Promise Me Forever (5 page)

Until Jake looked up at him and grinned. “I bet I can get more fish than you.” His dark eyes settled on Jon then he strolled towards the old wooden dock down by the water. Jon jumped off the bike and ran to catch up. He reached out and grabbed one of the rods.

“Bets on, brother. You’ll never get more fish than me.”

Early morning came and gone while the two brothers battled it out on the water. Their feet dangled over the old wooden boards like teenagers, casting the rods out in to the water. “I never realized how relaxing fishing is. As a kid, we wanted to beat each other by getting the most fish. I remember how Mom would call us in to dinner over and over again because I got more than you and you had to catch one more to tie with me.” Jake laughed at the memory and Jon nodded. He remembered those days with a grin.

“I always tied you, didn’t I bro?” Jon taunted.

“Yeah, you thought so.”

Jon looked at his brother. Jake was always the one who took charge, demanded attention, beat the competition. He built a company so large it was the second biggest construction company in the Keys and beyond and he was still working on beating Foster Corporation, the number one company that stood in his way. The realization that his brother let him catch up dawned on him. He grunted.

“What?” Jake pulled on his rod and brought up another fish.

“I thought all these years I tied with you but you let me, didn’t you Jake?”

Jake shrugged. “After Mom died, you got lost. So did I. Even Dad couldn’t drag us out of the pits of disaster where we landed. He was so deep in himself there were times he forgot we existed. I tried to be the big brother you needed.”

Jon smirked. “Big brother by about two minutes.”

”Yeah, but facts are facts.” He slapped Jon on the back. “We should go see her.” He stood up on the dock and stared out at the ocean. Jon stood beside him. The fishing rods abandoned, the two walked towards the house.

They took a path behind the old homestead where the family cemetery held four graves. Jon opened the black wrought iron gate and stepped inside. A large concrete angel stood guard beside the four graves. Two of the giant concrete slabs stood out in front, the names faded. Jon took a step past the old graves to see his mother’s name on the one in the back. He sat on the concrete bench in front of her tombstone. Jake sat down beside him.

Raw emotion ripped from every crevice inside of him. It felt as if someone yanked a hold of his gut and twisted the insides. Jon placed his head between his knees because he knew he needed to get a grip. He slid from the bench on to his knees at his mother’s grave. The sobs began as if he had no control, deep, racking sobs and moans that wouldn’t stop. They rent the air like a wolf howling in to the night.

He felt his brother beside him and looked over. Jake hung his head to his chest as silent tears ran down his cheeks then dripped from his chin. He wrapped an arm around Jake’s shoulder. It was twenty years in the making, this reunion of sorts. It had to be done in order for them to move on. The pain trapped inside flowed free and they knelt in front of the grave for a long time.

Until the silence became too loud. Jon opened his eyes and watched a bird in flight, it’s wings open and soaring above the water’s edge. He turned to his brother beside him. “A weight the size of Miami is lifted from my shoulders.”

Jake nodded. “It’s been a long time coming. Glad we did this.”

“Yeah, me too. I miss Abby. I need to tell her how sorry I’ve been.”

Jake sighed. “What did you do?”

Jon shrugged. “It’s been tough, ya know. Losing Kevin and all. I wasn’t sure I wanted to have kids after he died. It’s too painful to lose someone.”

“Oh hell, Jon. You didn’t tell her you don’t want kids, did you?”

Jon shook his head. “No, I said I needed time to think about it.”

“I promise you what she heard differed from what you said. To her I’m sure she thinks you never want children. You’re right, you need to go fix things.” He stood up and put out his hand. Jon grabbed his brother and pulled as Jake tumbled back down on the ground. The men wrestled, using moves they learned in high school.

“Say the word,” Jake ordered, the weight of his body on top of Jon.

He shook his head. “Never!” Then he flipped his legs and twisted and rolled away. He crawled about a foot away before Jake dove on top of him again.

