Fort Morgan (30 page)

“
How can you tell?” Sandy
asked.

“
Experience,” the nurse
said.

She gave Sandy a hug and left the room.
Sandy was scowling at the door when Abi appeared again.

“
She’s right,” Abi
said.

“
Who’s right?” Sandy
asked.

“
The nurse,” Abi said.
“Sissy’s getting better.”

Sandy nodded because she felt like she
should.

“
No, really,” Abi said.
“Sissy’s going to be fine.”

“
I worry about that, too!”
Sandy said. “If she’s fine, she’s going to lose a year in ballet.
The ballet company has already said they have to replace her.
Sissy’s going to have to come home to get better. If she comes
home, she’ll never be the ballerina she wants to be. Plus, it looks
like Ivan’s going to stay in New York.”

When Sandy finished, Abi gave Sandy a
hug.

“
Sissy’s ballet career is
going to be just fine,” Abi said.

“
Is that a fairy skill?”
Sandy asked.

“
Oh, no,” Abi said. “We
fairies suck at telling the future. Delphie told me last night that
Sissy was going to be fine.”

“
Delphie,” Sandy scowled.
“She also says that Ivan and Sissy belong together.”

“
They do,” Abi
said.

“
Ivan is about a hundred,”
Sandy groaned. “Sissy’s just a kid!”

“
Ivan’s not that old,” Abi
said. “And your sister is not a child.”

“
How’s it going to work
with Sissy in Denver and Ivan here?” Sandy shook her
head.

“
Why does it bother you?”
Abi asked.

“
Oh. . .” Sandy
sighed and sat down. She picked up Sissy’s hand again. “When Sissy
was in the eating disorder clinic the first time, her therapist
said that Ivan had molested Sissy and that’s why she had an eating
disorder. Ivan was furious. Sissy denied the whole thing. My
mom. . . well, you can imagine.”

“
Your sister’s in love
with her teacher,” Abi said. “And Ivan loves Sissy. Plus, he’s
incredibly handsome.”

“
Have you seen him dance?”
Sandy asked.

Abi shook her head.

“
It’s like fluid sex,”
Sandy said. “The women swoon.”

“
But not you?” Abi
asked.

“
No,” Sandy said. “And, in
case you’re wondering, I’m not sexually or romantically interested
in Ivan, and I’m not jealous of my sister.”

“
Eating disorder
treatment?” Abi asked.

“
Second one,” Sandy said.
“Ivan’s been the topic of much therapy.”

“
He’s very handsome,” Abi
repeated.

“
He is,” Sandy
said.

“
So. . .” Abi
said. “Why aren’t you interested in him?”

“
He’s not my type,” Sandy
said. “Plus, he’s always been so good with Sissy, since she was a
little kid. You should have seen them meet.”

“
What happened?” Abi
asked.

“
We were at Seth’s,” Sandy
said. “My Dad. . .”

“
Mitch,” Abi said. “He was
just here.”

“
I’m sure,” Sandy said
with a nod. “Anyway, Mitch was in his last days, and Seth arrived
from Russia with Ivan. Sissy and my dad were really close. She was
lying on his bed telling him some random story about the picture
she was coloring.

“
Ivan was on crutches,”
Sandy said. “He was in the gulag when Seth found him. Honestly, he
was in pretty bad shape. Seth opened the door to Dad’s room, and
Sissy looked up. Ivan crutched in. Sissy said, ‘You’re finally
here’ or something like that. Ivan’s English wasn’t great, but he
said something like, ‘I’m sorry it too so long.’ She said, ‘That’s
okay. We have the rest of our lives.’”

“
Really?” Abi
asked.

“
Right,” Sandy nodded. “I
was embarrassed, so I hustled her out of the room. When we got to
the kitchen, I asked her why she said that to the handsome man. You
know what she said?”

“
No,” Abi shook her
head.

“
She said, ‘He’s my
prince. We’re ’sposed to be together,’” Sandy said.

“
How sweet!” Abi
said.

