Page 05
"Dad!" Janice's voice could be heard before her mother and sister derailed her attention.
"You got some nerve coming here knowing full well what you did," Jance stated, marching towards Elijah.
"Then I might lodge a complaint with the creators of said daughter; if you didn't want me to do such a thing, then you shouldn't have made such a beautiful woman," Elijah retorted, stopping Jance, given how no one was expecting to say those words. Clearly, Jance did not know what to say to that as he just stood there staring blankly at Elijah.
"Damn, Jance, if I knew that would get you off my ass all those years ago, I would have said something similar," Rick grumbled, bringing Jance out of his stupor.
"Got to have some wit about you, Rick, for that to happen," Jance said, ripping on his son-in-law. "You better be taking responsibility for getting my daughter pregnant," he uttered sternly.
"Of course, that is my child, too," Elijah said, stacking the split logs of wood neatly. "I'm nothing like my parents," he whispered low so no one heard.
"Good, while I don't like how this baby came about, Desirae, and I expect you to marry her, you know this, right?" Jance asked, eyeing Elijah harshly.
"Dad, I know for certain you got Mom pregnant with Stacy before the two of you were married. Don't you harp on my man," Janice said, interrupting her father, seeing the smirk on Rick's face knowing he had been on the receiving of her parents' righteousness far too often for his liking. Given the conversations they had over the years. "Now that the papers have been signed, we only have to wait two months before he can walk me down the aisle," she stated, looking right at Elijah.
"Huh? Jan, we're going to have to talk about this rapidness and you planning things without my consent," Elijah spoke firmly.
"Of course, babe. You know I want the best for us. You deserve me," Janice said, smiling tauntingly at Elijah while blowing him a kiss to soothe his ruffled feathers.
"Good luck," Jance chuckled, moving off to check on his smokers when he heard the selfishness his daughter was known for in her early years. It only resurfaced when she really wanted something.
"El, you know we're going to be good together, right?" Janice uttered as she slid up next to him as he stood beneath the small canopy tent her father had set up for Elijah, given the hours they would be manning the smokers.
"So you just wrangle every man you're with into marriage?" Elijah teased, watching her cheeks heat.
"No, it's only the one I deem worthy of carrying his child," Janice said, nuzzling her cheek against his arm.
"And why are you so gung-ho on marriage so quickly?"
"Because I want our baby to have a married mother and father when he or she is born. As the Lord says, An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels[1]," Janice said happily. "And El, I'm going be the best wife you've ever had. The years you were with that woman will seem like a dream as we grow old together."
"Janice!" Desirae shouted. "You march that butt in here and help your sister while you rest!" she said in an overprotective motherly voice.
"Mom, I'm fine," Janice responded, rolling her eyes.
"Now, Luana," Desirae nearly growled, causing Janice's eyes to widen at the use of her middle name, something her parents only used when they were getting annoyed or they were being rebellious.
The sun had long set when the last embers of the smokers neared the end of their lives as Jance, Rick, and Elijah worked to carry the one hundred and sixty now fully cooked Butts into the house. The sides they normally made to help with the Church's drive sat ready for traveling in the morning when they would shred the pork and load the meat into trays. When everything was situated, Stacy led her husband out the back door to their own home while Janice and Elijah opted to spend the night there. Elijah was relegated to the couch in the living room while Janice was sequestered in her sister's old room with Desirae guarding the hallway to keep Elijah from midnight visits. It was the same for her daughter. While it was old fashioned to Elijah's thinking, he still was in their house and being allowed to stay instead of renting a motel room for the night. So Elijah didn't say much about it.
When he woke up the next morning, it was to Janice's face standing over him with a cup of coffee in her hands. A light sparkle appeared in her eyes as she brought her steaming mug to her lips. Her fingernails scraped along his scalp as she moved past him.
"Think you two can lend us a hand for the day before you two head back to Jackson?" Jance asked as he sprinkled some pepper onto his eggs.
"With what?" Elijah asked, hoping it didn't take all day since he had other things to do that day before he had to go to work the next morning.
"Hauling all that meat to the Church, what else," Jance spoke, looking at Elijah as if he was slow.
"Just hauling it, right?" Elijah retorted.
"That's right, just hauling the meat afterwards, you two can head out," Jance said, knowing he couldn't push too much onto Elijah so soon.
