Tomorrow, he was going to talk to them all and tell them of his plans.They’d all agree to go with him simply because it was a day to celebrate.It really was a good day to celebrate, and he was hoping they’d all be able to get together before he left for a week.It wasn’t as if he couldn’t talk to them while he was gone, but it would be nice to get some hugs to tide him over until he returned.He’d miss them a great deal, but knowing that they were there for him when they returned was something that he knew he’d treasure forever.He loved his family so much that sometimes he couldn’t believe how lucky he’d been in having them around.
Chapter 9
Summer loved her children and didn’t care how much it embarrassed people when she said that to them.The girls were nearly driving now, and she couldn’t believe that they were going to be sixteen in a few weeks.She looked at Ayden when he said her name.
“You’re grinning again.What are you thinking about?”She told him.“I was thinking about you and how much I love you.”
“That’s wonderful.I love you as well.”They would say that to each other several times a day, and it never grew old.“Did you hear that Edmond and Mac are going away for a week?I wish I would have thought of that.It would be fun to go down there together with the kids.Ivan and Sen are going to be watching their house and picking up their mail.I would have done it.”
“I’m sure that she picked them because they live so close to us.”She said that there was that.“I’ve been thinking about going on a vacation too.We should go when they get back.I would love to go to the Smokies again with the kids.”They had five kids, three sons and two daughters.The girls were twins that she had before she’d met Ivan.He considered them his children, too, as they had been a part of his life since they were five.“Or we could go someplace else if you want.Anyplace that I can spend with you is time well spent as far as I’m concerned.”
“Good one.I would love to go to the Smokies.We’ve not been since the girls were little.It won’t be long, and they’ll be wanting to go places on their own.”Selma entered the room then and asked if they knew anything about the big house downtown that was up for demolition.“Not anything that isn’t going around.They said that it’s haunted.Is it?”
“Yes.There is a group of ghosts in there that have been for about two hundred years.There was a fire once that killed them all when they couldn’t get out of the place when it caught.There was a kitchen fire that killed most of the staff and a few of the patrons that were going there when there was this dinner thing.”She asked if she’d talked to them.“Some of them.A couple have moved on but their not thrilled about having their house torn down.I think they’re the reason that the construction crew is having so much trouble there.They’re being mean to them.I can’t find any reason for them to be able to stay so I’m ready to send them on.”
Selma could see ghosts and interact with them.She had been doing it since she was five years old and her father had shot her in the head to kill her.If not for the magic that Brandy had, she might well have died.As it was, the hit to her head caused her to see ghosts and have to deal with them.
Harley, her twin sister helped her in keeping her sister safe when the ghosts got violent with her.She could send them on too but the ghosts didn’t seem to understand that she wasn’t supposed to be able to do that so they went anyway.It was good for her to have the help too.As they sometimes hurt Selma badly enough where she’d need stitches or her bruises attended to.
“If you send them on what will happen to them?Have you ever figured that out?”She told Ayden that they went to a white room.There was nothing in the room but space for them and they didn’t like it.“So if these people don’t allow the building to come down you’ll send them there?I hope they get their stuff in order before you do that.I’d hate to not have the opportunity to be able to resolve my issues when it’s my time to go.”
“I’ve spoken to them several times but they’re so angry all the time.Even before they found out that the house was coming down.They’ve been together for too long and have been getting on each other’s nerves.I think they like it.”Ayden said he could see that and told he that he would be there if he needed her.“Thanks, Dad.I might take you up on that.I know you can’t see them but I was hoping for someone there that was an adult.They react better when they think I’m older than I am.”She left them after a hug and a kiss from them both.
“She’s going to go on this vacation with us and have to deal with a whole other set of problems.They’ll be southern ghosts that might well have been around a lot longer than the ones around here.”Ayden said she’d do well.“Of course she will.She’s our daughter.”
They both laughed and looked at their phone to see where they wanted to go when they left for vacation.They both decided that the Smokies would be the best place for them, as they’d not been with the boys before.The only difference between their vacation and Edmond and Mac is that they had a camper they could use if there was room to park it, and they’d not have to share a room with anyone before them.That would usually made Selma sleep better because no one was allowed in the camper when they were inside it.
It took them most of the rest of the evening to find a place they could camp.They had a big camper, so they’d have to find a place that could accommodate them.By the time the arrangements were made, both of them were ready for bed, and they headed that way then.They had decided to go to the auction with the kids tomorrow so that they could have a good time too.The kids were good out and about at one of these things, and the girls helped a great deal with their brothers.
“Do you ever think about your parents?”She said that she didn’t know where that had come from, but it had just popped into her head.“I’m sorry if that will bring you anxiety.I have no idea why that even was something that I thought of.”
“It’s all right.And no, I don’t think about them.I do know that tomorrow is the anniversary of my father’s death.I can’t believe he’s been gone for twenty years now.Mother must be looking her age about now.If she’s even alive.We made sure that they didn’t tell us anything about her after the trial and the last parole hearing she had.I’m glad that she’s not getting out again, however.”
“I’m glad that we tell all the kids that they’re dead.I don’t know what I’d say to them if they were to ask us if they could go see her.”Ayden said that it had been Lica’s idea to tell them that.“Will you ever tell them anything different?I mean, when they’re older, will you tell them that she’s rotting away in prison?Where I believe she needs to be anyway.”
