XXXVIII

FOR WHAT IS YOUR LIFE? IT IS EVEN A VAPOUR, THAT APPEARS FOR A LITTLE TIME, AND THEN VANISHES AWAY.

(JAMES 4:14)

SEVENIA SALLIE

Why did death seem to come in pairs with me? Two years ago, my best friend Anna became my first experience with the death of someone I loved. Then six weeks later, my mother died. Fast forward two years and my one time close friend Jeremy became deceased by his own hand. Three days later, my Aunt Charley was killed in a car accident.

This may sound strange to the unconverted, but the latest pair left me more troubled than the first pair, even though I was much closer to the first. I was confident of my mother and my best friend’s salvation. With Aunt Charley, I was uncertain. With Jeremy, I was even more unsure. Despite the despicable way he ended our friendship, I ached for his lost soul.

These latest two deaths both affected me completely different. Due to Jeremy’s ugly behavior and subsequent attack on me, I tried to not think about him and simply move forward. Only it wasn’t so simple, and my thoughts kept returning. One breath at a time, moment by moment, step by step. Bringing every thought to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). Remembering that for me, yard by yard, life is hard. But inch by inch, life’s a cinch, as long as I’m walking in and with the Holy Spirit.

My Aunt Charley was a different story. Ironically, I saw her more during the last two years after I moved from the Twin Cities to Iowa to live with my dad. This was because my dad and I would go stay the weekend with Aunt Charley and Uncle Six every other month. She and I would have girl talk, and I always tried to turn the conversation to the greatest love of my life, Jesus. But although she listened with interest, her attitude reminded me of Felix and the Apostle Paul. When I have a convenient season I will call for thee (Acts 24:25).

Aunt Charley’s memorial service was to be held at a later date. But my dad, along with Destiny, Brock, and myself, were going to go to Minnesota to be with Uncle Six. However, just as Jeremy died under ugly circumstances, it turned out so did Aunt Charley. Albeit vastly different.

“Sweet Pea,” my dad said cautiously as he entered my bedroom.

“Yes,” I said as I quickly shoved the bra I was holding into my overnight bag.

“There’s been a change of plans.”

“Okay,” I replied hesitantly, as I noticed a different look of anguish on my father’s face from the grief that had been there since the night before.

“There’s no easy way to say this,” he told me as he took hold of both of my shoulders, as if what he had to tell me might make me collapse. I felt a chill race up and down my spine. “It turns out that your Aunt Charley didn’t die from the car accident. Investigators discovered she was actually bludgeoned to death after she was run off the road.”

“Oh my!”

“Yeah,” my dad said with a sigh as he slowly released his hands from my shoulders. “And it appears that Six is the primary suspect.”

Why did he let go of me? I felt my legs go weak. But I didn’t crumple to the floor. I sat down on my bed and stared dumbfounded at my father.

“So,” he said and sighed heavily. “Brock and I are gonna go north and Destiny is gonna come stay with you. Are you okay with that?”

“Sure,” I said quietly.

“She’ll fill you in on the rest.”

“The rest?”

My dad’s eyes looked startled. “Yeah, there’s more to it, but I think it would be better coming from Destiny. You know, woman to woman.”

“Wow!” I replied. “It must be pretty heavy if you’re referring to me as a woman.”

His eyes got even wider. “Yeah, Sweet Pea, there’s a, um, a love triangle involved. Maybe even a quad angle or something, I don’t know.”

“Huh?”

My dad shook his head vigorously and waved both hands. “Like I said, it’ll be better hearing it from Dee, rather than me. She and Brock will be here any minute.”

When I looked at Destiny’s lovely, compassionate face, it was like a drink of cool water on a hot day. My Aunt Dee was easily in my top ten favorite people I have ever known. But let me be clear. She’s not technically my aunt. She’s married to my dad’s cousin Brock, and Brock feels more like an Uncle than, well, my dad’s cousin.

“My dad said you have something, um, difficult to tell me,” I told her, not beating around the bush.

“Yeah,” she drawled cautiously and scrunched her little nose. “Do you want go sit at the kitchen table?”

“Actually, could we go talk at Cotton Creek?”

“Sure, if you’re okay going there,” she said with an arched eyebrow.

“I’m not gonna let what happened there steal one of my favorite places. Plus Branch helped me get over feeling skittish there.”

“Well that sounds great then,” Destiny said. “It’s June and I still haven’t stuck my feet in the creek yet this year.”

Despite the chaos going on in the world and my life, Destiny and I giggled like little girls as we kicked the cool creek water in the very spot Branch and I would soon be baptized. But after a minute or two, I couldn’t stand the suspense any longer. “So, what did you have to talk to me about Dee?”

“Oh, yeah, we didn’t just come here for fun, did we?” She said as her wide blue eyes became serious. She tucked her long honey blonde hair behind her ears, frowned, and became still.

“Was my Aunt and Uncle having affairs on each other?”

“It looks that way, Sweetie,” she replied, and then winced. “Only, it’s a little more, shall we say, um… Do you know what an open marriage is?”

I felt my toes curl beneath the surface of the water. I was so incredibly grateful that Destiny was talking about this with me rather than my dad. I tried to make an awkward moment lighthearted. “Sure, I mean you and Brock are openly married. You’re not trying to hide it.”

