“She is. But there is a swim party going on at her school, and she doesn’t want to go. She wants to hang out with Todd and Jane. I told her that I had to meet their parents first and she threw a fit. Something about me not paying attention to her when she talked. I know I would have remembered her mentioning their names. And by the time we got around to their names, Sawyer was gone. Do you know these children?”
“Yes. You know of them too. They just lost their mother. Mrs. Little.” Raven felt her heart break more for them. “She wants to spend time with them, I’m betting, so they can be normal again. From what I’ve heard, their home is being packed up. The things that they grew up with are being left behind.”
“I didn’t know their last name. I don’t think we got that far before she took off to her room.” Grandma said that she was taking it pretty hard too. “I would imagine. I’ll talk to her when I get home. Why are their things being left behind?”
“I had no idea that the house was a rental, and that it had been furnished too. As soon as they’re out of the house, I’m going to have an inspector go over there and see what sort of things those people have been living with. The landlord, whoever he is, should be made to live in that shack. It’s a mess. Thomas said that he’d been calling him all the time for the roof. It’s literally falling down on their head. The shower doesn’t work, and the tub drains out the water as fast as it’s filled up. Poor little mites. To have to have their momma suffering like she was, and to live like that. I’m so glad that Roger is putting them someplace safer and nicer.”
“Dad told me that Thomas is a computer expert. That he can build a computer to my specs much cheaper than it would be for us to buy one that would only do half of what his would.” Grandma said that she’d heard that too. “Neither Sawyer nor I got to go to the funeral. There wasn’t any mention of it in the paper. Plus, there was only a graveside service for her. Dad said he wished that he could have gone as well. You went, I heard.”
“Yes. Pitiful show of one’s life, if you ask me. That woman lived in this area for her entire life, and only three people besides me and the director were there. I never thought of it not being in the paper. But at the house there was plenty of food and flowers. I don’t know how they do things around here when someone passes, but I can tell you that those women sure did want Thomas to know they were single and loved his children.” Raven thought that was gross. “So did I. But you have to remember that these are farm people. They need a man, or so they’ve been raised to think, that’ll give them sons to take care of them in their golden years. Also to plant and bring in the food that they eat. Just what I’ve been working on with Dwayne. He’s a pepper pot, I’ll tell you that.”
“Grandma, you’re sounding more and more like Saul every day. Speaking of which, that man and Wesley have been looking over seed catalogs. I have no idea why I thought that they just used last year’s seeds, but I guess there are things they have to buy every year. But they’re going to put a few rose beds in for Sippy. And peas. Did you know that peas should be planted on Saint Paddy’s day? Or was that potatoes? I don’t know, but they have to be in the ground early because they don’t care for hot weather.” Grandma laughed at her. “Yes, well, when you live with a family of farmers, you get to know all kinds of tidbits like that.”
Grandma stood up and picked up her pocketbook. Another term that she’d learned from Sippy—pocketbook, not purse.
“I’m heading to lunch. Are you free to come with me? I’ve been meaning to tell you, Raven, I’ve never seen you so happy. Love looks good on you.” Her face heated up knowing why she was so happy. “Are you going to tell me when a baby is coming?”
“What?” Grandma sat back down. “I mean, what? You want to know when we’re having a baby? I can tell you that when it happens. Not that it’s happened yet. That would be preposterous. I mean, we’ve only just gotten married, how would I know—?” Grandma shouted her name. “Grandma, don’t tell anyone.”
“You’re going to have another baby?” The whisper wasn’t all that low, nor would anyone call it inaudible. But Raven loved her, so forgave her for saying it so loudly. “Really? When did you find out?”
“You know that I’m a tiger, right?” Grandma nodded, scooting the chair ever closer to her desk. “Not only did Sawyer know that I was ovulating, but he also knows the exact minute that I conceive. I’ve not told anyone but you, so don’t tell Dad yet. All right? We’re going to wait until Thanksgiving.”
