Chapter
36
About 45
minutes later, Tyler was ringing the Prescott’s doorbell. It was answered by a nice looking chap in
his late 40’s.
“Yes?”
“Hello, Mr.
Prescott I presume?”
“Yes, I’m
James Prescott.”
“Mr. Prescott,
I’m Tyler Savage, Mark’s father.”
Mr. Prescott’s
eyebrows went up to discover the most famous, not to mention wealthiest, person
in Sheffield on his doorstep.
“Yes, yes, Mr.
Savage…..”
“Please, call
me Tyler.”
“Thank you,
and you can call me James. Please come
in. Um, is everything okay? Tara is over your house, correct?”
“Oh, yes she
is,” Tyler said. “And everything’s
fine. As a matter of fact, I invited
her to stay for dinner.”
“Yes, she just
called and asked my wife if she could stay.
She um….seems quite smitten with your son. About as much as our Emily is taken with your nephew Trevor.”
Tyler
grinned. “Yeah, its brilliant that they
all get along so well and will be attending school together. Which is right around the corner. Which brings me as to why I’m here. May I speak to you and your wife about
something?”
“Sure,” James
said before calling for his wife. Jean
Prescott came into the living room upon hearing her name called.
“Jean, this is
Mark’s father, Tyler Savage. Tyler,
this is my wife Jean.”
“Nice to meet
you Jean,” Tyler said extending his hand.
Jean shook
it. “Oh, nice to finally meet you. Tara just called asking permission to stay
at your house for dinner tonight. Seems
her and our daughter can’t see enough of your son and nephew.”
“Well, if I may
say so, they seem to be equally fond of them,” Tyler said. “Um, if you don’t mind, there’s something
I’d like to discuss with you since Tara isn’t here.”
The three of
them sat down in the living room as Tyler began. “James, Jean….I know about Tara’s past. She confessed it to us around a month or so ago. I know about her being Randy Spencer’s
sister. To say the least I was quite
shocked, but when she explained everything, well…..lets just say that I was
bloody angry over how cruel her father was.”
Tears began to
well up in Jean’s eyes. “It was
unthinkable, how that bastard left my sister – 47 years old and pregnant. We have no idea where he took off to or even
if he’s still alive today. At first, my
sister had social services try to track him down, but they had no luck. She just gave up and did her best to raise
Tara on her own. Fortunately, her
eldest son took her and Tara in when things got too rough, financially. But, when my sister died, I…..I guess I felt
it was my turn to take over. That poor
lass had no kind of happy childhood.
Since they lived in Canterbury, she and Emily would write each other and
stayed close through their correspondence.
When my husband and I decided to have Tara come live with us, Emily was
ecstatic. We want to do the best we can
for her, considering she should’ve had more.”
“I agree with
that Jean,” Tyler said. “Which is why
I’m here. Now, please, I don’t want you
or your husband to think I’m overstepping my boundaries or anything. But…well….lets just say that this is
something that I know Randy would’ve wanted for Tara. I know it. He was a
wonderful bloke, a great friend and a superb drummer. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about him or Mark in
someway. Everytime I look at my son I’m
reminded of them because I named him after them. I miss them greatly. But,
getting back to Tara. As I said, Randy
would’ve wanted to do this. But, since
he’s not here, I’d like to take the opportunity to do this on behalf of him.”
With that,
Tyler retrieved an envelope from his shirt pocket and handed it to James. As James opened the envelope, Tyler
continued to speak.
“Tara never
should’ve been cheated out of what should’ve rightly been hers. Now that you’ve been so gracious to open
your home to her to give her some semblance of a normal teenage life, I think
we can agree that she should be able to have some of the things she missed out
on.”
James opened
the envelope and pulled out a check, his eyes widening at the amount of the
sum.
“Tyler, I,”
James stammered. “This……this is…….”
“….its what
should’ve been Tara’s,” Tyler finished.
“As I said, I don’t mean for this to insult of offend you, but, like I
said earlier, it isn’t from me. Its
from Randy. I’d like to leave it at
that. While Tara was at the house earlier,
she was going through some fashion magazines and saw some things she’d like to
get for school, but didn’t think she’d be able to afford. I’m sure she’d even
like to know that she’d be able to go to university after high school. Even though you asked her to live with you,
I’m sure Tara feels that your daughter Emily’s needs and education must come
first. Please, Mr. & Mrs. Prescott,
please accept this to take care of whatever Tara wants. Her brother would’ve wanted it.”
Jean’s tears
gave way to full fledged crying by now.
James rubbed his forehead with his hand as he shook his head with
amazement as his own eyes welled up with tears.
“Tyler, I….I
don’t know what to say,” James choked out.
“Its almost an answer to our prayers.
My wife and I want to do what’s right by Tara, but we feared having
enough money to support her and Emily.
But….but she’s gonna be suspicious.
If we give her money to go clothes shopping for school and for
university, she’s gonna wonder where it came from.”
“Well, as much
as I don’t condone lying, I’d rather she not know it came from me,” Tyler
said. “If she asks, perhaps a mention
of a raise or a bonus from work may suffice.”
James’ teary
eyes twinkled. “Yes, I suppose a little
white lie wouldn’t hurt. Again, I don’t
know what to say. Thank you just
doesn’t seem to be enough.”
‘Then don’t
say anything,” Tyler said. “Whatever
happiness she receives from it will be more than enough. And please, feel free to use that to get
what you need for Emily for school as well.
That should offset what you’ve had to do for Tara since she came to live
with you. Well, I better get back in
time for dinner. I just wanted to do
this when the girls weren’t here.”
As Tyler stood
up, Jean stood up too and hugged him.
“Thank you so much. You have a
generous heart.”
“I loved my
friend,” Tyler said. “I know Randy
would’ve wanted this.
James then
shook Tyler’s hand and clapped him on the back before seeing him out. When the door closed behind him, James and
Jean Prescott embraced each other and cried.
Chapter
37
Around 8pm
that night, Tara arrived home after spending a very interesting rainy afternoon
and evening with Mark. Her body was
still tingling from what they did earlier in his ‘sanctuary’ and even blushed
over almost being caught by his father.
She called out
a ‘hello’, to which her aunt Jean came out.
“Oh Tara, good, you’re home lass,” Jean said. “Listen, go upstairs and get Emily, then come back down. Your uncle and I want to talk to you girls.”
Tara bit her
lip in question. “Is…is everything alright, aunt Jean?”
“Oh,
everything’s fine, don’t worry.”
Tara went
upstairs and knocked on Emily’s bedroom door.
“Yeah?”
“Hey, its me,”
Tara said upon entering.
“Did you get
get home?”
“Yeah, Mark
just dropped me off. How did it go at
the daycare today?”
“Oh, I had
such a blast,” Emily said. “Crazy, but
a blast. When I agreed to help Trevor’s
mum out since they were short handed, I thought it would be nothing but cute,
little fun and cooing at babies all day.
Those tots had me chasing them in circles. She must’ve had 15 kids there ranging from 7 months to 3 years
old. But, it was nice to do on a rainy
day and all. The place has such an
adorable name – Handle With Day-Care -
isn’t that kitchy?”
“Very,” Tara
said with a smirk.
“What? What’s so funny.”
“Ohhhhhh,
nothing,” Tara mused.
“Okay, spill
it. What happened with you and Mark
today.”
“Welllllll,”
Tara drawled out. “Lets just say we got
a bit farther than you and Trevor got in his bedroom a few weeks ago.”
Emily’s mouth
dropped. “What? Tara, how…..how far is ‘a bit farther’?”
“Well, not that
far,” Tara quickly said. “I mean, his
mum was right upstairs and, oh God, his dad walked in on us just as we
finished.”
“Finished what
for bloody sake?”
“Some very
heavy petting – both of us,” Tara said with a blush. “I um…you know….rubbed him with my hand, outside only. I think…..I think he came in his jeans
though.”
Emily
snickered. “Oh God, no! Well, they are seventeen year old lads. They’re walking and talking ‘wet dreams’, ya
know?”
“Yeah, well I
think I may have had one myself,” Tara said with a hint of embarrassment.
“Huh? What did you do?”
“Well, you
know that magazine you have that has that sex question and answer column? Someone wrote in asking what ‘dry humping’
is. Lets just say that I tried it and
it works!”
Emily
gasped. “Lord Tara, you didn’t! Crikey,
you did get far. Well, at least it was
safe. All Trevor and I’ve been doing
since that day in his bedroom is pretty much the same. We both…..you know…..want to, but its just a
question of when and where. I know its
only been two months, but there’s something about him that, well…..I know I
want him to be my first.”
“I feel the
same way about Mark,” Tara said.
“Imagine, I couldn’t stand him when I met him and now look at
what I’m thinking of doing with him!”
“I don’t know
what it is Tara, but these lads are special,” Emily said. “And I just don’t mean because they’re
popular and goodlooking and great athletes, or even because Mark’s dad is
famous and wealthy and Trev’s dad is a physician to the soccer stars. There’s something about them that
tells me that they’re both going to be something special on their own someday.”
“Well, we can
pretty much surmise that Trev may play pro footie,” Tara said. “Mark, I’m not sure. He’s a great soccer player and all, but not
as serious as Trev. He can sure play
the drums though.”
“Maybe he’ll
take after his dad and form a band,” Emily said.
“I asked him
that, and he said no.”
“That’s
now. You don’t know what the future
holds.”
“I don’t even
know what the future holds for me,” Tara said.
“I’m worried about what happens after high school.”
“Well, have
you figured out what you want to do?” Emily asked.
“There is
something, but……I don’t know.”
“Tell me,”
Emily urged her.
Tara left
Emily’s room for a minute and came back with some papers in her hand and gave
them to Emily. “This.”
Emily looked
at some rough pencil sketches of various fashion designs – dresses, pants, tops
– all drawn onto models.
“You….you drew
these?”
Tara
nodded. “Yeah. The last few years I would pour through all
the teen fashion magazines and even some adult ones. You know…clothes I can’t afford.
Suddenly I got these ideas in my head and just began to draw. I didn’t’know I could.”
“You’re a
natural,” Emily said. “Tara these are
wonderful. I guess you’re thinking
along the lines of design school or something.”
“I’d like to,
but I don’t know if the money is there.
I’ll probably get an afterschool or night job to start saving. Oh, blimey!
I forgot. Your mum wants to talk
to us. C’mon.”
Tara and Emily
bounded down the stairs to where Emily’s parents were waiting in the living
room. “What took you lasses so long?”
“Oh, just
catching up with our day,” Emily said.
“So mum, Tara said you wanted to
talk to us?”
Jean looked to
her husband with a smile as he spoke.
“Well, I’ve got some good news, lassies. Things have been going swimmingly for me at work. And it couldn’t come at a better time. With school right around the corner, I want
you lasses to take this and go shopping and get whatever you need for
school. Clothes, backpack, supplies,
whatever.”
Emily and Tara
looked at the stack of pound notes that James handed them with wide-eyed
amazement.
“D…daddy,”
Emily said. “This…..do….do you know how
much you’ve just given us?”
Tara was too
speechless to react. All she thought of
was the yearning she felt earlier when she looked through the fashion magazine
over at Mark’s house.
“Yes, I do,”
James said. “Like I said, things have
gone well. Better than well. Now, don’t you lasses worry a thing. I wouldn’t be giving it to you if it wasn’t
there. Now, make yourselves a date to
do some shopping. I know how you lasses
love to do that.”
Tara and Emily
looked at each other and let out a scream of joy before hugging each
other.
“Oh my God
Tara, this is going to be mega! We’ve
got to hit both the Crystal Peaks and Meadowhall Malls. They got that new crop of American brand
stores that just opened up there. Oh,
I’ve got to make my list of what I need.
This is so exciting!”
Emily jumped
up and hugged her father. “Thank you
daddy! Thank you so much.”
As she sped
off upstairs to make her shopping list, Tara slowly got up and hugged her uncle
gently.
“Thank you
uncle James,” she said with a choked up voice.
“You have no idea how much this means to me. I was just looking through a magazine earlier and saw all these
wonderful clothes. Its like my prayer
was answered.”
“It was
lass,” James thought
to himself. “It was.”
Chapter
38
Mark stayed
down in his ‘sanctuary’ watching the telly until about 10:30pm that night until
his eyes began to close. He clicked off
the telly and made his way upstairs, only to find his father alone in the kitchen.
“G’night dad,”
Mark said as he made his way to the stairs.
“Mark, wait,”
Tyler said. “C’mere for a moment.”
Mark turned
around and walked back. “Yeah?”
Tyler fished
for the right words to use. “Mark,
listen. I…I know you like Tara. A
lot. And I know she fancies you just as
much. I know I don’t have to explain
anything to you because I did that a long time ago and…..”
“Dad!”
Mark said, almost embarrassedly.
“Mark, please,
let me finish. I’m not gonna get into
the mechanics of everything. You
already know that. But, you and Tara
have been finding yourselves alone and, well, a few weeks ago uncle Scott had
to to pull Trevor out of his bedroom where he had Emily and well…….Mark,
please….just be careful lad. Use your
head lad – the one on your shoulders!”
Mark rolled
his eyes. “Dad, don’t worry. I know all about it.”
“Know all
about what?”
Tyler and Mark
looked to see Grace enter the kitchen.
“Uh, nothing specific mum,” Mark said.
“I’m heading up to bed.”
“Good night
Mark,” Grace said.
As Mark went
to leave, he halted a bit and looked at his parents. “Hey, just out of curiosity.
Did anything ever happen with uncle Scott when he was Trev’s age?”
Tyler cocked
his head to one side. “Like what?”
“Well, when
uncle Scott came inside to look for Trevor the day of Steph’s party and found
out that he was in his bedroom with Emily, he said something to the effect of ‘not
wanting history to repeat itself.’.
Did grandpa Sav ever catch uncle Scott with a girl in his room or
something?”
Tyler wasn’t
prepared for that. Neither was
Grace. They both knew what Scott meant
by that comment and it was something that they had long put behind them these
past years.
“Um, well, not
that I know if,” Tyler said. “Remember,
when uncle Scott was 17, I was just forming the band so I wasn’t at home much.”
Mark thought a
bit. “Hmm, maybe he was referring to
himself and aunt Chelsea – you know, because he got aunt Chelsea pregnant with
Stephanie when they were teenagers.”
Tyler quickly
glanced over at his wife, who busied herself by opening the fridge to get
something to drink. He caught the look
on anxiety on her face before he looked back at his son.
“Maybe, Mark,”
Tyler said. “We’re just looking out for
you lads. You’re both young with bright
futures ahead of you. We just don’t
want you making any mistakes that’ll interfere with it, that’s all.”
Mark began to
get a bit embarrassed by talking about this with his mum around so he just
nodded at his father then headed off upstairs. Once Tyler heard his bedroom
door close, he turned to Grace.
“Crikey, talk
about pulling an old skeleton out of the closet.”
Grace tried to
hold back the old memories that stirred up inside of her. “Yeah, huh,” she replied, trying to make
light of the situation. “I know for a
fact that Scott wasn’t referring to him and Chelsea. He had no idea Chelsea was even pregnant until five years
after. I know he was referring to him
and I……”
“Grace,
don’t,” Tyler said. “Don’t go dredging
up the past. We’re all behind that,
remember?”
