Broken Lives (25 page)

She looks at me and nods but doesn’t say
anything. I reach for James’ hand and she holds Raelynn’s hand as
we walk up the cobblestone walk to the wrap-a-round porch. I open
the door and watch as she and the kids walk in first. I have
already seen this house, and I know how impressive it is. This is
actually my third time seeing it and it is still very
impressive.

“
Daddy, are we going to live
here?” Rae asks, excitedly.

“
I don’t know yet. Why don’t
you and James walk through the house and see if you like
it.” 

“
Come on, James, let’s go
pick out our
bedrooms.” Rae says, skipping
off into another room. 

“
Wait for me,” James says,
skipping behind her.

My attention turns back to Emma as she opens
and closes the cabinets. She runs her hands up and down the granite
counter tops. She walks to the window and looks out into the
darkness at the lake. “This is just so beautiful,” she says, almost
in a daze. 

I take her hand and walk her
into the large family room. The large stone gas fireplace is lit
and the small white round table is strategically placed in front of
it with two linen-covered
white chairs. One
single tapered white candle is lit in the center, next to a crystal
vase holding a bouquet of lilacs. Two covered dinner plates are
also on the table.
Plastic is nowhere in
sight. “What is this?” she asks, looking up at me.

“
Dinner.” I smile down at
her. 

“
I thought we just
ate?” 

“
Correction: the kids just
ate. The proposal was a combined event with our children. They
chose the restaurant, but we all chose the ring.” She looks down
and raises her hand. I watch as she gently touches all three
diamonds. “I thought you might still be hungry after our
meal.” 

She looks up at me and smiles, “You don’t
really like country steak, do you?” 

“
No, I do. Just maybe, not
from there.” My stomach growls and we both laugh.

James returns and says with a big smile,
“Momma, you should see upstairs; it is so, so, so, so big.”

Raelynn walks in after him and says, “We
picked out our bedrooms.” 

“
Will you be sharing a
room?” Emma asks.

“
Nope, I want my own
room,” Raelynn says, seriously. 

James looks up at her and says sadly, “Sissy,
you don’t want to share a room with me?” 

“
Bubby, I need my own room,
but I’ll still sleep in your room and sometimes you can sleep in my
room with me,” she says and they both smile.

The front door opens, and Cheryl, Millie,
Gene, and Danny come walking into the house. Emma looks back at
me. 

I laugh and say. “I called them the other day
to ask if I could propose to you. It was the same night you and
Brooke took the kids out for pizza. Someone had to bring the food
tonight, so I asked them to set it up.” 

She wraps her arms around my neck and kisses
me. “I love you.” 

“
I love you,
too.” 

“
You really asked Danny and
Gene if you could marry me?” 

“
I did. I also asked Millie
and Cheryl, too. I didn’t want to exclude them.” I kiss her and she
hugs me. 

Danny and Cheryl step over to Emma, and I can
see the tears in Cheryl’s eyes. Danny clears his throat and says,
“Emma, we love you like a daughter and although you will no longer
be our daughter-in-law, that doesn’t change how we feel about you.”
Cheryl cries and Danny’s eyes get misty. “Alec understands how we
feel, and I am grateful for that. We just want you to be happy, and
since Max isn’t here, we honestly believe Alec is the next best
person for you and for James.”

Emma, Cheryl, and Millie all cry, and my eyes
feel misty, too. Emma releases her hold on me and walks over to hug
Danny and Cheryl. “I love you both so much,” Emma says, hugging
both of them together. 

“
Em, we love you, too, and
we just want you to be happy.” 

“
Thank you, I am. I can’t
believe I have been so lucky in my life to find not one, but two,
loves of my life. If Max was still here…” 

“
I know, Em, but he’s not,
and Alec is, and he loves you,” Cheryl says, as she wipes away the
tears. 

Millie says, “We need to go and let them
eat.” 

“
Mom and dad, thank you both
for being here with me. I love you so much.” 

“
We love you, and we are so
happy for you both,” Millie says, looking at Emma and then to
me.

Gene shakes my hand and hugs his daughter.
Everyone looks at Emma’s engagement ring and she explains the
reason for the three diamonds. I stand back and stare at Emma’s
beauty. “Do you guys want to see the house?” 

“
We’ll see it at another
time. We think you should see it first. Come on, kids, let’s get
you both home,” Cheryl says, as she holds onto the kids’ hands and
walks towards the door. 

“
Where are you guys going?”
Emma asks. 

“
Home, you and Alec have
dinner to eat and you still have a house to see.” Gene smiles as he
looks around the large home. 

Danny shakes my hand and congratulates me
again. Emma and I walk outside with everyone and watch them as they
drive off in two different cars. This house isn’t even ours, yet it
feels so right. I walk in the house after her and close the large
solid-oak double doors.

“
Do you want to eat or do
you want to see the house?”
I ask, looking
at Emma.

“
Let’s eat, I’m
starving.” 

Emma

After we eat our lobster tail, baked potato,
and asparagus, we finish off the bottle of champagne, Alec walks me
through the very large beautiful home. He points out all of the
details that he loves. We walk down by the lake and sit under the
gazebo. I rest my head on his shoulder, and he kisses the top of my
head.

“
It is so peaceful out
here.” 

“
Yes, it is,” he agrees. We
look at the sky; the stars are much clearer out here than at home.
“Do you like the house?” he asks.

“
I love it, but we don’t
need that big of a house.” 

“
Not yet, but when we start
to have children we will,” he says, and I can see the happiness of
his smile.

“
Children? I thought we
wanted
one more child.
” I say, but don’t move or look back at him. 

“
We did, but maybe God will
bless us with
two.
”
Now, I’m smiling. “We don’t know what God’s plan for us
is.” 

