Firestone (5 page)

“
So . . .?”
Sandy started.

“
I remember that I was
really afraid about Ivy.” Delphie’s words came out in a fast push.
“How will I take care of her? What do I know? I remember feeling
like that.”

“
Do you feel like that
now?” Sandy asked.

“
No,” Delphie said. “I
feel . . . excited. Happy.”

“
That sounds like a really
good thing,” Sandy said. She smiled and started stuffing the washer
again.

“
But . . .”
Delphie said.

Sandy leaned back to look at her.

“
But?”

“
Why do you think I don’t
feel anxious about it?” Delphie asked.

“
Maybe you’re ready,”
Sandy said.

Delphie shook her head.

“
What do you think it
was?” Sandy asked.

“
Fairies,” Delphie said.
“I feel like something is gone.”

Delphie’s hands moved around her heart and
chest.

“
Like a brokenness is
lifted,” Delphie nodded and then scowled. “I know that I can’t
raise the kids by myself. But I also know that Sam is going to be
there and you and Jill and Val. They will be raised by all of us
and teachers and . . . I don’t have to be their
everything, just their something.”

Delphie gave Sandy a pensive look.

“
I mean you said that
before, and certainly Celia always said that,” Delphie said. “I
really
know
that
now.”

“
That sounds like a really
good thing,” Sandy said.

“
But . . .”
Delphie bit her lip.

“
But?”

“
How?” Delphie asked.
“It’s like all that awful stuff is just gone . . .
Not gone, like it never happened, but like it’s over.”

Delphie nodded.

“
It is over,” Sandy
smiled. “All the awful stuff I went through too. It’s
over.”

Delphie gave Sandy a thoughtful look.

“
Why would fairies want to
help you?” Sandy asked. She gasped and covered her mouth. “I’m
sorry. I don’t mean that like it sounds. It just seems like they
are so . . . involved in what they want that
something like taking away the negative effects of your
trauma . . . Well, it’s too thoughtful for them, too
kind.”

Sandy nodded. Delphie leaned forward.

“
Do you notice
anything . . . missing?” Delphie asked.

Delphie’s hands moved up and down her
body.

Sandy cocked her head to the side. She
thought for a moment.

“
Now that you mention
it . . .” Sandy started.

“
There you are!” Valerie
said, as she came into the laundry room. Valerie’s long dark hair
was tied in a knot. She was wearing one of Mike’s old dress shirts
and a pair of ratty old jeans. Her effortless beauty made her look
like a magazine advertisement. She gave them a bright
smile.

“
I wanted
to . . . you know, clean up,” Sandy
nodded.

“
I’ve been doing the same
thing,” Valerie said. “Nothing like being jerked from your life to
make you want to . . .”

“
Clean,” Sandy laughed.
She gestured to the machines, “Do you need these?”

“
No,” Valerie said. “I
used them this morning.”

Sandy grinned. Valerie lifted Rachel from
the carrier on Sandy’s back. While Valerie played with Rachel,
Sandy put the rest of her laundry in the washers and stood up.

“
Listen,” Valerie said.
She moved closer to them as if to tell them a secret. “Do you think
the fairies did something to us?”

“
I was just asking that,”
Delphie nodded.

“
Why?” Sandy asked, as she
started one of the machines.

“
I don’t really know,”
Valerie said. “We slept in, like everyone did,
but . . . Mike woke up this morning without his
headache. You know the one he’s had since he was in Afghanistan? I
mean, sometimes he doesn’t have the headache as bad, but he always
has it when his mother’s around. His mother
and
father are staying here to help
with the babies. And this morning? No headache. He’s smiling,
laughing. He asked me if we should have another baby right away
like other stars do. He . . . well, let’s just say
he was excited this morning. Optimistic. About our
life.”

Valerie nodded.

“
Too thoughtful for
fairies,” Sandy shook her head.

“
I’m not afraid to raise
the kids,” Delphie said.

