Cascade (38 page)

“
Objection! Conjecture!” Mr.
Blanchard jumped to his feet.

Startled, Honey looked at the judge. The judge
gave the attorney a stern look. Turning to Honey, she
smiled.

“
You can only tell us about your
direct experience, Mrs. Scully,” the judge said. “Not your
judgments or what you think about it.”

“
Just the facts?” Honey asked.
“But they are a lot a like. That’s a fact. They look like
twins.”

“
Stick with your facts,” The judge
smiled. “I ask the jury to disregard Mrs. Scully’s comparison
between her sister and Mr. Gilmore. Please proceed.”

“
Mom and I were supposed to take
care of his needs,” Honey said.

“
Your father didn’t rape your
sister?”

“
Not that I know of,” Honey said.
“And I don’t know when he would have. He usually had Mom and me in
bed with him.”

“
You slept in the same bed with
your mother and father?”

“
He would have sex with Mom then
me,” Honey said. “That’s usually how it worked. I couldn’t read or
write. Greg said it was the only thing I was good at.”

Ms. Campbell walked back to her table to give
time for Honey’s last statement to linger in the air. Honey glanced
at Mr. Blanchard and saw a smug look on his face. Her sister leaned
over to say something in his ear. He nodded as if to say, ‘Having
sex with Greg was the only thing she was good at.’ Honey’s head
jerked toward the loud cough in the audience.

MJ.

He loved her no matter what. Honey gave him a
soft smile.

“
This is a good time to take a
recess,” the judge said. “Ms. Campbell? Mr. Blanchard? I want to
see you in my chambers in fifteen minutes.”

Honey wheeled past the jurors on her way to MJ
and her family. She could feel their eyes on her. When she looked
up, an elderly woman near the end smiled at her. She nodded and
kept moving. Inside, she couldn’t help but smile.

The jury was starting to like her.

~~~~~~~~

Tuesday afternoon — 3:11
P.M.

Sandy looked from face to face in the small
conference room. The District Attorney, some Federal
representative, Seth and another Denver Police Detective were
arguing over what should happen next. She wasn’t sure why they
insisted on her coming to this meeting. She only knew she had to be
there.

Samantha Hargreaves, Aden’s attorney, had
filed to have the charges dropped against him. After all, the
person he assaulted was no longer an issue. The DA was furious. The
Feds were enraged that their key witness was murdered while in
Denver Police custody. Everyone kept looking at her as if she might
be the solution to their problems.

No, she didn’t know anything about any
Chinese.

No, she was never involved in the distribution
part of her father’s business.

No, she had not been in contact with her
father after he got out of jail.

Yes, that’s right, she hadn’t spoken even one
word to him since she was twelve years old. Was that so hard to
believe?

The men stopped talking to her after that. She
was not the answer to their problems. They still wouldn’t let her
go home.

In her mind, she fantasized about going home,
to her home, her little condo on Seventeenth Avenue. She imagined
walking in the brick building then up the stairwell to her second
floor condo. She’d open her front door and be home. Maybe she’d sit
out on her small balcony. She might walk across the street for a
cup of coffee from Watercourse Foods. Drinking her coffee, she
might wander over to Marczyk’s for some baking supplies. With her
arms filled with her reusable bags, she would walk home while
planning the cake that would occupy the rest of her
afternoon.

Seth touched her hand and she returned to the
small room.

“
I’m going to take Sandy home,”
Seth said. “We’ve already determined that she’s safe at the
Marlowe-Lipson home. This entire debacle has been a shock to her
system. She needs to rest.”

The Feds started screaming again. The District
Attorney screamed back. And Sandy leaned back in her chair. Once
again, her father had splattered his garbage all over her life.
Even dead, the man continued to wreak havoc in her life. Sandy
settled in for what was sure to be a long afternoon.

What kind of cake was that?

Her mind shifted to somewhere far away from
this room.

~~~~~~~~

Tuesday afternoon — 4:07
P.M.

Heather was standing at the MAC counter when
she felt a strong contraction. She’d been having false labor for
the last couple of weeks, so she thought nothing of it. With the
economy as bad as it was, she was the only employee until five.
Anyway, she figured she’d be in labor for twenty-four hours or
maybe forty-eight hours. She also figured she would be late. After
all, this was her first pregnancy.

Everyone told her she would be late and in
labor for at least twenty-four hours.

But everyone also told her about morning
sickness, general depression, exhaustion, swollen feet, feeling
like you could eat a house and a whole bunch of other stuff.
Luckily, she hadn’t had any of those problems.

Well, swollen feet. But swollen feet were a
part of working retail. Heather turned away from the customer in
front of her.

“
Oof,” she said.

“
Are you okay?” the young woman
asked.

“
Just a little false labor,”
Heather said. “I think we should try this other mascara. That black
is too dark. Have you tried the deep blue?”

And so she got through the next ten minutes.
Delighted with her makeup, the customer spent over a hundred
dollars and even asked Heather is she would consider doing the
makeup for her wedding. While chanting ‘please leave’ inside her
head, Heather smiled and nodded. She collapsed onto a high stool
when the customer left.

Glancing at her watch, she began to call her
birthing team to find:

Sandy was still with the police
jerks.

Jill was still at the stupid trial.

Tanesha was still at work at Denver
Health.

Crap.

She didn’t even have a car. Her new car was
getting an upgrade done. Blane had dropped her off for work then
said something… what did he say?

“
Oofff,” she said.

She felt a trickle, then a whoosh of
wetness.

Holy crap!

She was having this baby!

