Chapter Text
1975
“Mommy?”, the small boy says softly, playing with one of the rose petals between his fingers. He was much smaller and skinnier than other ten-year olds his age, his well-ironed shorts showing off his knobby knees and pale skin. His brown hair was neat and cropped short, lying flat on top of his head. He looks over at his mother who is on her knees, placing new rose bushes into the newly dug ditch. “Do you mind if I ask you something?”
“Of course, sweetheart.”, his mother calls, frowning as she plucks out yet another dandelion that had dared invade her new flower plot. She flicks it into the black waste bag before turning around to look at her son. “What is it?”
He knows he can trust his mother with anything, but for some reason the boy suddenly feels nervous.
He takes a deep breath and forces himself to get the words out:
“At school today… a priest came in to talk to us. He talked about sin. Like, bad thoughts bad people have.”
“Oh?”, his mother asks, one eyebrow fully quirked up, her son now having her full attention, garden shears still clenched in hand.
The boy swallows nervously before continuing.
“He said that… people who sin… they… they go to hell. And that in hell, you’re in pain forever and ever…”
“Shhh… calm down Johnny, it’s okay…”, his mother whispers, wiping a tear from her son’s eye.
Johnny nods, gulping like he’s choking on water.
“It… it got me thinking… what if I go to hell? Because… I have bad, sinful thoughts a lot and I don’t know how to stop them, and the more I try to stop the more they keep coming and… and… maybe it’s because I’m a bad person, that I’m doomed to go to…”
His mother grasps his hands, stopping her son’s distressed babble. He blinks at her, eyes still watery as he rubs an arm against them.
“Johnny…”, his mother whispers, pointing over at another rose bush to their right, one with ruby red petals. “Tell me sweetheart, what do flowers grow in?”
“D… d… dirt…” the boy stutters, giving another watery gulp.
“And do you like dirt?”
The boy frowns at his mother, clearly confused before shaking his head.
“No… it’s gross and smelly and it gets under my fingernails…”
“But you like flowers, yes?”
He blinks at her, eyes wide, like he was aghast his mother would even ask a question like that.
“Of course!”
“Well, flowers are kind of like people… we all grow from ‘dirt’. We all have sinful urges and thoughts naturally, but what separates good people from the sinners, is that we overcome these unwanted thoughts. It doesn’t matter if you have bad thoughts and feelings, as long as your actions are good. People who grow up to be beautiful despite the dirt they grow from are the roses of this world. Those who embrace sin…” his mother scowls, before pulling yet another dandelion out the ground. “… are the weeds of this world. And the roses grow better when there are less of those parasites surrounding them. Surround yourself with the roses of this world, and you’ll be just fine sweetheart.”
The boy nods, feeling a lot better now. His mother stands herself up, brushing the dirt off her blue jeans.
“Anyway, lets see if your father has finished making the compost now…”
1989
“Anyway… how do I look?”
Daniel has his arms spread, hip cocked, smug smirk on his face as he fishes for compliments.
John just rolls his eyes.
“Handsome… besides the bowtie. Very shoddy work there. Have you never had to wear one before?”
Daniel shrugs, hands readjusting the thin, loose fabric.
“Mary-Sue usually does it for me. And I’m not really supposed to see the bride before the wedding, so…”
John sighs.
“Ugh, c’mere...”
Daniel grins as he walks up and it takes everything in John not to stare at that face forever. He had the golden, healthy glow of an athlete, his tan contrasting beautifully with copper tone of his thick, neatly combed hair and trimmed beard. His eyes were bright emeralds, wide and twinkling and his lips were still doing that damn smirk that always made John smile back, even when he was annoyed at him.
He concentrates on the bow-tie, close enough now to fully appreciate the smell of expensive-smelling cologne Daniel was wearing. He should really ask him what it is- it smelled really damn good.
“Hey, John?”
“Yeah?”, John murmurs, concentration still mainly on the job at hand.
