What it Takes (26 page)

Janelle rolled her eyes as she scraped leftover mashed potatoes into a plastic container. She put the container in the refrigerator as Kelsey put foil over the pumpkin pie. “No,” Janelle said with a smirk. “I’ll send him home with her.”

They both laughed but quickly regained their composure when their father walked into the room carrying the remainders of the turkey. “Was there something you wanted me to look at?” he asked, setting the platter on the counter.

Kelsey had almost forgotten about the furnace and water heater problems they’d been having. Kelsey directed him to the basement to have a look at them. He went downstairs and Kelsey started putting the turkey into Ziploc bags.

“Janelle, dear, is there anything I can do?” Mary asked, brushing past Kelsey.

“No, Mom, I think we’ve got it.” Janelle covered the green bean casserole and stuck it in the refrigerator.

“Kelsey, I can do that.” Mary took the Ziploc bag out of Kelsey’s hand and nudged her aside. “Why don’t you play with the kids?” Mary turned to Janelle and began to sing Richard’s praises again.

Janelle shot Kelsey a dirty look as she slipped out of the kitchen and into the living room. Richard was already there, sprawled on the couch, watching football and fussing at the children to get out of his way. They moved to the other side of the coffee table, away from him and the television. Kelsey sat in the chair beside them and started coloring with them.

“C’mon!” Richard yelled at the television.

The coloring continued and Kelsey tried to ignore Richard. She glanced in the kitchen and saw that Mary was still talking to Janelle. Janelle caught her sister’s eye and scowled. Kelsey wiggled her fingers at her and smiled sympathetically.

“What the hell, ref!”

“Richard,” Kelsey snapped, turning her attention to him.

He frowned at her and turned back to the TV. Zach briefly looked up at the football game then resumed coloring. For the next ten minutes, Kelsey and the kids colored and whispered quietly. The only other noise was the television.

“Damn it! How can you miss a kick like that? It was only twenty fucking yards!” Richard stood and quickly fell back down.

Kelsey whispered to the kids to go into her office, behind the stairs, and color for a little while. As soon as the door closed behind them, she turned to Richard.

“What?” he snarled.

“Watch your language in front of the kids.” She shot him a dirty look.

“Shut the hell up,” he slurred and turned back to the game. Kelsey sat in her chair and watched him through narrowed eyes. After another two minutes, he spouted off another string of profanities.

“Richard, that’s enough!” she reprimanded him.

He glowered at her. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll shut up and let me watch the damn game,” he growled. “We got a lot of money ridin’ on this one you know.”

“We who?” She came to her feet and took a step closer to him. “You
bet
on this game?”

He nodded and sneered. “Of course.” He turned back to the game and yelled again. Then in a calmer voice, he said, “You better hope they can pull it out. It’s not looking too good right now.”

“How much?” she hissed.

“Ten grand.”

“That money was supposed to pay off your debt, not make it deeper,” she snapped. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“Language, Kelsey.” He looked at her through glassy, narrowed eyes as his grin broadened. “If I win this one, the debt’s taken care of. If not,” he shrugged, “I know where to get more.”

“Damn it, Richard! You’re a husband and a father. You have to stop this. You have responsibilities
you
should take care of.”

Zach came into the room, bringing a picture to show Kelsey.

“That’s rich coming from you,” Richard grumbled.

“What does that mean?” Kelsey growled, taking another step toward him.

Richard jumped up and grabbed Zach’s arm then pulled him close. “What do you think it means, Kelsey?” Zach squirmed in Richard’s grip and Kelsey put one hand on Zach’s chest, the other on his arm just above Richard’s. “It’s probably nice to not have to stare at your brother’s face on a regular basis.” He glanced at Zach, who bore a very strong resemblance to Sean. He even had his eye color.

“Seeing Sean’s face wouldn’t bother me,” Kelsey said. “I’ve got nothing to feel guilty about.”

“You’d like to believe that, wouldn’t you? Guess it’s easy to forget your mistakes when you don’t have to see them every . . . damn . . . day.”

She swallowed her fury as she tried to ease Zach away from Richard’s grasp.

“Ow, Daddy, you’re hurting me,” Zach whined.

“Let go of him,” Kelsey hissed.

Richard tightened his grip on Zach’s arm as he defiantly looked daggers at Kelsey.

“Now!”

He clenched his jaw one more time before releasing the boy, who ran to Janelle as she and Mary entered the room. Janelle picked Zach up and Kelsey heard his muffled sobs.

Fire coursed down her spine. Kelsey picked up the remote and turned off the television.

“You little bitch! I was watching that!” Richard yelled.

“How dare you!” Kelsey roared simultaneously. She usually tried to restrain herself with her brother-in-law, but her rage was boiling too hot to be kept in.

Janelle carried Zach into the office and closed the door behind them.

“Get out!” She pointed a shaky finger at the door.

George’s footsteps quickly pounded up the basement stairs.

“Kelsey,” Mary scolded. “Don’t talk to Richard like that.”

“Mother, stay out of this! This is between me and him,” Kelsey said through gritted teeth.

“He’s just had a little too much excitement,” Mary argued as she walked around the couch to Richard’s back.

“It’s not excitement he’s had too much of,
Mother
. Don’t make excuses for him,” Kelsey snapped.

“What’s going on?” George asked calmly, breathing heavily as he stood behind the couch.

