To Everything, There Is A Season

Chapter 4

The next afternoon Meryl was sitting out on the screened in porch with Henry as he was finger painting. "That looks wonderful, Gippy. Just wait until your daddy sees your latest creation."

"It pwetty?" Henry asked his mother as she nodded with a big smile. "Where Daddy? He weave?"

Meryl's heart hurt that father and son, who were just like two peas in a pod, hadn't had a lot of time together; especially since she felt responsible for that. "No, sugar, Daddy didn't leave. He is just doing the dishes from lunch because he doesn't want Mommy to do it for some reason."

"Et Daddy." Henry shook his head as he continued to paint. "He willy."

Meryl nodded her head with a laugh as she ran her fingers through Henry's curly hair, Don's hair. "Your Daddy is silly; but he's a really good daddy."

"Yup." Henry loved when his mother let him finger paint outside on the porch. "Daddy pwaint."

Meryl smiled at Henry as the phone rang. "Your daddy is an amazing painter; and sculptor. I think you are very talented just like your daddy." Meryl kissed Henry's cheek as she reached for the cordless phone. "Hello? Gummers!"

"Well, you sound pretty happy for a woman who killed her baby." A female voice said on the other end of the phone. "And ran her husband off."

Meryl started to shake as tears came to her eyes. "Ja...Jane?"

"I can't believe I had to hear about you losing my grandchild at the freaking pharmacy this afternoon." Jane railed. "I have tried to call my son over and over again but can't get ahold of him. Stacey told her mother, who finally talked to me, that Don thought he needed to give you space and how crushed he was. Of course, it's all about you."

Meryl's head snapped up when she saw Don walk out on to the porch as the tears streamed down her face; she was paralyzed. "I, I..."

"My son chose you and your children above anything and everything else." Jane yelled, not knowing that Don now had his arm around his wife as he took the phone from her and was listening to every awful thing his mother had to say. "You made him think you were raped which resulted in him almost dying, then you did whatever you did to kill his baby and now you fucking run him out of his own home."

Don was shaking he was so angry, and he couldn't help the tears that formed in his eyes as he held his wife's trembling form. "You want to fucking repeat that, mother?"

"DON?!" Jane was shocked. "I thought she kicked you out."

Don covered the mouthpiece of the phone as he lifted Meryl's chin with his fingers so he could kiss her lips as he also looked over at Henry. "Baby, take him inside and clean him up. I'll deal with this."

"Don..." Meryl cried as she shook her head. "I didn't mean to run you..."

Don shook his head vehemently. "YOU have done NOTHING wrong, baby. Please, let me deal with this."

"Daddy!" Henry said excitedly as he had no idea what was going on. "I pwaint wike ou."

Don winked at Henry. "You did great, buddy. Go with Mommy and we can talk about your picture later."

"Are you sure?" Meryl asked hesitantly; she hated to leave this all up to her husband, but she also knew that she should probably remove Henry from the situation. "I really don't want to leave you alone."

Don placed a longer kiss on her lips. "I would really like for you and Henry to be safe and inside; please, sweetheart."

"Okay." There was something in the way that Don pleaded with her to take Henry inside that she knew it would be best to let him handle his mother and to remove Henry from the situation. After she placed another kiss on her husband's lips she bent down by Henry. "Come on, Gippy; we will leave this out here to dry and go wash up."