Granting Wishes (17 page)

Lilah was sitting at her desk early Friday morning when the call came through. For the last week, Jade had been in and out of consciousness. This morning however, she was unresponsive and soon passed over to the other side. Even with as much hell as Jade had raised, there wasn’t a single person Lilah would wish cancer on, not even her.

With a heavy heart, she gathered her wits about her and made a few phone calls before calling it a day. The plans were to stop by the market and pick up the things that her mom needed so they could fix a meal and take it to Jade’s parents. She tried calling her twin to check and see how he was handling it and
see how Peyton was doing, but he hadn’t returned her call. Trying hard not to worry, she was comforted knowing Chels was with them.

On her way out, she left a note
on the door stating they would be closed until Monday. All she really wanted to do was go hug her family and see Jake and Roxy. First stop, groceries, and then maybe a call to her man while she was getting the shopping done.

***

Dom thought he had prepared for this moment. But how much can one really prepare themselves for death? Whether it was sudden and unexpected, or drawn out and dated, nothing hit as hard as the finality of the end of a life. No matter if it was a parent, friend, or past lover. It hurt. What hurt more was telling his son that his mother was in heaven now and no longer sick and in pain. Peyton cried until he fell asleep on his chest, still hiccupping from his sobbing. It ripped at his soul that there was nothing he could do to fix it. That’s what a father does right? Protects, soothes, cares for, and fixes whatever is wrong. With this, Dom was at a loss.

Thank God Chelsea had stayed at his side, her comforting presence giving him a sense of peace.
She sat silently beside him holding his hand while he rocked them all in the swing on the back porch. It wasn’t even lunchtime yet and he felt exhausted. It had taken hours to calm his son and get him to sleep. The gentle rocking motion paired with Chelsea’s soft touch was lulling him under. It had been days since he’d slept much at all and it was wearing on him.

Chelsea whispered in his ear, “Why don’t you take him up to your room and lie down a little while. You could use the rest as much as Peyton. That way, when he wakes up, you’ll be there with him and he won’t be scared.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ll help your mom with getting food together for the family. You know how she always goes all out. I’d bet money she’s already getting started in there as we speak.”

He smiled and nodded, knowing she was right. “I think I might do that. A few hours would do us both some good.” He patted Peyton’s back as he stood and headed inside.

***

Mikayla had a roast in the oven and was peeling sweet potatoes while she talked with Sabrina when Chelsea walked in, offering to help. “The boys are taking a nap. Please put me to work so I don’t feel so useless.”

“I’ve got a bag of carrots in the fridge that need peeled along with a sack
of red potatoes, sugar. I’d appreciate the help. I figured we might as well fix potato salad to chill for dinner tonight. I imagine something simple will be good enough, so I have grilled burgers and hot dogs with it and some coleslaw on the menu.”

“I think that would be just fine.”

They worked together in solemn, but companionable silence until Lilah got there with the remaining groceries. Splitting up the work, they each concentrated on their tasks while trying to make idle chit-chat here and there. After a spell, silence took over again until Miki spoke up.

“You know, I was thinking we could fix up the
den upstairs into a playroom for the babies. The entire basement is set up just for fun with the game room and such, but there are four empty bedrooms down there that y’all could move into and have a nursery next to your rooms.”

The potato Chelsea had been peeling slipped out of her hand and rolled across the kitchen floor.
She hurried to retrieve it and washed it off in the sink.

“Momma, Jake an
d I have been talking.” Pausing, Lilah looked as if she were trying to find the right words. “He asked me to move into the cabin with him and Roxy. And as much as Chels and I have said we wanted to raise our kids together, I don’t think either of us had it in mind to do that in the same house with my parents. Talk about weird.”

“Well that old cabin is tiny, Lilah. You know we have plenty of room here.”

“I know, Momma. But Jake and I need our privacy too. Don’t you think it’d be weird to have us living with you? I mean, you do realize we have sex, right?” She scrunched up her nose like she smelled something bad and it made her mother laugh.

“Obviously none
of you girls would be pregnant if you were abstaining from sex. I may be getting older but I do know what causes that.”

Chelsea lost hold of another potato and it shot across the kitchen, making them all bust out laughing.

“What’s wrong, Chels? Are you suddenly shy about talking about sex with my momma?”

“Dang it, Lilah. This is awkward!”

Her blushing reply sent them into another bout of laughter.

“You think it’s awkward? How do you think we feel when it’s my
Twinnie and her son you’re shimmying between the sheets with? So gross!”

