Cascade (22 page)

And Noelle was in Aden’s arms. He lifted her
from the ground and held her to him. Screaming, screeching and
crying, Noelle dissolved into him.

Teri ordered him to put her down.

“
She’s neurologically highly
sensitive. Any pain is magnified one hundred fold by her nervous
system,” Aden yelled over Noelle’s screams. “Her mother smoked
crack while she was pregnant. She… I’m taking her to the
hospital.”

Nuala lunged at Aden but Nash held his ground.
Using his martial arts skills, he was able to keep Nuala back. Teri
screamed for Nuala and Nash to stop fighting.

Finally the prison guards intervened. To the
soundtrack of Noelle’s screams, Nuala was pushed to the ground,
cuffed and shackled.

“
Nash!”

Aden held his hand out for Nash. Nash took his
hand. They sprinted toward the door. Teri caught up with them near
the door.

“
You have to leave them here! They
haven’t completed their time.”

“
In your care?” Aden asked. “Never
again. I was a fool to leave them in the first place.”

Holding Nash’s hand, and Noelle in his arms,
Aden made it to his SAAB sedan. He laid Noelle in the back seat,
Nash in the front then raced to the front of the car. Aden jumped
in. He took Iliff Avenue to Havana Boulevard then shot down Colfax
Boulevard to Children’s Hospital Emergency. Lifting Noelle from the
back, he grabbed Nash’s hand and they ran into the emergency
room.

The hospital workers came running to Noelle’s
screams. He laid her on a stretcher then kissed her forehead. The
stretcher moved his precious daughter away from him. Still
screaming, Noelle was wheeled back into emergency.

Out of breath, Aden and Nash watched Noelle
disappear behind the doors.

~~~~~~~~
Tuesday mid-day – 12:35 P.M.

“
What do you think?” Valerie asked
Delphie.

“
It’s too early for me to make a
connection with them. That’s all right. Right now you have to focus
on making really healthy vessels for their souls.”
“Oh.” Valerie was crestfallen.

“
Your mother is thrilled,” Delphie
said. “We’re going to have a house full of babies very soon. I do
love babies.”

Valerie’s lips turned up then dropped into an
anxious line.

“
Can Mom help?”

“
No, Valerie,” Delphie said.
“You’re doing the very best thing by eating well, exercising and
taking good care of yourself. Let Mother Nature do what she needs
to do.”

“
Mother Nature?” Valerie bit her
lip.

“
How far along are you?” Delphie
asked.

“
Less than a month,” Valerie
said.

“
Why don’t you give it a couple
weeks?”

Valerie shook her head. Lost in thought, she
answered her cell when it rang.

“
Val?” her agent asked.

“
Hey, what’s up?” Valerie asked.
She rolled her eyes to Delphie.

“
The movie’s on. They want you
there by Friday,” her agent said. “Someone leaked what happened to
you to the production team and they kicked the producer off the
film. I’ve heard he has to leave the studio.”

“
Wow,” Valerie said. “Just
wow.”

“
They were quite contrite. Offered
more money up front and percentage points later,” he said. “But you
have to get to the Czech Republic ASAP.”

“
And I can bring Mike?”

“
They requested him,” her agent
said. “He’s not in the movie but they wanted you to be comfortable.
They asked if he could come with you.”

“
Wow,” Valerie said. “There is one
thing…”

“
What’s that?” her agent
asked.

“
I’m pregnant. Twins. It happened
after we thought the movie was lost.”

“
How pregnant?”

“
Less than a month.”

“
I don’t see a problem, Val,” he
said. “You’ll be in the Czech Republic for six weeks and do post
production in LA for four weeks. You can announce that you’re
pregnant after that. I’ll let them know. If they’re serious about
wanting Valerie Lipson, and the director said he had to have you,
they won’t care.”

“
Oh, wow,” Valerie
said.

“
Should I call you back for your
decision?”

“
Give me a couple minutes,”
Valerie said. “I’m going to talk to Mike.”

“
Good thinking,” her agent said.
“Let’s let them sweat.”

“
Talk to you in a half hour or
so,” Valerie said.

“
Movie?” Delphie asked. “Looks
like our misfortune is shifting.”

“
I hope so.”

