Chapter 19
We made it back to Virginia just in time to get changed and head to my mom's house for thanksgiving dinner. She once again had invited the entire team over, as well as their families, so there were plenty of us to cram into their three bedroom townhouse. Why just the two of them needed a three bedroom is beyond me, but she's dying so I'm just going to let her live in whatever way she wants.
I need to stop thinking like that, but I'm just trying to prepare myself for when it eventually happens, less than two years from now. And it doesn't help when she randomly brings up things in conversation like 'I wanted to be cremated and my ashes scattered off the golden gate bridge,' or 'I think I'm going to write my own eulogy.' She's accepted her death, it's the rest of us that have to come to terms with it.
"Do you need any help ma?" I asked, walking into the kitchen after dropping my coat off in the spare bedroom.
"Can you start carrying food out to the dining room?" She said, grabbing a pair of oven mitts. I nodded and grabbed two covered dishes, walking back out the door and towards the dining table.
The doorbell rang as I sat them down so I walked over and opened it, Greeting JJ, Will, and Henry.
"Hi,"I said, giving JJ and Will both a hug before taking Henry from his mom's arms. "Come on in, you can put your coats in the guest room, second door on the right."
JJ handed her coat to Will and he walked down the hallway to put them away.
"Are we the first ones here?" JJ asked as she followed me back into the kitchen.
"Rossi got here about 10 minutes ago, he's down in the wine cellar with Patrica."
"And Spence?" She asked.
"Oh he's-"
"Right behind you." He said, seemingly coming out of nowhere. "I was talking to my mom, she said Happy Thanksgiving by the way."
"Good. Now you can help my mom and I can have Henry cuddles." I said patting his chest with my free hand.
"I would have helped your mom anyway," he said kissing the top of my head before walking past us and into the kitchen. He grabbed a couple of dishes and disappeared back out the door.
"He's so whipped." JJ joked. "And you've only been together, what, three months?"
"10 weeks, 4 days, 17 hours, and 26 minutes." I corrected, laughing slightly. "But there's an old Buhdist saying that 'when you meet your soulmate, remember that the act to bring you together was 500 years in the making.' It makes thinking about this whole situation a little less unconventional."
"Soulmates?" She asked, a smile on her face. "You believe in that kind of stuff?"
"The earth is millions of years old, and this galaxy is not the only one that exists. The idea that there is some greater force out there, working to bring people together at certain points in time is not that far fetched."
"I get it," she sighed. She sounded almost disappointed.
"You okay?" I asked, adjusting Henry in my arms because he was drooling on my dress.
"It's just... if they, soulmates, do exist. What do you do when you meet yours but you're already tied to someone?" She motioned to Henry and I realized what she meant.
"Well, soulmates aren't always romantically involved." I offered. "They could just be a great friend, that you would do anything for and that you couldn't stand to lose."
She grabbed my hand and dragged my down the hallway into the guest bedroom.
"But, say someone had a kid with someone, has this whole life with someone. And then realizes that their soulmate is someone else, someone that they feel such a strong connection with that it physically pains them to be without the other sometimes?" she asked, he words barely above a whisper.
