Julian

by Kathi S. Barton

  “Yes, for now. I’d also like to look at her head. Dane said that the tumor was gone, but I’d like to see if it being gone has caused her any trouble. Or if it’s just smaller and not gone. All right?” He told him he would do whatever it took. “I’ll tell the family about the baby. But I’m also going to caution them about over extending their visits. She needs quiet and her daughter. She asked me about her several times when I was in there with her.” He didn’t go in right away after Wyatt left him. Jules was too emotional to even go and get Ruby to bring to her mom. So, as he made his way down the hallway toward the nursery, he was glad now that his mom had brought her home to be with Tess earlier this morning. She was napping when he got into her room. The nursery had been moved around since they’d brought her here. The bed was against the wall where she could see out the window. The trees, he thought, would bring her a lot of joy. They had even gotten her a birdhouse to hang on the window, so she’d be able to watch a bird if she wanted. Tess said that she was going to put a flower box outside her window as well, to bring her butterflies. The pink had been toned down a little by painting the walls white. The carpet was pink, as was the ceiling fan and everything else. It wasn’t so difficult to enter the room without your eyes hurting. When his daughter woke up and looked at him, Jules smiled and spoke to her. “Hello, my darling. How did you sleep?” Picking her up when she reached for him, he took her to the changing table to put a fresh diaper on her. Also, he put her in one of her pretty little outfits, one that made her look especially adorable for Mommy. The entire time he was cleaning her up, he talked to her about her new brother, the way they were going to have to get a bigger car, as well as having to learn to play ball together. “I suppose we have time for the latter of those things, but you never know.” Jules was laughing when he entered the bedroom to see that Tess had fallen asleep. He found himself wanting to check on her, to make sure she was breathing, then she opened her eyes and smiled. Ruby went right to her mom and snuggled under her breast. “There’s Mom’s little girl.” Ruby sat up and looked at her. Her first teeth were just starting to come through, and she was being a trooper about it. “What have you been up to? Mommy has turned into a big kitty; what do you think of that?” Ruby jabbered her answer and they both laughed. Molly, their new cook, brought in a tray that was filled with all kinds of delights, and then one for Ruby. It surprised him when a high chair was put in the room as well. “You should know, sir, that the baby monitor is on in her room. We have one that lets us hear when she’s awake.” He tried to remember what he’d said to the baby, but Molly patted him on the cheek. “You’re a good daddy to your little girl. That’s wonderful that you can change her, and fuss about buttons like we all do.” “They’re very tiny, aren’t they? I thought for sure that I was going to need to get some tape to make it stay closed. Staples were my first choice, but I was afraid that they’d stick her.” They all laughed. “Thank you, Molly. And if it’s not too much trouble, do you think we can have our meals up here until Tess is better?”

  “No problem at all. Dr. Wyatt came by the kitchen, stole a pastry or two that was marked for the miss here, and said that she wasn’t to get up. We’ve located a table and chair that we can bring up today. This little thing was in the kitchen for Miss Ruby, and we won’t need it while she’s here with her momma. If you need me to take her, you just holler. She’s the best thing this house has ever had, I’m thinking.”

  Jules had to agree and was glad that she was as happy with the staff as she was with him. Playing with Ruby was fun—mind numbing at times, since she didn’t have conversations just yet—but she was a great deal of fun, and he loved her with all his heart. Her mom too.

