Celia's Puppies (6 page)

Does the air conditioner run?

She kicked the side of the box. It made a
noise then rattled. Shaking the knob, the ancient air conditioning
unit started to work. Jill was instantly sorry it did. The unit
pushed a part mold, part cigarette smoke, and part indefinable dead
thing smell into the apartment.

She flipped the air conditioner off. She’d
rather be hot.

Yep, she could see why she wanted to be away
from the clean, beautiful, and cool Castle.

But the dead thing smell didn’t go away.

Wandering out onto her minute balcony, Jill
saw the destruction. All of her potted plants had been smashed. Her
small tomato plant had been yanked from the soil. Pressing her hand
to her forehead, Jill reeled from the destruction. She had bought
old seeds for 10 cents a packet, then nurtured them in Dixie cups.
Sometimes, with love and care, they grew into plants. She even
created a little watering system to keep them going when she was
working. All of that was wrecked.

Her nose followed the smell. A dead cat. A
dead cat on her balcony. Jill went back into the apartment to find
a plastic grocery bag to dispose of the animal. Returning to the
balcony, she bent to pick up the poor animal when she saw a note
melted into the rotting flesh.

“
UR NEXT
BITCH.”

Jill blinked. Without thinking another
thought, she wrapped the animal in the bag. Carrying the rotting
carcass into her apartment, she wrapped it another grocery bag.
Then another bag. She called for Scooter to guard her most precious
possession, Katy. With Scooter on guard at the front door, Jill ran
down the stairs to the dumpster and threw the dead cat away.

When the animal hit the bottom of the
dumpster, she said a prayer. She prayed that the poor cat hadn’t
suffered. She prayed that she would never get another message like
this. And, more than anything, she prayed that Trevor would never,
ever come back from Thailand.

Running back up the stairs, Jill double
locked the door. She was halfway across the small apartment when
she noticed that she’d splashed cat rot on her clothing and hands.
After making sure the door was locked, and Katy was safe, she
hopped into the shower.

Stepping out of the shower, she realized
that the cat wasn’t the only message from Trevor. The steam from
the shower revealed a message on the mirror.

“
U BELONG TO
ME”

Jill gasped. Dripping, she ran naked to
Katy’s room. Scooter looked up from his post. Katy was laughing at
something her doll said.

“
Mommy? Why are you naked?
Silly Mommy.” Katy laughed. “Mommy, what happened to your pretty
long hair?”

Jill reached for her hair and found it
falling off in clumps. Running back to the bathroom she saw her
perfect long hair was melting in the mirror. In an effort to stop
the melt, she grabbed nail scissors from the drawer and clipped her
hair in ragged chunks. It had taken her all of Katy’s life to grow
her hair out.

And now it was gone.

Sandy will cry when she sees this.

Feeling a burning on her back, she turned to
check it in the mirror. Red blistering spots appeared on her back.
She ran the shower on her back. The hair burning stuff must have
been in her
super-expensive-help-your-hair-grow-long-gift-from-your-best-friend
special conditioner.

Reaching for towels, she saw that the
hanging towels had feces mashed into them. She smiled at herself in
the mirror. Outside of ‘I need a clean towel,’ Trevor never paid
attention to the towels. She reached under the cabinet for a clean
towel. Wrapped in two fluffy clean towels, she went into her
bedroom.

Not trusting the clothes in her closet, Jill
dressed in clothes she bought for dating. She was so freaked out
about dating that she hid them. The skinny black jeans, thong
underwear, pushup bra, and low cut top were clean.

Time to go through the apartment. Her bed
had been soiled with blood. Her clothing splattered with bleach.
The refrigerator she intentionally emptied was refilled with
chicken and milk then unplugged. She slammed the refrigerator door
against the smell.

Her television was gone as were Katy’s
precious cartoon videotapes. Every photo in her albums had nasty
Sharpie comments. And...

How was she going to check Katy’s room?
Sticking her head in the door, she saw Katy playing and
laughing.

“
Mommy?” Katy looked up
from her game.