“What’s all the cackling about?”
Lilah’s daddy walked in and she turned to kiss his cheek.

“Oh, momma is just trying to get all of us to live here forever while we have babies and more sex with our men.”

“What the,” he choked and turned red as a tomato. “I tell you what, there’s not going to be a bunch of sexing going on in this house except between your mother and I.”

“Oh my God,” Lilah covered her eyes.

“Ewww! Get a room,” Chelsea made gagging sounds as she walked to the sink with the pot of peeled potatoes.

“Hey, I’m just saying nobody’s screwing anybody else in this house other than me and my wife.”

“Ugh, Daddy, stop. You’re going to scar me for life!”

“Honey, you should have said things like this
before
they got pregnant. It probably would have been the perfect birth control.” Miki snorted, tiptoeing so she could plant a kiss on her husband’s cheek.

Dom picked that moment to walk in the kitchen and asked what the commotion was about.

“Good gravy on a biscuit, your parents are talking about sex.” Chelsea shuddered.

“Oh hell na
w, I’m out.” Dom turned around and went right back out of the room. It made them all laugh even harder.

“Oh
, no you don’t. You get back in here, Dominic,” his mother shouted. “Don’t be shy about having a sex talk now. It’s a little late for that, don’t ya think?”

It was one of the things Lilah loved about her family. Even in difficult times where
circumstances weren’t ideal, they found something to laugh about. It didn’t matter if it was at each other’s expense.

A month
and half after Jade’s funeral, Dom was preparing for the day that would change his life forever. The first time he asked Chelsea to marry him he wasn’t aware she had fallen asleep. It stung when she didn’t reply, but he realized that it wasn’t the best time to be proposing marriage while laid out on the kitchen floor after sex no matter how amazing it was. It hadn’t been long afterwards that Jade had passed away. The timing at that point wasn’t right either. Now, things were starting to get back to normal. Fall semester was tough but he loved the challenge, and Peyton was adjusting better than he expected. Chelsea was a big part of that. She fit well in the motherly role and had taken her promise to Jade seriously. When she relayed the last conversation they had that day, he was shocked to say the least that Jade had said the things she did.

It had taken quite a bit of planning with Jake, but they had found the perfect spot to build two houses on his ranch so their ladies could have the homes close to each other like they had always wanted. Jake had the papers drawn up and Dom was dipping into his trust fund to make the purchase. The only thing he was waiting on was one word from Chelsea.
Yes
. Ironically, Jake was waiting on that same word from Lilah before they broke ground and started getting the site ready for construction.

The two
men put their heads together and cast their differences aside. After all, they were going to be in each other’s lives forever it seemed. Now that Dom knew for certain that Jake wasn’t interested in Chelsea that way, things had smoothed over between them and they actually were beginning to genuinely like one another.

The m
ission they were now facing was to come up with a traditional themed, duel proposal that their women would never forget. Even though Chels wasn’t close to her parents, he still felt like he should do the honorable thing and ask for her hand in marriage. He hadn’t seen her parents in years, but they still lived in a run down trailer outside of town. Going on a wing and a prayer, he stopped and picked up a flower bouquet for her mother and headed out of town. On the way there, he practiced his speech and straightened his tie at every stoplight. By the time he pulled down the bumpy gravel road, he felt like he had it down.

The property was even more run
down than he remembered. Not only was the driveway washed out and rutted, but there was junk lying around everywhere. Bags of trash that had been ripped open and strung out like it had been attacked by wild dogs, littered the ground. Her father’s old pickup truck was a rusted heap with two flat tires and a cracked windshield, and her mother’s station wagon had seen better days. The house itself was a depressing site. The porch looked like it was a rotted heap about to plummet to its death with one stair completely unattached and another with a hole on the right side. The entire structure seemed to lean to the left like it was tired of standing up straight. The sides of the house were streaked with rust and the screen door was hanging on one hinge.

As Dom got out of his car he straightened his tie once more, and made sure his starched white shirt was still tucked into the back of his dark grey slacks. It occurred to him that while he was trying
to look nice and be respectful to her parents, this whole thing could blow up in his face. Still, he stepped onto the rickety porch and prayed it didn’t go down. A knock on the door sent the dog inside to barking which set off a chain reaction to her father yelling at the dog to shut up and her mother to yelling at her husband to stop screaming at the dog. Dom shook his head and took a deep breath, still hoping for the best.

