Fort Morgan (36 page)

“
She was a kid,” Mitch
said. “A little older than O’Malley. . .”

Mitch fell silent. Delphie could feel his
eyes on her head. She looked up.

“
Was she right?” Delphie
asked.

“
That was you!” Mitch
said. His face lit up. For the first time, Mitch looked like the
vibrant man he’d been. “Oh, my God!”

Mitch sat up in his bed.

“
O’Malley,” Mitch yelled.
“You’ve got to come in here.”

“
Just so that you know.”
Delphie’s voice became a fierce whisper. “I did not tell his father
that Seth was not his son. I didn’t tell him that Seth’s mother had
never loved the man. There’s a whole lot of things I kept
back.”

Mitch turned to look at her.

“
Why?” Mitch
asked.

Delphie shook her head.

“
You mean, you can see the
effect of your own actions,” Mitch said. “You tell O’Malley’s crazy
old man that he’s not O’Malley’s father. He takes it out on
O’Malley’s mom and O’Malley and. . .”

Mitch nodded.

“
This way, the
child got away from the abusive man
and
returned only when he was in a
position of power over the father,” Delphie said. “The mother was
saved. The other
children
grew up with two parents. And O’Malley was
connected to his vital life mission.”

“
And me?” Mitch asked.
“Did you see me?”

“
Of course,” Delphie said.
“You and Seth belong together. You help him — stabilize his
enormous talent. Without you, he would have fallen into madness. In
turn, he has guided you through your self-loathing.”

“
You set up his entire
life,” Mitch said. “And mine.”

Delphie nodded.

“
You rang?” Seth asked
from the doorway.

Mitch looked at Seth for a moment before
gesturing to Delphie.

“
She wants you to sit in
on the next part,” Mitch said.

“
Sure,” Seth said. He
pulled over an armchair. “Why do you look so weird?”

“
Weird day,” Mitch
said.

Seth nodded and sat down. He looked at
Delphie.

“
How’s it going?” Seth
asked.

“
Good,” Delphie said.
“We’re just getting down to Mitzi.”

“
She hates that name,”
Mitch said.

“
Yes,” Delphie said with a
nod. “Unfortunately, it’s her birth name. Until she chooses to
change it, her name will remain ‘Mitzi.’”

“
Can you do that?” Mitch
asked.

“
Yes, but that’s for
another time,” Delphie said. “You want to know about
Mitzi.”

Mitch nodded. Delphie created an intricate
design with the Tarot cards. When she finished, she touched one
card and then another.

“
I didn’t see that,”
Delphie said in a soft tone. She stared off
in
the distance for a moment
before dealing more cards.

“
What’s going on?” Mitch
asked.

“
It’s complicated,”
Delphie said. “I knew I was necessary here,
but. . .
Well
I just didn’t see it before.”

“
See what?” Mitch
asked.

“
You and I,” Delphie said.
“We. . . I’m supposed to be here. I’m supposed to tell
you what you want to know.”

“
What?” Seth
asked.

“
It is fated,” Delphie
said.

“
What is?” Seth
asked.

“
This interaction,”
Delphie said. “My being here. Your request for me to come. My
conversation with Mitch.”

Delphie nodded.

“
You
are
intuitive,” Delphie said to
Mitch with a nod.

“
I’m what?” Mitch
asked.

“
You knew that Mitzi
needed our help for her life to
work
out as it should,” Delphie
said.

Mitch gave her an uncertain look.

“
What are you saying?”
Seth asked.

“
We need to get to work,”
Delphie said. “There’s a lot to do.”

Seth and Mitch looked at each other. Mitch
shrugged.

“
I wonder if you could go
slowly,” Seth said. “Talk to us like we’re idiots.”

Delphie grinned.

“
It’s not hard to pretend
that we’re idiots,” Seth said. “I know.”

“
What are you saying?”
Mitch asked.

“
For most people, they are
born in the right place,” Delphie said. “All of the pieces of their
lives are near them or in
relatively
close vicinity. The people
you should meet live in your town or are drawn to you from
other
towns
. Maybe you have to move to another city, but everything is
close. The work you should do comes into your life when you’re
ready. All of the pieces of your life are scattered like seeds to
grow into something when you are ready.”

“
And Sissy?” Mitch
asked.

“
The pieces which make up
her life are. . . sprinkled. . . everywhere,”
Delphie said.

“
Sprinkled?” Seth
asked.

“
Around the world,”
Delphie said. She balled her fist with her fingertips near her
mouth. She blew on her
fingertips
and unfolded her hand. “We
need to bring the pieces together.”

“
Pieces?” Mitch
asked.

“
Like furniture?” Seth
asked.

“
People,” Delphie said.
“We need to find her soulmate and bring him here. Together, they
will draw everything she needs to them.”

“
And apart?” Mitch
asked.

Delphie shook her head.

“
What does that mean?”
Seth shook his head in imitation of Delphie’s gesture.

“
He will not last the
year,” Delphie said.

“
And Sissy?” Mitch
asked.

“
She will die early,”
Delphie said. “Starve to death.”

“
Starve?” Mitch’s voice
rose with fear.

“
What do you mean?” Seth
asked.

Delphie looked off into the near distance
for a moment. She scowled.

“
Illness, I think,”
Delphie said. “There is a man. . .”

“
Sissy’s soul mate?” Mitch
asked.

“
No, another man,” Delphie
said. “He will become Sandy’s partner. He is integral in
Mitzi
and
Charlie’s life. Charlie more than Mitzi but Charlie for
Mitzi.”

Delphie looked up at the men and nodded.

“
What?” Mitch
asked.

“
She’s saying that Sandy’s
partner will be important to Charlie,” Seth said. “By taking care
of Charlie, Sissy will be relieved of the burden of her
brother.”

