George - Chapter Seventeen: Happy Birthday, Steph - Part Two: Only A Woman Like You

****A little early, but I figure it's Wednesday somewhere. ;)****

- Once again, NSFW (nudity, adult situations, etc)

- Like part one, this is named for a song and I've supplied it where it occurs. 
- Part 3 will be posted on Friday and is a little shorter than the previous two parts.

- Thank you again for reading! 

****Steph****

I woke up and my first thought was how it was my birthday, and I always dreaded my birthday. Every year it was just a painful reminder that I was basically alone since most years I had either spent my birthday working or by myself in an apartment, trying desperately to forget what day it was. My birthday had never been anything special; there hadn’t been any parties with friends when I was a little girl, no well wishes from my parents or any other relatives, and most definitely no presents.

 

The only people who wished me happy birthday were the very few friends I had in school and more recently, a couple people here and there that I had gotten to know over the years living in Bridgeport.  So when George’s grandmother had first mentioned me coming to Appaloosa for my birthday, I had wondered how she knew when it was. It didn’t take me long to realize that someone must have asked Charlotte, who was one of the few people who knew. At first, I was leery about the idea of coming to Appaloosa for my birthday, once again questioning why the Davila and Hobble families would bother.

But soon I started to wonder what it would be like to spend my birthday with a real family, even if it wasn’t mine and after reading Amanda’s last letter, I had almost talked myself into accepting her offer for me to spend my birthday in Appaloosa. Then she had passed away.

Fast forward to yesterday; I had expected George to show up around his normal time of five o’clock. He hadn’t mentioned much about my birthday except that he was coming into town for it and that we were going to spend the weekend together. I honestly didn’t care what we did; we could have sat on the couch all weekend and I would have been ecstatic!

When there had been a knock at the door that morning, I had no idea who it could have been. Charlotte always called before she came over and I wasn’t expecting anyone else. When I saw George standing there I was so shocked, I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t believe that he had surprised me by coming into the city early. Then I was surprised again to find out he was taking me somewhere, and not just any somewhere, but to Appaloosa. When we had arrived here, I was so excited that we were going to be able to spend the weekend together that I didn’t even think about Amanda’s offer for me to come here for my birthday.

Then George told me what had given him the idea to bring me here and for several moments I couldn’t breathe. I hadn’t told anyone about what she had offered and when I had given the letters to George for him to read, I didn’t even think about me staying here being mentioned. Many people would have read that and not taken much notice; but George wasn’t most people. He not only noticed it, he had honed in on it. I had seen him do this with others, with Trev, Charlotte, and other family members where he had this sense about what someone needed before they themselves realized it; and because of him, I woke up on my birthday and for the first time that I could ever remember, I actually smiled.

I rolled over and saw that George wasn’t in bed with me and I sat up to look around the room. What I saw about my heart jump out of my chest. 

George -- Chapter Fourteen: Dust to Dust

Again, so sorry this took so long to publish! I did want to make a quick note about this chapter before you read it. I originally wrote this chapter as a filler chapter. I sometimes write out what other characters are doing in between chapters to help with interactions that occur later in the generation without any intention of publishing it. That's what this chapter started out as but as I kept writing it, I realized that there were too many key events that occurred and I felt that it needed to be shared. Not only does it go into how George felt after his and Trev's confrontation but it also has some important relationship changes between George and Steph.

I'm also providing the song that helped inspire this chapter.

Thanks for being so patient! Hope you enjoy!

****George****

When Uncle Charlie and I planned on bringing Trev to the club, I had hoped that I would be able to stay till closing. After what happened between Trev and me, there was no reason to rush back to his apartment so I hung around and when the club closed, I helped Steph, Charlotte, and Ethan close up. As we walked out the front, Charlotte tried to talk to me.

“Do you think Trev’s cooled off by now?”

I huffed. I was pretty sure that he was still probably pissed and he could be even drunker than he was when he and Uncle Charlie left.  “I seriously doubt it.”
 

“What about you?” She asked me.

“What about me?”

She sighed loudly. “Where do I start. . .have you calmed down? Are you going to be okay staying there tonight with him? Are you okay?” 

