Kevin leaned forward to remind her, "You said, 'If we attained some degree of fame, we might find the restraint to restrain the impulse killing' and that plan turned out like planned." He shrugged. "For the two of you."
Kami thought for a while until the memory gave her a look of self-pride. "I did say that." She looked at Kevin and Kaley. "I just realized I'm the brains of this outfit." She kept her look on Kaley to see if that was alright with her.
Kaley smiled a sweet smile that went with the sweet pat she gave Kami. "Thank, God! Those kids have me so dumbed down, someone has to be in charge."
Kevin let them have that moment. "Fame?" He waited for them to turn their faces and turn their attention on him. "You saw my fans last night. Tell me there was one person in my group of groupies who had a date for Senior Prom. But, on the other hand—" He swept a hand toward Kaley. "Best-selling author." He let that sink in. "And on the other, other hand—" He swept a hand toward Kaley. "Award-winning actress."
Kami looked the humblest as she shook her head. "But not 'the award' that's the award."
Kevin shook his head, but it was in the mode of a parent sensitively encouraging a child lacking confidence. It was a learned mannerism he'd been eager to learn because he was a good father to the children they had. "You got the awards that counted."
"And don't count yourself out on our latest and greatest independent film you portray a strong, independent woman in," Kaley said with more parental skill than Kevin since parenting was more natural to her.
Kami argued with Kaley, "It was your words, smart sister. A monkey could say those lines and win the big one."
"Wrong, Kami!" Kevin knew that didn't come off as stern and even when he did manage to pull off sternness, it only made his sisters laugh.
Kami laughed. "I know what you're thinking Kevin."
Kaley laughed as she looked lovingly at Kevin. "You're thinking about having a talking monkey."
"It's not that crazy," Kevin said a little defensively, "I've heard about apes and chimps who learned to talk—" He cocked his head and looked up. "Who learned? That learned?" He let out a breath of exasperation. "Simians who learned sign language."
Kami leaned and touched his hand. "You weren't signing with the chimp in your mind. Tell the truth, Kevin."
It was hard for Kevin to keep from laughing when she was like that. It was the fact she was such a great mother she could crack a confession out of any of their kids. Even Kali, who was the best and the most prolific liar of the batch. She could still crack him too, but so could Kaley. They knew him too well. "Yes!"
Kaley leaned in. "And how did your able ape speak?"
He knew they were having fun with what they knew of his mind. He didn't mind. He was having fun too. "In a British accent." He looked at Kami. "Not the refined accent you used in the Victorian film, but like the male version of the character you had when we did a job on that dude's head in the diner parking lot."
Kami smiled at the memory before she got into her chimp character and spoke with just the right male cockney accent, "Get your old primate a brew, mate." She pointed at the small refrigerator. "And grill me up a banger." She pointed at Kaley. "Before you bang her, you wanker."
Kevin and Kaley laughed hard and Kami joined them when she came out of her monkey method acting.
"We should do another Victorian story." Kaley leaned and put her hands on Kami's waist. "You so have a bodice-body."
"An hourglass figure any man would happily and handsomely—" Kevin winked. "Pay by the hour for."
After they laughed some more, they all had pleasant smiles on as they played another hand.
Kevin thought about the number thirteen and associated a detailed memory with it immediately. "Would my lovely women like to join me on a visit back to the past, as I flash back to another card game the three of us and our three lovely children attended?"
Kami answered that by putting her cards face down on the table and standing to refill their glasses with fine wine.
Kaley answered that by putting her cards down, sitting back to settle in for the memory, and speaking to the way the memory would be retold, "Remember Kevin, we want you to dig deep into the deepness of that beautiful brain to tell us each and every detail."
"Dialogue. We want the dialogue too." Kami pointed at Kaley. "She's the writer." She pointed at herself with her thumb. "I'm the actor."
"Give us the play-by-play ... Like a screenplay." Kaley looked from Kevin to Kami to share a look of excited anticipation with her.
