Taxi Delivery (8 page)

            Sadie’s eyes widened.  She was going to have plenty of things here to use for Ellison.  She wouldn’t need to buy another thing until she moved to her own place, which she hoped would be soon.  She would get started on the job hunt as soon as she could.  She didn’t know what she would do with Ellison, but she would figure that out when she found something that interested her.  As to what exactly she wanted to do, that was another story.

            “This is wonderful,” Sadie proclaimed, taking it all in and appreciating the kindness of those who were practically strangers.  “I don’t know how to thank you enough.”

            “Prayers,” Brenda said with a shrug.  “You can thank us with your prayers.  Everyone needs prayer, right?”

            Sadie nodded emphatically.  “I know all too well,” she said, with a glance at Jed. 

            “Well, ladies,” Jed said, breaking in to take his leave.  “I think a very important law class is calling.”

            “That’s right how’s school going?” Brenda asked as Ellison started to stir.

            “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I know it’ll be worth it,” he had explained to Sadie on the ride over that he wanted to practice law in a humble manner.  Lawyers often made boat loads of money be specializing in corporate law, tax law, negligence or many other areas.  Jed, on the other hand, wanted to go into adoption law.  He wanted to help God bring families together and he wanted to see things through on the legal end.  He would likely write wills and do a few other things as well, but adoption law was his dream.

            “You’re going to make a great lawyer,” Brenda said as Jed edged his way back down the hall.

            “I’ll see you both soon,” he said, giving Sadie a slight wave and tickling Ellison under the chin.

            Sadie raised her hand in a gentle wave and Jed turned away, unable to tear his eyes from her any other way.

            Sadie settled into the house with ease.  She didn’t have much to unpack.  She parked the large stroller in the garage and looked forward to talking Ellison for walks around the neighborhood.  It felt safe and homey and she wished that she could stay forever.  Brenda’s family was so welcoming that she felt as if she had known them forever.  Brenda and her husband, who Sadie hoped to meet later that day, had four delightful children.  And though they were obviously a handful, they were all good kids with bright spirits and warm hearts. 

            Sadie enjoyed the variety in their ages and began to dream of what Ellison might be like as she grew and hit all of the different stages.  What was even better than the living situation was the fact that Ellison seemed at home among the family as well.  Instead of crying at her normal times of the day, she simply sat and watched the children run around, enjoying the noise and antics.

            As Sadie and Brenda sat down to have a cup of tea later in the afternoon, Sadie started to think more seriously about what she was going to do.  “Do you have any advice for where to start to look for a job?” she asked.  She already had a great respect for the woman and felt as if she might know the answer to just about any question.

            “Well,” Brenda said, biting her lip, “we have a laptop around somewhere.  You could start by searching the local job websites and see if anything tickles your fancy.  What type of thing are you looking for?”

            Sadie didn’t want to give too much away, but she felt safe with Brenda and she didn’t think revealing the truth would lead to too many questions that would make her uncomfortable.  “I haven’t had too many real jobs,” she began, “but I used to be an administrative assistant.  And,” she shrugged, “I was an extra in a few movies.  That was really fun.”

            “You act?” Brenda said, surprise showing on her face.

            Sadie laughed.  “A little, I guess.  If you can call pretending to drink a cup of coffee in the background while the real stars walk past acting.”

            “But you’ve been in real movies?”

            “Yeah, real movies.  Sure.”

            “Then I’d call you an actress.  Or actor.  Whatever you prefer,” Brenda giggled.

            “I’d call me an extra,” Sadie smiled.  “But I did enjoy it.”

            “Does that mean you lived out in California?” Brenda probed.

            Sadie didn’t like the line of questioning, but so far, it was safe to answer without getting too deep.  “Yes, I’m a born and raised California girl.”

            “What brought you to New York?”

            Now Sadie was uncomfortable, but she felt confident that she could steer the conversation away from herself, just as she had so many times with Jed.  “Oh, you know, just looking for a change of scenery.”

