She Never Knew (26 page)

“Hello?”

“Where are you?” The voice on the other
line hissed. It was Michelle and she had come home to surprise him. She wanted
to give their marriage another chance and left Jared behind with her parents so
the two of them could work things out. However, when she saw the enormous
amount of trash and cockroaches and broken beer bottles lying around and
everything else he had done to their house, she knew her husband had gone off
the deep end. When she had called him at work to tell him she was home, she
learned that he was no longer with the company.

Michelle had been outraged and packed up
the rest of her things. Nevermind the fact that she had vowed to love him for
better or for worse, her mind was made up. There was no going back. When he
told her he simply went out of town to clear his head, she refused to listen. She
had had enough.

Darryl’s face was beet red and he had
the look of murder in his eyes as he roared like a rabid lion. It was time to
advance to the final step of his plan.

Kat quickly scanned her guest room to
ensure nothing was out of place. Fresh sheets were fitted on the bed, the
furniture was dusted, and a beautiful arrangement of lilies was displayed on
the bureau. In the adjoining bathroom, plush royal-blue towels were stacked
neatly on the two-tiered wall rack. On the corner of the bathtub sat a lovely
signature collection of body care products. The airy room had an ocean theme
and its walls were decorated with paintings of sea shells and antiquated cottages.
It was bright, cheery, and complemented the bedroom, which was painted in
pastel colors. Any guest residing there would experience a slice of paradise as
the room offered a breathtaking view of the creek behind the house.

When she was finished with her
inspection, Kat went downstairs and joined Tyler on the couch. He had the Pointer
in his hand and was following the words in the book he had on his lap. When he
looked up at his mother, he smiled.

“Mommy, look.” Tyler pressed the tip of
the Pointer on the first word of the sentence on the page. A mechanical voice
said the word out loud. He gently pressed each word in succession until he
reached the end of the sentence. Next, he repeated out loud the entire
sentence.

“Wow! That’s amazing!” Kat praised him.
She had bought these books because she knew how much Tyler enjoyed reading
before bedtime. The Pointer books allowed him to learn sight words and read
simple beginner sentences as much as he wanted to.

She rubbed his back as she watched him navigate
the Pointer on various pictures. The automated voice proceeded to explain what
those pictures meant and how they related to the story. It was a fun way to
learn how to read and Tyler was fascinated by the books.

“Mommy, is Aunt Mary going to be here
soon?”

“She sure is.” Leaning forward, Kat
peered at the grandfather clock standing in the foyer. “In about a half hour or
so.”

“I can’t wait.”

“Me either!”

Kat rose and went into her kitchen. She
had a whole chicken in the oven and saw from the temperature that it would be
ready in a little over an hour. Earlier, she had prepared homemade
French-braided bread, a recipe her mother used years ago. It sat on a cutting
board, cooling to room temperature. There was nothing like the smell of freshly
baked bread wafting in the air.

Kat recalled that when she was a little
girl, she and her sister would devour the breads soon after they were removed
from the oven. One time, their mother had hidden a loaf in the basement
freezer, but the girls had found it. She had saved the bread to give as a gift
to someone who had been in the hospital. After scolding the girls and telling them
it took hours to bake, she had laughed in the end. “But it’s so yummy!” Kat
recalled saying to her. 

Smiling at the thought, Kat removed dinner
plates and salad bowls from the cupboards and set them on the kitchen table. She
was anxious and needed something to keep her busy until her sister arrived. As
she folded napkins, the doorbell rang.

“Mommy! Mommy!” Tyler called from the
other room, jumping up and down in excitement. “I think Aunt Mary is here!”

Kat reentered her living room and saw
through the front door that her sister had arrived. Taking Tyler’s hand in her
own, she opened the door to see Mary standing there with a big smile on her
face. She wore a navy blue short-sleeved cotton sweater with cream-colored
pants. Her blond hair sported a sleek bob with strawberry highlights that
complemented her facial features. A purse casually rested on her shoulder as
she held several large shopping bags.

