Miracle Woman (37 page)

‘Martha may not be guilty, but it could create a huge amount of bad publicity for your sister. The Armstrongs' joining suit is very damaging.'

‘This is serious, Jack, I'm being charged with something I didn't do,' Martha protested.

‘Listen, Martha,' advised Dan, ‘I think you need to employ one of the best in the business. I've never met this Harris man but Bob Forrester told me last night that he's a tough cookie, used to getting his way. I hope you don't mind but I contacted one of the top law firms here in the city and the head partner James Coady has agreed to advise us.'

Martha felt shaky even thinking about getting involved in a legal challenge. ‘What do you think I should do, Jack?' Her eyes flew to her brother.

‘I think Dan's right and that you need to protect and defend yourself and your reputation. Those parents both sought you out, wanting you to help their kids. It's not your fault that either of them died.'

‘Then we're agreed,' nodded Dan. ‘I'm busy early tomorrow morning but I've already booked a provisional appointment with James for midday.'

Martha felt sick as she rode the glass elevator to the fortieth floor to the Coady Hill Bennet law firm. The secretary showed them straight in to James Coady's sunshine-filled office. Tall and rangy, Coady immediately shook hands with them all and Martha sat down. Dan passed him a copy of the original letter and outlined the situation. Putting on his reading glasses he studied it briefly as he listened.

‘I've already spoken to the law firm concerned,' Coady said. ‘And the partner there feels that Mr Harris, while wounded and distraught over the death of his son, is determined to seek out answers and apportion blame, if that's what you'd like to call it. I believe he is also suing the Rehabilitation Institute in New Haven, where Josh stayed up to his untimely death, and its director.'

‘So he's like a sleeping bear who's just got stung by a wasp and wants to attack something or someone.'

‘Yes, Dan, that's a good comparison, but a crazed bear can be a dangerous enemy,' warned Coady.

Martha spent over an hour telling her lawyer of how Glenn Harris had first approached her: how he had called and sent invitations and eventually pushed his way into her office.

‘He loved his son very much,' she whispered. ‘That's why he wanted me to work with him and try healing. He knew his son was in a very bad state.'

The so-called casual lunch meeting, the number of times she saw Josh, his failure to turn up for his appointments and his mother Wendy's plea for her to come visit Josh at home were all noted as James Coady meticulously recorded and checked everything she said.

‘I want to be sure to have my facts straight.' He smiled, before asking her to tell him about the
Armstrongs and Cass. Martha recalled the first meeting, when Beth had approached her in the hospital canteen.

She was exhausted when she finished, hoping that she hadn't forgotten anything. James Coady thanked her, promising to be in touch once he checked a few details. Politely he escorted the three of them to the elevator. Dan had business meetings for the rest of the day but Jack insisted on driving her home. Martha refused his offer of lunch as she couldn't face eating with the thought of the accusations that were being made against her.

Nobody knew the how or the why of it but somehow the press had got hold of the story of the threatened legal action. Martha was shocked to find a journalist sitting on her doorstep when she got home. Jack dealt with him and phoned Evie and Dan to warn them.

The next few days were horrendous as Glenn Harris, the grieving father, gave copious interviews about the death of his son, claiming that Joshua had been let down by those who were supposed to help him and had been driven to take his own life. Beth Armstrong recounted the last few months of her daughter's life, blaming Martha for the fact that Cass was at home instead of in the hospital where she belonged.

Crucified by the media, Martha wanted to just curl up and die, the support of her family and her
friends the only thing that kept her sane. Now the papers were implying there had been financial irregularities in the running of her ‘Miracle Tour' and that she and her associates had amassed a small fortune along the way.

PATRICK, MARY ROSE
and Alice all surrounded Martha with their love as she battled to keep some control of her life, wondering over and over how her attempts to help and heal others had been so misunderstood. Mike had surprised her by offering to pay whatever legal costs were needed.

‘I'm not having anyone attack the mother of my children like that,' he said firmly. ‘You tell those bastards we'll see them in court!'

Martha sincerely hoped that it would never come to that as she did not know if she was capable of defending herself by attacking the grieving parents of two people she had cared for.

James Coady was collecting evidence and at yet another meeting in his office he assured her that in a court he would prove that Joshua's long-term drug addiction, fuelled by the vast amount of his father's money, was what really killed him.

‘We can request copies of his bank account
statements which will prove it, Martha, and this is long before you ever knew him.'

‘I don't want Joshua's name dragged through the mud,' she said firmly. ‘He doesn't deserve it.'

‘And the Armstrongs?' questioned Dan, who'd insisted on coming along to the meeting with her.

‘There are full medical records that can be requested showing the child's congenital heart problem. We can call the anaesthetist who cancelled her surgery, the nurse who cared for her at home – even her father! We have a very strong case. Should we go to court, I think we can win and possibly ask the court for damages.'

‘There you go,' said Dan.

‘I don't want it to go to court,' insisted Martha. ‘How can we stop it?'

James Coady pulled himself up to his full height, lifting his glasses off his long face. ‘You're my client, Martha. Is that what you really want, even if you can win?' he asked.

‘Yes.'

‘Then I will talk to Steve Duncan, Mr Harris's lawyer, and see if we can sort this mess out.'

‘I would like to be present, if that's all right with you, James,' said Dan. ‘Glenn Harris is assuming that Martha has very little support – seeing you and I walk into a room together may change his opinion.'

Two days later both sides met at Coady Hill Bennet's office. Martha, too nervous to attend, agreed to meet them afterwards. She sat outside in the reception area on tenterhooks, praying silently and waiting. Acknowledging Glenn Harris when he walked out past her, she noted how much he'd aged since the death of his son.

‘It's over, Martha honey!' called Dan, scooping her up in his arms. ‘They've dropped all charges including those against the rehab place.'

