Fort Morgan (32 page)

Tanesha laughed.

“
Ready for bed?” Jeraine
asked.

“
I was wondering if you
wanted to bask in my glow,” Tanesha said.

“
Absolutely,” Jeraine
said.

Tanesha laughed and led him to bed.

~~~~~~~~

Monday morning — 6:35 a.m.

Denver, Colorado

“
Noelle?”

Aden leaned into Noelle’s bedroom to see if
she was up. Her face a mask of sorrow, Noelle propped herself up on
an elbow.

“
You’ve been up a while,”
Aden said.

“
New York is two hours
earlier, Daddy,” Noelle said.

“
You’ve been up crying for
hours,” Aden said.

Noelle gave him a sad nod and lay back down.
Aden sat down on the edge of Sissy’s bed, next to Noelle’s.

“
What’s going on?” Aden
asked, trying to keep his panic at bay.

“
Everything’s wrong,
Daddy,” Noelle said. “Sissy and I went to New York to launch our
careers! Now I’m home in disgrace, and
Sissy. . .”

With tears easily flowing down her face,
Noelle gave him a solemn nod.

“
Are you pregnant?” Aden
asked.

“
Daddy!” Noelle said in a
shocked voice.

“
That’s just usually what
people mean when they say a girl went home ‘in disgrace,’” Aden
said.

“
Oh,” Noelle said with a
fierce shake of her head. “That’s not me.”

“
I hope not,” Aden
said.

Deep in thought, Noelle stopped crying. She
glanced at her father.

“
I didn’t even make it
until Mike came!” Noelle said. She leaned toward Aden. “I’m
embarrassed.”

“
Well,” Aden said as he
leaned forward. In a low tone, he said, “Lucky for you, Mike is
coming here.”

“
He is?” Noelle sat up
straight.

“
Seems that they would
have made it to New York, but Val’s been in hiding with her best
friend, Samantha Hargreaves.”

“
Mike’s been with Val,”
Noelle’s head went up and down. “Oh, I see.”

“
They should be home in
the next day or so,” Aden said.

“
He’s not disappointed
with me?” Noelle asked.

“
Not in the least,” Aden
said. “He told me that you were very brave.”

“
Me?” Noelle’s face marked
her surprise. Her hands pointed to her chest.

“
You are very brave,” Aden
said.

“
Oh,” Noelle said. She
leaned forward, and in a soft voice, she said, “I don’t feel very
brave. I feel like a stupid little girl.”

“
Yes,” Aden said. “I know
what you mean. I’ve felt like that myself. Well, not the girl
part.”

Noelle smiled.

“
Speaking of brave,” Aden
said. “Wanda is coming over for breakfast.”

“
Really?” Noelle
asked.

“
Tink, too,” Aden said.
“You know, Tink was almost shot at as well.”

“
I know,” Noelle said with
great enthusiasm. “We both almost died!”

Aden turned away to keep her from seeing his
smile.

“
I, for one, am really
glad that you didn’t die,” Aden said.

“
Me, too,” Noelle
said.

“
Do you think you can get
up? Get dressed?” Aden asked.

“
I’ll do it,” Noelle said.
She flipped off her covers and then stopped. She stared straight
ahead. In a soft voice, she said, “How is Sissy?”

“
Good,” Aden said. “She’s
still in the hospital, but she’s progressing well.”

“
What does that mean?”
Noelle asked.

“
I don’t know,” Aden said
with a smile. “We’ll ask Sandy at breakfast.”

“
Mom’ll be here?” Noelle
asked. “What about Sissy?”

“
She’ll be here by
computer,” Aden said. “She and Delphie will both be here by
computer.”

“
Why. . .”
Noelle’s face lit up in a smile. “That’s great.”

“
Of course, your brother
and his friend will be there,” Aden said.

“
Teddy’s coming for
breakfast!” Noelle bounced with excitement.

“
Teddy
and Nash
,” Aden said. “You remember
your brother Nash, don’t you?”

Noelle waved her hand at Nash’s name, and
Aden smiled.

“
They’re moving back in
this morning,” Aden said. “And we’re all going to visit schools
this afternoon.”

“
Regular old school,”
Noelle said. “I wish I went to the Denver School of the
Arts.”

“
I know, sweetie,” Aden
said. “Your Mom and I still think you’re better off at the Marlowe
School.”

“
Nuala?” Noelle
asked.

“
Sandy,” Aden
said.

“
Oh, that makes more
sense,” Noelle said. “For a minute there, I thought you were saying
Nuala thought about me. And I knew that wasn’t right.”

Noelle laughed and went into the bathroom.
She was just closing the door when she opened it again.

“
You don’t think it’s bad
that I think that about Nuala, do you?” Noelle asked. “Am I become
a bitter artist? Nothing’s worse than a bitter artist. ‘They have
all this talent, all these gifts, and they feel slighted.
