JoJo was lying on the bed beside me, taking a nap, as I sat staring at the somewhat aged envelope like it was about to attack me. I needed to do this though, because my wife was right when she called me a coward for having waited for 14 damn years to read it. Charlie would be laughing at me right now. Hell, he probably was laughing at me, knowing him. I ran my finger under the slightly opened, creased corner, and slipped it all the way through this time, finally breaking the seal on the envelope that held Charlie’s last words to me.
The paper seemed too brittle as I listened to the pages rustle while unfolding it. The smell hit me too, almost a musty scent emanating from the thing, signifying the time it had spent waiting on me to read the words within. My eyes burned with unshed tears as I saw his familiar chicken scratch come into view and did my damned level best to hold back those tears so they wouldn’t mar the pages I had in my hands.
Romeo,
I know it looks like I’m getting better from the outside looking in, and I couldn’t bring myself to dash everyone’s hopes while it was happening. I knew better though. I think if there’s a God out there, he just gave me time to make sure I said my goodbyes. Really kind of the schmuck who also gave me leukemia, don’t you think? Go ahead, laugh. It was a sick joke sure, but since I’m the one who’s sick I get to make it. Too soon? Probably not, because you’re stubborn as hell. I’m guessing it took you forever to actually read this shit.
I wanted to tell you I really appreciate all you’ve done for me. You stuck by me when others wouldn’t. Even when your mom tried to make you stop. Don’t be too mad at her for long though, she was just trying to make sure your heart didn’t break when our bromance died with me, man. You shaved your head for me, too. That was epic, man. The fact that you left it like that all this time blows my damn mind. You are, without a doubt, the best friend a guy could ever have. I’m lucky you were mine.
So, listen close now, because these are my last requests and God knows how long it’ll take you to actually read this, you stubborn ass, but this is what I need from you…
1 – Grow your damn hair back already! You look ridiculous. I have a good reason to look this sexy, you need to get your own style!
2 – For God’s sake, DO NOT name any of your sons after me. My name’s kinda unlucky. Just don’t do it. You probably shouldn’t name him after yourself either. Romeo is kinda lame. What was your mom thinking? Oh, and do me another favor. Find a girl named Juliet and date her long enough to be known as “Romeo and Juliet” because that shit’s funny, and your mom will never get over it when you dump the girl.
3 – Live life large, man. Love hard, like you already do, and have fun. Try not to be so serious all the time. The guys at the club are gonna call you “Steel” because you’re so damn hard edged all the time, man. Do you want to get stuck with that name? On second thought, go for it. The ladies will probably love the hidden connotation behind it.
I’m sorry things went to shit, man. I wish I could get better and learn to ride a motorcycle with you. Wish I could join the club, and hook up with all those hot chicks. Make sure you do plenty of that for me. Shit, who am I talking to? Mr. Serious, you’ll probably end up marrying a girl on the first date. If that shit happens, keep her, because I sent her to you by writing this!
I love you man,
Charlie
The letter slipped from my fingers as sobs wracked through my body. Sure, I’d laughed along with his humorous spirit as I read his many jokes, but the kid still managed to see through to the heart of me, even all these years later. If ever there were such a thing as soul mates, Charlie would have been mine, or at least one of them. Not in a romantic way, but in the way of a true friend who just got you completely. He’d be laughing at how “gay” I sounded right now if he could hear my thoughts, but he would also agree with me.
JoJo’s small arms wrapped as far around my broad shoulders as she could manage, the vanilla scent of her body wash flooded my senses as she held me while I wept for my long-gone friend, and the crazy prophetic words he’d left behind. “What’s wrong, Steel? What can I do?” My wife asked in quiet whispers near my ear while I kept my head tucked firmly into the hollow between her neck and shoulder.
“I read it,” I managed to choke out. Her quick intake of breath told me she knew exactly what I was referring to, and she squeezed me all the tighter for it.
“I love you,” she whispered to me before planting a kiss just under my ear. It was the perfect thing. She was absolute perfection. Now, I also had to thank Charlie for her, because I did marry her right away. It wasn’t exactly a date, but we had gone out together, and ended up married. I knew in that moment I’d never be able to let her go. Because of Charlie, but more so because of her. JoJo was my everything now. She understood me in the same ways that Charlie used to.
