Dominic had known about that. The only reason that they’d been able to stop the three people that he’d signed off on—two of which were pedophiles, the third a whole other kind of monster—was because they’d heard about him through his dad. Dad had read an article a few years before, and the name of the man had stuck with him.
They rocked for a little longer, neither of them feeling the need to fill the space with words. Each of them talked with the family members that came by, but for the most part they just enjoyed the afternoon. Then Dominic decided to go find his dad. After telling Charlie where he was going, he stood up.
“Good. I’m going to find Sham. I want to see if I can get him to cuss again. He’s not only bad at it, but I swear he makes me laugh harder than anyone when he says things like fiddle-dee-dee and flibbertigibbet.” She laughed after kissing him. “I love you, Dominic.”
Finding his dad was made easier because he was forever where there were children. It looked to him like he was pushing about ten swings, running back and forth between them and smiling like a loon.
~*~
Kelley was glad for the rest, if he was honest with himself. Sitting next to Dominic, he tried to calm his breathing down and the little bit of pounding to his heart. When Dominic laughed, he asked him what was so durn funny.
“You. You making yourself exhausted to push a few swings. You do know that you can tell them no, don’t you? I mean, they’re going to be around forever with you.” Kelley didn’t answer—he didn’t know how his boy would take it. “They all love you, Dad. Even if you never pushed the swing for them.”
“I know that, I surely do. But I love it. A man like me…. Well, I have to tell you, Son, I never in all my days thought that I’d be around to see my grandchildren coming into the world, much less great great great ones.” Kelley saw his Sara sitting over there with the breeding women. “I don’t want to miss a minute of living, you see. Every day when I wake up, I feel like I’ve been given a great blessing by being here. With all of you. To tell them that I just ain’t got it in me to push a little old swing.... Well, I tell you what.”
“I don’t think we say this enough to you, Dad, but we all love you and Mom a great deal. The thought of you not being here to push a swing for my grandchildren would have broken my heart.” Kelley told him that they all said it all the time to him, but it was good to hear. “It is. Having my children say it to me feels so wonderful. But I have to admit, Dad, it’s even more special to hear it from a grandchild.” Kelley pulled out his handkerchief, wiping his eyes free of the tears gathering there. Then he blew his nose loudly. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I love you.”
“Well, you did, but in a good way. My heart is so full right now that my eyes leak out a bit now and again when it becomes too much. These here, they’re tears of happiness. All of them.” Dominic asked him what he’d want if he was given one wish. “One wish, huh? Well, let me think on that a bit. One wish.”
“I just wondered, because for me the one wish would be to be able to see things through a little faster for the people that we help with the different foundations and charities that we have.” Kelley told him that was a good one. “Thanks. But then I remember the way things were before, and I find that sort of lonely. I love my life.”
“Yes, sir, I do too. My one wish is impossible, I know that. I wish that that old buzzard Mr. Cartwright was here about now. What do you think he’d say to all this here family fun?” Dominic said that whatever it was, he’d be having fun. “I believe you’re right. But he’d also be taking over my job of swinging them kids.”
Kelley thought of Mr. Cartwright every single day. The man had broken bread with them nearly every night until he passed on. There were days that he cursed the man for what he’d done, leaving them all that money and such, but most days he thanked him. Without him, his boys would never have become as successful as they had.
Not to say that they’d have been bums and no good men. Nah, not his boys. But it sure helped that they’d had the money and the means to get themselves in a position that they could have meat at every meal. Not to mention, the house to have it in.
The kids were calling for him again and he went back to pushing them. Kelley hadn’t ever been a scholar sort of a person, but he knew what was what. It hadn’t been until he was gone that Kelley came to realize that Arnold Cartwright had been a friend. A very good one too.
It wasn’t the money either. It was how he’d never mentioned that he had it. Never said a word on how he could have been eating a good deal better at a fine dining place. Or that he could have had meat every day of the week. No, he was a friend of the heart, and that there was something he had given them as well. His heart. There wasn’t no better friend than one that put his heart on the line. Thinking of him, as he did so often, he thanked the man again.
