Authors: Terri Reid
The next morning
Mary sat down at her desk and flipped the daily calendar page over to the next
day. She chuckled softly as she looked down at the date of Friday the
thirteenth. “So far so good,” she murmured, and then she reached down and
knocked on the wood surface of her desktop. “Knock on wood.”
She accessed Liza’s
file, looked up Donna’s phone number and placed the call. “Hi Donna,” she said.
“This is Mary. Mary O’Reilly. I wanted to let you know about Liza.”
“Oh, hello Mary,”
Donna replied. “We already know about Liza. And we want to thank you for all
you did.”
“You know about
Liza?” Mary asked, astonished. “How did you find out?”
“Oh, she came to
visit Ryan last night,” she replied. “He said she was beautiful again, and she
was very happy. She thanked him for helping her and told him that she was
happy.”
“That’s wonderful,”
Mary said, pulling a tissue from a box on her desk and blotting her eyes. “And
how is Ryan doing?”
“He’s doing great,”
Donna said. “He told me that he was going to miss her, but he was happy she
finally got to go home.”
“You’ve got a great
little boy,” Mary said. “And he’s got a great mom.”
“Thank you, Mary,”
Donna said. “And thank you for helping us. I really have learned a lot from
this experience.”
“Like what?” Mary
asked.
“The most important
thing I learned is that I’ve been afraid of things that really aren’t all that
frightening,” she replied thoughtfully. “I think I need to look back on my
life, on the decisions I’ve made based on fear and rethink them. I’m not going back
to an abusive relationship. I know better than that. But I need to rethink
things like going back to school or career choices. I think I need to be
braver.”
“Good for you,”
Mary said. “It not easy to be brave, but I think both you and Ryan will benefit
from your choices.”
“Yes, I think so,
too,” Donna answered. “Thanks again, Mary.”
“You’re welcome,”
Mary said.
“Best of luck to both of you.”
“Both of
who
?” Mike asked after Mary hung up the phone.
“Donna and Ryan,”
Mary replied. “Liza visited Ryan last night to say goodbye and let him know she
was okay.”
“Nice,” Mike said.
“I’m glad she got to do that.”
“By the way, I had
a nice conversation with Chelsea yesterday afternoon,” Mary said. “I think
she’s finally getting over you.”
Mike sighed. “It’s
hard to carry the guilt of so many broken hearts,” he replied. “But I just have
to remind myself that it’s not my fault I was so good-looking and charming.”
“It’s a tough job,
but somebody has to do it,” Mary replied sarcastically.
“Yes. Yes it is,”
he agreed.
Smiling, Mary
leaned back in her chair and propped her feet up on the top of her desk. “So,
Prince Charming, why are you here and not hanging around the house?”
“Your house has
been invaded,” he said.
“Invaded?” she
asked.
“Yes. With women,”
he replied.
“Young ones, old ones, middle-aged ones.
There
are women all over the place.”
“Oh, the party,”
she said.
“Yes, between your
mom and Rosie, the kitchen smells like heaven but looks, literally, like hell.
And Katie is doing some craft thing with Maggie and Clarissa, so there are glue
guns and glitter everywhere,” he said, shaking his head in mock irritation.
“But that’s not the worst part.”
Mary grinned. “Oh,
what’s the worst part?”
“Their language,”
he said. “There’s a hidden language that only women understand. They laugh at
things I don’t get. They raise their eyebrows knowingly. They communicate with
only a nod of their heads. I tell you, Mary, it’s a little creepy.”
“Well, you can hang
here for a little while,” Mary said. “But you have to stay quiet so I can
finish my paperwork.”
Mike lifted his
hand to his heart. “Scout’s honor,” Mike said. “I’ll just sit over there in the
corner and think quiet thoughts.
Quiet thoughts.”
“Excellent,” Mary
said, looking down at the paperwork.
“Quiet thoughts.”
Mike glided over to
the corner and looked around for a moment. He was already bored. He turned to
Mary who was chewing on her pencil eraser and studying a receipt. He sighed
loudly, and Mary looked up. “Quiet thoughts,” he called across the room.
She smiled quickly,
nodded and then looked back down at the paperwork.
A moment later, the
electric pencil sharpener growled to life. Startled, Mary jumped and looked
across the room. Mike was sharpening a box of pencils he had pulled from her
supply shelf. She cleared her throat loudly, and Mike looked her way.
