Inspirational Christian Fiction Boxed Set: Embers and Ashes Series (Books 1 - 4)

by T. K. Chapin

  She looked up at me with those sad and swollen eyes I had been seeing a lot of lately. Making eye contact with her, I felt a piercing pain shoot through me. It felt like a javelin tore through my torso. She sniffled and said, “She’s really gone, Kane…”

  I sat down on the floor next to her and brought my knees up to my chest. “I know…” I said, softly.

  “I don’t want to say goodbye,” she said.

  Lowering my head, I said, “Me either.” Lifting my head back up, I put my arm around Emily. Her head rested against my shoulder, and I said, “We still have each other, sis.”

  She looked up at me. “Tell me everything is going to be okay, Kane,” she said.

  “It’s going to be okay.”

  “That didn’t help,” she replied as she began crying harder.

  “I’m sorry, sis.”

  “Can we pray?” she asked.

  I nodded and we both bowed our heads.

  I began praying, “God… Please help us to be able to get through today. Please help Emily as she tries to play a gracious host to the people at the funeral and the reception afterwards. Give her your strength. Give her your peace. Give her your comfort. In your name, we pray, Amen.”

  “Amen,” she said.

  I didn’t really understand why Emily wanted to pray at that moment. She didn’t have any belief in God, but I wasn’t going to poke or prod at her about the reason. I just went along with it. I had no desire to disturb or disrupt any work God was doing inside of her in regards to her coming to Christ. As we each rose to our feet, she looked at me and began to adjust my black tie. I wasn’t able to control a slight laugh that escaped my lips in the moment.

  “What?” she asked.

  “You’re adjusting my crooked tie while you have mascara running down your cheeks and your hair looks like Medusa’s…”

  She laughed and revealed that smile I so desperately longed to see on my sister’s face again. I didn’t want her to be in pain, and it was comforting to see her smile even if only for a moment. “Yeah…” she said. “I need to get fixed up.” She walked past me and headed toward the bathroom to get ready.

  Walking into the viewing room at the funeral home, my emotions were heightened. I was so scared as I approached my mother’s coffin that I became light-headed, and my feet felt like blocks of concrete. I didn’t want to do it. But my sister was by my side and said, “C’mon, Kane.” And as I heard it, my blocks of concrete loosened, and I felt okay again.

  We walked up to the coffin and looked inside. There she was. She looked happy and peaceful.

  “I’m going to miss her,” I said as I felt tears well behind my eyes.

  “Me too,” Emily said, leaning her head onto my shoulder.

  Looking back over towards the doorway, I saw Christopher stepping in and out as if he was debating on coming in. Shrugging Emily gently off my shoulder, I said softly, “I’m going to talk to Christopher for a moment.”

  I went over to him and said, “You’ll regret it if you don’t say goodbye.”

  “Yeah,” he said, looking past me towards the coffin. “It just feels really weird. This whole thing.”

  I nodded. “Kind of eerie, I know.”

  “Yeah, exactly,” Christopher replied. “How’d she look?”

  “She looked peaceful… It’s really weird, but it’s nice to get closure.”

  He nodded and looked past me again. “Okay, I’ll go in.” We walked back inside the viewing room, and Emily came away from the coffin as Christopher went toward it.

  “Thank you for talking to him,” she said, stepping next to me.

  “You’re welcome,” I replied. We watched as Christopher said something to his grandma at the coffin and began to cry. Emily left my side to comfort Christopher. Putting a hand on his shoulder, she began talking to him. She’s a good mom, I thought to myself.

  As they backed away from the coffin, I returned to it. Looking at my mother again, I said, “I love you, Mom. I’ll do my best to watch over Emily and Christopher until I join you in Heaven.” I retrieved a single white rose from the bouquet that sat on a table in the viewing room and placed it on her chest. We all left the viewing room together and made our way down the hallway to where the funeral service was going to be held.

