Carl had left seven messages on Rene’s phone by the time he woke up. When Misha saw them, he swore.

“That man is insane!” Misha pointed out. “Does he think you’re going to burn the venue down tonight? What bug crawled up his ass and died?”

“I guess he didn’t attend last night’s gala so he could put all of his effort into making tonight’s event hell.” Rene rolled his eyes, then began to text Carl back. He was midtext when his phone rang again, Carl’s name popping up in big white letters. 

Rene sighed and answered the phone, “Morning, Carl.”

“Rene! Hey! Glad I could finally get a hold of you. You been sleeping all day or what?”

Rene glanced at his alarm clock, which currently read 9:03am. Ah yes, the whole morning wasted. He rolled his eyes. 

“Oh, you know, just enjoying the weekend.” Rene said. 

“Good good, okay. So tonight’s event. Do you have your speech ready?”

“Yes.” Rene stated.

“And a nice suit?” Carl added.

“Again, yes.” Rene said. 

“Do you think Katrina will be on top of her game?” Carl asked. 

As much as any mother of young twins could be, Rene thought. 

“I’m sure she will.” 

“And Misha? He’s coming?” Carl asked hesitantly. Rene wanted so desperately to hang up, but he gritted his teeth. 

“Of course he’s coming.”

“Good. Okay. Well, hopefully this all goes well, or I don’t know that we’ll be getting those repairs you wanted so badly.” Ah yes, the vague threats. Rene hadn’t bothered to mention the checks he’d already received the night before that likely would already cover the needed repairs. He’d show them to Carl later. Right now he just wanted to get off the phone. 

“I’m sure it will, Carl. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to be going. We’re meeting up with Emory in a little bit. Have a good day!”

“Have a good-wait!” But Rene had already ended the call and thrown the phone away from him on the bed like it was a snake. Misha cracked up laughing, and rolled over to grab Rene, pulling him into a snuggle.

“Ooh, let’s go back to sleep.” Misha suggested. 

“Sure. Right after breakfast with the girls.” Rene said. “Hell, we can sleep all day! Screw the fundraiser! We’ll move cities and change our names and start a commune.”

“Well that sounds excessive. Why don’t we just cut Carl’s brake lines. Much easier.”

“That does have a certain flair to it.” Rene said. 

He grinned as he lay on the pillow, looking into Misha’s eyes. Those ocean blue eyes that he could stare at for days. He held Misha’s hand in his and just relished the moment. A perfect lovely Sunday morning with the man of his dreams. 

*****

Emory was so excitable at breakfast that she was practically sitting on the restaurant table. Misha grabbed her and pulled her into a hug while he continued eating. She giggled and squirmed in his arms, but made no real motion to get away as he pretended to force-feed her some eggs. 

“How was last night?” Ari asked between bites of French Toast. 

“It was pretty awesome, actually,” Rene admitted. “We had a lot of fun.”

“That’s great!” Ari said. 

“How was your speech, daddy?” Emory asked. 

“Daddy’s speech was beautiful, Pickle.” Misha said. “Of course, he didn’t read a word we’d written together, but what he did say was lovely. When we get the video back from the event, I’ll show you.”

“You didn’t read the speech?” Emory looked at Rene curiously.

“I got too nervous.” Rene admitted. 

“Oh.” Emory nodded and shrugged. “Yeah, I get nervous too, daddy. I understand.”

“Thanks, Em.” Rene leaned over and kissed her on the top of the head. 

“Mommy told me about my grandma last night!” Emory said. “Her name was Ha-Na, and she was lucky to survive the war.”

Rene froze with his fork on the way to his mouth. He glanced at Emory, then at Ari, who was looking at her with a smile. 

“Did you tell us about her before?” Rene asked Ari, setting his fork down. 

Ari frowned in concentration and shook her head, “I don’t think so. I was going through some of my mom’s things last night with Emory, and I came across a journal that belonged to my grandmother. Emory helped me translate it, and we learned about when grandma’s husband died in the war, then American soldiers came to her house. One of them died defending her from the other.”

“I didn’t know soldiers could be so mean.” Emory said. 

“Anyone can be mean.” Misha pointed out. “You have to watch out for people, Pickle.”

Rene’s head was spinning, a sense of deja-vu so strong that he thought he might throw up. He thought back to his dream, so vivid and real, and vaguely wondered if he’d just reconstructed it then and there to match Ari’s story. 

