Hi, this is Heather, also known as Ladye or Ladyegreen. I owe everyone out there an apology for disappearing for two years and leaving this story undone. It was wrong. To LifeAlchemist, I'm still here, I read every comment left and I reply if I can, I'm so sorry I've let you down like this and made you wait this long. Thank you for coming back for me and for waiting for me.
A lot has happened in two years, some good some bad. Health issues, money issues so much has happened it could be an improbable story itself.
I'm back. I'll finish this now. I'm not sure how many chapters are left because while my writing may have been vacant my mind wasn't and I think I came up with a better, more fleshed out path, for this story to go. This is going to be a bit disappointing because it's not very exciting for the first 75% or so but it is a crucial bit that ties the people Dee and Ryo have come to know, alive or dead, together. I'm a little bit rusty as well with the writing. It would be best to reread the chapter before it before tackling this one and if you catch a glaring error let me know!
For those who don't have an account here on but want to be able to reach me and get a response, ladyegreen at yahoo dot com. I'll get it and I will respond.
Much love to everyone. Here we go again, let's get the motor running because the next chapter is going to be on fire.
Story Starts Here:
The fries were really good, so was the pie, icebox lemon pie and the drinks were cold. The mystery wasn't so much a mystery when it came to Mr. Alcott, it was actually pretty straight forward. As a straight forward as anything can be when it comes to love and the responsibilities we will take on because of it.
Jonathan Alcott had loved Saul Carlisle, loved him enough that he stayed close to him all his life. Close enough that when Saul died Jonathan had stepped into his shoes to make sure the children he had left behind were cared for and not left alone with the predatory Billie Louise. Walter Marten had been Saul's cousin, his father's nephew, the boys had been raised together and were more like brothers than cousins. When Walter had lost his wife and then his life Saul had stepped in, marrying Billie Louise so he could watch over his godchild as best he could. On paper Billie Louise looked a lot better than she was in real life and it hadn't taken but a few carefully dropped hints about the girl's uncertain future for Saul to come scrambling to make her his legally and quickly.
And then Saul had died, JoJo (the boy) had been only seven or eight months old when it happened. Ugly rumors had persisted that Billie Louise was a Black Widow, that she was killing her husbands off but the reality was much more bleak and mundane. The car wreck had grievously injured Marten, damaging his spine, his legs, and lungs leaving behind a shell of the man he had once been, wrecked in both body and soul. Billie Louise had made herself available to him in his vulnerable state presenting herself as a kindly woman who would look after his beloved daughter when he was gone. She didn't have to kill him, he already had a foot in the grave, she had just had to wait him out.
Once he was gone she had the respect she felt she was owed as a married woman but more importantly she had Darlene, the daughter, and she angled her cap for the man she really wanted, Saul. Saul who was handsome, outgoing, and a hard worker for the paper mill; Saul who all the girls chased but none caught and who absolutely loved his godchild Darlene and would do anything for her. She had both the carrot and whip in one neat package and soon had husband number two on her arm and a baby on the way. And then one day there was a knock on the door, a policeman and one of plants foreman's on the other side, the cop looked sorry and the bossman ashen and sick, twisting his hat in his hands. Just like that Saul was gone, an aortic aneurysm at work, snapped out his light.
Billie Louise knew the rumors regarding her dead husband and Jonathan Alcott but she was a pragmatic woman and had no real desire to be a single mother to a girl she could barely tolerate and a new baby. He built the house for her and Billie Louise settled into a life that revolved around her church and the women who attended it. Sunday suppers on the church lawn, Wednesday night prayer meetings, fire and brimstone services, and a fancy array of dresses to wear to and from, occasionally carrying her famous pineapple layer cake in a Tupperware cake saver to share at the potluck dinners.
She put the quiet withdrawn man she had married in the ground decades later. She had left him at the kitchen table that morning as she went out to buy groceries and came back to find him slumped over his morning bowl of grits, deader than a doornail. The coroner said heart attack but less kindly people said "too much of that woman" maybe it was a little bit of both, whose to really say?
Ellen filled in the rest, by the time Jonathan Alcott had passed away both of the children he had married Billie Louise to protect had grown up and moved out of the house. Darlene was a lawyer specializing in child advocacy, fiercely independent, and living in Atlanta. JoJo had joined the Air Force and was currently living in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Billie Louise had passed away in her sleep one night and it wasn't until the following Sunday that her body had been found after having not shown up for church which everyone could agree was highly unlike her.
The children had not come home for her funeral. Darlene signed off on the necessary expenses, sent out the proper notices and had a beautiful bouquet of flowers sent to the funeral home with instructions for them to be donated to the church after the funeral. JoJo had sent a lovely card to the church with a donation for their missionary work in Haiti in lieu of flowers. The house fell into the gloom, alone out in the pines off a empty stretch of rural road and Darlene put it up for sale.
