Cascade (25 page)

She hated that he was so sick. They’d slept in
the same bed for more than a month so she could keep an eye on him
at night. His doctors said he was kicking the Hepatitis C virus but
his AIDS was activated making him susceptible to every cold or flu.
She hoped this was just a cold.

He groaned when she touched him. He was still
hot.

“
Blane?” she whispered

“
Heather, I’m sorry I’m sick
again,” he said. “Feels like strep. Again.”

“
Don’t worry. Let me look at your
throat,” she said. Looking down his throat, she saw the white
blisters. “Looks like strep. I’ll call the doctor.”

Blane almost wept with weariness and
illness.

“
Hey,” Heather said. “We’re almost
through this thing. Don’t give up!”

He gave her a soft smile.

“
Enrique’s here,” Heather said.
“He’s downstairs.”

Blane attempted to get out of bed. Exhausted,
he fell back against the pillows.

“
Just rest, Ok,” Heather said.
“You need to rest. I’ll take care of Enrique and the
doctor.”

“
I owe you my life,” Blane said.
“I’d never have survived this without you.”

She smiled. Opening her mouth to say
something, she saw that he was asleep again. She crept out of the
room. Going downstairs, she heard Enrique moving around the
kitchen. He was standing with a cabinet door open when she arrived
in the den next to the kitchen.

“
How is he?” Enrique
asked.

“
Sick. What are you
doing?”

“
Putting the groceries away,”
Enrique said.

“
You must really stalk us if you
know where everything goes,” Heather said.

“
He kept things in the same place
when we lived together,” Enrique said. “Did he make that
cake?”

“
Touch my chocolate cake and you
will die!” Heather said.

“
They are good,” Enrique
laughed.

Heather made a stern face to Enrique then went
to call the doctor. The doctor ordered the meds and Walgreens said
it would be at least an hour. Going back into the kitchen, she saw
Enrique had finished with the groceries. He was looking around the
kitchen and den.

“
What are you doing?”

“
I’m just…” Enrique said. “This is
really nice. Did you do this?”

“
Do what?” Heather asked. “Would
you like some dinner? We have some left over meatloaf from last
night. Then I have to get to Walgreens in an hour or
so.”

“
Blane’s meatloaf? Yes, I would
very much love that,” Enrique said.

“
He had strep. You might catch
it,” Heather said.

“
For his meatloaf? I’ll risk it,”
Enrique said. “This house is really a … home. It looks remodeled… I
wondered if you did it.”

“
My friend Jill helped, and Jake,
of course,” Heather said. “It’s turning out nice.”

“
Home,” Enrique said. “It feels
like a real home.”

“
That’s what we wanted. A real
home,” Heather smiled. “Meatloaf?”

“
Garlic mashed
potatoes?”

“
Coming right up,” Heather
said.

Heather nudged Enrique out of the kitchen. In
companionable silence, she made up two plates of left over meatloaf
and mashed potatoes. Enrique was charming through dinner. He told
her funny stories about his work and life. When they were through
with dinner, they shared a piece of her chocolate cake. He cleaned
up the dishes while she checked on Blane before she left. They were
at the door when she asked:

“
Why do you sit
outside?”

“
I don’t know, Heather,” Enrique
said. “I get off work and my little car seems to drive here.
I…”

“
Why don’t you come in next time?”
Heather said. “There’s always some left-overs. I know Blane would
like to see you.”

“
I don’t want to… create
complication… with your… life,” Enrique said.

“
You won’t.” Heather looked deep
into his eyes. “Ever. Blane and I are a family now. “

“
Blane is gay, Heather! He will
never be able to be your straight husband.”

Heather laughed.

“
Why do you laugh?”

“
Because you’re so traditional.
What’s a family? Heather asked. “Is it a man and a woman who
marries early, don’t really like each other, have ten kids, kick
one out because he’s gay, marry someone else, have more kids, and
force a couple others to live double lives?”

“
You know about that?” Enrique
blushed.

“
I know a lot of things about
you,” Heather said. “Families are groups of people who love each
other, share common values and goals. That’s Blane and I. He
supports me in what’s important to me. I support him in what’s
important to him.”

“
But…”

“
Family is what you make it, where
you make it, Enrique,” Heather said. “I know Blane said the same
thing to you.”

Enrique nodded.

“
Maybe you need to be a little
more flexible.”

“
Flexible? Me?” Enrique laughed.
“Not possible.”

