Chapter 30
December 31, 2006
At four o'clock, Kevin finally got the last of the drifted snow out of the driveway. Power had come back on late the afternoon before but the phone lines were still down. Things were starting to get back to normal though. As he came back into the house, Rachel met him at the door with his cell phone.
"Hey, Kev," Jerry said when Kevin took the phone. "You dug out over there yet?"
"Just about," Kevin chuckled. "How about you? Are we still on for this evening?"
"Yeah. Party's still on. But I may not be joining any limbo contests. I've got sore muscles that I didn't even know were there," Jerry groused.
Kevin laughed. "I told you to take up weight lifting. No problem here."
"Well-that's okay. Ellen's promised me a hour-long, full-body massage to help me work the kinks out." Jerry chuckled. "You can keep your weight lifting."
"Uh-huh." Kevin laughed. "Well, that was way too much information, bro. I gotta go. We'll see you around seven." He was grinning as he shut off the phone.
"What was that all about?" Rachel smiled.
"Jerry was explaining about the benefits of not exercising regularly," he chuckled. "Didn't sound too bad actually." He paused. "If I complained about how sore my muscles were-would you give me a massage?"
Rachel smiled up at him. "Not on a bet!" She shook her head. "I do not cater to whiners. Ask your kids."
"The woman has no pity!" he groaned.
"Life is tough Richardson. Go get your shower. I told Ellen we'd be over there at six-thirty so I could help her with last minute stuff."
"Oh, yeah?" he grinned. "Well, I gotta do something first."
"And what would that be?" Rachel asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Remind you who's the boss here," he smiled down at her and wrapped his arms around her.
"Strictly a technicality," she grinned. "Didn't you learn anything from your mother?"
"Yes, I did," he grinned back. "I learned never to argue with a lady and to always be firm with employees." He paused for a moment. "So-based on those two lessons-I'm not gonna argue with you about this. I'm just gonna kiss you-firmly." His lips came down on hers. The kiss stopped her giggle, but not the one from the top of the stairs. Kevin broke the kiss and looked up. Aaron and Jemma were sitting on the steps, watching.
As they stepped apart, Rachel shook her head and chuckled softly. "I told you to go get your shower."
* * *
The party was in full swing at Jerry and Ellen's. The Littrells and Richardsons were at it again. Jerry caught Rachel around the waist and pulled her to him for a dance. "Having a good time?" he asked as he maneuvered her around the floor.
"Of course," she smiled. "You people know how to throw wonderful parties."
"You people?" he frowned. "You've been part of 'you people' for almost a year now. When can we discard the distinction? And you and Kevin didn't do so badly with Christmas Eve either. So let's stop with the 'you people' crap," he chuckled.
"Okay, okay. I surrender," she laughed.
"That's better," Jerry smiled. "By the way-you look terrific with your hair down like that." He paused. "I hope I'm not the only one who's noticed."
Rachel blushed. "No-you're not," she said softly.
"Good." Jerry smiled at her. "You know," he continued with a glance in Kevin's direction. "Sometimes he can be a little slow on the uptake, but given enough time-he'll get there." Her blush deepened. "Oops! Did I say something out of line? I just thought that-well-I thought I detected a bit of a change-and-."
"You know," she grinned. "You're just too damned perceptive. Or does everybody know and you're the only one brave enough to bring the subject up?"
"Know what?" he teased.
Rachel could feel the heat mounting on her face. "Can we stop for a minute?" she begged.
He peered into her face and smiled. "Sure, come out on the porch for a minute. That should help cool you down."
Jerry draped his jacket around her shoulders as they stepped out onto the front porch. "Now-what it is that you think I know-or everybody knows-or whatever it was that you said?" he grinned.
"Kevin," Rachel said softly. "And me." She looked up at him when he didn't respond. "I mean-I don't know whether anyone knows-or not."
"Is there something to know?" he asked. At her look of confusion, he laughed and wrapped an arm around her. "Rachel, I hope to G-d that there is. Everybody in the family hopes that there is. But we don't know anything for sure. We can all see the change in Kevin. But up until five minutes ago, none of us had a clue as to how you felt. And I would guess that as of right now-I'm still the only one who does. Except for Kevin." Jerry looked down at her. "He-does know-doesn't he?"
Rachel smiled and leaned on his shoulder. "Yes, he does."
"And-." Jerry prodded.
Rachel was silent for a minute. She had to talk to someone about this. "And-I told him that until he can find his way through the rest of what he's carrying because of Kristin, there's nothing we can commit to." She pulled away from Jerry and looked up at him. "This isn't over yet, Jerry. It's better, but it's not over. And there's no way to tell how he's going to feel-about anything-until it is over." Jerry was startled to see tears in her eyes. "I don't want to be a statistic, Jerry. Do you know that there are studies that deal with this kind of thing? And that a majority of them say that when someone gets hung up in the anger part of the grief process, that the end result-once they are through it-is that they want to completely remove themselves from any reminder of that time in their life? Cut all associations with people who were involved in helping them?"
"Oh, Rachel," he said softly, his voice warm with sympathy. "Oh, honey. He doesn't know that-does he?"
"No. How could I tell him that? He wouldn't believe me." She looked out into the darkness. "But that's why I was hired, remember? In-house therapy, not just housekeeping and childcare. This wasn't supposed to happen," she whispered.
"So what are you going to do?" Jerry's hands were on her shoulders and he was looking into her eyes. "You know he's leaving for Florida in a couple of days, right?"
"Yes." She smiled sadly. "He hasn't told me, but I know." She straightened up and cleared her throat. "I'm going to tell him that he needs to forget about 'us' and be single again. And that he needs to deal with his feelings about Kristin. Once he's worked that out, if there's anything left-then we'll see."
"But...you're not going to tell him that tonight...are you." Jerry sighed, dropping his hands from her shoulders to take her hands in his.
"No," she whispered. "I want tonight. It's not smart, and it's not professional, but I want tonight." She looked away from him. "I told you, you were too damned perceptive."
"And what happens if the statistics are right?" he asked quietly. "What happens to you?"
Rachel looked back up at him and he saw the answer in her eyes.
The front door opened and Kevin walked out. "Did you two get lost?" he asked with a grin.
Jerry looked at Rachel and she smiled at him. He turned to Kevin with a grin. "No we didn't get lost. Just having a little chat." Rachel handed him his jacket. "Well-you seem to have found who you're looking for. Guess I need to go find my lady." He walked back into the house leaving Kevin staring after him.
"What did he mean by that?" Kevin asked quietly.
Rachel arched an eyebrow and said softly, "I guess he sort of figured out that there was something going on between us."
"And how did he do that?" he grinned down at her, taking her in his arms.
"I don't know-maybe something to do with the silly grin you've had on your face all evening," she chuckled.
"Well-if Jer knows, then the rest of the family is going to know by the time we get back inside. That's a given. He can't keep his big mouth shut to save his life." He pulled her closer and kissed her. "Are you all right with that?"
"With what? The kiss, or that everyone knows?" she whispered.
"Both," he murmured in her ear.
"I guess it's going to have to be all right." She chuckled. "You're not going to take back that kiss, or deny anything Jerry says, now are you."
"Nope," Kevin smiled. "And even if I did-when midnight comes it wouldn't matter. Cause I'm gonna stand right in the middle of the living room with you and I don't care who sees. I love you, Rachel."
"I know, Kev. I love you too."
As they walked back in the front door, they were met with loud cheers and applause. But as Rachel looked around the room she locked eyes with Jerry. And although he was smiling, he nodded his head in understanding.
Chapter 31
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