Cascade (49 page)

“
A lot.”

He told her the entire story. When he
finished, Heather hugged him.

“
What can we do?” she
asked.

“
Nothing,” he said. “He
has to do this himself.”

“
What if he
doesn’t?”

“
Then there’s nothing we
can do,” he said.

“
That boundaries thing
again,” Heather said.

“
Boundaries,” Blane
nodded.

~~~~~~~~

Thursday — 10:20 P.M.

Memorial Hospital Central, Colorado
Springs

Aden shifted in the bed and Sandy jumped to
his side. She took his hand then sighed. He was still out. He had a
turban of bandages around his head from his brother’s boots and the
surgery to relieve the pressure in his brain. His nose was
splinted. He had a dozen broken ribs. The fingers on his right hand
were all broken as well as a few bones in his hand.

And according to the nurse, he was better
off than Pete.

Poor Pete. He’d covered Aden with his body
to protect him from his brother’s kicking feet. Pete was still in
surgery. Molly was a complete wreck. Caught between guilt and
outrage, she’d wept in the surgery waiting area. To make matters
worse, Pete had spent all their savings on his last drug binge.
They were broke and didn’t have enough insurance to cover
everything. Sandy assured her that she would help. But Molly was
inconsolable.

Aden was lucky.

Sandy was about to return to her chair when
he stirred again. The nurse said that he should wake up, just for a
little while, before they put him in a medical coma.

“
Pleee…” Aden’s voice came
softly. Sandy bent down toward his mouth. “Dooonnn leee
go.”

“
Don’t let go of your
hand?” Sandy said. “I won’t.”

Aden’s mouth shifted to a kind of smile.
He’d lost two teeth in the front and a few molars were broken.

“
Miissss,” Aden gasped a
breath. “you.”

She kissed his cheek. Keeping her voice
light and cheerful, she told him about their lives.

“
The kids made you these
pictures.” Sandy held up Noelle’s then Nash’s. “They do them every
day. It’s kind of their letter to you. We’ve been waiting to find
out where you would be so we could mail them to you.”

“
Hoowww?”

“
Nash’s arm is still in a
cast. We had to get a new cast because he broke the old cast on a
job. He was using the old cast as a kind of lever. Anyway, the new
cast is smaller and more manageable. He’s been working at Lipson
every day. They put him on Jerry’s crew. He and his friend Teddy.
He likes it and he’s making some money. Do you remember Melinda?
The daughter of my client? He wants to take her to the movies now
that he’s rich. I think he’s too young. But, we’ll see.”

Aden gestured toward his face with his
bandaged hand.

“
Noelle’s face is still
healing. It seems like forever, but the doctor says she’s healing
well. It’ll take a couple more months for her eye to clear, but her
sight is almost normal. We’ve been looking at some cool glasses for
her. The ophthalmologist says that she may have needed glasses all
along. You know Noelle, she’s happy to have something
new.”

Aden’s eyes closed but his hand held
hers.

“
The kids are lost without
you, but overall they’re doing well,” Sandy said. “They’re such
good kids that it’s not surprising. Noelle and Katy play a lot in
the afternoons. Noelle is really patient with Katy. I think
Noelle’s so overwhelmed with grownup stuff that it’s nice, healing
even, to play little girl games. Nash and Teddy are still doing
martial arts. Teddy’s dad, Zack, is taking them skiing next
weekend. They’re both really excited about learning to snowboard.
You know, since they’re rich.”

She laughed at Nash’s riches. Aden’s hand
moved up and down.

“
Me?”

He seemed to sigh.

“
Drama central. I got shot
at but Alex Hargreaves saved the day, of course. I still have to
deal with my father’s crap. At least once a week, I meet with the
Feds or the police to look at photos or whatever. Drama. But Jake
set up a salon for me. I’ve been working Tuesday through Saturday.
It’s really nice to work and we need the money. The Feds are
keeping the millions in my father’s house and…”

His hand pointed to him.

“
We can’t use your money,”
Sandy said. “Something wrong with the signatures or something. And
we’re not married. It’s one of the things I thought we’d work out
when you get settled. That’s all right because I’m making enough
money to cover expenses. Delphie over fills our refrigerator and
Sam’s taken the kids shopping a couple times. We eat dinner with
them on most nights. So, we don’t really need a lot of
money.

“
I’ve been driving your
car.”

He patted her leg.

“
I know. Good thing
because it’s been dumping snow. March in Colorado,” Sandy said.
“Crazy weather. When you get back, you’ll find that the stations
have been reset. But I figured you could change them
back.”

His hand moved toward her belly.

“
Baby?” Sandy asked.
“We’re going tomorrow to have the first ultrasound. Hopefully the
baby only has two legs and two arms. The kids are coming with me.
They want to be involved and I don’t see any reason to keep them
out.”

Aden collapsed back against the bed. It was
almost as if his desire to know about her and her news drove him to
consciousness. Now that he had an update, he could rest. Sandy held
his left hand until she was sure he was out again. She went to get
the nurse.

A doctor came in and woke Aden again. Sandy
winced when Aden yelped with pain. They tested his reflexes and
made sure he could move his limbs. Finally, an anesthesiologist put
Aden into a medical coma.

The doctors told her Aden would be under
until his brain had time to heal. Once Aden was stable, he would
return to Canon City’s hospital ward. He and Pete might spend their
entire time prison sentence in that hospital ward.

Sandy watched the doctor’s mouth and hands
move as he talked. Aden owned that same Tag Hauer watch. Aden used
to have the same manicured nails and perfect haircut. Her eyes flit
back and forth from the doctor to the man in the bed. When the
doctor stopped talking, she nodded because she knew he expected her
to. The nurse escorted her back to Molly.

Molly looked up at Sandy and took her hand.
Together, the two women waited for news about Pete.

