Choices (44 page)

“Laurel, help me make this house a home again, help me fill it with love and tenderness, help erase the lies and the pain, help me live my life truthfully with the woman I love and the perfect son she gave me. Laurel, marry me
, and this time listen to your heart. I know you love me. I see it in your eyes, I feel it in your touch and now I want to hear you say it. Say it Laurel, tell me you love me and let’s make this farmhouse ours to fill with love and truth.”

H
is eyes still held onto his glistening tears. He remained on one knee with his shoulders rigid and his hands clasped at his sides now determined to make it right, determined to make everything work out, determined to withstand the pain and replace it with happiness. He possessed such strength and determination, for someone so young, my very own scud missile that I could call upon at a moment’s notice to protect me, to plow down any of my enemies, to hunt and destroy all those that were capable of causing me harm and all I had to do in return was love him.

“I love you Brandon and if just simply loving you will help heal your hea
rt then my part in this relationship is really pretty easy, because you make it so easy for me to love you, you have no idea. I’m here for you, forever, for always. My heart is yours and I will live inside it for as long as you let me and you will never be alone, hollow and empty ever again and we will fill this farmhouse with love and family. Yes, Brandon, yes, I love you and yes, I will marry you.” I was crying now. He nodded and outstretched his arms to me. I took a deep long breath, smiled, dropped to the floor with him and threw my arms around his waist and crushed my chest to his. He stole my tears and my breath with a kiss that was deep and spoke a thousand words of love with every stroke of his tongue.

“Ouch! …And now wanting desperately to feed the baby. Gosh, my breasts are killing me. Didn’t I just feed him?” I stepped back from him and gingerly touched my breasts, just trying to put that radiant smile back on his face a
nd talk about a topic he adored because suddenly he looked tense again.

“Hmph. And you say I’m obsessed with your breasts!”

“Well, you are and besides I’m allowed to be obsessed with them because right now it’s your son’s only source of nourishment.” I grinned at him and went back into his arms, reached up on my tiptoes and whispered in his ear, “That’s okay I secretly like that you’re obsessed with them too.”

“Aside from the whole breast thing…” He grew serious now and his eyes grew darker and fi
lled with the sheen of pure love, while his delicate fingertips traced the line of my scar that was exposed from my sleeveless blouse. “You’re sure you’re alright with this whole farmhouse situation? Don’t do it to please me. I want you to be happy here too.”

“Yes, Brandon, I am, I will be. As long as you’re here by my side, I’ll have nothing to fear. Now, let’s get started.
The ring is beautiful and I know from the antique setting that it’s Henrietta’s.” I was touched and honored to wear Henrietta’s ring. If it wasn’t for her we wouldn’t be having this conversation at all.

“When I went to see her before they
moved out…” He faltered and I gently ran my fingers down the side of his face.

“It’
s alright.” I hugged him and kissed him again trying to spill my strength into him to help him go on.” I gather she gave you the ring.”

“She did before they moved into the retirement home
. She told me to stop wasting time and do what I knew was right and ask you. She asked if I would use her ring so this way she would still be a part of my life, our lives.”

“Well, then, let’s get started and not disappoint Henrietta.” I held out my hand and he gently slid the ring onto the fourth finger of my left hand, squeezed and then kissed the ring.

“We can start by going in the kitchen and looking out of those enormous windows in there.” I tugged at his arm and lead him into our new home.

As much as I loved the fireplace I loved the kitchen even more. It was so open and airy with a long and sturdy wood table and farmhouse kitchen sink, sunk low into the concrete counter. The cabinets above were white and very basic wood, nothing fancy, just like Henrietta and Lester, and back in school during our time of innocence, even like Joanna. Henrietta had a thing for roosters, though. Roosters, hmm… yeah, they would definitely have to go. The main kitchen was set up like a galley kitchen and the ginormous table was off to the side nestled in its own space. The part of the kitchen that housed the incredible wood table was surrounded by windows that ran floor to ceiling and looked like it was sturdy enough to fit King Arthur’s Knights. Henrietta had tons of bound and dried herbs from her garden hanging suspended from the trestle Lester built her over the kitchen island that held one of the thickest, longest butcher block countertops I’ve ever seen. I’m not the greatest cook. I certainly won’t starve and neither will my family, but I have to say I certainly felt inspired to develop my inner chef. Again, the kitchen was surrounded my numerous windows that enabled you to see every inch of the corn fields and the forest beyond. Thinking of watching the change of seasons through those windows, watching my family experience those changes, hearing their laughter brought tears to my eyes. Tears filled with joy and hope and excitement and anticipation.

