Cascade (26 page)

Steve’s face flushed red. Unable to trust his
words, he gave Jill a curt nod.

“
I should go.”

“
Love you, Steve.”

“
Love you, Jilly.”

Jill watched Steve walk down the hall to Honey
and MJ’s apartment. She smiled when she heard Honey laugh. With one
last ‘I hope he’s all right’ look, Jill went back
upstairs.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday mid-day – 12:20
P.M.

The Castle

Not quite awake, but not really asleep, Katy
lay in the guest bedroom next to Jill’s office. She’d developed a
fever overnight and had to stay home from the Marlowe school. And
today, of all days, Uncle Mike had decided to finally paint the
walls of her room.

She was stuck in this plain boring room. Katy
rolled onto her side. Scooter was taking up the whole bed! AND
there were no fairies in this room. Katy flopped on her
stomach.

“
Are you awake, Katy-baby?” Jill
asked. She came in to sit next to Katy on the bed. “How are you
feeling?”

“
Mommy, I can’t sleep without
fairies!”

“
You’ve slept for a long time
without fairies,” Jill laughed. “You can get up if you’re
awake.”

Katy shook her head at her mother. Scooter
rolled over to put his head on Katy’s stomach.

“
All right. Just rest.” Jill
leaned over to kiss Katy’s cheek. “I’ll check on you in a
bit.”

Katy flopped on her side. Certain she would
never get to sleep, she flipped onto her back.

And fell into a trance.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday afternoon — 1
P.M.

“
I’m not afraid, Dad,” Noelle
said. “I’ve seen ugly things before and I don’t care if Buster is
ugly. I mean, he’s our dog. I hope he’s going to be my dog. My
special friend. I could really use my own dog.”

Aden was wheeling Noelle through Children’s
Hospital in a wheelchair. A nurse walked beside them. Sandy, Buster
and Nash were waiting for them outside on the sidewalk.

“
Your dog?” Aden asked.

“
My
dog! I don’t know.
I want him to like me most. Even if I have trouble with my eye and
my face is all messed up. Dogs don’t care about that. Do they,
Dad?”

“
No, dogs don’t care and when did
you start calling me Dad?”

“
I’m almost eleven, Dad. Daddy is for little girls. Not for
big girls like me. Big girls who have their own dogs and their own
rooms
and
their own Moms.”

Aden laughed and Noelle giggled.

“
Don’t worry, Daddy. I was trying
on the whole tween thing. That’s what it’s called you know - tween.
That’s when I get to be snotty and mean to everyone and… I don’t
know, Daddy, I don’t think I can do it. Do you think Sandy was like
that when she was a tween?”

“
I doubt it but we can ask her.”
Aden pushed the blue wheelchair button for the doors to
open.

“
I’m going to have my eye fixed
today, right?” Noelle asked.

“
Sandy’s going to take you to the
ophthalmologist to have her do a second procedure,” Aden said. “I
have to go to…”

“
Work,” Noelle said. “Daddy, you
should have worked yesterday. Why didn’t you work
yesterday?”

“
My baby was in the
hospital.”

“
Will they fire you?” Noelle
asked.

“
No,” Aden said. “Val’s still in
town. With Jake, Sam and Val, there are a lot of us to run the
show. But I have to go this afternoon.”

“
Daddy, what about Buster? What
will Buster do when I’m at the doctor or school or…”

At that moment, Sandy, Nash and Buster came
into view. Nash let go of Buster’s leash and the dog ran up to
Noelle. Putting his front legs on her lap, Buster licked Noelle’s
face. She squealed, laughed and cried.

“
But… but…“ Noelle said though her
laughter.

Sandy leaned down to hug Noelle and kiss her
cheek. Nash hugged Noelle. He gave Noelle her favorite Teddy Bear.
Aden hugged Sandy.

“
Buster’s not ugly at all!” Noelle
said.

“
It’s love at first sight,” Aden
said.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday afternoon — 1:35
P.M.

Jill had gone in to check on Katy and found
her in a trance. Unsure of how to help her baby, Jill climbed into
the bed. Sitting with her back against the headboard, she moved
Katy onto her lap. Scooter snuggled close to both of them. An hour
passed. Katy’s trance had lasted longer than any Jill knew about.
Jill was about to call Jacob when Katy woke screaming.

Wrapping Katy in blankets, Jill carried her to
Celia’s rocker by the front windows. In the afternoon sunlight,
Jill rocked Katy in the chair. When Katy’s tears began to slow,
Jill asked:

“
What happened,
Katy-baby?”

With watery eyes, Katy looked at her mother,
shook her head and started crying again.

“
Should I call Daddy?”