  Sitting down in the front row, the three of us remained quiet for a few moments. Then, Emily spoke. “I don’t want to deal with all these people that are going to be showing up…”

  “I’ll help,” I replied.

  “Me too,” Christopher added.

  She smiled at both of us as she wiped her eyes.

  Glancing around, I spotted Kristen towards the back of the room, and I about freaked out. What was she doing here? Was she stalking me now?

  “Excuse me,” I said to Christopher and Emily as I stood up. Going back to her, I pulled her outside the room out of earshot of my sister and nephew.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked.

  “I’m filling in for one of my servers. Stix is catering the reception afterwards.”

  I rubbed my chin as I looked upwards to the ceiling.

  “What?” she asked. “Am I that bad?”

  Shaking my head, I said, “It’s not that… It’s just awkward. It’s a very intimate time with my family.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t know this was for your mom.”

  I nodded. “Okay. Can you get someone else to cover? I don’t mean to be rude… It’s just really weird to see you right now.”

  “I’m in management. I was already the last option. Trust me, they pulled me from my vacation because they were that shorthanded.”

  I took a deep breath in and said, “Okay. Let’s not get crazy about this. Just… Try to keep your distance from us.”

  “Okay,” she replied softly. She reached out and touched my arm, “I’m really sorry about your mom. I’m going to be busy in the kitchen the entire time, I promise you won’t see me.”

  ‘Thanks,” I said as I turned and headed back inside the room to Emily and Christopher. Returning to my seat, they both had their eyes glued to me.

  “Was that Kristen? What was she doing here? Is she leaving?” Emily asked, glancing towards the back.

  “No. She’s going to stay and cater.”

  “She works for Stix?” Emily asked, surprised.

  “Yeah,” I replied. “She’s filling in for someone… She wouldn’t be here if she didn’t need to be.”

  Emily nodded. “Okay. You know what, Kane? I see that look in your eye about her. I wasn’t going to tell you this because you don’t like me to pry, but I feel it's for the best. That day she dropped off Christopher from the LAN party…”

  “Yeah…?” I asked, leaning in.

  “She showed up with some other guy and the guy’s kid. That’s why I told her all that stuff about you… I was just trying to protect you.”

  I had totally spaced the fact that nobody explained to me how Kristen ended up talking to my sister.

  I knew it was most likely Tyson, and that probably meant Kristen was lying about something not being there between them. Praying quickly without even closing my eyes, I asked God for His help with my growing anger. The next moment I felt the need to refocus back on the fact that we were at our mother’s funeral. I said, “Let’s focus on today, Ems.”

  “It’s just super awkward having her here… but I guess that’s my fault for picking this place. I really didn’t know she works with Stix. I sure hope everything goes okay,” Emily replied with a sigh.

  “Ems. It will be okay. The place is still great. This won't be a problem.”

  After the funeral service, the reception, and the burial outside the funeral home in the cemetery, it was time for the reading of the will and last testament. A lawyer notified Emily and I of the reading being held in a private room right in the funeral home.

  Christopher wasn’t allowed in the room since he wasn’t mentioned in the will. My mother was old-fashioned like that. She figured Emily would take
care of him and hand down any family heirlooms she felt he should have. As we sat down at the large executive table inside the room, the lawyer at the end of the table cleared his throat. “That was a beautiful service. Your mother would have been impressed,” he said in a soft and genuine tone as he shuffled papers.

  “Thank you,” Emily said, smiling. I knew it meant a lot to Emily to hear that. She had spent a great deal of her safety net in the bank to pay for the services and arrangements. She was going to get it back with the life insurance policy, but it still took a lot of time which she wasn’t going to get back.

  We sat in silence for a minute before it became rather awkward. “Are you going to start the reading?” I asked, leaning out onto the table with my hands out.

  “There’s a missing party,” he replied, glancing at his watch. “I told them the reading was at four o’clock, so we’ll give him until five minutes past four.”

