Cascade (7 page)

“
What was it like for you when you
were little?” Jill said.

“
I don’t remember a lot.” Delphie
sipped her cold tea.

“
Can I get you some…?”

“
No, I’m all right,” Delphie said.
“What happened to my cheesecake?”

“
Valerie ate the whole thing,”
Jill laughed.

“
She did not,” Delphie
said.

“
She said she owed it to you,”
Jill laughed.

Laughing, Delphie drained her tea
cup.

“
My mother thought I was possessed
by the devil,” Delphie said. “She… wasn’t very nice… to me. My
father realized I could help him make money… gambling. I remember
being about Katy’s age… helping him play poker. He did well. Really
well.”

“
That’s horrible. I would never do
that to Katy.”

“
You’re a different person,”
Delphie said. “I was really angry with my mother. But Celia used to
say she didn’t know any better. I saw my mother downtown about ten
years ago… She didn’t recognize me. She was a simple woman,
uneducated, not unkind, and very frightened by God and his
Devil.”

“
What happened? To your parents?
To… you?”

“
My father gained quite a
reputation as a great poker player. He was a decent player to begin
with. With my help, he won every hand. One day he played a guy who
was a psychic and a poker player. He lost all his money. Then he
lost me.”

Jill gasped.

“
My father was furious when the
man wouldn’t give him a chance to win me back,” Delphie said. “I
was five or six.”

“
I would kill someone who thought
they could take Katy from me.”

“
Oh, it wasn’t like that, Jill. My
father saw me as income.” Delphie shrugged. “I don’t know what
happened to him. I lived with that other guy until Celia saved
me.”

“
Good for Celia! How did she do
that?”

“
She and Sam stole me,” Delphie
said. “Celia hid me at her father’s house. No one would ever go
against Delbert Marlowe. Not a chance. He was a big deal in
Leadville. That’s where we’re from. Leadville.”

“
She’s discounting something,” Sam
came in the room. He leaned over to kiss Delphie’s cheek. “She was
incredibly brave. Heroic even.”

“
It was Celia,” Delphie said.
“Celia could be so wild. She’d get an idea in her head and we’d go
along.”

Jill smiled.

“
Did Valerie eat the entire
cheesecake?” Delphie asked.

“
Every bite,” Sam said. “Will you
come down for a while?”

“
Of course,” Delphie moved to get
up.

“
Slowly,” Jill said. “You’ve had a
terrible shock.”

“
Where are the papers?” Delphie
asked.

“
Jacob has them,” Jill said.
“Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it together.”

Delphie smiled at Jill. Delphie’s eyes welled
up with tears when she saw that Celia had been there all
along.

“
No one can own another person.”
Celia repeated what she had said all those years ago. “You belong
to you and only you.”

“
Celia?” Sam asked.

“
Here to tell me I belong to
myself,” Delphie nodded.

“
You belong to us too,” Sam said.
“Celia and me. We belong together.”

“
And all of us,” Jill said.
“Jacob, Katy, me, Val and Mike.”

Sam held his hand out to Delphie. He helped
her up from the bed. She went into her bathroom. Wanting to give
them a little privacy, Jill carried Katy to the door. She nodded to
Sam then left.

“
Are you all right?” Sam
asked.

“
No, I’m not,” Delphie said. “I
guess I thought… Well, that it had all gone away.”

Sam held her close.

“
We got through it once,” Sam
said. “We’ll get through it again.”

Delphie nodded.

“
Valerie made something for you,”
Sam said. “Your favorite.”

“
She did not.”

“
She did,” Sam said. “Kind of a
‘thank you’ for the cheesecake.”

“
How does it look?”

“
She’s had to fight people to keep
them from eating it.”

“
I do love Crème Brûlée.” Delphie
beamed at Valerie’s generosity.

“
Oh, Crème Brûlée? Is that your
favorite?”

