Part 02: Billy - The Hidden Truth

After we ate, I found Lucy outside on the porch, staring into nowhere, it seemed. I stood beside her.

"Lucy," I said, my voice low and gentle.

She glanced at me and then looked away again. "I'm sorry," she told me.

"Sorry?"

She nodded. "For not writing to you. I just couldn't."

"You don't have to apologize. I understand," I told her.

Then she broke and began to cry. I took her into my arms and I held her until her sobs ended.

"I love you, Lucy," I told her. "I'm sorry for thinking that you didn't care any more."

"I love you, Billy," she told me. "I never stopped caring about you."

I pulled back and looked at her. I held her face in my hands and brought my lips to hers.

She pulled back and looked into my eyes. "I want to be alone with you."

I stared back at her. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "I'm sure."

"Okay," I said and took her hand into mine. "I know where we can go."

We went across the road and then we ran through the field that was behind my house. We ran until we came to the woods. I led her to the clubhouse that Dalton and I had built years ago.

"I used to come here when I wanted to be alone," I told her as we approached the clubhouse, which looked more like a beat-up old shack now. "It was a good place to hide from my father, as well," I told her.

"It's beautiful," she told me.

"Do you want to know what my favorite part is?"

"What?"

"We're alone," I told her.

Once inside, I led her to a cot that was in the back of the clubhouse. I took her into my arms and kissed her with so much passion that it took our breath away. Soon, we were on the cot, kissing and fondling each other. I rose and we undressed each other. We made love like it was our first time. The air outside was cool, but inside the clubhouse that day, it felt like an oven.

When it was over, I rolled off her and laid beside her. She wrapped her arms around me and she held me tight. That was the best feeling in the world.

"I've never been held before," I told her.

"Yeah?" she followed. "How is it?"

I smiled up at her. "It's nice."

We made love again.

Three hours passed before we dressed and headed back to the house. We were approaching my father's house.

"Is that your house?" Lucy asked me.

I nodded and looked at her. "Yeah."

"So that is where . . . " she stopped talking and looked at me.

"Where I almost bled to death," I told her. We stopped in the backyard and looked at it for a moment. "It seems like that happened a million years ago. It's like my old life doesn't exist any more."

We took another step.

"But this limp," I went on, "reminds me every day."

She turned me to face her and then she threw her arms around my neck. "I'm sorry that happened to you."

I smiled and kissed her. "Thank you, Lucy, for being here," I told her. "I just wish it were under better circumstances."

"So do I," she said, "but life never asks us what we want."

"That's true."

We turned and walked down the road. When we walked into the yard, my friends were on the front porch. Lance and Devon were playing a game of chess.

"Hey, guys," I greeted.

"Hey," Dalton said. "Um, your mother went to the motel in town. The room number is by the phone."

"Was she mad?" Lucy asked him.

He shook his head. "No. We told her that you would be safe with Billy."

She smiled and looked at me. She excused herself and went to the bathroom. I stepped inside and picked up my guitar. There was tune playing in my head that I needed to get out. I pulled up a chair and sat down.

"Where were you?" Lance asked me.

I looked at Dalton. "At the clubhouse."

"Awww . . . you animal," Ronnie told me.

"I hope you are being careful," Lance told me.

"We are," I told him, but I didn't look him in the eye. "Trust me. I have got enough problems."

I began to play the tune that was in my head. Lucy came out of the house and sat down on the porch swing, looking at me.

"That's beautiful," Lucy told me. "What is it?"

"I don't know yet," I told her.

"He does that often," Dalton told her. "With new tunes."

"Oh," she said. "Coolness."

I chuckled and looked at her. "Let me get my keys and I'll drive you to the motel."

"Okay."

I went inside and picked up my keys off the kitchen table and went back outside. "I'll be back," I told everyone.

I drove to the motel and after I turned off the engine, I looked at her. "I'm so sorry about your father, Lucy. I'm sorry that this happened to you, but . . . I'm glad you're here."