Pathetic.’ That’s what Mike says.”

“
I don’t think so,” Aden
said. “I think you’re growing up.”

“
And getting to be a
bitter hag?”

“
And getting more
realistic about people,” Aden said with a shrug.

Noelle nodded and closed the bathroom door.
Aden had just stood up when he heard pounding on the other side of
the bathroom.

“
Hey! Get out of the
bathroom,” Nash yelled. As if he’d never been away, Nash continued
in the same indignant tone, “You’re hogging the
bathroom.”

“
I just got in there,”
Noelle said. “Wait your turn!”

Aden grinned and counted silently, “one,
two, three. . .”

“
I. . .” Nash
screamed and banged on the door
“. . .don’t. . .” Nash banged on the door,
“. . .want. . .” Nash banged on the door,
“. . .to. . .” Nash gave the door another bang,
“. . .wait!”

“
Everything okay in here?”
Aden asked as he leaned into Teddy and Nash’s bedroom.

Teddy had a hand full of clothing that he
was putting in his chest of drawers. He raised a hand in hello to
Aden.

“
Nash?” Aden
asked.

“
Fine, Dad,” Nash said. He
shook the door again.

“
Uh. . .” Aden
said.

“
Just want her to know
that we missed her,” Nash said with a nod to Aden.

“
Don’t you think this
might make her wish she’d never come back?” Aden asked.

Nash was so struck with the idea that his
mouth fell open.

“
She had her own suite in
New York,” Aden said. “A chef to cook her everything she wanted. A
queen sized bed. . .”

“
So what?” Nash scowled.
“We’re here.”

Teddy nodded at the truth in Nash’s words,
and Nash kicked the door again.

“
Well, that will wake the
house,” Aden said.

“
Dad!” Nash looked
shocked. “You know I’d never do this if everyone wasn’t awake. Even
Rachel’s in the playpen in the living room! Jeez, it’s not like I’m
inconsiderate.”

“
Hmm,” Aden said. “You can
use our bathroom if you need to.”

“
We don’t need the
bathroom,” Nash said. “Teddy?”

Teddy shook his head.

“
I see,” Aden
said.

He closed the door to keep them from knowing
he was laughing. He was almost to their bedroom when the door
opened behind him. Nash leaned out of his room.

“
Dad?” Nash
asked.

Aden turned around.

“
When’s Charlie coming
home?” Nash asked.

“
We’re not sure,” Aden
said. “We have so many stairs.”

“
Oh.” Nash looked at the
ground for a minute, before looking up, “and Sissy?”

“
Not sure,” Aden said.
“She’s still pretty sick.”

“
Maybe we should move to
one of those suites in the basement,” Nash said. “We’d only have
one staircase, and it still has that stair elevator from when Honey
lived down there.”

“
Maybe so,” Aden said.
“I’ll talk to Sandy about it.”

“
We’ll go ask Jake,” Nash
said. He started out the door and then stopped. “Is that okay,
Dad?”

“
Sure,” Aden said. “We can
tour possibilities this afternoon after we get back from
school.”

“
Great,” Nash said. “Come
on, Teddy!”

Teddy nodded to Aden and followed Nash out
of the suite. A few minutes later, the door to the bathroom banged
open.

“
I’m done!” Noelle
yelled.

“
They’re gone,” Aden
said.

“
Of course,” Noelle said.
“They just do that to annoy me.”

“
Because they love you,”
Aden said.

“
Because they love me,”
Noelle said with a smile. “Since they’re gone, would it be
okay. . .”

Her voice fell off. She looked very lost and
sad.

“
What?” Aden
asked.

“
Can I take a bath in your
big tub?” Noelle asked. “That would help my grief.”

“
Of course,” Aden said.
“Would you like me to get it ready like I get Sandy’s baths
ready?”

“
Would you?” Noelle gave
him a bright smile.

“
Of course,” Aden
said.

“
Do we have time?” Noelle
asked. “I don’t want to miss breakfast.”

“
We have time,” Aden
said.

There was a small knock on the apartment
door.

“
But. . .”

“
What?” Noelle
asked.

“
Katy would like to see
you,” Aden said. “She’s been by a couple of times.”

“
Katy?” Noelle’s face
brightened. She jogged to the front door and threw it open. The
little girl was standing at the door. She was wearing a yellow
dress and holding a tattered bunch of flowers. Noelle yelled,
“Katy!”

Noelle hugged the little girl. She took the
flowers and gave them to Aden.

“
Thank you!” Noelle
asked.

Her sorrow miles away, Noelle talked a mile
a minute as she led Katy back into her bedroom to finish getting
dressed. Aden smiled and picked up Rachel.

Everything was getting back to normal, and
that was very good.