“
This is so
true.” 

Alec and I clean up the dishes in the house,
and he locks the door securely behind him as we leave. We drive
home and he tells me the plans he has for the house. I listen and
grin at everything he says.

“
Wait, what? You have a
sailboat?” I look over at him in disbelief. 

“
Yes, why? Do you
sail?” 

I think back on Max’s list
of things he wanted to do —
learn to sail
(without James)
is on the list. “No, but it
is on Max’s bucket list of things to do.”

“
I’ll be able to teach you
in our backyard.” He smiles and holds my hand.

“
Are you really going to buy
the house?” 

“
I’m going to make an offer;
with luck, they’ll accept it.” 

“
Can we afford something
like that?” I am a bit embarrassed for asking. I don’t make a lot
of money, and I don’t have much saved up since I bought my house
this past year.

“
Emma, don’t worry about the
money.” He looks over at me and I look out the window; I don’t want
him to see the worry on my face. “Baby?”

I slowly look over at him. 

“
Don’t worry. If I can’t get
the numbers where I need them to be, I’ll walk away and we’ll look
for something else.” 

“
Promise? I really don’t
need a house that big,” I say, honestly, although it is beautiful
and it looks like something out of
Better
Homes and Garden
. 

“
I
promise.” 

The next week goes by with us in a normal
routine. Alec works some nights, some evenings, and a dayshift. He
put a bid in for the house but hasn’t said anything else about it.
We go to taekwondo on Tuesday and Friday and eat out one night a
week. I announce our engagement at work and to Brooke and Brice,
although Brooke and Brice already knew. Alec had discussed it with
them a few weeks ago. Brooke is very good at keeping secrets.

Alec’s phone rings, and he looks at the
caller I.D. before he answers it. 

“
Alec,
here.” 

“
Hi, Mason, what’s
up?” 

Alec stands and walks towards the living room
to take the call. Raelynn, James, and I stay at the table and
finish coloring. I often do arts and crafts with the kids. I tear
the pages out of the coloring books and tape them on the
refrigerator when Alec comes in behind me and says, “That was
Mason.” 

“
Is everything all right
with the babies? It isn’t Angel, is it?” I turn around and give him
my undivided attention. 

“
No, they are all fine. He
called to offer me a job — well, more like a partnership. He said
his practice is too busy for just one doctor, and he wants us to
meet him and Angel for dinner next week to talk about me joining
his practice.” 

“
That is wonderful news.
Congratulations,” I say, as I reach up to hug him. 

“
Do you know what this
means?” he asks as he smiles at me. Before I have a chance to
answer, he says, “It means for the most part I’ll be working
dayshift. I’ll still have to work a few nights, weekends, and
holidays when a patient is admitted in the
hospital.” 

“
That works out perfectly
for us.” 

“
He could have chosen any
doctor. I’m humbled he’s chosen me.” 

“
He’s a smart man, and he
knows who he can count on. If anyone is deserving of this
opportunity, it’s you.”

“
Thank you. You always have
so much faith in me.” He bends down to kiss me, and I wrap my arms
around his neck.

The next day at work, he calls me and tells
me they rejected his bid on the house, but he offered a counter
bid. He also tells me if they don’t accept this one, we’ll need to
look for another house. I try not to sound disappointed although I
am. I didn’t want to get my hopes up with the house, but I couldn’t
help it. It is everything I have ever dreamed of.

Bobby

Molly is out running around, and I haven’t
been able to take my mind off of Jamie, my little princess, Jamie
Sue Grether. I drink to forget and damn if the hauntings of that
day aren’t still vivid in my mind. I drink some more to try to
quiet the voices.

I remember: 

“
Daddy, this is the best
surprise ever.” I look back in the rearview mirror at my little
girl in her car seat. Jamie is three years old and has on a bright
yellow checkered sundress and white sandals with little yellow
flowers glued to them. Her brown hair is in pigtails, and she is
holding her
favorite
stuffed animal.
 

“
It’s just the zoo, Jamie.
You act like we are going to Disney World.” I smile at her in the
mirror before turning my attention back to the driving.

“
What’s Disney World?” she
asked, innocently.

“
Jamie, you’ll find out all
about that soon enough,” my wife says from the passenger
seat.

I look over at her and smile. She reaches
for my hand and I swear she has the softest skin I have ever
touched.

“
Daddy and Mommy, I love you
both the mostest.”
 

I look back at her in the
rearview mirror and she is playing with her stuffed rabbit, which
she named Jack. Jack Rabbit. I smile just thinking about it.
“Jamie, I do believe I love you the most.”
 

We drive to the zoo and she
tells me all the animals she plans on seeing and I tell her the
ones she can feed. I explain about the train they have that takes
you to see the animals in their own habitat. I can see the
excitement on her sweet little face.
 

I drink some more and pop a few pain pills to
try to numb the pain. I try to forget. God, I don’t want to
remember. I cover my ears with my hands and rock back and forth to
try to quiet the voices.

“
We are almost there,
Jamie,” my wife, Leah, announces.

“
Yay, I can’t wait. This is
the bestest day ever.”
 

I look in my rearview mirror to see the
excitement on Jamie’s little face. When I look up at the road, I
see a car out of the corner of my eye. It hits us with such impact
the car flips over several times, skids on the roof, and comes to a
stop after it hits several other cars and a tree.

I drink some more, but it does not stop the
memory. 

The screaming coming from Jamie and Leah
gets louder. I hear sirens, cutting metal, and people screaming,
but it’s not coming from my Jamie or Leah. I hear someone say,
“There’s no pulse.” I hear a helicopter and more sirens, and I hear
the sound of a zipper.