Beneath the Tombstone (The Tombstone Series) (2 page)

“Ate
them,” Ken answered, giving his stomach a happy rub.

“You
sure you didn’t stick them in your pockets?” Jason asked, pretending to be
doubtful. The question received a giggle from the boy. “Maybe I’d better pat
your tummy down just to make sure they’re in there,” he said with a mischievous
grin as he reached over towards the boy’s stomach. Ken pooched it out.

“Yep,
sure feels like they’re in there to me,” Jason said while probing the bulge.
“It feels like there’s one right here!” he exclaimed while grabbing the boy’s
far side right above his hip bone.

Squealing
and laughing, Ken lunged away from the hand that was wrapped around his lower
back, almost landing him in his uncle’s lap. Jason, in retaliation, grabbed the
boy’s other side yelling, “And I think there’s one right around here, too!” The
boy howled with delight as he sprang back the way he’d come.

After
all the excitement had calmed down and three hotdogs later, which is what it
took to get Ken’s tummy full, he sat beside his uncle watching the sun make its
way toward the snowcapped Spanish Peaks. Jason inhaled deeply, indulging in the
rich smell of spring before casting a glance at his nephew. Maybe kids weren’t
so bad. Maybe he could be a father, after all. Might be the very thing he and
Misty needed to spice up their marriage. He leaned back against the rail and
laced his fingers together behind his head as he felt the world breeze by at a
leisurely pace.

- - - - - -

The
last rays of dancing sunlight cast evening shadows over the highway, causing
light to flash in an inconsistent sequence across the face of Jason as he drove
along, lost in his own world of thought. He tapped his fingers on the steering
wheel to the tempo of a song that he whistled as it ran threw his head. Honestly,
the words to the song were out of memory’s reach, but it was a tune his mother
had once hummed as she worked around the house. Those times had been good and
happy, back before the… Jason shook his head, trying to deflect the negative
thought creeping into his mind. He wasn’t going there.

Having
just dropped Ken off, he was headed straight home to see Misty. Boy, was she
going to be surprised when he told her it might be time to start thinking about
converting the guest bedroom into a baby room. “I’d better be careful,” he
mumbled to himself and smiled, “or she’ll want to start renovations tonight.”

As
Jason swung into the driveway, he received a warm welcome. Before he could even
get the truck stopped, his golden retriever, Dixie, jumped off the porch,
racing out to meet him. A smile seemed to grace her lips. In his mind, she was
the perfect example of what a woman and a wife should be. She was crazy about
him, and in all of their years together, she’d never had one bad or negative
thing to say on his behalf.

The
very moment he opened the door to his truck, she leapt up into his lap, her big
hazel brown eyes shining with excitement and affection. They spoke volumes of
her undying trust and dedication. She leaned towards him… then licked him right
on the lips.
Yuck.
That was just too much.

“Alright,
easy girl, easy,” Jason chuckled, trying to get her out of his face.  He
loved his dog, but she knew nothing of personal boundaries… though he did wish
some of her lovable traits would rub off on his wife. It seemed that here
lately, Misty had learned too much about personal boundaries.

Attempting
to cleanse himself of dog hair and slobber, Jason headed for the steps, pulse
racing from the anticipation of breaking the news about his change of heart to
Misty. He could just see the disbelieving look that would be on her face right
before she flung herself into his arms. Trying to control the grin about to
break out on his face, Jason walked up to the door and almost knocked. Lowering
his hand, he shook his head. He wasn’t sure why he was so nervous. It wasn’t
like he was asking her out on a first date. On the other hand, it was a huge
milestone that they were passing in their marriage.

