Page 58 of Quiet as Kept
“I’m gonna have to talk to Vivienne,” he mumbled into the top of my hair as I adjusted myself on his semi-deflated penis. “She might not be who I’ve always thought she was.”
I couldn’t help thinking about the revelation Aunt Bobbie made about my grandmother suffering from undiagnosed depression all those years. I couldn’t help thinking about how present she’d been with me during our last few encounters. I wouldn’t say that knowing she was depressed while I was growing up would’ve made me more empathetic or sympathetic. I was a kid, and I wouldn’t have understood the scope of her depression. What I could say is that I wished the grandmother I had growing up was more like the grandmother I seemed to be getting now.
“True.”
He pulled my body closer to his. “I’m gonna have to talk to Vivienne.”
Life with Kept fell into a joy-inducing routine as August turned into September, and September turned into October. Before I knew it, I’d been living on Jackson Island for six months.
“Let’s say the memory verse,” I told my three favorite people as we sat at the table eating a dinner of baked chicken, Ceasar salad, and oven-roasted potatoes.
“First Thessalonians 5:16-18,” Kept began, and the rest of us joined in.
“Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.First Thessalonians 5:16-18.”
I wanted to giggle at how cute the girls looked doing the movements I’d taught them to help them remember the scripture. It was a mnemonic device that helped develop kinesthetic memory by linking physical actions to information, making it easier to recall. Instead of giggling, I just smiled like a proud teacher.
“What’s going on at the house?” Kept wondered.
When he first told me that he wanted me to decorate the house out in Port Jackson, I’d been excited and honestly scared, but he helped me break it down into small chunks so that I didn’t get overwhelmed. He was so kind and patient with me. His encouraging words, gentle demeanor, easy smile, and pure heart had me eating out of the palm of his hand.
I had always been the type of woman who would eat Lake Londynville with a fork before I would fight over a man. But the way Kept had me gone, I’d go toe to toe with a tiger ifshe thought she could take my man from me. But luckily, Kept wasn’t that type of guy. His concentration and his attention stayed on the girls and me.
“Second coat of exterior paint went on today. It looks so good, Kept.” I knew my eyes were shining. It felt good to watch the decisions I made about the house come to fruition. “I’m glad I went with Harbor Horizon. It’s the perfect shade of blue.”
“It’s gonna look good,” he assured me.
“How are things going over at Destin Sky?” It was the project he was currently working on.
“The board of trustees came back with the decision that twenty different elevations was way too many. They agreed with my assessment that there wouldn’t be much cohesion to the subdivision if we did that.”
“Good, because I always thought that was d-u-m-b.”
He chuckled. “Ambitious for sure. Anyway, they want to go with six elevations. And they approved the six mock-ups today.”
“Yes!” I clapped my hands and danced around in my seat a little, and Destin mimicked me while popping a crouton from the salad into her mouth.
Both Kept and I snickered.
“Eat some chicken, Des,” he told her.
“Can we go to the beach after dinner, Daddy?” Dakota asked, taking a bite of her chicken leg.
His eyes shot over to mine. It always made me feel like even more a part of the family when he solicited my opinion about things.
“Pretty soon it will be too cold to walk on the beach at night. I definitely think we should enjoy it while we can,” I said.
“Yeah. And time goes back in a few weeks, so it’ll be getting dark much earlier. Eat up, and we can take our dessert to the beach.”
The beach was quiet and almost empty. I sat on a beach chair and took a sip of ice-cold water from my travel cup.
Kept grabbed the kite he’d brought with him and gathered the girls. He gave them some instructions that I couldn’t hear over the sound of the surf, and they took off down the beach. I watched as he helped Destin keep the string from getting tangled as she took off across the sand.
“That girl is gonna run track one day,” I muttered while I watched the three of them with the kite.
The girls were in T-shirts and shorts. Kept was still wearing the white button-up he wore to work with the sleeves rolled up, though he’d traded his slacks for board shorts that hung low on his slim waist.
Dakota trailed behind them until Kept scooped up Destin, reversed direction, and turned and scooped up Dakota too. The three of them laughed heartily as Kept spun them around and the kite danced deliriously in the evening sky.