“How did you feel... before your wedding?”
John shrugs.
“Lucky, I guess. I mean, no offence man… your sister? Super hot. Could hardly contain myself during the ceremony.”
Daniel chuckles at that, but it comes out as forced. John frowns, looking up from his work.
“Is something wrong?”
Daniel shakes his head profusely, but John can swear there was a sheen of sweat on his forehead that wasn’t there before.
“No! Just, marriage, one person forever and ever… kind of overwhelming, ya’ know?”
“I guess…”, John shrugs, finally finishing his work and taking a step back to admire. “But when you know they’re the one, it’s worth the initial jitters, right?”
“Right…”
Daniel looks like he’s about to say something else, when suddenly Jennifer bursts into the room, in a floor-length red gown and her dark curls piled on top of her head, showing off her amazing bone structure. She looked like a sculpture, even with the goofy grin plastered across her face.
“Do I get to hug my brother, the blushing groom, before the ceremony?!”
Daniel laughs and embraces her, Jennifer shrieking when he attempts to ruffle her very expensive hairdo. She then turns to John and kisses him, her sweet scent of roses and vanilla spray invading his senses. He grasps her by the waist, deepening the kiss, causing Daniel to complain:
“Damn John! That’s my little sister you’re groping there!”
He raises his middle finger at him, grinning, while Jennifer gives his backside a playful squeeze. Daniel shakes his head, muttering ‘gross…’, before stalking out the room, ready to greet all the remaining guests.
***
The wedding goes off without the hitch. Both bride and groom looked radiant, Mary-Sue self-conscious from all the behaviour at first before relaxing a little when her father grasps her arm and leads her down the aisle. The wedding speeches were a good mixture of funny and tedious, and by the time everybody got to the after party, everyone was well and truly sloshed.
John had been dancing like a crazy person with Jennifer for what felt like hours, before gasping that he needs to go out for air. Jennifer giggles and waves him away, grabbing another glass of champagne from a nearby waiter’s tray, causing John to roll his eyes at her before searching for the nearest fire exit.
Thankfully there’s no-one outside smoking, so John can breathe in the clean night air, as his flushed, hot skin felt the relief of a cold breeze.
He stood there for what felt like a few minutes when he heard what seemed like shouting. At first he assumed it was just some raucous partygoers inside the venue, but he soon realised it seemed to be outside with him. He frowned, following the noise, as he rounded a corner and making his way down a grassy knoll, when suddenly…
… he saw Daniel, hands clasping the arms of a busty blonde woman in a short red dress, like he was trying to hold her back. The woman for her part was screaming obscenities at him, face twisted in fury, like she would like nothing more to claw Daniel’s eyes out.
“Hey!” John shouts, bounding over to them. “What’s going on here?!”
Daniel must’ve been taken by surprise by him, because the grip on the woman’s wrists suddenly loosens and she takes the opportunity to wiggle free, and give him the hardest slap John had ever heard across Daniel’s face. Daniel crouches in agony, and the woman looks like she spits at his feet before making her leave, yelling as she goes:
“GO TO HELL DANIEL!!”
John is so stunned by this entire situation it takes him what seems like a minute before he can react properly, the woman now well out of both their sights. He rushes forward, grabbing Daniel, trying to get him to look at him:
“Shit Daniel! What was that about?!”
“Ugh…”, Daniel groans, still grasping his face with one hand. “Just some crazy bitch… don’t know how she got in here, I could practically smell the booze on her breath… I’m alright, honestly!”, Daniel yelps as John tries to turn his face around and frowns as he sees three long scratches, one of which was now bleeding. “She just got me with her fake nails. Honestly, they should ban those things, they’re basically weapons…”
John just shakes his head at him before leading him to a private toilet to clean up a bit. John tells Mary-Sue that Daniel had a little accident, fell into a rose bush, got scratched up, so he was going to be a little late for the couple’s dance…
When Daniel finally got there, John couldn’t help but watch them closely as him and Mary-Sue swayed together, while Jennifer was busy talking to some of her old high school friends. Was it just his imagination, but was there a tightness around Mary-Sue’s lips? The occasional annoyed glance at her new husband? Did she know something? Or was he just being paranoid now?
