The Tree and the Tablet (The St. James Chronicles Book 1)

by Kathryn O'Brien

  Touching her arm, I replied, “No, you don’t have to be sorry.” We hugged.

  She looked at me sideways, “Anyway, the story I got, is that they went to school together. I think he majored in microbiology or something like that, but he decided to go into forestry work later.” She picked up a blouse to fold it. “They were pretty close in college, I guess.” She laughed, “Jaxon said they were joined at the hip.” At my quizzical expression, she elaborated, “Evidently, they were so close that whenever they would go anywhere, all their friends called them Jack Daniels. It was a huge party joke.” Looking a little uncomfortable, she chuckled. “That’s about all I know, but I’ll tell you, if I was younger, I’d go after him like a chocolate cake!”

  Laughing hysterically at her, “Oh, I see. So, he’s a good looking guy?”

  Winking at me, she smiled broadly, “Well, I wouldn’t kick him out of my bed for eating crackers, if you know what I mean.”

  Laughing, I slapped her playfully on the arm. “Jody, you’re a hoot.” She shrugged and smiling smugly, she took the box of clothes out to the hallway.

  After the amulet incident, I found Kelsey in her parent’s bedroom almost every night crying. We’d sit there in their room and cry together. We laughed and talked many times over about how much we missed them and reminisced about the many different complexities of Andrea and Jaxon. It was a healing process. As we worked through the sadness and the loss, we also rejoiced in the many things we loved and would cherish about them. Kelsey didn’t speak of the amulet again.

  She and I were always close, but these times spent together reminiscing were bonding for us, except if I asked her what happened before she came to stay with me. She’d just get sad and shut me out. After the third attempt to bring it up with no response or large teary eyes, I decided to let it go. She’d tell me when she was ready.

  As part of our nightly routine in Andrea and Jaxon’s room, I would sing her the lullaby, carry her to bed and then go back to my bed. However, I woke up every night at 3:33 a.m. in a cold sweat and heard the lullaby as if it were coming from the bedside table. The night before the funeral, I opened the dresser to find that the amulet was glowing within the satchel. After taking the satchel containing the amulet and putting it in my backpack surrounded by every stitch of clothing that I brought with me, the music stopped.

  Finally, the day arrived for the services. Jody had made all the arrangements for the memorial reception afterwards at the house and arranged for caterers to deliver food. Arrangements had been made for parking and a valet service was ordered to assist in the job. Jody was an amazing cook, but I’d insisted that she have time to grieve and not spend all her time in the kitchen preparing for the reception.

  Kelsey and I got up that morning to two feet of snow. My phone rang as I stared out the window at the blanket of white which startled me slightly. The caller ID showed it was the Limousine service.

  “Hello?”

  “Miss, this is Mark, your driver for today.”

  “Oh, Yes. Is there a problem?”

  “I’m just calling to let you know that the lot where the cars are kept hasn’t been plowed yet and I’m waiting for him so I can get the car out and head to your pickup location. Has anything changed with the plans for today?”

  “No, I’m not aware of any changes.”

  “Alright, I should be there a little late. I’ll call if there are any other issues, but the service is pretty reliable.”

  “Okay, thank you.” He hung up the phone and I looked up the number for Whiteman’s mortuary service. Hearing Jody in the hallway talking to Kelsey, I went to the door and opened it, “Jody, can you call the reverend and let them know to delay services?” At her confused look, I expounded, “The limo driver said they’re clearing the lot, but he’ll be late.”

  “Sure, honey. You want me to give them a specific time frame?”

  “No, just let them know we’ll be late.” She gave me a thumbs up and ushered Kelsey down to stairs to have breakfast.

  After showering and putting myself together, I made my way downstairs. Jody had popped her head into the bathroom while I was showering to let me know the reverend was running late as well. Since she and Kelsey had gone up to change after breakfast, they came down to meet me in the foyer at the foot of the stairs. They were both in black, and Jody had arranged Kelsey’s hair into a loose braid with a black ribbon woven into it. Little curly wisps of hair framed her beautiful little face and tears were brimming in her eyes. She looked pretty, but so sad. Clasping her hand in mine, we left the house to make our way out to the car. Jody had spent the night and had had the foresight to have her oldest son, John, come over with her so he could clear the steps and driveway the next morning if it snowed. She was always spot on with the weather, even when the weatherman was wrong.