“Well, its
something I’ll never forget completely, but its not something I dwell on
anymore. But it does creep up from time
to time. Obviously it does with Scott for him to have brought that up. I know what went through when that happened
and he doesn’t want to see Trevor go through that. Its only natural that his experience brings out the protective
father in him.”
“And me,”
Tyler said. “I’m not an idiot
Grace. You know how I was at
seventeen. Mark isn’t any
different. He’s a good looking lad who
has a pretty girlfriend who, I’m sure, is tempting him. Trevor’s in the same boat. For all we know, those two lads probably
already had sex. We can lecture all we
want, but its not going to stop them if they find themselves in a situation
where they’re unable to stop. All we
can do is hope that they are careful and responsible. The last thing I need to have is some lass’ father pounding on my
door.”
Tyler saw the
somber look on Grace’s face due to memories long since buried and went over to
her. “Hey, you okay?”
She looked up
at him and smiled. “I’m fine,” she
said. “I’m glad all went well with the
Prescott’s today. I would’ve loved to
see the looks on their faces when you gave them that check. It was a wonderful thing that you did.”
“Well, you did
suggest it,” Tyler said.
Grace leaned
up to kiss him. “I love you, Ty. Lets go to bed.”
“I’m not tired
yet,” Tyler said.
“Neither am
I!”
Chapter
39
Tara and Emily
had the time of their life shopping for back to school. They thought about
seeing if the lads wanted to join them, but then opted out. They didn’t want their boyfriends huffing
and complaining about being dragged from shop to shop.
They hit the
shops at Meadowhall Mall which, over the years, had brought in a lot of American
based stores and brands. Their first
stop was Abercrombie & Fitch. Even
though some clothes were a little on the expensive side, the girls decided to
splurge in one store.
Tara opted for
a pair or dark blue, low rise, boot cut jeans that laced up the front and down
the sides of each leg from calf to ankle with black rawhide. She complimented it with a ribbed, fitted
half button sweater in black that just skimmed the waistband of her jeans. She then found some inexpensive logo tops
and chose a pair of dark gray hiphugger, drawerstring sweatpants with white and
maroon stripes going down each leg and a matching hooded, zip up top.
Emily chose
black jeans with tan rawhide laces and a golden brown, cropped sweater with a
scoop neck and bell sleeves. The color
enhanced her honey colored hair and topaz colored eyes. She then chose a similar sweat outfit in
navy blue with pale blue and white stripes and invested a good portion of her
allowance in a hip length calf-skin coat with lambswool trim and wooden peg
buttons. It set her back a bit, but she
needed a good coat for the winter.
They then
visited The Gap, Aeropostale, Republic, Kangol, Logo, Bay Trading and
Quiz. In a nutshell, they shopped till
they dropped!
After rounding
out their new fall/winter wardrobes with a variety of knit tops and sweaters,
another pair of jeans, Sketcher sneakers, shoe boots, new backpacks, hairclips
and scrunchies and some cool, inexpensive choker pendants to go with their
tops, the girls decided to call it quits, bring the bags to the car then come
back in for some lunch before venturing to get actual school supplies. But…not before Emily saw a sleek, black
outfit in the window of Forever 21.
“Oh my God,
Tara,” she said while gaping at the outfit.
“I have to go try that on!”
Emily went
inside and took a pair of the black pants in a size 4 then the matching black
tank that had strategically placed, geometic cutouts on the chest and torso and
the wide, leopard print belt and went into the dressing room. She then came out and Tara let out a low
whistle.
“Wow, that’s
mega hot Em,” Tara said. “I think
Trevor’ll bust something if he sees you in that.”
“That is, if
you last that long with him to see you in it,” came a sarcastic voice from
behind Tara.
Both girls
looked to see who it was. She was
unfamiliar to Tara, but not to Emily.
Emily folded her arms and regarded her.
“Just what’s
that supposed to mean, Kristin?”
Kristin
shrugged, completely unaffected. “Just
what its supposed to mean. You may be
Trevor’s summer playmate, but we went together almost our entire junior
year. Not to mention the fact that our
relationship was an intimate one.”
Emily would
not be intimidated by Trevor’s spurned ex-girlfriend. “No need to reiterate
that, Kristin. The entire school knows
all the details of yours and Trevor’s relationship, thanks to you spilling the
details to anyone who’d listen.”
Tara smirked
at her spunky cousin for not backing down to this malicious little wench. She decided to get in on the fun and turned
to Kristin.
“I don’t think
we’ve met,” Tara said, extending her hand.
“I’m Tara Spencer, Emily’s cousin.
I’ll be finishing my senior year at Westfield.”
Kristin never
bothered taking Tara’s hand. Instead
she just eyed her before letting out a haughty laugh.
“Oh, yes. You’re the one who’s keeping Marky-boy
company till he goes back to school and falls back into the throng of all his
female admirers. Don’t get your hopes
up for anything long-lasting, luv. Mark
Savage doesn’t know the meaning of the word.
Neither does Trevor. But, I have
to say, the scenario here is soooo cute.
Two cousins dating two cousins.
Just don’t get too cozy with Trevor, Emily. He and I have a history and he will find his way back.”
Emily let out
an audacious laugh. “Why? Because you gave him sex? You know, Kristin, I find what you’re saying
to be very contradictory. If Trevor’s
such a dog who can’t stay in anything long-term, why would you want him back?”
“Because I
understand him,” Kristin said with a bit of unstability. “I understand what he needs.”
Tara let out a
sarcastic huff. “Hey Kristin, here’s a
newsflash. You’re not the only girl in
town who can open her legs and give a good blowjob! If that’s all Trevor needs, he can get it from
anyone!”
Emily was a bit
shocked by Tara’s bluntness, but had to stifle a giggle anyway. Kristin dug her dagger-like eyes into Tara
before ripping them into Emily.
“You’re
nothing but a diversion for Trevor, Miss Emily. Even though we hooked up before our junior
year started, I knew he had a thing for you since the first day of school. I saw how he was staring at you in Geometry
class, but I was determined to hang onto him.
I gave him what I knew would satisfy him.”
“And then
blabbed it to the school,” Emily finished.
“To let
everyone know that he was mine and hands off!” Emily spat out. “But that didn’t stop you from fancying him
every chance you got. You wanted him
all along and, because of that, he broke up with me two months before school
ended. I knew he’d go after you. I just knew it. But, it won’t last.
Trevor just needs to get you out of his system and then he’ll come back
to me. He already proved how weak he is
around me when I showed up at Craigs party that night.”
Emily’s face
paled a bit. “What do you mean? You weren’t at the party.”
“You’re right,
I wasn’t. I wasn’t invited. Once Trevor dumped me, I wasn’t part of the ‘it’
circle anymore. But, I showed up after
everyone left. I waited in front of
Craig’s house and Trevor came out to see me.
Lets just say…..he was like putty in my hands, even though his hard cock
was in my mouth.”
Emily heard
enough. “I don’t want to hear anymore
of this. You’re sick, you know
that? I think you need help. You’re nothing but a malicious little liar.”
Emily turned
to go back into the dressing room, but not before Kristin got the last
word. “Malicious, maybe. But a liar?
Why don’t you ask your sweet, innocent Trevor about that night.”
With a
spiteful grin of victory, Kristin spun on her heels and left the store. Tara turned to Emily just as she closed
herself back inside the dressing room and cried.
Chapter
40
Emily had a
cinema date with Trevor later that evening.
She knew she had to confront him about what Kristin said. True, she and Trevor had not been dating at
the time, but he did express his interest in her the day of the party and got
her phone number. The fact that he did
that during the day, then succumbed to Kristin that evening made her wonder
over how sincere his intentions were towards her and whether or not he really
was over Kristin.
Trevor picked
her up a little before 7 so they could go get something to eat before the
movies. But Emily hadn’t an appetite
since running into Kristin at the mall and needed to talk to Trevor now before the
evening continued. Even though she knew
she shouldn’t, she wore her new Abercrombie & Fitch jeans with the tan
leather laceups with a golden beige peasant style halter top.
Trevor leaned
into her and kissed her when they got back to his SUV, then looked over her
outfit. “ Wow, luv, you look so bloody
good! Guess you girls had a good time
shopping, eh? So, what are you in the
mood for? Chinese? Pizza?
Italian……?”
“Trev,
could…..could we go someplace and talk first?”
Trevor felt
his insides jumble a bit. Judging by
her tone and the worried look on her face, he wasn’t sure if this was gonna be
a good talk or not.
“Um, sure
luv.”
“Lets go to
the park.”
Trevor drove
to the soccer park, pulled in and turned the ignition off. He sat there in silence waiting for Emily to
start.
“Trev, when
Tara and I were at the mall today, we……we ran into Kristin.”
Trevor leaned
his head back against the headrest and squeezed his eyes shut. “Bloody hell, what did she do Em?”
“Well, it
wasn’t so much what she did, but what she said. She told me how she showed up at Craig’s party in front of his
house after just about everyone left.
She told me that you went out to her and…..that….she….”
Trevor cursed
under his breath. “Sonofabitch! Emily, please….let me explain…”
Emily cut him
off. “No, Trevor please. Let me finish. I…I know that you and Kristin had broken up a month before and
you and I weren’t officially dating yet.
So, in a way, I have no reason to feel jealousy or get upset. But, the fact that you showed so much
interest in me that day, yet you let Kristin do………that to you that very
night, just makes me wonder how sincere you are towards me.”
If Trevor was
ever grateful for any one quality about Emily, it was her calmness and
sensibility.
“Emily, please
allow me to explain, okay? I know what
Kristin told you makes me look like an absolute bastard. The fact is, and, I know this isn’t an
excuse, I was a little buzzed on whiskey.
Wesley brought over a flask that someone had brought and I took a few
belts off it. I did it that afternoon
to calm myself before I went and talked to you because I was nervous. Em, I’ve been bonkers for you since I saw
you the first day of junior year, but I had already begun to date Kristin. Then
her and I…….you know, had sex, and then she totally changed and became someone
that I didn’t want to be with anymore.
It took me a while to break it off with her because I didn’t want to
hurt her feelings, but I had to do it.
Unfortunately, she hasn’t been taking it too well and thinks I’m gonna
take her back. I had a little more whiskey that night when she showed up and,
well, it addled my senses. I let her do
something that I shouldn’t have. I was
sick over it and I’m sorry you had to find out about it. But, Emily, I tell you this….I do not want
to get back with Kristin ever! No
matter what she does or says. My
feelings for you are genuine and sincere.
I want you to be my girl – no one else.”
Emily thought
she would cry when she heard those words.
She could tell by Trevor’s anxiety filled face that his feelings were
honorable towards her. She took his
hand and squeezed it.
“And I want to
be your girl, Trev. Very much. I gotta say that when I saw you that first
day of school, I…..well…..I couldn’t take my eyes off you. I had already known about you before I
transferred from Tapton, you and Mark.
You lads are the most popular, not to mention the best looking. I didn’t think anyone like you could be
interested in me and, well, when I realized you already had a girlfriend, I
didn’t think there’d ever be a chance.
But after you broke up with Kristin, I got word that you were interested
in me and I…..I couldn’t believe it.
You have no idea how much I couldn’t wait to see you at Craig’s party.”
“Even after I
caused you to go flying into the pool?” Trevor said with a blush.
Emily
giggled. “Yeah, even after that. I guess you were nervous, but there was no
reason to be.”
“Well, my dad
warned me about drinking,” Trevor said.
“It really did impair my judgement as far as Kristin was concerned. But Emily, you’ve got to know
something. If Kristin is in this much
of a denial, then I don’t know whats gonna happen once school begins. She may continue to cause trouble out of
spite.”
“Let her do
whatever she wants Trev,” Emily said.
“I’m not gonna let her intimidate me.
We’ll deal with it together, okay.”
Trevor smiled
beautifully at her. “Okay. Now, dinner and a movie?”
Emily drank in
his youthful, handsome face, totally disbelieving her good fortune. She leaned into him and kissed his soft
lips. Trevor responded to her kiss
which turned passionate. When their
tongues touched, they both made soft sounds into each other’s mouths. Before Trevor could put his hands on her,
she pulled away.
“Dinner,
yes. As for afterwards….why don’t we
enjoy the last of these warm nights down by the lake.”
Chapter
41
As a sign of
their appreciation for what they did for Tara, Jean and James Prescott invited
Tyler and Grace out to dinner to a very fancy restaurant two towns over. With her aunt and uncle out of the house for
several hours and Emily and Trevor on a date, Tara raced to the phone and
called Mark.
“’ello?”
“Hey, its me.”
“Aye,
luv. Your aunt and uncle just left here
from picking up my parents. I guess they
decided to get better acquainted since we’re dating, you know? Probably be callin on Trev’s parents next.”
“Yeah, I
guess. Hey, are you watching your
sister tonight?”
“No way, thank
God! Little wench wants to be alone
with me as little as possible, so she begged my parents to go sleep over her
friends house tonight. Fine with me!”
“You say that
now, Mark, but wait till she grows up and has lads clamoring for her. You’re gonna be the protective older
brother.”
“Yeah, well
I’ll believe that when I see it.
Anyway, why do you want to know?”
Tara rolled
her eyes, disbelieving that he didn’t catch on. “Well….its like this.
You’re parents are out with my aunt and uncle for a few hours. Emily and Trevor are out on a date. So that means……..”
“I’ll be right
over!”
**********************
After dinner,
Trevor and Emily drove down to the lake where they’ve been spending some long,
lazy summer days at. When he parked his
SUV, he looked into the back and grinned.
“Aye, I’ve
still got the blanket in here from the last time we came,” he said. “Wanna go spread it out on the grass and sit
for a while?”
“Sounds
perfect,” Emily said as she got out.
They walked
down to the grassy area on one side of the dock. The night was warm and nary a breeze was about. The lake was so still that it looked like a
piece of glass. The sky was full of
stars and the moon shone full and bright.
Trevor laid out the blanket then sat down before taking Emily’s hand and
pulling her down, almost on top of him.
“Mmm, I think
I like this better than the movies,” he murmured against her neck.
“My thoughts
exactly,” Emily replied as she turned her head to capture his lips with
hers. Both youngsters fell back on the
blanket, their bodies and lips fused in a passionate embrace and kiss.
“Dammit Emily,
you’re gonna drive me out of my mind,” Trevor rasped, as he felt Emily snake
her hand up the back of his shirt to caress his smooth, muscled back.
“That isn’t my
intention,” Emily whispered in his mouth as her hands roamed his hard, warm
skin.
“Then what
exactly is your intention?”
Emily looked
dead into his eyes, reached into her jean pocket and pulled out a condom.
************************************
Tara raced to
the door as soon as she heard the bell.
As soon as she saw Mark standing there with a mischievous grin and green
eyes, she knew that she made the right decision.
Mark sauntered
in and took in her calculating look.
His body was a mass of lust just thinking about what was on her mind.
“So, you got me here and we’re alone. Just what do you have in store for the next
few hours?”
