Bird Song (53 page)

Janice laughed as she took the album back from Dad and flipped through the pages herself, touching the raised photo corners and admiring the vellum page separators.
 
“You’re Grace’s best friend, Graham.
 
I think I speak for both of us when I say that you’re a part of this family; we care about you very much and appreciate you being in our lives as well as Grace’s.”

Graham’s cheeked turned red at all of this affection, something he was not used to receiving at home, and he quickly turned his attention back to his breakfast.
 
“Hey Grace, is Robert coming to pick you up this morning?” he asked, trying to change the subject to alleviate his discomfort.

“Yeah, he’ll be here in a few minutes,” I replied as I finished the last bite of my toast and yogurt.
 
“Why?”

Graham pushed his eggs around his plate before answering.
 
“I needed to give him something.”

I stared into my empty yogurt cup and nodded.
 
He wasn’t going to tell me, not wanting to cause any more strife between Robert and I, and I felt both grateful and resentful at the same time.
 
It shouldn’t have to feel this way, but it did and I hated it.

“Do you think he’d mind if I brought you back home?
 
I have to go and grab a whole bunch of clothes from my house, and I thought you could help me out—you know, pick stuff out for me so that I don’t look like a total dork.”

I looked up and smiled, shaking my head.
 
“He’ll be alright with it, but I’m pretty sure he’d rather you take him along because we all know my taste in clothing bites.”

“Well, how about the both of you come then?”

I stared at him in shock.
 
“Are you sure?”

“Yeah—you’re a package deal, and if that means a better sense of style, I guess I’ve got no complaints.”

I laughed at that, lightly punching his arm and laughing even more when he pretended it had hurt.
 
“We’ll all just meet back here after school.”

“Sweet.”

Dad coughed and I turned to face him.
 
“Yeah, Dad?”

He glanced between Graham and I and let out a deep sigh.
 
“I was just wondering when you and Robert became a ‘package deal’, and why Graham is suddenly so okay with it.
 
It just reminds me that you’re no longer seven…and I’m going to be starting all over again.”

Janice began to laugh this time and patted his shoulder reassuringly.
 
“It’s alright, James.
 
Boys are supposed to be easier.”

Dad chuckled and pointed to the layered shirt and jeans ensemble I had on.
 
“I didn’t raise a prissy princess—or even a regular princess.
 
Grace has always been independent, self-sufficient, and just plain easy.
 
It’s just-” he seemed to struggle with the words as he looked at me and then quickly away “-watching her grow up has been one of the best experiences in my life.
 
 
And to see her make her own path in life, rather than follow the ones that others want her to…it would have made her mother very proud—it makes me proud.”

“Aw, Dad,” I groaned and brushed my hand against my eyes, desperately trying to hide the moisture there.

The doorbell ringing alerted us to Robert’s arrival and I jumped up, embarrassed at my obvious glee that he was here, but also anxious to see him and speak to him about Graham’s plan.

“I’ll get it,” Graham said and pushed me back down into my chair.

“Oh,” I huffed and watched him walk off towards the door.

Dad chuckled.
 
“You didn’t actually think that Graham was going to let you speak to Robert first and tell him that he needs help picking out his clothes, did you?
 
Coming from the queen of the fashionably challenged?”

I rolled my eyes and slouched in my seat, knowing that Robert had already heard everything that we had said; and what he didn’t hear voiced, he surely had seen in our thoughts.

Graham and Robert walked into the kitchen together several minutes later and I had to blink a few times to reassure myself that I was seeing the same two individuals who had always seemed at odds with each other, even when there was no reason to be.
 
They were laughing and joking about something that I obviously wasn’t privy to, and I felt…jealous.
 
I closed my eyes and reopened them once more in shock—was I really jealous?

Robert looked at me, an amused and slightly smug smile on his face.
 
My eyes narrowed.
 
“Are you ready to go, Princess?”

My mouth gaped and my gaze whipped to Graham who blushed red with guilt.
 
“You. Are. So. Dead.”

Robert, Graham and Dad burst into raucous laughter and I turned to look at Janice, hoping for a little double-x chromosome help from her, but she shook her head and tried to stifle her laughter with one hand while the other rested protectively on her belly.
 
“Sorry, Grace,” she apologized between giggles.
 
“Matthew is making me laugh.”
 
She patted the mound of baby beneath her hand and I shook my head.

“He’s not even out of the womb yet and he’s already laughing at me.
 
Some big sister I’m going to make,” I sighed.

“You’re going to be a fantastic big sister,” Janice insisted, and Dad nodded, though his continued laughter did little to convince me of his sincerity.

Graham bobbed his head as well and grinned at me.
 
“He’ll just get all of his sports advice from his Uncle Graham and his fashion advice from his brother-in-law Robert.”

The sudden quiet spoke volumes.

“I went a little too far, didn’t I?”

When no one answered him, he nodded his head slowly and then pointed towards the living room.
 
“I think I’ll go and get my stuff to head out.”

I looked at Robert and then at Dad, who appeared as though he had just swallowed his coffee mug whole…with scorching hot coffee still inside.
 
“Okay, I think it’s time we went, too,” I announced nervously and grabbed Robert’s hand, pulling him outside before an unnecessary questioning began.

We were on the bike and halfway down the street before Robert finally asked me what was wrong.
 
I pressed my forehead against his leather-clad back and sighed.
 
