Chapter 77

Spring quickly became summer.  James went to Brittan’s funeral with a heavy heart.  He didn’t want to see the girl he loved laying so perfectly still in a wood box lined with silk.  He wasn’t sure if his heart could take looking at her with such a peaceful face and her prayer beads wrapped around her hand.  He certainly didn’t think he could look at her like that and know that his child was inside her and just as still as she was.  There was no telling how he would be when he experienced all of this.  He almost didn’t go.  “I don’t think I can do it, to be honest, Dad”,  James said when David asked him why he wasn’t ready to go the day of the funeral.

“James, it doesn’t matter how much you want her back, she’s not coming back.  All the love in the world isn’t going to bring her back.  I should know.”  David had his tie hanging around his neck untied.  He didn’t want to tie it until he’d eaten breakfast.

“It’s not that, Dad.  I know she’s gone.  I just don’t think I can see her in her casket and not fall apart.  I mean, she was going to be my wife, she was going to be the mother of my child, and now?  She’s cold and she’s going to be worm food soon.  I hate to say it like that, but it’s true.”

“I can’t tell you if going to the funeral and viewing the body is going to give you closure or not, James.  Just ask Malachai if it helped him.  Or, ask Jake if going to that friend of his junior year’s funeral helped him cope.  I know that funerals don’t always help me.  It did with your Uncle Matt, I can say that.”

“I think Uncle Matt’s funeral helped us all, Dad”, Jake said when he sat down.  He was dressed for the funeral as well.  He’d made sure that he got that day off so that he could be there for his little brother.  “As for going to Danica’s funeral, it kinda helped.  It didn’t really hurt.  I think that what helped was that Uncle Matt’s passing was not so long before.  I was still trying to move past that, then Danica passed.  Like Uncle Matt, she’d been sick.  Cervical cancer is nothing to play with when you’re a female and hers was aggressive.  It ate at her cervix, her ovaries, her uterus… it was a nasty battle and she lost.  But, seeing as I was getting over Uncle Matt and he died of cancer I found it easier to move past Danica because I wasn’t going to let myself stay upset.”

James nodded.  “Thanks, Jake.  How is it you always know what I need to hear?”

Jake shrugged.  “It’s an important tool when you’re a big brother.”

James made himself go upstairs and get dressed for the funeral.  After the family ate breakfast, they loaded up and headed to the cemetery where Brittan’s service was being held.  Her parents’ had opted out of a church.  They wanted to have the entire service at the place their daughter would be laid to rest.

When most of the Draiman family showed up at the funeral, Brittan Jenson’s parents were shocked.  David had been introduced to her parents at a football game, as had Brie.  It was seeing Malachai, Jordan and Jacob that shocked them.  They knew and believed everything that had been said on the air or in print about the older three Draiman children; but seeing them for themselves was something different entirely.

When it came time to view the body, James didn’t have to go through it alone.  His twin brother and ‘twin’ sisters went up with him.  Jeremiah, Meagan, and Makayla were always there for their brother.  They were four peas in a pod and always had each other’s backs no matter what.

James stood with his brother and sisters with him and stared into the casket at the beautiful red head he’d fallen in love with and felt relief.  He still loved her and a piece of his heart would always belong to her, but something his mother said to him the day she died rang in his ears.  “Maybe you’re meant to be with another woman”, she’d said to him.

He took a deep breath and looked at her peaceful face.  “Brittan, I’ll always love you, but I think I’m ready to let you go now.  Rest now, angel.  Show those angels up there what you’re made of.”  He started singing a prayer in Hebrew, his brother and sisters quietly joining him.  When the prayer was done, he kissed his fingertips and pressed them to her cheek.  He looked at his siblings.  “Let’s go back to our seats.  I’m good now.”  They walked to their seats and watched as the rest of the funeral.  James looked up as the casket was lowered into the ground and saw a robin fly over head.  He couldn’t help but smile.  He knew that robin was Brittan’s sign that she was ok with him moving on as quickly as he was.  Robin’s were her favorite bird.  Thank you for blessing my life as long as you did, Brittan.  I’ll never forget you.  You’ll always have a special place in my heart, he thought as he stared into the wild blue yonder and smiled as he took his mother’s offered hand.

Brie was happy to see her son smile.  It had been the first time in days that she’d seen his eyes light up for any reason.  She tapped David on the knee and gestured with her head toward their son.  David smiled as well.

Jake and Delilah sat and watched as James went from depressed to chipper.  Jake could tell that he’d accepted that his girlfriend was gone and now he was able to watch the funeral progress without tears flowing down your cheeks.  All either of them could do was smile.

