The Fine Print - Chapter 23
by yhh
If you want to know
Where I'm going
Where I'm going soon
If anybody ask you
Where I'm going
Where I'm going soon
I'm going up yonder
I'm going up yonder
I'm going up yonder to be with my Lord
Staring at the two identical beige coffins, she saw the dirt covering them,
the roses on top of them but she was still in a state of disbelief. Her
baby was in that coffin. The baby whose room she crept into countless times
to make sure she was still breathing. She had lived in fear that her new
baby would stop breathing like her last baby. She didn't think she stopped
checking until Whitney turned five. And now her baby was no longer breathing.
A simple brake malfunction had her burying her daughter and her step-son.
Fox had loved her daughter with all his heart and Whit him. She wished
they'd had more time together. That they had grown old together. She wished
they could be here to see Nicky grow up and turn into a fine young man like
his father. Once she moved into the mansion, she had gotten to know Fox
better. She loved his sense of humor, seen the longing in his eyes to be
part of a family. She had witnessed his longing lessening over time. She
knew Whitney and Nicky made him feel like he finally belonged, but she liked
to think the new family she and Julian were building had a part in that,
too. She had come to love the times he would seek her out and they would
share some hot chocolate and chat about anything and everything. It was a
long while before she discovered that his "impromptu" visits followed Fox's
run-ins with Ivy. She could happily strangle that woman for the pain she
caused to her children who weren't Ethan. But now wasn't the time for those
thoughts because right now Ivy was in as much pain and suffering as she was.
I can take the pain
The heartaches they bring
The comfort in knowing
I'll soon be gone
As God gives me grace
I'll run this race
Until I see my Savior face to face
"Thank you."
Turning to her right, Eve opened her free arm and hugged her orphaned son
against her orphaned grandson. She knew Chad was thanking her for the third
open burial plot. During one of their daily conversations, they began discussing
the baby boy Eve had thought was Chad/Ethan who was buried all by himself.
They had been planning a graveside service for Emmanuel Johnson Crane when
she had gotten the news about Whitney and Fox. Somehow it was fitting all
three were laid to rest together. "Thank you. I'm glad he's here with them."
"It's fitting."
"It is."
"How long are you staying?"
"For as long as you and Pops need me."
Who was this young man next to her? She could clearly remember her first
impression of Chad. How wrong she had been. How much he had changed. Standing
next to her in his cashmere overcoat and the suit personally designed for
him by Donatella Versace, even in the seemingly short time he had been away
she could see the change. Chad stood taller, held his shoulders straighter,
his head was up high. A man stood next to her. "Your father and I know you
have a life of your own- -"
"Family is most important. Always," Chad declared emphatically.
"We will always need you. We all want to help each other heal. So please
stay as long as you want." Noticing Chad's eyes on the baby, she offered
Nicky to him.
Chad shook his head. "I'm sorry I ran. If I had stayed, got the counseling
you and Pops suggested I would have been here with her, with him. I wouldn't
be a stranger to my nephew. Fox and I were friends once upon a time. So
were Whitney and I. Fox and I had just started emailing each other. The
topics were general, but it was a start. Now those opportunities are gone
to form new and better relationships with them."
"We can't concentrate on what will never be. We have to focus on what was.
I'm so happy that your relationship with Fox and Whitney had turned a corner
before they died. She told me that she spoke to you once when you were calling
for Julian and that you chatted for a minute. Thank God for that, you can't
focus on the rest," Eve reminded her son.
Quickly wiping the tears from his eyes, Chad nodded. "I told Ethan we would
talk, so- -"
"Go, we'll be fine."
With a quick kiss on her cheek, the young man left her side.
"Nice service," the voice rang out clearly.
She could be nice or she could be truthful. Standing in front of the grave
of three beautiful people who died way too soon, she decided to go with
truthful. "Thank Julian. He's the one that planned everything. I think all
I did was hold the kids and cry."
TC had to work hard to bite his tongue, not just because he hated Julian
Crane. But he couldn't imagine someone like Crane planning something so
simple yet so beautiful.
