Unbreak my Heart (2 page)

Crank downed the last of his can of Bud in one gulp and leaned back in the weathered wicker chair on Macey and Eli’s front porch, still mulling over in his mind how he should broach the subject of giving his brother-in-law financial help.

As he sat quietly
, his mind recalled the many letters Macey had written him in jail over the past six years. Many of which indicated that, due to a succession of severe droughts, they had been doing it tough financially.
Heck, as well as working her fingers to the bone on the ranch, Macey had even explained in one of her letters that she had taken on a second job at the local diner to help make ends meet.

“You want another beer
Crank?” Eli asked, twisting one free of its plastic casing and handing it to him.

As he accepted it Crank couldn’t help noticing how much
thinner and older Eli looked than when he had last seen him two years ago during one of his rare prison visits, he now looked more like a man in his mid-forties than a man in his mid-thirties. “Is everything okay Buddy?” he asked, reaching across to put his hand on Eli’s shoulder. “You’ve been so quiet. You’re not upset that Macey invited me to stay for the night are ya?”

Eli managed a smile. “Of course not, you’re family and you’re welcome to stay with us whenever and for as long as you like.”

Crank cracked open his can of beer and took a quick slurp. “Then what is it Eli? You seem so quiet and preoccupied. What the heck is wrong?”

Eli scraped his chair across the
porch to get closer to Crank and spoke softly in order to avoid Macey overhearing their conversation from the kitchen. “Crank, things haven’t been too good on the ranch over the last five years and I was kind of hoping I could have a little chat about getting a loan from you to tide us over until things improve.”

Crank was taken by complete surprise. For Eli to even contemplate asking for a loan he knew things must be even worse than he thought.
“How much do you need?” he asked. “Whatever it is just ask?”

Eli looked at him
through bloodshot, tired eyes, no doubt from lack of sleep. “Crank, I had to take out a second mortgage on the ranch three years ago in the peak of the drought and I never told Mace, and now I owe the bank 200 thousand dollars.” He picked up his Bud with a shaking hand and took a sip to calm himself. “Crank, they’re threatening to foreclose on our mortgage in six weeks’ time if I don’t come up with at least half of the money. You’re my last hope. Can you lend me the 100 grand?”

Crank
rubbed his stubbled chin and stood up, slightly annoyed that Eli had taken so long to confide in him. “Eli, why the hell didn’t you tell Mace about the second mortgage? She had a right to be told. After all, the ranch is half hers.”

Eli looked thoroughly ashamed. “
I just wanted to spare her any more pain I guess. You had lost Ellie, her only niece, in that drunken crash and then you were sent to jail for eight years for manslaughter. How could I add to her troubles by heaping our financial problems on her as well? I just couldn’t.”

Crank
’s jaw clenched. “That drunkard bastard got what he deserved,” he snapped, “but you’re right, Macey has been through a lot.” He took a deep breath and decided to push Eli further to find out the full extent of their financial troubles before agreeing to anything temporary. “Tell me Eli, if I lend you the 100 grand can you afford to make payments on the rest of the mortgage, send the twins to a decent college and still afford to live comfortably without you and Macey working yourselves into early graves?”

Eli shrugged his arms. “Crank, I don’t get a choice. There is no other alternative.”

Crank motioned for Eli to sit back down. “Yes Eli, there is another alternative and you’re going to agree to it whether you like it or not. I’m going to pay off your entire 200 thousand dollar mortgage and set up a 100 thousand dollar college trust fund for each of your boys, and it will be a gift; I don’t want to be paid back. Do you understand?”

Eli’s
shoulders sagged. “Crank that’s very generous, but I can’t accept it, even from you. It’s bad enough that I have to trouble you for a loan, but a gift?” He shook his head. “Thank you so much for the offer, but I’m a proud man, just like my daddy, and I would prefer to borrow what we need to get us out of trouble and pay every cent of it back. It ain’t right to depend on family for handouts, no matter how rich they might be.”

Crank clenched his jaw
again defiantly. “Eli, it ain’t right to keep your wife in the dark about financial troubles either, no matter how honourable your reasons may have been for keeping them a secret, so either you come clean to Mace about the second mortgage and the foreclosure on your ranch or you agree to let me take care of the entire mortgage and set up the college funds for the boys; the choice is yours?”

By now both men were
up out of their chairs and Eli stared silently at Crank for a moment as if weighing his options. Before long silent tears began spilling down Eli’s cheeks and he wiped them haphazardly with his sleeve. Suddenly, his entire posture lifted as if a huge weight had been shifted from his shoulders.

“
Crank, how the heck am I ever gonna repay you for your generosity?” he asked, grabbing Crank unexpectedly around the waist and lifting him completely off the ground in a heartfelt bear hug to show his gratitude.

