Now & Forever 2 - The book of Danny

by Joachim Jean

  “When?”

  “I’ve got to get these hundred pages done and I’ve papers to correct. Could we make a date about thetwelfth, giving me two weeks?”

  “Okay.” Eliza stayed in his arms and closed her eyes, resting against his chest. Blue wanted attention so she came over, pushing her snout between them, whining to be petted. Rocky snored from the sofa and Eliza laughed.

  Standing at the door, dressed and ready to return home, Eliza stepped into his embrace again. Danny kissed her. The dogs wagged their tails and licked Eliza’s hand.

  The next few cold and snowy February days found Danny working around the clock on his hundred pages for the writer-in-residence competition. David Cohen came over and stayed until late in the night working with Danny who had to keep up with his classes and continue to grade papers and care for the dogs as well.

  Fortunately, the literary magazine, The Winds of Time had been completed and submitted to the committee awarding the Willa Cather prizes for college literary magazines on the East Coast. Copies had been printed and were available all over campus.

  Chapter Twenty

  Deciding to take a break from work, Danny went to spend a few hours on Saturday at Callie and Mac’s house. He brought Blue and Rocky because Jason and Kitty adored the mutts. They ran around the house chasing the dogs and playing fetch.

  The adults sat in the kitchen over coffee and Callie’s homemade chocolate chip muffins. Danny loved her muffins and ate two with his coffee while they talked.

  “What are you guys going to do?” Mac asked.

  “This is killing me,” Danny said, breaking a muffin in half.

  “You need to talk,” Callie said.

  “We tried last week, but talking degenerated fairly quickly with the stuff about Jenny.”

  “What about Jenny?” Callie asked.

  “Eliza didn’t tell you?”

  “What about Jenny? Did you sleep with her or something?”

  Danny got beet red, his eyes moved from her face to focus on his muffin.

  “You slept with Jack Henderson’s sister?” Mac asked, his eyebrows raised.

  Callie stopped slicing the muffin in her hand.

  “Don’t sound so shocked. I’m sure you’ve had a few women in your bed you’d like to forget about.”

  “That’s beside the point.”

  “You have? Mac, you never said…Who were they?”

  “Thanks a lot, Danny. Great. Now I have to dredge up my…my…”

  “Your sexual history. Damn right…” Callie laughed.

  “Callie, stop teasing me. What happened, Danny?”

  Danny told them the story briefly, trying to save face.

  “A mercy fuck both ways.”

  “Do you have to say that? We have an impressionable five year old with the biggest ears in the county,” said Mac.

  “What’s a mercy fuck, Daddy?” Jason asked, poking his head in the kitchen.

  The adults all got quiet and tried not to laugh.

  “Something not nice Uncle Danny shouldn’t have said,” Callie said.

  “Is he going to get a time out, Mommy?”

  “I think he should, don’t you?”

  “He doesn’t know our rules. Let’s give him another chance.”

  “Thanks buddy,” Danny said, giving Jason a high five.

  Jason ran out of the room, looking for Rocky hiding under the bed.

  “Close call,” Mac said.

  “Eliza found out about Jenny?”

  “All hell broke loose. I couldn’t convince her sleeping with Jenny was a drunken mistake. You understand, Mac…what happens sometimes, when a girl is there and she’s pretty and she’s undressed and she’s willing and even though you know you shouldn’t…”

  “Danny, stop including me! You’re getting me into all kinds of hot water I’ll have to deal with later.”

  “The truth is…I’m human. I made a mistake. I slept with Jenny. I still love Eliza. I haven’t slept with anyone else…”

  “Don’t you sleep with Rocky and Blue?” Jason asked.

  “Little pitchers…” Callie said, shooing the boy out and closing the kitchen door.

  “What happened with your mother?” Callie asked. “I can’t believe she killed Irvin.”

  “I wonder what life would’ve been like if we were raised with our biological father.”

  “Are you going to look up your biological dad?” Callie asked.

