Fort Morgan (33 page)

It was perfect. Every dream, every silent
wish, every promise had been fulfilled. The building had been a
private residence. It was becoming a school. He turned to see the
beaming faces of the site managers.

“
Now.” Jacob cleared his
throat. “Valerie is going to be here tomorrow. She’s going to want
to know what’s left to do.”

“
We’re on target to open
in six weeks,” DeShawn said.

“
We’d better be!” Jacob
said. “We’ve sold out junior high and high school spaces for the
summer term.”

“
My sons are signed up,”
Jason said with a nod.

“
We’re on target to open,”
DeShawn said.

“
Don’t worry, Jake,” Pete
said. “We’ve got this.”

“
Where is the list?” Jacob
asked.

Jason took out his smartphone, and they
started down the list of problems and things to finish. They’d gone
a few feet down the hallway when Jacob glanced back at the
entrance. The resident ghost — a mother who had succumbed to the
Spanish Flu only a few weeks after arriving in Colorado — was
hovering in the entryway.

“
It’s beautiful,” the
resident ghost said. “I can’t wait until the children are
here!”

Jacob smiled.

“
Thank you,” she
said.

Jacob nodded.

“
Jake?” Pete
asked.

Jacob smiled at Pete.

“
What’s first?” Jacob
asked.

And they started through the new Marlowe
School.

In hospital
rooms

Monday morning — 8:42 a.m.

Denver, Colorado

Heather woke with a start from a drug
induced sleep. She sensed someone was near her, but, because of her
injury, she was unable to move her head. She used her nose to see
if she could smell who had awoken her. The girlfriends were the
only people approved to visit her. But she didn’t smell Sandy’s
distinct perfume or Jill’s hair conditioner. She didn’t smell
Tanesha’s shea butter lotion either. She closed her eyes again.

“
Don’t go to sleep,” Hera
said.

Heather’s eyes popped open. She sneered.
Just because she couldn’t see Hera didn’t mean Heather couldn’t
give her the stink eye.

“
I know, I know,” Hera
said. “You have every right to be mad.”

Unable to speak, Heather raised her
eyebrows.

“
All right, more than
mad,” Hera said.

Heather scowled.

“
Well, say something,”
Hera said. “After all we’ve been through, I’d think you’d at least
want to tell me off or. . .”

Heather gestured to her throat.

“
Oh.” Hera sounded
genuinely embarrassed. “Sorry.”

Heather felt a warm glow around her gunshot
wound and the surgery sites.

“
Better?” Hera
asked.

“
How did you do that?”
Heather asked.

“
It won’t last,” Hera
said. “I just. . .”

“
You want my forgiveness
so you can continue your ridiculous fixation with that awful man,”
Heather said.

“
He likes you,” Hera said
of Zeus.

“
I have a vagina,” Heather
said.

“
He’s better,” Hera said,
“less fixated ever since your friend, Perses’ daughter, touched
him.”

“
And?” Heather
asked.

“
I betrayed you and our
friendship,” Hera said.

Heather gave an indignant snort.

“
Who told you to say
that?” Heather asked.

“
Your friend, Tanesha,”
Hera stood up and leaned over the bed. Heather could see her face
for the first time. “You are lucky to have such friends. I’ve never
had friends like that.”

Heather gave her an irritated look.

“
Except you.” Hera looked
embarrassed. “Of course.”

Heather couldn’t help but chuckle.

“
And the Charities?” Hera
asked.

Heather looked at Hera, and the women
laughed.

“
They are awful,” Hera
said. “Have they noticed that you’re living with humans
now?”

“
Not that I know of,”
Heather said.

Hera shook her head at the selfish
sisters.

“
They are just into their
own things,” Heather said. “Everything and everyone else is outside
their dance.”

“
True.”

Thinking of the Charities, the women fell
silent for a moment.

“
Why do you stay with
him?” Heather asked to change the subject.

Hera shrugged.

“
Remind me again,” Heather
said. “Why did we save him from the Sea of Amber?”

Hera shrugged. Heather shook her head.

“
Your husband, Blane.
He. . .” Hera started. She stopped talking for a moment,
before starting again. “Blane truly loves you, even though you’re
not sexual partners.”

Heather smiled.

“
I looked into his heart,”
Hera said. “It’s full of you, your children, your life. There’s a
tiny spot for another, but mostly it’s full of you.”

Heather smiled.

“
You know how rare that
is,” Hera said.

“
I am really lucky,”
Heather said.

“
Yes.”

“
You’ve had human
families,” Heather said in a low tone.

Hera didn’t respond.

“
You loved them,” Heather
said. Hera made a soft sound. “And they loved you.”

“
Mm-hm,” Hera said.
Heather looked up to see tears in Hera’s eyes.

“
So why didn’t you support
me coming back to Denver?” Heather asked. “To Blane and my
children?”

“
I. . .” Hera
started.

Hera’s eyes begged for Heather’s
understanding. Inside, the loving part of Heather battled for
understanding. She was too angry to listen. Heather gave Hera a
dark look.

“
I don’t know,” Hera said.
“It’s fun being the queen?”

“
You deserve more than a
title and a louse for a husband.”

“
So do you,” Hera said.
Her head bobbed up and down. “I should have been a better friend
and supported you in court. I didn’t, and I’m sorry.”

Heather saw the sorrow and remorse on her
friend’s face, and her anger slipped away.

“
I understand,” Heather
said.

“
To show you that I’m
truly sorry, I have done a few things,” Hera said.

“
Uh, oh,” Heather
said.

Hera mock-hit Heather, and they laughed.

“
What have you done?”
Heather asked.

