Keep You

~POV: Kylie~
“Look at that,” Dad said to William, pointing out the manatees swimming in the water. Will watched, amazed by them. I could tell Dad was in a better mood than when we first got here. He was smiling, laughing, and he looked like the father I remembered when I was little, before Mom started getting too overstressed and everything.

“Dad,” I said as we left the manatee building. Across the way was the Reptile house, so we decided to head there.

“What’s up honey?” he asked, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.

“What’s wrong with Mom? Why are you always taking the stress off of her?” He sighed and looked behind us.

“Hey Matt, we’ll meet you in the aquarium,” he called to my uncle. Uncle Matt nodded, and we walked to the opposite direction. Inside was a huge glass that held many different types and colors of fish, and even some sharks.

“Why?” I asked, sitting on the step-like seats where parents keep an eye on their kids while they look at the fish.

“Kylie, years ago, you’re mother was diagnosed as being Bi-Polar.” he answered finally.

“I know that, does that prevent her from handling stress?”

“In a way. You see Kylie, the thing, it messes Riley up, big time. She’ll get sudden bouts of either tiredness or restlessness. She can be really happy and outgoing on minute, and the next she could be crying her eyes out and laying in bed, completely depressed. She was able to handle stress with it, believe me that woman could handle stress, but over the years, it started wearing her out…”

“And she couldn’t handle it anymore.” I finished for him. He nodded, watching a blue fish swim across the glass. “And I haven’t been helping out to much with that.”

“Kylie, like I told you at the front, you’ve been acting like a teenager. Sure there were a few things that went way too far out there, but most of the other stuff was normal teenage rebellion. Hell, I don’t know how many times your mother and I snuck out to see each other.”

“You never really told us, how long have you and Mom known each other exactly. You said over forty years, but how long really?”

“Let’s see, we met when we were seven, we’re forty nine now, so we’ve known each other forty two years.”

“Wow, that’s a long time.” I commented.

“Yeah, it is, but I wouldn’t want anyone else to be here with me.” Dad admitted. “When I was wrestling, I was living the dream. Everything I dreamed up for my career came true, but there was one time, one period, where it felt like it was all for nothing.”

“When was that?” I asked.

“When your mother left me.” he replied. My heart skipped a beat when I realized what he said.

“Mom left you? Why?”

“I’ll tell you that story later, but yeah, she left me. Eight years I went without her in my life, and each second killed me. I ended up suspended indefinitely from the company, I was a wreck.” He paused, and I waited for him to continue. “It’s also when I started getting into drugs.”

“You were on drugs? Like pot?”

“No, not pot, prescription pills, stuff like that. I was trying to get her out of my head, and nothing was working. When I saw her again after eight years, I was floored. She was still so beautiful and carefree, but she grew up, that was more than obvious.”

“How old where you when she left?”

“Twenty one,” he replied with a sigh. “Kylie, don’t think badly about your mother because of something that happened twenty years ago. It was understandable why she left, and all that matters now is that the separation didn’t last. She came back, and not only that, we made a family.”

“I know,” I said as the doors opened.

“Riley, Dad, you missed it!” William called as he ran up to us. “Jason and I touched a snake!”

“That’s great buddy,” Dad said, ruffling his hair. I looked up at Dad, and saw his eyes looked a little sad.

“Come on Will, let’s go look at the fish,” I said, standing up and walking with him to the glass.

~POV: Matt~
I sat next to Jeff as we watched the kids look at the fish.

“What was all that about?” I asked my little brother as he sighed.

“Nothing, just a little, long needed chat.” he replied, keeping his eyes on his kids.

“About?” I tried to encourage him to keep going, but he was too mesmerized by the kids.

“Matt,” he said suddenly. I looked over at his face, which was still in the direction of the kids, but his eyes weren’t focused.

“What?”

“Do you ever wonder where we would be without everything we have?” he asked after a minute. “Like, if Riley never made it to Paul and Mary’s house, if we never met her. If you never met Amanda, do you ever think what would of happened if it didn’t happen?”

“A few times,” I admitted. “but I know that we’re meant to be where we are now. Everything we’ve gone through, Mom dying, meeting Riley and Amanda, they were meant to happen.”

“Admit it, Riley helped get you through Mom’s death too,” Jeff glanced my way, wonder in his eyes.

“She did, and so did you and Dad.” I admitted to him. “I know she really helped you get through it, because she knew what you was going through.”

“She was three years younger than what we were though, she didn’t understand the way we did.”

“No kid should have go through the death of a parent so young,” I muttered.

“Do you realize if we lose Riley, William will be a year younger than I was when we lost Mom?” He asked me suddenly.

“Yeah, I do realize that.” I replied, tapping his knee as they reached the end of the place. “Come on, they’re ready to keep going.” We met with everyone at the door, and continued looking at the animals. We finally reached the Asia exhibit, where the tigers were located.

“There you go Kylie,” I said as we walked up to the tiger display. She sighed as we watched the animal pace back and forward. I caught Jeff’s eye and he smiled at me. Amanda looked at her watch then, and decided it would be best to go get lunch, so we headed to the food court.

“You two just want a pizza?” Jeff asked Kylie and Will. They both nodded, so they went to get tables with Mitchell, Savanna and Jason.

“They having fun?” Amanda asked me as we waited in line.

“They’re having a blast,” I answered her.

“What about you?”

“This is fun, we have to do this more often,”

“Next time Riley’s coming with us,” Matt said. I nodded, but it was only halfheartedly. I hoped he was right, and that my wife would be here the next time we came to the zoo.