by Kim Hornsby
“Come on, Man.”
Kevin was part of the Carnation contingent, was nice to Jamey’s daughters, and for that reason Jamey put the man in a different category than a stranger abduction. They’d had dinners together at Carrie’s house, went on a picnic once with all the kids in Duvall, they’d had conversations about being fathers. Kevin had come to the wedding last year. Yes, Kevin had abducted his son and run to another country, but Wyatt had been treated well as far as Jamey knew. The kid seemed perfectly happy. Carrie and Chris had been through hell, wondering, so there would be a price to pay. Jamey sat on the side of the bed staring at Kevin when Tina walked back in, followed by Diego.
“Wyatt and Kai slept through it,” she said, shaking her head. “Amazing.” Tina sat beside Jamey and put her arm around his shoulders. Then she addressed the man on the floor who was blinking furiously. “Hello Kevin. Fancy seeing you in Nicaragua. What were you trying to do in this bedroom?”
“I thought I heard Rose in here.”
“Nope. Just me with a can of bug spray.” She turned to Jamey. “What’s next?”
Kevin turned his head to watch them.
“Well, let’s see. Rose abducted our child and said she was told to kill him. Luckily she didn’t. Kevin took Wyatt from his home in Washington State, crossed several borders with a child hidden in his truck, a child he didn’t have legal permission to take, making the mother of the child frantic. But did we once call the police. Hmm?” Jamey paused. “No, we didn’t. I’d like to stop Kevin and Rose from ever doing this again. I might shoot both of them,” he said. “Leave their bodies out there for the ants to pick at.”
“Well, before you do, I’m going to wash out his eyes.” Tina got up and went to the bathroom, making Jamey wonder why he even tried to play the mean guy with his softhearted wife around.
***
Once they made a tentative plan on what to do with the abductors until morning, Tina left Jamey and his mother sitting on the couch talking. With Kevin in the guest room on the floor and Diego watching him from the bed, she joined Kai and Wyatt in the master bed. Jamey’s phone was on the nightstand and when the texting ping sounded, she looked over to see Leilani on the screen. After all she’d been through in the last twenty-four hours, she didn’t give a flying fig if Jamey didn’t like her reading his messages. She picked up the phone and retrieved the text.
Lahaina is boring. Doug is driving me crazy. I need you. Get back here, Muscles.
Tina’s heart jumped into her throat. Someone in Lahaina was calling her husband Muscles. Someone named Leilani. Tina scrolled through the history of their messages to see that this woman always said the same thing.
“Front Street has a cold front with you gone, Big Guy.” “GI James—when you gonna teach me to dive? I want to go deep.” “Obi came to see me today. Said he misses you too.” “Call me, if you want the latest on how and what I’m doing without you, Manly Man.”
She found nothing to suggest that Jamey had written her back. Who the hell was Leilani and what was she doing sending a married man these texts? Over the last week, Leilani had made her husband smile in a very disturbing way.
Tina got out of bed, opened the door, and when she locked eyes with her husband sitting on the couch, she held up the cell phone. “Leilani is trying to tell you how boring Lahaina is without you, Muscles.” She threw the phone and he caught the careening missile just before it sailed over his head. Getting back into bed, Tina felt better. Now he knew that she knew.
Kai stirred with the first calls from the monkeys at dawn. He opened his eyes, and smiled at his mother who was staring at him. He murmured, then said something that sounded like “bugaw,” which woke Wyatt.
“Monkeys!” Wyatt said, his eyes getting wider with the noise. After sitting up, he looked over to the baby on the other side of Tina. “And baby Kai!” He talked to Kai in a high baby voice, which made the baby kick his legs and squeal with delight. Wyatt attempted to imitate the monkey noises and got Kai belly laughing, which made Tina jump up to grab her phone to film them. Kai was fascinated that a child had appeared overnight and kept trying to grab at Wyatt’s face. When Wyatt asked what time Daddy would be here, Tina reassured him that Chris would be landing at the airport after lunch. “He flew all night,” she told him. She got the feeling that Wyatt had had a wonderful adventure with Kevin and Rose. He didn’t seem traumatized in the least and mostly wanted to get out of bed to see the monkeys. She changed a diaper first and then told Wyatt they could quietly go outside.
