Milestones had always been difficult for me. They acted like a marker highlighting the absence of people that were no longer with us. But today was different. Today I felt like she was here. Maybe because I was carrying her firefly necklace with me.
I patted my upper pocket just to feel the tactile proof that I had it on my person.
It was there. And so was the love my mom had put into our lives. She may not be physically present, but the legacy of fearlessness was definitely with us.
Besides the romantic implications of the day, Billy was giving the curse a middle finger and Jimmy and I were right behind him. But my baby brother would be next up since he’d called dibs. Who calls dibs on getting married? My youngest brother, that’s who.
Jimmy had only waited as long as he had because he hadn’t wanted to steal Billy and Reagan’s thunder. So I supposed that I owed them the same respect. But I meant what I said about marrying Skylar. I was going to do it and the sooner the better. Hell, if there wasn’t already a Comfort family wedding scheduled today, I’d ask her to go to the courthouse.
Unless she wanted something more than just a courthouse wedding. Whatever she wanted, was fine with me. As long as she was my wife and Luna was my stepdaughter. The sooner I could make that happen the better.
Adrenaline rushed through me just thinking about it as I grabbed my keys and wallet and headed for the front door. Or maybe my reaction had more to do with the fact that I’d be seeing her in just a few minutes. We were going to the wedding together. As a family. I was going to head over to her place since we were taking the Explorer. Since we were all in our Sunday best, we figured it was best not to take my truck since it always seemed to have a thin layer of dirt and grime from long days on the site.
As soon as I opened the door I looked up and noticed that the sky was my mama’s favorite shade of blue. Today’s blue was a vibrant color, not a pastel sky blue. It was closer to an electric blue. And it was dotted with white puffy clouds.
I could hear her saying that it was a perfect day for a wedding.
And she’d be right. It was bright, warm, and sunny but there was a nice breeze which I was damn excited about since I was in the penguin suit. I thought I was going to hate it or at the very least be uncomfortable, but I wasn’t either one. Actually I was enjoying wearing it. That might have something to do with Skylar telling me that she was excited to see me in it when she saw it hanging in my closet before she left this morning.
After I’d thoroughly distracted her from my middle-name-reveal we’d stayed up the entire night talking. I’d assumed that Luna was having a sleepover at Mrs. Birch’s when Skylar showed up the night before, but it turned out that Ashley was in Firefly and she was staying.
I’d suggested she and Luna moving in with me after we got married, or today, and that way Ashley could have their grandfather’s house. And that we get a dog. And have babies. Lots of babies. Or at least a baby. She’d been quiet for a minute and I’d noticed that her eyes were damp with unshed tears. When I asked her what was wrong she said nothing, absolutely nothing, and that’s why she was crying. At that moment everything in her life was perfect and those were tears of joy.
She went on to say that she felt like everything fit here, from the very first day she’d arrived it was as if she was always supposed to be here. I knew exactly what she meant. Not because I’d always felt like I belonged, it was the opposite, actually.
But from the moment I opened the door to find Luna selling her treasures and Skylar running up to get her, squinting at me because she couldn’t see, everything in my life had clicked into place. She’d been the missing piece that completed the picture.
After locking up, I turned and was heading down the stairs when I saw a truck I didn’t recognize parked front and center. I couldn’t make out the features of the driver but I could tell that he was not a spring chicken from the weather-worn skin on his arm and hand as it hung out of the driver’s side window.
I lifted my hands to shield my eyes from the punishing sun beating down as I walked down the steps. “Can I help you?”
As soon as I got within a couple feet of him, he removed his ballcap and I recognized him immediately. I may not have seen him in two decades but time hadn’t erased my memory of those piercing gray eyes and bushy brows.
It was Jerry Samson. I remembered him working at the Firefly Auto Shop across from the pier. He was a shrunken, skinnier, more weather-worn version of the man I remembered, but it was definitely him.
My heart sank and my chest constricted. This was the man that was going to confirm the dark secret I’d carried around. Mama’s crash hadn’t been an accident.
“Hank, I’m Jerry Sam—”
“I know who you are.” My tone was clipped, rude even. I hadn’t meant it to be but I was suddenly feeling very claustrophobic.
Which made zero sense considering we were in the great outdoors and I’d just been looking up at an endless blue sky.
“We need to talk.” There was a desperation and urgency in his tone.
His inflection didn’t mirror his actions. He was still sitting in the truck.
“This isn’t a good time.”
“It has to be.” Jerry’s voice was shaking. And I noticed that his hands were too as he placed his hat back on his head. “I’ve kept this secret for twenty years, and I don’t know how much time I have. I can’t take it to my grave.”
I wasn’t sure if he was being macabre or if he was just dramatic.
“I’ve got a bad ticker.” He explained before I responded. “That’s why, if it’s all the same to you, I’m fixin’ to stay in the truck with the bought air.” He motioned to the air vent that was blowing from the console before patting the side of the driver’s side truck. “Patty, here, always takes such good care of me. Has ever since I was seventeen and won her in a poker game, she’s been my good luck charm. Truth is, Doc wasn’t even sure I’d survive the trip. But I’m here. I needed to do this face to face. Man to man.”
As much as I wanted to tell Jerry that he’d wasted his trip, I couldn’t bring myself to do that to a dying man.
“Okay.”
“I don’t know how to tell you this…”
I stood taller, preparing myself.
“Your mama wasn’t alone in that car.”
I stared at him, sure that he must’ve misspoke. I’d seen the police report. The redacted one, but still. She was the sole occupant and driver.
“I know that it probably comes as a shock, but she wasn’t.”
My first thought was this man had lost it. He was delusional.
“She was running away with Wayne Lemont.”
“The car salesman?” I asked. I remembered seeing his commercials running all the time when I was a kid.
Jerry nodded. “She planned on gettin’ settled and then coming back for you youngins.”
She was going to come back for us. So she hadn’t killed herself?
“And that’s not all. She was in the family way.”
“Wait…” I held up my hand needing immediate clarification. “She was pregnant?”
“Yeah, but I’m afraid it wasn’t your daddy’s, it was Wayne’s.”