Kevin nodded. He looked at the cards on the table. That was what triggered the vivid memory. He knew he wouldn't have to use his savant memorization skill to remember what happened that day. The memory was so vivid it didn't have to be remembered.
****
It was way back when their first-born was four months old. The three Riley teens followed their mother and uncle up the familiar grand staircase of the McConnell home.
Beth McConnell was noticeably nervous as she led the procession alongside Taylor, who was unusually on edge for him.
The McConnells stepped aside and let everyone get a look into the room.
Frank checked out the exquisitely decorated nursery for a baby girl quickly.
Kate took a more probing look around, but didn't take long.
Kevin stuck his head in the room and had it out within a few seconds.
"What do you think, Kevin?" Beth's voice was polite, but it quivered through the question.
Kevin didn't want to look at Beth and Taylor. Not because of ill will or anything like that. He didn't want to see the pain on their faces. As hard as it still was for him to feel, that was something he didn't want to feel. "I'm cool, but I told Mom and I think she told you, it's up to my sisters." He stepped back and backed up to make the McConnells back up more.
Kami walked into the room first. She was a year older and as much prettier as Kevin was handsomer. She stepped to the middle of the room and turned to wait for Kaley.
It took Kaley a while longer to get anywhere because she was very pregnant and getting close to her due date. She'd grown into more beauty like her siblings, but there was something about the glow of that nineteen-year-old woman with child, that gave her a special kind of beauty.
A beautiful infant girl slept peacefully on Kaley's shoulder.
Kevin rocked on his feet purposefully to block the cold looks Kaley cast the way of the McConnells.
Kaley spoke coldly as she stepped the steps of her pregnant walk into the room. "Close the door so we can talk privately."
Kevin leaned and pulled the door shut. He wanted to get the next part over with. "It's up to them, but I'm cool with you seeing Karey." He shrugged. "After all, she is your granddaughter."
Beth stepped in and hugged Kevin hard. "Thank you! Thank you so much, Kevin." She released the hug when she realized someone like him was uncomfortable with that much touching.
Taylor stepped forward. "Will you let me make a quick apology, Kevin?"
Kevin nodded. "A quick one, Taylor."
"I'm sorry we were idiots to listen to a word that crazy Detective Willard said." Taylor looked and sounded sincere.
"Once we found out the truth, we got him fired. That was all us." Beth put her hand over her mouth like she said too much.
Kevin could tell this was hard for them. The whole year had been hard on them. He was thinking of something to say when his sweet mother helped him out.
"And this—" Kate pointed at the closed door. "Bringing the baby for a visit. Was Kevin. All Kevin." She gave him a minimal rub to the back that was minimalized appropriately for a young autistic man.
Kevin used the time his mother gave him to come up with something to say. "I think my sisters will come around. They got me through the hard time, but Karey got them through it." He took in a breath. This talk was harder than he thought. "Kaley and Kami are each like a mother to Karey. They're good mothers. Great mothers." He looked at Kate for support.
Kate no
dded. "They put me in my place as the Grandmother, the minute we picked her up from the prison hospital."
Kevin saw the McConnells nodding that they understood that. He saw their earlier looks had taken a stronger hold on them. His best guess was worry. Worry they would be shut out of their granddaughter's life. Worried one or two of the two young women who had taken over mothering the infant girl would stand between them and the one little person they desired more than anything else in the world. He decided to level with the McConnells. They were always good to him. They would be good to his first child. "Kami's almost on board. I'm working on Kaley." He used his practiced business smile to give them some optimism, but he knew he lied about his oldest sister. "I think she'll come around."
Beth couldn't resist another quick hug.
Taylor gave a light, single pat on the shoulder after that. "And I apologize for trying to screw you out of your percentage."
"Not needed. The settlement was more than fair." Kevin chuckled naturally as he shrugged. "Litigation was kind of cool. It was as much like war as chess is."