“Grandma was so strong and brave. I think she’s the best.” Emory said. 

“She sounds amazing.” Rene muttered. He could picture Ha-Na, so vividly. It had to be a popular name. One he’d read in a book somewhere. Or Ari was mistaken, and she had told them about her in the past. He snapped back to the present, to Emory giggling at being tickled by Misha when she tried to steal his food. 

“I wish I could come with you tonight.” Emory said, leaning her head back and looking upside down at Misha. 

“Sorry, Pickle. Grownups only.” Misha said. He planted a sweet kiss on Emory’s forehead. “We’ll see you after though! We can have late Sunday ice-cream!”

“Yes!” Emory pumped her hands in excitement. “That sounds awesome!”

“It’s a date!” Misha said, and squeezed Emory until she laughed again. 

*****

Rene was much less self-conscious for the fundraiser. He did these every year, and this one was practically no different, except for the fact that he’d been made the center of attention for the event. His main goals were to steer clear of Carl as much as possible, get a few checks, say goodbye to Khal, and really just enjoy himself. 

The catering was decent. Not as exquisite as the night before, but he and Misha never went hungry. There were many people flowing through, congratulating him. A few more checks made their way into his pocket. Khal found him pretty quickly in the evening, and completely shocked Rene and Misha with a check for five-hundred-thousand dollars. 

“I don’t…how did you manage that?” Rene asked as he stared at the check wide-eyed.

“I talked to a few folks at the magazine and they turned out to be very generous. You could do a lot of good with money like that, and the world needs more good in it.” Khal said.

“I can’t believe it. Thank you so much!” Rene was ecstatic. He ended up pulling Khal into a hug, which lingered for a moment, then stepped back, immediately embarrassed. 

“I’m so sorry. I should have asked.” Rene said, looking nervously at Khal.

“No, it’s okay.” Khal grinned. “You’re fine.” 

Misha, not to be left out, also pulled Khal into a hug. Khal chuckled as Misha let him go. 

“A third body? That’s insane! How have they not caught this guy yet?”  

Rene turned to see Katrina talking excitedly to Julie from the front desk. They were clearly gossiping about the serial killer that was terrorizing their little town. Rene hadn’t even thought about him since last night. 

“They have to catch him soon, right? I mean, we live in the time of technology, surely the guy has slipped up on social media somewhere.” Julie pointed out. 

“I mean, you would think.” Katrina said. “Ugh, I’m suddenly regretting having children. What a horrible world to bring them into.”

“To be fair,” Khal started, adding himself to their conversation, “the world has always been horrible.” 

“True.” Katrina nodded, taking an anxious sip of wine. “Still, ugh. It’s enough to keep you up at night.”

“Pretty sure your twins already do that.” Rene pointed out. 

Katrina nodded and raised her glass, “That they do, my friend! That they do.”

“Oh God. Cranky Carl at 3’o’clock.” Misha nudged Rene. Sure enough, Carl was winding his way through the crowd of people to make his obnoxious presence known to them. Katrina downed the rest of her glass rather quickly as he approached. 

“Well! Is everyone having a good time?” Carl asked. “I certainly hope so! This event wasn’t cheap, you know.”

“It’s been great.” Rene said. “A perfect evening.”

“Good. Eat up. Don’t let that food go to waste!” Carl said.

“Maybe we could donate any leftovers to the shelter tonight?” Rene suggested. 

Carl shook his head, “No. Why would we do that? Just don’t be wasteful.” 

Rene could hear Misha muttering under his breath. Luckily, Carl was too much in his own head to hear the not so nice words that Misha was saying about him. Carl grabbed two glasses of wine from a passing tray and downed them both fairly quickly. 

“I don’t know if we’re going to make enough.” Carl said. “Probably won’t even make enough to pay for this event. I’m not sure what we were thinking going all out like this.”

“Carl, we’re going to be fine.” Rene said. He was about to pull some of the checks out of his pocket to show Carl when another man stepped over to their little group and introduced himself. 

“Hello, wonderful to meet you all.” The man said, “I’ve been an anonymous patron of the library for years, but I wanted to formally introduce myself.”

The man was in his sixties, bald, and immaculately dressed. It was clear that he was very wealthy. 

Before he could speak again, Carl blurted out, “Oh, we know who you are Mr. Scott. Everyone knows who you are!”