Katy shook her head against Jill’s chest. Katy
tucked her face against Jill’s neck and cried. Kissing Katy’s warm
forehead, Jill rocked her until she fell asleep. Unwilling to leave
her alone, Jill carried Katy into her office. Katy usually slept
like a stone for at least a half hour after these trances. Jill
settled her baby on the couch in her office then slowly started
back to work on her school project.

~~~~~~~~
Wednesday afternoon — 2:05 P.M.

Valerie set her empty suitcases on her living
room floor. As if she’d never seen them before, she opened them and
then sat down on the couch. She was chewing on her thumb when Mike
came down from Katy’s room.

“
What’s going on?” Mike
asked.

“
I’m packing.”

Mike looked at the empty suitcases and raised
an eyebrow to Valerie.

“
I can see you’ve been working
hard,” he said.

“
I don’t want to go.”

“
What? Why?”

Mike sat in an armchair next to the couch.
Valerie got up from her spot to sit on his lap. With the question
lingering in the air, they sat cuddling in the armchair.

“
Are you nervous about doing the
movie?”

“
No.”

“
Are you worried about the babies?
Because the doctor said you’d be fine.”

“
No.”

They sat in silence for a while.

“
I don’t want to go,” Valerie
said.

“
I’m not sure why? We’ve been here
for almost five months. That’s longest you’ve lived in Denver
since…”

“
High school,” Valerie said.
“Yeah. But…”

“
But…?”

“
I’ve been really happy. You know,
the last five months, here … with you… Now we have babies on the
way. I don’t want to screw it up and…”

“
I’m going with you to Prague,
Val,” Mike said.

“
What about your show?”

“
We’ll come home that weekend then
turn around and go back. Your agent’s already set it up. They’re
going to do publicity for the movie at my show,” he said.
“Remember?”

“
I guess.”

“
You love being an actress,
Val.”

“
I love driving an
excavator.”

Mike laughed.

“
Don’t laugh,” Valerie said. “This
is a big time for the company. They need me here to
help.”

“
And you have helped,” Mike said.
“You’ll be able to Skype in for meetings. Nothing really changes.
You can drive an excavator all summer.”

Valerie didn’t say anything for a
while.

“
You’ll come with me?”

“
Of course,” he said. “I’ll even
go to the set with you, if you want. I’m not leaving you – never by
choice.”

“
Never by choice.”

She threw her arms around his neck and
cried.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday afternoon — 2:16
P.M.

Katy woke up when Jill left to go to the
bathroom. Sitting up on the couch, Katy saw Jill’s cell phone on
her desk. She picked up the cell phone. Remembering how her Mom had
called Auntie Megan, she pressed the ‘P’ and pressed the green
button.

“
Hello?” Katy said into the cell
phone.

“
Hello,” A nice man’s voice said
back. “Who is this?”

“
I’m Katy. I wanted to talk to
Paddie.”

“
Paddie?” The man
asked.

“
I pressed the ‘P’ letter on
Mommy’s phone so I could talk to Paddie,” Katy said.

“
You must be Katy Marlowe.” The
man laughed. “I’m Paddie’s grandfather.”

“
Oh. Sorry.”

Katy’s voice fell. She had been so sure that
Paddie would be there.

“
Did you know that I was called
Paddie?”

“
Really?” Katy asked. “Like my
Paddie?”

“
Just like your Paddie. He’s not
here but I can give him a message.”

“
Can you ask him for the dragon
skin for my Auntie Sandy? His Auntie has some and my Auntie needs
it today.”

“
How soon does your Auntie need
it?”

“
Well, right now, but…”

“
KATHERINE ANJELICA ROPER MARLOWE!
What are you doing?” Horrified, Jill picked up Katy. She took the
cell phone from her hand.

“
Hello? This is Jill Roper. I’m
very sorry to have disturbed you. My daughter’s been ill today and
she…”

Jill stopped talking when she heard a man
laugh.

“
Hello, Jillian. It’s Patrick
Hargreaves. Katy called looking for Paddie.”

Jill gasped. Senator Patrick Hargreaves! On
her phone! She glared at Katy. Katy wrinkled her nose in
return.

“
I’m so sorry, sir. I’ve had this
number since you gave it to me when…”

“
Yes, we returned from Costa
Rica,” he said. “How is your mother?”

“
She’s well, sir,” Jill said. “She
and her husband are here in town for a while.”

“
They’re lovely people. I’m going
to be in Denver this weekend. I’ll have to make sure to see them,”
the Senator said. “Listen, Katy asked me for something very
specific. Would you mind dropping by my daughter’s home? Someone
will meet you at the curb.”

“
She’s just a little girl, sir. If
she bothered you in anyway…”

The Senator laughed.

“
In my family, when Katy speaks,
we respond,” Senator Hargreaves said. “She’s saved more than one
life. Would you like someone to drop…?”

“
No sir, we will go there right
now,” Jill said.

“
We get to see Paddie?” Katy
clapped her hands together.

“
Actually, Paddie is coming to my
house this weekend. Would you like to join us? Of course, your
charming husband as well,” the Senator said.

“
Yes, sir.”

“
Why don’t you call us and let us
know if you can make it?” The Senator asked. “Nice to speak with
you, Jill. My guess is that you have a busy afternoon
ahead.”

“
Thank you, sir. I apologize again
if we…”

“
She reminds me of my twins –
precious pains in the rear. You’d be angry if you weren’t laughing
so hard,” he said. “I hope to see you this weekend.”

“
Yes sir,” Jill said then clicked
off the phone. “Katy! What?!”

“
Mommy something very bad is going
to happen.”

“
Something bad is always going to
happen.” Jill tickled Katy. “And something wonderful. That’s
life.”

“
But Mommy, it’s going to happen
to Auntie Sandy,” Katy said.

“
What? What do you mean?” Jill
asked.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday afternoon — 2:20
P.M.

Sandy was driving Aden’s car with Nash, Noelle
and Buster in the back when her cell phone rang. Glancing at the
number, Sandy passed the phone back to Noelle.

“
It’s your Dad,” Sandy said. “He
wants to know how your surgery went.”

“
Daddy?” Noelle asked into the
phone.

“
Hi Sweetie! How did it go?” Aden
asked.

“
It
was awful, Daddy,” Noelle said. “My lady doctor wasn’t there. There
was a
man
doctor and... he was shocked at my face. I could
tell. He thinks I’m ugly.”

“
Oh honey. Did he say
that?”

“
No, he didn’t. Sandy said he was
shocked by the bruise. Sandy says my bruise is shocking. Is it
shocking, Daddy?”

“
It’s shocking, honey, but you’ll
heal up. Remember the doctor at the hospital said in a couple of
months you’ll never know it happened.”