Chapter 004

Chapter 4

      His Cherokee empty, Doug and Kat returned to her mother's home and went back to the business of packing the remains of a lifetime. Doug worked in the kitchen, carefully packing dishes, glasses and such, while Kat worked upstairs sorting and packing more personal pieces of her mother's life. For much of the day, this process was largely painless, but late in the afternoon, she came across a family photo album and with this, she reached her limit. Between the one photo of her uncle Beau and the numerous photos of her father, she finally broke down. When Doug happened upstairs to ask about the fate of a 'piggy' cookie jar, he didn't have to ask what was wrong. His sixty-three years had taught him that his job was not to ask questions, offer solutions or wisdom, but to simply sit down, hug her and provide emotional support. Which he did.

      “I'm always here for you. Whenever you need me.”

      She wiped her face with the tissue she was clutching, hugged him and rested her head on his shoulder.

      “I love you Doug.”

      “Yeah, aren't I just fabulous,” he deadpanned.

      She chuckled, wiped away a few tears and hugged him even tighter.

      “Yes you are!”

      When her tears subsided, Kat loosened her grip and only then did Doug venture to speak. He picked up the photo album and thumbed through some pages.

      “Your family looked great. You all looked so happy.”

      “We were. Those were the most wonderful days of my life.” She paused for a moment, and it occurred to her that Doug could be offended by what she'd said,

      “I mean … I wasn't saying ...”

      “Relax. I know what you meant. That's how you should feel.”

      “You miss your Dad a lot, don't you.”

      “Every day since the day he died. It's been almost fifty years now. You'd think that wound would start to scab over and heal by now?”

      “And then your uncle right after that. I guess that just goes to show how strong you and your mother are … or were … or ...”

      She smiled.

      “We weren't strong. We just had no choice.”

      “Well I say different. I say you were both damn strong. Now let's get back to work, which reminds me, the piggy cookie jar, what are we doing with that?”

      “I want to keep that.”

      “Okee-dokee, I'll pack it away. By the way when do you want to break for food?”

      “I don't care. What do you want to do?”

      “Do you want to work through 'til about seven and then we can go over to my house and I'll cook you something?”

      “You're gonna cook again? That works for me.”

Reviews

[Riding the Rainbow]

Doug is so sweet to her..
I like the fact that we discovered more about her past..