by Willow Rose
“Wow, that’s really brutal,” I say.
“And, it’s also happening here. It’s not just girls being brought in from other countries. Many of them are just ordinary American girls,” he continues. “One that I saved was picked up in her own driveway while her mother was still inside the house. The girl’s best friend had texted her that she would stop by and say hello, and then when she went outside to talk to her, the girl arrived with two men in a car. They grabbed the girl and dragged her inside the car.”
“It happens all over, Mary,” Chloe says. “Everywhere. Most people just don’t see it. But I do. I face it every day.”
I nod pensively while thinking that I suddenly have the deepest respect for Chloe and Danny. I just wish they didn’t have to put themselves in danger the way they do. I applaud what they do, I really do, but I fear for them. Especially for Danny. He has a son who needs his father.
“But, Danny kind of got himself in some trouble last time,” Chloe says. “Not at the airport, but before then.”
“How so?”
“Do we have to tell her?” Danny asks.
“I think we do,” Chloe says. “You’re going to need a good lawyer when they find out. Mary knows one.”
Danny scoffs. “Come on, Chloe, we’ve been over this before. They’re not going to find out. I got rid of the gun. I told you.”
“Still. It’s registered in your name…ballistics will…”
“Hey! Hey! What’s going on here?” I ask. I hate how they talk like I am not even there.
Chloe stops. She looks at me. “Danny killed someone.”
“Chloe!” Danny says. “Now she is an accomplice as well.”
“What? Who did you kill, Danny?”
Danny sighs. “The other day, I rescued a girl from an apartment on the mainland. I answered an ad on Craigslist. They had her in one of those gated condominiums that are usually for the snowbirds. A really nice one. I went there pretending I wanted to pay to be with her, then when I was alone with her, I told her my plan. To make a long story short, I shot the couple guarding her.”
“Oh, no, Danny!” I say.
“I was just trying to stop them; I was supposed to just hurt them. Shoot them in the shoulders or legs. That’s how I usually do these things. Then I call the cops anonymously and tell them there has been a shooting and they arrive and arrest them. Meanwhile, the girl and I are long gone. But the woman died from her wounds. And now Chloe fears that the police will match the bullet with my gun.”
“I understand her concern,” I say. “But explain this to me. Why are the people arrested if the girl isn’t there?” I ask.
“Oh, we leave some child-porn on their computers and phones as well,” Chloe says. “It’s really the easiest task in the world.”
“All right,” I say. “But why do you take the girl? Why not hand her over to the police?”
Danny sighs again. “Most of these girls trust the police less than anyone. Many of them have had encounters with the police that have led to them being sent back on the streets or even sometimes back to their traffickers. I spoke to one girl who managed to escape after nine months in captivity. When she finally found a police station, they told her she was perfectly safe on the streets. They couldn’t help her. They don’t trust them, and frankly, I don’t always either.”
“Those are big words coming from you,” I say and take a left turn onto A1A. Suddenly, it feels better than ever to enter my quiet little town. Still, I can’t stop thinking about what Chloe just told me.
It’s everywhere. Even here in this sleepy little town?
Chapter Twenty-Two
April 2016
I make us all a strong cup of coffee and make them Irish by adding a little whiskey to them. We sit in my dad’s new living room and look out at the waves. My dad is awake, but wants to stay in his room and watch TV, he tells me. I don’t tell him what has happened. I have promised it will stay among the three of us. I don’t know what Danny will tell his son, but that is none of my business.
The ocean is raging, the strong winds blowing on-shore making it a very bad day to surf.
“Thanks,” Chloe says, as I hand her the cup. Danny doesn’t speak. He hardly looks at me. I can tell he is troubled.
“I can’t believe you two,” I say and sip my coffee. “I mean, I knew Chloe was crazy, but you, Danny? Why? Why did you agree to do this?”
Danny sips his coffee. He doesn’t answer, but stares out of the big windows. I sense there is more to the story than what he has already revealed. I get the feeling he wants to keep this part to himself. I wonder if Chloe knows. I look at her to see if I can read it on her face, but I never can. She has such a poker face.
“There is something, isn’t there?” I ask. “There is something else you two are not telling me.”
“You know she’s not going to leave it alone,” Chloe says, addressed to Danny. “Once she gets an idea into her head, there is no letting go.”
Danny doesn’t look at her or me. He still stares at the ocean. “That’s our Mary,” he says.
I chuckle uncomfortably.
“That’s our Mary,” Chloe repeats and sips her coffee.
Danny draws in a deep sigh. I look from one to the other. It’s killing me.
Why is no one saying anything? What aren’t they telling me?
I do my best to behave. I sit still on the couch and sip my coffee, while waiting for them to start talking. It lasts about half a minute.
“All right,” I say, and put down my cup a little too hard on the coffee table. “Don’t tell me, then. See if I care.”
Chloe chuckles. “I told you she wouldn’t let it go.”
Danny sighs again. He turns and looks at me. “All right,” he says. “Well. I guess you can say I have been trying to make up for something, making amends of sorts.”
“Making up for what?” I ask.
“For me not being there.”
