Protecting Her(98)

I drop the remote, my arms collapsing at my sides as the woman keeps speaking.

“Our sources say Mrs. Kensington had just attended a speech given by Senator Wingate. Apparently he had offered her a seat on his plane so she could get home to her family in Connecticut. Kensington was originally scheduled on a commercial flight leaving later this evening.”

“No!” I squeeze my eyes shut and rub my hands over my face. “She’s not dead!”

I hear a man’s voice on the TV. “Early reports say the plane appeared to be experiencing problems soon after take-off. Eyewitnesses report seeing it nosedive into this open field, then burst into flames. Investigators are now…”

“She’s not dead!” I scream at the TV. “You’re wrong! She’s not…she’s not dead!” I grab the remote from the floor and fumble to find the off button. I finally do, then I throw the remote at the TV, shattering the screen.

The phone rings and I race over to get it. Maybe it’s the officer, telling me he was wrong. That she wasn’t on the plane. She changed her mind. She decided to wait. To take the commercial flight.

“Hello?” I answer.

“Pearce, it’s your mother,” she says softly. “I’m so very sorry.”

I feel the wetness on my face and realize I’m still crying.

“I just saw the news,” she says. “I’ll be right over.”

“No! Don’t come over! It’s not true. The news reports were wrong. It’s not true!”

“Pearce. I’m coming over.”

“You are NOT coming over! Nothing happened! Do you hear me? She’s fine. She’s on her way home. Garret and I are—”

Garret.

Oh, God. Garret. I have to tell Garret.

“How is he?” she asks.

I glance out the kitchen window and see him running with the football, a huge smile on his face. “I…I haven’t told him.”

“You need to tell him, Pearce. You don’t want him to see it on TV before you tell him.”

“Stop talking! Stop telling me what to do!”

“I need to come over. This isn’t the time to—”

“You are NOT coming over! I will deal with this.” I see Garret outside playing and feel a heaviness in my chest. A throbbing pain just over my heart. “Don’t come over. I will tell Garret.” I say it softly. “Goodbye, Mother.”

I hang up and stand there a moment, watching Garret play. He’s so happy. I want him to be happy just a little longer. Because soon, it’ll all be over. His happiness will end. Just like mine has ended.

I will never be happy again. Never. My wife. My soulmate. The love of my life…is gone. Forever. And I will never be happy again.

After a few minutes, I clean up my face then open the sliding glass door that leads to the back yard. “Garret, come inside. Sam, you need to go home.”

“Dad, can we have a few more minutes? I was showing Sam this new play I came up with.”

“No. Get inside. Right now.” I take some deep breaths to regain my composure. I can’t break down when I tell him this. It’ll be hard enough on him. He needs me to be strong. To give him hope that we’ll somehow get through this, even though I don’t think that we will. I don’t know how it’s possible.

The boys run up to the house and come inside. I close the door behind them. They go to the sink, filling up glasses of water.

“Sam!” I stand next to him. “You need to go home. Right now!”

Both boys hear the anger in my voice and slowly set their glasses down.

“I guess I’ll see ya later,” Garret says to Sam, his eyes on me.

“Yeah, bye.” Sam runs out of the kitchen, through the living room, and out the front door. I wait until I hear it shut, then go up to Garret.

“Let’s sit down.” I put my hand on his shoulder and lead him to the couch.

“Am I in trouble?” he asks.

I shake my head. “No. You’re not in trouble.”

“Then what’s wrong? Why did you yell at Sam?”

“I didn’t mean to. I just needed him to leave.”

“Are we going to pick up Mom now?”

I swallow past the giant lump in my throat. “No.”

“But you said we’d leave after five. It’s after five.”

“We’re not going.” I look down at his small hands and hold them in mine.