A Gift of Time (The Nine Minutes Trilogy Book 3) (17 page)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Ginny

2000,
Fort Lauderdale (After the Execution)

The Thanksgiving cruise
couldn’t have been more perfect.
There was some disappointment for Jason because Alec and his boys had backed
out, but he quickly made friends and enjoyed himself immensely. Between the
nonstop activity and all the food, my normally rambunctious and energetic son
collapsed into his small bed every night and fell into a quick and heavy sleep.
As a matter of fact, we all did.

The days
were full, and as much as I’d wanted to make love with Tommy in the privacy of our
cabin, we both found ourselves worn out by the day’s activities, and we
succumbed to sleep as quickly as our children did. That was okay. We have the
rest of our lives to make love, I’d told myself.

“I really
wish Casey and Alec had connected,” I’d told Tommy as I slipped into my bathing
suit.

“He told me
they just didn’t have chemistry, and maybe it was a little too soon to be
dating. I think what happened with Paulina may have screwed with him more than
he’s willing to admit.” Tommy had already pulled on his bathing suit and was
slathering his arms with sunscreen.

“I know. She
told me the same thing.” I grabbed the lotion out of Tommy’s hand and indicated
for him to turn around. I squirted some on his back.

“Ahhh,
Ginny, it’s cold. Warm it up in your hands first!”

A pounding
at our door interrupted us, and I went to answer it as Tommy put on a tank top.

“We’re
ready! Are you guys ready?” Jason asked with his toothy grin. Mimi stood behind
her brother and smiled.

Now, I was
lying on the isolated beach with Mimi, leaning back on my elbows and watching
as Jason and Tommy snorkeled. We’d taken a small boat to the island and walked
quite a distance until we’d found a spot we could call our own.

“I can’t
believe Dad would think I’d stop loving him when I found out,” Mimi said.

Tommy and I
had more than one conversation with Mimi since that day in my bedroom when
Tommy told me he was concerned about Mimi having feelings for Grizz. I’d told
him the truth that day when I’d said I needed him to help me convince her not
to hate Grizz. I hadn’t realized how powerful the word hate was until I saw it
in my own daughter’s eyes. Saw it as we talked about the man who’d given her
life.

I had been
wrestling with what I thought was my hatred of Grizz since I’d learned he was still
alive. I’d come to realize, through my discussions with Mimi, that it wasn’t
hate I was feeling. It was hurt and confusion. I was totally baffled by his
rejection of me.

But I also
couldn’t deny my love for him. I had been totally and completely in love with
Grizz, and I’d realized it was important to me that the child who’d been
conceived in that love knew it. She had to know how much she was wanted and
loved by both of us.

It wasn’t
easy to convince her. She held onto her dislike of him like an iron fist welded
to a steel pole. The fact that I was being truthful about him and our past
didn’t help. Grizz had done some horrible things. But I made sure she knew how
he treated me. How it was his idea for Tommy to marry me so I wouldn’t be
alone. That Grizz was the one who’d insisted Tommy raise the child he couldn’t
because he knew Tommy loved me and would love my child as his own.

“I guess
it’s important to me to know you really love Dad,” Mimi said to me as she
motioned toward the man out snorkeling in the crystal clear waters. “I don’t
like the thought that he was stuck with us because Grizz commanded it.”

It had taken
some convincing, but I finally was able to persuade her to stop referring to
him as the evil sperm donor. I also cautioned her on how it wouldn’t be a good
idea to use his name in public. I didn’t have any specific concern, just that
the name Grizz might still be recognized in South Florida.

“I can
promise you that your father and I are completely and totally in love, Mimi. I
told you the truth when I said I wasn’t totally on board with marrying him at
first. I was numb and still very much in love with Grizz, but I did fall in
love with your father. I’m still in love with him.”

“Tell me
another good story about Grizz. Tell me something you never told anybody.”

“Well, your
dad knows this story,” I said as I proceeded to tell her about my moonlight
dates with Grizz and, in particular, the one at the zoo. I told her about the
stuffed gorilla I’d thrown away and the diamond earrings I’d be giving her.