Mitch nodded that he understood.

“
Is that right?” Seth
asked.

“
Yes,” Delphie said. “We
need to pull in this man so that, when Sandy’s ready, he will be as
well. He will be the love of Sandy’s life. He will also serve as a
surrogate father to Charlie when Charlie needs him. By caring for
Charlie, strengthening him, Mitzi will be able to
thrive.”

She looked from Mitch to Seth.

“
We have work to do,”
Delphie said.

About that

Tuesday morning — 5:11 a.m.

“
Yes, you should!” Sandy
said in a fierce whisper to Abi.

“
You don’t think we should
wait for Delphie?” Abi whispered back.

They were sitting on the couch in Sissy’s
hospital room. Sandy had waited until Sissy had fallen asleep and
Delphie had left for Bestat’s to ask Abi about Aden.

“
Would you want to know?”
Sandy asked.

“
I really shouldn’t,” Abi
said.

“
You really should!” Sandy
said.

Abi scowled.

“
Then just tell me!” Sandy
said. “What did they do to Aden?”

“
I see when you see it,”
Abi said.

“
Oh,” Sandy said with her
best pleading look.

“
Fine,” Abi
said.

“
You want to know,” Sandy
said.

“
You’re right,” Abi said.
“I want to know. And, I think you, of all people,
should
know.”

~~~~~~~~

Delphie was sitting in the passenger seat of
an old silver diesel Mercedes Benz. The driver was a beautiful
woman with short, sandy blonde hair and a decisive attitude. She
had intelligent eyes and an easy smile. She smiled at Delphie.

“
Don’t be a baby,” the
driver said.

“
I’m not being a baby,
Celia,” Delphie said.

“
You’re mad because Seth
caught you in his web,” Celia said with a grin. “You don’t think
he’s handsome and totally doable?”

“
Celia!” Delphie
blushed.

“
That’s not a denial!”
Celia said with a chuckle.

The two women were clearly best friends.
Delphie shook her head.

“
He always has some young
thing,” Delphie said.

“
No, he doesn’t,” Celia
said. “And you know it. He’s destroyed by the loss of Bonita and
his sons.”

Delphie scowled and looked out the window.
They were driving down Colfax Boulevard in the middle of the
day.

“
So you’re honestly
telling me that you didn’t feel a connection with O’Malley,” Celia
said.

“
I felt a connection,”
Delphie grudgingly said. “I still don’t. . .”

“
Like him,” Celia finished
Delphie’s statement. “Yes, I see that.”

“
I had this
feeling. . .” Delphie sighed and turned to look at Celia.
“It was like Seth and I had done this exact thing over and over and
over again throughout the millennia.”

“
Ooh, past lives!” Celia
said with a nod.

Celia smiled at Delphie. The bright Colorado
sun white-washed the store fronts and boarded up buildings. They
drove in silence for a few moments.

“
What do I have to do?”
Celia asked.

“
You’ve wanted to start a
school for your employees’ kids,” Delphie said.

“
There’s nothing more
important than early education,” Celia started a familiar rant.
“Our employees care deeply about their children but simply don’t
have the resources to give them what they need. If we want to
change the world, we need to focus on educating children — the
earlier, the better.”

“
Now’s your chance,”
Delphie said.

“
When would I have time?”
Celia asked. “Jake’s just started East High, and Val’s at UCLA.
With the business and Sam, my hands are full.”

“
You’ve talked about doing
it for years,” Delphie said. “Unfinished plans are the devil’s
playground. You need to complete the things you plan,
or. . .”

“
Yes, father,” Celia said,
and Delphie grinned.

“
You’ll find the time,”
Delphie said. “You always do.”

They fell silent and continued driving.
Delphie leaned forward and pushed the tape into the tape player.
Subtle jazz came out of the speakers. Delphie sneered and turned
off the tape.

“
Jazz,” she said, with a
sneer under her breath.

When Celia grinned, Delphie realized that
Celia had set the tape there to annoy Delphie. Shaking her head,
Delphie looked out her passenger window.

“
You didn’t answer the
question,” Celia said.

“
Which question?” Delphie
asked.

“
What do I have to do?”
Celia asked.

“
Turn here,” Delphie
said.

“
Here?” Celia
asked.

“
Here,” Delphie said
empathically. “You have to turn here!”

“
You could have given
me. . .”

Celia made a quick turn onto a narrow side
street. The street was lined with cars parked on either side. Celia
had to slow down to inch her way forward.

“
Yes, but I wasn’t sure,”
Delphie said.

“
You said it was near the
site,” Celia said. “The site is. . .”

“
Yes,” Delphie said. “He
didn’t want to get caught with the kids. He had to park away from
the site.”

“
What?” Celia asked at the
same moment Delphie said, “Stop right here!”

Delphie pointed to a beaten sedan, but Celia
didn’t stop soon enough. Delphie turned in her seat.

“
It’s right there!”
Delphie said.

“
I looked into him after
you called,” Celia said. “Jerry says he does good work, and he’s
smart, but the boy hasn’t kept a job for any amount of time. He
smells as if he hasn’t showered in a while, and he has two kids! If
he was anywhere near Val, Sam would drive him off with a pitch
fork. And you think this drug addict is going to be precious
Sandy’s one and only?”

“
He won’t be if we don’t
intervene!” Delphie said and jumped out of the car.

Celia watched Delphie trot down the street.
For a brief moment, Celia looked at herself in the mirror. She’d
gone along with a lot of Delphie’s crazy schemes, but this seemed
like the most complicated and ridiculous plan. In the rearview
mirror, she saw Delphie, with her hands on each side of her head,
peer into the back seat of the car.