“Darnell.”
Darnell looked up to see Neil standing by the door. “What?”
“They’re waiting to . . .” Neil trailed off. Then he tried again. “They’re waiting to take her body away.”
Darnell nodded his head and slowly stood up. He closed his eyes and turned his head as he saw the nurses enter. He could not leave her just yet, but he could not watch, either.
As they took Tiffany away on the gurney, Darnell looked out the window. People were going about their business as if nothing had happened, as if he had not just lost the woman of his dreams. Darnell put his hands over his face and wept.
Chapter Forty-one
The day of the funeral was sunny and bright. Everybody marveled at the beautiful weather they were given.
Tiffany was as gorgeous as a bride on her wedding day. She was dressed in what would have been her wedding dress, and her hair and make-up were done to perfection.
Karlie clutched Neil’s hand and looked around at the crowd. “I don’t believe it. Even the press is here.”
“Do not concern yourself about them,” Neil assured her. “They’re not important. Concentrate on your nucleus of friends who are here for you.”
Neil crooked his head in Jamaal’s direction. Jamaal sat on her right, and Neil on her left. Jamaal looked superfine in his black suit. His grandmother had bought it for him, and he was rocking it like nobody’s business.
“Karlie, you look like a beautiful angel,” Jamaal whispered. “I love you, and I’m right here for you.”
His words gave her the courage to last through the ceremony. Karlie tried to concentrate as Darnell read the obituary and Neil read the scripture. She barely heard Pastor Johnston’s eulogy. She struggled with the fact that her mother was truly gone.
Then she heard her name called. Karlie bravely marched forward, placing one foot in front of the other until she was behind the podium. She didn’t know how she was going to do this. But she was going to sing her mother’s last song.
“I’m going to sing a new song. My mother wrote it just before she passed, and it meant a lot to her. So, I hope it blesses you too.” Then Karlie opened her mouth. Her voice stopped everyone in the audience and they listened in disbelief. No one knew that Karlie had inherited her mother’s talent.
“Wow.”
“Listen to that voice.”
“She sounds like an angel.”
“I think I’ve found another client!” Winona exclaimed to her husband.
Neil’s heart expanded, seeing her continue her mother’s legacy. Tiffany lived on still in her words, and in Karlie.
Her voice rang loud and clear as Karlie belted out the words:
My old life was just a song
That everybody played.
A tune that everybody heard
But no one really knew the words.
Then the lyrics of true love
Hit my heart with a resounding note
And now I live to sing this song
Of grace and hope–and you.
I am singing a brand-new song
I sway to a different beat
I hear a mesmerizing tune
Echoing back at me
For He rewrote my pain–with everlasting peace.
I sing this song so free
His love gave that to me
His tears washed away past sorrows
As I lay cradled in His arms
There’s no place else that I could feel
This balm that soothes my soul
And now I live to sing this song,
Of grace and hope–and you.
When Karlie finished singing, everyone was in tears. She had done her mother proud and had honored her with the song.
Neil found Karlie’s voice enthralling. The church prompted her to sing the refrain again, and he had to excuse himself to keep from bursting into tears. The song was just so . . . Tiffany. Neil went into the back of the parlor to check on everything. He stopped short when he recognized who was standing there. “Mrs. Peterson?”
Merle jumped with surprise. She certainly had not counted on being recognized.
Neil clamped his mouth shut to keep from causing a scene, knowing the press was there to report it. He firmly grabbed Merle by her shoulders and escorted her outside.
“You are not welcomed here,” he spat out viciously.
“She was my daughter.” Merle was flabbergasted.
“A fact you have completely ignored for the past sixteen years.”
“I just came to pay my last respects,” Merle said.
“Please spare the drama for someone who’ll believe you,” Neil snarled. “Your only reason for showing face is to find out about the money.”
Merle held her heart with obvious shock. “I loved my daughter.”
“You did not give two cents about her. Tiffany begged me to call you when she was in the hospital, and you did not even deign to visit her. Not even once. Tiffany was willing to forgive you. I, on the other hand, am not. You are a cold, heartless excuse for a woman.”
“She was my blood,” Merle shouted. Any pretense of dignity was long gone.
“Get out,” Neil commanded angrily. “Your daughter died thinking she was a whore because of you and what your sick husband did to her.”
“I j-just wanted to s-say good-bye and t-tell her that I am sorry I didn’t come to see her at the hospital,” Merle stammered.
“Spare me the fake regret,” Neil bellowed. “Your sorrow means nothing now that she is dead.” He moved toward the older woman as anger shot through his spine. He was going to wrap his hands around her neck and strangle the life out of her. Merle Peterson did not deserve to be alive while her daughter lay in the grave.
Merle backed away from Neil in shock. Her eyes were pinned on something behind him.
Neil turned his head to see Karlie standing by the door. She was obviously looking for him. He was relieved that Karlie was still far enough away not to have heard the exchange.
“His eyes,” Merle said with stunned disbelief.
“Go,” Neil commanded with desperation. Karlie was coming closer.
Merle turned and almost fell in a mass at his feet. She walked away, whispering, “She has Clifford’s eyes.”
