Silt, Denver Cereal Volume 8 (3 page)

“
Not a seizure?” Blane
asked.

“
They look like what Sandy
has sometimes,” Heather said. “I know I can’t say her name or touch
her, but I don’t remember what I can do.”

“
I’m so sorry I’m not
there to help,” Blane said. “You must be worried sick. Should I
come home?”

“
No,” Heather said. “Honey
needs you. And if MJ can’t talk, they both need you to be their
voice. Sandy’s coming over so we’ll figure something
out.”

“
You always amaze me too,”
Blane said. “You’re awfully generous.”

Heather blushed at his words.

“
We do things together,”
Heather said. “I think Honey deserves your undivided
attention.”

“
Call me if you change
your mind,” Blane said. “I’ll call as soon as I can. Love
you.”

And he was gone.

Heather paced around in the hallway until
she saw Sandy coming up the stairs. Sandy hugged her and went into
Tink’s bedroom. She was just there a moment before she came back
out.

“
Night terrors?” Heather
asked.

“
Looks like night terrors
to me,” Sandy said. “Come on.”

Sandy went into the room and around the bed
near Tink’s head. Anxious, Heather lingered near the door.

“
Get over here,” Sandy
mouthed to Heather. “You’re her mother. Be the Mom you
are.”

Heather smiled at Sandy and Sandy grinned.
Sandy pointed for Heather to sit down on the bed.

“
Say her name,” Sandy
said. “We need to comfort her.”

“
Tink,” Heather said in a
soft comforting voice. Sandy gestured her to say more. “You’re
safe. You’re here with us. Tink.”

The girl’s night terror seemed to get worse.
Her mouth opened in a grimacing silent scream. Heather looked up at
Sandy in desperation.

“
Tiffanie,” Sandy
said.

The girl stopped moaning. Sandy gestured for
Heather to continue.

“
Tiffanie, you’re home
now, safe and sound,” Heather said in her most comforting voice.
“Tiffanie. Remember tonight? You went to the party and sat next to
Charlie.”

“
Pan,” Sandy
whispered.

“
Pan,” Heather said.
“Tiffanie, you are loved. You are safe. Everything is
fine.”

“
Keep going,” Sandy left
the room. Heather heard the bathtub going.

“
Tiffanie. Remember your
pretty dress and Charlie’s . . .
uh . . . Pan’s reaction when he saw you?”

The girl seemed to smile.

“
You are safe. No one can
hurt you now,” Heather said.

Tink rolled onto her back and opened her
eyes. Heather gave her a moment before touching her arm.

“
Tink?” Heather
asked.

The girl threw herself into Heather’s arms
and sobbed.

“
Keep talking,” Sandy
yelled from the bathroom.

“
You’re all right,”
Heather said. “You’re safe. Everything’s fine. Everything’s
fine.”

Heather softly rubbed the girl’s back.

“
Sandy’s making a bath for
you,” Heather said. “She gets night terrors. She says that baths
are the best thing to help get you back to the present and relax
you. Would you like . . .?”

Tink pulled back in horror.

“
I . . .
I . . . Did I blow it?” Tink asked. “Are you going
to send me back?”

“
No way,” Heather said.
“Not a chance.”

“
Will Sandy tell Pan?”
Tink’s eyes seemed luminous with horror.

“
Sandy, are you going to
tell Charlie about this?” Heather asked.

“
Not a chance,” Sandy
said. “This is private, girl to girl. Now come on, the bath’s
almost ready.”

Heather helped Tink out of her nightdress
and led her to the bathroom. Sandy helped her into the bath.

“
Try to relax,” Sandy
said. “Just feel the warm water. We’ll be right outside if you need
anything.”

“
I’m sorry,” Tink said.
“I . . .”

“
You have nothing to be
sorry about.” Heather gave Tink a little nod, and pulled the
bathroom door closed.

“
Are you all right?” Sandy
hugged Heather. They went into Heather and Blane’s bedroom to
talk.

“
I think so,” Heather
said. “Do you think these are Tink’s seizures?”

“
We’ll have to wait and
see,” Sandy said. “I know they got a lot worse for me when I
started liking boys.”

“
You
think . . .” Heather pointed to the bathroom. “And
Charlie?”

“
Remember how bad they
were for me when I started dating Aden?” Sandy smiled.

Heather gave a little clap of her hands.

“
You don’t feel bad that
they might be happy and you don’t have a romantic boyfriend?” Sandy
asked.

“
You mean do I feel like
my mom does?” Heather smiled.

Sandy nodded.

“
No, I don’t feel
jealous,” Heather said. “I feel excited for them. Plus, I have a
really great life. I’m happy.”

Sandy smiled at Heather.

“
I passed the test,”
Heather said.

“
You did,” Sandy
said.

“
Heather!” Tink called
from the bathroom.

Heather went to see.

“
I saw the time,” Tink
said. “Can we go to the party? I mean even though
I . . .”

“
Sure,” Heather said. “But
you have to be in the bath for at least twenty minutes. I’ll get
Mack up in a bit. We’ll go over after he’s awake.”

Heather closed the bathroom door and Sandy
applauded.

“
You’re a great mom,
Heather,” Sandy said.

