He Was There for Her Baby, Not Mine novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: Jack's Grave

The cemetery sat on a hill above the lake, and the snow there had not been touched since Tuesday.

We came up the path in a line.

My father went first with a coffee can of spruce boughs, then Dalton's mother with a pot of red tulips from the diner window.

Dalton carried Trudy, and I carried nothing, because he had asked me to let him.

Colette stopped at the gate.

She stood there in her white coat with Arlen on her hip, holding the iron rail.

"I can wait out here," she said.

"You can come in," I said. "He's yours to bring."

She came.

Jack's stone was small and gray, with his name and the dates, and under them one line my father had picked: Built things. Loved people. Late for everything.

My father knelt in the snow and laid the boughs at the base. He said nothing, and he stayed there longer than I expected.

Dalton's mother set the tulips down and touched the top of the stone with two fingers.

"Hello, sweetheart," she said. "I'm sorry I was slow."

Colette stood a little way off.

I walked over and held out my arms for Arlen.

She gave him to me.

He was warm in his snowsuit, and he looked at the stone, then at me, then reached for my hat.

I knelt, with his weight on my arm, and put my free hand on the cold granite.

"Hi, Jack," I said.

My voice was already breaking.

"I'm sorry I didn't come."

"You called, and then you had Dalton call, and I said I'd come when you apologized. I was so angry about the money."

"You were a liar and you were my little brother and I would have given you the money again."

I wiped my face with my glove.

"You had a son. He has your chin. He grabs everything. Dad held him on the porch and cried so hard he had to turn around."

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