Celia's Puppies (37 page)

“
How did they figure it
out?”

“
Came to Delphie in a
vision. You would have laughed. Dad stormed into the hospital and
went all rich guy. The poor intern was so freaked out by Dad that
she went over all the test results looking for Crohn’s. Took like
the doctor like five minutes to find an ulceration and the
inflammation. Bam, everything changed. She came running through the
ICU yelling at the nurses. MJ was asleep next to Honey. She kicked
him out of bed and began treatment.”

“
Sounds
dramatic.”

“
Unbelievable drama. Turns
out, the intern has an aunt with Crohn’s. She knew exactly what to
look for. By the time the attending got to the ED, Honey’s fever
was coming down, her vitals were improving and she was getting
better. It was a miracle.”

“
God, Jacob, how
wonderful.”

“
Honey’s biological father
has Crohn’s. That was the missing piece. No one thought to mention
it because we were all so sure the infection was from her injury.
Poor kid had it before the injury along with a few ulcerations in
her colon.”

“
Honey’s so tough,” the
woman said. “Even as a little kid, she was tough as nails. It
doesn’t surprise me that she could have ulcers or whatever and not
know about it.”

“
Looks like she’ll be home
soon,” Jacob said. “Another project I need to get done.”

“
What do you want to do
about your daughter’s friend?” the woman asked.

“
Paddie Hargreaves? Ah
fuck, I don’t know,” Jacob said. “If I let Paddie go to the school,
even if they pay double, people will say it’s favoritism.
Especially now with all this crap going on in the company. I can’t
risk looking like I’m favoring a non-Lipson child.”

“
But Jacob, you pay to
keep the school open,” she said. “If you and Val didn’t pitch in
half the working budget, we wouldn’t have a school. That should
entitle to you something.”

“
I also own Lipson
Construction. That should count for something,” he said. “According
to our board, it means exactly diddley squat.”

They jogged in silence for a while.

“
I was hoping you might
have a great solution,” he said.

“
You know what I think,”
she said.

“
If we opened the school
to full pay non-Lipson kids, we could pay our bills and then some.
We’d make enough money to expand,” Jacob said. “Our employees need
real care for their kids. Rich kids can go anywhere.”

“
Even Paddie?”

“
It’s a lose–lose
situation. If Paddie doesn’t go to the Marlowe school, Katy won’t
go. Then I support a school that my own daughter doesn’t
attend.”

“
You could send Katy
without Paddie.”

“
Yeah, I’ll let you tell
Katy that,” Jacob said. “You could start by telling her
mother.”

The woman laughed.

“
It warms my heart to see
you in love, Jacob. Your mother would be so very happy,” she said.
“When is your wedding?”

“
Another good question,”
Jacob said. “How long have you and Jerry been married?”

“
Twenty-eight years,” she
said. “He’s pretty nervous about the company.”

“
I am too,” Jacob
said.

“
Why don’t we do this? Let
ten non-Lipson students attend the school. Eight full pay and two
kids like Honey.”

“
From the
motels?”

“
Exactly. Those kids don’t
go to school,” she said. “Let’s see how our staff does. If they
start to favor the full pay kids, we’ll change something. If it
works, we’ll talk about adding other kids.”

“
How about half and
half?”

“
Then you’re going to have
to cover the scholarship kids.”

“
Three and seven,” he
said.

“
Fine, three scholarship
students and seven full pay,” she said. “Colin Hargreaves came in
with another man. He wants his kids to go to the Marlowe school. In
fact, I bet the Hargreaves and their friends might take all of your
seven spaces.”

They ran in silence around the rest of the
lake then down toward the duck lake. Turning toward the Martin
Luther King monument, they ran past the purple castle playground.
The Marlowe School director slowed at the large field to finish
their conversation. Jacob let Sarah off her leash and Helen let her
dog run as well. The dogs romped after the ball Jacob tossed onto
the field.

“
You’ve wanted to do this
for a long time,” Jacob said.

“
I have. I think it’s time
we became a real school. We’re the best Montessori school in the
city. Best day care for infants. We win those awards every single
year. Why shouldn’t we let people pay for it?”

Jacob shrugged.

“
What are you afraid of?”
she asked. “I’m sorry, if I over stepped...”

“
I don’t know,” Jacob
said. “My Mom started the school. I wish I knew what she wanted.
Aden would love it if we expanded to have middle
school...”

“
Which we should do. Our
kids are resilient but public middle school is a real adjustment
for them.”

“
I guess,” Jacob said. “I
just don’t want to dilute the mission of the school.”

“
When does Valerie come
home?”

“
Next week,” Jacob
said.

“
What does she
want?”

“
To expand, to make it
profitable,” he said.

“
Maybe it’s time to let
her take over your shares of the school,” HElen said. “You’ve got
enough on your plate with the company. Let your sister do this for
a while.”

Jacob threw the ball for Sarah then glanced
at the woman. He knew Valerie would expand the school and add
paying kids. Why was he being so stubborn?

“
I just wish I knew what
Mom wanted,” he said.

“
Your mother was one of my
best friends, “ Helen said. “I loved her dearly. But Jacob, she’s
been gone for almost ten years. Maybe it’s time to think about what
you want.”

Jacob scowled and threw the ball again.

“
I’ve overstepped my
bounds.”

“
Not at all,” Jacob said.
“You’re right. I don’t have any idea what I want.”

“
I’ll tell you this, Jacob
Marlowe. Your mother would want you to be happy. What would make
you happy with the school? With the company?”

