(Violet's Pov)
I wake up to the sound of some wind picking up and as I moved my head up a bit I feel a hand on my back. I look down to see Clementine still sleeping and I turn my head a bit to hear some rain falling against the window and I take a breath and then lay my head back on her chest. I feel her move her hand back to my head and rubbed it gently as I closed my eyes just for a bit.
"Sorry for waking you." I whisper to her.
"You didn't I heard the wind too." She tells me and I chuckled a bit and I grip her free hand a bit.
"Strange how we can wake up at the slightest sounds." She tells me and I think a bit.
"Think it has to deal with our time overseas, had to learn to be light sleepers." I whisper to her and I feel her nod a bit. I think and turn my head to look out the window and Clementine rubbed my head some more and I pulled her close to me. She turned her head to look out the window as well and we watched the rain hit the window more and there was a soft roll of thunder and I close my eyes a bit and I put my face near Clementine's neck a bit as I listened to the roll of thunder for a bit. I feel her grip my hand gently and I hold her hand back and I kissed her neck gently.
"I love you." She whispers to me and I smile a bit.
"I love you too." I tell her.
"When you're over there do you ever think about us?" She asked and I nod.
"All the time, I always think about you, and Lura and Diana… I think about my mom and sister too, but it's mostly you three." I tell her.
"Are they always good?" She asked.
"Hmm sometimes, I mean I sometimes think how much better off you three would be without me, but then I think that it's wrong for me to think about that… I know you three care about me." I whisper to her and she holds my hand a little tighter and I hold her hand back.
"Could you promise me you won't think negative while you're out there?" She asked.
"Clem-."
"We made a promise to never go to bed angry… I think this should be the same as that." She tells me and I kept silent for a while.
"Please just promise me that." She tells me and I move my hand and lift myself up a bit. She looked to me and I cupped her cheek gently and I kissed her and she kissed me back. I pulled away from her and she looked to me and I smile gently at her.
"OK… I promise I won't have negative thoughts while out there… unless it's me thinking of who's ass I'm kicking when I get back." I tell her and she giggled and then covered her mouth before she woke up the girls and I smiled at her. The fact that she can laugh at my stupidity and that I could make her laugh made me feel good. There was a loud crack of thunder and I shut my eyes a bit as I lay my head on the pillow and I feel Clem pull me to her.
"Still don't like loud noises Huh?" She asked and I nod a bit.
"It was bad when I couldn't see, I should be use to it but… fuck it still scares me." I mutter and she rubbed my back a bit.
"Well, the girls will be in here soon." She whispers and before I could ask her, there was a knock at the door and I turn to see the girls open the door a bit and Clementine sits up.
"Thunder huh?" She asked them and they just come up to the bed and I moved a bit so that they could get between us and I look down to them.
"Storms suck." Lura whispers and I chuckled and nodded.
"Yeah, I hate thunder, the rain is ok but thunder." I stopped and looked to both the girls. There was then another loud roar of thunder and Lura clings to Clementine and Diana clings to me and we hugged both the girls. I feel Diana grip my shirt and I pull her to me and she seemed to relax after a while and I frown a bit. When did they get so scared of thunder? Was this while I was gone? I look to Clementine a bit as she looked to me and basically gave me a look that she would explain later. I nod a bit as we both calmed both the girls down until they fell asleep. I looked to the clock to see that it was still too early for them to go to sleep, and it was hours before they would have to go to school too.
"They got scared cause of a tornado." I hear Clementine whisper and I look to her.
"It was a year after you left and a huge tornado hit the town, they had run home in the storm because they missed the bus… I was a little angry at them when they should have stayed at the school… anyway I was at work and decided to leave early when the tornado warning came on." She tells me and I was about to say something but stopped.
"I know it was stupid but I had this feeling I needed to be home." She whispers and I nod.
