Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 69452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Pru snuggled her face into my neck, and held on tight.
“I am so happy to have the kind of love that they had,” she whispered. “I wouldn’t ever want you to suffer like that without me, so I’m glad that Dixie finally gets to go back to her.”
Yeah.
Yeah, when she put it like that, she was right.
I wouldn’t want to live this life without her, either.
Not a single day.
How my grandfather made it so long, I would never know.
I still remembered the grief on my grandfather’s face when we all showed up at his place, and the promise I made to always be there for him, the day my grandmother died.
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Why be naughty when you can be a bitch?
—Hoax’s secret thoughts
HOAX
Past
Grandma died.
It was horrible.
For the last few months, I watched the life drain out of her.
First it started to where she was just too tired to do many things.
It then went from her being able to move from chair to chair to bed, to only being in a motorized chair everywhere she went.
That was where she was last week when she came to my birthday dinner at Olive Garden.
She’d still sounded pretty upbeat and healthy, if you didn’t count the fact that she couldn’t get out of the chair. Nor could she get herself in and out of the car, or even into her house.
Last week when they’d arrived, Grandpa had parked in the handicap parking even though he didn’t have a sticker. We’d all given him shit for it, but that laughing had died down the moment we saw how he’d had to lift Grandma out of the car seat and into a wheelchair.
He hadn’t complained when he’d gotten a ticket later, either.
No, he just took the ticket, thanked the officer, and left.
I’d just seen Grandma yesterday, and though she hadn’t looked great, she hadn’t looked like she was on death’s door, either.
I’d heard Dad talking with my uncle and aunt, though, when we’d left.
They’d both said that it would be soon.
I just hadn’t realized how soon.
And looking at my grandfather now, seeing the utter grief on his face, I knew that what he was feeling right now wasn’t something I ever wanted to experience myself.
If it hurt this bad…
No.
No, love definitely wasn’t for me.
Walking up to my grandfather, I stood beside him silently.
He didn’t say anything and neither did I.
But it was at that second that I promised myself I would never leave him alone to think about how lonely he was.
I’d be there for him whenever he needed me.
And, as if he could sense that promise in my silence presence, he bumped me with his shoulder and said, “Love you, kid.”
I turned to him, giving him a glimpse of my grandmother’s eyes that she’d passed down to me, and said, “Love you, too.”
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Being related to me really is the only gift you need.
—T-shirt
MARK
Present
I watched my father across the room, smiling and laughing with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
“You okay?”
I looked over to find my brother, John, standing there.
“Not much choice, eh?” I asked, feeling the ache in my chest pulse.
Patty joined us moments later, pushed herself between the two of us like she’d done so many times in her life, and latched onto both of our arms.
“No crying, brothers,” she said softly.
I looked down at her. “I’m allowed to cry if I want to.”
She squeezed my arm with hers. “This is how it’s supposed to be, right?”
“Right,” I croaked.
A child was not supposed to die before the parent.
When Annie had died, I’d seen how much of the life had drained out of my parents’ eyes.
But still.
“I’ve never lived without him, Pat,” I said softly.
“None of us have,” John murmured.
John was always quiet.
He’d always been that way.
But tonight, he’d been even more quiet than usual.
Not that I blamed him.
After Dad had shared, a fucking anvil had taken place on my chest and hadn’t moved since.
“I don’t like this,” John continued. “I don’t want to do this.”
I made eye contact with John’s wife, Susan, from across the room.
Our eyes connected and mine said, “He needs you.”
Susan came right over and wrapped herself around her husband walking with him to the couch by Dad.
My wife saw this and smiled.
Her eyebrows went up in her silent way of asking, “You need me?”
I shook my head.
She looked over at our kids, all of which looked like they were struggling.
“What do we do now?” Patty asked.
I had an eye on John, though he stayed on the couch and listened to our dad tell his stories.
“We wait.” I paused. “I think he’s ready to go. It won’t be long.”
Patty sniffled. “He misses Mom.”
My mom and dad had a love greater than anything I’d ever known.
Even with my love for my wife being so strong and all encompassing, I’d never seen a love like Mom and Dad’s.