‘Thank God,' she said slowly.

James Coady made her sit back down as he explained it to her.

‘I think that having Mr Kendrick on your side was a big asset, as Mr Harris could take it that costs would not be an issue.'

‘How did you do it, James?'

‘We just showed him our information, which would naturally be released to the press with time, and as you already pointed out, Martha, he's a man who loved his son, and was not about to let his boy's reputation be destroyed in open court.'

‘Oh, thank God it's over,' she said, covering her face with her hands.

‘The Armstrongs' suit is also being dropped,' he confirmed. ‘Mr Kendrick here raised the matter of damages accruing to you as he feels you have been crucified by the press and media over this. Steve Duncan and I settled on an appropriate amount. Glenn Harris is prepared to pay two thousand dollars to you directly.'

‘I don't want his money, James.'

‘He is prepared to pay it.'

‘Then take it, James, and donate it to that rehab clinic that Joshua was in. I don't want to see a dime of it.'

Martha was not a wealthy woman, dependent still on Mike to support herself and the kids, but she certainly didn't want any of Glenn Harris's money or to profit from his son's demise. She was so relieved that the threatened court action was finally over that she could only think of going home. ‘I just can't wait to tell my kids and my mother the good news,' she smiled. ‘Thank you, James, for looking after everything, I really appreciate it.'

‘It was the very least I could do,' he said. Fumbling in his suit pocket, he drew out a leather wallet, passing her a photo of a pretty student.

‘That's my daughter. Probably you don't remember her, we didn't want any media attention or fuss. She's had anorexia for years and we brought her along to meet you.'

‘For a healing?'

‘Yes. Whatever happened the night in the Tanner Radford hall last year I don't rightly know, cos she sure didn't want to be there or to co-operate but something you did started the healing process and let our daughter find herself again. If we'd had to go to court Melissa was prepared to stand up and let people see what you did for her!'

Martha was overwhelmed at James Coady's support and candour. Thanking him again, she and Dan left his offices, Martha feeling like a heavy constricting weight had finally been lifted from her shoulders.

MARTHA THOUGHT LONG
and hard about it, determined that this was a decision she alone had to make as she considered both herself and her children.

Patrick, Mary Rose and Alice all ached for a return to normal life, and to just having a mother who loved and cared for them alone – and in the aftermath of the legal accusations who could blame them!

Alice's sunny-natured openness was already changing, as she became suspicious of other children who asked about her home life or family, warned by her big brother and sister not to say anything.

The gift to heal had brought Martha great joy, the ability to help many people and alleviate much suffering. She had discovered strengths and a courage within herself that she had never expected. The journey of a healer was a long one and she still had much to learn, but the cost
had been high, too high, and it had been borne by her husband and family and all those around her. She tormented herself thinking of Cass and now Joshua, and all the others she had failed. She had let herself become too emotionally involved, had grown too attached to them, which made losing them all the harder. Mike had been right: she was no saint! No Jesus come again! She was just an ordinary woman and she had sacrificed much to do the work of the Spirit. Too much.

She had invited them to come and sit at her table, good friends gathered together to eat. Mary Rose helped her to prepare and serve the large dish of lasagne and side salad. Martha passed the two bottles of red wine around and they all filled their glasses.

Tired and tense, she talked to them of her true feelings and her intention to stop healing and make a new life for herself and her children away from the public eye. Kim and Kathleen begged her not to give up her healing work.

‘It's too important,' urged Kim. ‘Look at all the people you've helped.'

‘Think of all the people that I can't help,' she insisted. ‘Those I disappoint and let down who are still sick, still lonesome, who cannot be healed and must accept their fate.'

‘Martha, maybe you're making a mistake deciding so soon after all that legal crap,' suggested
Rianna. ‘Why don't you take time out, think about it?'

‘I've thought of little else for the past while,' she told them.

‘What about the sessions we've organized and booked, the plans for next year, and the website?' demanded Ruth angrily.

‘I guess we'll have to cancel them all. I'm sorry but I don't want to do any of it any more. I can't take the crowds! All the hundreds of faces. Often I can't remember their names or what's wrong with them. Sometimes when I touch them I feel nothing – absolutely nothing. It's not what I planned—'

‘Don't go blaming us. We have all worked so hard, Martha, on your behalf! You can't just go and throw it all away and turn your back on what we've built. You can't!'

Ruth argued against her as Martha tried to be resolute. ‘We have built a good organization around you. You can't just walk away from it! All the fucking hard work that Kim and I and Kathleen put in obviously means nothing to you now. We believed in you, supported you, and had such plans!'

‘I'm sorry, Ruth, truly I am. I do appreciate everything you and everyone did, honest I do, but I'm not prepared to live my life like this any more. I'm sorry.'

She listened to their thoughts and concerns for her as she told them of the new life she had planned.

‘I need to get away, to somewhere away from all that has happened, and just get back to being plain old me,' she confided.

‘Where will you go?' asked Evie, concerned.

Martha slowly told them about going away and leaving them.

‘We'll miss you,' murmured Kathleen.

‘Sure will!' echoed Rianna, hugging her.

They were her good friends, loyal and true, who had been there from the start. How could she ever repay them for all they had done for her?

The kids had listened as she told them about the changes she planned, Patrick whooping with joy when she said that there would be no more tours, no interviews, no working in the upstairs room or people coming to the house any more. Alice's eyes widened with a look of sheer delight as she thought about it.

‘But that means you're going to give up healing?' said Mary Rose softly.

‘Yes, pet.'

Mary Rose squeezed her hand in sympathy.

They had seen it somewhat differently when she told them about the house she had arranged to rent for four months in Ireland.

‘It's a load of crap!' complained Mary Rose. ‘Why do we have to go there?'