Taylor laughed and that got the other adults laughing. He looked at Frank. "I know you're a good lawyer, Frank, but there were some unusual arguments in the motions." He nodded at Kevin. "Was a brainy boy the brains behind that?"
Kevin was aware the door was opening, but he ignored it. He had to set things straight. He didn't like to get credit and he certainly didn't like to take someone else's credit. Especially when he loved that someone else so much. "It was my idea to fight for combining the contract action with the custody action in family court." He was a little proud of that venue idea he thought would get more emotion from the court and get them more money as they got sole custody of his girl. "But, all the motion work wasn't from a brainy guy. It was a brainy girl. Kaley researched all the law and wrote every line."
Frank confirmed that. "I just supplied the letterhead and the signature."
Kevin turned and backed up to put the space between the McConnells and his sisters.
Kaley gave Kevin an appreciative look.
It was all Kevin could do to keep from smiling broadly at that look. He knew what it meant. He finally loved and knew someone so deeply and truly that he could almost communicate almost regularly without words. That true blessing was multiplied by two for him. He was that close to both sisters.
Kami turned to face Kevin and the McConnells. "The nursery is fine. We're assuming the rest of the house is child-proofed?"
"Yes," Beth said too eagerly and loudly and that sent her eyebrows to her forehead.
Kami looked back at Kaley and got the nod she wanted before she turned back to Kevin and the McConnells. "We're not comfortable with leaving Karey yet."
Kevin's growing people skills that only applied to those two people helped him understand the long pause that was going down. His pretty sister was screwing with the desperate grandparents. Holding back and holding out just to mess with them. He didn't stop it. He let them enjoy it.
"If Mom and Uncle Frank don't mind hanging out a few hours—" Kami wasn't surprised when she was interrupted.
"Two hours and not a minute more." Kaley held up two fingers.
The McConnells nodded timidly.
"We'll hang out on the patio and let you two hang out with Karey." Kami turned, hooked her arm in Kaley's and assisted her toward the stairs.
Kevin pointed into the nursery. "They put her down for her nap. She has to stick to her routine." He turned and took a few steps to get by his mother and uncle.
"Do you mind if we pull some chairs in and watch her sleep?" Beth asked Kate.
Kate stepped closer to Beth. "Honey, my girls are such baby-hogs, that's almost the only alone-time I get with my grandbaby."
Beth and Taylor took turns emotionally describing how sweet and beautiful the months-old baby girl was while Kate and Frank nodded and commented to agree verbally and nonverbally, and that brought the two couples within hugging range.
Kevin watched Beth holding onto a hug for dear life. He watched Frank and Taylor lingering in the manly embrace they held. He thought he could do something he learned to do in selling. In negotiating. Give something away that didn't cost much. He knew right away what he could give away. Something that would never happen. "Hey, McConnell grandparents." The smiles he expected to see were there. "I know I'd have a hell of a fight with my sisters, but if Zoey gets out of prison, I'd be open to discussing a visit with Karey." He knew he said something nice, but he decided to say something mean in a nice way. After all, his lovely sisters he loved so much shouldn't have all the fun. "Assuming Karey's not already a grown up and able to decide on her own by then." He turned and left.
When he stepped away, he heard more crying than he expected from more people than he expected.
****
He walked down the stairway and opened the door to the patio. Kaley looked like she wanted to kill him.
Kami gave him a mean look, but she also gave him a clue. She pointed at the old intercom.
Kevin looked and saw the button was taped down with duct tape. They always carried duct tape around, it came in handy for them. "Sorry." He gave them each a look. "But, she's never getting out of jail."
Kami helped Kevin defend himself, "He only said he would be 'open' to it."
Kaley laughed. "Goddamn, I can cow any man or woman, just by playing the pissed-off pregnant woman."
Kevin and Kami laughed along hard.
Kevin opened up the outside refrigerator. He got an iced water for Kaley. He looked over at Kami. "I think you can have one beer or one wine. You're only what, five weeks pregnant?"
"Six." Kami smiled the sweetest smile for herself. She pointed at the refrigerator. "Ooh, how about one of those dark stout beers?"