Although the sky was barely light, everyone was awake and roaming around the house when they opened the bedroom door. Jamey and Annie were still on the couch looking like they had spent the night talking. They both looked exhausted, physically and mentally. Tina smiled at them sympathetically. When Jamey kissed his wife good morning and took Wyatt and Kai out to see the monkeys, Tina helped Annie make coffee. The plan was for Wyatt to go to the airport that afternoon where he and Chris would board the next flight back to the States. Chris had said that he wanted to return with Wyatt as soon as possible, not stay to visit or even see Kevin. He’d call between planes from Houston and they could make a plan on what to do with the man he was now calling “the criminal.”
By the time the monkeys stopped howling and Kai was fed, Wyatt was bouncing around the house like they were all on a big vacation. He was not to know that Kevin was tied up in the guest room, and so far, Kevin had been quiet. Thanks to that sock and duct tape.
Tina scrambled eggs at the stove and watched the green jungle come alive with the arrival of the morning sun outside the kitchen window. She sprinkled a handful of cheese onto the eggs and then salted them. When the bacon had just crossed the line from floppy to crispy, she lifted each piece out of the cast iron frying pan. On the other side of the kitchen, Diego made toast, buttering each slice as it popped up from the toaster. If there hadn’t been two prisoners tied up on the property awaiting sentencing, it would have been a lovely morning on Mombacho.
“Think our spouses will need extra sleep today?” Diego asked her, putting a stack of plates on the breakfast tray.
“Jamey is pretty good at going for days without sleep. What about Annie?”
“She’ll pass out as soon as we finish breakfast.”
They sat outside at the big table, as far away from the guest room as possible, and ate their breakfast, the monkeys having moved on by now. After Wyatt finished his last piece of bacon, Jamey asked if he wanted to swim in the pool. They’d take turns distracting Wyatt until it was time to leave for the airport.
Tina sat with Annie and Diego at the table, feeding Kai some mushed bananas. Annie looked exhausted, but there was a sense of relief in her eyes that Tina hadn’t seen before. And there was a feeling emanating from her that something had been resolved. All Tina had heard so far about Annie’s talk with Jamey was that their conversation was involved and not yet finished.
Before breakfast, Jamey and Tina had discussed the particulars of what to do with Kevin and Rose. He eluded to maybe letting them go on the stipulation they never entered the U.S. again. To do that and make sure it was enforced, he’d need to get a warrant out for their arrest so they couldn’t cross the border. “I want to wait and see what Chris says,” he’d said, reminding Tina that the outcome was also up to Carrie and Chris. Pepper knew a Federal Marshal back in Seattle if they needed one.
Birds called from the jungle below and the sun peeked from behind a cloud on the horizon. Already Tina’s armpits were drenched. It was going to be a humid day, even on Mombacho. She thought of another time when she’d sweated through her clothes like this; she’d been in Afghanistan, a prisoner of a group of volatile insurgents. That was a time in her life she preferred to think of as a bad dream. Kevin was lying on the guest room floor. It was a far cry from when she lay in the dark room in Kandahar thinking they might rape or kill her.
Jamey’s phone rang and Tina picked it up. “Hey Carrie.” She listened and fed Kai another spoonful
of banana. “He’s swimming in the pool with Jamey.”
“Does he look okay, no bruises? Was he dirty or hungry?” Carrie asked.
“He looks perfectly fine. His hair is short. No curls anymore. He had a great sleep, like nothing ever happened. He thought the whole thing was an adventure.”
“I’m actually in Houston switching planes right now. With Chris. We both flew.”
“Oh! You’ll see your son soon.”
When Tina hung up she looked at Jamey. “Carrie wants to see Kevin,” she whispered. “She wants to be the one to decide what to do with him. Rose’s fate is ours to decide.”