“He would have loved you.” The words slipped out of my mouth as I thought them. She just smiled down at me as I glanced up into her whiskey-dark eyes. Her hands came up to either side of my face clearing away the tears that hadn’t been soaked up by her t-shirt.
“I’m sure the feeling would have been mutual, baby.”
“You should read it,” I told her.
“What? The letter?” The surprise in her voice was a beautiful thing. Anyone else would have been chomping at the bit to know what my dead best friend said to me. JoJo knew it was a private moment though. I don’t think it would have ever occurred to her to look at it had I not offered.
“Yeah. He talked about you, so I think you should read it too.”
“How is that even possible?” She was sort of nervously chuckling as she asked the question. It was the cutest damn thing, her nervous chuckle. It made my heart swell every time I heard it.
“Just read it. You’ll understand.” She leaned down and picked up the two pages I had dropped and began reading. I saw her bite on her lip in spots where I knew Charlie meant for me to be laughing with him. Her eyes also filled up as she read the words, knowing what they would mean to me. I knew when she got to the last part by her gasp and the way she clutched her hand up to her heart. The teary-eyed glance up at me and the little ‘o’ shape her mouth took on registered her disbelief.
She gathered herself together for a moment, carefully refolded the letter, and placed it back in the envelope before gently putting it on the small table beside the chair I’d been sitting in. Then she gazed up at me, eyes still shiny with wetness and she smirked. “Well, I think we can cross two names off our list then.” Laughter bubbled up from inside of me with the sheer joy I got from her response. It was so in the spirit of Charlie that I couldn’t have done it better myself.
“I love you, babe! So damn much.”
Chapter 18
Mommy is going to be just fine, bud. I need you to stay here with Aunt Keys though, okay?”
“Otay,” my little man finally agreed even though he was slightly teary-eyed at the prospect of both of his parents leaving him behind after hearing his mommy yell so loudly. I glanced up at Keys, and the worried look on her face, before I had to turn away.
“I’ll let you know as soon as…” I didn’t have any other words, and I didn’t wait to hear hers. I just took off in the direction they’d wheeled JoJo a few minutes ago. A nurse stood in front of the doors I needed to go through, blocking my way. “I need to get in there, my wife…”
“What is your wife’s name?” The nurse’s cool tone implied she didn’t think I belonged in there.
“Cynthia-Jo Briggs,” I responded while still trying to move past her.
“I’m sorry sir, but I can’t let you back there until I check it out. Who are you?”
“Obviously her husband, since I already told you she’s my wife. You need to get the hell out of my way!”
“Joanne, call security, please,” the nurse called out to someone over my shoulder. Just then Nurse Stacey came barreling out of the double doors I’d just been trying to get through.
“There you are!” She called to me.
“We need to hurry up and get you suited up to get in there with her. She’s screaming her poor head off that she won’t do it without you.” Stacey chuckled. “Not like she has much choice in the matter.” Stacey seemed to notice the other nurse who was still impeding my forward movement. “Get out of the way, Reba, and we’ll be chatting about this later.” The woman who had been blocking me just stood there and glared, but Stacey grabbed my hand and tugged me around her.
Once I was properly suited up, as Stacey put it, she led me into a scary damn room. This was nothing like the labor and delivery suite our son Killian had been born into. It was a big sterile room with too much equipment all around for my liking. I quickly dismissed all of it though when I saw JoJo’s eyes watching me. I went to her immediately. They already had some sort of tent thing in place dividing her body in half so we couldn’t see past her boobs, which were huge now that her milk had been replenished.
“Where were you?” She asked, unable to take the fright out of her voice.
“I was just making sure Keys had Killian taken care of, babe. I’m here now.” She reached out for my hand, and I took hers in mine. “Everything’s going to be fine, Jo.”
“No, it’s not. They’re cutting me open, Steel. I’m bleeding, and…”
“Shhh,” I whispered into her hairline as I leaned in and kissed her. “You’re going to be just fine and so is the baby. Dr. Mac is here, and Stacey just scared the shit out of some nurse that wouldn’t let me back here. It’s all good, babe.”
