Firestone (4 page)

“
Wow,” James said. “That’s
real progress.”

“
She feels like I tried to
steal Katy from her,” Edie said.

“
Did you?” James
asked.

“
If we talk about
what
I
did,”
Edie’s cheeks flushed pink. “
I
tried to keep her safe.
I
encouraged her to bring her friend
Paddie, who is clearly her champion.
I
taught her a few fairy skills so
she wouldn’t be so vulnerable.
I
put them to sleep so they wouldn’t be frightened.
That’s what
I
did.”

“
But?”

“
My orders were to procure
the child for the queen,” Edie said.

James nodded. They sat in silence

“
Liban is your aunt?”
James asked in a neutral tone.

“
I’m Queen Fand’s third
child,” Edie said. “Her second daughter.”

Edie’s face went bright red. She cleared her
throat.

“
Listen,” she started at
the same time James said, “I wanted
to . . .”

He chuckled and she blushed. To cover her
embarrassment, she looked down at Tanner. He was squirming.

“
They are good babies,”
Edie said. “And so close with their mother. They don’t like being
away from her for very long. She’s lucky she didn’t have them in a
hospital.”

“
They would have burned
the nursery down,” James said.

Edie smiled.

“
Abi told me what they
said . . . to you . . .
um . . . about me,” Edie said.

“
Yes.” James furrowed his
brow. “That was . . .”

“
Mari loves messing with
humans,” Edie’s voice was indignant. “She thinks it’s funny to make
humans upset and uncomfortable. Everyone hates it when she does it
but there’s no stopping her.”

“
Why is that?” James
asked.

“
She’s my mother’s
favorite daughter,” Edie scowled.

“
Younger sister?” James
asked.

Edie nodded.

“
There were always guys
like that at the orphanage,” James said. “They liked to make people
feel uncomfortable. It’s like they got off on it.
Very . . . uncivilized.”

“
Uncivilized?” Edie
smiled.

“
Exactly,” James smiled.
“Plus, I have a younger brother who can be a total
pill.”

“
John,” Edie
said.

“
So I have some idea of
what you mean,” James said.

“
My older sister is the
blue fairy right now,” Edie said. “She’s also obstinate. She does
whatever she wants to do and drives everyone crazy. Your brother is
her personal favorite.”

Edie gave James an angry nod.

“
Makes me sick,” Edie
said. “The blue fairy is supposed to be supportive to humans and
uphold a moral compass for children. She just does whatever she
wants.”

“
Does the blue fairy
rotate?” James asked.

“
It’s supposed to,” Edie
nodded. “But my sister has been at it for a long time. I think now
that Mom is back to herself, she’ll sort this kind of thing out.
But without a queen, we’ve all been just kind
of . . . making do. You did a big thing.”

“
I did?” James looked
surprised. “Really it was Jacob and Jill.”

“
You helped,” Edie said.
“You’ve been chronicled as ‘James the wise’ for all your
help.”

James smiled.

“
I would like to get to
know you better,” James said. “My life is not stable or really
sane.”

Edie nodded. They sat in silence watching
the baby for a while.

“
Mari said you were ready
to have a child,” James said.

“
That’s the crazy thing,”
Edie said. “Like Mari would know one way or another.”

“
So you’re not looking for
a . . . uh . . . someone to breed
with?” James smiled to soften his words.

Edie’s face became red and blotchy. The baby
moved in her arms and she got up to put him back in the crib. When
she looked back at James, he was smiling.

“
I have a lot of sisters
too,” James said. “And more than my share of meddling
brothers.”

Edie smiled.

“
I’d like to get to know
you better,” Edie said.

“
Hi, my name is James
Kelly, international man of mystery,” James said. Edie grinned at
him for repeating Valerie’s introduction. “I’m from Northern
Ireland. My mother died when I was four, and my father when I was
eleven. I grew up in an orphanage.”

He nodded to her.

“
Hi, my name is Edith the
fairy,” Edie said. “I grew up on the Isle of Man. My mother is
Queen Fand and my father is the Manannán. I was raised by
fairies.”

“
Nice to meet you, Edith,”
James said.

“
Oh, you can call me
Edie.” she smiled.

“
Well, Edie, I’d like to
get to know you better,” James said.

“
I’d like that too,” Edie
smiled and nodded.

“
What are you doing right
now?” James asked.

“
Uh . . .”
Edie looked at the boys and then at the clock. “Jill’s mother
is . . .”

Anjelika swept into the room. She picked up
the boys. With a knowing smile to Edie, she swept out of the
room.

“
How about lunch?” James
asked. “My brother owns a bakery here. I know he’d love to
meddle . . . I mean make us some lunch.”

“
That sounds very nice,”
Edie said.

