Fort Lupton (7 page)

Surprised, Heather could only nod.

“
Listen there’s
something . . .” Heather started at the same time he
said, “I’m sorry I . . .”

He gave her a sad smile and gestured for her
to talk.

“
My mom left,” Heather
said in a fast, strident voice. She wanted to get the words out
before she chickened out. “With my dad, so I think I’m going to be
here for a while and . . .”

“
Psyche left with Eros?”
Tres looked genuinely surprised.

“
How did you know?”
Heather asked.

“
I don’t know how,” Tres
said. “I just know. Maybe Jake said something
or . . . I doubt it though. I re-read the story when
we met and again after Mack. You’re Hedone. I knew when we met that
you were Hedone.”

His voice was so matter-of-fact that Heather
nodded.

“
Goddess Hedone,” Tres
said.

“
Half,” Heather
said.

“
And the other half?”
Tres’s eyebrow went up suggestively, and she blushed.

“
My mom used to take me,
whenever I got settled and . . .” Heather said in a
flurry of embarrassed words. “I’m going to stay married to
Blane.”

Tres nodded.

“
Richer and poorer and all
that,” Heather said.

“
Wait. Are you saying we
could . . .?” Tres’s eyebrows went up with
surprise.

Heather nodded.

“
And Blane?” Tres
asked.

“
He knows,” Heather
said.

“
I know he knows,” Tres
said. “It doesn’t seem . . . polite.”

“
It doesn’t,” Heather
nodded. “But he’s already fallen for Nelson.”

“
Nelson who works at
Denver Crime Lab?” Tres asked.

Heather nodded.

“
Huh,” Tres said. He
looked at Heather for a moment. “That’s a lot to digest. You guys
planned this?”

“
No,” Heather said. “We
planned that he would be my husband, father of my children, until
my mom took me. But now that I can stay — one human lifetime,
that’s the deal — we can make other decisions. For
now . . .”

“
Blane has to heal,” Tres
said.

“
Our first priority,”
Heather nodded. It can take up to a year for him to have full
immune function, that's assuming that he doesn't reject the
infusion or get sick or..."

Tres grinned at her. 

"What?" She
asked.

“
It’s so clean, all above board,”
Tres said.

“
That’s Blane,” Heather
said. “No hurt feelings.”

Tres nodded. Their eyes held for a moment.
Heather blushed and looked down.

“
I should go,” Tres
said.

“
Me too,” Heather said. “I
need to get back to Denver Health to bring Tink clothes and then
get to Saint Joe’s to see Blane.”

“
A day of many hospitals,”
Tres said.

Heather nodded.

“
But
we . . .” Tres said.

Heather nodded. Tres grinned. Without saying
another word, he walked out of the house. Heather blew out a
breath. She waited until she heard him drive off before picking up
the duffle bag and her handbag on her way outside. Once in her car,
she smiled.

He was definitely the bright spot in a very
hard day.

She started the car and headed toward Denver
Health.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday morning — 10:05 a.m.

“
I don’t understand,”
Sandy said.

Aden put his arm around her shoulder to try
to keep her calm. She looked like she was going to scream or cry or
both. Of course, Sandy would never do anything like that. She
glanced at him and turned back to the doctor.

“
Charlie was supposed to
die,” Sandy said. “That’s what you’re telling me.”

“
He had massive internal
bleeding,” the doctor said. “We removed his spleen. His liver is in
shreds. He has a few broken vertebrae
and . . .”

The doctor shook his head.

“
We’ve opened his skull to
relieve the pressure,” the doctor said.

“
But?” Sandy
asked.

“
He’s still a very sick
young man,” the doctor said.

“
If he makes it today,
you’ll have to go back in,” Sandy repeated something the surgeon
had said last night.

“
I’d encourage you to
focus on today,” the doctor said.

“
Because you still think
he’s going to die,” Sandy said.

The doctor stared at Sandy. His eyelids
flicked over his dark eyes like shutters. He swallowed hard. Blink,
blink, swallow, followed by blink, blink, swallow.

“
When would the surgery
happen?” Sandy asked.

“
Later today.” The doctor
looked relieved to have something to say.

Sandy nodded.

“
There’s nothing you can
do but wait,” the doctor said.

“
I’m sorry,” Sandy said.
“But there’s everything we can do.”

The doctor looked at her as if she were
covered in explosives and showing him the detonator.

“
We can be with him,”
Sandy said. “Read to him, love him, pray for
him . . .”

“
Well,
I . . .” the doctor said.

“
You’re going to give us
access,” Sandy said.

“
I . . .”

Sandy gave him a stern look, and the doctor
flushed.

“
That’s my little
brother,” Sandy said. “You’ll give us access
or . . . we’ll just take it.”

She sniffed at the man.

“
One at a time,” the
doctor said. “Fifteen minutes max.
But
if he gets worse or the visits
are distracting to other patients, you’ll be cut off.”

As if he were in control of the situation,
the doctor gave her an authoritative nod. She responded as if he’d
given her a lollipop. He scowled at her and left the private family
room. Sandy sneered at his back.

“
Asshole,” Sandy said
under her breath.

“
What did you have in
mind?” Aden asked.

“
I want Heather and Jill
here. Now,” Sandy said. “Sissy and Tink will stay here. Seth and
Ava. Everyone from the Castle, of course. And we need to get that
Akeem.”

“
Rodney’s charge?” Aden
asked.

“
Him.” Sandy nodded.
“You’ll make a schedule.”

“
Uh . . .”
Aden gave a quick shake of his head. “What?”

“
We’re going hospital to
hospital,” Sandy said. “While we’re here, the others will be there.
We need a schedule. You’re good at making those. Organizing
shifts.”

“
Do I need to know what
you’re doing at these hospitals?” Aden asked.

