The Night's Legacy (31 page)

* * *

She tied Tony up and then summoned the armor so that she could carry him over her shoulder.  Seeing this, the remaining mob goons beat a hasty retreat.  As she had figured, they had no stomach for Set’s fight.

She found Melanie still handcuffed to a tank, thrashing around in a vain attempt to free herself and screaming into her gag.  Lois dropped Tony to the ground and then bent down to face Melanie.  This only prompted Melanie to thrash harder and try to scream louder.  Lois flipped up the visor so that Melanie could see her eyes.  “Hi, Melanie.  It’s me.  I’m not going to hurt you.  I’m here to help, OK?”

Melanie
stared at her for a moment and then nodded.  Lois yanked the vest off of Melanie in one sharp tug.  Then she snapped the handcuffs.  As soon as Lois did, Melanie wrapped her arms around Lois in a hug.  She mumbled something into her gag for a few seconds, until she remembered to pull it out.

“Oh my God!  I can’t believe you’re the Silver Seraph.  That is so awesome!”

“Yeah, I guess it is.”  After Melanie let her go, Lois said, “But you can’t tell anyone, understand?  This is our secret now.”

“I get it.  This is like your secret identity.  Like Superman and all that.”

“Right, just like that.  So you can’t tell anyone—except my mom.  She already knows.”

“I’ll swear on a stack of Bibles or something.  I won’t tell a soul.”

“Thanks.  Now, we better get out of here.  The cops will be here in a bit.”

“Sure.”  As
Lois picked Tony up, Melanie asked, “What’s Tony doing here?”

“That’s a long story.” 
Lois told her this story as they found an abandoned truck they could use to drive to a pay phone so that she could call Detective Murphy, who would no doubt be pissed that Lois had solved a few cases for her.

They left Tony in the truck for
Murphy to pick up and then Lois said the magic words to take off the armor.  Then she hailed a cab to take her and Melanie home.

Epilogue

Lois stopped the van at the curb, pausing to remember a van didn’t have a kickstand.  She shifted it into park and then climbed out.  Mom sat by the doorway in an electric wheelchair that would now be her primary means of transportation.  She smiled at Lois and waved her right hand a little.  Big movements were still difficult for her damaged and weakened muscles, but with some physical therapy and exercise she should be able to function almost normally from the waist up.

Dr. Pavelski stood behind the chair, one hand on Mom’s shoulder. 
Lois walked up the sidewalk to them.  “Well, what do you think?”

“It’s very nice,” Mom said.

“You don’t mind the color?”

“No, I’ve always liked silver.”

“How’s the chair working?  They said they can send someone to make any adjustments if it’s not comfortable enough.”

“I’m fine, sweetheart.”

Dr. Pavelski nodded.  “She got through the halls just fine.  A couple of nurses wanted to give her a speeding ticket.”

Mom blushed at this.  “I didn’t hit anyone.”

“It’s all right, Mom.  You just wanted to test it out, right?”

“Yes.”  She looked up at Dr. Pavelski.  “Thank you for everything, Laura.  I hope we aren’t going to be as much of a bother to you now.”

“You can bother me anytime.”  The doctor leaned down to hug her favorite patient, perhaps the only one she had left after just about living at the hospital for six months.  “Just remember not to overdo it.  It’s going to take a while to build up your strength.”

“I know.”

“And don’t work too hard.  Limit yourself to a couple hours of reading a day.  You can do more as your stamina increases.”

“You already told me this upstairs.”

“I’m just reminding you.  I know how you are about working.”

“I don’t think I’ll be working much now anyway.”  The Thorne Museum had hired a new director to replace Mom, going outside the museum’s ranks to bring in the former CEO of a pharmaceutical company. 
Lois hadn’t met the woman yet, but wasn’t impressed by her résumé.  She certainly wouldn’t bring the same love to the job as Mom had.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep her honest,”
Lois said.

“I hope so.  We wouldn’t want her to have a setback.”

“I won’t.”  Mom Glared at both Lois and Dr. Pavelski.  “Now, can we go home?”

“Of course.  Just remember to call if anything happens.”

Lois was going to follow her mother down the sidewalk, but Dr. Pavelski held her back.  She leaned close to Lois and said, “Be sure to watch her closely.  A lot of times with an injury like this, the patient can get depressed.  Especially a workaholic like your mom.  I’d recommend counseling, but I know she wouldn’t go for that.  So I’m leaving it up to you to keep an eye on her moods.  If she seems too up or down, give me a call.”

