Damaged Amazon

by Kim Pritekel

  ****

  Jill, Nora, and Bella made their way into Shannon’s room where she’d already been placed in a wheelchair.

  “Hello, beautiful!” Jill sang cheerily walking over to her youngest sister and giving her a hug and kiss on the cheek. “Look at you.” She ran her fingers over the incredibly soft auburn fuzz that was coming in nicely on Shannon’s head. “You’re starting to look like a Chia Pet.”

  “Oh, aren’t you funny.” Shannon laughed, playfully pushing Jill away.

  “You ready to go home?” Nora asked, standing before her with hands on hips. “Well, to the farmhouse, anyway.”

  Shannon glanced up at her. “I’m sorry to be such a burden, Nora,” she said softly.

  “Hey.” Nora squatted down in front of her wheelchair.

  Jill watched her two younger sisters interact. She’d been a bit wistful of their relationship when they were all younger. But now, it was heartwarming. The truth was, if Shannon had to stay with one of them, there was no better choice than Nora.

  “I feel better having you so close,” Nora continued. “You and Bella.” She smiled and reached a hand up, lovingly tapping Shannon’s chin. “We can go geocaching.”

  Shannon threw her head back and laughed. “God, it’s been so many years.”

  “She took Kristie to do that,” Jill added.

  Shannon glanced up at her then back to Nora. “Really?”

  “Yup,” Nora said, rising to her feet. She looked at Jill. “You want to push?”

  “No, go ahead.” Jill turned to the bed where the duffel bag she’d provided filled with anything belonging to Shannon—mainly gifts brought by well-wishers—waited.

  “Can I ride?” Bella asked, looking from Jill to Nora to her mom.

  “Come here, sweetheart,” Shannon said, patting her lap.

  Jill helped the small girl onto her mother’s lap. “Everyone ready?”

  “Let’s do this,” Nora said, taking her place behind the wheelchair, her hands resting on the handles.

  Jill slung the duffel bag over her shoulder and glanced back at Nora. The two shared a look and a smile. She walked to the room door and opened it with a flourish. “My lady,” she said to Shannon, who was being wheeled closer to the exit.

  Nora pushed her and Bella out into the hall. Jill led the way, a smile on her lips and in her heart as she saw so many familiar faces step out from the nurses’ stations, rooms, and adjacent hallways, each one with a smile and thumbs up for Shannon.

  “Go, Shannon!” someone called out. “Get ’em, tiger!”

  She glanced down at Shannon to see tears in her eyes as she looked at the various faces. She had to wonder how many of those women and men she actually remembered. As they headed to the elevator to go down to the main floor to leave the hospital, the stainless steel doors opened, and Rachel Quinn stepped out. She held a bundle of things in her arms, as well as a bouquet of bright flowers.

  “Hey, you,” she said, walking to where Nora stopped the wheelchair. She squatted in front of it. “Hey, kiddo!” She reached up and playfully tweaked Bella’s chin. “Miss Shannon, us nurses up in ICU have a little gift for you.” She looked into Shannon’s eyes.

  Jill watched, her own emotions prickling at her eyes.

  “See,” Rachel began, unfolding a blue T-shirt. “You truly inspired all of us and you are our superhero.” She opened the shirt to reveal a women’s-style T-shirt with what looked similar to be the Superman logo in the middle, except instead of an “S,” it was a yellow “ML.” “You’re our Miracle Lady and always will be.” She refolded the T-shirt and handed it to Shannon along with the flowers she’d briefly placed on the floor. Standing, she bent down and gave Shannon a hug, which Shannon returned.

  Jill glanced at Nora to see that she, too, was wiping away tears.

  Rachel moved out of the way, waving as Nora pushed the wheelchair forward. Jill glanced at her sisters and niece then at Rachel. Chewing her bottom lip for a moment, she walked over to the nurse.

  “Hey, Jill,” Rachel said, her typical bright smile in place.

  “Can I talk to you for a second?” Jill asked.

  “Sure. What’s up?”

  ****

  LJ ran a hand through his hair and let out a heavy sigh as he read what had been presented to him. He could feel Adrienne’s eyes on him. Taking a quick glance at her, he sat back in his chair, the wood squeaking slightly under his weight.

