The Last Cheerleader
Page 29
“But they must have cost a fortune,” I said. “Tony would never spend that much money on a gag.”
“As it happens, they were fakes. They probably set him back less than twenty bucks for all three, but we believed they were real, and instead of just tossing them in the trash, we kept them.”
“But how could Julia know that?”
“She didn’t. She brought several more along with her on the plane, in a sales case.”
“Like I said, incredible. Uh…did you guys ever use them?” I asked curiously.
In the glow of the deck lights, I saw Patrick blush. “I don’t know about Tony and Arnold, but I never used mine. It seemed…inelegant, somehow. Besides, I couldn’t imagine any woman liking all that ornamentation. It must hurt like hell.”
“Are you telling me you were never even tempted?” I said, laughing and punching him on the arm. “C’mon, admit it!”
“Oh, okay, I tried it out. Once.” He grinned. “She told me she never wanted to see me again.”
Sobering, I said, “I just have one more question. Tell me the truth, okay? Were Tony and Arnold gay?”
“Gayer than springtime,” he said. “They just liked pretending they weren’t, and I promised not to say anything.”
“You know, Patrick,” I said thoughtfully, “a lot has happened since we met. For a long while, I thought I didn’t really know you. I’m sorry about that. I’m sure, now, it was all my own stuff.”
“Remember us in that little Hollywood duplex, though?” he said. “No murders, no mad Julia. Bills, of course. But nothing, really, to worry about.”
“I remember,” I said. “And wouldn’t it be nice if life were like that again?”
“Now who’s being a romantic?” he teased. “And by the way, I owe you for that dinner the other night. I completely forgot to pay.”
He leaned over from his chair and kissed me, and I had to admit I liked it. The sky was clear and the stars were brighter than I’d seen them in a long, long while. In the end, it had turned into a perfect night.
“Let’s go inside,” Patrick whispered, stroking my arm.
I nodded and we got up, alone together in the misty void of arousal.
Or almost alone.
“Where are you guys going?” Jade said from the door.
Epilogue
Six months later
It was almost Christmas, but on the beach in front of my house it was hotter than July. I’d pulled my socks off to wade along the shore, but Dan opted out, saying he might get paged for an emergency.
We followed behind Jade, who was running in and out of the water as tiny waves lapped at her ankles. Her hair was a coppery red in the sunlight, the same way mine used to be. As she got older it would lighten a bit from the Southern California sun, like mine. That’s what the DNA counselor had told me when she confirmed that Jade was my daughter.
It had taken me only two days to get her out of Child Services. I fought them like the proverbial tiger for her cub, and they finally let me have her while the DNA tests were still pending. It helped that I had so many good people to speak up for me: Dan, Nia, Abby and even her fiancé, Ben, from the Carmel PD.
In fact, everything went amazingly well. I felt sure Lindy was behind that, just as she had helped us when we were on the road that night. I knew without a doubt that she wanted Jade with me, and I still thank her every day for that. I just wish we’d had more time to talk before she died.
Little Lindy Lou, the “airhead” cheerleader—and the best mother in the world.
Jade was proof of that. Lindy had only failed, if that was the right word, on one front: she couldn’t go against her husband until she was absolutely certain he really was hurting her child. And by then it was too late. Not for Jade, but for her and for Jade’s nanny, who had died in one mad moment that hadn’t anything to do with her at all.
Did Irene try to stop Roger from killing Lindy? Or had she seen it happen, and he couldn’t leave her as a witness to his crime? We’d probably never know; as they say, the dead don’t talk.
Nia, it turned out, had originally left for London to talk to her father about a book she was writing, just as she’d said. At LAX, though, she’d met someone and been attracted to him. They spent three nights together at the London Ritz, and now they were talking about marriage. He was a doctor, and he seemed like a nice guy. I hoped they’d live happily ever after.
“The doctor Nia’s father hooked me up with at UCLA,” I said to Dan, “thinks the drugs harmed Jade’s immune system, rather than making it stronger. He says it can be built up again. She needs lots of fresh air, good food and time to play. I intend to give that to her.”
“Great. What about the emotional aspect?”
“You mean, has she forgotten Lindy and Roger and everything that happened? No, but she does call me Mommy sometimes.”
“That’s a big step.”
I smiled. “Yeah. Her psychologist says it’s a good sign. Jade’s doing good work with her.”
“Speaking of work, Nia says you’ve cut back to three days a week.”
“Well, there are doctor visits, tests…they all take time, and I want to do everything I possibly can for Jade. I manage to read manuscripts here at home, though.”
“Craig Dinsmore’s book is the talk of the town, it seems.”
I smiled again. “It’s getting raves before it even hits the shelves. That’s something, for a book that isn’t even about Hollywood.”
“I think the popular cause this year is the high cost of pharmaceutical drugs for the uninsured,” he said.
“Cool. Let Hollywood climb on that bandwagon. It’s a good one.”
“What about Julia? Will she get any of the proceeds from Craig’s book, when and if she ever gets out of prison?”
“I understand they’ll go into a trust. I’m not sure she can benefit by her crime, though, and get any of Craig’s money. Her lawyer is working on that.”
“Not to change the subject, but would you like to go to dinner sometime?” he asked, taking my hand.
“I thought you were still upset with me for bailing on you that day. I haven’t seen you for months.”
“Only a couple of months,” he pointed out. “And I never was upset with you.”
“Oh, right. Evading arrest, lying to you, all those things you flung at me when I got back?”
“That was just me ranting,” he said. “I have to rant. It’s part of the job.”
“Well, you might have told me. I thought I’d blown it with you.”
He stopped walking and turned to me. “Would that bother you, Mary Beth? I hear you’ve been seen around town with Patrick Llewellen.”
I laughed. “Seen around town? How quaint. You almost sound like Patrick. Who, by the way, is a good friend.”
“So you aren’t…with him now?”
I almost laughed again. It was nice to see he was a little bit jealous. But I got distracted. Ahead in the surf was the most beautiful thing that had ever happened to me. She was up to her knees in the waves, totally fearless. Next summer we’d drive up to Carmel Valley and she’d ride Molly’s colt. She’d eat the healthiest food in the world, and she’d be with people who made her smile.
Thank you, I said for the thousandth time.
No problem, Lindy answered. You’re doing great.
I realized then that tears were running down my face, huge gobs of tears that wouldn’t quit. My heart felt as if it were opening wide, like a bud that had been tight for too long and was gasping for air.
“Jade!” I called.
She turned and ran to me. “What’s wrong, Mommy?”
I knelt down and took her in my arms. “Nothing, honey. I just love you so much. Have I told you that lately?”
“Sure.” She rolled her eyes. “All the time.”
“Well, just don’t forget,” I said. I held her against my heart while the tears just flowed and flowed and flowed, and when we both fell down in the sand we laughed and laughed and
laughed.
Just the way Lindy and I always had.
ISBN: 978-1-4603-6378-2
THE LAST CHEERLEADER
Copyright © 2003 by Meg O’Brien.
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