"Anyway, when I get home, I hear the radio on and the girls were listening in on it, next thing we know they send out the emergency alarm and I hurried and got them in the bathroom with the mattress by the window just in case… and the thunder just kept coming and coming like it would never stop…. Then the tornado ouched down near the end of dad's property and the winds kept getting louder… they asked when you would be home to be with us but I couldn't answer them." She tells me and I look to her a bit sadden and I look down to the girls.
"It did damage a lot of dads property but it was mostly the garden area." She tells me and I nod and I rubbed the back of Diana's head as she snuggled more to me and I kissed her head gently. I look over to Lura a bit then to Clementine.
"Do you make them go to school?" I asked her and she sighs.
"I have too… I stopped letting them go if the storms got bad and I tried explaining it to the school but they said if they missed anymore then… well we'd be in trouble." She says and I sighed a bit.
"They got a bit use to it, but when this happens, I make sure I drop them off and pick them up, the school is fine with that." She tells me and I nod at this. I look to the girls as they slept some more and Clementine moved her hand so she could rub Diana's back gently and I just watch them. There was another loud roar of thunder and I moved my hand to cover my ear and I take a deep but calming breath and I shut my eyes a bit. I feel Clementine place her hand on my face and I crack one eye open and I see the worry look on her face and I shake my head a bit and close my eye again. I take another breath and I feel a small hand gripping the front of my shirt and I look down to Diana and I move my hand and place it on her ear.
She calmed down a bit and I close my eyes again and I tried to get some sleep. It wasn't long till it was time for them to get up and it was still storming out and I could really hear the rain pouring as I helped Clementine make breakfast for the girls and ourselves. I made some coffee and I hear softer thundering sounds and I look to the girls.
"You two ok?" I asked.
"Yeah, just loud thunder is bad." Lura tells me and I rubbed the side of my head a bit and then look to the side.
"Yeah I have to agree with that." I chuckled a bit as I take a sip of my coffee.
"Thunder is scary… reminds me of what I heard." I mutter a bit.
"Mama said that she helped calm you down when there was loud sounds." Diana says and I nod.
"Yep she sure does… and she helps you two as well." I say.
"She got scared too." Diana says and I look to them a bit and then I look to Clementine as she sets them their plates of pancakes.
"It's not as bad for me as it is for you three." She tells them. When she said this though I felt bad. She helped me a lot when it came to loud sounds but I don't think I ever helped her, and if I did, I don't recall it that much. I started to feel bad and I set my mug to the side and I look to Clem as she got the juice for the girls and I look to them a bit. When we all finished breakfast, I made sure the girls had everything and even their umbrellas and we took them to school I then ask Clementine to wait as I go and take the girls in and I head to the office and the girls headed to their class.
"Hello may I help you?" The secretary asked and I rubbed the back of my neck a bit.
"Hello I'm uh… I'm Vinny Everett I wanted to talk about my daughters." I tell her.
"Oh, do I need the principal?" She asked and I nod a bit.
"I mean to set up a meeting at a different time, I understand they must be busy." I tell her.
"Oh, let me call her up and see what we can do." She says and I nod as I wait. It wasn't long till the principal came out and I talk with her a bit and we set up a time to meet after school hours and she sets up the appointment and tells me the time I can come by with my wife. When done I head back out as the rain was pouring harder and I head into the car and shake my wet hair and Clementine laughed a bit.
"Wet dog." She mutters and I smirk a bit at her. We then headed to her shot and I look to it a bit as we went inside and she started to set up and I helped her. A few customers would come in from time to time, some due to the rain and others to get some treats for their kids after school. a woman came in and Clementine and her chatted a bit as I got the order ready and I set the box on the counter.
"Oh, so this is your husband?" The woman asked and I look to her a bit and she smiled and waved to me and I wave back a bit.
"Yep, this is Vinny." Clem says and she kissed my cheek and she grabbed another box.
"So, I hear you were overseas." The woman says and I nod.
"Yeah, I mean I'm on leave." I tell her.
"And you're helping your wife? You must be tired." She says and I nod a bit.
