“Excuse me?”
“No, you’re not excused. Not a thing that I have heard come out of the hole in your face is excusable, and I only caught the tail end of your performance. Lord only knows how much drivel you were spewing before I arrived.” Sheridan walked over to Talon and squatted down, trying to make eye contact. I am not sure what she was looking for, but I guess she found it because almost instantly she nodded and stood back up.
“I am going to sue. The treatment I received was…”
“Stop. I told you to be quiet, and here you are, still flapping your gums.” Turning to Alfie, his mother ordered. “Let’s hear it.”
I could see now that Talon was locked up tight. He was completely shut down. My heart was breaking for him. The pain that I could feel radiating from him was so thick, it was almost hard to breathe. I could see that both Fear and Alfie were as aware of Talon as I was.
“Melinda was late for her appointment with Tate. But to be fair, which of course I always am, she did call to say that she would be. When she did finally arrive, she was more interested in trying to get Drake to do naughty things to her in the back room than getting a tattoo. When her efforts didn’t work, she tried her luck with Fear, then me, and finally on Tate. From what I can work out, and this is just an educated guess because I really don’t speak she-bitch, she struck out HARD every single time.” Sheridan motioned Alfie to keep going.
“Well, when it was taking longer than it should for Sluttina over there to get a clue, Tate asked her if she had taken something, because no one in their right mind is that much of a shameless willy chaser. Mum, she was horrendously desperate. It almost had me calling the Ghostbusters, Sex Anon, or something like that. The woman was possessed. I feel traumatized by it all, frankly.” Alfie fanned himself then continued.
“One simple question that had she not been a loopy Larry could’ve resolved this. A one-word answer was all we needed. She blew everything way out of proportion. Well, she didn’t actually blow anything ‘cause no one wanted a sucky sucky from the nutty nutty, but you know what I mean. Anyway, she came storming out from the back, yelling and carrying on, causing pain and destruction in her wake. She was cruel, and Mum, I mean cruel. I was on the potty, and I could hear her,” he said, shaking his head and giving Talon’s shoulder a squeeze. “The words freak and retard were used repeatedly. As well as asking if he shouldn’t be locked up instead of out and about.” Hearing Alfie tell his mother everything had my already simmering anger starting to boil over. Fear, I could see, had started shaking, and Alfie had maneuvered himself in front of his man. The man was smart.
“I see,” was Mama Sheridan’s only response as she started to fish around in her bag before finally pulling her cell phone out. After pushing a few buttons, she put the phone to her ear.
“This is ridiculous. Wait un…” Melinda started to say, but was quickly cut off again by Sheridan.
“Hey, gum flapper, shut your disrespectful and vile mouth,” she said before returning her attention to the phone. “Hey, baby, I may need you to bail me out…mmm…mmm… Thank you.” Sheridan then calmly put her phone away and laid her purse on the desk, then slowly walked until she was standing directly in front of a now pale-looking Melinda. “Do you think that it is acceptable to talk to anyone in the way you spoke to my nephew?”
“I am calling the police,” was Melinda’s only reply.
“Please do. Better yet, Alfie, call the cops. We wouldn’t want flappy gums here to feel as if we are not meeting her needs.” Mama Sheri looked at Melinda with disgust
It didn’t take long for the cops to arrive, and it wasn’t a moment too soon. The tension in the room was so thick and was only getting thicker by the second. Talon still hadn’t moved a muscle, and I think we were part relieved and worried. Relieved that this vile woman wouldn’t witness anymore of the pain that she had created and worried because there was something deeply wrong.
“Which one of you called?” Officer One asked the moment he stepped through the door.
“That would be us,” Mama Sheri stated. “We would like to make an official complaint about sexual harassment and abuse.”
“What?!”
“She came into my son’s place of business and sexually harassed four members of staff and then proceeded to verbally abuse another.”
“That is a lie.”
