Keep You

The next morning Kylie was up and ready for school before I was even awake. I smiled as I looked at how she was dressed. She was wearing a shirt that I realized was Riley’s from when she was a teenager. In fact, looking at it closer, it was the shirt Matt made for Riley when he started learning how to sew.

“Where did you find that?” I asked her, tugging at the end of the shirt.

“Upstairs in the spare closet.” she replied.

“Your mother wore that shirt when she was your age.”

“Really? I like it, did she buy it?”

“Nope,” I said. “I’ll have to tell Matt you like the shirt.”

“He bought it for her?” she asked.

“Close, he gave it to her, but he didn’t buy it, he made it.”

“Uncle Matt made the shirt?” Kylie asked shocked. I nodded, smiling as poured a cup of coffee. Kylie grabbed a bowl of cereal and sat down next to me as William walked into the room.

“I miss Mom,” he muttered, sitting on my other side. I sighed and brought him to my side as Kylie played with her cereal, probably losing her appetite.

“Your mom will be fine you two, believe me. I’ve known her over 40 years. She’s a fighter, she’ll fight this off and come home like nothing happened.” I said to them. Kylie muttered something about missing the bus as William’s head went to the counter. I walked with Kylie to the front door.

“Kylie,” I said, stopping her. “Do me a favor and try with your cousin, aunt and Christian. I’m sure if you explain things to them, they’ll come around. Chris is just like his father and Grace is like her mother. Mitch is a hard head like your uncle, but once he listens, he understands. Just get them to listen to you, and I’m sure they’ll accept you again.” She nodded before walking out of the house, her back pack slung over her shoulder. She walked down the driveway, kicking dirt a little as she walked. I just sighed and went back into the house.

“Will, come on buddy, go get dressed.” I said to my son as I walked back into the kitchen. I rinsed out the used coffee mug and set it in the dish washer. William just sat on the stool, his head on the counter.

“William, come on, time to get ready for school.” I said, walking over to him and shaking him. He groaned and drug himself into his bedroom. He came out a few minutes later, dressed and his hair combed out.

“I’ll drive you today,” I said, grabbing my car keys from the hook by the backdoor. He just shrugged and grabbed his book bag, walking to the front door and out to the car. The elementary school was across the street from the high school, so I decided to go talk to Carter about Kylie.

“Hey,” I said before Will got out of the car. “I know you’re worried about your mom. You miss her and just want her home. I get that because I’m that same way, but you need to stop letting it get to you so badly. Jack’s over there waiting on you, and you didn’t even notice him.”

“I saw him,” Will muttered. He opened the door and got out of the car. “See you later Dad,” He said before slamming the door shut. I watched as he walked into the school building and sighed. I pulled into the parking lot for the high school just as a set of side doors opened.

I stared at the group with disbelief. It was Tracey, which I knew she would have been back by now, but what amazed me was the teenage girl in the middle of the group. Opening the car door, she looked my way, and froze solid.

“Well, nice to see how much you’ve changed your attitude,” I called, slamming the car door shut. Kylie looked toward Tracey, who was staring back at me.

“Let’s go,” I said, grabbing Kylie’s hand.

“Look Dad, I’ve been the perfect fucking princess for you since Mom got sick, I need to be me for a minute.”

“This is not you!” I shouted. “This is her, influencing you to do what she wants.”

“It was Kylie’s idea to skip,” Tracey said. “If anyone is a bad influence it’s her!”

“You stay out of this,” I said to Tracey. “You’re lucky I don’t march you right back in that school.” I looked around at the others who was in the group, and my eyes grew wide when I saw Christian with them. “Chris, what the hell are you doing?”

“I didn’t want to come,” he said quickly. “Kylie forced me, something about you wanting her to spend more time with us.”

“She said she was having a hard time, and that you, Grace and Mitch wasn’t giving her a chance.” I explained to him. “You were lying weren’t you?” I asked, looking over at Kylie. She didn’t look at me, which pretty much gave me my answer.

“Great, you’re mother could very well die on us, and you’re sitting around the house, putting up a front that your worried, when you’re just the same as you were before.”

“I am worried about Mom, you don’t know how worried I am about her.” Kylie replied, though she wasn’t looking at me.

“That just proves you’re lying because you can’t look me in the face.” I said, reaching for her chin. I forced her chin up so she was looking at me when she lifted her hand. The connection she made with the side of my head didn’t hurt, it just pissed me off even more. Before her hand could go all the way down, I grabbed it into my own.

“Come on Chris,’ I said, walking into the building. He followed me to Carter’s office.

“Mr. Hardy?” Melody asked as I rushed past her.

“Hello again Mel,” I said. “Just returning a stray.” I didn’t bother knocking on the door, it was open and it was apparent he was alone.

“Jeff, what’s going on?” Carter asked.

“I pulled into the parking lot to talk to you, when I found my darling daughter sneaking out the side doors. Tracey was with her along with two boys I didn’t recognize.”

“Christian was there too!” Kylie added.

“She forced him along,” I explained to the older man. He nodded his head and grabbed a sheet of paper.

“Go to class Mr. Helms,” he said, handing Chris the note. “Close the door on your way out.” Chris quickly shut the door, giving us privacy.

“Kylie, I know you’re going through a hard time,” Carter started saying.

“No, you don’t know, none of you do.” she said, tears falling from her eyes. “I could lose my mother! Do you know what that feels like, to sit back and watch your Mom fight for her life?”

