part0156

I t’s been five years since I brought my wife and my Ducati back to Chicago. Darby works three days a week at the ER while I sketch. My drawings now sell for far more than either one of us ever expected. We travel the world attending art openings and living every day to the absolute fullest.

Tamsen moved to Chicago a year after we moved back from Todos Santos. She said she wanted to be closer to family . Fate stepped in for our favorite angel and gave her a husband a year after she arrived. Jordan works for the Chicago Fire Department, and according to Tamsen and Darby, he’s a squirrel like me. Whatever the fuck that’s supposed to mean.

Tamsen and Jordan are expecting their second child, another daughter, in two months. Darby is in love with Lyla, but I see the pain in her eyes that nobody else does. We’ve been trying to have a baby for over three years. Darby thinks it’s karma for her promiscuity during college. I think it’s just not our time and that patience bears the greatest gifts.

Grady refuses to jump on the relocation bandwagon. He loves LA too much. However, he hops on a plane to come visit every chance he gets, especially since Lyla is so crazy about him. She’s been a good influence on him. He’s given up his cavalier bachelor life for a committed relationship with Abel, a commercial property developer who is ten years his junior and not married.

Rachel Hart just finished a five-year jail sentence for possession of cocaine. How it ended up in the trunk of her car and who tipped off the police remains a mystery. We happened to be at a sports bar when the news of it played across the screen. Darby closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then asked the bartender to change the channel. What she did not do … ask me one single question.

Nana celebrated her eightieth birthday this year, but nobody told her it’s okay to slow down. Her mind is razor sharp, except when she likes to pretend she’s getting dementia just to mess with Darby. On a sad note, her friend, Mary, died three years ago and so Darby has filled in as Nana’s shopping and lunch buddy, and I pick her up every Monday and take her to the shooting range. Yeah, Darby loves that.

“Nana wants me to pick her up in twenty minutes.” My tease of a wife hops up on the vanity in her Christmas red lace bra and panties. “Make me look beautiful.”

“Done.” I sink my teeth into the swell of her breast.

She grabs my face. “It’s Christmas … I want the Trick special.”

“I thought that’s what you got in the shower.” I fight back my grin … the one she calls her favorite subtle-but-cocky smirk.

“If you want your wife fix later then I suggest you get to work.”

Of course I’m going to do her make up. There is absolutely nothing I wouldn’t do for her.

With an air kiss and a quick tease to my cock, (she tortures it all the time) she’s dressed and off to Nana’s, leaving me to supervise Grady and Abel making Christmas dinner while Tamsen and Jordan keep Lyla out of the presents for a few more hours.

“What did you get Darby for Christmas?” Tamsen asks.

I stare at Lyla combing her baby doll’s hair and wish my answer could be a baby … but I don’t say it. Tamsen would see my disappointment. “I’m sending her and Nana to a spa for a week.”

Tamsen jabs Jordan in the stomach. “Did you hear that?”

“You’re popping out my kid in less than two months. I don’t think you’d get the full enjoyment.”

My phone buzzes just as I stand to go check on Grady.

Darby: BFF – Your gift is at the front door. Before you open it, I want you to know it’s not just from me, it’s from your whole family. We love you more than you could possibly ever know. You are the tie that binds us all together and this very special gift has been a long and grueling two years in the making. Love, your BFF, breakfast soul mate, and wife.

I roll my eyes at all ten holiday emojis. As if everyone else received the same text, Tamsen gathers everyone by the front door and then she starts crying.

Jordan shakes his head. “Don’t mind her. It’s just her hormones.”

I nod and open the front door.

Darby and Nana stand off to the side videotaping me, but I’m … I’m so fucking speechless I can hardly breathe.

I blink my eyes trying to register what I’m seeing as I hear my name from a familiar voice. This can’t be … there’s just no way … they’re … dead …

“Son.” Another familiar voice.

I shake my head and start to cry like a fucking baby … but I can’t help it. “Mom? Dad?”

My dad hugs me and I fist the back of his coat like a young child. “We’re so sorry, son.” His voice breaks.

I release him and lean down to hug my mom—in a wheelchair. “Mom.”

Her voice is helpless against her tears, so she just wraps one arm around me and kisses my cheek. My parents, they’re alive. I just don’t get it. I clench my fists to feel my nails dig into my palms—to confirm I’m alive and experiencing this surreal moment.

