Stardust

by Rue Volley

  “You should take Cody to see the flower garden today.”

  I took a breath and cut the sausage on my plate, which smelled amazing, by the way. I slipped a small piece into my mouth and chewed to avoid speaking. The kiss had thrown me, more than I needed it to. She leaned back and then continued on.

  “Cody, the garden is something my family started in this town back in the early 1900’s. It is a staple and has served as a beautiful spot for many a marriage ceremony, including my own and Violet's.”

  Violet shook her head. “Yeah, that worked out well.”

  “I am sorry that you are so bothered by what we did, but your Dad and I felt it was the best for everyone.”

  “How would I know that?” she asked and then continued on as she often did when she was aggravated. “I mean, Dad is gone, he can’t say anything about it, now can he?”

  Mom slammed her hand on the table and everyone jumped a little bit, except for Cody. He slid some sausage into his mouth and chewed, trying to ignore it all. I leaned back and watched as Violet went into defensive mode.

  “Seriously, it is not about you, Mom,” She said as she stood up and my mom’s eyes remained locked on hers.

  “Violet, I do understand that you are not yourself because of your situation, but in my house you will treat me with respect and speak of your Dad kindly, or you are welcome to go home.”

  Violet stood there and then sat back down very slowly. It was not something I had not seen before. Mom had often told us exactly how it would be and it was something you accepted or you were welcome to go elsewhere.

  “I am sorry,” she said as she looked at her plate and then she started to cry. Mom stood up and walked over to her, she placed the back of her hand to her cheek as Violet laid her own hand over Mom’s. She closed her eyes and Mom looked around the table.

  “I miss him, just because we ended our marriage did not mean that I did not love him as a friend, a man who always stood by me, even in divorce, and he did give me my garden of you children. All of you named after the most beautiful flowers in the world to me. All I ever wanted was a family and he gave me that, so I never hated him, I never disrespected him, but what you need to understand is that it took two of us to do this. Two of us to create all of you and two of us to make this house a home.”

  I looked down and then glanced over at Cody as he watched her. His eyes glossy, as everyone’s were.

  “Mom, why don’t you go out in your garden, we can clean up here,” I said and she grinned at me. She nodded and Violet looked up at her and nodded.

  “Okay, then afterward, I suggest that everyone go out and enjoy the day. Tomorrow is the funeral and it will not be easy.”

  She left us all sitting there in silence. Her words carried the weight needed to stop the bickering and bitterness. I felt a bit ashamed that I was worried about how I would feel being here, truth was, I felt at home, as I always had. Regardless of the fact that my sisters were different than I was, regardless of everything. It was home and Mom was right, they had provided it in abundance, even carrying on as if things were normal for our sakes.

  I stood up and grabbed my plate, one by one, the rest of them did too and we all helped clear the table. Once the dishes were done, I looked at Cody. I reached out and took his hand, not afraid to show him a bit of affection and we left the house and headed for the center of town and the “garden” my mom had mentioned to us.

  We stopped and looked up at the large black wrought iron gates. Green ivy wound its way through every bar, the pungent smell of flowers wafting over both of us. I closed my eyes as a cool breeze carried the sweet aroma on the wind. I felt Cody’s grip tighten on my hand and I looked at him. He stared past the gates as if his memory was jolted. I spoke to him as his head quickly turned, allowing his face to light up with a beam of sunlight that rained down through the clouds.

  “Cody, you don’t have to stay here. I mean, I appreciate you coming with me, saving me the initial brunt of my sisters, but honestly, this is not your problem. This is my mine and I just…” He turned to me and pulled my hand up to his chest. I watched as his free hand covered our hands.

  “I wouldn’t dream of leaving,” he said very quietly. I stared into his blue eyes. He looked sincere, as sincere as anyone could be. I parted my lips, ready to concede, but cautiously choosing my words.

  “I just don’t know why…why me? Why did you even come with me?”