“
Yes, Katy-baby,” Jill
said. Her eyes scanned Katy’s room for any disruption or
soiling.

“
I’m so glad to be home,”
Katy said. “Can we stay here tonight?”

Jill opened her mouth, then closed it.

“
Of course, Katy-baby. Of
course.”

Jill went the kitchen where Katy couldn’t
hear her. The old Jill, the one who belonged to Trevor, would have
curled up into a ball and cried. For two days. At least.

But this Jill was pissed. Knowing Jacob was
asleep, she called Mike.

“
Yeah,” Mike
said.

“
I need help,” Jill said.
“I’m at the apartment.”

“
I’m on my way,” Mike
replied.

“
Katy can’t
know.”

“
Got it.”

~~~~~~~~

Tuesday early morning — 2:12 A.M.

“
Where’ve you been
hiding?” Jacob asked Mike.

Jacob had opened his eyes an hour earlier.
He lay in bed aching for Jill until he couldn’t stand himself. He
wandered to the Castle main kitchen for some cereal. He was right
in the middle of some quality self pity when Mike sauntered into
the kitchen.

“
How did you know I’ve
been hiding?” Mike asked.

“
I’ve hid from this
Hollywood crap for years.”

Mike nodded his head. Pulling a bowl from
the cabinet, he poured some Captain Crunch. He held the box for
Jacob. Jacob nodded and Mike filled his bowl. They ate in
silence.

“
What I don’t get...” Mike
started then took a bite of cereal.

Jacob looked up at Mike.

“
Why didn’t you give Jill
another room in the attic? I mean, you’re just in a small part…
like nine hundred square feet or something. The attic
is...”

“
Twenty-nine hundred
square feet,” Jacob said. “Listen man, Jill wanted to go
home.”

“
She wanted some space of
her own,” Mike said. “Everyone likes to have some space to
themselves. I need it. Val needs it. And you have rooms and
rooms...”

“
Jill was here for a
week,” Jacob said. “She could have moved in to the other space if
she wanted to. She told me she wanted to go home… was rather
insistent about it.”

“
I doubt Jill knows
there’s more space in the attic. She’s a very concrete person. If
she doesn’t see it, it doesn’t exist,” Mike said. “In fact, she
asked me a couple times if I had the key to the bathroom closet. I
didn’t pay any attention because there ...”

“
Isn’t a closet in the
bathroom,” the men said together.

“
Oh.” Jacob said. He stood
from his seat to put his bowl in the kitchen sink.

“
Do you have the key to
the door?”

“
Sure,” Jacob
said.

“
Let’s go show her the
rest of the attic,” Mike said.

“
Jill’s here?”

Jacob rushed toward the door. In a breath,
he was up the stairs and holding Jill. She nestled her head against
his good shoulder.

“
Yes,” Jill
said.

“
Yes?” Jacob
asked.

“
I’ll marry
you.”

Chapter
thirty

Sheer brilliance

Tuesday morning — 8 A.M.

Jacob looked across his dining table at
Jill. He’d worried that last night’s disaster would catch up with
her today.

But she seemed happy.

Her matted hair was covered in a yellow
bandana which brightened her face. She was beautiful. When he came
up the stairs to have breakfast with them, she and Katy cheered.
Jill set out bowls for cereal then settled Katy on her booster
seat.

“
What cereal would you
like?” Jacob asked.

“
I like the one with the
smiley guy on it,” Katy said.

“
This one?” Jacob pointed
to the box. “Captain Crunch.”

“
Uncle Mike calls it ‘The
Cap’n.’” Katy clapped her hands together as if she made a
joke.

“
You have good taste,”
Jacob said. He poured her a bowl of cereal. “What would you like,
Jill?”

Standing next to Katy with the milk in her
hand, Jill looked up to smile at him. Her arched eyebrow sent a
shiver through him.

“
Mommy?”

“
Just a second Katy,” Jill
said. She tapped her top lip as if she was making a difficult
decision. “I must decide what to have.”

“
But Mommy, you have to
look.”

Jill’s head jerked to Katy. After last night
