Where Promises Die: A Second Chance Romance

by R. C. Stephens

  Eisav carried on, singing ballad after ballad, during which time he mesmerized the crowd. People called out his name, singing his words alongside him. Singing had been his dream before he ever met Grace, yet the moment she came into his life she instantly was more important. Life had been lonely without her. His father put him down and his mother supported his father. His sisters were too scared to intervene. His life had been a lonely mess until Grace appeared. She became his inspiration, his muse. Now three years after walking away from her, he was grateful for his success. The odds had been against him. So many other musicians he met along the way were struggling to make something out of themselves and had failed, yet here he was in front of a crowd of twenty thousand fans. He had persevered, made it happen, but he wasn’t content.

  After the show, he went back to the hotel where he was staying with his band. Paparazzi were already lined up outside with their cameras poised to take the perfect shot. His black SUV paused in front of the hotel. One of his band mates mentioned having a small party in his room tonight. Of course the groupies that followed them everywhere were sometimes invited to join in on the fun. Doom, his drummer, instructed security to find “ten pieces of hot, young ass.”

  Feeling down on himself, Eisav accompanied the rest of the band into Doom’s master suite where he drank booze like water while the band engaged in an orgy with the ten young, hot pieces of ass. He watched, but didn’t touch.

  The sound of a ringing phone sounded more like someone hitting a hammer on a piece of metal. Eisav’s head throbbed. He was sure he was hearing things because he gave the hotel strict instructions to hold all calls and to stream them through to Ilana. The ringing persisted and it was then he realized that this wasn’t a bad dream or an attempt to make him feel worse in his hungover state—it was actually a phone ringing, which meant it was Ilana, which meant it was important.

  He blindly ran his hand over the side table next to his bed in search of the ringing problem. His palm finally landed on the headset. He picked it up and put it to his ear.

  “Yeah,” he rasped.

  “Eisav, are you decent? I need to come to your room. We need to talk.” Ilana’s voice carried a serious tone. Something must be going on because she knew better than to bother him after a night of partying.

  “What is it for Christ’s sake?” he shouted into the phone. With the pounding headache and his foul mood, his patience was shot.

  “I’m coming to your room and if you’re naked, it’s your problem not mine,” Ilana said with an assertive tone. She had been working with him long enough not to be fazed by his good looks, and she was more than used to his brooding personality. Besides, she preferred the female persuasion.

  “Fine.” Eisav hung up the phone. He forced himself out of bed. Trudging to the bathroom to relieve himself was a task of great proportions. It was only ten in the morning after a rough night. The knock on the door came faster than he expected. He gazed down to his boxer shorts thinking he was covered enough for Ilana. Besides, his bare chest caused no reaction from her, which was a relief because he hated dealing with all the female attention. He loved people, enjoyed his music, but didn’t enjoy the part of being put on a pedestal. He was a simple normal guy from Sade, Iowa. He fed chickens and cared for horses for Christ’s sake. Another impatient knock caused the throbbing in his head to worsen.

  “Okay, I’m coming,” he called out, heading for the door. He opened it briskly to a frowning Ilana already dressed in jeans and a T-shirt with two cups of coffee in her hands. Yes, she was an angel. This was why he employed her for so long.

  “Thanks for the coffee.” He grinned sheepishly, taking it out of her hand.

  “You truly are beautiful,” she said as her eyes grazed over his body, from his wide shoulders to his toned abs. “Too bad I don’t like dick.” She winked at him before walking into his suite, taking a seat on a couch. Eisav stood standing by the door, wondering why the hell she was staying and what could be so important. “You better sit for this,” she eyed him warily and tilted her head to the chair across from her.

  Eisav walked over and took a seat in the chair. Taking a sip of his coffee, he waited for Ilana to speak. “So what is it?” he asked, taking another sip of his coffee. It was double-double and exactly how he liked it.

  “I don’t know how to tell you this,” she almost whimpered and it looked like she had tears swelling in her eyes.

