Page 40 of Road to Absolution

With sorrow, from my chest, she stared back… as the door shut.

For a while, Lilah and I were quiet, listening to the heart monitor slow back down.

I had so many questions, but as Lilah’s breathing changed—deepened, and she slept in my arms, I didn’t dare ask a one. The mother of my daughter was one-hundred-percent exhausted. Hands down—needing to slip into a long deep sleep herself—she was bone tired.

So, I let her sleep.

I don’t know how much time passed before the door creaked open.

I smiled at the blue eyes peeking in and nodded for my ‘bestie’ to come in.

Viola, not making a peep, shut the door behind her, then tiptoed to me in her high heels. Her eyes were puffy, a clear indication the hallway was full of lies and betrayal.

I reached out my hand for her.

Grasping the offering, she tried to muffle a cry.

Whispering, I asked, “Did you know he was alive?”

Her mouth parted as she tried to breathe in enough air for the talk we needed to have. Then she whispered, “No. I was floored.” Appearing so lost, she shrugged. “I was with her the night we sent his ashes down a river, thinking we were setting his soul free.”

I kissed her hand I was holding. “You didn’t deserve to be tricked.”

“Oh, Mavy. It’s not a trick.” She shook her head, her eyes drifting shut as if trying to comprehend it all. “It’s a wish being answered.” Her haunted eyes opened. “And a nightmare coming to life.”

A chill raced down my spine.

After a pause, I said, “A night by a river, that New Year’s Eve party.” She nodded, remembering. “I asked you if Kenny was bad to her.” Viola choked on a sob but nodded. “You said he was the worst.” Snot dribbled from her nose as she nodded again. “You refused to tell me more that night.” She nodded, a bit of shame present. “Will you still refuse me?”

Her bloodshot eyes looked to her best friend. “I gave her my word.”

Knowing I was making headway, I quickly nodded, honoring how much she valued such a thing. “And you kept it. You did. Like the badass bitch you are.”

Grinning, she wiped under her nose. “Leave my weakness alone.”

My smile was frail but true. “Thank you for being such a great best friend to the love of my life.”

Tears raced down her face. Her sobbing whisper was full of torture as she stared down at our hands. “When you died…”

I tried to control my shock because I hadn’t known I had.

“…I knew Pretty D was going to follow you.”

I held her hand tighter because that thought was haunting.

“I—” she gasped for air, “begged my parents to bring you back.”

Ah, fuck.

She gasped. “Then the doctors yelled, ‘We got him. We got him’.” Her lungs had her hiccupping for air. “You—You came back.”

“Come ‘ere.” I yanked on her hand and pulled her to me.

Viola, the broad no one dared fuck with, melted to me, and cried.

A hand with long graceful fingers left my chest and touched V’s long blonde hair. “Then I owe your parents my life.”

Ah, fuck! “Girls, you’re gonna make me cry like a puss.”

Laughter and tears… What a perfect thing.

After a while, they calmed down. It was time to move on.

I asked Viola, “Mind bringing your husband in so we can talk?”

Standing again, she blew out air. I thought I understood her trepidation. This wasn’t going to be easy.

Finally, she replied, “Tuck is… Not in a good way right now.” Viola apologized to Delilah. “The way he was carrying on with my brother when I arrived, so pissed out there, I thought he knew.”

Lilah’s head lifted from my chest. “Oh no…”

Just then, a roar only a father can make if his daughter has been harmed, echoed in the hallway outside my hospital room.

Lilah sat up. “Dad.”

“I’m so sorry.” Again, Viola shrugged in a pitifully heartbroken manner. “I failed you in the end.”