The Last Leaves of Autumn

Had he followed Pam's advice earlier this morning he most likely would have survived it and would've never discovered his wife's fling. Now as he lay stricken on the hard wooden floor of the gazebo, Jarrod knew he was dying. Too weak to pull out his phone and dial 911. His only regret was he never had the opportunity to say goodbye to his beloved Jenny. He knew now that he would never walk her down the aisle nor would he ever see or play with his grandchildren.

He took in the sky and watched as the wind scattered the last leaves of autumn, their brilliance long since faded yet they stubbornly clinged to the tree that gave them life until the unforgiving winds snatched them from the branches and sent them scurrying before eventually, they floated to the ground. Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash of intense light followed by a loud clap of thunder and ironically, it happened the very moment when Jarrod Barker took his final breath and surrendered to the grim reaper's call. The leaves were joined in their somber death song by a body. A body now lifeless and forever impervious to the effects of wind and weather, as it lay stone still among the scattered leaves. His final moments spent in unimaginable pain and suffering coupled by being betrayed, humiliated, disrespected by the one person he loved with every fiber of his being. The final words he heard his wife utter made him believe that he was to be discarded like yesterday's trash.

When Amanda came to her senses, she immediately called her daughter. She told her daughter that her father had come home early and they had an argument and that he took something out of context and claimed it was simply a misunderstanding. She said she needed Jenny's help in finding her father so she could apologize but he didn't answer his phone. Jenny told her mother that whatever it was she was sure they could work it out and said, "I'll call him." She had no way of knowing when she said it just how tragic the outcome was. She knew her father had a locator installed on his car. She immediately contacted her boyfriend, who was a State Trooper and asked him to track her father's car and locate him as she needed to speak with him and he wasn't answering his phone.

Jenny was attending graduate school at Siena College in Loudonville. Fortunately, Kyle wasn't busy. He had been checking speed on a state highway for about an hour so he needed the distraction from the otherwise uneventful morning he was having. So, he called it in and received a call from dispatch that had tracked Jarrod's car to the Crossings at Colonie. It was a park located a short distance from the college. Traffic was light at this time of the day and Kyle arrived quickly and spotted her father's car in the parking area. Then his eyes focused on someone or something that was lying prone and motionless on the wooden floor beneath the gazebo. He ran at breakneck speed till he reached the body. He checked for a pulse but found none. The body cold and rigor mortis had already set in. The body was that of Jenny's father, Jarrod Barker.

Kyle radioed headquarters and had them dispatch a coroner and the local police. Kyle got himself patched into his supervisor and explained the situation and requested to be relieved of duty early and for the next several days. His chart sergeant got the captain to sign off and approved his request and told him to wait there for his relief.

Jenny had just got out of class and decided to call Kyle but the call went to voicemail. She believed he was on a call so she left him a message to call her back as soon as possible as she was headed to the library before going home. Kyle's relief finally arrived though it seemed longer than it took. He surrendered his keys and custody of his cruiser to his relief and obtained a receipt for the vehicle and its contents in the presence of a field supervisor who drove his relief to meet him.

They both expressed their condolences to him for his girlfriend's loss. Sergeant Michael McDonald asked Kyle if he wanted him to make the necessary notifications to the family and Kyle told him no, that he'd take care of it while knowing full well it would be the most difficult thing he'd ever have to do. He knew that Jenny and her father were really close.

The county coroner had yet to arrive and the snow had started to accumulate. Fortunately, the roof of the gazebo offered some shelter from the falling snow and he thought; at least Mr. Barker's body wouldn't be buried in the wet snow as it fell. Sgt. Mc Donald drove Kyle back to the station to pick up his personal vehicle. He changed quickly as he now had the unpleasant task of telling his future mother-in-law and wife that her husband and Jenny, that her father was deceased. As he drove toward the Barker residence Kyle wasn't privy to all the facts. He couldn't have fathomed the upcoming shit storm that was about to unfold.