And here they all were in the present; Dee and Ryo on the bed, photos and scraps of paper between them, Ellen and Lynn leaning against the wall, the quiet tick of an old wind up clock counting off the seconds.
It was Lynn who broke the contemplative silence they were sharing, involuntarily yawning which seemed to bring Ellen back from where her mind had wandered. She yawned herself before pulling out of Lynn's arms to stretch.
"Okay my darlings. I think that is mine and Lynn's cue to be heading out the door. You two should get some yourself. I'll call you tomorrow and we can work out the details about how you want to handle things, if you intend to stay here until you're suppose to go back to New York or well, whatever the alternate plan would be." She gave each of them a hug and a peck on the cheek before ambling out, Lynn holding doors for her and Dee drifting behind her to shut and lock them.
Ryo carefully gathered all of the "evidence" and tapped the papers into a neat pile and returning them to their box. He was beyond tired and all he wanted to do was crawl in bed and not have to think anymore about the house or Billie Louise herself. Dee stumbled back into the room as he was turning down the covers on the bed, their duffle bags pulled from the car and dropped just inside the bedroom door. Thirty minutes later they had both changed into their sleep clothes and Ryo had insisted on gathering up everything and sorting everything so they could leave the next day. Dee had just numbly went along with it figuring it was easier to go along with Ryo's need to make order from chaos than to argue and loose even more time to sleep.
They were both just so very tired, too tired to do more than kiss each and snuggle into each other's arms. Strange how this place just seemed to sap the life out of if you with the heat and the humidity and the bleakness of the house itself. They both drifted off tangled in each other's limbs, peaceful in their weariness and deeply asleep.
In the end all they could do was watch the damn thing burn. One minute they were cuddled together asleep and the next they were grabbing their bags and fleeing the house. Well, to be more exact, one moment they were horizontal on the bed and the very next they were jerked upright with their hands over their ears; both struck deaf by the excruciating loudness of lightening striking a pine tree close to the house, followed by the equally loud and even more terrifying sound of said pine tree snapping off and crashing through the roof over their head. To complete this utterly perfect moment in time said tree was on fire.
Dee swore to his self he was never leaving New York City again and wasn't going to let Ryo leave either. On the other hand, a good burning to the ground couldn't have happened to a nicer house. Burn baby burn. Maybe it was worth it to stand with Ryo out in a drizzling rain just to see the last of the roof structure collapse into the house and good riddance.
By the time the fire truck arrived there wasn't much fire to put out, smoldering ruins and rain drenched pieces of what used to be furniture. Fortunately it was a pretty open and shut case of what caused the fire, the blackened remains of the pine tree sticking out of the house and the lightening scorched trunk stood in grim testament to the facts.
Ellen and her woman had just beat out the emergency vehicles and stood off to the side under an umbrella. The only comment she had made was that it was a damn shame she forgot to by marshmallows but no one told her there was going to be a bonfire tonight.
Ryo had been relatively quiet during the whole thing, his dark eyes were hard to read as various colored lights from the emergency vehicles reflected off of them. He continued to stare at the remains of the house as if he couldn't quite believe what just happened and how fast it had happened. It was left to Dee to call their bosses and explain the situation and make arrangements for them to get back home as soon as the authorities were done taking down their statements.
It wasn't until they were in the rental, following behind Lynn to her house to spend the night, that Ryo spoke. He turned in the passenger seat to look at Dee, studied him for a bit and then announced they were upgrading the fire and carbon monoxide alarms in both their apartments as soon as they got home. Silence fell for a minute or so more before he followed it up with his intention to also make sure the fire escapes were easily accessible and in good repair.
Dee nodded along because he knew all too well that Ryo would have him changing out alarms likely before their bags were unpacked and they were officially back at work. That was just Ryo for you and the way his mind worked, it wasn't like he didn't already have Dee changing out the batteries in those that weren't wired into the building every time day lights savings time changed. Dee waited because he knew Ryo wasn't quite done yet. The scenery slipped past, Ryo's eyes drawn to the tall skinny pines and how much they would bend and sway in the breeze, assessing them now as a bona fide threat to safety.
"Dee?"
"Hmm?"
"And the orphanage too." Ryo said quietly.
"You got it." Dee answered. Of course the orphanage too and probably a quick stop by Carol's home to verify it passed mustard and Dee was pretty sure Ryo's aunt would be getting at least a phone call. And the precinct; it would be getting a good eye over and at least an email sent to whatever various departments Ryo felt would need to be informed of the dangers of a building like that having such an old and antiquated system.
Dee stepped on the gas to keep up with Lynn and the very fact that Ryo didn't call him on his lead foot was all the indication Dee needed to know that Ryo had been completely unnerved by the fire.
-End of Snippet- (And it is, just a dreadfully small snippet, but I wanted to leave what I could while I work on the rest. Thank you to everyone out there who is still reading this story. )
