by Jessie Cooke
“Agreed, I guess,” Zack said. “I was brought up with questionable morals, I’m not denying it, but it’s possible not to get stuck where you came from.”
The detective raised an eyebrow and then said, “I know that full well. I grew up in one of the roughest neighborhoods in Chicago, on the south side. I almost didn’t get out of there; I had to move far away to get away from the influences that led me astray.”
Zack smiled. “Is that your subtle way of telling me I should move far away from my club?”
“Not at all. What you choose to do with your life…and the lives of your children…is of no consequence to me.”
Zack left the conversation at that. He wasn’t going to argue the point. He knew that what he did in the club was not always on the up and up, but they had come a long way. Stone had ended their affiliation with the Defenders after the fiasco with Spider. It had turned out that Spider wasn’t looking for something the day Nicole found him digging in her parents’ back yard. He had been trying to hide something. The night he blew up the meth lab he had stolen ten bags of meth before he set the lab on fire. Levi told Zack later that Spider had been using a lot of meth, and Chaney finally confronted him about it the night of the drug deal gone bad that started his downward spiral. During that conversation, while Chaney was urging him to talk to his parents and get them to pay for him to go to rehab, he told his president that the meth they were cooking had something in it that made him “immortal.” Chaney had laughed at that and when Spider left for the meet with the street gang that night, he’d been angry and, according to the guys he rode with that were left alive, smoking the meth pipe like crazy. Chaney had to draw the line at that point and kick him out, no matter who his father was. That was what pushed Spider over the edge of his tenuous sanity, and he started a quest to get revenge on everyone that had wronged him. What shocked Zack the most was that the Defenders didn’t learn their lesson after all of that. They were still cooking meth in a new house and still dealing guns to street gangs that used them to kill innocent people. Zack knew his club would never be completely eye-to-eye with the law, but they were absolutely better than that.
The rest of the ride to the station, Samuels kept his opinions about “bikers” to himself and Zack got lost in his thoughts. By the time they got there he was again on the verge of refusing to see her. He was convinced that there was no way he could get through to her. Her court-appointed attorney probably stood a better chance of talking her into the deal than he did.
“Where did you find her?” he asked Samuels as they walked inside. It was the one question he hadn’t asked, because he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
“Brownsville P.D. did a raid on one of the strip clubs near the border. They were hiring underage dancers and a few of the women were turning tricks out of the back. Mona was working the bar when the raid took place. She wouldn’t have even been arrested in the sting, but one of the vice cops recognized her from a BOLO we had out.”
“I guess knowing she wasn’t turning tricks in the back should be of some comfort to me,” Zack said as they stepped inside the jail. Samuels laughed and said:
“Believe it or not, kid, I had a mother of my own that I had to count every small favor to tolerate.” Zack sighed and began the process of turning over everything he couldn’t take inside with him and signing the visitor paperwork. Once that was done, he was led down the hall and put into a tiny room with a scarred-up table and two folding chairs. He didn’t have to wait long before the door opened again and a female guard ushered his mother inside. Zack wasn’t sure how to feel when he saw her. If he’d run into her on the street, he would have been hard-pressed to recognize her. He realized that it had been years since he’d seen her without her make-up on, and the gray strands that ran through her usually jet-black hair were almost disturbing to him. It made her seem almost…human.
“Hello, Mona.” The officer didn’t remove the shackles around her waist and she used the ones on her feet to attach her to a ring in the floor under her seat. Mona waited until she finished with her and stepped back against the wall before saying:
“Zachary, I’m surprised to see you. Or did the police want you to see what kind of information you could get out of me? Are you listening, Officer Bale?” The woman against the wall didn’t flinch. Zack had spent enough time in jail as a juvenile to know that if they reacted to every slight, they’d never stop reacting. “I’m sure they have the place wired for sound anyways.”
Zack sighed. “I’m not here to get anything from you, Mona. I came to see how you were doing and ask you to take the deal the D.A. is offering.”