Right now!

Where were her girls? Sure, Blane had gone to
every class and was going to do acupuncture but she needed HER
GIRLS. She tried to call Tanesha again.

No answer.

Crap. She left Tanesha a text message. Heather
held the phone to her forehead willing it to ring. With
contractions coming a minute a part, she faded a little
bit.

“
Hi,” Blane said. Somehow he
arrived on the other side of the counter. “Are you all
right?”

“
She doesn’t look great,
Blane.”

Who said that? Heather thought. Her head
rotated to see none other than Tres Sierra!

“
WHATISHEDOINGHERE!?!”

Ooh! That came out a little loud. Did she
scream? In the middle of MAC? Her boss will kill her!

“
He helped me get the car,” Blane
went around to the other side of the counter.

“
She’s having the baby,” Tres
said. “I’ll call 9-1-1.”

“
I don’t think we have that kind
of time,” Blane said. “This baby is coming now. Heather?
Heather?”

Heather looked at him and smiled. Here he was.
She needed him and here he was. For the first time in her entire
life, a man came through for her. Just for her. Even though he had
said he would be there, he had said he wanted to be there, she’d
never believed him. Until this moment. Blane was here.

“
Let’s get her off the chair,”
Tres said. “Do you have needles in the car?”

“
I have some with me,” Blane said.
“I was going to give her a treatment. She’s been having
contractions for a week or so. She’s been pretty uncomfortable… no
sleep…”

“
Get the fuck out of my
way!”

Tanesha. Tanesha. Is that
you?

“
It’s me, honey.” Tanesha’s face
appeared in front of her. “Who are you?”

“
I’m…” Tres sputtered. Tanesha
whipped around to look at him.

“
I’ll tell you who you are –
you’re the guy who’s going to do exactly what I tell you to do.
First, you’re going to close the doors to this shop. We do not want
some passerby watching our baby be delivered. Then you’re going to
find me towels.”

Tres jumped at Tanesha’s commands.

“
Wait!” Tanesha said. “Give me
your jacket.”

Tres took off his jacket. Tanesha placed the
jacket under Heather’s head. Tres stopped for a moment to say
something.

“
Go!” Tanesha made a motion with
her hands. “Blane, are you ready with your needles? You’re going to
have to do the needles and help her breathe. Can you do
that?”

“
I’m ready,” Blane
said.

Tanesha? I feel funny.
Lightheaded.

“
Her blood pressure is up,” Blane
said.

“
You better get to work then,”
Tanesha said. “Something happens to Heather, you’re going to have
to deal with Jill AND Sandy AND, more importantly, ME. You don’t
want to have to deal with me. Now get to work.”

Blane began placing needles.

“
Heather? I’m going to take your
pants off and underwear,” Tanesha said.

But what about… you
know…

“
Can’t have a baby through your
undies,” Tanesha laughed.

Tres gave Tanesha a stack of
towels.

“
Where did you get
these?”

“
I bought them next door,” Tres
said. “I also got some fleece blankets for the baby.”

“
Place the towels around her.
Leave a stack down near her knees. You will not look at what’s
private. You hear me!”

“
Yes ma’am.”

“
I’m going to wash my hands,”
Tanesha said. “You did call 9-1-1?”

“
They’re on their way,” Tres said.
“I told them she was having the baby but...”

“
How’s her blood pressure
Blane?”

I feel better, good, not so
scared. Did you see? Blane’s here? He came through!

Laughing, Tanesha disappeared from sight.
Heather was jostled back and forth as Tres put the towels around
her. The contractions ripped through her one after
another.

“
There’s a couple people here,”
Tres said. “Women.”

Jill? Sandy?

“
No, they say they work here,”
Tres said. “One woman says she’s your manager. She said she’s
closing the shop.”

“
Don’t worry about us or the
store, Heather. Just worry about yourself and the baby.” A woman’s
voice wafted over the counter.

“
We love you, Heather!” A
teenager’s voice said. “Can we help?”

“
You sure can,” Tanesha said. “We
need some water or ice for Heather. We also need someone to wait
for the paramedics at the door so they don’t get lost.”

“
I’ll wait for the paramedics,”
the high school girl ran out the door.

“
She’s crowning!” Tres
yelled.

“
Excuse me,” Tanesha said to the
women. Walking around the counter, Tanesha punched Tres in the
shoulder. “You were not supposed to look.”

“
I
have
done this before,” Tres said. “More
than once. In my family, birthing babies is an entire family
affair.”

“
Great,” Tanesha said. “You can
help Blane with the breathing. Heather?”

Yep! I’m here! I’m doing my
breathing! Tanesha? I think he’s coming now.

“
On my call ready,
Heather?”

I’m ready! I’m ready!

“
One – Two – Three!
PUSH!!”

CHAPTER
EIGHTY

Step by step

Tuesday evening – 7:15
P.M.

Sighing, Honey looked out the window of the
SUV.

“
Tired?” MJ asked.

He slowed to turn onto Seventeenth Avenue from
Race Street. They were making their way to St. Joseph’s Hospital to
visit Heather and her new baby.

“
Tired? Yeah, I’m tired,” Honey
said. “I was thinking about what the DA said.”

“
You’ve said that a couple times,
but haven’t told me what he said.”

“
I don’t want you to get mad,”
Honey said. “Especially since we got invited to see the new baby.
That’s a really big deal.”

“
To be invited?” MJ
asked.

“
To be a part of the family,” she
said. “Jill said Heather asked for me and wanted the baby to meet
Auntie Honey and Uncle MJ.”