Disarranged (15 page)

Seeing his face, so trusting and open, I feel even sicker. How can I tell him? What will he do? It's not like we've ever talked about something like this - hell, we haven't even talked about how a long-term relationship between us would go. We were only together two weeks back then. A baby is a huge responsibility! Before he can say anything more, I dash into the bathroom behind him and vomit again. Lee comes in to comfort me, and Morgan talks with Vivienne in rapid French.

"What did she say?" Lee asks Morgan when she walks over to us. "What's wrong?"

"Um, Rose should tell you, not me. But I wanna have dibs on naming its middle name, okay?"

"Naming? What are you -"

"It's fine!" I regain my senses enough to speak and rinse my mouth out with water. "It's okay. I'll tell you later. Let's just...go help Vivienne now, okay?"

He has a bewildered look on his face for hours, but the busy work of preparing a massive dinner distracts him and gives me the time I need to think. What if he doesn't want it? What if I don't want it? I'm not done with school. I haven't even started putting together the frame of my bakery business, yet. With a child that will become ten times more difficult.

But it's my baby in there. Lee and I. It would be terrifying, but I don't doubt it'd be rewarding. If it was a boy, it'd look as handsome as Lee, I'm sure. If it was a girl, it might even look a little like Grace. 'It'. It's so weird calling it that. But for now, that's all it is, and all it can be. If I get attached and Lee doesn't want it, I don't know what I'll do. Maybe I already am attached.  

An entire day passes, and Lee respectfully doesn't bother me about telling him what was wrong. We sit at the fire and read. Morgan has the best reading voice, and she's only halfway through Pride and Prejudice when the blizzard finally decides to lift, six days after it began.

Vivienne wraps my ankle one last time the next morning. The sun shines through the cabin windows, showing us just how much it snowed in the last few days. Everything looks so bright and new and crisp outside, and Morgan is dying to get out and roll around in the freshly fallen snow. I've relied on Lee to lean on as I walk around the cabin, and as we leave it's no exception. He holds my arm and I hobble down the stairs, a little indignant he's been helping me around the house, but mostly grateful. I'll be glad to walk on my own two feet again, that's for sure.

Vivienne has a tiny red car, and we all pile in and drive down to the village. It's been a bad blizzard, with no phone service at all, so the people back at the lodge have no idea if we're dead or alive. Morgan's parents are the first ones we call using La Cigogne's phone. Morgan tears up and her mother is so loud on the other end we can hear it echo in the bakery through the phone. When she's done, she hands it to me, and Grace is on the other line, sounding breathless.

"Hello? Rose? Is that you?"

"Hi Grace. Sorry to make you worry."

"Oh my god!" She shrieks. "Oh my god, you bitch! Do you have any idea - do you have any idea what's been going through my head this week? You! You -"

"I know," I say soothingly. "I'm sorry. Lee's here, too."

"Oh thank god," Grace sobs. "The rescue team said - the rescue team said there was no chance -"

Lee leans over and takes the phone from me.

"It's okay, Grace. We're fine. Well, Rose fractured her ankle, but we splinted it and it'll be alright." Pause. "I know, but I wasn't gonna leave Rose out there -" Pause. "Did she go home?" Pause. "We'll be right there. Hold on."

He hangs up, and looks to me.

"Kiera."

Chapter Eight

In Which Rose Jensen Tells A Secret

Vivienne lets Lee borrow the car, and he drives like a maniac back to the lodge. I know he doesn't like Kiera in the slightest, but as her ex, I think he still feels guilty about various things he had no control over during their relationship. It makes him feel responsible, and if anything it's a sign of what a good person he is. He might not like her, but somewhere deep down he liked who she used to be. He won't tell me what's wrong, but when we pull into the parking lot and get out, Morgan running into the lodge to hug her parents, I know exactly what's going on.

Police.

There's dozens of cars in the parking lot, and several officers wandering around outside the lodge. Lee helps me inside, and the number of officers triples. In a small town with not much to do, any disturbance is as good as an excuse as any for a maximum response. Grace runs up to me and slams into me, hugging me around the neck so tight for a second I can't breathe. She does the same to Lee, but punches him in the chest before hugging him. Her beautiful face is red and her eyes are puffy, an indicator of just how much she's cried in the past few days. Her hair is disheveled. Our disappearance really did a number on her.

