UNTIL I FOUND YOU
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The next day was a gloomy, stormy
one in Chippewa Falls. Dean and Lily were in the kitchen drinking coffee,
listening to the thunder and lightning of the coming storm.
"Sounds like a bad
one." Lily sighed.
"Those two haven’t been down
since yesterday morning," Dean referred to Jack and Rose.
"Well Jack was pretty
upset." Lily shrugged. "I hope he’s used to the idea of us by
now."
"What is he doing
here?" Jack appeared in the doorway, openly glaring at Dean. Rose stood
behind him, looking very uncomfortable.
Lily stood from her chair,
wanting to be as gentle with Jack as possible, but also wanting to be firm in
her decision. "Dean’s my husband now Jack. He’s living here with me of
course. In fact, we need to talk about the rooming situation."
"We want the master
bedroom." Dean crossed his arms. "Your mother’s old room."
"Dean please…" Lily
looked at her husband, pleading for him to be gentle.
"You mean you want him to
sleep in my father’s bed?" Jack glared at Lily, not believing that she had
the audacity to want this…man in his father’s bed. "No! Absolutely not!
It’s bad enough that you were with him when pa was alive! He’s not sleeping in
his bed!"
"Big news kid, I already
have, the old man none the wiser. So me being in his bed is nothing new."
Dean crossed his arms. "So I suggest that you and your pretty wife here
prepare to switch rooms."
Jack glared at Dean, hatred
burning in his heart. He hated Dean…he hated Dean more then he’s ever hated
anyone before. "Go to hell!"
Brushing past Rose, Jack stormed
out into the raging storm, his destination unknown.
"That went well." Dean
snorted.
"Are you always like
this?" Rose glared at her new stepfather in law. "Do you even care
that he’s hurting right now? You had just blown apart the view of his parents
that he’s had for years and to be so callous now…you both should be ashamed of
yourselves!" Rose threw one more glare at Dean then went for a raincoat so
she could go after Jack.
*****
Jack knelt next to his father’s grave,
tears streaking his face. He gently touched the engravings on the tombstones
while images of Andrew Dawson were running through his head. Andrew reading
little Jack a story, taking him ice fishing. Andrew cradling the shivering boy
in his arms after Jack had fallen through the ice into the below freezing
waters of the frozen lake Wissota. His father telling him to stay put as he
raced into the barn fire that had taken his life. His father’s burnt body being
taken to the morgue.
Jack sat on the ground in the
freezing downpour, ignoring the damp cold seeping into his already frail body.
He wished that his father were there to tell him what to do, how to handle the
Dean situation.
He looked up at the angry sky,
tears mixing with rain. "Pa, tell me what to do. Help me," he sobbed.
Just then, a crash of thunder and
a bright flash of lightening hit the tree that shadowed the grave. With a loud
groan, the tree split and fell knocking Jack unconscious and burying him in its
dead branches.
*****
It’s been a few hours since Jack
had fled the Dawson home and still there was no sign of him. The boarding house
was Rose’s last resort. If he wasn’t with George and Cillie, she didn’t know
what she’d do.
"Rose." George blinked
in surprise when he answered the hurried knock on the door. Rose was the last
person he expected to see, especially without Jack. He frowned as he noticed
the desperate worry in her eyes.
"Please tell me Jack’s here.
He has to be. I’ve looked everywhere else…" Rose tried not to get
hysterical. Hysterics were the last thing Jack needed.
"Whoa, wait a minute. Come
in, Cillie will fix some hot chocolate…"
"No offense, but I can’t…not
until I find Jack. Is he here?"
"I’m sorry but no. What’s
going on?" George shook his head.
Rose’s legs wouldn’t hold her up
anymore. The stress finally got to her and she collapsed into George’s arms. He
quickly scooped her up and carried the sobbing woman into the apartment.
"Oh God Jack," She
sobbed.
"Rose?" Cillie
questioned, laying down her dust rag. "What happened?"
"I don’t know, but I think
it has to do with Jack," George answered.
"Jack, Dean, and Lily had an
argument this morning. Jack had stormed out into the rain without his coat.
I’ve looked everywhere I could think of, but no one has seen him! What if he’s
hurt? Or dying?!" Rose burst into renewed tears.
George hugged Rose close, wishing
that he could snap his fingers and make everything ok again. "Don’t worry
Rose. Jack’s fine. We’ll find him. In fact, I think I know where he may have
gone."
"Where?" She sniffed,
wiping away the spilt tears.
"The graveyard. He might
have wanted to be near his father and went there." George got his coat and
a extra coat for Jack. Goodness knows, he must be freezing by now. "Come
on. Let’s go look."
"I’ll stay here and get some
hot chocolate ready." Cillie headed for the kitchen.
"Please Jack. Be alright,"
Rose prayed as she followed George into the flooding streets.
*****
"Jack!" Rose called as
they entered the cemetery. "Jack!"
"Hey Jack! If you’re here,
answer us!" George shouted. "Any sign of him?"
"None." Rose shook her
head. "Where is his father’s grave?"
"Follow me." George
beckoned. He stopped at the bottom of the fallen tree. "Holy shit. What
happened here?"
"It looks like lightning had
hit it," Rose answered, getting a tight feeling in her chest. She gasped
in horror when she spotted the lifeless hand among the branches. Quickly, she
began pushing the branches aside.
"Rose? What are you
doing?"
"There’s someone trapped
under here." Rose continued struggling with the branches. "Help
me."
George nodded and helped move the
branches off the person. They both gasp in dismay to see Jack, all wet and
bloody.
"How long has he been out
here?" George looked at Rose.
"Three hours at the most. Oh
God, we have to get him a doctor."
"First, let’s get him out of
this weather and back to my place." George finished lifting the tree off
his fallen cousin.
Soon a cab was summoned and they
were on their way back to the boarding house, hoping that things weren’t as bad
as they seemed.