  “So, you’re okay with this, then?” he asked. “My taking the down payment out of savings—”

  “Which I then take out of the profit from the sale of the house, yes, I’m fine with it,” she finished. “What about the furniture and all that?” She indicated the large house around them.

  “Well,” LJ began, his gaze falling to Adrienne’s left hand. He noticed the absence of her wedding ring. Clearing his throat and any emotions attached to that, he focused his thoughts on their discussion. “Yeah, I’m good with that. Uh, at one point you’d mentioned staying in the guest room of my place until the end of the semester.” He eyed her. “Is that still what you want?”

  “I don’t know, Larry,” Adrienne said quietly. “I’m not sure if that’s a good idea. Mom and Dad offered me a place to stay, so…”

  He nodded, not surprised. Her mom and dad had been a huge obstacle in their marriage. For some reason, they didn’t seem to realize that perhaps LJ had family, too. Everything, every holiday, every special event, had to be spent with them. For reasons he still couldn’t quite explain to himself, he’d allowed it.

  “Okay.” He reached for the pen she’d provided and flipped to the first page where he had to sign.

  Later that night, LJ sat on the back porch of the house he and Adrienne brought a two-year-old Kristie home to. So much had happened behind those walls, so much good, so much bad. Absently his fingers went to the thick gold band on the fourth finger of his left hand. He twisted it back and forth, as he’d done a million times.

  It was a chilly early October night, and though he loved the autumn and winter, he was cold. He simply wasn’t sure where he belonged in the house anymore, as short-term as it was. He began to understand how much of a buffer Kristie had become. She wasn’t home, instead spending the weekend with Nora to help with Shannon and Bella.

  The immensity of Adrienne’s energy was overwhelming and suffocating. He had to ask himself, why hadn’t he noticed that before?

  Returning his attention to the gold band he continued to play with, the expression on his face no doubt looking silly, he managed to tug it off, leaving a twenty-five-year-old indention behind. He held the gold ring up to his eyes, feeling like Frodo from Lord of the Rings, trying to decide what he thought of the ring.

  Enfolding it in his palm, he rested his hand in his lap and looked out over the night, hearing a dog bark somewhere in the darkness. Tomorrow would be a new normal.

  ****

  “All right, honey,” Andrew said, giving Jill a quick kiss on the lips and his daughter a quick kiss on the cheek. “Sylvia, have fun at your friend’s house. See you gals later.”

  “I love you,” Jill said. “Bye, Tyler, love you!”

  “Later,” Tyler called back from upstairs.

  Half his family leaving the house, Sylvia to her best friend Amber’s house and Jill to meet up with her siblings at Nora’s, it was just the guys. Still dressed in his work clothes, Andrew trotted up the stairs and to the bedroom he shared with his wife and quickly shed the monkey suit, preferring a warm pair of flannel pajama pants and a T-shirt from his alma mater for law school, CU Boulder.

  Puffing his cheeks out before blowing out a breath, he tried to decide what he wanted to do with his time. He had noticed silence coming from Tyler’s room. He knew that both he and Jill suffered a bit of PTSD where his room and silence were concerned. They’d begun checking on him at semiregular intervals, and he knew Sylvia did, too. He was sure the kid felt suffocated, but Andrew could never go through that again.

  Leaving the
bedroom, he walked over to the teen’s closed bedroom door and leaned his head in to listen: nothing. He rapped a few times on the wood—still nothing. His heart raced as he reached down and grabbed the doorknob, which turned easily. Pushing the door open, he peeked his head in and let out an audible breath of relief. Tyler sat at his desk with his headphones on working on homework.

  Resting his head against the doorframe for a moment, Andrew gathered himself and entered the room, which to his surprise was somewhat neat—that is to say, there was basically a clear path to walk. He’d been telling Jill they needed to work on the kids about the cleanliness of their bedrooms. He was even flirting with the idea of making them clean their own rooms and bathroom rather than Ezra.

  Walking up behind his son, Andrew reached out and placed his hand on his shoulder, startling the teen.

  “Jesus, Dad,” he exclaimed, turning around to look up at him. He tugged the headphones off his ears to rest around the back of his neck. “What?”