I know you durn well and good enough to know that you’re sitting up there laughing at this here sight. That lady wife of yours, she must think you’re plum crazy telling her the stories about us. Well, as I usually do, even if I’m a little upset with you, I wanted to thank you for this again. I know it’s not the money that brings us here once a year, but the love of us. But without your generosity, I don’t think it would have happened just the way that it did. Pushing one of those swings for the tiny kids, he slowed it down a bit when Alma looked as if she was about to go sailing without him. You don’t know how much I wish you were here with us about now. I can almost see you here beside me, talking about this and that as we always did. I want you to know too that there ain’t a generation that doesn’t have a few children named after you and Ms. Mary. If anyone was able to keep your remembrance in our hearts, it’s hearing another of my boys has a child named for you and Mary.
A few of the older kids came to help him with the swings. The laughter, all of it, made Kelley feel the best. Even when one or two of the kids got themselves in a pickle or two, he’d be there to kiss the boo-boo and bandage them up if it was necessary. There were some that would just come to him, and he’d have to be giving them a hug. Which, even though he’d hugged more in the last years of his life, he’d never ever turn down a hug again and again from the same child or adult.
Because there were so many of them having themselves a picnic, Sara had decided to have things catered. She said, and his Sara was forever correct in her thinking, that she’d rather have time to visit than to fix up the food for all of them. It was a fine idea by him. The money spent for it was nothing compared to the feelings that he got to share this day with everyone instead of being shooed out of the kitchen all the time.
When the caterers called out to them that they was ready for them, he and his Sara was put to the front of the line. He knew that it was an honorary thing, but it embarrassed him some too. Telling the person behind the table what it was he wanted, he made this way down the line to the drink station. There sure was a lot to choose from, he thought as he settled at one of the long tables with his three plates of food.
“You old turd. What did you think? That there’d not be enough food for you to make a few extra trips?” Kelley started to point to the line of family that was still waiting their turn, and didn’t think that would go over well with Sara. “What if one of them grandkids can’t have a piece of pie because you hogged up three slices?”
“Or maybe when they want the pie, they can come see me and we can share it while this here kid you’re talking about going without is a sitting on my lap. Did you think of that?” He hadn’t either until that very moment. By the look on her face, Sara didn’t much believe him either. “See here? I’m putting two of the pieces aside so I can share with one or two of them. Stop fussing at me, woman. I’m not going to be mad on this day. It’s special.”
“It is at that.” She stared down at her own plate while he watched her. “Did you ever think that we’d be here for all of this? Did you ever wonder what it would be like to have to have our grandch
ildren wear name tags so we’d know their names?”
“No, I didn’t. But I’m thankful for it. I like too that this year they put the name of our sons on the tags, so that we’d know which son they were coming from. Most of them, I don’t know if you noticed or not, are from Dominic. It seemed to me for a few years in a row there that they were bringing another child into their lives. Their kids, they do the same, helping those that need them. We did all right, don’t you think? Raising our boys up?” She told him that they had, and that she loved him for it. “And I love you, my Sara love. To think all them times when we had old Mr. Cartwright over, we was on the brink of being homeless. Not to mention having barely enough to feed ourselves, much less him too. But I’d not trade them dinners for the world, I tell you what.”
“Neither would I. He was a good man, and a better friend than we’ve had before him or since. I think of him often. I know you talk to him daily, but I think on things that remind me how lonely he was. How much he looked forward to coming over nightly and hanging out with the boys. The way our sons went out of their way to be good to him makes me think they always thought of him as their grandda. And in all that time, he never mentioned once how much he had, nor did he ever seem to mind that we were as poor as church mice.”
“I don’t think it ever once occurred to him that he was anything to us but a grandda to them boys and our dearest friend. I mean, I sometimes even thought of him as a father figure. Lord know he was a better man than mine ever was.” Sara said nothing, but she knew what was what. Never once had his own father wanted anything to do with his sons. “I tell you what. I ain’t never gonna forget him, Sara. He did us a good thing by taking us under his wing.”
