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Wilson's finger shook as he rang the doorbell to the Camden house. He wanted to break down and cry right then; he didn't have the strength to do this. George placed his hand on Wilson's shoulder sympathetically and that temporarily helped, but not enough to mask all of the pain he was feeling. He needed Mary back; it was as simple as that.
It took a while for the door to open, and that allowed Wilson's mind to wander. He was forcing himself to think about things other than the task at hand, because dwelling on it like he had since Mary passed was driving him insane. It wasn't helping him come to terms with her dying, either. Alas, the door finally opened. Ruthie was the one who opened it, followed by some boy who appeared to be around her age. Peter he assumed.
"You're that guy from church, George, right?" she asked looking at George.
"That would be me," he replied.
"Did you want to talk to my dad? I don't know if he's around though," she said cranking her head to look about the house behind her, "but you could always talk to my mom. Or to Lucy."
George looked to Wilson, then back at Ruthie. "Um, we kind of need to speak to your parents."
"Both of them?" Peter piped in, curious himself. Wilson just nodded.
Ruthie showed the two men into the house and then went off to find her parents. She emerged five minutes later with both Annie and Eric, Peter still scurrying along behind her. The three Camdens looked at George and Wilson quizzically, not saying anything as their brains processed the faces before them. It was taking at little bit for it to click.
"I know you," Ruthie said before her parents could react. "You're Wilson."
"Hi Ruthie," Wilson choked out slowly. This was close to impossible. Everyone and everything reminded him of Mary so much.
Now Ruthie was interested in what was going on. Her parents were still confused, and taking full advantage of that she was able to worm her way into the living room with her parents, George, and Wilson without anyone taking much notice. Everyone took their seats on the couches that are normally used and stared at one another, trying to figure this all out. It seemed like everyone was confused.
"So, Wilson. What brings you here?" Eric asked.
Wilson cleared his throat and wet his lips before speaking. "You know George, right? Well, he's my brother."
All three Camdens and the one Petrowsky knew that something was off with Wilson, even the one who only knew Wilson as the myth and legend. "Is something wrong Wilson?" Annie asked him.
Before he had a chance to answer, the rest of the crew walked in the front door and into the foyer. Kevin, Lucy, and Roxanne emerged, walking into the living room while still talking. Once they noticed everyone sitting in there, they piped down.
"Um, hi," Lucy said.
George, who was sitting on the end of the couch closest to the room entrance and the people who just had entered, smiled a hello at each of them. Seeing George, Roxanne plowed through Kevin and Lucy to get to him.
"Hello," she said leaning against the arm of the couch and flashing him a seductive smile.
George leaned away from her. "Hi," he said, slightly taken aback by her lack of reservation.
"Wilson," Annie said, trying to get the conversation back on track.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Lucy said. "I bet you were in the middle of something." She grabbed Roxanne's arm and started to drag her away from George. "We were just leaving."
"You don't have to leave," Wilson piped up. "This has to do with your whole family." Wilson took notice of Roxanne. "Well, you and Kevin can stay."
Roxanne reluctantly said good-bye and left the house, followed by Peter who did the same. Lucy and Kevin sat down on the couch next to Annie, Eric, and Ruthie.
"Wilson," Lucy said as she sat, "I didn't even notice that you were here. Hi."
"Hi," Wilson said meekly.
"Wait a second," she said. "How did you know who Kevin was?" The room was quiet for a second as they waited for Wilson for answer. He had no intentions of doing so, however, but he didn't have to. "Mary," they all muttered at once.
Wilson's body stiffened. No one had said "Mary" since she died. Since then, it had always been "she" or "her," out of Wilson and George's attempt to respect her memory. Also, it was subconsciously helping them by doing this. When they said her name, it made them remember that she was really gone. "She" could have been anyone, but "Mary" was definitely Mary.
"Have you been talking to Mary?" Eric asked. "Is that what this is about?"
"In a way," he answered. Wilson took a few deep breaths before starting to tell his story to the Camdens- the story he had promised Mary on her deathbed that he would tell them. "Mary and I have been speaking, I guess you could say, for about five months now." Tears deluged in his eyes but he quickly blinked them away. No way was he going to allow himself to cry in front of Mary's parents- at least not yet anyway. "Then, we kind of got married in the middle of December. We eloped."