  Chapter 10

  Jules hated this part of working. In fact, he’d rather be home with his wife, but something needed to be done about this man, and he was in the mood to do it. When his dad showed up, just getting in his car, he asked him what he was doing. “You’re here to make sure that the little Rogers boy is all right. I’m here to make sure that the Rogers dad makes it out of the house all right too. Besides, your mom sent me, and you know how she can get.” He asked his dad if Mom knew he was afraid of her. “Oh yes, I’m sure that she does. You guys are as well, I’m thinking. Otherwise, you’d not be sitting here waiting to go into the house to make sure that a little boy who could very well be falling out of a tree isn’t being hurt by his father.” “What if I told you that I don’t think it’s the father?” Dad asked him why he’d think that. “I don’t know. I’ve been doing some research, and I don’t think it’s him.” “The mother?” Jules shook his head. “Then that only leaves the children, and I’m sure that six-month-old Becky isn’t doing it.” “The grandmother moved in about two months ago. She’s supposed to be bedridden. And that makes me wonder why no one has questioned him being hurt all the time. I know, also, that there have been some loud arguments between the parents. I think they’re blaming each other.... But it’s almost time for the mailman to come by, so we’ll wait.” He didn’t have to wait long before he saw the mail person coming up the walk. “She’s there all day with the baby; who, by the way, has been crying a good deal more than she did before all this. They think it’s teething. I think it’s Grandma.” “Why do you suppose the mail lady can help you?” Jules said nothing while the mail was put in the box at the house. Then just as plain as day, the little old woman came out of the house a little, snatched the mail, and a few minutes later, put it all back. “Well I’ll be danged gone.” “I think she’s the one that’s been taking her checks. The office told me that they’ve all been in there several times over the last months, her complaining that the mail service is stealing her checks. I got to thinking about that, how they don’t turn up and why not. It had to either be Peggy, the mail carrier, or Mrs. Rogers, the grandmother.” A few minutes more went by before little Scott got off the bus and then moved to the side of the house. This might have been curious if he’d not seen the boy do this before. He emptied all his paperwork, or what appeared to be paperwork, from his backpack, then hid whatever it was under a stone. Going to the house, the kid looked like he was going to the gallows instead of into the loving arms of his grandma. “What do you suppose that was about?” Jules said he didn’t know. That yesterday when he’d been looking for it, it was gone by the time the house was settled for the night. “Could be bad grades. I’m not saying that this is the way to go, but it could be that he’s hiding them from his family and that gets him into trouble.” “I don’t know. I’ve spoken to his teacher. She said that he’s really good at turning things in and getting his work done on time. She said that while she knows not to have a favorite, little Scotty is.” Dad told him that made no sense. “I know that too.”

  The scream of a child had him getting out of the car. As they were crossing the street, he told his dad to follow his lead. Then he made him put his bag down. It would do neither of them any good to come running like they knew someone was going to be hurt. When Jules knocked briskly on the door, it took Scotty a long time to answer. When he did, he looked up at Jules with a blackening eye and a bloody lip, and Jules had his dad take him to the car while he dealt with the woman. As soon as he closed the door behind him, he heard her shouting at Scotty. “Get your skinny ass back in here. I’m not done talking to you right now. I asked you where your homework is.” When she came around the corner, he stood as still as he could while trying to remember if he’d turned his body cam on. “What’s the meaning of this? How did you get in here?” “I thought you were bedridden. That’s what Tom told me anyway.” She fell to the floor, screaming for Scotty again. Kneeling to her level, he could see that she was thinking, and thinking hard, on how to get out of this. “That won’t work now—I’ve seen you up and about.” “Scotty did this to me. He’s forever tormenting me and dragging my poor old body off my bed. Put an old woman back there, won’t you, Julian? I will be ever so grateful.” He wasn’t surprised that she knew his name. What he was surprised by was that she wou
ld go to such links to try and pull the wool over his eyes. “Where is Scotty?” She said that she ran him off. “Ran him off? Why would you do something like that? What is he, seven, eight years old?” “He hurt me. I told you that.” She moaned when he picked her up, and he saw the big bag of food near her table. “Scotty again. I have to keep the snacks in here that his mother buys for him, or he’d eat them all.” “Scotty certainly seems like a bad little boy. How did he get the bloody lip?” She didn’t say anything, but since he was holding her, he knew that she stiffened. “Nothing to say, huh? What is it you tell his parents when they ask? A lie, no doubt.” “I’m calling the police.” He put her on the bed with a bounce. “I’m going to tell your mother what sort of person you are. What do you think that pretty wife of yours would think?” “That you’re a monster. I’ve been dealing with people like you a lot lately. And I have to say, you’re about the worst.” He turned when he heard his name and looked at his dad. “I have to take him in.” He nodded. And that was when Mrs. Rogers decided that she was in deep shit. “He’s got a black eye, and I think a concussion. I’m calling the police too.” “He’s forever falling down. Tell them, Scotty. Tell them that you’re forever falling down and that I have to clean you up.” He said nothing, and Jules thought that was very telling too. “Scotty, so help me, if you don’t fix this, I’m going to tell your mother on you.” “She doesn’t like me.” Jules told him that his mother loved him. “Not mom; she does love me. But that that old biddy, she don’t love me at all.”