As Kelley sat there sipping at his tea and contemplating whether or not he could eat one of the two pieces of pie without getting into trouble, he felt a warm breeze run over the back of his neck. Before he could figure on what it might be, Rayne came and sat across from him. It was her smile that made him a tad bit nervous to ask her what was going on.
Sara just then decided that she was going to have herself another piece of cake when Rayne asked if she could speak to him.
“I’m not so sure. I have a feeling that you ain’t here to shoot the breeze, are you?” She smiled and shook her head. “Whatever it is, do you think it’s going to upset me?”
“I hope not. You have a visitor. Well, two of them. They wish to speak to you.” Kelley nor Sara neither one had been able to see the ghosts. Which was fine by him. “Do you want to speak to them?”
“Do I?” Rayne laughed and said that she was sure that he did. “All right then. But if I keel over I’m going to blame it all on you. All right then?”
“Yes. That would be fine with me. So long as you get up and be the loveable man I’ve always known you to be.” Kelley felt his face heat up in embarrassment. “Kelley, Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright have come to visit you, as they have every year since we’ve been putting this on. But this time, they have things to say to you.”
“Hello, Kelley, my dear boy.” Kelley couldn’t help it, he burst into tears. There he was, the man himself. “Now don’t be getting all blubbery on me. I’ve come to introduce you to my lovely mate, Mary. We’ve come here today to tell you what a fine job you’ve done with everything I left you. I couldn’t be prouder of you if you were my own son. I think of you as my own anyway.”
“You should have told us. Should have made us aware you was worth more than I’d ever see in my life until you passed on.” Arnold asked him if he’d have treated him any differently if he’d known. “I don’t know that, now do I? You didn’t let us decide.”
“No, but to see your faces when you were given all that I had made it so much easier for me to leave you to it. To go to where I was needed more. With my Mary dear.” Kelley wondered if she’d known about her husband’s plans. “She did. Because just as you do now, I spoke to her daily, giving her updates on what I’d done that day. How much I had enjoyed having friends that loved me for what I was, not for what I had. That was you, Kelley. You did love me.”
“I did, and I still do. Them was some powerful memories you helped us create. And even now, I know that you were a part of the ones we have now.” Arnold told him that it was them that had created the memories. “Had you not helped us all along, there is no telling what sort of nightmares we’d of had.”
“Kelley, from what my Arnold was telling me, you would have survived either way. This, the money that he left for you and your family, it was a way to boost your life. You’re a man that wouldn’t have given up no matter what was going on.” Kelley thanked Mary. “No, it’s I who should be thanking you. Without you and your son Caleb here to take care of my Arnold, he might not have been able to come to me. We owe you so much more than we ever were able to give to your family. I came…we came here to thank you. For everything.”
“You’re making me all weepy, Arnold. This is a day for fun and being with family. What I’d not give for you to be here with us all.” Mary told him that they were there. “I mean in the flesh. It sure would do us a goodly amount of pleasure if you were. I tell you what.”
“We also came to say goodbye. We won’t be able to visit you here any longer.” Kelley asked them why not. “Our time on earth has taken away from us being together again. We’re old, Kelley, much older than even you are. Now that we know that you’re as happy as ever, we no longer need to watch over you. You no longer need us.”
“But we do.”
They were gone in that moment, just disappearing like it wasn’t the greatest thing in the world to have them both there. Then he felt the warmest warm air on his neck, and he knew that they’d really gone. Kelley sat there all alone at his table, sobbing like one of the kiddies when they fell down. He surely was gonna miss them two.
Before You Go…
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Kathi Barton, winner of the Pinnacle Book Achievement award as well as a best-selling author on Amazon and All Romance books, lives in Nashport, Ohio with her husband Paul. When not creating new worlds and romance, Kathi and her husband enjoy camping and going to auctions. She can also be seen at county fairs with her husband who is an artist and potter.
Her muse, a cross between Jimmy Stewart and Hugh Jackman, brings her stories to life for her readers in a way that has them coming back time and again for more. Her favorite genre is paranormal romance with a great deal of spice. You can visit Kathi online and drop her an email if you’d like. She loves hearing from her fans. [email protected].
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
9781950890996_TXT_eBook Page 16