"Yeah, I'm a bit tired but I like coming here and helping as much as I can… though between you and me, I'm not allowed to bake because I kept trying to lick the spoon." I joked and she laughs a bit.
"Oh yes, Clementine's baking is amazing, I don't blame you." She tells me and I chuckled.
"So, what do you work as right now?" She asked.
"A little of being a translator, then some recon, sniper a lot really, mostly a sniper and translator." I tell her.
"Oh, my husband works as a translator too, but he's more on deciphering captured letters." She says but it seemed she was a little confused on what she said.
"Oh, he's probably the one that helps figure out what encrypted letters are saying, people have been getting secretive so they have to do that, I was able to find a few but we probably sent them to his department." I tell her.
"Oh, you might have met him than." She says and I shake my head.
"No sorry, I had to keep moving with my squad, never got the chance to meet him." I tell her.
"Oh, that's too bad, you know I was going to invite Clem and your girls to a small party in the park for veterans and their families, active members as well." She says and I think.
"Seems a bit wet to be having a party right now." I joke and she laughed a bit.
"No, no the event is happening on Sunday, after church." She tells me.
"Oh, you go?" I asked and she nods.
"Of course, my brother is the new priest there, after that bill guy was a no show." She mutters.
"No shit, small world." I say.
"Oh, you go to my church?" She asked.
"Guessing Clem hasn't gone there in a while hu?" I asked.
"She doesn't go in, the girls do but she stays outside and reads a book, actually that's how I got to know her, I talked to her while asking her to come in… actually let me resay something, when it rains, she comes in but she stays in the far back." She tells me and then Clementine comes back over.
"Talking about me?" Clem asked.
"A little but all good things." She says and I look down to Clementine and she nods.
"Well, I hope your son likes the cupcakes, I made sure they were triple chocolate for him and of course chocolate icing." She tells the woman and she laughed.
"Oh, he will, heck the boy wants to take up baking." The woman tells Clem.
"Well, if he ever wants to learn he can come here when he's older actually maybe I should start some classes." Clem says and she has her thinking face on and I smile at her gently.
"I would but his father is so insistent that he works in a manly field, let me tell you that boy made dinner with me supervising of course, and my husband said it was the best meal he ever had… I just wish little josh told his dad he made the dinner." She tells us.
"He could work here part time, that way he can have some cash and do what he likes." Clem suggests.
"That would be amazing, but we got to wait ten years." The woman laughed and so did Clementine.
"Well tell him I said happy birthday, and stay safe, heard the weather might turn a little sour in a few hours." Clem tells her.
"Will do, and I will see you two and the girls on Sunday, we have to meet at the church before we head to the park." She tells us and I nod as she leaves and I helped her to her car. She thanks me and I nod and then I head back to the store and see Clem as she was looking at the display cases and she looked to me as she hands me a cookie and I smile and take a bite. It was one of those brownie cookies she made but with walnuts and I smiled.
"Oh, these are so good… trying to get me fat again?" asked her and she laughed.
"Is it working?" She asked and I laughed.
"Got to do extra PT but it's worth it." I tell her as we got back to work.
"I have some new recipes I'd like to try out, also I need to make something for the party." She says and I think.
"Well, I have no complaints with these cookies." I say as I take another bite of the cookie and she giggled.
"So, what did you do while in the school?" She asked.
"Just want to have a little chat with the principal is all, nothing bad just want to see if they could do something for the girls during weather like this." I tell her.
"Oh, like take them to a different room?" She asked.
"Hmmm, well that or if they could call us and see if we can come in to calm them down… I don't want to be too coddling to them but… I know how bad loud sounds can be for kids." I tell her and she pts my back a bit.
"I know how you feel, I don't like sending them to school during this weather, I get scared, and they do these tornado drills but that just made them worry more when they told me about it." She explained and I rubbed my face a bit and pinch the bridge of my nose.
"Let me guess they do drills and it scares the girls?" I asked and she nods.