As he continued to watch the newly-weds, he couldn’t help but think about his mother in the rose garden that day, and her wise words:
“Those who embrace sin… are the weeds of this world…”
2004
“John? Have you seen Daniel today?”
“Huh?”, John frowns at his wife, just in the process of putting his coat back up. He’d just gotten got back from work and was shocked to see Jennifer near to tears right now, her usual easy-going demeanour replaced with trembling shoulders and red-rimmed eyes, like she’d just stopped crying. “Jennifer, are you okay…?”
“Never mind that!”, Jennifer snaps and John can’t stop himself from flinching. He always forgot how scary Jennifer could be, she lost her temper so rarely. “Have you seen my brother?!”
“No… I haven’t.”, John says, still confused. “Should I have? What’s going on?”
Jennifer shakes her head, eyes blazing with fury.
“I went round to Mary-Sue’s today… just to collect some of the twin’s old clothes for Lucy, you know? Anyway, went round, found Mary-Sue in the kitchen, crouched on the floor, drinking out a whisky bottle. Poor thing had just been fired from work and came home to find Daniel in their bed with the maid! I mean…” Jennifer swears, before pounding her fist against the wall. John resists the urge to tell her to mind the paintwork. “Goddamnit Daniel, could you be any more of a fucking cliché?!”
“Hey, hey, babe, shhhh…”, John comes forward to grasp Jennifer in his arms while she sobs into his shoulder. “It’s gonna be okay…”
“I’m… I’m just so angry. I know Daniel can be a bastard sometimes, but I thought he understood family first always… oh my God, my poor nieces! Things were already hard at home, with the two of them fighting all the time and Daniel’s injury…”
“Hey, hey, one thing at a time babe…”, John murmurs, kissing her forehead. “You said you wanted to know if I’ve seen Daniel today? You trying to look for him?”
Jennifer nods, wiping a hand across her eyes.
“Mary-Sue kicked him out this morning and… he hasn’t been in contact with anyone since. I’ve tried all his friends, someone he might’ve stayed with, but nobody’s seen him. I just wanna confront him, give him a piece of my mind…”
“Understandable.”, John murmurs, thinking carefully. “Well, if I was a scumbag who just cheated on his wife- which I’m not by the way, this is just theoretical- I’d probably go drown my sorrows at some bar. Since he can’t do that from the comfort of his own home right now. I’ll go check around town- there’s only so many places within driving distance around here.”
Jennifer nods, and heads forward, about to grab her coat-:
“I’ll go with you…”
John shakes his head, grabbing her hand.
“Someone has to stay back here to watch Lucy. Besides, what if Daniel comes here and we’re both out? We could miss him.”
Jennifer looks a bit put out but accepts his logic, nodding.
“Okay… but if you do find him, let me know as soon as you do, alright? Find a payphone or something…”
John kisses her forehead before whispering: “Promise. Now, make yourself some tea and try to relax a little okay? You’ve had quite a day…”
Jennifer snorts at that.
“Not half as much as Mary-Sue…”
***
He finds him at the fourth bar he looks at, a tacky place that had a cowboy theme despite being in the middle of suburbia. Daniel is staring mournfully into some dark coloured liquor, eyes looking every way but forward, clearly wasted. John carefully studies the rest of the bar patrons and is happy to see that there were no mutual friends of his here.
Not that any of his chosen friends would hang out in a shit hole like this.
“Hey man…”, John whispers, advancing slowly, trying to do his best not to startle the intoxicated man. Last thing he needed was to cause a scene. “Daniel? You need to go home now…”
Daniel frowns before turning to look at him, wobbling on the barstool as he does so. It takes him a few seconds before he recognises the man before him, standing up and lurching forward to envelope John in a hug, John recoiling from the sour smell of beer and whisky.
