Ripley appeared close to the table and handed Ronnie another package. In an instant Ronnie was at Jude's side.“And this one’s for you.”
“Aw, Ronnie, honey. The tie was enough.” He pulled on the hand painted tie he sported around his neck.
“Just open it Grampaw.” Ronnie butted him a little with his hip. Jude nodded his head, ripping away the paper and revealing another framed photograph. This one was of he and Ronnie holding up a huge fish they’d caught on their last fishing trip together. “You remember when Uncle Jeremy took that?”
“I sure do. That the was the most fun we ever had together, Ronnie.”
“It took the two of us to haul that monster in, but we did it, together.” Ronnie kissed his grandfather.
“Thank you, sonny.” Jude was genuinely touched.
Ronnie looked at Vonnie and she giggled. She jumped off Reese’s lap and dashed over to a plant by the table, pulling out a package. She handed it to Ronnie.
This time Ronnie walked over to Ripley. “Okay, I’ll take that one, but you take this one.”
Ripley was a little confused but he handed the last package he held to Ronnie, and Ronnie presented him with a gift. “This is from Vonnie and me. Happy Father’s Day Ripley.”
The big man didn’t bother to hide his emotions. His bottom lip trembled and he wiped a tear from his cheek as he barely nodded his head. He had to pull his chair out and sit down before he could open the gift.
Vonnie crawled right in his lap as he revealed a picture of Ronnie, Vonnie, Rodie, Ralphie and Vonnie’s cat, Percy. Once again, Ronnie had used his computer to emboss the matting. It said, “Love is only this far away. Happy Father’s Day Uncle Ripley.” He could not speak, only hug the two children so tight they almost broke.
When Ronnie finally broke free, and the table seemed to have stopped sniffling and trying to wipe away happy tears before anyone else could see, the boy finally approached his father. “Happy Father’s Day, Papa.”
Ian smiled, took the package and slowly unwrapped it. Ian’s gift wasn’t a photograph, but a canvas. The man gasped in surprise and pleasure as he looked at a watercolor painting of himself sleeping on the couch, Rodie curled in his lap. “Ronnie this is beautiful.”
“I know you missed all the drawings for the refrigerator and stuff, but that’s okay. Saxon bought me the canvas and told me I should try actually painting. So the first thing that came to mind was well, the two things that make me the happiest in the world, my Papa and my cat, both peaceful and happy.” Ronnie said.
He had to swallow hard but he finally managed to thank his son. “I’ll have it framed. May I hang it in my new office?”
“Any where you want, Papa.”
Ian cleared his throat. “Okay.” He took a deep breath. “My turn.” He turned to Jude. “I never had a father.”
“I know son.” Jude nodded his head in sorrow.
“But I’ve learned something in the past six months and it’s that I was wrong, Jude. I had you. It seemed like whenever things got tough, you always seemed to spring up and give me hope.”
“I done the best I could.”
“I remember very vividly, sitting on the creek bank, black and blue and sniffling trying to catch a fish so Uncle Nate and I could have something for supper that night. I was sitting there, as usual struggling to get out of the blackness that just seemed to envelop me everyday.”
“Baby Doll…” Tippy said quietly.
“Then suddenly you appeared behind me. You’d left the farm and had your own family by then.”
“Janie and Taylor.”
Ian smiled. “Yes, and I though you’d abandoned me.” Jude started to speak. “I know, but when you’re ten that’s how you feel, but there you were. You never mentioned the bruises or the tears. You just sat beside me on the creek bank and fished in silence. Neither one of us caught anything until the sun started to set, and we both caught rock fish.”
Jude grinned. “Actually, I remember that day. Your face was so swelled I barely recognized ya. My heart just ached. I couldn’t think of what to say.”
Ian leaned on the table. “But what you finally said, has gotten me through some of the toughest days of my life. As we hauled in our night’s meal, you put your arm around me and said “Son, I don’t know how, but someday I’m gonna have a boat and me and you are gonna sail towards the sun. You hang in there and remember no matter how dark it may get, there’s a light behind all that and it’s my love trying to find you.”
He reached in his pocket and handed Jude a key chain. Jude looked at it and up at Ian. “Well, thank you Ian, but…uh…I kina already gots a key to the house.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Ian pulled out a snapshot from his pocket. “That key goes to this.”
Jude looked at the picture. His eyes got wide. “A boat?”
Ian smiled. “Now, you can take me fishing.”
“Me, too?” Ronnie’s eyes got wide.
“It’s your Granpaw’s boat. It’s up to him, but I’ve signed the three of us up for classes.”
“You shouldn’t a done this, Ian.” Jude tried to chastise him.
He held up his hand. “Jude, it’s not a yacht, just a small fishing boat Jeremy helped me find. I just want you to enjoy it. I know it’s something you’ve always wanted and I want you to have it.”
“This makes my little gift seem sa small.” Jude said.
“Jude, you did not have to get me a gift.” Ian insisted.
