Authors: Patricia MacDonald
F
rank took the gun from the box in his car. Stuffing it under his jacket, he hurried in the direction of Mamie Revere’s house. Dominga’s keys jingled in his hand, and he used his prosthetic hand to hold them steady and muffle the sound. He moved quickly, lightly, like a cat. He had been a recon marine, and he knew how to traverse a landscape with hardly a sound. He also knew what could happen if he miscalculated. The lasting effects of his injuries were a reminder of that. He mounted the steps lightly, and crouched down by the front door. He turned the key in the lock as silently as he could. He heard the deadbolt click, and he slowly, carefully turned the knob and pushed the door open.
The foyer was dark. The only illumination came from the streetlamps, and some light filtering down from the top of the staircase. Frank tiptoed to the foot of the stairs and listened. He could hear the intermittent, inchoate sounds of voices. He looked up at the two flights which lay ahead of him. How could he get all the way up there without someone hearing him? What if this crazy daughter opened the door and saw him? Shot him? She could easily have a gun. I should have called the cops, he thought. Why try to be a hero? But then he thought of the despair suffusing Anna’s features beneath her bandaged head, and Alan’s anguished confession about his daughter. They were still trying to protect this daughter of theirs. Despite what she had done to her mother, they still wanted to shield her. And here he was, idiot that he was, going along with it.
Kiyanna had begged him to call the cops before he left Restoration House. He had made her promise not to do it. She had threatened never to speak to him again but he put his good hand up to her smooth brown face and held it there. Trust me, he said. I’ll be careful. I’m coming back to you. She had turned away from him, fuming, but he knew she would honor his wishes and not make that call.
So, here we are, Frank thought. Now what? He started up the steps, trying each one before he put his weight on it, moving as slowly and carefully as possible, so as not to make the stairs creak. He reached the first landing, and felt an intense relief.
Just as he was lifting his foot to begin the second staircase, he heard a click below him. He turned abruptly, and saw the front door starting to open. Kiyanna, he thought. What did you do? Just then, a man let himself into the front door and started to cross the foyer.
Frank recognized him at once. Alan
made no effort to be silent as he moved across the foyer and started up the steps. As he neared Frank, who was hiding in the shadows, Frank whispered his name.
Adam started and stifled a cry as he discerned the figure of a man in the shadows. Their eyes met. ‘Frank,’ he said.
At the same moment, the door to their apartment opened.
Lisa stepped out into the hallway, holding a gun. ‘Who’s there?’
Adam could see that Frank was gesturing for him to hide, but there was no way he was going to do that. Lisa was up there with Hannah, and a gun. No way. Adam went to the foot of the last flight of stairs, and looked up at his daughter.
‘It’s me,’ he said.
Lisa’s face lit up at the sight of him. ‘Well, well. What a surprise. Did you sprout wings and fly here from Chicago?’
Adam did not answer. He started to climb the stairs.
‘I asked you a question,’ Lisa insisted, and her voice was razor-sharp. ‘How did you get here so quickly?’
Adam ignored her and climbed to the top of the steps. ‘May I come in?’ he asked politely.
Lisa stepped back. ‘Oh, please do. This is just what I’ve been waiting for.’
Hannah gasped as Adam walked in, shadowed by Lisa who was holding the gun on him. ‘Adam!’ she cried, and started to get up.
‘Sit,’ Lisa barked.
Hannah sat back down as her husband came toward her. ‘How …?’ she asked.
‘Yes,’ said Lisa. ‘Tell us how you did that, Dad.’
‘We never left the city,’ he said.
‘Oh, Adam!’ Hannah cried.
‘I couldn’t,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t go without you. I know you wanted me to but I couldn’t.’
She reached out a hand to him but Lisa glared at her and swung the gun around so it was facing her. ‘Don’t,’ she said.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Adam.
Hannah shook her head.
‘So, the gang’s all here,’ said Lisa. ‘Minus one. Where is Sydney?’
‘In a safe place,’ said Adam.
‘Do you think this is a game? Where did you leave my daughter?’
