two minutes, but a lot of damage can be done in that amount of time and she wasn’t sure what had happened. I’m so sorry, Joseph, I’m so sorry I stopped to look at those stupid raccoons!”
He had to fight tears as he gripped her hand. “Do not apologize again. This wasn’t your fault,” he repeated.
Joseph took in all of her words as he thought about the situation, his forehead curving in an angry scowl, his eyes becoming slivers. He needed to get his hands on someone. He needed the men who’d been standing over his wife to pay. There’d be a reckoning, that was set in stone.
Joseph didn’t enjoy feeling this way. He was a man who preferred to smile and laugh, and maybe even cry once in a while. He was a man who loved big and took kindness and compassion as the real strength of a man’s character over revenge and victory. But all of that was overridden with the need for justice. He wasn’t often pushed, but when he was, he didn’t back down. In his honest opinion, he was simply a man who knew the difference between right and wrong.
“I’ll find out who did this,” Joseph said, unaware he was going to speak until the words came out. His voice sounded deadly.
“Let’s get through tonight, and then we’ll figure this out, Joseph,” Brooke told him.
He knew she was being wise, but it wasn’t what he wanted to hear. He was a man of action, and to sit there doing nothing wasn’t a good place for him. He leaned back, getting lost in his thoughts as he put together a few actionable plans inside his jumbled mind.
Anything could be solved if you looked at it long enough. Life was like a game of chess. Each move you made dictated the next play. If a person moved wisely, they’d ultimately win. If they messed up just once, their game became much more difficult.
Time stopped having meaning as the two of them sat there. He was pulled from his ever-evolving thoughts as a familiar voice broke through his reverie.
“Dad.” The voice was urgent and loud as his eldest son, Lucas, walked through the large waiting area.
Joseph looked up, along with all of the other patrons in the room, as his frantic son moved forward. Only a step behind Lucas was Alex, his middle son. Joseph could instantly see the best of his wife in his two sons. Mark, the youngest of the three boys, resembled Katherine the most in features and personality. While his two eldest were more like him, Mark was a softer soul like his beautiful mother.
“Dad,” Alex said. Joseph stood as they neared. The doors opened again and two women stepped through. Of course they were there. Not only did they love and support their husbands, but they loved Joseph and Katherine. Joseph was a blessed man indeed. Before the sliding doors could begin closing, a young woman walked in, and Joseph felt his heart flow with love.
His eldest granddaughter, Jasmine, came through, looking up, immediately making eye contact with Joseph. Her face was red and swollen, yet it didn’t alter her looks. She truly was beautiful, inside and out. He stepped forward, meeting his family halfway, tears flowing down his cheeks. He didn’t care that his raw pain had manifested into tears.
“What happened? Do you know anything?” Lucas asked, his voice choked. Joseph hugged him hard.
“I’m scared,” Alex admitted, something Joseph realized he’d never heard Alex say before.
“We’re all scared and so very sorry,” Amy, Lucas’s wife, said, before grabbing Joseph next, and holding on tight with her small arms.
Questions were fired at him without giving him a chance to answer. That was okay because he wasn’t sure he’d be able to speak for a few moments as the love of his family flowed over him.
“Grandpa, please tell me she’s okay,” Jasmine said. Amy stepped back, allowing her daughter to reach her grandpa, and Joseph clung onto Jasmine, the two of them shaking in their mutual pain.
Every family said there was never a favorite, but each family also knew that was a white lie said to make sure no one felt hurt. Jasmine was his first grandchild, his first realization that his family would go on forever. From the first moment he’d held her in his trembling arms, there had been a bond between them that nothing in this world, or the next, could ever break. Holding her right then was exactly what he’d