She laughed at me.
“I may retire before we get all that handled.”
Bitch. I had to laugh, though. Then I realized she did it on purpose to get my mind off of Tracy for a moment.
“Thanks, I needed to laugh.”
She just smiled at me. Mary was back with the antacids. I hugged her to let her know I cared for her. She was as bad as her daughter and started to cry. We stood like that for several minutes until Tom came and took my place. I could see Tracy was visibly shaken. I took her hand and led her to her room. She was exhausted.
She changed into a t-shirt and I kicked my shoes off and crawled into bed with her. We didn’t say a word. I just held her. Dr. Hebert stuck her head in about thirty minutes later to find Tracy sound asleep in my arms. I got up and put my shoes on.
When I came downstairs, Tom was waiting for me.
“How is she?”
“She’s sleeping. How’s Mary?”
“Dr. Hebert gave her a sedative.”
“Can you all come for brunch tomorrow?”
“Yeah, we’ll be there.”
I asked Dr. Hebert to give me a ride home so she’d know where to go.
WHEN I GOT HOME, I ran right to Mom and she wrapped me in her love. I let it all out. I have to say I wasn’t very good with the nondisclosure business. I never kept secrets from my parents. I know most people think we’re weird, but they have earned my trust over the years. We have some very frank discussions.
I told them my concerns. Dad suggested Uncle John should come and be a part of our talk. He called him and made the arrangements.
Chapter 18 – You’ll Look Like Nolan Ryan
Sunday March 2
I GOT UP EARLY AND ran. I do my best thinking when I run. I drop into a zone that allows me to concentrate on what’s bothering me. By the time I got home, I had the outline of a plan.
I showered and came down for breakfast. I was starved after losing my dinner last night. Angie found me making a peach coffee cake. She handed me Kyle and had me walk her through it. It was simple. Take a large can of peaches and drain them. Use Bisquick to make the coffee cake. They have a recipe on the side of the box. Then make a crumble with flour, butter, brown sugar and cinnamon.
Of course, Angie took all the credit for our breakfast. My almost-sister-in-law had no shame.
Mom and I went to church. We left halfway through because she wasn’t feeling well. I about freaked out when she had me drive home. Fortunately, it was only a few blocks. Greg came out and re-parked the car. Dad told me not to do that again, he would come get us. Well, I knew better. Mom went to bed.
Today’s brunch was going to be more of a lunch. Greg and Angie were making fried chicken. Angie had gotten a deep-fat fryer for Christmas. She was eager to try it out. Everyone showed up at 11:30 and we ate.
WHEN EVERYONE WAS READY, we went into the living room. Tom wasn’t happy to see Uncle John, Greg and Angie. Dad got Mom up so she could listen.
“David, before we go too far, I want to remind you of what we agreed to last night.”
“Tom, I don’t keep secrets from my family. My family doesn’t share with others what’s said inside this house.”
“Dad, David’s right. We can trust them,” Tracy defended me.
“Okay, it’s your call,” he told her.
“I’m not going to share everything with my family,” I assured Tracy. “But I have some problems with one part of what we talked about: the accident.”
I paused to see how Tom would react to that. I could tell he would wait to see what I said before he said anything. Tom was a smart man. He knew I would have a problem with this.
“Tracy was involved in a car accident. I won’t go into details, but let’s just say it was an accident that was dealt with poorly. Three people were hurt because of how it was handled. One was falsely convicted for his role. Property was damaged that caused a business owner to lose his livelihood. I’ll talk about the third person last.”
“What happened to the guy that was convicted?” Uncle John asked.
“He was able to plea-bargain down to a misdemeanor conviction. He spent ninety days in jail and then had to join the Army. He was a drug dealer, heading to prison at some point, so in a lot of ways, he’s better off,” Tracy said.
“And the business owner?” Uncle John asked.
Tom shook his head.
“I don’t know. I do know they never reopened. It could’ve been they were wiped out, or they took the insurance money and ran. I just don’t know,” Tom said.
I turned to Tracy.
“What do you think the right thing to do is?”
She didn’t hesitate, which made me proud of her.
“I need to call Tiny and tell him what really happened. He needs to know all of it.”
“I think that’s a good idea,” Dr. Hebert said. “Not only for closure but for Tracy herself.”
Uncle John nodded his agreement.
“David, I don’t know what to do about the business owner. I agree, though, that something should be done,” Tracy said.
“Let me make some inquiries,” Tom said. “You said you had a third person. I sure as hell hope you’re not talking about Bill.”
“No, I’m talking about Tracy. She needs to tell the police everything. If she doesn’t, that bastard will hold this over her forever. It would be better to face it now than say when she’s married and has kids.”
“I won’t see my baby go to jail,” Mary said.
“I agree with you both. It’s the right thing to do, but I want to protect my daughter. What do you think, Tracy?” Tom asked.
“David’s right. This has ruled my life since that night. It has to end.”
AFTER THE MEETING, Tracy took me up to my apartment. When we got to the living room, she gave me a serious kiss. I had missed that. Every male hormone in me woke up. There was never a question of our sexual chemistry. I finally had to pry her off me.
“Hey, slow down,” I told her.
She gave me a sad look and wanted me to hold her. Tracy just wanted to have someone, other than her parents, reassure her that everything would be okay.
LATER THAT AFTERNOON, Uncle John got Greg, Dad and me together in the office. He had something on his mind.
“We need to have a boys’ weekend. After watching David in action today, your dad and I need to share some information with you.”
“I would like to spend some time with you guys,” I said.
Greg was more cautious.
“Give us a clue; we have a lot going on.”
Uncle John and Dad laughed. Greg and I were not amused.
“Nothing weird is going to happen,” Uncle John teased.
“Don’t worry, there’ll only be minor blood work done,” Dad said mysteriously.
“Okay, I call bullshit. Greg and I are not going into this blind. What the hell do we need blood work for?”
“Now look what you did, you got your brother all upset,” Dad grinned at us.
“You two better watch yourselves. At some point one of us is going to be picking out the nursing home,” Greg warned them.
That got them both laughing at us.
“Greg, just agree to go. They can keep this up all day. I have better things to do.”
“All right, you guys win. Talk to David, because he’s the one with the booked calendar,” Greg told them.
I pulled out my phone and showed them my schedule. We picked the first weekend in June.
TAMI SENT ME A TEXT to jump on video chat before I went to bed. She and Missy were there when I logged in.
“I missed you girls,” I said.
They both grinned at me.
“When are you coming to see me next?” I asked.
They looked at each other.
“Which one of us are you talking to?” Tami asked.
I just winked at her.
“I’ll go first,” Missy said. “I’m coming down for your dance on the fourteenth and your first game the next day.”