Jenny pulled in the driveway just as Kyle had driven up. Kyle as a trained observer immediately noticed the Corvette parked out in front of the house and knew it didn't belong here. Jenny suddenly realized that Kyle was here, dressed in his street clothes and that he had driven his pickup. She was confused as she thought he was still on duty. Jenny entered the house where her mother anxiously wanted to know if she had located her father. Jenny didn't know the man standing next to her father. Kyle entered the house and said, "Hey Jenny, Mrs. Barker." He too wondered who the mysterious man was and surmised he probably belonged to the Corvette parked in front of his truck on the street.

He replied, "My name is Steven Danvers and I'm a pilot for ABC Airlines. I met Angela at the gym and became friends."

Jenny asked, "Kyle did you find Daddy for us?" A look of anticipation on her face.

"Mrs. Barker, Jenny, I'm sorry to have to tell you this but we found Mr. Barker at the Crossings under the gazebo and I'm so sorry but he's gone."

Angela was shocked as she heard the words and Jenny began wailing loudly. Jenny ran for her bedroom and Angela followed her. They held each other and you could hear the massive sobs as they wafted from her bedroom and down the staircase. Danvers said that he should be going, however, Kyle stopped him, identified himself and asked Steve who he was, why he was there alone with Mrs. Barker and what did he know about the events that led up to Mr. Barker's death.

Steve looked him in the eyes and said matter of factly, "I'm a pilot with ABC Air. As I stated earlier Officer, I met Angela at the gym and we hit it off. He, Mr. Barker, I'm afraid, caught us in flagrante delicto. Angela assured me that there would be no one home at this time of the day. He threw his wedding band at me, striking me in the back. He looked both shocked and sickened as he exited the house and drove off. We dressed and Angela called her daughter to see if she had heard from him and if she could try and locate him. It was nothing serious, just a little fling and it was the first time we got together. May I inquire as to the cause of death? I'd hate to think he harmed himself over our indiscretion."

I looked him square in the eye and in my sternest voice said, "Mr. Danvers, I can't sate your curiosity or salve your conscience as the cause of death is pending the coroner's report. While I can't be certain, I'm positive that you and Mrs. Barker were at least a contributing factor in Mr. Barker's death. I suggest you get in your car and leave now and, Mr. Danvers, I stress this point most stringently, do not return, ever, for any reason. Am I making myself clear?"

He looked at me and replied, "Yes sir officer, loud and clear." Before he left, Kyle made him produce his driver's license and wrote his name, address, and phone number in my notepad before he left and revved up the Corvette and screamed up the road. Shortly after her lover roared out of her home and her life Angela woke up. She was alone and lying in her own bed. Kyle had gone upstairs to console Jenny and had carried her to her own room. The house was silent and at first Angela thought it had been a bad dream. She exited her bedroom and found Jenny asleep with Kyle in a chair by her side. It still reeked of sex and the unmade bed was a mess. It wasn't until she saw among the tangled sheets a solitary gold band that she knew that her husband, her Jarrod, was gone.

She immediately picked up the band, squeezed it tightly in her hand and clutched it to her heart. Suddenly overwhelmed with guilt and grief she wailed. Her sobbing was so hard she hyperventilated. Kyle heard the woman gasping for air so he ran to her room and saw her as she struggled to regulate her breathing but couldn't. He ran to the kitchen and found a paper lunch sack in the pantry and he raced back upstairs to the stricken mother of his girlfriend.

Kyle thrusted it into her mother's hand and told her to put it up to her mouth and breathe in and out slowly. Angela did as she was told and after a few minutes was able to breathe again normally. Jenny fortunately was still asleep. Kyle told Angela to change the sheets, air out the room and then meet him downstairs as they needed to talk. Angela did as she was told. When she arrived downstairs, she discovered that Kyle had made her some tea. As she sat at the kitchen table, he looked at her with disdain.

