Epilogue
“I swore I would never come to this damned picnic again.” I let out a curse as I pulled my shoe up to reveal a long string of pink gum. “Only Ozarkians would choose to have a carnival in the middle of July!”
“Oh, come on. It’s kinda fun.” Jed grinned at me as he wiped the sweat off his forehead and took another bite. “Plus, the corndogs are fantastic!”
“You’re crazy. It’s like having a party in Hell, only hotter!” I looked around at the carnival workers setting up rides on Main Street. “These carnies are a little suspicious-looking as well.”
“Really? Did you see that cute one at the Tilt-A-Whirl?”
“He was probably twenty years old and covered in grease!”
“Sounds good to me!” Jed gave me an exaggerated wink and poked me in the side with his elbow.
“You’re disgusting!” I poked him back and started to suggest getting a funnel cake when I felt my pocket vibrate. I pulled out my phone. “Hold on, I got a text.”
He just nodded and took another huge bite.
“It’s Zephyra.”
I grinned at him, and his eyes widened.
“It’s time?”
“Yeah!”
We waited with the rest of the family for an hour in the waiting room before Tyler came to get us.
“You can come in. Mandy’s doing great. It was a really easy delivery.” Although nearly as covered in sweat as I was, he was positively beaming.
Sue was already in tears as she entered the room ahead of us, and we heard her let out a little yelp of joy.
“It’s a boy.” Mandy looked wonderful. Her hair was plastered to her face, and she looked exhausted, but she smiled contentedly. It was the first time I had seen her happy in months.
Sue swooped him up from her arms. “He’s gorgeous!”
Maudra looked over Sue’s shoulder. “Well, a’course he is. Ain’t you met his parents?”
It could have easily been a sad day, and I guess it was bittersweet, but I think all of us felt like we were in some way getting Donnie back.
Jed plopped down beside Mandy on the bed. “So what are you naming him?”
Her smile faltered for a moment but then returned.
“Donnie and I had already talked about names. We never agreed on a girl’s name, which turned out to be a good thing.
We had decided on Dalton Chuck Durke.” She glanced at Chuck, who was smiling proudly.
“However, with your permission, Chuck, I’d like to change it to Dalton Dionysius Durke. ”
Chuck stroked his first grandson’s head. “Of course, my dear. It shouldn’t be any other way.”
Zephyra laughed. “Don’t worry, Daddy. When I have a boy, I’ll give him your name.”
Sue gave Zephyra a severe look. “We don’t need any more babies any time soon.”
“Jeesh, Mom, I know, I know.” She rolled her eyes.
Della took a peek at the baby in her mother’s arms. “Dalton Dionysius Durke, that’s a lot of D’s, Mandy. I hope he likes his middle name more than his daddy did.”
“I’m sure he will.” Mandy turned her attention to Jed and me.
“There was one more thing Donnie and I talked about. At the time I thought it was silly, but now….” She took a deep breath and forced a smile on her face.
“Well, I guess you never know.” She reached for little Dalton and Sue placed him in her arms. Mandy kissed his forehead and handed him over to me.
Like most newborns, he really wasn’t that cute.
He was red and wrinkly, and he had his lips pursed as if tasting something bitter.
He opened his eyes for a second as I held him close, and I could see Donnie’s dark black eyes looking back at me.
There was no question he was going to be one good-looking kid when he got older.
Jed put a finger on his tiny hand; Dalton wrapped his fist around it.
Jed let out one of his “cute-puppy” sighs and smiled up at me from his spot on the bed.
Mandy only took her eyes off her son for a moment as they traveled back and forth between Jed and me.
“We, Donnie and I, wanted you two to be the godparents. You know, in case anything would happen to us.” Tears made their way down her face as she looked back at Dalton, attempting to regain control.
I hadn’t expected any such request. The possibility hadn’t even entered my mind. I looked at Jed questioningly. He nodded. I started to say yes, but then looked over at Sue.
She too had tears in her eyes. “Of course, dear. Who better to be Donnie’s child’s godfather than his best friend and brother?”
“Thank you, Sue.” I looked back at Mandy who was focused on me again. “We’d be honored.”