Dr. Mac looked up at that. “Who wouldn’t let him back?”
“Reba,” Stacey responded curtly making me believe this wasn’t the first time the woman had stopped a man from seeing his baby born. “I already told her we’d deal with her in a bit.” Dr. Mac nodded, and then looked around the tented part of the sheet to see both myself and JoJo.
“I’m going to get started. You will feel plenty of pressure and tugging down here, but if at any time you feel actual pain I need you to let me know, okay?” JoJo only nodded and squeezed my hand a little harder.
After a few minutes of the staff doing their job I heard the doc chuckle. “Well, no wonder,” he proclaimed as he finished pulling my daughter out of her mother’s belly. “She’s quite the chunker,” he offered up as the fat, wiggly baby that was now in the nurse’s arms started wailing with everything she had. The smile on my face spread ridiculously wide at that. I wasn’t about to admit it to JoJo, but when we rushed her to the hospital after she started bleeding heavily, I thought for sure she was going to lose the baby, or I was going to lose her, or both. “Okay, I’m just going to work on closing everything up,” the doc said as he pulled something else out of my wife and plopped it into a little pan thing. He noticed me watching. “Just the afterbirth. It’s good you got her to us so quickly. That placenta was almost completely detached.”
I knew what he was talking about, and I didn’t want to hear anything more about it right now, especially not where JoJo could hear too. Instead I looked back over at my wife, who had her eyes closed, but the most beautiful smile graced her face as our daughter cried yet again.
“Here she is,” Nurse Stacey announced as she brought our burrito wrapped bundle over to us. “Perfect little,” she huffed out a laugh then. “Not so little girl.” I helped hold our daughter up near JoJo’s chest as she gazed down on her with more love than one person should be able to hold. “She was ten pounds even.”
My startled eyes shifted then. “Are you serious?” Stacey just laughed again and nodded her head. “Jesus babe, were you trying to grow a toddler in there?” The whole room burst out laughing at that.
“Shut up, she just has your enormous head,” JoJo breathed out.
“Do you have a name for her yet?” The neonatal nurse, who had been on standby, asked.
“Charlene Willow Briggs,” JoJo answered before closing her eyes.
“Is she okay?” I asked Dr. Mac. He was busily doing something to her lower half still so Nurse Stacey glanced up at her vitals before answering.
“She’s fine, honey. Just tired. We’re giving her some blood, because she lost quite a bit before you got her here, plus the procedure. She’ll be fine in a bit. She just needs some rest.”
“Okay.” I know I sounded unsure, but I lifted my baby girl off of JoJo’s chest all the same and cradled her to me. The same nurse who had just asked her name came and tried to take her from me. I didn’t allow it though, and she just laughed.
“We just have to take her to clean her up and run a couple tests to be sure everything’s all clear. You can follow along with us, or stay here with your wife.” That was the worst kind of torture. Now, I was being pulled in two different directions. JoJo had begged me to follow them after she gave birth to Killian, but that was different. She’d done everything natural then. Now, she was lying there being sewn back together and tired from blood loss.
“Go,” she whispered before I could make the decision. I handed the baby to the nurse and moved back over to give JoJo a kiss before leaving.
“I’ll see you again in a minute, beautiful. I’m just going to make sure they don’t get too rough with our little princess linebacker.” She offered up a weak smile, still not opening her eyes. Once I was out of the scrubs they’d made me put on, and following along behind them in the hallway, I texted everyone via one big group that the baby was here. I also explained it would probably be a little while before they were able to come back since JoJo was out of it.
~ Four hours later ~
Finally, Keys walked into the room with our little guy perched on her hip. His head full of dark wavy hair was laid down on her shoulder as he stared into the room nervously. I stood from the bed where JoJo was holding our daughter and moved to take my son from keys. “Hey buddy, you ready to meet your little sister?”
“Is hu names Chaw-wee?” I tried to stifle the chuckle as I tipped my head in agreement. Killian had just turned three, and damn if the way he pronounced words didn’t just slay my heart in the best of ways. We had been working on how to say things properly, but some words were just hard. Besides, I wasn’t sure I was ready for my little guy to grow up too quickly just yet.