Heather smiled. They walked out to their cars.
He waved as he pulled away. Heather waved back. She was surprised
at how much she liked Enrique. He seemed to like her, too. Not one
to worry or wonder about what anything meant, Heather shrugged and
drove to Walgreens.

~~~~~~~~

Tuesday night — 8:25
P.M.

Noticing Aden’s number on her caller ID, Sandy
picked up her phone before it rang.

“
Hi,” Sandy whispered.

She closed the door to the room Nash was
asleep in.

“
Hi gorgeous,” Aden said. “How is
he?”

“
Asleep,” she said. “I gave him
his meds and he went right to sleep. It’s been an awful
day.”

“
And Buster?”

“
Oh Buster,” Sandy laughed. “He’s
asleep on the bed with Nash.”

“
And Miss Cleo?” Aden
asked.

Sandy smiled. It was so like Aden to remember
her long suffering cat.

“
She’s doing fine. She gave Buster
a snarl when he came in. He wasn’t impressed with her.”

“
Sounds like a truce.”

“
A guarded truce, yes,” Sandy
said. “I clipped his long hair to match the shorter hair. We gave
Buster a bath. He’s really pretty cute. He has a dark patch over
his dark eye.”

“
Just like us, he needed Sandy’s
help to reach his full potential.”

Sandy laughed.

“
How’s your head?” Aden
asked.

“
It hurts,” Sandy said. “How is
Noelle?”

Aden sighed.

“
She was up for an hour or so,”
Aden said. “Poor baby. She’s in so much pain. I… It rips the core
out of me.”

“
Poor Noelle,” Sandy said. She
plopped down on her living room couch. Cleo came out from under the
couch to sit on her lap.

“
You should have seen her, Sandy,”
Aden said. “She was such a trooper. Tears streaming down her face,
trying not to cry, she was chatting away about how excited she is
to meet Buster. Even the doctor was completely charmed by
her.”

“
She’s a wonderful girl,” Sandy
smiled.

“
Who talks a lot,” Aden laughed.
“I feel awful Sandy. I knew Nuala didn’t like Noelle. I knew it.
She could never even remember Noelle’s name. I just… God, I feel
like I’m your Mom.”

“
My Mom?” Surprised, Sandy
laughed.

“
I knew Nuala was dangerous. I
knew she didn’t like Noelle. And God knows Noelle talks a lot. I
should have protected her!”

“
Oh Aden… Oh honey,” Sandy said.
“It’s not your fault. No one could have expected Nuala to behave
like this – not you, not anyone.”

“
It is my fault, Sandy,” Aden
sighed. “I love these kids so much but I’m always a step behind in
what they need. Celia would have scolded me about
today.”

“
Celia was a psychic,” Sandy said.
“You’re not.”

“
Just a man,” Aden said. “I know
I’ve asked you but why didn’t they give you pain killers for your
head?”

“
They didn’t think I needed them,”
Sandy said.

“
You looked like you were in pain
when I saw you…”

“
That kid had something hard in
his backpack.” Sandy rubbed her bandaged head.

“
A few stitches worth! Maybe I
should call…?”

“
I have been taking Tylenol. I’ll
be all right, Aden. Don’t add me to your worry list.”

“
I feel like everyone I love is on
the injured reserve.”

Sandy laughed.

“
Thanks for getting Buster and
taking care of Nash, especially when you’re not feeling well,” Aden
said. “Noelle will be out tomorrow. I know she’d like to see
you.”

“
Nash and I will be there,” Sandy
said. “We’ll bring Buster.”

“
Want to have phone
sex?”

“
You’re in a children’s hospital!”
Sandy laughed.

“
It’s nice to hear you laugh,”
Aden said. “Sleep well. I’m going to snuggle in to this cot and
wish I was with you.”

“
I’ll miss you too,” Sandy
said.

“
Good night.” They said together
then hung up the phone.

Wandering through her condo apartment, Sandy
settled into bed. Cleo curled up next to her. And finally this long
day was over. They were both asleep in moments.

CHAPTER
SEVENTY-ONE

He just left

The next day

Wednesday early morning – 4:30
A.M.

The Castle

Bundled with a thick sweater over her pajamas,
Jill waited for her brother Steve in the main Castle living room.
Steve arrived around 4:30 in the morning to help Honey get ready
for her day. Hearing a key in the lock, Jill stood to greet
him.

“
Jill! Hi!” Steve hugged Jill then
took off his jacket.

“
I wanted to check to see how you
were doing, you know, about last night.”

“
Not so great,” Steve said. “I
should get to Honey.”

“
MJ got home late last night,”
Jill said. “She’s usually slow when he’s home.”

“
She’s very slow when MJ’s
home.”

“
You’re not wearing Dad’s
watch.”

“
I thought…” Steve’s face
clouded.

“
What’s got you so upset, Steve?
It’s not just Mama or Dad. You’ve been like this for
weeks.”

When Jill’s eyes searched her happy-go-lucky
brother’s face, he looked away.

“
What is it?” Jill asked
again.

“
I’m going to have a baby… in less
than two months. Jill, I never would have gone through this if I’d
known, really known, about… my father.” Steve spit out the last
words. His face darkened with anger. “All those great memories I
had of him? Turns out that was Perses.”

“
I wondered about
that.”

“
I… I don’t know what it means to
be a father or even a man. I’ve tried so hard and…”

“
You’re a wonderful man.” Jill
hugged him. “You’ll be a fabulous father.”

“
I’m not! I could easily beat
Leslie or the child! I don’t…”

“
You aren’t Dad,” Jill
said.

“
I want to run away, Jill,” Steve
said. “I do. After all the expense and trouble of the IVF, I want
to run as far away as possible from Leslie, my child, my work…
everything.”

“
I’ve felt like that,” Jill
said.

“
Mostly, I want things to be what
I thought they were. We had great parents. They died. And we made
it through.”

“
We did have great parents. They
were dead to us and we did make it through.”

“
You know what I mean,” Steve
said.

“
I do,” Jill said. “He was our
Dad, Steve. I loved him. No matter what - I loved him.”

“
I loved him, too.” Steve gave
Jill a soft smile. “Thanks for that. I guess I feel weird for
loving him.”

Jill hugged him again.

“
Maybe Perses can help,” Jill
said. “If your good memories are with him, why not talk to him?
Mama said he would be here for a while.”

“
I’m supposed to see them today
after work,” Steve said. “Mama’s worried about me.”

“
I’m worried about you,” Jill
said. “You’ve always been the kindest, nicest person. Always. Why
would being a father be any different?”

“
Ah Jill, I don’t know,” Steve
said. “It seems more important than anything else.”

Jill smiled.

“
Yeah, I know that smile,” Steve
laughed. “I’m being a freak.”

“
Not a freak. No,” Jill said. “The
fact you care so much means you’re already a great
father.”