“Richard and Kelsey are just bickering again,” Mary said, sounding utterly bored.

Kelsey ignored her mother’s delightful spin on the situation and turned to her father. “I want him out of my house.”

George nodded then looked directly at Richard. “You heard her,” he stated with an authoritative note in his voice. “You should go.”

“I’ll drive you home,” Mary said softly, giving Richard’s arm a little pat. Richard glared at Kelsey before he turned to leave. “George, you can follow us with our car.”

Without even a glance at her daughter, Mary was out the door and helping Richard down the steps. She spoke soothingly to him the whole time, and Kelsey felt the sting of tears. She quickly blinked them away and turned to her father.

He pulled her into his arms. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I know you wanted this to be perfect.”

She pressed her cheek against his shoulder. “I was just happy to have you here, Daddy.”

“And I was happy to be here.”

They stood silently for another moment or two before separating. When they did, he told his daughter what he’d learned on his expedition in the basement, that Kelsey would need to replace the water heater, but the furnace needed a minor repair.

“What time would you like me here in the morning?” he asked as he put his coat on.

Kelsey smiled at the thought of escape with her sister. They loved Black Friday shopping. It was, and always had been, one of the rare days they’d be alone together. “Is five a.m. too early?”

George chuckled. “Honestly, yes. But for you girls, I’ll sacrifice.”

Kelsey giggled as her father went to the office to tell the kids and Janelle good-bye. When he returned, he gave Kelsey one last hug and a quick kiss to her forehead before he left the house. She locked the door behind her dad then turned to look at the empty living room and kitchen. Tears brimmed over as she raised her eyes to the ceiling of the now quiet house.

She leaned against the door and let them fall.

Fifteen

T
he following Wednesday evening, Janelle and Kelsey had finished cleaning up after dinner when George arrived with their Christmas tree. Zach and Zoe climbed up on the window seat in the living room to watch as Kelsey helped her father unload the tree.

“Grandpa!” the kids exclaimed in unison as he walked backward through the door. They ran to him and wrapped their arms around him as best they could.

“Hey, kiddos,” he said with a laugh. “Watch out. Aunt Kelsey and I need to put this big box down.” Zach and Zoe went back to the window. “Where do you want it?”

“Behind the couch,” Kelsey answered as they took a few more steps into the house. They put the box down and George went to sit with the kids. Kelsey girded her loins to join Janelle on the porch where she was having a conversation with Mary.

“For better or worse, Janelle. You promised him that and you’ve walked out on it.”

“Mom, it’s not safe for us there,” Janelle was calmly explaining.

“If you make it work, it can be. Marriage is the core of the family and the women in this family don’t just give up. We tough it out. We do everything we can to make our marriages work. I think you’re making a mistake,” Mary was lecturing Janelle.

As she continued her rant, Kelsey leaned against the wall of the house and heaved an inward sigh. The words Mary used were not her own. Kelsey distinctly remembered her grandmother saying them in a long-ago conversation regarding what Mary had viewed as George’s shortcomings. While Kelsey couldn’t remember the exact argument that had led Mary to seek her mother’s advice, she could remember the smell of her grandmother’s freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

She could also remember the yellowing black eye her grandmother had, and the bright purple bruise on her upper arm. Grandmother had always claimed to be accident prone, but George had told all of his children about their grandfather’s problems with alcohol and the abuse that resulted from it. Abuse not just of their grandmother but of their mother as well. Mary, consequently, had grown up watching her mother cater to her father’s every whim and desire, afraid of the repercussions if she didn’t do everything he asked. In turn, Mary learned to do the same.

Mary had been lucky to find George, a man who drank occasionally but never to the point of excess and never let his temper reign. But she never forgot the lessons of her childhood, and as a result, Mary saw nothing wrong with Richard’s behavior. Her excuse for him had almost always been “boys will be boys.” She expected Janelle to deal with it, paste a smile on her face, and give Richard everything he wanted. It didn’t matter to Mary how miserable Janelle was in the process.

“This is your fault, you know.”

Mary’s shrill tones brought Kelsey back to the present. She met her mother’s icy eyes then rolled her own.

“Yes, Mother, I know. It’s always my fault.”

“Don’t you take that attitude with me, young lady,” Mary snapped. “If you hadn’t
insisted
she move in with you, she would’ve stayed with him. You should be encouraging your sister to work it out with Richard. Why can’t you do that?”

“Mom, what about what
I
want?” At Janelle’s vehemence, Mary spun around to look at her elder daughter. “You’ve never asked me why I left. You’ve never even concerned yourself with my reasons.”

“There’s never a good reason to give up on your marriage. He’s the man you promised to love. He works hard to take care of you and the children,” Mary began her usual tirade. Kelsey could almost repeat it verbatim. “He has needs, too, you know. He needs to feel loved, he needs to feel supported, and he needs to feel like he’s in charge. Sometimes, he may need to drink a little bit just to relax.”

“What about
my
needs, Mother? Aren’t they just as important?” Janelle snapped.

“What’s gotten into you?” Mary put her hand to her chest and took a step backward.

“Maybe Janelle doesn’t want to be married to an alcoholic who abuses her and her children,” Kelsey quietly stated. “And I’m simply being supportive of her decisions.”

Mary glared at Kelsey through slits of eyes, then turned and walked down the steps. “Tell your father I’m ready to leave.” She climbed into their truck and slammed the door.