Double or Nothing Pt. 04

"Yes, mum, anything?" I responded, Kim just holding on to mum, desperate to keep her from slipping away.

"I need you to look after your dad, he's trying to be strong, but he needs both of you to help him through what's coming. He's still got a lot of years left here, and I don't want him to live life with one foot in the grave. Your father is my great love, and I will always be there with him. Even death will not keep our love from each other."

We were all now crying. I recalled a few years ago when mum asked me something similar. Even now, as she continued to fade in front of our eyes. No doubt, she was in pain and hurting from the ravages of cancer, but she thought of her husband. "Now, promise me you two. Look after your father."

We cried, holding onto our mum. "We promise, mum. We will!" Kim said through her tears. We cried a few more minutes, holding onto each other with nothing but pure family love and acceptance. Then mum asked to speak to me alone. Finally, Kim dried her eyes, patted my shoulder and left the room.

She drew me to her, and I held my mum gently as she leaned into me. "Oh, my boy, my beautiful Terry, I have loved seeing the man you have become, slow to anger, and even then, you're an honourable man. Even when Carol and Mackenzie hurt you, you tried to do the right thing."

I shook my head, "Not always, mum, there were times..."

She interrupted me, "I know Terry, none of us is perfect, not even your mother."

"Surely you jest. I thought you were saint Josephine."

She laughed. We could hear the rattle in her chest as she did.

"No, not always. Your father and I have never told anyone this, however before you and Kim were born, your father and I had a rough patch." I hadn't heard this one. "Your dad worked very long hours as we had just bought our first house. I worked at the bank as a teller, but your dad wasn't around a lot, even on weekends. So, when some assistant manager at the bank started making moves on me, I was flattered."

I was floored, had my mum cheated on my dad? Mum must have seen it on my face, and she smiled.

"No, I never cheated on your father, though it could have gone that way if we didn't have an incident at a gathering a few weeks later. You see, it was there that I noticed Cindy Phillips making some moves on your dad. He wasn't exactly resisting, and Cindy saw me watching and smiled, putting her hand on your dad's shoulder and acting like she would take him away from me.

"You see, Cindy also worked at the bank and had seen the assistant manager flirting with me. So, she figured if I could flirt, she could try to take away my hunk of a husband."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well, I dropped everything, demanded he take me home and fuck me like his life depended on it." I laughed. Mum very rarely swore. For a few moments, mum was lost in memory.

Her eyes found focus on me, and she smiled at me. "I'm happy to say he did, and he did it so well that your sister was born nine months later. A couple of years later, so were you. However, had it not been for that bitch Cindy, giving me that smile and putting her slutty hand on my husband's shoulder while I watched, our lives could have been very different."

We both thought on that for a moment, the implications certain moments in our lives had on all of us.

Mum kept talking. "Terry, I know you will never forgive Carol, and perhaps you never should. But what of Mackenzie? Is there enough left in you to forgive my granddaughter?"

I looked at my dying mother and swallowed, "I don't know, mum, I have not really thought about it in a couple of years. She hurt me badly, and I don't know what I would do if I saw her again."

She nodded.

"Terry, please think about it. I'm not asking you to run out, find her and bring her back into your life. You have so much going on right now with your four and Kim's two that I doubt trying to talk with Mackenzie would be wise." She smiled, "By the way, do you know Kim is pregnant again?"

"Yeah, she told me this morning." I smiled back.

"I feel good passing on that I have so many grandchildren. At one time, I thought I would only ever have Mackenzie."

"I know, mum, and I won't make any promise, but I will do my best if I ever see her again."

She patted my arm. "That's all I can ask, sweetie, that's all I ask."

After that, Dad had some time with mum and came out smiling and crying, "It's not long guys, she knows it and has asked if we will all come in to be with her." He spoke.

Paul, Kim, Melody, Harmony, dad, and I sat on the bed with mum and told stories and bad jokes for the next hour. The kids came running in and out, giving particular love and affection to their grandmother. They didn't know what was happening, but they knew grandma was sick. At times there was laughter and other times tears as the afternoon wore on. Soft touches by my mother and on her told of our love for her.

She slipped away from us while we were talking about Kim's new baby. They thought this was going to be a boy. We heard mum laugh and say it was going to be a boy. Then we all looked to see her smiling, but the life had left her eyes. Her chest had stopped moving, but she looked at peace even though the presence that made her mum was gone.