~~~~~~~~

Friday early morning — 2:30 A.M.

Between Colorado Springs and Denver

“
I’m worried about you,”
Seth said as they sped along I-25 back to Denver.

“
Why?” Sandy
asked.

“
You have a lot on your
plate,” Seth said. “Most of it has nothing to do with you. Aden’s
kids, Aden’s problems, Aden’s injuries, your father’s legal issues,
your mother’s horrible greed, your father’s estate. The list goes
on and on. Here we are at 2:30 in the morning trying to get back to
your temporary home because?”

“
The kids need me at
home,” Sandy said.

“
They aren’t your kids,
Sandra.”

“
Whose kids are they? Come
on, Seth. They have no one. Their psychopath mother’s in prison.
Their father’s in the hospital or prison or hospital-prison. They
have no grandparents. They just have me.”

Seth’s silence spoke more than any words he
could have said.

“
And who do I have?” Sandy
asked. “I have you, the girls, and them.”

Seth glanced at Sandy then nodded.

“
We need each other.”
Uncomfortable, Sandy changed the subject. “What did you find out
about what happened to Aden and Pete?”

“
Aden has a brother,” Seth
said. “According to his records, he didn’t list any family in
prison.”

“
I doubt he knew his
brother was there.”

“
I did his background
check,” Seth said. “His story checked out. He arrived at home from
school and his family was gone. He was fifteen years old. Youngest
of seven kids. He was the only Norsen, of those still living, who
is not in prison.”

“
Until now,” Sandy
said.

“
I supposed it’s my fault
for not telling him about his siblings. It just never occurred to
me. Anyway, Aden’s brother should never have been at minimum
security,” Seth said. “Canon City is overcrowded. There’s no room
for the hard cases. Aden’s brother has done well in with the
structure of prison. They thought it was a safe risk.”

“
What is he in
for?”

“
Murder. He’s a
lifer.”

“
Murder
!? A murderer
was in minimum security!?”