~~~~~~~~

Tuesday afternoon — 1:40
P.M.

“
Aden! There you are,” Sandy said.
Sandy leaned back against the couch in her living room. Tanesha and
Heather looked up. “I’ve been calling all over for you.”

“
Yeah, sorry,” Aden said. “I’m
used to you working all the time. I forgot to check in.”

“
Did you pick out a
dog?”

“
Yeah,” Aden said. “Sandy, I’m at
Children’s.”

“
What? What happened?” Sandy
said.

Her raised voice brought Jill in from the
kitchen.

“
Aden’s at the hospital,” Sandy
said to the women.

“
Nuala hit Noelle in the face,”
Aden said.

“
Oh my God,” Sandy
said.

“
That’s not the worst of it. She
cracked Noelle’s cheek bone and gave her a concussion. They put
Noelle out and want to keep her overnight. I’ve been here with
Nash. Noelle’s in pretty bad shape. They’ve scheduled every test
known to mankind. She’ll be here at least overnight and maybe a
couple of days depending on the test results. There’s a chance her
eye is injured.”

Aden’s voice cracked. He blew out a
breath.

“
What can I do? Shall I come
there?” Sandy asked.

“
Please come. We haven’t eaten
and… I know Noelle will love to see you when she wakes.”

“
Gosh, Aden, of course, I’ll be
right there.”

“
Oh thank God,” he said. “I’m
sorry I didn’t call earlier. I really didn’t know what to say. I
never should have taken them this morning. It’s all my
fault.”

“
Don’t be silly,” Sandy said. “How
would you know? It will take me twenty minutes to get
there.”

“
I didn’t even think of that,”
Aden said. “I was so desperate for you to come I didn’t think you
wouldn’t have a car.”

“
Jill’s here,” Sandy said. “I’m
sure she’ll either take me or I can take her car.”

“
Jill’s there? Why is Jill there?
I thought she had school.”

“
Just a girl’s lunch,” Sandy kept
her voice breezy. “See you in a few.”

“
Ok. Thanks. Love you,
Sandy.”

“
Love you, too.”

Sandy hung up her phone.

“
The ex hit Noelle and cracked her
cheekbone. They think she might have injured her eye.”

“
Oh my God,” Jill exclaimed as the
women gasped.

“
He wants me to come there. How do
I look?” Sandy asked. “You think he’ll know?”

“
That you’ve been crying all
afternoon? Yes, I think he’ll know,” Jill said.

“
No, he won’t,” Heather came in
from the kitchen. “I’ll drive. You can put some teabags on your
eyes. We’ll do a quick make-up before we go into Emergency. He’ll
never know.”

“
But you’re going to tell him,
right?” Jill asked.

“
He’s got all this going on. I can
tell him later,” Sandy shook her head.

“
You tell him when you’re good and
ready.” Tanesha hugged Sandy.

Sandy nodded. She’d tell him when she was good
and ready. She just wasn’t sure when that would be.

CHAPTER
SIXTY-NINE

What happens today…

Tuesday afternoon – 3 P.M.
The Castle

Jill opened the Castle side door to let
Anjelika and Perses in. Her siblings had been there for a half
hour. Each person seemed more nervous than the last. Gratefully,
Candy brought a variety of cookies from the bakery. Megan had made
a pot of coffee. Focused on their own thoughts, her siblings sat
munching cookies and drinking coffee in the main Castle living
room.

Jill hugged her mother and Perses. They
followed Jill into the Castle. Megan and Mike got up to hug their
mother. Candy went to the kitchen for more cookies and Steve
nodded.