The do
or swung open, and he was hit with the scent of stale tobacco and liquor. He offered a polite smile as shock registered on Mrs. Everett’s face when she recognized him. “Well, well, well, if it ain’t Dominic Cane. Come on in, don’t just stand there lookin’ like a door to door salesman.” Her hair was up in rollers and she was wearing a housecoat even though it was two in the afternoon. The yapping of her Chihuahua started up again as he walked into the living room.

“Snickers, you little shit, shut the hell up would ya!” Mr. Everett didn’t bother standing up from his recliner that
, much like his front porch, was leaning to the left a little. The man was wearing stained overalls and looked like he hadn’t shaved in a few years. His gray beard had taken on more of a yellow tone, filled with the stain of years of smoking. According to the side table that sat next to him, he was halfway into a case of beer.

He should have stopped by earlier in the day.

“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Everett. I hope you don’t mind me stopping by unannounced. I tried to call the last number I had for you but it was disconnected.” Dom was still standing, looking around the room at the cluttered filth
and nicotine stained walls. Once again, he couldn’t believe Chelsea came from two people who were the exact opposite of her.

He thrust the flowers out towards her mother and smiled. “These are for you, ma’am.”

“Shoot fire, I cain’t remember the last time I got flowers.” She smiled at him, showing several missing and rotted teeth, but her appreciation was sincere. That was all that mattered to Dom.

“Mother’s Day. That girl of ours sent you them frilly ones that made you cry. Member? Or was ya too drunk to keep that in yer old memory bank?” Mr. Everett laughed until he coughed so hard Dom wondered if he’d recover.

Mrs. Everett’s smile fell to a frown and he swore her bottom lip shook. “Why’d you hafta be so mean?”

She looked at Dom and touched his shoulder, “Thank ya for the thought. It makes a lady feel good to get somethin’ nice from a handsome man like yerself.” He watched her wobble into the kitchen, picking a vase from under the counter. She was gentle in unwrapping the bundle and arranging it.

“I’m glad you like them, Mrs. Everett. I remembered how you always had tons of flowers growing around the place when we were kids. I was hoping you still enjoyed them.”

Another rotten toothed grin was sent his way. “I’m too old to keep up with all that now days, but I do love me some pretty flowers.”

Mr. Everett was ignoring their conversation and watching an episode of Bonanza while sipping his beer. Dom stuffed his hands in his pockets and wondered at his sanity for coming here to do this. Neither one of them had bothered to ask about their daughter even though he knew they hadn’t talked in over a year.

“You want a beer or something, Dominic?” She set the flowers on the coffee table and all it did was piss off her husband.

“No
, ma’am, I’m good, but thank you for the offer.”

“Damn it, woman, I can’t s
ee the television with that big, ugly thing in the way.” When he looked over at Dom, he had a sour look on his face. “Tell you what kid, never get married. Women’s is nothing but a pain in the ass I tell ya. Better off alone.”

Dom had never wanted to smack someone upside the head quite as bad as he wanted to right now. He saw the smile on Mrs. Everett’s face fall again as she moved the flowers to the kitchen table.
It was sad and tender the way she stroked her withered fingertips over the petals of a fuchsia lily. For a moment he could see Chelsea in her. Though her blonde hair was now graying, she had the same green eyes and stature of her daughter. Once upon a time she was quite lovely to look at. Now she looked worn and frail. The years had not been good to her. It saddened him.

“Well, ther
e’s a reason I stopped by today if you have a few moments.”

“I figured you must want somethin’.” Mr. Everett turned off the television and looked over at Dom, finally looking him in the eye. “You just gonna stand there or you gonna have yerself a sit down? Or is our furniture not good enough fer
the likes of ya?”

“
No, sir. I didn’t want to intrude if you were too busy to talk.” Dom held his temper in check and sat on the edge of the orange floral patterned couch. Mrs. Everett sat next to him and patted his knee.

“How is your family, Dominic? Is that twin of yours still running that do gooder place?” She tucked her hair behind her ear and it reminded him of Chelsea again.

“They are all doing well, thank you. Lilah
and
Chelsea are doing great running our family charity. They’ve been a real blessing to the community of Sugar Creek and beyond.” He couldn’t help himself. If they weren’t going to bring up their own daughter, he damn sure would.

“Oh, that’s nice.” Mrs. Everett looked proud until her husband spoke up again.

