A/N: I want to give a very special thanks to the guest who posted a very lovely review on the previous chapter. I can't privately respond to you, but your words touched me, especially the part where you said "Thank you for giving Normero more life." It brought tears to my eyes. And to everyone else who keeps reading, and posting reviews, I can't thank you enough!
"You gotta be kidding me!" I look at Norma, and back at him, and chuckle in a mix of irritation and incredulity at the whole situation.
"What the hell are you doing here?" She walks over to him and helps him to his feet; looking nervously back at me.
"What are you doing?" I tell her as they walk past me on their way to the living room.
"I'm going to sit him on the couch. What are you doing? Are you going to call 9-1-1?" She answers back.
I shake my head and go upstairs to put on a shirt. Coming back into the living room, where Norma is already helping him remove his jacket, I toss the emergency kit on the table.
"I don't think he needs an ambulance." I give as an explanation. She rolls her eyes at me but takes the kit, opens it and starts rubbing alcohol on the wound on his shoulder. He hisses.
I stand there, gun secure at my waist and hands on my hips, looking at them. He hasn't said a word, his head is down, and his right hand is holding onto his left injured one.
"Are you going to explain yourself?" I bark at him and then he finally looks up at me.
"What, man? You're the one who shot me."
"Have you heard of trespassing on private property? Of breaking and entering? Because that's what you just did. And, I don't know, seems to me you're not even sorry about that." I scold him.
"There." Norma interrupts. "I think Alex is right. The bullet just grazed you. I patched you up. If you want you can go to the hospital tomorrow and check if they want to put on stitches. But for now, you're okay."
"Thank you, Norma Louise." He goes to grab her hands and she stands up quickly, getting out of his reach.
"It's okay, Caleb. It's nothing. But I still don't know why you're here. Why you came into my house in the middle of the night? What were you thinking? You're lucky Alex is a good shot or you'd be dead!" She raises her voice at him.
"I'm sorry, Norma Louise. I didn't think… I just wanted to see you, and Dylan… and I…" He starts crying.
Norma sighs and walks away. I follow her and catch her by the stairs. "Where are you going?" I ask her.
"I'm going to get some blankets and a pillow. I think he needs to rest."
"What, in here?!" I say too loudly and she makes a shushing sound at me.
"Yes, in here. He's obviously drunk, and injured. What are we supposed to do with him?"
"I don't know. Send him packing."
"Alex, it's 3am." She sighs. "God knows how he got here, there isn't a car outside. Either we send him out to the street while he's injured and drunk or we let him sleep it off on the couch. Or you go down to the motel and settle him in. I'm not going down there at this hour, so you choose." She pauses to wait for my answer. I say nothing. "That's what I thought. Look, we'll deal with this tomorrow. Let's just go to bed."
I wait for her to come back downstairs and watch as she turns the sofa into a makeshift bed. Her brother stands by the side looking at her.
"There. Try not to move around too much. I don't want blood all over my sofa." She warns and he nods like a small child. "Goodnight, Caleb." She says without emotion.
"Goodnight, Norma Louise." I hear him but before he has time to sit or lay down I walk over to him and look him in the eye.
"Listen to me, under no circumstances you're to go upstairs. Not even to the bathroom. If you need to go, you go outside around the bushes. If I see you upstairs, I'll shoot you again." I threaten him.
"Okay, man, okay. Geez…" He says sitting down. I'm by the doorframe when I hear him mutter "Who does he think he is?" and when I look back to answer him he's already asleep.
Norma looks at me, raising her eyebrows. "Was that necessary?" She whispers.
"Yes." It's my only answer as I turn off the lights and guide her upstairs.
"What the hell is he doing here, Norma?" I snap as soon as I close the door to our bedroom.
"How would I know?" She objects as she takes off her robe and I see even in the rush she had put on some sleeping clothes under her robe. "I don't know, Alex. You heard him, he wanted to see Dylan." She gets in bed.
I'm still putting my gun on the end table, slowly taking my clothes off. "I'll have to file a report tomorrow."
"Why?" She exclaims quickly.
"Because I fired my service weapon, Norma. I have to do it."
"But you won't arrest him or anything, right?"
"That's your concern?" I look back at her as I sit on the bed. "That I won't arrest him? He broke at least four laws just by being here."
"I know, I know. What I meant is, maybe you can say you shot him because it was dark and you didn't know who he was. That is the truth! I just… I don't want the whole town talking about how my brother got shot by my husband in my own house."