“
What?” Valerie asked.
“Really?”

“
I’m excited,” Delphie
nodded.

“
I’m so glad.” Valerie
hugged Delphie.

“
Do you feel different?”
Delphie asked.

“
Yeah,” Valerie nodded.
“And no. It’s weird. Mike made breakfast this morning. He was
talking and laughing and I felt . . . For the first
time since we lived in Monterey, I
felt . . .”

Valerie scratched her head. Delphie and
Sandy waited for her to finish her statement.

“
Hope,” Valerie shrugged.
“I haven’t felt . . . hopeful, like I can build my
own future like I want it. I don’t feel that oppressive, looking
over your shoulder for the next doom that’s going to ruin
everything. I don’t feel it. I mean, it’s not like all that stuff
is gone.”

“
Right,” Delphie said. “I
remember why I was so afraid.”

“
I remember Mike being
gone and everything that happened after that
and . . .” Valerie said. “It’s not like the memory
is just gone. I just feel . . .”

Valerie looked puzzled. She shook her head
as if to shake the thoughts around.

“
I
feel . . . good,” Valerie said. “Hopeful. I can have
Mike, and a career, and a bunch of babies, and live here, and have
a place in LA, and . . . I have to make choices,
sure, but . . .”

“
Do you think
it’s . . . fairies?” Delphie asked.

Valerie made a disgusted face.

“
I mean, I’m taking Queen
Fand’s son,” Delphie said.

“
I still think it’s too
thoughtful for them,” Sandy said. “How would they know that Valerie
had lingering doubt about her life because of what happened to
Mike? They couldn’t know that. No one knows about Mike’s headaches
except us. And how would they know that the darkness from Levi
Johanson still cast shadows in your life, Delphie?”

Sandy shook her head.

“
They wouldn’t,” Sandy
said. She looked up to see Honey roll into the room. “Do you need
these? I haven’t started this one yet, I
can . . .”

“
No,” Honey said. “Mike
did ours while I was at work.”

Sandy started the second washer.

“
How was the job site?”
Valerie asked.

“
Scary. Hard. So many
people lost their lives.” Honey shook her head. “Now that it’s
light, I can see just how stupid Rodney and I were to be out there
in that pit.”

Honey gave a shiver and wheeled further into
the room. Sandy pointed to Honey’s hands.

“
What?” Honey
asked.

“
Your hands,” Sandy
said.

“
Yeah,” Honey nodded.
“Isn’t that weird? It happened while I was at the site this
morning. One minute, they were like they’d been forever, the next
minute, they’re like this. They both work.”

Honey closed and opened both of her
hands.

“
There’s a little weakness
but . . .,” Honey said. “I’ve been busting my
butt—in PT and with Blane—to get even the slightest movement in my
hands. And look.”

Honey picked up the laundry soap.

“
It’s like they
aren’t . . . um . . . broken,” Honey
said. “At all.”

Honey stared at her hands.

“
Do you think
it’s . . .?” Honey started to ask. She looked at the
women and fell silent. “MJ did the laundry and went back to sleep
after I left. He’s just getting up. That’s six hours of solid
sleep. Edie took care of Maggie today.”

Honey gave them a slow nod.

“
He isn’t taking his sleep
meds so he can hear Maggie when she wakes up,” Honey
said.

“
Did he get her last
night?” Valerie asked.

“
Sure,” Honey said. “He
went to sleep with me but was up when she woke up. Val and I
decided not to meet last night because the living room was kind of
ripped up. Anyway, he didn’t wake me. He fed her and changed her in
the middle of the night, and made breakfast for me this
morning.”

Honey nodded.

“
He hasn’t slept more than
four hours a night since his injury,” Honey said. “I mean, the meds
conk him out, but that’s not really sleep. And he’s been a lot more
tired than he was this morning. The sleep thing, it’s one of the
symptoms of his brain injury. I mean, he woke up to say ‘hi’ to me
and then went back to bed!”

