“Any idea why?”
“I’ve been kind of stagnant,” Jill said. “I should probably do one of these baths every day.”
“Good thinking.”
“How long do I stay in here?” Jill asked.
“Twenty minutes, no more, no less,” he said. “Then you shower and scrub with the soft brush. After that it’s lotion and sleep.”
“You going to scrub my back?” she asked.
He leered and she gave him a worried look.
“What?” he asked.
“Are you getting deadly sperm back up?” Jill bit her lip.
“What?” he laughed.
“Meg told me that most men have affairs when their wives are about eight months pregnant because all their sperm back up and they go crazy.”
“You’re only seven months pregnant.”
“You know what I mean,” she said.
He laughed. Seeing she was serious, he smiled.
“Seems to me that I haven’t had a chance to get backed up,” he said.
“I guess that’s true,” she blushed. “What if you do?”
“Let’s deal with one thing at a time,” he said. “Are you ready to shower?”
She nodded. He stripped off his clothing.
“What are you doing?”
“Joining you,” he said. “For deadly sperm backup preventative purposes.”
Laughing, she got out of the tub and followed him into the shower.
~~~~~~~~
Friday early morning — 4:15 a.m.
Yvonne’s eyes opened the moment the bathroom door closed. Sitting up in bed, she looked around the room. She scanned the bedside table for her book. She got up and walked to the door for her book. She always left her book either right beside her or next to the door. Her eyes flicked from table to dresser to mantle.
Her book was not in this room.
Where was she?
She heard a sound in the bathroom. Someone was taking a shower.
Feeling something tight on her left hand, she looked at her hand and gasped. She was wearing her wedding ring.
The spider tried to cut her finger off the last time she was wearing this ring. He would surely kill her if he saw her wearing her wedding ring again.
Was it Saturday?
Her heart pounded in her chest.
Where was her book?
Who was in the bathroom?
How did this ring get on her finger? She’d given it to . . . someone. Delphie? No, Maresol put it in one of those safes at Seth’s house. And . . .
There was light knock at the door. She opened the door a crack and peeked out.
A small woman with enormous hazel eyes and long black hair was standing at the door. The elfin looking woman was holding a tiny sleeping baby, possibly a newborn. Yvonne blinked. The woman gave Yvonne a radiant smile.
“Good morning,” the woman said.
Yvonne lifted the corners of her mouth in a slight smile.
“You don’t remember me,” the woman said. “I keep thinking you will but . . . ”
“Should I?”
“I’m Celia’s daughter, Valerie,” the woman said. “You used to babysit me and my brother Jake when we were little. You told me that because I was pretty, it meant that I had to work extra hard to be . . . ”
“Smart and kind,” Yvonne smiled. “Because pretty women . . . ”
“Are underestimated,” Valerie beamed. “We have to work harder and be twice as great as they expect.”
“I remember babysitting this tiny little rat,” Yvonne said. “Was that you?”
“I’m no rat,” Valerie said with the same indignation she had when Yvonne had said that to her as a child. They laughed. Yvonne leaned out the door.
“Where am I?” Yvonne whispered.
“You’re at the Castle,” Valerie said. “Or we call it the Castle. Mom bought this house for Delphie and Jake fixed it up. We all live here.”
Yvonne nodded.
“I know you don’t have your book because you left it when we were trying on dresses. Don’t worry, though. It’s safe. It just doesn’t have your morning information. That’s why I’m here.”
“Why were we trying on dresses?” Yvonne asked.
“I need a dress for a movie premiere,” Valerie said. “And you are getting married.”
“I’m already married.” Yvonne’s words came out automatically. Then panic slashed through her heart. Yvonne gasped. Her hand went to her mouth in horror. Her face fell with sorrow. She began to cry.
“What did I say? What happened?” Valerie said.
“Rodney’s dead,” Yvonne said. “I have to marry the spider.”
“No, he’s not and you’re not marrying the spider and . . . ,” Valerie said. “Oh crap, Delphie’s going to kill me.”
As if they were never there, Yvonne’s tears stopped. She squinted at Valerie.
