by Lynn, JB
I raised my hands in surrender. “Okay, okay,” I told her. “I just figured I’d ask.”
“Asked and answered,” the donkey said.
Matilda and I quickly moved on.
Zippy, Herschel’s little white dog, raced toward us barking. “Out! Out!”
Matilda, startled by the sudden attack, froze.
“It’s okay,” I assured her. “Zippy,” I said sternly. “Leave our new friend alone.”
He ignored me and continued yapping. “Out!”
“I mean it,” I told the little dog, taking a threatening step toward him. “Cut it out.”
Startled and unaccustomed to being disciplined, he fell silent and gave me a defiant stare. I made a shooing motion with my hand and he raced away.
“Maybe this isn’t a good idea,” Matilda snuffled. “Nobody likes me.”
“They just don’t know you,” I told her. “Come on, there are still some more for you to meet.”
“Who have you got here?” Piss asked, sauntering up to us curiously.
“This is Matilda,” I said, crossing my fingers behind my back and hoping that the feline member of the family would give her a better welcome than other four-legged ones had.
She and the pig took a moment sniffing each other, checking each other out.
“Welcome,” Piss purred, finally.
I flashed her a grateful smile, but I wasn’t sure she could see it since her bad eye was the one that seemed to be facing in my direction.
“I’m going to find a cricket for you know who,” Piss informed me. With that, she strolled away.
“See?” I said to Matilda. “Not everyone here is grouchy.”
We moved a little closer to the main house and DeeDee came barreling out toward us. Matilda let out a squeal of fear and hid behind me as the big black ball of fur approached.
“It’s okay,” I told her. “DeeDee, sit.”
Miraculously, the Doberman obeyed.
“That who is?” she asked, peering at the pig intently.
“This is Matilda,” I told her. “We’re all going to be friends.”
DeeDee approached cautiously, as though she was afraid of the pig.
“She won’t hurt you,” I said. I really wasn’t sure which one of them I was trying to reassure.
DeeDee dropped down and crawled forward on her belly, as though to prove she wasn’t a threat to our new porcine pal.
She and Matilda checked each other out and then DeeDee licked her snout. “Friend new!” she panted happily.
“DeeDee is the most affectionate of the bunch,” I explained to Matilda. “She wasn’t trying to eat you,” I told the pig, who had started trembling at the sight of DeeDee’s tongue coming toward her.
Matilda looked relieved.
That was, until she saw who was coming up behind us.
7
Darlene stood a few yards away, hands on hips, scowling at me like I’d just eaten her last piece of Halloween candy. My sister did not look happy.
“Hey,” I said with a tentative smile, hoping to thaw her out a little bit. Ever since she’d returned to town, she’d been standoffish. Recently I would have even labeled her hostile, but I had no idea why.
“We’ve got to talk,” she said, her eyes skimming over the pig beside me.
“Okay, what’s up?”
She squinted at the pig and made a disapproving noise in her throat.
“You get a new pet?”
“More of a rescue operation,” I said slowly. I didn’t want to commit to anything—either to her or the pig.
“What is it with your adoption obsession?” Darlene asked, her voice as cold and hard as a steel blade.
“Something wrong?” I asked, not wanting to get into an argument about my animals.
“I’m thinking of leaving town,” she said.
I blinked, trying to quell the rising tide of panic that welled up inside of me. The ramifications of her leaving and what that could mean were overwhelming. I tried not to let my imagination get the worst of me. “Going on vacation?” I asked hopefully.
She snorted her derision. “Making my escape.”
I forced myself to take a long slow deep breath, there was no point making her more upset if I could help it. “What happened?” I asked. “Maybe I can do something…”
Darlene shook her head and began to walk away, forcing me to chase after her.
“Escape?” DeeDee whined, cocking her head to the side.
“There’s nothing you can do, Maggie,” Darlene announced. “The family is what the family is.”
I hurried after her, DeeDee and Matilda following close on my heels. “I don’t understand what the problem is,” I said. “You said you were going to stay at your house and not move to the compound.”
She shook her head. “That’s not enough,” Darlene said.
“Not enough for what?”
“Not enough space. Not enough distance. Not enough breathing room,” she said.
“I can help you,” I offered. “I’ll speak to whoever has been in your space.”
“They’re all in my space,” Darlene complained. “All of them. All of the time.”
I nodded my understanding. My family can be overwhelming. They can be suffocating. But they were her family, too.
Darlene stopped walking suddenly and spun around to face me.
I slammed to a stop, and Matilda barreled into my legs, almost knocking me to my knees.
“I tried,” Darlene said, her voice stretched thin with tension. “I tried. I don’t belong.”
“Of course, you belong,” I told her, reaching out to grab her shoulder. “We’re family. A dysfunctional family but—”
“The family you choose to make trumps the one you’re born into,” Darlene said coldly.
I stared at her for a long moment, not sure how to respond.
“We’re leaving, Maggie,” she said. “There’s not going to be a discussion. You’re not going to change my mind. It’s been decided.”
