After his shower, Reece met Jake in the Kitchen as agreed. The look on his face said that he had a lot on his mind. Jake wanted to get to the bottom of it. “What’s eating at you, man?”
“This whole mess with your twin, to be honest. She had to get drunk to sleep. I’m afraid for her.”
It didn’t surprise Jake in the least. “We’re all afraid for her. Our parents wouldn’t be coming back from Israel if they weren’t worried about her. What I’m wondering is what she did that has them so worried and Morbus so queasy.”
“Morbus was queasy?”
“From what I can tell. Morbus never gets queasy. He’s the most twisted mother fucker I know and for him to have a look of disgust on his face worries me.”
“Would he tell us if we asked?”
“Couldn’t tell you. If he’s been given the go ahead from my folks he’d be more apt to tell, but that’s not even a guarantee.”
“What do you think happened to make Morbus ill?”
“All I can do is speculate, but I do know that it take a lot to turn Morbus’s stomach. Even a little. She had to do something that would shock the hell out of both of our parents in order to make Morbus sick. What did she say after she was settled into the room?”
“Only that she was pretty pleased with herself. She had taken out a huge threat to our way of life.”
Jake didn’t show any emotion. Not shock, not repulsion, nothing. All he did was nod with a blank face. “No wonder Dad said that she didn’t need to relive the trauma. I agree.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Yesterday as she was getting ready to go, she asked me about a paralytic. She wanted him helpless like she was helpless when he beat her. Dad wasn’t talking about the trauma of what she did last night. He was talking about the trauma of what he did to her. As I’m sure you know, she hasn’t had a chance to really mourn what’s happened to her over the last few months. She hasn’t had time to look into the stuff that ended her marriage or mourn any of what’s been going on. When it all hits her it will all come crashing down on her all at once.”
Reece nodded. “I know. I was actually thinking about that while I was in the shower. It’s good that you’re all here for her and I’m glad I get to be a part of this as well.”
“It’s a good thing that you are here. It’s one thing for us to be supportive of her. She knows that we’re behind her 10,000% no matter what. It’s a completely different thing all together for you to be here and show her that you’re behind her. She needs the support of someone who loves her that’s not related to her. She’s going to need to kids once the divorce is over as well. But for now, the knowledge that you’re here and that when Mom and Dad are with her that you’re taking care of them will be enough for her.”
Reece nodded. “I’m glad that you approve.”
“Actually, I haven’t passed any form of judgment on you. You seem like a good enough guy. The way you interact with my niece and nephew and my parents, as well as the way you handle this crisis will determine whether or not I give you my stamp of approval.”
“That sounds almost foreboding.”
“I have that kind of sway over Jordan. I’ve always been the one to look out for her. Malachai’s a great guy and a good big brother, but he’s not always been the best example for any of us. I’ve always been the one to look out for Jordan. If I don’t, who else is going to?”
“I understand that.”
“And, I’ve got to admit. I’m a little overzealous right now. You’re the first guy that Jordan’s ever been with so you’re the first guy I’ve been able to half ass give the third degree to over her.”
“Has she been out that long?”
“Since we were thirteen or fourteen.”
“Damn. That long. I guess I understand the zeal.”
“But I don’t want you to think that I’m giving you a rough break or anything. I’m this harsh on all of my sisters’ men. It doesn’t matter. Believe me, you’re not special.”
“That makes me feel a little better.”
Jake cracked a slight smile. “Good.” He stood. “I’ll be right back. I need to go check on my kids and give my wife a call. I’ll let you know when my parents are here so I can take you out to the cottage to watch the kids.”
Reece nodded as Jake walked away. He sat and thought about the words of the mother of his children’s twin brother. He hadn’t figured that getting Jacob Draiman to like him would be an easy task, but he hadn’t figured that it would be so difficult either. He had to make sure that he dotted all of his t’s and crossed all of his eyes in order to impress Jacob Draiman because he figured if he didn’t, he wouldn’t be around long enough to regret his misstep.
---------------
That afternoon Skyler and Kaylian were at the airport waiting on David, Brie and their grandchildren that had been living with them in Israel for the last few months. July seems like it was so far away at that point. Halloween was nearing. Thankfully, all of the grandkids would be able to go out trick or treating.
When they spotted David and Brie the moved toward the gate they came out of to help them wrangle Jasmine and Levi. The two young children had to be a handful for their two seventy some year old grandparents.
“Let me help you with that, Brie”, Kaylian offered as she tried to take one of the bags off of her shoulder.