"They don't do them all the time maybe once a month but… I'm just being an over protective mother." She tells me and I move my hand and smile at her.
"No shame really, I mean you're a first-time parent." I tell her and she nods at this.
"Yeah." She sighed and I kissed her head. More people came into the store and a lot of them would talk with Clementine here and there.
"I have to say you should really think about expanding." A man says as he was eating one of the cookies.
"Oh no this is fine." Clementine tells him and I come over to them.
"Trust me, you could make a killing if you expanded, I heard the building next door is going up for sale." He tells her.
"Hmmm, as much as the offer is tempting, I'm going to have to decline, I like my little shop, and there is plenty of room." She tells him.
"What about having shop in another county? Could make more money that way." He tells her.
"Again, as tempting as that sounds I couldn't drive to another county and run this store." She tells him.
"Well, that's what managers are for." He tells her.
"I will have to think on it, but for now I'm happy where I am." She tells him. He leaves a card for her and she instantly threw it in the trash and I look to her a bit as she shook her head.
"Guess he's a regular bother?" I asked.
"Pain in my ass if you tell me, you know he tried asking me out." She tells me and I look to her and she holds her hand off.
"Told him I was happily married with my husband who will kick his ass to next week." She says and I couldn't help but smirk a bit.
"Plus, I kept making sure that he saw my wedding ring." She says and I laughed a bit at this.
"To be fair I know you would kick his ass as well." I tell her and she rolled her eyes and I smiled at her. When I looked to the clock Clem was closing up the shop and I helped her. When done we were currently in the school's office area and the girls were looking to the ground a bit. We told them they weren't in trouble and that I just wanted to talk to the principal, though they still thought that meant they were in trouble, and Clementine distracted them with making them do their homework. We get called to the office and the secretary said she would watch the girls and I nod in thanks as we go in the principal's office.
"So, you wanted to talk about the girls?" She asked as she took a seat behind her desk.
"Oh yeah, just… are they ok during the storm?" I asked.
"Oh yes they are, actually they have their friends help them when it gets to loud for them, trust me we try our best with any students that have issues with loud sounds or other problems." She explained to me and I nod.
"I was wondering that… if it got too much for them could you call us?" I asked.
"Oh, I see, yes we can call you if it gets too bad, we have the bakery and home phone on the emergency contacts, so we will call both, and we also have their grandfathers' number as well." She tells me and I nod at this.
"Ok, I am sorry I just wanted to make sure… well you know." I tell her.
"No, no don't be sorry I get it, when I had my daughter, she use to be scared of a lot of things, and I talked to the principal for her school as well, don't worry, we understand that there are some times where they could have worse days than others, and we will make sure to contact anyone in your family if they want." She tells me.
"Have they had to call before?" I asked as I looked to Clementine.
"Only once when we had a tornado drill, Diana had a bit of a panic attack." The principal tells me and I look to her then back to Clementine who nodded.
"But her sister helped her… so we put them in the same class, until you request, we separate them of course, though when they get into middle school that's a different story." She says and I nod.
"I think they're ok for this year; we can talk to them later but if I know twins, they don't like being separated for a while." I tell her.
"Oh, are you a twin?" She asked.
"No, lord no, one of my old friends has a twin, they told me a lot." I tell her and she nods.
"Well, is there anything else you'd like to talk about?" She asked.
"When is the next parent teacher conference?" I asked.
"Oh, there is one tomorrow actually, did the girls not give you the flyer?" She asked.
"No, they didn't, we can talk to them about that later, thank you and have a wonderful day." Clem says as we both stand up and I shake the principals' hand and we head out to the main office area. The girls had finished half their homework and I smiled as we hurry to the car and again, I shake my head making the girls laughed.
"Papa, is like a dog… can we get a puppy?" Lura asked.
"What about getting more ducks?" Clem asked.
"Well ducks are cool but so are dogs." Diana says and I shake my head a bit.