“I agree, but no, I never thought of telling them later.I mean, if they believe that she’s dead, they’ll not ask.And if it comes up, we’ll just tell them the same, that she’s dead to us all.”Summer told them all about her parents and grandparents.They weren’t around either, but she did tell them about them when they’d ask.She had no idea what the other women did about their parents and their kids.“I just realized that I have no pictures of them, other than her mug shot when she was arrested.And that’s only because it was in the newspaper.”She asked if she could ask him a question.“Sure.But remember, I can’t lie to you.Not that I would, but I can’t anyway.”
“What’s your worst memory of them together?I’m sure you have a lot of stories to tell, but tell me the one that bothers you the most.”He looked like he might not answer, so she told him to forget it.“I know they were horrible people and treated the six of you terribly, but I shouldn’t have asked you that.I’m sure there are too many to remember just the one.”
“I was about ten when Devlin was born.We, of course, were responsible for him and made sure that he had food and was changed from the moment that he was brought home from the hospital.I remember thinking that we were going to have to work twice as hard to keep him alive when he was born.From the start, Dad would beat on him when he cried.I think Devlin learned very early not to cry at all unless he was really hurting.And Dad really did try to hurt him the most.I think because it hurt us so badly that we couldn’t keep him safe all the time.”She said that was terrible.“Then one night, after everyone had gone to bed, Mom asked where he was.He was just barely one by then, and we’d been keeping him in our room since he was old enough to sleep on his own.Needless to say, there was nothing we could do about him being with them.They were meaner than us, and she had a gun that night.”
“I don’t think that I want to hear about it now.don’t tell me.”He just stared at her.“All right, I have to know.Did they hurt him so badly that he nearly died?”
“Yes.I don’t even know if Devlin remembers when he’d been shot.”Ayden leaned back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling.Like he was someplace else.“She’d taken him from us and Lica nearlywent after her when she took him out back.After chaining up Devlin to our tree, she took the gun and shot at him for the next hour and a half.Hitting him several times on the arms and legs.Never once did she hit him in the head or chest, but watching him bleed was something that I’ll never forget.Dad made us sit in the kitchen where we could see it all happening, but there was nothing we could do about it as he too had a gun on us.We weren’t supposed to go and save him until the next morning.Dad sat there all night with the gun on us, laughing.Mother had gone to bed by then, disappointed that she’d not killed him, I guess.The next day, when we could get him, we took him to the hospital and had them bandage him up.No one ever asked us what had happened.Everyone knew what sort of parents we had.I’m ashamed to admit that I wished they would have asked, I would have told on them then.But how was I, just a kid, supposed to save my brothers if they didn’t care either?”
“I’m so sorry.”He nodded but still didn’t look at her.She felt terrible for bringing it up and knew she’d have her own kind of nightmares after hearing that story.To think that not only had the fates put two of the worst people together, but they gave them six of the most wonderful children, too.It was hard to fathom what other things they’d had to go through as children, and she decided that she didn’t want to know anymore.Just knowing that one thing would haunt her forever.To think of someone shooting their children like she had was something that should have had her in prison long before now.And she decided that even if there was proof that the kids found that they had a grannie, she was going to tell them that she was dead to them all as well.
Long after Ayden went to sleep, she lay there thinking about his parents.Mostly, it was how they’d been able to get away with what they’d done for so many years and that no one had done anything to save those boys.She wanted to ask the police department what they’d been thinking, letting them stay with them, but didn’t think she’d get any answers that would satisfy her.Letting it go was the hardest thing she’d ever done in her life.But she would, for Ayden’s sake.
Not telling the kids but Selma and Hardey where they were going, she had the girls pack up their things for them so that everything would be ready when they were ready to go.The girls could pack for themselves, and if they forgot something, then they could always buy it on the road.They were going to have fun on this trip, and she was going to take lots of pictures.She wanted good memories of this vacation, and she was even going to put them in a photo album.
Ayden was going to have dinner with his brothers tonight in celebration of the twenty years that they’d been free.That’s what they were calling it, too, their freedom.She was going to hang out with her kids and take them to dinner, too.It would be a nice time out for them all, despite the holiday they were celebrating.She only wished that she could hug each of the men for what they’d been through.
She’d bet anything that there were worse stories that each of them could tell about how they’d been abused, too, nightmarish stories that would have given even the worst kind of criminal things to think about.Fred and Paula Fraizer had missed so much being like they were, and she was going to make sure that the dreams her children had from now on were going to be good ones that would make them smile while they slept.It was everything she could do not to make an appointment to see Paula Frazier at the prison and tell her what a horrible person she was.But she’d not.She’d made a promise to Ayden not to do anything like that, as he figured that it would do no good, and she’d find a way to upset her about going to visit them, too.
~*~
Guy was writing in a zone.He wouldn’t lift his head from the computer until he got the thought done.He didn’t care how many ghosts or family were in the room with him; he had to get this down, or he’d lose it.Glancing up from the keyboard when he hit the period, he saw that the only person in the room with him was George.He was a harmless ghost who only came by when he needed someone to vent to.He didn’t have time for George today.Or yesterday, for that matter.He’d been on a streak for the last forty-eight hours, and he didn’t see it ending for a while yet.