He paused, waiting for their reactions. There was shock on their faces, yet they were not surprised. As Wilson thought about it, he wouldn't have been surprised either if he had found out Mary had eloped. She was the one who proposed to him and suggested eloping after all.
"So, where is Mary?" Ruthie asked.
"I don't mean to be rude, but could I finish please?" He bowed his head. "I assure you your question will be answered." Everyone thought that this was odd, but they let Wilson speak. "I wouldn't have let her elope with me; I would have made her come and tell you guys. But because she was hiding something else from you, something much more significant, I didn't press her on it too much." He smiled slightly. "You have to pick your battles with her."
"What else was she keeping from us?" Eric asked. "Is she all right?"
Wilson shook his head. "Mary…Mary…" Despite his best efforts, Wilson couldn't do it. He wept into his hands and George took over for him.
"Mary's been battling cervical cancer since the end of September. Probably since before then, really, but that was when she was diagnosed."
"What?" Annie said quietly.
"I was her doctor. I'm a gynecologic oncologist."
"But we just saw her last Sunday," Annie said. "She couldn't have been that sick. She looked fine to me."
Kevin was the one most objective to the whole situation, so he was the first to pick up on it. "What do you mean 'was'? Why are you talking about Mary in the past tense?"
Wilson looked up for a second and saw Lucy's face drain of all color. "No…" she muttered quietly.
Wilson placed his hand on George's knee for a second, signaling that he would continue with the story. He wanted to be the one to bear the forefront of the Camden's wrath, and he knew that this was something that he had to do himself. It wouldn't be of any assistance if George told them for him. "Mary passed away yesterday morning." Wilson's voice stopped shaking the more that he spoke. "She was in the hospital for four days. The cancer had spread quickly, and she just couldn't fight it anymore."
"You're lying," Eric said with anger in his voice. "She would never keep anything that big from us for that long. And…and even if she did we would have figured it out. I'll just call her right now and prove that you are lying to us." Eric went into the kitchen and came back with the portable phone. He dialed the number of Mary's cell phone carefully and waited until it rang.
After Eric heard the first ring through the receiver, a phone in Wilson's pocket rang- "Mary Had a Little Lamb". He pulled it out and held it in his hands, running his fingers along the smooth, red plastic of the casing. "I've been carrying it around with me," he said to no one in particular.
Tears fell from Ruthie's eyes as she leaned against her mother for moral support. Annie wrapped her arm around Ruthie with tears in her own eyes. Kevin got up and went over to tend to Lucy on the couch.
Wilson reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a bunch of envelopes. "What's that?" Eric asked insolently. He was not at all pleased with Wilson and still very much in denial.
"Letters. Mary wrote these a while ago and she wanted me to give them to you." He flipped through them, looking at the names on every one of them. "There's one for each of you here, minus the ones she left for me and George." He sniveled. "I'm sure these will explain a lot to you, but if you have any questions or anything, feel free to call me." He handed Eric the letters with a piece of paper with his home and cell numbers on top.
Wilson sighed heavily as Eric passed out the letters to the rest of the family, holding on to the one for the twins who were upstairs being innocent and carefree. "I'm sure this is a very private moment among family, and although I realize that technically I am family, I don't feel that way and neither do you probably. I barely feel like I know you, and I take full responsibility for that. So I'll leave you alone now; I don't want to hurt you anymore. I've said my piece." He stood and George followed suit. "We can let ourselves out. Good bye."
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A/N: Yeah, I figured since I got 9 reviews everyone has read it and I can post this one. There really wasn't any confrontation in this chapter. It was just…dialog. Next chapter will give you more of a reaction from the Camdens point of view to the events of this chapter. ***Only 2 more chaps after this one! WAAAH!
And I am happy that you all liked the last chapter. Apparently, there were a lot of tears. I guess that is a good thing. Personally, I thought it was too rushed to evoke any true emotions, but maybe it wasn't. :shrugs: Well, just wanted to say thanks to my loyal readers. You mean so very much to me.
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Reviews will make everyone's frowns turn upside down.
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