She smiled. "I'm glad, too."

I walked her to the door of their motel room and we said goodnight. I got into my car and headed back home. But on the way, I stopped at the cemetery and I found myself standing in front of my father's tombstone. It was the first time I had been there since he died. I did not even go to the funeral. I stood there, staring at it.

Raymond Allen Cole

September 1962 -- March 2001

Loving Father and Brother

I laughed when I read that last line. I wanted to say something to him, but nothing came to me. I turned away and started to walk toward my car.

"If you've got something to say, say it," I heard my father say behind me.

I whirled around and there he was, standing in front of his own tombstone. He looked real, not ghostly, like he should have. "Dad?" I said, aloud. "This can't be happening. You're dead."

My heart was pounding. I wanted to turn and run, but I couldn't. It was as if my feet her nailed to the ground.

"Your mother doesn't love you," he told me. "She's only here because she feels sorry for you. She hates you, just like she always has."

"No," I said. "She hated you. She left because of you. Not me."

He lunged forward and tried to grab me, but I turned around and started to run. However, I lost my footing and fell, hitting my head on something hard and I blacked out.

When I came to, it took a few minutes for my eyes to focus, but then I realized that I was in the hospital. Lance was pacing the floor.

"Lance?"

He stopped and looked at me. "Billy! Thank God!"

"What happened?"

"I don't know," he told me. "When you didn't come home, I tried to call your cell, but it went straight to your voice mail. So we went looking for you and found you in the cemetery. When I couldn't wake you up, I panicked."

I thought for a moment, trying to remember something. "My father," I said, aloud.

"What?"

"I was running from my father," I told him. "I tripped on something."

"Your father? How?"

I looked at him. "He was there, Lance. In the cemetery. He was chasing me. I ran, just like in the dream. He was there," I said, again.

"I believe you, Billy," he told me.

"He told me that my mother hated me and that she was only here because she felt sorry for me."

"I don't believe that, Billy," he told me.

"Neither did I, and when I told him so, he came after me. That's when I tried to run and he came after me."

"Wow," he said. "Even dead, he haunts you."

I chuckled. "Yeah. What did I hit?"

He looked at me. "Miranda's tombstone. You're lucky it didn't kill you."

"Miranda's . . . " my voice faded. "I'm sorry."

He smiled. "It wasn't your fault, Billy."

When the guys showed up, I told them the same thing I had told Lance.

"You actually saw him?" Dalton asked me.

I looked at him. "Yeah. I know he couldn't have been alive, but he sure looked real. Sometimes I think I'm losing my mind, but he was there. I saw him."

"We believe you," Devon told me.

"I'm glad you all do," I told them. "Because I'm not sure if I believe it."

Doctor Kramer walked into my room. "Well," she said. "Either you have got some really bad luck, or you have fallen in love with me," she said, smiling.

I felt myself blush. "I think it's just bad luck."

She nodded. "I think so too," she said and looked at my chart. "Well, it seems you have got a minor concussion, but you will live. Just rest for a few days." She looked at Dalton. "Keep an eye on him," she told him. "Wake him up every couple of hours, just to be sure he is okay."

"All right," he told her.

They released me from the hospital a few hours later.

My mother and Lucy came by the house later that day. I was stretched out on the couch when Lucy came in.

"Are you okay?" she asked me. "Dalton told me what happened."

I nodded. "I'm fine."

She leaned in and hugged me.

"I'm even better now," I said, and she laughed. I got up and walked out onto the porch where my mother was.

She hugged me.

"I'm okay, Mom," I insisted.

We sat at the patio table and Lucy and my mother looked at me for a long moment.

"What's going on?" I asked them, looking back and fourth into their faces.

"Billy," my mother began. "Lucy and I have been talking and we have decided, if it's all right with you, that we would like to move to West Virginia, permanently."

I looked at them for a long moment. "Really?"

My mother nodded. "We have both agreed that it is time for a fresh start. We would like to move into your father's house, at least for a while."