“And what generosity might that be?” Macey asked
, walking out onto the verandah just as her husband was lowering Crank back down onto the floor. “What exactly have you two been up to while I’ve been busy cleaning the dishes?”

Before Eli had a chance to speak,
Crank put an arm around his sister’s waist. “Your husband has just sensibly agreed to let me pay off your entire 100 thousand dollar mortgage and set up a 100 thousand dollar college fund for each of your boys. So what’s say we ditch these beers and open a bottle of your best wine to celebrate?”

Macey
threw her arms around Crank’s neck and kissed him on the cheek and then grabbed Eli and kissed him long and hard on the lips. “Crank I don’t know what you said to convince Eli to accept money from you, but I’m mighty glad he accepted.” She wiped tears of pure joy from her eyes. “Now if you two will excuse me for just one minute I’m gonna go back inside and get that wine before he changes his mind.”

“Don’t you worry about that little
sis! I won’t be lettin’ Eli change his mind.” he assured her. “Now how ‘bout you go get that wine!”

When she was gone Eli turned to Crank. “Thank you so much for keeping the true extent of our financial woes a secret.
Mace is just over the moon that you are finally out of jail, and telling her would have well and truly put a damper on her high spirits.”

Crank sat back down in
the wicker chair, put his hands behind his head to get comfortable and looked across at his brother-in-law. “Thank you for being the love of my sister’s life and for having the guts to ask for help when you need it. As I told Mace, you guys are my only family now and family members should always be there for each other, through thick and thin.”

For a few awkward moments Crank was disoriented when he felt the warmth of the morning sun’s rays on his face and opened his eyes to see the calming, flowery wall-paper of Macey’s spare bedroom, rather than the cold, grey and windowless walls of his prison cell.

It felt so good to finally be out of
that steel and concrete hell-hole where he had spent over 2000 days of his life;
each one personally marked off with neat little crosses over six different prison-issue calendars
. It was a hell of a long time to be locked away from family and friends and his company, Jackson Waylon Investments, which he had started with his best friend Kurt Waylon straight out of college as a two man investment firm and had helped to grow into a 10 billion dollar corporation with over 500 employees and branches in the U S, Asia, Australia, Europe and Dubai, that had netted he and his business partner a personal wealth of over 1.5 billion dollars each.

Throwing back the covers,
Crank stretched his tall frame and sauntered naked over to the window, opening it wide to breathe in the fresh Texas country air. As he looked out over the pristine backyard he spotted a male mourning dove on the roof of the porch, cooing and dancing in circles around a smaller female in an effort to win her affections. “Don’t let her break your heart little buddy,” he called through the window, accidentally scaring the two of them off into a nearby tree.

“Oh my Lord
, Crank, can you please cover that naked ass?” Macey screeched, covering her eyes in mock disgust after poking her head around the bedroom door. “Eli has brewed some fresh coffee and cooked up a huge pan of eggs and bacon especially for you for breakfast. It’s his subtle way of saying thanks for getting us out of debt, so hurry up and get dressed and come on down.”

“Thanks Mace,
” Crank said over his shoulder without making any effort to cover himself. “Tell Eli I’m just gonna grab a quick shower and I’ll be down.”

When she had gone
, Crank opened up one of the suitcases of clothes, marked as casual wear on the tag, which Macey had been storing for him since the sale of his Rosedale house, and picked out a t-shirt, jeans and fresh underwear before heading into the bathroom to shower in complete privacy for the first time in six years.

“Hey Buddy, how did you sleep?” Eli asked casually as
Crank walked into the kitchen and took a seat on one of the stools lined along the breakfast bar.

Crank tucked his long legs up on the leg rest of the stool and stretched out his arms in a yawn. “To tell
ya the truth Eli, I think it’s the best sleep I’ve had in six years. That mattress in the spare room made me feel like I was sleeping on a cloud.”

Eli shovelled a couple of fried eggs and a pile of
crispy bacon onto Crank’s plate and handed it to him, along with a knife and fork and a small basket of condiments. “Now I’m afraid I can’t match all that fancy prison food that y’all been eating for the last six years Crank, but I hope that this will be suffice to get you through to lunch.”

Crank pretended to be disappointed. “What, no lumpy porridge or
tasteless breakfast cereal with a measured half cup of milk?” he groaned in mock disgust. “I’m extremely disappointed in you, Eli!”

“What on earth are you complaining about now big brother?” Macey asked,
ruffling his still damp her with her fingers as she walked by into the kitchen. “If you’re intending to put some meat back onto those hollowed out cheeks of yours then you ought to be eating instead of complaining.”

