Chapter 38
Thirty-Eight
I’d like to say that everything changed after I addressed the church.
I don’t guess I really said anything that profound.
The phone calls to Maudra’s house quit after a few weeks, but I don’t think any of them were from people in the church to begin with.
Donnie didn’t get his position with the youth group back, but it didn’t really seem to bother him.
He was content with preparing to be a dad.
He and Mandy decided to wait until after the baby was born to get married.
Mandy felt that by the time they got the wedding plans together, she would be fat.
Since the baby was due in July, she thought she would be back in shape in time to have a Christmas wedding.
Jed and I went to the late Sunday morning service every week, but quit going to the evening services on Sunday and Wednesday.
For the most part, we quit being an oddity and people started leaving us alone.
One of the few people who actually didn’t choose to pretend that Jed and I were like everyone else was Iris.
While we never would become close friends, she did wave every time she saw us in church.
If she saw one of us at the grocery store or somewhere around town alone, she would inquire how the other one was doing.
I felt guilty for being in the same town as my mother and not seeing her.
Agnes Jenkins checked on her every day, making sure she had food and the house was clean.
From her reports, Rose’s health seemed to be stable, but she thought Clayton had stopped coming over, as she never found any traces of him.
I considered asking Iris if she knew anything about my mom and her brother, but decided to leave well enough alone.
The biggest challenge was an overwhelming sense of purposelessness.
Not having to take care of my mother or helping with the youth group, I seemed to not do anything important.
Jed and I had decided to move away in the summer.
We wanted Jed to finish his semester at Cottey College and be here for the birth of Donnie’s baby.
We hadn’t told anyone yet, but I dreaded Darwin’s reaction.
He and I went out to lunch or dinner at least once a week.
Sometimes just the two of us, sometimes accompanied by Jed and Darwin’s parents.
Mr. Michaels was still visibly uncomfortable, even after a couple of months, but he did a decent job of ignoring my presence, and I was impressed by how supportive of Darwin he was becoming.
It was a bitter, overcast April morning when Maudra woke me up again with bad news.
She was sobbing and couldn’t talk; that fact alone scared me more than anything else she could have done.
She handed me the phone, then went across the hall to the bathroom and shut the door.
I just looked at the phone in my hand. I didn’t know who was on the other end of the line, but I knew whoever it was would change my life.
I felt Jed come up and place a large warm hand on my back. “Do you want me to get it, sweetie?”
I shook my head and put the phone to my ear. I could feel tears burning my eyes as if I knew who it was before I heard. “Hello?”
“Brooke?” His voice was so soft I could barely hear him.
“Tyler?”
“Yeah.” I heard him clear his throat. I waited several seconds, but he didn’t say anything else.
“Tyler, what is it? What’s wrong?” I felt Jed’s arm travel from my back and encircle my stomach as he pulled me into him.
“It’s Donnie, Brooke.” My face went cold and my hands started to tremble. “I’m so sorry to have to tell you this, but….”
“No!” I threw the phone on the bed, pushed away from Jed and ran, nearly stumbling, out of the room.
“Babe!” I heard Jed start to follow.
I was already halfway down the stairs, and I whirled to look at him. “Don’t! Leave me alone.”
A look of hurt and worry flashed across his face, but he nodded.
“I’ll talk to Tyler.” I didn’t respond. I ran out of the house, got in the car.
I thought I was going to drive to the Schell City wetlands, but as soon as I was in the car, I broke down.
I didn’t need to hear Tyler to know. I could see it in Maudra.
I could hear it in Tyler’s voice. I could feel it all around me.
A void. An absence. I locked the doors and curled up as tight as I could in the driver’s seat.
Donnie was gone.