“John! My favourite brother-in-law… how ya’ doing?! Take a seat, you would not believe my day…”
“I heard about your day Daniel….”, John scowls, removing Daniel’s hands from his neck. “Let’s continue this conversation in the car, okay?”
Daniel shakes his head, his face bright red from the booze and the heat.
“Nah man, bad idea. I swear I’m two seconds from throwing up my guts right now…”
Rather than arguing with the man, John grabs him by the scruff of the neck and pulls him out the bar.
It’s so busy and raucous anyway, no-one notices the two men leave through the back entrace.
***
Daniel did indeed start throwing up his guts- bent over, on his knees in the parking lot, retching away, John watches his brother-in-law, ready to help him up when he’s finished. He puts his hands in the pocket of his jacket and looks up at the night sky- despite everything going on tonight, it really was kind of a pretty night. Real clear view of the big dipper, and if he squinted he thinks he can spot Venus blinking away up there.
When the sound of retching finally lets up, John turns back to see Daniel, grey-faced and shaking, trying to stand himself up. He stumbles a little, but John manages to catch him before face meets tarmac. Daniel mumbles something incoherent that might’ve been ‘thanks’ and John leads him back to his four-by-four family carrier.
Hopefully, for his car’s sake, Daniel had spewed up everything he could spew up already.
***
“I fucked up John.”
John glances over at Daniel, sees how dead his eyes are right now, his usually healthy tan now an almost green pallor. The hair at the top of his head had thinned in recent years and he’d put on a little weight now that he was no longer doing athletics for a living- a bad hamstring injury had put a stop to that. His facial hair was scruffier than it usually was and the whites of his eyes were bloodshot.
Despite that, John couldn’t help but think how he was still very handsome after all these years.
He supposed that was what attracted all those women to him…
God knows, it wasn’t his ability to hold his drink.
“I know you fucked up Daniel.”, John mutters, glancing both ways before carefully making his way out the parking lot. “But right now, lets just concentrate on getting you home right now, okay? Things will look better in the morning…”
Daniel groans.
“M… Mary-Sue… she doesn’t want me home right now…”
“Then I’ll take you back to our place, okay? God knows, Jennifer will want to know you’re okay…”
Daniel nods sloppily, his eyes closed and forehead resting against the side window, fogging it up slightly with his hot breath. John pokes at him, making Daniel groan again, opening one tired-looking eye.
“What?”
“I’m running a little low on fuel… didn’t realise how empty the tank was before I left. There’s a gas station on our way back but I don’t have any cash. You got any?”
Daniel swears, before sticking his hand in his pockets to search.
“Just got my credit cards…”
“Well, just give me your PIN number and I’ll pay you back later, alright?”
Daniel gives him his number before collapsing completely in the passenger seat, loud snores sounding melodic against the low rumble of the engine.
***
Daniel wakes up with a sudden jerk, his head pounding and his throat sore and scratchy, like he had a really bad cold or something. He tries his head and immediately regrets it, a wave of nausea washing over him, his head swimming. Giving himself about a minute, he tries raising his head again and is able to fully take in his surroundings. He’s in a car. Not his car. He tries to remember… this morning… Kaylynn… Mary-Sue… a bar… another bar… John…
John.
The drivers seat is empty, car engine off, and it’s pitch black outside the tinted windows, save for the light from some distant structure in the distance. He didn’t know where he was, but it wasn’t anywhere in town. Even on the darkest nights, their neighbourhood was lit up with lampposts and garden lights, the sky lit up orange with all the artificial light.
Where the hell was he? Where was John?
A sudden rap at the window makes him jump and he whirls round to see John grinning at him from the passenger window.
“Hey! Daniel!”, he shouts in an oddly cheery tone, smile plastered on like a clown. “There’s something I have to show you! Get out of there ya’ son of a bitch!”
