked him how long, and Chandler guessed around midnight.
Cathy had both hands over her mouth to muffle her screams. She couldn’t believe that her best friend had passed away.
Chandler made the necessary phone calls and told Cathy she should wake up the kids and ask them if they wanted to see their mother one last time in a natural environment.
Cathy shook her head. She still needed a moment. Her shoulders began to shake, and Chandler feared she was going to scream. He took her in his arms while she bit into her own clenched fist.
Karen and John stepped into the room. She saw her daughter crying, and her son kneeling next to the bed, looking at his dead wife.
Brianna was no longer a part of their lives. They would have to go on without her somehow.
“What’s going on here? Why didn’t anyone wake me up?” Alex walked out into the hallway and saw his grandparents standing in the door to his parents’ bedroom.
“I’m so sorry, Alex. Your mother passed away last night.” Karen covered her mouth. The look on her grandson’s face as he heard that his mother was gone would be one that would haunt her the rest of her life.
Christina heard what her grandmother had said too. She stormed past everyone and went to her mother. “Mama, wake up.”
When Brianna didn’t move, Christina reached out and shook her mother. She felt wrong. Her mother wasn’t the right temperature. Christina panicked; she called out louder for her mother to wake up.
“Chandler, do something.” Karen couldn’t bear to see Christina so upset.
Chandler let go of his wife and picked up his bag. “Cathy, help me. Hold her arm.” Cathy helped him give her a shot.
Christina threw herself in her father’s arms. She repeated the word ‘Daddy’ over and over again.
Karen called Brianna’s parents. Charles was on the phone.
“Charles, Brianna passed away in her sleep last night. I’m so sorry. She is still at home. You should come right away.” Karen could hardly talk through her tears.
John had followed Alex into his bedroom. Alex still hadn’t said anything. He was only sitting on the edge of bed.
The next days went by in a daze. Scott didn’t know where things stood. This was so confusing. He had figured there would be some sign. He assumed Brianna would pass away in a hospital bed.
People talked to him and promised him their help, but he didn’t know what needed to be done. He was thankful that his family was helping him.
Before he knew it, the day of the funeral arrived. His mother and Cathy were always at his house, cooking and helping him with the kids. They had so much food, and no one felt like eating.
His mother picked out a suit for him to wear to the funeral. Today he would see his wife for the last time, then never again. He needed more time. He wasn’t ready to give her up.
Was there no one he could plea to, or make a bargain with? He had thought of everything? Was
there something he could do to turn back the hands of time?
If there was a solution, he had to think of it quickly before they put her in the ground. The trouble was he couldn’t think.
The church was packed. It was fuller than on their wedding day. Brianna had touched so many lives. People came from very far to say goodbye to her.
He saw so many faces that would usually make him light up with joy. People he hadn’t seen in years. Dean Martin was there with Jenny and Andrew and their two kids. He saw older versions of the girls who had gone to college with Brianna. He saw his sister Sharon standing next to Brad and Rebecca. Their four children were also here. Colleagues from work were here, neighbors and friends.
He simply didn’t know what to say to all these people. His mother guided him and the kids to the front of the church.
“Brianna,” Scott whispered. He covered his mouth as he looked at her. His eyes were filled with tears, and he couldn’t see her clearly. He tried to blink them away, but they were replaced with new ones. She was laid out in front of the same altar where they had been joined as one. Why hadn’t that saved her? His strength should have kept her alive.
Christina grabbed onto his hand and hold onto him tightly. Alex was finally able to cry. He broke down and had to sit down. He buried his face in his hands.
The service started and ended. Scott couldn’t remember what had happened. Suddenly the casket was closed, and Brianna was being carried out. He rose to his feet to follow her. Their whole family did. Brianna’s parents were clinging to each other as they walked out next to Scott and the children.
So many people were crying because God wanted his angel back.
Chapter 29 – Saying Goodbye
Scott told his parents he needed more time. He couldn’t leave Brianna yet. Everyone else had already left. He wanted to be alone with her.
He knelt down next to her grave. “Was I a good husband to you?” He sat down on the grass surrounding her grave. He wrapped his hands around his knees. “Because you were an amazing wife. You always gave me the feeling I was everything to you. I loved you so much. I’m sorry for every mistake I ever made, for all the pain I caused you when your life was made up of so much pain. I should have taken out the garbage more often and listened to you when you wanted to talk about dying.” He felt so guilty about that.
