Cascade (9 page)

The lawyer indicated the papers.

“
This is probably part of that
reparation. You said he’s suing Valerie?”

“
Yes,” Blane said. “For defamation
of character.”

“
If he looks like the victim, he
can win sympathy. He’s not stupid.”

“
So harass me to repair his
reputation? But everyone will know every detail of what a jerk he
is!”

“
Yes, but he can say he was ‘out
of his mind.’” the lawyer nodded. “Coming to his senses, he
realized he couldn’t live without his child.”

“
You’re saying he doesn’t plan to
win this case,” Blane said. “He plans to go through the motions to
make it look like he’s decent fellow?”

“
It’s all about ego,” the lawyer
said.

~~~~~~~~

Monday morning — 10 A.M.

“
Thank you, sir,” Aden said to the
corrections officer.

He was led to a small room with a plastic
picnic table in the middle. Uncomfortable with being locked inside,
he looked at every wall before sitting down at the table. He’d come
to the Denver Women’s correction facility to talk to Nuala. He
hoped she would be reasonable.

But, he assumed she’d be her crazy
self.

Aden sighed.

Aden stood when the corrections officer led
Nuala into the room. Nuala furrowed her brow at him and sat down at
the table. They glared at each other for a moment before Aden broke
the silence.

“
I received your request to have
your parental rights restored,” Aden said.

“
Ah. And I thought you came
because you loved me.” Nuala sneered.

Aden’s face pinched with his disdain for her.
Remembering Jake’s suggestion to be kind but firm, he let out a
breath.

“
You do not want custody of our
children.”

“
And how do you know that?” Nuala
asked. “You don’t know me at all.”

“
In ten years, you’ve never made
it through an entire visit. Not once,” Aden said. “Come on, Nuala,
you never ever wanted these kids.”

“
I changed my mind,” Nuala said.
“My psychiatrist says I’m bipolar. That’s why I do drugs and
stuff.”

“
You’re not making sense. You’re
bipolar so you should have our children? That’s the dumbest thing
I’ve ever heard.”

“
My rights were violated. You had
no right to take away my custody. No right. Those kids need their
mother.”

“
Like a hole in their
heads.”

“
Bipolar disorder is genetic. Who
will be able to help my babies when they get bipolar?
You?”

“
Your babies? The babies you tried
to prostitute less than six months ago?”

Aden and Nuala returned to glaring at each
other. Determined to get this resolved, Aden tried another
approach.

“
How were your rights
violated?”

“
A mental illness is a disability.
My rights were terminated without consideration of my disability.
My lawyer is from National Association for the Mentally Ill. He
says I’ll get my custody back.”

“
Nuala, you never wanted kids, any
of your kids. You’ve lost parental rights on all of them. Why come
after our kids?”

“
I would need some support, you
know. It’s going to be hard to stay clean when I’m out. And you
have lots of money.”

“
Money. This is about
money?”

“
Yes. I mean no! That’s not all
it’s about.” Nuala tried for charming. “I love my Nash and…
um…”

“
Her name is Noelle,” Aden
said.

“
Noelle.” Nuala smiled. “I have a
little brain damage from the drugs.”

“
When will you be out of
prison?”

“
Six years,” Nuala said. “With
good behavior.”

“
Why don’t we deal with this in
six years?”

“
Because my baby Nash will be
eighteen by then and...”

“
Noelle.”

“
Noelle will be sixteen. That’s
too late.” Showing more gums than teeth, Nuala smiled. “When my
rights are restored, they will visit me in prison at least once a
month.”

“
So I’m supposed to bring our
children to prison so you can ‘parent’ them? Is this a
joke?”

“
You’re so hard, Aden. Nash and
Noelle need me. Especially during their teen years. Their bipolar
disorder will start and …”

“
Why do you insist that they will
become bipolar?”

“
Because that’s what happened to
me. I was mentally ill and took drugs to self medicate. I wouldn’t
be here now if my parents understood my disability or if you
understood my disability.”

Aden shook his head. Nuala had found another
way to avoid being responsible for her life.

“
We’ll have to go to court,” Aden
said.

“
Fine, it’s your money,” Nuala
said. “You’ll have to pay my lawyers fees because you infringed on
my rights.”

“
Your rights were taken away by the court, not me. You had
those rights taken away by
your
actions,” Aden
said.

“
If
you’re going to be like that, then we will go to court. You’ll see.
Maybe
your
parental rights will be taken away.
How would you like that?”

Without another word, Aden stood and knocked
on the door. The corrections officer led him through the facility
to the door where he retrieved his watch and other belongings. He
jogged through the light snow to his car. Turning onto left Smith
road, he made the almost immediately right turn to the Sand Creek
Open Space.

Aden knew he would not stay sober if he held
onto his rage and helplessness. Despite the bitter cold, he ran the
Sand Creek trail. Screaming and crying, he vented the feelings that
always arose around Nuala. By the time he returned to the car, he
felt more like himself.

Nuala wasn’t going to get the best of him. Not
now, not ever.

He hoped.

~~~~~~~~

Monday morning — 11 A.M.

Delphie and Sam had been waiting for more than
two hours in an estate lawyer’s wood paneled waiting room.
Delphie’s fingers clasped a metal box on her lap. The box held all
of her legal papers – her birth certificate, her name change
documents, and everything else. The box should clear up this
mess.

Sam insisted on driving Delphie to Leadville
to ‘just deal with’ this nonsense. With each passing moment,
Delphie felt more lost. She was losing track of time, losing track
of herself and even losing track of Sam’s warm presence.

