When Brian was five years old, he spent months in the hospital due to a serious staph infection. The fact that he was born with a congenital heart defect didn’t make things any better. In fact, it made doctors even more vigilant about taking care of their tiny patient. He’d been stuck in a hospital bed, wearing the scratchy hospital gown, and watching reruns of every cartoon in the world—except the ones that he liked. He’d felt as though the doctors, the hospital, and his parents had conspired to make him unhappy, uncomfortable, and in pain throughout his stay.
“No fair!” had become his favorite thing to say, and he had used it on a daily, nearly hourly, basis. Patience was something Brian had never had.
Though his parents and his sister had come to visit him often, he hadn’t been appeased by their visits. Emma was barely three, and she was growing so fast. Brian hated missing the way his sister seemed to be learning all sorts of new things to say while he wasn’t there to hear it. As strange as it had been to become a big brother to a girl when he’d wanted a baby brother, he had still enjoyed every second of being a big brother. Even if Emma was shorter, smellier, and cried all the time.
Years later, though, what Brian remembered most about that period in his life was the end of it. All the pain, the fevers, the blood transfusions, the tests, and even the threat of surgery became far away memories the instant he’d learned he would be going home. Finally.
As his father’s car had driven home from the hospital, Brian had eagerly watched the world go by outside his window. There were so many changes that had taken place while he’d been in the hospital, and he didn’t like that he’d had to miss them all. There was a new pizza place next to the video arcade, and winter had quickly turned to spring. When he’d been admitted to the hospital, there had been snow on the ground, but, when he’d been released, there were flowers blooming.
With every mile driven, Brian had felt his anticipation building and, when his father had turned onto their street, he’d been ready to burst from the feeling. And then, suddenly, there was his house. In that instant, Brian had never loved that two-story, weathered brick home more. It symbolized everything that was important to him, though his five year old self hadn’t known it at the time.
Now, twenty-seven years later, Brian felt the same way about his parents’ home that he had all those years ago. Though they’d moved since the days of his hospital stay, his parents’ home always felt the same. It was full of love, warmth, and memories of a rather enviable childhood.
He sat in the driveway, staring up at it for long minutes. Inside, he knew his parents and his sister were probably waiting for him to arrive, so that the whole family could sit down for dinner. All of his life, they had been the most supportive people and the only ones he’d ever really been able to count on when the going got rough. He was just afraid that, this time, with the murder hanging over his head, they would crack.
He should’ve known better.
The instant Jackie opened the door, she caught her son up in a crushing hug. Brian could do no more than squeeze her back and bury his face against her neck. “Hi, Mom,” he murmured, leaning back a little to look into her misty eyes. His eyes stung with the threat of tears as well.
“Oh, Brian. Oh, my baby. I’m so glad you’re home.” She held him close another moment before letting go and leading him back towards the kitchen. “Your father and Emma are in the kitchen. We were just about to have dinner, so you’re lucky you’re right on time.”
He suppressed the smile that teased his lips. Predictable as it was, he wouldn’t have had his family any other way. “Great. There’s nothing like your home-cooked meals, Mom. Surviving on takeout and my own messes gets old after a while.”
“I can imagine,” she said with disdain. When she spotted her husband and daughter sitting at the kitchen table, she smiled. “Look who I found on our porch!”
Harold looked up, and a smile spread across his features as he stood to hug his son. “It’s good to have you home, kiddo. You’re just in time for dinner.”
“Thanks, Dad. It’s good to be home.” He smiled before turning to face his sister and her beaming smile. “Hey, squirt. When did you get here?”
Emma hugged her brother tight and tried not to think of all the things he’d been going through up in Maine, away from the family. “A couple hours ago. The commute from New York’s a hell of a lot quicker than the one from Maine.” She stepped back and ruffled his hair in an old habit. “You look okay, considering.”
“I am okay. Considering.” He slid into a chair and inhaled the delicious smells wafting from the dishes. “Wow, this looks great! It beats Chinese takeout any day.”
When he reached for a bowl, his parents and Emma exchanged glances, knowing that Brian had just effectively indicated that he didn’t want to talk about the murder. Sooner or later, though, it was bound to come up, and they all knew it.