“Being there? Where?”
He draws in a deep breath while his eyes catch those of Chloe.
“Being there for Junior?” I say, looking at them. “I don’t understand…you have always been there for Junior. You’re like dad of the decade for that boy…wait a minute…you have another child?”
Danny nods. “I have a daughter. I never told anyone except for Chloe.”
“I’ve only known for about a year.”
I stare at him. “But…but who…how?”
“I cheated on Jean ten years ago. With a woman I met at work. She worked at the front desk for a little while.” He shakes his head. “Things were awful with me and Jean. Always have been. You know that. It doesn’t matter. It was wrong and I ended it. The girl was fired because of the affair. I had her removed, which I am not proud of, I admit that. Then a year later she showed up at the station carrying a baby telling me the girl was mine. I have paid for her upbringing, sent them a check every month, but I was never there for the girl. I don’t know her at all. It tortures me every day.”
“So you believe saving these other girls will somehow bring you redemption?” I say.
“I know…ridiculous, right? But somehow it provides peace of mind for me. At least I can do this right, you know? Everything else I have messed up, but not this.”
“Well, not until now,” I say. “Now you risk losing everything.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
April 1975
Bao honks the horn on the moped, trying desperately to get the crowds of people blocking the road to move. Danh watches the people as they pass them, while holding onto his sister, who is still in his arms. The road is bumpy and she is crying helplessly, wanting to go back to her mother.
Danh wants to go back too, but can’t forget his mother’s words or the look in her eyes when she told them to get out of the town.
Now they have been driving for at least an hour and the crowds of people are only getting bigger and bigger. On their way, he sees people breaking into buildings, stealing everything that
others left behind. He sees women carrying everything from children to chairs, and even some people with washing machines on the back of their motorcycles. Bao is trying to follow their two other brothers on their bikes, but soon they lose track of them. Only now and then Danh manages to spot one of their brother’s bags of clothes that he has strapped to the back of his bike, but soon that disappears as well.
When it is about to get dark, they arrive at a small fishing village and finally make a stop. Bao pulls out a little money that their mother handed them as they left and buys a bag of rice and something to drink. They eat and drink without uttering a word. Long is still crying, but not as much as in the beginning. Danh tries to encourage her by making fun of the peoples’ faces. The harbor is packed with people trying to get on boats and their faces are all serious and angry.
“Look at that man over there,” Danh says with a chuckle. “He looks like he had lemons for breakfast, doesn’t he?”
Long chuckles and wipes her nose with her hand. There is no sign of their five other brothers who left with them, but someone in the crowd has a radio. Danh listens in as the broadcaster tells them news.
“What are they saying?” Long asks.
Danh hushes her while Bao walks closer. Danh listens carefully while holding his sister’s hand. It’s hard to hear everything over her sobbing, but he hears enough to understand that Saigon has fallen into the hands of the Vietcong. The communists have taken over the capital.
“What are they saying, Danh?”
Bao comes closer. “Saigon has fallen,” he says with a cold voice, as if he doesn’t know he is talking to a child. He looks at Danh and speaks with a lower voice. “We have to get out of here. Fast. They’ll come here too. Look, they’re already changing the flags on those buildings over there.”
“What do you mean it has fallen?” Long asks, directed at Danh. “What about mother?”
Danh presses the tears back and kneels in front of her. “Mother is fine. Don’t you worry about her, your majesty,” he says.
“But…but, how do you know?”
Danh smiles and touches her cheek gently. “Because they just said so. On the radio. They told us everyone in Saigon was fine. That the communists are giving them all ice cream.”
Long’s face lights up. “Then we should go back!”
Danh chuckles. “We will. Soon. But not yet.”
“When will we go back then?” she asks, disappointed.
“Soon, Long.”
“Why not now? I miss my mom. And I want to have ice cream too,” she says determinedly. Long starts to pull Danh’s shirt.
“We all do,” Danh says, “but the thing is, Mommy told us to meet her somewhere, so I think we’d better obey, don’t you?”
“She did?”
Danh sniffles. Panic is starting to erupt around them as people realize there aren’t many boats left in the small harbor.
Bao grabs Danh’s arm. “We have to hurry,” he says.
Danh looks into Long’s eyes. If only he could make them smile again. “She did. She wanted us to go on a real adventure. Are you up for a real adventure?”
“I love adventures. Will there be ice cream?” she asks.
“Once we get there, I bet there will be,” he says.
“And Mommy will be there too?”
Danh bites his lip. “Who else would bring all the ice cream, huh?”
Chapter Twenty-Four
April 2016
“I know you don’t like the feel of the fabric. I told you I’d have them pick the couches up again, and I have already ordered the new ones.”
Nicky sighs and wipes her forehead. It is hot sitting by the community pool wearing her work clothes. Her Melbourne client is yapping on the other end about her couches, while Paige is in the water with her swim trainer, Coach Burnett. He shows her something, a new technique to help her backstroke, and she repeats it. He holds her by supporting her back to have her body float more on the surface.
“Yes, Paige. That’s it,” he yells, his hand still resting underneath her back. “Now, try it again.”
