At Peace (44 page)

Score one for Cal and Kate.

In order to get through the door, Kate had to
let her mother go which she did.

Vi mumbled greetings as she went through the
people, her arm was touched, she shook hands, had her cheek kissed.
The girls were touched, gentle eyes falling on them as they moved
through. Kate didn’t let go of him as Vi let go of Keira when she
entered the building. People were forced to move out of their way
so they could both fit through the door together.

Once they made it inside, Cal was not
surprised to see the place was packed and nearly every face was
stricken. Sam was a well-liked man, he had a lot of friends and
this was a shock to all of them.

Those friends closed in on Vi and the girls,
sweeping him up with it as Kate held fast. There were tears, hugs,
kisses and a number of curious glances in his direction.

“Oh, Joe!” he heard a familiar voice cry and
he and Kate turned to see Melissa, Sam’s woman, moving quickly
toward them.

When he met her he thought she was pretty,
light brown hair she’d had streaked, blue eyes, good body, not
tall, not short.

Now she was a mess.

Her hand fell on his arm and she squeezed.
“I’m so glad you drove Vi and the kids up here. I was worried when
she said she’d drive herself.”

Then without waiting for a response she
turned to Kate, pulled Kate into her arms and burst into tears.

Vi glanced at him as he stepped away so Keira
could force herself into Melissa’s embrace and finally Vi entered
it.

Cal looked at the group who were now all
crying then he looked over heads and scanned the room.

He found them standing up front by the closed
casket, Vi’s parents.

The father, looking frail and ravaged and a
million years old, the mother, looking cold and staring at Vi,
Melissa and the girls as if she was watching something
disgusting.

Cal leaned in, his mouth at Vi’s ear and he
whispered, “I’ll be back.”

Her head came up and she nodded then she
tucked her face into the huddle again.

Feeling the eyes following him, Cal walked
straight to Violet’s parents. They were standing next to an
uncomfortable looking black man and woman both about Cal’s age.

He made it to her parents and glanced at the
man.

“I need a word,” he told him, noting he, like
everyone else, was staring at Cal but his gaze was sharper,
shrewder, Cal smelled cop all over him.

Even though Cal thought he made his point,
the man and woman didn’t move away.

So be it.

Cal turned to Vi’s parents. “I’m Joe
Callahan, I’m with Violet.”

Violet’s father was staring up at him, his
mouth open, surprise mingling with the pain etched in his face.
They hadn’t met, not officially and by the look of him, Cal’s being
with Violet came as a shock though, Cal sensed, not an unwelcome
one.

Her mother was staring at his scars, her eyes
cold, the skin of her face indicating she’d had it lifted. Unlike
her husband, it was clear she didn’t think much of Cal.

“I’m Pete Riley, this is my wife, Madeline,”
Vi’s father introduced himself and his wife.

Cal nodded and said, “I’m sorry for your
loss.”

“Thank you,” Pete replied but Madeline again
didn’t speak.

Trying his best give it to them gently, Cal
stated, “I know this day is difficult for you, it’s also difficult
for Vi and the girls. Don’t make it more difficult for her or the
girls by gettin’ in their space unless they make it clear they want
you there. Yeah?”

The black man and his woman made noises, the
man’s low, guttural, the woman’s high, almost sounding like a
strangled giggle but Cal didn’t take his eyes from Vi’s
parents.

“I… you… I don’t believe –” Madeline started,
her eyes going from cold to furious in a heartbeat.

Cal cut her off. “You turned your back on
her, her man and then those girls seventeen years ago, you should
believe.”

Madeline’s eyes turned to slits and she
opened her mouth to speak but Pete got there before her.

“We’ll steer clear,” Pete announced quickly,
still staring up at him.

“
Peter!” Madeline hissed and her husband
leveled his eyes on her.

“
We’ll… steer…
clear,
” Pete repeated in a firm, irritated
voice.

Madeline’s head jerked back in shock and Cal
got the feeling the woman didn’t often get spoken to like that.

It was too bad. Pete might have saved a lot
of heartbreak if he’d brought her into line a long time ago.

“Appreciate it,” Cal muttered, said not
another word, turned and walked away.

“Callahan,” he heard when he was five feet
from Vi and the girls and Cal turned back to see the black man and
woman had followed him.

“I know you?” Cal asked the man, his eyes
moving to the woman and then back.