Tara backed up
until she stood on the bottom step of the stairs. She lifted her hand and crooked her finger for Mark to follow
her.
*************************************
Sav sat at the
card table in Scott’s entertainment room and stared at his hand. He then glanced across the table with an
expressionless face and looked at Joe.
“Don’t look at
me Savage,” Joe bit out. “I’m not
giving anything away. I’m staying
verrry quiet.”
Sav huffed
under his breath. “Yeah, only in my
dreams,” he mumbled before a cough snuck up on him. He then picked up a card from the stack and added it to his hand.
“Keep up the
smart remarks mate, or your next breath will be your last,” Joe mused.
Sav coughed
again. “I should’ve had my last breath
years ago, so don’t get your hopes up Joe.”
Joe snickered
across the table. “Maybe I’ll just have
to shock that ticker of yours,” Joe said as he laid his cards down. “Gin!”
Sav rolled his
eyes. “Blimey, stop cheating!”
“How the fuck
can I cheat? What do you think I’ve
got extra cards hidden in my trousers?”
Sav cleared
his throat again and chuckled. “Trying
to beef up what shrunk years ago?”
“Shrunk, my
arse!” Joe spat. “Hey, it may not work the
way it used to, but its still the same size.”
“So, since its
not functional, its just there for aesthetic purposes?”
“Smart ass!”
Joe sneered. “I’m looking forward to
the day when I don’t have to listen to your snide comments.”
Sav coughed
again, then cleared his throat. “You’ll
miss me when I’m gone, Joe.”
“Yeah, about
as much as I miss my annual visit to the proctologist!”
Just then,
Chelsea came downstairs to check on the two men. “Do I have to put you two in separate corners for time out?”
“Only if we’re
in separate rooms,” Joe replied. “By
the way, thank you for inviting Abby and I over for dinner tonight, luv.”
“Oh you’re
welcome, Joe,” Chelsea replied.
“Everyone seems to be out tonight and, well, since we were already
having Scott’s parents over we thought it would be nice to have you as
well. Especially since you two can’t
get enough of each other.”
“Speak for
yourself,” Joe said. Sav replied only
with a cough. Chelsea turned to her
father-in-law.
“Dad, you
okay? You don’t have that nasty
bronchitis coming back, do you?”
“Ah, who
knows,” Sav said in between coughs. “I
already had it twice in six months. Its
probably nothing.”
“Well, it
doesn’t sound too good,” Chelsea. “How
about I bring you down a nice cup of hot tea?
That’ll soothe it a bit.”
Sav smiled up
at his beautiful daughter-in-law.
“Thanks luv, that would be great.”
When Chelsea
went upstairs, Joe shook his head in amazement. “You bloody poser. You
just love the attention. If it wasn’t
the female fans all those years, its your wife. If its not Paige, then its your daughters-in-law. If not them, then your grandchildren….”
Joe was
rambling so much that he didn’t see Sav run his hand roughly over his chest
before the color drained from his face.
“Joe…” he barely got out.
“Yeah, what
now?”
“I….. feel
like I can’t breath.”
Chapter
42
Joe looked
upon the ashen face of his best friend since 1978 and paled himself.
“Sav, what……?”
“Joe,” Sav
said, barely audible. “Go…go get….”
Joe turned and
went to the bottom of the stairs and called up. “Scott! Quick! Come down here! Hurry!”
Scott was down
the stairs in a flash, Chelsea right behind him, and saw his father clutching
his chest and struggling for breath. He
immediately went to him and fell to his knees beside him.
“Dad, what’s
wrong?”
“I…I….feel
like I’m drowning,” Sav sputtered out.
Scott put his
ear to his father’s chest and listened to the rapid fluttering. “He’s got fluid in his lungs. Chelsea, call an ambulance.”
Chelsea ran to
the phone and picked up the receiver to call.
Scott then saw how his father was struggling to breath and knew every
second counted.
“Screw the
bloody ambulance,” he spat out, helping his father up. “C’mon dad, I’m taking you to the hospital
myself. Chelsea, come with me.”
Chelsea took
one arm while Scott took the other and helped Sav up the stairs. Paige saw the stricken look on her husband’s
face and gasped, Abby right behind her..
“Rick….Scott,
what…..?”
“Mum, he’s got
some fluid in his lungs. Probably from
all those bouts of bronchitis he had.
I’m taking him to the emergency room.
Chelsea’s coming with me. Aunt
Abby…… Tyler and Grace are out to dinner tonight. His cell phone number is in the book in the drawer. Call him and tell him I’m taking dad to Shrewsbury
now.”
“I’ll take
care of it,” Abby said, going for the phone.
Chelsea got in
the backseat of Scott’s white Infiniti with her father-in-law, as Scott tore
out of the driveway towards the hospital.
While he sped off, he pulled his cellphone out and dialed Shrewsbury.
“Hello, yes,
this is Dr. Scott Savage. Who’s the
emergency room doctor on call tonight?
Dr. Schulman? Okay, please have
him paged, its an emergency.”
While Scott
waited, Chelsea had her arms around Sav trying to comfort him. “Hang on dad, we’re almost there.”
Sav didn’t
waste his breath by talking. He just
nodded and he struggled with every painful breath.
“Dr. Schulman,
hi, this is Scott Savage. I’m bringing
my father into the emergency room as we speak.
He’s 83 and is having trouble breathing. I heard some fluid in his lungs.
Okay, great. We’ll be there in
moments.”
Scott clicked
off his cell phone and looked into the rearview mirror. “Almost there, dad.”
*********************************
Grace and
Tyler had just finished their appetizers and salads when Tyler’s cellphone
rang.
“Excuse me,”
he said to the Prescott’s before answering it.
“’ello?”
“Tyler, its
Abby. Listen, please don’t get nervous,
but Scott just took your dad to the emergency room. He has some fluid in his lungs and is having trouble breathing.”
“I’ll be right
there!” Tyler said as he clicked off before turning to the Prescott’s. “James, Jean, I apologize, but my father’s
being rushed to the hospital. He’s
having trouble breathing.”
“Ty!” Grace
gasped as she touched her husband’s arm.
“Listen, why
don’t you finish your dinner and I’ll take a taxi to the hosp……”
“Absolutely
not,” James said. “We’ll call it a
night and take you to the hospital ourselves.
Your father is much more important.”
Tyler smiled
with appreciation. “Thank you.”
****************************************
Back at
Scott’s house, Abby hung up the phone then went to Paige. “I’m sure he’ll be fine. Scott will get him there in time and they’ll
tend to him.”
Paige took
Abby’s hand and squeezed it. “Yes, I’m
sure,” she replied a little weakly. “As
long as Scott’s with him, I know he’ll be fine.”
“That’s right,
and…..oh my God…..Joe! He’s been
downstairs this whole time. Excuse me.”
Abby gingerly
made her way down the stairs to the entertainment room and was immediately
assailed by the sound of soft sobbing.
She found her husband sitting at the card table, his elbows on his knees
and his face buried in his hands. Abby
went over to him.
“Joe,
sweetie….”she softly said as she put a hand on his shoulder. Joe stood up and clung to his wife and cried
on her shoulder.
“Oh God please…..please don’t let him die! I never meant any of those things I said. They were only said in jest. I’m sorry! I’m so sorry. He has to live. I still want him around. I still need him around. He’s been around me for 65 bloody years. What am I gonna do without him? Please, oh please God don’t let him die!”
Chapter 43
Down by the lake, the late
August night was getting even hotter as Trevor looked at the offering in
Emily’s hand.
“Em, you……..you sure?”
Emily nodded. “Yes Trevor. Very sure. Just….just so
you know, I….I’ve never done this before.
I want you to be my first, that is…..if you’re ready.”
Was she kidding? “God Emily, every time I look at you,
I’m……Jesus, are you absolutely sure?
Once I start, I’m not stopping.”
“Good,” she said, pushing
him back down. “Neither am I.”
With the dusk supplying
them with privacy, Chelsea then sat back up and removed her halter top. Trevor’s hazel eyes almost popped when he
saw she had no bra on. She then reached
down and helped him remove his shirt then laid her bare top upon his. The initial contact of their naked skin made
them both groan.
“Bloody hell, Emily,”
Trevor said as he ran his hands all over her smooth, exposed skin. “You’re so friggin’ beautiful.”
“So are you luv,” she
whispered as she began to kiss him.
Being a seventeen year old lad, it didn’t take Trevor long to be ready
and he was trying hard to keep himself calm so he didn’t have an accident.
Emily must’ve sensed this
and decided to move things along. She
didn’t want to wait anymore either. It
was a little daring being outdoors as well.
She removed her jeans until she was only in her peach satin
panties. Trevor instantly shed his
jeans and boxers. When Emily ran her
hand down his taut stomach and came into contact with his erection, she gasped. She had never felt it before. She pulled away and looked down, then looked
back at Trevor with a worried look.
“Whats wrong, luv?”
“Um….is….is this gonna
work? I mean, oh God…….will you
fit? I mean, I know its supposed to
hurt a bit, but it doesn’t look like its gonna…..oh God!”
Emily covered her face
with her hands in embarrassment. She
felt like a fool. Trevor removed her
hands then laid her on her back as he began to take the condom out of the
package.
“Shh, don’t worry
luv. It’ll probably hurt initially, but
it should be alright after that. If
not, just tell me if you want me to stop.
I’ll die, but I don’t want to hurt you, okay?”
Emily bit her lip and
nodded as she watched Trevor roll the condom onto himself. He then leaned over her as she slid her
panties down.
“Put your legs around my
waist, luv.”
Emily did as he said
before he leaned down to kiss her. They
kissed long enough to build up the longing until they both couldn’t stand
it. Emily felt desire build up in her
down below and instinctively began to lift her pelvis for some relief.
Trevor felt her do this
and immediately positioned himself. He
slowly entered her a little at a time, watching her face for any sign of
discomfort.
“You okay luv?” he
whispered.
Emily nodded as she buried
her face in his neck. He continued to
slowly go in until there was only a little more ways to go. He knew this would hurt her and there was no
way to soften it. Trevor squeezed his
eyes shut and pushed all the way in.
Emily gasped and whimpered
at the stinging pain and Trevor stilled.
“God Em, I’m sorry. I can’t help it.”
“I..I know,” she
trembled. “Its…its okay. I don’t think its supposed to last.”
Trevor did his best not go
move so Emily could adjust. She was so
tight and hot that he was about to explode on the spot. After a few moments of just kissing, Emily
began to move on her own, as did Trevor.
He still continued to thrust inside of her slowly, even though his horny
body wanted to pound away like mad.
Her tightness gripped him
like a glove and he couldn’t stand it anymore.
That and Emily’s whimpers of pleasure were sending him over the edge.
“Trev….Trev….it…..oh God, it feels so good. So good. Oh, more! Don’t stop! Not yet. Oh……God, somethings…..somethings happening…….Trev……TREVOR!”
That was all he could
stand. Trevor held out long enough and
gave into his release with a loud shout of her name. He then gingerly laid on top of her as he tried to still his
rapid breathing and heaving chest.
“Em……you okay luv?”
“Mmm, hmm,” she
murmured. “I’m fine. It stopped hurting after a bit. And then…..then it felt so good.”
“You felt incredible luv,”
he whispered as he kissed her ear.
“Thank you for giving yourself to me.”
“Mmm, I could lay like
this all night. Its so quiet and
beautiful and……you’re here.”
Trevor never felt anything
like this before, at least not with any other girl. Even with the heat of the moment gone, he was still overcome with
emotion for this wonderful lass who just gave him her greatest gift. He was also overcome with another feeling
that scared him. So strong it was that
he couldn’t help the words come from his mouth.
“Emily….I lo…………”
Just then, Trevor’s cell
phone in his jeans pocket rang, cutting off his words. The timing couldn’t have been worse. He thought not to answer it, but figured he
should.
“’ello?”
“Trevor, its dad. Where are you lad?”
Trevor rolled his
eyes. How come his father always knew
when he was getting hot and heavy with a lass?
“Uh, I’m…I’m with Emily
dad, why? Whats wrong?”
“Listen, I just pulled
into the emergency room of Shrewsbury.
Your grandpa Sav is having trouble breathing. Your mother is with me.
If you can, I’d like for you to go home. Grandma, Joe and Abby are there and I don’t want them to be
alone. I also called Uncle Ty and he’s
on his way. Could you do this for me
lad?”
“Uh…yeah, yeah, sure dad. I’m on my way.”
“Thanks.”
Emily sat up as she saw
Trevor reach for his shirt. “Trev,
whats wrong?”
“My grandpa Sav was rushed
to the hospital. He can’t breath. My grandma, uncle Joe and aunt Abby are at
my house. My dad wants me to go stay
with him. My uncle Ty is on his way
too.”
“Oh God Trev,” Emily said
as she furiously began to get dressed.
“Do…do you want me to go with you?”
“Yes, could you?”
“Absolutely,” she sweetly
replied. “Uh…did you say your uncle Ty
is on his way?”
“Yeah, why?”
In the midst of the news
about Sav, Emily giggled. “Um, well
your uncle Ty and Aunt Grace went out to dinner with my parents tonight. Which meant that Tara had the house to
herself. Lets just say that she planned
on inviting Mark over and well, do pretty much what we did. My parents picked your aunt and uncle up
tonight, so if they’re heading home early……..
Trevor had to chuckle as
he fastened his jeans. “I hope Mark’s a
quick operator!”
Emily giggled. “Think we should call and warn them?”
Trevor flashed her a
gorgeous, devious grin as he gathered the blanket, took Emily’s hand and ran
off to his SUV.
Chapter 44
Tara opened
the door to her bedroom as Mark followed her inside. His heart slammed against his chest and he began to harden in his
jeans as he knew that tonight was gonna be it.
He watched
Tara sit on the bed and scoot back.
“Join me?”
Mark sat next
to her and snuggled close. “Tara,
what…..what do you have in mind tonight?”
“Well,
remember how far we got a couple of weeks ago in your ‘sanctuary’?”
Mark rolled
his eyes and grinned. “How could I
forget? I get a painful hard-on every
time I think of it.”
“Well tonight,
how’s about going a little farther and easing that pain, sport?”
Mark thought
he’d die and gone to heaven. “Are you
kidding Tara? Please, don’t be teasing
me.”
“No, I’m
not. I’ve thought about this for a
while. I’m sure you’ve already been
with other girls, but, you know…..I haven’t been with a lad before. Is…is that okay?”
“Okay? Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Because……because
I don’t have any experience, that’s why?”
“Well, you
could’ve fooled me by what we did a few weeks ago.”
Tara blushed
then went into her nightstand drawer and dug deep in the back until her fingers
found the hidden condom. She pulled it
out and handed it to Mark. With shaky
fingers, he took it from her as his eyes never left hers.
“Crikey Tara,”
he said, leaning in to kiss her. “My
ballocks are gonna bust before I even touch you!”
Tara giggled
then wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back, pulling him down beside
her. All Mark wanted to do was see and
feel her. He pulled her tiny t-shirt
off and Tara immediately unclasped her bra.
She laid on her back as Mark drank in her breasts.