“Yes, tomorrow. I’ll make sure it’s all taken care of,” Nicky repeats. She sighs while the woman continues on the phone.
Why can’t she let it go already?
Now she is asking her why it can’t be fixed right now. Why Nicky can’t just come down and take care of it.
“I don’t want these couches in my house.”
“Because right now I am at my daughter’s swimming lessons. I have just spoken to the company and there is nothing they can do until tomorrow. They will get the right couches with the right fabric,” she says. “But it will take a few days to have them shipped from up north.”
Paige looks up at her from the water and waves. Nicky smiles and waves back. She wonders for a second if it is all worth it. Her dream of having her own company doesn’t really seem to be as glamorous as it used to be. Dealing with these rich ladies is harder than she had expected. It is taking all of her time. And now it’s going to cost her as well. She’ll have to pay for the transport and shipping of those couches herself that she wrongfully ordered, the company told her. Not that she was the one who made the mistake. The lady asked for these couches, but now she’s saying she didn’t, that the fabric is wrong, even though they went over what type of fabric she wanted a million times. The lady says she is not going to pay for the shipping, since she wasn’t the one who made the mistake, so now Nicky has to.
At least Paige is happy. Isn’t she?
Nicky can’t help but wonder if everything wasn’t better before they got the inheritance, when they had nothing and she worked as a secretary with a low but steady income. Not to mention steady work hours. It seems like she works every waking hour of the day now. She likes it, she likes the part where she gets to be creative and come up with great ways of decorating people’s beautiful houses, houses she could only dream of ever living in. That part she really enjoys, that’s her dream. It’s the people that bother her. The women. Spoiled women who never had to struggle for anything, who never had a dream, who don’t understand that Nicky also wants to be with her kid as much as possible, even though she is building her business.
Maybe she simply started too early. Maybe if she had waited till Paige was older and maybe moved away. Of course, that would have been smarter. It’s easy to be wise in hindsight, isn’t it? It’s not like she can stop now. She put down the money, she started it all up, and now she is actually successful, so much that she might even soon be able to move out of the crappy neighborhood she lives in. It is all clearing up for her. She just needs to be patient.
Paige has started to complain about her mother not being home as much as she used to, but that’s the way things are right now. She will just have to learn to live with it. And Nicky will have to learn to live with the constant nagging feeling of guilt. It will clear up, it’ll get better. One day, Paige will understand, and then she’ll be proud of her mother, who made it on her own, who beat the odds.
You’re setting a good example for your daughter. You’re showing her that anything is possible, that women can do things too. It might not feel like it, but you’re being a good mother.
“Did you see me, Mommy?” Paige yells, as she runs towards Nicky. “I beat my latest record in the hundred meter backstroke!”
“Careful, sweetie. Don’t run on the wet floors,” Nicky says, and gets up from the chair. She grabs Paige’s towel from the bag and hands it to her. Nicky is sweating heavily in her skirt and shirt.
“Did you see it, Mom? Did you?”
Nicky smiles awkwardly. “Sure. I was right here.”
Paige’s smile freezes. “You didn’t, did you? You were on the phone again, weren’t you?”
“Listen, Paige,” Nicky says. “I am so sorry. But I had an important client. I had to take care of it.”
Paige gives her the look, that awful look of disappointment and…yup…the feeling is back. The nagging feeling of guilt.
&
nbsp; “Okay.”
Coach Burnett comes up and gives Paige a hug. “That was awesome today, kiddo,” he says. “I am so proud of you.”
Paige’s smile lights up again. She looks at him in a way she never looks at Nicky anymore.
“I couldn’t believe how fast I went. I just kept going and going.”
“It was really great, Paige,” he says, and high-fives her with a laugh. “You keep that up and you’re going to beat my old record soon.”
She grabs him around the waist and holds him tight again. “Thank you. Thank you. You’re the best coach in the world. I love you, Coach Burnett.”
“Well, I love you too, Paige,” he says and puts his hands on her shoulders. “Next time we’ll go for a new record in front crawl all right?”
“You betcha’.”
She smiles from ear to ear as Nicky’s phone rings again. “I am sorry,” she says and steps aside. “I have to take this call.”
“No worries,” Coach Burnett says, while Paige looks like she finds it to be a bigger problem.
“It’ll only take a sec, honey,” Nicky says to her.
Nicky walks away for a few seconds while speaking to the woman once again. Meanwhile, she observes Paige and Coach Burnett as they chat and laugh together. Nicky is so pleased that Paige gets along so well with her coach. They have known each other since she was in Kindergarten and started swimming. He practically watched her grow up, as she joined the local swim team when she was only five years old. Since Paige doesn’t have a father, her swim coach is one of the few male role models she has in her life, and it makes Nicky feel good that Coach Burnett is one of them. Nicky has made many bad choices in her life, but raising her child in the safe and protected environment of Cocoa Beach is not one of them.
Chapter Twenty-Five
April 2016
When Chloe and Danny finally leave, I cook for me and my dad. My famous salmon dish. I put it in the oven, and then walk Snowflake on the beach, even though it is illegal.