“He sounded
like he was romantic,” she said, making a face. “A murderer with a romantic
side. Sounds like it would make a great book.”

I shot her a
glance and could see she was teasing me. I laughed and nodded. It was a start.

I thought
the conversation was over when she said something that surprised me.

“I know you
don’t want me to hate him, Mom. I guess I don’t. I mean, how can I hate someone
I never knew? Never will know. I almost wish I’d told you and Dad I knew when I
found out. I’d tried to hint at it that time you sat me down when they found
that lady’s bones. You and Dad told me a little bit about your past, and I told
you it was the coolest thing I’d ever heard. I guess that was my way of hoping
you’d tell me more.”

She looked
at me with expectant eyes.

“I’m sorry
your father and I didn’t take the hint. It just didn’t seem like the right
time, Mimi,” I answered honestly.

She nodded.
“Now that I’m talking to you about it and not getting horrible secondhand
stories from Leslie, it’s made me more curious. Is it wrong of me to regret
that I never got to meet him?”

How could I
even begin to answer this question? We’d kept her away from the truth because
of all the awful things Grizz had done. I was now lying on the beach trying to
convince my daughter she shouldn’t hate the man who was her biological father,
and now that she was telling me she wished she could’ve met him, I was back
paddling in my thoughts.

I answered
her with the truth. “I don’t know, Mimi. I honestly don’t know if meeting him
would’ve been good for either of you.”

Even though
I was wearing sunglasses, I put my hand to my brow to gauge her reaction. The
sun was brilliant, and I wanted to see the expression on her face.

She sat up a
little and leaned on one elbow, facing me. A gentle breeze carried her scent
past me. I could smell coconut sunscreen and something fruity. I sat up, too,
cross-legged.

“I looked
him up once, you know?”

“No, I
didn’t know that.”

“There’s not
a lot about him, Mom. There wasn’t even anything on the news or in the
newspapers when he died. I find that a little hard to believe, don’t you?”

The question
caught me off-guard as I realized she was right. There had been no major
announcements about Grizz’s execution. I remembered Jason’s friend, Corbin, had
told him Tommy and I went away that weekend to see some guy get fried. Tommy
and I had skirted around that with Jason. We knew Moe’s remains being found in
1999 had gotten a little press, and apparently some nosy local friends,
including Corbin’s parents, had dug in a little deeper. It didn’t surprise me.
I did seek out Corbin’s mother and politely asked her to keep her thoughts to
herself. Surprisingly, she apologized. I wondered if she’d found out just
enough about my past to frighten her.

“No. I don’t
find it hard to believe, Mimi. People die on death row all the time. How many
have you heard about?”

“None. But
he sounded like a big deal. I guess I thought it might’ve gotten some notice.”

“I can see
why you would think that.” I made little swirls in the sand with my fingers.
She had a point. “Maybe there’s another reason. He was a powerful man. Even
from behind bars. I guess he paid people off. He was quite wealthy, you know.
You should probably know you are quite wealthy.”

“I already
know I own Aunt Carter and Uncle Bill’s house,” she told me sheepishly. “I saw
the deed in your safe.”

I sighed.
“Well, you own more than their house.” Why did I just say that? How smart was
it to let a fifteen-year-old know how rich she was? I was mentally kicking
myself for bringing up Grizz’s wealth, but Mimi passed right over the subject.

“I think
it’s why Leslie came to me, Mom.” She faced me, tanned legs curled beneath her.

“What is why
Leslie came to you?”

“The fact
that there wasn’t anything about him anywhere. She couldn’t get any background
on him, and I knew she was right because I tried and I only found one article.”

“What do you
mean?” This was curious.

“There is
very little information on him. Very little. I found a mug shot once on the
Internet. When I went back to look it up again, it was gone. I even tried the
old microfiche machines at the libraries, and they not only didn’t have
anything on him, but entire years were missing. I guess they didn’t keep up
with them as well as they should have.”

“You said
you found one article. Where did you find it?” She had my attention now.