“
The overcrowding is
really horrible. They built a new prison for the hard cases but the
state can’t afford to open it. These guys are scattered around the
system. There’s been five or six murders by these hard cases this
year alone. Aden was lucky he wasn’t killed.”

“
What happened?” Sandy
asked.

“
According to the tapes,
Aden and Pete walked into the exercise area and were attacked by
Aden’s brother. It was frenzied attack - quick and deadly. Aden was
out with three punches. When Aden fell, he was kicked and stomped
on until Pete jumped in.”

“
Where were the
guards?”

“
Another great question,”
Seth said. “They were in the middle of shift change. Something
Aden’s brother would have known, but no way Aden could have
known.”

“
How did it
end?”

“
A couple prisoners had
worked for Lipson Construction. Big black guys. One held Aden’s
brother while the other got in the way. As soon as they intervened,
all the black guys got involved. It could have been a riot. But one
of the guys, the first guy, kept repeating, ‘Dis man’s gonna hire
me. Promised me when I went in. Alls I gots to do is stay off
drugs. Can’t hire me if he’s dead.’ If it wasn’t so horrible, it
would be pretty funny. They had everything under control by the
time the guards showed up.”

Digesting the story, Sandy fell silent.

“
How’s Pete?”

“
They did what they can
do,” Sandy said. “It’s 50-50. One of his ribs punctured a lung, he
had multiple brain injuries and his heart is messed up. I don’t
really understand it. Pete’s a drug addict. They think his heart
was damaged by the drugs. The doctor said he would either improve
tonight or they’d need to talk about when to terminate
care.”

“
Terminate
care?”

“
Pull the plug. Delphie’s
having one of her transition ceremonies for him
tonight.”

“
Oh,” he said. “Is Aden
that bad?”

“
I don’t really know. He
has brain injuries too. The doctors said they would put him out for
a few weeks to see how he does. I… I have to believe that he’s
strong enough to get well.”

“
You wish you could stay
with him.”

“
Yes, I wish
I could stay with him,” Sandy said. “But I wish a lot of things. I
wish he hadn’t gone off at my father. I wish he wasn’t stupid
enough to believe my father had molested Noelle. I wish Dad was
still alive. Every day, I wish that. I wish my mother hadn’t lost
her mind or could see that
I
was the one
victimized. Not her, me. I wish…”

She stopped talking when Seth patted her
leg.

“
I have to focus on what’s
right in front of me, Seth. I have two frightened traumatized kids
to deal with. Whatever else, including Aden, has to come after
them. He made his choices. He takes his consequences. That’s what
he always says.”

“
He fails to see that you
have to deal with the consequences of his actions.”

Sandy patted her belly and Seth smiled.

“
How’s the baby?” he
asked.

“
The one thing I’m doing
right,” Sandy said.

“
Wait until it’s born,”
Seth said. “The moment it’s born, you cease to feel like you do
anything right.”

“
Good to know,” she
said.

“
We have another hour,” he
said. “Why don’t you rest? I’ll make sure you’re updated if
anything happens with Norsen or Pete.”

“
The doctors said I could
call. We left Molly there. She’ll need…”

“
Just rest for a while
Sandy. You can take care of the world later.”

Sandy smiled.

“
Plus, there’s donuts at
the end of this journey.”

Sandy drifted off with a smile on her face
and lingering thoughts of donuts in her dreams.

CHAPTER EIGHTY-SEVEN
The past returns

Friday morning — 5:25 A.M.

Dressed in her pajamas, Jill ran down the
stairs from the loft. Her bare feet made a tight drumbeat as she
pounded past the landing. Slipping around the corner, she almost
ran over Honey. Honey had been wheeling at top speed toward the
stairs. Jill caught Honey’s chair before they fell over.

“
The jury returned!” the
women said together.

“
Ann just…” Jill started
at the same time Honey said, “I got…”

They both gave a nervous laugh.

“
You first,” Jill
said.