by Pepper Paris
“We’re done stealing the spotlight so you may proceed.” Jay gave him a half-bow.
“Finally.” He tore into his gifts.
When everything had been opened with a few other surprises for me and Wade from Mom and Pop Marsh, I couldn’t help but think this was the best Christmas I’d ever had.
Chapter 9
Jay
The scream from downstairs is what woke me up from deep sleep only three days after Christmas.
“That’s your mom.” Roxie exclaimed as the scream turned into a wail.
We took off running down the stairs and found my mom crumpled beside my dad’s bed.
Tears were streaming down her face, “He’s gone, Jay.”
I took her into my arms as I looked over at the bed we’d put together for them in the office.
His gray-toned skin told me all I needed to know.
“Roxie, can you please call 9-1-1 and let them know that he’s deceased?” I calmly asked amazed that I wasn’t feeling panicked or worried right then.
All of my energy was going to be needed to get my mom out of the room and away from my dad’s body.
“Let’s go in here and you can tell me what happened.” I encouraged.
“Oh, Jay.” She let me pull her into the living room and place her in the matching recliner we dubbed as hers.
“I got up to make coffee and when I came back to check on him, he looked like that.” She sniffled and tried to stop the sobs coming out. “I’m sorry, I lost it.”
I kept my arms around her from where I’d perched on the arm of the chair. “It’s okay. We weren’t expecting it. He’s seemed fine the past few days.”
A knock sounded on the front door and I was thankful I’d thrown on sweatpants and a shirt as we hurried downstairs.
Roxie went to let the emergency guys into the room and guided them into the office. She was explaining all of the details, while I sat with mom letting her take care of everything.
One of the EMS guys came out and bent down in front of mom.
“Ma’am can you tell me what happened and when you found him?” He asked gently.
“I was asleep right beside him and he never groaned or anything. I went to make sure the coffee started and came back to wake him up, but when I gently shook him, I saw his face and knew he was gone.”
“Yes ma’am. It appears he passed sometime in the night. From what your future daughter-in-law said, he’d recently had heart trouble?”
“Uh, yeah, he had been home for a little over a week. We just went in on Christmas Eve for a checkup and the doctor said he was doing just fine.” She wiped her eyes with the tissues from the end table.
“It looks like passed in his sleep. The coroner will let you know when he does the autopsy, but it doesn’t look like he suffered. We’ve got a call into the county and they’ll be here shortly. In a case like this we have to call the police as well and they’ll stay here just in to be sure that it was a natural death. We just give them our opinion.”
“So you’re not accusing us of murdering him?” My mom shot him a glare so fierce he rocked backward a little bit as if she’d hit him.
“No, ma’am. It looks normal, but we have to go through the motions.” He looked relieved when an officer came in and took his place.
“He’s right ma’am. You’re not in trouble, we just have to make sure that we get everything categorized properly. We’ll check with his doctor and we need to make sure to gather any and all drugs he was taking.”
“Of course. Let me get those for you.” She stood up, but her knees buckled and I helped her sit back down.
“Mom, I’m going to go to the kitchen and get everything for the officer. You just sit right here.”
She just nodded.
“There all in the kitchen. It’s this way.” I pointed toward the door and went ahead of him.
“We’d kept him downstairs so he didn’t have to climb up and down for a few weeks. It was easier to keep everything down here where mom could make sure he was taking everything.” I explained.
“While I’m here with you son, I’d like to ask a few questions so I don’t bother you’re mother again. First, I’m sorry for your loss.”
I nodded to acknowledge him and wait for him to continue.
“Can you give me a list of people who live here?”
“My mom and dad, I have two older brothers who are in the process of moving out. Noah and Craig, then me and my girlfriend were staying through the holidays before we go back to school. I know she’s for sure going back, but with all this I may move back in with my mom for a while.”
“You could do that or maybe convince your brothers not to move out. It’s not easy that’s for sure.” He suggested sympathetically.
“Do you mind me asking what you do for school?”
“No, I’m a medical intern midway through med school. Why?”
“Oh, you’re just very composed about all this.” He eyed me thoughtfully.
“I guess, I’m just more worried about my mom and haven’t really process it all yet. Medically I see this kind of thing happen, but my mom doesn’t need me falling apart. Someone has to get us through this.” I answered practically.
“You’re doing a good job. Just don’t forget to let yourself have some time to grieve.” He collected all the bottles and had me sign what I’d given him. “There that should get you covered and I believe the coroner should be here shortly. Is there a funeral home you want them to contact?”
“We’ve only got two in town, uh, I don’t know. Let me ask my girlfriend which one they used with her mom and aunt.”
I went back in there and tilted my head for her to join us. When she got close enough, I quietly asked, “Where did you send your mom and aunt? Which funeral home?”
“Oh, we used the one the hospital recommended. Um, the one over off of Tenth Street, I believe.”
“Got it. I’ll let them know. Again I’m sorry for your loss.” He handed me a card and went back to make sure that everything was going as needed.