We just walked through the rest of the first floor, holding hands and stopping now and then to give each other a reassuring hug. There were two bedrooms on the first floor, one of which Henrietta and Lester used for their bedroom. Lester’s arthritis made it difficult for him to climb the stairs to the master bedroom anymore. The first floor was impressive with a large family room, again flooded with bright, beautiful sunshine and another amazing fireplace similar to the one in the sitting room close to the kitchen where the baby was born. This room was filled with floor to ceilings windows again and two, large, overstuffed warm and inviting couches in plaid pattern of green, blue and red, and a leather recliner. As much as I loved Henrietta’s homespun touches, those couches will certainly have to go
, along with all the roosters in the kitchen. There were hand crocheted Afghans draped over each couch, thick and welcoming. A TV tray table was still propped up next to the recliner and a small television set was nestled into a corner of the room.   As I walked around, I stumbled on an old baby rattle.
Emily,
I thought and hitched in a deep breath and tried to hold back the tears.  They must have cared for Emily here in this room playing with an old rattle that probably belonged to Brandon. I caught Brandon’s eye and he came, wiped away the tears and gave me a hug and whispered in my ear, ‘just give her time.’  A separate dining room, even bigger and brighter than the kitchen, was just off through a large doorway from the kitchen. The smallest room on the first floor was an office and a library where I could see Henrietta and Lester paying the bills and drinking their morning coffee and, well what you know, browsing the internet too by the looks of it with a brand new laptop.

“I bought that for Lester. He said the laptop was good therapy for him for his arthritic fingers.” He chuckled and let a small sigh.

“It would have been sweet for the children to have met your grandparents. They’re wonderful people, Brandon, try not to blame them. Jo made her own difficult choices and everyone who knew her paid the price for them.” I grabbed his hand and led him out of the library. “Let’s go check out their master bedroom and see if Henrietta and Lester were into anything kinky.” I wiggled my eyebrows and got a huge smile from him.

The bedroom was everything I pictured it would be; a huge handmade circle of love quilt pattern in green, red and blue with white eyelet sheets and one pillow per person. Henrietta and Lester were no
-nonsense people, nothing frilly and taking nothing more than was necessary. The room was just as large as the others and again with many windows covered in the same quilt pattern as the quilt on the bed. Henrietta was a master of her craft. I felt angry again at Jo for taking Henrietta away from Brandon too.

“Hmm. I almost feel a little disappointed that we didn’t find anything naughty.” Brandon’s voice shook me out of my reverie.

“I’m going to go check out the kitchen. It’s really hard to be here now in this room because I know how much Henrietta liked her quilting and knitting. The kitchen will be tough too; she liked to cook but, not as much as she liked to sew. Let me know if you find anything interesting.” It was his turn to wiggle his eyebrows this time. He gave me a quick kiss and headed through the door. I flopped on the bed and stared at the ceiling. I actually closed my eyes for a few minutes; when I opened them I refocused on the nightstand drawer that wasn’t closed all the way. By the way it was half open it was inviting me to open it.  I sat up and pulled it all the way open and saw the Bible laying cozy and nestled inside among pretty lace hand embroidered handkerchiefs. I felt sad all over again, thinking of Henrietta and Lester and how much they must hurt. I looked at the pretty embroidery and it looked sad too along with all the other sewing masterpieces. Everything in the room was becoming sad as if it were missing Henrietta. I stood up to close the drawer and go find Brandon when I noticed something sticking out of the bible. I decided instead to lift it out of its nesting place.

