Broken Lives (24 page)

“
I’m looking for my lucky
rock,” James says, but doesn’t look up at me. 

“
James, you have your lucky
rocks up here on your bookshelf.” 

“
No, Emma, he’s looking for
his luckiest rock,” Raelynn says, seriously. 

“
The one daddy gave to
me.” 

I immediately know what rock he is talking
about. I open James’ top drawer to his dresser and lift up the
smooth turquois-colored rock. “James, is this the one you are
looking for?” 

He and Rae poke their heads out from under
the bed, and he quickly stands up. “Thank you. I thought I lost
it.” He takes the rock from me and places it in his pocket.

“
We should get you kids
changed into something appropriate for dinner tonight. What would
you like to wear tonight?” 

“
I want to wear a dress
tonight, Emma,” Raelynn says, walking to the closet and going
through her side of the clothes. 

“
Ok, is there a special
dress you want to wear?” 

“
Let me look. I want
something special.” 

I look at James and ask, “Do you want to wear
your Batman shirt tonight?” 

“
No, momma, I want to wear
something nice, too,” James says. 

“
Here, Emma, I want to wear
this dress.” 

I look at Rae and she is holding up a very
pretty floral sundress. “I think this is perfect.” 

“
What can I wear,
momma?” 

“
Let’s see, James.” I look
in his closet and find a nice pair of khakis and a blue button-up
shirt. “How about these?” I ask, holding up the outfit for him to
see.

“
Good.” he says, stepping
out of his jean shorts.

Once both kids are dressed,
we wait for Alec to get ready. I watch as James places his lucky
rock in his front pocket of his pants. I smile as I think about it
being his lucky rock.
My boy and his
rocks.

Alec walks into the living room wearing a
pair of khakis, a white button-up shirt, and a pair of tan
Sperrys.

“
Are we ready to go?” he
asks, smiling, and the kids jump up. “Wow, Raelynn, you look very
pretty tonight.” 

“
Thank you, daddy,” she
says, as she skips past him.

“
James, you look very
handsome, too,” he says. 

“
Thank you,
Alec.” 

Chapter Eight: Is It the Beginning or is It
the End?

Alec

We take the back roads and stop at a small
restaurant just on the outskirts of town. I say, “It isn’t anything
fancy, but I hear they have good food.” 

“
Do they have grilled
cheese, Daddy?” 

Emma looks up at the restaurant and says, “It
looks like a place that has grilled cheese, Raelynn.” I look at her
and smile. “I think we may be a little overdressed,” she adds.

“
Come on, how bad can it
be?” 

I open Emma’s, Raelynn’s, and then James’
door. Emma and I walk behind the kids through the dirt parking
lot.

We seat ourselves at the small four-top table
in the center of the room. A plastic pink carnation in a plastic
vase, plastic salt and pepper shakers, and four plastic menus are
in the center of the red and white metal table. I smile and hand
Emma and the kids their menu.

“
Did you say this place just
opened?” Emma asks as she takes a paper napkin and wipes off her
menu.

“
It looks like I was
misled,” I say, not looking at her, but looking over my menu
instead. I flip it over so it looks like I am reading it front to
back.

“
Momma, can I have a grilled
cheese and French fries?” James asks excitedly.

“
Me, too, daddy, that’s what
I want.” Raelynn says. 

“
As long as you have a
vegetable with it,” Emma insists.

The waitress comes over and takes our drink
orders and announces the evening specials.

“
The country fried steak
sounds really good,” I say, as I lay my menu down on the table.
“Emma, have you decided yet? Everything looks so good.” I look down
at my lap so Emma can’t see my smile.

I did not choose this restaurant; Raelynn and
James picked it out earlier today.

Usually Emma has a poker face that I can’t
read, but tonight she isn’t doing so great at hiding it. She think
this place is as disgusting as I do.

“
Everything just sounds so
good, but I think I’m going to just have a salad for
dinner.” 

“
Momma, you don’t want the
steak that Alec is having?” James asks, seriously. 

