Complete Me (Book Three of The Kirkland Family)

Complete Me: Chapter 13

Chapter 13

When the family sat down at two picnic tables for an early dinner, Cole eased himself next to Rose, who sat across from Violet. Their grandmother rolled her wheelchair up and graced the head of that table between the two sisters. Conversation was fairly muted, with the exception of Charlotte, Max, and Tristan discussing the boy's plans for the summer. At the other table, Zack and Jak gorged themselves on two thick-cut steaks each while the older sister and husband talked to Hannah about a new song they were recording and Justin Kirkland juggled the baby on his knee while talking with Max's parents.

A normal, pleasant family barbeque...except Rose had withdrawn into herself again, pushing her potato salad around her plate. Cole already knew it would be pointless to attempt a two-way conversation with her—Violet was more inclined to answer his questions, but he wanted Rose back. His Rose. The one he liked. Sassy and sweet, shy but courageous. Not this shell of a person beside him.

But before he could say anything, Grandma Kirkland blinked at him and smiled. "Professor Shaw," she said happily, "I didn't know you were joining us for dinner."

Cole stared at her for a moment. Violet glanced between her grandmother and him, and Rose's head popped up in surprise. Cole leaned closer to the elderly woman and said, "I beg your pardon, ma'am?"

Mrs. Kirkland laughed like a schoolgirl. "Daddy said he would invite you. I told him how much I enjoyed that book I borrowed."

Both Rose and Violet turned to look at him, judging his reaction, and Cole realized quickly that Mrs. Kirkland was reliving a different day. He gently smiled back. "I am...glad you liked it, Mrs. Kirkland."

Instantly, the grandmother frowned. "Kirkland?"

Rose angled her head so that she could whisper to Cole. "Call her Mary Alice."

"Thank you," he told Rose and turned back to Mrs. Kirkland. "I beg your pardon, Mary Alice. You were saying about that book...?"

The confusion swept out of the grandmother's eyes. "Oh, yes, Professor. When I told Daddy about it, he was fascinated and wanted to read it, too." A flush to her cheeks appeared. "I still have to help him with parts of it," she said in a hushed voice. "But his reading has improved so much, ever since..."

Cole, Rose and Violet waited patiently—well, Rose and Violet seemed to be on the edge of their seats—but their grandmother drifted away for a long moment.

"Mary Alice?" Violet said quietly, placing her hand on the woman's arm.

"Kirkland...?" Rose's grandmother seemed confused again. "Yes, I know a Kirkland..." She pursed her lips in a pout and looked at Rose. "Daddy insists on reading every letter, Sarah Anne. Before me! He is so slow! I wish he would let me read them to him."

Rose closed her eyes for a moment, and Cole saw her eyelashes thicken with moisture. "He means well, Mary Alice," Rose said softly.

"I know," her grandmother said with a sigh, "but Ronald is ever so polite. He..." And it became obvious that the memory had disappeared in Mary Alice Kirkland's jumbled mind. She blinked heavily, looked around her, and saw everyone sitting at the tables. The family had become eerily quiet, and Cole felt like he was experiencing something personal and private between all of them.

A smile lit up the grandmother's face. "Oh, it is so nice to have everyone together, isn't it? Justin? Go find your father. We need to say grace so we can start eating."

At the other end of the two picnic tables, Mr. Kirkland gazed with sorrow at his mother. "Dad said he would be a little late. He asked if I would say the blessing."