Janet sat at her kitchen table crying, trying to absorb the sad news that Hannah had told her just minutes before on the phone. Sully was dead. Hannah said it was a massive heart attack. Sully dead, Janet just couldn't believe it. She had spoken to him as always on Sunday night. Their night to talk over the phone about their week. She cherished those conversations. They rattled on about everything from beer deliveries to the Sox to how the Knight's were doing this year in football . How she was doing and more importantly , how Thad was and how he was growing by leaps and bounds.
Thad, her son, almost seven now and the light of her life. He was that bright spot. Her beautiful, kind son. She wished now that Sully had come to Maine to visit her and meet Thad. It was something that they always discussed but never had made definitive plans to do. Sully was busy as was Janet. It had been almost eight years, since she had moved away from Knight's Ridge.
Eight years ago Janet reflected. It seemed like a lifetime. Shortly after Hannah's wedding, Janet made the decision to move away from the Ridge. It was an agonizing one. She had found out that she was pregnant. Her and Hannah had spent many hours going over her options. None of them were good. For one thing, Janet wasn't sure who the father was, Eddie or Rooster. With the timing and all, it could have been either one of them. Yes, she had been on birth control, but she had been naïve. No one had told her that being on antiabotics for an infection could compromise the pill's effectiveness.
Janet and Hannah had finally agreed that the best option was for Janet to move. To start a new life away from the Ridge. Hannah knew all too well how difficult it would be for Janet to stay and have to face the scrutiny of the good citizens of Knight's Ridge. There was no "Gavin Goddard" for them to invent.
That route would never fly with Janet, as it had with Hannah.
So, Janet had moved to Old Orchard Beach, Maine. Old Orchard Beach was just two hours away from Knight's Ridge but far enough to risk not running into people from home. She had remembered how she loved visiting there as a child with her own family and how she had wanted to live there one day. She loved the beach, the pier, whale watching, fireworks on the Fourth of July--it was a magically place for her when she was young. She had hoped that it would be a magical place once again. I place where she could magically forget the pain that she had caused Eddie and for that matter herself when she had stupidly gotten drunk and slept with Rooster that one night.
Just at that moment, Thad came bounding in the house. Mike and his mom, Sally following behind him. "Mom, you should have gone with us to the movie, it was awesome." Thad came dancing into the kitchen and stopped cold when he saw her sitting at the kitchen table. "Mom, what goes on?" Thad hardly ever saw his mom sitting around in the middle of the day, she was always on the go. He knew something had to be wrong, his mom was always smiling and sunny. He had the best mom in the world he imagined. Nothing got her down for long. She always made the best of every situation.
Janet looked up at her son and gasped. The more he matured, the more Janet was certain that he was Eddie's son. She had really figured that out the day Thad was born. There was no doubt who his father was when in the delivery room they had handed him to her announcing, "It's a boy". Janet had gasped then and said in a soft whisper, "Eddie". She knew then and as each day passed knew even more that Thad was Eddie's.
"Mom, are you alright?" Thad's words jolted Janet from her thoughts. "Oh, Thad, you know how we always talk to Sully from Knight's Ridge? Well, I just got off the phone with Hannah and she told me that Sully has died." Janet tried to pull herself together but just saying those words out loud made her start to sob again.
Quietly, Thad crossed the room, placed his arms around her and leaned his head against her temple. In a slow, soft voice he said, "Mom, I'm sorry, I know how much Sully meant to you. But everything is going to be fine, trust me." With his free hand turned up and cocking his head to one side he looked her in the eyes and said, "You believe me, don't you?"
Janet smiled at him through the tears and nodded. God, how that got to her when he did things like that. It was so--Eddie. How many times had she seen that expression on Eddie's face? How many times did Thad's smile and up turned hands when he spoke remind her of the man that she had loved so desperately. How could she forget Eddie when a miniature version of him was standing in front of her everyday?
Sally spoke up, "Janet, is there anything I can do?" "Thanks for asking Sally but I'm not even sure what I'm going to do." "Well, you are going to Knight's Ridge for the funeral aren't you?"
Janet sighed, "I haven't really had time to consider that to be honest with you. But yeah, I really should go, Sully was more to me than a boss, he was my friend, more like a second father to me really. So yeah, I guess I'll go to his funeral." "Then I'll take care of everything here for you for as long as you need me to." Sally replied. "Collect your mail and papers, water your plants, whatever." "Thanks, Sally, I'd appreciate that." "No problem, you and Thad just take all the time you need in Knight's Ridge."
Her and Thad going to Knight's Ridge, Janet couldn't imagine how that would be. Besides Hannah and Sully, no one in Knight's Ridge even knew she had a son, and she had sworn them to secrecy. Janet didn't even know if Eddie was still in the Ridge but she couldn't imagine him leaving there. For all she knew he could be seriously involved with someone, maybe even married. It had been a taboo subject with them. It was an unspoken rule with Sully and Hannah that they didn't bring him up in their conversations on the telephone. Janet never had the nerve to ask either one of them and they understood not to tell her unless she did ask them. Janet put those thoughts out of her mind, saying goodbye to Sully was more important now. She had to go. She had no choice. She would just have to deal with the Eddie situation, if and when it came up.