"Angela, before Jenny wakes up, we need to get some things straightened out. Danvers told me all about why he was here and given the state of your bedroom it was evident what had recently transpired there." She started to say something but he stopped her cold and told her, "I don't want to hear your excuses, justifications, apologies, or anything else Angela! You cheated on a wonderful man and one of the greatest fathers ever. He told me how much he loved you and that he wanted a man to be as devoted to his Jenny as he was to you." Angela started sobbing as he continued, "Before he died, he told me that you destroyed him, ripped his heart from his chest and hurt him beyond what he thought capable. He died in my arms a broken man, his heart shattered into thousands of tiny pieces, a victim of lies, deceit and betrayal. Jenny is so devastated at the loss of her father!" He fibbed. For some reason he felt she needed to suffer as much as poor Mr. Barker did before he died.

"Don't you think I'm grieving too. He was my husband of twenty-two years and I loved him with all my heart!" She cried.

Kyle said, "Well Angela, you sure have a funny way of showing it! You cheat on him, in his home and in his bed. I found out that he came home sick and saw you in his bed, screwing that lothario!" Angela had hyperventilated again and he needed to hand her a second paper bag.

When she caught her breath again Kyle told her, "Today, Jenny lost the most important man in her life. While God as my witness knows that I should tell her what a conniving slut her mother is and how she is responsible for the death of her father, I can't take her mother from her when she needs her the most, it's just too much pain to bear. So, Angela, you're going to, "suck it up buttercup" and be there for your daughter because she needs you. She'll never know the truth. You'll have to live with the secret that you destroyed a wonderful man simply for your own selfish desires for the rest of your life. I'll never forget the truth of what has happened here today and I'll see to it that you never do either!" Kyle ordered some food and when Jenny came down, they ate in silence, somber as the late November sky.

The next day Kyle helped Jenny and Angela make funeral arrangements for her father. Kyle received the results of the autopsy on Jarrod Barker, a massive cardio infarction, what the coroner called a widow maker. Three days after his collapse Jarrod Barker was laid to rest beneath the ground that was as cold and hard as his last moments of life. Angela Barker looked as if she had aged twenty years.

Pamela openly wept during the funeral and at the cemetery. She blamed herself thinking, "if only I had made him go with me to urgent care or called an ambulance, Jarrod would still be with us." Pamela didn't know this but many times over the years Jarrod told his boss Mark that Pamela knew his job inside and out. He added that if for some reason he moved out of the position Mark would do well to consider her as his replacement. Upon returning to work, Mark interviewed her and promoted her a week later. She has been as or more successful than Jarrod himself had been in the position. She eventually ascended to the vice presidency that her late boss had coveted and would have finally achieved if he had lived and a photo of the two of them in happier times sat on the desk of her corner office. It faced out so Jarrod could see the grandeur of what she always referred to as "their office" and never once did she refer to it as her office.

Jarrod's attorney helped Angela and Jenny with the life insurance that allowed her to pay funeral expenses and Jarrod's will. Both were well provided for. Jenny lived with her mother for two years after her father's passing and while she finished her degree. Her Dad's will made sure her tuition, books and expenses were paid and the funds also made her student loans a thing of the past. Kyle stepped up and took care of the home, cars, and other things that Jarrod had done for years and he also kept a close eye on Angela. After a couple of years had passed, Angela tried to date a few times but her heart wasn't in it. She never truly recovered from the loss of Jerrod and her role in it. Her dates seemed to sense her sadness and they never seemed interested enough to call back again. So, eventually, she gave up trying. She quit the gym where she had met Steve Danvers. He was her last lover though when ever she recalled that fateful day it made her sick to her stomach.

Kyle and Jenny were married on a warm July 17, her father's birthday. Kyle's father, State Police Superintendent Kevin Martinson was proud to escort his soon-to-be daughter-in-law to her future with his son and while a dozen uniformed State Troopers lined the aisle with photos of Jenny and her Dad. It was arranged by Kyle. For Kyle, this made his late father-in-law a part of the day and warmed Jenny's heart on a day fraught with both joy and sadness. This was not the wedding she'd dreamed about from the time she was a little girl as her father's absence was so conspicuous. Sad tears filled her eyes at the thought and were soon replaced with tears of joy as she married the man of her dreams, now and forever, he remained her rock.

