Hey guys. This is my first attempt at writing. Make sure to join my yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Stockard-719/. Members get early previews and I have added pictures of what I envision major characters to look like. Tell me what you think and if you would like to read more: umrebelone@gmail.com
As Gabe and Banks rounded the corner after their workout on Friday afternoon, Gabe saw his mom talking to a highway patrolman. At first he didn't think anything about it, but when he saw her face his heart stopped.
"GOD NO!"
Before she said anything, his mother wrapped her arms around him. Finally she continued, "Honey, he's dead. He lost control when he hit some ice on the road. Patrick and Nic were right behind him."
Gabe would have collapsed to the floor had Banks not caught him and held him up.
"Mrs. Bishop, perhaps I should take Gabriel to the farm. I'll stay with him until his friends make it here." said Banks.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, ma'am. You have enough on you already,"
"Thanks"
The only feeling that Gabe was experiencing on the drive to the farm was numbness. Not long before, he was so happy with anticipation of Jamie's arrival and his arms around him making him feel safe and secure. When he got home, he noticed that there was a message from Jamie's parents. He could tell that Jamie's mom was crying in the background while his dad left the message.
"Gabriel, we are leaving shortly to come there. We should be there by seven or so. My office has reserved us a room at the B & B there. We can talk more when we get there. Gabriel, we love you like you were our son and in a way you are the only son we have left. See you soon."
All Gabe could do was sit down on the couch and cry. Banks set down next to him and placed Gabe's head on his chest and told him to let it all out. At some point, he fell asleep and later awoke with his head in Banks' lap. He wasn't sure how long he had been asleep, but Patty and Nic were coming through the door. He stood to greet them, but they both wrapped their arms around him and started whispering words of comfort to him.
When they finally broke their embrace, the phone was ringing. When he answered, it was Jamie's parents telling him that they were at the inn. As they wanted to see and talk to him, they asked him to come to the inn for dinner and bring Patrick and Nic if they had made it. Upon hearing this, Banks offered to drive them all to the inn. They all agreed, but Gabe wanted him to stay with him.
At dinner, Gabe was greeted warmly by Jamie's parents before they sat down to eat. About halfway through the meal, Jamie's father spoke up:
"Gabe, you know that in the eyes of the law, we are Jamie's next-of-kin. However, Liz and I agree that you should get to make all the decisions regarding Jamie's funeral that you feel like making. We know that you two exchanged rings and that you two can't get married in this state..."
From somewhere deep inside of him, Gabe found his voice for truly the first time in hours.
"I think the main ceremony should be at the Cathedral across from the Governor's Mansion. He seemed to really like it and it will make it easy for the reception afterward. I know that you all have a family cemetery, but I would like him to be buried near our home at school so that I can be close to him."
"That's fine. We can talk about the rest tomorrow, but I will have his body moved to a funeral home in the capital city."
"Thanks, Mr. Wicker."
"Please, call me dad."
"Thanks Dad"
Three days later, a small caravan left Gabe's small farming community heading for the capital city and the funeral. The caravan was composed of two state highway patrol cars in both the front and back with an ambulance containing Gabe's dad and mom and three limousines, one with Jamie's parents, one with his Aunt Faye, Uncle Ben, cousins and younger sister, and finally one with Gabe, Patty and Nic. The doctor had released Gabe's dad to go if and only if he was transported in an ambulance. Gabe remembered little of the trip as the initial numbness had not left him.
The funeral was scheduled for noon on Wednesday. There were well over a thousand people in attendance. Everything seemed like deja vu. This was the second Jamie he had lost to a car accident. The old cathedral's majestic hardwood ceiling and brick walls held back the cold steady rain that had been falling all morning. To Gabe, it seemed as if the angels in heaven were crying as much as he was. Upon entering the family's section of the pew's he noticed Banks in full military uniform sitting about a third of the way back and just in front of Jamie's entire fraternity dressed in their traditional navy blue suits. Gabe got the attention of one of the ushers and asked him to get Banks and bring him to the family's section. While he knew that Banks wasn't truly family, he had quickly become friends with him over the last week and simply needed him.
Gabe sat quietly throughout the funeral liturgy performed by the Bishop. He didn't really hear what was said. He simply followed the motions of the crowd. The only comfort he felt was Patrick, Nic, Sara Beth, Max and Banks were all setting with them. They had become his family over the months and in the case of Banks in the past few weeks.
Finally, after almost an hour the service was over and the family and Jamie's fraternity moved to the Governor's Mansion for the wake. At some point during the wake, Gabe found Banks and asked him to go with him back across the street. Jamie's body would be lying in repose in St. Peter's Chapel at the great cathedral over night before it was transported back to the home of their university for burial. Gabe felt it somewhat poetic that the body would go from the chapel to the historic St. Peter's Church, the namesake of the chapel and first cathedral for the diocese.
After getting past the highway patrolmen stationed outside the chapel, Banks took a seat on one of the back pews to allow Gabriel some privacy with Jamie's body. For almost two hours, Gabe talked to Jamie lamenting all the experiences that they would never get to share and crying intermittently.
Finally as Gabe started to become quiet and go weak with anguish, Banks wrapped his arms around him and lead him back the Governor's Mansion and finally to his bedroom within.
"Banks, I know that I have asked more of you than I should have," started Gabe as he lay down on the bed, "but I developed feelings for you over the past few weeks...not feelings like I have for Jamie. Feelings like I would have for my big brother if he were still alive. I'm sorry if I have abused our friendship."
"Don't worry about it Gabe. In a way you are the little brother I never had. It makes he feel good to know that someone depends on me again like the guys in my old unit did. You've had a long day. Get some sleep. I'll sit on the couch while you rest."
With those words, Gabe fell into the first restful sleep he had experienced in almost a week. Waking up only briefly to change and get something to eat, he told Banks that he would be ok and that he should go and get some sleep himself.
Two days later, as Jamie's body was being laid to rest in the cemetery, the heavens reopened and a cold winter rain enveloped the family and friends assembled for the grave side ceremony. The final act of ceremony was a bit of Wicker Family tradition and a reflection of Jamie's interests all mixed together. A lone bagpiper played a haunting version of Amazing Grace as Colonel, Jamie's prized horse who once served the US Army as a member of its honor guard, followed with a pair of Jamie's riding boots sitting empty and backwards in the stirrups.
When finally the ceremony was complete, Gabe asked to be taken back to their home. Jamie's parents told him that they loved him and that they needed to coordinate the opening and reading of Jamie's will. He told them that he would contact them the next day, but that he needed some time alone with Jamie's things.
While his new family wanted to stay with him, they finally understood his need to be alone and left. Gabe slowly and methodically moved throughout the house, feeling the walls that Jamie had painted, hearing the squeak in the old floors that he could never get rid of and finally the bed in which they had shared their lives and their bodies so passionately over the last six months. As Gabe sank down into the bed, wrapping himself with the Jamie smell, he realized that his life would never be the same. He contemplated suicide but knew that he had to live long enough to take care of some things. So weakened by the events of the last week, a sleep swept over his body so deep that Gabe wondered if he would ever wake again before succumbing to its drowsy drowning effect.
"Gabe baby, wake-up. It's me Jamie. I couldn't be away from you any longer so I drove through the night."