Ice Heart Ch. 04

Sandra and Sweet William helped him pick out the furniture and both, he had to admit, had more taste for style than he ever did.

The girl was now applying lotion to her stubby legs as she sat on the edge of her bed. The position offered him several glimpses of her pubic curls and the glistening pink slit as she labored on her legs.

"Uh huh," Cris smiled as the girl looked toward his bedroom. "Like I'm going to return the favor."

It was a four bedroom house and both Sweet William and Sandra had asked him why he wanted such a large house and he had no real answer for them.

The previous owners had obviously had children; there was an almost new swing set in the back yard. The swing set had cemented the deal in Cris's eyes.

"I have a grandson," he finally told Sandra. "Never know, Nicole might want me to baby sit one night. Freddy'll have a swing set out here, and his own bedroom for napping in."

"Uh huh," Sandra said, then picked out a 'racing car' bed and chest of drawers for a child's room.

"That is cute," Cris smiled.

****

She could hear the strains of the piano and saw her beautiful little girl sign 'and they lived happily ever after.' Then all the weariness left her and she felt a wonderful calm overcome her. The brightest light she'd ever seen enveloped her, but it did not hurt her eyes to look at it.

"God?" she asked in wonder.

Nicole wailed in anguish as the monitor showed the flat line.

"Hello?" Cris mumbled groggily as he answered his cell phone.

"Daddy?" Nicole's voice asked.

Chapter 14

Cindy was polite as she and Danny and Alicia, Bobby, and Christopher Michael sat out on the deck of the lake cabin with Buddy and his parents. She did not like the arrogant, presumptive Webbs and wondered for the umpteenth time why Danny did like these people.

Yeah, Jack and I fight about religion," Susan cackled, well into her fourth drink. "He things he's God and I don't."

Jack made Alicia uncomfortable; his eyes were glued to her breasts the entire time. When Christopher Michael fussed for feeding, Alicia politely, but firmly closed the bedroom door to breast feed her baby boy.

If Buddy noticed his father's eyes, he said nothing. A few times, he even attempted to grope her breasts, with her parents and her cousin right there.

****

Cris nodded in appreciated as Sweet William sat down next to him.

"Man, I didn't realize how bad she'd gotten," Sweet William whispered.

Cris had to agree. In the two months since he'd visited her in the hospital, and she had not looked good then, she had dropped a significant amount of weight and had lost all color. He realized that her face wore a good deal of cosmetics, but there was only so much the mortician could do.

He looked over at his daughter and felt a surge of pride. She was orchestrating the service with a quiet efficiency and dignity; very much unlike the selfish, self-centered girl she'd been just four years earlier.

"Dad?" she asked as she waddled down the aisle to his side. "Would you be one of the pall bearers, please?"

"Be honored," Cris admitted and she smiled sadly.

"Hi, Mr. William," She said, looking past her father to the large man. "Would you, I need one more pall bearer."

"Be my honor; I always loved your momma," Sweet William agreed.

"Good, then y'all need to come sit up here," Nicole said and indicated the pew near the casket where Fred and three other men were already seated.

"I need to talk with you," Cris quietly said to Fred as they stood around in the condominium where Ann Marie had lived the last year of her life.

They walked outside in the Lafayette heat and humidity, talking quietly.

Nicole looked up when Fred entered the living room, eyes wide with disbelief.

"Did you know that your mother left behind a two hundred and fifty thousand dollar life insurance policy?" he whispered to his wife.

"She what?" Nicole asked, not believing she'd heard right.

"Yeah, and she told your dad she wanted the money to go to my college!" Fred said. "Said it had to go to my college or we couldn't get it."

Nicole didn't know whether to laugh at her husband's gullibility or laugh for joy. She merely smiled and squeezed his hand tightly.

"That mean I'm going to be married to a teacher?" she asked.

"I guess so," he said, still in awe of their good fortune.

"Good, I'm tired of smelling Taco Bell all over you," Nicole said and smiled as yet another well-wisher offered condolences.

"Hello?" Cris answered his cell phone.

"Thank you, Daddy," Nicole said.

"For what?" Cris feigned ignorance.

"You know for what," Nicole accused.

"Your mother asked me to help him but she knew he'd never just accept my help," Cris said sincerely.

"You know he wants to go to Notre Dame, don't you?" Nicole said.

Cris felt the familiar iciness begin to descend again. Just when it looked like he might be able to reestablish a relationship with his daughter, circumstances were snatching that away again.

"God damn, Cris, grow up," he admonished himself.