“
Kind of crazy, I know,”
Sandy said. “But when I apologized to Ivan later, he said almost
the same thing. Something like, ‘We belong together.’”

“
Wow,” Abi
said.

Sandy shrugged.

“
You really think she’s
going to be okay?” Sandy asked.

“
Even with fairy help, it
will take some time for her to heal,” Abi said. “This is a grave
injury. Healing is what Sissy needs. When she’s able, she can have
anything she wants.”

“
She won’t be a
ballerina?” Sandy asked.

“
Fairy?” Abi put her hand
on her chest. “Suck at prediction?”

Sandy chuckled.

“
What does Delphie say?”
Abi asked.

“
She says that Sissy will
dance throughout the United States and on the big stages of
Europe,” Sandy said.

“
And that doesn’t comfort
you?” Abi asked.

“
I just. . .”
Sandy started to cry again.

“
I know,” Abi
said.

Abi put her arm around Sandy, and Sandy
cried on the fairy’s shoulder for what seemed like forever. When
she was spent, Abi insisted that Sandy rest and that she would keep
watch. Sandy took up a spot on the couch and fell sound asleep. A
few hours later, Ivan shook Sandy awake.

“
Sissy has opened her
eyes,” Ivan said. “She’s awake.”

~~~~~~~~

Sunday night — 9:25 p.m.

Denver, Colorado

Dionne looked up when Bumpy came into the
house. He gave her a slight smile and a nod before taking off his
heavy overcoat, hat, and sweater. She got up, and they hugged.

“
I saved some dinner for
you,” Dionne said.

“
Good,” Bumpy
said.

He followed her through their modest home to
the kitchen. She took a chicken breast out of the oven.

“
Chicken?” Bumpy
asked.

“
Heart disease is a bitter
master,
doctor
,”
Dionne said with a smile.

“
Hmp,” Bumpy
said.

While he used the restroom, she plated the
chicken and added some steamed broccoli and roasted Brussel sprouts
to his plate. He came out and washed his hands at the kitchen sink.
She carried his plate to the dining room.

“
But we have pie?” Bumpy
asked.

Dionne chuckled and nodded.

“
Thank you, Lord, for this
meal and pie,” Bumpy said with a chuckle.

Dionne smiled, and he started to eat. She
waited for a few minutes for him to eat before asking him about his
evening.

“
So?” she
asked.

“
Oh,” he said. He nodded
and ate some more.

“
You’ll tell me
eventually,” Dionne said.

Bumpy set his fork down and sighed.

“
I wish I was a drinking
man,” Bumpy said.

“
You’ve been a drinking
man,” Dionne said. “The problem is that, when you’re a drinking
man, you have a lot of drink and not a lot of life.”

“
There is that,” Bumpy
said.

He picked up his fork and started eating
again. He’d eaten all of his chicken and most of his Brussel
sprouts before she asked about his night again.

“
So, it didn’t go well,”
Dionne said.

“
It’s over,” Bumpy said.
“That’s all I can say.”

“
I. . .”

“
I know what you want me
to say,” Bumpy said. “I should say that we’re lucky the boys don’t
have to do real time. We’re lucky the DA’s office was able to
separate the boys who purchased the videos from those who committed
the rapes. We’re even lucky to be beginning the end of this
thing.”

“
You’re right — I do think
those boys were lucky,” Dionne said.

“
And their mothers,” Bumpy
said.

“
Their mothers are
relieved,” Dionne said. “You made this happen.”

“
We both did,” Bumpy said
with a nod.

“
So why are you upset?”
Dionne asked.

“
The boys spent the better
part of the winter in jail,” Bumpy said. “You should have seen
them. It was like they were numb. They stared straight ahead with
dead eyes. They didn’t say a word. They followed their mothers to
their cars.”

“
The boys are coming in
tomorrow?” Dionne asked.

“
For checkups,” Bumpy
said.

He turned his focus to his meal. She got up
to get him his pie. He looked up when she returned.

“
Apple?” Bumpy
asked.

“
Peach,” Dionne
said.

Bumpy smiled.

“
Do you think those boys
were. . . injured in jail?” Dionne asked.

“
It’s possible,” Bumpy
said. “But. . .”

He moved the plate with pie on it in front
of him.

“
I think they saw their
futures evaporate,” Bumpy said. He snapped his fingers.
“Gone.”

“
They have it back now,”
Dionne said.

“
I hope so,” Bumpy said.
“I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.”

“
And the day after and the
one after that,” Dionne said. “This is just the beginning of their
second chance.”

“
That’s the truth,” Bumpy
said.

“
You and I,” Dionne
nodded, “we used up every corner of our second chance.”

“
That’s the truth,” Bumpy
said.

“
These boys will, too,”
Dionne said. “Don’t worry, Bumpy.”

He gave her a slight nod and finished his
pie.

“
Bed time?” Dionne
asked.

“
Yes, ma’am,” Bumpy said.
He followed her to the bedroom.