"Darling, I'll take him," Julian said, coming out of nowhere and lifting
the baby out of her arms. "We'll be in the car."
She nodded.
"I never thought I would see the day when I would see Julian hold a baby
comfortably," TC commented.
"He's the only one Nicky will go to."
"You were just holding him- -"
The former doctor shook her head. "He was allowing me to hold him because
he was almost asleep, otherwise he would have been screaming his head off.
That boy has a set of lungs on him. Don’t forget he has both the Russell
and Crane stubbornness in him."
TC smiled at the reference to his family and held back his grimace at his
name being linked to the Cranes. He was learning to tolerate it for the
sake of his grandson. It must be the Crane in Nicky that allowed him to
tolerate Julian. He was sure Nicky's Russell side was screaming at the thought
of the Cranes touching him.
They stood in silence for a few minutes trying hard not to let the oppressive
surroundings get the best of them.
I'm going up yonder
I'm going up yonder
I'm going up yonder to be with my Lord
"I'm sorry," Eve's ex-husband declared.
Eve looked at him, puzzled. What was he apologizing for?
"I'm sorry I wasn't more understanding about your past. If it wasn't for
Simone and Nicky, I don't even know if I would get out of bed. I don't know
if I would want to live. Yet everyday you got up, you married me, you had
the girls. I feel like I'm suffocating, like I'm drowning and there's no
one around to help- -"
"I'm here. We'll keep each from drowning. Grace and Sam are in the water
with you. Waiting to help, if it becomes too much for you."
"How did you do it?" he asked honestly. He wanted to know. He needed to
know.
"In the beginning, I don't know. I just kept breathing and time passed.
Then I told myself that I had to honor my son. I had to make him proud of
me. But it wasn't until you came along, with your persistence. Becoming a
complete nuisance- - that I realized I hadn't been living. I had been existing.
You gave me a life again. Thank you."
The brown-skinned man was humbled and touched by his former wife's words.
"You were the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I told Sam I was going
to wear you down."
"You did. And even though I didn't act like it at the time, I'm so glad
you did."
"I want to be part of Nicky's life. I've thought long and hard about it
and in honor of Whitney's memory I can deal with Crane."
Eve raised her eyebrow.
Smiling sheepishly, TC looked away from the piercing eyes. "Well as long
as our contact is kept to a minimum. I know you're going to marry him- -"
"We're already married."
The coach was stunned into silence.
"Crane," Julian barked into the phone quietly so as to not awake his grandson.
"It was a professional job done by Virgil Chin. He can make all car jobs
look like an accident. He did it as a favor for his school-hood chum, Genevieve
Bryan. She's doing twenty-five to life for manslaughter, assault and battery,
and robbery," the anonymous, highly paid voice stated.
"How did she know them?"
"She didn't. They weren't the intended victims- -"
"Gwen- -" Damn it. Why hadn't he realized this? He should have put more
security around his family, and Fox and Whitney would still be alive and Gwen
wouldn't be consumed with survivor's guilt.
"Yes, Gwen Crane was the target. Genevieve asked her friend for a favor
in order to get into Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald's pants willingly."
He had completely underestimated the lengths his former wife would go to
in order to get to his son. Even after the rape, the imprisonment of the
surrogate, he had still let his guard down around her. He would never make
that mistake again. "I want Virgil and Genevieve to die slow painful deaths,"
Julian informed his employee casually. "And before they lose consciousness
I want them to know that no one and I mean, no one, messes with the Crane
family."
"And Theresa?"
His last report from the warden said it had taken five guards to subdue
Theresa and the doctor had to inject her three times with a tranquilizer in
order to quiet her screams, and even then she was still screaming, albeit
in a voice no louder than a whisper. "I'll deal with her later." For now Theresa
would be allowed to live in the prison she had wisely condemned herself to.
Not for her sake, but for Eve's. He didn't think his new bride could take
another loss. She was going to have a hard enough time when he told her about
Theresa's complete mental and psychological breakdown, as the prison doctor
called it.
"I'll be in touch, Mr. Crane."