“Boys, that’s enough!” A loud voice rumbled through the air, stopping both of them at once. Jon’s eyes widened.

“Dad!”

“You’re grown men for pete’s sake. Haven’t you got over wrestling like that yet?”

Jon stood up and brushed the dirt from his pants. His dad stood there, Maggie’s mom beside him. The two of them were dating. Seems years ago before he met their mother, Maggie’s mom and him fell in love. Looked like they were in love again, Jon surmised. Which was a good thing, his dad deserved to be happy again.

Jake laughed out loud. “Guess you didn’t expect to see this.”

Their dad laughed too. “Nope. But I am glad you’re here. It’s about time.” He walked over to their mother’s grave and placed a fresh bunch of flowers in front. He nodded and turned away to face the men. “This place is getting out of hand for me. I try to keep the grave site looking good, but the house is starting to deteriorate. I need to decide what to do with this property.”

Jake spoke up. “I’ll have the house fixed up. I’ll send some men to work on it soon. This is my Mother’s resting place forever.”

Jon knew the reason his dad kept the property was because of the graveyard. The house would never be used again. Jake built him a hotel down the road to keep him busy, to take his mind off of this place and all it stood for even if he seemed able to face more things since dating Maggie’s Mom. “Why not tear the house down?” Jon asked.

The older Hatfield turned to stare at Jon. “You may have a point.” He shrugged. “I must think about that one, son. Your mother loved it here.”

“We could rebuild a larger place here, fix up the dock and use it as a family vacation home. I don’t mind it here any more.”

“Dad, I still have a lot of catching up to do on that dock,” Jon told him. “I would love to spend time again fishing plus beat Jake for once.”

“Then it’s settled. Jake, tear this down and build us a vacation spot. It’s time we moved on.”

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Jon sat in traffic for over an hour, the bike’s engine warm. He wanted to get home to Abby. Where he belonged because he needed to tell her how he felt, that he wanted children and to get married and to move out of his grief. Jon realized he didn’t handle things well at all with Kevin and wanted to make up for hurting her like he did.

He tried to call her while sitting in stalled traffic but she didn’t answer. After they left the old homestead, the two went back to Jake’s office to draw up some plans for a vacation home. Even though he wanted to get back to Abby, he knew it was important to his brother to get things started. Now he wondered if it had been a good idea to spend all those hours at Jake’s office instead of going straight home to Abby.

After some time, the traffic moved. When Jon turned in to their driveway, the place was dark. It was almost sundown when he pulled up to the house and Abby always kept the living room light on. He walked around the side of the house to see if she was on her parent’s boat, but the dock was empty. The only sound he heard was Pete the parrot.

Inside the place was empty. He walked to the bedroom to find Abby had been going through her trunk where she kept her Pippi costumes. Sitting right inside of her walk in closet, the lid hung open and different pieces of clothing draped over the edges. He didn’t understand why she needed to dress up as Pippi unless she went ahead and volunteered at one of the centers. It seemed strange she didn’t leave a note because she knew he was coming home tonight.

He grabbed a beer from the fridge and went out on the veranda and stopped short. He laughed out loud. A brand new hot tub sat in the corner of the veranda. He shook his head and looked up at the sky. She did it, ordered and had one delivered like she said she would. What an amazing woman, he thought. She was the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with and nothing would ever stop them from a fabulous life.

He would do anything to make sure she knew she was first in his life. He’d make sure she knew it the moment she walked in the door. His glance went back to the hot tub. No sense in wasting it on this beautiful night, he thought as he stripped off his clothes.

<><>

Elvis finished his song on the makeshift stage when Margie announced they had a surprise. “I’d like to introduce you all to Pippi Longstocking and her furry friend!” she yelled in to the crowd, her voice dramatic.