“That’s still two months away, Raven. You cannot expect me to keep quiet about this for that long. Please let me tell him.” Raven told her no. “Please. I’d love to— Oh my goodness. You have to let me tell Merriam when the time comes. I promise not to tell your father if you let me break the news to Merriam. You know that she’s not going to be happy. Not that I care, but she’s not.”
“We already told her just to piss her off, but I don’t think she believed us. She’s not happy with Sawyer and I now. And yesterday she made Molly cry.” Grandma stiffened her back and asked her what had happened. “Molly was at the mall with Sippy picking out clothing and Mother caught up with them. She has been wanting to wear what she calls real people clothing to school since she figured out that other kids don’t wear uniforms. Well, this school that she’s going to now doesn’t have much of a dress code. When she showed her grandma what she was going to wear on her first day, Mother ripped the shirt off of her and stomped on it. Had I been there, I would have done a great deal more than call for security. But Sippy said that she was just too angry to speak at that moment. Molly went to find Sawyer. You were at work and she wanted some arms around her, she told me.”
“I dislike that woman more and more every day. What sort of shirt was it? I’ll get her another one.” Raven was glad to say that Sawyer had taken her shopping, and bought her several more of the shirt in different colors. “I love that man. I’m so very glad that he is taking care of my girls. You tell him that I love him for that.”
Grandma left, upset about Molly and disappointed that Raven couldn’t have lunch with her. Grandma’s lunches were not just lunch, Raven knew. They were lunch, shopping, snacks, a little shopping, then dinner. She loved her to pieces, but didn’t have time for an all-day lunch. Raven would make it up to her soon, she promised herself.
By the time she was ready to leave for the day she’d gotten a lot done. Of course, it was never as much as she thought that she should have done, but making up for lost time was getting easier to cover. Sara brought in a file just as Raven was closing down her computers.
“Two things I need to run by you. Before that, however, the computer guy, Thomas, he’s been working on the security cameras. Anyway, he’s got them all up and running again, and there is no blipping in and out like before. I think I like him better than you right now.” Raven said thanks. “Okay, two things. One, we need to upgrade our security system. I told him to go ahead and do whatever he needed, but he said that he wanted to hear it from the lady who had hired him. I said I’d have you call him. Second thing—you’re not going to like this. Your mother is here. She’s been in the lobby for the last twenty minutes waiting for you to be finished working so she can hit you on the way out. No excuses, she told the doorman.”
“Damn it.” Sara nodded. If anyone knew the true relationship between her and her mother, it was Sara. “I don’t even have a plausible excuse either. Damn it again.”
“If I were you, I’d introduce her to the staff at the door, then tell them that if she tries to enter again, they are to call the police. I wouldn’t normally have someone call the police on their own mother, but she’s been down there all this time, telling anyone that goes by her what a horrid person you are.” Raven was struck silent by that. “Also, she’s been looking for Molly. I don’t know why, but that’s what she’s asked several staff members.”
“I’m finished with her.” Standing up, she made her way to the door, Sara
right behind her with her purse and coat. “Why wasn’t I informed earlier of this?”
“They thought she was some nut ball that had wandered in to get warm. Which, when you see her, you’ll understand. When was the last time that she had her hair done? My goodness Raven, she looks like it’s been years.” Raven told Sara that her dad had filed for divorce. “Well, that explains a lot. She’s looking it. Being divorced, I mean.”
Raven took the elevator down to the main floor. Several of the security staff were hanging around what she assumed was the chair her mother was in. Raven could hear her from where she was at the elevator, complaining about how Raven was the worst daughter in the world. She then went on about the bastard Addington.
Jerking the chair around, Raven was at first startled by her mother’s appearance. But when Merriam spit at her, Raven not only got her speech back, but fury too. Slapping her mother in the face felt good and horrible at the same time.
