Larkspur (8 page)

“
Someone called and asked
who we were,” Dr. Anna said. “Of course, we’re used to controlling
ex-husband’s so we told them to stuff it — HIPAA and all that.
But . . .”

The doctor walked over to Jill and showed
her the file.

“
Is this your signature?”
Dr. Anna pointed to scribble on the form. “Pilar compared the file
to the last time and . . .”

“
I’ve never seen this
before,” Jill said. “What is it?”

“
It’s a release of medical
specimens,” Dr. Anna’s face flushed. “Everything from your birth is
set to go to a lab in . . .”

“
Bethesda,” Pilar the
nurse said. “Mary-land.”

“
Can I see that?” Tanesha
asked. The doctor gave Tanesha the file.

“
My husband’s cousin is
going to use the boys’ cord blood for a bone marrow transplant,”
Jill said. “He’s going to have the radiation to kill off his bone
marrow and . . .”

“
Not according to this
form,” Tanesha said. “Everything goes to Experiri
Genetics.

“
What about Blane?” Jill
asked.

“
There’s an order in here
for cord blood from the depository,” Dr. Anna said.

“
Oh my God,” Jill
said.

“
That document says they
can have one of your son’s,” Pilar said.

“
What?” Jill
said.

“
Now Pilar,” Dr. Anna
said. “No one is going to take a child.”

“
My sister lost her baby
to her ex with a form that had those same words on it,” Pilar
crossed her arms and gave a firm nod. “That’s why I showed it to
the doctor. I recognized the words.”

“
What?” Tanesha
said.

Dr. Anna, Jill, and Tanesha stared at the
nurse.

“
I have a copy in my
email,” the nurse said. “I’ll show you.”

The nurse took out her Android phone and
began tapping buttons on the screen.

“
Here.” Pilar held out the
phone to the doctor.

The doctor took the file from Tanesha. She
squinted at the form on the phone and then at the form in the file.
Her face went from pink to red. Tanesha grabbed the phone and the
file.

“
That’s fucked up,”
Tanesha said.

For a moment, the women looked at each
other. The doctor nodded to herself.

“
Here’s what we do,” Dr.
Anna said. “We use our old file. From now on, you’re Jill Mc
Guinsey.”

“
They’ll find me.” Jill
shook her head.

“
They got our records when
you started with the other doctor,” Pilar said.

“
Shit,” the doctor
said.

“
She could go by her
maiden name,” Tanesha said. “Roper.”

“
Let’s look,” Dr. Anna
said.

The four women leaned over the file to see
if Jill’s maiden name was listed.

“
No,” Pilar
said.

“
I don’t see it either,”
Dr. Anna said. “Good.”

She looked at Pilar.

“
We’ll start a new patient
package,” Dr. Anna said. “From now on, you’re Jill
Roper.”

Jill nodded.

“
We’re hoping to have my
midwife help deliver,” Jill said.

“
Who is your
midwife?

“
Camilla,” Jill said. “I
don’t know her last name.”

Jill looked at Tanesha and she shrugged.

“
Do you know her?” Jill
asked.

“
Camilla Escobar? Short,
thick accent when she wants one?” Dr. Anna asked. “I work with her
a lot. Wait? Your husband’s name is Jacob Lipson Marlowe. His
cousin wouldn’t happen to be Blane Lipson?”

Jill nodded. Pilar gasped. She watched the
muscles in the doctor’s jaw work. Tanesha scowled.

“
Why?” Tanesha
asked.

“
This just got personal,”
Dr. Anna said.

“
We love Blane,” Pilar
said.

“
A new name isn’t enough,”
Dr. Anna said. “We need to give you a whole new
identity.”

“
What about insurance?”
Pilar asked.

“
You need to use your
insurance?” Dr. Anna asked.

“
My husband’s company is
in trouble and . . .” Jill chewed her lip and
nodded.

“
They’re broke,” Tanesha
said.