  Eisav suddenly feared that she wanted to quit and not only did she choose a poor ass time to do it, but he would never let her quit. He’d just up her salary. She was worth every cent anyway.

  “Your mother called the hotel looking for you.” Ilana began hesitantly.

  Eisav burst into laughter. “You know everything there is to know about my family. You should know it was a prank. My mother would never call,” he said, rolling his eyes and falling back into the chair. Ilana did know everything there was to know about him, but he also knew everything there was to know about her. He knew she also grew up in the Midwest in a Catholic family where she was persecuted for liking girls. Her family had suspected for a long time that, that was the case and when she came out and told them she was gay, they told her to leave and never contacted her again. Yes, Eisav and Ilana shared a familiar bond of pain knowing what it was like to be ostracized from your family. The bond not only strengthened their friendship but their business relationship too, since they both had to succeed and they both had no family to fall back on. The fact that she was now sitting in front of him mentioning his mother was more than a little odd.

  “Eisav, don’t roll your eyes at me. This woman … she knew things … about you and Grace.” She paused.

  “Ilana, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out I loved a girl named Grace. I wrote a song all about it.”

  “She mentioned Jacob, Marie, Ida, and Greta too.” Ilana lifted a brow. “That’s not all …” She paused and her face grew sad. “Your father died, Eisav. Your mom wants you to come home for the funeral.”

  At Ilana’s last words, Eisav shot up from the chair and some hot coffee spilled into his lap. He began pacing the small sitting area of the suite, wondering if this was all true. He didn’t know whether to feel relief, sadness or maybe both.

  “Say something.” Ilana’s voice pulled him out of his dark hole.

  He ran a hand roughly over his chin where a few days of stubble had grown, and he let out a strangled laugh. “What do I say? The man wanted to kill me. He shoved a fucking rifle in my mouth.”

  “Your mother said she contacted Ida too. She wants all her children home for the funeral. She said if you can’t bring yourself to come home and show your father his last respects, then to at least come home for her. She said she never wanted to let you or Ida go, but she felt like she had no choice given the circumstances.”

  “FUCK!” Eisav took his cup of coffee and whipped it at the wall. The coffee splattered all over the expensive wallpaper and drapes.

  “That’s going to cost you,” Ilana mumbled.

  “I don’t fucking care. Did my mother mention Grace? Will she be there?” he asked with hope in his tone. He felt borderline crazy right now. The girl had stolen his heart and never got in touch with him. Why was he asking about her now? Maybe she was married with children. It could very much have been the case if she did what his father wanted. The thought made Eisav cringe.

  “Your mom didn’t say. The conversation was short. The hotel wouldn’t put her through to your room. I told her I would talk to you, that it was the best I could do, but I also told her I couldn’t make any promises about you calling,” Ilana explained.

  The mention of promises got Eisav’s blood boiling.

  “What are you going to do? She wants you home immediately for the wake. It begins tomorrow. You have the London show tomorrow and the Billboards Sunday night. This is seriously bad timing,” Ilana continued to ramble.

  If Eisav’s head was pounding before, now it was spinning too, because deep down as
much as he wanted to turn his head and walk away from his family the way they walked away from him, he couldn’t. He needed to know what happened to Grace. He needed to know that at least she found happiness. He also missed his sisters. They had, for the most part, been good siblings. Greta tried so hard to lift him up when his parents pushed him down. Ida was just as fun and wild as he was, and Marie was always just simple, sweet Marie. Eisav’s mind then switched to Jacob and anger filled his veins. He always suspected Jacob tipped off his father the night he and Grace were caught. If it were Jacob, he could never forgive him.

  “Eisav,” Ilana snapped, pulling him out of his reverie, “should I book you a plane ticket?”

  “Yes, get me on a flight immediately, please. And cancel the show tomorrow night.” Eisav shot out the orders, his mind on overdrive.