“He just got through nearly breaking down over me growing up.
 
Can you imagine how he must feel now after hearing that comment about you being my baby brother’s brother-in-law?”

Robert said nothing to that and remained quiet as we rode to the school; I was too busy thinking about what it was that Graham had given to Robert to notice the expression on his face.

***

 
“So the wedding is just a few days away,” I said casually while staring at Janice’s little SUV sitting in the driveway while waiting for Graham to arrive after school.

“Yes,” Robert replied.

I fidgeted with my feet, my fingers doing a mad dance of nervousness as I tried to word the question right in my head, unsure of how exactly to go about doing this without sounding so…dorky.

“Yes.”

I looked at him confused.
 
“What?”

He smiled and tipped my chin up with his fingers, gently running down the length of my jaw with the tip of his thumb.
 
“Yes.
 
I’ll be your date for the wedding.
 
That’s what you were going to ask, right?”

“Um…yeah,” I answered, embarrassed.
 
“Wow, that was easier than I thought.
 
I’ve never asked anyone out on a date before—I’ve never had an opportunity before—and I thought maybe you’d feel uncomfortable being asked by a girl.”

Robert’s hand trailed up to my ear and he gently squeezed the lobe between his thumb and forefinger as his other fingers tickled the nape of my neck.
 
“You can ask me anything, Grace.”

I nodded uncomfortably.
 
“I just thought that maybe you’d say no.”

“And pass up an opportunity to see you in a dress again?
 
Never,” he kidded, his other hand rising to brush against my cheek.
 
“You are going to wear a dress, right?”

“I don’t know,” I said, shrugging my shoulders.
 
“Janice has something hidden away in a bag that she won’t let me see.
 
I think she feels if I don’t see it until the day of the wedding I won’t be able to think of any excuses not to wear it.”

Robert smiled and looked over to the house.
 
I watched as an expression of deep concentration crossed over his face, soon replaced with one of surprise and then blatant pleasure.
 
“
Ahh
,” he said, smiling.

“What?”

He turned to look at me, his smile doing funny things to my insides.
 
“Even if you could come up with a viable reason to not wear it, I wouldn’t let you.”

I gasped at his little disclosure.
 
“You saw it!”

Nodding, he laughed.
 
“I did, but I won’t have the pleasure of seeing you in it again until the wedding, so we’re both going into this blind.”

I turned my back to him, fuming.
 
“I cannot believe you get to see it before I do.
 
No—you don’t get to see it before I do—you stole a peek in Janice’s head to see it.”
 
I spun around to face him again and glared at his obvious amusement.
 
“That’s not fair.”

Robert bent down to kiss the tip of my nose.
 
“You’re adorable when you’re left out of the loop.”

There were a few choice words that I would have liked to say to him but I put them aside as two cars pulled up.
 
The rusted green car I recognized; the other I did as well, but didn’t want to see.

“The police are here to speak to you about Mr. Frey,” Robert announced as he stood in front of me protectively.

“What about?” I asked.
 
Though it had been a week since Mr. Frey had turned himself in, the police had yet to announce the arrest and I wasn’t about to announce anything to anyone, since I wasn’t even supposed to know.

“It’s not good,” he replied as two officers approached me, one with what looked like an envelope in his hand.

“Grace Shelley?” the one with the envelope asked.
 
When I nodded, he handed me the envelope with a grim expression on his face.
 
“I’ve come to formally notify you that we’ve arrested the individual who ran you over in September.
 
You will recognize his name, it’s Mr. Oliver Frey, your homeroom teacher.”

Pretend you’re shocked.

I looked at Robert and then at the officer, trying my best to appear surprised by the news.
 
“Wow—Mr. Frey?
 
He-he was always so…quiet,” I said with as much excitement as I could manage.

“What’s this about Mr. Frey?”

We all turned to see Graham and Stacy standing beside Robert—Stacy with a large, empty duffel bag slung onto her shoulder.
 
She looked at me and then at the envelope in my hand and gasped.
 
“It was Mr. Frey?”
 
Her surprise was a testament to how small our circle was—the whole school knew and yet Graham and Stacy managed to remain oblivious to it all.

The officer who had been empty handed came forward and wedged himself between his partner and me.
 
“Miss Shelley, in that envelope are some forms that we’ll need you to sign.
 
We also have to speak to your father, since you were a minor when the incident occurred, to go over a few details that are described in those forms.”

I opened the envelope and pulled out the packet of papers and began to go over it, nodding as each detail that had been voiced to me by Mr. Frey himself was listed.
 
I saw the signature at the bottom of his statement and then proceeded to the next page.

“What does this say?” I asked the officer, pointing to the sheet in front.

“That’s an incident report, Miss Shelley,” he replied.
 
“While in custody, Mr. Frey somehow managed to leave his jail cell.
 
We were afraid that he had escaped and were prepared to alert you to his involvement, but he was discovered an hour later in a back storage room that we sometimes use for interrogations.

“He was dead.”

If I had to pretend shock before, there was no need to now.
 
“Dead?
 
From what?”

The officer looked at his partner before pointing to the same sheet of paper.
 
“It’s listed right there.
 
We didn’t come sooner because we wanted to be sure that our report to you was complete.”

I skimmed through the descriptions of the discovering officer and found the final sentence at the bottom of the page.
 
“Pulmonary embolism?”