“Jay, we need to get your mom out of there for when they move the body. We also need to let your brothers know.” Roxie seemed nervous about how my mom would react.
“Yeah, I’ll get mom in here and find out how she wants to do that.”
That was going to be more difficult than it sounded.
“Mom, I need you to come in the kitchen for a few minutes. The coffee is ready.”
At the words coffee, she burst into tears again and I had to wait until she had calmed down before suggesting that we go into the kitchen.
Once, I had her settled minus the coffee, I wondered how to approach the next issue.
“Mom, we’ve got to tell Craig and Noah. Should I call them or go tell them in person?”
“I should probably go with you to tell them.”
“No,” I shook my head in disagreement. “You aren’t in any shape to do that. I’m going to leave Roxie here with you and once all the people are gone, she’ll be here until we get back.”
“Okay. I don’t know what I’d do without you, honey.”
On my way to get my brothers, I went into the office and looked through her address book that would have her friends phone numbers.
“Martha? It’s Jay. Look can you come over here mom needs you. Dad passed away last night.”
I waited for her to calm down before she promised to be right over.
“I’ll call the others in our book club so you don’t have to.”
“Thanks, I’ve got to go tell my brothers because they don’t know yet.”
“Can you wait ten minutes so I can get over there so she won’t be alone?”
“Um, my fiancé is here with her. I wouldn’t leave her here by herself.”
“I wasn’t trying to imply anything. Sorry, I forgot about your fiancé. Congratulations by the way.”
“Thanks, so I’m going to go now, but I really appreciate it. She’s going to need your help over the next few wee
ks”
“Don’t worry, Jay. We’ve got her.”
I sure hope so. I thought as I hung up and went to spread the news with my brothers.
------
The next few days passed in a blur and on New Year’s Eve we were lowering my father’s body into the ground.
Wade had come back to stay once Roxie had let him know what had happened.
I wasn’t looking forward to the next few days or weeks of trying to keep my mom occupied. She would have to grieve, but I needed to give her something to look forward to.
After that first morning had passed, I’d made a decision to not return to school. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do in the future, but I knew it wasn’t going to be anything that kept me away from my family.
What had surprised me the most was that Noah had finally decided to move out, but Craig was going to stay in the house with mom. They’d completely changed places lately with Craig becoming withdrawn while Noah was sad, but his attitude had changed. He no longer made remarks to put me down and he was more thoughtful of others.
Roxie and I had managed to put up all the Christmas decorations with Wade’s help so that the house would have enough room for all of our relatives and friends after the funeral.
There were a lot more than I’d thought and they just kept coming. I’d barely touched any of the food that the ladies had gotten together for this event, but I’d talked to everyone there at least twice when Roxie and Wade came up to me.
“You need to get out for a while.” Roxie suggested putting her arm through mine.
“I can’t leave with all these people here.”
“Yes, you can. I already told your mother that I was going to get you out of the house for a while and she agreed. Your aunts are going to take her to one of their houses for the night. The book club ladies are willing to clean up and Noah said he’d make sure nobody left a mess.”
“What will people say?” I couldn’t help being worried about spreading gossip.
“Nothing. You’ve been going for weeks and you need to take a break. We’re going back to my place so you can get some rest. We’ll just chill and watch a funny movie.” She ordered.
“Dude, she’s right. You need time for yourself.”
“Let me got get changed and tell mom.” I let out a sigh. This whole week was so surreal and I wasn’t sure how to deal with all of the changes.
After making sure that mom was okay and we’d both said goodbye to Wade, I zoned out when we got in the car. Roxie must have sensed my mood and turned the radio up so we didn’t have to talk.
Sarah came out to meet us and took one look at me before she engulfed me in a huge hug.
“Uh, I’m going to need to breathe here.” I coughed as she crushed my lungs.
“Oh, right. Sorry.” She released me quickly.
“Hey, babe why don’t you go crawl into the bed and I’ll be in to join you shortly.”
I didn’t protest and couldn’t help smelling the pillows that held Roxie’s scent. The next thing I knew it was morning and I’d slept through the night.
Either she’d never come to bed or I’d slept through her getting up. I got up and went looking for her because my stomach was growling fiercely.
“You’re up.” She greeted as I came into the kitchen. “Hungry?”
“More than you can imagine.”
“Did you sleep okay?”
“Yeah, but I never heard you come to bed or leave either?”
“Aw, I came in to check on you and you were out. I didn’t want to wake you up so I slept on the couch. You haven’t slept well all week.”
I ran a hand through my hair, “It’s already been a week?”
“It has. We need to talk about a few things going forward.”
“Uh, oh.” I groaned as she put a plate of eggs and sausage in front of me. “You want to talk. That’s never good.”
“Nah, it’s not scary. Sarah’s gone so you don’t have to worry her overhearing anything. I feel like you’ve gone backward in just one week.” She twisted the ring on her finger.