Brie smiled. “Thank you.” She looked down at the young child in front of her as she handed to bag off. “Jasmine Nichelle Draiman, you had better start taking much bigger steps because if you trip me and make me fall, you’re going to be in a world of trouble.” The tone in her voice was one that was not to be questioned and Jasmine started walking faster.
Skyler picked the little girl up. “This will get us out of here faster”, he said as he addressed no one in particular.
“Whatever gets us out of this airport fastest”, David said. He sounded like his nerves were on edge as well.
Once they’d picked up their luggage and gotten out to the car, Skyler asked the question the begged being asked. “Is everything ok?”
“Travelling last minute with small children is a bitch, especially at our ages”, Brie said.
“What do you mean?” Kaylian asked.
“When it’s just the two of us, we can pack up and get out of the house whenever we need to. With small kids like Levi and Jazz, it takes a lot more planning than we had a chance to do. But, Jordan needs us, so we’re here.”
“Speaking of Jordan”, David said, “I wanted to ask you, Skyler, what your impressions of what happened last night were outside of the children’s earshot.”
“I wasn’t really bothered until she took the needles that Damien gave her and started hammering them into his joints. That was a little uncomfortable. Then she lit them one fire. That was… I don’t have words to describe what seeing that did to me. Then, when she turned his face into red ruin… thankfully Kay was in bed when we got back because I tossed my cookies”, Skyler explained.
David nodded. “That makes perfect sense.” He looked at his wife. “How hard do you see this hitting her and how soon?”
“Hard and soon. It’s all going to crash down on her all at once and if we don’t get there soon, no one will know how to handle it”, she said with a heavy heart.
“Then why don’t we get the two of you to your daughter so that there’s someone there to help her through the initial shock of everything hitting her at once”, Skyler said and opened the back door. David and Brie climbed into the back of the SUV and settled in after getting their grandchildren in the necessary seats.
Once they were good and on the road, David spoke again. “Skyler, I do apologize for making you relive that briefly. You have no idea how much I wish I was me rather than you with those memories.”
“It’s all good brother. I’m just glad that it’s over. After we get you home, I’m going to pass out for 8 hours and forget all about it. I’ve been pushing myself so hard recently that I haven’t been taking good care of myself and now I’m paying for it. It’s not the CFS kicking my ass, but if I don’t get this in check soon it could be again.”
“I totally understand that. Once you get us back to the house, you go take care of yourself and we’ll get caught up later.”
---------------
Reece was taken out to the cottage as soon as Jake received word that his parents were on their way out there from the Skyler and Kaylian’s little house. They were literally going to meet them there. The motors of the ATV’s roared as they all sped toward the cottage. Jake spotted his father and waved. David returned the gesture.
Once they were all parked in front of the cottage, they took their things inside and got the kids settled into the spare room. “Ok, so, what’s the situation inside?” David asked once the kids were occupied playing a video game in the spare bedroom on the TV.
“Jordan’s been asleep most of the day. I had to wear her out to get her to sleep after she got home and that was after she had gotten tipsy.”
“She drank?” Brie said in soft horror.
“Yes. She had a few shots of bourbon.”
“How many is a few?” David asked.
“I lost count after about 5 or 6. If I had to put a number on it, I’d say that she dropped about 15 total.”
“Back to back or did she space them out?”
“Back to back. She’d pour it and drink it, pour and drink.”
They shook their heads and sighed. “We need to get into the main house and make it fast”, David said.
“She’ll wake soon and when she does, she’ll need us there”, Brie said as she nodded in agreement.
“Which do you think will come first; the screaming or the crying?”
“Oh, I’m sure they’ll come hand in hand.” She looked at Jake. “You coming with us?”
He shook his head. “Delilah took the kids to town for a doctor’s appointment and if you’ll recall the doctor they go to and I don’t get along. I’ll hang out here and help Reece with Jasmine and Levi. Been wanting to talk to those silly little monsters for a while now.”
They nodded. “We’ll be back as soon as we can be. If you need anything, text one of us”, David said. He took his wife’s hand. “Shall we?”
“We shall”, she said with a sigh and they walked out of the house.
Once they heard one of the ATV’s start up and roar away, Jake and Reece looked at each other. “Why are they so worried about Jordan drinking last night?”
“Because Jordan has night terrors after doing something stressful and drinking. She’s the only one of us that has to deal with that like I’m the one of us that’s diabetic.”
“Is it a trait that one you get from a parent?”
“Yeah. Our mother is a Type I diabetic as am I. Jordan’s issue, I couldn’t tell you. I think that may just be a Jordan thing.”
Reece nodded. “And your folks have had to deal with Jordan’s night terrors before?”