  John was about twenty four years old, he’d been doing the landscaping and cleanup services at the house for the past two years along with two other young men. John did an excellent job. Standing next to the steps to help us down to the car, making sure we didn’t slip, he’d laid out a healthy amount of ice-melt which appeared to be doing its job.

  As we entered the limousine, I overheard Jody talking softly to John, “I love you, squirt.” I wanted to laugh as he was definitely not little. He stood a foot taller than her at least. “We’ll be back soon.”

  He wrapped his arm around her and squeezed her tight, “Okay, Mom, I love you, too.” As he helped her into the car, he smiled gently toward me, “Everything will be ready when you get back.”

  Nodding at him, “Thank you, John.” and with that he closed the door.

  What a good kid he was. Just as the Limo pulled out of the driveway and onto the road, the sun came out, nearly blinding us all with it’s brilliance. The driver was prepared, putting on his metallic reflective sunglasses as we pulled out on the road toward what seemed to be another grim reminder of my aching heart.

  We arrived at the mortuary about five minutes after 9:00 am. There was a large group of people already there, and Carolyn came through the group as soon as she saw me and Kelsey arrive. People were lined up, signing the guest book. A large board was posted near the registration book that had many different photos of Andrea and Jaxon dressed in their finest clothes at various charitable events throughout town and in family photos.

  On the sanctuary near the podium, there was a large wreath of flowers placed in front of the presentation area of Jaxon and Dylon’s caskets. Andrea’s urn was sitting on a pedestal in front of the flowers. A large easel was placed near the caskets showing Jaxon and Andrea with her large belly in a loving embrace. Carolyn hugged Kelsey and was crying, or trying to seem like she was crying but she was carrying on so much, it seemed a bit fake and I sighed softly as I looked around. She always seemed so dramatic with her reactions. Andrea had always told me that Carolyn had had a rough life in some southern city —I could never remember where exactly— and that she was a little extra, but that her heart was in the right place so I tried hard not to say anything about her behavior. She made a fuss at trying to wipe her tears with her handkerchief, but there wasn’t much for her to wipe away. Noticing that I was watching her, she spoke with her ridiculous southern accent, “Andrea used to tease me so,’ she waved her flimsy piece of cloth in my face, “We could never go out after those chick flicks we went to because my makeup would be so messed up from crying.” She dabbed at her eyes and hiccupped. Gritting my teeth, I tried to smile reassuringly at her, but I just wanted to slap her. She was still talking except I had no idea what she was rambling on about. She reminded me of a cat with her dark eyes and bright red hair that was almost orange. Looking down to keep from analyzing her anymore, it was difficult not to see the pained expression on Kelsey’s face.

  She looked like she was ready to leave. My stomach was feeling queasy. Jody, sensing that things weren’t going well, piped up, “Um, Carolyn, we should go to the restroom and clean up your face, dear. You wouldn’t want Andrea to look
down and see you with your makeup all streaked would you?” Stopping mid-sentence, Carolyn’s eyes widened, “Oh? Oh, yes, I mean. Thank you so much,” she said to Jody. Turning to me as Jody pushed her toward the ladies’ room, she said, “I’m so sorry, I’ll be back soon.” As they entered the restroom, Jody looked back at me and winked. Sighing, I was never more happy to have a reprieve from someone as I was that moment. As I stared up toward the ceiling I sent a silent Thank you to Andrea for hiring Jody.

  Leaning down to Kelsey, I asked, “You doing okay, Kells?”

  She nodded her head, but responded with, “I don’t know.”

