Cascade (16 page)

Jill’s voice trailed off. Sandy and Jill
shared a long look. Gritting her teeth for strength, Sandy
continued.

“
I was pregnant. My father’s
child,” Sandy said. “Even being such a Catholic, my Dad took me to
get the… procedure. I…”

Sandy’s resolve broke. Her face crumbled with
sorrow and rage. Her tears fell. Unable to stop himself, Aden
dropped to his knees in front of her. He held her to him while she
cried. He looked up when Jill touched his shoulder. Jill nodded her
head toward her office and left them.

~~~~~~~~

Friday night— 8:00 P.M.

Denver Zoo

“
I’d absolutely love to go for
fried food,” Tres said. “But then, it’s my habit to never say ‘no’
to pregnant women.”

“
Been around many?” Tanesha
asked.

“
I have ten siblings and ten
half-siblings,” Tres said.

“
Someone is always pregnant in our
family,” Enrique laughed. “Including our mother.”

“
Or step-mothers. We have three,”
Tres laughed. “Fried food it is!”

Blane laughed.

“
And pie?” Tanesha
asked.

“
Where can we go?” Blane asked.
“What do you think, Jake?”

“
Pie is always good,” Jacob said.
“Marie Calendar’s is closed. What about Village Inn?”

“
Oooh pancakes!” Megan said. “My
boys would love staying up late for pancakes. What about Katy and
Paddie? It’s getting late for them.”

“
I wanna go!” Paddie
said.

“
Me too! I’ll stay awake,” Katy
said.

“
Me too!” Paddie
agreed.

“
Then pie it is!” Jacob
said.

When Heather laughed, Tres was sure he’d never
heard a more beautiful sound. He was about to touch her when Blane
took her hand and they set off toward their car with
Tanesha.

“
Close your mouth,” Enrique
whispered in Spanish. “You’re drooling.”

“
Just looking forward to pie,”
Tres replied in Spanish.

“
Yes, I can see what you’re
looking forward to,” Enrique laughed.

Tres laughed. His eyes lingered over the back
of Heather. They walked to Enrique’s car in silence.

“
Glad we did this?” Tres
said.

“
Very. You?”

Unable to find enough right words, Tres
nodded. Enrique laughed.

~~~~~~~~

Friday night — 9:10 P.M.

The Castle

“
You still want to marry me? Even
knowing all of this?”

Aden nodded. He was kneeling in front of
her.

“
But… why?”

“
Because I love you, Sandy. What
happened to you is awful, horrible, and what’s happening to you now
is even worse. It’s an insult on top of such a deep injury. But
that doesn’t change how I feel. I’ve loved you a long time. I want
to love you all of my life.”

Sandy’s round beautiful eyes searched his
face. There was only sincerity and love on Aden’s face.

“
There are lots of videos of me.
Lots and lots and lots of video with me doing… things,” Sandy said.
“That boy probably has one.”

“
What your father did is your
father’s responsibility, not yours. You were a child. Are you in
videos now?”

Sandy shook her head with
vehemence.

“
That’s all that matters to me,”
Aden said. “Do you care if I’m an alcoholic? Drug addict? Is it a
big deal that I have a criminal record?”

“
Of course not,” Sandy said. “You
left all that behind. You’ve made good choices since
then.”

“
That’s how I feel about you,”
Aden said. “We’ll get through this together. We’ll overcome this
together.”

Sandy clasped him to her. He shifted her
back.

“
Shall I?” Aden asked.

Taking Sandy’s nod as a yes, he slipped the
gorgeous ring on her finger. She held the ring up to look at it on
her hand.

“
It’s old and new,” Aden said. “We
are old friends, and new lovers. We have old pasts and new
futures.”

“
It’s perfect,” Sandy
said.

“
Come on,” Aden said. “Let’s get
out of here. The kids are staying with Jake and Jill tonight. We
have a kid-free night to ourselves.”

