Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Emerie
One thing that’s definitely different between Levi and Damien is how they sleep. While Levi and I only had that one night of intimacy, we did fall asleep frequently while watching movies. He would cuddle, but a lot of times, I think it’s because that intimate connection was important to me. Damien on the other hand? He’s a cuddler through and through. Thank goodness my daughter is as well, otherwise, I’m sure I would feel stifled.
“I take it this is Vinnie’s side?” he asks as I pull down the comforter and blankets so we can crawl into the bed and snuggle into the sheets. Looking over, I see her lamp on the nightstand and start giggling.
“What was your first clue?” I tease as I get comfortable, turning on my side to face him.
“Well, the pillowcase for starters. It’s a picture of her chicken, Em!”
I start snickering because I had it made for her for Christmas last year and if it wasn’t for the fact I bought several, I’d be in trouble whenever it had to be washed because it’s the only one she’ll use. I know he didn’t see the one on her bed, which makes me laugh harder.
“She loves that chicken, Damien. When I found a company online where I could make pillowcases with any picture I wanted, I chose that photograph, then had multiple made because she is obsessed with the darned thing.”
“But the lamp too? It’s an exact replica of Bonnie,” he adds, chuckling.
“Thank Miriam for that little gem. She enjoys doing ceramics and since Dale encourages her, she took a picture of Bonnie then had one of her friends use a 3D printer to make a mold of the chicken. She then poured it, tossed it in the kiln, then painted it once it was ready to go. Dale turned it into a lamp. It definitely doesn’t match my aesthetics at all, but she loves it too.”
He clears his throat several times in an attempt to get himself under control, but when he slides his hand under the pillow, and I hear the squawk of the rubber chicken that Vinnie sometimes sleeps with, I burst into a hiccupping round of giggles. It doesn’t look like Bonnie, thank goodness, but one of Pappy’s friends gave it to her, so it’s another one of her treasures.
“You knew it was there, didn’t you?” he flippantly accuses while I try to hold my breath to get rid of the hiccups. If it doesn’t work, I’ll be heading to the kitchen for some sugar.
“No,” I gasp out, finally running out of air. Hopefully, I don’t start up again. “She usually takes it with her, to be honest.”
“Good thing I’ve got a strong heart,” he teases, “otherwise, that would’ve scared the hell out of me.”
“Miriam’s working on sewing a Bonnie look-alike for her birthday,” I confess. “She dotes on that chicken, that’s for sure. So, while I’m upset that I’ve got to work so much, and also get my clinicals done, I know she’s in good hands.”
“Maybe they won’t mind if I stop over,” he muses. “I mean, they’ve got the pool and the hot tub which will help me with the exercises I’m supposed to keep doing.”
“I’ll reach out tomorrow,” I reply, a huge yawn escaping me.
“Come here, Emerie, and let me hold you. We need to get some sleep if we’re going to be busy tomorrow.”
I nod through my closed eyes, secretly thrilled to be in his arms. While butterflies swarm in my belly, there’s also a layer of contentment there too. It’s as if Levi hand-picked Damien just for me or something.
* * *
I walk away from Levi’s grave to give Damien some time alone. My shoulders are hunched as I force my feet to keep moving forward. It’s a trip I’ve made many times, as have our families, as well as Levi’s childhood friends and his brothers in arms. Levinia also comes regularly, so there are pennies from us lining the top of his gravestone. Some of Dale’s military buddies have come by as well to pay their respects.
“I really like him, Levi,” I whisper to the wind. A comforting breeze blows up nearby as if Levi is caressing me and I see a cardinal on a tree branch that’s not far from the bench we had erected in his memory. “Did you send him to me?” I often wonder if he sends me signs to let me know if he approves of things or not.
I don’t expect a verbal answer, of course, so when the cardinal makes a trilling sound, it sends a longing through me I didn’t expect. I know I told Damien I want to take things slow between us, so it’s strange to me that whenever Damien’s around, I find myself wishing that I had just said we’d see where this feeling took us instead of placing a phantasmal timeline on it.
“Are you ready to go?” he asks, interrupting my thoughts. I glance at him and see his eyes are suspiciously wet, which frequently happens to me as well.
“Yeah. What do you want to do now?” I ask.
“How about we explore Possum Creek a little more?” he suggests. “I found a really neat store that I’d like to check out further.”
“The holiday shop?” I question. “It’s my favorite.”
