Jacob, Jordan, and Maddie wrote their reports and handed them into their father at dinner that night. David, in return, did NOT make his children go to Temple the following night. They were all still grounded until their parents said otherwise and they still didn’t get their gifts that night. The only exception to the grounding was Jordan’s performance on New Year’s Eve. When the other children complained, David explained his reasoning. “Jordan performing on New Year’s Eve is going to put money in her pocket. That’s the only reason she’s getting a reprieve that night.” The other kids still groaned, but they didn’t complain any further.
After the holidays, an unexpected visitor popped up. When David answered the door, her saw a familiar face. “Matt! What the hell? Come on in. Where’s Jenn?”
Matt coughed hard as he walked into the house. “She’s parking the car”, he said, his voice harsh and raspy.
“You don’t sound so great, brother in law. Are you ok?”
“Not really, David. I need to talk to you and Brie when Jenn gets in the house. It’s rather important.”
David nodded. “Alright. Your sister is in a massage right now. I swear to you, that woman works entirely too hard.”
Matt laughed, and it turned into another rib cracking cough. When he caught his breath, he nodded. “I know what you mean. She’s always been like that. She left home at 17 because she wanted to be independent. She started working and supporting herself not long after that. She’s always been a hard worker.”
When Jenn came to the door she smiled at David. “Hey, David. How have you been?”
David shrugged. “Can’t complain too much. Your sister in law takes pretty good care of me.”
“Where is she, by the way?”
“Upstairs giving a massage. I’m sure she’ll be down soon. It was one of those Hot Stone things and it’s been damn near an hour and a half. She’ll walk the client out after giving them a bottle of water, then do her notes.”
“We need her…” Jenn started.
Matt cut her off. “No, this can wait until she does her SOAP notes. I need her undivided attention when I give her this information.”
David looked to the stairs as Brie came down them. “Hey, baby, look who’s here”, he said.
She smiled. “Hey big brother. You look like hell. Is everything ok?”
“No, it’s not, but I can wait until you get your client out of here and fill out your notes before I tell you what’s going on. You need to hear this.”
She gave him a look of worry as she opened her file. “Ok”, she said cautiously. “It’s going to take a moment for my client to get down the stairs. I’ll get my notes filled out real fast and after she leaves, you can give us your news. From what I’m gathering, this isn’t going to be good news, either.” She headed toward the Kitchen to sit at the table to fill out her notes after grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge. She finished filling them out as her client came down the stairs. She met the woman at the door. “How are you feeling, Sheryl?”
“I’m feeling a little tired. Is that normal?”
“It is. Hot Stone can take a lot out of you. Are you going back to work after this?”
“NO. I made sure that I had the rest of the day off so that I could go home and recover from this.”
She handed the water to her client. “Be sure to get plenty of rest then, and drink lots of water. You’re pretty dehydrated right now from the stones.”
“Not a problem. Lots of water and get some rest. But, that massage was just what I needed.” The woman pulled her wallet out of her purse and handed Brie a fist full of money. “Your fee and a tip. That was amazing. You deserve that tip.”
Brie smiled. “Thank you. You coming back next week?”
“Sure am, same time?”
Brie went to her appointment book. “How about a little later? I have another appointment this time next week.”
“No problem. Later will actually work out for me a little better. How’s 2:30?”
“Good. I’ll see you next week at 2:30. How about we just do a Swedish massage instead next week?”
“Can I still get my hour and a half?”
“Sure can. I’ll put you down for an hour and a half Swedish massage.”
“Great. I’ll see you next week then.”
“Alright. See you then.” Brie opened the door for her client and watched her walk out to the car. When the woman drove off, she shut the door and headed into the Kitchen to hear the bad news that her brother was there to deliver. She said a silent prayer to whomever was listening. “Please, whomever is up there, if he’s dying, let him go as painlessly as possible.”
--------------
When she was seated next to David, she took his hand and looked Matt straight in the eyes. “Ok, Matthew, what’s the bad news?”
Matt coughed hard, blood coming up into his handkerchief. When he caught his breath, he spoke. “I’m dying, little sister. I was diagnosed with lung cancer about a month ago. It’s just getting worse. Chemo’s not helping. I’ve been given about six months if I discontinue the treatment. If I continue, my life expectancy is cut in half.”