“A couple times. That’s why she’s not really allowed to drink. That and acid reflux.”
Reece nodded still as he took in all of the information. “Wow. I hope I didn’t fuck up by letter her drink.”
“You didn’t know so no one will be upset with you. But, for future reference, don’t let it happen again.”
---------------
She’s started tossing and turning wildly when her parents walked into her room. She whimpered as she thrashed. At first, it was soft but the longer she slept and tossed the louder the whimpers became. Finally, the moans started. “I’m going to run downstairs and have Maddie start some tea”, her mother whispered to her father as she headed out the door.
Her father sat down on the edge of the bed and rubbed her back reassuringly. “Shh, baby girl. Dad’s here. It’s just a dream.”
But what he didn’t understand was that it wasn’t just a dream. She was reliving the events of the night before. She watched as a person that looked like her but wasn’t pounded bamboo shoots into the man’s joints and lit them on fires. She wanted to stop the woman, but she couldn’t. Finally, the woman pulled a pistol out of the holster on her hip and started firing into the man’s face. That’s when she jolted awake with a scream, tears rolling down her cheeks and her eyes searched the room wildly as she looked to see if there was anyone there. Her eyes found her father at the end of her bed. “Daddy?” she asked.
“Yes Jordan. I’m here.”
“Where’s Mama?”
“She’s getting you some tea. What’s going on, baby?”
“It was so real, Daddy.”
“What was real, Jord?”
“My dream.” Tears started to stream down her cheeks again.
“Why don’t you tell me what’s going on in your head and what you saw, sweetheart?”
She adjusted the way she was sitting and curled up against her father’s side, then proceeded to tell him about what she had been dreaming before she woke up. “I’m not a violent person, Daddy”, she sobbed. “I have babies to think about. I’ll anything for them, just like I’ll do anything for you and Mama, and for my brothers and sisters and their families… but I killed a man that I hated with a passion in cold blood. I tortured him until he begged me to kill him and I turned his face into red mush. And I hate myself for it.”
Her father nodded and rubbed her arm as he listened to what she had to say. “You did what you did because you were protecting our way of life, Jordan, so that the Utopians didn’t regain control and turn this country into the hell is was before any of you kids were born. But, baby, if you’re going to be any good to anyone from this point on, my suggestion is that you see someone and get some help to cope with this. Jake may know someone you can trust.”
As he finished speaking, her mother came into the room with a small tray that held three large coffee mugs. As she carefully closed the door with her foot, she looked at her husband. “David, what’s going on?”
“I think our daughter is in need of her Mama right now”, he said in a soft voice.
Jordan smiled softly. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate the advice, Daddy, but I don’t think that will help the nightmares go away.”
Her mother sat on the edge of the bed and handed out mugs. “What’s not going to help with the nightmares?” she asked.
“I suggested that she go to someone she can trust with the fact that she tortured and killed a man last night”, her father said as he sipped the contents of his cup. He cracked a smile. “MMMM, coffee.”
“I figured you’d want some if I was getting tea for myself and Jordan.” She sipped the tea in her cup and looked at Jordan. “Now, I know you don’t want to recount it again, but tell me what happened.” Jordan told her mother what she had just told her father, including the fact that she hated herself for what she’d done. “Well”, she said, “I know you don’t want to hear it, dear, but your father is right. You do need to see someone that can help you cope with this. Jake may know someone that can be trusted with this kind of a secret. As far as dealing with the nightmares, you could talk to Delilah. She may have a trick or ten that came with her body mind training that could help you deal with your nightmares.”
She nodded from where she was still curled up against her father’s side. “I want to crawl in a hole and just hide from everyone and everything.”
“You can’t do that, baby”, her father said. “Remember those babies you mentioned? They’re out at the cottage right now with their Daddy wondering why we dragged them back here from Israel on such short notice. You have a divorce to get through.”
The tears started flowing again. “My marriage is over”, she sobbed.
“Yes, baby”, her mother said as she rubbed a hand up and down her thigh. “Davina was lying on the family to everybody and telling everyone that we didn’t treat Jasmine like she was family.”
“I know. The past few months feel like I’ve been having an out of body experience.”
“We understand that you’ve kinda been on auto pilot recently, Jordan. That’s why we came to homestead. We’re here to help you cope with everything that’s been going on and to get through the divorce”, her father said in a soft voice.
She smiled softly and pulled both of her parents in for a hug. “Thanks you two. Have any of us told you recently that you’re the best parents in the world?”
“Not recently, no”, her father said with a soft smile of his own.
Her mother smiled softly as well as they all embraced. “But it never hurts to hear it.”
No comments:
Post a Comment