Torn (36 page)

Luke was print boy and find boy
,
Colin
’s
designated working partner, as Bret was Darius’. Luke was in charge of printing up the data that Virginia sent,
while
looking for details on the first portion of the list they had composed of Invitees.

“I appreciate this Dr. Jeffers,” Colin
said
on the phone. “
I was going to send you all my d
ata
. . . .
”

“Well, Dr. Reye
,
part of the reason I placed all of you together
in
quarantine was to see
what you
would do. You didn’t disappoint me.”

“Thank you.”

“What about Dr. Cobb.”

“He’s working o
n
his own way to get to the conference.”

“Two of you trying in two different
directions
?” Jeffers asked.

“Yes, one of us is bound to succeed. I
feel
. . .
hold on.” He
slid
the phone from hi
s mouth and pointed to the list in front of
Luke. “See what you can find on him.”

“But that’s
three
more.”

“Jump ahead,” Colin
winked
.

Luke shrugged and began to type.

“Anyhow
. . . .
”
Colin returned to Jeffers.
“How hard is it going to be to ge
t to speak
at the
conference?
”

“Hard. Slots are filled. If I agree with what you have to present, I can present it.”

“What do you have?”

“Theories. Not much.”

“O
ur theories have some data as
back
-
up,” Colin said and winced at Luke’s disclaimer.

“To be honest, it would be a lot easier to get you to speak if you had a viable solution or resolution.”

“To stop what I think is going to ha
ppen?” Colin asked almost with a
snicker.

“Yes.”

“Dude,” Luke smoothed out. “C
heck this shit out. I made a typo
. . . .
”

Just as Colin was about to ‘shush’ Luke, he peered down.

Luke continued. “An extra ‘A’, and this shit came up. Oh, well.” He reached his hand for the mouse.

Colin stopped him, grabbing his hand. “Not so fast,” he told Luke and moved
closer
to the screen. “Dr. Jeffers
,
let me call you back. I may have an idea.” Blindly he hung up the phone. He gave a please
d
pat on the head to an oblivious Luke, and then he took in the inadvertent search engine results that were, to Colin
,
more of a blessing than a mistake brought on by a typo.

Today I talk to him. Today I talk to him. Bret stated
it
in her mind over and over. She had run through exactly what she would tell Darius and how she would do so.

She had just finished the current inventory of medical supplies when she received the phone call from him stating he was on his way back.

It actually was perfect timing. The kids weren’t home, Luke was monitoring, Colin was off doing something he deemed ‘crucial’. A quiet house.

Until Darius arrived.

He called out her name with little kid enthusiasm, running about the house looking for her.

Coming out of the bedroom, Bret was not only g
reeted wit
h
his call, but Darius.
She jumped.

“You are not going to believe this.” Darius grabbed her shoulders.
“O
h, wait. Here.” He extended a bouquet of flowers to her. “For you.”

“You got me flowers.” Bret smiled quirkily at them. Purple daisies. “Can I ask why?”

“One, because I’m celebrating and sharing my good news with you. Two, I thought maybe they’d jar your memory. Someone told me that a picture or a symbol can do that.”

“Purple daisies?”

“Well, yeah. We saw
purple flowers when we had lunch in the field before the accident. You loved them.” He watched her
expression. It was lost. “No? Okay
. Anyhow, my news.
I tried to call Colin
but
he’s not around.”

“What? What happened?”

Proudly, Darius
pull
ed his shoulders back. “I’m speaking at the conference.”

“No.” Bret said in shock.

Darius nodded. “I’m gonna get my chance to
s
peak, give my theory and my idea for stopping it.”

“You mean the blowing up the world theory.”

Darius bobbed his head. “In short. I have a nuclear physicist who will
be working with me to tweak it.
”

“I am really happy for you.”

“Wait until Colin hears. Of course, he’ll come too.”

“Well, how
. . .
how did you manage
this?
”

Darius fluttered his lips. “Check this out. Winslow. He’s buddies with the congressman heading this up. He called him, said he may want to hear what I have to say, the congressman said he’d slot me in.”

Bret smiled. “That’s great news.”

“It is.”

“So bad news isn’t something you want to hear.”

“Who broke my guitar?” Darius asked.

“Huh?”

“My guitar. Who broke it?”

“Why would you assume tha
t? Is it broken?
”

“You tell me. That’s the only bad news I can think of.”

“I doubt that. Come here.” She called him in the bedroom. “I need to talk to you.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I need you to be straight with me. One hundred percent honest.”

Darius nodded.