I nodded. "Go ahead. I won't be using it anyway. It would be a shame for it to sit up there and go to waste."

"Well, I was thinking that we could fix it up," she said. "We could renovate it, so we could live in it together, as a family."

"Of course," I said, and then I laughed with excitement. "This is awesome."

"I didn't think you would mind," my mother told me.

"Well, we must fly back to Florida until the school year is out," my mother said. "We'll keep our house for a vacation home."

Lucy got up and went inside to the bathroom and I looked at my mother. "Mom?"

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"He told me that . . . that you were only here because you felt sorry for me."

She stared at me. "Who told you that?"

"He did," I said, suggesting my father. "In the cemetery last night."

"Billy," she said. "I am sorry for leaving you and I am sorry for what happened to you, because I know that it was partly my fault. I know that but I don't feel sorry for you. She smiled. "You are my son and I love you very much."

I looked at my feet and then I smiled at her. "I love you, too, Mom."

I meant it.

Lucy walked out of the house and stood beside me.

"Well," my mother said. "I'm going to head back to the motel and get some rest before we fly out tomorrow."

Lucy looked at me and then at my mother. "Do you mind if I stay?"

She looked at me and then back at Lucy. "No, Lucy," she said. "I don't mind. I'll see you later."

She kissed my cheek and then went and got into her rental car. When she pulled out of the driveway, I took Lucy into my arms and we went inside. Dalton was in the kitchen.

"Hey," he said. "I am going to Devon's. Are you coming?"

"I will be there later," I told him. I tossed him my keys. "Take my car."

"Really?" he asked, shocked.

"Yeah."

After he had left, I looked at Lucy.

"I wanted to be alone with you," I told her.

She looked at me and smiled. "You do, huh?"

I nodded and kissed her. I took her hand and led her back the hallway to my bedroom. I opened the door and closed it again once we were inside. I took her into my arms and she brought her lips to mine. I unbuttoned my shirt and took it off, dropping it on the floor. Lucy took off her blouse and dropped it beside my shirt. I smiled and stepped forward to kiss her, my hands moving behind her back to undo her bra.

My heart was pounding.

I undid my pants and sat on the bed to take off my shoes and socks. She watched me with wide eyes as I took off my pants and dropped them on the floor.

The wind outside was picking up. We could hear thunder in the distance. A storm was rolling in, but all we heard was the thump of our own hearts.

Lucy unzipped her skirt, slipped it down her legs and placed it over my pants. Then she took off her sandals and I rose to embrace her. We kissed again, and again it was a long, demanding kiss that took our breath away. I moved my hands to my waist and stepped out of my boxer shorts. I gently lowered her panties. She stepped out of them as if she were stepping into a warm bath.

For a long moment, we did not touch, we did not move. I stood back, staring at her beautiful body. I felt like I was in the middle if a dream and I was afraid that I was going to wake up anytime. In a few minutes, we were in my bed, our heads resting against the fluffy pillows, our bodies entwined under the cool sheets.

"Lucy," I whispered, as I brought myself to her.

She moaned, she cried, she grasped my hair so hard that I was feeling uncomfortable, but I did not resist or complain. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and when I felt them, I kissed them away. It was that intense. When it was over, we lay there, still entwined, both of us breathing hard.

When I was able to catch my breath, I raised myself and pressed my lips to her sweaty forehead. "I love you, Lucy," I told her, pressing my lips to hers.

"I love you, too, Billy. I don't want this night to end."

"Why?"

"Because we're leaving tomorrow."

"But not for good," I reminded her.

"I know," she said. "I guess I am just afraid of something bad happening. It seems like every time I'm happy, something destroys it."

I looked into her eyes. "Nothing is going to destroy us, Lucy," I promised. "I won't let that happen."

She nodded and I kissed her.

We laid side by side for a long time and then we fell asleep.

They flew back to Florida the next day. I hoped that I was right, that nothing would destroy us again. I had a future to look forward to and I prayed to God that nothing would get in the way.