He
opened the door and there she was, sitting at their oak dinner table, surrounded
by pictures on the walls of horses, cows, and golden sunsets. When they had
first gotten married, Misty had warned him that if he was moving her close to
the city, she was bringing the country along. Well, she certainly had. The
outside looked like most of the other houses on the block, but on the inside,
she had turned it into something akin a barn. The facet for the sink looked
more like a pump-jack. Rusty fencing pliers lay on an end-table. Propped in
different corners around the living room was an old rake, an old hoe, an old
shovel, some sort of old rifle, an old axe… an old axe? – Well, that was new.
Other old gadgets hung from the walls, sat on shelves and were, in some form or
another, scattered throughout the entire house.

Anytime
Jason harassed her about her idea of decorating, she would tell him to build
her a real barn, and she wouldn’t have to pretend anymore. In all honesty,
Misty’s country style had been a part of what attracted Jason to her in the
first place.

Misty
was looking down at a single piece of paper with her back turned towards Jason
as he approached. She had the fingers of one hand laced through her long, dark
hair, pulling it back, revealing one of her ears. Seeing it made Jason want to
sneak up behind her, lean down and whisper something sweet into it. His eyes
traced from there down along the jaw line he wanted to caress, down to the lips
he wanted to kiss, over to the cheek bone that he longed to feel resting
against his shoulder.

Thoughts
of love and romance made his heart race, but when he got close and looked into
her eyes, a sense of dread filled his chest. He wasn’t sure what, but something
was definitely wrong. Instead of the spark that he had hoped would be there, a
weary haze haunted her eyes. Jason had seen that look before, sadly quite often
here lately. It was never good. His only hope was in it not being caused by
something he’d done. He tried to recall if he had said anything that morning
before leaving for work that may have left her stewing all day. Nope, he drew a
blank. He had even agreed, without a terrible amount of argument, on taking Ken
to the baseball game. It could have been caused by something else though. Maybe
it had something to do with the piece of paper before her. Unfortunately, there
was only one way to find out.

“My,
you sure look busy,” he spoke warily.

“I
am,” she replied bluntly without looking up. Of all the answers and all the
greetings and all the reactions to all the things he had anticipated, something
so cold was not on Jason’s list. She continued to remain silent, showing that
she wasn’t going to just hand over the information regarding who or what had
put her in such a foul mood.

“Is
everything okay with your family?” he asked, the awkward silence becoming more
than he could bear.

Misty
looked up across the table at the picture on the wall of her with her family,
taken when she was about ten. “Yes Jason, my family is fine,” she sighed then
paused as a tear rolled down one cheek, “but ours isn’t.” Her voice quivered,
and more tears began to flow.

Everything
within Jason turned to ice, and anxiety filled his stomach as he stood there
wondering what he’d done. “What’s wrong?” he asked after a few moments, a quiet
and hollow tone to his voice.

“Wrong?”
Misty asked incredibly as she wiped a tear from her eyes. “Oh no, nothing’s
wrong,” she continued. “I was just sitting here admiring the latest addition to
our credit card bill collection. Isn’t it pretty?” she asked sarcastically as
she held up the sheet of paper for him to see. She brought it back down to the
table, her hand thudding against the wood and began trying to iron the crease
out of the bill with her finger. It looked more like she was trying to dig a
hole through the table. Without stopping her compulsive behavior or turning to
him she asked, “Jason, why did you get another credit card? Wasn’t three
enough?”

She
had caught him completely off guard. “I…I,” he stammered like a clown. “They
were supposed to send that bill to my office,” he added like a fool.

That
got Misty to turn around. “Your office?” she demanded.
The tears were beginning to dry from her eyes and were being replaced with
resentment. “Was that somehow supposed to make me feel better?”

Jason
shook his head slightly, not so much saying that it shouldn’t make her feel
better but that he simply didn’t know. There seemed to be a lot of things that
he didn’t know. He didn’t know the answer to her question; as a matter of fact,
he didn’t know the answer to most of her questions. “I just didn’t want you to
be bothered with it,” he finally said with a sigh.

“Not
bothered with it?” Misty asked out of bewildered anger. “And I suppose you
think that not knowing where all of our money goes
doesn’t
bother me?
And what in the world made you think that we – excuse me, I mean
you
–
why did
you
need a new credit card, Jason?”