“
Fuck it,” Dr. Anna said.
“We’ll do it pro bono. It won’t be the first time. Can you deliver
at home?”

“
They have a medical
office at the house,” Tanesha said.

“
You do?” Dr. Anna
asked.

“
You mean like Valerie
Lipson?” Pilar asked.

“
Exactly like Valerie
Lipson,” Tanesha said. “She’s Jill’s sister-in-law. You’ve read
that she’s broke now too?”

The women nodded and Jill blushed.

“
I’ll come by tonight to
take a look,” Dr. Anna said. “Blane will be with you when you
deliver?”

Jill nodded.

“
Good,” Dr. Anna said. “I
can’t promise anything. If there’s trouble, you’ll have to go to
the hospital. But you’re healthy so far, right?”

Jill nodded.

“
Give me a minute, then
we’ll do an exam,” Dr. Anna said.

With a nod to Jill, the doctor left the
room. Pilar looked at Jill and then at Tanesha.

“
What’s Valerie like?”
Pilar asked.

“
Not what they say in the
magazines,” Tanesha said. “She’s really sweet, funny,
nice.”

“
Mike?

“
Mike is Jill’s brother,”
Tanesha said. “He’s great.”

“
I knew it,” Pilar said.
“Those magazines are garbage.”

She smiled at Jill and left the room.

“
Wow,” Tanesha
said.

“
What am I going to do?”
Jill whispered. “I thought I’d avoided this stuff by going to Val’s
doctor. He
promised
me and . . . sold me out to
some . . . genetics place! You heard what Pilar
said. They could take one of the boys to be their lab
rat!”

“
That’s just not going to
happen,” Tanesha said.

“
Why?”

“
To start with, your
husband can move objects with his mind,” Tanesha smiled to reassure
Jill. “Your grandfather is Russian mafia and we still aren’t real
sure who your father works for. Plus there’s me.”

“
What about you?” Jill
asked.

“
I’ll kill anybody who
even thinks about taking one of my boys.” Tanesha
nodded.

Jill gave her a wide-eyed look.

“
Kill?” Jill
whispered.

Tanesha gave a firm nod of her head.

“
What about the
Hippocratic oath and saving the world and everything?” Jill
whispered.

They looked at each other and laughed.

“
I’m really glad we came
here,” Tanesha nodded.

“
Me too,” Jill
said.

There was a tap on the door and Dr. Anna
came in. Pilar wheeled in an ultrasound machine.

“
We just called your other
doctor and told them you didn’t come in,” Dr. Anna said. “You have
another appointment with them?”

“
Tomorrow,” Jill
said.

“
Go,” Dr. Anna said. “Keep
your appointments with them. They’re covered under your insurance.
They’ll never suspect a thing.”

“
Thanks,” Jill
said.

“
Don’t thank me yet,” Dr.
Anna said. “We still have to pull this off. Now lie back and let’s
take a look.”

Chapter Two Hundred and
Fifty-three

Freaks

Thursday afternoon — 1:27 p.m.

“

Come on.” Tink pointed Wanda toward the East
High girls’ bathroom. “You have to go there at some point.”

“
I can
always . . .” Wanda leaned on one crutch and pointed
toward the nurse’s office where she usually used the
bathroom.

“
You have to go,” Sissy
said. “Tink’s not supposed to be unaccompanied.”

“
You’re not going?” Wanda
asked.

“
I don’t count,” Sissy
beamed.

Tink laughed. Today was the first day they
were all back in school together since Tink was expelled, and Wanda
and Noelle were attacked. Tink was on probation. Sissy and Wanda
had promised to keep her from tasering grabby rapists so she could
come to school.

“
I don’t want to be some
test case,” Wanda said. “All over the
Denver Post
and
whatever.”

“
You’re already all over
the
Denver Post.
”
Sissy nudged Wanda into the bathroom. “Go. We’ll be right
here.”