Bret continued, “Were you serious a
bout us being in a relationship? That we committed?
”

“Absolutely, why would I lie?”

Bret shrugged. “I don’t kno
w. Colin does that shit. And we
. . .
we slept together.”

“Yeah, a couple times. Well, twice,” Darius replied. “Why
,
what’s up
?
”

“Oh, Dari
us, you aren’t going to believe
. . .
”

A knock at the door interrupted them.

“Mom,” Luke poke
d his head in. “I’m looking for
. . .
never mind
. T
here he is.”

“What’s up, Luke?” Darius asked. “Can this wait? We’re talking.”

Luke shrugged. “I guess. You have a visitor.”

“Can you tell them I’ll be done in a minute?”

Luke nodded. “Sure thing.” He turned to leave.

“Wait, Luke,” Darius called out. “Who is it?”

“You mom.” Luke walked out.

How many ti
m
es had Bret heard Colin mention that she reminded him of Darius’ mother.

When the news came that Grace was downstairs, Bret was more excited than Darius. She wanted to meet the woman Colin spoke of and Darius hadn’t seen in eight months.

Darius was less enthused.

‘Wow, really?’
was his reaction, but Bret insisted they place their talk on hold and go down immediately.

They did.

She had never seen a picture at all. Darius rarely talked about his mother. They probably talked extensively about her on the week she’d lost.

That would be her luck.

Almost bashful she walked down the stairs directly behind Darius. Did Grace see her pause? Bret did just as she reached the next to the last step.

Grace was looking at the
photograph
table in the foyer, and turned around.

“Dare-Dare!” she belted, reaching out her arms.

Grace was not what Bret expected. After all, according to Colin she was a lot like Bret.

Grace was not Bret.

The woman in the foyer certainly did not match the mental picture Bret derived of someone who dated the
distinguished
Colin Reye and
raised
the snobbish Darius Cobb.

She was a younger mother. With Darius pushing forty, one would think Grace was gray and seasoned.

She was seasoned all right. Bret just didn’t know which way.
Grace was a young mother from what Bret had learned.

First thing Bret noti
ced was the volume of her voice and t
he hick accent that was just a hint raspy from years of
cigarette
smoking or yelling.

The next thing she noticed
was
her jeans.
They were tight
, l
ike jeans that
were
worn in the eighties or
nineties
. A thin belt more for decoration tha
n
‘holding them
up’
and a tight
blue
blouse tucked in.

She wasn’t a thin woman
or
heavy; she was
about average. Bret figured at one time she was thin. But what surprised Bret was her height. She was a good inch over
Darius
’ five foot eight frame. Of course, that
could
have been her hair, w
hich was bleach
ed
blonde, teased and big.

She tried to make it small.

Grace was attractive
and
wore full
make
-
up. Her nails were
long
and manicured.

She looked more like Darius’ big sister than mother.

“This
. . .
this is a shock,” Darius stepped
back;
running his fingers through
h
is hair. “Wow.”

“Well, I told
you
. . .
when was it I talked to you?” She tapped her finger
on
her lips. “
Gosh
, had to be what a month ago.”

“Probably like four.”

She waved out her hand.
“
Who
keeps track of
time?
We don’t on the
rodeo
circuit
, I
tell you
. One city to the next.” She
exhaled
. “Ain’t you gonna invite me in
?
”

“Absolutely,” Darius held out a hand then reached for the door.

“No, no. Wait. That starving boy is fetching my bags.”

“Starving boy?” Darius asked.

“The thin one. Luke.” She smiled. “And who is this?” she walked toward Bret. “Is this the
filly
Colin was telling me about?”

“How do you
do
?
I’m Bret.
” Bret held out her
hand
.

“Oh, stop. You get a hug.” She
brought
Bret in for an embrace. “You’re marrying my son, now aren’t you? That’s what Colin said.”

“Mom. When did you
speak
to Colin?” Darius asked.

“Yesterday. He invited me in.”

“Why did
n’t
you call me?” Darius asked.

“I would if you answered yer phone. I tried. The
n I finally got a hold of Colin. H
e said
something
about you skydiving and hanging out in Texas. Then you and your fiancé came back to Pittsburgh.
I got held up in New Mexico. But when I spoke to Colin yesterday, telling
him
I’m ready to come off the road
, h
e said come on in. And here I am. Wow. Colin certainly has done good for himself.”

Luke walked in the door with arms full of bags. “Where do you want these?’

“Oh, just put them there till we figure out where I’m sleeping. Thank you.”

Luke nodded, set down the bags and headed down the hall. “I’m gonna go work on the tracking.”