“What do you mean coming here and talking about us like we’re some sort of horrible beings? You are not welcome here.” Mother stood up and drew back her hand. “You let that swing, Mother, and there will be so many men atop you you’ll think that you are in a gang bang.”
Several men snickered and Raven glared at them. That shut them up. She looked back at her mother. Her hair was a mess. The dress she had on was crumbled and marred with dirt. The purse that she had on her arm was broken at the buckle.
“What has happened to you? You look like you’ve been sleeping in the streets.” Her mother glared. “I don’t know if you are aware of this, Mother, but I’m a grown assed woman, and you glaring at me has no effect. What has happened to you?”
“You and your father is what has happened to me. Where is that brat of yours?” Raven told her to keep her mouth shout about Molly. “Molly—what a common, stupid name. But then I guess that’s about right for an illegitimate baby that has the rights to carry the Addington name, isn’t it? You couldn’t even be bothered to marry the man.”
“Because he was married already, and then he died. And Molly is no longer an Addington. She’s a Bishop, the same as I am. Sawyer adopted her.” That shook Merriam to the core, Raven saw. It had to be about Molly, because Merriam knew that her and Sawyer had been married. “What do you want? I’m not going to talk to Dad. I’m not going to give you money, and I’m certainly not going to feel sorry for you. You’ve made your bed, now you have to lie it in.”
“I’m an Addington, for Christ’s sake.” Raven told one of the men there to call the police. “You’d do that to your own flesh and blood? Call the police on your mother when I’m already suffering enough? My God, I wish that I’d done something about you, too, like the others, before your father found out.”
“What did you just say to me?” Her mother lifted her chin up and repeated what she’d said. “You had abortions before I was born? How could you?”
“It was easy. I had money and a problem, and I got it taken care of. You weren’t the last one either. Not that I was able to see a doctor about you soon enough.” Then she reminded her of how she’d tried to get her to abort the brat too.
Raven staggered back from her mother. It felt as if she’d punched her in the face and the heart. As her mother stood there, going on about how she’d gotten rid of several children that she’d never wanted in the first place, Raven sat down on the floor. It was too much. She was only vaguely aware of her mother leaving.
Baby, what is it? She looked around for Sawyer, asking him where he was. I’m at work, honey. What is it? I’m coming to you.
Yes, please. And bring my dad with you. Mother was here. Sawyer assured her that he was coming. She aborted them, Sawyer. All of the others. She got rid of them like they were nothing at all.
She didn’t have any idea if she was making sense or not, but she hurt too badly to think about each word. Her mother, her own mother, had denied her brothers and sisters. Tried to have Raven’s own child lost to her. Getting up, she made her way to the ladies’ room and threw up everything that she had on her stomach. Then she sat down on the floor and laid her head against the cold tile wall.
~*~
Roger held his little girl as he waited on Sawyer. He had no idea what the younger man was doing, and he wasn’t sure that he wanted to know either, but his baby was hurting and he couldn’t make her speak to him.
“Daddy?” He looked into her eyes—they were pain filled and teary. “She killed them all. Mother, she had abortions before and after I was born, and she doesn’t even care.”
He started to tell her that it couldn’t be his wife. Merriam knew how much he’d wanted children. But then Sara touched him on the arm and handed him a bottle of water. Her nod was all he needed to know that Raven had hit on something that he’d never been aware of.
“Honey, talk to me, baby. When did she tell you this? Today? Is that why you’re so upset?” He looked around for Sawyer again and saw him talking to the police. “There’s your husband, Raven. I’m going to get him over here, and I’m going to talk to your mother for a moment.”
“No, don’t leave me. She’s gone, anyway.” He assured Raven that he’d be fine, but she wouldn’t let go of his arm. “Daddy, all my family, she took them from us. From both of us.”
“Oh, honey, I had no idea. None at all.” He felt his own heart break now that he’d come to terms with it. Not really terms, he thought, but things were starting to fall into place. The trips abroad where she hadn’t wanted him to go. When she’d been too ill for him to touch her, to go to her club.