Her wince deepened and she began to chew on her lower lip. Even with a contorted face, Destiny was still unfairly pretty. I laughed, and Destiny released her pinched face and arched an eyebrow.

“Are you trying to tell me that my Aunt and Uncle had an agreement to see other people?” I asked.

“Something like that,” she replied, and winced again. “Weird, huh?”

I shrugged.

“You don’t seem all that surprised.”

“I am,” I replied and shrugged again. “But I’m not. I mean, they run a gothic funeral home. Charley tends to dress like Elvira, even when she’s not working. Or I guess I should say used to.”

My tears came on suddenly and I coughed a sob. I felt Destiny’s arm go around me, and her head leaned against mine as I began to wail.

“She was actually my first influence on how I dress,” I told Destiny when I calmed. “I was probably six or seven. No pun intended with my dad and uncle’s names. We were at a funeral for somebody I think my mom was related to. I remember Aunt Charley pushing me out back on a tire swing. She was so laid back and hippie cool. She was wearing this form fitting, long charcoal dress with black lace on the sleeves and neckline. Her shapely leg kept popping out of this long split on the side. I was fascinated with the way the sun glistened off her black nylons. And she was wearing these red converse sneakers that clashed in a super fun way with how she was otherwise elegantly dressed.

“Then she told me it was time for her to go to work. We walked hand in hand to a basement door. She sat down on a chair, slipped off the sneakers, and slipped on black stiletto heels. As she did so, she said it was time to put Charley away and become Charlotte, Mistress of Death. In an instant she went from sexy fun to complete gloom classy.

“She sat me at a table so I could work on a puzzle. But as soon as she left, I tried on about a half dozen pairs of her heels. I couldn’t hardly walk, so I put on her sneakers. They were too big, but I tied them tight and walked well enough. I went back out to the tire swing and pushed an imaginary child. I sashayed around and spoke to the invisible person with deep, sultry words like my aunt.”

I started crying again, and Destiny soothed, “It’s okay, Sweetie.”

“It’s just so strange, Dee,” I croaked.

“Do you mean the open marriage thing?”

“Well, yeah, but I was talking about Charley being gone. It just doesn’t seem real. In some ways it seems like yesterday that she was pushing me on that swing. So free and graceful as strands of her dark hair drifted onto her face. Her bright blue eyes twinkling as she daintily brushed the hair off of her cheek. She just always seemed full of life in that low key, sultry way of hers.”

“I didn’t know her well,” Destiny said. “But I can see what you mean. She had a way of putting people at ease. Very comforting presence, despite her gothic attire.”

“Yet I don’t know that she loved the Lord, Dee,” I said, looking at her as my eyes clouded with yet more tears. “And that’s what hurts the most about her death.”

“The thing about the lost, Sevenia,” Destiny said softly and gently. “And I’m not saying Charley was. It’s not our place to judge. But the lost will be excluded by their own choice. God has done everything He possibly could to save lost humanity. Even giving his only begotten Son (John 3:16). Those that end up excluded from heaven, will be so because they would not be happy there. I know it sounds strange, but heaven is much more than simply a place of eternal bliss. The inhabitants there love God supremely. And if we don’t love Him here, we won’t love Him there.”

“Right,” I agreed. “Jesus said if you love me, keep my commandments (John 14:15)

“And that they are not grievous,” (1 John 5:3) she said as she put her arm around my shoulder again. I leaned into her and wrapped my arm around her backside. We became silent and I felt the open marriage thing looming between this mother, daughter type moment, and I wanted to get it over with.

“So, Dee, what is going with…” I began, but I couldn’t say open marriage. “My Aunt and Uncle’s relationship.”

“Well,” she sighed as I felt her arm leave my back side. She sat up straight and drew circles in the water with her toes. “I don’t know much. But apparently, when Six asked Charlotte to marry him, she said she would love to, but couldn’t, because she didn’t believe in monogamy. Six told her that he didn’t mind if she went elsewhere for lunch, as long as she always came home for supper.”

“Gross,” I interrupted. “How long have you known this?”

“Since last night.”

“What about my dad?”

“He just found out too. I think that’s why he felt uncomfortable talking to his daughter about it. He still hasn’t gotten his own head around it himself.”

“So what exactly does this perverse marriage arrangement have to do with my Aunt Charley being murdered?”

“In the last year, she met some guy, and the lunches turned into suppers. He’s quite wealthy, and she wanted to divorce Six so she could marry him.”

“So they think Six killed her?” I asked as I stood and began to pace. “Uncle Six would never kill anybody, no way!”

“We don’t think so either, Sweetie, but right now the evidence doesn’t look good for him. He does have a pretty strong alibi though.”

“What?”

“Remember, it was an open marriage. It turns out that Six has been seeing someone even longer than Charley had been seeing Mr. Moneybags. He claims he was with her when Charley was killed and she vouched for him.”

“That’s good, right? I mean in a twisted sort of way.”

“One more thing, Sweetie.”

“Okay,” I groaned as I put my face in my hands.

“The woman he has been seeing, is your best friend’s mom.”

I slowly, unbelievably lifted my head and looked Destiny in the eyes. “Do you mean Salena?”

Destiny nodded.