A Special Relationship (40 page)

 
“And get her an attorney.”

 
“Okay.”

 
The nurse hurried into the room, asking if everything was okay.

 
“My attorney,” Robert said to his friend, ignoring the nurse.
 
“Get her my attorney.”
 
Robert was so anxious, so firm, that Bill could only nod his head to quickly reassure him.

 
“I will, Robert,” Bill said.
 
“I will.”

****

She left the Duval County Jail the same way she came: with the clothes on her back.
 
She didn’t even have bus fare to get back to Popena’s apartment.
 
If there was an apartment, she thought.
 
Yet as she walked down the corridor that led to the exit, she could feel nothing but happiness.
 
Joy.
A sense that all was right with the world.

 
It had been nearly six weeks since she first ran into the Yulee police station and begged them to arrest her sister and her sister’s boyfriend for murdering her . . . her what?
 
Her heart, she thought.
 
The only human being that gave her unconditional kindness.
 
And they arrested her too.

 
During those first hours of her incarceration she could feel nothing but emptiness.
 
She had nightmares about Robert, and his lifeless body on that pavement, and she didn’t care what became of her.
 
She felt so saddened, so eaten up with
guilt, that
she found herself unable to even attempt to pray.
 
She didn’t deserve mercy, she thought.
 
Robert certainly didn’t get any.

 
During her weakest hours, she even phoned her mother, just to hear somebody reaffirm that she was still a human being.
 
But Honey Banks was Honey Banks and the conversation drifted immediately from Carrie needing to hear a familiar voice, to the shame of it all.
 

 
“Now both of my daughters in prison,” Honey had said over the phone, her voice filled with self-pity.
 
“Y’all done made me the laughing stock of this whole town.
 
I can’t go no-where without everybody telling me what
was
y’all thinking.
 
Shootin’ and killin’ a rich CEO of a major company.
 
My daughters!
 
Murderers!
 
How could y’all do this to me, Carrie?
 
Y’all know I’m sick and what with my arthritis now.
 
Y’all didn’t even think about y’all ol’ mama when you was pulling the trigger, not one time did y’all think about me!”

 
Carrie had wanted to tell her that she didn’t pull any trigger and neither did Popena, but she didn’t say a word.
 
Because they both may as well have pulled it.
 
They were both getting exactly what they deserved.

 
Then she found out that Robert was still alive, that he was in bad shape, but he was still alive.
 
She prayed then.
 
She prayed her every waking hour.
 
Then everything changed for Carrie two weeks ago.
 
An attorney came to visit her.
 
Told her he was Robert’s attorney and that Robert was going to pull through after all.
 
At first she didn’t believe him.
 
Every press report she had read made clear that he was in critical condition, in and out of comas, just in awful shape.
 
But this attorney, this elderly white man who stated that he represented the CEO of Dyson and that that CEO ordered him to represent her, said it ain’t so.
 
Robert was out of danger.

 
Carrie’s heart soared when she heard it.
 
So much so that she almost missed the part where he stated that he was working hard to get the charges dropped against her.
 
The problem was Popena and Dooney.
 
They were claiming that Robert had been stalking her and she had asked Dooney to be her body guard.
 
That was why he was packing, according to them, and that was why he had to shoot Robert.

 
It took two weeks for the police to investigate and discredit that nonsense, and today all charges were dropped against Carrie and the judge said that she was free to go.
 
After being processed out,
which, to Carrie’s surprise, took nearly two hours.

 
And Carrie stepped out into the sunshine for the first time in six weeks.
 
And she was happy.
 
Robert was all right.
 
Now she could go on with her life.
 
At least what was left of
it.
 
She knew about Schulzbacher, a homeless shelter in walking distance of the jail, and she thought she’d stay there until she could find her a job.
 
She dreaded the
idea,
there was nothing more certain that your life was out of whack than to wake up one morning in a homeless shelter.
 
But it was a fact: her life was out of whack.

 
But as soon as she walked out of the jail and looked across the parking lot, she had reason to wonder if it was as whacky as she had thought.
 
Because standing across that street, his now thin body resting on a
cane,
was Robert Kincaid.
 
Her heart leaped.
 
And without thinking about his ex-wife, her circumstances, the fact that no-way would he want to have anything to do with her now, she ran toward him.
 
He began limping toward her, barely able to, until they met.
 
She wanted to jump into his arms, and he wanted to take her into his.
 
But they just stood there.
 
Both afraid.

 
“You’re up and about?” Carrie asked him, as if she could not see it with her own two eyes.

 
“Yes,” Robert said.
 
“The Lord has really blessed me.”

 
“Yes,” she said, tears in her eyes.
 
“Yes, he has.
 
And me.”

 
Tears began to form in Robert’s eyes.
 
“I’m so sorry, Carrie,” he said.
 
“It was
all my
fault.”

 
“Your fault?
 
It wasn’t your fault.”

 
“Yes, it was.
 
I never meant to hurt you.
 
I never meant to choose Gloria over you.
 
It’s you that I love.
 
And will always love.”

 
“But . . . you’ve got to help her.”

 
“No.”

 
“She’s in a wheelchair, Robert, what do you mean no?”

 
Robert paused, the anger still there.
 
“She was faking, Carrie.
 
She’s not paralyzed at all.
 
She, Paul, and Ashley needed money and they thought of me.”

 
Carrie’s heart dropped.
 
Are people really that devious?
 

 
Then Robert grabbed her into his arms.
 
“Please forgive me, Carrie.
 
Please?”

 
Carrie leaned back and looked at him.
 
It was she who needed forgiving, she thought.
 
But on this day, and at this time, she didn’t think about it.
 
“I did that a long time ago,” she said and Robert, thrilled, kissed her.
 
When he wouldn’t stop, wouldn’t let her breathe, she had to break away.
 

 
“Get in the car,” he said.

 
“Why?” she asked.
 
“Where are we going?”

 
“To be married.”

 
Carrie laughed.
 
Then realized Robert wasn’t even smiling.
 
“Are you serious?”

 
Robert nodded.
 
And pulled out the ring.
 
“I’ve never been more serious in all my days,” he said.
 

 
Then he attempted to get on his knees, but Carrie tried to stop him.
 
He got down anyway.
 
“Sojourner Caroline Banks,” he said, “will you marry me?”

 
Carrie looked at this big man on his knees, at the people looking at this big man on his knees, and she wiped her eyes and nodded.
 
“Yes,” she said.
 
“Oh, yes.”