“When my
class went to Disney World in Orlando, we had to spend one day doing something
educational, so I suggested we go to their county library. I found an article
about him on their microfiche from 1985. It was just one article, and it had a
picture of him. I told Leslie about it, and she had them copy it and send it to
her.”

“What did
you read?” Did I want to know?

“Just that
he’d been arrested for kidnapping but would face other charges. Your name wasn’t
mentioned or anything, Mom. It must’ve been when he was first arrested. There
was even a picture of him that didn’t look anything like the mug shot. He
looked kind of like a hippie.”

I smiled and
looked down. If there was one thing Grizz was not, it was a hippie. She had
probably seen an earlier picture of him with his long hair.

I looked up
and started to say something when I noticed a single tear running down her
cheek. Her bottom lip was quivering.

“Mimi?”

“I’m so
sorry, Mom.” She reached for me. I pulled her toward me as she scooted closer.
“I’m so sorry for tricking you both into that interview with Leslie.”

I patted her
back and tried to reassure her. “It’s okay, Mimi. It’s really okay.”

“No, it’s
not! Don’t pretend like what I did was okay.”

She pulled
back from me and wiped her eyes, hiccupping.

“Everything
you’ve been telling me these past weeks was about how much he loved you and how
much he tried to protect you. I ruined it. I know Leslie’s article never got
printed, but you and him and Dad were willing to risk exposure because of me.
It’s true, Mom. I used his love for you to make him think I was you on the
phone, and I guilted him into giving Leslie that interview.”

“Mimi—”

“And I made
you think I wanted to bond with you over you coming clean about your past by
talking to Leslie. I’d known the truth about some of it. I’d read that article
in Orlando. I’d looked up his mug shot that time. Plus, based on what you and
Dad told me when that lady’s skeleton was found last year, I knew you had a
past you were ashamed of, and I wanted to hurt you for not telling me who my
real father was. For keeping secrets.”

She started
sobbing heavily, and I began rocking her back and forth, trying to soothe her.

“Mimi, I’m a
grown woman. I knew what I was doing when I gave Leslie those interviews. Maybe
subconsciously I wanted to get it all out. I can’t be sure. I do know I wasn’t
worried about being exposed. That article was going to be truthful about
certain events, but ambiguous on facts like names, dates, cities. And it was
for a major publication. Not a little hometown story that people might’ve
remembered. It could’ve been about any prisoner on death row in any state
during any given year. It wasn’t tied directly to Grizz.”

“But people
could’ve started digging, Mom. If someone did their homework, they could link
it back to you. That’s what I was hoping would happen. Somebody would come
knocking on your door and show the world you weren’t perfect. I wanted to hurt
you and Dad for keeping a secret from me. I’m—I’m so sorry.”

“I guess
you’re right, sweetie. Somebody could’ve figured it out and shown up. But they
won’t.” I took her face in my hands. “I guess it’s by the grace of God that we
don’t have to worry about that now. Besides, you told me yourself how hard it
was to find details about him. Right?”

Mimi nodded
and said, “There’s more.”

I tilted my
head.

“I told
Elliott some of it. I just needed to confide in somebody. He knows my
biological father died on death row this summer. But he won’t tell, Mom. I know
he’d never tell.”

“Well, if
he’s as special as you say he is, and I think he might be,” I winked at her,
“then I’m sure he’d be willing to keep this secret for you.”

“Oh, he
would, Mom. He’s so good to me and wonderful and kind and understanding.”

She was
bouncing now, and I realized her burden had just become lighter. So had mine.

We reapplied
our sunscreen and lay back down. The sound of Tommy and Jason splashing in the
distance brought a contentment that settled over me like a warm blanket. I
could hear seagulls and was enjoying the sounds and smells of our little
hideaway when I sensed movement to my left.

I peeked at
Mimi and noticed she was back up on her elbow, facing me. I started to ask her
if there was something else she wanted to talk about, but she beat me to it.

“So, Mom.”
She grinned. “How old were you when you first had sex, and what was it like?”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Mimi

2000,
Fort Lauderdale (After the Execution)

“
Why do I
think I missed you more than you missed me?”
Elliott asked Mimi, smiling over at her as they made their way toward Ft.
Lauderdale beach.