  “You’re a liar. He’s lying to you.” Scotty went into the other room with his dad, or so Jules thought as he turned back to Mrs. Rogers. As soon as he turned his back on them, his dad yelled but it was too late. Scotty pulled out the gun from Jules’s back and shot four times point blank at his grandma. She was dead before she fell back, and Jules took the gun from him. Scotty had been pointing it at his own head when Jules took it, and that bothered him on so many levels. The baby Becky was brought from the hall closet by his dad, and she’d been hurt too. The police arrived a few minutes later. Scotty wasn’t talking by then, and the little girl had been examined by his dad. Six months old and she had two broken ribs, as well as one of her fingers had been broken. As soon as his parents got there, Scotty started crying. “You killed your grandmother? Oh, Scotty what are we going to do now?” Jules asked to speak to them and took them in the other room. “He didn’t mean it. I know that he’s a good boy, but lately he’s been lashing out. I don’t know what to do with him anymore. But he’d never kill his grandma.” “But he did. I was there. And I have it on camera.” Mrs. Rogers, Rebecca, started sobbing. “I was here when she had just hit Scotty. And he had a bloodied lip as well as the black eye. He told me that she didn’t like him at all.” “They’ve had their moments. But I think it’s because he has to watch her for the half hour between the time he gets home from school and we get home from work.” Jules told him it was more than that and had them sit down. “You’re not going to show us him shooting her, are you? Jules, that isn’t right. Please.” “No, I want you to see what we saw when we got here. My dad joined me.” He nodded, pulling out his tablet. “This part is when I came in the house. You can see that Scotty is hurt even then. My dad, he took him outside. He’ll explain that in a moment.” Jules watched their faces. He knew the exact moment when they saw her as he had, walking around like she wasn’t injured. Tom looked up at him, then back at the video to finish watching. He turned it off just as he put her on the bed. “She can walk.” He nodded. “No, you don’t understand. We have been paying someone to come here every day and work with her.” “I’ve been out front since you left for work this morning. No one shows up, nor does anyone come by to make her dinner. She did leave once, to get into a car and then come back with a bag of snack food. That’s been marked for evidence. Gloria told me that Scotty eats it when he comes home, and that you put it in her room so that he’d not have access to it.” He waited until what he was saying sank in. “Also, you should know that she picks her checks out of the mail and somehow destroys them I don’t know how, but I’m sure that she was either putting them out with the trash or burning them. The house smelled of burnt paper when I came in.” “This explains a lot of things.” Jules nodded. “Scotty, he killed her, he really did. I know that, I believe you, but he’s only seven years old.” “I think this time he was protecting Becky. You told me that she’d never been hurt until the last couple of days. And that you thought he was doing it. I think Scotty killed Gloria because he was afraid that you’d never believe it was her. My dad will talk to you now.” Dad came in and sat at the kitchen table and passed them a stack of papers. “They’re his papers for school. He does them on the bus, leaves them outside or in the shed, and gets them as soon as he comes out to get on the bus in the morning. He does the same thing with all his graded papers. As you can see, he’s been getting excellent grades this entire last few weeks. Before that, you can see, the correct answers have been erased and then the wrong ones put on his paper. I think that his grandma was doing that to prove that he was a bad kid.” “Why?” Jules nor his dad had an answer for Rebecca. “She had no reason to harm either of our children. We brought her here because we thought that she was hurting for money. This explains why we had to pay the physical therapist in cash, doesn’t it?” “I just don’t know what to say or even think.” Tom looked up when he saw the medics taking his mom out of the bedroom. There would be trouble, Jules knew, but he thought that Scotty would be fine. It was his parents that he worried about. Tom spoke again. “I thought all along the neighborhood children were picking on him, and that he was lashing out at my mom because he was scared. We even took him to classes on selfdefense, the ones that Christian’s wife does.” “Yes. And I don’t want you to be alarmed, but—” “You have to take him in. I understand, but I don’t have to like it.” When they didn’t move, he waited for them. Dad didn’t say anything either as Rebecca continued. “He came to me a couple months ago and said that Grandma hated him. I thought it was just that he was jealous of Becky, and that she was getting to spend more time with their grandma. I never dreamed that.... You said you found her in the closet. That she was wet and dirty?” “Yes, I took care of her diaper and put something on her bottom. But she has some broken bones. Her finger and a couple ribs. Someone is going to have to own up to hurting the little girl, but I think it’s clear who did it.” He wondered how long the child would have had to sit in her diaper before it got changed. Or did Scotty have to do it when he got home? Either way, it was starting to add up for the family. ~~~ Tess was looking over the paperwork for the staff meeting when Lucy came by. She’d been popping in and out of the hospital for the last few days. And she almost always brought her a little gift or something from her husband. Her office was beginning to look wonderful, thanks mostly to her. “I’ve just been down to the nursery.” They both looked over at the crib that had been brought in for her daughter when she was there. “There are ten new babies there. And two of them have no parents.” “What do you mean, no parents?” She explained how they had been dropped off, a no questions asked sort of thing. “You mean they’ve been given up. We used to have that happen several times a day where I worked before. It’s sad, but I’m so glad that there is a way for parents or sometimes a single mom to get help like this.”

