Cascade (35 page)

“
You’d better brush up,” Zack
said. “Listen, I’ll follow you. We’ll sort out what to do with the
boys over pie and coffee. Village Inn?”

“
Sure,” Aden said.

Aden was near his car when Zack
said:

“
Hey, that was a great thing you
did yesterday. I know you have a lot of shit to deal with because
of it but every man in the world was cheering you on. You’re a hero
to all us helpless fucks who wish we could really protect our kids
from monsters.”

Aden nodded. Stepping into the driver’s seat
of a Lipson Construction truck, he watched Zack walk to a black
SUV. Zack tapped on the passenger door and the door opened. Nash’s
bodybuilder guardian had been waiting in the car for
Zack.

Aden smiled. In middle of all this trouble,
he’d made a friend today. Somehow, making a new friend made
everything seem a little more worth it.

~~~~~~~~

Friday afternoon – 3:30
P.M.

Jill reached over to hold Honey’s hand. The
lawyers had just presented the twelve jurors and three alternates
to the judge. If the judge agreed, they would start the trial on
Monday.

Seeming almost to enjoy the sound of their own
voices, the lawyers talked endlessly. Jill wished she had Samantha
Hargreaves with her to explain what was going on. Smiling, the
assistant DA, Ann Campbell, looked over to Jill and Honey. The
assistant DA nodded. The judge accepted the jury.

The trial was in motion!

The judge began giving instructions to the
jury. They wouldn’t be sequestered. They shouldn’t talk about the
trial and so on and so forth. He acted like a protective Canada
Goose over his juror goslings. Their victim’s advocate’s voice
lifted with excitement as she told Jill and Honey how lucky they
were that the jurors were so easily selected.

MJ shifted his body away from the
trial.

That’s what Jill noticed first. She looked at
MJ’s stern face. Following his eyes, she looked toward the
courtroom.

Honey’s sister glared at them. The hatred and
evil in her eyes sent shivers down Jill’s spine. She wanted to run
out of the room when her sight was blocked by a man’s blue
jeans.

Jacob. He kneeled down in front of
her.

“
You don’t need to look into the
darkness,” he whispered.

When he held her to him, Jill closed her eyes
to avoid the step-whore’s cursed gaze.

“
Let’s get out of here,” MJ said.
He touched Honey’s back. “Just close your eyes.”

Shaken, Honey nodded to MJ. One of MJ’s
teammates ran to get the car. They surrounded Honey’s wheelchair to
effectively block her from her sister’s sight and moved out of the
courtroom together. They were all the way to the car before Honey
said:

“
Oh my God, she hates
me.”

“
She hates herself,” Jacob said.
“You just remind her of her own self-loathing.”

Honey and Jill nodded at what seemed like
wisdom. Jill couldn’t shake the feeling that this was going to be a
long, painful trial. And in the end, the step-whore would be
certain she and Honey had ‘done’ this to her. The woman would
despise them for the rest of her life.

Jill nodded to herself. That step-whore needed
to be locked up for life.

~~~~~~~~

Friday evening – 5:27
P.M.

Waking from her nap, Sandy rolled over to pet
Cleo. In her half-awake state, Sandy was grateful for Cleo’s
reassuring presence. Cleo and Sandy had been through a lot
together. They would get through this as well. She was about to
fall back asleep when she heard a soft noise.

Like a weight, the knowledge of everything
that had happened fell on her. Her mind flashed through a slide
show of images: Aden punching her father in the face; her father
shooting her in the back; waking up in the hospital; her mother’s
awful words; and hundred dollar bills flying in the air. Her mind
came to rest on Seth’s face. He was talking about her ‘family of
choice.’

Then she heard the sound again. Someone was
crying. Not loud, not wailing, but someone near her was
crying.

Moving as fast as her back brace and pain
would allow, Sandy got out of bed. Cleo looked up at her and
meowed. Sandy picked up her black and white cat, the first member
of her family of choice, to carry her out of the room. Standing
just outside the door, Sandy was a little disoriented. The bedroom
had looked so much like her bedroom, Sandy thought she was at home.
Where was she?

Not at home, that’s for sure.

She had stepped into a hallway with gorgeous
wide oak floors. There were three doors to her right and one door
to her left. Light shone from under a door across the hall. She
nudged the door open then blinked at the light.

Aden and Nash were sitting on the couch
playing Grand Theft Auto on an X-box 360 on a flat screen
television. Disabled by his broken arm, Nash was only ahead by a
hundred points. She stood behind the couch watching for a few
moments before they noticed her.

“
Hey Sandy,” Nash said. He paused
the game. “Dad’s taking advantage of my injury.”

“
How are you feeling?” Aden got up
from the couch to hug her.

“
Disoriented. I don’t remember
getting here,” Sandy said.

“
You were in a lot of pain at your
father’s house. Delphie came to get you in a cab,” Aden said. “You
were pretty out of it when you got here.”

“
Dad carried you into the
bedroom,” Nash said. “Noelle and I tried to keep him from dropping
you.”

“
Or tripping,” Aden
laughed.

“
Where’s Val?” Sandy
asked.

“
She left for Prague about an hour
after you left your father’s house,” Aden said.

“
Did an armored car really take
the money?” Sandy asked. “Or did I dream the money
thing?”

“
Val told Delphie that there were
millions in the house. The money is being counted at the bank right
now,” Aden said. “It was a lot.”

“
You’re rich, Sandy!” Nash said.
“Will you buy me an iPhone?”

“
You don’t need an iPhone,” Aden
repeated what he’d said over and over again.

Nash wrinkled his lips in disgust to his
father. Turning away, he smiled brightly at Sandy.

“
What do you think, Sandy? I bet
you think I need an iPhone? I bet you want to call me and know
where I am and keep track of stuff and…”

Sandy laughed.