Adam took a deep breath. ‘Lisa, put that gun down. Let’s talk about this.’
‘Oh, sure. I’ll do whatever you say.’
Adam shook his head. ‘There’s no reason for this. We can discuss it.’
Lisa grabbed Hannah by the neck of her sweater and yanked her to her feet. She put the gun to her mother’s head. ‘There’s nothing to discuss. Sydney belongs to me. Tell me where she is.’
Adam raised his hands, as if pleading for calm. ‘Stop it. I’ll take you to her. Just leave your mother alone.’
‘Like I believe you,’ said Lisa.
‘Why, Lisa?’ he said sorrowfully. ‘Why has it come to this?’
‘How can you ask me that? After what you did? Left me in jail and absconded with my kid. I got out of jail, expecting a homecoming celebration, and found that you two had gone and taken her with you.’
‘I’m sorry we had to do that,’ said Adam wearily. ‘But we felt that we had no choice.’
‘You had a choice!’ Lisa cried. ‘You could have minded your own business. It was none of your business what I did with my daughter.’
‘She’s our granddaughter,’ said Adam. ‘She’s a helpless, innocent baby.’
‘She’s not a baby,’ said Lisa. ‘That was always your excuse for trying to tell me what to do. Thinking you knew better than I did what was best for Sydney. What was best for me. Thinking you could control everything. Well, you can’t tell me what to do. I hope that’s clear to you now. I’m in charge now. I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you both what to do.’ Lisa turned to her mother. ‘Get up. Go on. Move. We’re going.’
Hannah looked helplessly at Adam. She could see a warning in his eyes but she could not read what he was trying to tell her. ‘Adam?’
‘Don’t ask him,’ said Lisa. ‘Stand on your own two feet for once. Move.’
Hannah felt the cold barrel of the gun against her temple. Lisa was so close to her that she could feel her breath on her neck. She wasn’t sure her legs would carry her but Lisa was not giving her any choice.
‘You go first,’ Lisa instructed Adam. ‘We’re going to get Sydney. And once we’ve done that … I won’t have any further use for you. For either of you. Go on. Out!’
Adam opened the door of the apartment and stepped out onto the landing. Hannah followed behind him, with Lisa holding a wad of her sweater in her hand, and the gun to her head. As they stepped out, Adam stopped.
‘Go on,’ Lisa insisted. ‘Down the stairs.’
Suddenly Hannah saw there was a man hidden in the dark corner of the landing, holding a gun. She peered into the shadows and recognized Frank. Come to the rescue. He held her gaze and shook his head, warning her to stay quiet. To pretend he wasn’t there. She should have been relieved. Grateful. But her instinct had a will of its own. A voice inside her heart was screaming that he was a soldier and he knew how to kill someone with a gun. It was an impulse – irrational, undeniable. A desire, in spite of everything, to protect her child.
‘Frank, don’t. Lisa!’ she cried. ‘Look out. He has a gun.’
‘Who has a gun? Oh, please, Mother. I’m not a gullible child.’
‘Listen to me. I mean it.’
‘Put it down, miss,’ said Frank.
Lisa looked away from her mother into the darkness just beyond where her father stood. ‘Who are you?’ She turned on her father. ‘Did you call the cops?’
‘Do what he says, Lisa,’ Adam pleaded. ‘Let’s put an end to this.’
‘I’ll put an end to it!’ she cried. She turned the gun sharply from Hannah’s head toward Frank.
In that instant, her father saw her intention – her intention to kill Frank, this good man, who only came to help. Adam threw himself in front of Frank as, without hesitation, Lisa fired. Adam reeled backward and collapsed as the bullet entered his body.
‘Adam!’ Hannah cried, rushing toward her husband as he crumpled on the stairs. ‘Oh my God. Adam.’
‘No, stay down,’ he said, clutching his shoulder.
In that instant there was another gunshot. With a cry, Hannah turned away from Adam.
Frank’s gun was smoking and Lisa stood there for a moment, looking surprised.