Mona laughed. “You came to tell me to plead guilty to robbery and two murder charges? What would I do without you?’
“Mona, this is Texas. You know what your alternative is. If you go to court and you’re found guilty, you’re looking at the death penalty.”
“And what do you care? You would finally have me out of your life…isn’t that what you want, Zack?”
“You think any of this is what I want, Mona? You think I want a mother who is facing life in prison or death?” He rolled his eyes and tried to quell the anger she so easily provoked in him every time he talked to her. “Look, Mona, you can plead guilty, or not…but you have to know that you wouldn’t be sitting here if they didn’t have a good, strong case against you. I know you’d rather be free, but the likelihood of that happening is as likely as finding Bigfoot, or the Loch Ness monster. Take the plea and live, Mona.”
“Live in a cage like an animal with nothing to look forward to…that’s what I should do?”
“If it beats the alternative.”
“No. I’m not going to plead guilty and when I am exonerated, I am going to say I told you so.”
Zack stood up. “Okay, then I guess I’ll see you when you go to trial.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You would come to my trial?”
Zack realized than that she didn’t know. He sat back down and said, “Mona, I’m the one that told the cops about the jewelry.”
“Excuse me? You went to the cops…about your own mother?”
“Not really. I had no idea you were involved. I told them that Swinger admitted it to me and I told them where to find the jewels. I did it to save my own ass, so of that you can be proud. You taught me so well that it took me thirty years to understand how good it feels to put someone else’s happiness and needs above your own. But that day it was for me, and today is for me as well. I don’t want to get on the stand and testify against my mother. I don’t want to put the grandmother of my children on death row.”
“Excuse me? Your children?”
“Yes. I’m adopting Liam after Nicole and I get married.” She rolled her eyes and looked at him like he was an idiot. That look changed to surprise when he said, “We’re going to get married after the baby is born.”
“The baby? Your baby?”
“Yes, Mona, I’m going to be a father and you’re going to be a grandmother. Nicole and I just found out recently that it’s a girl. Are you willing to die without ever meeting your granddaughter?”
Mona stared at him for a long time and finally said, “Like I would know her otherwise?” Zack stood back up.
“I have to get back home. If you decide to take the plea, let me know. I’ll send you pictures of the baby when she’s born. I don’t think I could ever bring her to prison to see you, but one day she’ll be able to write and you could talk to her on the phone. It’s something to live for, Mona. Take it or leave it.” Zack motioned to the guard who walked over and unlocked the door. As he started to step out the door Mona said:
“Zachary.” He stopped and forced himself to turn and look at her.
“You know, I did the best I knew how.”
She said it like that made all the difference in the world. Zack knew that it didn’t, but his life was good now and he didn’t want to waste any more time being bitter. He nodded at her and then without looking back, he turned and l
eft.
48
One Month Later
Nicole was slathering her bagel with cream cheese, half listening to whatever Stacey was saying about Hashtag. They’d been fighting a lot lately and although Stacey seemed to know it was over, she was still hanging on for some strange reason. Nicole was tired. She was tired of being pregnant, she was tired of trying to teach Julie how to use the ovens at the bakery without burning the bread, and she was tired of listening to her best friend bitch about a man she knew she didn’t love. “Are you even listening to me?”
Nicole looked up from her bagel. “I’m sorry. I was…Stacey, be honest, why don’t you just admit that it’s over between you two?”
“Wow, thanks. What if I had told you that about Zack way back when?”
“Do you love Hash?”
She hesitated and then said, “I might.”
Nicole smiled. “That’s the difference. I knew I loved Zack almost from the start. You’ll know when it’s something worth fighting for. Honey, you told me yourself that he’s cheating on you with the club girls. Hash is a good guy, but I don’t think he’s cut out for a relationship. If I thought that you thought he was, I wouldn’t say that…but I feel like I’m listening to you try and talk yourself out of this relationship every day. So then why keep staying in it?”