  He grinned and leaned in closer to my face. “You really suck at noticing when someone likes you, Jazz.”

  I blinked as the wind blew my hair up around my face and his eyes never broke their gaze on my own. I wanted so badly to lean in and feel his lips against mine again. I wanted for him to hold me close, to feel his body against me. My fingertips hummed as he leaned forward and then a familiar voice broke the moment in two.

  “Jasmine?!”

  We both turned as I saw her walking towards me. Her being my first girlfriend, so to speak. We had never gone all the way, but the kissing and groping had occurred for over a year, my Junior year in high school.

  “Jess?” I said as I let Cody’s hand go and walked up to her. She looked as beautiful as ever. Her hair, dark chocolate brown, hanging in lose natural curls over her shoulders. Her eyes a bright green, so green you would almost think that she must have contacts in, but she didn’t. Her skin was pale, almost white as snow…snow white, as I often called her when we were growing up. She was gorgeous, and I certainly noticed when we were in high school. Our secret world that we had built with each other was something we never even talked about. There was no discussion and when we hit our senior year, life simply pushed us apart, but now, well, here she was, standing before me as pretty as ever. She smiled, her pinkish full lips parting as my eyes inadvertently looked at them. She grabbed me and the hug was tight and meaningful as she whispered into my ear.

  “I am so, so, sorry Jazz, I heard about your dad. I just…I don’t know what to say.”

  She held onto me and then she glanced up at Cody who was watching us very closely. She grinned and let me go, but her hands still rested on my arms.

  “Thank you,” I said to her as she let her eyes glance behind me and I turned and looked at Cody. I turned back to Jess and tried to smile. “That is Cody, he is…”

  “Gorgeous,” she whispered as she leaned in close to my face. I nodded to her as she let me go and walked to him. She extended a hand and he grinned as he took her small pale hand into his own. She shook it with more strength than he expected her to have.

  “I am Jess Jarvis and you are?” she asked him as she continued to shake his hand. He stopped her and lifted her hand up to his mouth and kissed it as her eyebrow rose. She glanced back at me as I crossed my arms on my chest and shrugged my shoulders. “A gentleman, I see,” she added as his lips left her hand and he smiled.

  “Cody Baker.”

  She tilted her head, “So, Cody Baker, how long have you been with Jazz?”

  He laughed as I stepped up next to her and bumped her shoulder. “She is messing with you, I am sure Jess knows the grilling my mom put you through.” He looked into her eyes and then back to me.

  “Well worth it.” He added as he let Jess’s hand go and she glanced at me.

  “Where did you find him and are there anymore?” I laughed as she looked back up at him.

  “I have one brother, but I have to let you down gently and just say that he is married, with children.”

  “Really?” I asked him as his eyes darted to mine and Jess stared at me, curious as to why I did not know that bit of information.

  “Yes. He got married about five years ago, I think.”

  “You think?” Jess asked and he smiled at her.

  “Well, we are not exactly…close.”

  “Ahhhh,” she said as it satisfied her insatiable need to know everything. She was always like that in school, too. She was not a gossiper by trade, but a collector of information nonetheless.

  “You have nice lip
s, I bet you are a good kisser.”

  “Jess,” I said as I rolled my eyes. She laughed and then looked back at him.

  “I am,” he said, without hesitation, and I could not disagree.

  “As good as me?” she asked, as she glanced at me. My cheeks reddened. Cody said nothing, but I am sure he is smart enough to understand an insinuation.

  “Huh,” he said as she wrapped her arm into my own and pulled me through the black gates into the center garden. Cody rubbed his neck a couple of times and then followed us, enjoying his new revelation about me and my apparent need to not mention it.