‘Lisa!’ Hannah called out, as if in warning. ‘No.’
Then Lisa’s eyes rolled back and her limbs seemed to turn to rubber. She pitched forward, collapsing on the stairs. ‘Lisa!’ Hannah cried, and tried to scramble toward her daughter. She tried to grab Lisa’s jacket, got her fingers on the fabric and tried to grasp it. But Lisa’s body was limp, a dead weight falling. The jacket slid from Hannah’s fingers. Her body tumbled down the steep staircase and came to rest on the landing.
Hannah crawled and scuttled down the stairs to her child, who was splayed out at an unnatural angle, her head against the banister, one leg on the landing and the other on a higher step. One arm was limp, bent backward.
Hannah reached her and tried to gather her daughter up into her arms.
Lisa’s cloudy eyes gazed at her, as if from some other galaxy. ‘Mommy,’ she whispered.
‘I’m here,’ said Hannah. She watched the feeble spark of life fade from her daughter’s eyes, along with every hope she had ever cherished. Hannah held that lost child to her heart and began to wail.
Eighteen months later
‘C
ome, sit out on the deck,’ said Hannah.
Kiyanna followed Hannah out through the sliding glass doors.
She sat down heavily on one of the chairs, her spring jacket falling open around her.
Hannah looked at her friend’s slightly distended stomach, and then smiled at her. ‘You’ve been keeping something from me,’ she said.
Kiyanna smiled and shook her head. ‘I figured you had enough on your mind.’
Hannah nodded. It was true, she thought. She had hardly been able to think about anything else but her own family for months. But today was different. Today, their friends had come to visit. She, Sydney and Adam had picked Kiyanna and Frank up at the Nashville airport, and then Adam had dropped them off so he could take Frank on a brief tour of Music City. Kiyanna and Hannah were left to enjoy the spring sunshine, while Sydney resumed playing in the yard with her new puppy.
‘When is the baby due?’ Hannah asked.
‘September.’
‘Boy or girl?’
Kiyanna shook her head. ‘We wanted to be surprised.’
‘Well, if it’s a girl, I’ve got boxes of baby clothes I’ll send you. From Sydney,’ she added hastily. In fact, she still had some of Lisa’s baby clothes. But anything that might have been Lisa’s seemed laden with bad karma.
‘I’ll take them. If it is.’
‘Frank must be thrilled. I can’t believe you didn’t tell us.’
‘Just being superstitious.’
‘I understand.’
‘And yes. Frank is over the moon.’
‘I’m happy for you two,’ said Hannah. ‘That baby will have a wonderful life.’
‘I hope so.’ Kiyanna looked down at her stomach and put a protective hand over it. ‘Hannah, I hope you know that what happened … with your daughter, is never far from his mind.’
Hannah nodded. ‘Frank came to our rescue. I never doubted that. Not for a minute. He only wanted to help us.’
‘Lots of nights I wake up and find him sitting on the edge of the bed, in a cold sweat,’ said Kiyanna. ‘He has a lot of bad memories from combat. But sometimes it’s about Lisa.’
Lisa. Hannah sighed. She still could not think of Lisa without a stabbing pain in her heart. Maybe she never would. ‘I know. I go over it and over it. But it always comes down to this. She shot at Frank, point blank. She shot her father. Hell, she pushed me in front of a subway train. When I get despondent, and I do, I remember that. I remind myself of all that happened, and it numbs the pain. It makes the pain recede. Still, it’s always there, lurking.’
‘I’m sure it is,’ said Kiyanna kindly.
Hannah and Adam had buried Lisa and moved back to their house in Nashville. Rayanne and Chet welcomed them home with a subdued happiness. Too much had happened for it to be anything other than a celebration tempered by sadness. When Pamela made her first, rare visit from the Veranda, she had treated Sydney with a tenderness that Hannah had never known as a child.