  “I have so many questions. I’m relieved Irvin’s not my father.”

  “Does your other dad know about you?” Mac asked.

  “If Irvin figured it out, maybe he did. But if he did, he never said anything to her and never did anything about us. They moved away with hardly a goodbye.”

  “You’ve had enough pain…” Callie said, taking his hand.

  “I’ve got to know who he is, at least.”

  “What about Jack Henderson?” Mac asked.

  “I’d like to see him, but going down there wouldn’t be a good idea, with the Jenny situation.”

  “Why don’t you take Eliza with you?” Callie suggested.

  “Are you nuts? I don’t think I want to be there when these two women come face to face.”

  “I have to agree, Callie.”

  “If I came face to face with someone you slept with, you would be uncomfortable?” she asked Mac.

  “Damn right. But…never happen.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I never slept with anyone else when I dated you.”

  “What about before me?”

  “Before you doesn’t count.”

  “Maybe not to you, but I’d like to know what your taste in women had been in the…old days,” Callie teased, her eyes twinkling.

  “I think she’s pulling your leg, Mac.”

  Mac ruffled her hair and Callie laughed.

  “I had you going, didn’t I.”

  “She does this to me all the time and I still fall for it.”

  “Danny, call Jack, don’t visit,” Mac suggested.

  “My turn with Uncle Danny,” Jason said, opening the kitchen door. Rocky and Blue came in right behind Jason, looking for food. Jason took a piece of muffin and gave one to each dog.

  “Don’t feed them muffin,” Danny said.

  “Why not?”

  “Muffins aren’t good for dogs. Besides, a muffin will make them fat. Look at Rocky, he still has five pounds to lose. Let’s take them outside for a run.”

  Mac put Kitty down for a nap while Callie cleaned up in the kitchen. When he returned, they sat together over the last of the coffee.

  “Do you think they will ever get back together?” Callie asked him.

  “I’m not much good at these things. I never understand why people who love each other break up in the first place. Seems simple to me.”

  “Wasn’t so simple for us.”

  “Okay so maybe we took a little time to get together, but once we were, there was never any question of breaking up.”

  “True. I hope they find a middle ground and stop being stubborn.”

  * * * *

  Cold and snowy February days didn’t deter Eliza from making changes in her life. The ‘lady dean’ as Danny sometimes called her, created a plan and set it in motion with help from Jonesy. Formerly idle, lonely weekends were now stuffed with activity, tasks that required Eliza’s full attention. The new hustle and bustle in her life helped to heal her inside and out. She recovered from her constant sniffles and her cheeks lost their pallor and returned to their healthy color.

  Arriving early despite the recent snow storm, her mind busy with work, she stopped in the entry way of the cozy brick building that housed some administrative offices to yank off her wet boot. As she toed her boots off, Jonesy spoke up.

  “The new literary magazine is out. I’ve put a copy on your desk. Turn to page three.”

  Eliza padded into her office in her stocking feet, carrying her shoes and sank into her chair to slip them on when s
he noticed the shiny new magazine with a beautiful cover sporting a colorful bouquet of flowers. She picked up the magazine and settled back into her comfortable chair. The magazine was paper clipped to page three. She opened it and read.

  SWEET PEA

  By Daniel Maine

  I marvel at your sweet scent and your glorious pinks and blues,

  Your slender stem, winding sensuously in green hues,

  From your hidden flower flows love’s sweetest nectar

  Your willowy fronds coax me into your garden’s star,

  Flowers bursting with bounteous beauty, in a rainbow array

  Of delicate bosomy blossoms, to be picked another day.

  Eliza heard the office front door open and her attention was diverted. She wondered who could be arriving so early. Peeking her head out of her door, she spied Danny enter, put a package down on the entryway bench and stomp the snow off his boots.

  Snow clung to his hair and even his stubbly face. He continued to stamp his feet, then wiped his face with his gloves and pulled a thick envelope out from the package on the bench and walked over to Jonesy’s desk.

