How I made my sister in law happy
All characters in this story are fiction. The story was inspired by a anonymous Facebook post I saw. This is what my imagination came up with. Post is at the end of the story.
It was a tough week. It all started in the early hours of Sunday morning. I got a phone call at 4am from my Sister in Law, Julia. Apparently my Brother in Law Jeff had been out late trying to get some equipment cleaned at work. He was a department manager in a fast food restaurant. Not making much money but enough to feed his wife and 2 kids. On the way home he was hit by a drunk driver head on at 55 mph. There wasn't much left of him when then the car caught fire and burned on the country road he was on. It was about 30 minutes later before an ambulance and a highway patrolman could get there.
The funeral was tough. They went ahead and cremated after the body wasn't recoverable. His wife was a basket-case. They didn't have much life insurance. Enough to bury him but not enough for them to live more than a year. The two boys were 6 and 8. He was an only child and my wife was the only sibling she had. It was going to be up to us to help her get back on her feet. I knew we were going to have to find her a job fast but that would mean that someone would have to pick up her kids from school. That wasn't going to be a problem for me. We got her a job at the library but she was going to have to work till 6 most nights and two nights a month til 9.
I was a city engineer. I drove a pickup around town with the lights looking at potholes and determining if they needed worked on. So I was able to get out and about and be done by 4 on most days. Therefore it was my job to pick up the kids. I would get them, take them to my house and then when Julia got off work, she would pick up the kids and go home. Since she didn't have a lot of money, we usually had dinner for her at our house before she went home. My wife worked from home so she was always there.
The sisters would talk a lot and sometimes she wouldn't go home till way late. Our daughter Tracy was off at college. She was a sophomore at a school a couple hundred miles away so we made her room into a guest room for Julia. Tracy was planning on spending the summer in Europe as part of her studies. We turned the other room in our house into a room for the boys to sleep when they spent the night. I bought bunk beds and we had fun making them with the kids.
The depression that Julia sank into was bad. Janice and I were discussing getting her into counseling. We knew that dating at this point was out of the question. After ten years of marriage, Julia was in a funk over the whole scene. Approaching 40 didn't make it easy. She still had a little pouch on her from the last baby.
Yes we got her an attorney to sue the drunk driver for more damages but these things take time. His insurance did get her a decent new car, paid for the ambulance and medical bills. The pain and suffering was going to be dreadful. To complicate more, the man was going to be in rehab for a long time then he would be going to stand trial for vehicular homicide as well as a third offense DUI.
As summer came, it wasn't a matter of school, now the kids were in need of swimming lessons. I arrange for them to get lessons at the city pool but that started at 5:30. Julia would be getting off at 6 so it was up to me to pick them up from our house where they had been all day with Aunt Janice and take them to the pool. Julia would go over to our house or on some nights just go directly home. She knew I would feed the kids and take them to wherever she told me to take them.
On the second night of the lessons, I got a text to just feed the kids McDonald's and then bring them up to her house. Their place was about 5 miles out of town. Not far but far enough to have a drunk driver problem. I told her I would.
When I arrived she was in a deeper funk then normal. I got the kids to their room told them to put on their PJs and get ready for bed. I went out to the living room and found Julia sitting on the sofa crying
"haWt's the matter?" I asked as I sat down next her.
"Oh Tom, You have been so good to us since the accident. You have been there every step of the way since the funeral. I don't know how I can repay you."
"That's easy," I said. "Get back on your feet and get out of this depression you are in."
"That's just it," she replied. "I can't. It's been so hard."
"You want me to stay a little while?" I asked. "We can put on a movie and let you fall asleep."
"That would be great. You have anything in mind?"
"No, Let's turn on the Smart TV and just pick something."
We found a Hallmark movie on the free channels. One of those sappy movies about a woman who can't find love and then finds out it's an old high school flame that brings her a happy ever after ending. She curled up next to me with a mug of tea and cried the whole movie.
"You can't cry." I said. "This is a happy ending."
"I known but I had my happy ever after and now he is gone."
"That's ok. You have me and Janice for now. You'll find love again when you are ready. For now I'll be Uncle Tom and just do things with the boys till you find Mr. Right."
"But you are Mr. Right." She said. "You are the only man I know who is kind, compassionate. Loves my boys and me."
"For your sister," I reminded her. "For you I am just the handy man who will make sure you have your needs met. "
"That's ok, I just want to snuggle with you tonight."