"You idiots." She sniffs, then yells. "You idiots!"

She hugs us both at the same time, and her phone starts ringing wildly. She looks at it.

"Jen," she says. "She's so worried it's not even funny. Here, Rose, you talk to her."

As I try to persuade Jen that no, I am not in fact half-eaten by a bear and talking from the afterlife to her, I see Lee stride off in the direction of a small crowd. Kiera's in the middle, and Felix is with her. Several police officers are asking her questions, and she's snapping at them with a mean look on her face. In the back of the little circle I can see Farlon, sitting at a chair and watching the Kiera interaction with a smug look on his face.

When Jen is sufficiently reassured that I'm not pulling a Sixth Sense on her, I walk over to Farlon. Grace doesn't. He looks up at me and smiles.

"Rose. Good to see you alive and well. Both of you."

"That's what you meant," I say slowly. "Before I left to look for Morgan. You knew I was pregnant."

"There are subtle signs," he sighs. "I've bred mares all my life, and contrary to what humanity likes to believe, we are not all that different in our physical signs of health from animals. I admit, I'm not the best breeder, and I've been lazy and indolent managing the ranch, but since I was a young boy I've had the innate talent of sensing what mares were pregnant and which were not. It's a gift, you could say. When Lee and Grace's mother was still alive, it would anger her to no end when I'd realize she was pregnant before her."

He chuckles.

"How -" I start.

"It's the way you walk, mostly," he says quickly. "Wider, and with a strange lilt to the gait. That's why I was following you around the lodge - I had to make sure I was correct."

I'm almost offended he's comparing me to a horse, but I'm also amazed. Vivienne didn't even guess at it until I'd stayed with her for six days, but all Farlon had to do was stalk me through the lodge halls once or twice. He sighs.

"Frankly, I would welcome a grandchild. I know Lee and Grace have less than stellar impressions of their own father, but I'd like to hold a grandchild in my arms, just once, even if they wouldn't allow me any other contact with it."

His voice is kept carefully level, but I can hear the dark fragment of sadness buried deep within it. It bleeds out over his words and makes it clear as day that he wants nothing more than to hold, love, and spoil a grandchild. But he's convinced he'll never get that chance, and he's realizing, just now, how far he's alienated his own son and daughter.

"I don't - I don't even know if I'm going to keep it," I murmur.

"It would be nice if you did. He doesn't know, of course?" Farlon jerks his head to Lee, and I nod. "Yes, well. He's very dense with these sorts of things. And it seems you two have only recently reconciled. Perhaps it's for the best not to have it."

I flinch. Just the thought of not having it stabs an icicle of pain into my ribs, right between them and to my heart, twisting there like a cold finger of torture. Farlon raises an eyebrow.

"Do you want to keep it? That is truly all that matters in these sorts of things. It is your body."

"I do!" I shout, a little too loud. I lower my voice. "I really do. I want that...more than anything."

He smiles, faintly. "That is good to hear. If the time comes when you are about to give birth, I would offer you the ranch to stay at. The Spanish countryside will be beautiful in six months. September is when we start training the foals for show, and the leaves of every tree turn gold. The groundskeeper has planted a vegetable garden, too, and the smell of rosemary and lavender is everywhere. You would eat well and rest well - I would ensure that much."

"It sounds amazing. It's a really nice offer, thank you. But I have to talk to Lee about everything, first."

"Indeed. He is a little young to be a father, but then again, so was I."  

Farlon and I watch Kiera as the police officers question her. She looks so frustrated. Lee's hanging on the edges, and Felix looks almost relieved.

"What happened?" I ask.

Farlon laughs. "Her friend Felix approached me. He knows who I am, of course. Kiera called me here to...partake in some illicit activities that involved a young girl and a date rape drug. I refused to do it, of course. I am cruel, but I am a grown man - above such petty games you children play. During the blizzard, Felix told me he did it instead, and that he regretted it. I offered to call some people who knew some people, and here we are."

I furrow my brow. Kiera's voice is so loud it's easy to hear the conversation even from where I'm standing.