Sissy went in first and held the door for
Wanda. She crutched into the hallowed space of the girl’s bathroom
and Tink followed. No one was in the room. Relieved, Wanda
hightailed it to the end stall. Someday she hoped she would feel
comfortable in these places. Right now, everything felt dangerous.
She was about to leave the stall when she heard a group of
sophomore girls come into the bathroom. The girls were laughing and
talking all at once. Wanda hoped to stay in the stall until they
left. She knew Tink was terrified of these girls too.

Sissy was in the stall next to her and came
out.

“
Look who it is,” one of
the girls said.

“
The ballerina,” another
girl said.

“
Get out of my way,” Sissy
said.

“
Oooh, we’re scared,”
another girl said.

Wanda heard Tink get up to help Sissy.

“
Freak number two,” a girl
said. “Where’s the third?”

A girl’s face appeared under the stall.

“
In here,” the face said.
“Boys aren’t allowed in the girls’ bathroom, freak.”

Wanda’s entire body shook with terror.

“
Yeah, like you’re the
bathroom police,” Tink said. “Come on, Wanda.”

Tink knocked on the door and helped Wanda
out of the stall.

“
Can’t you see she’s a
girl?” Sissy sniffed and stood to her full ballerina
height.

“
Freak,” a girl said.
“Look at the freaks.”

The girls began chanting “Freak! Freak!
Freak!”

Tink pushed through them to the sinks and
Wanda followed in her wake. The girls continued chanting. Sissy was
almost to the door when it opened. The girls fell silent as a
senior came into the bathroom. Her eyes flicked from the group of
girls to Sissy, Tink, and Wanda.

“
What are you doing?” the
older girl at the door asked.

“
They’s freaks,” the girl
who started the chant said.

“
Do you know who these
girls are?” the older girl asked. “This is Tink. She’s the person
who stood up to the
rapists
, right here at school. You
know where they are now?”

The sophomore girls looked at each
other.

“
In jail,” the older girl
said. “They are not going to rape anyone anytime soon. You know how
Wanda broke her leg?”

The sophomore girls looked like they wanted
to hide.

“
I’ll tell you,” the older
girl said. “After running down the rapists to keep them from
hurting her friend, she, her boyfriend, and her dad fought with
the
rapists
until
the police came. Did you do that?”

The older girl pointed at the
ringleader.

“
Or you?” she asked
another girl. “I’ll tell you that I didn’t. They grabbed me too,
Tink. I was so scared I didn’t do anything or tell anyone. I was
embarrassed. I thought if people knew, they would think I was a
slut or a whore or . . . and I wouldn’t get asked to
prom. You know what happened?”

The silence in the bathroom became sticky
hot because everyone knew what had happened.

“
They
raped
my little sister, same guys,”
the older girl said. “Brutalized her and left her beside the river
like she was garbage. She was in the hospital for a month. She
still can’t be in crowds or go to school.”

“
How you know these
freaks
did anything?”
one of the girls shouted from the back of the group.

“
I was at the police
station,” the older girl said. “This is Sissy. Her brother,
Charlie, worked with the police to find all the guys. He tried to
help my little sister after everything happened. He’s going to
testify against the guys who . . .”

The older girl swallowed a quick breath to
keep from crying.

“
It could have been any of
you,” the older girl said. “My sister was walking home from school.
Any of you walk home from school?”

“
They like virgins,” Tink
threw out the words.

“
My sister told everybody
that she didn’t remember anything,” the older girl said. “We were
at the police station and she saw Charlie. He stopped and talked to
her and my mom. Tink was there. I don’t know what they said, but my
sister finally spoke up. She told that Homeland Security guy, the
blonde, everything that happened. She even pointed out the guys
involved. My mom was . . .”

The older girl nodded and looked at
Tink.

“
We told her to be brave,”
Tink said. “Charlie . . . he thinks girls are
stronger than boys. He says that these boys are weak and pathetic,
and not telling what we know only lets the weak dominate the
strong.”