“Are you
serious?” Mimi squeezed his arm. “The cruise was really nice and we stayed
busy, but sometimes it just dragged. Seven days felt like seven years! I
couldn’t wait to get home and see you, and it felt so good to have you come to
my house to pick me up. My dad freaked over this truck.” She smoothed her hand
over the old but pristine seat, then scooted closer to Elliott. He pulled her
close, planting a kiss on her temple.

“Well, I
wanted to take you someplace nice for dinner, and I didn’t want to do it on my
bike. You sure you don’t mind if we pop in to check on Edith first?”

“Of course
not. I love your grandmother. But aren’t we heading in the wrong direction?”
Mimi glanced out the window as they made their way east on Commercial
Boulevard.

“Edith has a
timeshare she uses every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s her
little getaway with her friends. They sit on the beach all day and play
shuffleboard or cards or whatever it is grandmothers do.” He laughed. “I
promise we won’t stay long. She forgot some of her medicine. We’ll just do a
quick drop-off and leave, okay?”

“Sure! So
you’re staying at your house all by yourself?”

Elliott eyed
her knowingly and gulped. “Yeah, I’m there all by myself.”

“Are we
going there after dinner?” She forced herself to keep her tone light, to look
straight ahead at the road.

He shot her
a glance. “Only if you want to, Mimi. You know I want to be with you, but I
wouldn’t ever want to force you into doing something you don’t want to do. I’ll
never do something you’re not ready for.”

“I talked to
my mom about it,” she said shyly.

“You what?”

“I talked to
my mom. I asked her how old she was her first time, and I asked her what it was
like.”

“Was it with
your real dad? The one who died?”

“Believe it
or not, no. It was with Dad. The dad you met. The one she’s married to now. But
I don’t want to go into it. It’s messed up.”

He exhaled
sharply. “Ugh, why did you have to ask her about sex? Every time I take you out
she’s going to be thinking we’re doing it. Shit, she may even be thinking that
tonight!” His tone was laced with worry.

“She’s not
thinking that. I promise you. I told her I wasn’t ready and promised I would go
to her before anything happens.”

“And that
was it? She believed you?”

“Of course
she believed me. Besides, it’s true. We’ve only kissed, Elliott. I’m not sure
I’m ready to go any further. I told you before that it was important to me to
wait until I’m married.”

Elliott had
to tamp down his anger. Why the hell was she asking if they’d be going back to
Edith’s vacant house later if she wasn’t willing? Little cock tease. She’d be
changing her mind. Of that he was certain.

**********

Across town, Christian Bear
sat on the end of his friend’s bed and watched him do pushups on the bedroom
floor. When Dustin was finished, he got up and walked over to his dresser,
picked up a beer, and took a swig. He swiped his arm across his mouth and
turned to Christian.

“Heard
you’ve been hanging out with those losers from Sandpiper High.”

“Yeah,” was
all Christian said before taking a sip of his own beer.

“Why?
They’re a bunch of punks. You’ve downgraded, bro.”

“They
entertain me,” Christian said. “I’m bored and they amuse me.”

“And Rosman
isn’t freaking out? He likes being their fearless leader even if he has
graduated. Seems like he’d feel threatened by having a badass like you around,
Chris.”

“I ain’t
seen Nick yet, and when I do, I could care less what he thinks.”

Christian
couldn’t tell Dustin the real reason he’d insinuated himself into their group.
He’d been trying to find out for the last week what their connection was to
Mimi. When the big mouth of the pathetic trio told him Nick, whose full name
was Elliott Nicholas Rosman, was doing something big to get the notice of some
local gangs, Christian knew it must’ve had something to do with Mimi. It was
just too much of a coincidence that Nick and Mimi were dating—and that
Mimi’s real father had died in prison this past summer.

Christian
knew about Grizz. His father, Anthony, was always forthcoming about his past. A
past that included Mimi’s real father.

Of course,
both of Anthony’s sons knew to keep whatever tales their father shared to
themselves.