"I'm going to sleep now. As you said, we'll deal with this tomorrow." I fall back on the bed and close my eyes.
"Are you mad? I mean, at me?" I hear her murmur softly from her side of the bed.
"Why would I be mad at you, Norma? You didn't do anything wrong."
"Oh. Okay. Goodnight, then." I feel the bed move as she turns and clicks the lamp off. She then stays on her side of the bed and I feel the tension coming from her body. I look at her and she's laying on her side, her back to me.
"Come here." I move closer to her and wrap my arms around her, molding our bodies together. She relaxes instantly, and kisses my hand, then hugs it close to her chest.
"I love you, Alex."
"I love you too, Norma."
Morning comes and I'm the first one awake. I get dressed and go downstairs to check on Caleb. He's still passed out. I go back upstairs, sit on the bed and wait for Norma to wake up.
"Hey." I say as soon as she stirs and opens her eyes moments later.
"Hi. You're already dressed?" She mentions confused and then I see realization hit her face. "Oh. It was not a dream, right? Caleb really is downstairs."
"No, not a dream. I went to check on him earlier and he was still asleep."
"I'll get dressed." She groans as she gets out of bed.
In a few minutes she has come back from the bathroom, has applied her makeup and has put on a dark blue skirt and purple shirt. We go downstairs together.
He's not in the living room and we look at each other questioningly. We go into the kitchen. Not a sight of him. Just as soon as I think maybe we did have a shared nightmare we hear the kitchen door and turn around to see him.
"Uh…hi. I was just out… relieving myself." He says as a way of greeting. I'm glad he remembered my threat from last night.
"I'm going to make coffee." Norma quickly mentions and busies herself with the task.
He goes to sit down and looks at me. "Hey, man. I know you're the sheriff and everything, but why did you shot me?"
"Because you trespassed on private property. Add breaking and entering to that too." I tell him.
"Yeah, I heard you last night. Look I'm sorry." He looks at me then at his sister. "Norma Louise, I'm sorry. I thought you'd be alone… I did not expect to find him here last night." He gestures towards me.
"Is that the reason why you invited yourself over? Because you thought she was alone?"
"Alex…" She holds a hand up to me in an attempt to calm me down.
"I just thought I could crash in without waking you, and then talk to you and Dylan today." He explains.
"Well, it was a dumb plan." Norma replies as she puts a big cup of coffee on the table in front of him. "And Dylan is not here. He's in Portland."
"Oh."
He takes a long sip of coffee. "I want to talk to you. In private."
"I'm not leaving her alone with you." I snap at him.
"Ah, man. I know you spent the night, but I want to talk to my sister alone. I think you can leave now."
"Caleb!" Norma yells. "Don't."
He looks at her, then at me, as if trying to figure something out.
"I'm her husband." I simply state. I see his eyes land on Norma's ring finger and then at my own, where I'm keeping my hands folded in front of my chest, then back to her face.
"Ah, you got married. Well, congratulations Norma Louise. I'm happy for you."
"Caleb, just say what you came all the way here to say." She sounds a little exasperated. "We can talk in the living room if that's what you want."
I'm about to protest when she turns to me and says, "You can stay here in the kitchen. I won't be far." She gives me a reassuring smile. I nod at her in agreement. She serves another cup of coffee and hands it to me. Her hands close over mine in a thankful gesture. I keep my eyes on her as she leaves the kitchen, and then on his back as he follows her.
After some time has passed I hear the tone of their voices rising and I get up, no longer appeased with just waiting. I walk towards the living room and stay in the hallway, out of view but able to hear.
"I'll ask him… and you have to deal with Chick. He already came looking for you." I hear Norma say to him.
"Did he do anything to you? Or to Dylan?"
"You should've thought of that before leaving." I can hear the snicker in her voice and then she pauses. "No. I mean, not physically. But he was… persistent. It was not easy but I managed it. He left me alone, he probably won't go after Dylan, but you have to take responsibility for what you did to him."
I feel bad for eavesdropping and move back to the kitchen. After a few minutes I hear her again and get closer to the living room.
"No! Caleb, no. You can't stay here! You want to be in Dylan's life, fine, I won't oppose that, but don't ask to be in mine. I can't. It hurts too much. I'm sorry." She argues.
"But Norma Louise… I said I'm sorry and I love you…"
"You heard her. She said no." I move to stand next to her chair, where she's seating opposite him on the sofa. "You may have ignored her saying it before, when she was a young girl. But she said no. She meant it then, she means it now."
He looks confused for a second and I don't think he can put two and two together before Norma speaks.