“God, they
look as good as they felt,” he said as he laid back down next to her. His hand fondled one while he slid his face
down to the other and licked her hardened nipple. Tara almost came off the bed when she felt that.
“Mark!” she gasped, grabbing fistfuls of his
wavy brown hair.
Tara arched up
closer to him, wanting as much as she could.
Her hands then grabbed his t-shirt and pulled it over his head. When she did, she flipped Mark on his back
and gave him the same treatment he gave her.
She placed soft kisses on his neck then down to his chest, stopping to
lick his nipple. Mark sucked his breath
in and held her head closer to him. She
then trailed down to his hard, flat abdomen and kissed and nuzzled him
there. When she went all the way to the
waist of his jeans, Mark began to groan and thrust his pelvis up.
“Crikey, Tara! You’re bloody killing me with your mouth down there.”
Tara quickly
undid his jeans. Mark helped her take
them off before he rid her of hers as well.
Both were young, frantic and aroused to a point where they couldn’t take
it anymore. She had never seen a naked
lad before and was a bit surprised and nervous. Mark saw her look at his erection and smirked.
“Like what you
see?”
“I…..I’ve
never seen a lad naked before.
Its…..its gonna hurt, huh?”
“Only for a moment,
I suppose,” Mark said as he fumbled to put the condom on as quickly as
possible. “Don’t worry luv, it’ll be
okay.”
Mark got on
top of her and positioned himself with his hand. He found her opening and inched his way in, groaning at how tight
she was.
“Dammit! God, you’re so tight. Feels so good!”
Tara ran her
hands all over his muscled back and down to grip his hips as she raised her own
on impulse. The move caused Mark to
impale her all the way, causing a shriek of pain from her.
“Tara, I’m….I’m
sorry. Damn, I didn’t mean to….”
“Its okay,”
she gasped. “I did it. I didn’t know you’d go in all the way so
quickly.”
The two of
them kissed and caressed before Mark couldn’t stay still anymore. He began to move in and out of her, slowly
at first, but then increased his tempo because it felt too damn good.
“Tara…..oh God….so good….feels so good….damn, you’re so tight. Tara, I’m……bloody hell I’m gonna come….I’m gonna……….ah, shit!”
Tara buried
her face in Mark’s neck as that mysterious, yet exquisite feeling overcame her
again. She then felt Mark pulse and
throb inside her and knew that he came already. Mark raised his head from where it was buried in her neck.
“Are you
alright?”
All Tara could
do was nod. She had never experienced
anything so intimate and incredible in her life.
“I’m fine,
Mark. That felt amazing.”
“You’re
telling me! I knew you’d feel this
good. I just knew it.”
As they both
leaned into each other to kiss, the phone rang. Tara pulled herself up and answered it.
“’ello?” she
breathlessly said.
“And just why
are you out of breath?”
Tara rolled
her eyes. “Why do you think? Em, why are you calling me? I told you Mark was coming over.”
“Yeah, well
you better tell him to hightail it out of there. My parents are on their way home as we speak.”
Tara bolted up
which startled Mark. “What? Now? They’re coming back now? Why?”
Mark caught on
and scrambled for his clothes as Tara sought hers as well, while balancing the
phone in her ear, continuing to talk to Emily.
“What? Oh my God, is he alright? You are?
Okay, I’ll tell Mark. And…thanks
for warning us.”
Tara hung up
the phone then quickly put her bra and shirt on. She then looked at a almost fully clothed Mark.
“Mark, that
was Emily. She and Trevor are on their
way back to his parents house. Your
grandpa Sav was having trouble breathing your uncle Scott and aunt Chelsea took
him to the hospital. Your grandpa Joe
and grandma Abby and Paige are at his house, alone. Your uncle Scott called your dad at the restaurant where he and
my aunt and uncle are having dinner.
They’re on their way back now so your dad can go to the hospital. Thank God Trev’s dad called him and told him
that else…….”
“I think we
would’ve had a surprise while we were up here,” Mark finished with a grin.
Tara swatted
him. “That’s not funny, Mark. If my aunt and uncle caught us…..”
“Don’t worry
luv. Like you said, it’s a good thing
they called to warn us. Now, I think I
better go meet Trev at his house. If I
know my grandpa Joe, he’s probably upset.
Do….do you want to come with me?”
“Of course I
will.”
Once they were
fully dressed, they both bounded down the stairs and out the door, just as
James Precott was about to put his key in the knob.
“Oh…..Tara…Mark….,”
James said. “You must know about your
grandpa then, lad. We just dropped your
parents off at the hospital.”
‘Uh….uh, yes
sir,” Mark stammered. “I uh….stopped by
to see if Tara wanted to come with me.”
James raised a
curious brow. “Hmm, how did you find
out Mark? Your father tried calling you
on the way back but you weren’t home.”
Mark froze,
but his sharp mind thought of something quickly. “Oh, uh Trevor called me first.
My uncle Scott called him on his way to the hospital, then Trev called
me to tell me. I must’ve missed my
father’s call once I left to come get Tara.”
James didn’t
know whether to believe him or not, but now wasn’t the time to speculate. “Oh,
I see. Well, go do what you have to
do. I hope your grandpa is okay.”
“Thank you
sir. Me too.”
“I won’t be
late uncle James,” Tara said as she quickly left with Mark.
Once outside,
they looked at each other and let out a relieved breath.
“Quick
thinking, Mark.”
“He almost had
me there,” Mark replied. “C’mon, lets
go.”
Chapter
45
Scott pulled his
Infiniti to a screeching halt at the entrance way to the emergency room at
Shrewsbury Hospital. Thankfully, a nurse was waiting outside with a wheelchair.
He opened the
backdoor and helped his father out, Chelsea right behind him, and into the wheelchair where he was wheeled
in to one of the available tables in the ER.
Fortunately, it was a slow night.
Dr. Schulman,
the attending ER doctor met Scott immediately.
“Thanks Fred,”
Scott said.
“No problem
Scott,” Dr. Schulman said as he hovered over Sav who was still fighting for
breath. He took his stethascope and
listened to his lungs which had obvious signs of fluid. He then turned to Scott.
“Does your
father have any allergic reactions to any medications that you know of?”
Scott shook
his head. “No, none that I know
of. Other than a few mild prescriptions
he had to take for this and that, and two nasty bouts of bronchitis, he’s
really very healthy.
Dr. Schulman
turned to the attending nurse. “Start
an IV of Lacix, that should begin clearing the fluid out of his lungs.”
Dr. Schulman
then took Sav’s temperature, which was a little over 100. After a quick examination, he turned to
Scott.
“Seems as if
your father’s bronchitis never fully went away and its developed into
pnumonia. He has a lot of fluid buildup
in his lungs and his temp is up. Lacix
is the best for draining the fluid, especially intravenously. However, it’ll take a day or so for it to
take full effect. We’ll also have to
put him on oxygen to help his breathing until his lungs clear. Your father needs to be admitted so he can
be watched. These next 48 hours are
very critical, considering his age.”
Scott
nodded. “I understand. Do whatever you have to.”
Scott then
leaned down to Sav, who winced in pain as the nurse stuck the IV needle in his
arm. “Dad, I’m right here, okay? They’re gonna get you on some strong
antibiotics to clear the fluid in your lungs.
You’re gonna need to stay for a few days so they can keep an eye on you,
okay.”
Sav just
nodded, not wanting to waste his precious breath, but not until he took hold of
Scott’s arm.
“Scott,” he
whispered. “Please…..can…can you stay
with me?”
Scott felt his
eyes sting with tears as he nodded.
“Absolutely dad. I’m here. Ty’s on his way too and I’ve got Trevor going
to the house to stay with mom and uncle Joe and Aunt Abby. Everyone’s looked after, okay.”
Sav nodded
with relief as Scott began to fill out the forms to admit his father. He then turned to Chelsea.
“Luv, why
don’t you go on home. Ty should be here
soon and we’ll stay with him. I may
stay overnight. I think he’s scared.”
“No problem
sweetie,” Chelsea said kissing him.
“Stay with him. He needs you.
I’ll take care of everything at home.”
Chelsea then
went and gave her father-in-law a kiss on the cheek, to where Sav just twinkled
his still-sparkling blue eyes at her in response.
*********************************
Back at the
house, Trevor and Emily arrived just about the same time Mark and Tara
did. Mark went up to Trevor.
“Thanks for
the warning, cuz. Emily’s parents were
coming through the door just as we were leaving. If you hadn’t called, my ballocks would’ve been splattered all
over the front lawn.”
Trevor
grinned. “Yeah, well at first I wasn’t
gonna call, just for a hoot. But then I
realized that, if Emily’s parents caught you with Tara, they would’ve thought
that I may be tarnishing their little girl as well and stop her from seeing
me. Ain’t no way that’s gonna happen.”
“So, I take it
that the two of you…….”
Trevor just
grinned at him. “Mark, you know I don’t
kiss and tell.”
“I’ll take
that as a yes,” Mark said. “As for me,
I do kiss and tell, and I shagged Tara good and proper!”
The boys
shared a private snicker and high-fived each other before following the girls
into the house. Tara and Emily each
kissed Paige, before Trevor embraced Paige.
“Aye grandma,”
he soothingly said. “He’s gonna be
alright.”
“I hope so
lad,” Paige said. “I certainly hope
so.”
Mark wandered
into the upstairs family room to where he found his grandpa Joe sitting on the
couch, hunched over a photo album that was sprawled on the coffee table. They were all pictures of Sav from when he
was younger.
“Aye grandpa.”
Joe turned his
red-rimmed eyes up at his grandson.
“Mark,” he said with relief in his voice.
Mark saw his
face and knew that he was worried about his friend. He sat beside him and looked at the pictures of his grandpa Sav
when he was a young man.
“See this
picture of your grandpa Sav?” Joe said, pointing to a particular one. “You’ve got his look, you do. You may have your mum’s green eyes and your
dad’s brown, wavy hair, but you’ve got your grandpa Sav’s look. That look stole a lot of groupies from me!”
Mark
giggled. “Yeah, I bet. But grandpa Joe….stop talking about him like
its past tense. He’s still here. He’s gonna be alright. He’ll get well and get home and pretty soon
you’ll be bitching at him the way you always did…….”
“No!” Joe
sternly said. “No, Mark. No more jests about dying. I’ve already said enough and now look at
what happened…..”
Joe broke off
and began to cry again as Mark lovingly put his arms around him.
Chapter 46
Two days
passed since Sav was rushed to the hospital and each night Tyler and Scott took
turns sleeping on a chair in his private room, not wanting to leave his
side. Even though there was a nurse who
checked on him very frequently, his lungs had filled up with even more fluid
before the Lacix began to take effect to clear him out. His fever was still up, his color wasn’t
good and he was very weak. They wanted
to stay by their father around the clock until he was past the critical stage.
By the third
day, Sav was breathing much easier and the color returned to his face. His temperature had gone down as well,
however he was kept on oxygen just to be on the safe side. Scott thought that he was well past the
contagious stage to where his mum could come for a visit.
Chelsea
brought Paige to see him as soon as it was okay and spent a good portion of the
morning with him. Soon after Grace
brought little Abby so she could see her grandpa, and spent the afternoon until
dinner time. Tyler came by afterwards
and Scott was on call that night so he popped in and out frequently as well. Needless to say, all the company wiped Sav
out a bit and that night he had his first, restful night’s sleep.
The next day,
Mark and Trevor went to see their grandfather and picked up Joe on the way to
take him. As the three of them
approached Sav’s room, Joe turned to them.
“Let me go in
first for a few moments, okay lads?”
“Sure
grandpa,” Mark said as he and Trevor went to seek out a vending machine.
Joe slowly
walked into the room to find Sav sitting up in bed, an oxygen tube still hooked
up to his nose and the telly remote in his hand. Sav turned his head towards the door when he saw Joe enter and
just smiled.
“Aye mate,” he
said, sounding much better than he did a few days.
“Aye,” was all
Joe could say as he stared at him in the hospital bed.
Sav wondered
what was wrong and decided to lighten the mood. “Sorry Joe, false alarm this time. Looks like you’re stuck with me for a little while long……”
“Shut up Sav!”
Sav was
startled by Joe’s outburst. “Thank God
I don’t have a pacemaker, else I’d be dead for sure! What’s wrong with you……?”
“Stop! Just stop talking about dying, okay?”
Sav saw that
Joe was seriously upset and decided not to play with him. “Joe, I’m okay. I was only kidding.”
“Yeah, well we
kid too much. Until the other night, I
didn’t realize how much I regretted saying those things to you.”
“Joe, when
have you ever regretted slinging an insult my way?”
“The other
night when I thought you were gonna die of suffocation right in front of my
eyes, that’s when!” Joe shot back. “You
weren’t ready to go. I wasn’t ready to
accept you going. Hell, I can’t accept
any of us going. I know we’ve lived
well past what we should’ve, considering how we abused ourselves when we were
younger, but I’m just not prepared for it yet.
Sometimes I forget that we’re not gonna live forever.”
“No, we’re not
Joe. As scary as it is, we have to
accept it. The day’s gonna come when
one of us is gonna be the first to go.
Whether its me, you, Phil, Viv or Rick.”
“I hope its me
Sav, truly I do,” Joe said somberly.
“If only because I won’t have to deal with watching any of you guys die
before me. Or even Abby. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful to have
lived this long, but the older I get just makes me closer to when its time to…..”
“Joe, stop,”
Sav cut him off. “You just got finished
saying that you don’t want to talk about death, so lets not. So….tell me something good.”
Joe looked
into the eyes of his best mate of 65 years and reached deep down inside his
heart to speak what truly was there. “I
love you, Rick.”
Sav bit his
lip and smirked. “Now I know you mean
it. You haven’t called me Rick since we
hired Rick Allen.”
“Is….is that
all you’re going to say?”
Sav thought a
bit then looked back at Joe. “Homo!”
Joe blew out a
breath. “Ungrateful!”
Just then
there was a knock on the door. “Aye, can
we come in now?”
Sav perked up
when he saw his grandsons. He then
whispered to Joe. “Now there are
my reasons for living! Come on in
lads.”
Mark and
Trevor came in and each gave Sav a hug before sitting down.
“Well, Joe has
failed to cheer me up so far, so do either of you lads have anything to share
that’ll put a smile on an old man’s face?”
Mark grinned
mischievously and decided, what the heck?
“Trev and I
got laid the other night.”
Chapter
47
Trevor
couldn’t even flush with mortification because all the color drained from his
face.
“Bleedin’
Christ, Mark! What’s the matter with
you?”
Joe threw his
head back and heartily laughed as Sav’s face found that smile he was looking
for.
“Well……I was
just trying to cheer grandpa up,” Mark justified. “Don’t get your boxers in a twist.”
Joe calmed
down from his mirth. “Oh Trevor, its
okay. Certain things you definitely
can’t tell your dads, but you can certainly share with us. We’ll never tell.”
“That’s not
the point uncle Joe,” Trevor huffed.
“Unlike Mark, I like my private moments with my girlfriend private.”
“You’ll never
make a good rock star Trevor,” Joe said.
“There is no such thing as privacy when you’re on tour. You do everything in front of each
other, right Sav?”