  “Jonesy, I had a heckuva time keeping the manuscript dry, but here it is. Please don’t tell Eliza…” he asked her, handing over the thick envelope.

  “Do you have the entry form with it?”

  Danny nodded to her.

  Jonesy took the envelope, slipping it under some papers on her desk as Eliza came through the doorway. She stopped and looked at Danny.

  “Don’t tell Eliza what?”

  “Confidential school business,” Jonesy said in a business-like voice quickly opening a drawer and placing the envelope inside to hide it from view.

  Eliza shrugged and brought her attention back to the literary magazine.

  “Hi…I just saw The Winds of Time.”

  “What did you think?” he asked, with an eager smile.

  “Well, I haven’t read everything yet, but the first poem, your poem…is…is… the best… thing…” and she started to cry.

  Danny put his snowy arms around her.

  “I wrote it for you. Why are you crying?”

  “It’s so beautiful, your poem, is so beautiful…means so much to me.”

  “I’m glad.”

  She kissed him, and then turned to go, shooting him a bright smile before disappearing into her office.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  With his entry finished and caught up on student papers, Danny had free time the afternoon before his date with Eliza, so he drove down to Riverton to meet his real father. He didn’t call or announce his visit, afraid his father might refuse to see him.

  He arrived after lunch. Danny wondered what his father looked like. Was he tall? Kyle had not been tall. In fact, Danny grew taller than Kyle, but Kyle never lived to find out and give Danny a chance to get back at him for the childhood smacks his brother administered when he thought they might do him some good. They weren’t often but oh, how Danny wished to be as big as his brother so he could land a few of his own.

  Irvin said he and Kyle looked like Weeks. Weeks liked to read, did he write, too? What were his hobbies? Did he like cars like Kyle? Did Weeks play sports like Danny? How come he left his mother and never offered to help her with his kids? How come he didn’t beat the crap out of Irvin, who smacked around Week’s main squeeze? Why did he let Irvin pound his kids? What happened to Weeks’ wife? Where was she when this affair happened? Did she know? He had so many questions, but would he get any answers?

  He pulled into the parking lot of the River Hollow Community, Weeks’ retirement home. Danny went up to the front desk, asked for Jonathan Weeks and ran his sweaty hands along the sides of his pants. The receptionist directed him to a copse of trees in the back of the property. He could vaguely see a man sitting on a bench alone, reading. Danny’s stomach knotted up, he wiped his forehead with his sleeve and took a few deep breaths. He couldn’t remember feeling this vulnerable since he was a child. He walked slowly down to the bench where his father sat, taking in the scenery along the way. The sun was shining bringing the temperature up to a manageable forty-five degrees. Snow and ice were melting from tree branches and shrubs. There were many healthy plantings and attractive wood chip paths and cement walkways had been cleared of snow for people with walkers and wheelchairs. This was a nice place, not a dump.

  As he walked across the grounds, Danny thought back to where he spent his adolescence. It wasn’t a nice place like this, though he and Kyle kept it clean. After his parents went to jail, Kyle only made enough money to rent a small trailer for himself and Danny. The walls were like paper, affording little privacy. Sometimes Danny would lie in bed, pretending to be asleep, and listen to his brother make love to Callie in the next room. He wondered then if he’d love a girl like Kyle loved her. Would he ever find a woman like Callie to love him? A rueful smile played on his lips as he thought of Eliza, the love of his life like Callie was for Kyle.

  Since the weather had warmed up, he didn’t need a heavy coat. His father had bundled up, including a blanket to protect his legs. Danny slowed down as he approached his father. Overcome by an unusual shyness, Danny’s mouth went dry and his hands continue to sweat. He licked his lips before speaking.

  “Jonathan Weeks?”

  “Yes?” the man said, taking off his reading glasses and looking up at Danny.

  “My name is Danny Maine. You used to live next door to me. I believe you knew my mother, Edna Maine.” Danny shifted his weight from foot to foot.

