Cascade (33 page)

Anjelika laughed.

CHAPTER
SEVENTY-SIX

You’re not alone anymore

Friday morning — 5:21 A.M.
The Castle

“
She’s still really sick,” Jill
whispered to Jacob. She reached down to feel her sleeping baby’s
face. “Except for the bee stings, she’s never been sick like this.
Blane gave her an acupuncture treatment yesterday but she still
hasn’t kicked it. She should be in her own room, in her own bed but
Mike’s not done. She has had to sleep with us.”

Jacob nodded to all the information he already
knew. Dressed for work, his hand brushed Jill’s pajama clad back to
try to comfort her.

“
I can’t help thinking there’s
something else going on,” Jill said. “She’s on her meds… had some
acupuncture… She’s been home from school for three days! She’s
never been home from school for even a day.”

“
She’s sick. What else could be
going on?”

“
What about that crazy guy that’s
mad at Delphie? Maybe he’s coming after the girl Marlowes
now!”

“
Johansen? He’s scary. That’s
true.” Jacob smiled at Jill. He brushed a piece of her hair behind
her ear. “But this isn’t about him. Katy has a little strep throat.
She’s going to kick this. You’ll see.”

Jill nodded her head but her worried eyes
clutched at his heart.

“
What’s got you so worried?” Jacob
asked.

“
I can’t stay with her today. She
needs me and I can’t be here. I quit working at Pete’s so I could
be here when she needs me. And I’m not! I can’t! I have to go to
class today. I’ve already missed so much to be with Sandy. After
class, I have to go to the trial. I can’t leave Honey there by
herself. And I need to be there to show her sister that I’m going
to tell the truth. The DA hopes maybe by seeing us at the jury
selection, she’ll decide to skip the trial. Fat chance of that. And
Sandy. Oh my God, Jacob. Sandy needs me and…”

Jacob held her close to him.

“
You’re exhausted, Jill,” he
whispered. “You need to take care of yourself or you’ll get sick
too.”

“
I don’t have time! When do I have
time?”

“
You’re not alone anymore. Every
little thing doesn’t rest on your shoulders. I’m here. I can take
Katy to work with me if I need to. Delphie said she’d stay with
Katy. Julie said she could easily take Katy since Paddie’s sick
too. Your mother’s coming over this afternoon to look after Katy
and Aden’s kids. You’ve done a lot for everyone. Why not let people
repay your kindness?”

“
What have I ever done for
Delphie?” Jill asked.

“
You helped her with her Celia
problem,” Jacob said.

“
Yeah, like I said, what have I
done for Delphie?”

“
Oh, Jill.” His lips touched hers.
“There has to be some place where you get a break, even if it’s
just inside your own head. Why don’t you go back to bed? You don’t
have to be up for a few more hours.“

“
But I need to get
your…”

“
I’m fine,” Jacob said. “Dad,
Blane, Val and I are meeting to make decisions before breakfast
this morning. Aden’s with Sandy and his kids this morning. I can
get lunch with Blane.”

“
How did Blane get better so fast
when Katy’s still sick?”

“
He’s had strep before,” Jacob
said. “He seems to be turning the corner on the Ribavirin too.
Listen, will you do me a favor?”

“
Anything,” Jill said.

He took her hand and led her to the bed. While
he held the covers, she slid into bed next to Katy. Jacob dropped
to his knees next to the bed. His face was right next to
hers.

“
Please rest,” he whispered. “This
has been an awful week. You have a couple weeks of nastiness with
the trial. Promise me you will rest at least another hour. Nothing,
not one thing, is more important than your health.”

“
What about all this other stuff?
School? Trial? Sandy? Katy? Aren’t they important?”

“
To me. Nothing is more important
to me than you.”

Jill was so surprised by his words that she
stopped talking. Her eyes welled up with tears. In that second, she
saw, maybe for the first time, that he truly loved her. She pulled
him to her.