"Should get some geese, they act like dogs." I mutter and the girls giggled and I smile at them.
"So can we get a dog?" Lura asked.
"Nope." I say.
"Aww come on, we take care of the ducks good enough." She says and I think.
"How about this, you two be good for your mom while I'm gone, and I will think about getting you a puppy, that means helping her when she needs it, and if you help your grandfather with the farm animals then we can talk about getting a dog." I tell them.
"OK!" They both shout in excitement.
"Oh, you've done it now Vinny." She tells me and I smile.
"Hey they got to learn responsibilities." I tell her.
"That's true." She says quietly. We finally get home and the girls run into the house and I go in with Clementine and I chuckled.
"I had umbrellas for a reason but I forget to use them." I joke and Clem pats my shoulder a bit and I smile at her. There was another roll of thunder and I sighed a bit as the rain came down some more and I help her make dinner. The girls finished their homework and asked if they could watch one show before dinner and Clem tells them that it's ok. I look to see something playing and I look back to Clementine who smiled.
"You should go watch with them." She says and then I look to the food a bit then to her.
"It's fine, go spend time with them." She says and I nod as I go over to them and I take a seat on the floor. I asked about the show and they tell me it's a cartoon and I watch it with them. It was a little weird see cartoons moving, I remember when we could only see drawings in simple comic strips in the newspapers or in some comics they sell in the stores. My grandmothers old Television wasn't the best either so it was hard for me to see so this new Television was basically a major upgrade, though I mostly just read the comics since her death and before her death.
"And they come on every week too, it's funny." Diana says as there was a character getting an anvil to land on another character's head and I frown a bit at this.
"A bit violent don't you think?" I asked them.
"It's just a cartoon." She says and I nod. I had to agree I mean I had seen this in comic strips but I knew better than to try and do half the stuff they put in the paper. I lean back a bit so my back was against the couch and I place my arms on the cushion as I kept watching the show. There was one cartoon I could care less about and it was basically showing war propaganda and I look to the screen more as the cartoon was showing our side winning in weird ways. I then notice that the cartoon had some pretty racists drawings and I glare at it a bit.
"They allowed this to be aired?" I asked out loud and Clementine comes over as she sets some carrots and other vegetables on the coffee table and I look to her.
"And you let them watch this?" I asked her.
"We know people don't really look like that Papa, and we know better than to say those words." Diana says and I look to the twins then to Clementine.
"Hmmm, just don't like it." I mutter.
"I know, I don't like it either." She tells me and I looked to the cartoon more. It showed a pretty racist depiction of black people and I shut the television off immediately.
"Nope, none of that." I say and look to the girls.
"It's ok, the cartoon we like was over anyway." Diana says and they eat their snack and I nod a bit at this. Clementine takes me to the side a bit and I look to her.
"Are you ok?" I asked her.
"Yes, I am, I just need some help in the kitchen." She tells me and I nod and looked to her from time to time as we finished up dinner. The girls were sitting at the table and we eat our food a bit.
"Why can't we watch that stuff?" Lura asked and I look to her.
"It's racist." I tell her.
"What's that?" She asked.
"It's when people don't like you based on your skin color." Diana tells her and Lura looked to her skin a bit and I frown a bit.
"So, people don't like us?" She asked and I look to Clementine a bit.
"Hmm, yes some people don't like us because we have a different skin color, they were raised that way and some people don't like to change their views." She tells them. I think a bit and rubbed the back of my neck and then the twins look to me.
"Did you not like people like us?" Lura asked and Clementine looked to me.
"I mean my dad was really racist and when I was younger, I thought like that, but my grandpa told me it was wrong." I explain to them.
"Oh, so you're racist." She stated. I shouldn't feel shocked at this but I was just a little.
"I'm not, I love your mom and I love you two, your uncle Louis is black too, and he's my friend, there's a few black people in my squad too… we're all human, god just made them and you in his image." I tell them.
