“Guess where I been?” Ronnie asked, wearing an unending grin and Mickey Mouse ears.
“Hmmm…let me see.” Jesse said walking in a circle around him. “You smell like fudge, Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory?”
“No! Disneyland!” Ronnie somehow managed to grin even more. “The real one, not the fake one in Florida. Aunt Saxon took me.”
“She did?” Jesse sat on the bed. “I take it you had a good time?”
“We had a great time!” Ronnie pounced on the bed beside him. “Aunt Saxon is so much fun, almost as much fun as Disneyland.”
“Did you stop by and see your Papa?”
“Of course.” Ronnie rolled his eyes.
“How’s he doing today?” Jesse leaned back on his hands.
“Pretty good.” Ronnie flopped on his back. “He’s bored, but Uncle Jeremy is there and Mr. Ripley brought me home. He’s cool, too, ya know.”
“I guess when Saxon is there your Papa isn’t bored.”
“Probably not.” Ronnie flipped over on his belly and wriggled around until his head was facing the same direction as Jesse. “Do ya think they’ll get married?”
“Your Aunt Saxon and Ripley?”
“No, Papa and Saxon.”
“I don’t know.” Jesse took Ronnie’s mouse ears and put them on. “They seem to be the only ones who don’t see how perfect they are for each other.”
Ronnie nodded his head and grabbed his ears back. “Guess, we shouldn’t push it, should we?”
“Probably not.” Jesse grabbed the ears back. “Would you like that? If your Papa and Saxon got married?”
“Sure.” Ronnie hopped off the bed and opened up a bag he’d dropped on the chair when he bounced in the room. “She way too cool and the prettiest woman in the world. I think she’d make Papa happy. He needs that, and that would make me happy.”
Ronnie took his ears back and pulled another set out of the bag with Jesse’s name on it. “These are for you.”
“You got me my own ears?” Jesse smiled.
“Course I did.” Ronnie sat down next to Jesse as he put them on. Ronnie smiled and leaned against him and put his head on his shoulder. “You snore and your feet are cold, but I love ya.”
Jesse put his arm around the boy and squeezed him. “Love you, too, monkey. Hey let’s go somewhere with our ears on.”
“Cool! Where?”
“Any place you want to go.” Jesse smiled.
“Let me think on it.”
“Ronnie, does your Papa ever talk about his family?”
“Family?”
“You know, any other relatives besides you and his Uncle Nate?”
Ronnie shook his head. “There ain’t any that I know of.”
“You sure?”
“Pretty sure.” Ronnie sat down beside him. “Why?”
“Just wondered.”
“Uncle Jesse?”
“Yep?”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Why do you ask?”
“Nothin’ really.” Ronnie looked at his face. “Ya just seem like there’s something way back in your head that you ain’t sure…” He corrected himself. “That you’re not sure you want to talk about.”
Jesse sighed, then grabbed Ronnie around the shoulders and yanked him close. “Oh, monkey, I think all this stuff, the stuff that happened to your Papa…”
“It’s a little hard to think about.”
“Yeah. It was scary.” Jesse kissed the top of Ronnie’s head. “Didn’t it scare you?”
“Yeah, but I knew everything was gonna be alright.”
“How did you know that?”
Ronnie took a deep breath. “Cause I’m pretty sure God didn’t put all of us together just to rip us apart so soon. He don’t go back on miracles. It ain’t the way God works.”
Jesse nodded his head. “You’re a smart kid.”
“I just got faith.” Ronnie smiled and took Jesse’s face in his hands. “I know no matter what, everybody is where they belong. Everybody is whirlin’ around in the world for a reason, not all of it good, but it’s all because of something that has to be.”
“I’ll try to remember that.”
“If ya forget. I’m right here.” Ronnie switched hats. “I think I like yours better. I’m gonna go give Granny and Poppy their ears, then let’s go get hot dogs and walk down that street with all the stars names in the sidewalk.”
“You got it, Monkey.”
Jess grinned as Ronnie snatched up his plastic bag and tore out of sight. He got off the bed and shut the door to his room. He got on his knees at the dresser and pulled the bottom drawer all the way out, off the tracks and into the floor.
He reached in a picked up the yellowing envelope he had hidden there. “So if I drop this bomb, does it destroy everything? Or is it just meant to be?”
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