Chapter Ten

Danny and Mary quietly watched as Delinda cried in her father's arms and though Ed's back was turned to them, both of them knew that he was probably joining his daughter in crying. Mary sighed deeply as she turned and looked out the window. "God... Jillian is so young too."

Danny turned quietly and placed his hand on the small of her back, gently, "Well... Ed is sixty-three and Jillian just turned fifty-five. Fifty-five isn't exactly a spring chicken, Mary."

Mary turned and looked at her friend, "If you say that when I'm fifty-five, so help me god, Danny..."

She was cut off when she saw Ed approaching them. Both Mary and Danny were shocked. His face was a red mask and his once startling aqua eyes were almost cobalt and puffy. Ed reached them and just looked at them both and then he studied Mary intently, whispering softly, "So young..." He sighed as he shook his head and lowered his eyes to the floor, "She lost both breasts. They don't know if they got it all either."

Danny closed his eyes as Mary went over and hugged Ed, "I'm so very sorry, Ed."

Quietly, Danny observed her friend and mentor, his voice was almost gravelly. "Where's Delinda?"

Ed stepped back and gave Mary's cheek a gentle pat in gratitude and then looked at his other employee. "She needed some time... to process."

The other two nodded in understandment. Ed sighed deeply. "I'm going to go in and see Jill now. If Delinda comes back, tell her that's where I am, would you please?"

Mary nodded, "Of course. Give Mrs. Deline our love if she's awake."

Ed nodded quietly as he made his way to his wife's room.

"Dear God, please help that man, don't do this to him," Danny whispered quietly as he watched Ed walk away.

As Samantha Jane walked back into her office, she laughed hard as she saw Jasmine. Laying on the floor, curled up in the fetal position, moaning about food, laid the little girl. "Fooooooood.... It's been so looooooonggggg."

"Alright, little Miss Drama Queen, we are going now."

Jasmine giggled as she leapt up to her feet. "About damn time."

Samantha blinked at the girl. In a voice that was a little stern, she simply said, "Ladies don't say those words, Jasmine, understand?"

The girl nodded, "Sorry, Sam."

"Alright then," extending her hand out to the little girl, she smiled, "Let's grab some grub."

The girl laughed as she slipped her hand in Sam's hand. "Where are we going?"

As Sam grabbed her cell phone, pager and purse, she smiled at Jasmine, "How about the Hard Rock?"

Jasmine's eyes grew about as wide as the smile that was breaking out onto her pretty little face. "Yeah!"

Sam laughed at her enthusiasm as the two headed out of her office and out to lunch.

Walking into the chapel, she looked straight ahead at the dramatic, antique cross with a crucified Christ wrapped around it. The woman's face was a mask of pure rage. Slowly as she walked down the aisle, her blue eyes--the same shade as her mother's--narrowed. "Is this punishment for something?"

Delinda kept her gaze focused on the cross as she balled her fists up at her sides. "Are you punishing us? Punishing my dad for not being around much? Punishing me for making stupid choices in life?"

He eyes remained fixed on the cross, her voice was deathly quiet, "Or, are you punishing her for Brandon?"

Brandon. Nobody outside the Deline family knew that Delinda was a twin. Her identical twin brother, Brandon Edward Deline, was killed when he was only two. Delinda was on a rare trip with her father to get ice cream while her mother took her brother to see the doctor. In a moment which could only be blamed on naive immaturity, Jillian allowed her eyes to fall from the road and she began to search for her favorite BeeGee's tape. Consumed with what she was doing, Jillian finally found the tape and plugged it into the tape deck. As she brought her eyes back up to the road, it was too late. She had already swerved into the other lane of oncoming traffic and was being met head on by a pick-up truck. The two cars collided. Tangled metal and shattered glass filled the air. And then a mother's scream of horror as she saw her son had flown up out of his car seat and had hit the windshield. Back then people didn't make a big fuss when a car seat wasn't secure. They just assumed that it would hold the child if an accident occurred. Unfortunately, Brandon's car seat didn't restrain the toddler and he was flown to the front of the car, killed on impact. It was something that Jillian never forgave herself for and something that Ed never quite really got over. Although he would never dream of saying the words out loud, a very small part of him, deep within, held a smidgen of blame against Jillian for the accident. "Had you not been so damn consumed with the friggen tape deck, it would never have happened!" he once raged at her during a fight. As the venom coated words tumbled out of his mouth faster than he could stop them, Ed got a horrified look on his face. As he opened his mouth to quickly take them back, Jillian's hand flew through the air and landed appropriately across his face. The sting stayed with him all day, however the sting of Ed's words stayed with his wife for the rest of her life.

"So who are you punishing, God?"

"He isn't punishing anybody."

Delinda turned quickly on her heel to see Mary standing quietly in the doorway. "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough."

Delinda sighed softly as she sat down in a pew and Mary walked in and sat down by her friend. "Your dad told us what happened. He's in with your mom now. Danny is waiting around in case if Ed needs anything."

Delinda nodded quietly. "Mary... Seriously... How much did you hear?"

"Only your last question, Delinda," Mary lied. Her mind was racing, trying to remember if she ever heard any of the Delines mention anybody named Brandon.

"What if they didn't get all of it? What if they missed some?"

Mary quietly sighed as she reached for the other woman's hand. "Than we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Delinda, you and Ed... You guys aren't alone, you know that right? You've got me, Danny, Sam, Mike, Nessa..."

"Nessa. Oh god, I need to call her."

Mary nodded as the two women stood up. As Delinda fumbled through her purse to find change, Mary gave her a few quarters. Delinda gave her friend a soft smile as they left the chapel in search of a phone.