concern there, and saw the truth he was speaking.
"The cops Mitchell sent to check responded to your friend Matt's call. She's okay. She's at the station with them. I'm sorry, Zach. It's your momma. I'm so very sorry."
125
The Christmas Throwaway
RJ Scott
Chapter 11
Zach stood in a suit, crisp-new, bought with money he had borrowed from Ben, just enough for the suit and some new shoes. It was his momma's funeral, and he felt he needed to be there. She had never really been that much of an influence in his life, fading to lavender and silence as the years had passed. She had never stopped his father. Not once did she argue for her son, defend him, or even say she loved him. She was frail and tiny, small boned and easily breakable.
She died so very easily, falling and smashing her head on the kitchen table, her neck twisting and snapping, as easily as a twig snapped underfoot. She fell because Zach's dad had taken a belt to his daughter and that had clearly been the one thing his mother couldn't tolerate. She had put herself between her husband and her child, taken the beating, and fallen to her death.
His sister was hugging him tight and weeping
against his new suit and, for her sake, he was pleased his mom had finally found her backbone, but it wasn't enough to make him cry as they lowered the coffin into the gaping hole of her grave. Snow had fallen here as well, and that fascinated him. He had imagined the snow to just be in Hill 126
The Christmas Throwaway
RJ Scott
Valley, in that picturesque town where the impossible niceness resided. He didn't for one minute consider the beautiful blanket of white that covered the place he felt safest would ever deign to fall where his dad lived.
He pulled Rebecca closer. What she had seen the
past few weeks was impossible for him to reconcile, so he had pushed it way back in his head.
Ben had wanted to talk, wanted to go to the funeral, but Zach had stopped him.
"It has to just be me and Rebecca," he had said with finality. To his credit, Ben hadn't argued, leaving Zach to organize and work his way through what needed to be done.
"I need your permission to submit the photos of your injuries to the police here." Ben asked just before the funeral as he straightened Zach's tie and pulled him in for a final hug.
"Will it help?"
"It's peanuts compared to first degree murder for your mom, but yeah, I think they should know it all."
"If that's what they need." It was neither here nor there that people see what had happened to him. All that mattered was that his dad was out of his life and out of his sister's life. He was going to be the best big brother it was 127
The Christmas Throwaway
RJ Scott
possible to be. At eighteen, he could be Rebecca's legal guardian; that much he was certain of.
The service finished, a stiff breeze whisked the
snow into soft clouds around the grave and Rebecca put a single rose into the hole. Zach couldn't bring himself to go near it. Silently, the two walked away from the grave and the minister and the empty words of the one or two people who had attended the service.
What was he going to do next? The house was a
rental in his father's name, and his momma's blood stained the floor. They were not going back there.
"What are we gonna do now?" Rebecca gazed up at him, her eyes trusting, looking to her big brother for guidance to deal with this.
"I'll sort it out," Zach said, confident. Because come hell or high water he would.
It seemed that being told he wasn't needed at the funeral didn't stop Ben from waiting at the edge of the cemetery, leaning back against his car, watching as they left the grave and walked towards the exit.
"All right?" he asked, likely more for something to say than actually asking the question, and standing away from the car. He brushed at the seat of his, no doubt, damp pants.
128
The Christmas Throwaway
RJ Scott
"Uh huh," was all Zach could summon up.
"Wanna go home now?" The words were so simple, and
"The cops Mitchell sent to check responded to your friend Matt's call. She's okay. She's at the station with them. I'm sorry, Zach. It's your momma. I'm so very sorry."
125
The Christmas Throwaway
RJ Scott
Chapter 11
Zach stood in a suit, crisp-new, bought with money he had borrowed from Ben, just enough for the suit and some new shoes. It was his momma's funeral, and he felt he needed to be there. She had never really been that much of an influence in his life, fading to lavender and silence as the years had passed. She had never stopped his father. Not once did she argue for her son, defend him, or even say she loved him. She was frail and tiny, small boned and easily breakable.
She died so very easily, falling and smashing her head on the kitchen table, her neck twisting and snapping, as easily as a twig snapped underfoot. She fell because Zach's dad had taken a belt to his daughter and that had clearly been the one thing his mother couldn't tolerate. She had put herself between her husband and her child, taken the beating, and fallen to her death.
His sister was hugging him tight and weeping
against his new suit and, for her sake, he was pleased his mom had finally found her backbone, but it wasn't enough to make him cry as they lowered the coffin into the gaping hole of her grave. Snow had fallen here as well, and that fascinated him. He had imagined the snow to just be in Hill 126
The Christmas Throwaway
RJ Scott
Valley, in that picturesque town where the impossible niceness resided. He didn't for one minute consider the beautiful blanket of white that covered the place he felt safest would ever deign to fall where his dad lived.
He pulled Rebecca closer. What she had seen the
past few weeks was impossible for him to reconcile, so he had pushed it way back in his head.
Ben had wanted to talk, wanted to go to the funeral, but Zach had stopped him.
"It has to just be me and Rebecca," he had said with finality. To his credit, Ben hadn't argued, leaving Zach to organize and work his way through what needed to be done.
"I need your permission to submit the photos of your injuries to the police here." Ben asked just before the funeral as he straightened Zach's tie and pulled him in for a final hug.
"Will it help?"
"It's peanuts compared to first degree murder for your mom, but yeah, I think they should know it all."
"If that's what they need." It was neither here nor there that people see what had happened to him. All that mattered was that his dad was out of his life and out of his sister's life. He was going to be the best big brother it was 127
The Christmas Throwaway
RJ Scott
possible to be. At eighteen, he could be Rebecca's legal guardian; that much he was certain of.
The service finished, a stiff breeze whisked the
snow into soft clouds around the grave and Rebecca put a single rose into the hole. Zach couldn't bring himself to go near it. Silently, the two walked away from the grave and the minister and the empty words of the one or two people who had attended the service.
What was he going to do next? The house was a
rental in his father's name, and his momma's blood stained the floor. They were not going back there.
"What are we gonna do now?" Rebecca gazed up at him, her eyes trusting, looking to her big brother for guidance to deal with this.
"I'll sort it out," Zach said, confident. Because come hell or high water he would.
It seemed that being told he wasn't needed at the funeral didn't stop Ben from waiting at the edge of the cemetery, leaning back against his car, watching as they left the grave and walked towards the exit.
"All right?" he asked, likely more for something to say than actually asking the question, and standing away from the car. He brushed at the seat of his, no doubt, damp pants.
128
The Christmas Throwaway
RJ Scott
"Uh huh," was all Zach could summon up.
"Wanna go home now?" The words were so simple, and
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