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A couple of months passed and Jake sat back and enjoyed life.  He’d gotten notice that at the end of the summer he had to fly out to Paris to accept the Nobel Prize in Medicine.  He wasn’t looking forward to that flight because he’d be going alone.  Delilah would be too far along to accompany him to and there was no way in hell that he was going to travel alone with fourteen month old child overseas. 

But, that was a problem for another time.  He took a week off for summer vacation to hang out with his younger siblings that were about to head out to Chicago for college.  Having so many Draiman’s as alumni made it easy for the quads to get accepted.  They were legacies, after all.

His last day home before going back to work was the joint birthday party of his daughter and mother.   Everyone was in the pool splashing around and having a good time.  Maddie and Colton had come over to celebrate the birthdays.  Maddie had moved in with Colton not very long after James got his bad news.  But, that was in the past.  James was doing well.  He was going to focus on his law degree rather than trying to date.  If he should meet someone special, he wasn’t going to tell her no, but getting his education was more important.

Maddie had gone into the house to get drinks for those who wanted them.  She was going about to get back in the pool when Colton snuck up behind her and picked her up.  She squealed in surprise.  “Colt, what the hell?” she laughed.

“Maddie, I have a question for you”, he said.

“Ok?” She looked confused.

“Do you love me?”

“What kind of question is that, Colton?  Of course I do.”

“Do you want to be with me for the rest of your life?”

“Yes.  Colton, what are you getting at?”

He grabbed his jeans and dug in the pocket for a moment, then pulled out a tiny box, then dropped to one knee in front of her.  “Madison Jade Draiman, you are my entire world.  I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my days with you at my side.  I would love for us to have a family together.  I can’t wait to chase little girls with bouncy brown or black curls around the house.  Maddie, do me the honor of being my wife.  Will you marry me, Madison?”

Maddie’s face lit up in surprise.  “OH MY GOD!” she cried as tears ran down her cheeks.  “Oh, Colton!  Yes!  Yes, yes, yes; a billion times yes!  Yes, Colton, I’ll marry you!”

Colton smiled and slid the ring on her finger.  He had decided to use the ring that her parents have given him.  When he stood, she wrapped her arms around his neck and they kissed.

David and Brie watched the scene with tears in their eyes.  They tried to hide it, but there was no way it was going to happen with all now 14 of their children present.  One of them was bound to see them crying.  And one of them did.  Jordan’s ever observant eye caught her parents trying to discreetly wipe tears from their eyes.  “Attention Draiman clan!  We have not one, but two teary eyed romantics over here”, she called out and made everyone look, even the newly engaged couple.

Maddie kissed her new fiancé and went to her parents.  “You two aren’t supposed to be crying”, she said with a smile.  “You’re supposed to be happy for me.”

David cleared his throat to speak.  “Maddie, we are happy for you.  It’s just tough to watch your little girl get engaged because that means she’s a big girl now.”

“You’re an adult now, Maddie, and it’s hard for us to accept that you’re going to be starting a family of your own now.  All I ask is that you don’t try to outdo your father and me”, Brie said with a tear choked laugh.

Maddie hugged her parents tightly.  “Mama, Daddy, I’ll always be you’re little girl.  It doesn’t matter what I’m doing or where I am.  But, as I’m sure you know, it’s time for me to leave the nest.”

“We know, Maddie girl.  Go on.  Your mother and I will be fine.  We just need to let this process, ok?” David said.

“Ok, Daddy.  I love you; both of you.”

“We love you too, Maddie.  Go spend some time with your man”, Brie said.

When Maddie walked away, they sat back under the canopy they were seated under and shared a thought in Yiddish.  Jake was the only one that half assed understood them.  He’d taken German in high school and college as foreign language credit.  They talked about how they felt like Tevey and Golde in Fiddler on the Roof when their oldest daughter Tzeitel married.  Neither remembered growing older, and now wondered when their children started growing up.  They were ribbed each other about being old, then his father picked up his mother and dropped  her in the pool.  When she surfaced she shouted something at him in Gaelic.  “Now that you’ve put me in here, help me out, ass hole!” she said in English.  The moment he extended his hand to help her out of the pool she took it and gave it a good tug, pulling him in to the crowded pool right along with her.  “And that’s what you get!  You don’t drop me in the pool and think you’re not going to swim with me”, she laughed when he came up for air.

He laughed and pulled her against him.  “Oh, Brie, have I told you recently that I love you?” he asked.  It was clear on his face that he was going to do something stupid.

