Writing based upon the start of day
I'm posting this before I continue the writing, but after having read through it, adjusting the minor points, erasing the biggest errors. Because sometimes the marine layer relents. And sometimes the writing squeaks through. Enjoy and have a beautiful day!
Chapter 6
Clouds intruded on the morning Richard and Gilly left for South San Francisco. Gilly was behind the wheel, Suze noticed, watching them from the front room window as slowly the truck ambled down the driveway. She kept these thoughts to herself, for it was early, and everyone already knew a father would accompany his eldest to the closest major airport, heralding Gilly’s return to Australia as well as signaling Hugh’s probable recovery to those outside their familial circle.
That Gilly had stayed for two weeks conveyed the gravity of Hugh’s recuperation, but only to her mother and Chella had Gilly relayed the depth of cracks in her personal relationship. This visit, Gilly hardly spoke of Ross aloud, nor did she refer to him as her husband when he was mentioned. Would Gilly inform Richard of the distinct possibility of a separation, Suze wondered, finding she was now alone with her thoughts. The truck was gone, Hugh and Careen asleep, Greg as well. Are you awake, Suze asked Chella, but she heard nothing. Breathing deeply, Suze closed her eyes, praying for her daughter to drive safely, and for Richard to do the same in a few hours on his way home.
Opening her eyes, Suze exited that room, shivering slightly as she headed to the kitchen, which smelled of coffee and French toast. Suze smiled, she couldn’t help it. Richard had cooked pancakes and French toast most mornings, surprising Careen and pleasing his children. Even Chella and Jorge came for breakfast a few times, the camaraderie as though Richard was attempting to keep Hugh among them. His health had clearly deteriorated, Suze discussed with her daughter and Chella, but no one else wanted to accept the news. Which Suze didn’t mind, though she wished Kevin was more amenable to discussing the subject. It wasn’t due to Hugh’s place in Kevin’s heart, Suze allowed, merely too close to a loss from which outwardly Kevin Whitlow seemed decently recovered. Suze snorted, pouring herself another cup of coffee. Gilly’s presence had rattled the district’s main doctor, though Suze was still grateful Ross had stayed in Melbourne.
Hints of light made Suze approach the sink, over which a large window revealed a questionable start to the day, those clouds thick in places, yet orange-pink light muscled its way through the gray. Suze smiled, recalling how beautiful she’d found sunrises and sunsets on this planet when first settling into life as a…. Her humanity was displayed within two men she had birthed, helped raise, and now one of those human beings was on the cusp of…. Yet Suze continued to grin, unable to ponder more than the gorgeous light spilling in streaks onto what was merely another autumn morning. It was Tuesday, but she wasn’t going to work immediately. Until Richard returned, one of them needed to be here in case Hugh required…. Suze sipped her coffee, praying for whatever God had in store, for all of them.
Half an hour later Hugh entered the kitchen, making his mother shiver. “What’re you doing up?” Suze whispered, too startled to speak silently.
“They get off okay?” he asked, plopping into the chair next to her at the table.
Suze nodded, then spoke inwardly: Gilly’s driving. Are you hungry?
Just need some coffee, Hugh answered in silence.
Suze smirked, then gently patted his hand. His fingers were cold, but she fought the urge to grip them, not wishing to impart her fear. Damnit, she groused to herself as she went to her feet. All that peace from earlier felt as faint as thinking Gilly might return before Christmas, or for the holiday. Suze emptied what remained in the coffee pot into a mug, added sugar and a little milk, then brought the mug to the table. She avoided her son’s gaze, but Hugh demanded her attention, which she then gave him after she retook her seat. What, she asked silently.
Hugh cleared his throat, then sipped his coffee. Then he took a long swig, coughed slightly, then chuckled softly. “She must’ve thought I’m gonna be okay. Why she finally left, I mean.”
Suze shrugged, then studied her most tenuous child. Hugh didn’t resemble Amora at all, but he didn’t possess the ruggedness of his brother, or the permanence of his living sister. Which made Suze tremble; were Gilly and Ross through? “She does, I mean, she feels you’re not going anywhere imminently.”
I don’t think so either, he replied inwardly. Sipping his coffee, Hugh again cleared his throat. How bad are things between her and Ross anyway?
His inaudible query made Suze snort. “She tell you anything,” Suze murmured aloud.
“Not really, but why else was she here so long?”
Closing her eyes, Suze ached for several reasons. She wanted Richard there, or Chella. She wondered if Hugh realized the seriousness of his…. He was dying, Suze finally allowed herself to consider. But this kind of dying wasn’t like his lifelong malaise. This was what Kevin had faced with Liza, what Richard had endured with Celia and his grandparents, what Suze had suffered with Matty Shomberg. Suze didn’t lump losing her eldest child in the mix, because that hadn’t occurred on Earth, and for some reason that galactic element mattered. Or it was keeping Suze from falling apart in front of the one destined to leave before she did.
Now Suze gripped Hugh’s free hand, his other holding the coffee cup. Then he placed the mug on the table, clasping her hand with both of his. He felt fleeting, but not in a painful way. He was tethered to her in a manner beyond time and space, and Suze inhaled that gracious gift, blinking away cool tears as the notion of burying a child in the Jumpville cemetery entered her veins. We’ll put you alongside Matty, she thought, but didn’t say. Two Matthew’s would dwell side by side in this Earth, a planet Suze would finally make her own only because a part of her would finally rest within it.
All the sunrises and sunsets she’d witnessed, the ground she had trod, the ocean views enjoyed; none of that had made her one of these people, a person born to this solar system, to this very sphere that hung in a sky so far from where she had originated. Yet finally her place in this realm would be secured, and she sucked back a wave of tears that strangely she was grateful not to need to hide from her husband. This wasn’t anything Richard could soothe or alter. It was for Suze alone, and the one instigating the change. “She didn’t tell me squat,” she said in a choppy tone, not forgetting what Hugh had asked earlier.
Those words seemed to answer another question that for all his lifelong bravery Hugh was wary of admitting. He nodded, released his mother’s hands, then grasped his coffee mug, maybe for warmth, Suze allowed, or merely to keep himself where he was, at the kitchen table which sported the remnants of breakfast. Richard and Gilly’s plates remained across from where Suze and Hugh sat. The dishes were empty, but the scent of egg and syrup made Suze’s stomach rumble.
Hugh smiled, finished his coffee, then set his mug near what had been Gilly’s plate. She always left syrup behind, did she do that in Melbourne, Suze then wondered. Did Gilly even make French toast in that faraway land? She’d wanted it that morning, and Richard had acquiesced, but no egg mixture remained, or none that Suze could see from where the clear glass bowl waited on the counter.
“Are you hungry now,” she asked her son.
Hugh chuckled. “Now I am.”
“Good, so am I.”
As Suze stood, Hugh again laughed, that sound falling into a mother’s ears like one last lifeline proffered. Suze gripped it, stuck it in the pocket of her robe, then opened the fridge, retrieving eggs and milk. As Hugh breathed fairly smoothly, Suze made them breakfast, leaving a portion of egg mixture in case Careen joined them.