Jarrod smiled down upon the young couple as they pledged themselves to each other. His spirit was finally at peace. Jenny felt a gentle breeze on her right cheek and she somehow sensed the presence of her beloved Daddy as she lifted her veil and Mr. Martinson gave her away to her son in the name of her father and mother. Angela wept silent tears as she blamed herself yet again for Jarrod's absence. Jarrod wanted to let his daughter know that he was there and was happy for her and proud of her. The breeze was the final kiss he blew to his daughter. His heavenly reward for living a good life was to know that his daughter's life would be fruitful and happy.

Angela found the house was too much to handle now that Jenny and Kyle had married and she decided to sell the house. Angela discussed it with Kyle and he with Jenny. It was decided that Angela would provide them with a generous down payment on their dream home and that she would move in with them. A lifetime of bittersweet memories was packed up as she prepared for the coming move. Some items were sold, others went to Jenny and Kyle and a few precious possessions Angela kept in her room to remember what she had and had lost. The day she moved out the sky was dark and ominous, threatening snow as the winter rapidly approached. As she walked out for the final time, she noticed that the bright light and warmth of her home had faded and the house, a mere shell of its former glory was as cold and dark inside as it was outside. The wealth of memories never to be again made her shiver. She looked back one final time and simply whispered, "I'm so sorry Jarrod, I'm so very sorry." Tears cascaded down her cheeks as she walked to her car and followed the moving van toward Guilderland, Jenny and Kyle's home and a new beginning.

By the time Angela arrived at her daughter's home the early cloak of a winter's night had descended and early afternoon seemed like late evening. Once she was away from the lights of the cityscape she was shrouded in darkness and the sky an inky black. It served to disguise the presence of the threatening clouds above. As the gales blew and the wind whipped foretelling the coming storm, it ripped the last leaves of autumn from the now barren trees already in winter slumber. Jack Frost iced the windows and brought with him the first snow of winter. Soon a blanket of white would bury the fallen leaves cold and forgotten, much like Jarrod so many years ago.

As for Steven Danvers, he continued his philandering ways and one day he made the fatal mistake of doing so with an extremely jealous husband. He was a decorated police officer, who upon walking into his bedroom discovered Steve and his wife lying fast asleep post coitus. The husband snapped and withdrew his service weapon and proceeded to empty the magazine, five slugs into Steve and four into his cheating wife. He was deemed temporarily insane and acquitted. After six months on paid administrative leave, four of those in a psychiatric ward he was deemed fit for release where he resumed his duties and later married a fellow cop.

It was thirty-two more years before Angela would finally join Jarrod, buried in the cold hard earth. Each of the 11,603 days she lived after her release was filled with pain, guilt, and regret. She never let Jenny know of her personal hell on earth and suffered in silence. Little Barbara Marie was named after Kyle's mother. Her sons, Jarrod Kevin named after both of their father's and Kyle James after his Dad. Angela never remarried and had few friends. They along with Jenny, Kyle and her grandchildren were in attendance at her burial leaving before the caretaker covered her casket in frozen soil.

As Jarrod watched over his family, he was filled with joy that his prayers were granted. He prayed for a healthy and happy life for his beloved Jenny and her family. He also prayed for Angela. As he was a good soul who had suffered terribly, his prayers were answered and his remained healthy and happy for the rest of their days on earth. He was there to greet Angela as she arrived for her final reward. She saw the brightest of lights as it emitted from the form that she recognized as Jarrod. It bathed her and it felt like the warmth of a tight embrace. She sensed rather than heard the sound of her husband's voice as it said, "Welcome, you've been forgiven!" Angela suddenly felt loved and truly happy for the first time since Jarrod had passed. As she stepped toward the light that stood within the gates of paradise, she had finally found peace.