It was my turn to sigh. “I’m not the one who got pissed off; Trev is. I never needed to calm down, he did. I’ll admit, I’m not thrilled right now about staying there, but I’ll deal with it.” I paused before answering her last question. “I suppose I’m as good as can be expected.”

She nodded. “Well, if you want to stay somewhere besides his place, you can stay at my place.” I noticed Ethan and her exchange a look and it was obvious that the thought of me staying at Charlotte’s place made him react uncomfortably, and I guessed that probably meant that he was staying there too.

“No, that’s okay.”

“Just let me know if you change your mind.” She offered again and I nodded.

There was an uncomfortable silence after that and I couldn’t help but feel like I was missing something. It was as if the three of them knew something that I wasn’t in on. “Well. . .I guess we’ll get going. Do you want a ride or would you prefer to take a cab?” Ethan asked.

Before I could speak up Steph was answering him. “No, thanks for offering but I’m okay taking a cab. Is that okay?” She looked over at me.

“Sure.” Although I didn’t understand why we wouldn’t all ride together. The three of them were acting strange and I was racking my brain trying to figure out why.

“Alright, well, goodnight. And I mean it George, if you want to stay at my apartment, just let me know.” Charlotte again offered. I nodded and Steph and I watched as they walked hand in hand to the parking garage.

I quickly turned toward Steph. “Okay, what in the world was that?”

“What?” She looked confused.

“The whole uncomfortable thing after Charlotte offered for me to stay at her place, and then why wouldn’t we all ride together to your apartment building.”

She smirked as she responded. “Surely someone as smart as you can figure that out.”

“Well, I was sure that the reason that Ethan and she exchanged a look after she offered for me to stay there was because he’s probably staying there. But that doesn’t explain why we wouldn’t ride together.”

“Maybe they’re not going back to the apartment.” She hinted.

“Oh. . .” I said as I realized what she was saying. “So Ethan realized that if I stayed at Charlotte’s apartment that I would learn not that they were staying together at her apartment but that they’re together at his apartment.”

She smiled big. “Yup.”

“Why would I care?”

George - Chapter Thirteen: Jekyll Turning Into Hyde

 A little warning for language and very picture heavy chapter.

*****

I looked at the clock and watched as the second hand ticked slowly around its repetitive circle. I had seen my last patient of the day but had stayed late to try to catch up on some work and reading that I had gotten behind on from Grandma’s funeral. I had to cancel my patients for a total of three days and I was trying my best to make up the time, but no matter how much I tried to concentrate on my work, it just wasn’t happening.  I had been reading the same sentence for five minutes and decided that enough was enough. I closed the file and placed it in my bag that I was taking home, hoping that I would be able to concentrate on it better later.

I heard my phone chime and rushed over to check it. It had been four days since Steph and Ethan had returned to Bridgeport and every day since she had texted me on her first break from serving at the club.  I clumsily picked up the phone, almost dropping it, and selected the message.

Are you available to talk? This had been the start of our routine for the last four days. She would text, see if I was able to talk and I would call her. I kept telling her it was okay to just call instead of text but she kept insisting that she didn’t want to interrupt me if I was busy. I selected the phone icon and after a few seconds, I heard ringing.

“I guess you are.” I heard her say when she answered her phone.

“You know, you could have called. . .” I jokingly hinted.

“I know, but what if you were with a patient.”

“Steph, I’m never with a patient this late, ever. So it’s okay to call.” I smiled thinking about how this was the exact conversation we’d had since I had returned to work. “Someday maybe you’ll believe me. . .” I joked.

“Maybe, or maybe I’ll just keep on doing it since I know it bothers you.” She joked back.

“You’re as stubborn as I am.” I said and laughed. “How’s your day been?”

“It’s been okay, the usual, got home around 2:30 in the morning, woke up around nine, ran, tried to pass the time, then came to work. Real exciting stuff. Umm. . .speaking of exciting, have you talked to Charlotte today?”

George - Chapter Twelve: It's About Time

***I released this chapter and chapter 11 together. If you're reading this one first, some things may not make sense. Just thought I'd warn you. Also, this chapter was very much inspired by two songs, and even though the lyrics don't appear anywhere in this chapter, I wanted to include them somehow. I've included them at the end of the chapter in case you'd like to listen to them.  Thanks for reading!***
 

****Steph****

I woke up the next morning and got ready for what I was sure was going to be an emotional day. We were all going to meet in the family room and then walk over to the ranch. Once everyone arrived there we were then going to walk to the family cemetery. I looked one last time in the mirror and couldn’t help but notice how tired I looked. I hadn’t slept much the last couple of days and I wondered if I was this tired, how tired the Davila and Hobble families must be.