That’s when
I found it. It fell out of the Bible. Lots of different mementos flew from in between the pages of the well worn Bible; pictures of Brandon as a baby and young boy, blue ribbons from science fairs, locks of hair.
Oh, I think those I’ll keep.
  One in particular that fell out that wasn’t similar to the rest and was still slightly sandwiched in between the passage from 1 Corinthians in the Bible, Love is Patient, Love is Kind, was a yellowed, faded newspaper clipping and a phone number attached to it.  It showed a picture of two young teenagers; one a beautiful girl and an extremely handsome boy along with a short article. The caption read…
Local teenagers missing.
They both looked oddly familiar. The girl had beautiful blue eyes that were breathtaking and eerily familiar with long silky black hair. While looking at her picture I felt a shiver run up the back of spine. The photograph kept me mesmerized. I just couldn’t put it down. She just looked so familiar.
Where do I know this girl? How do I know her? Where have I seen her picture before? It’s as if I know her somehow, but why?
The boy held me intrigued as well
and I asked the same questions about him as I did about the girl. I decided to read the article to see if it quelled the feeling of unexplained rising anticipation I couldn’t quite understand.

“Hey, sugarhips, how ya doin’ in there? Did you get lost yet? It’s awfully quiet? You’re not being naughty in there without me are you?” I could hear Brandon’s voice through the hallwa
y as he rattled around in the kitchen. I giggled. “No, I’m not being naughty and no I’m not inviting you in here or we’ll never get anything accomplished.”

“Who says we won’t get anything accomplished? I say we’ll get a lot accomplished.” I could hear his footsteps coming down the hallway.

“STOP! I hear you! Don’t come any closer; turn around and finish what you started! I have only two hours before Joni comes screeching over here with Noah screaming and her panicking and screaming ‘I can’t feed this baby.’”

“Damn! I was hoping we could get in a quickie.” I could hear his retreating footsteps and I blew out a short, quiet sigh of relief, ran a hand down the side of my face and sat down on the edge of the bed. It groaned a bit and made me realize that I was doing the same thing. I was fairly certain that I wasn’t going to like this article or somehow through those piercing blue eyes of the girl I was definitely going to be unsettled to say the least. Happy unsettled or sad unsettled was still left to be determined.  I didn’t want him seeing this article until I could read it and figure out why my nervous system was slightly on fire.

I held the clipping in my hands and noticed the date June 20, 1984.

Two local teenagers, both aged 18, recent graduates of Parkside High School were reported missing by their families. They haven’t been spotted since their high school graduations. Both families are distraught and seeking information about the young couple. The young girl has a serious medical condition pertaining to her heart. They began dating in their senior year of high school. Foul play is not suspected, however, not ruled out. Friends of the young couple who are Todd Goldberg and Jennifer Reynolds believe the couple moved away to get married and start a new life together. Any information regarding this case please call the local authorities. There is a substantial reward for any persons having knowledge of the young couple’s whereabouts.

That’s when it hit me, flashbacks of sitting in Joni’s house and seeing pictures of Todd and Marc and their Mom, flashbacks of standing in the family room of Mitch and Kristy’s house looking at the new photograph on the shelf of the beautiful young girl with amazing blue eyes and incredible black hair who was born with a heart condition and needed special attention. A heart condition…those eyes…that mop of unruly bronze colored hair that belonged to Todd, puzzle pieces snapped into place, the proverbial light bulb was not only flickering but blazing! I was rooted to the floor and I could feel the sweat collect between my breasts and feel my brain trying to organize the onslaught of information it was being fed. OH.MY.GOD.
Jenny and Todd? How can that be?
Are these Brandon’s real parents?  Did they run away, get married and have Brandon in Florida? Did they ever tell their parents? Did Henrietta know all along whom they were? Did Jo steal Todd and Jennifer’s baby! Good Lord… Mitch’s sister and Joni’s brother in law! Do they know? Of course not how could they know! From what Joni told me Todd ran off with a young girl, got her pregnant and married her. She and the baby died in childbirth and he was found dead from a drug overdose in a dumpster in Florida.  Mitch said his sister was dead but didn’t give any details. Is this possible? Could this be true? Why else would Henrietta have an old faded yellowed newspaper clipping wedged in between the bible pages of the book of 1 Corinthians love is patient, love is kind.