  Chapter Five

  When The Stars Align

  I stood in the garden and stared at the plaque. It was a dedication to the town of Stillcreek, in honor of the founders of the mill, that of my mom’s family. The McGuires. My mom’s bloodline ran back to the creation of the stars, or so she said. I swear, the way she talked about them, you would think they built the Ark. Truth was they were immigrants, from Ireland. A family with the desire to succeed and so they did when they migrated to Stillcreek in 1803 and started to take advantage of the lush forests surrounding it. When my mom’s great-great-grandfather, Charles, came here with his wife, Rose, they had little to their names but work ethic. Charles took one look around and used the bit of money they had to purchase land, and land was gold. He bought up the hillsides of Stillcreek and began logging. After a year, he had hired a crew, built the mill and started to construct the home that I grew up in.

  I reached out and placed my fingers on the metal plaque and then turned to look at Cody and Jess as her laughter cut through the air like a knife. She had always been one to draw attention to herself and she was even more outgoing when she wanted someone to focus on only her. I knew this all too well as she charmed me when we were growing up. Don’t get me wrong, Jess did not trick me, she just allowed me to truly understand who I am. When I was with her, everything else seemed to not matter. Not the pressures of school, my home life or my fear of the future. I guess I should be grateful that her friendship and the relationship we did have helped me get through the awkwardness of middle school and early high school.

  She reached up and touched his chest as she spoke in a quieter tone, her hand flat against him and she stared into his eyes. Her pouty lips moved, but I could not hear what she was saying. Surely it was something interesting, she always had something to say about everything. I called out to Cody, purely out of need to break them up.

  “This is dedicated to my family,” I said as he grinned at me and nodded. He left her standing there as she watched him walk towards me. Her expression not an angry one, but she definitely knew the competition was stiff.

  I may have had a fling with Jess, but the weird need to outdo each other started when we were twelve and ended when we stopped seeing each other. I still remember the day she walked into school with Brad Bannister on her arm and I stood there, at my locker, holding my books to my chest. The calls and the slumber parties had already stopped, but nothing really prepared me for the shock of it when I saw her grinning up at him, her brown hair bouncing on her shoulders and her expression one of triumph. She had whispered Brad’s name on the wind for years and I knew she had a crush on him, but we…anyway. It was over that day and we never really spoke to any extent afterward, not like we used to. Minus the one late night she called me up and said she missed me, but that quickly faded when we returned to school the following Monday.

  I really think that Jess gave into pressure. I mean, a lot of people do. Seeing that SHE was actually the one who kissed ME first...well, you know what I mean. She had bravely stepped out of the closet for a year and then retreated, to this day, I am not quite sure why. She never said and I never asked her. I simply burned all of her letters to me, telling me how much I meant to her and how we would always be close. The word love sprinkled in here and there just as a means to string me along until she landed the football player she fawned over. Do I sound bitter? I may be, just a little bit, but it was not from heartache, it was from the feeling of being betrayed. I can forgive many things, but disloyalty is not one of them.

  Cody walked up to me and then glanced at the plaque mounted to the large rock in front of me. I grinned at it as he leaned and read it. I looked past him at Jess, who decided she might as well join us because he was not going to simply walk back to her. She sighed and walked up, looking at her nails and then leaning to see the plaque.

  “Jazzy here is royalty.”

  I laughed, it sounded nervous, but truthfully, her words amused me. Like I am royalty of any sort.

  “Oh yeah?” Cody asked as she stood up and looked me over. I rolled my eyes.

  “She is joking, I am not royalty.”

  Jess stepped around him and bent over a little, her jean shorts tight and her butt as round as ever. I glanced at it, but not with interest. Suddenly, her being here was starting to annoy me more than I expected it to.

  “Charles McGuire pretty much built this town into what it is today. Without Jazz’s family, Stillcreek would not be here, none of this would be.”

  I smiled and looked around the garden. “Well it had nothing to do with me.”

  Jess smiled and stepped up behind me. She wrapped her arms around me and I laughed as she rocked us back and forth. “You never were good at taking a compliment.” I stopped her and stepped forward, breaking her hold on me as Cody watched us. She was obviously trying to be cute.