  Lifting her in my arms and hugging her close to me, we went into the room to sit down and wait for the services to start. Sitting in the front row, I stared at the flowers. The birds of paradise were a nice touch. It was her favorite flower. Not really the sort of flower you’d see at a funeral though. It all felt so surreal.

  The pastor approached me and handed me the memorial program, “Is there anything that you feel needs addressed that isn’t in the program?” His kind smile searched my face for an answer.

  Tears welled in my eyes as my fingers caressed the cool paper that was slightly embossed, “No, everything looks fine to me.”

  “Alright, then, since we’re already behind schedule, I’ll announce that the service will start in five minutes and we’ll get this part done. Is that alright with you?”

  Nodding in the affirmative, I felt my mouth form the word, “Yes.” but there was no actual sound that left my lips. He walked away quietly into the antechamber where he announced in a clear and concise manner, “If everyone could please be seated, the memorial service will start soon.” People started filtering into the finding seats. They just kept coming. The room looked like it would hold about one hundred fifty people and it was already packed. Since I didn’t know many of these people, I assumed they were probably clients of Jaxon’s and Andrea’s, or knew them from their charity work since they were successful lawyers at two of the top firms in Denver.

  I’d met a couple of them a time or two at some events but never really took the time to get to know any of them except for Carolyn, and I didn’t really want to get to know Carolyn because something about her always made me feel on edge.

  Many different people got up and talked about how amazing Andrea and Jaxon were, and how the world was missing out on such great people. It was all a blur. As I sat there with Kelsey next to me, crying and numb, my heart hurt so much. It was like it just happened all over again. Everyone got up as we all started walking toward the doors. It was time to take the caskets to their plots. The pall bearers lifted the two caskets and started walking toward the doors.

  Walking outside, it was so cold but so bright. The sun was shining through the clouds giving the appearance of a path made up of sun rays shining their light onto the burial plot like a beacon. A beautiful large stone was set up that read, Boyer Family. It was ornately carved with the names of the family members that were buried there. Jaxon’s parents’ names were there even though there were no bodies. The memory of that day was so vivid it was like it was just yesterday. It seemed so odd to bury two caskets that had nothing in them. Again, there was a speech and afterward, Kelsey and I placed roses on the caskets. The ashes would be sent directly to the company for the tree and then the tree would be delivered to my home within the next two weeks.

  After the burial, we returned to the house with a mile of cars behind us. We arrived at the house where the valets had arrived and were preparing to take cars, parking them down the street by the golf course. Jody, myself and Kelsey walked into the house which had been transformed to accommodate the wake. There were two chairs sitting next to the front door now for myself and Kelsey to sit in. Kelsey looked up at me with huge teardrops in her eyes. “Auntie, I want to go to my room now.”

  Dropping to my knees, I hugged her fiercely, “I love you, Kells. You go ahead up to your room. It’s okay, baby.” She nodded and I looked up at Jody who was patiently standing next to me. Jody nodded as if an unspoken question was answered between us.

  Taking Kelsey by the hand, Jody led the way up the stairs toward the back of the house and the quiet retreat of her bedroom. Looking longingly in their direction, I couldn’t help but wish I was there with them, instead of waiting for the hordes of people to enter that front door or to hear a thousand condolences and well wishes.

  Plucking up my courage, I removed my jacket and walked calmly back to the kitchen/dining room area. The house was so beautiful and large. The great room opened into a large area that had several different rooms off it. Everything had been set up on the side of the great room facing the kitchen and dining room. Additional seating had magically appeared throughout the space to accommodate the extra people. Taking a glass, I filled it with wine and sat down in a chair facing the garden. The garden was always so beautiful. Even with the fresh snow, it was like a magical wonderland just outside the doors.

  Staring into the surreal scene, it was difficult not to notice the beautiful robin that perched itself on the ledge of the deck. It seemed to be looking at me. As it tilted its head from side to side, it appeared as if it was trying to become accustomed to having eyes so far apart, but still trying to see me through the window. What a funny little bird. Briefly, I wondered if it was hungry and cold. I couldn’t recall seeing robins in the garden during this time of year before. How odd. Stepping up to the French doors, I reached for the handle wanting to see if the bird was injured, but was halted by the sound of the front door opening ushering in Carolyn who was flamboyant explaining, “I just know it’s alright, Harold.”