  “How is Edna?”

  “She’s okay,” Danny lied, looking closely at his dad. He didn’t see much resemblance to him or Kyle in the old man’s face except for Weeks’ bright blue eyes, sure enough, those were Kyle’s eyes.

  “Did she ever tell you her two sons were your sons?”

  “Preposterous! Edna never told me any such thing,” the old man said, pausing before he continued, “is it true?”

  “I think so Mr. Weeks.”

  “Oh my God. What did you say your name was?”

  “Danny. Danny Maine.”

  Weeks paused, his face clouded over. He looked away toward the trees, his hands trembled a little trying to grip his glasses. Danny held his breath wondering if the old man would deny paternity and thwart his effort to discover his real identity.

  “You’re my boy? And you grew up in that house…with that monster?”

  “Yes,” Danny searched Weeks’ face.

  “But Edna took care of you, didn’t she?”

  “Depends on what you mean by take care of. She didn’t protect us from him.”

  Weeks shook his head, looking down at his glasses.

  Tears stung at the back of Danny’s eyes. He blinked rapidly, determined not to let them through. He moved his gaze to a sparrow lighting on a nearby branch while he took a deep breath.

  “What do you want from me now?”

  “Could we go inside? You’re shivering. I have a few questions…”

  “Want to get a cup of tea? They have a nice cafeteria inside.”

  Danny nodded. Jonathan Weeks got up and together they walked slowly toward the building, the young man measuring his gait to the old man’s slower stride. As they walked, Weeks told Danny all about the place. Danny could have cared less, he watched Weeks for a familiar sign, like the way he said his ‘r’s or cocked his head. Danny did see he gestured like Kyle, making big circles with his hands for emphasis.

  Danny got tea for Weeks and himself and they sat down at a table away from other people so they could have privacy.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “How come you didn’t know we were your kids, we looked like you.”

  “I assumed your mother slept…um…had intimate relations with your father…”

  “He isn’t my father. Please don’t call him that.”

  “Of course…I’m sorry. Anyway I assumed they were intimate and you and your brother were his children.”

  “Did you lov
e my mother?

  “I did. My wife spent a lot of time down in Philadelphia, taking care of her sick mother. Edna was a beautiful woman, smart, too and living with that oaf…”

  “He said you liked to read and my mom liked to read,” Danny prompted.

  “That’s how our…uh…friendship started. We would discuss books, at first, over the back fence when I planted in the fall…or the spring… and Edna weeded. Then we traded books, reading the same ones and talking about them. Then we shared a cup of tea…then…”

  “You can stop there...I can imagine the rest.”

  “Of course, of course. You’re a man yourself. You understand these things.”

  “All too well.”

  “Are you married? Do you have children?” Weeks stirred extra sugar into his tea.

  “Not yet. But I may be getting married soon.”

  “After the first time we…ah…were together, the rest came easy. Your mother came over when Irvin worked or drank too much to notice her absence and when Olivia went out of town.”

  “What did you do for a living?”

  “I wrote for a science and mechanics journal. I worked at home most of the time, except when I did research at the library. On those days, I would take Edna for lunch somewhere in town. A special occasion for us to be out together, you know. We could talk in the open or hold hands without being afraid of discovery. Sometimes we would pretend we were married. Foolish perhaps, but romantic. And our excursions made Edna happy, so I didn’t mind.”

  Danny was quiet as a sudden feeling of sadness for his mother came over him.

  “What do you do, Danny?” Weeks took a sip of his tea.

  “I teach English at Kensington State University and I write, too.”

  “Wonderful! Then you read a lot, too?”

  “Always have.” Danny sat back in his chair.

  “Reading is such a great joy. Here I am at seventy-five still reading up a storm. Reading is a lifelong pleasure. But I guess I don’t have to tell you.”

  “Did you ever do sports?”

  “I played a little football and basketball, but I wasn’t good. I did it to have fun.”