“You just said you were thinking about it a minute ago. You can’t have made a decision yet,” I argued desperately.
“I was just trying to ease you into the news,” she replied.
Her tone was so cold that I felt like I’d gotten walloped in the face by the world’s slushiest snowball.
“But what about Katie?” I asked. “You can’t just take her away from her entire family.”
Darlene shrugged and kicked the ground, looking away. “You know Teresa wanted me to raise her.”
“Teresa would never have guessed that you would take her away from her family,” I said, not caring that I had raised my voice. “You left once, Darlene. You left and you never got back in touch. If you leave now, and you take Katie, how do I even know that you’re going to allow her to—”
“Allow her to what?” Darlene asked, her anger matching mine. “Allow her to be destroyed by this dysfunctional family?”
“You can’t take her away from us,” I said, shaking Darlene’s shoulder for emphasis. “You have the right to do whatever you choose is best for your girls, but not Katie.”
She smacked my hand away. “What are you going to do, Maggie, are you going to try to raise her again? That went really well the last time.” Her words were cutting, and I gasped, both surprised and in pain.
“Darlene,” I tried again.
“It’s decided,” she said with a finality that chilled my heart. With that, she turned and walked away.
I stood there, staring after her, my mind racing. I didn’t know what to say to her. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t let her take Katie.
“I could trip her,” Matilda oinked softly.
“I don’t think that will solve the problem,” I said, feeling tears sting my eyes. “She’s going to ruin everything.”
“You’ll stop her,” a voice called from above.
I looked around and saw Mike, the crow, perched on a branch nearby. “Hi, Mike,” I said weakly.
“You can’t let her take our Katie,” the crow cawed, loudly.
“I know that,” I said weakly. But I had no plan to stop her.
“Who’s the new gal?” the crow asked curiously.
“Matilda,” I said distractedly. I really wasn’t in the mood to make introductions. “Has Darlene started packing?” I asked the bird.
He tilted his head to the side and said, “I don’t know, but I could check it out.”
I nodded. “I think that would be a good idea.”
“I’ll be back,” the crow said and began to flap his wings. I watched him fly away.
A feeling of helplessness had settled over me, like a heavy weight. It made moving difficult. It made thinking even more so.
I stood there for a long time, unsure of where to go, who to talk to, what to do. Matilda and DeeDee, to their credit, did not rush me. They settled at my feet and just waited.
It was Armani who jolted me out of my paralysis.
“Chica,” she called, limping toward me quickly.
“Who’s this?” Matilda snuffled.
“Armani,” I said under my breath. “She can’t understand you.”
Armani looked stressed, her eyes wild, when she finally reached me. “I’ve been looking for you,” she said. “I think there’s a problem.”
I swayed weakly, unable to face any new issues.
Armani seemed not to notice my distress. She looked back at the main house and confided, “I think Darlene is up to something.”
I blinked. “Why do you say that?”
“She’s giving off all kinds of weird energy,” Armani confided. “I know she’s your sister, but I have the distinct impression that she’s going to cause trouble.”
I let out a harsh laugh. “I’m never going to doubt your abilities again, Armani.”
My friend pushed her hair out of her eyes and gave me a hard look. “What’s going on?”
“She’s leaving,” I told her, “and she’s going to take Katie.”
Armani shook her head. “You can’t let her.”
“I know,” I said, a lump rising in my throat. I tried to blink away the tears forming in my eyes, but to no avail. “But I have no idea how to stop her.”
8
“Run!” Armani made a shooing motion with her good hand.
DeeDee, thinking the command was meant for her, went racing away.
“Not her.” Armani rolled her eyes. “You.”
“What?” I asked, confused.
“Run,” my friend urged. “Loretta and Marlene are headed this way and I don’t think you want to deal with them.”
I nodded my thanks and strode off quickly in the opposite direction of my approaching aunt and sister. I hurried into the main house, but when I reached the door, I realized the pig was still following me. “Wait here,” I instructed her. “I’ll be right back.”
The pig narrowed her gaze at me. “Wait?”
I nodded. “Two minutes,” I told her. “I promise.”
The pig raised a shoulder and stood her ground. Rushing inside, I managed to avoid all humans in my quest to reach God.
“We’ve got to go,” I told him quickly.
“Me too? Me too? Me too?” Benny, the little white mouse requested from his bed in an empty tissue box.
“Okay,” I agreed. I scooped them both up, dumping the lizard down my bra and cupping the mouse in my hand.
“What’s wrong?” God asked, concern erasing his usual snarkiness.
“Not here,” I muttered. I rushed back out of the house, almost tripping over Matilda, who had literally waited exactly where I told her to.
“Where the hell is Piss?” I asked to no one in particular.
“I’m right here, Sugar,” the cat replied, arching her back defensively.
“I need you to watch Matilda, keep her out of trouble, keep her away from Irma and Zippy.”
“Something wrong?” she asked, her body language relaxing.
“Nothing’s wrong here,” I told her. “I just need you to promise to keep an eye on her.”