“
No, James, momma just ate,
right before you guys came home.” 

The server returns with our drinks and she
takes our dinner orders. At the last minute I change my dinner
order to a house salad. Emma politely asks for some wet-naps and
the waitress informs her that they don’t have those. 

The kids couldn’t be happier about their
dinner while Emma picks at her salad. I think she is looking for
bugs in it. “You don’t like your salad, Emma?” 

“
I do, I guess I’m just not
that hungry.” 

“
Emma, do you want some of
my grilled cheese? It’s really good!” Raelynn says,
honestly.

“
No, Raelynn, thank you.
That is very sweet of you.”

I hide my smile by looking out the window at
the dirt parking lot. Once we are done eating, I pay the bill and
we leave.

“
Can we come back again,
Alec? That was really good,” James asks. 

“
Sure, buddy, we’ll come
back when your momma is really hungry.” I smile as I open Emma’s
door for her. She smiles back and looks away.

I open Raelynn’s door and wink at her, then I
open James’ door. “Alec, here’s my lucky rock,” he whispers,
digging into his front pocket and handing it to me. 

I take it from him and whisper, “Thanks,
buddy. I think I may need this.” I slip it in my front pocket
before fastening his seatbelt.

We drive through the country side and pass by
an open gate. “Let’s see where this leads us to,” I say, backing up
and pulling into the driveway.

Emma looks around cautiously and says, “Alec,
I don’t think we should. It looks like someone’s
driveway.” 

“
No, I think it’s a road,” I
lie.

We drive down the long driveway and the lake
comes into view, then the house. The kids don’t say anything, but
Emma looks nervous. “Alec, I told you this is a driveway. You need
to turn around before they know we are here.” 

I put the car in park and look over at the
gazebo down near the lake. “It looks empty; let’s walk down by the
lake and then we’ll leave.” 

“
Yay, can we go fishing?”
James asks excitedly.

“
No, James, someone lives
here. Alec, this is private property. We need to go,” Emma says,
sternly.

I open my car door and get out. “Come on,
kids, we have to be really quick. You coming, Emma? I just want to
get a better look,” I say, shutting the car door before she can
answer. I open James’ door, and he quickly gets out as Raelynn
slides across the seat. Emma doesn’t move but remains seated with
her seatbelt on.

James, Raelynn, and I walk down the
cobblestone walk leading to the lake. I secretly pray that Emma
joins us. “James, look back and tell me if your momma’s
coming.” 

James turns around, then looks up at me,
“Nope, I think she’s mad.” 

“
I sure hope your rock is
lucky,” I say, smiling at him.

“
Me, too, daddy,” Raelynn
adds. 

When we get down by the water and still there
is no sign of Emma, Raelynn asks, “Now what, daddy?” 

I have no idea. I didn’t plan this out very
well. “Now we wait. Sooner or later she’ll come down
here.” 

James sits down in the grass, and we sit down
beside him. I pick up a few rocks and show him how to skip stones
in the water. “James, how lucky is your rock?” 

“
Alec, it’s berry
lucky.” 

“
Do I need to hold it or rub
it or something?” 

“
Alec, are you done here? We
are trespassing, and I don’t want to spend the night in jail while
my kids are in the care of Child Protective
Services!” 

I look up — Emma is standing there with her
hands on her hips and a scowl on her face.

“
I think she’s mad,” James
whispers. 

I stand up, turn around, and give her my best
smile. “But look how beautiful it is.” 

She doesn’t smile and I’m starting to think
James’s rock isn’t so lucky. I bend down and whisper to James,
“Bubby, where did you get your lucky rock?” 

“
My dad gave it to
me.” 

Well, that explains it. The
rock belonged to Max. I’m sure it’ll be unlucky for me, since I am
proposing to Max’s wife.
I stand up and try
to smile.
“Emma, the house is vacant, so we
aren’t going to go to jail.” 

“
Momma, look at the water —
you can see the fish jump,” James says. She looks down and smiles
at him. 