“
Love,” Sandy said. “We’re
going to infuse Charlie with love. Blane too.”

Looking up at him, she gave Aden a fierce
look.

“
Nobody dies today.” Sandy
nodded.

She turned away from Aden to face the wall.
For a moment, she rounded her shoulders and let her head fall into
her hands. As if it had never happened, her shoulders pushed back.
She turned to look at Sissy and Tink. The girls gave her an
intimidated look.

“
Nobody dies today,” Sandy
repeated. “Now, where is my phone?”

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday morning — 11:25 a.m.

Seth slid the sliding glass door open and
stopped. The den in front of him was a mess. The cabinets were
open, and their contents had been spilled all over the floor. He
stepped inside.

“
Maresol!” Seth yelled.
“Maresol!”

He heard a moan and ran into the room. He
jumped over the spilled contents of his vinyl record collection and
slid across the tile through a pile of books. He rounded the bar
and ran into the kitchen.

There was a small puddle of blood, more like
a spill than an entire body’s worth.

“
Maresol?” Seth
asked.

He heard a noise from the cabinet under the
bar. He opened the cabinet door and Maresol fell out. She’d been
stuffed inside the cabinet with her knees up against her chin.
She’d fallen onto her side. Seth dropped to the floor. He was
checking her neck for her pulse when her eyes fluttered open. Her
face was grey and her breathing shallow.

“
Oh, Maresol,” Seth
said.

“
Seth,” she whispered. As
if it hurt, her hands went to the back of her head. “Is he
gone?”

“
Who?” Seth asked. He
tried to move her hands to look at the wound on her
head.

“
Oso rojo,” Maresol’s
mouth formed the words. “Police.”

Seth stiffened.

“
He did this?” Seth
asked.

“
Hit me,” Maresol said. “I
hid when he went up . . .”

There was a smash as something fell over
upstairs.

“
Call the police,”
Maresol’s eyes begged him. “He wants to kill you. Said he would.
Let them deal with it.”

Hearing a noise, Seth looked up to see Dale,
their young, resident handyman looking over the bar at them.

“
We should kick his ass,”
Dale said.

“
Dale!” Maresol
said.

There was another crash upstairs.

“
The guy who did this
is . . .?” Dale asked. He pointed to the
ceiling.

“
No heroics,” Seth
said.

“
But . . .”
Dale started.

“
Please,” Maresol
said.

She looked so sick that Dale gave an
agreeing nod.

“
We’ll let the Denver
Police handle their own mess,” Seth said.

He waved for Dale to get Maresol’s other
arm. Together, they mostly carried her out to the pool area in the
carriage house. Seth called the police from there. They waited only
a few minutes before the first police officer appeared at the back
gate. He helped them get Maresol out of the backyard. Once out of
the yard, the officer asked Seth and Dale to stay out of the house
and garden.

When the ambulance came for Maresol, Seth
insisted that he and Dale go with her. A few minutes later, Maresol
was wheeled into the emergency room at Denver Health. Seth pushed
and prodded Dale to go with him to find Sandy.

“
Oh good, you’re here,”
Sandy said.

She scanned Seth’s face.

“
What happened?” Sandy
asked.

“
Maresol was knocked
unconscious at the house,” Seth said.

“
Maresol!” Sandy’s hand
went to her heart. “Is she okay?”

“
She’s in emergency,” Seth
said. “Looks like a flesh wound, but she’s not exactly
young.”

“
You heard they opened
Charlie’s . . .”

Sandy gestured to the crown of her head, and
Seth nodded.

“
What were they after?”
Sandy asked.

Seth winced, and Sandy’s mouth fell open
with surprise.

“
Andy’s
symphony . . .” Sandy said.

Seth nodded.

“
Red Bear,” Sandy
whispered. “He’s alive.”

“
Asshole was there when we
left,” Dale said.

“
Oh God, poor Maresol,”
Sandy said. She looked at Dale, and then back at Seth. “Where’s
Ava?”

“
With her sister,” Seth
said. “At the homestead.”

“
The way this day is
going, you’d better check,” Sandy said.

Seth dialed his cellphone.

“
How are you at loving?”
Sandy asked Dale.

“
What?” Dale
asked.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday afternoon — 1:25 p.m. ET
Atlanta, Georgia

“
Nasty business,” the
family court judge said.

“
Sir, we’re not sure
what’s going on here,” Ephraim James, the Atlanta lawyer Schmidty
hired said. “Truth be told, we believe it’s a matter for the
police.”

“
That’s the truth,” the
family court judge said.

“
We’d like to let the
police work out the details,” Ephraim said.

“
While you take the boy
home?” the judge said.

“
Yes, sir,” Ephraim James
said. “We’d very much like to take the child home to Denver, where
he belongs.”

“
Those are the details to
be worked out.” The judge looked over his reading glasses at
Jeraine, Bumpy, Dionne, and Yvonne. He glanced at Annette, her
boyfriend, and attorney. “Funny thing.”

“
Yes, sir?” Ephraim
asked.

“
I happen to know the
Denver judge in this case,” the judge said. “Now I don’t know all
of the family court judges in Denver, or even in Atlanta, for that
matter. But Judge Teirten and I happened to have been on a few
panels together — at conferences, you know. Turns out, there aren’t
a lot of judges who deal with celebrities’ custody
issues.”

The family court judge looked down the row
of people on Jeraine’s side of the court and then down the row on
Annette’s side. His eyes returned to look at Jeraine.

“
I called him as soon as I
was assigned this case,” the judge said. “You know what he
said?”

“
No, sir,” Ephraim
said.

“
He said this matter was
resolved,” the judge said. “Signed, stamped, and delivered. Just
yesterday, for that matter.”