Cimarron, Denver Cereal Volume 4 (2 page)

Only Delphie’s immediate family, Jacob,
Valerie and Sam, were allowed in the ICU. They were each given five
minutes before they were escorted back to the waiting room. There
was nothing anyone could do for Delphie now.

Or Aden for that matter.

Except wait.

And pray.

Jill and Sandy promised each other that they
would go to the Cathedral today to light candles for Delphie and
Aden. Maybe the Holy Mother would save them. Sandy never felt all
that confident in the Holy Mother’s abilities. Still, she felt
better when she asked Mary to help her. Maybe Mary would help
Delphie and Aden if Sandy got Jill to ask.

Sandy sighed again.

She needed to get to the Castle. Noelle and
Nash were waiting for her. She was supposed to follow Jill home
when she took this detour. She had needed a moment to herself in
her wonderful home.

And some Tagalogs.

Sandy looked inside the box hoping there
were twenty hidden cookies inside. She shook the empty box and set
it down.

“
Mother Mary,” Sandy said
out loud. “Please help the ones I love to recover.”

The peaceful silence of her beloved condo
echoed back to her. She almost expected Cleo, her black and white
cat, to jump up on her lap.

But Cleo and the children were at the
Castle, where Sandy should be. She was grateful for a moment of
peace.

“
Mother Mary, thank you for
sparing Delphie and Valerie and Aden and Pete. Thank you for
helping me survive to see these busy days.”

Sandy felt a little better. She was grateful
that Delphie, Valerie, Aden and Pete survived. She was grateful she
survived everything. She just wished she had a few more cookies.
Her cell phone rang with the latest Miley Cyrus ringtone courtesy
of Noelle. Shaking her head at the ringtone, Sandy answered.

“
Hey Jill,” she said. “I
wanted to change the sheets before Lizzie comes tomorrow. I know
when I sleep, I’ll sleep all day. She’s supposed to be here in the
morning.”

“
Elizabethe,” Jill
exaggerated the ‘beeth’ and laughed.

“
Yeah,” Sandy said.
“Her.”

Standing from the couch, she gave her condo
one last look. She shoved the empty box of cookies into her purse
and moved toward the door.

“
The girls are here,” Jill
said. “Heather brought the lovely Mack. He’s sound asleep. Can you
believe it? He didn’t wake up in the ride over. Remember how Katy
was when she was this age?”

“
She didn’t sleep more than
an hour until she was almost two,” Sandy laughed at her own memory
of Katy’s infancy. “Didn’t want to miss anything. That’s
Katy.”

“
Heather says that after
the evening run, he sleeps until 3 A.M.”

“
Wow,” Sandy said. “Maybe
I’ll get lucky like that.”

“
What?” Jill said to the
voices in the background.

“
We’re wondering if you
will make us some…”

Jill put her hand over the phone. Sandy
heard her ask, “What do we want?” She heard Heather and Tanesha say
something. Jill laughed in response.

“
Mostly we just want you to
come home,” Jill said. “We’re in the loft. Noelle and Nash are
crashed out in the guest bedroom. Cleo’s looking for
you.”

“
I’ll be right there,”
Sandy said.