"Sure, I don't have a problem with that," Elijah said, breaking the yoke of his egg before dipping his piece of toast into the runny yoke.
Janice was pointing every which way as she directed him towards the Church. Not that he would have a problem since Rick's dually was loud enough for him to follow after, even if he couldn't see Rick's truck. Saint Mary Presbyterian Church rose over the houses as Elijah and Janice neared the nearly hundred-year-old church. Hordes of people exited the fellowship hall where the church's kitchen was; they were already unloading Jance's truck when Elijah pulled in next to Rick. He heard the happy chatter as his car door closed and the trunk lip eased up on its hinges. Elijah looked oddly at Janice and her family as they just struck up conversations with people so easily. Then again, he shouldn't have been surprised given the years Janice's family attended the church. As he carried one of the many trays of meat through the back door of the kitchen. He was amazed, not that he should be, at how organized the kitchen was as the volunteers weighed out the meat they were going to sell as half-pound and pound bags that they weren't going to use in sandwiches.
"Jance!" The Minister of the Church's voice thundered through the crowds' voices. "I thought I smelled your signature smoke!" The mid-fifty's old man said, embracing Jance in a manly hug.
"You know I'd be here, Joe," Jance said, smiling warmly at his old friend.
"I know the congregation can always count on you and your family when the Church has the need. Desirae, you better have brought some of those brownies from last year, or I fear we might have a full-scale riot," Joe joked, greeting Desirae as an old friend. In a sense, they were since they both had dated in the last year of middle school. After that, they maintained a cordial relationship.
"Now, where's the fun in giving them what they want?" Desirae countered, getting howls of laughter from the women, young and old, within the kitchen.
Elijah just set the tray down where Janice indicated and headed back out the door to bring in the rest. As he carried tray after tray into the kitchen, Elijah noticed how Janice would brush strands of her hair behind her ear, wearing this warm smile she always had whenever she would glance out of the corner of her eye when she was talking with people he assumed she grew up with. He was helping Rick carry the last trays in another truck, albeit alone, with a trailer pulled to a stop.
"Whatever happens, don't make a scene, at least not here," Rick warned, steering Elijah towards the kitchen. It was always the same every year with the owner of that truck, thinking he was the big fish in their small town. When in truth, he was nothing, given how his father was keeping his restaurant afloat. The man flaunted his BBQ like it was the holy grail when it was just like every other chain BBQ. No defining taste while covering up the meat in a sauce.
"Huh?" Elijah uttered, confused. All Rick did was nod towards the direction of the truck like that meant anything to him. "You want to elaborate?" he asked, noting how clinched Rick's jaw was. "I take it he made a move on your wife," Elijah stated, to which Rick simply nodded.
"Not only Stacy, he really had a thing for Janice, and since she's been living out of state, he's turned his attention to my wife until I beat his ass for trying to take liberties with my wife," Rick said matter-of-factly. "Why I said don't start anything, at least in the church."
"I see," Elijah uttered coldly. His eyes turned hard as past experiences with a man like him played out in his mind. "If he does nothing, then I won't do anything," he said after a few moments before he and Rick walked through the back door.
"Honey, everything alright?" Stacy asked, coming up to her husband's side when she noted Rick's and Elijah's mood. She was soon joined by her sister, who had her own look of concern on her face.
"Beau Xanrich is here," Rick answered flatly, noting how his wife pressed her lips together while Janice wasted no time in closing the distance between her and Elijah.
"Babe, I know he'll be crass, but please keep what I suspect is about to erupt contained for me, please?" Janice pleaded with Elijah.
"I'm not a moody teenager who can't control his emotions. If I can control my anger for five years, one little prick won't phase me. Now, if he can't keep his hands off my lady, then we will have words, very strong words," Elijah said, watching the rosy color flooding her cheeks as she got a bashful look on her face.
"Good," Janice whispered as she rose on the tips of her toes, placing a sweet lingering kiss on his lips.
The man's voice announced his arrival long before the man even entered the kitchen. A line of boys who appeared at least to Elijah no older than maybe twenty years of age and no younger than seventeen as they carried trays three stacked to a person. The young men said nothing as they quickly carried the trays to where the older ladies were pointing, where other volunteers relieved them of their charges. Rick wrapped his arm protectively around Stacy's shoulders as he pulled her into him; he narrowed his eyes at Beau as the man stood in the doorway like he was lord of the land. Beau just smirked at Rick, silently taunting him that he could have his wife with a snap of his fingers if he wanted her like that, which he didn't. Beau thought Stacy was a very poor substitute for his real interest. Janice. Surprise filled his eyes when no one told him she had returned from wherever she had gone too with that bum (in his opinion) she was shacking up with.