"Alex knows everything. About what happened between you and me. He knows you're Dylan's father." She speaks softly, but steadily. Fear crosses his face, then embarrassment.
"I told you I forgive you, in a way, but you have to leave." She stands up and I wrap my arm around her waist, more as a protective than a possessive gesture.
He stands up, grabs his jacket that is lying on the sofa and puts it on with some difficulty due to his injured arm. He's a big man, I'm sure he'll be okay in a day or two. The bullet did just graze him. I wish I could've inflicted more pain on him, if only I knew who he was before shooting… but no. I wouldn't have done that to Norma. He's a loser and a scumbag in my book, but he is still her brother. I don't think she would appreciate me hurting him that way.
"Uh, I guess I'm leaving. I just wanted to say that… uh… I did love you Norma Louise, I still do. And what I did was because I loved you…"
I interrupt him by grabbing him by the collar of his jacket. I take him by surprise and even though he's bigger and taller than me the adrenaline rushing through my body makes me think I can take him. I'm sure I can.
"You have a very distorted definition of what love is. The past is the past, but I'll tell you this: if you ever put your hands on her again, if you so much as touch one hair on her head I will fucking kill you." I say through gritted teeth.
"Alex..." I'm barely aware Norma is talking to me.
"You either leave her alone or I will arrest you and make sure you spend the rest of your life behind bars." I keep threatening him. "And if you see her walking on the sidewalk, you better cross to the other side; I don't want you near her… ever again. You understand me?"
"Yeah, man, yeah. I get it."
"Good." I release him but the anger and the frustration are too much. Her tears from the night she confessed everything to me come back to haunt me and I can't stop myself. Before I can think of anything else I punch him square in the face. Hard. The man stumbles back.
"Alex!" She comes closer to me, holds me, and gets in between me and him.
He grunts and looks at me. There's a hint of hate on his face. This is unbelievable. I carefully push Norma away just in time to get ready for his swing. He hits me back and I'm thankful he did. I lounge at him and we fight. All I'm aware is my punches landing on his face, and then suddenly, through a fog in my brain I hear her voice.
"Stop! Alex, please, stop!"
I look back at her and see her crying. I release him. We're both hurt by now, he hit me a couple times too, but I hit him more. "Get the hell out of my house." I hiss. He stumbles outside.
I turn around ready to offer an apology; ask her to forgive me for bringing violence to her house, for hitting her brother, for making her cry… but she just swipes her hand over her cheek trying to dry her tears and takes a couple steps until she's directly in front of me. "I'm sorry Norma…" I begin.
She throws herself in my arms, hugging me fiercely, her hands around my neck in a tight embrace. I hug her back, my hands coming to rest tentatively on her back.
"Alex… you're the only man who has ever defended me." She cries into my neck for a little while and then stops. "But please, don't do that again. It's too scary to see you fight." I hold her tighter.
"I'm sorry, Norma."
She leans back to look at me. "Don't be. Come with me, I have to put ice on that face." And she leads me by the hand towards the kitchen.
We sit facing each other, she already has my hand wrapped in ice, then presses the ice bag gingerly on my face and I flinch. She tries again and this time I hold still. We are so close I can see the makeup on her eyelashes, how her eyes shine brightly from her recent tears, and I can feel her breath on my face. It reminds me of another time I was hurt and she took care of me on this very spot.
"How you feel?" She asks.
"Fine." I answer her and she raises an eyebrow at me like she doesn't believe me. "Okay, it hurts a little. But I'll be fine."
She stands up and comes back with a glass of water and offers it to me along with a pill she takes out of the bottle.
"Norma, I don't need painkillers."
"You just said it hurts."
"I said it hurts a little."
"It's an anti-inflammatory, for your hand. You don't want to miss work tomorrow because you can't move your hand, do you?"
She of course is right so I take the damn pill from her hand and swallow it. She then steps in between my legs; I wrap my arms around her waist and rest my head in the valley of her breasts. I feel her press a kiss on my hair. I look up to her and she bends down, presses the softest but warmest kiss on my lips.
I stand up and hug her fully. We sway like that for a few minutes. "Hmm. I'm going into the station for a moment, to fill in that report, okay? I'll be back in less than an hour. Lock the doors behind me."
"Okay."
"See you later."
Three days have passed with no more incidents from Caleb. I know he's still in town. I have officers checking in on him and giving me full reports. But so far, he has kept his word of not going close to the house, or anywhere near Norma.
"Hi again, Alex." I can hear her smiling as she answers my call.
