Cascade (8 page)

“
He thinks he is,” Blane
laughed.

“
Every man thinks he is special,”
Heather said. “Even our baby.”

“
Our baby is special,” Blane
said.

Heather laughed.

“
His name is Antonio Gutierrez
Sierra, III. He’s named after his father’s brother. Gay brother, by
the way. Everyone but his father agrees that the uncle is gay,”
Blane said. “He goes by Tres because he can’t stand being called
Tony. He seems like a decent guy, very steady, good with numbers.
He’s helped Jake sort out a lot of financial stuff. I don’t know,
Heather, maybe we were too hasty.”

“
By deciding they were freeway
gardens?”

Blane nodded.

“
I’ve thought the same thing,” she
said. “I’m not really in the position to date right now. And you
still have at least three more months of the Ribavirin.”

“
Let’s wait until the baby’s
born,” Blane said.

“
Until the baby’s born,” Heather
nodded. “Did you make the chocolate cake?”

“
Of course.”

“
For me?”

“
Of course.”

“
You’re too good for
Enrique.”

“
You’re too good for
Tres.”

“
That’s right. Let’s keep telling
ourselves that.”

“
Maybe it will work.”

CHAPTER SIXTY

Celia Marlowe has a son

Saturday morning — 7:00
A.M.

Dozen’s Restaurant

Jill and Sandy looked up when Heather trotted
into the restaurant. With her big belly and happy smile, Heather
was her own planet of happiness and, as she always added, swollen
feet.

“
Sorry I’m late,” Heather
said.

“
We just got here,” Jill
said.

“
Well, I know Sandy has to work
today…”

“
And yesterday,” Jill
said.

“
And tomorrow,” Heather
said.

“
It’s that time of the year,”
Sandy smiled. “At least this year I’m going to go to some of these
parties, not only help people get ready for them.”

“
Oooh that’s right,” Heather said.
“You have one tonight?”

“
At the Brown Palace,” Jill said.
“There’s a tea mid-day tomorrow, but Sandy can’t go.”

“
I’ve never been to high-tea at
the Brown Palace,” Heather said.

“
I haven’t either,” Sandy
said.

“
This will be my first time,” Jill
said. “Let’s plan to go before Christmas.”

“
Go where?” Tanesha
asked.

“
Tanesha!!” The women said in
unison. They stood to hug their friend.

“
I thought you had to work?” Jill
hugged Tanesha.

“
I quit all those jobs,” Tanesha
hugged Sandy. Turning to hug Heather, she said, “Jeez, look at
you!”

“
I’m an elephant,” Heather
said.

The women laughed. They were so delighted to
see Tanesha that they stood for a moment just looking at her.
Embarrassed at the fuss, Tanesha indicated that they should sit
down.

“
There’s a story here,” Sandy
said. “How did you quit all those jobs?”

“
There’s really not much to tell,”
Tanesha said.

The waitress came over to see if Tanesha
needed coffee and refilled the other’s cups.

“
How is that possible?” Heather
asked. “I haven’t seen you in months. Well, except for the wedding
when you could only stay for the ceremony.”

“
She’s trying to say that we’ve
missed you,” Jill said. “A lot.”

The women nodded their heads.

“
Really?” Tanesha
asked.

“
A lot,” Sandy said.

Tanesha looked from Jill to Sandy, then to
Heather whose head bounced in a nod. Tanesha smiled.

“
Thanks. I missed you guys
too.”

“
How did you quit your jobs?”
Heather asked.

“
Someone bought my gran’s house,”
Tanesha said. “I came home from work yesterday and my gran told me
everything worked out. She even got money to fix a few
things.”

“
Wow,” Heather said. “Just
wow.”

“
Yeah, wow. I made my gran show me
all the papers and the check,” Tanesha said. “It’s all legit. We
pay a kind of rent until gran dies. When she dies, the owner will
work out what we owe against the equity in the house. We’ll have a
chance to sell the house or buy out the equity. If gran can hold on
until I’m out of med school, which she says she can, we’re
fine.”

“
That calls for a celebration!”
Jill exclaimed.

“
We’ll have to see how it turns
out. I mean, you never know. But I’m hopeful.”

The waitress came to take their orders. To
celebrate, Jill ordered cinnamon scones for everyone.

“
So what are you going to do now?”
Sandy asked Tanesha.

“
I called school. I can’t go next
term but I’m in for fall,” Tanesha said. “I’m going to sleep for
about a month, then look for another job to tide me
over.”

“
Don’t you worry that someone is
going to rip off your gran?” Heather asked.

“
You mean because she’s a poor
stupid black woman?” Tanesha asked.

“
No, Tanesha, I…” Heather
gasped.

“
She is a poor stupid black woman.
She calls herself a stupid black woman for getting into that other
mortgage.” Tanesha laughed. “I checked all the paper work and
called our old mortgage company. It’s legit. I even looked up the
company. It’s called MLR properties. Have you heard of
it?”

The women shook their heads.

“
They own Jill’s old building,”
Tanesha said.

The woman looked at Jill. Embarrassed, Jill
focused on her food.

“
Anything you’d like to tell us,
Mrs. Marlowe?” Tanesha asked.

Jill shook her head.

“
How did Jacob Marlowe come to buy
my gran’s house?”

“
He asked me what I wanted for a
wedding present.” Jill blushed. “I asked him to buy your
grandmother’s house so you wouldn’t have to work so much. I guess
he did.”

“
Really?” Heather asked. “You
didn’t ask for something fun or glamorous? A house in Aspen? Or
Malibu?”