Merle did not know how she had even made it home in one piece. She did not know how to handle the guilt that now consumed her entire being. She opened a bottle of scotch and drank the entire bottle, attempting to get those piercing eyes out of her mind.
In a drunken fit, Merle took all of Clifford’s pictures and belongings and threw them in the middle of her living room floor. She cursed him and called him all kinds of names while she was doing it.
Not that it would do any good now. Her daughter was gone. Merle could not right the wrong that she had done. She went into her cabinet and opened another bottle of liquor. She drank it straight from the bottle.
Swaying, Merle got a match from her kitchen. She was going to burn everything that had belonged to him. She held the bottle at a tilt so half of it emptied as she walked.
In one huge motion, Merle swung the match into the pile of pictures and clothes. She hadn’t tracked just how much liquor she had poured. The flame and the liquor made contact, and the fire quickly spread, greedily lapping up everything in its path. Then the fire raged out of control, spreading to the curtains, the carpet, the staircase . . . all around . . . everywhere.
Merle instantly sobered when she saw what was happening. She flailed her arms as if that could stop the fiery monster now eating away at her legs . . . her dress . . . her face. Flames engulfed her body as she stopped, dropped, and rolled. Merle could not escape and screamed as the fire devoured her greedily.
The three-alarm fire was the headline on the ten o’clock news.
Neil listened as the news anchor stated that the woman being rushed to the hospital was none other than Merle Peterson, mother of the late Tiffany Knightly. She was now fighting for her life.
Good, Nei
l thought. Let her fight as her daughter fought for hers. Knowing, the old bat, she will probably survive.
Neil listened with half an ear as the anchor sensationalized the two tragedies within the same family, which had occurred in such a brief span of time. He sat back with relief and smiled. Merle would never be the same after that. The pain Tiffany had felt on the inside, Merle would wear on the outside. Neil did not feel any remorse at his terrible thoughts. Vengeance was indeed the Lord’s, and He had repaid in full.
Chapter Forty-two
Karlie was all packed and ready to go. Jamaal, Brian, and Tanya were all there to help her. She expected Thomas to pull up at any minute outside Neil’s house.
It had already been two weeks since her mother’s death, and Karlie could not have imagined that time would fly by so quickly. She had thought for sure that time would stand still, but it seemed to keep on moving. Life was still going on.
The attorney had read her mother’s will, which left almost all her assets to Karlie and a hefty portion to Thomas. Tiffany had declared Neil the head of her estate until Karlie reached twenty-one. But Tiffany had generously bequeathed a full scholarship for Jamaal and a hefty monthly allowance. Karlie had been pleasantly surprised. Jamaal’s grandmother had fainted when she heard the news, but he’d taken it in stride. Karlie saw him wiping tears from the corners of his eyes, though, when he thought no one was looking.
Inheriting her mother’s generous nature, Karlie had insisted Neil foot Merle’s hospital’s bills. It was the Christian thing to do, and Karlie knew her mother would approve. Neil had bitterly stated that Merle Peterson would live with that lie Clifford had told her to the grave. Karlie had then countered that she, Neil, and Thomas would take their truth to theirs.
The only thing left for Karlie to do was to say good-bye to her friends and Neil. It was a sad and teary farewell among the friends. Everybody hugged and promised to keep in touch. She was going to miss them all.
Gathering her courage, Karlie walked over to where Neil and Myra stood. “I guess this is good-bye.” She valiantly refused to cry.
“I wish you all the best, Karlie,” Myra said before going into her house.
Neil noticed Myra’s quick exit and bit his lip. He gave Karlie a big hug. He did not want her to go but knew he could not say the words aloud. “I have those pictures and letters if you still want them.”
“No,” Karlie said. “Keep them. I want you to have something to remember me with.”
“Karlie,” Neil chided, “I won’t forget you. I could never forget you. To me, you’re my . . . I love you.”
Karlie sniffed. “I won’t forget you, either, Neil. You have been more of a father to me than anybody else, and I thank you for that.”
They heard a horn toot and looked to see Thomas waving at them. He had already packed her carry-on bags and their luggage in the car. Karlie stepped away from Neil and ran over to the car. She jumped in, and the car sped off.
Neil stood at the door for several minutes. He watched Karlie speed out of his life as quickly as she had entered. He immediately felt sorry that he had not stepped up to the plate and done the right thing. Neil slammed the door with a bang and entered his house.
Losing Tiffany to cancer and then Karlie because of Myra’s selfishness ate at Neil’s heart. He stewed in his bitterness for another couple of weeks before he finally exploded. He pulled into his driveway one evening after work and went in search of Myra. She was talking on the telephone as if everything was all right. As if she had not driven a knife through his heart.
Neil took the phone out of her hands and slammed it into the cradle. “Myra, I am leaving you. I am going to get Karlie. She is my daughter and she needs me and I promised her mother I would look out for her.”
Angry, Myra snidely remarked, “What? You got a thing for the daughter like you did the mother?”
Neil instinctively raised his hands and stepped toward Myra. Then his anger dissipated, and he stepped away from her. He could never lay a hand on her, not even now.