“That was a loooooong
time ago, Joe,” Sav said before looking at his grandsons. “So I um……take it that your relationships
are now steady ones, lads?”
“Well, for me
it is,” Trevor said. “I really like
Emily. A lot. A real lot.”
“Sounds to me
like you love her, lad,” Sav said.
Trevor
blushed. “Yeah, well I think so. I….I almost said it to her the other night,
but I was interrupted by dad’s call when he was taking you to the hospital.”
“Sorry about
that Trev,” Sav.
“No, no, its
okay. In a way, I’m glad. Even though I felt I wanted to say it, I
think it may be too soon. But, she’s
definitely my steady girl.”
Sav looked at
Mark. “And, what about you and
Tara? You’re not gonna love her and
leave her, are you?”
Mark flashed a
wicked dimple as he green eyes twinkles.
“No grandpa Sav, I don’t think so.
For some reason, she’s so much more different from the other girls I
dated. She’s special. Maybe its this connection she has to us
because she’s Randy’s sister. I just
don’t know what it is.”
“Hmm, that was
an interesting tidbit,” Joe said. “What
were the chances of you meeting the long lost sister of your dad’s dead
drummer?”
“Yeah, huh?”
“I hope you
lads are respecting these lasses, despite what transpired.”
“Grandpa, I
swear, I had no idea it was gonna happen,” Mark said with his hands in
surrender. “It was her idea. I didn’t push her into anything.”
“Same thing
with Emily,” Trevor offered. “She made
the first move. I just went along for
the ride.”
Joe
chuckled. “Don’t know what it is about
you Savages that women just throw themselves at you.”
“Heredity,”
Sav replied.
Just then
there was another knock on the door.
“Hello,” came a sweet, female voice that Trevor instantly recognized.
“Emily?”
Emily entered,
followed by Tara. Emily held a beautiful
vase of gorgeous, colorful flowers in one hand and a stack of magazines in
another, while Tara held a mylar balloon with a huge smiley face on it and a
couple of DVD’s.
“Hey grandpa
Sav,” Tara said, going over to kiss him.
“The lads called us last night and told us you were feeling better and
can have visitors.”
“We can’t stay
too long, though,” Emily said, kissing him as well. “We’re helping my mum do some major house cleaning today. But, we wanted to stop by and bring some
goodies to cheer you up. Trevor’s mum
said there was a DVD player in your room, so we brought you two movies. One’s a comedy the other an action one. Also, some magazines to pass the time.”
Sav smiled
wide at his grandson’s lovely, thoughtful girlfriends as they placed the flowers
by his bed and tied the balloon to the post.
“Lasses, this
is so thoughtful of you,” Sav gushed, before turning to his grandsons. “You better hang onto these two else I’ll
kick your arses!”
“Ditto for
me,” Joe added.
As the girls
greeted their lads, a very pretty nurse in her 30’s came in to check Sav’s
oxygen level and take his blood pressure.
When she left, Joe’s eyes followed her swaying bottom out the door.
“Still subtle
after all these years,” Sav commented.
“Hey, I’ll
never be too old to appreciate a shapely backside. Or a nice pair of tits.”
“Joe!”
“Grandpa!”
The girls just
rolled their eyes and blushed.
Joe waived off
his admonishment. “Oh, get off my back,
will ya? I don’t smoke anymore, I don’t
drink, I’m barely allowed anything with salt, sugar or fat, so can I least keep
my one vice that doesn’t affect my health?”
Joe’s tirade
was disrupted by the phone ringing.
“I’ll get it Sav,” Joe said, picking up the receiver. “Sav’s room,” Joe answered.
On the other
end, Phil let out a laugh of his own.
“Don’t tell me he’s got you playing personal secretary?”
Chapter
48
Joe let out a
sarcastic laugh. “Sorry Collen, I don’t
work anymore. I’ve been retired for
years.”
Sav perked up
in his hospital bed when he realized it was Phil on the phone as Joe continued
to talk.
“I guess
you’re wanting to talk to the patient?” Joe asked.
“Well, I
didn’t call for you, that’s for sure,” Phil shot back on the other end. “Hey um…any chance that the phone in his
room is speaker phone? I’ve got Rick on
a three-way here. Viv said he’ll call
tonight.”
“As a matter
of fact it is,” Joe said, pushing the speaker button. “Its Phil and Rick together for ya,” he told Sav.
“Aye mates,”
Sav spoke towards the phone.
“Aye, don’t
you go kicking the bucket now, Sav,” Phil chortled. “We all took bets and I’m saying that Rick here’s gonna go first,
since he won’t stop smoking.”
Sav laughed,
feeling better than he ever did in his elder years. “Rick, what are you doing to yourself?”
“Sav, if George
Burns can live to 100 after chomping on cigars, then I’ve got nothing to worry
about,” Rick replied.
“So, whats up
with you two?” Sav asked. “Out raising
hell at the bingo halls or something?”
Both men
laughed over the speaker phone. “Bingo
is for old people,” Phil stated.
“As a matter of fact, I just finished 15 laps. I think you two should fly over and take a dip in my fountain
of youth that I call a swimming pool!”
“Perhaps,” Joe
said before he looked at Tara and got a twinkle in his eye. “Aye Phil, you’ve got a very young and very
lovely admirer over here.”
Tara heard Joe
say the name ‘Phil’ and immediately blushed.
She knew this was the blonde guitarist from the picture that she thought
was hot.
“Oh
reallllllllly,” Phil said over the speaker phone. “Um….how young?”
“Seventeen.”
“Perfect!”
Phil said with a hearty laugh.
“Actually,
she’s my grandson Mark’s girlfriend, Tara.
I showed her pictures from our Adrenalize promos and, well, she couldn’t
tear her eyes off you.”
“Grandpa Joe!”
Tara exclaimed, before looking at Mark.
He had a stern look on his face.
“Don’t you
even think you’re ditching me for an 85 year old former rock star!”
She leaned
into him. “I’ll try to control myself.”
“Mark’s
there?” came Rick’s voice over the speaker.
“Aye lad, I’ve finally caved and dismantled my drumkit. I’ve got two gorgeous Zildjian cymbals that
I’d hate to just pack up. I’m gonna
ship them out to you.”
Mark perked
up. “Thank you so much, Uncle
Rick. I’ll look out for them.”
“So, who else
is there with ya?” Phil asked.
“Trevor’s also
here with his girlfriend, Emily,” Sav replied.
“And I’m sure
she’s as lovely as Tara,” Phil said.
“Actually,
they’re cousins, just like Mark and Trev” Sav said.
Phil chuckled
on the other end. “Hmm, I bet they’re
‘kissing cousins’ as well.”
Emily blushed
upon hearing that as Trevor nudged her head with his. “Aw, what do you think, Uncle Phil?” he said.
“I think you
both take after your grandpa’s more than your fathers,” Phil said. “Anyway, I’ll let you continue with your
visit. Sav, Viv will call you later on.
After all these years, they haven’t developed 4-way conference calls.”
“Look forward
to it,” Sav said. “Thanks again mates.”
When everyone
hung up, Sav sat in bed with a huge smile on his face. “Well, that was a nice surprise. Wonder what else is in store for me today?”
Just then,
they heard a female voice down the hall using very un-ladylike language in a
strong British accent. It was followed
by the admonishment of a male voice in a very sultry Italian accent.
“Oh no!”
Trevor exclaimed. “Don’t tell me! Well, grandpa, I think you got more than you
expected.”
As he said
that, Stephanie appeared in the doorway to Sav’s room, Frank right behind
her. Sav really perked up now.
“Stephanie luv,
I can’t believe you came all the way here to see me! But, what was all that shouting?”
Stephanie
walked in huffing. “I swear, the staff
in this hospital is worthless. They
work here, yet no one knows anything.
One little candy striper pissed me off in the elevator because she
blocked me with her cart when I was trying to get off. She’s lucky I didn’t belt her right into the
next available room!”
“Steffi,”
Frank calmly said. “Relax, ma
bella. Do not upset your……”
“I am not
upset Frank,” Stephanie spat out.
“I’m…..I’m……”
Everyone
looked at Stephanie with bewilderment as they asked in unison. “What?”
“I’m
pregnant, that’s what!”
Chapter
49
Stephanie
stood there in a huff after she blurted out her delicate condition. The reactions were mixed. Trevor threw his head back and laughed at
his model-thin sister’s unexpected condition.
Joe let out a laugh of his own as he got up to slap Frank on the back.
“Guess you
Italians don’t waste any time, eh?”
Frank flashed
pearly, white teeth that lit up his chistled handsome face. “Ah, Joe.
Its hereditary, actually. I come
from a large Napolitan family. I have
five brothers and sisters, my father is one of 8 children and my mother is one
of 11.”
Joe smirked
and looked at Stephanie. “Hmm, something
tells me you’re gonna be pregnant 24/7 until you punch out about six little……”
“Don’t even
go there uncle Joe,” Stephanie snipped.
“I am not sacrificing my career to become one big stretch mark!”
Frank smiled
and took Stephanie in a bear hug. “My
little spitfire,” he lovingly said.
“But I wouldn’t have her any other way.”
“Wait till the
hormones start kicking in Frank,” Mark warned.
“You’ll regret saying that.”
“I don’t think
I’d love Steffi if she were any other way,” Frank cooed before nuzzling her
ear. Stephanie responded by pulling her
head away. “Do you mind? That’s what got me in this condition in the
first place!”
Everyone was
enjoying watching Stephanie’s hissy fit and Frank’s joy that they forgot the
main person in this room. However,
Frank did not. He left Stephanie’s side
and went over to Sav in his hospital bed.
“Grandpa Sav!”
he announced, with his hands held out.
“Or, should I say…..great-grandpa!”
Everyone
turned to gage Sav’s response. Just as
they thought, he had tears filling his eyes.
He then held his hand out to Stephanie.
“Come here, luv.”
Stephanie
softened and walked over to her grandfather.
He was the only person who could soften her brazen personality and the
tears in his eyes were doing the trick.
She sat down on the edge of his bed.
“Well, guess
you won’t have to wait to be a great-grandpa after all, grandpa Sav.”
Sav hugged his
granddaughter and whispered in her ear.
“Thank you, luv. Thank you so
much. Don’t worry, Steph. I know this is a surprise, but, over time,
it’ll be the most important thing in your life. When that baby’s born, you’ll know unconditional love like you
never have before. You’re strong and
tough, just like your grandma. You’ll
be a fine mum. And, between you and
Frank, this wee one’s gonna be mega looking.”
Stephanie was
comforted by her grandfather’s words and felt a little better over her surprise
pregnancy. “Thank you grandpa. I guess I’m just scared, that’s all. This is all happening so fast. I’m sure once I’m over the hump I’ll be okay
with it.”
After about a
half hour, Tara and Emily had to leave to go help Emily’s mum with
cleaning. Stephanie and Frank stayed
for another 45 minutes and then had to leave to catch their tram back to their
London flat. All who was left was Joe,
Mark and Trevor.
“Well, I guess
I better get going too mate,” Joe said, standing up slowly to abate the ache in
his joints. “Hopefully, you’ll be home
soon.”
“Me too,” Sav
replied. “But, I gotta say, the last
two days were wonderful. Everyone in my
life that means so much to me either visited or called. And now, I’m going to be a
great-grandpa. I now have my reason for
sticking it out another 9 months.”
“You better
stick around longer than that Savage,” Joe spat out.
Sav blue eyes
twinkled at his friend. “Wow! You do love me, don’t you?”
“Okay, this is
getting wishy-washy,” Mark said.
“Come here,
you two,” Sav said to his grandsons.
Both Mark and Trevor went over to him.
“Someday, both
you lads will know how important your friendship is to each other. Mind you, I didn’t say your relationship,
because your cousins, but your friendship. It’s a strong bond that I hope will weather whatever you lads
face as you get older. Believe me, if
Joe and I haven’t done each other in after all these years, then you two will
have no problem. It was the rough
roads, deaths, illnesses, divorces, fighting, frustration and what not that
made us stronger. You lads have
everything right going for you right now.
You’re both bright, handsome, talented, popular and, well, you’ve never
had trouble with the lasses. One day,
things may not come easy to you. Always
remember, it isn’t what’s thrown at you, but how well you handle it that’ll
test your measure. Don’t ever forget
it.”
Mark and
Trevor both listened intently, knowing that their grandfather had a very good
reason for saying what he did. They
didn’t know the reason for it now, but stored it in the back of their memory
until they did.
And one
day….they would.
They both
hugged and kissed their grandfather and got up to leave, Joe close behind. He took his best mate’s hand and squeezed
it. “I’ll see you soon.”
Joe then
turned to leave and was out the door when Sav called out. “Joe?”
Joe appeared
back in the doorway. “Yeah?”
Sav slowly smiled. “I love you too.”
Chapter
50
Start of
School Year
September
Everything
began to get back to normal before the first day of school. Sav had been home from the hospital for the
last ten days and was completely recovered, though his wife, sons and
daughters-in-law continued to fuss over him.
Even Joe was a little more cautious around him, though he found other
things to bitch at him for.
Sav wouldn’t
have it any other way.
And for the
young ones, the first day of school was the craziest. Over at Tyler and Grace’s house,
Abby was in the midst of her first, full-fledged fashion crisis. Although she wouldn’t be turning thirteen
until Christmas Eve, she acting very much like a dramatic teenage girl on her
first day of school. Even though her
and Grace spent and exhaustive day shopping for just the right clothes, nothing
seemed right that day.
“Mum!” “Abby
called from her room upstairs. “I can’t
find my new Mudd jeans – the ones with the black lace stripes going down each
leg.”
From the
kitchen downstairs, Grace rolled her eyes before going to the bottom of the
stairs. “Abby, don’t shout from
upstairs. Those jeans are in the
washing machine.”
Abby came out
of her room aghast, clad only in a new black, peasant top and terry Abercrombie
shorts. “What? In the washing machine? What are they doing there?”
“I’ve been
washing all your new clothes these past few days, miss,” Grace retorted.
“But…..but I
need those jeans now!
Grace looked
at her exasperated daughter sternly.
“Watch that tone, young lady. As
for jeans, we must’ve bought you six pairs the other day that I’ve already
washed and dried. You’ll have to wear
one of those.”
Abby looked
appalled. “Mum, I can’t wear any of
those other jeans. They don’t go with
this shirt. And…..I have to wear
this shirt today!”
Grace pinched
her temples. “God, this is just the
beginning,” she mumbled. She then
silently cursed her husband for taking off to California to meet a new band
with Kevin, leaving her to deal with her diva-in-training daughter during an
emotional time as the first day of school.
Just then,
Mark came out of his room. Dressed in
Tommy Hilfiger jeans and a deep red t-shirt with the TH logo on the edge of his
short sleeve, he looked as put together as any seventeen year old lad could in
very simple attire. He had his dark
gray backpack slung over one shoulder and a gym bag in his hand containing his
soccer gear for practice. He looked at
his little sister and winced.
“Crikey Abby,
you could wake the neighborhood with that shrieking of yours.”