“I will.”

“And if it starts to feel like too much, call me.  Even if you just need to vent.  All right?”

“I will.”

“Good luck.”  Dr. Pavelski gave Lois a brief hug and then let her go.  She hurried down the sidewalk, to where Mom waited by the rear of the van.

“OK, watch this,”
Lois said.  She pressed the button on the side of the doorway to bring down the hydraulic lift.  It took Mom a few tries to get the chair lined up the right way.  Once she did, she gave Lois a thumbs-up.  The lift whined as it brought her up to the rear deck of the van.  She rolled back into the cargo compartment.

After the lift was secured,
Lois slammed the doors shut.  She found Dr. Pavelski still watching them with concern.  Lois gave her a wave to indicate everything was fine.  Then she got in the front seat to drive away from the hospital.  She hoped she wouldn’t have to come back for a while.

* * *

Their house had spent two months on the market before they found a buyer, a middle-aged widow with a grown daughter of her own.  The widow paid less than the house was worth, but Lois didn’t mind.  She had more than enough money to make up for what she lost on the deal.  What had mattered most was that the house went to a good buyer, someone who would care for the house as well as Mom had.

Mom slept on the way to the Heights and her new house. 
Lois couldn’t blame her, not after the excitement of leaving the hospital.  She kept looking in the rearview mirror, though, thinking of what Dr. Pavelski had said.  Mom had always been so guarded with her emotions that it might be hard to tell if she were depressed or not.

Mom was still napping when
Lois reached the top of the driveway.  She unfastened her seatbelt and then slipped into the rear compartment.  Mom certainly looked better than six months ago, her skin a bit less pale, her cheeks a little fuller, and her hair grown back to a pixyish length.  Her blouse was still flat against her chest; she had rejected the notion of wearing fake breasts or a padded bra.

Lois
gave her mother’s shoulder a slight shake.  As in the hospital, Mom’s eyes fluttered open and she smiled at seeing Lois next to her.  “Hi, sweetheart.  Are we here?”

“Yes.  We’re home.”

Getting down from the lift was a little easier than going up.  Lois figured in a few weeks Mom would be an expert on it as she was with so many things.  Once she got the chair turned to face the house, Mom’s eyes widened.

A pink banner over the front door proclaimed, “Welcome Home, Mom!”

“Oh, sweetheart,” Mom said, her eyes tearing up. 

“That was
Melanie’s idea.  Come on.”  Lois walked next to the wheelchair as Mom pushed the joystick forward. 

The first major change to the house was the ramp next to the front steps.  This had cost a thousand bucks and necessitated killing some bushes that had been by the steps. 
Lois walked up the steps while Mom wheeled up the ramp.  The electric wheelchair went smoothly up the ramp, not straining at all as it carried Mom up.  Lois let Mom wheel next to the door so that she could turn the knob and push it.  As if she had been doing it all her life, Mom wheeled through the door backwards and then spun around to face the stairs.

Melanie
had wanted to throw a big party, but Lois nixed that idea.  She knew Mom wouldn’t want a big celebration, nor would she have the strength for one either.  So it was just Melanie and Lorna there to greet them.

“Welcome home, Dr. Locke!  Or I guess Drs. Locke now,”
Melanie said.

Mom looked up at
Lois and raised an eyebrow.  “You didn’t tell me you finished your doctorate.”

“I was saving it for a surprise.  It’s not official yet anyway.  The certificate should be arriving in a few days.”

Melanie clapped a hand to her mouth.  “Oh my God, I’m so sorry!  I thought Lois had already told you.  I’m such a blabbermouth.”

“It’s all right,
Melanie,” Lois said.  So far Melanie hadn’t blabbed anything about that other secret, the far more important one.

“Welcome home, Jessica,”
Lorna added.  The older woman bent down to give Mom a hug.  “It’s good to see you again and looking so well.”

“Thanks,” Mom said, her face turning red from so much attention being showered upon her.  “I’ve missed you too.”

“This isn’t the best time, but I brought you something from the Board of Directors.  They’d like you to stay on as the chairwoman of the board.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,”
Lois said.  “The doctor doesn’t want her working too hard.”

“She can set her own hours.  It’s mostly a figurehead position.  Your mom’s name still means quite a bit to the community.”

Mom looked from Lorna to Lois.  “I’ll think it over.”