Wiping her face, Sandy nodded.

“
And I have plans,” Aden said.
“Trust me?”

Sandy nodded.

“
Good.”

“
Can I show Jill?” Sandy
asked.

“
Of course,” Aden said.

Sandy knocked on Jill’s office door. Jill
opened the door to hug Sandy. The women whispered back and forth
before ‘ooohing’ over the ring. After one last hug, Jill nudged
Sandy toward Aden. Sandy nodded to Jill.

When she turned to him, she was his beautiful
Sandy again. The terrible weight of her horrible story seemed to
dissipate. Aden took her hand. They were in his car before she
asked:

“
Where are we going?”

“
If I only get the rare date with
you, my love, it’s going to be magical,” he said.

She laughed.

CHAPTER
SIXTY-FIVE

Make it go away

Saturday morning — 7
A.M.

A few days before
Christmas

Driving Aden’s SAAB sedan, Sandy breezed down
I-70 and moved into the right lane to get on Sixth Avenue. Last
night, Aden had whisked her up to Sam’s mountain cabin near
Deckers. They had the most romantic night of Sandy’s entire life.
He’d brought champagne for her, strawberries, and a picnic dinner
of cold chicken, salad and pie.

They never got around to eating. Sandy wasn’t
sure what she liked more – the hours of lovemaking or the feeling
of being loved despite everything he knew about her.

Somewhere around three in the morning, Aden
had dragged her out under the stars. It was cold, really cold. Aden
wrapped them in flannel sheets and down blankets then lit a bright
fire in the fire pit. They lay watching the bright winter sky.
Thinking back, it seemed like they were quiet for at least an hour.
It was like sitting in the very back row of an infinite church
dome. Neither of them wanted to break the humbling power of the
universe with words.

Sandy sighed. Of course, she had to work
today. She was on countdown mode. She had to work today, tomorrow,
the next three days. Of course, she was taking Christmas off then
working every day until New Year’s Eve. How many days was that?
Slowing at the light on Sixth Avenue and Kalamath, she counted with
her fingers. Eleven long days then she was done with the holiday
grind.

At least today would be fun. Once every five
weeks, she cut the hair, beards, and brows of MJ’s military team.
Alex Hargreaves and her twin, Max, had the last appointment. When
they were done, they usually took Sandy out and amused her over
dinner. It was one of her favorite work days. At least twelve men
and sometimes their wives. Her day ended with the twins. That was a
very good day.

Pulling into the parking lot, Sandy saw Seth
O’Malley standing near the front of her shop. She waved at him. He
scowled at her while she parked. Sandy was too happy to wonder what
would make Seth scowl.

“
Hey!” Sandy hugged her Godfather.
“Here for a trim?”

“
No, Sandy,” Seth said. “Let’s go
inside.”

Sandy used her key to open the salon. She
flipped the ‘open’ sign over, turned on the coffee pot then set her
stuff at her station. Seth followed her past five other stations to
her workspace.

“
Where’s Norsen?”

“
He stayed in Deckers. Today’s the
solstice. Jacob and Jill went to drum in the sun at Red Rocks.
Jacob’s Dad, Delphie… well a bunch of them plus Aden’s kids, Katy,
and Paddie Hargreaves. The Lipson’s have an all day board meeting.
Jill’s taking the kids to Decker’s and Aden’s taking her car to the
meeting. Everyone’s going up there tonight. Why?”

“
Just making conversation,” Seth
said. “Working on my compassionate side.”

Sandy laughed.

“
Nice ring,” Seth said.

“
Can you believe it? He still wants to marry me –
even
after
I told him everything.” Sandy beamed
at Seth. “That’s why you’re here, right? To find out if I told
him?”

She patted the chair. Seth sat down. Working
with practiced ease, she flipped a plastic sheet over him and began
trimming his hair. Seth fell silent while her scissors did their
quick work. She had just turned on her electric razor when he
said:

“
I have some bad news.”