“What about you, Sweetheart?” Eli asked his wife
as she wrapped her hands around his waist. “Can I get you some freshly cooked bacon and eggs?”

Macey shook her head as she looked at the greasy bacon. “No thanks
Eli, to tell ya the truth I’m not feeling the best this morning. I must have caught some kind of stomach bug.”

“
Maybe you ought ‘to make an appointment to see Doc Benson later today,” Eli said worriedly. “We can’t afford for you to get sick with the boys comin’ home tomorrow.”

“I’ll be fine,” Macey said dismissively. “
Stop fussin,’ there’s no need for me to take up any of Doc Benson’s precious time. I just need to watch what I eat for a while, that’s all.” She poured herself an orange juice and joined Crank at the breakfast bar. “What are your plans for today Cranky-pants?” she asked before taking a small sip of her juice.

Crank couldn’t help himself from laughing out loud.
Cranky-pants
was the pet name Macey had given him when they were kids and it had kind of stuck, even after all these years. He looked at her with affection. “I’ll pack my gear into the 4WD after breakfast and head into Austin to see Kurt. We’re gonna grab some lunch together and he’s gonna bring me up to scratch with Jackson Waylon Investments. Then I think I’ll keep heading upstate to the new cabin for a few weeks to give myself time to readjust to life on the outside without the prying eyes of the public.”

“What about your parole?” Macey asked worriedly. “Don’t you have to report to your parole officer once per week in Austin?”

“Don’t you worry yourself about that, worry-wart,” Crank assured Macey, rolling his eyes. “I’ve already discussed my plans of heading off to my new cabin for a while with both my prison parole board officer and my assigned parole officer before my release. According to my parole officer, due to my exemplary prison behaviour record, and providing I stop in to see him before I leave for Caddo Lake, he’s happy for me to drop into the police station in Karnack once a week until I get back into Austin.”

Macey looked at him apologetically. “Crank, I’m sorry for being nosey and I
truly wasn’t trying to pry, it’s just that I don’t want anything to jeopardise your freedom, that’s all!”

“I know,” Crank grinned, “and that’s why I love you.”

Eli carefully carried over a cup of freshly brewed coffee and placed it in front of him. “Are you sure Macey and I can’t talk you into staying here with us for a few more days before you head on up to Harrison County? The boys will be arriving back home from camp tonight and they are gonna be so disappointed when they find out they have missed you.”

Crank gently blew away the steam rising from his coffee and took a much anticipated mouthful before answering. “Sorry Eli, but I’ve already made the arrangements to meet with Kurt
in Austin today. Besides, if y’all keep feeding me like this then I’m gonna end up fatter than a pig in no time.”

Macey reached out and clipped Crank affectionately across the ears. “You listen here Cranky-pants,” she retorted, “I’ve been eating my wonderful husband’s cooking for over sixteen years and I’ve still managed to keep my figure
.”

Eli
poured another two coffees for himself and Macey, and sat down on the stool between them, placing a loving arm around his wife’s shoulders. “You can get as fat as you like my gorgeous wife,” he said lovingly, kissing her on the cheek. “It’ll just mean that there will be more of you for me to love.”

Macey kissed Eli
lovingly on the lips. “There ya go Crank,” she said sharply, turning to her brother. “I hope you’re taking a few pointers from my sweet Texan husband here. He says he’s still gonna love me even when I’m old and fat. Now when are you gonna find yourself another woman to love, it’s been a long time since…?”

Crank’s brow furrowed. He knew that Macey was just
looking out for him, but just the thought of allowing another woman into his heart was too much to bear. “Mace I love you very much, you know that, but you needn’t concern yourself with my love life. I fell in love with Georgia and gave her everything she ever wanted, but even that wasn’t good enough or she would never have left me for that drunken killer.” He almost spat the words. “You know that last fall my Ellie would have turned twelve.”

Macey got up from her stool
and hugged her brother from behind to console him. “I know what that bastard did. But I also know that Ellie would not want her daddy to spend the rest of his life alone. She would want you to find someone new to love, no matter how scared you may feel.”

Crank
reached up and gently grabbed her hands. “I’m sorry Mace, but I won’t ever put myself through that sort of pain again. Burying my wife and daughter were the hardest things I’ve ever had to do and I don’t wanna feel pain like that ever again. That’s why I had you buy me that cabin up in Caddo Lake. I need time alone to grieve properly and get my shit together; I couldn’t do that in jail, not properly.”

When he released her hands
Macey reached down and picked up her juice. “You take all the time you need to get your shit together Crank, but you ain’t ever gonna feel whole ‘less you open up your heart again.” She tapped the middle of his chest. “You got a big heart Crank; don’t keep it closed off forever.”