"How's everything?"
"Everything's as fine as it was, let me see… two hours ago. You don't have to keep calling every two hours."
"I know, but I want to. I'll see you at home later."
"Bye."
"Good morning." I say as I enter the kitchen where she's already drinking coffee and reading the paper.
"Good morning." She answers absent mindedly and I worry a little.
"Hey." I get her attention by standing next to her and touching her hair. She looks at me. "Are you okay?"
"Yes… I'm just… I'm reading the paper. Looking for news…"
"About your brother?"
She looks at me sadly. "I'm sorry. I know he's not your favorite person, but I'm scared Chick might actually do something to him. And Dylan finding out and being upset."
"Do you want me to talk to Chick?"
"What? No! I don't want you anywhere near them! No. They're both crazy; my brother and Chick. I don't want him back into my life either." She quickly responds. "Do you want some breakfast?" She changes the conversation abruptly.
"No, thanks. I'm actually running a little late. See you tonight." I kiss her goodbye.
Two hours later, and this time is Norma calling me on the phone. She got a call from the hospital, her brother had been brought in, and she was contacted on his behalf.
"Look, Alex, I know you don't want me near him, and frankly I don't want to either. But, he's my brother and I need to see what happened to him." She has said frantically over the phone.
"It's okay, Norma. Go. Go see him. I'll meet you at the hospital." She said it was not necessary for me to go but I insisted. She knew better than to keep me from going so she stopped trying.
By the time I'm given the information on his whereabouts in the hospital, I find Norma already there and I could her hear talking to him without entering his room.
"None of this would've happened if you haven't tried to take him for a fool. He said you stole his money and drove his wife away. What did you expect?" She sighs in frustration. "I don't know why men have the need to resolve everything with fighting." I hear her say from my position outside the door.
"And Caleb…" She lowers her voice down to merely a whisper. I'm the only one around close enough to hear her. "You have to stop telling people you are Dylan's dad. You are my brother, so you are his uncle. That's it. I know for you it's new but I've gone more than 20 years keeping this a secret. I've had lied to everybody, including Dylan, but you can't keep telling everyone who would listen that… is not something to be proud of. It has brought me a great deal of pain and shame. You told Chick and look what happened. I won't put in jeopardy my marriage and my happiness with Alex, or my relationship with Dylan because of you." I hear her sniffing.
"I'm sorry, Norma Louise."
"I talked to Dylan. He said it's okay for me to give you his new phone number. He is your son. I won't get in the way of you two having a relationship, it's his decision, but leave me out of it. Please don't cause me any more trouble. I'm trying to do something here; I'm trying to rebuild my life with a man who loves me and who I love, and to salvage my relationship with my son. I love him, but was never able to fully show him… he was always the painful reminder of something horrible. But he has forgiven me, and has forgiven you. But I need you to not destroy him, or us. We came too close to it with this business with Chick." She's still crying softly.
"I won't. I promise, Norma Louise. And thank you for forgiving me and for giving me this chance with Dylan."
"Goodbye, Caleb."
"Goodbye, Norma Louise."
When she gets out of the room and sees me there, waiting for her, her face crumbles. I hold her to me; listen to her soft cries, barely audible. It's a calm cry. One that feels like closure. I wait until she has completely calmed down and then drive her back home.
Just as we're entering the house her cell phone rings.
"Hello? Yes, this is she. What? What happened? Is he alright?" I see her face contorts into a worried expression.
"Norma, what is it?" I ask but she signals for me to wait.
Then sadness clouds her features, she presses end on the phone and it falls from her hand, she sways like she's about to faint and I catch her before she falls. I carry her to the bedroom.
Norma has been in bed for four days. The news of Norman not getting out of Pineview for the foreseeable future, by the doctor's recommendation, hit her hard. After the phone call she insisted I take her to the institution the next day and I did. Dr. Edwards explained everything in detail. His condition has not improved. And after therapy and medication, Norman was able to remember what he did to Norma, and he had a breakdown because of it.
The nice doctor told us, in no uncertain terms, that if Norman weren't sick he would be put in jail. He mentioned this like it was a revelation to us, but it wasn't. Norma explained she hadn't press charges and went hysterical right there in Dr. Edwards office. He said because Norman had remembered and he had the medics report from that night, it was his duty to keep him inside, so he couldn't hurt himself or others. We had two choices: sign the papers to have him committed indefinitely or Dr. Edwards could ask the court to do it, and Norma could lose her rights over him.
