Prologue
Whenever things were not right at home, she would often take a walk to visit to visit the man she admired most in life. It often took her about a half hour to stroll over to the old man’s house, but it was always worth the effort and a hell of a lot better than the alternative. Whenever her father started to drink, he would start to yell at her mother and that’s when mom would ask her to go to her room. Right after locking her door to keep the angry drunk at bay, the young girl would immediately crawl out the window and start her walk to the boat house by the beach. Even when the weather got bad in the summer, she would walk the path as quickly an efficiently as she could, making good time every time she made the trek. She had made the trip so often that there was always an ice-cold mountain dew waiting for her in the fridge to cool her off after that long, hot stroll. Whenever the young girl showed up to his house in the middle of the afternoon, the old man always knew what was going on. She always knew where he could be found as well, as her grandfather was always in the garage working on a boat. The old man was retired, but now worked on boats making one after the other. Once a new boat was finished it would sell quickly, and the old man would use the profits from that sale to buy supplies for the next project and start all over again. Whenever his granddaughter came to the garage, there was always some work that had to be done. He’d often hand the girl some sandpaper because there was always a part of his boats that needed just little more smoothing out.
“Just give it a little elbow grease, boo.” The old man would often tell her, “And that will make it glide nicely on the waves one day.”
“Okay, Papa,” the young girl would say after taking a swig of her cold mountain dew. After taking a few decent sips, she’d put the bottle back into the fridge and save the rest for later after her sanding was done.
The two of them would spend the afternoon working on the boat and listening to some Latino style jazz guitar playing on the radio. Her grandfather never listened to anything else because he often told her that lyrics were too distracting. He would be too tempted to sing, and that would often cause him to stop working or worse have an accident and injure himself. For that reason, only instrumental music was played, and his favorite was Latino jazz. She was alright with that, as the music had a good beat to it which helped them both keep a steady pace.
“Papa,” the young girl started, “Why does my Daddy get so angry?”
The old man stopped working and looked back at his granddaughter, and then sighed as he knew this talk was eventually going to happen. As much as he wanted to just bash the bastard for being a mean drunk, Papa knew better and was aware that a diplomatic approach was probably the best way to handle the question.
“Life can often be bumpy, little one,” Papa replied, “Some people are just not strong enough to handle it and can often fall upon tough times. Your Dad has had his share of struggles, but I have faith that he will rise above them and get better.”
“He scares me sometimes,” the girl added, “I don’t like it when he does that.”
“I don’t either,” Papa said, as he never liked to hear that kind of talk. “Has he ever gotten physical with you or your mother?”
“No,” the girl replied.
“Good,” Papa said, taking a deep breath. “Orange is not my best color.”
“I like that color,” the girl said, “I think you’d look great in it.”
“Let’s not test that theory,” Papa suggested, “And let’s get back to our sanding. This boat needs a lot of love before we can take to the water.”
They worked for another hour without talking to one another, and Pappa felt it was time for them to take a break. The heat was getting him to as well so a nice cold drink with some cookies was in order for his hard little sander. He was standing up and having a good stretch when some came walking out from the beach. The old man looked over and recognized him immediately, and he also noticed by his stammer that he was quite intoxicated.
“Jeremy,” the old man said, groaning a bit as he stood up straight. “What can I do for my favorite son-in-law?”
“I’m your only son-in-law,” Jeremy said, as he never liked that joke.
“Sorry about that,” Papa said, “Just trying to be friendly. What’s up?”
“Where’s my daughter?” Jeremy asked, sounding very impatient. He didn’t see the young girl as she was hiding behind the boat and had crouched down when she saw her drunk father walking up.
“She just went to use the bathroom,” Papa replied, “She’ll be back in a few seconds.”
“I want her back out here now!” the young man cried out, clearly frustrated.
Papa was about to say something crass, but them he noticed something that told him that it was probably best to remain calm. His son in law was holding a gun, and there were small spots of blood on his shirt, which suggested to the old man that he had already fired the weapon.