“Stuff it
Mark,” Abby shot back. “I don’t need
your stupid comments this morning. What
I need are my Mudd jeans with the black lace stripes!”
Mark rolled
his eyes at his sister. “Wench, it
doesn’t matter what you put on. Nothing
is gonna improve that flat body of yours.”
Abby stormed
into her room, got her pillow off her bed, came back out into the hall and
whacked her brother with it.
“Stupid
lads! That’s all you care about! I hate you, Mark!”
She then went
back into her room and slammed the door, the loud noise increasing Grace’s
headache. Mark just chuckled and headed
down the stairs.
“Mark, for the
love of God, when your father is away, will you please stop teasing your
sister?” Grace pleaded.
“Sorry mum,
but her whining gets on my nerves.
Whats the big deal over what pair of jeans she wears? I just threw this on and I look fine.”
“Girls are
different, Mark,” Grace said. “They’re
more fashion conscious and, well, they’re very concerned about how they look. I’ll bet this house that your girlfriend and
her cousin and fretting over what they’re gonna wear this first day of school.”
Mark’s
twinkled his eyes at his mum. “Yeah,
but that’s different. At least Tara and
Emily have bodies to fill those clothes!”
Grace pushed
her son towards the kitchen. “You are
your father’s son!”
********************************
Over at the
other Savage household, Trevor came down the stairs with his bag of soccer
gear. The first day of school meant
tryouts to replace the departing seniors as well as practice for the recurring
team members.
Casually
dressed in Sean John jeans, a white t-shirt with a blue and white checked short
sleeved buttoned shirt thrown over it, he entered the kitchen to where Scott
was finishing up his breakfast and getting ready to leave for the clinic. Chelsea had long since left, since many
mum’s drop their children off at the daycare early.
“All ready for
your last year lad?” Scott asked as he finished his tea.
“About as
ready as I’ll ever be,” Trevor replied.
“I’m definitely ready for soccer to start. My shoulder feels just fine, which is good because we’ve got to
defend our championship. Plus…….”
“What?”
“Well……scouts
are probably gonna be about,” Trevor said with a little nervousness.
“That they
will,” Scott said. “Is that what you
want Trevor? To play professionally?”
Trevor turned
unsure hazel eyes to his father. “Would
it disappoint you if I chose it over going to university?”
Scott stood up
from the kitchen table and went over to his son. “Trevor, I really don’t think there’s anything you can do that’ll
disappoint me. I’ve been nothing but
proud since the day you were born.”
Trevor rolled
his eyes and blushed, not used to praise of any kind – even from his parents.
“Whats important
is that I want you to do something substantial with your life, but I also want
it to be something your’e happy with.
Just take it one step at a time and we’ll see how things turn out once
the season gets into gear, okay?”
Trevor nodded
before downing a glass of juice, grabbing a scone and heading out the door.
**********************************
Over at the
Prescott household, Tara and Emily must’ve tried on four different new outfits
before Emily’s mum shouted up to them that they were going to be late.
Emily settled
on a pair of light brown, low rise cords and a brown and gold print gauze top
with a hankerchief cut hem that just grazed her waistband. She left her silky, honey colored hair down
and put on a pair of solid gold hoop earrings.
Tara opted for her new black American Eagle jeans and a short sleeved
silvery-gray knit top that gathered between her breasts and showed off her
slender, curvy figure to perfection.
The color only emphasized her gray-green eyes even more. She then brought the sides of her long, dark
hair up and secured it with a silver clip.
She then looked at Emily.
“Do I look
alright?”
“Tara, you
look fine. Don’t be nervous. I mean, its not like you don’t already know
people. You know me, Morgan and
Jessica, plus you’re already starting out as the girl of one of the most
popular lads in school.”
“Girls are
gonna hate me, huh?”
Emily
laughed. “Probably, but who cares. You’ll soon learn who’s who. Most are more bark than bite. And since we went to school a few days ago
to walk you through, you won’t be walking around in circles getting lost.”
“That was a
big help,” Tara said. “The last thing I
want to look like is some twit who doesn’t know left from right. I kinda wish we were riding in with the lads
this morning.”
“I know, but
they, Sean and Wesley have this ritual that they’ve always faced the first day
of school together,” Emily said. “Been
doing it since grade school. Guess its
some ‘guy thing’. At least Morgan’s mum
let her take the car to school on the first day so her and Jess can pick us
up. This way here, we can all stay and
watch footie tryouts.”
“That’s true,”
Tara said, grabbing her new maroon canvas backpack. “Well, shall we?”
Emily hooked
her chocolate brown backpack over shoulder then put her arm around her
cousin. “C’mon, Tara. Lets make your first day at school a
memorable one!”
Chapter
51
Westfield
School was abuzz with the chatter and chaos of returning students along with
exasperation and confusion of a new crop of freshman who waited in long lines
to get their locker assignments.
Trevor pulled
his Pathfinder into a student parking spot as he, Mark, Sean and Wesley filed
out.
“Praise bloody
God, this is our last year mates,” Wesley said, spreading his arms out wide.
“Yeah, but
we’ve got to make it out best,” Sean reminded him. “We’re seniors and we’re gonna rule the school!”
Mark looked
about. “Think the girls got here yet?”
“Probably,”
Trevor replied. “Especially if Tara
wants any sort of a decent locker. Thank
God we don’t have to go through that crap.”
“First day is
always a piece of cake,” Sean said.
“Just home room assignments and our class schedule. Can’t wait for footie practice. I’m still on a high from the championship.”
“Me too,” Mark
replied. “Got a lot of pressure on us
this year to defend it. Up to the
challenge there, mates?”
“Oh, I am,”
Wesley said. “And I don’t even have to
ask Trev, our future team captain.”
Trevor looked
at Wesley. “What? You don’t know that.”
“Trev, you’re
a senior and the best player on the squad,” Mark said. “Plus you’ve got the best shot at getting
scouted this year. Of course you’re
gonna be captain.”
“Don’t you
want to be captain, Mark?”
Mark
shrugged. “Nah, that doesn’t bother
me. Like I said, I play for the fun and competiton. You take it more seriously than I do, so you
deserve it.”
Just then, the
bell rang signaling that the students had less than ten minutes to find their
homerooms. As the lads entered the
school, a slew of people ascended upon them, high-fiving them and clapping each
other on the back. Even though Sean and
Wesley could hold their own very nicely, Mark and Trevor were the stars of
their high school. Every lad wanted to
be like them and every lass, well, just plain wanted them!
As soon as
Trevor found out which home room he was in, he turned to head in that direction
and was immediately confronted with Kristin.
He halted in his tracks, startled by seeing her.
“Trevor, oh
its so good to see you,” Kristin sang out as she shamelessly threw her arms
around his neck in front of
everyone. “Oh, I missed you so much
this summer. Oh, but we’re gonna make
this last year a blast, aren’t we luv?”
Trevor reached
up to his neck and grabbed Kristins hands, bringing them back down to her side. “Kristin, what in bleedin’ hell are you
doing? How many times do I have to tell
you? We are no longer going out. And, I also know about that encounter you
had with Emily at the mall last month.
I’m trying to be nice about this Kristin, but you’re trying my
patience. Now, lets leave this be once
and for all, okay? I’ve got to get to
homeroom.”
Without so
much as a goodbye, Trevor brushed past her and disappeared down the hall. Kristin stood there for a few moments with a
sick looking smirk on her face before she entered her homeroom. Her eyes quickly scanned for an empty chair
and smiled victoriously when she saw who was in front of it. She sat down and poked the girl in front of
her on the back.
Emily felt a
poke on her back and turned around and met Kristin’s malicious face.
“Be prepared,”
was all Kristin said.
Emily met
Kristin eye’s with an intimidating look.
“Bring it on!”
************************
After homeroom
orientation was over, Tara went in search of her newly appointed locker to fill
it with the text books for all her classes as well as some school
supplies. Since the first day would be
short and with no homework, she left mostly everything in her locker so she
wouldn’t have to lug anything home in her backpack.
She looked up
at the clock and saw that it was almost time for the lunch period. Since Emily had shown her where the
cafeteria was a few days ago, they agreed to meet Morgan and Jessica there so
they could eat together. She also
would see Mark for the first time today as well.
As she began
to put her books in her locker, two other lasses, obviously seniors, opened
their lockers next to hers. One began
to check her appearance in a mirror inside her locker, then proceeded to pull a
bevy of cosmetics from a shelf inside to fix her appearance.
“God, did you
see Kristin practically maul Trevor in the hallway this morning?” one girl
asked the other. “I’ll lay odds that
her and Emily will be going at each other like hellcats by the weeks end.”
“I wouldn’t
want to tussle with Kristin,” the other girl replied. “Something about her scares me.
Though, I gotta say, I wouldn’t mind tussling with her if it was over
Trevor Savage. He’s a prime catch and
she wants him back. Did you see how
bloody gorgeous he looked this morning?”
“What about
Mark?” the first girl said as she applied lip gloss in front of her
mirror. “Crikey, those eyes of his
would make me drop my pants in a heartbeat!
He’s looking mega fine! And…….I
believe he’s still unattached.”
“Think you got
a chance?” the other girl asked.
“Absolutely! I mean, you can rule out the freshman,
sophomores and juniors. Plus, half the
senior girls are hags anyway. Two of
the prettiest are Kristin and Emily and they’re gonna have a field day over
Trevor. So……I’ve got the best shot at
snagging him.”
Tara listened
to this with mirth bubbling up inside of her.
She closed her locker as her eyes met the ones of the girl refreshing
her makeup.
“I agree,”
Tara said to the girl. “Mark Savage is
hot. By the way, my name is Tara. I’m finishing my senior year here.”
The girl
stopped lining her lips as her jealous eyes took in Tara’s extremely beautiful
face and perfect body, clad in a hip, stylish outfit. The girl put a hand on her hip and regarded Tara.
“Well, don’t get
your hopes up, Tara. You’re new
here and you’ll soon learn the ways, one being that underclassmen and newbies don’t
stand a chance with senior lads – especially lads like Mark Savage.”
Tara was about
to respond when the other girl in front of her paled as she looked down the
hall.
“Oh my God,”
she whispered to her friend. “Its Mark!
He’s coming down the hall – right towards us!”
The girl
fixing her makeup scurried to put her cosmetics back in her locker and quickly
fixed her hair in the mirror before closing her locker door. Tara remained facing them until she felt
Mark stop behind her, then looked at the girls faces.
“Aye
Mark,” the freshly madeup girl
said. “Good to see you back. Have a nice summer?”
“Brilliant
one, thanks,” he said as he put a hand on Tara’s shoulder from behind. “Ready to go to lunch, luv?”
Tara didn’t
think the moment couldn’t be any more perfect than this. She turned around to Mark and planted a
soft, quick kiss on his lips. “Ready.”
Clasping her
hand in Mark’s, Tara turned to the two astounded girls who looked at Tara with
daggers of jealousy.
“Thanks for
the advice about…..you know who, but I won’t be needing it,” Tara said
coyly before taking off with Mark to the cafeteria.
Chapter
52
Early October
Tara had
settled in quite nicely to her school surroundings. Of course, being Mark Savage’s girl didn’t hurt. Besides Trevor and Emily, she and Mark were
considered the ‘it’ couple.
During her
first several weeks of school, girls stared at her with green eyed jealousy
because she was the beautiful new girl.
But that was nothing compared to when they found out that she had been
claimed by Mark Savage over the summer.
Even the lads sulked after they found out she was unavailable, again
having to wrestle with the fact that the two most popular lads in school always
seem to snag the beauties first.
Although the girls were jealous, they went out of her way to be her
friend, if only to get into their close, inner circle.
Tara seemed
oblivous to her instant popularity.
Even though she realized her position as Mark’s girlfriend, she
remembered where she came from also.
She didn’t look down her nose at anyone.
Once in
Chemistry, the teacher had asked everyone to split up in groups of two for a
lab work assignment. Tara had a
painfully shy, not to mention not very popular, senior girl in her class whom
the other girls seemed to ostracize. When it came time to choose a partner,
Tara wasted no time in asking the girl if she’d like to be hers.
At first the
girl thought it was some kind of joke, but soon saw right through Tara’s
genuineness. Her name was Brenda and,
although fairly pretty, yet plain, Tara couldn’t understand why she barely had
any friends. As they continued on as
lab partners, they talked and got to know each other. Tara found her to be a brilliant person with a hoot of a sense of
humor. All she needed was someone to
open her up and accept her. But Tara
decided that she would do more. Because
she was beyond grateful for being given the chance she has now, she would pass
that on to someone else.
In between
classes, Tara caught up with Emily.
“Hey Em, you staying for footie practice after school?”
“No, I don’t
think so,” Emily replied. “I’ve got to
finish my story for my creative writing class.
I started it at home and saved it on a disk so I could work on it in the
computer lab on my free period. Its due
tomorrow so I’ve got to finish it when I get home. Why, whats up?”
“Well, do you
know a senior girl named Brenda?”
Emily thought
a bit, then recognition overcame her.
“Yeah, but not personally. She’s
really shy and keeps to herself. When I
pass her in the hall I smile, but she always looks down. Never had her in any of my classes
either. Some of the girls make fun of
her because she’s a loner, which I don’t like.”
“Yeah, well I
don’t either,” Tara emphatically stated.
“She’s in my Chem class and I chose her as my lab partner, only because
I knew no one else would. I remember
what it used to be like that.”
“Good for
you,” Emily said. “That must’ve made
her feel good.”
“It did, but
as I got to know her, I realized that she’s just like you and me – or Morgan or
Jess. She’s got a great
personality. Just needed someone to pry
it out of her. I think its just her
appearance and the way she handles herself is what turns people off. She dresses kinda drab, doesn’t wear any
makeup, does nothing with her hair and she always walked hunched over looking
down. I was thinking, she’s about the
same size as us, so I thought I’d invite her over after school, have her try on
some clothes, fool around with makeup and hair, you know…..a girlie afternoon.”
Emily
smiled. “Sounds like a ‘My Fair Lady’
project to me.”
“Well, not
really,” Tara said. “Its just….when I
look at her, I see me before I moved here to Sheffield. I was always the poor girl in school that no
one wanted to associate with. It hurt
and I see the hurt in her. I guess I
just want to help, that’s all.”
Emily put an
arm around her cousin. “You’ve got a
heart of gold, I tell you that. And….I
think it’s a brilliant idea. Sure,
count me in, but I’ve got to finish my story later.”
“Thanks Em,”
Tara said, squeezing her. “I’ll go find
her and invite her over.”
Emily smiled
after Tara as she raced down the hall.
She changed books in her locker for her next class and closed the door,
only to find Kristin on the other side of it.
Emily met her stare.
“You know,
you’ve been quiet since that first day of school,” Emily said. “I knew it wouldn’t last long.”
“Having fun
taking over my life?” Kristin asked.
“Your
life? What the hell does that mean?”
Kristin acted
non-chalant. “Oh, you know. You took my boyfriend and now you’re part of
the crowd I used to be. A couple of my
friends from last year don’t even bother speaking to me anymore because I’m not
considered popular anymore.”