“Maybe you should invite them in,” Darby suggests, chasing her own tears with a tissue.

I help my dad get her wheelchair inside. Then I grab my wife and hug her so hard I think I could break her. “My God, I love you. I don’t know how they’re even here or what you did but—”

She kisses me. “They’re here for you … we’re all here for you.” She smiles past her tears. “From the very first time you told me about them, I just couldn’t shake the unsettling feeling that maybe they didn’t die.”

This feels like an out-of-body experience. I haven’t felt so disoriented and confused since I’ve been sober and clean. We make our way to the living room where everyone takes a seat—Darby on my lap.

“Alice, Ray, I’d like you to meet Tamsen, Jordan, and Lyla. And this is Grady and Abel.” My wife introduces everyone to my parents when I should be introducing my parents to my wife.

My dad scoots to the edge of the sofa, resting his elbows on his knees. “Well, Darby’s shared our story … with everyone but you, son. We wanted to be the ones to tell you.”

Darby interlaces her fingers with mine.

“Your mom was sick. We didn’t know what it was, but she kept having seizures and migraines.” My dad, the strongest person I have ever known, chokes on his own words while my mom rubs his back. “You were fifteen and in school with friends, and we knew you’d be fine. By that point you had been taking care of us more than we were taking care of you. Somedays we felt like a burden. We knew eventually your talent would take you places, get you off the street. It was the hardest decision of my life. I knew if I told you, you’d insist on coming too, but I didn’t think they’d accept you. I didn’t think they’d accept me.”

“Your mother’s parents—your grandparents. I got enough money to get us on a bus to Minnesota. I was taking her home, praying to God that her parents would take her in and help her—save her life. I knew they hated me and so I was willing to leave her if they would agree to help her. They agreed to get her the medical help she needed and they even let me stay; although it wasn’t easy for any of us.

She was diagnosed with a brain tumor. They removed it and by some miracle it was benign, but in the process of removing it there was nerve damage. She lost feeling in her left arm and leg. It’s taken years of therapy to get her speech back and now she has some movement on her left side but not enough to get her out of the wheel chair yet. By the time we felt like we had the money to come back and find you, you were gone and nobody knew where you went.” He clears his throat as everyone else in the room wipes their eyes. “Pastor Edwards told us about your accident and memory loss. He said one day you were asking questions about your past and the next day you were gone—no goodbye, no forwarding address, nothing.”

“We thought we’d lost you forever,” my mom whispers through her soft cries. “Until the private investigator showed up.”

I look at Darby. She grins with a guilty shrug.

“My parents are both dead now and your dad and I are living in Des Moines. I just don’t know how Darby did it, but I thank God she did.” My mom looks at Darby with such love.

I squeeze her, kissing her neck.

“We did it.” Darby looks around the room, and I can tell she’s in awe of the people who are now our family.

All these years I let myself believe I was orphaned at the age of fifteen. It was too painful and unimaginable to believe my parents abandoned me. I’m not sure twelve years ago I would have understood. They never felt like a burden to me. But now I know what it means to love someone more than life itself, the way my father has loved my mother. I will forever feel honored to be Raymond Roth’s son.

“I-I don’t know what to say. I still can’t believe you’re here.”

Everyone smiles at me, and as if on cue, Lyla yells, “Presents!”

We all laugh and agree to open presents before eating. I don’t take notice of anything that’s being opened, even when Darby bounces on my lap after opening the certificate for the spa getaway. I’m not sure how long it’s going to take for the shock to wear off. I still swear this is a dream.

“Here, Patrick.” My mom holds out a small box and Lyla brings it to me.

“You didn’t need to get me anything. My God, you are the gift.”

My mom smiles. “It’s not from us, but it’s for us too.”

I squint, not understanding, but my brain is fried so I don’t question it. For the second time this morning, all eyes are on me and the room falls silent. I tear off the wrapping paper. It’s a long gold box. I think it’s the box from Darby’s bracelet that I gave her for our anniversary. I open the lid.

It takes me a few long moments to let everything about this day sink in. I look up at Darby, fighting back those fucking tears again. “Yeah?”

She nods, allowing her honest emotions to flow freely down her cheeks. “Merry Christmas, husband.”

I fist her hair and kiss her senseless as our family laughs and cries together in celebration. Releasing her lips, I rub the tip of my nose against hers. “Mommy,” I whisper.