“
You love me,” Jill said in his
ear.

“
I love you more than I have
breath to express. I’ll be in touch about the trial,” he said. “If
I can get away, I’ll go with you.”

Jill nodded.

“
Will you sleep?”

She nodded. He pulled the comforter around her
and kissed her good-bye. On his way out of the loft, he stuck his
head in the room and she was sound asleep. He left with a smile on
his face.

~~~~~~~

Friday morning — 7:00
A.M.

Honey had been up for a few hours. Steve had
arrived early today to help her out of bed and through her morning
routine. They worked through her morning stretches and body weight
exercises. Afterwards, he helped her shower.

She could now manage getting dressed by
herself. Dressing herself was a miracle brought about by Steve’s
patient help and Blane’s wonder needles. Even though she was slow,
she loved the normalcy of being able to dress herself. At least she
didn’t have to be at work at five this morning. Then again, it took
so long to get dressed in these fancy clothes, she had to be up
extra early.

Wheeling out to the dining room, she saw MJ’s
back. Partially in shadow, he was standing in the full length
mirror. She felt a flush of irritation. She needed to get ready and
he was in the way! As she got closer, she saw that he was tying the
tie to his dress uniform.

“
What are you doing?” she
asked.

“
I’m tying my tie,” MJ
said.

“
You’re hair is wet,” she
said.

“
I showered in the office bathroom
Jacob insisted on making for me,” MJ said. Turning back to the
mirror, he added, ”Smart man that Jacob. I never get a shot in the
big bathroom.”

Honey chuckled.

“
I made your tea,” MJ said. He
pointed to the travel cup on the table. “Delphie stopped by to say
she had a light breakfast ready for you, if you have
time.”

MJ lifted the hanger holding his jacket from
the high back of a dining room chair. He slipped the jacket off the
hanger and began buttoning the jacket.

“
Where are you going?” Honey
said.

“
I’m going with you,” MJ said. “I
called the LC last night and asked. Turns out she has some
emergency cartography pop up out of the blue. The team is going to
help or do some training or whatever until the trial is
done.”

“
And the map work?”

“
Surprising how it coincides with
your sister’s trial,” MJ smiled at her.

“
Sorry, I don’t really get
it.”

“
There’s always a ton of map work
for the LC to do. The intelligence center makes a bundle on them,
so they want her to work on them. It’s an easy excuse to tell
brass. Plus brass has put priority on a couple of areas of the
world. Can’t really go to war if you don’t know how to get
there.”

“
What if people need you? You
can’t stay here just because of me!”

“
If the team needs to go, they
have to go,” MJ said. “Family is the most important factor to the
well-being of any military team. That’s what the LC says but I
think it’s something her Dad used to say.”

“
Oh.”

“
I’ll be by your side the entire
trial,” MJ said. “We’ll also have a team member to help us get food
and stuff like that. Margaret will be there when she’s not doing
translations.”

“
Oh.”

“
You don’t sound
happy.”

“
I’m… I…” Her eyes welled up with
tears. “Thanks. I don’t know how to thank Alex. What should I
do?”

“
Get through this stupid thing,”
MJ said. “That’s what she said. Ready for a light breakfast? A
car’s coming for us around at 0740.”

“
A car? You’ve taken care of
everything.”

“
That’s what husbands are for,” MJ
said. “Speaking of which, are you going to wear your
diamond?”

“
Oh, I forgot,” Honey said. “I
usually just wear my band to work.”

“
I know.” MJ slipped the ring on
her finger. Their eyes caught and he smiled. “I think Jill and Katy
are eating with us. Shall we?”

Honey smiled. She wheeled behind him as he
opened the door. Sam was waiting for them in the hall. Sam followed
Honey through the house. The family was assembled in the dining
room. Valerie and Jacob were deep in conversation at the far end of
the table. Sandy, Aden and his kids took one side of the table.
With Katy wrapped in a pink cotton blanket on her lap, Jill sat
across from Sandy and Aden and next to Jacob.

“
What? Why is everyone here?”
Honey asked.

“
We couldn’t send you off by
yourself!” Delphie said. “Val? Sandy? Can you help me
carry?”

MJ helped Honey to the table then sat next to
her. Leaning over, he kissed her cheek.

“
You’re not alone anymore,” MJ
whispered. “You have all of these people who love you.”

Honey sniffled back her tears. Valerie came in
with a plate of eggs and sausage. Sandy brought a plate of her
special blueberry muffins. Sam carried a pot of coffee and a
pitcher of water. Delphie delivered a bowl of yogurt, fresh fruit
and a smaller plate of banana muffins.

“
Sandy made these for you, Honey,”
Delphie said. “They shouldn’t make you sick.”

Without ceremony, everyone began filling their
plates. Valerie laughed as a groggy Mike wandered in from upstairs.
Jill leaned over to promise Honey she would be at the trial as soon
as school was out. As Honey looked from face to face, she saw the
laughter and love in their eyes. They couldn’t do this hard thing
for her. But they would be there every step of the way.

And that was all that mattered.