            “There’s nowhere more different from California than New York,” Brenda agreed.

            “Boy that’s the truth,” Sadie said, taking a deep breath.  “So what do you recommend for a former extra slash administrative assistant in desperate need of a job?”

            “Hmm,” Brenda stroked her chin with her thumb and forefinger.  “Would you have any interest in working as a producer for a talk show?  That would have elements of administrative work but some of the lure of show biz.”

            “What do they do?” Sadie asked, intrigued.

            “Well, a lot of things.  They arrange guests for the talk show, interview them, get all of the details in order, that sort of thing.”

            “That sounds fascinating.  How in the world would I ever get into something like that though?  I don’t really have any TV experience.”

            “No, but you’re in the movies,” Brenda reminded her as Sadie laughed again.  She hadn’t felt this at ease since her first day on the last movie she did.  After that, her life took quite a turn and things hadn’t been the same since.  Ellison was a big part of the reason and while she likely wouldn’t have made the same mistakes again if she had to do it all over again, nothing could take away the fact that she had a beautiful daughter who she loved beyond anything she had ever felt before.  “And,” Brenda continued with a wink, “I have a friend.

            Sadie felt hope rise in her chest.  The best way to get any job was through a recommendation.  Someone who knew someone who told that person about you.  It was how she had gotten all of her jobs as an extra as well.  Maybe the job hunt wouldn’t be so hard after all.

            She yawned as Ellison stirred over the monitor Brenda had provided for her.  “She sounds hungry,” Brenda said, holding the monitor closer.  “I bet if you run up right now and feed her, she’d go right back to sleep.  Then maybe you can get some rest too.”

            Sadie nodded.  “That’d be nice.”  She took Brenda’s advice and rushed up the stairs to her daughter’s side.  She could get used to this indeed.  Having a family around to enjoy.  Having Brenda by her side to give her mothering advice.  Having Jed visit whenever he could to cajole her with his stories.  She knew the last thing she should do was get used to it all.  It wasn’t her life.  It was theirs.  But for a while, she would enjoy it and savor it so that she could take it with her wherever she went.

            The next few days flew by as Sadie used the family’s computer to put together some semblance of a resume.  She didn’t feel like her entries were all that exciting, but she enjoyed playing with the format and making it look as nice as possible.  She was going to turn it over to Brenda to pass on to her friend, who was in the midst of choosing people to interview for the position she had open on a new talk show she was casting.  It was Sadie’s understanding that it would be like Oprah, but with an even more spiritual twist.  The show was based in New York instead of LA because those creating it hoped to get serious guests instead of only celebrities.  It sounded like something Sadie would love to watch herself.

            Jed had also come by to visit on a daily basis.  Some days, he came in the morning before his classes and other days he stopped by in the cab in the evening after a shift.  Sadie wasn’t sure how he balanced it all or how he was able to fit them in to his busy schedule, but she quickly felt as if she was a priority in his life.

            The way that Jed looked at her made her feel important and special.  She hoped he wasn’t getting his hopes up where she was concerned, but she reveled in the attention he gave her.  She felt like the only woman in the world when they spoke.  He was attentive and polite and she was close to telling him everything about her background. 

            The last time he had visited, Ellison had been sleeping in his arms peacefully, yet again.  Sadie looked over at the two of them and wished beyond anything else that Jed was Ellison’s father instead.  It would have been a picture perfect life had she waited to find someone like Jed.  But it wasn’t meant to be.  She had made her choices and she had to follow the path that God laid before her because of them.

            When Jed left that day, he handed Ellison back over to Sadie.  And when they were close together, exchanging the baby, she felt his breath on her cheek.  She turned toward him and nearly jumped up on her toes to kiss him.  She held herself back when her daughter squirmed and reminded her of the many things that kept them apart.