Daniel was still far from sober, but he could feel some of his anxiety quickly returning as he watches John step back from the window and head towards the lit structure he’d seen before. He really doesn’t want to step out into the darkness right now, but he also doesn’t want to be left alone.
Trying to control his shaking legs, he steps out the car, flinching as the cold wind assaults his face. He blinks and looks around him, his eyes starting to somewhat adjust to the blackness. He could tell they were parked in some kind of old parking lot, surrounded by old, abandoned warehouses, many of which had missing roofs or broken windows. They were all dark inside.
Save for one.
Daniel squints and sees what looks like the silhouette of John, backlit against the light emitting from the doorway of the one warehouse that still seemed structurally sound. The light flooding out of the building seemed unnatural, supernatural even in a place like this- what even powered a place like this still? Didn’t exactly seem worth keeping up.
John waves at him, before heading inside the building, disappearing from his sight, making Daniel’s pulse quicken. Where the hell was he going?
Trembling, Daniel makes his way forehead, following the orange stream of light that cast its way across the concrete courtyard.
As he nears the doorway, he can almost swears he hears a rustling noise, but he just assumes it’s something to do with John. He takes another step forward…
… only to be met with white hot pain that explodes across his jaw, the last thing he sees before he crumbling to the ground completely being John's face twisted by pure fury...
***
“Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!”, John screams into his knuckles, staring down intently at the squirming body below.
He’d meant to hit him across the head with the tyre iron. Clean shot. Out immediately. Next to no pain.
But no. His damn shaky hands… he’d missed and struck the man across the face, badly breaking, dislodging his jaw, but leaving him very much alive.
And, from the sound of it, he was in a hell of a lot of pain.
John kneels next to the flailing man, turning him onto his back and removing his hands from his face so he can get a good look at him, ignoring the screams emitting from the man as he did so. His jaw was hideously warped, smashed to the right side, bits of snapped bone threatening to break the skin.
It was bad, very bad.
But it would be over for him pretty soon.
He wouldn’t miss this time…
Raising the metal bar above his head, he slams it down into the man’s skull, not daring to look into those eyes before he did so.
Eye contact always made him clumsy.
His aim is impeccable this time. Metal made contact with flesh and bones, caving in the top of his head.
Still, he raised his arm and brought it down again.
Just to be sure this time.
He’d made a lot of splatter, a lot of it on his face and clothes, but that didn’t matter- he had a spare pair of clothes in the car and there was an old hose out back he would wash himself down with. The incinerator would make quick work of his contaminated clothes.
Of course, that didn’t help the mess he’d made down on the concrete but he knew the rain would wash it away soon enough.
Besides, the police had never even thought to look out here after all these years- why would they start now?
He places his brown leather jacket over Daniel’s bloody mess of a face, just so he doesn’t have to look at it for a bit and walks over to the entrance of the parking lot, where an ancient, working payphone still presided.
He ought to let Jennifer know how he was getting on.
She answers after only the second ring.
“Daniel? John?”
“It’s me.”
“John! Did you manage to find him?”
John sighs in exasperation.
“I’m so sorry honey, I looked in every bar across town I swear to God, I found one place where they told me he’d been, but I literally just missed him and they couldn’t tell me where he was going from there…”
“It’s fine John, don’t worry... at least we know he must still be still in town, right?”
“Yeah, exactly!”, John says, glancing over at the spread out body still laid across the tarmac. “Got me thinking… well, he has to be sleeping somewhere tonight, right? Maybe I should try a few motels, maybe he went to one of those…”
Jennifer pauses across the line. John can tell she’s not especially happy with that plan.
“I don’t know… it’s already getting pretty late out honey- you get a lot of weirdos out this time of night. Besides, it’s more likely he went to some girl’s house or something, based on what Mary-Sue has been telling me…”
“I won’t be long…”, John mutters, checking his watch. He could get the job done in a few hours, but he also had to consider the drive back… “I shouldn’t be later than midnight, but if I am, I’ll give you a call, okay?”