She closed the door to her home and went
down the hall.

~~~~~~~~

Saturday early morning —
3:45 A.M.

Jacob crept across the open loft space. Jill
and her friends were asleep in the sitting area near the fireplace.
The empty wine bottle and pan of brownies indicated that they’d had
a girls’ night. Jill and Sandy were so grim when they left the
hospital; he hoped the wine, brownies, and company helped.

He smiled. Sound asleep, the women were
draped around each other like some romantic oil painting. Jill was
sitting near the end of the couch with Sandy’s head on her lap. As
he approached, Sandy’s eyes opened. When Sandy shifted off Jill’s
lap, Jill opened her eyes. She turned to look at Sandy and Sandy
pointed to Jacob.

Jill stood to hug Jacob. Sandy gave them a
wave and lay back on the couch.

“
Come to bed,” Jacob
whispered in Jill’s ear.

Jill nodded. He took her hand and led her
across the loft. He closed their bedroom door.

“
Bath or bed?” he
asked.

“
Bath,” she said. “How’s
Delphie?”

He gave her a soft smile. He led her through
their bedroom to their master bathroom where he filled the tub. He
gave her the bath salts and went out. When he returned, she was
waiting for him in the tub. He plucked off his clothing and stepped
in across from her. His knees pressed against the tub and hers
rested against his knees. He smiled. For that moment, sitting in
the warm scented water with his love, everything in his world was
right. He kissed the palm of her right hand in thanks.

“
What’s going on?” she
asked.

“
Dad and Valerie are
staying at the hospital,” he said. “I’m home to close Lipson for
the day. I have about an hour before I have to work.”

Jill reached back to get a washcloth.

“
I’d like to spend the time
with you,” he said. “If that’s all right. I know your friends are
here but…”

“
I’d like that.”

Jill smiled one of her beautiful smiles. A
flush ran all the way through him. She giggled at his reaction.

“
How… I mean, when…?” he
asked.

“
The healing thing?” Jill
asked.

Nodding, his eyes tracked the washcloth
moving across Jill’s skin.

“
I’ve been able to do it
all my life. Everyone in my family has some healing in them. I’m
the strongest or at least stronger than Mama. Mike’s not as strong
as Mama, but he was able to keep those soldiers alive when they
were hostages.”

“
Mike?” He took the wash
cloth from her. He indicated for her to twirl around. She slid
between his legs. “That’s just weird. When did Mike get any healing
power?”

“
Ever notice how Mike never
really gets hurt?” Jill asked. “He plays hockey hard but he’s never
injured. He even has all his front teeth. How many hockey goalies
have all their teeth?”

“
He has those scars on his
head and face,” Jacob said.

Jill nodded.

“
Oh, you mean, the injuries
must have been very severe for him to have those scars,” Jacob
said.

Jill nodded.

“
Why didn’t you tell me?”
Jacob said. “Why didn’t you heal me?”

“
When you were injured?”
Jill asked. “I did. I mean, I did what I could for you. Remember
the compression dressing?”

“
The doctors said it saved
my life.”

“
It was kind of an accident
with you, Honey and Katy. Today… no yesterday was the first time
I’ve done it intentionally since my Dad died.” Not wanting to talk
about her father, she rushed on, “It’s some genetic thing. It’s why
my grandfather rose so fast in the Russian Mob. He’s supposed to be
gifted. Mama thinks I’m stronger than he is but I’ve never met him.
We used to do it as kids. When my Dad went… crazy, we’d heal the
bruises, broken bones and stuff. On Mama too. Sometimes I think he
allowed himself to get so crazy because he knew we could heal
it.”

“
And the little prayer?”
Jacob caressed her with the washcloth.

“
Take in this healing with
love, for the best use of your soul and body,” Jill said. “It’s
something we said as kids. We did it yesterday out of habit,
mostly.”

She tipped her head back and he kissed her
lips.

“
You’ve said that your
powers are stronger when I’m around,” Jill said. “It’s probably
this thing. Or that’s what Katy said when we were in the
Chapel.”

“
Katy,” Jacob said. “How is
Katy?”

“
Asleep but happy. She and
Paddie ate all kinds of cookies and cupcakes and chocolate. Mama
said they kept everyone entertained by running in circles and
giggling. They’re very happy right now.”

“
So am I,” Jacob
said.

For a brief moment, his heart filled with
the joy of Jill. Reality dropped in a moment later. He sighed.

“
Tell me about Delphie,”
Jill said. “It was awful to come home and not have her here. The
downstairs is a wreck. I… Tell me about Delphie.”

“
She’s stable,” Jacob said.
“She seems to have turned a corner or that’s what John said. There
is some brain damage but they aren’t sure it wasn’t there before.
It’s centered around areas of reality testing. They asked us if
Delphie ever thought she saw things like ghosts or spirits. We
laughed after they left.”

“
Sounds like good news,”
Jill said.

“
I guess so. They’ll keep
her a couple of days, but she should be home by Monday or Tuesday,”
Jacob said. “Dad’s a wreck. He’s sure the whole thing is his fault.
He says he should have killed Johansen when we saw him in
Leadville.”

“
He wouldn’t have
survived,” Jill said.

“
Probably,” Jacob said. “Do
you think we’re together because…”

“
Delphie told me once that
people like us are drawn to each other,” Jill said. “When I was
helping her, I heard her say that she tricked you into creating
Katy.”

“
Huh,” Jacob said. “She
probably did.”

“
What does that
mean?”

“
She was the connection to
the project in California. She had a friend who wanted an ashram or
something like that,” Jacob said. “Totally out of our scope and
place. Val and I had to go see it to vote against it. That’s how I
got to California.”

“
We should go back,” Jill
said.

“
We should,” Jacob
said.

Standing from the tub, he grabbed a towel
from the rack.

“
Where are you going?” she
asked.

“
I only have a half hour
more…” he said. Still damp, he pulled the sheets back on the bed
and wagged his eyebrows at her. “You promised to heal
me.”

Laughing, she hopped from the bath to follow
him to the bed.