            As Sadie put a few finishing touches on her resume, she heard the doorbell ring.  The children were away at a weekly play date and Brenda was frantically trying to put away laundry and get other chores done in their absence.  Sadie closed the small lap top and quickly ran down the stairs to get the door.  It was probably the postal worker with a package or something and she didn’t want Brenda to have to take a break from getting her much needed chores done to answer the door.

            “I’ve got it!” she called out to Brenda as she ran down the stairs.  Had Sadie been at her old studio apartment, she would have asked who it was before opening the door.  But in the suburbs, she felt much safer and she knew whoever it was would likely be someone friendly who was there for a cause.

            When she swung the door open, she learned just how wrong she was.  The person on the other side wasn’t friendly.  But he WAS there for a cause.

            “Elias,” she gasped, taking in his signature sandy brown curls and his vibrant green eyes.

            “Sadie,” he said, nodding at her and looking into the house past her.

            “Wh-what are you doing here?” she asked, but before he could answer, Brenda came bounding down the stairs.

            “Who is it?” she asked as she got halfway down the stairs.  She stopped with her foot in the air as she noticed Elias standing on her doorstep.  “Elias Cane?” she said in a quiet voice.  “What in the world?”  She slowly began to descend again.  “Is this some kind of hidden camera prank or something?” she asked, looking up at the ceiling to see if she could reveal a small camera hiding nearby.

            Sadie wasn’t surprised by Brenda’s shock.  It was how anyone would react to finding Elias Cane on their doorstep without warning.  Elias was one of the biggest names in Hollywood, after all.  And he didn’t usually just turn up on a random doorstep in the middle of a New York suburb.

            “You must be Brenda,” Elias said, slapping his movie star grin onto his face and holding out his hand.  “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

           
Great,
Sadie thought,
he was laying on the charm. 
It was what made her fall for him in the first place.  He was an actor and he could act like the perfect gentleman if he so pleased. 

            “You’ve heard about me?” Brenda asked, a star struck look on her face.  “I loved you in
Terminal Terror.
  The way you caught on to what was going on and captured the bad guy right at the end…” Brenda trailed off, “of course, that wasn’t you, that was just your character,” she rambled.

            “Sadie was in that movie with me,” Elias revealed as Sadie felt her face turn as white as a sheet.

            “She was?” Brenda asked incredulously.  “She said she did some work as an extra, but I had no idea she was in something so big.”

            “She’s been in several of my films,” he provided, his face shining as if he were on camera right then.  “In fact, that’s why I’m here.  Sadie and I are old friends and I wanted to stop by and catch up.”

            “You’re just full of surprises,” Brenda said to Sadie.  Ellison chose that moment to wake up and cry for attention.  Sadie looked from the monitor hanging from her waistband to Elias.  She had no idea what to say to anyone at that moment.

            “I’ll get her,” Brenda said, grabbing the monitor from Sadie and turning it off.  “You two catch up.”

            Brenda jogged back up the stairs, stopping at the top to take another long look at Elias before she went to retrieve Ellison.

            “What are you doing here?” Sadie said in a quiet voice.

            “Just like I said,” Elias continued, the same concerned, kind look on his face, “I came to catch up.”  He moved into the entry way as if he owned the place and looked around for a place to make himself comfortable.

            “Catch up,” Sadie repeated, “but it’s been nearly a year.  And we didn’t exactly part on good terms.”

            “I know,” Elias said, plopping down on the couch and putting his feet up on the coffee table.  “That’s why I came.  I didn’t want to leave things the way we did.”

            Sadie flashed back to the day she had last seen Elias in person.  They were wrapping up
Terminal Terror,
in which she had played several roles as an extra.  She was a lady in a coffee shop in one scene and an injured victim in another.  She still had her fake blood and black soot on when she finally worked up the nerve to confront Elias.  “I’m pregnant,” she had blurted out.  He had grabbed her elbow and directed her to his dressing room just off the set.      

            “What do you mean you’re pregnant?” he asked through his teeth.

