Tears Behind Our Eyes: A Prequel

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

A few weeks after Christmas, Grammy was already in a care facility making friends. She found a luxury facility in Seattle so she'd be closer to me and Mia Kaye. Mia Kaye went with me often. She went by herself sometimes, too, just to say hi. McKaye would read the original book Peter Pan and continue to Jane Eyre and The Catcher in the Rye. I appreciated that she went even when I couldn't.

Thursday January 19, 2017

It was still snowy, the coldest winter in Seattle history. I woke up in my bed Anna made up for me at their house for when I slept over. It became a permanent part of Hunter's room so Anna bought new matching quilts to match the navy blue room. It plain, except for the collages of Hunter's photographs hanging on the walls. I was thinking about asking Anna to bring the brown leather chair my real dad adored when I was a baby. It was comfortable, so I wouldn't have minded sleeping there instead of a bed. According to Delilah's dad, Dad would rock me to sleep in the chair. It still shocked me to no end that Mom kept it after always telling me and Monster Mark how much she loathed my dad.

I snuck to my side of Hunter's closet and tried to pick out a flannel, one special enough to fit this occasion. Then my jeans before I put on my light brown snow boots Anna was kind enough to get me for Christmas. She bought me a lot of clothes, the bedding at their house, and a couple giftcards so I could get groceries for me and my cousins since Falynn didn't think about things like that, only her heroin addiction and her boyfriend.

I called Mia Kaye. She didn't answer so I called again. Same result. Granted, it wasn't even nine in the morning on a snow day. Hunter was one of the hardest people to wake up. I didn't even need to try to be quiet. The fire alarm could have gone off and he still wouldn't have woken up. Ridiculously unfair, Mia Kaye was the same way.

I didn't leave without my small, black felt box for Mia Kaye. Gram had given Gramps' car to me as a gift so I took that to the Plaza. Walking in the apartment, I kicked off my boots and called her phone. It rang and I followed the sound of her ringtone. Right next to her bed on the nightstand. I laughed to myself, thinking how cute she looked, cocooned in her mountain of blankets with only her head popped out for air. Needless to say, she got cold. I called her phone one more time, putting it directly near her ear, not so close as she'll go deaf but close enough there's no doubt she'll wake up. She jumped from being scared so bad. She opened her eyes, saw me and groaned. "Good to know this works. What's up?" I teased, sitting on her bed, scooting in to cuddle under the blankets. She smiled and closed her eyes again. "I love you, Amelia Kaye Beatryce Parker. So much." Then, I repeated myself again.

After we lied there for a bit, she opened her eyes, feet entangled with mine, "I love you, too." I stood, pulling her up with me. I reached in my pocket for the box that held the ring. She definitely didn't seem sleepy anymore. Her eyes brightened, she stood up straight. "Jackson... what are you doing?" I'd already given her a necklace for Christmas in a similar box so I know she knew what it was.

I took a quiet but deep breath, got down on one knee and started, "It's our two year anniversary. I've loved you ever since your first day in English when Galaini pressured you into picking a damn movie. You chose Avengers over Finding Nemo and I knew... you were freaking badass. I want to spend--"

She yells, "YES!"

I laughed and continued, "I have a speech. I want to spend every day of every life with you. Not now, since it's illegal and I know you wouldn't be able to handle juvie, so one day soon, will you marry me, Amelia Kaye Beatryce Parker?"

McKaye smiled wide, held out her left hand, nodding profusely. My new fiancee, allowed me to slide the ring on her finger. We kissed, McKaye in pajamas, I hugged her and spun her around. I'd always known I'd get married to her. We'd talked about it before, sometimes joking, sometimes fantasizing our wedding on dates at Serafina. Agreeing to have kids after my medical school and she got a job as a pharmacist, but if it happened before that, then that's okay, too. And considering what happened eight months after this, I was glad we'd agreed on that.

We went to my house (aka Hunter's). "It's beautiful," she complimented, thanking me.

"Your welcome. It's my grandmother's on Dad's side. Dad never gave it to mom because she didn't... exactly have Grammy's approval. The ring has been in the family for decades. I've had it for awhile-- when I first brought up marriage... that was the week you met Grammy for the first time, remember?"

I looked over as I stopped at a red light near Hunter's house and her eyes went big, "Grammy approves of me and not your mom?"

I paused, looked at her, wondering if she was joking.When I realized she wasn't, I told my girlfriend--fiancé--, "Duh, my mom... her history with drugs... she wasn't exactly the best person to marry, especially for Grammy's son, who was supposed to be a rich CEO taking over the family company."

"I didn't know that..."

I muttered, "There's a lot you don't know, Mia Kaye. One night, probably the night before the wedding, I'll tell you everything. All the skeletons in my closet. And I have a lot."

I walked over to the window, peeked through the blinds, turned around and smiled at her. "Snow day?"

"Hell yeah!" She stood, then looked at her clothes, sat down. "Can't."

I peered at her and smiled, walking to my closet in the left corner of the room. I grabbed a sweatshirt, grey and white striped. It was a little baggy on her, covering the butt on her tight jeans; but she didn't care. We went outside, invited Hunter to play. Hunter brought out his new old-style polaroid camera his mom had surprised him with a few days before. He was obsessed with it the second he opened it.

She threw snowballs at me and I reciprocated. All the while, tame Hunter took pictures. Mia Kaye left the ring in my room for safekeeping so she didn't lose it in the snow, making me grateful and lucky to have someone that'll cherish it. I started playing hide and seek with my secret fiance (we agreed not to tell Hunter yet), fun but childish. Mia Kaye was counting and I hid behind a tree, scaring the crap out of her when I popped out on the other side she was looking at and wrapped my arms around her waist. We started dancing and I dipped her, making one of her feet lift in the air. Her left hand reached for my black beanie and all of us were laughing. I heard a click from Hunter's camera. It printed immediately and I'd found my favorite picture of all time. Thinking how we'd use that picture at our wedding and my funeral and... I'd found my happy place.

So lucky.

So fortunate.

So loved.