by A. R. Braun
He extended his hand, which she took. “I’m Arnold Westover, Mr. Dick Alley’s attorney.”
She pulled her hand out of his after shaking it. Stacey was confused. What now? She laughed. “I’m afraid it’s a little late to represent him.”
He shook his head while adjusting his tie. “I’m afraid you’ve misunderstood. I’m representing you now.”
She laughed again. “Again, a little late.”
He cleared his throat and pointed at the documents. “If you’ll just look over the will, Miss Alley.”
Stacey sat up straight. “Will?”
He nodded. “Mr. Alley was very wealthy, which you probably know as his foster daughter. By the way, let me offer my condolences about what happened.”
What was about to go down hit her then. She scanned the document of legalese.
“You, Miss Alley, are named as a beneficiary of an inheritance.” He took out some more papers, shuffling them. He pulled out a Montblanc pen from his pocket. “I’m afraid Marie Alley gets the house—when and if she gets out of jail—but he left you both a significant sum of money.”
Stacey sucked in a deep breath.
The lawyer chuckled. “I’m afraid you’re set for life, Miss Alley.”
“Oh, my god,” she whispered, leaning back in her chair while locking eyes with him. “H-H-How… much?”
“Ten million dollars. Dick was quite the hand at investing and putting money away. Ms. Alley, if you’ll just sign—”
Stacey wasn’t signing anything. She fainted.
<^^>
Stacey woke up in the infirmary. She lay in a small bed with an ice pack on her head.
Amanda walked in the door. “How’s she doing?”
The gorgeous blond nurse wiped away Stacey’s perspiration with a damp cloth. “She fell back in her chair and got a nasty bump on the back of her head, but she’ll live.” The nurse was probably a last-ditch, demonic effort to tempt Stacey back into lesbianism, but all her love was for Kevin now.
Stacey swooned whenever she thought of him. What bravado. She rolled over and felt a lump on the back of her head. “Shit.”
“Roll back over and let me have another look at that,” the nurse ordered.
Stacey shifted the other way till she was on her side. She felt a sting when a swab with mercurochrome dabbed it.
“Okay, you can roll on your back.”
Stacey did, wincing from the pain.
“You can take her to the ward. I recommend some bed rest.”
Amanda waved someone in. Stacey spotted the lawyer.
“I hate to bother you right now,” Amanda said, “but this gentleman needs to get back to his office.”
He handed documents to her. “If you could just sign at the bottom of these papers, please, so I can get the ball rolling on the inheritance.”
“This can’t wait till I get back to the ward?”
“It could,” Amanda said, “but it’s messy either way. When you get back, you’re going to bed instead of group.” She smiled. “Besides, I want you to have your money.” She rubbed Stacey’s arm. “Congratulations!”
Stacey blinked and sat up. “Now wait a minute.” Feeling dizzy, she shook her head. Everything went out of focus for a few seconds. When she could see clearly, she locked eyes with the lawyer. “Who says I want that old dog’s blood money?”
Amanda put a hand on her shoulder. “Honey, you’re going to need money when we release you. Kids are expensive. You could buy a house, go to college, buy a car, and send the kids to school.”
Stacey shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“If I may, Miss Alley,” the lawyer said, taking a step toward the bed. “I heard all the gory details about what happened. I know it’s none of my business, but…”
He got in her face, so close she could smell the cocktails he’d had at lunch, and whispered to her.
“… at least he’s good for something.”
Stacey grinned at him. Amanda had been right. All men weren’t bad. The lawyer stood up. Amanda looked down on him, being a little taller than he, and smiled.
Stacey stared at the documents. “Hmm.”
“I really have to get back, Miss Alley. If you would.” He handed her the Montblanc pen.
“Land sakes alive.” Stacey scrawled her John Hancock on the documents and handed them back to him. “There. You can run along now.”
He smiled and extended his hand. “Thank you, Miss Alley.” She shook with him. “Congratulations, and nice to meet you.”
With that, he left.
