Page 38 of Diluted Truths
The tattoos on full display.
Wow,they looked even better in the daylight.
“Shit.”
I heard small laughter and turned to see Violet standing behind me. “Don’t swear, Auntie Jack,” she whisper yelled.
“Sorry,” I stated as I untangled myself from Will and stood up. I grabbed Violet’s hand and guided us into the safety of my sister's bedroom, far away from Will. Far away from shirtless, sleeping Will who smelled like the woods and made an excellent pillow.
“Theo?” I asked as I knocked once and let myself into her room.
Theo turned to the two of us from her spot under her covers as we entered and closed the door behind us. “Hi, you two. I was wondering where you went, Vi. I woke up and you were nowhere to be found.”
Theo’s room used to be Nate’s and there were still many remnants of him left throughout.
When we first moved here, Nate gave Theo and I the bigger room and he took this one, the smaller one. The blue curtains he put up still hung over the window. There were pictures of us on the walls, mostly of Theo and I.
There was even a rare photo of the three of us and our older brother Malachi. He had come out to visit us about two years after we had left. We had never been close to him. He still lived very close to our parents, meaning we never went to see him unless it was an emergency. We all looked so young in the photo, so happy.
I needed to give Malachi a call. It had been too long.
Violet laughed at her mom and we both climbed into the bed with Theo. “I went to get Auntie Jack, but she was asleep.”
“I see you woke her up,” Theo said, clearly amused by her daughter.
“I think it was Willey.” Theo looked at me, shock evident on her face at her daughter's words. “I don’t think he was very comfy to lay on.”
I nearly choked at my niece's words that were exposing me. At this point Theo was probably imagining the worst. At least she didn’t mention his lack of shirt.
“He was naked.”
Well, fuck.
“I promise he wasn’t naked… just… well,” I stuttered out. “Just a little shirtless.”
Theo stared at me for a moment before breaking out into the biggest fit of laughter. “Oh my god. You two are so going to do it!”
I jumped and covered her mouth. “Shhhhh! You are going to wake Will up!”
“Do what?” Violet asked her mom.
“Get off of me!” Theo yelled, as I struggled to keep her mouth covered, and continued to laugh. Somehow we had begun to wrestle on her bed with Violet laughing hysterically in the background.
Truthfully, we all were laughing hard. It was these moments I had missed most about moving from this house. It was also in these moments I hoped more than everything that I could get her to move to Oregon and therefore closer to me.
Slowly, after maybe five minutes of our battle, we winded down and laid side by side on her bed with our heads at the footboard. Violet had even climbed in between the two of us. I turned to look at Theo, the woman who helped raise me when she was still a child herself. She looked exhausted, but still breathtakingly beautiful. She was the greatest, most thoughtful woman, sister and mother I knew.
Life had handed her a really shitty hand. Honestly, it handed both of us a really shitty hand. I handled mine with humor and sarcasm but she took it all with grace and love. She was my only sister and my only true family left as well. I would never take all she gave up for me for granted. Yes, Nate was the one who initially raised me, but after she turned eighteen she chose to go to a college close by so she could still live with us. She took on the main role of raising me for a bit. I reached over Vi and grabbed her hand and gave her three squeezes.
“Don’t do that, Jack. You’re going to make me cry,” she whispered as she squeezed three times back.
“What did she do?” Violet asked her mom.
I let go of Theo’s hand and grabbed Violet's and watched as Theo smiled at the action and grabbed the other hand. I looked at Violet as I explained, “Your Uncle Nate would do this. It was his way of saying he loved us. One squeeze for each word. He always said that words, sometimes were just not enough to explain just how much he loved us.”
“I.” Squeeze. “Love.” Squeeze. “You.” Squeeze. “Now do it to your mom, Vi.”
I watched as she listened to my instruction and told her mom she loved her in a way that meant more to us than just words.