"Well, at least he's Catholic," Cris said aloud.

****

Buddy was a little slow, but he was beginning to come around to Alicia's way of thinking. He finally understood that when he grabbed her breasts or her buttocks, what he was announcing to everyone that witnessed those actions was that he thought Alicia was a stupid whore.

"Would you like it if I kept calling you 'stupid,' or 'piece of shit'"? Alicia asked.

"No, not really," he admitted.

"Well, that's kind of what you're doing when you do those things out in public like that," Alicia explained.

Privately, however, he was just as boorish and aggressive as ever. She wondered what it was that her daddy liked so much about Buddy, why he kept encouraging her to date the brash, presumptive youth.

****

Danny scowled; someone had been puttering around with the things on his desk again. The picture of Alicia and Christopher Michael sat facing him again. He kept turning it away, but someone kept turning it back.

He pulled the frame off his desk and dropped it into a desk drawer. He thought about it for a moment, then opened the drawer again.

He pulled the back off the frame, pulled the photograph out and fished around until he found an envelope. He wrote out an address and smiled maliciously as he used the postage meter to stamp the envelope.

****

Welcome to Notre Dame," the dean said as he greeted Fred Dumas. "Lafayette, huh? I was down there just three weeks ago. Man, I tell you what! We don't have any food like that here, that's for sure!"

"Should have told me you were in town," Fred said. "I'd have taken you out to Miss Helen's for some boiled crawfish."

"Oh, by the way, you're to call Mrs. Bonham," the dean said and handed Fred a business card.

Fred looked at the realtor's card, then back at the dean.

"Um, why?" Fred finally said.

"I believe she has the keys for your house," the dean smiled.

"Your dad bought us a house?" Fred asked as the realtor pointed out the fenced in back yard.

"I guess so," Nicole agreed.

She pursed her lips as the realtor stared at Sophia as the little girl signed that she needed to go potty.

"Get used to it, kid," she said to herself. "Some people are just plain ignorant."

"Your mother and I had a nice little talk before her, before she passed," Cris said when Nicole called him. "She asked me to look out for you and for Sophia. Actually, what she said was 'Take care of my babies, please,' and I ain't about to tell a woman 'no' when she's on her deathbed, you know?"

"Well, it's beautiful," Nicole said sincerely.

"And I made sure to ask for a fenced in back yard; someplace you know, somewhere Sophia and Freddy can play and be safe."

"It's got that," Nicole said. "And it's got a school right down the street; that woman said it was a real nice one."

"Good," Cris said then waited.

There was a long moment of silence.

"Well, I um, I love you," Cris said. "Give me a call from time to time, okay?"

He flipped his cell phone shut and picked up the photograph again. Alicia looked absolutely beautiful; he loved the way the red blouse brought out the natural glow of her skin. And Christopher Michael was a real heart breaker with that flaming red hair and that wide open smile. The photographer had posed them, Alicia seated on the floor, resting on her right hand, left hand draped over Christopher Michael, holding him up in his seated position.

"Such a beautiful..." he murmured.

The envelope had been addressed to the apartment he had lived in; the mail carrier had bypassed that and brought it directly to his office. He was grateful the man had taken the time to do that for him and ignored the man's protests as he slipped him a twenty dollar bill.

Rachael, or Rochelle, or whatever the little tease's name was walked by an upstairs window, nude. Cris shook his head as he watched the brazen display. He wondered if her mother knew what was going on right above her head.

He'd actually talked briefly with the girl's mother as he was pruning the climbing rose he'd planted along the back fence. The obscenely obese woman had waddled over to the fence to talk to him and was out of breath by the time she reached the fence.

Cris peered down at her from the ladder he straddled. He also noticed Rachael, or Rochelle's younger sister, Tonisha, trying to stay out of sight.

He was polite; they were, after all, neighbors. He fought down the urge to shudder at the sight of her gelatinous bulk.

Rachael, or Rochelle or whatever the girl's name was, he learned, was a student at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, majoring in not having to grow up and go get a job. Tonisha, however, was working as a stock clerk at Early's Grocery store.

"Yeah, well, my son in law is a student at Notre Dame," he said with pride. "Majoring in Education. Daughter's majoring in making me a grandfather. Have one grandson, got another one on the way. Fred says it's a boy, Nicole says it's a girl."

"Married?" Claire asked, pointedly.

"Hmm?" Cris asked. "Yes, yes they're married."

"No, no, I meant, are YOU married?" Claire corrected his assumption.