***
Thanksgiving had always been one of his favorite holidays, and Brian was immensely glad he’d come home for it. He had definitely missed his family, and was always eager to see his aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was also the only day of the year when his mother allowed him to help her out in the kitchen because she was swamped.
Brian carefully removed the apple pie from the oven rack and set it on the counter next to the cooling pumpkin pie. Part of him wanted to taste test both of them, but he knew it would be a bad idea to do so. Jackie was not known for her patience with finding bits of her dishes missing before they were served.
He turned back to the oven, salivated slightly over the sight of the browning turkey, and shut the oven door. Only a couple more hours, he told himself and headed into the dining room to check out how Emma was doing with china duty.
“I hate doing this,” she grumbled when he walked in. There was a pile of pretty, violet-edged china plates on the table next to a pile of gleaming silverware. “Why do I always get stuck cleaning off the dishes while you get to be in the kitchen? Twenty-first century or not, I’d rather be the female in the kitchen.”
Brian playfully ruffled her hair as she worked on making their mother’s best glasses shine. “I’m the oldest, so I get to pick. Besides, Mom’s never forgotten who dropped her pumpkin pie.”
Emma rolled her eyes. “That was one time. Our mother is the champion of holding grudges. I was eleven, and the pie tin burned right through my oven mitts. Seriously.”
“Well, at least you’re doing a good job with the dishes,” he teased. “If you broke one of these, she might send you out to spend time with Dad.”
“Hell, no. I’m not raking leaves. Ever.”
“Yeah, you’re an avowed urbanite, aren’t you?” He grinned. “Even though you grew up in the ‘burbs. How’s New York?”
“Busy, bustling, and not Kentucky,” she replied, setting another glass carefully on a tray. “I’m missing the Macy’s parade right now. I can sit on my balcony and watch it go by. It’s the coolest thing ever to sit there, above it all, and watch. Remember that time you performed for it?”
He’d been twenty-five and riding high off the success of his debut album. “How could I forget? That giant, blow-up turkey is scary as hell when it’s looming over you.”
“Yeah, well, this is the first year in six that I’m missing it.” She shrugged. “But I guess I’d rather be here with you and the ‘rents.”
“What happened to, what’s his face? Sam, right?”
Emma shrugged again. “Nothing much. He’s still there when he wants to be. Or when I want him to be. We’re not exclusive. I don’t think I’ll ever be ready to be exclusive.” She glanced over at Brian. “Not all of us want to find our soulmates in college and never let go of them.”
“Hey.” He took a step back. “We’re not talking about me right now. This is about you and Sam.”
“Sure, it is. But you’re not really going to stand there and lie to me about how you don’t still think Isabella’s The One for you, are you? Because I have killer aim, and one of these glasses might really knock some sense into that thick head of yours.” She brandished one of her gleaming crystal glasses and lifted a brow. “Well?”
Brian shrugged and began to prowl the room, poking into drawers and staring at the knickknacks in their mother’s china cabinet. “Even if I do still love her and think I always will, it doesn’t matter, Emma. She’s engaged.”
“What?!” Emma nearly dropped a glass in her surprise. “Really? I don’t believe it.”
“No, she is.” He looked over his shoulder to where Emma was scowling at the plates in front of her. “I’ve met him, too. He’s her fellow biology professor. Dr. Lucas McCall. Smart, good sense of humor, and he got her one hell of a ring. I’m sure she couldn’t resist him.” He didn’t mention Isabella’s confession three weeks earlier as he was still unsure of what he wanted to do about it or how he felt.
Emma shook her head. “What’s wrong with her? Seriously. The two of you were attached at the hip, totally in love, and then she dumps you out of the blue. In a letter no less,” she added with a roll of her eyes. “And, now, she’s marrying Dr. Boring?”
“I don’t think she thinks he’s boring,” Brian said with a small sigh. “Em, we can try to dissect Isabella’s feeling all we want, but I don’t think it’s going to change anything. She’s been seeing this guy for a while, and they click on every level. They share the same goals, the same interests, and so on. It’s a match made in heaven.” And the more he thought about it, the more his appetite and his festive mood diminished.