Carl gripped Mr. Scott’s hand, and began to shake it vigorously. Mr.Scott raised an eyebrow and looked at Carl as though the man had just asked him to view his collection of live insects. Finally, Carl stopped shaking his hand and stepped back. Rene could see the color in his boss’s face, and he wondered if Carl was capable of realizing just how unprofessional he was being. 

“Yes, right. Anyway,” Mr. Scott looked at Rene, “I was very impressed by your speech last night. It really came from the heart. My trust has made a decent donation to the library each year, but this year I’d like to personally deliver more. Maybe I can do some good by helping you do some good.” 

He pulled a check from his pocket, and handed it to Rene. Everyone else leaned in to see the number written on the check, and most gasped or exclaimed at they took in the number two followed by six zeroes. 

“I-I, thank you. Thank you so much! This is such a generous offer.” Rene stammered. Carl was wide-eyed, mouth agape. Khal glanced up at Mr. Scott, who looked back at him for a moment with a slight frown on his face, then clapped his hands together. 

“It was very nice to meet you all.” Mr. Scott said. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to be getting home. Important business in the morning. Keep up the good work.” 

“Thank you! Thank you again, Mr. Scott!” Carl called after him. 

Rene pocketed the check in a daze. Misha squeezed his arm in excitement, while Khal grinned at him. Katrina and Julie were squealing with happiness. 

“Now, everyone slow down.” Carl said. “This doesn’t mean raises or anything. We have to be careful with these funds.”

Rene had to fight the urge to roll his eyes in front of Carl. He looked at Misha, who was chatting happily with Khal now, suggesting he get a job at the library. Khal laughed, those big green eyes looking into Misha’s. 

“We will have to schedule some meetings to talk about this. Maybe we should save some of it.” Carl suggested. “Now, I don’t want you to go spending it all on the homeless.”

“Carl, just chill for a moment please.” Katrina urged. “Enjoy this night. Stop worrying for a damn second, okay?”

Misha leaned over and kissed Rene on the cheek. 

“I’m gonna go outside and get some fresh air. He’s driving me bonkers.” Misha whispered to Rene, who nodded. He knew that Misha was going out to vape, something he only did on very special occasions, since he was trying to quit, for his health. 

Misha headed away, and Rene, not wanting to get caught up in Carl’s financial anxiety, turned to Khal.

“So, I guess you’ll be heading back tomorrow? We’re certainly going to miss you.” Rene said.

“Yeah.” Khal nodded, that soft purr of a voice so thoughtful. “I’ll really miss you too. Maybe we can all keep in touch?”

“I’d like that very much.” Rene smiled. “I have your number. Any time you’re on this side of the country, feel free to stop by. We’d love to have you.”

“Thank you.” Khal held out his hand, and Rene shook it. Those eyes, so familiar, looked so deeply into his. It felt like Khal was trying to look into his very mind, and yet, it didn’t bother him. He felt a twinge of sadness, as he was going to miss him. 

Suddenly, there was a loud crash and the sound of glass shattering. Rene heard a loud scream, and as though they were moving of their own accord, his feet marched him straight through the throng of people toward the source of the chaos. Everything felt like it was in slow motion as his eyes found the growing pool of blood and broken glass where the front door had been just moments before. 

In the mess of glass and blood was a familiar shape. Rene barely registered Mr. Scott stumbling out of his car and muttering incoherently as his brain slowly processed what he was looking at. 

Misha lay there, a broken shattered mess. His eyes were open, a look of surprise on his face, but there was no sign or hint of consciousness. His neck was twisted at an unnatural angle, and a pool of blood leaked from the back of his skull and his slack mouth. Rene kneeled down in the blood, pulling Misha close to him with a whimper.

“No.” Rene moaned. “No, baby no. Misha. You have to wake up. Misha, wake up. Misha, wake up!” 

Those ocean blue eyes stared blankly up into his with nothing behind them. 

“No.” Rene patted Misha’s cheek, his face still warm, the blood pumping just moments ago. “Misha, baby, we’re supposed to go have ice-cream. Emory is going to be upset, now c’mon.”

Misha was being so stubborn. Why was he being so stubborn?

“C’mon,” Rene begged, and reality began to grip him tightly in a vice as Khal put a calming hand on his shoulder. 

“Please.” Rene’s voice cracked, and he collapsed onto the body of his beloved husband with wracking sobs.

Misha was gone. 

Chapter 9 https://storiesfrommontana.com/2023/03/12/writing-challenge-2023-part-9-untitled/