“Yes, but this isn’t one of those times that you mean it.  I know what that tone in your voice means.  You dunk me and you sleep on the couch tonight, Mister.”

He looked tortured for a moment.  “Well… I guess I’m sleeping on the couch tonight”, and under the water she went causing all of the kids to laugh.

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David got to sleep in his bed that night next to his wife.  “God, I’m starting to feel old”, she laughed when she climbed into bed with him that night.

“You and me both, sweetie.  Our four oldest children are either married, in a committed relationship, or engaged to be married.  Four more of our children are about to leave for college, and the youngest two are about graduate from high school in two years.  Where has the time gone?”

“I don’t remember growing older, David.”

“Neither do I, and now our second daughter is engaged.  She’s old enough to drink and she wants to start having kids as soon as she can.”  He covered his face with his hands and sighed.  “GOD, where did the time go?”

“I think we just hoped they’d never grow up.  That’s they’d stay young little hell raisers forever.”

“I know.  If I had thought it would be this hard it to let them become adults…”

“I know.  But, if we had to do it all over again?”

“I wouldn’t change a thing.”

“Me neither.”  She sighed.  “I think I have a way to make this a little easier.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.  Instead of thinking of them growing up and getting married as a bad thing, why don’t we see it as I’m getting closer to retirement and we’re getting closer to being able to travel the world together.”

He laughed and tilted her chin up to his face.  “Good idea.  I like it.”  He pressed his lips to her softly.

She smiled and sat up on an elbow to make kissing him easier on her still tender back.  “I love you, David”, she whispered against his lips.

He rolled her onto her back and placed himself between her legs.  “I love you, too, Brie”, he whispered in return, then kissed down her body.  He wanted to love her the way he’d always done.  They were both in need of a little reassurance.  They were both feeling a little low.

He got down to his destination and rested there for a few moments.  He watched the way she breathed, the way her body reacted to his touch.  He gazed up the length of her body and thought better of his original plan.  He snaked back up her body quickly and took control of her lips.

She didn’t fight him.  She didn’t want to fight him.  She wanted him to take her.  Her hands wandered over the toned plains of his back.  When the thrust his hips forward she ripped her lips from his as her back arched into an impossible angle.  When she came to rest again he took her hands and pinned her arms to the mattress so that she couldn’t move too much more.  She cried out softly as she struggled against his hands.  The more she struggled the more he struggled to keep her pinned.  When she arched again with release, he let her wrists go so that she could arch up all the way.  Watching her body react to him was one of the many things he’d come to love over their twenty- six years together and it never got old.  NEVER.

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“Jakey, what are you thinking?” Delilah asked as they lay in bed that night.

“Just thinking about this afternoon.  Maddie’s engaged and Dad’s in deep with Mom.  All in all, Mom and Miri’s birthday was a good day.”

“How is Dad being in deep shit with Mom a good thing?”

“He never stays there.  Mom’s threatened to make him sleep on the couch many times in their marriage and she’s only made good on that threat a couple of times in twenty- six years.  If I know my parents the way I think I do, they’re in bed together doing things that only married folks should do.”

She rubbed her hand over her ever expanding abdomen.  “Thinks I’m too blimpish to do these days?”

He chuckled.  “You’re sexy no matter if you’re pregnant or not.  You absolutely glow.”

“I think after little Ira, we should try to wait for a couple of years to have any more.”

“Until after Jessi and Marc have graduated, maybe?”

“Yeah.  I think I’m going to get on some form of birth control after Ira is born.”

“If that’s what you want, love.”

“What I’m trying to figure out is how Mom and Dad managed three years between each pregnancy.”

“Luck?”

She laughed.  “If you say so, baby.”

Jake had to sudden urge to put his ear to his wife’s stomach to listen for his son moving around so he slid down and did just that.  “Hi, Ira.  This is Daddy speaking.  I’m going to ask you a favor.  Please, don’t pull the same stunt that your big sister Miri did.  I don’t need that heart ache again.  I don’t think I can take it.  Can you do that for me, baby boy?”  He felt pressure against his cheek and knew he’d just gotten kicked or that Ira had just moved and he smiled.  “Thanks, baby boy.  Daddy appreciates that.”  He pressed his lips to her stomach and moved back up to rest against the pillows.

She stretched up and pressed her lips to his.  “I love you, Jacob Draiman.”

He met her half way and kissed her back.  “I love you, too, Delilah Draiman.  Let’s get some sleep.  I have to go back to work in the morning and sort through a mountain of paper work that still hasn’t been sorted through since we got back from our honeymoon.”