"But Mama said people don't change their views." Diana says and I look to her a bit as she looked to the girls.
"Your Papa was young when he changed his views, he's better than those people, plus if your Papa didn't like me based on my skin color, he would have never asked me to marry him." She tells them and I clear my throat a bit.
"I want you two, to remember this, God made you more like your mom because he thought you two would be beautiful, and you two are, and I love you two and your mother very much, no matter what you look like… plus if I remember correctly, I beat up some racist boy when I first got here." I say and look to Clementine who nods.
"Yep, you sure did, racist and homophobic." She says and I hold her hand gently.
"So, you can change? Why don't people change?" Lura asked.
"Hmm, no clue." Clem says and I think.
"Well, my grandpa taught me with religion but he also saw what was going on in the world and he didn't like it, why his son grew up the way he did I won't ever know and I don't care." I mutter the last part.
"So, is that why we can't meet Grandpa Aldon?" Diana asked and I nodded.
"Well, that and for other reasons." I mutter a bit to myself and then looked to Clementine.
"Like what?" Diana asked and I look to her just as Clem did and I clear my throat a bit.
"Oh, just other reasons no need to worry your little heads about it." I tell them. When we finished dinner, I go and sit with Clementine on the couch and I sighed a bit as I take a seat and look to her. The week would pass and we were currently at the church listening to the sermon for the day and the girls had sat with us and they were reading the bible a bit. I see them frown a bit at what the priest was saying.
"And now we shall let the children come and learn a lesson." He says and I look to the girls as they look to Clem and I and we nod as they go up to the front with the other kids and I watch them.
"Today we are learning about gay people." He says and a few people gasp.
"Yeah, that they are bad." One of the kids say and a few kids laugh and I frown a bit. The priest was talking and then Diana and Lura both raise their hands.
"Oh, seems like the twins might be thinking the same things." He says and a few people laughed.
"Why do you say gay people will go to hell? I thought God loved all his children?" Diana asked.
"Well, he does, he just doesn't like the sin." He says.
"What if it's to test how others would react?" Lura says and I was about to get up but Clem stopped me.
"What do you mean little one?" The priest asked.
"Well, if you treat gay people bad, then you could be going to hell, remember, love thy neighbor and be good to others no matter their sins?" She asked.
"Oh, I didn't think about it like that." He tells her.
"Because gay people can't have kids." One of the other kids says.
"Our mama and Papa were having troubles with having us, does that mean they're going to hell?" Diana asked.
"No, they aren't-."
"But he just said because they can't have kids, if that was the whole point that means our Mama and Papa are going to hell because they couldn't have us." Lura says and I watch them.
"Well, you two are just a miracle from god for your Mama and Papa." The priest tells them and they look to Clem and I and I nod at this.
"What does god think about racists?" Diana asked.
"Oh, uh well-."
"Are they going to hell because they hate us?" Lura asked.
"Oh, that's enough for today, we will talk more about that tomorrow, ok?" he asked and I know it upset the girls when they couldn't get an answer when they asked. They come over to us and I rubbed their heads a bit and they just frowned as they thought a bit. I smile a bit at them and we head on out and the priest was by the door thanking everyone for coming.
"Oh Mr. and Mrs. Everett could we talk?" He asked and I look to him then to Clementine.
"Oh uh, sure, you two go play for a bit, stay close though." Clem says and I look to the priest.
"Haven't had the chance to meet you Mr. Everett." He says as he held his hand out and I shake it.
"Yeah, been busy with work, nice to meet you I already met your sister the other day." I tell him and he nods.
"I do have a question about your daughters if you don't mind." He says and I frown a bit.
"Something wrong with what they asked?" I asked him.
"No, I mean… it was just the last question and well, the others." He says and I crossed my arms a bit.
"Not saying they were bad questions I just… wanted to know what you have been teaching them." He says.
"We tell them what they want to know." I tell him and he nods.
"Do they think homosexuality is ok?" He asked.
"Do you have a problem with it?" I asked him.
