Part 2

BOGGS FAMILY VALUES

Later on that day, Peg, Bill and Kevin returned home. They had obtained a tree, gifts, and food and drinks for the holidays. As they decked the halls of the house, Kim was working up the courage to tell them about Edward.

The Boggs family wouldn't be hosting a Christmas party this year. In the aftermath of Edward's visit, a fissure had developed in the neighborhood's social life. One year later, little had been mended. While a few neighbors had approached Peg and Bill to reconcile, many were no longer on speaking terms with the Boggs'. Some had even sold their houses and moved away. In this state of semi-banishment, the celebration had been pared down for a mere family of four.

Peg was pulling tinsel, lights and glass balls out of a box and placing them onto a freshly cut, sweet-smelling pine tree. As she did, Kim nervously approached her.

"Mom?" she asked.
"Yes, dear?" Peg chirped in reply.
"I need to talk to you...in private."
"Sure..." Peg wondered what it could be. She called across the room: "Kevin, could you please put some of these decorations on the tree? I'll be just a moment." Kevin obliged.

They went down to the basement to speak.

"What is it, Kim?"
"I wasn't honest with you about something."
Peg eyed her daughter with suspicion. "You weren't? Tell me."
"Edward...is not dead."

Peg's face was solemn. "You're serious. You're completely serious?"
"I didn't want to lie, but I felt like I had no choice. I thought the only way the neighborhood would stop chasing him is if they thought he was dead."

Since the night Jim was killed, the night Edward left, Peg had refrained from mentioning him. She regretted bringing him home, and now there wasn't anything left to mention. Edward was dead and that was that. Or so she thought.

"Sweetie", she inquired gently, "You know more about what happened that night than any of us. Remember when we saw the therapist and she said you'd open up about it as you felt safer? Well, that was quite the bombshell. If you can tell me more, do it. I want to know."

Kim explained: "The longer Edward lived with us, the more Jim viewed him as a threat. As someone who'd cause me to leave him. His behavior got so deranged. Eventually I couldn't take it. So it became a self-fulfilling prophecy...that night was the last straw. When Edward was making that ice sculpture, Jim called out to him. It startled him and he jerked his hand. That's how I got the cut on my palm. Jim said Edward attacked me on purpose. But it wasn't on purpose and he knew it."
"So, you broke up with him?"
"Yeah. After that, he was ready to kill Edward. He went up to the mansion and shot at him with a gun. But then Edward fought back."
"That's awful...I don't even know what to say."
"He knew that Edward really loves me."

She paused, allowing her words to sink in.

"And mom...I love him too."

Peg was surprised, and felt ambivalent. On one hand, accumulating evidence had not only increasingly cleared Edward's name from alleged crimes, it repainted him as heroic. A few nights after Jim's death, his friend Denny had rung the doorbell of the Boggs home, choked up with tears of guilt, begging forgiveness as he confessed that he'd been driving his van intoxicated and almost hit Kevin. He avoided serious harm when Edward tackled him out of the van's swaying path. Now, she had eyewitness testimony indicating self-defense, not homicide. She definitely wasn't opposed to her daughter being in love with a hero. On the other hand, it was also undeniable that Edward's presence had resulted in considerable turmoil in the neighborhood.

"I understand you feel that way, but I think it's best if Edward stays in his mansion for now. Maybe we can talk to him if more people move away."
"Edward's not at the mansion."
"Then where is he?", Peg asked, not entirely sure she wanted to know.
"I saw him on T.V. today. He's in California, working as a chef at a restaurant."

This was becoming one surprise after another! "Well then! I guess word spread quickly about him after we were on that talk show."
"It's a restaurant that has performing chefs. He looked like he was happy. He can cook really well."
"Well, he certainly is talented." Peg smiled. "I just hope he's become more...umm..." She searched a moment for the right word. "...Aware is all. Aware of how to function in the world. You know, when we tried to start that hair salon, we found out he didn't have a Social Security number."

Sensing now was the time to bring it up, Kim took her chance.

"I want to go visit him for Christmas."
Peg swiftly shot her down. "No, dear. We want you here."
"I know, but we're not having a party this year. And Grandpa and Grandma can't make it either."
"Kim, you'd miss dinner with us, you'd miss caroling, you'd miss church, you'd miss opening presents...and now that you're in college, we're only going to get to see you during breaks. It was difficult for me to adjust to you being out of the house. If you want to see him, it'll have to wait. Now, let's go finish decorating."

Peg walked up the basement stairs. Kim followed her, dejected. Of course, being able to visit Edward at some to-be-determined point was infinitely preferable to him being permanently removed from her life. But when? Would she have to wait until Spring Break in March? Or even later? What if he ended up with another woman during that time? Perish the thought. She vowed to come up with a solution, somehow.