“Yeah, bud, her name is Charlie.” I grinned over at my wife then. We were playing a practical joke on my dead, childhood best friend by naming my daughter after him. I’m sure it would sound horrible if people knew that’s what we’d done, but Charlie would have been laughing his teenage ass off if he were here. Besides, we were blessing our daughter with a whole lot of heart, because that’s what Charlie was when he was here on this earth, nothing but heart. I’d upheld everything my friend had requested of me when he lay dying, and wrote me that last letter. I lived hard, I’d grown my hair out for once –it was now down to my shoulders. I married the girl after our first ‘date’ and I didn’t name my son after him. I’d never get to date a girl named Juliet, but I was okay with that, and my wife certainly agreed. My buddy Charlie could do without that one wish being granted.
As I sat on the bed with my son, he reached over and gently brushed his fingers over baby Charlie’s cheeks. It was such a reverent gesture that it sent chills over my body. “Got it,” Keys whispered from across the room, causing me to look up.
“Got what?”
“I captured the perfect family photo,” she wiggled her phone at me and then I felt my pocket vibrate. I’d look at the picture she sent later. Right now, I had the real deal in my hands, and I wasn’t ready to let go of any of them just yet. Not for anything.
Special Bonus Chapter
*Special note from the author – my daughter, Lexy, threatened to plot my demise if I didn’t slip in a little tidbit from Charlie, about how he felt having a girl named after him. So, here goes… a little from Charlie, and a couple other people who should have been there for the happy moment.
- I realize this is a little unorthodox for a non-paranormal, so you may feel free to skip the bonus material, but honestly you’d be missing out if you did.
;)
Look at that,” Kelly squealed excitedly. “She’s so…”
“Fat,” I agreed while shaking my head. “Look at him,” I pointed at Romeo, standing there teary-eyed glancing back and forth between his wife and newborn daughter. “Such a sap.”
“He’s good to my baby girl, so we’re not going to call him names, young man.” Nate smiled though, obviously enjoying my great sense of humor.
We listened in for a moment as the nurse asked for the baby’s name.
“Charlene Willow Briggs,” Romeo’s wife said before closing her eyes. Wait. No. “No way,” I hissed out while moving a little closer and trying not to freeze anyone out. Some living people seemed sensitive to our presence and would get cold if we stood too close for too long.
“No way, what?” Kelly asked.
“They did not do that. I’m going to kill that bastard when he gets here one day. I told him…” Then I remembered exactly what I’d written in that stupid letter. “… DO NOT name any of your sons after me…” That’s what my letter had actually said. I laughed loudly then, making Kelly and Nate nervous. I don’t actually know why they were nervous though. We were all dead already. It wasn’t like something bad was going to happen to them. “He named her after me.” The words freed themselves from my mouth on a laugh. “That bastard! I told him not to name his sons after me, and he turned around and named a daughter Charlene.”
“Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but Charlie and Charlene are not the same thing.”
“It’s close enough. How much do you want to bet they call her Charlie?” I laughed again.
Kelly and Nate stuck around after Steel took off to follow his baby down the hall. I knew they were worried for their daughter, but I didn’t know JoJo in life. While I was hoping for the best for her, and thankful as hell that she was so good for my buddy, I just really wanted to stick close to Steel while I had the chance to be here visiting. “I’m kinda mad it took you so damn long to read my letter, asshole.” I said to him. Not that he could hear me, but hey, it made me feel better anyway. “I’m really freaking happy to see how your life turned out though, Romeo. I would have totally gone a different route, and been screwing all the club whores I could get my hands on; but I can’t deny you have a great life, man. I miss being a part of it. You know, where you can actually hear me making an ass out of myself.” We turned the corner and I stood near enough to Romeo that I could keep an eye on him and glance in to watch his daughter getting her first bath too. “She’s beautiful, Rome. You’re going to have your hands full when she’s my age. Well, you know the age when I kicked it. Not like the age I would be. Shit, you get what I mean.” I laughed at myself. “Actually you don’t because you can’t freaking hear me, but it’s okay. I’ll catch you up on all my chatter when you get to this side one day, man.”
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