Family Sins(16)

Halfway up the mountain Samuel turned on the headlights, piercing the growing darkness as they went higher and higher, until he tapped the brakes and turned up the driveway leading to the family home. When the headlights swept across the front yard, it was obvious there were more people there than when they’d left.

“Who’s here?” Jesse asked.

Samuel patted his brother on the leg.

“I don’t know, Jesse. How about we go see?”

“Yes,” Jesse said, and got out, but then, when he would have run toward the porch, he stopped and went back to open the door for his mother. “Good manners, right, Mama?”

Leigh touched his cheek.

“Yes, son, good manners always matter.”

Bowie shouldered his duffel bag and steadied his mother’s steps as they climbed the stairs and went inside.

The ongoing conversation instantly stopped as they walked in, and then started up again as everyone stood up to welcome Bowie home.

He saw his Aunt Polly and Uncle Thomas and their spouses, a good half-dozen cousins about his age, and the preacher from the family church. He glanced at his mother to see if she was upset by all this chaos, but she’d turned into the perfect hostess, and was quietly seeing to everyone’s comfort and talking to her daughters-in-law about food.

When Leigh saw all the food from family and friends it seemed to settle her concerns. Home was familiar. Home and family were the comfort she would need tonight.

It wasn’t long before she picked up her grandson, Johnny, and began carrying him around on her hip like she’d done when her own boys were small, taking comfort in being able to meet his simple needs. When Bella and Maura announced dinner was ready, Leigh went into the kitchen with Johnny to get him fed first. Leslie already had a plate filled with things he would eat. Leigh asked if she could feed him, and Leslie quickly found them a seat in the kitchen and left them on their own.

Bowie was thinking Johnny had been a baby in arms when he’d seen him last, and now he was walking and saying words.

But while Johnny was eating well, he noticed his mother wasn’t. Her plate was untouched. He understood her lack of appetite, but he didn’t want her to faint on them later, so he brought her a piece of cake and sweet iced tea.

“Thank you, son, but I’m not hungry,” she said.

“Just a few bites,” he said, and walked away.

Later, he noticed she’d drunk the tea and some of the cake was gone, too.

He went back into the living room with a piece of pie and a refill of his own iced tea, found a chair out of the way and let the conversation roll over him while trying not to think of why they were all there.

He finished the pie and was thinking about sleeping in this house tonight without Stanton, when something he heard his Aunt Polly say stunned him.

“It’s so sad,” Polly said. “I heard Talia finally had to call in hospice. She’s been a faithful daughter, for sure, tending to him like that on her own.”

Her sister-in-law, Beth, nodded in agreement.

“You know my granny passed the same way. When they get to that point, there’s nothing you can do but wait it out at their bedside.”

Bowie was speechless, and then his need to know more drove him to ask, “Aunt Polly, are you by any chance talking about Talia Champion?”

She nodded. “Yes, her father’s Alzheimer’s has just about run its course.”

“How long has he been suffering from it?” Bowie asked.

Samuel knew the moment Bowie spoke what he was thinking. They’d all wondered what had happened between Bowie and Talia, but it wasn’t their way to intrude on each other’s personal business.

“If I had to guess, it’s probably been something like six or seven years, at least,” Samuel said.

Bowie’s eyes widened as he thought about what that meant, and then he got up and stepped outside onto the porch.

The night was quiet. The sky was dark—not even a sliver of moon to mark the passing of time. Lights from inside their home spilled out through the windows, painting oblong patches of yellow-gold on to the simple wooden porch.

An owl hooted from a nearby tree. Somewhere on the mountain, someone was running their hounds. He could hear the dogs yipping as they struck a trail, and he remembered nights like that with his brothers and their dad. It hurt to think all of that was gone.

Sick at heart about his father, and confused by what he’d learned about Talia, he closed his eyes. Away from home, he’d dreamed of nights like this, lying in bed with the windows up, letting in fresh air and falling to sleep so close to heaven.

He heard the door open behind him but didn’t turn around. And then he felt a hand on his shoulder and heard Samuel’s voice behind him.

“Are you okay?” Samuel asked.

“Talia never left Eden?”

Samuel sighed. He’d guessed this was what had driven Bowie out of the room.

“No.”

“Why didn’t any of you tell me?” Bowie asked.

“Tell you what, brother? We didn’t know what broke you up. Why would we suddenly butt into your business? It’s not our way, right?”

Bowie sighed.

“She turned down my proposal and led me to believe she just didn’t want to get married. I knew I couldn’t live here and see her every day, so I left.”