“
Where’s Noelle?” Sandy
asked.

Aden and Nash shared a look.

“
What’s wrong?” Sandy
asked.

“
Noelle’s a little upset,” Aden
said.

“
Yeah, Dad told us about the baby
and she freaked out,” Nash said. “She’s been crying for
hours.”

“
Why?” Sandy asked.

“
She’s just
like
that,” Nash
said. “I mean, I’m not thrilled at being replaced by a new kid but
it’s not like I can do anything about it.”

“
Replaced?” Aden and Sandy said in
unison.

“
You know, everyone loves the new kid,” Nash said. “Noelle
and I are the old kids. We’re not cute or fun or
precious
or anything. Mostly we’re the
pain-in-the-ass-hope-you-leave-the-house-soon
kids.”

“
What?” Sandy said at the same
time as Aden said, “Now Nash you know that’s not true.”

“
I mean, face it,” Nash said. “Dad
has a new life and we’re not going to be a part of it.”

“
Nash, I don’t have any idea what
you’re talking about,” Aden said. “You and your sister have always
been the single most important thing in my life..”

“
Yeah, until the new baby comes,”
Nash said. “It happens all the time. We’re the ugly
stepchildren.”

“
Nash!” Aden started.

“
Aden.” Sandy touched his
arm.

Aden turned to look at her. He nodded at her
smile. Sandy came around to kneel right in front of Nash. Nash
stared past her to play the video game.

“
I know how you feel,” Sandy said.
“I felt the exact same way when my mother remarried. I was the ugly
stepchild, the mistake, the throw away.”

Nash’s head jerked up to look at
Sandy.

“
I don’t feel that way about you,”
Sandy said.

“
You will.”

“
I won’t,” Sandy said. “I can’t
help how I feel. Step or otherwise, I love you. I don’t know
anything about being a mother but I bet we’ll learn
together.”

Nash’s eyes welled with tears. He sniffed then
returned to stare at the video game. Sandy hugged him. Nash grabbed
her so tightly that Sandy grunted with pain.

“
Me too!?” Noelle asked from the
doorway. “You’ll be my Mom too – even with a new perfect
baby?”

Sandy held her arm out for Noelle. The girl
ran forward to join Sandy and Nash’s hug.

“
You guys will have to be patient
with me because I have a lot to learn,” Sandy pulled back to say.
“Since you’ve never had a Mom, I guess we’ll have to figure it out
together.”

“
I’ll help!” Noelle said. Her eyes
were swollen from crying, her cheek was swollen and purple with
bruise but her smile was bright. “First, you should teach me how to
do make-up so I can cover this bruise.”

“
Noelle!” Aden said. “Sandy is
hurt. She…”

“
Heather’s coming over tonight to
teach us how to cover the bruise,” Sandy said. Turning to Nash, she
said, “What’s your first?”

“
An iPhone?” Nash’s face pleaded
with Sandy.

Sandy laughed at him.

“
I’m serious.” Nash worked to keep
from laughing.

“
How about some cookies instead?”
Sandy asked.

“
Sandy, you really don’t have to,”
Aden said. “You need to rest.”

“
I’m all right. Maybe Noelle could
help me.”

“
I’ll help!” Noelle said. “Can we
have chocolate chip?”

“
Peanut butter,” Nash
said.

“
Peanut butter chocolate chip?”
Sandy looked at Noelle. She nodded. “We’ll leave some plain for
Nash.”

Noelle and Nash cheered. When Aden stood to
hug her, Sandy felt a growing sense that she was exactly where she
belonged. She had chosen a family.

And they chose her back.

CHAPTER
SEVENTY-EIGHT

For all intents…

Two days later
Sunday night — 11:20 P.M.

Jill woke up in an empty bed. Grabbing her
warm bathrobe, she wandered through the loft looking for Jacob. Not
finding him, she was about to head down to the Castle when she saw
light coming from under the door to Jacob’s old apartment. She went
through his old bathroom until she stood in the doorway of his
apartment. Her eyes searched the dark room until she found him.
Jacob was sitting in his sagging old leather chairs by the window.
Not wanting to disturb him, she hesitated to move forward. She was
about to go back to bed when she heard him say, almost as an
exhale:

“
Jill.”

Smiling, she moved forward to him. She took
the hand he lifted to her. So unlike Jacob, he continued to stare
out into the night. She was about to ask what was wrong, when he
shifted to pull her onto his lap.

She yelped with surprise and laughed. He
buried his face in her neck.

“
What’s going on?” Jill
whispered.

He pulled back to look into her face. Giving
her a soft smile, he kissed her slowly first, then with deep and
rising pressure. She responded to his passion. Out of breath, she
pulled away to look at him. He shrugged at the question in her eyes
and returned to looking out the window. Not wanting to push it, she
rested her head against his shoulder. They watched the night sky.
After a while, Jacob sighed.

“
I used to sit here, like this,
hoping, wishing, longing. Right here. In this chair. A
lot.”

He fell silent. Jill kissed his cheek.
Trusting him to tell her when he was ready, she rested in the
warmth and comfort of his lap. He sighed again.

“
I ached for you, for a chance at
a life with you. I longed for family, children, joy. I wished for
Val to come home and want to be my sister again. I hoped my father
would survive the loss of my mother. I begged a thousand times to
be relieved of the burden of the Lipson albatross.”

He sighed and became quiet again.

“
You have almost everything you
wished for.”

“
The moment you entered my life, I
got everything I’d ever wished, hoped or longed for,” he said. “And
Katy? I never thought I could love a single being so much, laugh so
hard and get so angry – at the same time.”

“
That’s a good description of
Katy.” She kissed him under his chin.