“
Another good
question.”

~~~~~~~~

Tuesday morning — 8:30 A.M.

Sitting at the kitchen counter, Jill set her
pen down and closed her journal. She’d never been a housewife.
She’d never wanted to be one either. Yet here she was.

A housewife.

‘
Bye honey, have a nice
day!’ ‘What would you like for dinner?’ ‘Can I pick something up
for you?’ ‘See you tonight!’ Ugh.

Yet, day two of housewifery, what surprised
her the most was that she didn’t hate it.

All the Trevor crap kept her from enrolling
in school this fall. She’s have to wait until next year to start
college at Metro or UC Denver. She was pretty sure she couldn’t sit
at this counter until then. Spinning her coffee cup, she wondered
what to do with her life.

“
Jill?” Delphie stuck her
head into the attic apartment.

“
Hi,” Jill whispered.
“Katy’s still sleeping. Those visions seem to take so much out of
her. She’s just exhausted.”

“
She saved a life last
night,” Delphie said. “You don’t mind that they are saying it was
my vision?”

“
Not at all. Katy doesn’t
care either. She’s doing so many big and important things, but
she’s a little girl first,” Jill said.

“
I admire you for letting
Katy be a little girl first. A lot of mothers wouldn’t do that,”
Delphie said.

“
What do you
mean?”

“
Katy’s a powerful
psychic. More than myself or Celia. Maybe stronger than
Jake.”

“
Maybe?”

“
Jake always wanted to be
normal.” Delphie shrugged. “He had powerful visions as a child,
like Katy does. As he grew older, he learned to tone it down. Celia
and I never knew if the visions went away or he just covered them
better. Do you have psychics in your family Jill?”

“
I don’t really know. My
parents moved here from Russia then they died when I was so
little.” Smiling, Jill changed the subject by asking, “How is
Honey?”

“
She’s well on her way to
recovering,” Delphie said.

“
Can I get you some
tea?”

“
No, I wondered if you’d
like to help me in the garden today?” Delphie asked. “But I don’t
want to get in the way of your plans. I heard you talk about going
shopping.”

“
I never replaced my
clothing from… the Trevor acid incident.” Jill brightened at the
idea of helping in the garden. “I have the kids today. Paddie’s Mom
has a doctor’s appointment around ten. She was going to drop him in
about an hour. He’ll be here most of the day.”

“
Oh great, so you would be
available,” Delphie said.

“
I’d love to help you, but
like I said, I have the kids.”

“
Kids love harvesting
food,” Delphie said. “In fact, Jake will be jealous when he finds
out Paddie and Katy got to help. Especially with the
potatoes.”

“
It’s worth a try. Those
two have so much energy. It will be good to channel it somewhere,”
Jill said. “What do we do?”

“
Come down when Katy’s
up,” Delphie said. “We’ll get started. I can use your help all
week. I think it’s going to snow soon and we need to get everything
harvested. Do you mind helping?”

“
I love to garden,” Jill
said. “I always dreamed of owning my own home where I’d have
vegetable gardens.”

Delphie smiled.

“
I think our gardens
dreamed of you,” Delphie said. “You’ll be the lady of the house
someday.”

“
Whoa,” Jill’s hands went
up. “This is your home.”

“
I’m glad you’re here.”
Delphie smiled.

~~~~~~~~

Tuesday noon
Downtown Denver

“
You don’t have to do
this,” Blane said. “Really. You’re welcome to stay with
me.”

“
I’m no freeloader,”
Heather replied. She stopped walking so Blane could open the door
of the title company for her. “Val got this money for me and the
baby. I want to own my home. Plus, with me buying half, we’ll have
lots of money to remodel.”

“
Blane Lipson,” he said to
the receptionist. “We’re here for a signing.”

“
You may take a seat,” the
receptionist said. “They will be right with you.”

“
You might want a condo or
a house at Stapleton or...”

“
I love our house,”
Heather said. “Love it. It’s absolutely everything I’ve ever
wanted. Well, it will be when Jill’s done. Are you saying you don’t
want me there?”

“
No, no, no.” Blane
shrugged. “I guess I want this so much, I want you to be
sure.”

“
Want what?”

“
Whatever this is?” Blane
motioned to Heather then to himself. “I don’t know how to explain
it. I’m not in love with you.”

“
I’m not in love with you,
either.”

“
But I’m really excited
about our family.” Blane blushed.

“
Me too,” Heather
said.

“
What if you… you know,
find someone?”

“
What if you
do?”

Blane shrugged. His face clouded and he
looked away from Heather. When Heather touched his arm, Blane
turned to look at her.

“
My Dad left my Mom and me
when I was about eight years old. Just walked out. I never saw him
again,” Heather said. “I always wanted a big noisy family. Brothers
and sisters and … well family. Sandy, Tanesha and Jill are like
sisters but just like sisters.”

“
Jake’s like a brother to
me, but just like a brother. I know what you mean.” Blane looked
away from her again. “I never even had a Mom. I mean, Celia was
like an angel and Sam’s really my Dad. But… I know what you
mean.”

“
When I sit in our house,
I feel like its home.”

Blane nodded.

“
I’d like it if we could
build a family,” Heather said.

Blane’s head jerked to look at her. She
nodded her practical sincerity to him.

“
I was thinking the same
thing,” he said.

“
I’ve had a lot of
encounters and near misses at love, Blane,” Heather
said.

“
Yeah? Me too,” Blane
said. “I’m completely off the market until I find… what I’m looking
for.”

“
Oh! I’ll do that too,”
Heather said. “We’ll wait for the real deal together AND have our
family while we wait.”

Blane beamed at Heather as she smiled at her
plan.

“
It’s a deal,” he
said.

“
Deal.”

“
I bought...”

“
Sir? If you’d like to
come this way,” the receptionist said.

Blane and Heather followed the receptionist
down the hall to a conference room. Blane held a seat for Heather
then sat down next to her. They both shook their heads at the
receptionist’s offer of water or tea.