She swallowed hard and squeezed David’s hand. “You’re terminal?”
More coughing from Matt as he nodded. Jenn took over from there. “Yeah, he’s terminal. There’s nothing they can do. The best we can hope for is a donor lung, but that’s even looking grim.” She pounded in his back to help her get up the shit he was coughing up from his dying lungs.
David closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Do they have any ideas what might have cause it? I know you never smoked.”
“All the shit I inhaled in the Marine Corps. There were so many chemicals that they exposed me to, any of them could have caused the mutation of the cells.”
“So, what do you want us to do, Mattie?” Brie asked her brother.
He smiled. “You called me ‘Mattie’.”
“Yes, I did. Now, will you answer my question?”
“I want to move close by so that I can be around family when I go. I was wondering if you two had any ideas of any good real estate nearby.”
David and Brie exchanged a look. “I don’t know if there’s anything nearby that you can buy, but we’ll look around”, David said. “And, Malachai and his fiancée just moved out into the old guest house, so we’ve got a spare bedroom if you two want to move in here until you find a place.”
Matt and Jenn both stared at David. “Are you serious?” Jenn asked as Matt went into another coughing fit.
“Yes. You two are family. Our door is always open to family”, Brie said.
“If you two are certain, then we can send for our things”, Jenn said with a smile.
“We’re serious, Jenn. You two are more than welcome to stay here until you find a house of your own”, David said, his face showing how serious he was.
“Thank you, brother”, Matt said in his raspy voice.
“No problem, Matt. Like your sister said, you’re family. Our door will always be opened to you.”
--------------
After Matt and Jenn left, David and Brie had the unpleasant task of informing the kids of the bad news. Malachai and Amanda came in for the announcement. After they told the kids, they watched the break down with stone faces. They knew that they had to be strong for their children.
Jordan’s knees gave from underneath her. Jacob had to catch her. He helped his twin sister into a chair as she broke down and tried to comfort her. “He’s gonna be ok, Jord. This is Uncle Matt we’re talking about. He’s not going out without a fight.”
Malachai left his future wife’s side to help his younger brother comfort his younger sister. “Jake’s right, Jordan. Uncle Matt’s a Marine. He’s not going to just lie down and let this beat him.” He looked up and spotted the bloody handkerchief on the table. He looked at his parents. “Mom. Dad.” He glanced at the eyesore on the table.
Brie reached out and grabbed it to throw it away as David comforted Maddie. After she sat back down, she was bum rushed by her younger children. The quads and Jessi and Marc were all in tears as they clung to their mother. All she could do was hug them as close to her as she could and let them cry. She glanced up at David. His face was stone. He showed no emotion, but she knew he was hurting. She was too, but neither of them let it show.
Amanda cleared her throat. “This is a family thing and I think I’ll go back out to our house while you guys all comfort each other. This is one of the times where I’m not really family. I don’t know Uncle Matt, so I really can’t be broken up about it.” She looked at Malachai. “I’ll see you at the house, baby.”
He nodded. “I should be back out there soon.”
--------------
After everything had settled down in his parent’s house, Malachai went back out to his little house where his future wife waited for him. The moment he walked into his home, she threw her arms around him. “Baby, I’m so sorry to hear about your Uncle”, she whispered in his ear.
He let out small sob. “Uncle Matt was my other inspiration in life”, he said softly.
She squeezed his tightly. “It’s ok to cry, you know”, she whispered to him. “It doesn’t mean you’re weak if you cry.”
He let himself feel his grief and sobbed into her shoulder. She gently pulled him over to the couch as he sobbed silently into her shoulder. She knew this pain. She’d felt it before ;the day that her parents died in that fateful car accident several years before. She might not have remembered much about them, but she remember the day they died. It was the day that her life changed forever. She’d spend five years bouncing from foster family to foster family until they found her mother’s sister. Then her life became living hell.
She pushed the thoughts from her mind. Her fiancé needed her now. He needed her to be strong for him. She might not know the man that the only family she’d ever really known was grieving over, but if she had heard her in- laws correctly, she’d have a short period of time to get to know him. He would be living there either until he passed away or he and his wife found a place to live nearby. What better way to be able to learn about the other man that inspired her man than for him to live on the property. She was going to be able to feel a portion of her fiancés grief because she was going to be sure that she had the opportunity to sit and talk with him when he moved into the house.
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