When Jenn got up the next morning, she followed her usual routine. She took a quick shower then went downstairs to get Matt’s meds and a glass of juice for him to take them with. When she got back upstairs to their room, she gently shook him to wake him up. “Matt, honey, it’s time to wake up.” He didn’t move. “Matt, come on, sweetie. This isn’t funny. You need to wake up to take your meds.” Still he didn’t move. She laid a hand on the bare skin of his face. He was cold to the touch. Her heart sank. Please, dear God, don’t have taken him from me in the middle of the night, she thought. She checked his pulse. There was no heart beat. She freaked out. “DAVID! BRIE! I NEED YOU IN HERE NOW!!” she shouted loud enough for them to hear.
It took them both very little time to get up to the bedroom. “What’s wrong, Jenn?” Brie asked.
“It’s Matt. He’s not responding to me trying to wake him and he’s cold to the touch. I think he’s gone.”
Brie walked calmly over to the bed and checked her brother’s pulse. She felt nothing. “Dear Lord”, she said under her breath.
“What is it, baby?” David asked.
“He’s dead, David”, Brie said as calmly as she could manage.
“Fuck”, he said passionately under his breath. “What are we going to do with the kids?”
“Send them to school as usual. We’ll pull them out early after the coroner has come and removed the body. We’ll tell them then. Get Malachai and Amanda up and have them take the kids to school.” She was on the verge of losing control of her emotions.
David crossed the room and pulled his wife into his arms. “It’s ok, baby. He’s not suffering anymore”, he said. He was trying to remain strong for his wife and her sister in law. He’d have his break down later.
She pushed him away. “I know, honey, but we need to BOTH be strong for the kids and get them to school before we give into our grief”, she said on the verge of tears. She took a deep breath and pushed back the tears that were stinging at the backs of her eyes.
David cleared his throat so that he could speak past the lump in his throat. He too had tears trying to leak out his eyes, but he understood what his wife was talking about. “Ok, so, I’ll go get Malachai and Amanda up so that they can take the kids to school and we’re going to act like nothing is going on. Am I right in that assessment?”
“Yes”, Jenn said. “Nothing out of the ordinary is happening. We fake it until we make it.”
“Do I tell Malachai and Amanda?”
“You can so that they know what’s going on, but none of the children younger than sixteen need to know just yet and they DON’T need to be here when the body is removed from the house”, Brie said.
He took a deep breath and nodded. “Ok, let’s get this charade on the road, then.” He took Brie in his arms on more time before leaving the room. “I’ll be back in as quickly as possible.” He placed a kiss on her cheek then turned to leave.
“Jenn, as soon as Matt’s body is removed, you and I are going to sit down and have a good cry over this, ok?” Brie told her sister in law, her voice on the verge of breaking.
Jenn looked up at her sister in law with tears in her eyes and all she could do it nod.
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David knocked on Malachai and Amanda’s door. Malachai answered it rubbing his eyes. “Yeah, Dad?”
David cleared his throat again. “You mother and I need you to take your brothers and sisters to school this morning. Something’s happened and we need to be here with your Aunt Jenn.”
“What’s going on, Dad?” Malachai asked, suddenly more alert. As he waited on his father to compose himself, he thought to himself, Please, Lord, don’t let it be Uncle Matt.
He should have been so lucky. “Your uncle passed last night in his sleep. Your mother and I are going to pull your siblings out of school later today to tell them. Right now, it’s business as usual. They go to school and no one’s the wiser.”
Malachai could see that his father’s self control was hanging by a thread. He’d do what he could to take some of this burden off of his parent’s shoulders. “Ok, I’ll get Mandy up and we’ll take the other kids to school. I won’t tell them anything. I’ll leave that to you, Mom, and Aunt Jenn.”
“Thank you, Malachai”, David said, his voice cracking just a little bit. A stranger wouldn’t have noticed, but this was Malachai he was talking to. If anyone would notice, it was his son.
There was nothing that Malachai could say to console his father at that moment. He just clapped him on the shoulder and said, “No problem, Dad”, and went back into his house to wake his fiancée and get dressed.
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“Is everyone ready to go to school?” Malachai asked when he walked into the kitchen.
Jordan looked at her older brother. “’Chai, maybe you can answer a question for me.”
“What’s up, Jord?”
“What are Mom and Dad acting so weird?”
“I don’t know anymore that you do, little sister.” He looked at all of his younger siblings. “Does everyone have their school bags? No one’s missing a shoe, right?”
“You’re lying, Malachai. You know something and you’re not telling us. Is it something to do with Uncle Matt? If so, we have the right to know”, Jordan pushed.
“It’s not my place, Jordan.”
“GOD DAMN IT, MALACHAI”! she yelled. “TELL US WHAT’S GOING ON! YOU KNOW SOMETHING, I CAN TELL!!”
“Jordan Hannah Draiman, you don’t need to yell at your brother to get answers”, David said as he and Brie came into the room.