“
I’ve ensured clear
sailing for your husband’s recovery,” Hera said. “No snags,
illnesses, or issues. He will get better and never have another
problem.”

“
Wow! Thank you, Hera!”
Heather said.

“
That may bring up other
problems. . .”

“
Not with me,” Heather
said. “I only want for him to be healthy and happy. We are a
family.”

“
Yes,” Hera
said.

She didn’t disguise the envy in her face.
Heather held out her arm and hugged Hera.

“
I also. . .”
Hera started.

Heather let go of Hera, and the Goddess
moved back.

“
I gave a little boost to
Tiffanie,” Hera said.

“
A boost?”

“
She’ll have a little
goddessness in her,” Hera said.

“
Scary,” Heather
said.

“
Says one who is a
Goddess,” Hera said.

“
Half,” they said in
unison.

“
Like being half of an
Olympian diminishes your power,” Hera said.

Heather smiled.

“
I didn’t tell him where
you are,” Hera said, referring to her husband.

Heather raised her eyebrows in an “Are you
sure?” gesture. Hera nodded emphatically.

“
He doesn’t
know?”

“
No,” Hera said. “And I
covered your life so he’ll never know.”

“
What?” Heather
asked.

“
He’ll never know you live
here,” Hera said. “Not ever.”

“
That’s a real gift,”
Heather said. She looked off in the distance for a moment before
her eyes turned to Hera. “What do you want in return?”

“
I want to be your
children’s aunt,” Hera said.

“
Aunt Hera?” Heather
asked,

“
Why not?” Hera asked.
“You, of all people, know how much I love human
children.”

“
I’ll have to talk to
Blane,” Heather said.

“
He already said it was
okay,” Hera said.

“
You talked to Blane?”
Heather asked.

“
How else would I know he
was so great?” Hera asked. She batted her eyes and blushed. “He’s
very handsome.”

Smiling, Heather nodded.

“
He said that kids need as
much love as they can possibly ever have,” Hera quoted Blane. “He
wants many more children. I hope you’re up to it.”

“
The more, the merrier,”
Heather said with a nod.

“
So what do you say?” Hera
asked.

“
I need to talk to Blane,”
Heather said.

“
But?”

“
Probably,” Heather
said.

Hera bounced up and down and clapped like a
school-girl. Heather grinned.

“
You’ve been very
generous,” Heather said.

Hera beamed at Heather.

“
I have to go back when he
needs me, right?” Heather asked. “That’s why he sent you
here.”

“
Sorry,” Hera
said.

“
At least I won’t be in
this bed anymore,” Heather said with a smile.

Hera looked around her and scowled. Heather
started to laugh, and Hera joined in.

“
You will heal,” Hera
said. “You’ll be out of here in no time.”

“
Good,” Heather said. “I
want to be with my babies, Tink, and Blane.”

Hera nodded.

“
Any word from Eros?”
Heather asked.

“
Oh,” Hera sighed.
“There’s something about a love affair between some kind of sea
creature and a young man.”

“
Something to do while on
vacation,” Heather said.

“
The man is a
menace.”

Heather smiled. After a moment, she sat up
and looked at Hera.

“
You’re with Zeus because
of my father,” Heather said.

Hera nodded.

“
That’s why you were
always around,” Heather said.

“
Trying to get him to
reverse the arrow,” Hera said. “My husband was in the Sea of Amber.
I wanted a new life.”

“
And?”

“
Eros is happy to give me
more love but won’t take away the magic that ties me to Zeus,” Hera
said.

Heather shook her head in disgust.

“
Can you?” Hera
asked.

“
I can try,” Heather
said.

“
I’m kind of used to
Zeus,” Hera said. “What would I do without him?”

“
Be happy,” Heather
said.

“
We’ll see,” Hera nodded.
“I should go, and you should rest.”

Heather nodded and lay back down.

“
Listen to your queen,”
Hera said with a chuckle.

Heather rolled her eyes.

“
Rest,” Hera
said.

Hera hugged her and kissed her cheek before
disappearing. Heather lay there for a moment staring at the
ceiling. She remembered her first day at Catholic School. She sat
near the back of the class to avoid being noticed. Tanesha sat in
the front row. They were learning about Olympic Gods. The teacher
described Hera as a bitter screw who terrorized Olympia in jealous
fits over her unfaithful husband. The teacher had no sooner
finished the story than Tanesha’s hand shot up.

“
Hera’s a
Goddess
, right?” Tanesha
had asked.

“
That’s correct,” the
teacher had said. “The Goddess of women, marriage, and
childbirth.”

“
Then why would she stay
with that cheating, good-for-nothing husband?” Tanesha had
asked.

The question caused Heather to sit up in her
seat. While the teacher had babbled for a while about what he
thought Hera was or did, Heather evaluated Tanesha. The girl in
front of her was clearly different. Heather and Tanesha met later
that day at recess and had been best friends ever since.

Heather smiled. Hera brought all kinds of
things in to her life.

The nurse came in to check on her. When she
asked how Heather was doing, Heather opened her mouth to speak. Her
voice was gone again. The nurse nodded and reminded Heather that
her vocal cords were paralyzed until the doctors felt she had
healed. The nurse gave her more pain meds and Heather closed her
eyes. She fell asleep thinking of Hera.

~~~~~~~~

Monday afternoon — 12:42 p.m.

New York City, New York

Ivan squeezed Sissy’s hand and got up from
his chair in Sissy’s private hospital room. He’d spent most of the
morning holding Sissy’s hand and chatting with Sandy and Delphie.
Sissy was awake and listening, in a drugged-out state.