A Pact For Life (21 page)

Jack sat there, and blankly stared at her. This news was hard for him to comprehend. Diana continued, “You're the first person in the family I've told. I figured I would give it a test run with you first.”

“Oh, uh...thanks. You did a good job.”

“Thanks Jack.”

As Diana turned to leave, Jack spoke up, “Does this mean Cale is never coming over again?”

“Yep, that's the gist of it.”

“And you'll never see him again?”

“I probably will. After all, he's still the father of her.” Diana said and patted her stomach.

“When you see him, can you stop by here first so I can give you a flash drive of my artwork to show him? The last time he was here, I told him about how good I was getting at Photoshop, but now I have some completed files to show him.”

Diana's brother looked like his life depended on whether or not Cale would see those files. A flash drive was far from her top priority for the next time she saw Cale, but she told her brother, “You got it, I'll make sure to pass it along.”

“Thanks Diana,”

“Thanks for being so easy to talk about this stuff with. I'm telling Caitlyn next.”

“Good luck,” Jack said and unpaused his game.

Caitlyn was in the guest room watching TV with her boyfriend Jimmy. The guest room had previously been Caitlyn's and before that, Diana's, but any signs they had ever lived there were long gone. Now there was quilted sheets, too many pillows, flowery wallpaper, and pastels. Lots of pastels.

“In the end, we just weren't a good match. I'm sure we'll still see each other every now and then since it's his child too, but as a couple, we're done.” Diana finished her confession as Caitlyn half-listened and Jimmy fully ignored. On the TV was the manufactured, scripted drama of a reality show.

Caitlyn replied, “So that's why Cale hasn't come in to get his hair cut lately. Some of the girls were asking about him.”

Losing the congeniality her original announcement carried, Diana angrily said, “They can have him all they want, he's dead to me.”

“I've heard that before,” Caitlyn mocked and stood up. “I need to get a drink. Jimmy, you want anything?”

“Yeah babe, grab me a beer.” Jimmy answered.

Outside the room, Caitlyn grabbed Diana's arm and whispered, “Since we're both sharing stuff, check this out. I think Jimmy is going to propose.”

“What!? How long have you guys been together?”

“It'll be two months this week.”

Diana let out a deep breath. “Come on, Caitlyn. That's too soon. Do you want another repeat of Steve or Bobby?”

“This time is different, we really love each other.”

Diana wanted to scream not just at her sister, but at every person who got married before they even know who it was they were marrying. She was angry at how easily some people could pull the trigger on something as big as marriage, and how they never seemed to learn from their mistakes after the first, or in this case, second divorce. But then again, she owed a large percentage of her income to those people. So instead of screaming, Diana calmly replied, “I've already gotten you out of two divorces, I really don't feel like getting you out of a third.”

They entered the kitchen as Caitlyn bragged, “Oh, you're just jealous of me because of Cale. You can't stand what me and Jimmy have.”

They hadn't noticed Terri, Uncle Vick, and Popa sitting at the dining room table. Terri asked, “What is that you guys?”

“Stay out of it.” The two sisters said back in unison.

Diana turned to her sister and said, “I can't stand what you have? Two life preservers in your chest, lips that make you look like a duck, and a boyfriend whose perfect evening involves trashy TV and a case of Bud Light.”

With that, Christmas had officially begun in the Young house. “Listen here, bitch, I'm glad Cale left you. With...”

“What!?” Terri interrupted. “Cale left!?”

Diana muttered, “Shit,” and searched for a way to handle the situation. She needed time to think. “Caitlyn and Jimmy are engaged!”

“That can wait. Diana, what happened with Cale?”

Again, “Shit,” was whispered and Diana decided to come right out and say it. “He's gone. We got into this huge fight, and it ended with him leaving. We're done, I'm keeping the baby, case closed.”

The commotion from the kitchen brought everyone out to listen. Jack and Jimmy hung over the upstairs railing while Benjamin walked from the living room into the battleground.

Terri stood in front of Diana not saying a word, only blinking faster than normal. She wasn't trying to rationalize or compose her thoughts, but instead was struggling to hold onto one concrete idea. It was a manic state, and it resulted in her spitting out, “When did this happen? Why didn't you tell me before? This baby needs a father, Diana!”

“Jesus, fuck, what is wrong with you!? Why do you care!?”

The language might have seemed disrespectful to use toward a sober parent, but Diana didn't care, Terri was too mad to notice, and everyone else was too scared to say anything.

“I CARE because that is my granddaughter in your belly, and I want her to grow up in a happy, loving environment. You can't provide those things on your own.”

“A happy, loving environment!? Oh, that's good, Mom! I guess I'll never bring her over here then!”

Terri shouted so loud you could hear her outside, “This is the only stable place she'll know! Children need both parents, Diana.”