“How do you know Delphie?”
“She was my mother’s best friend,” Valerie said. “She’s like a mother to me. You’re in her apartment.”
Yvonne glanced at the room behind her and then gave Valerie another suspicious look. As if she was casting a spell, this woman’s words pulled at her. But Yvonne knew all the devil’s tricks. If this little woman was trying to make a fool out of her, she was going to have to do better than that.
“Look around,” Valerie said. “Doesn’t it look like Delphie?”
Yvonne looked around the room. The little woman was right. The room did look like Delphie.
“I’m disoriented today,” Yvonne said.
“You only slept a couple of hours and didn’t have your sleeping pill.”
“Who did you say you were?”
Valerie smiled.
“I’m Valerie Lipson, Sam and Celia’s daughter,” she lifted the sleeping baby in her arms. “This is Jackie.”
Yvonne’s eyes blinked at Valerie for a moment.
“You look like Sam,” Yvonne said.
“Jake and I,” Valerie said. “Both. You’ll meet Jake’s daughter Katy today. She looks more like Mom.”
Yvonne nodded. Hearing a sound, she turned to look at the bathroom.
“Who’s in the bathroom?” Yvonne asked.
“Your husband.” Thinking she’d said exactly the right thing, Valerie smiled.
Yvonne began to weep into her hand.
“Oh crap,” Valerie said. “Rodney. Your husband, Rodney. He’s in the bathroom.”
“Rodney?” Yvonne asked. “Is it 2020? No wonder I’m so disoriented.”
“Go look,” Valerie said. “I’ll stay right here.”
“But . . . ”
“Go on,” Valerie’s words pushed Yvonne toward the bathroom. “Just peek in.”
Yvonne didn’t trust the little woman or her words. But she wanted to know who was in the bathroom. At the bathroom, Yvonne looked back at Valerie. She nodded and Yvonne opened the door. She glanced at Valerie and then went into the room. Terrified she’d see Aaron Alvin, Yvonne bit her lip before pulling back the shower curtain.
Rodney stood under the stream of water.
“Yvie?” he asked.
Drawn like a magnet, Yvonne stepped into the shower to hold him. Valerie smiled and pulled the door closed. She met Delphie at the stairwell.
“Did you do it?” Delphie asked.
Nodding, Valerie smiled.
“Thank God,” Delphie said. “Let’s get breakfast ready.”
Valerie moved down the stairwell.
“Before you ask,” Delphie said. “I’d do it for you.”
Seeing Mike standing in the middle of the kitchen, Valerie said, “You already have.”
Chapter Two Hundred and Thirteen
Dinosaurs
Friday early morning — 5:35 a.m.
Sitting near the end of the table, Tanesha looked around the Castle dining room. The room was full of excited people. While she had slept, everyone had met to make a plan to fight for her mother. Heather told her that Blane had sai
d that they were up almost all night ironing out “something good.”
Her mother wasn’t going to be trapped by Alan Alvin again.
And the men in blue suits had found some “very interesting” things in Yvonne’s journals.
She glanced at her parents. She had no memory of these two people ever being in the same room. This morning, her mother was tucked up against her father. His left arm around her, she ate with her left hand and he with his right. Occasionally, he fed her rather than himself. She would nod and smile and continue eating as if nothing had happened. They moved with practiced ease, as if they were one body with four arms.
Katy ran into the dining room. Mike, with Jill in his arms, came in after her. Jill gave everyone the back-handed princess wave as she passed. Mike deposited her near the empty chair next to Tanesha. She leaned over to kiss Jacob and sat down between him and Tanesha. Katy sat next to her Dad.
“That was quite an entrance,” Jill said.
“I’m glad it worked,” Tanesha mumbled through her wired jaw. “Jake told me you were ready to cast your hair down for a new prince.”
“I’ll tell you, sometimes I hate my meddling family,” Jill said.
“Even though you’re the chief meddler?” Tanesha asked.
“Even though,” Jill smiled. “I don’t hate them today.”
“They’ll be here in a moment,” Delphie said.