Laughing, Delphie slapped at him. He squeezed
her hand. And they returned to the boisterous pre-Thanksgiving
dessert party.

~~~~~~~~

Friday afternoon—– 12:58
P.M.

“
Vayamos adentro,” Tres Sierra
said to his brother Enrique.

Enrique was sitting on the patio of Limón,
Denver’s Peruvian restaurant.

“
Yo no puedo fumar adentro,”
Enrique said.

“
And smoking is the most important
thing in the entire universe,” Tres continued in
Spanish.

“
Yes, little brother,” Enrique
replied in Spanish.

“
Fine.” Tres tucked his hands into
his pockets. “It’s freezing out here.”

“
You’re such a baby,” Enrique
said. “We’ll go inside.”

Enrique puffed down the last of his cigarette
and followed Tres into the restaurant. They always met the day
after Thanksgiving. Ever since their mother told Enrique he would
burn in hell for eternity, that is. Tres went to family
Thanksgiving then spent Friday with Enrique.

The attendant sat them at a table near the
middle of the restaurant. They didn’t bother even looking at each
other until the wine and appetizers were ordered.

“
How was Thanksgiving?” Enrique
asked in Spanish.

“
The same as always,” Tres replied
in Spanish. “A lot of people in a tiny house. Hot. Too much food
and too many questions. When are you going to find a nice girl,
Tres? What’s this I hear about a girl in your office? When will you
give me grandchildren?”

“
Glad I missed it,” Enrique
said.

“
What did you do?”

“
Went to orphan’s Thanksgiving,”
Enrique said. “It was nice. Funny people. I brought my chocolate
pecan pie. It was a big hit.”

“
You mean Blane’s chocolate pecan
pie.”

“
His recipe,” Enrique said. “My
skills.”

Tres raised an eyebrow at his brother. The
waiter poured their wine and took their dinner order. Biding their
time, they were silent through the appetizers. Neither brother
wanted to ask the question they were dying to know.

“
What did you find out?” Enrique
asked.

“
About what?”

“
Very funny,” Enrique
said.

“
Blane’s viral count is half. The
doctors think he’ll kick the Hepatitis C in a couple months. He’s
back to working out and playing hockey.”

“
And his liver?” Enrique
asked.

“
He doesn’t drink.”

Enrique nodded.

“
I’m not exactly sure how his
liver is doing,” Tres said. “But overall he seems fine. Really
good. Happy. He’ll finish acupuncture school next term. He already
has private clients. I heard Jake talk about the treatment room
they are putting in his basement. He’ll see clients
there.”

“
And the child?”

“
From what I can tell, it’s not
his,” Tres said. “But he’s every bit the father. He keeps the
ultrasounds in a frame on his desk. And… they are cute
together.”

“
Has he gone straight?” Enrique’s
face pinched.

“
I haven’t asked that directly,”
Tres said. “But… I don’t think so. They seem more like brother and
sister or good friends. But that’s what I want so…”

“
Me too, brother.”

“
What did you find out?” Tres
asked.

“
I talked to a guy who went out
with Heather in high school,” Enrique said. “He said she was very
sweet, pretty, but a part of this group of girls. He said she was
more interested in them than anything else.”

“
Jake’s wife, Jill, is one of
them.”

“
Yeah, Jill, Tanesha, Sandy and
your Heather. The guy’s girlfriend said she always wanted a billion
kids. She wasn’t surprised Heather was pregnant. She was only
surprised Heather waited so long to start.”

“
Where did you find these
people?”

“
Church. You should try it
sometime,” Enrique said. “I went out to lunch after mass with a
group from Machebeuf. They knew Heather and her
friends.”

“
Did they say anything
else?”

“
Only that she was a ‘good girl’,
‘nice person’ that kind of thing,” Enrique smiled at Tres. “Not
your type at all.”

“
What type?”

“
Is Blane…? I mean, do you think
he’s…”

“
What?”

“
Moved on.”

“
He hasn’t dated since you screwed
him over,” Tres said. “Burned by love, that’s what I
heard.”

“
By me,” Enrique said. “I
suck.”

“
Yes, you do,” Tres said.
“Apologies work. I mean, I screwed up with Heather. I apologized to
Blane and he was great. She’s not been warm but… Have you tried
saying you’re sorry?”

“
He won’t see me,” Enrique said.
“Changes his number every time I get it. Won’t look at me if he
sees me in public. It’s like I don’t exist.”

“
Are you sorry?”

Enrique leaned back to allow the waiter to set
their meals down. The waiter returned with more water and poured
the rest of their wine. The men were silent through their
interaction with the waiter.

“
Sorry?” Tres asked.

“
Sorry isn’t exactly it,” Enrique
said. “Ashamed, mean, foolish, stupid, cruel, evil, idiot. Pick
one. On any given day, I feel all of those things. I destroyed the
best person I’ve ever known, for no reason at all. I’ve regretted
it every single day, every moment of every single day since
then.”

Tres nodded to his brother.

“
Blane’s working the smoking
cessation clinic all next month,” Tres said. “Jake told
me.”

“
Jake told you… Why did he tell
you that?”

“
Why do you think?”

~~~~~~~~

Friday afternoon — 12:58
P.M.

“
I didn’t believe you,” Heather
said.

“
PB&J chicken,” Blane said.
“Isn’t it amazing?”

They were eating on a card table in the living
room. The kitchen was in the throes of the remodel. Blane had set
up a little kitchen in the living room to tide them over. He’d been
so ill that Heather had mostly microwaved their frozen dinners.
This was the first time he’d felt well enough to cook.

“
God, I could eat the whole
chicken. And I’m still full from yesterday.”

“
The baby’s growing a lot,” Blane
said.

“
And I’m a pig!” Heather laughed.
“This has been the best Thanksgiving I’ve ever had. Spent the
morning with Mom and the afternoon at the Castle. Mom likes
you.”

“
Yes. And I’m glad we don’t see
her much.”

“
Me too,” Heather said. “She’s so
angry. You know?”

Blane smiled at Heather.

“
What did you find out?” He
asked.

“
About Enrique?”

Blane gave a curt nod.

“
He’s really cute,” Heather said.
“I talked to a friend of Tanesha’s. She works with him. She said
he’s kind of a workaholic web guy. Programs for one of the big web
companies. He’s got a reputation for being very intense. She thinks
he’s a nice guy.”

Blane nodded at the information he already
knew.

“
Dating? Married?” Blane
asked.

“
Not that anyone knows,” Heather
said. “He plays things very close to his chest. My friend said she
thinks he just works. He has a fixer upper house somewhere on the
hill. I guess he talks about the house. A lot. Says he spends his
weekends trying to find the exact matching brick to his house,
stuff like that. Intense. Perfectionist. Was he like that when you
knew him?”

“
Yeah,” Blane said. “It’s
intimidating at first but you always know where you
stand.”

Heather’s eyes searched Blane’s face. She
squeezed his hand.

“
You don’t have to ever see him
again.”

“
Why do I want to so badly?” Blane
asked.

“
Glutton for punishment,” Heather
said. “What did you find out?”

“
Let’s see… Tres is the youngest
child. Never married. Last girlfriend was at his old job. He moved
jobs to keep the relationship but it didn’t last. He owns a condo
out on Stapleton. Runs… a lot, like marathons and stuff. Has a dog.
Climbs. Backpacks. Fishes.”

“
He’s going to have to be really
special to make up for everything,” Heather shrugged.