  He hadn’t noticed that Ilana had stood up from the couch and was standing with her hands on each side of her hips, her head tilted sideways and her lips turned down. “Eisav?” she called. “Are you sure you want to cancel the show tomorrow night? It’s London. You’ve been looking forward to it. Maybe do the show tomorrow and fly out afterward. It will also give you time to digest all of this,” she said sympathetically, crossing the room and placing a hand on his shoulder.

  She was right. He needed to calm the hell down. He needed perspective. “Okay, book me a night flight out of London. I’ll fly out after the show. We need to cancel the Billboards,” he said with an airy tone. He had no idea how he was going to get through the show tomorrow night with all this new information sitting heavily on his chest. He didn’t confess that to Ilana, though. Even though she knew he was broken, he didn’t want her to realize just how much.

  The plane ride home was brutal. Between a stopover and all the bad thoughts and questions running through his mind, Eisav was just about ready to crawl out of his own skin. He was kicking himself for not buying a private jet, even though he was never a fan of extravagance. He had a nice car and pad back in LA but for his rock-star status, he lived a modest life. He kept the old motorcycle he bought back in Sade before his family disowned him, proving he was sentimental too. So much so that at the first mention of home, he wanted to drop everything in order to finally reunite with Grace.

  When the plane finally landed in Des Moines International Airport, Eisav was a tight ball of nerves. All he could think about was Grace. He couldn’t help but worry that maybe something bad happened to her over the years and that’s why she never came for him. He even thought about stopping at one of the old bars he used to hang out in before heading home, just to take the edge off, but thinking of Grace and the possibility that he may see her had him so riled up he couldn’t make it back to the old Duncan farm fast enough.

  With a large suitcase and carry-on luggage, he hopped in the first cab waiting outside and directed the driver to Sade. Some people had recognized him on the plane, despite the cap he wore to hide his identity. He was no longer a private person, but a public figure. Now, sitting in the back of a cab, he was just a simple man returning to a home and family that he had been extricated from. He never thought this day would come, and he wasn’t sure if going home was the right thing to do. After all, they relinquished all ties. They abandoned him. His dark feelings made his stomach turn as the cab drove down the familiar dirt roads. He couldn’t help but wonder if he was making a mistake by coming home. The rain came down in slow, silvery drops at first, followed by heavier droplets, then a complete downpour. The weather in the Midwest in early spring had always been so unpredictable. He remembered the two tornados that had touched done in Sade years ago. It made him think of Grace. She never really got used to the storms that came with tornado season. They always made her so anxious. As Eisav stared out the window of the cab, he looked up to the heavens and wondered where he’d gone wrong. He was never an angel, this was true, but he never thought himself to be a bad person. His breaths grew shallow and it felt almost as if he was hyperventilating himself. He wanted to ask the cab driver to stop along the road so he could step out in the rain and breathe fresh air. He hoped maybe the rain could wash the pain away. The pain had stuck to his chest each day since he left this small town. As the memory of the night he left came to the forefront of his mind, he remembered going into his mother’s room to say goodbye. She hadn’t tried to stop him from leaving and barely made eye contact with him. His sisters … three damn years had gone by and not one of them tried to contact him. The private investigator he sent to look for Ida always came back saying she slipped through his fingers. He had followed her from Chicago to Detroit and understood that she was into drugs and other trouble, but the P.I. told Eisav she hadn’t wanted to be found and that he needed to let it go. The news stung Eisav hard. He thought Ida would be the only one who could truly understand him. If she needed help, he had more than enough money to help her. So he sent a second private investigator, who returned with the same results saying “she wants to be left alone.” There wasn’t more he felt he could do after that. It’s probably why the feeling of betrayal and hurt stung like an open wound now, because yes, Eisav was returning to the kingdom he was born, but not to the land that was his. The family, the farm … they weren’t connected to him at all. He wanted to convince himself that Grace wasn’t either, but it would be a damn lie. The girl stole his heart at age thirteen, made him her soul mate, then disappeared from his life. That kind of connection never breaks; it only simmers like a pot waiting to boil over. As he thought of Grace, he wondered about Jacob, his twin. Jacob always had contempt for him. If Eisav wondered about Jacob’s intentions the night his father came into the forest to discover him with Grace, he was now convinced that his own brother betrayed him. Eisav clenched his fist and wondered how the hell he was going to keep three years of rage under control now that the driver approached his old house—a house because it truly was never his home. A home was something he never had, but something he had wanted to build with Grace.