***
When Wyatt left with Diego for the airport, Jamey checked on Kevin who was still lying on the cold tile floor of the guestroom with a sock taped to his mouth. He’d shuffled around enough to get to a sitting position against the far wall, but was unable to do much more. Annie followed Jamey into the room with some breakfast.
“Hungry?” she asked, pulling the sock from Kevin’s mouth while Jamey watched.
“Is Rose okay?” he asked. “She’s sick, Jamey. I brought her here because her mom knows a psychiatrist in Granada. An American doctor. Then I was going to fly home with Wyatt. I have a fake passport for him in my pocket. You can check.” Words burst out of his mouth like they’d been waiting to be freed.
“Rose is fine,” Jamey said, if you think delusional is fine.” Jamey sat on the bed and stared at Kevin. “I agree your wife has serious mental problems. And you are a close second for abducting Wyatt.”
Kevin ate some eggs from the spoon that Annie held to his mouth. “I have plane tickets in my back pocket for me and Wyatt to fly to Seattle tomorrow. Swear to God. Take a look.” He took another bite. “I bought them two days ago. I’ve been waiting for Jean, Rose’s mom, to arrive.” He looked at Jamey with desperation.
Jamey knew this to be true.
Kevin continued. “Carrie is fucking nuts. You know that. You divorced her for a reason.”
Jamey shot Kevin a look to tell him this turn in the conversation wasn’t appreciated.
“She told me that I’d never see my son again. Told me to square up my taxes and shit before she’d let me have a formal custody agreement. She was threatening me. With Chris on the birth certificate, I don’t have any rights to Wyatt unless I sue Carrie and I haven’t got the money, plus I have to get my taxes in order. She’s been driving me crazy, Jamey.” He gulped.
Jamey was well aware of Carrie’s temper and how fiercely protective she was. Their marriage hadn’t been without fierce disagreements. “Carrie will be here this afternoon, so you can ask her for forgiveness then.”
Kevin’s eyes widened and he sat up straight. “She’ll tell you to throw me into a crocodile pit.”
Jamey didn’t want to miss this opportunity to make Kevin sweat it out. “If that’s the case.” He shrugged like he couldn’t care less.
Annie had finished feeding the prisoner and headed to the doorway, listening. She shot Jamey a reproachful look as she passed. “Mary Rose’s mother is on her way from Managua right now. She should be here in thirty minutes.”
Jamey nodded. Hopefully Jean wouldn’t arrive with a lawyer, seeing as how they were doing this off the books.
Kevin continued. “If you want, I’ll take Rose to Costa Rica. She can get help there.” He tried to catch Jamey’s eyes. “I need to get Rose help. She hasn’t been the same since her last miscarriage. Have a heart, Man.”
“Have a heart? Where was your heart when you took Wyatt to Los Angeles? And where was your heart when you crossed the border to Mexico. And why didn’t you have a heart when Chris flew to Mazatlán to get Wyatt and you just never showed up?” Jamey pulled Kevin to a standing position to search his pocket for the tickets and passports. “I’ll take these into consideration,” he said, waving the tickets and pushing Kevin back to the floor.
Outside, on the patio, Jamey threw the passport and tickets on the table and lifted Kai from his stroller. Looking at Tina, he whispered, “I need to explain something to you,” and motioned towards his cell phone. Tina found the texts from Leilani. Of course Tina found them. At least with all that was going on, he had time to get his story together.
She nodded.
He and Kai strolled over to the patio edge to where the dogs were playing with an avocado. “Dogs have a ball,” he said to Kai. “Ball.”
Annie whispered to Tina. “I have to admit, I’ll be glad when Kevin and Mary Rose are gone. It’s unsettling, all this.” She fingered the crystal around her neck. “I don’t know why Kevin can’t see Rose. He’s obviously concerned about his wife.”
“Kevin is dramatic, Annie.” Jamey called back. “And even if you don’t buy it, I don’t want Kevin and Rose to speak to each other and change their stories. It’s an interrogation tactic.”
Tina looked at Annie. “Your son knows all about this stuff.”