The Nashville D.A. had filed kidnapping charges against Hannah and Adam. With the aid of many witnesses, including Frank, who flew for one day to give his testimony, Marjorie Fox successfully argued to have the plea reduced to child endangerment, and Hannah had been given a suspended sentence. Adam, now recovered from his shoulder wound, had spent the minimum sentence, sixty days, in jail. In sentencing him, the judge had made a point of saying that the child was never hurt while she was in their care. Now, Adam was home at last, and Kiyanna and Frank, now married, had arrived to visit, bury the past and, hopefully, to start again.
Kiyanna looked out at Sydney, playing in the yard. ‘Cindy – I mean, Sydney – seems OK.’
Hannah frowned. ‘Thank God they let us keep her. Our attorney laid out the circumstances pretty clearly, and the court agreed that it was right for us to keep her. Mostly, she’s OK. She has blue periods. She has nightmares.’
‘How could she not? She’s had more trauma in her five years than some people have in a lifetime.’
‘That’s for sure.’
‘Does she … know what happened? How much is she aware of?’
‘She asks questions sometimes. I’ve been taking her to a child psychologist, just to be sure to keep the channels open, you know.’
‘I think it’s a good idea,’ said Kiyanna. ‘Questions are going to arise.’
‘I know,’ said Hannah.
‘Does she ever mention …’
‘Lisa?’ Hannah supplied her daughter’s name. ‘Once in a while. I say the usual thing. Mommy has gone to heaven.’
The two women sat in silence for a moment, each of them hoping it was true, both of them doubting it. Hannah glanced over at Kiyanna’s frowning face.
‘What?’ she said.
‘It’s just so … baffling. Doing the work I do, I’ve seen plenty of children at risk. Plenty of parents with no business having children. But when Cindy was in daycare, I saw you in action. I know you two were good parents …’
‘So, how could this have happened? Is that what you’re thinking?’ Hannah asked.
Sydney looked up at the two women on the deck. ‘Miss Kiyanna, look what Riley can do.’ Sydney then proceeded to run around the yard, and the pup followed her, barking excitedly.
‘That’s a cute puppy you have there,’ said Kiyanna.
Sydney beamed, and planted kisses on the patient animal’s head.
Hannah returned to Kiyanna’s unstated question. ‘The answer is I don’t know how it happened. I know that’s not much consolation when you’re thinking about the life you’ve created. You’re bound to wonder …’
Kiyanna shook her head, frowning. ‘I do. I can’t help it. You never knew about Lisa? You never realized …?’
Hannah shrugged. ‘There were warning signs. No doubt. But I blamed it on her extreme intelligence, on the fact that she was out of her element socially because she kept skipping grades. I made excuses to myself, even when I was uneasy. It’s hard to explain. You love them so much that you tell yourself that they are normal. Within the range of normal. You can’t really see them as they are sometimes.’
‘How can you ever be sure …?’ said Kiyanna.
Hannah leaned over and placed her pale hand over Kiyanna’s graceful brown fingers. ‘Your baby will be fine. In every way. I just know it. And you will be a wonderful mother. The two of you will be great parents. You just have to start out with all the hope in the world and believe that it will be fine. Because it will.’
Kiyanna frowned. ‘I guess if you can believe that …’
Hannah looked out at Sydney, shrieking and smiling and rolling on the grass with her pup. Did she really believe that? That she and Adam had done their best and it wasn’t their fault? Some professionals in the field of psychology had told them that it was not. That Lisa’s twisted psychology was inborn. Others had looked askance and sighed when they heard her story, suggesting that indeed, they bore much responsibility. And in her heart, Hannah agreed with them. They had raised Lisa. She was a product of their genes. How could it not be their fault at some level? The minister she had talked to had preached forgiveness. Both for herself and for Lisa. Forgive, and put it behind you.
And now, she was raising another child. Her grandchild. The doubts about her own fitness to mother Sydney often surfaced in her mind. Luckily Sydney gave her little time or reason to worry. But secretly, she would always wonder. How could it be any other way? Still, since this was her fate, she tried to look upon it as her second chance. A chance to raise a child who was happy and healthy. Good. Sane. Whole. What other choice did she have? ‘I have to believe it,’ she said firmly. ‘I do.’