  “Who?” I asked, glancing over at the copy of the will that I retrieved from my mother’s house that sat in front of Emily. “Emily and I were the only ones mentioned,” I said, re-reading the will in my head.

  The door opened and a man walked in. He was slender and had a half-beard that was neatly trimmed. His hair was dark and slicked back and he was wearing a black suit. He didn’t make eye contact with Emily or me, but went directly up to the lawyer. “Mr. Johnson,” he said, shaking the lawyer’s hand.

  “Who is this?” I asked, leaning across the table with my arm extended out towards the mysterious man. “He’s not in the will at all.”

  “I’ve never seen this man in my life,” Emily added, shaking her head.

  “This is Timothy Raton,” the lawyer replied. “He, in fact, is in the will.”

  Standing up, I headed to the lawyer and showed him the will I had brought. “No, he’s not!”

  “Yes, he is!” Mr. Johnson retorted, pointing to Timothy’s name in the will he had. “This is your mother’s first child. She had him long before Kyle.”

  “What?” I asked, confused. Shaking my head, I said, “No… She didn’t.”

  “She kept it from you.”

  “But our will doesn’t have anything mentioning him.”

  The lawyer took the paper and looked at it. “Oh, I see.”

  “That’s right!” I said with a confident nod.

  “No… You’re misunderstanding. What I meant was I now see what the problem is. The will I have is newer than yours.”

  “What?” I asked, leaning over the lawyer's shoulder. He pointed to the date on his copy and it was dated eight months after mine. “Why’d she change it?”

  “What’s the date?” Emily asked from across the table.

  “August of last year,” I replied. Then I realized it was after my mother’s diagnosis of cancer.

  Timothy chimed in. “I know you don’t know me… but she contacted me before and after she found out about the cancer. I had been searching for our mother for years before the first time she reached out to me.”

  “Don’t call her your mother,” I warned.

  “She’s my mom too!” he retorted. “I was just given up! It doesn’t make me lesser!”

  “No… this doesn’t make any sense,” I replied, throwing my hands up. “She didn’t have another kid!”

  “She did,” Timothy replied softly.

  I left the lawyer’s side and darted out of the room through the large doors. There was no way my mother did this to Emily and I. It was a setup. The way that lawyer and him shook hands. They were in on it together! I swear it!

  “Kane?” Christopher said from the bench against the wall of the room. I was jolted from my thoughts. “Who was that guy that went in there?” Christopher asked upon approaching me.

  Shaking my head as I looked at him, I said, “I don’t know.”

  I left Christopher there outside the room and headed out the front doors of the funeral home. A breath of fresh air to clear my head and think for a moment was just what I needed. Sitting down on the funeral home’s front steps, I bowed my head and prayed.

  Dear God… Is this true? Did my mom really have another son that Emily and I never knew about? Please help me understand. Amen.

  Lifting my head back up, I saw Kristen walking out a side door to the Stix van with a bunch of food trays in her arms. I got up and ran over to help. Grabbing a few of the large metal trays from the top of the stack, I smiled at her.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “You’re welcome,” I replied. Walking with her to the van, I opened the back doors and placed the trays inside.

  “What are you doing out here?” she asked.

  “I just needed to get out of there and clear my head...” I said. “Thanks for today by the way. I barely saw you.”

  She nodded. “No problem. I never intended to make things uncomfortable. I would have got someone over here to cover the catering gig if I could have.”

  I nodded. “Thanks. This might seem like an inappropriate time to ask, but I want to know something, Kristen.”

  “Sure, what is it?”

  “Why were you with Tyson when he dropped off Christopher at my house?”

  She sighed as she shifted her gaze to the ground. “I was just going to give Christopher a ride home, because Jacob’s dad bailed and I volunteered… I wanted to see you, Kane… but I got a flat tire on the way, and I called him. I just needed a ride.”

  “Hmm…” I replied.

  She reached out and touched my arm. “There’s nothing there between us. I promise.”

  “Okay-” I started to say.