  A male voice behind her said, “Well, I still think we should ring the bell, Carolyn.”

  Spotting me from across the room, she was still talking loudly to a couple of older people while walking straight toward me. The male, who I recognized as a partner in the firm Jaxon worked at from a prior dinner party, seemed slightly perturbed but also mildly embarrassed. I turned from the door, and smiled softly to him while slightly waving my hand to let him know it was okay and then made my way toward a strategic spot at the entrance in order to greet the people heading my direction. . . And so it went for the next hour. People saying how sorry they were, me thanking them and directing them toward the food. After the continuous flow dwindled to a couple of stragglers, I was finally able to find Jody, taking a moment to look around for the little smile I needed to see, “How’s Kelsey doing?” Slightly disappointed that she wasn’t nearby, I looked to Jody for reassurance.

  “Oh, honey, she’s gonna be okay. It’s a lot for a little one to take. She’s sleeping right now.”

  As I started in the direction of the stairs, Jody placed her hand on my arm. Glancing down at her round face, her eyes reflected an inner peace I didn’t feel, but knew that meant everything was alright.

  “She ate some food and we read a book. She’s sleeping peacefully with Peanut curled up next to her. Probably best to leave her be right now.”

  Knowing she was right, I sighed and gifted her with a small smile. I didn’t quite feel like it was an accurate reflection of my feelings just then, but it was the effort that counted, right? “Thank you, again, Jody. Are you sure you don’t want to move to Washington with us?”

  “I wish I could, honey. You know how much you and Kelsey mean to me. I’ll visit you as often as I can. I just can’t leave my family.” She looked so sad in that moment, like I just strangled her favorite stuffed animal.

  “I know.” Attempting another smile to try and dispel her sad look, I cleared my throat, “I saw John earlier. He was looking for you. Better go ahead and see what he needs, I think he’s in the kitchen.” Her knowing eyes skimmed my face lightly before she turned and mumbled, “I’ll be right back,” as she scurried off toward the kitchen.

  Again, I found myself drawn to the French doors leading out to the garden. Funny that I never really left the area except for a few moments when I was pulled into a conversation. Almo
st like a magnet kept me there. Or maybe it was the wine. Topping off my empty glass, I turned back to the view.

  Again, I was amazed to see the beautiful robin. The coloring was not quite what I was used to. Brighter and more brilliant coloring, I’d never seen on a robin before. The orange appeared almost as a shiny copper with a prism effect that caused every nuance of light to glint off of its chest. The feathers were a deep, rich brownish gray and the white was as brilliant at the snow. The eyes seemed almost to be a deep shade of cobalt blue rather than the usual black of a bird. It turned and looked right at me again from the side, blinking its eye and then looked away. Lost in thought, I found myself wondering again if I was seeing things. Then, I saw him.

  Standing on the deck, looking at the robin with the same curiosity as my own. He was just as handsome as I remembered. His dark hair was combed back, but longer than I remembered. He wore a sleek black suit with a crisp white shirt that contrasted sharply with the bronze skin showing through the opening at the neck. The suit fit him superbly as if it had been tailored just for him. The outline of his physique could clearly be seen through the material without revealing too much other than his muscular build.

  Oh, dear lord. Who is he? Why was he on the deck? Pressed up against the window panes so tightly that my breath was fogging the window, my pulse was racing. Afraid that a mere hint of air on the window would cause the apparition to disaapear, the breath hung stagnant in my lungs. Like a cool glass of water on a hot day, all I could do was drink in the vision of him standing there. Ouch! There was this ache deep in my belly that curled itself throughout my body in this delicious but painful way. As I stared at him, I licked my lips, suddenly thirsty. Remembering the fresh glass of wine in my hand, I gulped it down while my eyes remained fixed on the vision outside. Empty now, I set the glass on the credenza in front of the window without looking.