“We sure ain’t got no blessings from that ungrateful kid. Must be nice she’s been helpin’ other folk ‘round here. Can’t even come see her kinfolk to check how we are. We could use some help now an then. Social Security ain’t so damn secure, I tell ya.” Picking up his beer, he took a swig and crunched the empty can in his hand. “Don’t just sit there woman, get me another, damn it.”

Dom felt a sic
k pit of anger in his stomach as he watched Mrs. Everett jump up to do her husband’s bidding. No way in hell would he ever treat Chelsea with such disrespect. He wasn’t sure if what he’d planned was such a good idea. But now that he was here, he might as well finish what he’d set out to do. Once Mrs. Everett was seated again with her head hanging low, Dom reached out and patted her knee. When she looked at him he offered her a comforting smile.

“Mr. and Mrs. Everett, I came here to ask for your daughters hand in marriage. I’m planning on asking Chelsea
to marry me at a picnic on Sunday, but I wanted your blessings first.”

Her father huffed, then laughed a little, but her mother put her hand to
her heart and gave him a big smile again. She looked genuinely happy. “Why, Dominic! Isn’t that the sweetest thing? I didn’t know young folk even did such a thing now days.”

“Would be nice to have some rich kinfolk.
” Mr. Everett said thoughtfully, scratching his overgrowth of beard that housed no telling what. “Maybe that spoiled girl would pass some of them riches down to us. Only right, the way I see it. A kid needs to take care of her parents when they age, we deserve it for all the money we spent takin’ care a her.” He looked at Dom and sat forward in his chair, “Are you planning to honor her by takin’ good care of us too? Or are ya just thinkin’ to take her away from us?”

“I plan on taking good care of Chelsea, sir. You’ll never have to worry that she’ll want for a thing.”
Not that they were even concerned for their daughter.
“I’m sure you remember I’m in med school now. I do have my trust fund from my parents, but even without it I’ll be able to take care of our family just fine.” His stomach rolled at the bright smile on her father’s face at the mention of his trust fund. Chelsea didn’t even care about his money. She was anything
but
spoiled.

“
Well, then I guess you’d be able to take care of us in our old age and bad health with all that money then wouldn’t ya,
son
?”

The old man was already counting the dollars he could pilfer. It was disgusting. Dom was ready to tell him to go to hell and leave.

“Stop that, leave the boy alone.” Mrs. Everett took Dom’s hand in her frail ones. “We’d be honored for you to take our girl’s hand in marriage. You’ve always been a good boy. I’d be right proud you was in our family. You would too, right?” she looked at her husband and gave him a nod.

“I’m guessin’ so. Don’t see how it’d be a bad thing. Not like we see
her anyways.”

Dom bit his tongue. The man was a no good bastard but he was Chelsea’s father, so he held his thoughts in check for now.

“I’d like to invite you both to a family picnic we’re having out at Kringle Farms on Sunday afternoon.”

“That sounds lovely!” Mrs. Everett clapped her hands together and stood up. “Oh goodness, I don’t have a party dress no more. I have no idea what to wear. Your family is so fancy.” She began to fret and looked like she was really worried for her appearance.

“You look jus’ fine now, we ain’t got no money for you goin’ out to get all gussied up. I’m on my last case a beer for Christ sakes.”

Dom stood up quickly; it was enough of a shock to her father that he sat back in his chair setting it to rocking. The look Dom gave him was none too friendly.
He pulled out his wallet and thumbed through the bills, handing several to Mrs. Everett, watching her eyes widen as she counted them. “Every beautiful lady deserves a new dress. This one is on me, Mrs. Everett.” Dom was turning back to Mr. Everett when he saw him rise out of his chair and hold out his hand. “There is enough there to get you something new to wear as well if you’d like, Mr. Everett, but that’s not for buying beer or liquor. I may help you out, but I’m not supporting your bad habits. Got it?” This wasn’t getting off to the best start, but he kept his voice firm and no nonsense. All Mr. Everett did was nod, and stumble into the kitchen, not saying another word.

He pulled the map out of his back pocket and handed it to Mrs. Everett. “This is where the picnic will be. It’s on a part of the property I’ll be
purchasing to build our home on if Chelsea says yes. I’d appreciate you keeping all of this a secret until tomorrow of course. You don’t need to bring a thing. I’ve got it all taken care of.”

Nodding her head, she tucked it in her housecoat pocket. “Th
ank ya, Dominic.” She gave him a hug and kissed his cheek. Patting her back, he offered her a genuine smile.