The nurse helped her up. “The doctor called in some pain relievers for the next twenty-four hours,” she said to Amanda as if Stacey wasn’t even in the room. “Then she should be fine.” The nurse got a wheelchair from the corner and rolled it over.
Stacey felt a little wobbly, so she sat, not arguing.
“She’s all yours,” the nurse said.
Amanda walked around to the back of the chair. “Shall we?”
“We shall,” Stacey answered.
Amanda wheeled her out of the ward, the wheels on the chair making squeaking noises while Stacey fit her feet into the metal footrests.
She leaned back in the chair. “I feel so stupid.”
Amanda chuckled from behind her. “I’d probably faint dead away, too. And you wouldn’t see my chunky ass at this place again.”
Hospital personnel in regular clothes with nametags featuring pictures stared at her as she passed them. Stacey put her hand over her eyes.
Amanda stopped at the elevator, walked over, and pushed the up button. She looked at her with a furrowed brow. “Aren’t you excited?”
Stacey remembered when Cassandra at the orphanage had asked her that very question—right before she went to hell-on-earth—and she shuddered. It seemed Dick’s memory would always be with her, like cancer. Stacey sighed again. “He was such a monster. I still wonder why on earth I should want his money.”
The elevator binged and Amanda went behind her again—a strange feeling; who knew what she was doing back there—and pushed her in while the doors grinded in pain as they closed. Amanda pushed the button for their floor. Stacey felt a momentary shift, then the elevator traveled upward, making her lightheaded.
Amanda’s voice from behind her: “I bet the kids will be excited. I think I’ll take you to their ward before I take you back to yours. Rules are made to be broken, huh?”
Stacey craned her neck to look up at her. “Dandy.” She mused over the situation. “You know, it seems I’ve always had his money, since I was eleven years old.”
The elevator stopped and the doors whined as they opened. Stacey felt herself move forward into the ward. The TV blared; children joked with one another.
Stacey’s kids ran up to her with such energy it frightened her, especially because she still felt woozy. After a few seconds, this feeling fled.
“Oh Mom,” Devon cried, hugging her, as did Sam.
“Are you okay?” Sam asked. “I heard you fell.”
Exhaling, Stacey ran her fingers through her hair. “I guess we’re more than okay.”
“Kids,” Amanda said, “I’ve got to get your mother to bed. She has a nasty bump on the back of her head, so let her talk.”
“Mommy!” Kyra said, disobedient. She climbed into the wheelchair, as did Bobbi and Louisa.
“Ooh,” Stacey said. “That hurts a bit.”
“I wanna take a ride,” Kyra cried.
“Kids, not now,” Amanda said.
Stacey craned her neck around. “No, it’s okay. I think I can walk anyway. Why is everyone babying me?”
“Nurse’s orders, young lady.”
“What the heck happened, Mom?” Devon asked, chuckling. “Did you faint ‘cause the hot lawyer asked you out?”
Devon and Sam giggled.
Stacey sighed through her nose. “Oh, stop it. You know my heart belongs to Kevin. And you know we’re visiting your new daddy in prison when we get out of here.�
�
“Then what made you faint?” Devon asked.
All five sets of eyes were on her. Stacey felt like E.F. Hutton.
“Well…” Stacey looked over the room, then back at them. “… apparently, we’re… rich.”
Devon furrowed her brow and shook her head. “Huh?”
Sam’s eyes grew wide and her mouth hung open.
Kyra stuck a fist in the air. “Yay!” she said in a tiny voice. She sat looking up at Stacey while Bobbi and Louisa had a head on each of their mom’s shoulders. “We’re rich!” Kyra continued.
“Your father was very wealthy, and now so are we,” Stacey said. “He was generous… if nothing else.”
Sam and Devon gaped, then clasped arms and jumped up and down, squealing.
“We’re rich, we’re rich, we’re rich,” they cried.
It didn’t take long for the triplets to join them. They hopped down from Stacey’s lap, joined hands with the others, and jumped. Her children resembled a fairy ring.