“Well, all I have to say about all this then, is that she’s been making the worst decisions she could since she dumped you.” Emma wrapped her arms around her brother and kissed his cheek. “Because you are the best guy I know, and I don’t think there’s a single woman out there that will ever be good enough.”
Brian smiled a little and hugged her back. “Thanks. At any rate, I think I’m better off single for the time being what with all the changes I’ve been making this year.” He slipped the towel out of her hand. “So, want some help?”
“I would love you forever if you do,” she said with a grin.
“Then I guess I have no choice, huh?” He winked before grabbing a wineglass and getting to work.
***
His family wasn’t small by any means, but they all managed to gather around Jackie’s dining room table. She’d pulled out the leaves on the ends of the table, so all seventeen members managed to fit. The table was loaded with heaping dishes of vegetables, casseroles, and, of course, the giant turkey. Jackie had dabbed the tears from her eyes when Harold had passed the carving knife to Brian for the first time in his life.
Brian, too, had been shocked and secretly thrilled. It felt like he’d passed some sort of test and was now a full-grown adult or something, but he’d enjoyed trying not to mangle his mother’s prized turkey. In the end, things had gone better than he’d expected, if he did say so himself.
Now, he sat back and studied everyone gathered around the table. Along with his parents and Emma, his aunt Ann, her sons, Jerald, Tim, and Kevin, and Tim’s wife and children were there, along with Jackie’s sister and her family, too. It had been two years since he’d sat down to Thanksgiving dinner with them because, the previous year, he’d been too busy playing a show in London and breaking off his engagement. It was all part of the big reason why he’d decided to retire and go back to teaching.
“So, Brian, how are things going up in Hensley?” His cousin, Kevin, asked from across the table. “Is teaching everything you were hoping it would be?”
Brian toyed with the contents of his plate. “It’s better than I was expecting. The first day, I was a jittery mess, but, over time, I think I’ve surprised everyone, especially myself, by being fairly successful.”
“That’s really great.” Kevin grinned. “I remember how, when we were younger, you always wanted to play teacher.”
“Yeah, and you always made fun of me,” Brian remembered with a smile. “Look who won.”
Jerald chuckled. “Kevin’s always been jealous of you for making it big with the singing, you know.”
“I have not,” Kevin muttered indignantly.
Brian grinned. “Hey, I offered you a chance to audition for my record label, and you didn’t want it. I bet you would’ve made it big.”
“It’s cool. I’d rather take your money as your lawyer instead.” Kevin winked. “Because I got your business, I’ve started getting a lot of other celebrities showing up in my office, too. Guess you helped out more than you thought, huh?”
“I guess so.” Brian smiled back, thankful for the fact that he could sit there, among family, and enjoy himself, the way he hadn’t been able to for quite some time.
Unfortunately, Jerald’s next words wiped the smile from Brian’s face. “So why haven’t you called Kevin yet about the murder mess you’ve been dealing with up there? If the cops keep stopping by to talk to you, it would be a good idea if you had legal representation, don’t you think?”
There was a short silence after he’d spoken, and, though Brian was staring at his plate, he could feel everyone’s eyes on him.
“Uhm, well, yeah. I guess,” he began, looking up to find that, indeed, they were all staring at him. “The thing is, I know I haven’t done anything wrong, so I don’t see why I’d need representation. I have nothing to hide, and the police can look and question all they want; it’s not going to bother me a bit.” His eyes shifted to meet Kevin’s. “So, while I know I have the best damn lawyer in the world, I also know that I don’t need him at the moment. Right, Kevin?”
Kevin was quiet for a few moments before he shrugged. “Look, Brian, I know you think you’re right. Hell, I agree that, unless you’d actually gone of your rocker and actually killed your student, there’s no way the police can do more than incessantly question you. However, I could always give them a call and keep them from bothering you.”
“Kev, they found his stuff next to the body,” Tim reminded his younger brother. “They’re not going to stop questioning him until they figure it all out.”
Brian set his fork down with a snap. “Look, I know you’re all concerned about me and about the investigation, but I know that nothing is going to happen to me. So what that they found my paperweight next to my student’s body? So what that she was last seen with me? I know what I did and didn’t do, and I definitely didn’t kill anyone!”