"Jan..." Instantly, his ire was raised when he watched how Janice just latched onto a man he'd never seen before. "Hi," his voice took on a light tone as he drew close to him, "I didn't know you were back... where's his face?" Looking around for Tony since he knew he wouldn't allow just anyone to be that close with Janice in such a manner if the man with her wasn't family. Then again, he thought he knew or at least knew about every member of her family. It was a small town. Everyone knew everyone and everything.
"Hello Beau, we broke up," Janice said, being polite inside of a church.
"Oh?! So does that mean you would be interested..." Looking confused at how Janice moved behind the man as he stepped forward.
"Listen, I don't know you, and right now, I don't care to know you. Yet it seems I'm the one that needs to tell you, she's my girlfriend. So keep your overtures to yourself," Elijah said, watching how well the man hid his emotions from his face as the man's face was just as placid as the surface of a calm lake.
"I see, dating long?" Beau asked, phishing for information.
"A year and a half," Elijah lied, feeling Stacy's eyes burning holes into his hide for lying on holy ground.
"Then I hope you two last." Were Beau's parting words before he fell behind his workers as they filed out the door to fetch the last of the trays. Beau wasn't a religious man. It was all to keep up appearances, nothing but superficial faith. He wasn't going to let Janice get away this time like he did when she left with Tony.
Elijah's jaw muscles danced as knowing he hadn't heard the last from that man. He knew the type. The moment he felt the light touch of her hands on his back, he realized how tense he was as his body relaxed.
"Do I have to be worried?" Elijah asked from over his left shoulder.
"Of Beau?" Janice couldn't help it as she laughed at the absurdity of his question. "Heavens, no, I'm yours and no one else's," she whispered as she wrapped her arms around Elijah's waist.
"I don't like you lying in church, but I understand why you did, so I don't think God will be too angry with you," Stacy said, glad her little sister had someone protecting her.
Elijah kept his thoughts on God to himself, given where he was. He wasn't about to find himself hogtied and dumped out in the woods where the dueling banjos played. He has seen Deliverance, and he wasn't going out that way.
"Elijah, you drive safely, and you better come next Sunday for our weekly family dinners," Jance said, shaking Elijah's hand.
"I..." The tug on his right hand still his words as Janice drew his attention.
"Please, Elijah," Janice said softly.
"You'll have to remind me," Elijah stated, to which Janice nodded.
"Of course," Janice uttered happily; glad he was trying.
"Although, I might have to be buried in my phone," Elijah warned.
"Work?" Desirae inquired.
"No, the Ravens are playing the Steelers then," Elijah said truthfully.
"Oh?! Football fan, huh?" Jance grinned broadly, getting an eye-roll from his wife. "Then no need to bury your nose in that thing, I got no problem watching the game."
"Deal," Elijah uttered with a curt nod.
"Good, now you two get home safely. Janice you text me when you get home," Jance said, saying goodbye to his daughter.
"You keep me informed of your doctor appointments; if you need me, call," Desirae whispered into her daughter's ear, feeling Janice nod in response.
For four months, she has been on the run. If only she had known the money in that account was tied to some very shady characters. Stella collapsed against the steering wheel of the used car she bought as she had pulled into a rest stop on their month-long race to keep ahead of the people sent to track the money down. She had first noticed them in the town in Oregon where she had moved her and her girls too after fleeing Maine and the collapse of her life. The men didn't notice her when she saw them walking out of the grocery store she found to be relatively good on sales. It wasn't hard to know what kind of men they were, they stood out like a sore thumb. So she packed her daughters up and skipped town in the dead of night.
So Stella has kept to out-of-the-way places, towns that hadn't seen a visitor in twenty years, hide-away places. Pushing herself up and back into her seat, her eyes glanced to the rear-view mirror as her girls slept in their seats. The phone call she had three hours ago played out in her head. Tears reamed her eyes as her mind replayed her mother's last words before she watched the men who had used her mother's phone to video call her to execute her mother no matter how she pleaded with them not to do such a thing. Telling her that was the payment she owed due to the aggravation she had caused chasing her down. Informing her she had two days to return what didn't belong to her or her father would be next then her stepmother.