“Well, if
that’s the only reason they wanted to hang around with you, then they weren’t
true friends to begin with,” Emily retorted.
“Maybe they just realize what a mean, manipulative, conniving person you
are.”
Kristin leaned
in to her. “They have no idea how mean,
manipulative and conniving I can be.
But…..you soon will!”
“You know
what, just end it Kristin, okay? I’m
sick of your empty threats. Just go and
find a life and stay out of mine!”
With that
Emily turned and left for her class.
Kristin stood there staring after her, her mind churning.
“Not a
chance, Miss Emily. Not until you pay
for taking Trevor away from me!”
Chapter
53
At soccer
practice, the lads went through a set of drills to work out the stiffness that
set in over the summer. Most of the
freshman, sophomore and junior members from last year survived the cut from the
grueling tryouts and several new members made it to replace the departing
seniors.
As everyone
had predicted, Trevor was named senior captain. But the title meant nothing to him. He was beginning to feel the pressure of defending their
championship as well as getting himself in the best shape possible before the
scouts began to show up.
During a
break, Trevor trotted from his goal over to the sidelines to get his water
bottle from his bag. As he did, Wesley
came up and nudged him.
“Aye mate,
psycho-bitch-from hell at 10 o’cock!”
Trevor looked
up to his left a bit and saw Kristin in the bleachers, staring at him. She
waved before continuing to write in a notebook. Trevor just turned away.
“I knew it was too good to be true,” he said. “She hadn’t bothered me since that first day and now she’s
lurking.”
“More like stalking,”
Wesley corrected him. “Mate, you may
need a restraining order against her.”
“Wes, I’m not
afraid of my ex-girlfriend. I hate
having to resort to ignoring her and being mean, but I have no other way of
getting my point across. She’ll give it
up sooner or later.”
He then
trotted back to his goal. Meanwhile,
Kristin wrote furiously in a book on her lap.
The look of determination on her face as she wrote was frightening.
“Won’t be
long,” she said as she wrote those very words.
*******************************
In Emily’s
bedroom, her Tara and Brenda were lost in a sea of jeans, shirts, sweaters,
tanks, shorts, sweatpants, shoes, makeup and hair accessories.
Brenda was
having the time of her life trying on clothes and having Tara play with her
hair as Emily tried some cosmetics on her.
With a pair of Emily’s low rise, faded, chocolate brown jeans and a
fitted white knit jersey top of Tara’s, Brenda checked out her appearance in
the full length mirror. Tara had
twisted the sides of her long, auburn hair up and secured it with a pretty
barrette. Emily had lightly lined her eyes and put on a little mascara,
followed by some honey colored blush and a rose colored lipshine. Brenda couldn’t believe the change in
herself.
“Wow, I can’t
believe this is me! I didn’t think I
could wear these styles, even though I think they’re mega. I guess I figured, why bother, you know?”
“Well, I think
you should dress like this more often,” Emily offered. “Those styles really flatter you. And your hair is awesome. Guess its shopping time!”
“Yeah, well,
let me see how much extra money I can pry out of my dad,” Brenda said. “Maybe I can catch a few sales this
weekend.”
“Why don’t we
make it a little trio?” Tara said. “The
lads have practice until the afternoon on Saturday. We can start out about eleven or so in the morning and shop till
about two or three. Until then, why
don’t you borrow that top if you want to wear it tomorrow?”
“Yeah, and you
can borrow my jeans too,” Emily said.
“Oh, and the
makeup……”
“Here, take a
few barettes to try in your hair…”
“Oh, and……”
The cousins
were cut off when Brenda buried her face in her hands and cried. Tara put a hand on her shoulder. “Bren, whats wrong?”
“You’re being
so nice to me,” she said with a sniff.
“I…I haven’t really made a lot of friends in school, I just haven’t been
good at it. And no one ever went out of
their way, so I just kept to myself.
Its real lonely, you know, when there’s stuff going on in school and you
want to go, but can’t because you have no one to do it with.”
Tara put her
arms around Brenda and hugged her.
“Trust me, I know how you feel.
I felt the same way at my school in Canterbury.”
“Yeah, but
look at you now. Both of you! You’re dating the hottest lads in the school
and you have a lot of friends.”
Emily looked
at Brenda. “Well, now we have one
more.”
“You…you want
me to be your friend?”
Emily
shrugged. “Yeah, why not? I’m having a blast. Oh, by the way, I can’t have too much
fun. I’ve got to finish my story.”
“Not yet Em,”
Tara said. “First, we have to run a
list down of all the available senior lads on the team to see who we can fix
Brenda up with.”
Brenda’s eyes
widened. “What? Oh….oh, no, you don’t have to do that.”
Tara and Emily
smiled and said together, “we insist”!
***************************
At the junior
Savage residence, Chelsea was enjoying a day off from the daycare and began to
catch up on things around the house.
Later in the afternoon, Grace came over to have lunch together. The two sisters-in-law always made it a
point to get together once a month, as their schedules allowed. With Chelsea running the daycare and Grace
overseeing the administrative duties of the record label via the internet, not
to mention their children, husbands and in-laws, once a month sometimes pushed
it. Sure, they always saw each other on
weekends and holidays, but that was when the entire family was together. This was just their time.
As they sat at
the table, Grace rambled on about Abby’s sassiness and Mark’s future after high
school, while Chelsea wondered about Trevor’s chances in the pro’s and also her
future grandchild. Stephanie was almost
three full months by now and it was hard to believe that she and Scott were
going to be grandparents.
“Grace, Scott
and I are only 42,” Chelsea fretted.
“Were too young to be grandparents!”
“Yeah, but you
were almost 17 when you had her,” Grace reminded her.
“Oh, I
know. But, it’ll be brilliant to have a
wee one around again. I’m just worried
about being able to see the baby with her and Frank mainly living in Italy.”
“Well,
hopefully they’ll both take a break from modeling once the baby’s born and stay
in their London flat so then can ride in to see you often.”
“I hope so,”
Chelsea said, just as the doorbell rang, followed by the sound of a key going
in the lock.
As Chelsea
aproached the door, it opened and Stephanie walked in.
“Steph,”
Chelsea gasped, hugging her daughter.
“What a surprise! Why didn’t you
call first? It’s a good thing I was
home. Come in, Aunt Grace is here. We were just talking about you and the
baby. How are you feeling?”
Stephanie
looked at her mother with a sad, stricken face.
“Mum, I lost
the baby.”
Chapter
54
Chelsea put a
hand to her mouth before she embraced her daughter, who was on the verge of
tears.
“Oh my God,
Stephanie,” Chelsea choked out with tears of her own. “When? When did this
happen?”
“Over a week
ago,” Stephanie rasped out. “I’m sorry
for not calling, but I was just too devestated. Poor Frank. All I did was
cry all over him, but he’s so wonderful.
I decided to wait to tell you in person. He’s in London on a photo shoot and I took the tram in. I told him that I was gonna stay here for a
few days and he’s gonna ride in when he’s done so we can go home together. Is…is it okay?”
Chelsea looked
at her daughter. “Of course its okay,
you don’t have to ask that. Listen,
luv…you look tired. Your father should
be home by 5:30. Why don’t I go
upstairs and check to see if the spare room is made up and you can go up and
rest, okay?”
All Stephanie
did was nod before Chelsea kissed her and went upstairs.
Grace had been
sitting at the kitchen table the entire time watching the scene between mother
and daughter, as painful memories from twenty five years ago assailed her. She knew the pain that Stephanie was
feeling. The emptiness. The sadness. Even though Grace had only been almost seventeen at the time and
no where’s near prepared to be a mother, it still hurt. She went over to Stephanie.
“Steph,
luv…..its gonna be alright, trust me.”
Stephanie
hugged Grace. “Oh, it hurts so much
Aunt Grace,” Stephanie sobbed. “All I
can think about was how selfish I was in not wanting children for a while
because of my career. But, only until I
got pregnant did my feelings change. I
was getting so used to the idea of being a mother. Frank was so excited. Our
focus on everything changed and all we talked about was the baby.”
“I know, luv,
I know,” Grace said, soothing her.
“Oh, how could
you know? How can anyone in the family
know? You and mum have had uneventful
pregnancies. You can’t possibly feel……”
“I can
Stephanie,” Grace said, cutting her off.
“Listen luv, I’m gonna tell you something very private. I did have a miscarriage once. A long time ago, right before my seventeenth
birthday.”
Stephanie
pulled away and looked at Grace with shock.
“What? You? Was….was it Uncle Ty…..”
“No, it
wasn’t. I had broken up with Uncle Ty
the year before, right before he went off to university. It was someone else. Someone…..who related to the pain and
emptiness I was feeling from missing him.
It was a grave mistake, we both knew it right away. I didn’t even know I was pregnant until I
had the symptoms of the miscarriage.”
“Well….what
about the lad who got you pregnant? Did
he stand by you? Did you remain
friends?”
There was no
way that Grace could tell Stephanie the truth. “Well, Stephanie, its like this,” Grace thought to
herself. “Your dad got me pregnant.” No.
No way!
“Well, all
I’ll say on that is yes. Fortunately,
everything turned out alright. And, the
miscarriage didn’t affect my ability to have more children, as you can
see. You’re gonna be fine, luv. Just rest up and recouperate from this one
and you and Frank can try again, okay?”
Stephanie
nodded and hugged Grace again, still disbelieving that she had a miscarriage so
long ago.
As Chelsea
stood at the foot of the stairs overhearing their conversation, she thought the
same thing.
Chapter
55
The Next Day
Emily was
furiously making the final touches on her story in the computer resource center
during her free period. Since she wound
up goofing off more than she should’ve the previous day with Tara and Brenda,
she would’ve had this all done last night.
Now, she was under the gun.
She had
Creative Writing next and her story was due.
She worked diligently on it during her free periods in the computer
center where her inspiration seemed to flow.
She was very proud of it and knew that it would earn her a good grade.
After perusing
it one last time she saved it on disk before printing it out. She then put the pages in order and into the
plastic sleeve of her report cover before slipping it between her books to keep
it flat. She popped the disk out and
dropped it into her backpack then checked the clock.
She had about
15 minutes before the period ended and was about to make a list of what to
bring home for homework when she heard a knock on the window behind her. She turned around and saw Trevor waving at
her from outside the classroom. Tara
got up and went to the door to meet him.
“What are you
doing roaming the halls, Trev? You’re
gonna get caught.”
“Nah, I have a
pass,” he said, waving it in front of her.
“I forgot my calculator in my locker for Trig class so the teacher let
me get it. I passed by here and saw
you.”
“Hey, how’s
your sister doing? When you called me
last night you said that she was still crying.”
“I guess she’s
doing okay. She was talking with my mum
and dad for most of the night. She’s
just really upset. Its so ironic because
she didn’t even want children right away, but I guess she changed her mind.”
“Well, it is a
loss, but as long as she’s alright and can try again then that’s all that
matters.”
Trevor smiled at her then leaned in. “What’cha got next, luv?”
“Creative
Writing,” Emily replied. “I just came
here to tidy my story up a bit before I turn it in.”
“Hmm, whats it
about?”
Emily
grinned. “Ooooh, its about this lucky
girl who falls for the handsome star of her high school soccer team.”
Trevor
blushed. “No, you didn’t! Did you?”
“No, I’m only
kidding. I think everyone can pretty
much figure that out without me writing a story about it.”
Trevor licked
his lips and looked deep into her eyes.
“So, you’re falling for me, huh?”
Emily tried to
look innocent. “Shouldn’t you be
getting back to class before it ends?”
Trevor kissed
her quick and headed back down the hall.
Emily turned and met Kristin’s
eyes.
“Aw, how
sweet,” Kristin drawled out sarcastically.
Emily decided
not to play into her game anymore and just ignored her, walking right past her
to go back to her seat. As she sat
down, the bell rang and Emily gathered her books and backpack to head off to
her Creative Writing class.
Once her class
started, the teacher took attendance then asked for the stories to be turned
in. Emily lifted one of her books that
the report was under and found it wasn’t there. She then lifted the other book and it wasn’t under there either. She nervously flitted through the pages of
her books and notebooks only to find that it wasn’t there or…anywhere. Perhaps she dropped it in the computer
room? She raised her hand.
“Yes, Emily?”
“Um, I think I
left my story in the computer resource room.
I was working on it last period.
Can I be excused to go get it?”
The teacher
looked at the clock then back at Emily.
“Make it quick.”
Emily got up
and headed back down to the computer room, but her story was nowhere to be
found. She asked the resource moderator
if someone had found her story and turned it in, but no one had.
She went back
to her class and approached the teacher.
“Um, my story
wasn’t in the room. Someone may have
picked it up and couldn’t find me to give it back to me.”
“Emily, the
story is due today,” the teacher reminded her.
“I know
but….wait, I have the disk in my backpack.
I could go and reprint it quickly and bring it back.”
“Okay, but
you’ll have to do it after class. We’re
already late in starting.”
“Okay,” Emily
said before going back to her seat. She
went into her backpack to retrieve the disk.
That too, was
gone.
Chapter
56
She knew she
had put the disk in her backpack and that her report was safely inbetween her
books, yet it wasn’t anywhere to be found.
Unless she could find either, she would have to take an incomplete in
her writing class.
She was
practically in tears by the end of the school day when Tara approached her.
“Em, whats
wrong?”
“My story’s
gone!” Emily half shouted through her frustration. “I was working on it in the computer resource center before
class. I printed it out, tucked it
between my books and put the disk in my backpack. Now both are gone.
Its….its like somebody took……..”
“What?” Tara
said.
“Kristin was
in the computer room,” Emily concluded.
“I left my seat when Trevor tapped on the window. I went to go talk to him a bit and after he
left I saw Kristin in the room. The
bell had rang for class so I just grabbed my stuff and went. When I got to class, both my report and disk
were gone.”
“Em, I’ll bet
anything that she took them,” Tara said.
Emily banged
the locker in her frustration. “That
sick little bitch! I can’t believe this
is how far she’s stooped! And what am I
gonna do? I have no proof she took it.”
“You’ve got to
confront her and at least let her know you’re onto her,” Tara said.
Emily covered
her face with her hands. “I don’t have
time for this crap, Tara. I’m so sick
of it. I thought if I just ignored her,
she’d just get the hint and go away.”
“Well, I think
Kristin’s a few short upstairs, know what I mean?”
“Yeah, and now
she’s ruining my life, just like she wanted.
What the hell am I gonna do?”
Tara looked
down the hall and her face lit up.
“Hey, do you have a free period next?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Kristin just
went into the library. She’s got her
backpack with her. Maybe you can sneak
into it? Or at least go in there and
spy to see if she talks to anyone and spills anything.”
“What have I
got to lose,” Emily said, heading towards the library.
She entered
through the door at the other end so Kristin wouldn’t see her come in. She began to go up and down the aisles of
books to keep herself hidden, all the while spying on Kristin who was sitting
at a lone table in the corner, furiously writing in a spiral bound notebook.
Emily couldn’t
figure out what she could be writing so fast, but it went on for a good ten
minutes. Finally, Kristin put her pen
down, closed the notebook then put it in her backpack. Kristin then looked around before getting up
and asking to be excused to get a drink of water in the hall.