“
Yeah?”

“
That group? The one that’s
looking into your… I mean the prick?”

“
Yeah?” Sandy said. “Lean your
head forward so I can get the back.”

Seth tipped his head forward. Sandy heard him
say something but couldn’t make it out over the noise of the
razor.

“
What?”

“
Something happened in China. I
don’t know what,” Seth said. “They want you to come in today to
work with them. Today.”

“
That’s interesting,” Sandy
laughed. “I have a whole day scheduled. They can’t tell me I need
to cancel people. Not this close to Christmas!”

Seth grabbed Sandy’s hand.

“
I’m here to take you in,” Seth
said. “I was told to arrest you if I had to.”

“
Tell them you didn’t see me,”
Sandy said. “Would you like a shave? You’re pretty rough this
morning.”

“
Sure,” Seth said. “You want a
black and white to come up to the door and drag you out of here?
This is an international investigation. Everyone and their fucking
brother is involved – FBI, DHS, CIA, Military, even the
U-fucking-N. Denver PD is just doing what we can to keep in the
game.”

Sandy grimaced at herself in the mirror.
Humming a toneless tune, she lathered Seth and gave him an old
school shave – straight razor and all. Her Dad had used a straight
razor and taught her how when she started cutting hair. She shaved
him every day the last year of his life.

The straight razor was her most popular
service for men. Men also had to stop talking until she was done.
She took her time with Seth while she gathered her thoughts. She
gave him a warm moist towel when she was done.

“
I’d make it go away if I could. I
tried,” Seth said. “I can’t.”

“
So it’s fuck you to my customers?
I…” Sandy shook her head. “I’m not going to do that.”

“
You have to,” Seth
said.

“
Jill and Aden can’t help me
today! I’d have to go by myself! I can’t do that!”

Sandy shook her head. She used her hair dryer
to blow the hair off Seth’s clothing.

“
I’m here,” Seth said. “I’ll
help.”

“
I know, Seth. I know,” she said.
“You’re all set.”

“
I’ll cuff you if I have to,
Sandy,” Seth said.

“
Some help,” Sandy
nodded.

“
I’ll help you do what’s hard, not
ignore what you have to do. I wouldn’t be your friend, your
Godfather, if I let you blow this off.”

“
I need to wait for the
receptionist to come in at nine,” Sandy said. “She can cancel my
day. In fact, I’m surprised my first client isn’t here. Wait here.
I’ll get ready to go.”

Sandy went to the restroom near the back of
the salon. When she opened the restroom door, her mind filled with
a weird white noise. She wasn’t angry or sad. She felt like she was
in a bubble. She made a note to ask Jill if this is what Jill felt
like when she blanked out. Sandy checked her make up, drank a glass
of water, and stalled for time.

While the white noise roared in Sandy’s brain, Sandy
watched: the receptionist chat with Seth; the receptionist giggled
that Sandy’s stomach flu
must
mean she was
pregnant; the salon’s music came on mid-song as a stylist walked in
the back; customers walked into the waiting area; Sandy followed
Seth out of the salon.

The first sound she understood was Seth
saying:

“
Let’s take Norsen’s fancy
car.”

Then, like a tidal wave, Sandy’s grief and
anger hit her. Seth grabbed her when she bent over in pain. He took
the keys from her hand and negotiated her into the car. With her
knees pressed against her eyes, Sandy wept.

Unsure of what to do, Seth drove to LaMar’s
donuts. Leaving Sandy, he bought them coffee and half a dozen
donuts.

By the time he returned, she’d unwound the
tight knot of her body. Her tears had slowed. Sandy smiled when he
gave her a cup of coffee, prepared how she liked it, and her
cinnamon cake donuts.

“
Why is it that when everything is
perfect, this crap comes back?” Sandy asked.

“
I don’t know, Sandy. Maybe
because we never made it go away,” Seth said. “Let’s do that
now.”