James stood and held out his hand. Edie took
his hand and followed him out of the room.

~~~~~~~~

Saturday—2:52 P.M.

Blane lay back on the medical exam table.
After spending the morning with the police at the job site, Blane
had driven like a mad man to get to this appointment. Today was the
day he was finally going to heal his liver. Valerie and Jackie’s
cord blood had held him over until now.

Jill and her son’s cord blood would heal his
liver for good and extend his life for at least a few years.

He closed his eyes to thank whatever God was
listening for all of his good fortune. Tink was doing well at their
home. Mack was healthy, happy, and mischievous. Heather was
pregnant with his biological child.

As of today, he would most likely live long
enough to see Heather deliver.

There was a knock on the door and his doctor
came in. The man closed the door. For a moment, the doctor just
looked at him.

“
What’s going on?” Blane
asked.

“
Remember how I wanted to
run tests to have a baseline reading of your liver function before
we started?” the doctor asked.

“
You mean a half hour
ago?” Blane smiled.

“
Yes,” the doctor said. “A
half hour ago.”

Blane felt the blood rush from his head. The
doctor was trying to tell him that he was too sick to have the cord
blood. On this day, this very day, the day he’d waited so long to
come, the day he was going to get well and live long enough to see
his Mack enter kindergarten, his doctor was going to tell him he
was on his death bed. Blane swallowed hard.

“
What’s going on?” Blane
asked.

“
Remember how the nurse
came in and got a second vial?” the doctor asked.

“
Yes,” Blane said. “I’m
sorry. I’m kind of freaking out. Can you just tell me?”

“
Tell you?”

“
I’m dying right?” Blane
asked.

The doctor shook his head.

“
Your liver is functioning
at a hundred percent,” the doctor said.

Blane was so surprised he could only stare
at the doctor. The man’s head went up and down.

“
What?” Blane
asked.

“
Your liver is functioning
better than mine is,” the doctor said. “Or probably anyone in this
building.”

“
It is?” Blane
asked.

“
It is,” the doctor said.
“Any ideas why that would be?”

“
None,” Blane
said.

The doctor smiled.

“
What about the cord
blood?” Blane asked.

“
We have some decisions to
make,” the doctor said. “Jillian Roper is HIV resistant. There’s a
procedure that’s proven to cure a few people, twelve, I think, of
their HIV.”

“
What?” Blane asked. “What
are you saying?”

“
I’m saying that your
liver is miraculously whole,” the doctor said. “Because of that,
I’d like to suggest that we try this procedure. It’s a type of bone
marrow transplant. We’d have to destroy your bone marrow and
replant it with Jill’s cord blood. We have enough cord blood to do
it twice, if we need to. Of course, there are risks. Everything has
risks, but it could just give you a normal life
expectancy.”

“
Uh,” Blane felt like he
was in the Twilight Zone.

“
How about if I call
Heather?” the doctor asked. “You can look it up online, and make a
decision.”

Blane nodded and hopped off the treatment
table.

“
The only thing I’d say
is . . .” the doctor touched Blane’s shoulder.
“Don’t take too long. We’ve been able to cover the existence of
this blood, but I don’t know how long we have. In fact, I’d like
you to take it back to the special refrigerators we set up at
Jake’s house. That way, we know you have it.”

“
We’ll let you know in the
morning,” Blane said.

The doctor shook Blane’s hand and left the
room. Blane got dressed and picked up the cooler with the cord
blood. He walked out of the office. He didn’t call Heather until he
was in the car.

“
You’ll never guess what
just happened,” Blane said.

“
What?” Heather
asked.

“
I have a chance of being
completely healed,” Blane said. “No HIV, no liver damage,
nothing.”

“
What?” Heather’s voice
went up with surprise.

“
I might even live long
enough to see our boys married,” Blane said.

When Heather didn’t say anything, he asked,
“What’s going on?”

“
I’m
just . . .” Heather said through her tears.
“Happy.”

“
Me too,” Blane said. “I’m
on my way home. We’ll figure it all out. Together.”

Saturday afternoon — 3:12 P.M.

Sandy grabbed a load of laundry and started
out the door of their apartment. After all of the excitement of
Jill’s labor, she had canceled her Saturday clients and forced her
family to take a day off to rest. Of course, Aden had to be at the
job site early. But the kids had slept in until almost noon. They
got up for something to eat and were now sacked out watching
movies. With Rachel in a carrier on her back, she had filled their
apartment washer with Sissy’s ballet wear and was headed down to
the basement laundry with another load of sheets.

A day of organizing and cleaning was exactly
what Sandy needed. She moved slowly down the stairs and into the
Castle main living room. Rosa and her team of cleaners had been
through already today to put right what had been torn apart last
night. She set her load down on a couch to open the door to the
basement.

“
Um . . .”
Sandy heard as she came back into the living room. She looked
around the room, but didn’t see anyone.

“
Delphie?” Sandy guessed
at who had spoken to her.

Delphie was leaning against the doorway to
the room Charlie was using for school.

“
Are you all right?” Sandy
asked.

Delphie shook her head.

“
Can I help?” Sandy
asked.

Delphie nodded. Sandy gave Delphie a long
assessing look. Delphie’s face was pinched with anxiety. Her
shoulders were folded forward as if she was carrying a great
burden. The woman’s happy go lucky, earth mother glow had been
replaced with a muddy kind of darkness.

“
Why don’t you come down
with me to the basement?” Sandy smiled, knowing Delphie’s love of
clean laundry. “I wanted to get some sheets done.”

Delphie face shifted into a bright smile.
She grabbed Sandy’s laundry and started down the stairs to the
basement. While each apartment had their own washing machines,
Jacob had installed two large washers and dryers in the basement.
They were perfect for doing large loads of sheets and
comforters.

In the basement, Delphie and Sandy silently
went through the piles of sheets and comforters Sandy had already
brought down to create two loads for the big washers. Sandy was
stuffing sheets into one of the washers when Delphie said
something.

She leaned out of the washing machine.

“
I didn’t hear what you
said,” Sandy said.

“
I know,” Delphie gave her
a sad smile. “I . . .”

“
Is this about Keenan?”
Sandy asked.

Delphie nodded.

“
And Ivy?” Sandy
asked.

Delphie nodded. Sandy looked at Delphie and
waited. Delphie’s head moved up and down in a slow nod.