Candy and Steve seemed the most upset by
everything. Arriving first, Candy told Jill that she and Steve felt
like they were going to be kicked out of the family. They were the
only connection to their abusive father. They both felt ashamed and
a little rejected. Jill could only hug Candy and tell her that she
would never kick her out of her family.

But one thing was true. Whatever happened
today could change Jill’s family forever.

~~~~~~~~

Tuesday afternoon – 3
P.M.

While most of the medical tests came back
negative, Noelle still had a cracked cheekbone, a concussion and
retinal tear in her eye. A normal child would be awake and going
home soon. But every time they tried to reduce Noelle’s
medications, her blood pressure rose and her heart raced. Her
nervous system went on overload. The plan was to keep her
unconscious for at least tonight and maybe all day
tomorrow.

When Sandy arrived, Nash and Aden seemed
heartbroken. Both blamed themselves for Noelle’s injuries. She had
to bully and badger them to get something to eat. They seemed to
recover a little bit after a few bites of cafeteria
food.

Social Services had come for a long visit
while Noelle was getting her tests done. Sandy wasn’t sure what the
outcome would be but a child abuse report was filed against Nuala.
Teri, the special advocate, had taped the session. While the social
worker couldn’t promise anything, it looked like Social Services
would recommend terminating Nuala’s parental rights.

Again.

And maybe for good this time. Aden was
guarded, but hopeful.

Because Nash was on probation at school, he
had to go to check in with the assistant principal and pick up his
homework. He could take the rest of the week off to be with Noelle.
Aden insisted on staying with Noelle, so Sandy agreed to take Nash
to school. Before they left, Aden took her in the hall and held her
to him. She felt his warmth and heat. He kissed her lightly, with
promise, and thanked her for being the blessing in his
life.

Even a half hour later, she was still warm and
tingly from his embrace. Driving Aden’s SAAB sedan, Sandy pulled to
the curb near school.

“
Your Dad called ahead,” Sandy
said. “Your homework for the week is at the office. You just have
to give them the note and you’re out all week. That seems like a
great deal to me.”

“
But I get to go to Mr. Colin’s
martial arts class, right?” Nash asked.

“
I think so,” Sandy said. “We’ll
see. Hopefully, Noelle will be home tomorrow. Your Dad and I will
trade off taking care of you guys.”

“
You don’t have work?”

“
It’s pretty slow,” Sandy said.
“I’ve moved some people around to have a few days off.”

“
Great!” Nash smiled.

“
Remember, to the office and
back,” Sandy said.

“
Yeah, like I want to go anywhere
but to the office,” Nash snorted.

Hopping out of the sedan, he ran down the
block. He turned on the cement path and ran up the steps of the
school. While he was in the office, the bell rang and excited kids
started streaming from the school. Sandy got out of the car so she
could see the school doors over the kids heads. After a few
minutes, she saw Nash come out of the office door. Waving to Sandy,
he looked down at his papers and shoved them in his
backpack.

Nash was down the stairs and halfway down the
cement path when Sandy saw a group of six bigger boys move toward
him. Focused on Sandy, Nash didn’t see them.

The boys were upon him. The first boy punched
Nash in the back of his head. The second boy punched his face. Nash
fell forward but found his feet. As he turned to defend himself,
Sandy ran down Holly Street. Even running as fast as she could, she
could see that the boys were too many and too big for
Nash.

Screaming, taunting kids surrounded the
fighting boys. A big boy grabbed Nash from behind but Nash was able
to shake him off. She neared the school when Nash’s friend Teddy
Jakkman came running out of the school. Teddy fought his way to
Nash. Nearing them, Sandy lost Nash and Teddy in the
crowd.

She pushed her way through the crowd of kids.
As she neared the fight, she heard a boy yell, “Look! It’s the
slut.” She felt something hard across her face. She would have
fallen backward but she was buffeted by the crowd of kids. The kids
pressed her forward into her attacker. A boy hit her over the
head.