“Alright John…”, Jennifer sighs into the speaker, still clearly uncomfortable with this plan.
“Kiss Lucy goodnight for me!”
“Will do!”
“Love you!”
“Love you too! Hurry back!”
With a click, the phone call ended and John heads back over to the entrance of the warehouse. He shuffles around the black bag he brought with him until he finally finds what he’s looking for.
Snapping on a pair of yellow marigolds over his still shaking hands, he looks down at the body, oddly beautiful the way it’s face was covered, like a painting of a Greek tragedy.
“Okay Johnny boy…”, he whispers, grabbing both of his denim covered legs and dragging what was once his brother-in-law into the shed. “Time to get work…”
***
1975
His dad wanders over, a wheelbarrow full of compost and manure with large mound of brown bags laid on top, each one filled to the brim. He brings the wheelbarrow to a stop beside his wife and son, leaning down to ruffle his son’s hair and peck his wife on the cheek. He hands both of them a bag each, and mother and son place them delicately into the deep troughs his mother had dug up.
Johnny wasn’t old enough yet to help his father out with weeding out the bad people in this town, instead helping his mother with the digging up and planting of the garden. But his father had shown him his warehouse, all his tools, and the freezer down in the basement where he kept the sinners- he cut them up very small so you could hardly tell which body part was which, but sometimes he could still make out a toe, part of a nose, an earlobe that still had an earring on it…
Once his mother had dug up a plot large enough, his father would bring them over in biodegradable bags and they would place them in the ground. The three of them would cover the bags in soil and plant the rose bushes, letting those with nothing to offer the world but selfishness have a hand in growing something beautiful.
His mother chose a red rose bush this time, his favourite and they hold hands as a family when they’re finally done, smiling at the beauty they’ve made. Butterflies and bees are already swarming down to visit the new visitor, and Johnny giggles as one butterfly lands on top of his head, mistaking him for a flower.
His father takes him inside and starts to run a bath for him. While they wait for the ancient plumbing to fill the bathtub, his father sits him down at the kitchen table and stares him down.
“You know son, you’ll be eleven next year… and I reckon you’ll be old enough to help me with my work.”
Johnny stared at his father, jiggling on his seat excitedly, hardly believing what he was hearing.
“You mean…”
“Yes son. I reckon it’s time… me and your mother… we won’t be around forever. And we need to make sure you can carry on the good work. Keep out evil from this town, smite it out when you come across it. Those people…”, his father gestures out at the garden. “… are the weeds of this world. They invade our gardens and poison it so nothing good can grow. It’s our duty to protect our garden. Our neighbourhood. Our friends, families… we need to protect them from people that will do harm. The cheats, the criminals, the perverts… they have no place among us.”
His father looks up the stairs and nods.
“Reckon the bath should be filled by now… better head up now son. And make sure you get all the dirt out from under your nails.”
***
2004
John frowns down at his fingers before going back to scrubbing furiously. Damn dirt just wasn’t coming out…
“John? Honey?”, Jennifer calls from the hallway, the sound of her handbag clinking against the floor.
“In here Jen!”, John yells, before sighing and giving up on his nails. It was fine, little bit of dirt was good for the immune system…
“Hey honey…”, Jennifer smiles, leaning up to kiss him which John happily returns.
But then he notices something a little strained about Jennifer’s smile, a small, a worried crease between her eyebrows.
“Is something wrong?”, he says frowning, holding her by the shoulders.
Jennifer shakes her head, sadly.
“Oh, it’s nothing… it’s just… I came back round from Mary-Sue’s and… well, Daniel wrote again. From Los Angeles this time…”
“Ah…”, John mutters, eyebrows furrowing. “What did it say this time?”