“We have it all on camera. As you can see from the sign above the door or on the front of the desk, all areas of the shop are monitored at all times. Fear, hon, can you please pull up the video for the officers to see?”
A few taps were all it took for Melinda to witness herself in all her Technicolor glory. It truly was shocking. But when we all witnessed her treatment of Talon, nothing could be denied. She really was a disgusting human being.
“My nephew has a medical condition that prevents him from being able to talk. But he is in no way mentally handicapped or retarded. If she had just allowed him to simply write down a note instead of throwing his only means of communication out, he would’ve gladly taken her complaint. It’s his first day; we didn’t expect to have to deal with someone with such a despicable character or that a situation such as this would ever arise or be an issue.”
“Do you want to press charges for the harassment?” Officer Two asked.
“Yes, we all do,” Alfie answered for all of us. I could tell that he just wanted Melinda to have some consequences for her actions. It was not like we could press charges for her calling our friend names. Yes, it showed what a shitty human being she was, but as far as I was aware, it was not a punishable crime. “How long can she get for being a grabby desperado? 25 to life?” Alfie’s expression was serious.
“This is ridiculous. I didn’t know he couldn’t talk.” Melinda tried to excuse her actions. As if anything she could say now would make up for what she’d said.
“Throw the book at her.” Things like this made me love Alfie. He could take anything thrown at him, but when it was someone who he deemed family, he went all out.
“Can you just listen? I am telling the truth…”
“You can’t handle the truth!” Alfie shouted.
“Did he really just do the Few Good Men quote?” Officer One asked Officer Two.
“Yes, he did, Officer. My son is a little upset, what with a family member in pain as well as being hounded by a sexual deviant. The stress and turmoil has obviously affected him greatly.”
“This cannot be happening. Do you know who I am? One call and I can have this shop closed down. I will not be treated like this. Especially by a bunch of….”
“Oi, flappy, shhh. I am traumatized. Did you not hear what my mother just said? I can feel the need to seek therapy fast approaching. And your voice is plain awful. I think I shall be the one seeking damages,” Alfie decided to interject.
“I am calling my husband.” Was this woman for real?
“You have a husband? You waltz in here with your cougar firmly out, trying to cock your leg at any and every passerby. Lady, you are one flaming crackpot with some major issues. I am not normally one to kick a dog when it’s down, but for you I will make the exception. Listen up, crazy; you are nothing special. You are no greater than the rest of us. How about you start treating people with the same level respect that you think you deserve and not turn into a flappy harpy when nobody wants to sample your saggy arse? Because, flappy, all I see is a very unhappy person who is set on making everyone she comes into contact with just as miserable.” Alfie tried yet again to get through to the thickheaded woman.
“You don’t know…”
“Enough. I am done with all this fucking bullshit. I need this to be done so that I can see to my brother. Just do what you’ve got to and get that crazy bitch out of my shop.” Yeah! Fear was done. I could see his fury lying just beneath the surface.
It didn’t take long after Fear had spoken up for the cops and my client from hell to leave. But with them now gone, it was deadly quiet, and the silence only seemed to
amplify the fact that we were all at a loss. Talon, who had not moved a millimeter throughout the whole debacle, was still very much trapped inside his mind.
“Call Dane, hon,” Sheridan told Fear. “This is not a reaction to something that happened over night. This is something that we know nothing about; he needs his dad. And we need to know what’s wrong so we don’t make things worse.” Nodding his head, Fear pulled out his phone and called his and Talon’s dad.
Alfie and I quickly closed down the shop. No one wanted any more interruptions. But the whole time we were locking it down, I kept an eye on Talon, hoping he would come back to us. Or even give me a sign he was trying, so I could reach out and help him.
It wasn’t long before Dane and Molly were both knocking on the door.
“What happened?” Molly was the one to ask. Sheridan was the one to explain. I could see Dane and Molly sharing looks, but neither one expanded any further on what was happening to Talon. We all knew the basics. His stutter caused self-esteem issues and something happened when he was younger that caused him to give up talking altogether, but this was something else altogether.