“Yes, Kylie I do.” I replied, staring into space. “I understand what it’s like to have to watch your mother slip slowly away from you. My mother had cancer, it was a long battle that she ended up losing. I’ve told you this before, but this just shows how little you listen anymore Kylie. Your grandmother died when I was nine years old. I went my entire life without her.”

“You barely had time to connect with her that way,” Kylie muttered. “I love Mom so much, I don’t want to lose her.”

“Keep acting this way Kylie and you will lose her,” Carter replied. “Keep acting this way, and you’ll lose your whole family.”

“You need to start being honest with us,” I said.

“Like you can say anything about being honest. You hid stuff from William and me for years.”

“Because it wasn’t the time for you two to know about our pasts until you got older,” I said, attempting to keep my temper down.

“Still, you lie to us, what makes the difference if I lie to you?” Kylie asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Kylie, when have we ever lied to you?” I asked, massaging my temples with the tips of my fingers.

“Mom lied to all of us.” Kylie muttered. “She said she’d be here for us, she’ll never leave us, but now look. She’s going to die, breaking her promise.”

“Kylie Nero,” I said, staring at her in disbelief. I couldn’t stop myself. I ended up breaking down into tears, my hand covering my mouth to try to keep the sobs at bay.

“Kylie,” Carter said gently. “Your mother didn’t get sick on purpose, and it’s likely this illness can defeat her, but medicine’s come a long way over the years. Goodness, 20 years ago there were more people dying from pneumonia than HIV/AIDS or even Cancer. With the medicine we have now, your mother has a fighting chance.”

“She’s going to die, I know she is. You saw her when we had to take her to that damned place.”

“Sweetie, that was because it was going untreated for a long time.” I said, finally able to talk again. “Everyone knows there’s a chance she could die. I’m scared to death that I’ll loose her. She’s been in my life for forty years. I don’t know life without her. She’s fighting, just as we’re sitting here she’s fighting, because she knows she has kids to raise and a husband to grow old with.”

“She gave up on me,” Kylie muttered.

“No, she didn’t,” Carter replied. He reached over to his phone and scrolled through his saved messages. Riley’s voice suddenly came over the speaker. Her voice was cracking, so she was crying.

“Mr. Carter, this is Riley Hardy, or Mitchell as you knew me back in school. My daughter Kylie is in the ninth grade at the school now. I need your help with her. She’s acting out, and I have no idea what to do for her. She won’t listen, she lies, she tortures her eight year old brother. I don’t know what to do. I’ve wanted so many times to just give up, but I can’t, she’s my daughter. If you could give me a call back, I really need your help. You helped me with so much when I was in school, now I need your help for my daughter.”

The message ended and I glanced up at Kylie. She had tears streaming down her cheeks.

“I can’t let the sneaking out go unnoticed, but if you tell me who the two boys with you was, I can give you a lesser punishment for cooperating.”

“One of the kids was named Ron Weston, the other was a buddy of his.” She replied.

“Ron Weston? Is he a junior, like, named after his father?” I asked.

“I think so,” Kylie replied. I looked up at Carter, who was slightly confused, but it was understandable since it has been so long ago since it happened.

“You’re to never be around that boy again,” I told her.

“Why? What’s wrong with him being named after his Dad?” Kylie asked.

“Ron, Ron,” Carter said, the memory coming back to him now. “Damn, Kylie, that boys worse than his father. I agree with your father on this one a hundred percent.”

“What’s so bad about his Dad?” Kylie asked.

“Remember how we told you your mom was harassed in school?” I asked her. Kylie nodded, staring up at me. “Ron Weston Sr. was the one who harassed her, the difference between what happened to your cousin and your mother, was hers wasn’t verbal, it was physical.”

“He hit mom?” Kylie asked, shocked.

“No, he didn’t hit her, he didn’t something more scarring. He touched her in an area his hands shouldn’t of been.”

“He molested her?” she cleared up. I nodded, and sighed.

“That’s not it, she did something about it, told Matt and me and we told Carter. He expelled Ron, but Kylie didn’t want to press charges, so nothing happened with the police. Well, one night a few weeks later, everyone was out somewhere when he broke into Paul and Marylyn’s house. He killed Riley’s cat, and left a death threat on her wall. We knew it was him because not to many people knew the symbol he used.”

Kylie gasped as she turned to look at the principal. Carter nodded his head gravely, remember everything that was being said.

“There was a man hunt for him, which included your grandfathers, Paul, and the entire police force from Moore County basically. It was us who found him though.” I continued. “We were on our way home when he tried to attack the car, not realizing there we were actually taking up two cars. Paul, Mark, and my Dad chased after him while we stayed behind with your great aunt. They caught him that night, and he went to jail.”

“Why do I get the feeling there’s more?” Kylie asked.

“There is,” Carter replied. He looked at me to finish, which I nodded and did.

“He escaped from prison, a couple years after he went in. He found his way here and to your mom’s art trailer. She went in there alone, and he was waiting.”

“What happened?”

“She nearly died. He was strangling her when I found them.” I answered. “He was caught during a struggle, but it wasn’t that long of one.”

“He’s still in prison,” Carter said. “His son was conceived during a congical visit.”

“That explains a lot.” I muttered.

“What are you going to do to me?” Kylie asked Carter.

“Considering your help, this is what we’ll do. You’re to report to me every morning when you get here, and your teachers will report if your in class or not. If you won’t be in due to illness, Jeff will call it in to me. Anyone else I won’t accept it from. It must be your father calling in.” I nodded, my hand on my chin. “If you fail to report, I’ll have no choice but to put you in detention, or maybe even suspend you again.”