~~~~~~~~

Friday morning — 9 A..M..
Locust Street

“
What are we doing here?” Sandy
asked when Valerie turned onto her father’s street.

“
You’ll see,” Valerie
said.

Driving her ancient Mustang, Valerie stopped
across the street from Sandy’s childhood home. There was a group of
twenty or so men and women wearing Lipson Construction shirts and
hardhats standing around the house. A large Mack truck hauled a
bulldozer and excavator pulled up to the house. A man ran up to
Valerie when she got out of the car. Sandy didn’t hear what they
said, but the man ran back to the house. When the man whistled, a
woman and man ran to him. Together, they jogged up to the house and
went inside.

“
What’s going on, Val?” Sandy
asked.

Heather and Tanesha pulled up in Aden’s SAAB
sedan.

“
Why is she driving Aden’s car?”
Sandy asked.

“
She’s trying out all the cars.
Aden let her use his today because he’s home with the kids,”
Valerie shrugged. “Blane wants her to have the perfect car. They’re
so sweet.”

“
They are…” Sandy puzzled at
Valerie. “Do I need to ask again?”

“
Ask what?” Valerie gave Sandy her
movie star smile. “Jill wanted to be here but she has school. So
did her Mom.”

“
Did they know what was going
on?”

“
Oh, I think so.”

Valerie jogged over to direct the men
unloading the bulldozer and the excavator. Heather and Tanesha came
over to give Sandy a hug.

“
Do you know what’s going on?”
Sandy asked.

“
Not a chance,” Heather said.
“Jill said Jacob said Valerie has been acting weird since
yesterday. She won’t tell him or Mike what she has planned. She
just asked for a Lipson team and the equipment.”

“
Oh, and she made Jacob buy your
Dad’s house yesterday,” Tanesha said. “They took possession at
about three yesterday afternoon and the FBI finished last
night.”

The women turned to watch the delicate dance
of people and machines. Valerie and two men unloaded the equipment.
The men scrambled up on to the machines to start them. Valerie
jogged over to confer with the people inside the house. A woman ran
over to give them hard hats, dust masks and thick Lipson
Construction jackets.

“
Do you know what’s going on?”
Sandy asked the woman.

She smiled and ran back to the rest of the
employees. A truck pulled up to roll off a construction dumpster.
Valerie walked over to where Heather, Tanesha and Sandy were
standing.

“
Are you ready?” Valerie
asked.

“
You know, I’m not feeling really
great,” Sandy said. “I don’t really know…”

“
You can do this! It won’t be
hard. That’s what we have the machines for! Come on!”

Entranced by Valerie’s infectious cheer, the
women followed her to the machines Valerie climbed up on the
excavator then helped Sandy into the cab with her.