Justice Is Always Ready (A Graham Family Story, 1) (20 page)

“
Daddy?” she questioned in
a voice tinged with disbelief at what she looked at.

Ethan Barrow lifted his head,
appearing so much older than she recalled him being. Tear streaks
down his face, eyes red and swollen.

“
She’s gone, Kassidy.” His
hand gripped the lifeless one and kissed the back of it. “Your
mama’s gone.”

Tears welled up, and she shook her
head. “No. No, daddy. No!”

With a lurch she propelled herself to
the other side of the narrow bed. Her mother lay like she was
sleeping, peaceful and relaxed. Lower lip sucked into her mouth,
Kassidy reached out and touched her face, the flesh starting to
cool.

“
Mama?”

There was no stopping the flood of
moisture that streamed down her face. She wanted it to be a lie. A
trick. Anything but what it was.

“
What… why…
how?”

“
Let’s go home, Kassidy,
I’ll tell you everything there.”

Her gaze jerked up to his. Leave her
here? Was he insane?

“
I’m not leaving her.” She
could smell the faint scent of her mom’s perfume. A soft mixture of
peppermint and chocolate.

“
They need to move
her.”

“
No.” Kassidy held her
mother tighter and prayed the nightmare would end.

The feel of her father’s hand on her
shoulder made her flinch and she yanked away from him, trying to
press closer to her mother.

“
Kassidy Lyra.” The tone
was deep but full of love. One she recalled from childhood when her
dad wanted her to stop arguing and come with him.

Kissing her mom on the cheek, she
slowly released her grip and stepped away. Ethan draped an arm
around her and led her toward the door. She hesitated before
exiting and cast a final glance over her shoulder. It wasn’t a
dream, it may very well still be a nightmare, but either way, her
mom remained lying there, motionless. Lifeless.

Her dad drove her car back to her
house and they were silent as they walked in through the front
door. She was silent when she let the dogs out. In the living room,
she sat down beside her father and took one of his hands in
hers.

“
Daddy,” she whimpered.
“Tell me what happened.”

He kissed the back of her hand and
Kassidy curled up and rested her head in his lap as she’d done so
many times during childhood when she’d been in pain. There seemed
to be an infinite amount of that coursing through her right now.
His fingertips caressed her temple in soothing swipes and she
waited, desperate to know but understanding this wasn’t easy for
him either.

“
Your mother had
Lupus.”

Lupus.
Kassidy racked her brain for knowledge on it and came up
short for the most part. She sat up and wiped her eyes.

“
I didn’t think that could
kill you.” She swallowed the bile rising fast and swift up through
her esophagus. “Why didn’t y’all tell me?”

“
Normally Lupus doesn’t
kill but your mother,” his face scrunched up in pain, “Philyra had
an extremely severe case.”

“
A severe
case.”

“
She headed in today and
went into cardiac arrest. They couldn’t save her.”

“
Headed in. That’s what
the note was from the doctor about the results not being as
promising as hoped and the need to run some more tests?” she asked
the question even though she knew it was so.

A void. It felt like she was in a
void. His mouth moved and words came out but none of them made any
sense to her. A dark room called to her and she longed to crawl
into the inky blackness and let oblivion take over.

The sound of a deep gut-wrenching sob
pulled her away from the door and brought her back to focus on her
father. He sat hunched over, arms around his middle, and cried like
a baby. She wanted to rail and cry herself but she knew he needed
her more. So no matter how much she hurt, he lost the love of his
life. The woman he’d spent almost all of their life together, for
they had grown up on the same street.

“
Come on, daddy,” she said
in a consolatory tone, sliding one arm around him in encouragement.
“Let’s get you to a bed.”

“
I have to make
arrangements and…”

“
We’ll do it together,
Daddy. You go get some rest and I’ll make you something to
eat.”

It took a bit of coaxing before he
went back to her spare bedroom. She removed his shoes and tucked
him in. With a kiss to his weathered cheek, she left him
there.

Kassidy made herself a cup of tea and
let the dogs back in. Then she moved to the piano and sat at it,
the mug of steaming liquid clasped between her hands. Her gaze
skimmed over all the photos and it felt like she was being torn
apart from the inside out. Grabbing a headshot of her mom, she
shuffled to the couch and curled up with the photo and the tea,
tears flowing unchecked.

When she drained the last dregs of her
tea, she got up and set the picture back in its proper spot. Then
she headed to the phone and began to make some calls. She paused to
fix a casserole then got back to making necessary calls.

Her father appeared in the kitchen,
his eyes blurry and full of grief. She stood immediately and went
into his embrace. For a few moments they stood there, holding one
another.

“
The casserole will be
done in a few, dad. I’ll head over to the museum and get her things
packed up. I made a list of everyone I’ve called, when you tell me
who else needs to be contacted I’ll make those calls as
well.”

“
Kassidy,” he murmured.
“What would I do without you?”

“
You’ll always have me,
daddy. I’m right here with you. We’ll get through this
together.”

“
I’m so sorry we didn’t
tell you, baby. Mama didn’t want to worry you and have you see her
as a sick person.”

“
But if I’d known…” she
trailed off, not knowing what to say.

“
You would have been
hovering over her. She didn’t want that. And don’t think you could
have had more time, this was so sudden. It was a heart
attack.”

Those words didn’t really make her
feel any better.

“
I guess so,” she mumbled,
mainly because she didn’t want to argue with her dad. Not right
now.

The timer dinged and she soon had
dinner on the table. She found herself insisting he eat for he
merely pushed food around on the plate. When they were done, she
sent him back to lie down after he’d written down the information
she needed. Sure he was in bed, Kassidy swallowed hard and headed
to her car and on to the museum.