“
We were both just saying
that things are odd today,” Valerie said. “Delphie feels excited,
not terrified, to have Ivy and Keenan. Mike’s headaches are gone,
and he wants to have another baby.”

“
Mike?” Honey asked. “What
about ‘How can you bring a child into this evil world?’”

“
I know!” Valerie
said.

The women looked at Sandy.

“
So?” Valerie
asked.

“
So?” Sandy
replied.

“
What happened with you?”
Valerie asked.

“
I remember my mom, Andy,”
Sandy nodded. “I had dreams last night, all night, about her. And
Seth and . . . how much they love me and how much
they loved each other and . . .”

Sandy’s eyes welled with tears.

“
I
feel . . .,” Sandy gave a slight shake of her head,
“ . . . loved.”

Sandy put her hand over her heart.

“
Fairies wouldn’t have
done that,” Sandy said. “How could they have known?”

“
Who knew about my hands
and Mike’s headaches and Delphie’s fear and Sandy’s mom?” Honey
asked.

The women looked off in the distance for a
moment.

“
Jill,” they said in
unison.

“
But how?” Valerie
asked.

“
No idea,” Sandy
said.

“
I think we should just
look at this as a gift and not question it too much,” Delphie
said.

The women were silent for a moment.

“
Why?” Sandy
asked.

“
I don’t know,” Delphie
said. “Just seemed like the right thing to say.”

The women laughed.

“
There you are!” Charlie
came into the laundry room. His voice was raised with desperation.
Sandy took Rachel from Valerie. “Ivy just called. She’s at the bus
station. You said you were going
to . . .”

“
Let’s all go,” Valerie
said.

Charlie looked from one smiling face to
another.

“
Good idea,” Delphie
said.

“
We can take our huge car,
and . . .” Sandy was out almost up the stairs when
she turned, “Charlie can you . . .”

Charlie was right behind her with Honey on
his back. Valerie carried Honey’s wheelchair up the stairs behind
him.

“
What?” Charlie
asked.

“
Nothing,” Sandy
said.

“
Do you think Ivy will
like us all being there?” Delphie asked.

“
Yeah, I think so,”
Charlie said. “I mean, this morning, she was furious at her aunt
and talking about getting high and heading back out to the street.
But just a minute ago, she was like ‘I’m here to start my cool new
life.’ Then she babbled on about going to the Marlowe school and
whatever. I asked her if she was high and she was like, ‘High? What
do you mean?’ Like she’d forgotten she’s actually an addict.
So . . . I don’t really know, but I would, so let’s
go.”

At the top of the stairs, Charlie set Honey
in her wheelchair. Sandy gave Delphie a knowing look before running
upstairs for her purse.

“
Do you think everyone
got . . . fixed?” Honey whispered to
Valerie.

Valerie shook her head and shrugged. Honey
nodded.

“
Do you wish you could
walk?” Valerie asked.

“
Sure,” Honey said. “But
if I had to pick, I’d pick being able to use my hands over anything
else. I haven’t been able to even change Maggie’s diapers. Now I
can really care for her and MJ and my house. Hell, I can do
laundry.”

Valerie smiled. They waited a few minutes
before Sandy raced back down the stairs. They followed her to the
car. When they got there, the kids were waiting. Everyone wanted to
pick up Ivy. Valerie ran back for the keys to Jill’s new SUV. They
filled two cars with people and headed out to welcome Ivy to her
new life.

Looking up at the Castle before driving off,
Sandy saw Jill looking down at them. She blew Jill a kiss and Jill
waved.

Only Jill could have picked just the right
thing to wish for everyone.

Sandy smiled and wondered what other wishes
had come true today.

~~~~~~~~

Saturday—4:32 P.M.

“
Now, you’re sure you
don’t want me to go with you?” Rodney asked Yvonne. They were
sitting in his truck across the street from Jeraine’s old
condo.

“
You are very sweet,”
Yvonne smiled. “But I’ve got this.”