Her head rolled to the left, hoping her last hope would hear her last plea for leniency, feeling she wasn't going to see another day once she handed back the money. Wiping the tears from her cheeks, sniffling as the sign for Elijah's hometown stared at her as she started her car. She knew he might hate her and her girls for how they treated him; he would at least see that the girls were taken care of even if he wasn't the one who did such a thing. As she pulled onto the interstate, she scrolled through her contact list. Stella didn't know why she kept his number, given how it ended between the two of them. Blowing out a breath as she brought her phone to her ear, listening to the line ring.
"Please, Elijah, pick up, please," Stella uttered, willing her ex-husband to answer his phone. Relief flooded her body when she heard the line connecting.
"Why are you calling me?" Was Elijah's cold question.
"Elijah, I know you want nothing to do with me; I get that; I've earned your hate. But I'm in trouble; I'm not asking you to help me. However, I don't think I'll be able to get out of this one, if you know what I mean. I need you to watch after the girls. I know you want nothing to do with them but you're the only one I can trust with their safety."
"Why?"
"Because Kevin took money from people I had no clue he was in contact with, and now they want it back. Kevin had put the account, where he hid the money, in my name, and I thought he was squirreling it away on the off chance he was planning to run," her lip trembled as she knew this would be the last few moments she had with her daughters, "they killed my mother," Stella said, the words hanging off her lips.
"What?! What are you saying? Are you sure?"
"Yes, Elijah, I'm sure. They made me watch it," Stella spoke, barely keeping her emotions on a lid.
"Shit."
"Yeah," drawing out the word, the irony wasn't lost on her that this was the first time in five years Elijah was actually talking to her and not at her, "so listen, I don't have a lot of time, I'm dropping the girls off at your Uncle's place. I know you'll do what's right by them. I know you don't want to hear this, but I never stopped loving you. I got greedy and wanted it all and lost sight of why I chose to marry you," Stella said, seeing the exit for Elijah's uncle's house nearing. While she has only met the man and his wife a few times before Elijah found out the truth about their marriage. "If this is to be my last night on Earth, I want you to know how sorry I am for how everything went down. If I hadn't been greedy, you might not have been married to me for so long. I'm hoping that eventually, you'll forgive me for what I've done." She wasn't expecting the kind of sigh she knew so well, knowing that sigh meant he was about to do something he didn't like but had to do.
"Yeah, alright, I forgive you." Stella sent the woman she'd heard before a silent thank you since she knew Elijah wouldn't have done so on his own.
"Thank you, El. Please do be kind to the girls; they're going to need you in the coming years, and I'm sorry for putting this on you, but you're the only one I trust with their long-term safety," Stella said, hanging up the phone before Elijah could say another word.
"Okay, girls, take your bags," Stella said when she unloaded her trunk and handed her girls their things.
"Mom, where are we?" Celle asked, looking up at her mother as her little sister walked on the other side of their mother.
"Honey," Celle grew worried when she heard the tremble of her mother's voice; she knew her sister, Abegail, was just as scared as she was, "I brought you here to Elijah's Uncle's place. Elijah is coming to pick you up. Bad men are chasing us, and the only way to fix what we did is to give back what your father took from them. Since he's in prison, I have to go do it, or they'll keep chasing us. Don't worry, Elijah will be here soon," Stella said, gently brushing the pads of her thumbs along her daughters' cheeks. "Don't worry, it shouldn't take me long, I promise," she lied to her children and herself just so she didn't lose it right there.
Stella sped away from her daughters and two very confused elderly people as she raced towards her fate. She prayed if a sinner like her could pray, that her children wouldn't mourn her for too long, and they were good for Elijah as they grew. Her headlights burned through the darkness of the highway as she raced towards Chicago.
"El, it's going to be okay; you're doing the right thing here," Janice uttered sweetly, her belly bulge pronounced on her body as they walked towards the front door of his Uncle's house. While this would be the first time they met in person, they had talked over the phone a few times after Elijah had introduced her to the last remaining person he saw as family. Her own, namely her mother, were fretting over her like she was a porcelain doll. The room they had designated as the baby room in the house they had moved into a month ago was filled with everything they would need and then some. Although it was mostly diapers. She thought it was a little too much, but Elijah told her they would probably need more.
"Yeah, you don't know those kids like I do," Elijah grumbled, feeling Janice lightly patting his arm.