He’d sent that letter when he stopped by at Los Angeles, when he’d stopped there on his business trip on a non-direct flight. He’d typed it out, not trusting himself to be good enough at copying Daniel’s handwriting but made sure to make it sound enough like Daniel- apologetic but unable to take responsibility for anything. He’d also made sure to use Daniel’s credit card a few times in LA, in case Mary-Sue ever tried get the police to look for Daniel and they started looking for a paper trail.
“Just the usual bullshit- how he’s sorry that things happened how they happened, he was never meant for marriage, he hopes Mary-Sue and the twins can forgive him, blah blah blah…”, Jennifer sighs, placing one hand on her forehead. “I just wish… that he’d actually had the balls to confront us all. Before he skipped town I mean.”
John places a comforting hand on her cheek and Jennifer clasps it, relaxing into his touch.
“Jennifer… I know he’s your brother… and he used to be one of my best friends… but we both know… Daniel has always had a tendency to run away from his problems. Who knows? Maybe having to face consequences for his actions might be the kick up the backside he needs…”
“Hmmm….”, Jennifer mumbles, eyes still closed. “I know… but I still can’t help worrying, you know? He’s still my big brother.”
“I know…”, John whispers, stroking her thick hair. “And… I can’t help but hate him. For how he hurt all of you. The people he was supposed to love most.”
But he hated himself mostly.
He hated that he could’ve solved Jennifer and Mary-Sue’s problems if he’d dealt with Daniel a long time ago. After all, he’d seen what he was capable of, he’d seen it at the wedding, him and that woman, he had known what was up…
And yet he hadn’t done anything.
Because he had liked Daniel, hoped he would do better…
Clearly that had been a mistake.
He’d been weak, he would never allow that to happen again. He should’ve protected Jennifer, his perfect rose that grew strong and tall despite her sprawling weed of a brother.
It had been hard since his mother and father had died… now he had to both plant the flowers and weed out the undesirables. As a three-person job it had never been easy, never mind a one-person job.
Still, at least most of the ones he’d had to deal with on his own had been easy enough to disappear, especially compared to Daniel.
Darleen and Skip… he felt for the families they’d left behind, of course. But in the long run, they were better off without them. Even if they couldn’t see that now, they would.
They’d see it was for the greater good in the end. They always did.
He did always wonder about Bella Goth… his parents had never admitted to being involved in her disappearance, but he knew his mother never liked the woman, always muttering about her being a ‘harlot’ and ‘involved in the dark arts’.
He’d like to think his parents would’ve told him everything about their work, but he also accepted he could never know them completely, and besides, every family had their secrets.
“Also, Mary-Sue mentioned she’d been round to see Cassie- poor thing is still such a mess. I honestly can’t believe Don still has the nerve to show his face in town after what he did to her…”
“Well, I doubt he’ll be staying in town much longer- not with the way all you ladies are ready to lynch him!”, John teases, flicking Jennifer on the nose playfully, making her scream and playfully shove him off her.
Don Lothario was an interesting case… many acquaintances and lovers, not a lot of people who would really miss him when it really came down to it…
“Oh!”, John exclaimed, suddenly remembering his surprise. “I’ve got something that might cheer you up!”
Jennifer raises an eyebrow sceptically at him but allows him to lead her out to the garden, hands over her eyes. He guides her carefully down the stone stairs, making sure she doesn’t trip then stops her a few long strides across the grass.
“Okay!”, John says, grinning widely, unable to contain his excitement now. “You can look now!”
Jennifer uncovers her eyes and she gasps, hands now clasped over her mouth.
“Oh my gosh, John! It’s so beautiful!”
John walks over and kisses her, still smiling.
“You really like it?”, he asks softly, gently rubbing her cheek with his fingers.
Instead of answering him she kisses him again before walking up to the newly planted rose bush, admiring the wine red of the petals, feeling the softness of the petals, breathing in their sweet scent.
John reaches around the back of her waist and for a while they both stand there in the beauty of their garden, the evening rays caressing their faces, holding each other, drunk on their own happiness, John sighing into his lover’s neck.
Life was good.
And it always would be.
He’d make sure of that.