With a final check to her face,
Kassidy got out and headed up the steps into the large museum where
her mom loved to spend her time. The smile on her face only there
because there were still patrons in the building. Lucy sat behind
the information desk with another person, Willard
Graves.

“
Hi, Kassidy.” Her
expression fell and she pushed to her feet. “Kas?”

“
Can you come with me to
mom’s office?”

“
Of course.” She and
Willard shared a look before Lucy slipped from behind the counter.
When they were away from prying eyes, Lucy placed a hand on her
arm. “What’s going on, Kas?”

She opened the door to her mom’s
office and waited until they were closed off. Meeting Lucy’s gaze
she took a deep breath and said, “Mom died today, Lucy.”

All color leeched from her friend’s
face. She sank down to a leather chair and ran a hand over her
face. “What? How? I… oh Jesus, Kas, I’m so sorry.” Lucy got up and
wrapped her arms around Kassidy.

Furiously blinking back the tears,
Kassidy allowed the comfort offered. When Lucy pulled away, her own
face had tears on it.

“
She had a heart attack
brought on by… well, it doesn’t matter. She didn’t survive the
heart attack. Can you tell Jackie? I’m going to clear out her
office and get back to dad.”

“
Of course. Kas, if there
is
anything
I can
do, you let me know. Any hour.”

“
Thanks, Luce. That means
a lot to me.” She shrugged and walked behind the desk, her fingers
lingering over the smooth polished top. “I just need to get this
done.”

“
I’ll bring you a box.” A
brief kiss on the cheek and Lucy vanished through the thick door,
closing it silently behind her.

Sitting in the high-backed leather
chair, Kassidy stared at the desktop. There were several pictures
there and she picked one up of her and her mother at the fair when
she’d been six. She stared at it, not even moving when a box
appeared in her peripheral view. Not until the chime of her cell
phone broke the silence did she move.

“
Hello?” she asked
softly.

“
Hey, beautiful.”
Justice’s voice settled around her like a warmed blanket on a cold
winter night.

“
Hi.” She traced her mom’s
image with her index finger before pushing to her feet and placing
it in the box. “How are you?”

“
I wanted to know if you
would like to do a late dinner. I’m almost done with work here,
then have an errand to run, afterwards though, I’m
free.”

More frames went in the box. She took
the awards and commendations down from the vanilla colored
walls.

“
Kassidy? You still with
me?”

“
Yeah, I’m here. Sorry,
Justice. I can’t.”

“
Okay.” She could hear his
disappointment. “Where are you, Kassidy? Your voice sounds
hollow.”

“
I’m at the museum.” Tears
threatened.

“
Ahh, okay. Having dinner
with Lucy?”

“
Packing up mom’s
office.”

“
Why?”

She could imagine his eyes converging
as he asked that.

“
Mom died today, Justice.
I’m cleaning out her desk so dad can go through it
later.”

“
Kassidy, baby, I’m so
sorry. Why didn’t you say something? I’m on my way.”

“
No, I don’t need you to
come here, Justice. I’m just finishing up and then I’m going
home.”

“
Are you sure?”

“
Yes. You, go… do whatever
you had to do. Have a nice night, Justice.”

She ended the call before he could say
anything else. Hand shaking, she put the phone down and wiped away
the fallen tears before getting back to it. There weren’t that many
personal items for her to take with her. The majority of what her
mom had there were pictures. She paused with her hands on the edge
of the box and took several deep breaths. At the last minute she
plopped her phone on top of everything else, hefted the cardboard
in her hands, and walked out without a look back.

A small thank-you-for-your-concern
smile pasted on her face, she left the museum with Lucy at her
side. Storing the box in the trunk, she slammed it down and
shuddered as another wave of tears began.

Lucy rubbed her back and murmured
words she didn’t even try to understand. After a bit, she wiped her
eyes and squared her shoulders.

“
I have to get
going.”

“
You keep me posted and
let us know when the services are.”

“
Of course.”

“
Kas, any time day or
night, you need me… you call, okay?”

One final hug to her friend and
Kassidy headed for the driver’s door. “I will. Thanks, Luce, for
everything.”

She drove off into the night and
headed home. It was dark inside when she pulled into the drive. Box
in hand, she walked slowly up the steps to the door and entered.
She set the box down by the door and paced back to the room she’d
left her father in. Peering in, she saw him lying wrapped up in a
blanket, sobbing. As quiet as she arrived she backed away, not
wanting to intrude on his time.

After her shower, where she allowed
herself to cry until her tear ducts ran dry, Kassidy snuck into her
dad’s room and covered him with another blanket, gave him a kiss
and left. In the living room, she sat curled up in an afghan her
grandmother had made. The dogs lay beside her and when her phone
rang, she ignored it. She remained there until morning when she
woke to her father shaking her shoulder.

“
Wake up,
Kassidy.”

She stirred and sat up. “How are you
doing, daddy? Can I get you anything?”

“
You took real good care
of me yesterday. Why don’t you go to bed and sleep for a while
longer. I’m going to the funeral home to arrange everything. I’m
taking your car.”

“
I can come with
you.”

He helped her up and led her back to
her bed. “No, honey. It’s okay. Your mom and I had everything
worked out beforehand. I’m really just going to see how it’s coming
along. Then I’ll go to the paper and talk to the preacher about the
service. You rest, I’ll bring some food back.”

As much as she wanted to argue,
Kassidy didn’t. She slipped between her sheets and sighed when her
dad tucked her in, like he used to do so many years ago. He
maneuvered some hair behind her ear and kissed her
cheek.