Page 35 of A Constant Reminder

Chapter 22 – Tyler

The next two days were full of time with Sam’s family. A month back when we had gone to Kansas for a visit, her dad and brothers had shared stories about Sam that gave me a whole new appreciation for the country side of her.

Watching her around her brothers proved their point that she was a force of nature while she was growing up. They told stories of how she never let anyone get the best of her…her brothers especially.

And it was still true. No matter how much shit they gave her, she always dished out twice as much.

She insisted on playing basketball with all of us even with her cast, and even though we all had at least a foot of height on her. It didn’t phase her at all. Instead, she’d feign an injury from us bumping into her broken arm and run to the basket when he all stopped to make sure she was okay.

When we weren’t shooting hoops, we were sitting around the table playing cards, talking, and laughing. Sam won almost every hand due to her completely unreadable poker face, and then she’d be sure to rub it in all of our faces.

Jacinda stopped by to make dinner both nights. Even though I told her it was unnecessary, I think she was just curious to meet Sam’s family.

They seemed to adore having her warm motherly energy around, so I didn’t mind. They didn’t seem nearly as uncomfortable with a housekeeper as Sam was when she first moved in.

In the afternoons, we took them around Boston to see the sights and taste some of the amazing food the city had to offer. I swear Sam was just as excited seeing everything, and I quickly realized she’d probably never seen most of these things either even after almost four years of living in Boston.

I’d been wanting to take her on a trip to New York to show her where I grew up, but maybe we’d start a little closer to home. Maybe I’d take her to get a closer look at our city. After all, we still had a couple of weeks until school started back up and needed something to keep Sam’s mind busy.

The last night they stayed with us, we all hunkered down in the family room to watch a movie. Before we were even halfway in, Sam and both of her brothers were fast asleep and snoring.

Sam’s snoring was louder than either of her much larger siblings, and I had to turn up the surround sound to try to drown out the noise.

Sarcastically, her father said, “Sleeps like an angel, doesn’t she?”

I chuckled. “Oh yeah. So peaceful.” I wiped a tiny spot of drool off her face.

“Should have heard her as a baby. We never needed a baby monitor. You could hear her snoring through the whole dang house. When she was a toddler, they did surgery on her nose. Seemed to help for about a year.”

“Why only a year?”

“Oh, she fell off her bike and broke her nose. Went right back to snoring. Half expected her to break it again, so we just skipped the surgery. Her mama snored too though, so when I hear Sammie, it never really bothers me.”

“What was your wife like? If you don’t mind me asking…”

He shook his head. “Not at all. Dina was amazing. Back in high school, she was fun and absolutely fearless. Took my damn breath away. A month after graduation, she told me was pregnant. I was terrified…but not Dina. She just saw it as our next big adventure. And she saw each of the boys the same way.

“But when they all were young, she struggled handling everything. She was in her mid-twenties when she was diagnosed with Schizophrenia, but it didn’t get really bad until Sammie was in her early teens.

“On her medicine, she was calm and content. No voices. But that adventurous spirit was gone. Her once-adventure had turned into a prison sentence where she was locked in her own mind.”

He took a deep breath before continuing. “Don’t get the wrong idea here, Tyler. She loved her babies with all that she had. But her depression won over. She knew she couldn’t stay on the meds, but she knew she might hurt the kids without them. Clearly, she just didn’t see another way out.”

“I’m so sorry, John. Sam just doesn’t talk about it much, so I was just curious.”

He waved his hand as if shoving the apology aside. “Don’t be. I miss my wife, but I’m glad she’s finally at peace. No more demons chasing her. And I choose to remember the good. When I stand in our kitchen, I remember her teaching Sam to cook. When I stand in our living room, I remember her and the kids putting on pretend concerts singing their favorite songs. And on our front porch, I remember her telling me she felt Jessie kick for the first time in her belly. Those are the things that matter.”

His words resonated with me as I thought of all the little things Sam and I had together and how they’d always mean the most to me. Our late night talks. Our inside jokes. The way her hair smelled like peaches when she’d lay her head on my chest. The way she’d tell me my heartbeat could always lull her to sleep.

When the movie was over, I was about to head to bed when John stopped me.

“Thanks for having us out here for a few days. For almost four years, I’ve worried about Sammie’s life here. I’m glad I finally got to experience a small part of it.”

“You’re welcome anytime. I know she enjoys having you here. We both do.”

He smiled and gave a pat on my shoulder before exiting the room.

And with that, I carried my snoring beauty upstairs.

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