"Me?" Cris asked, surprised. "No, no, I'm um..."

He searched his mind frantically.

"Engaged," he finally said.

"Oh," Claire said, then decided to waddle back to her house, Tonisha quietly waddling behind.

"Mother of God!" Cris thought, watching the immense bulks waddle away.

He went into the living room and found the box of frames that Sandra had left for him and put the photograph into the frame.

Tomorrow, he would bring it to the office for Sandra to add to the one photograph he had of Christopher Michael. And she'd go on and on about how beautiful the boy was. And he was inclined to agree.

****

Alicia blushed hotly as she told Buddy the story behind her tattoos. She turned to look at him and noticed how flushed he looked. His jeans were tented slightly as well. Revulsion welled up in her.

Instead of being disgusted or sympathetic, or perhaps even angered by her story, he was turned on, excited.

"So, um, that the only time you um, you ever did it with a girl?" he asked, almost breathless.

"Yes," she spat, angered. "It's not like I was with her; she forced herself on me."

She wanted to punch him; there was a sudden dark stain on the front of his jeans.

****

"You know the drill, Daddy," Nicole sobbed and laughed as the contractions started.

"And here's Johnny!" Fred said as he struggled into his blue jeans.

"It's Ann Marie and you know it," Nicole yelled, laughing.

"Jonathon Michael Dumas," Fred said as he pulled on his sweat shirt.

"Shut up and go get the kids up; Miss Evelyn's waiting for them," Nicole said and groaned as another contraction hit.

****

She didn't even have a key. Daddy said this was her house, was Christopher Michael's house, but she didn't even have a key, couldn't come and go as she wanted.

They were prisoners here. She took the baby, now walking on unsteady legs, out into the back yard, making sure the door was unlocked before she let it close.

In the early autumn, some leaves lay on the ground, crackling under her feet. Christopher Michael laughed and gurgled as he wobbled and toppled in the thick leaves.

He was such a happy baby; he was the absolute light of her life.

The eleven month old found the large ball and kicked it and fell over with the effort. Shrieks of laughter followed.

Her cell phone rang and she dug it out and looked at the number. Buddy. Again. Ever since last night, when she demanded that he take her home, he'd been calling, leaving messages. She'd listened to the apologies but it was clear he had no real idea what he was apologizing for, what had angered her so much.

****

"Here's Johnny!" Fred said again.

"Shut up, butt hole," Nicole groused and kissed him as she held the baby boy.

"You call your daddy yet?" he asked.

"Uh huh," Nicole said, smiling. "He actually, I think he was actually crying when he hung up.

****

"That's right," Cris said as he walked into the lobby and tossed a bubble gum cigar at Sandra. "That's right, I'm a grandfather; Jonathon Michael Dumas, born at three o'clock this morning."

Sandra put her finger to her lips to shush him and pointed to the couch that sat in the lobby.

He looked over and saw Alicia, sound asleep, head lolling back. At her feet was a stroller, Christopher Michael strapped in. The boy was slowly waking up and he looked up at Cris and smiled his seven toothed smile at the man.

"Hey Christopher Michael," he said quietly and wrinkled his nose slightly.

The boy was soiled. He unhooked the diaper bag from the rear of the stroller and took it and the boy into his bathroom.

"Whew, you ate that?" he smiled as he cleaned the boy up. "Pee U!"

Christopher Michael laughed as Cris laughed and smiled happily as a clean diaper was put on him.

"Come on, son, let's go see if Mommy's awake yet," Cris said and left the bathroom.

She was now waiting for him in his office and hugged him tightly when he entered, still holding Christopher Michael.

"Hey," he said quietly, holding her tightly, rocking slightly."

Hey," she agreed.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her.

"I went down to the apartment and that midget in number two said you'd moved but he didn't know where and I thought, 'Oh my God, suppose he's gone forever?' and so I walked back over here and Miss Sandra was just getting here and I told her who I was and she said she knew it was me 'cause I had Christopher Michael with me and she let me in and said you'd be here real soon and I fell sleep and when I woke up Miss Sandra said you'd taken Christopher Michael into the bathroom to change his diaper and...." Alicia rambled.

"You walked all the way from the apartment?" Cris asked, kissing the top of her head.

"Well first I walked from my Mom and Dad's to the apartment; I just couldn't take any more of it," Alicia admitted.

She pulled back and looked dup into his eyes.

"Cris, I know you don't really love me," she said with resignation. "But I don't care; I'm willing to live with that if you'll have us."

