Page 133 of Statler

“I love a woman who plans ahead,” he responded gruffly. Then his face grew serious. “I actually just…love a woman,” he amended.

Eliza’s breath caught.

“Anybody I know?” she dared.

Statler smiled.

“Remember I told you I only thought I might be in love when we talked about this before?”

She nodded.

“Well, last night changed that. When I thought I might lose you, the blinders were yanked right off my eyes, and I realized I couldn’t live my life without you.” He stuck his tongue out to wet his sleep-dried lips. “But there’s one caveat. You need to hear about my life first,” he warned.

Eliza had been waiting for him to open up, knowing there were troubling things he’d held close to his chest. Now, it looked like Statler was determined to talk about it. Before they got down to any physical stuff

She settled in, their bodies touching. “Okay. But understand, nothing you tell me will change how I feel. Look what I came from,” she scoffed. “I doubt your past is any darker than mine.”

His mouth flattened. “Don’t count on it,” he warned. “Things were pretty fucked up for me, in my younger years,” he began. “You already know I have a sister, Petula. But I also had a brother, Jefferson.”

Had.

Eliza refrained from saying anything. She knew Statler would get to it in his own time.

“My parents doted on me,” he recalled, but his voice was bitter. “I was the big sports star at my high school. My grades were off the charts. Everyone liked me.” He grimaced. “And me? I was a selfish prick; so pumped up with all that, I never noticed that my two younger siblings weren’t…treated the same way I was.”

He closed his eyes. “They were both seriously overlooked. Neglected almost. My parents showered me with everything, and my siblings got whatever was left. Petula seemed to take it all in stride. She was an imaginative little girl, and spent a lot of time lost in fantasies of her own making. I’m sure that’s what saved her from becoming resentful of me. But my brother, Jefferson, he had…mental issues that added to his feelings of being disenfranchised. My parents were either too blind, or too uncaring to get him the help he needed, and in the end, it came back on them. Jefferson…killed my parents shortly after I’d joined the Army.”

Eliza jolted. That was certainly not anything she’d been expecting.

“That’s…awful, Statler.” She reached out and stroked his arm, tears coming to her eyes. “What did you do?”

“What could I do? I was deployed at the time, and…well…Jefferson went to jail, and Eliza was placed in foster care.”

His entire body went rigid. “Foster care,” he repeated bitingly. “It turned out that her foster father and brother were scumbags, and…abused her. When it finally came to light as to what they were doing, the son, Bradly Jr. was implicated and got a five-year sentence. There wasn’t enough proof to send the father to jail, but he died shortly thereafter anyway, of a heart attack. Good riddance.”

“And?” Eliza asked, because she knew there was more.

“After the son got out, he went back to prison for ten more years when his mother turned him in for having child pornography on his computer.”

Eliza felt devastated for Statler. She could feel the guilt he still carried that he wasn’t able to protect his siblings. “But it’s⁠—”

“I’m not finished,” he managed to strangle out.

Eliza waited, continuing to keep a steady hand on his bicep.

“Jefferson was finally released after serving his time, as was that abusive prick. But Jefferson had heard from his prison contacts that Bradly Jr. was obsessed with finding Petula and making her ‘pay’.”

Eliza’s heart was pounding so hard, now, that she marveled Statler couldn’t hear it.

“In the end, there was a showdown. Bradly Jr. found Petula, but Jefferson was there and protected her. He…jumped in front of the bullet that was meant for her.” He shuddered. “Our brother died saving Petula’s life that day.”

“And that horrible man?” she had to ask.

“Two shots took him down. Mine, and Petula’s husband Julian’s.”

“I’m so glad,” Eliza told him sincerely. It was nothing more than what the deranged man had deserved.

Statler tipped his head down and met her eyes with his. “You’re glad,” he repeated.