“Noelle,” Sandy said from the chair on Tanesha’s right.
Noelle came over to Sandy.
“You remember what you’re supposed to do?” Aden asked.
“I’m supposed to tell them that no one is awake and I don’t have the gate code,” Noelle bit her lip. Her eyebrows crumpled in and she shook her head. Leaning forward, she whispered to Sandy, “But that’s a lie.”
“I know,” Sandy said.
“I can’t lie,” Noelle’s eyes threatened tears.
The buzzer to the gate rang.
“I just can’t lie,” Noelle said.
“It’s not a lie, it’s acting,” Sissy said from her seat next to Aden.
“No it’s not,” Noelle said. “It’s a lie.”
“The child shouldn’t have to lie for me,” Yvonne put her napkin on the table and stood up. “I’ll just . . . ”
“No you won’t,” Rodney said.
“I’ll do it,” Sissy jumped up. “I’m going to be a great ballerina. Great ballerinas are great actresses.”
“But the child . . . ” Yvonne said.
“Stay here,” Sandy said. “Sissy will buy us some time.”
The buzzer rang again. Sandy walked with Sissy to the door. She mussed Sissy’s hair so it looked like she’d been sleeping. Aden gave her a big T-shirt that looked like a night shirt. She kicked off her shoes.
“Charlie?” Sandy turned around to find him standing behind her.
“I got this,” Charlie said.
The buzzer rang for the third time.
“Go on, Sissy,” Sandy said. “We’ll be right here.”
Sissy puffed up her cheeks a few times, jumped up and down, and yanked the door open. She trotted out into the cool morning toward the two irritated Federal Marshalls.
“Oh. Oh. Oh,” Sissy said when she got near them. “No one is awake and . . . I don’t know the code . . . and I . . . ”
“Who does?”
“I don’t know . . . I don’t know . . . Um . . . ”
“Sissy!” Charlie yelled from the side door. “What the hell are you doing? Mom’s gonna be pissed.”
“They want to get in,” Sissy said. “Do you know the code?”
“No,” Charlie said.
“Sorry!” Sissy spun in place and ran back to the house. Half way to the door, she turned around and said, “I’ll wake up my mom and see if she knows the code.”
“Thanks,” the Marshalls gave a kind of annoyed wave.
Sissy slipped into the house. Noelle was there to hug her and everyone gave a quiet cheer.
“Val?” Delphie asked.
“Samantha is on her way,” Valerie said.
“And the rest?”
“They landed twenty minutes ago,” Mike said. “I think they are in the . . . ”
“We’re here . . . ” a man’s voice came from the kitchen.
Having come through the coal tunnel entrance, a group of soldiers moved through the Castle kitchen. In the center of the group was Alex Hargreaves. Her team was helping her dress into a blue suit while she walked. She was on the phone. One team member held her blue shoes so that she could step into one and then the other. She waved to everyone in the dining room and stopped so that Margaret, MJ’s partner, could zip her skirt. Her brother Colin and her partner Arthur “Raz” Rasmussen were the next focus of her team’s efforts.
“Where are the Feebs?” Alex asked as she hung up her phone.
“Behind you,” a man’s voice came from the kitchen.
“Do not be late,” Alex pointed to the first man. He laughed and pointed to her misbuttoned shirt. She swore and rebuttoned it. The men who’d combed through Yvonne’s journals last night moved into the living area.
“They are so cool,” Charlie said to Tanesha under his breath.
“We only think we are,” MJ said as he passed behind Charlie to get to Honey. Honey squealed at how ripe he smelled.
“Just a warning . . . ” Alex said. “We stink.”
“Uh, Mike?” The big guy who took care of Teddy in the summer said. “Where’s the bacon?”
As if it was a magic word, the soldiers and FBI agents fell silent. All eyes turned on Mike. The air tightened with hostility.
“I thought you were here to see that justice was served,” Mike said.
“You thought wrong,” The big guy said.
“We’re here for bacon,” Alex laughed.
Laughing, Mike went to the kitchen. Sandy followed him. They returned with an extra platter of bacon and a plate of muffins.