  “How’s it going?” Andrew asked, nodding toward the open laptop, a math assignment on the screen.

  “Good,” Tyler said with a nod. “Got an eighty-seven on that quiz you helped me with.”

  “Hey, great job, kid,” Andrew said with a huge grin. He reached up and briefly cupped the back of his son’s head. “Listen, since it’s just us guys, what do you say to pizza and horror movies?” He hated the genre but knew Tyler loved them.

  “Yeah? On the big screen downstairs?”

  “All the better to see amputated body parts with.” Andrew chuckled. “I’ll order food while you finish up here, ’kay?”

  “Yeah, cool.”

  ****

  “You okay?” Nora asked softly, walking down the stairs backward as she held one of Shannon’s hands, the younger woman’s other hand holding on to the rail mounted to the wall.

  “Yeah,” Shannon said, focused on each step she took.

  “Almost there.”

  “Mommy, you did it!” Bella exclaimed, clapping wildly as her mother reached the main floor of the farmhouse.

  Nora grinned. “See? Your mom really is a superhero.”

  Bella giggled then rushed to her mother and hugged her legs. “I love you, Mommy.”

  “I love you too, sweet pea,” Shannon said, looking adoringly down at her daughter.

  As amazingly well as Bella had handled the entire last six weeks away from her mother, Nora noticed a huge change in her since the day she’d brought her to the hospital to see Shannon for the first time. It was as though a light had been relit in her eyes and the excitement and carefree nature of a five-year-old had returned—quite a change from the quiet, often-somber countenance of a little girl who didn’t understand why her mommy had left her.

  “Hey, hey!” LJ hollered from outside the glass screen door in the kitchen.

  “Come on in, guys,” Nora called out.

  “Uh, kinda need help.”

  Nora looked at Shannon. “Are you okay? Stable?”

  “Yeah, I’m good. Go ahead.”

  “Bella, make sure Oreo doesn’t trip your mom.”

  She hurried through the kitchen chuckling when she saw LJ standing there with three large pizza boxes in his arms topped by a six-pack of Diet Cherry Dr Pepper, Shannon’s favorite.

  “Damn, that smells good,” she said, letting him in. He hurried in and set the heavy bundle down on the counter.

  “Well, hey,” he said, grinning at her, “after nothing but bad hospital food for six weeks, I’m sure she’ll be thrilled.”

  “Hey, LJ,” the woman of the hour said, making her way into the kitchen, Bella holding her hand.

  “Hey, lil’ sis.” LJ hurried over to her and took the small woman in an all-engulfing hug. “Good to see you, beautiful. Brought you Italian sausage, green peppers, and onions as promised and”—he turned and indicated the soda like a game show host—“your fave.”

  “And then after dinner…” Nora added, opening the junk drawer next to the sink and grabbing something from within. She whipped it out, showing it to her brother and sister right as the kitchen door opened. Jill stepped in holding a cake, its box printed with the store she’d bought it from.

  “Uno!” she exclaimed.

  They all turned to see her. Nora grinned.

  “Hell, yeah. It’s game time.”

  ****

  Bella was curled up with Shannon on the couch, both out cold from too much pizza and laughs. Nora and her older siblings sat at the kitchen table, the card game long since pushed to the center of the table, forgotten until another day.

  “How’s she been?” Jill asked, indicating the direction of the living room. “I imagine it’s helped to be with Bella.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Nora said. “It’s helped Bella, that’s for sure. But as for Shannon, she gets tired pretty easy. The nurses told me that bacteria she was fighting did a number on her body and her immune system.”

  “You said they caught those bastards, right?” LJ asked, sitting back casually in his chair, arm slung over the back.

  “Yeah. Shannon says she doesn’t remember much, but that day Sarah came to get her to pick those pigs out of the picture lineup”—she shook her head sadly—“Shannon had a huge reaction, especially to the second guy.”

  “I wonder if maybe he was responsible for more of the violence or something,” Jill said softly, glancing down to where her hands rested on the smooth wood table.

  “That’s what I wondered, too. Here’s the weird thing, guys,” she said, her voice almost a whisper as she was afraid of Shannon waking up and overhearing her. “LJ, remember that first day you came out here to watch Bella for me?”