“Hi!” Mary stood there, beaming at Kat
and then at her nephew. “You must be Tyler!” He smiled shyly at her, remaining
close to his mother.

“Hi, Mary!” Kat stared incredulously at
her sister, tears forming in her eyes.” Her sister hadn’t changed much over the
years. She looked down at Tyler and said, “Honey, this is your Aunt Mary.”

“I know, Mommy. You showed me her
picture, remember?”

The two women laughed as Mary bent down
to hug Tyler. Then she hugged Kat tightly. “It’s so good to see you again,” she
whispered.

“It’s so good to see you too!” Kat said,
not wanting to let go of her sister. Finally, they pulled apart and Kat waved
for everyone to enter the house.

“I take it you found the house okay?”
Kat asked, smiling radiantly at her sister.

“I did, except I almost took a wrong
turn back there.” Mary laughed as she set her shopping bags on the floor. “What
a gorgeous place you’ve got here, Kat.”

“Thank you. It’s been home to us for about
six years now.” Kat turned to see that Tyler had gone back to reading his books.
“Michael and I discovered this little gem together.”

“Ah, I remember you mentioning that
before—uh, when you two were dating.”

“It’s given me much comfort over the
years. The schools are great, the ocean is two miles away, and it’s a perfect
place to raise children.”

Mary gasped as she spied the view of the
creek behind the house across the living room. “Oh, how beautiful!” She walked
over to the windows and admired the beauty of the sun shining its reflection on
the water. “The sky looks like it’s on fire!”

“We’re pretty spoiled out here.” Kat
smiled. “Are you thirsty? Would you like something to drink?”

“Actually, I would love a glass of
water.” Mary’s eyes continued her scan of Kat’s living room, finally resting on
the portraits of their parents mounted above the mantel. She stepped over for a
closer look and said, “They made a handsome couple, didn’t they?”

“They sure did.” Kat responded. “I miss
them an awful lot.”

“Me too.”

As Kat went to fetch them water, Mary strolled
over to where Tyler was and sat down on the couch next to him. He was reading a
new book and she watched him navigate through the activities with ease.

“You’re pretty good at that,” she said.

“It’s really easy. See?” He proceeded to
show Mary what he had demonstrated to Kat earlier. Pleased by his welcoming
reaction to her, Mary pointed to a picture of a cat sitting by a window.

“What happens when you touch the cat?”
she asked.

Tyler applied pressure on the cat and
the mechanical voice explained that the kitty loved to sit by the window and
watch the birds fly. When the cat meowed, Tyler giggled.

Smiling, Mary pointed to another
picture. “What does that one do?”

Tyler pressed the picture and the sound
of a dog could be heard barking.
The puppy wants to play outside
, the
mechanical voice intoned. Squealing with giggles, Tyler continued to press on
various pictures to hear their sounds.

“What about this one?” Mary pointed to a
jack-in-the-box. When Tyler pressed the picture, they heard a loud
boing.
He
began to laugh hysterically.

Kat entered the living room, carrying a
tray of hors d’oeuvres. She had made a garlic and herbed cheese ball from
scratch. It was placed in the center of the tray, surrounded by an assortment
of crackers and grapes. She set the tray on the coffee table and looked at her
son and sister in amusement. “What is so funny in here?”

“Mommy, listen.” Tyler pressed the
picture of the jack-in-the-box again and waited in anticipation for what was
about to happen.
Boing!
The jack-in-the-box is wound up!

All three of them laughed. Kat was happy
to see that Tyler was receptive to having Mary there. It was obvious from the
look on her face that she was glad she came. She turned to her sister and
handed her a glass of water.

“Thank you.” Mary accepted the glass and
took a sip. “He’s really something with these books, isn’t he?”

“He loves them.” Kat sat down and curled
her feet underneath her legs. “Whoever invented these is a genius. The nice
thing about these books is that they’re not just stories. At the end of each one
are activities kids can do to learn how to read words that share common
letters, like bat, mat, fat, cat.”