Christian
had displayed just enough disinterest with Rosman’s three friends that it made
them want to tell him more. Christian had a reputation for being a bad boy, and
asshats like these three were always trying to get his attention to make
themselves look more important than they actually were. Christian had casually
told them he wanted in if they could deliver. Their immature egos fell for the
little bit of interest he’d shown, and they’d been practically doing backflips
to impress him since.

Christian’s
phone vibrated, and he reached into his back pocket.

Tonight at 8.
Blue Moon condos on beach. #907

After
reading the text message, Christian snapped his phone shut and told Dustin,
“Later, man.”

He ran out
the front door and jumped on his motorcycle. Less than a minute later, he was
back in his friend’s room.

“My bike
won’t start so I need your car keys.” He held out his hand. “C’mon, give ’em to
me.”

“Can’t you
fix your bike?”

“Yeah, but I
don’t have time. Give me your fuckin’ keys, Dustin.”

“I don’t
know if my parents’ insurance will cover you. I’m not letting you take my car.
I’ll drive you home so you can get your truck.”

“It’s an
emergency!” Christian yelled. “And I drive better than you do! Give me your
keys!”

Dustin
reluctantly turned over his keys, and Christian raced out.

“You better
have it back here tonight, Chris,” he yelled after his friend. “I fucking mean
it!”

**********

Less than ten minutes later,
Christian Bear found himself in the back of a police cruiser with his hands
cuffed behind his back. He’d been pulled over for speeding. The cop probably
would’ve let him call his parents or the friend whose car he borrowed, but
Christian’s attitude sealed his fate. He was too much like his father.

“Shut the
hell up about your phone call,” the cop yelled over his shoulder as he drove.
“You can make your call from the station.”

Slade Bear
had just washed his hands and was coming out of the men’s room at a sports bar
when his cell phone rang. It was his younger brother, Christian.

“What’s up,
Chri—”

“Slade! You
need to listen to me. I don’t know where you are or what you’re doing, but you
have to do something right now for me. It’s important, man. I wouldn’t ask if
it wasn’t.”

Slade held
the phone tight against his right ear and used his left hand to cover his other
ear. The bar was loud. He walked back toward the restroom. Christian wasn’t one
to ask for favors. Something was up.

“Yeah. Sure,
Chris. I can help you out. What’s up?”

“You know
that big-ass condo on Commercial and the beach, the Blue Moon?”

“No.”

“Yes, you
do!” Christian yelled. “It’s the one where Mom dragged us to somebody’s kid’s
Bar Mitzvah a couple of years ago. Remember the big ballroom with the glitter
that was still in our hair a week later?”

“Oh yeah, I
remem—”

“Shut up,
Slade. Just listen. You have to go there, and you have to go there now. Go to
condo nine-oh-seven. Some guys I’ve made friends with will be there. Something
is going down with Mimi. I’m afraid something bad might happen, but I don’t
know what. You have to go there and make sure she’s okay. You hear me?”

“Mimi who?”

“How many
fucking Mimis do we know, Slade?”

“Mimi
Dillon?” Slade walked out of the restroom, pulled a twenty from his wallet, and
handed it to his waitress. He left the bar and headed out to the parking lot,
listening as his brother filled him in. What the hell is Christian getting me
into?

**********

Fifteen minutes later, Slade
stood in front of door 907 and knocked. It swung open, and a kid with acne that
he didn’t recognize said, “Didn’t know if you were going to come...”

He stopped
and stared at Slade.

“Who are
you?” He gave Slade the once-over.

“My brother
Chris said I should meet him here. Said something was going down and I’d want
in.” He tried to look past the boy and into the room, then narrowed his eyes.
“You’re just a bunch of kids. There isn’t anything happening here tonight, is
there? I can’t believe you tricked my little brother. He’ll beat the shit out
of you when I tell him.”

The boy’s
eyes got wide then, and he stepped back. “No! C’mon in and have a beer. We
weren’t pulling nothing over on Chris. This is big, dude. C’mon in. We’ll tell
you.”