Kevin stayed in the squatting and reaching position as he shook his head. "It's too mean to Kaley. It's bad enough we're drinking beer, but drinking her beer?"
"Thank you for that." Kaley said.
Kevin popped the tops on the beers he selected and opened the water. He set the drinks down and noticed a wooden box as they drank. He pulled a cigar out and noticed Kaley's look. "I give you a big fat one to stick in your mouth—"
"A big fat what?" Kami said before she giggled and got Kaley giggling.
Kevin chuckled as he pretended to ignore them and finished laying out the deal, "That stays unlit, but you can take a few drags off mine if you promise not to inhale."
"I promise," Kaley nodded.
Kevin handed the cigars out.
Kami picked up the cards and shuffled expertly. "Same game?"
"Do you even know your brother?" Kevin said.
They all laughed at that.
The three played draw poker with no betting or raising and they all drew their own cards.
Kevin saw the speed they played with. He loved this game. He loved when they played dozens of hands. He loved when they would pick a number and ask him to recall the winning hand for that game. He didn't tell them he could do that for every game they ever played. He was too humble for that.
"Six weeks." Kaley looked at her cards. "Time to spill the beans to Mom. What's your cover story?"
Kami discarded and drew and showed no emotion over the difficult question on the difficult issue of her teen pregnancy. "I'm telling her I went a little crazy thinking of what happened to my first and only girlfriend." She turned and smiled at Kaley. "Present company excepted."
Kaley smiled back as she laid her hand down. "Exception accepted."
Kami put her poker hand down face up too. "I thought I was screwed up for choosing Zoey as a friend. Then, I thought of how much I loved baby Kaley."
Kevin put his hand down to show his three-of-a-kind that won. "Karey."
"Duuh, Kevin." Kami turned and winked at Kaley. "Baby Karey is a baby Kaley."
Kevin cocked his head and thought on that. He thought he saw some traits in the baby that were in the woman. She was a smart baby. He knew that was just the parent in him talki
ng. He knew his sisters were right about judging people and how people acted better than him. "I guess so." He chuckled. "Maybe our next one will be a baby Kami." He expected laughter and saw looks he couldn't place.
Kaley leaned across the table to touch his hand, but that was too hard with her baby bump.
Kevin was glad he read that situation and leaned across to touch her hand.
"We want one of each," Kaley said.
Kami reached for his other hand. "We have a Kaley. We need a Kami and a Kevin."
Kevin shook his head. "You know what goes with another baby Kevin."
They both nodded.
He knew enough to know he couldn't argue with them.
"I tell Mom I never felt loved as much as I felt loved by our baby." Kami shuffled almost as well as a Las Vegas dealer. She dealt the cards out with the same deftness. "I finish with my closer. After all the death I experienced, I had to experience giving life."
"That's pretty good," Kaley said.
"It's great." Kevin put his cards down and saw them do the same. He saw them looking alert and knew they were reading him as well as they always did. They knew he was about to say something serious. "I've been planning. For the future. Our future."
The young women leaned forward with interest, but obviously, the pregnant one couldn't lean as far.
Kevin stood up and lit his cigar up. "The settlement got us our house."
Kami corrected him, "The Zelman house."
Kevin didn't mind the interruption. He chuckled. He stepped over and lit Kami's cigar. "Short term plans. The two new babies will take up most of that." He held his cigar out for Kaley to take a puff. "I talked to Mom about keeping us all on the health insurance we have from Taylor's company."
Kaley blew the smoke out quickly. "Me too, but it's her stupid pride thing even though we got that as part of the settlement."
Kevin nodded to Kaley before he looked at Kami. "That means you have to give Mom the news on your baby—"
"Our baby," Kami corrected.
Kevin smiled at that. "And follow that with telling her you don't want her real estate broker's crappy insurance."
"I'm on it." Kami chased her cigar puff with a swig of beer.
The Killing Rileys- First Love, First Kills Page 19