It was against every part of Diana's character to listen to her mother, but the comment about children needing both parents hit her hard. All her life she tried to disobey or ignore anything her mom instructed, but it became clear that somehow her opinions on relationships and family directly stemmed from what her mother preached. As she cycled through her urges for a family, successful husband, and this recent worry over being a single parent, she realized she had always been her mother, just good at hiding it.

“Why do you even care about Cale anyway, Mom? He was always either late, drunk, or... actually, he was always both.”

The knob of the Young's front door rattled and clicked, but a more traditional knock did not follow. Outside in the cold behind a stack of wrapped presents Cale. He was warm and standing firm thanks to the black suit, white shirt, and gray tie.

Terri whaled, “Oh, you exaggerate things, Diana. Cale is charming. Imagine how much fun he would have been at your wedding, and all of the birthdays and family events.”

“Ah, I see what this is about,” The doorbell rang in mid-sentence and Benjamin got up to answer it. “Dad, ignore that. I need you here. Whoever it is can wait. So that's been your motive this whole time, Mom. You wanted to show off Cale to our relatives and your friends. 'Oh, my son in law is a famous artist. His sculptures are in museums all over the world, and that somehow makes me great too.' Well you can have that soon enough with Caitlyn.”

“Diana, you know Caitlyn's situation is different.”

With this, Caitlyn rejoined the fray. “Wait, why is my situation different!?”

The doorbell rang again and Benjamin gave a subtle signal to Jack to answer it.

Terri waved her hand like a gay man doing the 'oh you' motion and said, “Oh come on, Caitlyn, we've been down this road twice before...”

The fight raged on as the front door opened, but no one in the kitchen heard it.

As loud as the shouting was on the outside, it grew exponentially as soon as Jack opened the door. “Cale! Diana said you weren't coming.”

“Jackie! You know you can't believe everything your older sister...” Cale though about how cruel Caitlyn was toward Jack and added, “Your older sisters say. Just don't tell either of them I said that.”

They both laughed, and Cale lowered his stack of presents so that Jack could grab the skinny wrapped rectangle off the top. “Go ahead, Jack. Open it now.”

“But it's not Christmas.”

“It's Christmas somewhere,” Cale replied parodying the old saying for drinking at early hours.

If it was anything else but a wrapped gift, Jack's technique for opening presents would be described as precise. Every piece of tape was carefully unpeeled so that none of the wrapping paper would tear, but preciseness is never attributed when it involves a boy and wrapped presents.

“Cale, you got me all these tradebacks!? Oh my God, All-Star Superman! I've been wanting this forever. Thanks!”

“No prob, I also want to see those Photoshop pieces you've been working on. You wanna look at them after dinner?” Cale asked even though he was unsure if he would even make it that long.

Diana's voice boomed from inside, “For God's sake, Mom, you're still getting a grandchild out of this!”

Cale took a deep breath, he hadn't expected this. Getting involved in a fight between Diana and her mom usually required a drink or four.

They walked through the foyer, past the living room, and finally, into the kitchen to find all three of the Young women squaring off with each other while the men sat back and watched. It wasn't that Benjamin, Popa, Uncle Vick, and Jimmy weren't getting involved out of amusement, it was due to fear. One who was pregnant, one who was an expert with scissors, and one who has to tell her friends that her daughter lost her boyfriend mid-pregnancy would scare even the most fearless of mediators. Actually, not all of the men were staying out of it from fear. Popa was having the time of his life.

Terri was the first to notice Jack and Cale appear, “Cal...”

But Diana cut her off, “Get the hell out of here!”

Even though this demand stung, Cale didn't catch all of it because he was too surprised by the change in Diana's appearance from the last time he saw her. Her short hair and pronounced belly being the two biggest changes.

Terri said, “Diana, don't be so hard on him. Look, he brought presents. Cale, do you want anything to drink?”

“No thanks, Terri. Diana, can I get five minutes?”

“No, get out.”

Benjamin Young sidestepped over to his daughter and whispered, “You know Diana, kicking him out is good and fine, but if you don't listen to what he has to say, you'll always wonder about it.”

Diana knew her Dad was right. It would've kept her up all night for weeks wondering why Cale was there. “Fine, you get five minutes, but whatever you have to say, you can say in front of all of us.”

In order, Cale's thoughts:

1.) 
What do I say?

2.) 
Goddammit, this is your life!

Cale's eyes never strayed from Diana's as he started, “Diana, I'm sorry. Not just for walking out or asking for an adoption, but for...I... I can't do this. I know you don't want to talk about this in front of everyone. Let me know when you're ready to talk.”

From serious to jovial, Cale clasped his hands together and announced, “Everyone, Merry Christmas. I got you all some presents. Caitie, yours is for you and Jimmy.”

Diana said nothing but stared at Cale, analyzing everything from head to toe. The tangible and intangible. She could tell he was sober, grounded, and most important, truthful.

Cale smiled one last time at her and walked toward the door. On his way there, he murmured to Jack, “Email me your artwork, you can get my address from your sister.”

And just like that, he was out the door and into the cold with only a few stars as his guide.