"Don't really...?: Cris asked, surprised. "Baby, are you kidding? I love you more than I could ever tell you, more than I could ever put into words but..."

"You do?" Alicia asked, scarcely able to believe it.

"Baby, when I lost you, my happiness went away," Cris said. "You can ask Sandra; I've just been clomping around, not smiling or anything.

"Sandra, I need to borrow your car," Cris said, coming out of his office at a brisk pace.

"Well, I would hope so," she said, holding out the keys to the Mercedes Benz he'd given her as a Christmas bonus.

"And I'm taking the rest of the day off," he went on.

"Not expecting to see you until Monday," she said.

"It is...oh!" Cris said, comprehending.

"And see, there's a swing set; I got that just in case you'd ever bring Christopher Michael over," Cris said excitedly as he showed her the back yard. "Oh! And you got to see his room! It's got this..."

"I'd rather see your room," Alicia laughed, overjoyed.

"By the way, that is one beautiful smile," he said and kissed her again.

"Yeah, like my new teefeth?" she asked, laughing.

"Dem some Veaudiful teefeth," He said and kissed her again. "Come on, stairs are right over here.

Rochelle masturbated almost frantically as she watched the old guy and some hot looking bitch fucking. This bitch had it all; slender body and nice sized tits and a tight little ass and long brown hair and beautiful round face. And best of all, she had cool tattoos. She couldn't really tell what they were tattoos of, except for the one on the girl's back. She liked Ska music as well, but didn't think she liked it enough to have 'Ska' tattooed on her back like that.

And the old guy had a fantastic body too, for an old guy.

"God!" Alicia screamed aloud. "Oh God, Baby!"

Cris laughed out loud. He'd just changed these sheets yesterday; it looked like he'd have to change them again. Unless they wanted to sleep on the wet spots. The bed was liberally covered in several of them; it seemed as if he and Alicia were both trying to make up for lost time.

****

Sophia asked if this was her brother and Nicole explained that it was her nephew.

"Want brother," Sophia said.

"Okay, brother," Nicole said.

"Good," Sophia smiled happily. "Here Johnny!"

"Fred!" Nicole yelled. "God damn it! Teaching her stuff like that!"

"Next one will be Ann Marie," Fred promised and kissed his wife.

"Uh huh, think I'm ever letting you touch me again?" Nicole pouted. "Teaching her 'Here's Johnny?'"

****

He dug around in the dresser and found it. Alicia smiled up at him as he approached her, then frowned slightly when he knelt down on the floor next to her side of the bed.

"I know you deserve, I kind of wanted to do this in a real romantic way, you know, kind of like fly you out to Paris and do this on the Eiffel Tower or something, but I'm so afraid if I wait I'll never get another chance to do this but Alicia, will you marry me?"

His mothers, his grandmother's ring fit her finger perfectly and she kept looking at it. For the first time, he noticed how small the diamond was.

"I'll get you a better ring tomorrow," he promised.

"Oh no you won't," she said firmly. "Anything else wouldn't be half as perfect as this one. This is MY ring."

Cindy was thrilled (and quite relieved) to hear of Alicia's engagement to Cris. Danny was less than enthusiastic until Cris very dryly asked him "So, do I call you 'Dad' or what?"

"Danny will be fine," Danny smiled sardonically.

"Behind my back you can call me 'that son of a bitch,' but to my face, I prefer Cris," Cris said and the two men shook hands.

"Oh hey!" Danny exclaimed when he realized Alicia and Cindy were carrying boxes out to the Mercedes-Benz.

"I'm not spending another night without her," Cris said firmly.

"Oh Okay, whatever, she's an adult now," Danny grumbled.

Chapter 15

They stood out in the garage to mix up the orange sherbet; Alicia said the machine was too noisy for use in the house. Christopher Michael was so excited about having ice cream for dessert; he actually made up a song and danced while his dad stirred the ingredients together."

Boy, you are a mess, you hear?" Cris laughed as the kid wiggled and gyrated.

He looked up as a car pulled up in their driveway and smiled widely as he saw the 'Fighting Irish' license plate on the front of the car's

Christopher Michael continued to dance, unconcerned if anyone should see him performing.

"I gave you that!" Nicole cried out. "For Father's Day! I gave you that ice cream maker! I was twelve, wow, I can't believe you still have that thing."

"Hi, how are you?" Cris smiled happily as he hugged his daughter and kissed her on her forehead. "When did y'all get into town? How long y'all staying? Where are my grandsons?"