“Suzie, remember what I told you when we left two months ago?” Jamie asked, feeling Krissy’s light touch on his left shoulder as he knelt in front of her; as she shook her head that she didn’t. “We have to go; our school is there, but that doesn’t mean we won’t be back to see you. We’ll see you when Christmas break comes around. It’s not that far away, just a few months.”
“Y-you promise?!” Suzie muttered through her sobs.
“Promise.”
“I’m going to miss you so much!” Suzie exclaimed, throwing herself into her brother’s chest.
“I know, but you’re going to have to be the big sister for Ben. Who knows who might try to take him,” Jamie said, seeing Suzie’s defiance showing as she placed her hands on her hips and huffed.
“I’ll protect my brother like you’ve protected me,” Suzie nodded firmly, looking up when she felt a hand on top of her head only to see her mother standing beside her.
“We all will, honey,” Rhonda said lovingly, smiling down at her daughter. “Jamie?” Watching how he got to his feet, seeing so much of his father in him as he eased into his adulthood. “I know we have much to overcome; I know I’ve said sorry so many times about how David and I went about things between your father and me; I’m just hoping that while you’re away that maybe you’re anger with us will lessen some. I’m not saying we have to have the relationship I so wish for, but maybe we can at least speak to one another without me having to find out everything about your life from Krissy. I would really like to know about what you’re doing and what’s going on in your life from your own lips. You don’t have to answer now, just something to think about on your drive home.” Without warning, she wrapped her son in a warm, tight embrace, knowing the months with him out of her life would be so hard on her. She knew it was going to be the same with Krissy for David. “I love you, Jamie; I know Darriel would be so proud of you right now if he was still alive, and I know he loved you with all his heart. I’m so sorry you couldn’t see him as much as I know you wanted. I will always hate myself for that. Shh,” she whispered when she felt his tears soaking into her shirt as the pain of his father’s loss was still buried just beneath the surface. Stroking the back of her son’s head as she held him just a little tighter, knowing this was the closest they’d been in many months.
“Jamie,” holding out his hand to his stepson, “you keep Krissy safe for me, will ya? No, telling what kind of men are at that college, would hate to hear something happened to her,” David said, speaking in an even tone as they looked each other in the eye. “And you were right those months ago; I wasn’t sorry about what happened between me and your mother. I am sorry for what we did to your father and that he was taken from you. I know nothing I say will make you believe me, but I am. I never wanted anything to happen to the man, yet I can’t help but think if we hadn’t done what we did, your father would still be here to see you off and not standing in front of the man you hate.”
“Interesting, you can be honest for once,” Jamie said offhandedly before turning to look at Krissy. “You ready?”
“Mmmhmm,” Krissy nodded, giving Jamie’s arm a nudge and a nod to her father’s outstretched hand, telling him to shake it. She could see the sigh in his eyes before he gave David’s hand a firm, quick shake before turning around and heading to his car.
“Be safe, honey!” Rhonda called out to her son, who just gave her a wave over his shoulder, knowing that was a huge step compared to when he first had left home. The three of them waved as Jamie pulled away from the curb and started his long trek back down south.
******
Four years later…
“You want to what?!” Jamie, now twenty-two, said as they were alone in his grandparents’ home after the celebration of their graduation ceremony. Rhonda and David, along with Krissy’s relatives, were already in the air to their northern homes.
“You heard me,” Krissy, now twenty-three, said smartly. “I want to move home. I’m so damn tired of lying to my family about us.” Holding up a hand when Jamie began to speak. “I know I was the one that agreed to it because I got to be with you, and not a day goes by that I have regretted the choice to marry you out on that very beach,” she spoke, pointing out the rear, glass sliding door. “Baby, I love you with all my heart, but I want to go home.”
“Why? I thought you loved being here?”
“I do, I love your family, and they’ve been so kind to me and welcoming. But I can’t stand being away from my dad anymore. I want to see Suzie grow up; I want to see Ben as he grows into a man, not some voices on the phone! Honey, I know how you would react when I thought about this four years ago; that was why I didn’t bring it up then. But baby, you’ve softened a little bit since then. Are you saying you can’t stand to live in the same city as them? I know you may never really grow close to them; I get that. But can’t you see it in your heart to come with me?”
“So you’re going to do it regardless if I go or not, huh?” Jamie spoke, his jaw clenched in annoyance.
“What?! No! Never!” Krissy said, shaking her head vehemently.
“Then what are you saying?”
“I want to start our family, but I want my family around when we do. I’m not saying your family wouldn’t be there for us because they have been; we wouldn’t still be together if it wasn’t for them with what happened two years ago,” Krissy said, referring to the two people a man from her class, and a woman Jamie knew around campus that were trying to drive a wedge between them because each had a thing for each other. They didn’t know then that the two of them knew each other and were working together to break them up. Someone had thankfully informed them in time before the damage couldn’t be repaired. Then they worked to bring down the two that were out to destroy them. Jamie had to be pulled off the man when he tired to have what wasn’t his to take. Who was now serving five years for attempted rape. Jamie had to hold her as she bucked and swung and kicked the air to get at the woman who was spreading around the rumor she had slept with Jamie when she knew that Jamie was out on the ocean with his uncle. After that, the rest of their college life was pretty dull. “But I want to do that where we have so many memories. I want to show our baby the place where I started to fall for you. Where we had our first kiss, our second, and so on.”