Fortunately, inspiration arrived very soon. While Kim was placing lights in the living room window, she happened to glance at the cabinet where her family kept their photographs. One photo in particular caught her attention: Peg kissing her on the cheek as she smiled into the camera, a treasured mother-daughter moment. Thinking about this gave Kim an idea.

That night, after the house was complete, she and Peg sat on the sofa, admiring the job they'd done.

"Thank you so much, the house looks very festive!" She pet Kim on the head.
"You're welcome", Kim smiled meekly.

A few moments later, she began her appeal:

"I have a question."
"Hm?"
"You know how you'd always tell me you can't wait until I'm married and have kids?"
"Yes! Ohhhh, those will be the greatest days of your life! And of course, I feel the same for Kevin."
"Well, hypothetically, what if the guy I end up with is Edward? What would your reaction be?"

Hearing this question awakened sympathies inside Peg that had been buried and suppressed for a year. It was overwhelming. Her body began trembling slightly and she let out a slight yelp.

Kim's eyes widened. "Mom, are you okay?"
Peg spoke with a quiver in her voice: "I loved him like a son, Kim. It's so wonderful that he's alive and well! Oh my goodness, after everything that happened!"
"Yeah..." Kim put her arm around her mother. "I get what you said about...you know, him adjusting to the world and whatnot. From what I saw on T.V., it looks like he's adjusted pretty well."
"And in California! It's such a difficult place to live these days. If he's thriving there, he could thrive just about anywhere!"
"It took some time for me to get used to him, but now I'm more serious about him than I was with Jim. He has a gorgeous heart...a gorgeous soul..."
"Well, it's best to move slowly with these things, and I can't be completely certain yet. But based on what I know so far, I think you and Edward would be a marvelous couple."

Kim smile was wide and gleeful. She covered her mouth with her hands.

"I know Christmas is a time for being with your loved ones, mom. But Edward's a loved one of ours, and I don't know if he has anyone to spend it with. If you want me to stay here, I'll accept that. But it'd mean everything if you let me go be with him. How does that sound?"

Peg sighed softly: "I'm going to talk to your father, because he needs to know about all this. It'll take a while, but we'll see." She headed off to the master bedroom, to speak with Bill.

Kim went to her own bedroom to wait. She felt like a visitor to a hospital, vigilantly seeking signs of recovery in a patient: glancing around the room, pacing back and forth. Staring at the ceiling as time drifted away. Staring out her window at the mansion on the hill, a mansion that now held no one. After what seemed about two hours, she felt she'd been patient enough to earn an update. She marched out of her door and into her parent's room, where Bill was in the midst of explaining something:

"I mean", he said to Peg, "Everyone goes through a time where they're young and looking for adventure. You ever read that novel 'On The Road'? I mean, that is...a great one. A really great one."
"Doesn't that book have drugs in it?"
"Err...yeah. But my point still stands. Remember what I told you my buddies and I did after we graduated highschool?"
"I don't ever need you to tell me about that again."
Bill chuckled. And then he noticed his daughter standing before him.

"Ah, Kim! Nice of you to join us. Your mother and I have been talking, about everything. About Edward...it's a very moving story. I never would have guessed."
"Yeah. I know it's alot to take in at once. But I figure now's the time to let you know. So..." Kim asked, "what do you think?"
"Well really, I'm fine with what you want to do. I'm just glad Ed's doing well now. I felt so sorry for him before. And, you know, you're 19 and my days of molding you are basically over, whether I like it or not. You're your own person now."

Kim was speechless, her eyes wide. Then she regained her voice. "You mean it?"

"I mean it."
She threw her arms around her father. "Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much, dad!"
As he hugged her back, Bill added: "But however you get there, you're paying for it, alright?"

Kim smiled wryly. Leave it to her dad to always emphasize the fiscal aspect of a situation. "Absolutely, I'll gladly pay for it all."

Peg was much less nonchalant. Looking sternly into Kim's eyes, her index finger raised, she instructed: "Be very careful. Call us once you get there. Stay out of bad areas and stay away from strange people. Don't accept anything from anyone you don't know. Call us immediately if you need to." Kim nodded and affirmed.

As she lay in bed that evening, the world seemed to her to shimmer. Promises were floating through the air. All that was necessary was to reach out and grasp them. It was still astonishing to her how quickly everything had changed. Love, never failing, truly would always find a way. She'd make her travel plans in the morning.

"There's a new song upon the breeze
The sky's a sparkling blue
Tell me please, is this a dream come true?

'Cause now I don't have to pretend
The sun is finally coming out
And 'round the bend, I'll see what love's about."
-Judy Munsen