“Now hesh up.” Jude reached under the table and handed Ian a simple box. “It ain’t much, but I made a promise to ya, and right now this is the best that I can do.”
“A promise?” Ian said. “You’ve never made me a promise you didn’t keep.”
“Just open it.”
Ian moved his empty dessert dish to the side and lay the white box in front of him. Jude got out of his chair and stood behind him and put his hand on Ian’s shoulder. As Ian took the lid off everyone leaned in closely to see what it was.
As the top plopped on the table, Ian unfolded the paper around it and picked up another framed photograph. It was of a close up of a beautiful young woman smiling, nose to nose with a laughing baby. Ian turned to look at Jude.
“When we was closin’ up Miz Hilary’s I found this picture.” Jude pointed at the woman. “That’s you’re Mama.”
Ian’s lips trembled. “My Mama?”
Jude squeezed Ian’s shoulders and leaned down to say quietly in his ear, “And that laughin’ little ball a black hair? That’s you.”
Ian gently touched his mother’s face through the spotless glass. “She’s beautiful.” It was all the Ian could say through his tears.
Saxon put her hand on his. “You’ve never even seen a picture of her?”
He shook his head, tenderly wiping away the tear that splashed on the glass.
Tippy reached out her hand. “Baby Doll, may I see her?”
Ian smiled and handed her the frame. Jesse’s eyes instantly fixed on her face. Tippy looked at it and back to Ian. “You were such a perfect little baby, and your mother is…”
She stopped and took in a deep breath. Colton put his hand quickly to her back. “Tippy? Are you okay honey?”
Tippy waved her hands in the air and took in a deep breath. “Fine. Fine.” She said. “Ian your mother is beautiful.” She handed the picture to Colton and grabbed his hand.
Colton smiled and then turned white.
“Colton?” Ian said in concern.
“It’s Bethy.” His managed to say. “It’s my Beth Ann.”
Jude’s neck snapped his head back. “Bethy? Who’s Bethy?”
Colton looked at Jude and then slowly to Ian, reading the confused look on his face. “My first wife.”
“No, no.” Jude said. “That’s Lylah Justyn. Ian’s mama.”
“I understand that.” Colton said. “What I don’t understand is this woman was also my first wife.”
Jesse stood at the table, his chair screeching beneath him. Everyone’s head turned to him. He trembled and used both hands to wipe the tears streaming down his face. “Dad…Ian…I…uh…” He sighed. “Oh God.”
“Jesse, did you know about this?” Tippy asked him.
“Sort of…Jude showed me the picture. It was just a tiny faded photo and I used a program on our computer to blow it up.” He said reaching into his own pocket. He held a yellowing envelope in his hands. “Ian, remember when we looked through your Aunt’s jewelry box to get that little penny for Saxon?”
“It’s one of the few things I remember clearly.” Ian said quietly.
“And we found those envelopes just as she arrived.”
“Yes, but they’re all missing. The only thing we know for sure that…”
Jesse waved his hand. “Well, after I put the box back in the closet, I reached down to pick up Rodie, she was hiding under the bed.”
“Damned cat.” Ian mumbled.
The doorbell rang, and Ripley quietly got up and retreated.
“I guess we dropped this. Reese called me downstairs and as I picked up the cat, I shoved it in my pocket, intending to come right up to the bedroom and put it with the others. Then, I got distracted and everything happened.”
“What is it, Jesse?” Tippy said. “And what does it have to do with all this?”
“I’m getting there.” He turned the envelope over. “When we realized all the others had been taken, I remembered this in my pocket and I opened it. I haven’t said anything, because I wasn’t sure if it was real or not.”
“What’s real, son?” Colton asked.
“Here.” Jesse handed the envelope to Ian, which he opened and began to read.
“When Jude brought the picture to me, I thought it was her, but I couldn’t be sure. I figured if nobody recognized her, this was all…well…now we know the truth.”
Ian looked up at Jesse and then back at Colton. He was ashen, unable to speak.
“What is it, Baby Doll?”
Saxon looked from the paper to Tippy. “It’s his birth certificate.”
“The real one? See I knowed Miss Hilary had to have it somewhere.” Jude asked and quickly looked down to read it. He stood back up straight.
Ian handed it to Colton. “Happy Father’s Day.”
Colton and Tippy both read the paper, Baby name, birthdate, Mother’s name: Lylah Jane Justyn. Father’s name: Earl Wayne Grayson.”
Ripley appeared back on the patio clearing his throat. “Uhm…Ian…”
Ian turned as the whole table did. “I’m sorry, Ripley, but this really isn’t a good time.
“Oh just get out of my way.” A woman’s voice said and pushed her way past Ripley.
“Clair!” Ian said as she came into everyone’s full view.
“Happy Father’s Day.” She said.
Ian bolted up, knocking his chair backwards to the staccato.
Clair put her hands on her swollen belly. “I’m seven months pregnant. You do the math!”
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