            “I’m pretty sure you know what it means,” Sadie said.  Their relationship had gone from friendship to much more in the matter of minutes.  His charm had somehow talked her into doing things that she promised she would never do with anyone other than her future husband.  And now, she was paying for it.  After he got what he wanted, she immediately regretted it.  Not only because she had broken a promise to herself and God, but also because he started treating her like she was just any other extra again.

            “And it’s mine?” he asked, a look of disbelief on his face.

            “Of course the baby is yours,” Sadie replied, not appreciating his use of the word ‘it’ in reference to their child.  “There hasn’t…been anyone else.”

            Elias smirked as he turned away from her.  He quickly got out his check book and began writing.  He ripped the check out of the book and handed it over to her.  “Here,” he said as she took the check with shock.  “Take care of it.”

            “Take care of it?” she asked, unsure if he meant that he wanted her to care for their child on her own or do the unspeakable and terminate the pregnancy.

            “Yeah, you know, get rid of it,” he said, clarifying his position.

            Sadie had stared at him for a full minute.  And then she had looked at the check.  The amount of money written on the line was substantial.  But it wasn’t enough to care for the child for all of her life.  It was money to pay for an abortion, but there would even be leftovers after that.  The rest, Sadie believed, was hush money.  He was trying to pay her off.  She was to get rid of the baby and stay silent about the entire ordeal.

            Sadie had then quietly folded the check, turned, and left the trailer.  She stayed silent to allow Elias to think that she was going to do as he asked.  She hadn’t lied and said that she would, but she had not disputed his orders either.  He could think what he wanted.  And she would do what she wanted.  She didn’t know at that time what she might do, exactly.  But she wasn’t going to have an abortion.  Of that, she was sure.

            She ended up quickly moving to New York.  She chose New York because it was the farthest she could get from California and the most different.  She wanted to get away and put space between herself, her child, and the situation.  She hoped she could hide in a city that large and never see Elias Cane again.

            Apparently, that was not the case.  As she was brought back into the present, she looked at his stinging green eyes.  The very eyes that had drawn her in and made her feel like the only woman in the world.  “How did you find me?” she asked, as curious about the how as she was the why.

            “You remember Jim,” Elias said, more of a statement than a question.  Sadie nodded.  She remembered Jim all too well.  He was Elias’ body guard, but he also ran a private investigation business on the side.  He made more as a body guard and that was why he stayed, but he always had a knack for finding information that no one wanted found.  Apparently, he also was able to find people that didn’t want to be found.

            The panic within Sadie began to rise.  Why was he here?  Elias knew about Brenda, from the way he greeted her, but did he know about Ellison?  Was he going to take her away from Sadie?  No, Sadie wouldn’t allow it.  She didn’t care how much money he had or how powerful he was.  She would die first.

            “Look, Sadie,” Elias said, taking his feet from the table and leaning forward, “I just wanted to make sure we were okay.” He looked at her with sympathy written all over his face.  “You took the money and I know you cashed the check.  And you, well, you just disappeared.  I was worried.  I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

            Sadie frowned.  Had he really wanted to know if she was okay, he would have tracked her down later that day, or even the next week.  The fact that he had let nearly a year pass was enough to tell her the truth.  She wasn’t going to allow herself to get sucked in to his charm and smooth talk again.

            “I’m fine, Elias,” she said.  “I have this wonderful place to live and I am surrounded by loving, caring people.  What more could I want?” she asked, leaving out the part about Ellison and praying that Brenda would stay upstairs and keep her hidden.

            Sadie heard the soft telltale knock on the front door.  It was the way Jed always knocked when he arrived.  He never waited for someone to come to open the door, though.  He always just knocked and then headed right in.  Sadie held her breath as the door opened and Jed walked in, catching her eye as soon as he entered.  “There she is,” he said with the same excitement his voice always held when he saw her.  Then, he stopped dead in his tracks as Elias turned around on the couch.

            “Elias Cane?” he said with more shock in his voice than Brenda had held.