“Well, it’s not like she could keep two eyes on her,” God mocked from his hiding spot in my cleavage.
“Low blow, scaly,” Piss meowed, insulted that he made fun of the fact that she only had one eye.
“Not now you two,” I begged.
“I’ve got our porcine pal,” Piss promised.
“What is she talking about?” God asked, scrambling up my bra strap.
“Not now,” I repeated to no avail.
The lizard let out a surprised gasp. “Not another farmyard animal.”
“Shut up,” I told him.
Benny offered reinforcement. “Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.”
For once, I was grateful that the mouse repeated things because the lizard fell silent.
I moved quickly, trying to avoid the gazes of Aunt Loretta and Marlene, who were speaking animatedly to Armani.
My friend caught my eye and gave an almost imperceptible nod, letting me know she was going to cover my escape.
I hurried toward the car, not even sure where I was going, just knowing I needed some space.
As though the universe didn’t want to give me a moment of peace, my cell phone buzzed. I glanced at the display. It said, “Boss needs to see you at his place.” I considered pretending I hadn’t seen the message, but when a mobster demands your company, that’s usually not the smartest plan. Sighing heavily, I got into my car, put the lizard on the dash and the mouse in the cup holder.
“Where are we going?” God asked.
“Delveccio’s,” I told him, starting the engine.
“What has he done that’s made you so upset?” the lizard asked, twitching his tail nervously.
“Nothing,” I told him. “It’s Darlene that I’m worried about.”
God was oddly silent.
While I put the car into drive, I glanced in his direction and saw that he was intently staring out the window instead of watching me.
“What?” I asked.
“I didn’t say anything,” the lizard responded defensively.
“I know,” I said. “That’s what worries me. You’re not known for keeping your mouth shut.”
The mouse tittered in the cup holder.
“Let’s just say that Darlene’s never been my favorite,” the lizard said carefully. “But I understand she’s your sister.”
“Well, you’re really not going to like her now,” I said. I took a few minutes to fill him in on my conversation with Darlene about her leaving town.
“She can’t,” God said. “What about Katie?”
I shook my head, squeezing the steering wheel. “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?” the lizard attacked. “You have to do something.”
“I know that,” I told him. “I just don’t know what.”
Both he and I fell silent for the rest of the trip to Delveccio’s home. I didn’t know about him, but I was wracking my brain trying to figure out a way to convince Darlene to stay. I could promise to run interference for her with the family if she was feeling smothered by them. I understood why that would be, but I thought that leaving town was an extreme reaction. And there was no way I was letting her take Katie.
Angel Delveccio, Katie’s former manny, my sometimes date, was sitting on the front stairs of the mansion when I pulled up to Delveccio’s place. He looked a little pale and a lot pissed.
“You stay here,” I told Benny. “We’ll be back.” I held out my arm and the lizard skittered up it and then dove into my bra.
“And please,” I begged the lizard. “For once, stay quiet.”
I got out of my car and plastered a smile on my face as I walked toward Angel. “How are you feeling?”
He shrugged, slowly and stiffly getting to his feet. “Better.”
“That’s good,” I said awkwardly. It was good that he hadn’t died on the rooftop of the hospital, while his old Navy “friends” had tried to ste
al a human heart.
“I’m glad you stopped by,” Angel said. “We need to talk.”
“Your uncle’s waiting for me,” I said, not wanting to have a conversation with him.
“He can wait,” Angel replied.
I tilted my head to the side. “He doesn’t strike me as the kind of man accustomed to waiting.”
“It won’t kill him,” Angel told me.
I shrugged, crossed my arms over my chest, and waited for whatever it was he had to say. I didn’t think he was going to thank me for saving his life, not from the way his jaw was clenched and his eyes were narrowed.
“Why were you on the roof of the hospital?”
I shrugged. “I was worried about you.”
“And you thought that looking for me on the roof made sense?” Angel challenged. His gaze bore into mine, searching for a truth I wasn’t willing to give him.
“Call it a hunch,” I told him. “It wasn’t like your pal Fitz was subtle when he was tying me up in that motel room.” I frowned at Angel, silently reminding him that he’d left me in the clutches of a really bad guy.
The guilt trip didn’t work to distract him from his task at hand, finding the truth. He shook his head. “That’s not a good enough answer.”
“It’s going to have to be,” I said. “You’re the one that dragged me into that mess. You called me asking for help.”
He took a half step back and looked downward.
I winced guiltily. After all, that wasn’t really what happened. He had called asking for medical assistance, but his uncle had already recruited me to try to keep him out of trouble.
He looked back up. “I’m sorry about that.”
“All’s well that ends well,” I said, trying to let him off the hook.
“Tell that to the guys who are dead.”
I didn’t feel any sympathy for the men who had been intent on stealing a human heart and had been willing to kill to get it.
“We all make choices in life, Angel,” I said solemnly. “We need to be responsible for the repercussions of our choices.”
“Is that what you’re doing here?” he asked. “Repercussions for choices.”
I shook my head. “I’m here to talk to your uncle.”