Emily used
that golden opportunity when Kristin left the library to sneak that notebook
out of her backpack. She then went to
the back of the library and snuck out.
She made it down the hall silently and crept unnoticed into the computer
resource center. She took an empty desk
in the back and opened the notebook and began reading.
What she read
made her absolutely sick.
Chapter
57
When the bell
rang, Kristin left the library and went back to her locker. As she opened it, a couple of her friends
came up to her.
“Hey Kris, you
were supposed to meet us in study hall three periods ago,” one of the girls
said. “Where were you.”
Kristin
flashed a victorious smile. “Oh, I
decided to go to the computer resource center instead. And am I glad I did. Things are gonna get very interesting.”
The other girl
looked at Kristin with question. “What
do you mean?”
“I mean, poor
little Emily Prescott is in such a tizzy today,” Kristin said maliciously. “Seems her Creative Writing assignment, and
the disk it was saved on, just, oh, I don’t know, magically disappeared.”
The first girl
looked at Kristin with a dropped jaw.
“Kris, you didn’t? Why do you
insist on making her life hell?”
“Because she
made my life hell, that’s why!” Kristin spat out. “How come you’re sticking up for her? Oh, why….because the new popularity queen –
her and that bitch cousin of hers?”
“Kris, I think
there’s something wrong with you,” the second girl said.
“There’s nothing
wrong with me,” she hissed. “I’m just
getting even, that’s all. I…I….”
Kristin cut
off her sentence as she rummaged in her backpack, not finding her
notebook. Her frantic look and wild
eyes worried her friends.
“Whats wrong
with you?”
“I……I can’t
find my….my……oh my God!”
“Looking for
something, Kristin?”
Kristin turned
around to see Emily standing behind her holding her notebook in her hand, Trevor standing right behind her. Kristin lept forward.
“Give that
back to me!”
Before she
could grab it, Trevor snatched it out of Emily’s hand and held it high over his
head. The look on Kristin’s face was
one of pure fear and Emily wasted no time in taking advantage of it.
“Yeah, I’d be
real scared if I were you, Kristin.
Those are some pretty sick things you wrote in your little journal, starting
with slashing Trevor’s tire that day at the lake. Guess you didn’t go away with your family that week. Oh, and I just love this new entry about
taking my Creative Writing story and the disk.”
Kristin was
absolutely wild, not knowing what to do.
She turned towards her friends who backed away. “Sorry Kris, you got yourself into this sick
mess.”
Kristin was in
tears when she turned back to Emily.
“Please,” she begged. “Give me
my notebook back.”
“On one
condition,” Emily said. “That you give
me my story and disk back. Then, you
apologize to Trevor for all the grief you caused him. Then, you and I are gonna go to my Creative Writing teacher where
you can tell her what you did. And
then……I think you should go see the counselor.
You need someone to talk to.”
“And if I
don’t?”
“Then this
notebook gets copied and distributed around school,” Emily countered, before
walking closer to Kristin. “I don’t
think your friends would like to see what you’ve written about them,”
Emily quietly whispered.
Kristin
paled. She knew every word she had
written in that book and she wouldn’t have a friend left if it were found
out. She had no choice.
“Why are you
doing this to me?” she whispered to Emily.
“I could ask
you the same question,” Emily replied.
“You know I had nothing to do with yours and Trevor’s breakup, yet
you’re intent on targeting me for it.
Kristin, you need help in getting over this.”
Kristin then
looked at Trevor. “I’m sorry,” she
cried. “I’m so sorry.”
“Its okay
Kristin,” Trevor replied. “Just get
yourself together, alright? I promise I
won’t read this notebook, but you’re not gonna get it back until you straighten
out what you did to Emily.”
Kristin had no
choice but to agree. She then went into
her backpack, pulled out Emily’s story and disk and gave it back to her. “I’m sorry.”
“Apology
accepted,” Emily said, truly beginning to feel bad for her. “Now, lets go find my teacher.”
Chapter 58
Now that the
fiasco with Kristin was over, everyone in the senior class was now wondering
who the new mystery girl was. No, it
wasn’t Tara – but Brenda.
She, along
with Tara and Emily, spent the previous Saturday shopping for three hours at
Meadowhall Mall. It took Brenda some
serious convincing for her dad to give her an advance on her allowance to shop,
but he gave in, never seeing her so happy and excited before. And, when her two new friends showed up, who
just happened to be the girlfriends of the towns biggest high school soccer
stars, he gladly sent his daughter on her way.
She had been too shy and had lacked friends most of her life because of
this. It was well worth the extra
pounds he gave her to shop.
And today,
Brenda wore the first of the several different outfits she bought. She didn’t feel comfortable at first with
her new jeans and jersey exposing her shapely torso, but soon grew accustomed
to the latest fashions. With her hair
pulled back with a butterfly clip, more of her lovely face was exposed,
enhanced by a shimmer of flattering makeup.
When her classmates realized who she was, they marveled at the drastic
change in her appearance and how wonderful she looked.
Of course,
there were always the girls who were in a snit about everything and couldn’t
wait to sling criticism.
“Did you see
Brenda Sullivan today?” one girl said to another in Trigonometry class. “Tara Spencer chose her as her partner in
Chem lab and now she thinks she’s all that and trying to look and dress like
she’s somebody.”
“Its not gonna
change anything,” the other girl replied.
“She’s still gonna be a nobody.”
Little did
they know, but Tara was sitting two seats behind them and heard every
word. She really despised girls like
that and couldn’t wait till class was over.
When the bell
rang, Tara went over to those girls with an enthusiastic look on her face.
“You guys
tallking about Brenda? Doesn’t she look
fab?”
One of the
girls rolled her eyes. “Yeah……for a
wannabe!”
Tara shrugged
and looked at one girl then the other.
“Well, better to be a ‘wannabe’ than a ‘never will be’. See ya!”
The girls were
rightfully put in their place as Tara walked off with a smile.
***********************
Later that
night, Scott was in the family room reading the newspaper. Frank had taken the tram in from London the
day before and they all spent the day as a family before he and Stephanie left
early this morning to catch their plane back to Italy. Stephanie seemed to be more disappointed for
her Grandpa Sav since he was looking so forward to being a great-grandfather. But all he cared was that his granddaughter
was okay and still healthy enough to have more children.
Chelsea was in
one of the spare rooms that was her office away from the daycare. She was in the process of posting all the
weeks expenses into the computer, but she hadn’t been able to get what she
discovered about Grace off her mind.
She had wanted to bad to ask her about it, but then Grace would know
that she overheard at the bottom of the steps.
She then
thought about asking Scott, since they were in the same grade together. Chelsea never pressed Scott much about the
missing years after she moved to the States until she came back. She really didn’t care. All she cared about was that the one lad
that she truly loved more than life
itself was back in her life and had accepted the daughter he never knew about.
Although it
was a private thing for Grace, her curiosity got the best of her. She first thought that perhaps Scott didn’t
even know, and didn’t want to stir anything by telling him what she had
overheard. But she then remembered how
close Grace and Scott’s parents were.
Their dads had been friends since they were teenagers and they were more
like family. There was a good chance
that it was common knowledge.
She put her
checkbook aside and got up and went in search of her husband. She saw that Trevor’s door was closed and
that he was hopefully doing his homework.
She went downstairs and found Scott in the family room. Scott peeked up from above the newspaper when
he heard her come in.
“Aye luv. Finished already?”
“No, still
more to do. Um, can I talk to you about
something?”
“Sure,” Scott
said folding the paper and sitting forward.
“Is it about Steph?”
“Oh…no, well,
not exactly. Actually, its about the
day that Stephanie arrived and told me the news. Grace was here having lunch with me at the time.”
“Yeah?”
“Well…I left
them alone to go upstairs to ready Stephanie’s room so she could rest. When I came back down the stairs, Steph was
crying in Grace’s arms and Grace…..well….she told Steph something in private. She told her that she understood what she
was going through.”
Scott’s
insides fluttered a bit, as a quarter century old memory came back to haunt
him. He had never told Chelsea about
him and Grace. Didn’t think there was
ever a need to. When Chelsea left for
the States, she had broken off all communication with Scott, though Scott
didn’t find out why until she showed back up in Sheffield almost 6 years later
with their daughter Stephanie in tow.
Telling Chelsea this, even ‘matter of factly’ just didn’t seemed
necessary since everyone involved just wanted to put it behind them and go
forward with their lives.
However now,
he wondered if he should’ve told her.
“Did….did
Grace say why?” Scott nervously asked.
Chelsea took a
deep breath and let it out. “Yes, she
did. Scott, did you know that Grace got
pregnant when she was younger – right before she turned 17?”
Scott couldn’t
lie. “Yes Chelsea, I did. It was a very bad time for her. She and Ty broke up the year before – right
before he went off to university. She was
still reeling from it. She was hurting
and she was missing him and, well….got involved with someone she shouldn’t have
and made a grave mistake.”
Chelsea
sombered a bit. “Wow, that must’ve been
a hard time for her – and her family.”
“Yes, it was,”
was all Scott said.
“She must’ve
been missing Tyler something bad,” Chelsea said.
“She did,”
Scott replied. “I understood what she
felt when you left for the States. All
I could think of was you. Not knowing
where you were and not having you respond to my e-mails really hurt me.”
Chelsea put a
hand on his knee. “Scott, even though
we’ve been married 18 years, I don’t think I could ever apologize enough for
those missing years.”
“You don’t
have to luv,” Scott said. “That’s
behind us. Just like what happened to
Grace is behind her.”
“So……do you
know the guy who did it? Was it someone
from our class? Oh God, did Joe want to
track him down and knock the tar out of….?”
“Why are you
asking all this?”
The tone of
Scott’s voice startled Chelsea. “I’m…..I’m
just curious, that’s all.”
“Well, you
shouldn’t be,” Scott said with a hint of admonishment. “Like you said, Grace told Steph in private,
meaning she didn’t want anyone else to know.
It doesn’t matter anymore who the lad was or what happened with
them. It was a mistake that’s best
forgotten, okay?”
Chelsea was a
little puzzled by her husband’s reaction and was beginning to regret bringing
this up. He should know that she wasn’t
going to bring it up to Grace – that she respected her privacy.
“I’m sorry
Scott,” Chelsea said standing up. “I
just didn’t think it would be such a big deal to talk about after all this
time.”
“Its not that
it’s a big deal Chels, its just that I feel like I’m gossiping, that’s
all. Lets just leave it at that, okay?”
“Okay,”
Chelsea whispered with a nod before she walked out and went back to her
office. She sat back down at the
computer and continued her work, as the conversation she just had with her
husband didn’t sit well with her.
Chapter
59
A few weeks later,
it was family night over at Tyler and Grace’s house. Once a month, each of them took turns to host dinner on a Sunday
night for the entire family – kids, parents and grandparents.
As usual, the
after dinner clear-out was always the same.
Abby, after helping clean up, disappeared to her room to spend the rest
of the evening on the phone with her girlfriend while Trevor and Mark battled
it out in the downstairs entertainment room on X-Box.
Upstairs,
Grace and Chelsea finished the clean up and brought dessert and tea to the
table. Joe took one look at the
mouthwatering cheesecake and immediately went for the knife.
“Don’t even
think about it,” Abby scolded her husband.
Joe rolled his
eyes at his wife. “For bleedin’
Christ’s sake woman! Can an old bloke
enjoy what little time he’s got left?”
Sav dropped a
cube of sugar in his tea and looked up.
“Planning on checking out soon, mate?”
“I’m not
planning on going anywhere,” Joe retorted.
“But blimey, one tiny slice isn’t going to send me to the grave!”
“Fine,” Abby
gave in. “A very tiny slice.”
“And I think
I’ll cut it,” Grace interjected, taking the knife out of her father’s
hand. She then cut him the barest
sliver of a piece and placed it on a plate then handed him a fork. Joe gave his daughter a sarcastic look.
“Um, Grace
luv…..that piece of cheesecake is so thin I can see the damn plate right
through it!”
“Dad, its
either that or fruit,” Grace offered.
Sav waved his
hands. “No, no, please don’t give him
fruit! That has a very unpleasant
affect on him.”
Joe gave a
look around the table. “Is everyone
done making sport of me?”
“C’mon dad,”
Tyler said to his father-in-law. “Its
only because we care.”
Joe then
looked at the piece of sugar free angelfood cake with fresh strawberries that Sav
was eating and winced.
“Crikey,
you’re beginning to eat like Phil!”
“Should’ve
done so a long time ago,” Sav replied.
“He’s the oldest and in better shape than all of us. I’ve got to take care of myself, Joe. I’m waiting until my granddaughter gets
pregnant again. Speaking of which, how
is she Scott?”
“She’s fine,”
Scott replied. “We talked to her last
week. Her and Frank have a show
together in New York and then they’re
gonna head up to Niagra Falls and Canada for a spell.”
“Well, I’m
glad she’s alright,” Tyler said.
“Me too,”
Grace said solemnly.
Chelsea looked
at Grace after she said that. She saw
Grace look up to catch Scott’s eye and share what was some sort of unspoken
understanding. She stared at her
husband and sister-in-law for a few moments as they held each other’s gaze for
a bit before Grace took a deep breath before looking away.
Something
about that exchange unnerved Chelsea.
It was obvious that Scott knew about what happened and that Grace
must’ve confided in him about it at the time.
She knew that Scott and Grace had grown up together and were more like
brother and sister. Since they were the
same age, they were always in the same class and we’re very close.
It was
apparent that, even though this happened a very long time ago, it still
affected Grace. Chelsea wondered if
Tyler knew, even though they had broken up at the time. Perhaps the fact that Grace shared a look
with Scott and not with Tyler told her that he didn’t know.
Chelsea
mentally began to run down a list of lads from her sophomore class and tried to
think of someone that Grace may have mentioned that she liked. She couldn’t think of anyone, mainly because
she always had a thing for Tyler ever since he came of age and began looking
less and less like a scrawny, brotherly type and more like a good looking young
lad!
Chelsea went
over to the refrigerator to get milk to fill the creamer as her thoughts
continued to churn about the past. The
only other lad that Grace was close with was Scott. She then remembered what Grace said to Stephanie the day she
found out about the miscarriage.
“It was
someone else. Someone…..who related to
the pain and emptiness I was feeling from missing Ty.”
As she poured
the milk into the creamer, she thought about the conversation she had with
Scott a few weeks ago when she confronted him about Grace’s pregnancy.
“She
must’ve been missing Tyler something bad,” Chelsea said.
“She did,”
Scott replied. “I understood what she
felt when you left for the States. All
I could think of was you. Not knowing
where you were and not having you respond to my e-mails really hurt me.”
Something
inside Chelsea clicked.
Grace said
that the lad who got her pregnant related to the pain and emptiness she was
feeling at the time.
Scott said
that he understood what Grace went through because he felt the exact
same hurt when Chelsea left for the States.
Grace’s
breakup with Ty happened the same time Chelsea left for the States. Grace and Scott were alone – left with
broken hearts and no one to lean on but each other.
Each other!
“Oh God!”
Chelsea thought to herself. “It was
Scott!”