“Yes, sir. I’m sorry. I’m just frustrated with the fact that something’s going on and no one’s telling us.”
“I understand your frustration, Jordan”, Brie said. “All of you, sit down. We’ll tell you what’s going on.”
“Brie, are you sure?” David asked his wife in a hushed voice.
“We can’t keep it from them any longer, David. They deserve to know.” She looked at her children as David pulled her as close to his side as he could manage. “Kids, what I’m about to tell you is going to hurt, but you still need to go to school for a couple of hours so that we can handle it.” She took a deep breath to steady herself. “Your Uncle Matt passed away sometime during the night last night.”
“What do you mean?” Maddie asked. “Uncle Matt’s dead?”
“Yes, Maddie. Your Uncle Matt’s dead”, David said as he choked on his grief. He took a deep breath to steady himself. “But, like your mother said, you all still need to go to school until we can handle this. We’ll come get you in a couple of hours. Now, get your books and things together and go with Malachai. We’ll come get you all from school soon.”
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All of the Draiman children spent their mornings in the counselor’s office grieving. David and Brie’s phones were both blowing up as they waited on the coroner to finish his examination of Matt and get the body out of the house. They would answer and tell the counselor that they’d be there to pick up the kids as soon as that happened.
Finally, Matt’s body was out of the house. David and Brie took a few moments to grab a shower before heading out to pick up the children. As they bathed, Brie broke down. She just couldn’t hold it on anymore. David took her in his arms and let her sob. He did his best to console her, but his grief was too much. He let himself give in and wept along with her. They both knew that if they were going to stay strong for their children and Jenn that they needed to get out their grief in private. “I can’t believe he’s gone, David”, she sobbed.
“I know, sweetie”, he said. His voice was steady even though tears were streaming down his face. “At least he’s not suffering anymore.”
“He didn’t even leave a mess behind him. I’ve always heard that the dead leave a huge mess”, she laughed though she was still crying.
“Leave it to your brother to die cleanly”, he said. “Guess the tidiness of a Marine sticks with you even in death.” He cleared his throat. “We need to get cleaned up so that our phones will stop exploding from the schools calling us.”
“You’re right. Let’s finish up in here and go get our children.”
And that’s what they did. They finished their shower and got dressed to go get the kids. Before they left, they checked on Jenn. She sat on the bed and clutched a picture of their wedding to her chest. “How are you holding up, Jenn?” David asked.
“Not great”, she said, the sorrow evident in her voice. “He wasn’t supposed to die yet, damn it”, she sobbed.
“Do we need to have Malachai come in and sit with you while we’re picking up the kids from school?” Brie asked.
“Yeah, I think so. I need someone to sit with me.”
David had already pulled his cell phone our of his pocket and was texting Malachai as the women spoke. “Done, he and Mandy are on their way in. We’ll sit here and wait on them to get here before we leave.”
When Malachai and Amanda came into the room, Malachai went straight to his aunt. “It’s ok, Aunt Jenn. Go on and let it out.” He looked up at his parents. “Go get the other kids if you need to. I’ve got Aunt Jenn.” Jenn clung to her nephew and sobbed. He rubbed her back and let her cry.
“We’ll be back as soon as we can”, David said in a low whisper. He and Brie went downstairs and grabbed their keys. “Let’s split up. I’ll go get Jake, Jordan and Maddie in the car. You go get the quads and Jessi and Marc in the SUV”, he said.
“Sounds like a plan to me”, she said. They headed out to the garage and grabbed their individual vehicles, giving each other a kiss before they departed. “I love you, babe”, she said from the window before she pulled away.
“I love you too, honey. I’ll see you in a few.”
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David waited in the office of the high school that his children were enrolled in and waited for Jordan and Jacob to come to the office. When Jordan came in, she threw her arms around her father’s neck and cried. “Why Uncle Matt?” she sobbed.
“He was sick, baby. It was only a matter of time”, he whispered to her as they waited on her twin brother to come into the office so that they could leave.
“What happened that she’s crying?” the secretary asked.
“Her uncle passed away last night”, David said.
“Your brother or your wife’s?”
“My wife’s brother.”
“I’m really sorry to hear that. What happened?”
“He had lung cancer. He knew he was dying.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Nothing anyone can do about it now. He’s gone.”
Jake walked into the office not long after the exchange. “I hate those fucking bastards!” he yelled.
“Jacob, watch your language at school”, David admonished. “What’s going on?”
“Those…” he paused. “Can we talk about it in the car on the way to pick up Maddie?” he asked through his teeth.
“Yeah, let’s go.” David whispered to Jordan. “Come on sweetie. We need to go now. I need to be able to walk.” Jordan let go of her father and walked out to the car after picking up her school bag from the floor. When they were in the safety of the car, Jake unloaded. “Stupid mother fuckers making fun of my sister because she’s grieving over our uncle. I wish I could go back in there and kick their asses. No one makes fun of my twin sister because she’s crying.”
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