“Nope, but I know you. Alec Colton’s told me
about you,” the man said.

“You know Colt?” Cal asked.

“
Nope again, talked to him on the phone,”
he stuck his hand out, “I’m Barry Pryor, Tim’s partner.”

Fucking great, the dead husband’s
partner.

Cal took the man’s hand and shook it, Barry
going for the gusto; Cal giving it back and then Barry broke it
off, suddenly grinning.

“This is my wife, Pam.”

“I think I love you,” was her totally bizarre
greeting.

Cal didn’t respond but took her offered hand
and shook it too.

“
Tim wanted to say that to them for,
freakin’,
ever,
” Pam told
him then went on. “Well, not that, what he wanted to say would’ve
had a whole lot of f-words but that did the trick.” She leaned into
him. “If I didn’t think I’d get stoned by all Sam’s friends, I’d
have laughed myself silly.”

“They wouldn’t stone you, baby, Sam would
retch at this scene,” Barry told his wife and then looked at Cal.
“You told Sam he was gonna buy it, he’d tell you to cremate him,
take his ashes to Rico’s or Hoolihan’s, pour a Guinness in it and
dump it in Lake Michigan. That was, after everyone got blitzed out
of their fuckin’ brains.”

Pam leaned to her husband and whispered,
“Barry, don’t say fuck in a house of God.”

“Pam, this isn’t a house of God, it’s a
fuckin’ funeral parlor.”

Pam gave Barry an irate look then rolled her
eyes at Cal and Cal decided he liked Barry and Pam.

“Uncle Barry! Auntie Pam!” Keira cried
loudly, rounded Cal and threw herself at Barry.

Barry’s arms went around the girl and he bent
his head so his lips were at her hair. “Hey, little donut.”

“Auntie Pam,” Kate came around his other side
and walked into Pam’s outstretched arms.

“Hey, shug-shug-sugar,” Pam whispered in
Kate’s ear.

Violet, limping but trying to hide it, moved
awkwardly to Cal’s side and stopped several feet away, standing,
favoring her foot and waiting her turn. She got it after Kate and
Keira changed arms then Vi moved in for a big hug from Barry then a
longer one with some swinging back and forth from Pam.

Then she stepped back, Cal leaned in, caught
her with a hand at her hip and pulled her into his side. Her head
snapped up to look at him as her body pressed against his hand to
get away but he held her firm and he held her close and looked down
at her.

“Take your weight off that foot,” he
ordered.

“Cal –”

“Weight off that foot.”

“Cal –”

“Buddy, take your fuckin’ weight off that
foot before you tear the stitches.”

Violet glared at him and he heard Barry
speak.

“What stitches?”

“It’s nothing,” Vi answered.

“Vi got emotional when she heard about Sam,
threw around some shit, glass broke, she cut her foot,” Cal
answered.

“Cal!” Violet snapped and Cal looked down at
her, brows raised.

“Stitches? Oh Vi, does it hurt? You need to
sit down, baby,” Pam advised.

“I’m fine,” Vi lied.

“Take a load off then, got a tall drink a’
water beside you, girl, use it,” Barry put in, nodding his head to
Cal.

“Really, like I said, I’m fine,” Vi
repeated.

“Stubborn,” Pam shook her head at Cal.

Cal didn’t reply and didn’t take his arm from
Violet.

“Hey guys,” Melissa joined their group,
sliding arms around both Keira and Kate. “They want to start. Let’s
get his stupid head trip of Madeline’s over with so we can go to
Hoolihan’s.”

“Mel, honey, I told you yesterday. We can’t
go to Hoolihan’s with you, the girls can’t come in,” Violet told
her.

“Oh yeah, right,” Melissa whispered, looking
startled for a second that this hadn’t sunk in then she kissed the
side of Kate’s head then Keira’s.

“I want you to come down soon, be with us for
a weekend or for awhile, get away from here, get away from –” Vi
started but Melissa interrupted her.

“Soon’s I can, Vi-oh-my.”

At Melissa using Sam’s nickname for his
sister, Violet finally gave him her weight, so much of it, her hand
came around and she clutched his shirt at his stomach to remain
standing. Part of this was good, her doing it, part of it was bad
because she didn’t notice she was.

“Good,” Vi whispered but her voice sounded
choked.

Cal watched Melissa swallow and both Vi’s
girls pulled in their lips.