Slade walked
in and slowly perused the room. Two teenagers were lounging on a couch, their
feet on an expensive coffee table. The smell of cheap weed filled the room. He
looked over to the guy that let him in.

“Which one
of you lives here?”

“None of
us,” the boy answered, nodding toward a kid with bleached blond dreadlocks.
“Isaac’s dad is the head maintenance guy for the whole building. The couple
that owns this condo and the douchebag fag that owns nine-oh-eight are
part-timers. Only use their condos in the summer. We have both places to
ourselves.”

Slade walked
to the two boys lounging on the couch.

“Where’s
Rosman?” he asked no one in particular.

“He’s next
door in nine-oh-eight, and he should have blood on his dick by now. She’s a
virgin. Can you believe he’s with a fucking virgin?” This from the boy who
answered the door.

“Yeah, and
we get to see everything. He’s filming it. This is gonna be so righteous,
dude.” Isaac took a deep pull on his joint. As he exhaled, he said, “He’s been
planning this for so fucking long. Even got some freaky religious tattoo to
impress her.”

The boy
who’d let Slade in the door started to give him a high five when Slade grabbed
his arm and twisted it behind his back. With the boy on the floor and Slade’s
knee pressing into his shoulder blades, he looked at Isaac. “Give me the key to
next door.”

Isaac and
the other boy both jumped up from the couch and started to approach Slade but
stopped. Their friend was screaming from the floor.

“He’s
breaking my arm. He’s breaking my fucking arm!”

“I’ll break
all of your arms if you don’t give me that key,” Slade said in a calm voice
laced with menace.

He could
tell they were weighing their options. It was three to one, and one of them was
already down. He’d break this little shit’s arm and then crack the two
numbskulls’ heads together. He knew it would be a piece of cake, and he saw by
their expressions they knew it, too.

“I don’t
have the key to nine-oh-eight. I gave it to Nick,” Isaac said, his voice
suddenly whiny.

“Then you
better pray your dad has a master on that ring.” Slade nodded at the small ring
of keys laying on the coffee table. “If not, I’ll use your fucking head to bust
that door down.”

**********

In the condominium next door,
Mimi sat on the couch and sipped the iced tea Elliott had offered her. He’d
gone into the bedroom to put Edith’s medication on the dresser. When they’d
first arrived, they’d found a handwritten note that said, “Sorry I’m missing
you. Went to an eight o’clock movie with my friends.”

“Guess it’s
good you had a spare key,” Mimi called out to the other room.

She’d been
worried when Edith didn’t answer the door. She’d seen the television commercial
where the elderly lady had fallen and couldn’t get up. She shuddered to think
that Elliott’s sweet grandma was inside the condo and unable to get up or call
for help.

Elliott came
out of the bedroom with a big smile on his face.

“True. I’d
have been kind of pissed if I drove all the way out here and couldn’t leave her
pills.” He took the seat next to her and said, “Drink up. You love Edith’s
homemade iced tea.”

Mimi took
another small sip. “I was thinking more along the lines that she could’ve been
hurt or something.”

She put her
glass back on the coffee table.

Elliott put
his arm around her and pulled her close.

“Edith won’t
be home for hours. We could order takeout and eat it on the balcony. Have you
seen the view?”

“If that’s
what you want to do, that’s okay with me, I guess,” Mimi said, suddenly feeling
a bit shy.

He stood up
then and reached for her hand.

“C’mon, let
me show you the view.”

Mimi stood
and started to walk in the direction of the sliding doors, but Elliott pulled
her toward the bedroom.

“I’ll have
to show you from the bedroom balcony. The living room sliders have been
sticking, and Edith told me maintenance hasn’t been up yet to fix them. I don’t
want to get them open and then not be able to close them. You know what I
mean?”

Before Mimi
could respond, he added, “You better drink more tea. Edith will be hurt if she
thinks you passed up her famous iced tea.”

An odd
feeling caused Mimi to look up at Elliott. Something was off. This wasn’t the
Elliott she knew. There was something different about him. He seemed somewhat
anxious.