Stacy got out of the wheelchair. “Oh, what the hell.” She stood up and joined them. Though Amanda warned her to go back to her ward to rest, Stacey wasn’t trying to hear it, following her lovelies to Bobbi’s room when they dragged her. It wasn’t long before they jumped up and down on the bed, ecstatic that they were rich. The bed broke; they fell atop each other; they laughed so hard they couldn’t breathe.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
I mustn’t forget my number-one daughter.
That evening, Stacey and the kids attended Wednesday night church service with the Lutheran chaplain and some of the other patients. The family sat in the musty-scented pews. An old lady was hunched over the piano, playing while everyone sang hymns. Chaplain Peterson, a short, gray-haired man in glasses, gave a sermon on kindness and the power of prayer. Then he dismissed them.
Stacey broke down crying, a keening sound that made the other patients—mostly wrinkled older people—gawk at her with bugged-out eyes. She walked up to the altar and kneeled. Her children jumped up and joined her.
“Oh Mom,” Sam said, kneeling at her right. She hugged her.
“Momma,” Devon said, kneeling at her left.
The triplets walked over and hugged Stacey from behind.
Chaplain Peterson trudged up, kneeling in front of her. “What’s troubling you, Miss Alley?”
She looked up at him, warm tears cascading down her face. “My oldest daughter,” Stacey sobbed. “She’s been in a… coma… for forever.”
“Please help my sister,” Sam begged, hands steepled.
Chaplain Peterson snuffled and wet his eye with a hanky, then cocked his head to the side, looking them over with sympathetic eyes. He took her hand. “We’ll hold a candlelight vigil, tomorrow night, at seven.” The chaplain looked over his flock. “Congregation, let’s come to the altar and pray for Miss Alley’s daughter.”
“Stacey.” She breathed deeply and wiped away tears with her hand. “My name’s Stacey.”
He handed her a tissue box. It was so close, if it had been a snake… He cleared his throat. “Stacey, then.”
“My daughter’s name is Therese.”
“Oh, what a sweet name.”
They all crowded around Stacey, begging the lord to heal Therese of her plight.
Good God, please, my daughter’s a vegetable, Stacey prayed inwardly as the others beseeched god for Therese. She decided to become voluble. “She’s got her whole life ahead of her. Please don’t take her, not my baby!”
When they finished praying, the congregation hugged each other and departed. Stacey tried to believe she’d get her wish.
What use is prayer if I doubt?
The next evening, the vigil was the most beautiful thing Stacey had ever seen—the congregation holding candles—and a few more people were in attendance than last night, including Amanda.
Stacey prayed herself hoarse.
<^^>
The fall season came, along with Amanda letting Stacey know that she and the children would be released soon. The press disintegrated more and more each day until only one reporter stood outside. It took the family all spring and summer to answer all of the loving cards that had been sent their way. They answered every one, except for the letter from Kevin, which only Stacey answered. In it, she told him she was still in love with him and that she and the children would be visiting him. He answered with a letter saying he was thrilled and couldn’t wait to see her again.
“Whew,” Stacey cried, sitting in the children’s room. “That’s the last one.”
Devon snapped her head Stacey’s way. The child’s flaming red hair flowed halfway down her back now. “You just got done? I finished mine last week.”
Stacey sighed. “Oh hush.”
They made their way to the TV room. Devon flipped it to MTV and the triplets stood.
“Change it back!” Bobbi said.
“Hey, turkey,” Kyra cried.
“Mommy,” Louisa said, “Devon’s hogging the TV again!”
“Gawd.” Devon changed it back. “I get to watch MTV at five.”
“Yeah,” Sam argued, “double-dibs.”
Again, Amanda crept up on her like a specter. She flashed a huge smile, revealing white teeth that looked bleached. Stacey put her hand over her heart, then rose.
Indian summer in October caused the central air unit to blare a blast of comforting cold air into the ward. Relief surged through Stacey, who’d begun to sweat.
Amanda took the crook of her arm and walked her a few paces away. “You’re not going to believe the good news.”
Stacey’s heart leapt.
“What? What?” the oldest kids cried, joining them. Apparently, they’d overheard.