“Oh, yeah, right,”
he said.
“Quiet thoughts.”
Mary put down her
pencil and started to laugh. “Okay, Mike, you win,” she said. “What would you
like to do?”
“Can we take a
drive to
Krape
Park?” he asked. “I would really like
to see some kids.
Some happy, normal kids playing with their
parents.”
Mary nodded, tears
filling her eyes. “That sounds like a great way to spend a Friday afternoon,”
she said, turning off her computer and picking up her purse. “Let’s go.”
Mary looked around
the room, and her heart was filled with joy. In one corner Ian and Stanley were
arguing about politics. In another, her father was giving Bradley advice in his
usual, boisterous, Irish way. And in the kitchen, Rosie was busy shooing Mary’s
brothers away from the cupcakes until it was time to make the announcement.
The Brennan children and Clarissa were
listening to Gillian tell a story about real-life faeries, and Katie and Cliff
Brennan were sharing a loveseat and cuddling like newlyweds. She leaned against
her mother, whose arm was around her waist.
“Do you ever just
stop, look around, and realize how blessed you are?” she asked.
Her mother smiled
softly, amused that her daughter’s thoughts so closely mirrored her own. “Every
day, darling,” she replied.
“Every day.”
Mary turned and
kissed her mother’s cheek. “Thank you for being such a great mom,” she said.
“I’ve come to realize it’s harder than it looks.”
“Well, darling, I’d
like to say that you made it easy,” Margaret replied. “But that would be a
bold-faced lie.”
Mary laughed.
“That’s okay, Ma,” she said. “You don’t have to spare my feelings.”
She saw Mike
standing on the staircase watching the whole group from a distance and smiled
at him. He smiled back, but it was a more somber smile than she was used to.
“Excuse me, Ma,”
she said. “I need to run upstairs for a moment.”
She quietly left
the group and walked up the stairs, passing Mike. “Follow me,” she whispered
and continued on without missing a beat.
She walked to the
end of the hall and leaned against the wall, waiting only a moment for Mike to
appear next to her.
“Great party,” he
said.
“Yes, it is,” she
agreed. “Everyone I love is here. But one of them is not happy. What’s wrong,
Mike?”
He shook his head.
“There are just some rumblings upstairs,” he said.
Mary was confused.
“Thunderstorms?”
Mike grinned. “No,
further up,” he replied.
“Oh, I get it,” she
nodded and raised her eyes to the ceiling.
“Rumblings.”
Nodding, his smile
widened. “Yeah, just like that,” he said.
“Well, you know
what they say,” she said.
He shook his head,
totally charmed by her. “No, what do they say?”
“You shouldn’t
bring your work home with you,” she replied sagely.
“This from the
woman who has ghosts showing up in her bedroom?” he asked.
“They don’t show up
in my bedroom anymore,” she replied. “You put an end to that.” She paused, and
her eyes widened. “Oh no, did that cause the rumblings? Did I get you in
trouble?”
“This from the
woman who just risked her life to return thirty little girls to heaven?” he
questioned tenderly. “No, you most certainly did not get me in trouble.”
“Even
though I thought nasty things about Chelsea?”
He chuckled.
“Even though.”
“Can you be happy,
Mike?” she asked. “I really want you to be happy tonight. I want everyone to be
happy tonight.”
He nodded. “Yes, I
can be happy. I am happy,” he corrected. “You are my family, Mary, and I am
thrilled to be here for your announcement.”
“Good,” she said.
“Now let’s go downstairs and have some cupcakes.”
She walked down the
steps, paused halfway and leaned over the banister. “Who wants to see what’s in
the middle of those cupcakes?” she asked.
Rosie carried a
cake plate with three cupcakes to the center of the room. “Here they are,” she
said.
Bradley met Mary at
the steps and walked her over to Rosie. He picked up a cupcake and held it up
like a wine goblet. “Here’s to my lovely wife, Mary. Thank you for loving me.
Thank you for agreeing to share my love forever. And thank you for increasing
our love and our family.”
Mary kissed him on
the cheek and picked up her cupcake. “Here’s to my handsome husband, Bradley.
Thank you for loving me even though I scare the heck out of you from time to
time. Thank you for agreeing to share my love forever. Thank you for allowing
me to be the mother of Clarissa, whom I love with all my heart. And thank you
for increasing our love and our family.”