"Well, just think of it; we'll have little helpers when our baby comes," Janice said; she had listened to Elijah's phone call with his now ex-wife. She was willing to look after the children until they could find a family member to take in the girls. She didn't know how she would feel raising two girls not their own.
"We'll see," Elijah muttered as he raised his hand and knocked on his Uncle's door.
"El..." His Aunt's words stilled in her throat as she stared at her nephew, who just nodded at her before stepping into her home. "My Janice, you didn't tell me you were showing this much," she greeted, embracing Elijah's fiancée since she's on the outs with him.
"They're in here, Elijah," Tom said, peering in the doorway of the parlor where he's been entertaining the girls since the moment their mother dropped them unceremoniously on his doorstep.
Celle and Abegail hugged each other, silently crying in each other's arms, not knowing what was going to happen to them. Their heads snapped towards the door as they heard the name of a man they once knew. Hoping he could tell them why their mother left them behind. Their hearts were in their throats as they heard footsteps and the voice of a woman they knew not of. Their bodies moved before their brains could tell them not to.
Elijah just looked oddly down at the children, who were nothing but nasty towards him for the past five years, as they hugged him like he was a life preserver. Wondering what they had been going through as he felt them trembling against him. The moment his hands rested on their shoulders to give them some support, they just latched on tighter.
"Get you're things; we have a flight to catch," Elijah said, peering down at them who just sadly nodded.
"You'll want to see this," Tom said, pulling Elijah off to the side and handing him a manila envelope. "I don't know what they're were going through or still are, but it has to be big if she transferred her parental rights to you," he stated, seeing that clearly surprising Elijah.
"Is this even legal?!" Elijah whispered low as he heard Janice introducing herself to the girls.
"I might only be a contract lawyer, but I didn't see anything illegal in the paperwork," Tom answered, watching the realization settling on Elijah's shoulders he was now Celle's and Abegail's legal guardian. "I know looking after them isn't what you want to do, given everything that's happened. Nonetheless, no matter how the responsibility was thrust onto you, you are now their parent, and you can't just ignore them without legal repercussions," he said, placing a hand on Elijah's left shoulder as he looked through the paperwork.
"She really is going to die," Elijah said to himself. He knew Stella, she might have been a shit poor wife and human being, but she loved her daughters like nothing else. So he knew transferring her rights to him told him one thing: she wasn't coming back.
"El, is something wrong?" Janice asked; she had been trying to get the girls to smile, yet all they would do was stare somberly down at the floor. He said nothing as he handed her the folder that he entered the room with before he moved to stand in front of the girls.
"Seems your mother made me your legal guardian, so you'll be living with me from now on; I expect you to follow my rules, understood?" Elijah spoke in a commanding tone.
"Yes, Elijah," they answered as one before Abegail reached out and latched her hand onto his pants leg just for some semblance of stability after a month of bouncing from one bed to another.
"El is this real?!" Janice asked, unsure if it would be wise to take them in.
"Uncle said it was," Elijah said, looking over at her. "Thought you wanted a big family," he teased as he steered the girls out the door and towards their rental car. He had already bought their return tickets when he paid for the flight to his hometown.
"Not an instant one, Elijah; I wanted you to be putting the babies in me," Janice said low so the girls wouldn't hear.
"Oh?! I can still do that, you know," Elijah said with a huge grin.
"I'm holding you to it then," Janice said, nodding firmly.
"What's going to happen to us, Elijah?" Celle asked, wondering if he was just going to abandon them like their real father did.
"When we get to Jackson, where we will be living, we'll take you two shopping, get new clothes for you, beds, then get you registered for school there," Elijah said, while he might not like how they were thrust upon him as they were, he wasn't going to shirk his responsibility. He had no wish to have the law on his ass.
"And is she going to be your wife?" Abegail asked innocently.
"I am," Janice said, putting on a brave face. This was not something she thought would happen when she and Elijah were preparing for their baby. "You two think you'll be able to help me with your little brother?" she asked since she wasn't about to abandon children when things had been set into motion. As her mother always told her, make do with what you have.
"I can," her eyes glanced over at Elijah, "I helped Mom with Abe when she was just a baby," Celle said, holding her sister's hand. Praying that Elijah didn't see them off to an orphanage.
"Did you?!" Janice mused, smiling down at the thirteen-year-old as she nodded.