“I‘m going to take him home,” Dane said, still not elaborating.
“No, you are going to tell me what the fuck is going on with my brother. You say that you want me in this family. Well, congrats, because I am in.” Fear’s worry and own pain was evident in every word. “My little brother is sitting right here in so much pain that I can actually feel it all over him. Please, don’t shut me, us, out. What is it?”
“Tonight, come over. We can all sit down and talk. But right now I want to take my boy home.” Fear nodded, and we all watched as Dane steered Talon out of the shop and to Dane’s car.
I was not sure if Dane expected all of us to turn up, but here we all were, and I did mean all of us. Family was family and the Parkers were going to learn quickly that when things went down, we all pulled together. Past experiences have taught us that our little makeshift family are the only ones that we can truly rely on.
“How is he?” Fear asked the moment he crossed the threshold. Dane didn’t respond. I thought he was shocked to see us all here.
“This is for Uncle Talon.” Lily held out a drawing that both she and Griffin had made. Not one of us wanted to be left home babysitting, so JJ and the little nuggets were here, too.
“Thank you, little one. I am sure that this is going to make him feel so much better.” Lily, pleased with the praise, smiled up at Dane.
“How is he?” Fear asked again.
“Sleeping…” Shaking his head, Dane continued. “He is going to hate this. Us all sitting around discussing him. This is his worst nightmare.”
“We’re not here to sit around and gossip. I was and am truly worried about Talon. We all are,” Mama Sheri offered.
“Come on in.” Dane gestured to the den. It was obvious he was exhausted and was feeling every ounce of pain his son was.
I sat down next to Fear on his right side. Alfie was on his left. Hayley, John, and JJ were on the loveseat next to the couch we were on. Mama Sheri and Ben sat on chairs Tristan had brought in from the kitchen. Dane stood by the door. Tristan sat on the floor, his back against the couch. Molly sat in the only armchair, looking just as stricken as her father. Drake, James, and Carter sat on the floor next to Lily and Griffin who were already coloring in the books they had brought with them.
“The reason Talon is the way he is is because of Emily. My ex-wife. When we met, she was a driven, hard-working woman who had such huge ideas for the future. It was sort of a whirlwind. We met and within a few months we were married, and Molly was on the way soon after that. Emily worked while I stayed home with the baby. It was never really a question of who would be the stay-at-home parent; Emily loved her job so much so that it was never going to be her. A couple of years after Molly, Talon came along and again, it was just a given that I would be the one to stay home with them.” Dane paused, shaking his head again. The pain at dredging up all these memories was clearly displayed on his face.
“I never saw it until it was too late. Emily was always at work and that made her happy, and I was raising the kids, doing what made me happy. We barely saw each other. I didn’t realize how she was. She was an amazing actress, and I fell for it. Talon’s speech problems were just that, a problem, but it nothing that we couldn’t work with or get him help for. He went to a speech therapist three times a week and was getting better every day. Molly was thriving and would encourage her little brother; she was fiercely protective. Emily didn’t seem to care one way or the other. I always just assumed that because she was out and at the office, she hadn’t had the opportunity to allow her maternal side to come through. She would be gone before the kids got up and come back when the kids were already down and in bed.”
As if sensing her dad’s distress, Molly continued. “The incubator was no one to us. We never saw her and never really wanted to. When she was around, she wouldn’t talk to us. We were just props.”
“What?!” Mama Sheri whispered, horrified.
“As terrible as that sounds, it is unfortunately true. My ex-wife was all about beating and one-upping everyone. Her work colleague was getting married. A month later, she found herself a husband. Someone else was pregnant, so whoops, honey, I must’ve forgotten to take my pill one day. Sorry, Molly. I am not saying that I…”
“Dad, they get it and so do I. The incubator wanted something; she didn’t care who she destroyed or hurt to get it,” Molly interrupted her father.