~~~~~~~~

Saturday afternoon — 3:45 P.M.

“
Are you all right?” Mike
asked.

They were walking down Eighteenth Street.
Delphie was still unconscious. Jacob was sitting with her while Sam
went home to shower. Mike had been bugging Valerie to eat for
hours. After Jacob promised to call if anything changed, she
finally agreed to leave the hospital for food.

“
I’d rather have dessert,”
Valerie said. “If I have to eat, I’d rather have
dessert.”

Valerie felt as if the roots of her very
existence had been ripped from the ground. Delphie was her anchor,
her long roots into the soil allowed Valerie to take risks and life
her movie star life. They turned down Humboldt Street toward
Seventeenth Street.

“
There’s a place here,”
Mike said. “Next to Strings. D Bar. Oh crap.”

A car screeched to a halt beside them. Four
paparazzi photographers jumped from the car. The cameras whirred
and the flash popped. Mike put his arm around Valerie to protect
her.

“
Where you going
Val?”

“
What’s going on
Val?”

“
How are the babies,
Val?”

“
Hey Mike, is she wearing
your pants? They’re pretty big.”

"Show us your baby bump, Val!"

“
Why are you in Denver,
Val?”

The questions flew as fast as the flash from
the cameras. She smiled and waved.

Turning on left on Seventeenth, they scooted
into the D Bar.

“
Are they for you?” the
waitress asked about the photographers.

Valerie nodded.

“
Do you want them
in?”

Valerie shook her head.

“
Easy.”

The waitress went to get owner. The owner
informed the photographers that they should leave. As if to
accentuate her point, a Denver police cruiser pulled up in
front.

“
Thanks.” Mike slipped the
waitress a twenty dollar bill.

They took a seat at a square four person
table near the back. Mike held Valerie’s seat and came around to
sit across from her.

“
Sit next to me,” Valerie
said. “Please.”

Mike moved over. She held his hand.

“
I’m so sorry about the
baby, Mike. I wanted to give you babies… a boy to play hockey with
and… I….”

Her large hazel eyes filled with tears. Mike
put his arm around her. He kissed her cheek. Retrieving a clean
handkerchief from his pocket, he wiped her eyes. She took the
handkerchief from him.

“
Where did you get this?”
she asked. “I made a mess of your other one.”

“
Jake brought me two clean
handkerchiefs,” Mike said. “Just figured I’d need them.”

Valerie gave a soft smile for her brother’s
lie about his psychic abilities.

“
I’m sorry about our baby
too,” Mike said. “Feel caught between gratitude for the miracle
that you’re alive, the joy that we still have a baby girl to look
forward to meeting and very real heartbreak over losing our boy,
our son.”

“
Feels crazy,” Valerie
said.

“
Feels crazy,” Mike
said.