“This sucks, doesn’t it?” Melissa whispered
back to Vi.

“I still can’t believe it,” Vi whispered to
Melissa.

“Wake up and reach for him –” Melissa
stopped, Kate dropped her head but Pam pulled her in her arms as
Keira moved around and hugged Melissa front-to-front.

Barry cleared his throat.

“Callahan, let’s get our girls to their
seats,” Barry suggested to Cal, Cal nodded and they herded the
women to the front row, opposite the aisle from where Pete and
Madeline were sitting, the whole row to themselves. Sam’s friends
clearly weren’t big fans of Pete and Madeline.

Kate maneuvered the seating arrangement so it
was Keira, Melissa, Violet, Cal, Kate, Pam and Barry.

“I still can’t believe they planned this
ridiculous farce,” Melissa hissed when they were seated, her eyes
cutting to Madeline then back to Violet. “Shoulda married him, Vi,
woulda had my say how the funeral would be.”

“We’ll get through this then the burial then
you can get to Hoolihan’s, honey,” Vi returned.

“They even get near me, I’ll rip their heads
off,” Melissa threatened and Pam leaned forward and into Kate.

“No worry with that, Joe here warned them
off,” Pam informed Melissa.

Violet’s body jerked and Keira, Melissa,
Violet and Kate’s eyes all jerked to Cal.

“What?” Vi asked Cal but Pam answered.

“
Told ‘em not to get into your space, ‘less
you invited them. Sorry, Mel, but I swear, I nearly pee’d my pants
laughing. Then when your Mom got all,” she whirled her hand in the
air, “and said, all snooty, ‘I can’t believe…’ Joe said he didn’t
know how she couldn’t believe since she turned her back on you, Tim
and the girls. I’m writin’ that shit in my diary. Crap day, the
worst, but always a little light shines through. That’s my light
today, seeing Madeline Riley’s face when Joe was through with
her.”

Pam stopped talking but Keira, Melissa,
Violet and Kate didn’t stop staring at Cal.

“Did you really say that?” Melissa asked.

“Yep,” Cal answered.

Tears filled her eyes, she drew in breath
through her nose, swallowed and, after this struggle, finally
whispered, “Somewhere, Sam and Tim are both smiling.”

Kate, Cal noted, was smiling too. Keira, Cal
saw, was now staring at her shoes. Vi was still staring at him.

Then she surprised him by saying, “Thank you.
I don’t know what I’d have done if Mom –”

While she was talking, he lifted an arm and
draped it along the back of her chair, dipped his chin, got close
to her face and cut her off.

“Shut up, buddy.”

“Okay,” she whispered.

The girls were there, her friends, her
parents and he didn’t give a fuck. He dipped in closer and kissed
her lightly on the lips. When he pulled away, those lips had parted
and her eyes had grown wide.

Because she looked cute as hell, as well as
totally lost, his arm curled from her chair to her shoulder and he
pulled her into his body. Then he did the same to Kate on the other
side. Kate curled into him and wrapped an arm around his stomach,
resting her head on his shoulder.

Something had broken for Kate the day she
found out about her uncle, it was clear. She’d lost two men in her
life that meant everything to her. She was holding on with all she
had to anyone who was left. Even Cal.

Vi looked at her daughter then she looked
across Cal to Pam.

“
Like him, girl,” Pam whispered then winked
at Vi, “keeper.”

Vi straightened and looked at the casket.

Cal grinned and felt Barry’s eyes on him so
he turned his head.

Barry was looking at Kate then he looked at
Cal then he sighed and gave Cal a nod.

Score another one for Cal and Kate, a big
score, the dead husband’s partner and his wife, huge.

The minister took the podium and Cal turned
to face front.

* * * * *

I stared out the window as Chicago slid
by.

Cal had said we were going to dinner
before hitting the road and I didn’t argue. Sam’s memorial
(so
not
Sam and
so
very
my mother)
and his burial (ditto with it not being Sam, who wanted to be
cremated but was buried because of my fucking mother) had taken it
out of me. They were long, they were wordy and the pastor who spoke
at both knew not one thing about Sam (nor did Mom arrange it so
anyone else could say a freaking word). And I hadn’t had anything
but a couple of pieces of toast for breakfast. I was angry, hungry
and exhausted and I hoped, after I ate, that I’d sleep all the way
home.