"No, no just-."
"They are taught to treat everyone like a person, don't judge based on their sins, if we did that then we'd be judging everyone here who's eaten shellfish, or has had a divorce, and that's a lot of people in this church." I tell him and he nods.
"Yes well-."
"There is no well, I am sorry if I'm coming off as an asshole but I work with people with many different backgrounds, doesn't change how they do their job or who they are as a person." Tell him.
"Right, I do apologize if I overstepped." He says and I nod.
"What about them asking about Racists?" He asked.
"Do you think racists should go to hell?" I asked him.
"I think they should not judge people on their skin color." He tells me and I nod.
"Good cause we would have a little problem if you said they don't while my children and I have darker skin color." Clementine says and he looked to her.
"Right again I am sorry if I'm coming off wrong, I'm just surprised they asked questions like this, kind of made me think for a bit myself, they are smart girls." He says and I nod.
"They get it from their mom if I have to be honest." I tell him and he nods.
"Well, I would like to have them talk one day, to be honest children are better to talk about loving others." He says.
"We will have to think on it, anyway we have to go, we hope to see you at the park party." Clementine says and he nods and we go to the girls and take them home and we start walking home.
"Are we in trouble?" Lura asked.
"No, not at all, why do you ask?" I asked as I had Lura on my shoulders and Diana was hanging on my back a bit.
"Well, the questions we asked." Diana says.
Nothing is wrong with what you ask, you were right to ask and question things." Clementine tells them.
"But that boy-."
"Is an idiot whose parents don't allow him to question lots of things." I tell them.
"Oh." She says quietly and I take a breath as we finally get to the house. Diana drops from my back and I take Lura off my shoulders and I look to Clementine.
"I know we were supposed to head to the park right after but I think you two should change into playing clothes." Clem says and I laughed.
"They just want to look nice, but your mom is right." I say and they run in their room and get changed. When they had gotten changed, we head to the park and the small party was nice and the girls were playing and I was drinking a beer as I stood next to Clem who was talking to the priest's wife.
"So, I saw your children were a bit question hungry today." She says and I look to her husband.
"Yes, they want to learn as much as they can." Clem says and I nod and take a drink of my beer.
"Have you thought of sending them to Catholic school?" She asked and I look to the woman.
"Why would we-."
"It's a wonderful place for them to know about god and the bible you know, if they really want to learn." She interrupted Clem and I look to her.
"Uh, no we don't plan on sending them." I tell her.
"Oh, but I think-."
"Ma'am with all due respect I am not sending my children to catholic school." Clementine tells her.
"Well, what about you Mr. Everett?" She asked me and I look to her.
"Have to agree with my wife, I don't want to send them to catholic school, and I won't be forcing this onto them." I tell her.
"Well, I think it would be-."
"Darling why don't you go and get a hotdog for me please?" Her husband asked and she looked to him and nods then she leaves and I look to him.
"Sorry she sent our daughter to the catholic school here and she thinks it's the best thing for her." He says and I take another drink of my beer.
"I'm not letting a nun smack my kids if they ask questions about their beliefs." I mutter.
"Right yes heh, sorry if we are all getting off on the wrong foot." He says and I nod. His wife then comes back and she hands him his food and she got back to talking to us and I rolled my eyes a bit.
"Well at least your children are baptized." She laughed and I raise a brow at her.
"They haven't been baptized." I tell her.
"What?" She asked.
"Our children aren't baptized; we haven't had the time to do it." I tell her.
"Well, you clearly have your wife here to take them to get baptized." She says.
"Excuse me?" Clem asked and the priest coughed a bit.
"Now honey-."
"You need to get them baptized, no wonder they asked so many questions." She says.
"They ask questions because we told them to ask what they don't understand, not because they weren't baptized Ma'am, and I will tell you to please respect our choices-."
"They will grow up to be heathens, I mean I'm ok with the interatrial stuff but they-."