Jason
looked away from her fiery gaze towards the wall. “I don’t know,” he answered
defenselessly. He certainly didn’t want to tell her the truth, which was he had
maxed out the other three. “It was zero percent interest for eighteen months,
so I thought it might be a good deal.”

“
Might
be a good deal?” Misty asked like she could not even begin to grasp such a
concept. “Tell me Jason, did you think that the nine-hundred and eighty-six
dollars and seventeen cents worth of stuff that you bought on it
might
be a good deal, too?”

Jason
didn’t answer, mainly because he still didn’t know what to say. Misty, on the
other hand, was under no such handicap. “You tell me we can’t afford to have
children, but then you go off and blow almost a thousand dollars on I don’t
even know what,” she said, throwing her hands up in the air. “Do you know how
far that would go towards a baby?” Not giving him a chance to answer, she
injected, “Well I don’t know either, but I’d like to find out.” She took a
small intermission, calmed down a bit then continued, “Jason, we make good
money, don’t we? I mean, you have told me the truth about that, right?”

By
now Jason had lost all desire to speak. Any kind of excitement and happiness
he’d felt had been drained away. She had a way of doing that. He just nodded in
response to her question, eyes still on the wall.

“Where
does it all go?” she pleaded. “How is it possible that we can’t provide for a
few children?” She looked lost and helpless. Her voice had gone from being mean
and accusing, to a sad and begging tone... plus the tears were beginning to
well back up in her eyes.

The
imploring sound of her voice and the hopeless look on her face were pulling at
Jason’s heart, but there was no way he was going to tell her that he’d changed
his mind about children. Not now. Not after this. The previously rehearsed
words he had planned on using to break the news to her crossed his mind but
didn’t pass his lips. Pride was building. She had no right to talk to him that
way. She had hurt him – hadn’t given him a chance to explain, but now she was
finally beginning to show weakness, therefore it was time to settle the score.

“If
you knew I was such a loser then why’d you marry me?” he asked coldly.

Jason
expected her to be caught off guard and stammer around as she tried to explain
that she still loved him and didn’t regret marrying him, but instead he saw a
look of remorse and desperation in her eyes before he heard her half whisper,
“It’s times like this that make me wonder.” She paused for a moment and wiped a
tear from her cheek. “It feels like you don’t even care anymore.”

Jason
stood in silence for a moment. She hadn’t back-pedaled. He had to come up with
something to say that would make it all better. “I do care,” he stressed. Okay,
that wasn’t it.

She
looked up at him, and with all of her heart she earnestly said, “Then prove
it.” Only three little words, useless when apart but, when linked together,
they hold the essence of life. A word without an action is as dead as a
marriage without either.

There
was a long pause as Misty waited on him to act or speak or something. Jason
finally did speak, but in so doing, he drove a wedge of conclusion between
them. “Well, I guess you won that one,” was all he said.

Misty
let out a long disappointed sigh. That, combined with the look in her eyes,
said that they were reaching the end of a very lonely and sad chapter in the
book of their lives. She lowered her head, shaking it as the tears flowed
freely. She looked up after a bit, wiping her eyes as she spoke. “If I really
won then why do I feel so lost?”

When
had her tears stopped having a softening effect on his heart? Not so long ago,
a few tears and then
bam
, his hard heart would melt like butter that had
sat too long in the hot summer sun. Now days, they just made him feel all the
more distant from her. He hoped it was only a passing thing but, at the moment,
he had no desire to wipe away the streams that ran down her face. He had no
desire to hold her. He had no desire to tell her that they were going to be
okay. He had no desire.

Finally,
Misty got the tears wiped from her eyes, rose from the table and said, “I don’t
know what’s wrong with you, but I do know one thing – I’m through trying to
figure it out. Go see a psychiatrist or something.” With that she brushed past,
leaving him standing alone with her last words ringing in his ears.