“NSA?” Alex asked. She picked up a piece of bacon from the platter as it passed.
“They’re outside,” an older, thickset member of Alex’s team said. “And they are pissed. I guess the papz are starting to arrive.”
The tall brown-haired soldier who served as Alex’s second in command turned to Valerie.
“Did you release the baby pictures?” he asked.
“No,” Valerie said.
“Perfect,” Alex clapped. “Where’s Jeraine?”
“He’s outside,” Tanesha mumbled.
“Sorry, what?” Alex asked.
“He’s outside,” Jill the chief meddler repeated. “Waiting for the signal.”
“I do love this kind of thing! Team?” Alex pointed to the kitchen.
The big guy grabbed the platter of bacon, another soldier took the muffins and they retreated to the kitchen.
“Ready?” Alex asked the FBI agents. They nodded. “Where is . . . ”
Her eyes scanned the table until they found Rodney and Yvonne. She smiled at them.
“Claire told me you were gorgeous. Nice to meet you, Yvonne. I’m Alex, General Hargreaves daughter.”
“One of his crazy twins?” Yvonne asked.
“Mom!” Horrified, Tanesha shook her head. “She’s here to help you!”
“I am the crazier one,” Alex smiled. “You remember Samantha?”
“The pretty one.”
“Yes, the pretty one,” Alex smiled. “She’s your lawyer. She’ll be here in a few minutes.”
“Tell her what’s going to happen,” Raz said.
“We’re here to ensure that you, Yvonne, aren’t whisked away somewhere. Those guys at the gate called us when they got the order last night. I’m an old friend of Mike’s. I knew this was going on but we couldn’t really do anything until we heard from the Marshalls. They don’t want to have to take Yvonne anywhere against her will. But they have orders. We . . . ” She gestured to herself, Colin and Raz. “We’re Homeland Security. These guys are FBI and some NSA agents are outside. We’
re going to go out there and argue over who has jurisdiction over Yvonne. If we have to, we’ll pull out the big guns.”
“But . . . ” Tanesha furrowed her brow. “Why would you help us?”
“Bacon?” Alex smiled.
“There’s a group of people, a group of men, who have used their power and influence to prey on people,” Raz said. “They’re dinosaurs and, with your mom’s help, for the first time in a long, long time, we have a chance of really stopping them. A meteor called Yvonne is about to change their world.”
“This morning, they thought they could get here early and make your mom disappear. We’re going to make a big fuss over who has jurisdiction over you. We’re mostly stalling and making a public stink so that the Denver Police have to step in. Rodney, you ready?”
“Yes ma’am,” Rodney said.
“All right,” Alex said. “Who wants to get the Marshalls?”
“Why don’t we all go?” the FBI Agent in Charge said.
“Let’s watch from upstairs!” Charlie said.
Mike picked up Jill and everyone trotted up the long stairway to Jacob’s old apartment; leaving Yvonne, Rodney, and Tanesha downstairs with Delphie and Sam.
“Ready?” Alex called up the stairs.
“Ready!” Mike called back.
“Yes sir,” Alex’s team called down to her.
“All right,” Alex smiled. “Feebs first.”
The men in blue suits went out the door. Alex raised her eyebrows at Colin and Raz. They put on dark sunglasses and went out into the driveway. From her spot next to the door, Tanesha saw two men in blue suits move through the paparazzi to the Marshalls. The men outside the gate spoke to the US Marshalls. For a split second, Tanesha thought she saw the Marshalls’ faces wash with relief.
And then they started to protest.
The FBI agents took up the challenge from inside the fence while Alex, Colin, and Raz stood back looking sinister. In a few minutes, all of the Federal Agents where entertaining the paparazzi by yelling at each other. When Jeraine walked to the front gate, the photographers pressed forward.
“Let’s let them do their thing,” Sam closed the door. “Come on. Breakfast is getting cold.”
Tanesha looked at Delphie’s worried face. Sam put his hand on her back.
“There’s nothing we can do now,” he said. “We have to trust that everyone will do their part.”
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