“
I asked for the best present I
could think of – the return of my friend Tanesha.”

“
Thanks.” Sniffling at her tears,
Tanesha took Jill’s hands.

“
I’m sure you’d do it for me.”
Jill nodded.

The women nodded.

“
I have good news,” Heather said.
“Blane asked me if I would manage his acupuncture practice. He says
I did such a great job with our finances that he wants me to help
him. He’s not done with school but he already has a bunch of
clients.”

“
Yea!” Jill, Sandy and Tanesha
said.

“
So you can quit at MAC?” Sandy
asked.

“
In a month or so no more dirty
looks from old ladies!” Heather laughed.

“
You don’t think that’s too much…
togetherness?” Sandy asked.

“
Oh maybe,” Heather said. “But
we’ll work something else out. This way we can both be with the
baby.”

“
Is he quitting Lipson?” Jill
asked.

“
He’s cutting back to ¾ time,”
Heather said.

Sandy reached for Tanesha and Jill’s hand.
Tanesha and Jill took Heather’s hands.

“
Next year is going to be
awesome!” Sandy said. “Tanesha is finally going to med school.
Heather is going to start her new career. Jill will go back to
school and…”

Sandy took a breath to suppress her
fear.

“
I’m getting married.”

The women screamed with excitement for Sandy.
They laughed and talked at the same time.

“
Next year is going to be
amazing,” Jill said.

~~~~~~~~
Monday morning – 8:12 A.M.

“
How the
fuck
is this possible?” Jacob
yelled.

“
It’s America, Jake. Anyone can
sue anyone for anything,” Max Hargreaves said. “Your former board
members believe you breached your contract by disbanding the
board.”

“
What contract? God damn
it.”

Jacob walked away from Max to stand at the
wall of windows. From Max’s office in the Cash Register building,
he could see most of the mountains sparkling with morning
expectation.

“
Will this stop the sale of the
company?” Jacob asked.

“
I don’t know how,” Max said.
“They sued you and Lipson Construction. It’s a separate matter. It
would make a difference if you didn’t own the company
outright.”

“
So why would they bother?” Jacob
asked. “Just to harass me?”

“
Well, there are other concerns,”
Max said.

“
Give it to me straight, Max. What
is this about?”

“
It’s about money and
ego.”

~~~~~~~~

Monday morning — 8:12
A.M.

Across town in a converted Victorian, Jill was
having a similar conversation with her lawyer.

“
How is this an issue?” Jill asked
her lawyer, Diane Radman. “Jacob is Katy’s biological
father.”

“
Trevor’s parents don’t know
that,” Diane said.

“
Let’s tell them,” Jill said. “You
can write a letter with the DNA results and that’s
that.”

“
Not really,” Diane said.
“Trevor’s parents acted as grandparents to Katy for almost three
years of her life. That gives them a case.”

“
Pfft. Acted as grandparents,”
Jill said. “They never spent even one day with her. They never ever
brought her a gift, even at Christmas. They don’t like her, and she
doesn’t like them.”

“
We’ll need a special advocate,”
Diane said.

“
For what?”

“
To evaluate custody,” Diane
said.

“
What custody?”

“
Trevor’s parents have legal
grandparents’ rights,” Diane said.

“
So I have to pay for a special
advocate to evaluate their custody. If they get custody, I have to
pay them child support, right?”

“
Yes, you will.”

“
Why now? That’s my question. Why
now? It’s been almost a year since Trevor divorced me and left Katy
and me without a penny. His parents sure didn’t have anything to
say about that. They didn’t want anything to do with Katy
then.”

“
When did your television ad start
playing?”

“
Couple weeks ago,” Jill said.
“It’s a holiday promotion. We have another one coming out in
January. Why?”

“
These papers are dated a week
ago,” Diane said.

“
You’re saying they want custody
of my Katy because she’s in a TV commercial?”

“
No, not exactly.”

“
Then what?”

“
Money. And…” Diane looked off
into space.

“
What?”

“
Ego.”

~~~~~~~~

Monday morning — 8:12
A.M.

Down the hall from Jacob, Valerie and Mike met
with her entertainment attorney.

“
So you’re saying this is about
money,” Valerie said to her lawyer.

“
Probably,” her lawyer said.
“Personally, I think his ego is bruised.”

“
That’s not all that’s going to be
bruised,” Mike said.

“
I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,”
her lawyer said.

“
Money and ego,” Valerie
said.

“
You can counter sue
him.”

“
Yeah, how much does that cost?”
Mike asked.

“
More money,” her lawyer
said.

“
To chase after more ego,” Valerie
said.

“
Yes.”

~~~~~~~~

Monday morning — 8:12
A.M.

On Capital Hill, Heather and Blane met with a
child custody specialist Jacob found for them.

“
He signed away his parental
rights,” Heather said. “I have the paper right here!”

“
He’s saying he was coerced into
signing this document,” their lawyer said.

“
Coerced my ass. He said, ‘Oh
thank God’ to Val. It’s on YouTube,” Blane said.

“
We’ll have to get a copy of
that,” the lawyer said.

“
Can’t we ignore the whole thing?
I’m going to put Blane down as the father,” Heather said. “Blane
will be my baby’s father.”

“
Doesn’t work like that legally,
unfortunately,” the lawyer said. “He has the DNA
results.”

“
What does he want?”

“
After I got your call, I did some
digging. This guy has lost everything. His wife divorced him. He’s
fired from the soap opera. He hasn’t worked and, according to a
friend in LA, he’s not going to work again. His life is effectively
ruined. He hired a PR firm to help repair his
reputation.”