“Me too. Mama isn’t doing well. We don’t know anything yet. It’s a waiting game.”
“I’m here for you. I have my phone on me at all times, so call me anytime. Okay? I’d rather you call and interrupt.”
“Okay. I will.”
“Good. I gotta crash now. My wake-up call is too fucking early. I’ll see you Sunday, babe.”
“Okay. I love you. Night.”
Chapter Twenty-Five – Rick
Last night’s interlude with Coop released some of Rick’s tension but what he was going to face today would bring it back tenfold. The family was meeting with Mom’s doctor to discuss the next stages. What they could expect; what would happen; where Mom could…fuck. It wasn’t even easy to face her death in his own mind.
“Rick? You okay?” Julia said through the door of his childhood bedroom.
“Come in, Julia. I’m dressed.” He’d been dressed for a while. He’d been leaning against the headboard, knees pulled up, struggling with opening the door to a future without his mother in it.
Julia crawled onto the bed next to him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. She pressed her face against his.
“There’s nothing I can say to make this any easier. I wish there were. Growing up a military brat, my parents always told us to focus on the memories we had. They’d never go away. To hold the laughs close and let the tears flow when Dad would leave. That it didn’t make us weak to be sad. I think this is the first of many good-byes you’ve got in your future,” Julia said softly.
“I suck at good-byes. Didn’t you see me when Drew and I moved out of our apartment? Christ, he’s not even family and I was—”
Julia pulled back and smacked Rick upside the head, and not lightly.
“Hey! What was that for?” Rick rubbed his head. She hadn’t left a bruise, but he would definitely be feeling that for a while.
“For saying that Drew wasn’t family. Excuse you? I dropped everything to be here for you because we are family. You’ve been a brother to Drew, and in turn to me, for more than four years. Whether your thick skull wants to admit it or not, you’re a part of us. Do you think that my dad and uncles aren’t family? Our uncles were there for me when my dad couldn’t be and he was there for their families. Cam, Cal, Haley, Nova, Noah, Maddy, and Maggie are my family, just like Tristan and Drew. Family is what you make and if you’re lucky, it’s in addition to the family you were born into.” Julia looked a bit terrifying. He could see her father in her expression. Rick was kinda glad that her father and uncles were retired. Facing them in command mode would shake him to his toes. Yeah, he was an officer, but he was smart enough to know that a senior NCO, especially a first sergeant or sergeant major, might not outrank him but they damn well had way more experience and knowledge than he did.
Rick swallowed hard. “I do believe that my answer here, if I am smart, should be ‘ma’am, yes, ma’am’.”
“Good boy. You’re trainable. Now, I know today is going to suck but it’s time to soldier up. You’ve got to be there for your father and brother. You can fall apart later with me or tomorrow with Coop. He’s flying in the morning, right?” Julia stood from the bed and looked around. She’d been in here briefly, and since she was sleeping in Christopher’s bedroom, she knew that the rooms were just as they’d left them when they moved out. “Okay, wow. I thought your brother’s room was a throwback. Sleeping with pictures of Valerie Bertinelli and Heather Locklear on the walls was a bit surreal. Nah, it was creepy. Why couldn’t he have been obsessed with rock bands instead?”
Rick looked at the posters of helicopters with soldiers rappelling, paratroopers trailing from the side of C-130s and had to laugh. He and his brother had been night and day, still wereon some level. Christopher always focused on home and family. Why he wasn’t married yet confused Rick. No school for him past high school, not even trade school. Loved working with his hands. Rick wasn’t going to lie. He wished he were as handy as his brother. It would make talking to Coop about the mechanics of racing easier.
“Sue me. I’ve always wanted to go into the Army,” Rick said defensively.
“Tristan was the same. Don’t tell Drew, but we were all surprised he joined the Army. He wasn’t as focused as Tris. Spent all the time he could with Uncle D learning about disaster relief. Really thought that he’d be doing something like that.” Julia shrugged. “Guess we were wrong.”
Holy fuck! Rick tried to control his shock. Drew’s family had seen that he hadn’t wanted to go into the military. Rick wasn’t sure where the disconnect had happened but now wasn’t the time to stew on that. Figuring he’d procrastinated long enough, he stood and grabbed his cell, shoving it in a front pocket, wallet in the back.
“Okay, time to face the music.” Rick held his hand out to Julia. He leaned down and placed a kiss on her cheek. “Thank you for being here. Thank you for being part of my chosen family.”
“No thanks necessary,” she answered.
Christopher met Rick and Julia as they approached the hospital's front door. Dad had come up earlier to have breakfast with Mom. Rick didn’t stop walking; he just plowed into his brother and crushed him in a bear hug. It only took Christopher a second before he wrapped his arms around Rick.
“Chrissy,” Rick choked out. He vowed in that moment to make more of a connection with his brother. His mother wouldn’t want them to be strangers. They might never be as close as Rick and Drew were but they could do better.
“It’ll be okay, Ricky. We’ll do what we need to for Mom and Dad. Find out what they need from us. I’m sure you’ve got to get back to Kentucky soon?” Christopher sounded like he wasn’t sure of Rick’s answer.
“I’ve got a few more days here, then I’ll need to go back. Company commander gave me a week’s leave. I’ll figure out how to travel back as much as I can. Maybe see if Coop could be here some.” He wasn’t sure if Coop’s schedule could handle that but he knew that Coop would do as much as he could for Rick’s family.
Christopher patted Rick’s back and stood straight. “Hey, Julia, thanks for being here.”
Julia placed a kiss on his brother’s cheek. “I’m here for you too, Christopher.”
Rick tried to control his surprise. Julia was all about shocking him today. First with her comment about the family and Drew wanting to do something like their uncle and now? She’s there for his brother, too? Giving him a kiss on the cheek? Was that a blush across Christopher’s face? He knew that they’d talked in the waiting room the night before while he sat vigil with his father in his mother’s room. Time for a distraction because…yeah, he wasn’t going to think about his brother’s love life, never mind Julia’s.
