All My Life

Chapter 72

"NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT!" The outburst came from Larry; and not Don. Larry sat there dumfounded that Don hadn't said anything. Larry knew Mann was dead, he touched that bastard's cold body himself; but he couldn't see how this was a good idea. He also couldn't believe that his best friend wasn't saying anything. "Don, why aren't you saying anything?"

Don was just looking at his wife, holding her hands in his. He had so many feelings swirling around but this wasn't about him. His wife was the one who had been threatened over and over and over. His wife was the one who had been so brutally raped that she had to have stitches over and over for months. His wife was the one who was treated as some caged animal. As much as he wanted to protect her from EVERYTHING that had to do with that sick monster, he also wanted to do whatever would help her find closure. Don took a breath as he placed his palm on her cheek, only looking at her. "You really want to do this?"

"It's not that I WANT to do it, Don Man; it's that I NEED to do it." Meryl choked as she placed her hand over his that was on her cheek. "I NEED to do it with you."

Don nodded as he brushed his lips across hers. "Okay; but I want us to go early in the viewing time so no family is there. I'll call the funeral home and we'll go in and out the private entrance and exit. I don't want ANYONE to see you and try to take fucking pictures of you."

"It's not like I want to stay." Meryl choked. "I just need to see for myself; I need to know it is behind US."

Don nodded as he wiped away a few of her stray tears and thought about their talk earlier in Henry's bedroom; grateful that she knew that she was NEVER alone when dealing with that monster. "I don't want the babies there."

"Absolutely NOT." Meryl said as she looked over at the bassinets. "Maybe we can go during their morning nap? I don't want to miss a feeding and have them take a bottle."

Don nodded vehemently. "You worked so damn hard at getting them to nurse again that I don't want you 3 to take a step backwards."

"WE have worked so hard." Meryl said strongly. "You helped so much."

Don didn't know about that; but he was glad that she felt that way. He then looked at Larry. "Larry, would you and Liz be able to watch them in the morning? I know sometimes you work on Saturday mornings."

"Of course." Larry said quickly. "We would be honored, of course. Are you going to tell the kids? My daughter still isn't very happy that we didn't immediately tell them what happened on New Year's Eve."

Meryl nodded with a sigh. They had worked through that with the kids; and understood why the kids weren't too happy with them. The kids also understood why they waited until the next morning until they had answers and something to tell them. It's not that the kids were necessarily mad; they just wanted to be there for their parents and brother and sister as their parents were always there for them. "I know, and I'm sorry we put you all in that position."

"You were right to wait." Larry assured them. "We were making sure they were safe; and you needed to wait for answers."

Don nodded as he rubbed his wife's knee. "We'll tell them. The last thing we need is for it to end up on TMZ and they find out that way."

"That's true." Meryl said. "I know we could have any of them watch the babies but I agree with Don; I just feel better knowing it's the 2 of you. I also want the kids to be living their lives."

Don nodded as he took a deep breath. "Any word on the bitch's funeral arrangements? I just want to be prepared so Meryl's name isn't somehow associated with it."

"Or my husband's." Meryl sighed as she looked up at her husband. "Baby, if there is something for her do you want to go?"

Don shook his head. "I don't have this need to see her in a coffin like I do him. You?"