~~~~~~~

Monday morning — 8:22 a.m.

Denver, Colorado

Jacob pulled up to the construction entrance
for the new Marlowe School building. He waved to the guard at the
front and pulled into the dirt parking lot. By the time he got out
of the truck, DeShawn and Jason were waiting for him.

“
Where’s Pete?” Jacob
asked about their third wheel.

“
He’s inside,” DeShawn
said.

“
Waiting for us,” Jason
said. A man of few words, he gestured to the school.

Jacob nodded. He looked up the ornate
exterior of the once dilapidated building. A team of carpenters led
by his father, Sam Lipson, had replaced every window. They had
fixed what they could and re-milled what weather, insects, and wind
had destroyed. Jill and Heather had selected shades of blue and
grey, which gave the building such delicate character that everyone
now called the building “The Grey Lady.”

It was a beautiful sight. A little
overwhelmed, Jacob took a quick breath and nodded to the site
managers.

“
Overwhelming, isn’t it?”
DeShawn asked. He leaned into Jacob. “To tell the truth, each of us
has shed a tear for the Grey Lady.”

Jacob looked at the former gang member and,
second only to Rodney, the hardest person he’d ever met. DeShawn
gave him a nod. Jacob’s head moved up and down.

“
Pete cries like a little
girl,” Jason said.

“
I do not!” Pete yelled
from a window somewhere above.

“
She’s beautiful,” Jacob
said. He waved to Pete, and they started toward the
entrance.

They had decided to replace the wooden
stairs with safer-for-little-feet concrete. Jill and Heather had
stained the concrete to match the house. They’d found concrete
artists from Mexico who’d worked the concrete to look like tile.
The entryway was gorgeous.

“
Gorgeous, isn’t it?” Pete
asked. Jacob nodded.

They walked up the stairs. Jacob had
personally stripped and refurbished the original front doors. The
doors matched the features of the building. They were thick and
heavy. He’d spent the better part of two days hanging these
doors.

“
We added door openers
because they were so heavy.” DeShawn told him what he already
knew.

The doors soundlessly opened. Jacob grinned.
He glanced at the site managers. DeShawn moved his hands in a
gesture to push Jacob forward. The site managers stepped back and
allowed Jacob to step through the doors alone.

He stepped into the entryway. For a moment,
the entire building seemed to hum. He swallowed hard.