Then she picked up
the third cupcake. “Clarissa, you need to be part of this, too.”
Clarissa scurried
to the center of the room and smiled up at her parents. Bradley winked down at
her. “Okay,” he said.
“On the count of three.
One.
Two.
Three!”
They all bit into
their cupcakes so the center fillings were revealed and turned them to the rest
of the people in the family.
“Blue!” Clarissa
screamed. “We’re going to have a baby boy!!!”
Bradley leaned over
and gave Mary a blue frosting kiss on her cheek. “Happy baby boy,” he said.
“Have you thought
of a name?” Stanley asked. “I hear that Stanley is coming back in style.”
When the laughter
settled down, Mary nodded. “Yes, we have thought of a name,” she said. “We’d
like our baby boy to be called Michael Timothy Alden.”
A look of delighted
surprise appeared on Mike’s face. “Me?” he asked Mary.
She nodded. “He’ll
be named after two men whom we love and admire.
Mike Richards
and Timothy O’Reilly.”
Mary’s father
walked over to her and kissed her. “Well, thank you, darling,” he said. “I
can’t tell you how pleased I am.
Little M. Timmy O’Reilly.
What a grand name.”
“Alden,” Bradley
reminded him. “His last name is Alden.”
“Oh, for sure it
is,” Timothy said with a wink. “But he’ll be an O’Reilly through and through.”
He walked over to the
counter, picked up a cupcake and turned to Ian. “So, did you hear?” he asked.
“Little Timmy O’Reilly Alden.
A fine name.
A fine name indeed.”
While the rest of
the guests picked up cupcakes, Mike glided over to them. “Are you sure?” he
asked.
“Mike, this was one
decision that we both came to immediately,” Bradley said. “Of course we’re
sure. We couldn’t ask for anything better than for our son to grow up just like
you.”
“Well, maybe let’s
not tell him about cheeks and tattoos, okay?” Mary teased.
Mike nodded. “Not
until he’s at least fourteen,” he agreed with a smile.
“Cheeks
and tattoos?”
Bradley asked.
“You probably don’t
want to know,” Mary said.
Mike shook his
head. “Yeah, at least not until the baby’s name is printed on the birth
certificate.”
He shook his head.
“I still can’t believe you’re doing this,” he said. “And I want you to know
that I’m honored. Honored and humbled. I’ll try to be the best namesake a boy
could have.”
“You already are,”
Mary said.
The room was dark, and Mary was trying to
understand why she was there. She had been there before, of that she was sure. But
why was she there again?
She moved forward tentatively, trying to
find an exit door or a light. She didn’t feel afraid, but she knew she didn’t
really belong there. A low sound, like the thrum of a bass note, was pulsing in
the background over some hidden speaker system. Everywhere she went, the sound
was present. She continued forward and heard another sound, soft and whispered,
in the distance, the sound of a child’s cry.
Dismissing caution, she hurried forward
toward the source of the sound. Running down dark corridors that turned and
twisted, she became even more frustrated. Finding herself at a dead end, she
turned back and found a staircase that hadn’t been there before. She jogged up
stairs and down stairs, still following the elusive cry. Finally, she arrived
at a door at the far end of a narrow hall. Light flooded out from beneath the
door and around the sides into the dark hallway.
She grasped the doorknob, but the door
itself seemed to be shrinking. The opportunity to save the baby was becoming
smaller and smaller. Suddenly she was in the room, but the cry was from the
other side of the door. Someone was taking the baby away. She sat on the floor,
her legs straddling the door on either side as she pulled on the doorknob with
all her might.
The
crying became more frantic. The baby was in distress. Mary yanked on the door.
It finally broke open, but the doorway was too small for her to slip through.
Lying on the ground, she peered through the opening and watched a shadowy
creature carry the sobbing baby into the night.
“No!” she screamed, pushing her hand out
through the opening. “No, bring me back my baby!”
Sitting up with a
start, Mary inhaled frantically, trying to catch her breath. Bradley’s arms
were already around her, pulling her to him. “It’s all right, Mary,” he said,
his voice thick with concern. “It was only a dream. It was only a dream.”
She pulled out of
his arms, met his eyes and shook her head. “No, Bradley. I think someone is
trying to take our baby.”