“You have got to be the most selfish woman on the face of this earth. What kind of heart do you have, Myra? Your best friend died and her daughter has no real home, but you can only think of yourself. I have to wonder what kind of woman I have really shackled myself to. You are thoughtless and insensitive beyond belief.”
Myra’s mouth popped open like a fish’s. “You have no right to address me in that way, Neil,” she sputtered. “I was only being honest with how I feel. That is not selfish.”
“It is selfish,” Neil argued. “And it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Myra, you are making me regret that you bear my last name.”
“Oh!” Myra exclaimed. “Why are you being so nasty and vile toward me? Karlie isn’t even your child.”
“Not biologically, no. But Karlie deserves to be with someone who knows and loves her, Myra. She just lost the only family she had in the world, and for all intents and purposes, she is my child.”
Myra purposely tightened her fists, refusing to concede.
Neil shook his head with incredulity. “Myra, won’t you even consider it for me?” Neil pleaded with her one last time.
Myra shook her head. “This is our first chance to be parents, Neil. We do not need a teenager in the way.”
“I see,” Neil said sadly. “So the only reason you wanted her was because you did not think you would ever get pregnant. Is that it?”
Myra nodded her head in the affirmative. She felt free to tell the truth because she knew Neil would not leave her now, not when she was pregnant with his first and possibly only child. A child was a gift more precious than gold.
Neil knew that there was no need for any more words, because Myra had made up her mind. Nonetheless, he persisted. “Myra, please.”
“My mind is made up, so I suggest you accept it, Neil. I did not want it to come to this, but now I see that it must. I am giving you a choice, Neil. It is either me and your child, or Karlie. You cannot have both.”
“I do not work well with ultimatums, Myra,” Neil warned.
“Take it or leave it,” Myra replied. She made the rash comment, confident that Neil would back down.
“Then I guess this is good-bye, Myra,” Neil said firmly. “And as for my child, I will see you in court when the time comes.” He left Myra standing there after that comment.
She cringed when she heard the door slam. A searing pain shot through her body. Myra clutched her stomach and fell to the floor.
Neil booked his flight for California. He would leave in two days. He could not wait to see Karlie. Neil had called Thomas, who said that Karlie was not happy. Thomas loved her enough to let her go with Neil. Hearing that cemented Neil’s decision. Karlie was his, and she belonged with him.
Thomas didn’t tell Karlie that Neil was coming, knowing she would love the surprise.
After he had walked out on Myra last night, Neil had headed to the office, intent on bunking out there, until he remembered that Tiffany had given him a key to her place. So tonight he intended to sleep there.
When he parked in front of Tiffany’s house later that day, an older woman came through her gate and ran over to him. Neil recognized Ms. Brown almost immediately.
“Thank God you are back. I saw an ambulance transporting Myra to the hospital. I do not know what was wrong. The paramedics would not tell me anything.”
“Do you know which hospital?” he asked with alarm.
“No.” Ms. Brown shook her head over and over again to emphasize her point. “I don’t have a clue where they took her.”
Neil thanked the older woman and rushed in the house to get out the phone book. He punched in the numbers to Long Island Jewish first. If Myra was not there, he would call Winthrop next.
Lucky for him, Myra was at Long Island Jewish. Neil thanked the operator and raced over to the hospital as fast as he could. On the way there, he prayed countless times that Myra would be okay. He was upset at her, but he did not think he would be abl
e to live with himself if anything happened to her or the baby.
Neil entered the obstetrics ward and asked a nurse for Myra’s room. He walked up to the door and opened it slowly. He could not help but shiver at the memory of what had happened the last time that he was inside a hospital. Tiffany had died.
Myra turned her head and exhaled with relief when she saw her husband standing there. She opened her arms, and Neil hugged her. “Thank God, you are all right,” he said. “I do not know what I would have done without you.”
“No, Neil,” Myra said. “You have it all wrong. I cannot imagine my life without you.”
Neil shifted before placing his hand over her midsection. He looked at his wife with the question in his eyes.
“Our baby is fine. But Dr. Friedrick warned that he might put me on bed rest if the contractions return. He is concerned because since I am thirty-four, I may be at risk for placenta previa, which is when the placenta is attached low in the uterus. He told me, though, that ninety percent of the time it goes away on its own, but he’d know more when I come back for the ultrasound in three weeks. In the meantime, I’m not going to worry. God will see me through,” Myra stated confidently.
“I am so sorry I wasn’t here, Myra,” Neil said and released a heart-wrenching sigh.
“Do not apologize, Neil,” Myra interjected quickly. “Please do not say you are sorry, because you are only going to make me feel worse than I already do.”
Neil sat on the bed next to his wife to hear her out.
“Once you walked through that door, I knew that I had lost you for good over something that was so stupid. Neil, I was just jealous.”
“Of what?” Neil asked.
“I was jealous of the way that you were with Tiffany, and I transposed all those feelings onto Karlie,” Myra confessed. “I also stupidly thought that with Karlie there, that would take something away from the baby.”
Sing A New Song Page 26