I'll Come Back for You

Chapter Three:

The thing about living in a town like Reignville was that your secrets didn't ever stay secrets. No matter how hard you tried to keep something to yourself, news had a special way of getting out. Reignville was small and relatively quiet, so the more juicy your secret, the faster it spread like wildfire swallowing dry land.

Kaliah Baker's life seemed to have become the latest source of gossip and speculation. Almost from the moment she'd been released from the hospital, Kallie had seen the glances and heard the low whispers. Poor girl! They gasped. What will she do now? Others asked. If only they knew the miserable turn her life was about to take! To be married to a man she had spent so much time trying desperately to hate, all so she could regain the home her parents had worked so hard on; the home they'd loved so deeply in.

What would she do indeed?

Jesse Baker's burial and memorial service was a private affair. Or as private as it was going to be with so many people interested in her fate. It took place in Reignville's only cemetery, his headstone set next to his mother's and father's under a large oak tree. Besides Kaliah, the only other three attendees were probably there because they were obligated to be there. Pastor Greg read a touching passage from the Bible, but Kaliah didn't hear a word of it. Jesse's on-again, off-again girlfriend, Sara, had been invited because Kaliah knew that despite their tumultuous relationship, her brother had loved Sara as best he could. She figured that at least Sara knew no matter how many times Jesse walked away and called it quits, he'd never failed to come back to her. It hadn't been the most healthy example of lasting love Kaliah had ever witnessed, but it'd been something more than she'd ever had.

The other person present was Dimitri. He'd been glued to her side since the hospital staff had cleared her and told her to come back for a check-up in two weeks. He'd growled at her when he'd wheeled her out to the hospital's parking lot and she'd refused to allow him to see to Jesse's funeral arrangements without her presence. He claimed she didn't need to deal with the added stress of it all, and she'd told him quite clearly that if he wanted to bulldoze his way over her own wishes, then he could put a cork in his plans to marry her. His concerns meant nothing to her.

But Jesse's service hadn't had an open casket. Dimitri had been the one to look at the body, despite her best arguments, and had deemed that an open casket would haunt her for years to come. So Kaliah had been left with her last memory of Jesse, when he'd laughed at Kaliah's attempt to keep up to Blues Traveler's song, Hook. At least she'd have a happy memory to hold onto.

Kaliah felt her eyes burn. The old pastor finished his prayer and the casket was slowly lowered to the ground. Somewhere in the far reaches of her mind, she heard Sara's broken sobs, but her own throat felt closed off. She felt the urge to scream, to demand how any of what she was going through was fair or right. She wanted to cry and rage, but what good would that do? It'd only upset her more and drain her of what little strength she had these days. She wanted to ask God to give her Jesse back because she hadn't been able to tell him just how much she had appreciated having him in her life. What she wouldn't have done for just one more day with her brother. Just one last chance to love him...

As if in response to her thinking, the sky rumbled. Four days ago, the skies had been bright and clear, with the sun shining through the car windows of Jesse's old mustang. Birds had lined the power lines that ran down the roads, and their happy chirping had filled the air. But since the accident, the weather had gone dark and gloomy, like her very existence. Reignville had never displayed the four typical seasons people were accustomed to; it had about seven months of summer, two months of fall, a week of winter, if you got lucky, and three months of what had affectionately been dubbed 'Spummer' by Jesse Baker.

Kaliah drew in a long, painful breath. Jesse was gone forever. She was alone now, for good. She felt her knees buckle as the reality of her situation settled over her. "Jesse," Kaliah gasped, feeling the ground move beneath her feet.

Strong arms grabbed her and enveloped her in a warm embrace. "I've got you, Sunshine," Dimitri whispered in her ear. Vaguely, she felt the steady beat of his heart beneath her cheek, and she was thankful that he was at least there to share the hardest moment of her life with her. She didn't know how she would have managed completely on her own.

"I have a rose for him," she whispered, shakily, reaching inside the pockets of her mother's worn black coat for the single white rose she'd picked earlier that morning.

Dimitri placed a hand under her chin, lifting her face up to his concerned eyes. "Okay. He'll like that." But he didn't release her completely, for which she was grateful. With an arm around her waist, he helped maneuver her to where the black casket was being lowered.

"I love you," Kaliah rasped, feeling her heart lurch as she realized she was saying goodbye for good when she hadn't been able to four days ago. Shaking, Kaliah bent slightly and laid the rose atop the casket. And then she knelt there, right on the edge of the six foot hole that was to be his grave, her tears flowing freely now even though she made no sound.

Jesse had been her rock since her parents had passed. He'd seen to everything she could ever need, even when it seemed they had no choice but to give up. He'd helped her get into college; he'd picked up three jobs to make sure she could cover the difference in tuition that was left after the high school scholarship she'd won for her senior year poem on love. He'd helped her fix up the broken down, cherry red BMW Bug she'd purchased from a student she'd tutored in Math. Who would have thought the red old thing- named Poe, after the smallest of the Teletubbies- would someday hold some of the sweetest moments she'd shared with him?

At some point in the midst of her anguish and bittersweet memories, Dimitri had lowered himself to the damp ground beside her. He understood even without her saying a word, that she needed this time of silence for herself. He never spoke. He simply sat there, one arm wrapped around her shoulders, allowing her to hide her tear streaked face in the crook of his neck.

Sara stopped crying sometime later, and walked back to her own car. Kaliah hadn't even bothered to look up when she heard the other woman's muffled steps carrying her away. But when Dimitri began to hum the melody to I Want it that Way next to her ear, Kaliah couldn't stay in the dark mist of regret and sadness she'd been surrounded by with Jesse's burial.

The song had been one of their favorites to dance to and let loose before a show. It had been a joke between them, a way of cheering each other up when the stress got to be too much.

How funny that he should remember how the song had worked to help her through some hard times. How strange when he hadn't remembered to write or call or be here with her when she'd needed him most.

It wasn't fair that she should have him back now that she'd just decided his words weren't going to keep her holding on to a future that wasn't going to happen.

And it wasn't fair that no matter how much she knew she shouldn't, she couldn't deny how much she'd missed this part of their relationship. This feeling of belonging and understanding that had tied them together.

It wasn't fair that years and thousands of miles of distance hadn't been able to sever that connection.

                                                                                     -----

Sorry this chapter was so short! I uploaded it a little early to make up for it. This chapter is mainly a bridge (or filler) to tie the next chapters together... so please bear with me!

Also, I included a clip from Brooklyn Nine-Nine doing a snippet of I Want it that Way. Enjoy!

Thank you for giving this story a chance!

-VIVKELLER23