Sam got up to refill their water glasses. She
looked up to take his offered glass.

“
Do you want to visit anyone while
we’re here?” Delphie asked.

Sam smiled. She’d asked this question two or
three times already.

“
You’re right,” Delphie said.
“Let’s get this done and see what’s next.”

Sam took her hand. Hearing a sound behind
them, they turned to see two Leadville Police Officers come into
the waiting room. They had a quiet conversation with the
receptionist then stood near the door.

“
Ms. Delphinium?” A gray haired
man came out from the back office.

Shocked, Delphie popped to her feet. She
gawked at the man.

“
Officers, you may arrest this
woman,” the gray haired man said.

“
Surely there’s some mistake.” Sam
stood to block the men from Delphie. “Listen, I’m Sam Lipson. I
went to high school with both of you. Chet? You remember Big
Sam?”

The older police officer nodded to
Sam.

“
This woman stole a valuable asset
from the Johansen estate. We generously offered her some leeway in
returning the item.” The man sneered at Sam. “She didn’t bother to
bring the item with her.”

The police officers moved toward
Delphie.

“
Officers please,” Sam said. “This
is clearly a misunderstanding.”

“
Where is the Chastity Bell?” The
gray haired man asked. “Where is it?”

Delphie cowered from the man. With Sam in
front of her, and the police closing in, Delphie did the only thing
she could think of – she called for Celia.

There was a popping sound. The lights
flickered then went out.

“
Holy crap! There’s only one
reason the lights go out around Big Sam Lipson,” Chet, the police
officer said. “There’s a Marlowe here. No stolen property is worth
running afoul with any Marlowe.”

“
I’m not waiting around to meet
him,” the other police officer said. “Sir, you can come down to the
station to fill out a missing property report.”

Delphie heard the door open then shut. A
moment later the lights came back on. The gray haired lawyer moved
toward Sam.

“
You belong to me, Chastity Bell,”
the man said.

“
I belong to myself.” Strengthened
by Celia’s gift, Delphie’s voice was solid and true. “The Chastity
Bell belongs only to herself. But you already know that don’t you,
Levi.”

“
This is Levi Johansen?” Sam’s
rage ignited. “You will never take her from me. Ever.”

“
You can’t hide behind the
Marlowes any longer,” Levi Johansen sneered. ”Delbert Marlowe was
the last male Marlowe. No one can keep you from me now.”

“
I can. I’m Jacob, Celia’s son.”
Jacob walked into the waiting room. “Sorry I’m late.”

“
Celia Marlowe had a son?” Levi
Johansen recoiled.

“
A stronger, more capable son,”
Sam said. “My son.”

“
I’ve taught him everything,”
Delphie said. “Since he was a small child. You are no match for
him.”

Levi Johansen raised his hand at Jacob. With a
blink of Jacob’s eyes, the man flew against the wood paneling. The
man tried to move but he was pinned against the wall. Rising, he
slid along the wall until his feet dangled off the
ground.

“
Let’s go home,” Sam
said.

Holding the door for Delphie, Sam nodded to
Jacob.

“
I’ll release you when we reach
the highway,” Jacob said. “In the meantime, you might consider this
a small payback for trapping Chastity.”

“
This isn’t over!”

Laughing, Jacob left the waiting
room.

CHAPTER
SIXTY-ONE

The cutest thing

Two weeks later
Monday morning — 3:56 A.M.

“
Happy birfday to me, happy
birfday to me,” came a soft singing voice over the baby
monitor.

Jacob touched Jill’s shoulder to wake her. He
leaned over to kiss her lips. Sitting down at the side of the bed,
he set a cup of coffee on her bedside table.

“
Happy birfday, dear Katy!!” Katy
giggled over the baby monitor

“
How long has she been singing?”
Jill asked.

“
An hour or so,” Jacob said. “I
went to get her so she wouldn’t wake you but she said you have a
special birthday wake up. She wouldn’t teach me.”

Jill smiled.

“
Happy Bifday to ME!” Katy
giggled. Her voice was soft and happy.

“
Did she wake you?” Jill
asked.

“
No, I had to get ready for the
early conference call with the New York…”

“
Venture capitalists,” they said
together.

“
Sorry, I’m still asleep.” Jill
took a long drink of her coffee. “Would you like a little birthday
before you go?”

“
With Katy? Or with
you?”

Jill giggled at the lustful look he gave her.
He kissed her lips.

“
What’s the special birthday wake
up?”

“
It’s a little silly,” Jill said.
“On her birthday, we greet everything like it’s brand new. You
know, like she was just born. You’ll have to introduce yourself. I
will introduce myself. Everybody’s coming over for breakfast, so
they’ll have to do it too. It’s fun. You’ll see.”

“
I should be done with the call in
time for breakfast,” Jacob said. “Shall we wake the birthday
girl?”

“
We have to give her a little
notice to get ready,” Jill said.

“
Do you want to get up now!?”
Jacob’s voice was loud.

“
It feels like a special day but I
can’t remember why!?” Jill yelled as she got out of bed.

“
Mommy’s so silly,” Katy
whispered.

Jacob started a quiet laugh at Katy’s
whisper.

“
YAAAAWWWWNNNNN!” Jill wandered
into their bathroom and bumped around a little bit. “I wonder how
my Katy-baby is?!?!”

Seeing Jill’s exaggerated voice and movements,
Jacob burst into laughter. She smiled at his glee. Taking his hand,
they walked to Katy’s room. Awake but pretending to be asleep, Katy
lay stiff as a board in her bed. Jill went to her
bedside.