“Talon came along because she was invited to a baby shower and wanted one for herself. Not the child; the shower, the gifts, and being the center of attention. Anyone looking in, we appeared to be the perfect family. Loving wife and husband and two adorable children, the perfect job and amazing picturesque house. It was about what people saw. Things changed when Emily’s perfect life crumbled. She was fired…I never did find out why. My guess is that she finally pissed off the wrong person.” Dane’s voice was still soaked with regret.
“Dad ended up getting a job offer, and with the incubator out of work, he took it. She would just lock us in the bedroom while she did whatever it was she did. She would refuse to take Talon to his therapist in case someone saw her walking in there. Told Dad that she found a better one when he asked why she wasn’t taking him. Always ready with an excuse, that one. The worse Talon’s speech became, the crueler she became. I was told that if I told anyone, she would take Talon to a boy’s home for the defective, and seeing as how she got away with so many lies, we both believed her. If he tried to talk, she would tell him everything from him being an embarrassment to he should’ve been drowned at birth….” Molly’s voice cracked when she continued.
“My funny and full-of-life little brother broke, and we were trapped in a cell of torment of her making. He stopped speaking and started to believe every evil and cruel word that came out of her mouth.” Tears were falling freely down her cheeks. I wanted to go over a hug her, but I couldn’t move; I was statue still. I couldn’t imagine the hell Talon had been through and felt as a little kid.
“When I finally realized Talon was so lost he was basically a shell of the little boy I used to know, I lost it and tried to kick her out. I was so stupid that I didn’t see who she really was. The queen of manipulation didn’t make it easy, and it took a lot time and pain. Tristan came along during a period where she convinced me that she would change and go to counseling; that she would sign the kids over to me. It was just a manipulation tool to use against me as far she was concerned…I swear I had no idea what was happening; I would never have let my boy…”
“Because of the amount of hours Dad had to work to keep up with the lifestyle the incubator wanted, he wasn’t here to see it. I don’t blame you, Dad, and neither does T. She had us all where she wanted us. Even when we did finally get rid of her, it didn’t end; she still caused shit as much as she could whenever she could.”
“She still around?” I couldn’t kee
p myself from asking.
“She likes to pop up from time to time. She uses the excuse that she’s come to see Tristan. But Tristan doesn’t want to see her any more than the rest of us. He was only a toddler, but even he could see that she was…is...nothing more than an incubator.” Molly looked over to where Tristan was sitting, looking down at his hands. “That is another thing that Talon blames himself for. He feels that it is his fault that Tris had to grow up without a mother, because of his disability, he ruined Tristan’s chance.”
“He is not disabled, Mol; he just doesn’t talk like everyone else. There is nothing wrong with him,” Tristan spoke for the first time, the conviction in his voice causing it to break. It was obvious that Emily Parker had destroyed this family, one member at a time.
“You’re right; sorry, Tris,” Molly spoke directly to her little brother.
I watched as Fear was told everything. Nothing was held back. The bad and the worse, even what they tried to do in order to help get the happy little boy back. When Emily was more or less out of the picture, Dane tried everything to help. Counselors, doctors, therapists, but all it did was reinforce the damage his mother had done. It enforced in him that there was something in him that needed fixing. Everything came to a head when Talon turned sixteen and tried to take his own life. Emily had turned back up and from what both Molly and Dane shared, it was as if the last thread broke in him and he just wanted the pain to end.
Hearing that he’d been hospitalized and held in a facility because he was deemed a risk to himself broke my heart. I couldn’t help but see Fear in Talon, but that wasn’t all; there was something else, something I couldn’t understand or name. He just called to me. I wanted nothing more than to make his pain go away. Fight his demons and protect him from those who caused him to think less of himself.
The damage that one woman had done to this family was devastating. What was so painful to see was that they all still felt the guilt and carried the blame on their shoulders. Even young Tristan was laden heavy with guilt and pain. Emily fucking Parker had a lot to fucking answer for.
Sharpening His Broken Talon (Living Art Book 2) Page 6