  “Kane, he’s taking it all!” Emily shouted as she ran out of the funeral home and down the steps my direction.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked, turning to her.

  “He’s taking all the money. I guess according to this new will, we get nothing!”

  I looked over to the front doors of the funeral home to see Timothy walk down the steps with the lawyer. “We’ll fight this in court,” I replied.

  “We don’t have any money to fight it, I broke my bank just doing the funeral.”

  “I don’t care what it takes. I’ll sell my car if I have to.” I glanced over to see Kristen going back in through the side door of the funeral home. I turned back to Emily. “He’s not going to get away with this.”

  CHAPTER 14

  The next day in my apartment, I waited for a phone call back from a lawyer's office I found in the yellow pages. The scam my mother’s lawyer and this Timothy guy were trying to pull wasn’t going to work with me. I was more than willing to sell my car to fund the cost of a lawyer to contest the will.

  Suddenly a knock came from the door, breaking through my thoughts. Glancing at my phone, I saw it was only seven o’clock in the morning. Who could that be? I wasn’t expecting anyone over, I thought to myself as I got up to go answer the door.

  Looking through the peephole, I saw it was Cole. I opened the door and smiled at him with a confused look as I tilted my head. “Taylor?” I said, perplexed.

  “I know it’s weird I’m here… but we need to talk.” I spotted an envelope in his hand.

  “Why? What’s up?” I asked.

  “Are you going to invite me in?” he asked.

  “Of course… sorry,” I replied, letting go of the door so he could swing it open. He came inside and shut it behind him.

  “The football game went good the other day at the church if you were wondering,” he said as he took a seat on the couch.

  “Is that why you came over here so early?” I asked. Feeling a sense of rudeness in my tone, I quickly apologized. “Sorry. Just trying to deal with some personal stuff right now.”

  “About your brother?”

  My jaw clenched. “He’s not my brother… but how did you hear about that?” I asked, taking a seat on the couch next to him.

  “Kristen. I saw her at the grocery store.”

  I sighed. “That wasn’t her business to share… I didn’t even tell her. She over
heard my sister and I.”

  “She was just worried about you, but that’s irrelevant, Kane.” Cole picked up the envelope next to him on the couch and handed it over to me.

  “What is this?” I asked, looking up at him.

  “Open it.”

  Opening up the large unmarked envelope, I pulled out a vital record sheet. I was speechless. Timothy Raton was indeed my brother. My phone began ringing on the kitchen table. I ignored it, knowing it was the lawyer calling me back.

  “Aren’t you going to answer your phone?” Cole asked, glancing towards the kitchen.

  “It’s a lawyer’s office… I called to figure out how to fight this guy in court. But it looks like he’s not lying about being my brother.”

  Cole nodded. “Nope, he’s not lying.” Cole leaned back and sighed heavily.

  “How’d you get this?” I asked.

  “Alderman’s sister works in Vital Records in downtown Spokane. Last night after Megan and I ran into Kristen at the grocery store, I wanted to see if it was true for myself so… I called him up.”

  Nodding as I processed the information, another knock came from the door. Glancing over at Cole, he shrugged at me indicating he didn’t know who it was. Standing up, I set the envelope and papers down on the coffee table and went to answer the door.

  “McCormick,” Brian said as I opened the door.

  “Hey, buddy. How are you?” I asked.

  “Hey… I was on my way to work and wanted to let you know I was sorry about not being able to make the funeral yesterday.” He looked past me at Cole on the couch. “Hey, Taylor.”

  Cole nodded to him. “Gomer.”

  I smiled. “No problem about not being able to come by the funeral. Someone’s gotta fight those fires. Right?”

  He nodded and then shrugged. “Didn’t actually have any fires… but yeah. Someone’s gotta be there just in case.” Looking past me again, he said, “You coming in today, Taylor?”

  Cole stood up and came over to the door. “Yeah. I planned on heading to the station within the next few minutes.”