"Are you about to say something about my children and the color of their skin?" I asked her in a warning tone and she looked to me.
"Last I checked women kept their god damn mouths shut, you might want to keep it that way before I deck you for speaking ill about fucking eight-year-olds." I warn her.
"Hold on calm down-."
"You shut your fucking mouth unless you want to get decked, she spoke ill about my marriage to my wife, and now she wants to tell us that because our kids are half black, that they are fucking common thugs?" I asked him and he looked to his wife a bit.
"Go on, say something bad about my children I fucking dare you, wouldn't be the first time I punched a woman." I tell her and she kept her mouth shut.
"Good, now rethink what you are about to say." I tell her and she did look to be thinking.
"I just think you should get them baptized." She says in a calming manner and I nod a bit.
"We haven't had the time to do it, and my husband would like to be here with his mother and sister and friends when they do, now excuse me I have to watch my children." Clem says as she walked away and I look to both the priest and his wife.
"Well, uh… I wonder what upset her." The wife asked and I look to her.
"You know how hard it was for us to have children? And to have people like you say all that? You know nothing about her life or their life and you want to judge them the way you just did?" I asked her and she looked to me.
"It's not like anything bad-."
"Her parents were lynched because of people like you, so don't even utter a word to my wife unless you change your fucking attitude, and I don't want you talking to my children either." I warn her and I look to the priest.
"Same goes for you, do not talk to my family until she fixes her attitude." I tell him and he nods and I leave them to talk seemed like the new priest wasn't too happy with how his wife acted because he was arguing with her and I go over to Clementine as she was wiping dirt off Lura's face.
"You two are messy." She laughed and I chuckled as Diana was wiping her cheek after Clem cleaned it and I smile.
"I would say I would take blame but I take credit for this." I tell her and the girls smile at me.
"Yeah, we like getting dirty." Lura joked and I bust out laughing at this and then I rubbed her head. It was a while before the party ended and the priest and his wife did stay away from us and I was grateful he took my warning. I mean how could you stand there and let your wife belittle kids of all people, no morals if you ask me. When they finished up, we took the girls to get some ice-cream and then we walked home. They went to bed and I look to Clem as she was sitting on the couch and I look to her a bit and then she placed her hand on my knee and I place my hand on top of her.
"Are you ok?" I asked her.
"Just thinking about what that woman said." She tells me and I look to her a bit.
"Don't listen to her, she's-."
"I mean about getting the girls baptized." She tells me and I look to the television and then to her again.
"They are getting older, I think they should choose if they want to or not, I don't want to force them into religion, why do you think we only bring them on Sunday? We don't say grace unless they want to." I tell her.
"I know but…" She stops and I look to her.
"We can ask them about this later, they're old enough to say if they want to or not… would you be upset if they didn't?" I asked her.
"No, I would never be mad at them." She says and I nod a bit.
"Were you baptized?" She asked and I think.
"As a baby, so I don't remember it." I tell her and she nods.
"I don't know why it's bothering me." She mutters to herself and I smile gently at her.
"Well like I said, we can ask them if they want to… I only have two weeks before I leave." I tell her and she nods.
"I know… I just need to forget what that woman said." She mutters and I kissed her cheek gently and she looked to me and I get up and turned the radio on playing gentle music. I hold my hand out to her and she smiled as she got up and she wrapped her arms around my neck and I place my hand on her hips as we just swayed to the music. She placed her head to my chest a bit and I place my chin on top of her head. I close my eyes as I listened to the music and we kept slow dancing and then we hear some giggling and turn to see our daughters looking at us from the corner of their bedroom door. I smirk at them and they gasp at being caught.
"Seems like we have some enemies in the area." I whisper to Clem and she giggles a bit.
"We should ambush them." She whispers and the next thing we know two small bodies crash into our legs and we laughed at this and then looked down to the two little ones. We were able to get them back into bed and I smile at them as they slept and then I closed the door and I look to Clementine and we then head to bed for the night.