Funeral for a Father
Parker Chadwick the Third paced the funeral home lobby in between greeting people he didn’t know and other people he could care less about. The one person he did care about wasn’t there yet.
He was worried he may have come on too strong, tried to take too much too fast. Then she arrived with a brown paper bag in her hand. She was dressed conservatively in a knee length black dress, black heels, her hair pulled up in a bun. All he wanted to do was pull her into the nearest closet and get lost in her kisses.
“Hi.” He accepted the offered bag and opened it as she smiled and said hello to people she probably didn’t know, but people there trying to speak to him nonetheless. He opened it to find his favorite potatoes. He looked up at her and for the first time that day smiled. “I love you.”
Her eyes widened but then her lips twitched into a playful grin. “Anything to make you smile. Come on. I know this is uncomfortable for you. I’m going to be right by your side.”
“Always?” He was serious. She nodded and his heart thumped harder in his chest.
She looped her arm with his and looked up at him. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
Everything about his father’s service went better after that. He found a way to listen to people and even admitted that maybe his dad wasn’t always a cheating asshole that bought other people’s companies as a way of building more wealth for his own. By the end of it, he wasn’t ready to admit he loved the man, but he was willing to concede that he no longer hated him and considered someday he might even forgive him.
His mother was there in her black outfit trimmed in red and her newest boy toy was at her side. “I don’t even want to talk to them.”
“Who?” Dixie tried to follow his line of sight.
“My mother, over there with the red trim and her plaything.” He nodded their direction.
“Plaything? She’s having an affair with an award winning physical therapist?” Dixie looked up at him as Parker looked down. He was sure that his face held the question because she didn’t make him ask before she answered. “I took his class a few years ago. He wrote a book about the importance of massage incorporated into physical therapy. It’s highly unlikely that he is sleeping with your mother unless she has something that his partner is unaware of.”
“Partner?” Parker looked from her over to his mother. He really looked at her this time. She shook two more hands and then the guy helped her to her seat. Not in an escort fashion, but in a legitimate she needed help to get from where she was to where she was going to sit down.
“He’s gay.” Dixie touched his chest and he looked down at her again. “Parker, something is wrong with her. You should probably find out what it is.”
“I don’t like her.” He frowned but Dixie wasn’t deterred in the least. Grumpily, and dragging her with him by the hand, he made his way to the woman that had taught him that image was everything. “Mother.”
“Parker.” She smiled at him, looked him up and down, gave Dixie the once over, and then closed her eyes for a beat before opening them with that smile still held in place.
“What’s going on?” He looked from her to the man standing beside her. His expression said it all. “Sir?”
“Well I’m sure you know the basics, but lately the condition is worse…”
“He doesn’t know anything.” She took in a slow and controlled breath. “Never has.”
“You mean…” The guy looked at his mother and then to him. “Come with me.”
In the privacy of another room Parker learned that his mother had a rare form of bone cancer that she had been battling throughout her life. She had been seeking treatment around the world and had been in remission three times before, but it was back, aggressive, and her time was limited. They were out of options and experimental treatments, so this was about pain management, quality of life, and her decisions for how she would take her leave of this world.
The man left him alone in that room and Parker could have sworn it began to shift, move, spin even. It may have taken him on quite a ride had it not been for the woman walking through the door. “Dixie.”
***
“I seem to have a thing for couches lately.” He tried for a laugh but it fell flat. She rubbed his back and shoulders as he tried to let his entire world as he knew it settle into a new view.
“You did know that while I have multiple therapy degrees, psychological is not an official one of them.” She placed her hand on his forearm and squeezed him tight.
“Why didn’t they tell me? Did they have any idea what these secrets and lies were doing to me? Did they even know or care that it made me hate them?” He looked at her and realized she was holding back tears. “No. Don’t cry. I’m sorry.”
“I’m not crying for me, Parker. I’m just…I hate this for you. The only way you are going to know the truth is to ask that woman out there and you have to be prepared for the fact that her stubborn idea that she has to be perfect may lead to more questions than answers in the end.” She sniffed, wiped the tear away. Then she reached up and wiped one from his cheek and he realized that for the second time he was crying in front of this woman and she wasn’t running from him because of it.
“What a baby I’ve grown up to be.” He sucked in a sharp breath and puffed it out as he stood.
“Real men cry. My uncle taught me that. If you want to make sure you aren’t like your parents, Parker you have to be okay with the fact that you feel. It was the first lesson I had to learn.” She straightened her dress though it was fine already.
That night she went back to her hotel and he went back to the home his father had left him. He had two floors that made one hell of a condo and he owned the entire building. The other people that lived there paid exorbitant amounts of rent. The first thing he did this time was go into the study and through his father’s desk. There was so much he needed to learn about these people and he was already behind the power curve in regards to time.
“Good morning, sleepyhead.” Dixie ran her hand through his hair and he lifted his head from the desk. “Come on. I brought breakfast.”
He ate, showered, and emerged feeling refreshed and ready for the next big event. “I’m glad you’re coming with me.”
She nodded. “I’ve been thinking about that. Last night, I…”
“You had to go see your family. I get it. You were at a funeral, then my mother, I mean it had to stir up some feelings.” Parker watched her chew her bottom lip and wondered, “Why are you nervous?”
“I didn’t go see my uncle. I went to see my mother and my brothers. I told them exactly how I felt and that while I loved them, I didn’t like the way they were living and if they wanted to be a part of my life they were going to have to change or accept that I’m not going to be a part of theirs. Even if I live closer.” She went back to worrying her lip.
“How far away do you live now?” He didn’t know.
“New York.” He felt his eyes widen at that. “I basically use all of those certificates to make celebrities and other really wealthy people beautiful, more flexible, I even do physical therapy. I was thinking if this afternoon tea…”
“I wouldn’t ask you to do that.” He couldn’t believe she would be willing to work with his mother.
“Parker, I need to know, I mean when you say things like always…like you love me…are we still…I mean I need to know.” She seemed a bit angry and he understood why.
Her mood didn’t lighten with his smile. He was overjoyed at the prospect of her love and affection. He was just scared to death to bring her into his family drama. “Dixie, I…You are everything to me. I’ve been so overwhelmed lately with finding you here, learning all this stuff about them. I’m trying to find a way to make you want to spend the rest of your life with me and not scare you with all that comes with that.”
“I’m scared. Even without the rest of it. That’s why I had to go to the hotel last night. I couldn’t spend the night with you until I had sorted through everything. You’re worried about the drama of your family. Have you forgotten mine?” She was animated and talking with her hands.
“No, but…”
“You think because they are poor they won’t be a problem, right? You forget that they have nothing to lose. They have nothing that stops them from wanting more when I give them anything. And being with you, they will think I have…”
He realized she was both trying to protect him and scared of what it meant. “Hey. It’s okay.”
“No. It isn’t.” She broke down then and he moved to pull her into his arms. They had a lifetime of emotions bottled up and there was no way to stuff them down or stop them from overflowing. It was the first time in their relationship he felt like they were on equal ground.
“I’m here, Dixie.” He placed a kiss at her temple. “Always.”