  Eisav directed the driver up the long drive. Not much had changed. The white siding had aged some but it was exactly how he remembered it, aside from a few cars he didn’t recognize parked off to the side.

  He stepped out of the cab, paid the driver, and gathered his things. The rain had now eased up. As he approached the front door, it swung open and there in front of him stood his good-hearted sister, Greta. She was a woman now, more curvaceous than she had been. Behind her stood a little blond girl holding her dress. As Eisav approached, Greta’s eyes grew watery.

  “Eisav.” She sighed, holding onto her heart.

  Eisav was relieved it was Greta at the door to greet him because he didn’t know how he would react if it were someone else.

  “Greta.” He stepped in from the rain, and Greta threw her arms around his neck. It took him a moment before he returned the gesture.

  “It’s so good to see you,” she whispered in his ear. “I’m so sorry.” She pulled her head back, assessing him, and he wondered what she meant by those words. Was she sorry for their father’s passing? Was she sorry for never contacting him?

  As Eisav took in the little girl holding on to her dress, he smiled down to her. He hadn’t seen her in years, and she had grown a lot since then.

  “Eisav, you remember your niece Bridgette,” Greta said before pulling her attention to the little girl. “Bridgette, this is your Uncle Eisav.” She reminded her daughter. Eisav took in his sister’s appearance after all it had been three long years since he saw her. Her hair hung a little longer on her shoulders. She was still beautiful wearing a conservative wrap dress with a modern print on it, her hips looked a little fuller and a hint of makeup colored her face. Greta had begun to dress differently when she married her husband Dave. She remained fairly conservative but not so plain as she had been in the Duncan home. Dave was good people and made Greta happy and her contentment showed. Eisav then pulled his attention to the smaller version of Greta by her side.

  “He looks like Cain,” the shy girl murmured. She clearly did
n’t remember him.

  Greta laughed.

  He lifted a brow, looking at his sister, and waited for her explanation.

  “Um kind of.” She grinned.

  Eisav’s eyes widened. He was shocked his sister would call her son Cain after Cain in the Bible. Wasn’t she afraid of her son being a demon like Eisav? Had she not learned anything from their parents’ mistake?

  “Don’t look so wide-eyed brother. Cain is a wonderful boy. He’s good hearted like you. In fact he reminds me of you, a lot,” Greta went on.

  Eisav stood there in awe, wondering if his sister had lost it. He had been the black sheep of the family all his life. Did she forget?

  He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, “Greta, I think your memory isn’t serving you well. Does the black sheep of the family ring a bell? Or how about the son of Satan? Is that more familiar to you?” he said in a tone laced with humor. Only there was nothing funny about those hurtful words.

  “Eisav, you were never any of that. I thought I made that clear to you. You were always a kindhearted boy,” she went on. “Cain is kind, opinionated, strong willed, and he has a heart of gold. Just like you. We’ve told him all about you, and he can’t wait to meet the great Eisav. He and Cody are home with Dave now. We didn’t want them running around here with everything that’s going on,” she continued with a light laugh, shaking her head slightly as if Eisav’s nasty words about himself were ridiculous. Greta moved away from the door and waved Eisav inside.

  “It’s freezing out there. Come in. We don’t bite,” she joked referring to her and her daughter. Eisav took a few steps inside willing one foot in front of the other. The entrance to the house actually led into the kitchen which was an awkward layout but it was the layout his grandfather designed when he built the house and his parents hadn’t changed a thing. He had been thrown out of this home, the only home he ever had. Being here caused a tornado of emotions to swirl inside him.