Stacey sighed and fiddled with her coffee cup. “Because, despite him sleeping with any female that crosses his path and smells like pussy, he’s a really great guy. I like him and I’ll miss him.”
Nicole tried not to laugh. Suppressing a smile, she said, “So you either have to decide if you’re okay with him fucking other women, or not.”
“I’m not. I don’t like to share.”
“Then end it now while you still like him and you can still be friends, and move on. You’re gorgeous and smart and you just got a promotion at work. You can find another man.”
Stacey picked at the coffee cake in front of her and said, “I guess. But, all I meet are suits and ties. I want a man like you have. I want one that treats me like a queen, but still has that tough exterior.”
Nicole smiled. “Then keep looking until you find him. Don’t try to force something that’s not working.” Stacey nodded.
“You’re right, as usual. Does Zack have any other friends I haven’t met?”
“I’ll ask,” Nicole said and smiled. Her smile quickly turned into a grimace as a sharp pain stabbed her in the back. She grunted and leaned into the table.
“Nick, are you okay?”
“I don’t know. I got this pain in my back suddenly.” She took a few deep breaths. “It’s going away now.” Suddenly she wasn’t hungry any longer. She sat the bagel down and sat up straighter. “There, it’s gone.” She looked at her watch and said, “I’m sorry, honey. I should get going. I have to pick up Liam at my mother’s soon.”
“Okay,” Stacey said. “You go ahead. I’m going to finish my coffee. I’ll get the check.” They had met for brunch at the diner across from the bakery after Nicole had spent the early morning helping Julie bake the bread for the day. She was already tired and looking forward to a nap with Liam. She gave Stacey a hug and said goodbye. On her way out to the car she was assaulted by another sharp pain in her back. She had to stop and let her body work through it before she could make it to her car. It was gone by the time she started the car up and drove out of the parking lot, but less than five minutes passed before she had to find a spot on the shoulder to pull off on and fight her way through another one. When it passed, she took out her phone and called her mom.
“Hi, Mom, how’s Liam?”
“He’s perfect, as usual,” she said, going on to tell Nicole some story about something he did that she thought made him seem intelligent well beyond his not quite two years.
“Good,” Nicole said. “Mom, did you have back pain when you were in labor?”
“Are you in labor? Where are you? Is Zack with you?”
Nicole chuckled. “Slow down, Mom. I’m okay. I’m just having these pains in my back. I never had back labor with Liam so I’m not sure that’s what it is…but they come and go every five minutes or so.”
“You need to get to the hospital. Tell Zack to take you in the car and not on that motorcycle of his.”
Nicole smiled, and then grimaced as another pain assaulted her. That one traveled from her back to her stomach and it tightened before it went away. Her mother was right; she should get to the hospital. “Okay, Mom. Are you okay with keeping Liam a bit longer?”
“A bit longer? You’re having a baby. He’ll be fine. I have everything he needs here. He can stay the next two weeks if he needs to.”
“I love you, Mom, but he’s not staying for two weeks. Even if I could stand it, Zack hates it when he’s gone for one night.”
“Fine, but don’t worry, he can stay as long as he needs to. Tell Zack to call me as soon as you’re settled in at the hospital. Do you need me there? I can have your father watch Liam…”
“It’s okay, Mom. Zack will be there.” Nicole ended the call and endured another pain before she called Zack. His phone went to voicemail. She left a message that said, “I’m not sure, babe, but, I think I’m in labor. I’ll meet you at the hospital.” She hung up and started on the thirty-minute drive to the hospital. Her phone rang twice while she was driving, but between the heavy morning traffic and the pain, she didn’t want to reach for it. It was almost forty minutes later before she drove into the lot in front of the hospital. She found a place to park and then put her head forward on the steering wheel and waited for another pain to pass. She was breathing through it when there was a knock on her window that nearly gave her a heart attack. She looked up into the worried blue eyes of Zack. She flipped up the door lock and he pulled the door open.
