Chucky my Way

3.4

A female and a male came in, I saw them and backed up. The female put her hand on her shoulder, and Nica wheeled around

"Nica," she said, her voice filled with sadness pulling her in for a hug.

"I'm sorry," Nica said and started sobbing, "she was fine. She was taking her meds, she was painting again"

"No. No" she said, shaking her head.

"She was fine," Nica said when she pulled back. "How could she do that, Barbie? How could she do that to herself?" Nica asked.

"You, uh... You remember Father Frank" she said.

"Uh... Yes. Hello, Father" Nica said.

"I'm so very sorry for your loss, Nica," Father Frank said.

"Thank you," Nica said.

"Your sister just thought it might be a good idea for me to come," Father Frank said.

"I appreciate it. But you know my mother and I both left the church a long time ago" Nica said.

"But not in the eyes of God," Father Frank said, I wanted to roll my eyes but I kept it to myself as it wasn't appropriate.

"I just thought it might be nice for us to have someone to talk to," she said.

"We have each other. And I have Maria, Maria, this is my sister Barb" Nica said, introducing me to the female.

"Hello," I said, "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thanks, but what are you doing here?" Barb snarked.

"Sarah hired me to take care of the house, do the cooking and cleaning, but now that she's gone I'm here for Nica to help her," I said.

"Nica. We have to pray for her. To be forgiven" Barb said.

"She was sick. You can't judge her" Nica said

"No one is judging her. In fact, the church's official response to a situation like this is not to judge, but to pity" Father Frank said, Nica let out a sigh.

"My mother and I have had quite enough pity, thank you. It was my fault. I should have seen it coming."

"Nica, you cannot blame yourself," I said, putting my hand on her shoulder and smiling at her when we heard footsteps and a male, another female and a child came in.

"Hey," the male said.

"Hey, Ian," Nica said as he came over and hugged her and Father Frank went to the couch and sat down.

"Uh, this... This is Jill, my new au pair" Barb said.

"No, I'm just the nanny," Jill said.

"Hi and this is Maria, my housekeeper," Nica said.

"I'm so sorry, Nica," Jill said.

"Thank you," Nica said.

"Come here, you" Nica said, pulling Alice in for a hug.

"Did Grandma go to heaven?" Alice asked, I saw the glance Nica threw at her sister but gave in.

"Yes, sweetie, she did," Nica said. "Maria go get Chucky for Alice," Nica said, I nodded and left the room heading up to my room.

"They here?" Chucky asked.

"Yup, and don't scare the poor kid too much Chucky, she looks to only be 7," I said, picking him up, and headed back downstairs, when Alice ran up to me.

"Is that him?" Alice asked.

"Yes, take good care of him Alice, and he'll be your friend until the end," I said, passing him to Alice.