Love’s Suicide(104)
Author: Jennifer Foor

An enormous smile filled my face. I’d found my happy place and I never wanted to leave it.

Right before falling asleep, I heard Brooks laughing again.

I opened my eyes and looked at him. “What’s so funny?”

He kissed me before answering. “I was just thinking how you said I wouldn’t get any action on this bed.”

I smiled and reached down between his legs. “We’re just getting started.”

Chapter 60

September 11th 2013

“I can’t believe it’s been twelve years,” I said to Brooks as we stood there looking down at my parent’s headstones. B was running around Branch and Melissa with a small bouquet of yellow roses. Since it was also her birthday, I’d bought her a fancy yellow dress that accented her skin and eyes.

Brooks took my hand and squeezed it. “They’d be proud of you.”

“I know they’re watching over us. In my heart, I know they gave us B. Her being born on the same date they left me can’t just be a coincidence.”

“It’s fate,” I heard Danica say as her and Walt approached us. “It has to be.”

It took both Brooks and myself a while before we could look Danica in the eye. Branch was more forgiving, claiming he just wanted the family to get along for his upcoming wedding.

Walt was the one who convinced us to bury it in the past. Nothing we could do would ever bring my parents back, and Danica would have to live with what she and my dad did for the rest of her life. For me, I thought of Walt. If he was able to forgive her and still love her anyway, I should have been able to as well. After all, my parents loved her, even if that love was misconstrued to becoming something sexual between friends. It wasn’t my business.

We all had skeletons in our closets and it wasn’t right to judge.

Brooks had other issues with his mother, mostly because she hid the truth from me for so long. Just like when we were kids, he was still protecting me.

Branch came up behind us and put his arms on mine and Brooks’ shoulders. “I think it’s time we go back to the house and have sour beef and dumplings. The past two years Mom refused to make them, because you weren’t there, Katy. We had some craptastic chicken instead.”

“In my defense, it was an award winning recipe,” Danica added.

Brooks changed the subject before his mom could get offended. He looked at me and grabbed both of my hands pulling me toward him. "I need to go get B’s cake and pick up a surprise. Are you good with riding Mel back to house in our car? Branch is going to drive me." He was up to something and I knew that he knew I was on to him. Since it was B’s birthday, and the first official birthday for the family to celebrate it, they were going all out.

Danica had ordered a cake from a fancy treats shops in the heart of the city and they’d decorated the entire back yard in balloons, including some floating in the pool. B hadn’t seen it yet, but I knew she’d be so thrilled.

Brooks and I had made progress with our relationship in the two months that followed Bobby’s death. Since the day that Danica had made her confession, my eyes were finally open and I was able to look forward instead of behind.

It took us a month to speak to Danica directly. We needed time to sort out our feelings, and with my entire church congregation shunning me, it was difficult for me to have even more to worry about.

Brooks received bad news after failing his medical testing. Due to the injury that he obtained overseas, he couldn’t pass the simple tests that required him to use his injured hand.

Although he was saddened, he never took it out on us. Instead he started looking for other job opportunities, knowing that he’d be released from the military.

I think it was hard for him, albeit since we were together, and he had B, he was too preoccupied to let it show.

His commanding officer had us over for dinner the last night he had to report for duty, and that was the end of it.

Since we weren’t hard up for money, I’d suggested that he take some time off to make up for what we’d lost. Every day was a blessing being with them together. We went to parks, took day trips and finally started visiting the family again.

It was expected that our visit back would be on the anniversary of my parent’s death. With all of the new knowledge so fresh in our minds, we were all trying to let it go, even Branch. I don’t know why, but he’d taken the news the hardest.

Brooks told him one night, and that following weekend he and Melissa had come to visit us. As reluctant as I was about it, them being with us for that weekend changed everything.

We renewed our friendships and even Brooks enjoyed being around his brother. For the first time I truly felt like I could be friends with Branch.

Melissa asked me to be her maid of honor.

I’m not going to lie and say that it wasn’t a shocker, but given the fact that we were all going to be a family, it just made sense to accept.

Me committing to their union also helped to rebuild our broken relationships. She’d made it a point to make sure I knew that her and Branch never even talked about being together until after I was gone. He was her crying shoulder and she was his. When I thought about all the pain I’d caused him, it made me happy knowing he wasn’t alone.

Our weekend together was another reminder of how precious life and family were to us. I’d spent so much time running away to realize what I’d always had.

I’m not really sure how the twins made peace with their mother, and it wasn’t my place to judge or have an opinion. I was happy if they were.

Since their visit, Mel and I had been talking about wedding plans at least a few days a week. They’d picked out a beautiful location to exchange their vows. It was located near Towson in Maryland, which was a short drive from their parent’s house. The historic building was classified as a castle on a quaint piece of property. Even I was surprised with how excited I was for them. It said a lot about how happy I was with Brooks and our family.

“Earth to Kat.” I looked up to see Brooks standing in front of me. “Do I get a kiss goodbye, or are you going to stand there in your weird trance?

I felt embarrassed. “Sorry.”

He kissed me goodbye, but it wasn’t exactly appropriate. Brooks grabbed the back of my head and stuck his tongue in my mouth.

Branch started making gagging sounds. “Can we go before I puke?”

I pulled away from Brooks and wiped off my wet lips, while he laughed and walked toward his brother.

I watched as he crouched down and called B over. She went running into his chest. “Daddy, I go.”