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" She screeches. "I don't even know what GHB is! Don't you dare touch me! Do you have any idea who my father is?"

It's then that the lodge doors open, and Charlie Rothman walks through the door. He looks the same as ever - broad in the shoulders, with almost pure white hair. Kiera has his piercing blue eyes, but not much else. When Kiera sees him, she breaks free of the police circle and runs to hug him.

"Daddy! Tell these idiots they can't arrest me!"

Charlie frowns, and speaks in a low voice to the officers. I can't hear what he's saying, but Kiera can, and her face pales with his every word. She stamps her foot and glares at Felix, who stands tall against her searing gaze.

"You can't!" She points at him. "You can't testify against me! You have no proof!"

Felix fishes around in his pocket and holds up a USB drive.

"This is you, asking me to get the GHB. Your voice, Kiera. Your plan," he says.

"You idiot - you'll go to jail too!" She wrings her hands. I've never seen her this nervous or anxious before.

"That's fine," Felix scoffs. "As long as it means you learn your lesson, too."

"Daddy! You can't!"

Charlie looks to Farlon and nods, and Farlon nods back.

"I'm sorry, Kiera," Charlie says. "But it's high time someone stopped you. I love you, but I can't stand around idly while you go down this path of destroying others."

"I'm not -" Kiera makes a half-laugh, half-scoff. "I'm not destroying anyone! Felix put the GHB in her drink, I saw him! It's his fault!"

"For being my daughter," Charlie interrupts. "And having gone to Stanford Law, you are awfully self-incriminating. You just said you had no idea what GHB was, and now you admit to seeing him put that exact thing in someone's drink? I advise, as your lawyer, you remain silent."

Kiera fumes silently, glaring daggers between Lee and Felix and I. She sees Farlon last, and points accusingly at him.

"You! You did this! You backstabbing little weasel! We had a deal!"

Farlon shrugs languidly. Lee and Grace look to him, both their faces a mixture of confusion and incredulity. I can read their thoughts, almost; their father? The man they hated so much - he was the one who finally put a stop to Kiera hurting me?

"That's not all she did," Felix says. The entire lobby's watching the scuffle, now. "Ask your friend from NASA what she wanted to know, Mr. Rothman."

Charlie raises a heavy brow at Kiera, who snarls.

"Shut up, worm!"

"She was the one!" Morgan chimes in, running over and pulling on Kiera's skirt. "She was the one who told me Rose got lost on the Alligator!"

"Be quiet!" Kiera snaps, giving a little kick of her leg. Morgan lands on her butt, and her parents quickly scoop her up and away from the furious Kiera.

"The witness testimony is overwhelmingly against you." Charlie shakes his head. "Let's go."

"Go where? I'm not going anywhere! I haven't done anything wrong! Lee! Lee, tell them! I haven't done anything wrong!" Kiera screams. Two officers hold her arms, and she fights against them, lunging for Lee, who stands a few feet away. He's her last hope - the only person who hasn't turned against her. He's watching her with remorseful eyes, and I know he's torn. But beneath the tear, he's making a decision, once and for all. Lee looks at me, and smiles, and then turns back.

"Goodbye, Kiera," he murmurs.

"No!" Kiera shouts. "No, no,
no
! Lee! Tell them they're wrong, Lee!"

"Kiera Rothman, you are under arrest," One police officer says in highly French-accented English. "For the purchase of Class B illicit drugs on French soil."

"Daddy!" Kiera screams.

"Be quiet," He says, calmly and steadily. "You're lucky it's not a murder charge. Let's go, officers."

At his word the officers turn and leave, and one of them puts Kiera in cuffs. She wrenches around, trying desperately to escape, but their grip is like iron. She looks to me, her face now wet with tears, and her perfect bun askew on her head.

“Please! Rose, you have to help me. Please! I never meant to hurt you. I never – I just wanted –”

Lee. It goes unsaid between us. She just wanted Lee. So did I. I backed off the last time. This is just like the Christmas charity ball, but this time I’ll tell her how I feel. I’ll fight for what I want, instead of letting it slip through my fingers.

“I’m sorry,” I say to her as she passes, the police officers jerking her along. “But I want him, too.”

Her tear-stained face slowly dissolves, the pitiful look in her eye turning ferocious.