Sawyer came toward them and shook his head when he asked where Merriam was. He didn’t know what she was up to now, but he was certainly going to have his attorney dig deeper into her life.
He’d only wanted to distance himself from her, just to be no longer married to her. He’d even said to his attorney that he’d pay her monthly, give her something to live on. But if what Raven had said was true, then he was going to leave her less than penniless.
Just this morning he’d had her clothing sent to the cleaners. Some of the things still had tags on them, but sent them along he had. To let her have something that she seemed to treasure more than she ever had him.
Pulling out his phone as Sawyer entered the bathroom to be with Raven, Roger phoned his attorney. After telling him where he was and what he’d found out, Hinshaw didn’t say a word. Roger knew in that moment that he’d known about her deeds.
“I found out about her appointments yesterday. You were so keen on getting this over with that I didn’t tell you. You talking about Molly and the fun that the two you had made me think you were doing what was right. But not so much now.” Roger asked him what he’d found out so far. Also, how many he was sure of by now. “She was using the fact that you made all those donations to the hospital for them to keep it out of their books. But like most people doing unlawful things, they kept records, afraid that it would come back on them.” He asked him again how many times. “So far I’ve uncovered ten before Raven was born. Four more after she was.”
Fourteen children. He knew that they’d not have had that many children if she’d not done what she’d done. But that choice had been taken from him. Roger also knew that a woman’s body was her own. His heart just didn’t agree with that when, as her husband, she’d never spoken to him about not wanting any children.
“Dig as deeply as you can into her. All the clothing that I took to the clearers this morning? I want you to take them to Raven’s shop. She knows how to deal with that crap better than anyone.” Hinshaw laughed and said that he could do that. “Also, I want the entire house stripped of every stick of furniture, every hanger and curtain in the house removed. Every wall painted and the carpets cleaned. I want no trace of her when it’s finished.”
“There are some pieces that were your mother’s. Holly might want those back, do you think?” Roger said that he’d ask her. “If she do
esn’t, perhaps you can give them to Molly. Molly might not enjoy them now, but she could sell them off and keep the money if she wants.”
“Molly will want them, if for no other reason that they belonged to her great grandma. Also, do me a favor, will you? The accounts that I set up; I want them closed as of today. I know that cards have gone out, but it won’t matter anyway if there is no money in the bank.” Hinshaw said that he could notify her. “I guess we can do that. I don’t want to have anyone else’s life upset over this.”
Roger was making decisions in anger, and that was never good. But for now, at least, he was feeling pretty fucking good about everything. He asked how long it would take before he could see things starting to happen.
“The house will be started on today. I’m assuming you don’t want any of that either.” Roger said that he didn’t. “All right, I’ll have the house emptied today, as well as have them put aside any personal items they might encounter while they’re emptying out things. I’m working on getting a letter written up now to have sent to her by courier. I know that she was staying at the hotel down the road from Raven, but I don’t know if she’ll be there now. I’m also canceling her memberships to all the clubs she was in. She won’t have any medical insurance either after the end of the day.”
Roger watched as Sawyer took Raven to the elevators. She was looking better than she had before, and he was glad for that. Going to tell them that he had things to do, Raven asked him if he’d bring Molly back when he had time.
“Molly isn’t at my house.” Raven nodded and said that she’d been there since yesterday. “No. I took her to my mom’s this morning. Then Mom texted me and said that she watched her walk up to the door when she took her home a few minutes ago. Are you sure that—?”
Raven called home in a panic, and Curtis told her that no one at the house had seen or heard from Molly. Sawyer took off running, yelling for someone named Patterson to stop for a moment. Raven made her way across the room too when the full implications of what was going on hit Roger. Merriam had taken Molly at some point; he just knew it. Holy fuck, she’d kill her too, Roger thought.
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