~~~~~~~~

Sunday night – 9:35 p.m.

Hoping not to wake Jacob, Jill shut off the
bathroom light before opening the door. She crept across the
bedroom and slipped into bed. She’d no sooner pulled up the covers
when Jacob reached over and turned on the bedside lamp. He looked
at her with sleep-groggy eyes and blinked.

“
How is she?” Jacob
asked.

“
Which she?” Jill
asked.

“
Right,” Jacob chuckled.
“There are a few ‘she’s.”

He lay back down and closed his eyes. Jill
was sure he’d gone to sleep when he opened his eyes.

“
All of them,” Jacob said.
He sat up so that his back was against the bed board.
“Heather?”

“
She’s resting,” Jill
said. “The nurse said that Heather fed the new baby with breast
milk from the break milk bank.”

“
Is he in the room with
her?” Jacob asked.

“
Not yet,” Jill said.
“He’s healthy enough, but she’s not. They want to discharge him,
but where would he go?”

“
Here?” Jacob
asked.

“
Would that be all right?”
Jill asked.

“
It’s all right with me,”
Jacob said. “What does Edie say?”

“
The more, the merrier,”
Jill said. “Mack will keep going to the Marlowe School but
he’s. . .”

“
Coming here as well?”
Jacob asked. “Fine with me.”

“
Thanks.” Jill leaned over
to kiss him.

He smiled.

“
Sissy was conscious for a
few hours today,” Jill said.

“
This afternoon?” Jacob
asked.

“
Right,” Jill nodded. “You
were with me when Sandy called.”

“
How is she?” Jacob
asked.

“
Healing,” Jill said.
“She’s in a lot of pain, so she’s on a lot of meds. The doctors are
pleased, but Sandy is worried.”

“
I’m sure,” Jacob said.
“And Noelle? Isn’t that where you just came from?”

“
I was downstairs helping
Noelle get settled,” Jill said. “And, she’s okay. Not great, but
okay. Seems like she had equal doses of awesome times and awful
times in New York. She’s glad to be home. She’s going to be home
the next couple of days while she gets settled again.”

“
Good idea,” Jacob said.
“And how are you, my princess?”

“
Good,” Jill said. “Glad
everyone is on the mend. Is it awful to say that I’m glad that
horrible financier is suffering?”

“
Not to me,” Jacob
said.

“
No more hassles from that
Exeriri Genetics,” Jill said. “Go, Otis!”

“
Go, Otis!” Jacob said.
“Way to use your psychopathy for good!”

Jill smiled. Jacob held out his arm and Jill
rested against his shoulder.

“
Are you sorry you’re not
treated like a true Titan princess?” Jacob asked.

“
Honestly?” Jill
asked.

“
Sure.”

“
No,” Jill said. “Plus, I
think everyone has a little Titan in them.”

“
Oh yeah?” Jacob
asked.

“
A little Titan. A little
Fairy. A little Olympian,” Jill said. “When I was there, in
Olympia, I really got that these people were the first people. Not
human really, but close. They had kids with their sisters because
there wasn’t anyone else.”