The Queen of Cool (30 page)

Dr. Evans nodded. Lo hugged her again.

“
Thank you for saving Don
so many times,” Lo said. “He said you were the only one who helped
him survive what he had to get through. Thank you.”

“
I loved him like he was my
own son,” Dr. Evans said. “Maybe more than my sons.”

Dr. Evans looked up and said something to
Mutt in Romani. Mutt nodded. He said something to Larry and they
went to the garage.

“
What’s going on?” Lo
asked.

“
You haven’t come to me. So
I came to you. We’re unloading a mobile ultrasound so I can see my
grandson.” Dr. Evans leaned into Lo. In a conspiratorial voice, she
said, “And see if Yazmin might have a baby for us too.”

Lo’s eyebrows shot up with surprise.

“
Shh, she doesn’t know. My
sister has been bragging to everyone that she will soon be the
grandmother of the prettiest little girl.”

Dr. Evans laughed. Yazmin came from behind
Lo.

“
Ma’am,” Yazmin
said.

Embarrassed, she lowered her head. Dr. Evans
grabbed her shoulders and hugged her tight.

“
Welcome to our family,”
Dr. Evans looked up to see Amanda and Alisha watching from the
living room. “Something smells wonderful. Shall we eat?”

Dr. Evans put her arms around Lo’s and
Yazmin’s shoulders as they walked toward the living room.

“
Vera and Scott are
downstairs,” Dr. Evans said. “I was sure you wouldn’t
mind.”

“
We have plenty,” Yazmin
said. “Lots.”

“
Great,” Dr. Evans
whispered. “Vera wants to be called Dr. Vera. Such a big
ego.”

“
Right Dr. Evans,” Alisha’s
best friend Vera said from the doorway to the garage stairs. Alisha
hugged Vera and her husband Scott. Alisha’s fiancé Rick came
forward to greet them.

“
Please do call me Evelyn,”
the older woman said. “Only my mother would come up with Evelyn
Evans. That’s why everyone calls me Dr. Evans, Vera. Crazy
name.”

“
Where are the kids?”
Alisha asked Vera.

“
With their grandmother,”
Dr. Evans said. She hugged Lisa hello. “Where are your babies? I
distinctly remember bringing three into this world.”

“
Mrs. Williams is watching
them,” Earl said. He shook Dr. Evans’s hand. “Thanks for
coming.”

“
They’ve become fast
friends since we moved here,” Lisa looked at Earl.

“
Is it all right if we
eat?” Evelyn asked. “I’m starving.”

“
Yes, yes, please,” Yazmin
gestured to the table.

“
You’re not serving, are
you?” Evelyn tugged on Yazmin’s arm. “Please, sit next to me. I
want to get to know you.”

“
But…” Yazmin
started.

“
Let us,” Alisha said. She
tugged at Amanda. “You can serve us when it’s our turn.”

Blushing red to her ears, Yazmin nodded.
Mutt and Larry came up from the garage.

“
Now tell me everything,”
Evelyn said to Yazmin.

Mutt said something in Romani to Dr. Evans.
Not one to back down, Dr. Evans responded quickly. Yazmin shook her
head.

“
I can take care of
myself,” Yazmin said in intentional English. “I’m all right here,
Matthew. Everyone in this room is my family. ”

Lisa made a noise indicating that Yazmin was
right.

“
I am safe here,” Yazmin
said. “Let’s eat together as a family.”

Mutt said something in Romani again. Yazmin
shook her head.

“
Please, Matthew, sit
down,” Yazmin said.

Mutt laughed. With his laugh, everyone let
out a breath. Dinner unfolded with good food and great
conversation. Lo had almost forgotten the reason for Dr. Evans’s
visit until she cleared her throat.

“
Ladies? It’s
time!”

Q

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Two weeks later

Friday, early morning—3:35 a.m.

Fairmount Historic District

Days: 105

Lo felt a giggle form near the back of her
throat. She couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear at Don.

“
You’re not going to tell
me,” Don said.