“Oh, sweetie. I’ve had so much going on and I’m sorry if you’ve felt ignored.” I quickly apologized.
“No, no. You’re doing great with that. It’s more about what you’re doing with your family again. You’ve shouldered all of the responsibility and what’s going to happen when you go back to school?”
“Crap, I forgot to tell you that I told them I wasn’t coming back. I mean I do need to go up there and clean out my apartment, but at least for the next six months I’m going to live at home with mom.”
“Okay, I can work with that. You’ll be closer for my last semester, but are you going to transfer here or go to school somewhere else?”
“I was thinking I’d try cooking school to become a chef instead.” I waited anxiously to see what she thought.
“Works for me. You’ll be much closer and you’ll have a lot less stress doing something that you’ll love.”
“Whew, that is such a relief. I know I haven’t told you all of this, but there really hasn’t been much time for us to do more than fall asleep and try to keep things from falling apart.”
“Agreed.” She came around the counter. “What if we took the last three days of my vacation before school starts and go up there together? It would be a chance for us to be away from all of this and it needs to be done. I don’t want you going alone without me.”
“Let’s check and see if my brothers are going to be around to stay with mom. If so, I’m all for it.”
That was the wrong thing to say to Roxie because less than an hour later, we were headed toward the airport and boarding the plane.
“How did I let you talk me into this?” I complained as we settled into our seats.
“Talk you into it? I thought you suggested it.” She grinned at me. “Since I have you all to myself now, I thought of something that I want to get your take on.”
I frowned, “What’s that?”
“This past month, when we were at the hospital and stuff I was trying to figure out how to help you build your confidence.”
“Yeah,” I answered a little skeptical of where this was going. “I thought things were going good lately.”
“They are, but the stuff I learned sounded so fun and I didn’t want it to go to waste even though you don’t need it. I thought we could play around a little bit.”
“Well, spit it out.” I laughed at her trying to break it gently, “I’m a big boy now, and I can take it.”
“What if we tried to do a little bit of bondage stuff?”
“Are you talking handcuffs or like duck taping your mouth shut?”
She giggled, “Not quite. I mean we could try the cuffs, but I was thinking more of you taking control of the situation like you did on Christmas Eve.”
“What are you talking about then?” I was kind of curious, but also a little confused.
She pulled out her phone and open it to this test. What is your kink? Find out now!
“Kink?” I shook my head at her, but I didn’t want her to think I was stupid.
“This is something we can do together and learn a few tricks to try out.”
“Hmm, that might work. Let’s see.”
My eyes opened wide and I read the first few questions quietly as my face started turning red.
“Do we have a safe word?” I whispered looking around to make sure that no one was listening to us.
“Unicorn?”
“What? Why would we choose that one?” I squeaked.
“When have you ever heard me say the word unicorn? Never. So it’s a word that we know means hold up or stop.”
“Sure,” I nodded slowly, “This might be a little more than I can handle.”
“It’s just something I wanted to put out there. Do some research and if there’s something you want to try I’m down for it.”
“All right.”
She snuggled up to me and closed her eyes before the plane even t
ook off.
Curious once she was asleep, I took my phone and just glanced at a few things. It certainly wasn’t something I was going to be checking out with lots of others around. I didn’t want to have performance anxiety
----
Two days later, I was all packed with my belongings being shipped home. Most of what I’d accumulated during my time at school I hadn’t really gotten a lot of stuff so it was pretty easy to clear it all out.
The new tenant I’d found had been willing to assume my lease and all of my furnishings with an extra price. I was going home with more money than I’d started with.
While my boss was sad that I was leaving, he was the only person that I’d made a point to see before we handed the key over to the new tenant and hailed a taxi to head back toward my new life.
Even though my dad was gone and it was going to leave a huge hole in my life, I was looking forward to being near Roxie on a more permanent basis.
A new chapter was about to start and I couldn’t wait to see where I ended up.
Chapter 10
Roxie
It was finally graduation day and I was feeling really nervous. My biological father, Phillip Berry and his family were coming. My mom’s parents, Elizabeth and Randolph Thornton were also planning to attend. When I’d graduated high school, the only people who had been there were the ones graduating with me. I’d never had a cheering section before.
I knew that Jay and Wade would be here, but I wasn’t sure if Carter could get away from his job yet. He was supposed to move back at the end summer. Kelly was stationed in Texas and getting leave was really difficult even for just a weekend. Two were better than none, but I wasn’t sure that my newly found biological family was going to be able to accept my permanent family and our lifestyle.
We were supposed to wear dresses under our graduation gowns which would hide most of my curves in the pictures. Most days I didn’t really feel all that heavy, but when it came to walking in front of my fellow classmates and their families on a stage I always got more self-conscious.
“Sarah,” I called to the other room, “I can’t zip up the back. Can you help me?”
“Yeah, just a second.”
Sarah appeared in the doorway and gave a long whistle.