I had hoped to get some sleep the night before but all I did was think about how George had reacted to reading the letters. He had been grateful and I was glad that I had shared them. I had been surprised that he had hugged me but what baffled me was how he acted after we hugged. He seemed to almost be in a hurry to get away from me. I knew he was going through a lot, but I had made up my mind while lying awake, staring at the ceiling, that maybe we were just meant to be friends. Or at least that’s all he was interested in since even though we had almost kissed once, he hadn’t shown any indication of wanting to do anything like that again. 

I walked out into the family room and saw George standing there wearing a suit. I knew it was probably wrong to think it during such a solemn occasion but I couldn’t help but notice how amazing he looked in it. He noticed me walking into the room and he sadly smiled at me as he walked over to where I was standing. I tried to hide my surprise as he reached out and grabbed my hand.

“Thank you again for sharing those letters with me. I understand why you wanted to share them, but I can also understand why you kept them to yourself for a while. I’m. . .touched that you shared them with me, trusted me enough to share them with me.”

“Like I said last night, you don’t have to thank me, but you’re welcome.” I heard footsteps on the stairs and was stunned when he continued to hold my hand for a moment as people made their way downstairs. As Charlotte, Trev, and Ethan made their way into the family room, George let go of my hand and walked over to Trev and Charlotte. They spoke for a moment together and it was hard not to notice how devastated they all looked.

“This is going to be the hardest day. Charlotte keeps mentioning having to go to the cemetery and being there for the first time in so many years. It’s like this has opened up the wound that was made when their dad passed away.”

I nodded. “It has.” I couldn’t help but notice that it seemed to reveal their different levels of acceptance of it also; Trev being on one end, George on the other, and Charlotte being somewhere in the middle. They stopped talking and Trev walked outside by himself. Charlotte walked over to Ethan and he put an arm around her to comfort her. I started walking into the foyer and felt a hand on my back. I couldn’t help but be puzzled by the change in Geroge’s behavior. He had been almost distant the last several days, which I understood, but now he seemed to be doing the complete opposite. He kept his hand on my back until we walked out of the house and we were all bombarded by the clicking and flashing of the paparazzi cameras. Thankfully the police were still present and helped us make our way across the street to the ranch.

We walked inside and even though the house was jammed full of family members, it was very quiet. As we made our way to a corner of the family room we heard their mom’s voice.

“Did you have any problems getting into the ranch?”

“No, having the police out front has really helped with that.” George informed her.

“Yes, I’m so glad that they agreed to do that.” I noticed her look over at Charlotte and she started hugging her.  She whispered something to her and then gave her one last big squeeze before letting go. She moved to Ethan and shook his hand while saying something to him. She then hugged Trev and then George and whispering something to each of them. She moved over to me and started hugging me. I could feel tears starting to fall and tried my hardest to not let them escape from my eyes. I wanted to be here for them, offer them support, not the other way around.

“I’m so glad that you got to know her and that she got to know you. She often mentioned how she enjoyed writing to you.” She said and then gave me one last squeeze before we stopped hugging. She pulled away and looked at all of us before turning to join her brothers and sister.

A few minutes before we were to walk to the cemetery, their grandfather appeared in the hallway and the little chatter that had been occurring, stopped. He looked back and forth between the family room and living room where everyone had gathered and then spoke.

“I suppose it’s time.” We all quietly walked out of the house and walked towards the back of the ranch. There was a walkway that led from the back of the property to the family cemetery which allowed the family some semblance of privacy from the paparazzi. We walked into the back of the cemetery and over to the chairs that had been placed near the gravesite. As we approached a row of chairs George motioned for Trev to go first and then as he moved into the row, he reached down and gently held my hand. Charlotte and Ethan filled the remaining seats in our row and we waited for the service to start. 

