War was over. It's been just over a month since everything had happened. I was still living with my mom, but I saw Patch on a regular basis and managed to convince my mom to allow me to spend weekends at his place. He was still living in the townhouse. We'd both came to love it here, and the view in Winter was mesmerising. It was currently Winter break, Christmas was coming around, and I'd spent the last hour an hour channel surfing on the couch waiting for Patch to come home from "taking care of business", or in my translation getting himself out of trouble. After not finding anything to watch I settled on the news, occasionally it was nice to see what was going on elsewhere in the world. Although I'm not sure this was. A body had been found washed ashore just outside of Delphic Beach. It appeared to be a man, middle aged with a bullet wound, which they'd presumed was his cause of death. Cold blooded murder. Whoever had shot him had intentionally meant to kill him. That's what they said. I speed-dialled Patch's cell.
"Angel?" He answered after the second ring. "What's up?" He asked after I failed to give him a reply.
"A body's been found. Off the coast of Delphic. Middle-aged man. They're waiting for someone to come forward and identify the body." I managed to get out.
"Angel? Listen to me. Everything's going to be okay. It might not even be what you think it is," but we both knew he was wrong. "I'm on my way home now, I'll be 10 minutes. Don't move and don't answer the door to anyone okay?"
"Okay."
"One last thing. Stay safe and I love you."
"That was two things," I reminded him and I could imagine him smiling, despite the circumstances. We had both believed this was over. But even from his grave, Hank Miller knew just how to change things and make people suffer. Like I didn't feel guilty enough for ending his life. I didn't want to, and I hadn't meant to, but he had pushed me into a dark place and I couldn't imagine losing Patch. I didn't intend on losing him now either, we had both come too far to let this destroy the relationship we'd managed to build over the last few weeks. "I love you more." I whispered into the phone.
"Impossible. Home in 10." And with that the phone clicked shut.
As promised, 10 minutes later Patch had entered the townhouse and crossed through the kitchen into the living room to find me immediately. I was still sat on the couch with the phone in my hand since we had spoken a short while ago. I didn't realise how tightly I had gripped my phone until Patch gently tried to prise it from my hands. He succeeded, and pulled me onto his lap. I buried my head in his shoulder and I couldn't hold it any longer. I began trembling and a stray tear left my eye and landed on his shoulder. He carefully stroked under my eye to wipe them away and kissed my forehead. I straddled his lap and he rested his forehead against mine and rubbed soothing circles on my lower back, under a jumper of his I had recently stolen. We stayed like that for a while, comfortable enough as we were. We didn't feel the need to ruin the peaceful silence like some couples with pointless chatter. The breaking news was what pulled us apart. The body had been identified. It was a successful businessman, father and loyal husband named Hank Miller from Coldwater, Maine. The family had been informed. They urged witnesses to come forward with any information to help them catch the killer or at least find the weapon that was used. Forensics had determined the body to be at least 6 weeks deceased, and the police were checking through all CCTV from around that time in the hope of catching anything. I began to shake again and Patch's eyes became stormy. My cell ringing pulled me back to reality. My mom. My mom. Shit! My mom. She was Hank's girlfriend just before he died, and my biological father. She must have seen the news. Her heart must be breaking.
"Hello?" I answered.
"Nora. Oh Nora. I'm so sorry. It's Hank, he's been found dead. I'm so sorry. I know you never had much of a good relationship with him, but he was a part of your life before his death." I could hear her softly crying. She was trying to stay strong for me, she shouldn't have to be staying strong at all. It was all my fault.
No it's not your fault, Angel. Patch spoke to my mind. Either I was that easy to read, or he had read my thoughts. I sincerely prayed it was the latter. He chuckled softly.
Damn you Patch. I replied. "Mom?" I spoke into the phone. "Me and Patch just saw the news now. I'm sorry mom. Are you okay? I'm coming home now. I'll be half an hour."
"Okay darling," she managed to reply. I shut the phone and jumped up immediately, and into Patch's jeep. I shut the door but he pulled it back open again and budged me over into the passenger seat. Something about not being in a fit state to drive or something, I wasn't really listening. When we reached the farmhouse, my mom was sat at the kitchen table crying softly, unaware that we had entered. I went and sat beside her and tapped her shoulder. She pulled me into a hug. I tried to sooth her, told her everything would be okay. She broke out in heartbreaking sobs. She loved him. She hadn't cried like this since my real dad died. I began to softly cry myself, unable to cope with knowing I had caused this. At some point we ended up in her room sat on her bed, Patch stood in the doorway awkwardly, not sure of what to do. His relationship with my mother was more of an easy alliance, for my sake. They were on two separate sides of a never ending war, and both loved me too much to harm the other. Apparently my mother thought badmouthing Patch on a regular basis was a fair substitute. It had wound me up the one time and I ranted to Patch, stating it must be the menopause, although I doubted it was true. He laughed, finding it hilarious. Me on the other hand, not so much. After a while, she had fallen asleep in my arms and he came over to help me put her into bed. We silently left the room and shut the door too before padding across the hall to my own room. I couldn't leave her like this. I left my own door slightly open, so if she cried or had a nightmare I'd be able to hear and help her. Climbing into bed, Patch pulled me into him and I lay my head on his chest before drifting off into a dreamless slumber.