“And you should be glad I do,” Jamey said, returning with Kai to the shade of the fig trees. “Otherwise, those two might be gathering up children all over Granada.” He stared at Annie for a bit, then spoke to Tina. “Up until last night I wasn’t sure if she knew that I dream jumped as a kid.”
Tina looked over to where Jamey’s mother was fiddling with the hem of her colorful shirt. “As a mother, didn’t you worry that he had this ability?”
“Yes. But I knew his uncle had it. And Don promised to guide James through this strange ability and the life that came with it.” She looked at her son with concern. “I didn’t know that Don had died after a jump.”
Did his mother feel badly having left him on the assumption that Don would help Pops guide him? “Annie and I talked about how it was for us kids to find out our mother was gone.” His voice hitched on the last part. “She still hasn’t told me why.”
Annie finished her glass of orange juice. She set the glass on the table and circled the rim with her finger. “I needed to think about how to tell you my side of the story,” she said. “Decide if the truth would make things better or worse; nothing will be the same after you know.”
“I want the truth,” he said. He sensed the truth like lava bubbling inside the pit of a volcano, building and rising closer to the open top. Something so horribly sad had happened that his mother had no choice but to leave the family. And then, it came to him. Jamey knew what it was.
Annie spoke. “Your father was better at handling your dream jumping than I was. He’d grown up with a brother who did the same thing. It frightened me. I was horrified to think that my sweet child had this strangeness. I didn’t want you to know how much it frightened me. I wanted you to think it was perfectly normal. That you were perfectly normal. Your father and I tried to make it seem that way.” She took a deep breath.
The air felt heavy and charged with possibilities. Somewhere in the deepest part of Jamey lived the knowledge of why his mother left. He’d been lying to himself all these years, telling himself that he didn’t understand her departure. But he did. And now he needed her to verify his buried nightmare.
Tina took Kai from Jamey. “Maybe I should leave you two.”
“No,” Annie shook her head. “You should hear this.”
Tina settled the baby into a nursing position and hoped he was amenable. He latched on immediately and started sucking.
Annie gazed at Granada down below. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I left because I wanted to save lives. Save the family. Not ruin it.” Her eyes filled with tears. “You had a dream, James. A dream that changed everything.”
The volcano was about to erupt. “My dream,” he said.
Fat tears dropped from Annie’s cheeks to her chest. “You had a recurring dream that we’d skid on ice driving to Fall City.” She caught her breath and continued. “We’d go off the Tolt River Bridge into the icy water. Everyone would die but you and me.”
Chapter 21
Tina looked to her husband who remained perfectly still. Was he remembering the dream? His
eyes were wide, his face frozen in shock, and rightfully so. His mother had just revealed that the reason she’d deserted her children was because of him. Because of a recurring dream he’d had. Maybe a premonition.
Annie took a tissue from her pocket and wiped her eyes. “I believed you could foresee the future in these dreams. I really did. So did your father, and so did Don. And by the time you saw this same dream for the third time, I was convinced. The future involved me driving that old car full of my precious children off a bridge into an icy river. Three would die in the water, but not you. And not me. We’d be injured, but alive.”
Finally Jamey spoke softly. “I remember telling you about the dream.”
Annie dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. “I tried to avoid the bridge whenever we went out, but then I worried it would just happen another way.” She took her wedding ring off, put it on again, did that over and over.
Jamey’s face had turned a chalky grey. “We’d go off the bridge and end up in the river.” He closed his eyes and then put his head in his hands. “I had the dream so many times, it seemed like a memory. The water was so cold when it leaked in the windows and filled up the car. I lost my breath. It happened so fast.”
Tina held her breath to hear his words.
“I tried to get Jenny out of her seat belt but my fingers wouldn’t work. My one arm didn’t work. Gavin was floating around, his eyes shut, blood leaking from his head. The water was murky and I couldn’t see you or Robert in the front seat. I had to get to the surface for a breath. Then I wanted to go back down to get the others, but when I got out the window and up to the air, you yanked me to the edge of the river, told me to get up on the bank. You went back in, but you couldn’t find the car.”
“I wasn’t a strong swimmer.” Annie’s face was crumpled.