In the end, two days later she had signed the papers. I had arrived after work; found her sitting on the bed, doubled over like she was in terrible pain, crying, and the documents next to her.
"Alex, I can't lose him. He's sick. I couldn't fix him." She sobbed and it broke my heart. "Here. I already signed… can you please be the other signature? It would take Dylan too long to get here, and I don't want to lose my nerve… I need to do it now. Can you? Would you sign?" She asked in the softest voice. I did sign the papers.
"You're doing the right thing, Norma."
"I know. I now know."
She wept, placed her head between her hands and wept, until she has tired herself and had fallen asleep. I took the signed forms to Pineview the next day.
Now I'm worried about her. In four days she has barely eaten. She stays in bed all day; I go to work and when I come back find her exactly where I left her. Today I bring her soup. I really hope she eats something or I'll have to take her to the hospital. I open the front door and head upstairs.
I am surprised to find her awake and alert. I kiss her forehead and sit down next to her on the bed. "How are you feeling? I brought you chicken soup. It's from the restaurant you like." She smiles and tries to sit up straight.
"I'm actually hungry." She answers surprising me for the second time. "But I need to go to the bathroom first." She smiles at me and I move out of the way so she can get out of bed. As soon as her feet touch the floor she gets dizzy, and I have to grab her arms to steady her.
"Woah. Easy there. Have you been drinking while I'm at work?" I joke. I feel ridiculous for telling her a stupid joke but she smiles again. Ok, this is good. "Are you okay walking by yourself?"
"Yes. I'm just a little weak." She actually sounds weak. I keep walking next to her, praying she doesn't notices, until she reaches the bathroom. I wait for her outside the door.
"You have to eat now. It's been four days, Norma. I'm worried about you." I say as soon as she comes out.
"Okay."
After eating she's looking a little reanimated and I keep talking just to keep her engaged. I like how her eyes are following my conversation. I talk about work, about traffic, about anything.
"I think we should go buy a Christmas tree." I suggest as an afterthought.
"Yes, I think we should. Dylan and Emma are coming next week. We need to get the house ready."
We smile at each other. I'm relieved. She's slowly coming back to me.
The weekend has been a blur of shopping, making plans, and thankfully, laughter. Norma has bought gifts for Dylan, Emma, Norman and I'm pretty sure, for myself, but she hid everything and won't let me see what she got me. I've done the same. My gifts for her are either hidden around the house or in my office, waiting to be brought home. We've gone to every single store in town, or so it feels. I've never walked around so much and carried so many shopping bags in my lifetime.
The best part is seeing her slowly rebuilding her life; our life together. I see a renewed sense of self in her, that childlike spark of wanting to make things, to redecorate the house like she talked about that time. All the wonder and the excitement are back and she can't seem to find enough things to want to do. Nothing is too big or daunting a task for her. She really wants to decorate the house for Christmas, judging from all the sorts of things she has been buying. I oblige her all too easy. I don't deny her anything. Truth be told, I'm enjoying all this as much as she is.
"Norma, at some point we have to actually start putting up the decorations. I'll take the day off tomorrow to help you. Christmas is next Friday and the tree is waiting in the living room…" I enter the bedroom and find her looking at our pictures from the fair, the ones taken at the photo booth.
"We had fun that night, didn't we?" She smiles lovingly.
"Yes, we did." I see her still looking at the pictures and get an idea. I take a hidden gift from the drawer and give it to her.
"What is this?" She looks surprised but her smile can't hide her curiosity.
"A gift."
"I can see that, but it's not Christmas yet."
"Norma, just open it. Unless you want to give it back to me and wait until Friday." I make as if to take the neatly wrapped box from her but she holds it to her chest.
"No, okay, okay. I'll open it." She's already tearing the wrapping paper apart with the enthusiasm of a little girl.
"Oh my god, these are beautiful."
"You like them?" I ask nonchalantly.
"They're beautiful. A Tiffany's silver picture frames set? Yes! I like them, I love them!" She quickly starts putting each one of the four pictures in a respective small frame. Then she gets out of bed and I see her placing the one of us smiling on top of the dresser. My eyes follow her as she moves and places the frame with the picture in which we're kissing on the table by her side of the bed. She moves away and puts another one on the table by the window. She comes close again to where I'm seating on the bed and places the last frame on the table on my side of the bed. It's the one where she's resting her head on my chest; my favorite one.
"Thank you..." I hear her say before she kisses me. "…for making me so happy." She whispers against my lips.
"You're very welcome." I return her kiss.
TBC…