disaster, Jill was on alert for any potential danger. Katy pointed
to an object in her cereal.

“
There’s something in my
cereal.”

Jill took Katy’s bowl away from her.

“
Is it poison?” Katy
giggled. “Paddie says sometimes people get poisoned. He will be so
jealous if I get poisoned first!”

“
Poison?”

Jill puzzled at Katy’s bright face. Paddie
was Katy’s best friend at Catholic pre-school. Katy and Paddie
played together last night when his father, Homeland Security Agent
Colin Hargreaves, visited her apartment. Jill shook the bowl to see
if she could see what Katy was talking about.

“
Maybe it’s the prize,”
Jacob said. Peering inside the cereal box, he said, “There’s
another one.”

Jill snatched the box from him. She shook
the cereal from side to side until she saw something. Using her
spoon, she dug out the object.

“
Mommy! It’s a pretty
ring!” Katy squealed.

“
Look at that,” Jacob
said. “I wondered what happened to that.”

“
I’ve looked for it with
the other diamonds.” Jill flushed. She hadn’t wanted to admit
that.

“
That ring belongs to me.”
Jacob held his hand out and Jill dropped it in his left palm. “This
diamond is the only diamond found in the Marlowe mine. Or so they
say. There’s no record of a diamond find in Colorado. So who knows?
But that is the legend. These aquamarines are indeed from the
Marlowe mine. This ring has adorned the left hands of at least
three generations of Marlowe wives. It’s called ‘The Marlowe
beauty’. Of course, there has never been a more beautiful Marlowe
bride than you.”

“
What does it mean,
Mommy?”

“
It means we’re getting
married,” Jill beamed at Jacob. “But...”

She fished around in Katy’s bowl to find a
child’s size imitation of her ring.

“
I know it’s stupid,
crazy, but we’re all getting married,” Jacob said. “I had it made.
That’s why the Beauty wasn’t in its box at the
hospital.”

“
You had it made? From the
hospital?”

“
Technically, Aden had it
made,” Jacob said. “On my instruction and he works for me
and...”

Jill kissed him. He bent on one knee.
Holding her hands, he looked up into her eyes.

“
Will you marry me, Jill?”
Jacob asked.

“
Hmm... I’m not sure. Let
me consult with Katy,” Jill said. “Katy, should we marry
Jacob?”

“
YES, YES, YES, YES, YES!”
Katy bounced in her seat.

“
We will marry you,
Jacob,” Jill said.

Jacob slipped the Marlowe Beauty on her
finger then stood to kiss her.

“
I can’t hold you and...”
He whispered.

Jill let go of him. He took the tiny ring
and slipped in on Katy’s pinky finger.

“
That’s very pretty,
Daddy,” Katy said. “I’m glad I picked Captain Crunch. I bet Paddie
doesn’t have one of these! He’s going to be so jealous.”

Biting her lip, Jill’s eyebrows pinched
together with worry.

“
What if she loses it?
She’s just a little girl. Jacob...”

“
We’ll get her another.”
He shrugged. “I only plan on getting married once.”

Jill gave him her ‘rich people are so weird’
look and he laughed.

“
Well, now that’s done.”
Jacob stood and made his way to the door leaving a stunned Jill.
“Back to work.”

“
DADDY!” Katy said. “You
didn’t eat your cereal.”

Laughing, Jacob turned around and came back
to wrap his left arm around Jill.

“
Love you Jill,” he
whispered in her ear.

She kissed his cheek then tidied the sling
on his right arm.

“
WAIT!” Katy
said.

They both turned to her.

“
What about the
poison!?”

Jacob laughed at Katy’s bright smile and
face. He bent to kiss her cheek. Sitting back down at the table, he
began eating his Captain Crunch. After a few bites, he looked up to
see Jill admiring her ring.

“
It’s really mine?” Jill
asked.

“
Yes. Will you really
marry me?”

“
Yes. Oh yes.”

~~~~~~~~

Tuesday afternoon — 1:25 P.M.

“
Hey, what are you doing
here?” Mike asked Colin Hargreaves. “And what are you
wearing?”