“Jeremy,” Papa started, “She’ll be right out. We were just working on the boat together. We always bring her back, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Call her out!” Jeremy screamed, his voice shaking with anger.
“Listen,” Papa said, as he started to step closer to his son-in-law, “We don’t need to do anything that will traumatize the poor girl. Put the gun down, and let’s talk about it.”
“I don’t want to talk!” Jeremy said, lifting the gun to point it at the old man.
“Daddy, no!” the little girl cried out as she stood up from behind the boat.
Hearing her voice caught Jeremy’s attention, as he turned to face her and realize she had been out there the entire time. Upon seeing the young man turn to face his daughter, the old man sprung into action and grabbed the gun. The two men started to struggle over the weapon and about half a minute later the gun fired, as its shot echoed loudly. Seconds later, the young girl watched in horror as her Papa fell to the ground. The young girl screamed as loud as she could, and several people responded as neighbors and even her grandmother from inside came scrambling out to see what was going on. Her father ran off in fear and scurried off. Her grandmother took a dish towel and did her best to cover up the wound to the old man’s stomach to stop the bleeding.
The police where there a short time later, and while her daddy had run off, they were already looking for him. It wasn’t until a while later when the young girl was at the hospital with her grandmother when the police came to break the terrible news to them. The young girl’s father had shot and her mother during their latest fight, and the medics that responded declared her dead at the scene. Her grandmother was wailing in grief, as her mother was the woman’s only child. The police were unsure if her father had come to Pappa’s house to harm her too, or flee with her, but Papa’s interference rescued her from what would have been an ugly standoff.
“I’m sorry,” the young girl said to her grandmother.
“You have nothing to be sorry about,” her grandmother replied, “But thankfully your Pappa is going to be alright.”
“That’s good,” the girl replied, “We have a boat to finish.”
It was at this moment when a police detective came out to speak with them.
“Ma’am,” the detective started, “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you,” the old lady said, wiping away a tear.
“I wanted to inform you that your son-in-law has been apprehended,” the detective continued, “He has been formerly charged with the murder of your daughter, and the attempted murder of your husband. He will not be making bail and will reside in prison during the entirety of his trial.”
“What about me?” the young girl asked.
“And who are you?” the detective asked, even though he already knew. He was just trying to be playful with the young kid.
“My name is Lauren,” the young girl answered, “Lauren Carter.”
“Well, Ms. Carter,” the detective replied, “I believe you will be staying with your grandparents for the foreseeable future. Am I correct on that?”
“You are,” her grandmother replied, “My husband and I will care for her.”
“I assumed as much,” The detective said, as he handed her his business card, “If there is anything I can do to be of assistance, please do not hesitate to call.”
“Thank you,” the old lady said, taking the card from him.
“It was nice to meet you, Lauren.” The detective said, smiling back at her, “I’m sorry it was under these sad circumstances.”
“It was nice to meet you too,” Lauren replied, “Have a good night.”
“You too, little one,” The detective said, “I’ll be around.”
Lauren watched as the detective left the waiting room, and moments later a surgeon came in to give them good news. Papa’s surgery was a success, and he was stable and going to make a full recovery. This was the only good news Lauren would get that day, as this was the last time she would see either of her parents ever again. Her mother had a closed casket funeral a week later, and months after that her father was convicted by a jury of his peers and sentenced to over fifty years in prison for the damage he had done to her family. She moved in with her grandparents and helped her grandfather make many boats until she graduated from high school. She also chose to attend college in a different state. It was after graduating with a degree in education that Lauren moved to a big city where she wanted to open her own business. It was while she was babysitting for high priced clients when fate had different plans for her, as she would end up meeting the man of hear dreams, Xander Hopkins, who would propose to her only a short time later. It was a fairy tale ending to a story that had a rocky start, and while she missed her parents Lauren knew the best way to handle the grief was to look forward rather than back. She had so much to look forward to and was more than happy to let the ghosts of the past get in the way of what was a very bright future with the man that she loved.