  “Usually the children are adopted right away, but these two, twins, I don’t think they’re going to be so easy.” She asked her why. “They’re cougars. The parent isn’t from our pack, but they did come into the hospital smelling of perfume so that we’d not be able to find them. I wonder if they know how this program works.” Tess wanted to go and see the twins. She’d had the strangest dream last night about twins, and needed to make sure that it had only been a dream. Tess asked Lucy if she’d keep an eye on Ruby while she was gone. She was nearly to the nursery when she heard her name. Allie was coming with her, and they seemed to have the same determined look on their faces. Tess paused long enough to a
sk her what she was doing, and she said that she’d had a doctor’s appointment and wanted to see the nursery. Tess told her what she was doing. “A dream, huh? You thinking of adopting them?” She said no, then yes, then no again. “Well, I certainly understand that. What do you think Jules will say about that?” “Thanks? You did good? I don’t know. But I’m only going to see them. For now, anyway.” She saw them the moment she stood in front of the glass. They were beautiful. Pecking on the glass, she asked to come in and showed her badge. Allie was allowed in as well. Tess fell in love with them both. From the tops of their heads covered in red hair to the bottoms of their chunky feet. They were adorable. Asking the nurse what she knew about them had her laughing. “They’re a pair, that’s for sure. When one of them cries, mostly the heavier one, the other will put her hand on her face and she calms down. When feeding them, you don’t have to feed them both at the same time, but you do have to hold them together, just so they can touch skin to skin. I’m not saying that they were ever neglected, but I will say that the mother would have had a hard way of it, handling them both at the same time.” She asked if they were all right. “Oh yes, Dr. Stanton. Perfectly fine little girls. And they’re good too. Not even crying much when they’re wet or hungry.” “Tess, what are you doing?” She smiled at Allie. “Are you going to adopt them? If you are, I’m going to be very jealous. I love little red headed girls, and they have so much hair too.” “I think that I am. I want them to come home with me now.” She reached out to Jules and he said he was never too busy for her when she asked him. There are two of the cutest little girls here at the nursery. I’m sure they’re not even close to being as cute as little Ruby is. Nor my son when he’s born. She told him he would be handsome, not pretty, but that wasn’t what she was saying. Then I don’t understand. We need to adopt them. He was quiet for so long that she filled in the space. I know that’ll mean we have four children under the age of one when this one is born, but we can do it. I’ll even go down to part time—that’s what I was told I could do when I took this job. Also, we have the money, and they’re going to need us because they’re cougars too. Like we are. They need us—