“I bought my sister an ornament. Figured when I headed out there, I’d give it to her, you know?”
I nod and say, “Levinia gets at least one new ornament every year. That way, when she’s grown and on her own, she’ll have a good stash.”
“That’s what I do for Dena,” he exclaims.
“Miriam suggested it because that’s what they did for Levi. She has them set aside for Vinnie,” I tell him.
“I love that tradition,” he admits. “It’s something I plan to do when I have my own family.”
“Well, just be careful about starting traditions,” I warn. “Because now I have to come up with different things every year for Levinia’s elf to get into.”
“Elf? What is that about?” he asks as we walk toward my car.
“Okay, you know how parents will say, ‘The elves are watching’?” I ask, hitting my key fob to unlock the doors. Once we’re both inside and buckled, I continue talking. “Some genius decided to create The Elf on the Shelf and parents fell into the trap. The stupid thing shows up at Thanksgiving and every single day, he does something different and unusual. Or she, since Levinia has a girl elf named Gingersnap. Sometimes, she makes a mess while fixing breakfast, sometimes she brings a little gift if Levinia’s been behaving, but it’s a ton of work for me to come up with different scenarios. The elf isn’t allowed to be touched or it loses its magic and on Christmas Eve it heads home for the North Pole.”
He opens his phone and must pull up a website because he starts chuckling. “These are genius!” he exclaims. “I can see I need to be around then, since I wanna help.”
“Be my guest,” I scowl, releasing a pent-up sigh. “Gingersnap is a total pain in my butt nine tenths of the time. She ‘helped’ fold laundry once, which Levinia thought was great. Only, she hung everything up all over the house.”
His laughter reverberates throughout my SUV as we head toward town. “Leave it to me, Em. Does she have one at Miriam and Dale’s house too?”
I grumble. “Yes, yes, she does. My folks’ house too. Thankfully, I’m only responsible for my home, but Miriam and Dale have had Tiny Sparkles doing chores such as milking cows, hanging out with the chickens, and even making a pie, while Arcadia often takes ‘road trips’ in my folks’ RV. They all take pictures and send them to me so I can show Levinia what mischief she’s up to. Of course, if she spends the night with any of them, she gets to see it up close and personal in real time.”
“Well, I’m definitely willing to help at your place,” he replies, his shoulders shaking as he checks out what some folks have posted online.
Glancing at him, I grin because I might complain a little bit, but it’s been more so since I started going to school plus working that it’s been more of a challenge. “I’m going to hold you to that,” I tease.
I manage to find a good parking spot that’s practically in front of the store. Since Main Street is pretty much where all the stores are located, we’ll be able to walk everywhere we want to go. I may not be a huge environmentalist, but I like that we can reduce our carbon footprint a little bit.
“Let’s go shop until we drop,” he says, smirking at me. Shaking my head, I get out of my SUV and meet him at the front where he holds out his hand for me to take. We walk into the store, and I see one of Miriam’s former friends, Betty.
She’s no longer friends with Betty and became past tense because that heifer was one of the ones who led the gossip train when my pregnancy was revealed. In fact, Miriam pretty much ripped Betty a new one at the Possum Creek Grocery Store one Saturday morning. She overheard her talking about me from another aisle and came around to face her. Then? Miriam endeared herself to me for the rest of my life, if not longer. Because she pretty much aired out all of Betty’s son’s dirty laundry while pulling his skeletons out of the closet for all to hear, since he got a girl from Maggie Valley pregnant when she was a senior in high school. She reminded Betty that everyone stood behind her, as well as her son, and considering that Levi was a military hero, he should get the same. Then, she told Betty to ‘lose her number’ and walked away.
Because I’m petty where my daughter is concerned, I look Betty in the eye and say, “Hello.”
As we walk further into the store, I see her pull out her phone and start stabbing at the keys. “What’s she doing?” Damien asks, his voice low.
“She’s one of the ones who was so vocal about my pregnancy. She and Miriam used to be friends, but they’re not any longer. I imagine she’s reaching out to some of her cronies, so be prepared for anything, because I will not hold back if she brings my daughter into the conversation.”
“Hmm, should I reach out to Miriam and Dale?” he questions, a smirk on his face. “Because I feel as though they’d want to know.”
“Do what you want and what feels right, Damien,” I tell him. “Just know that they won’t hold back either. Considering how many of ‘those people’ have kids who dropped out of college, or got involved with drugs, or had out-of-wedlock babies, they have zero right to talk about me.”