Amanda chuckled. “Therese came out of her coma!”
For a few seconds, what Amanda had told her didn’t register. Her sweet Therese had been gone for so long—three seasons—that it didn’t even make sense. Then it hit her.
Stacey squealed. The kids followed suit. The children hugged her and jumped up and down. With tears of joy streaming down her face, Stacey hugged Amanda.
“When do we get to see her?” Stacey yelled in excitement.
“She’s on her way now,” Amanda answered. “The first thing she did was ask for you. She didn’t like that she missed three seasons of life, I’ll tell you that.”
“Oh, my god.” Stacey grinned. She lifted her arms toward the ceiling. “Thank you, god.”
The kids echoed her.
Amanda grinned from ear-to-ear. “I’m so happy for you and for her.” She bent down to the little kids. “I bet you can’t wait to see your sissy, huh?”
“I miss her lots,” Bobbi said in a munchkin voice.
“Me too,” Kyra said.
“Me three,” Louisa said.
Amanda chuckled.
The triplet’s hair hung to their belts now.
Stacey trembled with excitement. “Should we go out to the hallway and wait for her?”
Amanda shook her head. “I’ll bring her here.”
Stacey held her hands out while shaking her head. “How can I just sit here? I want to jump up and pace.”
Amanda looked her over, considering this. She nodded. “That’s fine. She should—”
Therese’s gorgeous face preened from behind Amanda as she walked over, along with that sweet smile. Her eyes lit up.
“Therese!” Stacey said, as did the kids.
“Hmm. Sooner than I thought.” Amanda wheeled around, then stepped out of the way.
Therese was thinner than she remembered her, but still a curvy fourteen year old with straight blond hair like silk, although it hung past her shoulders now. Her eyes were wide. She ran to her mother and embraced her.
Stacey sobbed. “My baby! I’ve got my baby back!”
“Oh Mom,” Therese sobbed. “I was so scared when I woke up and you weren’t there.”
Mother and Daughter wept.
The other children embraced Stacey and Therese i
n a group hug.
“I’ll leave you to your reunion,” Amanda said, fluttering off to other duties.
It was ten minutes before they broke the embrace. Stacey stood, holding her precious angel’s face in her hands. “Are you hungry? I’ll buy you something at the canteen.” Stacey ran her fingers through her daughter’s straw-like hair.
Therese nodded. “I’m starvin like Marvin.”
<^^>
The Canteen was a windowless room crammed with vending machines, tables, and chairs. The estranged family got up to speed with each other. Eating Rolo and drinking Coca-Cola, Therese sat on Stacey’s lap. The latter grabbed a tissue from her pocket and wiped her eyes, then blew her nose.
Therese looked at her mother. “You know how it feels to miss spring and summer, Mom?”
Stacey shook her head.
“It sucks.” She sighed, then perked up. “Hey, I heard we got mail.”
Stacey put her arm around Therese’s waist. “The townspeople sent us about a million get-well cards, and people from all over the world sent us a billion more.”
Therese’s mouth formed an o and her eyes grew wide. “Wow! That’s nice of ‘em. I wanna read ‘em.”
“You’ve got your work cut out for you, hon.” Stacey pulled Therese’s head against her shoulder.
“Mom made us answer them all!” Devon said. “Gawd.”
Therese giggled and lifted her head. “Same old Devon.” She looked over her other siblings. “How you squirts doin?”
Devon scowled. “Who you calling ‘squirt’?”
“Not you.”
“Fine.” Sam grinned at her. “We missed you.”
The triplets ran to her, jumping on Therese’s lap. She had to catch Bobbi before she fell off.
“Play with us, sissy?” Bobbi asked.
“Ooh.” Stacey huffed. “Okay, everyone off my lap.”
They jumped down.
“Whew,” Stacey added. “I’m getting too old for this.”
Therese locked hands with the Kyra and Louisa, and Bobbi held onto her leg. “I guess I’ll play with ‘em, Mom.”
“Wait. I’ve got some great news.”
Devon laughed. “You’re gonna shit.”