All That Matters (48 page)

When he finally headed home, there was a car that he didn't recognize parked in front of the house. There were out-of-state plates on it, had to be from the guy who had bought his house and the house next door to Meg. As far as Train could tell, the guy had two different families, like some sister-wife thing; maybe the car was a third wife.

Train pulled into the driveway without giving the car another thought. All he was thinking about was getting Meg inside and working on giving Shane some playmates. Buster's revelation that Caroline was on hormones had him worrying a bit that things wouldn't be easy for him and Meg; they'd already been trying for months.

“Do you recognize that car?” Meg asked as she got off the bike.

“Probably the neighbor. Maybe he's in the market for a third wife.” Train didn't give the car much more thought than that because there were always a ridiculous number of cars on the street now, or maybe it just seemed like a ridiculous number because he was so used to there being only a few occupied houses on the block.

“Well, if he is, he'd better not want a third house,” she said with a laugh. “I'm not moving.”

“Damn right.” Train dismounted and saw the driver's door of the car open. A man got out, tall and blonde. “That's not George,” he said as the man started towards them. “Go in the house, Meg. Now.”

He didn't look to see if she'd listened to him; he knew that she had.

“Train?” The man asked as he approached. “I hope that it's okay to call you that.”

If he'd been carrying--he should have been carrying, but he'd left his gun home because all they were doing was going to the hospital--he'd have pulled on the man. “Who wants to know?”

“My name is Drew Lewis,” the man answered. “And I'm here to talk to you about Leo and Joshua.”

“You're Roxie's husband.” Train looked over his shoulder to the house. “What do you want?”

“Roxie's dead,” Drew replied. “There was a car accident, drunk driver.”

“Don't expect me to cry for her.” Train hoped that she's suffered for a long long time. “Why are you here?”

“Could we go inside to talk? I'd like to speak to Meg as well.”

“Meg's been torn to pieces with everything that happened with those boys. Your cunt of a wife paid their father to sign away his rights and set them being taken away in motion, ripped those boys from the only life they'd known. You got something to say, you say it right here and now. I'm not letting her get torn apart again.”

“I have no interest in hurting Meg or you. I can see why that would be hard for you to believe, with what Roxie did. I wasn't aware of the circumstances surrounding her getting custody of the boys until after her death. She kept a journal,” Drew sighed. “Please.”

“Where are the boys now?”

“Joshua is in a new facility. It's a residential home for children with problems like he has. It's the best, I made sure of it. Leo is with his nanny, Grace. I wanted to speak to the two of you before I brought him here with me.”

“Speak to us about what?” Train didn't know what the man was playing at, but if anything he had to say hurt Meg, he'd kill him without a blink of hesitation.

“I guess we're going to do this out here, then. I need a cigarette. I quit these things two years ago when I met Roxie, she was always going on and on about how bad it was for my health, the bitch. She was the thing that was bad for my health.”

“Why don't you get to the fucking point?”

“Fair enough,” Drew lit the cigarette and took a long drag. “When I met Roxie, I was smitten immediately. This is all going to get to the point quickly, just bear with me. I fell hard and because of that, I wasn't as smart as I could have been. I believed everything that she told me, took it at face value, which was a mistake. She told me how her children were with their father, that she'd left him because he'd been abusive. She cried that she had to leave her babies behind, there was no choice, so of course when she wanted to get them back, I did all I could to help her. At the time, I didn't realize I was ripping them from a happy home. I thought that I was helping her save them.”

“They were in a happy home. Josh didn't raise them, Meg did, despite his best efforts to undermine her at every turn.” Train's anger at Josh had never dissipated, even though he was rotting in pieces somewhere.

“I know that now. As I said, Roxie kept a very detailed journal. Reading it and seeing what she'd done made me sick.”

“Why are you here? You want to hear that it's okay, that all is forgiven? Fuck that. It's not.”

“And it shouldn't be. I came here today to tell you both that I was wrong, and I'm very sorry for the part that I played in it. I want to do what I can to make it right.”

“What are you gonna do? Throw money at us like Roxie threw money at Josh? We can't be bought off.”

“Leo wants to come home. He wants to come back to you and Meg. I see no reason to not do everything that I can to make that happen.”

Out of anything that Train thought the man might say, that was the last thing he'd expected. He hadn't even dared to hope that it was possible. “Maybe you do need to come inside.”

“I'd appreciate that.”

Train turned and started towards the house. The first thing that he saw was Meg in the door. Her expression told him that she knew something was going on. “You'd better be on the level, because if anything you say causes her more pain, I will kill you slowly.”

“Pain might be unavoidable. We need to talk about Joshua.”

Train stopped walking. “What about Joshua?”

“I've spoken with his doctors, and they all agree that he's not in a place where coming home is going to be an option.”

Before Train could ask what that meant, Meg came out the door. She stood on the porch, her arms crossed over her chest. “What's going on? You're Drew Lewis, aren't you? I googled you once, found some pictures. What the hell are you doing here? What happened to the boys?”