Mary leaned over and whispered something
into Tyler’s ear. Wide-eyed, he looked at her in wonder, and turned to where
the shopping bags sat in the foyer. “Go ahead, honey. Get the red bag and bring
it over here.”

Tyler jumped off the couch and ran into
the foyer. He picked up a large red bag and carried it carefully back to the
living room. He set it on the coffee table and looked at his aunt.

“Take a look inside.” Mary prompted,
leaning forward.

Tyler reached in the bag and pulled out
a Pointer adventure pack of the universal solar system. Gasping, his jaw
dropped as he stared at his present.

“It’s the solar system!” Tyler gasped in
wonderment as he held it up, inspecting every inch of the package. He looked at
his mother, then at Aunt Mary. “Can I open it?”

“Yes! Hurry up!” Mary laughed, her heart
warmed by the look of delight on her nephew’s face.

“All right!” Tyler peeled off the tape
and removed a thick board from the box. It was folded in thirds and when Tyler
spread it out fully on the coffee table, he stared at his new treasure in awe.

Kat chuckled out loud. Leaning towards
Mary, she said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Tyler at a loss for words.”

Bobbing her head, Mary said, “I’m glad
he likes it.”

“I love it!” Tyler exclaimed. Jumping on
the couch, he threw his little arms around Mary’s neck, nearly knocking over her
water glass. “Thank you!”

Laughing, Mary squeezed Tyler in return.
“You’re very welcome, young man.”

“Well, it would appear that you have
good taste.” Kat winked at her sister, offering her a napkin.

“I had a little help in making my
selection, sister dear.” The two women laughed as they recalled their last
phone conversation. Mary had asked Kat what some of Tyler’s favorite things to
do were and Kat had told her about the Pointer system. She had mentioned that
Tyler had taken a recent interest in the sun, moon, and stars. Little did she
know that Mary would actually find an interactive adventure pack in which Tyler
could learn more about outer space.

“Thank you for doing that, Mary.”

“Are you kidding? The look on his face
is priceless.”

The sisters sat back on the couch,
eating cheese and crackers while watching Tyler point and press at the planets,
the stars, the moon, and the sun.
The distance from Earth to the sun is
approximately 93 million miles
, the mechanical voice droned.

A few minutes later, the oven timer went
off, signaling that dinner was ready. Tyler continued to play his new game
while Kat set the roasted chicken on the counter.

“It needs to sit for several minutes
before I carve it.” Kat said. “How about if I give you a hand with your bags?”

“I’d love that.”

The women went outside to retrieve
Mary’s bags from her rental car. They took their time, enjoying the moment both
thought they would never experience together again. The sky had darkened
considerably and the moon was out in full force. Millions of stars shone,
twinkling their charm and beauty for the world to admire. The temperature had
gone down but the air was still warm to the touch.

Kat broke the silence when she said,
“Mary, I’m so glad you’re here.” She hugged her sister and began to cry.

“Oh, honey.” Mary held Kat tightly as
she felt her sister’s body quiver. “I’m just so thankful that we’re together
now.”

Kat wiped away her tears with the back
of her hand. “Let’s get your stuff and get back in the house. Dinner’s getting
cold.”

Over dinner, Tyler told Mary all about vacation
bible school, preschool, and his friends. Later on in the evening, the sister
shared stories of the things they used to do when they were little. Tyler
laughed at how animated Mary became when she described how Kat decided one day
she was going to perform a back flip. The girls had been in the family room of their
parents’ basement. Kat had removed the cushions from the fold-out couch as she
wanted to try out her experiment on a larger surface area. Amazingly, her first
and last attempt went well for the most part. Kat made an entire rotation in
the air but her position was off. When she landed, her bottom made contact with
one of the corner mattress springs. Not only was the landing painful, but there
had been a loud
boing
!