Clamping her mouth closed, she shook her
head.

“
How can you not tell me?”
Don’s face lit up with laughter and love.

Her giggle slipped out. Spinning in place,
she found herself running on white sand. She heard him laughing and
following behind her. The day was bathtub warm. Although the place
was familiar, she knew she’d never been here before. In front of
her, a calm blue sea lapped against the white sand.

She stretched out her arms and dove into the
deep waters. The sea reached out to welcome her now nude body.
Still giggling, she swam in the warm sea’s embrace. She heard Don’s
even, practiced strokes behind her. A strong swimmer, he could have
easily overtaken her. She smiled to herself. He was waiting to see
where she was going. When only blue sea filled her sight, she
stopped swimming. Don caught up with her quickly.

As if they had done it every day, she
wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.
While she kissed his face, he easily kept them afloat. Their lips
caught and the blue world spun with joy.

“
Love you, love you, love
you,” Don punctuated every kiss. Expecting to be kissed she kept
her eyes closed. He leaned back. “What did she say?”

“
Who?” Lo
giggled.

“
Evelyn, that’s who,” Don
pretended to be angry but laughed. “You’re torturing
me.”

“
Why didn’t you tell me she
was Vera’s grandmother?” Lo asked.

“
I assumed you knew. You
mean all this time, you never knew Evelyn was Vera’s
grandmother?”

Don’s head dropped back with laughter.
Pretending to be angry, Lo smacked him.

“
You’re such a…You’re such
a… You’re…”

“
Dead,” Lo sat up. She was
in her bed at the apartment behind her mother’s house. “Don is
dead.”

She fell to her side and sobbed. She’d cried
herself to sleep every night since Vera’s grandmother, Dr. Evelyn
Evans, had come for dinner. She had no explanation for her surging
grief. She stumbled through every day only to weep all night. At
what was becoming a weekly pie, coffee and VX visit, Sy Monquist
said he understood. But Lo couldn’t comprehend why, with each
passing day, her grief only seemed to get worse.

Still crying, she fell back asleep.

She was floating in the blue sea with her
arms and legs around her beloved Don. Overwhelmed by the sight of
him, her grief came forward full force. Her body heaved with
misery. He and the warm blue ocean held her in their loving embrace
while her sorrow ran its course. He held her in the long painful
silence after the tears subsided.

“
You’re dead,” Lo
said.

He kissed her neck.

“
This is just a dream,” Lo
said.

“
I don’t really care what
it is, Lo,” Don said. “I’m here. You’re here. Maybe that’s all that
matters.”

“
It’s all a dream,” Lo
said. “You used to say that.”

“
I was very wise,” Don gave
her a wry smile. “Right this moment, I find myself holding all
that’s precious to me. I don’t really care how that came to pass. I
do have one question.”

Lo let go of her tight embrace to look at
his face.

“
Why are we in the
water?”

“
I thought you did that,”
Lo said. “You always loved the water.”

“
Well, then, I’m pretty
fabulous,” Don said. “This is warm liquid love.”

Lo smiled.

“
Why did you have to die?”
Lo asked.

“
I don’t think
there
is
an answer to your question, Lo. Some things just
happen,” Don said. “I didn’t want to ever leave you. I guess I
haven’t left you, really.”

“
Well it sucks,” Lo
said.

“
Yes,” Don said. “Will you
tell me what Evelyn said?”

“
You don’t
know?”

Don shook his head.

“
The baby is physically
healthy,” Lo said. “Despite my... condition, he’s growing well. He
will look like your mother and me. People will say he’s almost too
pretty. He will be big and strong like you are… I mean, were.
But…”

Lo tightened her hold around his neck. Her
eyes scanned the blue water horizon.

“
But?” Don asked in her
ear.

“
No soul,” Lo said. “No
soul has come. Evelyn said it’s almost as if that soul is waiting
to see if he will actually be born. She thinks it’s why the doctors
are so sure he won’t make it.”

“
Isn’t that normal?” Don
asked.