But
Lois knew that Mom would accept if only so that she could still be connected to the museum in some way.  She patted Mom’s shoulder and then pointed her towards the ballroom.  “We bought a cake for you.  If you’re hungry.”

“I’m starved.”

The cake was shaped like a mammoth with pink frosting like the one for her sixth birthday.  Melanie had put a candle on top, she said to symbolize the first day of their new life together.  Lois thought it was a bit silly, but she didn’t say anything.  Melanie had been so helpful in the last six months that Lois didn’t have the heart to argue about the candle.

“Should we sing something?”
Melanie asked.

“Nah.  Just blow out the candle.  But don’t forget to make a wish.”

Mom smiled and then blew out the candle.  The other three applauded, especially Lois, who had worried Mom might not have the lung capacity yet to do it.

“What did you wish for, Dr. Locke?”

Lois squeezed Mom’s shoulder.  “She can’t say or it won’t come true,” Lois said.

“It doesn’t matter.  I already have everything I need right here,” Mom said, squeezing
Lois’s hand.

* * *

The most extensive renovations in the house came with installing an elevator.  The contractors had taken out the old silver closet on the first floor and converted it into an elevator going up to the second floor.  The process had taken months and thousands of dollars.  Lois had felt bad about tearing up Dr. Johnson’s house, but she figured he wouldn’t mind her doing that for Mom.

Despite having thirty rooms to choose from,
Lois picked the one next to Mom’s room so that she could hear Mom call out if she needed anything.  It was ironic that she had spent seven years—and much of her life before that—trying to run away from Mom only to wind up separated by six inches of wood.  To make Mom feel at home, Lois had brought everything over from the old house, even redoing the walls the same way.  The main difference was the shelf on the walls with a blue steel urn on it.

“Is that him?” Mom asked.

“It’s him.  We can get a new urn if you want.  I’ve got a whole catalog—”

“No, it’s fine.  I think he’d like it.  He was never much for formalities.”

“I guess not.  We could put it somewhere else—”

“I like it there.  Then I can see him whenever I wake up.”  She took
Lois’s hand and smiled.  “You’re doing fine, sweetheart.  Don’t worry so much about it.”

“I just want you to be happy.”

“I’m already happy so long as I have you.”  They hugged, tears coming to their eyes.  Mom broke it up first by giving an exaggerated yawn.  “I suppose I should get some rest.  Wouldn’t want to overdo it, would I?”

“No.  You’re going to take that job, though, aren’t you?”

“Do you want me to?”

“If that’s what you want.  I know how much the museum means to you.”

Mom nodded.  “We’ll talk about it more later.  Right now I just want to get some sleep in my own bed.”

“Sure, Mom.”  It was a surreal experience to tuck her mother in.  There was a complicated process to get Mom from the bed, into the chair.  Then came undressing Mom to get her into a nightgown.  As she pulled up the covers,
Lois said, “Do want me to read you a story?  I’ve got Slowey next door.”

“Just a glass of water, if you could.”

“Sure.”

Lois
went next door, into the bathroom.  The bathroom had been renovated to be handicap-friendly with a gate, handrails, and a seat in the tub to make it easier for Mom when she wanted a bath.  There were rails around the toilet and enough room for her to park the wheelchair as well.  She filled a cup of water and then brought it back to set beside Mom’s bed.  She leaned down to kiss Mom’s forehead.  “Goodnight, Mom.”

“Goodnight, sweetheart.”

Mom was snoring softly a few minutes later.  Lois watched her until she felt someone tap her shoulder.  She spun around, adopting a fighting stance.  She relaxed when she saw it was Melanie.

Melanie
pulled her into the hallway.  “I just heard on the scanner there’s a jewelry store being robbed downtown.”

“Then I guess it’s time to get to work,”
Lois said.  Tony was locked up in a maximum-security prison and Rahnasto was dead, but that didn’t mean crime had vanished in Ren City.  If anything it was worse than ever as Mr. Nasty’s underlings fought amongst themselves to determine his successor.

She ran out to the garage, where the Kawasaki waited.  She called for the armor and it appeared in a flash.  As she hopped on the bike, she saw
Melanie had followed her.  “Be careful,” Melanie said.

“I will.  Look after Mom, will you?”

“No problem.”  Lois hoped Mom would understand.  Of course she would; this had been her job for thirty years.  Now that job was hers and she would make her parents proud.

Lois
kicked the bike to life and then roared down the driveway.

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