“Nothing happened to the boys,” Train told her, he kept his voice low. “Roxie's dead. Drew's here to talk to us about the boys.”

“They're okay?”

“They are,” Drew confirmed. “Is it okay if we go inside and talk?”

“Where are they?”

“Joshua is at a new facility, and Leo's not far away at all. He's here, in Detroit.”

“What?” Meg nearly stumbled off the stairs as she surged forward. “Where is he? Where?”

“He's at the hotel, with his nanny,” Drew explained. “I wanted to talk to the two of you before I brought him here.”

“You'll let me see him?” Meg's voice cracked and broke. “Oh, please. Please. I'll beg.”

“There's no need for that. I want to do what's right for Leo and for Joshua.”

“Is this a joke? If this is a joke, I will slit your throat from ear to ear.” Meg's eyes narrowed and Train knew that look. He liked to call it the mama bear look. It turned him on.

“So many threats.” Drew let out a nervous laugh. “I guess that I deserve them all.”

“Oh God, I'm sorry. Please, don't...”

Train cut her off. “Relax, Meg. Let's go inside.” He ushered her in the door. Drew followed behind them. “Fill her in so that she can start to breathe again.” Train listened as Drew began to talk, but mostly he watched Meg's face. Her expression went from confusion to joy when Leo coming home was brought up.

“Thank you. Thank you.”

Drew held up a hand. “Before you thank me, we need to talk about Joshua. His condition has changed.”

“He's getting better?”

“No. I'm sorry to be blunt about it, but he's gotten considerably worse. It seems that Roxie enjoyed the attention she got from being the mother of a troubled boy.”

“What does that mean?” Train asked, even though he was sure that he didn't want to know.

“It means that Roxie spent a lot of time at the hospital with Leo and when she was there, she used to slip him pills.”

“What the fuck?” Meg exclaimed.

“I don't know what kind of pills. The drugs had passed through his system by the time that I made the doctor's aware but the damage was done. Whatever they were, they interacted with his prescribed medicine...” he sighed. “At this point, it's unclear if the damage will be reversible.”

Train watched Meg walk over to the couch; she sat, covered her face with her hands, and he knew that not only was she going to cry, she was somehow going to blame herself for what Roxie had done. “And all this went on right under your nose?”

“I'm ashamed to say yes, but Roxie was very...” he trailed off. “It doesn't matter what she was, I hold myself responsible for the damage done to both boys. I want to do what I can to fix it.”

“To make yourself feel better?” Meg's voice was clear of tears; instead Train heard anger.

“To make things right for them, or as right as I can make them.”

“If you want to do that, get Leo here now. Tell me where Joshua is now and sign custody of them back over to me, right fucking now.”

“I have every intention of signing custody over to you and of speaking to anyone who would object to let them know the methods that Roxie used to obtain custody. I will call Grace and have her bring Leo here.”

“Now,” Meg repeated herself with a fierce town.

“Now,” Drew agreed. “Before I do that, we need to talk about Joshua. The place he's in right now is the best place for him. I've done my research, they're the best doctors possible. If there's any hope to be had, they're going to be the ones who make it happen.”

“What are you saying?”

“It's a private facility, not covered by insurance. I have the means to keep him there. I'm not saying that you don't. I'd like to cover his care. Also, if possible, I would like to continue to have contact with Leo. He's a great kid. I love him.”

“I want to talk to Joshua's doctors. I want to hear it from them.” Meg had her arms wrapped tightly around herself.

“Of course.”

“I think that's enough talking for now,” Train interjected. “I think it's time for you to make that call and get Leo here.” He walked over to where Meg sat, crouched down in front of her. “Meg, look at me.” She did, and he saw such hurt in her eyes that he was tempted to punch Drew in the face just to get the urge out of his system.

“I'm okay.” She managed a small smile. “I just want to see him, Train. I want to hold him. Please. Please.”

“Shh.” He reached out and gripped her chin. “He'll be here. And he's never going anywhere again.”

“Promise.”

“I promise,” Train replied without hesitation. There was nothing that he wouldn't do to make it the truth.

Epilogue

“Meg! Meg! Javi's here already! Can I go play with him? Can I? Can I?” Leo asked frantically. He accompanied the plea by actually bouncing up and down.

“Did you get into Train's energy drink again?” Meg used her key fob to lock the car. She was willing to bet not only had he, but that Train had been in the room when it happened.

“Yes, he did,” Joshua confirmed in the disconnected tone which had become his new normal. The boy was drugged to the gills; according to the doctors, it was the only way to treat the problems that plagued him. He'd already been diagnosed with several things when Roxie had gotten to him with her shit. Now, there were new medical diagnoses; his kidneys and liver needed to be monitored to be sure that the damage done by high levels of acetaminophen wasn't worsening. “I didn't. I'm not supposed to.”

“Good job, kiddo.” Meg reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder. Joshua stiffened but didn't pull away from the touch. “Do you want to go and play with Leo and Javi? The other kids are here, too.” A glance around showed that they were the last ones to arrive. It was all Train's fault, though he would say it was hers for wearing the dress that she'd chosen.