Julian ended the call and snuggled the baby closer to him. "They will be
avenged, my sweet baby boy. They will be avenged." Closing his eyes as he
waited for Eve, he wondered how she would take his news that they would
be adopting Nicky. His people were already working on the paperwork and
he had a Judge and a social worker ready to sign off on everything. There
was no way in hell he was going to allow them to lose another child.
Yes, they had married. Twelve hours after their children's deaths, Julian
with Ethan backing him up, had informed her to secure custody of Nicky,
they had to marry as soon as possible. Before she had time to breathe, she
was standing in front of Judge Eugene Young pledging her life to Julian's.
She could scarcely remember the ceremony, but she had understood the importance
of it. TC and Ivy were both loose cannons, either of them could try and
fight them for Nicky so she and Julian had to be prepared. Part of her was
disappointed. Up until then, their courtship had been moving along nicely.
She had imagined a romantic proposal and a big wedding. As old as she was,
she had dreamed of wearing a white gown with a long flowing train, rivaling
Princess Di's, in front of everyone they knew and all of Crane Industry's
business partners and associates. She had wanted the whole world to know
she was Julian's. That she was Mrs. Julian Linus Crane. Eve Russell Crane.
A week later and it still sounded strange. She couldn't believe they were
finally married at times. But they were. Every night, he reached for her
hand and held it as Nicky slept nestled between them.
Maybe the most surprising thing of all was how their marriage had seemed
to cement the family. Julian had gathered Regan, Quinn, Simone, Kay, Gwen,
quickly explained the situation to them and the urgency of the matter. Putting
their grief aside, they gave their approval and proudly stood in the library
for the brief ceremony. Their girls, as she liked to think about the grown
women, had done her proud. As Simone informed her, they had already lost
two members of their family; they were not about to lose anymore.
"Married, huh?" Eve was married. She had actually married his most hated
enemy. He wasn't sure why he was surprised or bothered by this news. He
had known the two would marry eventually. Hell, they already had a kid together.
Or from the way Simone mentioned Chad and the frequency of his calls to
the Crane mansion, they had two. But still- - It was really over between
them. The Thornton Chandler and Eve Johnson Russell years were officially
finished. The sadness that swept through him rivaled the loss of Whitney.
It seemed in one day, he had lost two people he loved. He would never hold
either in his arms again and tell them how much he loved them. Those days
were gone forever. Damn, he should have held them longer. He should have
worked less hours and spent more time with Eve and the girls. He should've-
-
"It's going to be okay," she crooned in his ear with her arms wrapped around
him. "It's going to be okay." She kept repeating the phrase, hoping it would
one day come true.
Suddenly, she felt arms embrace her. Instantly she recognized the Sand
and Sable perfume.
"We're all going to make it through this and be there for each other,"
Sam whispered.
Leaning her head slightly against Grace's, Eve let the love and the comfort
of her deceased daughter's father, her sister, and her brother fill her.
She didn't know how long they stood in the hugging circle, but however long
it was, it was exactly what she had needed. Slowly they broke apart, Sam
and TC moved to the side and talked.
"Kay keeps telling me how great lunch in the gazebo is. I was thinking
you and Simone could join us this Saturday."
Eve was shocked. While their relationship had been on the mend since Whitney's
emergency c-section of Nicky and had progressed to biweekly phone calls,
Grace had not stepped foot on Crane property. Her weekly catch up lunches
with Kay always happened anywhere but the mansion. Grace's generosity was
so Grace-like. "You- -"
"If this gazebo is as great as Kay says maybe I can convince Sam and the
boys to build me one."
Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Eve promptly accepted Grace's
invitation. "We would love to join you. Julian had it enclosed with retractable
glass so even during the winter you can sit in it and feel like part of
nature."
"It sounds lovely. I look forward to seeing it," Grace commented.
With their arms intertwined both pairs of friends gave one final, lingering
look at the graves, said their last goodbyes, and headed towards their cars.
If anybody ask you
Where I'm going
Where I'm going soon
Tell them I'm
I'm going up yonder
I'm going up yonder
I'm going up yonder to be with my Lord
Oh
Oh
I'm going up yonder
I'm going up yonder
I'm going up yonder to be with my Lord