  “We found the thumb drive,” he said with a nod.

  “Yup. Sarah and I had been in the Springs talking to people, checking out places where Shannon hung out, stuff like that. We spoke to that son-of-a-bitch!” she said with a hiss, leaning forward in her chair. “And, the thing is, Sarah even told me she felt strange when talking to him. Like something was off.” She ran a hand through her hair, almost crying with frustration. “We had him.”

  “Hey.” Jill’s voice was soft as she reached over and placed her hand over Nora’s. “You didn’t know, sweetie. As it is, Sarah got Shannon back, and they managed to figure out who did this. Sarah is trained to sense things about people, Nor. Don’t be frustrated or mad at yourself. I think,” she added, glancing at LJ, “all of us can say you were as much a part of solving this case as anyone.”

  LJ nodded. “Definitely. He reached out and took Nora’s free hand in one of his and did the same with Jill’s hand. The siblings locked in a chain, he looked from one sister to the other. “It’s always been us, guys, the Three Amigos, remember? Always looking out for each other and always, always looking out for our baby sister.” Nora met his gaze, feeling the passion in his words. “Let’s never let go of that again. I mean, Dad didn’t even show up here tonight. Again.”

  “Was he invited?” Nora asked, surprised.

  “Yeah, I called him,” Jill said. “Thought he might want to spend some time with Shannon outside the hospital.”

  “So,” LJ continued, “as always, it’s just us.” He lifted first Jill’s knuckles to his lips then Nora’s. “I love you girls.”

  Nora let go of her siblings’ hands and pushed back from the table, moving to the larger portion of the kitchen. Seeming to understand, Jill and LJ followed and the three went into what they called a “team huddle” as kids, but in all honesty was simply a moment of connection, a safe place after yet another rough day living under the roof of Lawrence Schaeffer, Sr. After Shannon had come along, the teenagers had put the toddler in the middle of their three-way hug, protecting her.

  After the hug, Jill left a loud kiss on the cheeks of both her siblings before letting go. “I should get home. Nora, what can I do to help clean up?”

  “Actually, Jill, if you want to get food wrapped up or trash tossed, everything else I can deal with in the morning. LJ, will you hel
p me get these two upstairs?” she asked, indicating Shannon and Bella.

  “Yeah, but you get the heavy one.”

  “Ha ha.” Nora chuckled. “Though I have to say, I doubt there’s a whole lot of difference between them these days.”

  “True facts.”

  Nora gathered up Bella in her arms, and with a slight grunt, LJ gathered their sister, holding her close as he got steady on his feet before following her up the steep staircase to the bedrooms on the second floor.

  Nora tucked Bella into her bed, Oreo jumping up to find her spot on the pillow next to the little girl’s head. “Night, sweetie,” she whispered, leaving a kiss on the sleeping child’s forehead. As she left the room, she made sure the nightlight was on and she left the door open a crack.

  “Sorry I crashed,” Shannon murmured to LJ as he settled her in the bedroom she was using down the hall. “But, don’t forget, I won.”

  LJ chuckled from inside the room. “When don’t you win Uno, you card shark? Good night, sweet girl. See you later.”

  LJ closed Shannon’s door and stepped out into the hall. The two met eyes before Nora’s gaze fell to the hand that still rested on the doorknob. She noticed the absence of his wedding ring. Without a word, she led the way back downstairs.

  “So, guess it’s a done deal, huh?” she asked.

  “Yeah, guess so. We signed the papers Tuesday.” LJ let out a deep sigh as they reached the kitchen where Jill was rinsing the dishes before loading them into the dishwasher.

  “How do you feel about it? Thanks so much, Jill,” she said, grabbing the rinsed dish towel to wipe down the table.

  “It’s weird.” LJ loaded the leftover pizza into the fridge.

  “What are we talking about?” Jill glanced at LJ over her shoulder from her place at the sink.

  “We filed for divorce,” he told her.

  “How is Adrienne taking all this?” Nora leaned back against the wall near the table.

  “Initially she was shocked I think, but it seems like that’s passed. Now it’s down to business. She’s being pretty decent, to be honest.”