“God, baby, are you okay? Why did you drive yourself? Where’s Stacey?”
“I left her at the diner. I thought I was fine. The pains didn’t get bad until I was on my way.”
“Isn’t it too soon for her to come?”
“Second babies are always a little early. I’m due in three weeks. She should be fine. Or, this could be false labor.”
“Well, let’s go in and find out.” Zack took her arm and helped her out of the car. He looked like he was trying to keep his cool, but the panic showed through in his blue eyes.
“I’m okay, baby,” Nicole tried to reassure him. It was obvious he didn’t believe her when he bent down and scooped her up into his arms. She giggled. “I can walk.”
“I’m sure you can, but I’m not going to…what the hell is that?” Nicole felt the moisture running down her legs and soaking Zack’s t-shirt. She giggled again.
“I guess it’s not false labor. My water broke.”
“Jesus.” Zack’s paranoid look moved from his eyes into his forehead as he raced her into the hospital. A nurse put her in a wheelchair and from there he followed her every step of the way. He held her hand during labor and he fed her ice chips. He glared at the nurses when they wouldn’t give her anything else for pain and he stood next to the doctor and made sure he didn’t hurt the baby as he “pulled” her out. He took the scissors they offered him in a pair of shaky hands and with a look of awe unlike any Nicole had ever seen, he cut the cord between her and the beautiful, squiggly, slimy baby on her belly. When the nurse took the baby to clean her up, he followed them over to the sink and the tent where they put her in a diaper and swaddled her in a blanket, and then he followed them back when they laid her in Nicole’s arms. Once the nurses finally left them alone he looked down at the baby and said, “Thank God.”
Nicole was confused. “Thank God, what?”
“When she first came out and she had that green stuff and blood all over her, she looked like she had a beard and a pinched-up forehead. For a minute there she reminded me of Adolf Hitler.”
“Zack!”
He laughed. “I’m kidding.” He reached down and touched her tiny little head. “She’s beautiful, just like her mother.
” The baby opened her eyes and looked up at Nicole. Her eyes were blue and her hair dark like a raven. She looked just like Mona, but Zack wasn’t going to say that out loud. Mona, however, would be sure to point it out when Zack sent her a photograph. She had taken the deal and now Zack had to keep up his part of the bargain.
“She is beautiful,” Nicole said, “but she doesn’t look like me. Those eyes are all you.” She held the baby up and said, “You want to hold her?”
The nurse had told Zack that the baby weighed six pounds and four ounces. One of his hands probably weighed more than that. “What if I hurt her?”
“You won’t hurt her, babe. Just put your hand under her neck and the other one under her little bottom. Hold her against your body.”
Feeling more nervous than he’d ever been, even with Liam, Zack slid his big hands under the baby and lifted her up. He held her out for a few seconds and looked at her before drawing her in and letting her rest against his chest. She felt so good, and Zack couldn’t believe that he could already be in love with someone he’d laid eyes on for the first time only minutes ago. He smiled down at the baby and then looked at Nicole and said, “What’s her name?”
“We never agreed on one. What do you think?”
He looked at the baby in his arms again. “She looks like a princess. Let’s call her that.”
Nicole smiled then said, “You can call her that, Daddy, but she needs a real name. How do you feel about Emma?”
Zack looked back down at his little princess and said, “Emma.” The baby fluttered her long, black eyelashes. “I think she likes it. Emma Leoni. What about a middle name?”
“Well, Zachary Ray Leoni, I was thinking we could name her after you.”
Zack raised an eyebrow. “Emma Zack? I guess no one would mess with her.”
Nicole laughed. “No, Emma Rae Leoni.”
Zack nodded. “I like it. Hey there, Emma Rae Leoni, I’m your dad. Don’t let the good looks fool you. I’m one badass mofo.”