Later that afternoon, Jed and I went over to Rose’s house. I’d been putting it off. A couple of weeks ago, I’d received a call from Agnes saying Rose wasn’t doing very well, and she felt she needed to go to the hospital.
I knew she was right when Jed and I went over to see her.
She didn’t even argue when we told her we were going to take her to the doctor.
She’d had another stroke. This one was more severe.
Her face was slacker, and she couldn’t use her left side at all now.
Her speech was so slurred it was nearly impossible to understand her.
After a couple of days in the hospital, we moved her to the nursing home.
I’d gone to see her every day. She never said anything to me, but she never seemed to be upset that I was there either.
We needed to clean out the house before we could try to sell it.
It was strange how sad I was at the thought of selling that house.
I always thought I would burn it to the ground when I had the chance.
Now, however, it was like the final remnant of my past. I wasn’t sure how I was going to let that go.
It wouldn’t take more than a couple of days to get it cleaned up; most of the furniture was in bad enough condition that it would be thrown away. The real challenge was going to be getting all the structural problems fixed. It probably would be more efficient to burn it down.
The house seemed even more depressing as Jed and I walked in. Rose’s tattered recliner sat in its permanent spot. I wondered if we would be able to move it without it falling apart.
Jed raised his eyebrow at me as he pushed up his sleeves. “Where do you want to start?”
I knew where I wanted to start. It was part of the reason I had been putting it off. Now that I was here, though, I was ready to get it over with. “There.” I pointed to my boarded-up room. “I want to start there.”
He grinned at me. “I thought you might.”
It took us nearly half an hour to pry all the boards away. Even after they were off, the door still wouldn’t budge.
Jed scratched the back of his neck. “She must have nailed it up from the inside too.”
“How in the world could she have done that?”
“You know your mother.”
That was true. “I’m sure she was in one of her moods. Probably would have made it look easy.”
“What do you want to do? Do you wanna smash the door with the crowbar or take a running start?”
“I don’t know. What do you think?”
Jed considered the door. Without responding, he took a running start and barreled into the door. I heard a loud crack, and Jed stumbled backward but managed to remain on his feet.
“Are you okay?”
He rubbed his shoulder. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” He went over to the door and rattled the knob. The door went back and forth about an inch this time. “I think one more time will get it.”
“You sure you wanna do that again?”
“I’ll be fine.” He grinned at me. “Quit worrying so much, Mom.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Shut up. Break down the door, tough guy.”
Sure enough, after one more sprint, the door crashed open, swung on its hinges, hit the wall, and swung back.
Jed pushed open the door again, and I followed him through. Now that the door was open, it was easy to see hundreds of nails sticking out the back of the door and on the doorframe. Jed shook his head, muttering to himself. “She never does anything halfway, does she?”
I looked around the room. It was dark, but there was enough light coming from the few cracks in the boards on the window to see.
I looked at Jed in astonishment. “There’s nothing in here. Nothing!” There wasn’t a speck of furniture. My bed, my dresser, everything, gone. The only thing inside was a thick layer of dust on the floor and walls. “What do you think she was doing?”
Jed looked as confused as I was. “I don’t know, babe. You think she was upset that you were gone and boarded it up so she wouldn’t miss you?”
“Or she was thankful I was gone and made it like I never existed.”
Jed put his arm around my shoulders. “I doubt that. You know your mom loves you, in her way.”
I looked around the room again; surely I was missing something. I don’t know what I had expected to find; all my stuff burnt to a crisp? Everything painted black? But not this.
Jed pulled me closer. “What’d ya say we get out of here and get some burgers from Simone’s? Let’s get someone else to do all this.”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “A cheeseburger would be great.”
He pulled me out of the house and into the sultry July heat. “We can go see our new godson again after that.” He pulled me into a hug and kissed me.
“That sounds good. Plus, Zephyra’s boyfriend is supposed to get here this evening. We need to clean up before we meet him.”
“Why bother? You’ll just start sweating again as soon as you step outside.”
“Shut up! That’s not nice! It’s not like you’re not sweating your ass off too!” I started to say something else to him, but he stopped me with another kiss.
“Will you kiss me on top of the Ferris wheel tonight, Mr. Morrison?”
I feigned shock at his suggestion. “I don’t know. What would the town think?”
“Shut up,” he muttered and kissed me again.