The rare bone cancer that had claimed her body had taken its toll, but it never dampened her spirit. Josephine Marie Other was quiet and sometimes unassuming, but she always loved us without reservation. That evening all of us cried, leaning on each other in our grief.

It was just over another year, Kim had given birth to Joseph, named after mum, and we were enjoying a family barbeque with the end of a warm spring Saturday. Dad was there with the rest of the family. He'd been gloomy for a few months after mum's passing but woke up and started living again one day, telling us that she wouldn't like it if he moped around after her death for the rest of his years.

Dad, Paul and I were bringing in the cooked meat, and all our kids were sitting around the big family table like a ravenous horde when I noticed the two uninvited guests. Most of us were in different streams of thought, with the two women standing there.

[:::: Back to the beginning ::::]

The metal plate hitting the floor brought everyone out from their internal thoughts as they all looked at me.

"Um, hi, Terry," Carol, my ex-wife, said looking at me. She was tired and worn, and over the last few years, she had put on weight in all the wrong places. Her once voluptuous but good looking curves were now well and truly under layers of not so good looking fat. While I was still quite fit and trim. Most likely even more so since we saw each other last if those hungry eyes were saying anything as she looked at me. I'm sure turning up here uninvited; she had no idea what type of reception she would receive from any of us, but she had to know it would not be a happy reunion.

Our second visitor looked at me as well, 'Hi Daddy," Mackenzie, my ex-daughter, followed up before I could respond. Her head slightly bowed, she looked at me from under a worn baseball cap, one that I had given her when she turned thirteen. Mackenzie looked nothing like the girl who had betrayed and thrown me aside years ago. If anything, she looked broken like her mother and just plain frail.

For what felt like almost a minute, we all just stared at each other. The only noise was the kids at the table. But even they picked up something was wrong and started to notice the two intruders stopping them from getting dinner.

I sighed and bent to pick up the tray of meat I had dropped, turned around and placed it on the table. I looked and signalled at Martha, who knew exactly who they were and was glaring at them. "Martha, could you get the kids some food. I think this may take a few minutes." She stopped glaring at Carol and Mackenzie. Her gaze softened as she looked at me. Martha knew my pain almost more than anyone in the room. She had been there for me during most of what had transpired over the years. And she would have had a fair idea of what I might be feeling at that moment. My mother-in-law was one of the wisest women I knew, and to cross her family would earn you the ire of not just Martha but her network of friends and community groups. I had a feeling that Carol and Mackenzie had been on the wrong end of her temper a few times now without my direct knowledge.

Her entire vibe changed to making sure all the kids would get fed, my former family pushed out of her mind for the moment. "No problems, Terry sweetie, you do what you need to. I've got the kids."

I turned back to my ex-family and let my face fall into a scowl. "For the sake of the children that are here, I am not going to say what I want to say right now. However, you need to know that neither of you is welcome here!" I had a hard time keeping my voice calm, and as it was, I almost spat the words. Carol looked upset, but like she expected that kind of reaction, Mackenzie looked like she was about to cry.

Kim had, at this point, had come to stand beside me. Melody and Harmony moved to stand on my other side, Melody grabbed my hand, letting me know she was there for me. She knew these intruders, like her sister Harmony, and had a great idea of what I was likely feeling.

Carol gave a big sigh and looked at everyone in the room before once again letting her gaze set itself upon me. There was a time many years ago when I would adore those eyes and just love to look back into them. Now all I saw was a mask of pain, regret and sorrow, which surprised me. "We know Terry, but we need to talk with you".

Shit!

[:::: Authors Ending Note ::::]

So here we are everyone, back at the beginning, there was a lot that happened in this part, and I will admit I had tears in my eyes as I wrote the scene with Josephine passing away. I had a very similar experience with my father a few years ago, so there was a lot there for me.

I hope to have the next part out in the next few weeks and I have already put a draft together for Part V, where everything comes together to conclude our story, however I am in a need of an editor to help me complete the story as Kite who has been helping me on this series has had to decline editing Part V due to personal reasons. If your keen to help out, send me a private message.

If you are still with me on this journey, thank you. Writing for me is helping me to process a lot of emotion, and if you get something from what I write, then all the better.

See you next time!