“
Emma, isn’t it pretty?”
Raelynn asks.

I hold Emma’s hand and we turn around to face
the water. “Yes, it is very pretty out here.” I pull her closer to
me and she rests her head on my chest. “It is very relaxing out
here,” she admits.

I take a deep breath and thank God she is no
longer mad. The sun begins to set, and we walk towards the gazebo.
“This is quite a house,” she says, looking up at the large
two-story home. “Can you imagine living here, and waking up to this
view every morning?” 

“
Now that would be
something.” We reach the gazebo and Emma sits down in the bench
seat facing the lake. The kids and I stand and I take a deep
breath. I look at the driveway then down at the kids. Raelynn
smiles at me, and James kicks unlucky rocks. “Baby?” I ask, looking
at her.

“
Alec? Are you all right.
Are you getting sick from eating at the
restaurant?” 

“
No Baby, I’m not sick.” I
clear my throat and Raelynn and James stand beside me. “I have
something to tell you.” 

“
Oh,” she says, as she
leans
forward on the bench that she is
sitting on. 

“
We didn’t go to the grocery
store today,” I admit. 

“
Oh.” 

“
We went shopping, but it
wasn’t for groceries.” I look at her and she looks
worried. 

“
Oh.” 

“
Could you say something
else, please?” I ask. 

“
Um.” 

I pull something out of my
pocket and hand it to James, “Here, James, would you hold this for
me?” I smile and hand him his lucky rock. I look at Emma, who is
staring at me. I reach into my pocket and remove a small velvet
box. I pray that the diamonds are my lucky rocks
.
I kneel on one knee, with James to
my right and Raelynn to my left. 

I take her left hand in mine. “Baby, I love
you. James, Raelynn, and I spent all morning shopping for the
perfect ring for you. After four long hours, we think we found the
perfect one.” I caress her hand and say, “I love you. Raelynn and I
want you and James to be a part of our family, forever. I know this
may seem fast, but we already live together. I’m not going
anywhere, and it’s your house, so you’re not going anywhere
either.” She chuckles and I smile. I open the velvet box so she can
see the ring the kids and I decided on. I watch her look at the
ring and her eyes fill up with tears. A sob escapes her mouth and
she tries to silence it. “Emma, this ring,” I say, removing the
white gold ring with three diamonds, “was carefully chosen by the
kids and me. The larger diamond in the middle represents the love I
have for you, and the smaller diamonds on each side of the larger
one represent Raelynn’s and James’ love that they have for you.” I
hold the ring up to Emma’s left ring finger, “Emma Grace Greyson,
James, Raelynn, and I would be very happy if you would marry
me.”

I wait for what feels like hours for her to
say something. 

“
Momma, don’t cry,” James
says.

“
Please say yes, Emma,”
Raelynn says.

I didn’t explain to the kids that she might
cry. I should have prepared them better. I did tell them she might
say no.

She looks at me, then at Raelynn, and then at
James. She looks back at me and finally whispers, “Yes.” 

“
Yes?” I ask, because I want
to make sure that is what she said. 

“
Yes, Alec. James and I
would love to be a part of your and Raelynn’s family,
forever.” 

I smile as big as I can smile. “Thank you.” I
place the ring on her finger and lean in to kiss her.

Raelynn and James start yelling behind me.
“We’re gonna be brother and sister.”

I lean back and Emma laughs. I stand up and
offer Emma my hand. She stands up and hugs James and Raelynn before
wrapping her arms around me.

“
I love you,” she
whispers. 

I kiss her and say, “I love you, too. There
is something else I have to tell you.” 

“
Oh, God, the owners are
home, aren’t they?” I can see the scowl on her face.

I laugh, although I try hard not to. “No,
Emma, the house is empty.” 

“
Then what else do you have
to say.” 

“
This house is for sale.” I
look at her from one eye to the other. “If you like it, I would
like to buy it for our family.” She looks at me before looking up
at the beautiful, large, two-story stone home behind us. “Just look
at it before you say anything.”