Eventually a minister came up and spoke for several minutes and then I was surprised that their grandfather got up. I figured either their mom or one of the uncles or aunt would speak. He walked up to the podium and stood their silent for a moment. He eventually took a big breath and spoke.

“Fifty years ago a beautiful, feisty woman from the city moved to Appaloosa Plains. She didn’t know a thing about living in the country but she had always had a dream to move there; and being the brave woman that she was, she listened to her heart and moved here. After some convincing, and some pretty bad horse riding on her part,” There were several chuckles. “I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to propose and then marry her forty nine years ago. I had always hoped that I would one day marry, have a couple of children, and hopefully one day some grandchildren; providing them with the love and support that I didn’t have growing up. I never could have imagined though that forty nine years later that we would have four wonderful children, fourteen amazing  grandchildren. . .I’m sorry, she would want me to include another in that number and I would have to agree with her. . .” He paused and briefly looked at me. “. . .fourteen grandchildren and one “adopted” grandchild, and one great grandchild soon to be born.” George reach over and grab my hand and squeeze it.

“I have been blessed more than I could ever tell all of you, and it was all because all those years ago she threw caution to the wind and made her dream a reality. I know that if there is one thing she wanted all of you to know and pass on to your children and grandchildren it would be to not only listen to your heart, but to also follow what it’s telling you; even when you’re scared, unsure, or think that maybe you can change what your heart wants. By doing that, you’ll be honoring her memory and you’ll be blessed more than you could possibly imagine.”

He walked over to his seat and sat down. I looked over at George and he was fighting back tears. I squeezed his hand and he looked over at me and smiled sadly. I next looked over at Trev and he was sitting there with a glassy look in his eyes. I knew that their mom had told me that was how he seemed to deal with things but I was still worried about him. I turned to look at Charlotte and Ethan was trying to comfort her. I lightly reached over and touched her arm and she put her hand over mine for a brief moment.

 

Their aunt Scarlett sang and then the service was over. Everyone stood up and I noticed that their Mom started to walk over to the section that was next to the one we had been sitting in; the section where their father’s gravestone was. George, Charlotte and Trev watched her walk over there and then joined her. Ethan and I stood several feet away and watched as the four of them stood around the grave, looking down at the headstone.  Eventually George moved toward Charlotte and put his arm around her. After several more moments, they walked over to where Ethan and I were and soon Charlotte was asking the question that I was sure some of the family members had.

“Who’s the adopted grandchild?” She asked her mom and she bit he bottom lip.

“Well. . .” She looked over at me and then quickly looked away. “They didn’t ‘adopt’ a child or anything like that. More so that they recently started to include someone else in our family.”

“Who?” Trev asked.

“I suppose that would be me.” I quietly said. They all turned to look at me and I told them about the letters and how she had been very encouraging to me. I also tried to explain why I hadn’t told them about it before now.

“I’ve also been in contact with Steph since Christmas. As I explained to George we didn’t want you all to put any pressure on her to accept our offer. . .”

“We wouldn’t have done that.” Charlotte tried to argue.

“Oh really? You wouldn’t have tried to convince her that we were serious about wanting to include her in our family. . .?” Their mom asked.

Charlotte looked over at me and then back at her mom. “I suppose we might have tried to do that. . . wait, you explained to George?” She looked at George. “Why did you know?”

“I didn’t know until last night and I had the same question that you did about Mom and Grandma not telling us about it.”

“You do know that they were serious, right? Mom and Grandma didn’t go around offering to include people into our family.” Charlotte asked me.

“I know that now.” I admitted. I wished that the conversation would turn to something else at that point. I felt very uncomfortable with the conversation revolving around me.

“It looks like some of the family is heading back to the ranch. Maybe we should head that way.” George suggested and I was glad for it. We walked in silence back to the ranch and were overwhelmed by the sight that awaited us. There was food everywhere; tons of casseroles, breads, and desserts. “This is what happens when someone passes away in the country. People send food.” George whispered as we looked at all of the food in the kitchen and dining room. 

We each grabbed a plate and then sat at one of the tables that had been set up in the family room. Once we were done eating, we made our way into the living room and then everyone started to socialize. At one point I noticed their mom talking to Trev and neither of them looked happy. He had his arms folded across his chest and eventually stormed off. I was pondering what all that had been about when George started to talk to me. 