“Son, no one’s saying you did,” Harold finally spoke up from his place at the head of the table. “Your cousins, as well as the rest of us, are just concerned about you and your well-being. It’s obvious that the investigation is taking its toll on you. Hell, you’ve turned into a skeleton since we last saw you. And those bags under your eyes aren’t there because you’ve been sleeping. Your mother and I have been worried and tempted to fly up to see you ourselves. All of us just want the best for you.”
Brian sighed. His father was right. He couldn’t get mad at the others because, as his family, they were entitled to worry about him. At the same time, though, he didn’t want them to worry about it, about him. “I know,” he said after a moment. “And I’m glad I have this family, but I can get through this. The cops are going to figure out who the murderer is before long, and all of this will just become another bad memory. Or so I tell myself.” He shrugged. “In the meantime, I’ve been keeping busy by renovating my house.”
Kevin nodded, accepting that the subject of the murder was closed for the moment. “I’ve seen pictures on the Internet. It’s gorgeous.”
“It’s huge and it needs a good deal of work. But, man, it is so much fun to fix it up and watch it gleam as things come together.” Brian grinned, remembering how often he’d bashed his thumb with a hammer while trying to nail floorboards down. “I’ve got the main parts, the ones that I use, all finished. The kitchen, the parlor, the den, and five of the bedrooms. Plus, two of the bathrooms, one of which I did on my own. The ballroom’s next on my list because I was thinking about throwing a new year’s bash.”
“Jeez, how many more rooms are there? It sounds like you live in a castle,” Emma said, speaking up for the first time. “If you didn’t live so far away, I’d totally move in.”
Brian shrugged. “It’s enormous, but I got it for next to nothing because it’s got a bad reputation. Nobody can quite dish out enough money to fix the whole thing up in one go.”
“Well, you’ve got plenty of dough, so I guess you’re sticking,” Emma said. “Good for you.”
“Thanks. I’m not going anywhere, no matter what,” Brian said with determination. “Hensley’s where I want to be, and I’m not going to let anything or anyone keep me from being happy there.”
Jackie smiled at her son. “In the meantime, we’ll all pray for the investigation to be resolved and disappear. So, when can we see this lovely home of yours?”
“I can’t wait for you to come up and see it,” Brian said excitedly. “Is Christmas too soon?”
***
Despite his best intentions, though, things did not always go the way they should or the way he wanted them to.
On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, Brian picked Gizmo, up from Jenny’s house where he’d left the cat for the long weekend. Gizmo ignored him for a while, clearly miffed that Brian hadn’t taken him along, but, by the time Brian drove down his street, his cat was already curled up and purring contentedly in his lap.
“It’s good to be back home, Giz,” Brian murmured, stroking Gizmo’s fur. “I love going back to see Mom, Dad, and Emma, but I missed this place, too. I guess that means it really is home now. No going back.”
In response, Gizmo meowed and shut his eyes, oblivious to Brian.
Brian chuckled. “It’s nice to have you on my side, buddy.”
The sun had long since set, and Brian wished that the state of Maine had put up streetlights on this highway. Since they hadn’t, he would just have to rely on his headlights to get him through the dark. Less than a quarter of a mile from his house, those headlights flashed and illuminated something lying half on and half off the road.
“Is that a dead deer?” Brian wondered aloud and, against his better judgement, decided to pull over and check it out. If it was just a dead animal, he was calling the police to clean it up. The smell, he knew, could be horrendous.
Sliding his cell phone into his pocket, he got out of the car and walked back towards the dark shape. When the smell of blood hit his nose, he pressed a hand over it and kept moving. Two steps away, he realized he’d been dead wrong about it being a dead deer.
Carrie Andrews, the junior who’d dropped his class weeks before, stared up at him with death warming over her green eyes. In the glare from his headlights, he could see the marks around her throat that indicated she’d been strangled.
Unable to stand the sight, his stomach pitching greasily, he stumbled over to the side of the roads and got rid of his dinner in the bushes. Then, with his insides raw, he called the police.
Author's Chapter Notes:
I know it's been a really, really, really long time since this story was updated, but, FINALLY, it's back with a new update!! Yay! I promise, I will, slowly but surely, finish this story, and I thank everyone who's stuck by it for the almost year since it's been out. I hope you enjoy this next chapter!