Abby ran out on stage with Penny by her side. All of a sudden Penny stops dead in her tracks. Abby swings around and tries to coax the dog along getting the audience riled up. When Penny starts her tricks, the crowd goes wild, clapping and laughing out loud. It gave Abby a chance to scan the crowd to see if the man with the limp was there. How were they supposed to find a limp in a crowd like this?

Then she noticed him. He walked right behind her mom and dad, his limp evident on his tall frame. He dressed like Zorro the legendary figure in a dark black pair of pants and shirt. A long cape covered most of his body. But the pale skin made his dark mask stand out, along with dark hair pulled back in a pony tail.

She looked over to Margie to see if she noticed. Margie turned her back to the audience and spoke in to the watch on her wrist. Abby stood in front of her so no one would suspect what she did because Margie made it obvious she was up to something. Abby shook her head. Margie and Elvin needed her, they were blundering fools.

Abby finished her dog tricks to a rowdy audience who demanded more, but she held her hands in the air. “I’d like to give you Elvis one last time,” Abby shouted while the audience stomped and clapped.

She ran over to Margie and whispered. “Give me the tracker. I can put it on his cape.”

“You sure? I may be too old for this,” Margie admitted, the sweat trickling down her face.

“This is a tough job, Margie. Don’t worry, I’ll help and you can have all the credit.” She clasped the tracking device in her fist and ran off the stage while Elvin sang one of the singers famous songs. The now silent crowd listened as Elvin’s voice rent the air. He did sound a lot like the king of rock and roll.

Abby worked her way through the crowd until she came to the tall zorro figure. She didn’t know why he was a wanted man, so she was careful not to get him riled up. He could be dangerous and as soon as she got close to him, Penny’s ear perked up. She tuned in to moved closer to Abby’s side. “It’s okay Penny, relax.” But she knew Penny wouldn’t relax while she did her job.

When the crowd clapped as Elvin finished on stage, Abby bumped in to the man in black. “I’m sorry,” she said, using her best Pippi smile. Her left fist opened up as she placed the contraption on the long black cape. He jerked away and stared at her, hard.

Those tawny eyes were angry. Abby stepped back. “I said I was sorry,” she repeated. Penny growled. He looked at Penny and took a step back.

“It’s okay, no harm done.” Then he turned and walked away. Abby moved out of the crowd towards the perimeter where the Viking and his queen stood watching the show.

She walked up behind them. They saw her coming, she knew because her dad’s arm went around her Viking mother and pulled her closer. They got caught and knew so. “Reporting to the Viking and Vixen,” she whispered, brushing up between the two. “Tracker in place.” Abby laughed out loud and left them standing there.

She noticed the man in black was over by the main office building, his back against the outside wall. What was he up to now, she wondered.

“Come on, Penny. Let’s see what’s going on.” They worked the crowd to get through to the other side. Something would go down here tonight, she felt it in her bones but knew her mom and dad couldn’t tell her at the moment. Instead, she would follow Zorro to see where he went. She suspected he was up to no good.

He scooted past the main entrance and around the office building. Then she watched as he slid in to a side door. While the talent show went on, no one paid much attention to the office. Abby slid in through the door as she followed zorro’s path. She could see through the window from where she hid behind a pillar that held up the building. He picked up a metal container and stuffed it inside his cape. Then he opened some drawers but came up empty. She slid back when his head came up in the air as if he knew she watched.

Penny stood rigid at her side and all she had to do was tell the dog to attack but Abby kept her restrained. She placed the tracker on his cape so the agency could follow him. The agency must be aware of what was about to happen, except no one tried to stop him. Should she try?

When he pulled out a small pistol from inside his cape, she backed off. He left the office, turning back several times to make sure no one followed and then slipped back out the door he came in. Abby let out her breath. The guy was a thief!

She had enough thievery in her life these past weeks to last a lifetime. It was high time someone stopped these petty con artists. Abby took Penny by the collar and motioned for the dog to follow. She slipped outside and spotted the man in black along the edge of the campground. All of a sudden he disappeared down a dark trail.