“He’s not handling this well; partly because he never really dealt with things after dad died. He’s gotten very good at pushing it down and pretending that he’s okay.” 

I nodded. “I had wondered if that’s why he’s been so distant these last several days. Charlotte seems to at least be acknowledging her feelings. . .”

He looked over at her and Ethan. “Yeah, and she hadn’t done that before. Hopefully she’s coming to terms with all of that.”

“What was he like, your dad?” He looked down at the floor and I immediately regretted asking. “I’m sorry, this is probably the worst time I could have asked.”

“No, it’s okay.” He sighed heavily before continuing. I was surprised as he talked about his dad that he began to somewhat smile. “He was a fun, patient, kind, athletic, loving man. He was fun because he could literally make any situation fun; even doing laundry. I remember doing laundry with him one time when Mom was out of town for an art show and he turned on some music and we jammed out while folding laundry. He was probably the most patient person I’ve ever known; not only with Mom but with all of us. He was the laidback parent, the one that even though you messed up he didn’t freak out but calmly waited for you to make the right decision. He never met a stranger and was kind to everyone he met.  If you’ve ever wondered where Trev gets his athleticism from, that would be Dad. He and Uncle Charlie played high school football together and if he hadn’t had an injury his senior year, he would have played college ball and probably gone pro. He was really good. But he never complained about his injury, instead he realized that from his experience, he could help others with similar injuries and became a physical therapist.”

“Something that seems to run in this family. . .” I offered and he nodded. 

He continued. “He not only loved us kids, but I’ve never seen a man love a woman more than Dad loved Mom. We used to complain when we were younger whenever we’d see them kissing or holding each other but I’d give anything to see that again.”  As we stood there for the next several moments in silence, I couldn’t help but wonder about the change in him from even just the previous night. He had even been open about his dad which I had never known him to do. He usually would just say a couple of words about him and then change the subject. I looked over at him and saw that he was looking at me with an expression that I couldn’t read.

“I’m sorry. I really shouldn’t have asked about him right now. You’ve got enough to think about without me bringing up your dad.”

“It’s okay. I told you before, I don’t talk to people about personal things unless I’m comfortable with them. If I didn’t want to talk about it, I would have politely changed the subject.”

I was still baffled by his behavior though. Maybe it was like his Mom had said, when the time was right he’d share how he was feeling. But then there was the couple of times that he had held my hand.

“Something’s bothering you.” He stated.

I furrowed my brow. “You act like you know that as a fact.”

He smiled. “Whenever you’re pondering something you bite your bottom lip. When it’s really bothering you, you start to chew on it.”

I tried to remember if I had done that when he started chuckling. “You’re biting your bottom lip now.”

I realized that he was right. I stopped and consciously tried to keep myself from doing it again. “So, what’s bothering you?”

I didn’t want to have this discussion now. Not with all of the family around and he had enough to think about without me starting to question how he was acting. “It’s something that needs to wait.”

He looked troubled. “Why would it need to wait?”

“This just isn’t the. . .right place or time to talk about it.”

“Will you talk to me about it later?” I looked into his eyes and I knew if I continued to I would waiver in my stance to wait.

“At some point, yes.” I didn’t specify when, but I had no intention of talking about it in the near future.

We heard what sounded like something falling in the hallway and looked to see what the noise was. Several people, including their Uncle Charlie, walked over to where the noise had come from and it looked like they were helping someone stand up. I was floored when I saw them help Trev stand up. It was obvious even from our distance from him that he was impaired. The room grew quiet as we watched him being helped out of the hallway and I assumed to a different room. I glanced at George and he looked mad.

“Are you going to go talk to him?” I asked.

“No, it wouldn’t do any good. It never does. Maybe if someone else talks to him it might knock some sense into him. He just gets pissed and stops talking to me when I try to reason with him. Same with Mom, he just doesn’t want to admit that he has a problem, and until he does, nobody’s going to be able to help him.”

 

I nodded and noticed that his mom was walking over to us. “Would you mind giving us a moment Steph?” She requested and I walked over to where Charlotte and Ethan were standing.

“What are Mom and George talking about?” Charlotte wondered. 

“I don’t know, but she asked to talk to him alone. . .”

****George****

“What are we going to do about Trev?” Mom asked.