“
She said it depends on the
child,” Lo said. “Some souls come in immediately and spend all nine
months with their mothers. Some souls don’t come in until birth or
even a few days later. She told me some shaman thing about soul
loss, but I didn’t understand it. I asked Sy. He supposedly knows a
shaman.”

“
How is Sy?” Don
asked.

“
Not great,” Lo said. “He’s
helping us get information about what happened to you but… I don’t
think he’s going to make it. He doesn’t want to.”

“
I thought you and the
baby…” Don said.

“
Matchmaking?” Lo smiled.
“No. We tolerate each other but that’s about it. I lived my life
for you and Sy lived for Renee. Now that you’re gone, there’s very
little point to everything.”

“
Renee was hoping…” Don
said. “It’s why she died when I did. She was in between for a long
time – not here, not there. She fought hard to be with him. But
when she saw you in the waiting room, she thought maybe you and
Sy…”

“
I’d be surprised if he
makes it a year,” Lo said. “He’s devastated. He doesn’t have these
dreams or whatever they are. He feels very alone.”

“
Renee wants him to move
on, so she doesn’t visit,” Don said. “I’m more selfish.”

“
If you see her, tell her
to visit,” Lo said. “He’s in bad shape. Worse than me.”

“
Does the baby
help?”

“
No soul will take a chance
on me,” Lo said. “No, he doesn’t help.”

“
What would?”

Lo pulled back slightly to look at him. Her
eyes followed the familiar lines of his face. Their eyes locked.
For a moment, they felt the shocking power of their love for each
other. Don closed his eyes and nodded his head.

“
Can we stay here for a
while?” Lo whispered.

“
I don’t see why not,” he
said. “Look.”

Lo followed his finger to see the tiny
figures holding each other heart to heart above the blue
horizon.

“
Sy and Renee,” Don said.
“They’re on the sand.”

“
Did you do that?” Lo
asked.

“
I thought you did,” he
smiled.

She gave him a soft smile. For countless
moments and maybe days, she held onto him while he kept them
floating in the warm loving sea. They didn’t say much. They didn’t
have to. When the alarm went off at five, she could still feel the
warm blue water and her loving husband. Smiling to herself, she
started her day.

Q

Friday afternoon—3:45 p.m.

Downtown Fort Worth

Days: 105

“
This is very good pie,”
Mrs. Williams raised her fork from the sweet potato pie on her
plate. “But – and I’m sorry to say this – it doesn’t hold a candle
to mine.”

“
You know what?” Sy took
another bite of the pie on his plate. He looked across his desk to
her. “You’re right. What do you think, Larry?”

“
Sorry man,” Larry said
from his perch on a stool near the bookcase.

“
Lo?” Sy asked.

“
I only eat berry pie.”
Sitting next to Mrs. Williams, Lo smiled.

“
Plus you’re doing your
Nike photo shoot on Monday,” Larry laughed. “No pie for
Lo.”

Lo smiled at him.

“
The coffee is very good,”
Lo said. “Manny ate both. Did you like one over the
other?”

“
Uh, better?” Manny
shrugged. Sitting near the door, he looked from Mrs. Williams to
Sy. “I think I’d need at least one more piece of each to make an
accurate assessment.”

Everyone laughed at his pie lust.

“
I’d thank you to teach me,
ma’am,” Sy said.

“
Of course,” Mrs. Williams
sat up a little straighter with pride.

There was a tap at the window in the small
office. Lisa’s face appeared.

“
I’ll get her,” Larry said.
They heard him jog up the stairs.

“
I’ll get more pie. More
coffee Lo?” Sy asked.

“
Sure,” she
said.

“
More pie, Manny?” Sy
asked.

“
No thanks,” Manny said.
“Mindy Sue will kill me if I eat more. But I’ll take one
home.”

“
Same as last week?” Sy
said.

Manny nodded.

“
I’ll be right back,” Sy
said.

Manny waited until Sy was up the stairs
before he turned to Mrs. Williams.

“
You’re sure you want to
talk about this?” Manny asked.