“
Who’d have thought?”
Heather beamed.

~~~~~~~~

Saturday morning—5:15 a.m.

Tanesha slipped out from
under Jeraine’s arm and went into the bathroom. Her parents were on
their way to Paris and Jeraine had to work all day. The only thing
she had to worry about was studying for
medical school
. She felt almost
giddy. The feeling evaporated when she saw the bald spot where the
rapist had pulled out a clump of her hair. She made a sour face in
the mirror, flushed the toilet, and went out into the
bedroom.

Jeraine was sitting on the edge of the
bed.

“
I thought you were
sleeping in?” she asked. Her speech slurred through the wire on her
jaw.

“
I wanted to talk to you
first,” he said.

“
I’ve got to study,” she
said.

“
I know,” he said. “I
wanted to talk to you before you started work, and I started work
and . . .”

“
You can talk,” she said.
She pointed to the closet to indicate that she would get
dressed.

His eyes followed her naked form to the
closet.

“
I write a lot of songs
about love,” Jeraine said. “A lot of songs about you and me and our
love and . . .”

She turned to look at him while she pulled
on underwear.

“
I was moved by the
service yesterday,” he said.

“
I noticed,” she wiggled
her eyebrows and he smiled. “Last night was fun.”

“
Not just sex,” he said.
“I mean the sex was great but . . . Ah
shit.”

He shook his head and stalked to the
bathroom. She sat down on the bed to pull on her boots. When he
came out, she patted the bed. He sat down.

“
What are you saying?” she
asked.

“
Last night, in the middle
of everything, and when your Dad broke down . . .”
Jeraine said. “I . . . just kinda understood
something I didn’t before.”

Tanesha watched him search for words.

“
Love, real love, like
what you and I have, like what your parents have, my
parents . . .” Jeraine said. “It’s
sacred . . . from God or whoever. By whoring around,
all the women and drugs . . . I make profane
something godly . . . like sullying a holy gift from
God. I definitely took the gift, married you, but then I mess up
and . . .”

Tanesha reached for his hand. He held her
hand close to his heart.

“
Your Dad is a great man,”
Jeraine said.

“
So’s yours,” Tanesha
said.

“
I want to be a great
man,” Jeraine said. “Worthy of the real gift of your
love.”

Tanesha smiled.

“
That’s it,” Jeraine said.
“That’s all I wanted to say.”

“
What are you going
to
do
?” Tanesha
asked. “It’s nice to
say
something. Anyone can
say
something. You have to
do
something,
Jeraine!”

Jeraine gave her one of his ‘gotcha’ smiles.
She shook her head at him, and he laughed.

“
I’m going to do my work
here,” Jeraine said. “I’m going to focus on my head therapy and my
mind therapy and I’m going to love you. We'll do medical school
together because I'll take care of you, love you, while you study.
I don’t think I have to
do
a lot of things differently. I think I have to
receive all that I’ve been given.”

Tanesha smiled.

“
See, I’m not as thick as
you thought,” Jeraine said.

Tanesha leaned forward, and he kissed
her.

“
I’m cutting my hair off
and going natural,” Tanesha said.

“
That’s your response?”
Jeraine looked offended.

“
No, that was a test,”
Tanesha said. “To see if you were sincere about loving me or just
being your old charming psychopathic Mr. It.”

“
Did I pass?”

“
Do you have some snide
comment to make about my hair?” Tanesha asked.

Jeraine opened his mouth and then closed it.
He shook his head.

“
Then you
passed.”

She kissed him.

“
I love you, Jer,” she
said. “I always have.”

“
I love you, Miss T,”
Jeraine said. “Did you hear your Mom and mine at the party? They
said I couldn’t wait for you to be born.”

“
I’d be your best friend,”
Tanesha smiled.

“
My mom said that when I
learned you were a girl, I told her I was going to marry you,”
Jeraine said. “I told her you would be the best thing that ever
happened to me and you are.”

She smiled at him.

“
I’ll make breakfast,”
Jeraine said. “The extra bedroom is all set up for you to study.
The guys will be here in an hour for breakfast, but you can just
ignore us.”

She smiled.

“
What?” he
asked.

“
I feel like I’m just
starting
my
life,” Tanesha said. “My parents are safe and together.
You’re off drugs, not whoring around, not in jail and even happy!
With me!”

She smiled.

“
I’m glad we’re still
together,” he said.

“
Me too,” she said. Her
eyes glanced at the clock. “Is that the time? Oh goodness, I have
so much to do!”

Without another word, she hopped up and
jogged to the second bedroom. A few minutes later, he tapped on the
door with her cup of tea. She opened the door, grabbed the mug, and
closed the door in his face. Smiling, he went to shower.

Chapter Two Hundred and
Twenty-Three
Harvest

Saturday morning—10:03 a.m.

Jill bit the cuticle on her right thumb and
paced in front of her apartment door. Five steps to the window;
turn; five steps to the wall. Back and forth, she paced.

Katy was outside with the Castle family at
Yvonne and Rodney’s big party. She had peeked out the bathroom
balcony to see that everyone from Lipson Construction seemed to be
at the party. Yvonne and Rodney had been smart to head out early or
they would still be here.

Jacob had stopped by the party early before
heading into work. He, Aden and their CFO, Tres Sierra, had planned
to spend the day working on summer’s end financials. The Site
Managers were meeting around noon. The party would probably go
until the Site Managers left.

Jill had to be upstairs.

Jill needed her rest.

Jill couldn’t go to the party because she
was on bed rest.

She was so exhausted after the emotional
ceremony that she hadn’t argued about coming up here or missing a
party. She was doing the hard work of building babies and needed
her rest.

That was before Honey needed her.

She didn’t know how she knew Honey needed
her. She just did. She’d gained this “ability” when she became
pregnant with her twins. And, for the record, the whole psychic
thing sucked. Jill was at the place where she couldn’t wait to have
two gloriously healthy boys, to be able to see her feet again, and
to be rid forever of this psychic curse.

There was a tap on her apartment door. Jill
stopped pacing, thought for a moment, and then opened the door. MJ
was standing on the top landing of the stairwell. Unable to speak
under stress due to his traumatic brain injury, he held out a sheet
of paper with a message in Blane’s handwriting.

Blane asked me to come to get you.
Honey needs help.