  “I can take a compliment just fine, but the fact that my mom’s ancestors built up this town, and the mill, has nothing to do with me.”

  Jess crossed her arms on her chest and grinned at me. She always loved to push my buttons and maybe I liked it.

  “I am just kidding, I am sorry. Don’t be mad, Jazzy.”

  “It’s just Jazz.”

  She let her arms relax and glanced at Cody. “Okay, well…I need to get back. It was nice meeting you, Cody, and it was great to see you again, Jasmine. Again, I am sorry about your dad. I really liked him, a lot. You know that I did.”

  I looked down as her words sounded sincere. She was also good at that, at switching gears on me, or she used to be. I nodded to her as she hesitated and then decided to not hug me again. She turned and slid her hands into the pockets of her ripped up jean shorts as both Cody and I watched her walk out of the wrought iron gates. I sighed and looked at Cody, who obviously had something to say.

  “She is something else.”

  I paused and then spoke, my voice even and calm. “Yeah, tell me about it.”

  Cody pointed in her direction. “So you and her?” he paused like I may not appreciate the question, but I figured why not. The cat was out of the bag now.

  “Yeah. From freshman year to my junior year in high school.”

  Cody rubbed his neck and then grinned. “So did you guys...you know?”

  I laughed and started to walk away from the plaque as he followed me. I glanced over at him as he stared at me. “No, we did not have sex. We just made out and groped each other.”

  “Mmm.”

  I stopped walking and turned to him. “What?”

  He looked behind him and then back to me. “Nothing,” A sinister grin curled the corner of his lip.

  I tilted my head. “Seriously? What? Are you turned on or something?”

  He raised his hands and laughed. “I mean, come on, who wouldn’t be? Two hot girls…doing stuff.”

  I smacked at him and he backed away from me as he continued to laugh. “So you think she is hot then?”

  “She is cute, but you…you are the hot one.”

  I rolled my eyes at him. “Right.” I continued to walk along the path that lead into a maze of flowers and high shrubbery. I always loved this garden when I was little. It reminded me of a fairy tale and I would pretend that I was lost and needing to be rescued. I stopped as he stepped up next to me and stared at all of the flowers.

  “You will find poppies, roses, violets, daisies and, of course, jasmine here.
In fact, it is everywhere,” I said as my eyes wandered across the landscaping.

  Cody looked at me as the sunlight lit up my face. I looked at him and he turned his face back towards the pathway.

  “My mom played here when she was little and chose all of her children's names and wrote them down in her 'Garden of Children' book.”

  I started to walk again as Cody reached out and took my hand. I looked down at our hands intertwined and allowed it to happen. “Well, she certainly knows how to plan,” he said calmly.

  I smiled. “Yes, she does. It is almost annoying how good she is at it. I mean, it is creepy. She wrote our names down and then willed us here. If anyone could, it would be her.”

  He laughed, “Well, any woman who can have five girls and survive it should get a medal.”

  I stopped and laughed at him. “Seriously?” he shrugged his shoulders. “You know it had to be a nightmare with five teenage girls in one house…be honest.” I bit my lip and then laughed too. “It was a huge nightmare.”

  “How did you survive it?” he asked me.

  I sighed and then walked along, my free hand gently touching the rows of violets flanking my right side. The petals felt soft to the touch and I honestly did not realize how much I missed this place until right this moment.

  “My dad. I mean, I was enough to handle, I am sure, but I was not girly like the rest of them. They were drama, morning, noon and night. I preferred to just hang out in the treehouse and plot survival for the coming apocalypse.”

  He smiled and watched my hand gently gliding along the tops of the flowers, “Well, brothers can suck too.”

  I stopped and stared at the violets and then bit my lip. Cody narrowed his eyes. “Did I say something weird?” I turned to him and looked him over.

  “I had a brother, a baby brother. He didn’t live past two.”