by Rob Edwards
Blexxk: She wants it now because it’s easier than taking responsibility herself. Why do any of the work of raising and helping your kid when somebody else can do it for you? Doesn’t matter who they are or where they come from.
rjohnson875: Self defense is as overused as That’s not mine, and I don’t know how that got there. Keep him locked up and keep the kid safe.
roseglass: Have any of you actually watched the video they’re talking about here? They have video of him working with the kid. He’s really good with him.
Chapter Forty-Four
Francisco’s neon sign looked a lot less flashy in the daytime. In fact, everything about the place was different; the street was busier and more noisy, the sun shone down hot, instead of the cool moonlight, which killed the atmosphere, and the pit in her stomach seemed like a deep crevasse.
Judith found it strangely ironic somehow that Jack wanted to meet her at the same place where Neil had set up the blind date just one month earlier. Two Rivers was a small town, but there were more places to eat than Francisco’s.
For the second time in a month, Judith took a deep breath, girded her inner strength, and walked through the doors of the family owned Italian eatery. She saw Jack immediately, sitting three booths down from where she and Neil had sat. He looked polished and handsome, wearing his finest business suit and a silver tie. He waved her over. They said their polite hellos, and she took her seat. “It didn’t take you long to put together a plan.”
“Have you seen the michigan-online article?” Jack said, holding up his smartphone.
“Yes. I thought it was good.”
Jack nodded curtly. “Sure, it was good. But it didn’t do much to sway public opinion.”
“How do you mean?”
“Did you read the comments?”
Judith nodded, though she wished he hadn’t seen the comments.
“The very first one….” Jack held up a finger for emphasis. “Where’s the father?” He threw his hands up. “Little do they know that the father had no clue he was even a father.”
Judith winced. “Jack, I’m….”
A waitress dropped off menus, and two glasses of water. “Our lunch special today is homemade spinach ravioli. Would you like a second before you order?”
“Yeah, give us a minute, and two cups of coffee, please,” Jack said.
“Okay, I’ll be right back with those.” The waitress smiled brightly, and scurried off.
Judith tried again. “Jack, I’m….”
Jack held up his hand and cut her off. “I can’t hear it right now.” He pointed to his phone. “You don’t fare any better. They say you’d rather put your son in the hands of a criminal than have to deal with him yourself.” He leaned in. “How does that make you feel?”
Judith shrugged. “They don’t understand.”
“Judith,” Jack shook his head. “This is the public opinion you’re trying to turn around. You can’t just shrug it off. And I,” He put his phone in his breast pocket and tapped his finger on the table. “As the boy’s father, am going to make sure this shit turns around right now.”
Judith leaned in. “Jack, I think we need to discuss all of this before we move forward with any plans.”
“Here’s your coffee,” The waitress said, setting two cups in front of them. “Are you ready to order?”
Neither looked up at the waitress. They stared uncomfortably at each other. At this point, even though the poor young lady was just doing her job, she was a nuisance. They both choose the ravioli just to get rid of her as soon as possible. The waitress tapped her pen on her pad, said she’d get that order right in, and rushed away.
Judith sighed. “I knew you had your hands full with Kate. You were devastated at the time. And I only made things worse by….”
“Look,” Jack said. He pulled his coffee closer and poured cream into it. “I was out of my head then, and I made the greatest mistake of my life. But I made it, and I owned it. So let’s not go into too much detail about the ‘good old days.’” He stirred his coffee. “I also understand I’m the interloper here right now. You’ve made it clear you don’t want my support or you would have come to me. But now that I know that I have a son, I am going to help. I want to help. I guess I feel that rather than sit around and act like Noah is a big mistake that we both should regret, I actually want to do something proactive to help him.” Setting his spoon down he took a quick sip to test the temperature.
Judith nodded. “No, I agree. I….”
“Here you go,” The waitress said, and dropped off two plates of spinach ravioli, with roasted asparagus. Judith and Jack were silent as she ground fresh Parmesan over both plates. “Is there anything else I can get you right now?”
“I think we’re all set, thanks.” Judith said.
“All right. Enjoy.” The waitress, gave them both a bright smile and walked away.
Jack leaned in and spoke quietly. “Can we agree that all talk of the past is over, and let’s start planning Noah’s future together?”
Judith nodded and looked at her plate. The food smelled great, but right now she felt if she were to take a bite, it wouldn’t stay down.
Jack pulled out a yellow legal pad from his briefcase on the seat next to him, and threw it on the table. “I’ve thought a great deal about this, and I’ve jotted down some notes. I wanted to go over them with you, and get your thoughts.”
Jack ate voraciously while he spoke. For some reason guys seemed to be hungry even when the world was in turmoil around them. He had written a great many ideas and described them in detail to Judith.
For her part, she liked them. She even had ideas to improve upon a few of his strategies. He took out his pen, crossed out lines, and wrote updates in the margins. Judith found the whole thing exhilarating. It was like she fell right back into that role again. This was where she was comfortable, where she had something to add to the world. And she remembered what a great team she and Jack had made. They did the whole pitch-and-catch thing very well. Each new idea building from the last one, making the overall strategy incredibly well organized.
“But here’s the kicker,” Jack said with a proud smile. “I know it’s a long shot, but there’s a woman who works at Danser now who has connections with a couple of the journalists at GINfo. I’m going to run your flag up their flagpole and see if the wind catches it.”
“Do you really think there’s a chance?”
Jack shrugged. “It’s always a no, unless you ask. But I think with an autistic boy and an oppressed inmate, this has crazy-human-interest-story written all over it. In all honesty, I can’t see them turning it down.”
Judith had to take a deep breath in order to keep from tearing up again—a habit she’d started lately that was becoming annoying, especially to her. “Jack, I can’t thank you enough for all your work on this.”
Jack waved it off. “Don’t thank me yet. We haven’t seen if any of it will work.”
The waitress stepped up to the table. “Can I get you anything else?”
Jack pointed at Judith’s untouched plate. “I think we need a box for her, and one bill please.” The waitress nodded and walked away.
“You don’t have to get my lunch, Jack.”
He pulled out a business credit card, and set it on the table. “Not to worry. You are now an official pro-bono account of Danser.”
Judith’s phone buzzed, and she pulled it out of her purse. The screen read Pleasant Oaks. She flipped it open. “Hello?”
“Judith Higgins?”
“Yes.”
“This is Maddy White, a nurse from Pleasant Oaks. I’m sorry to have to say this but your father has had another stroke. An ambulance is on its way to take him to the hospital.”
Chapter Forty-Five
When Judith pulled into the hospital parking lot, Darlene was just getting out of her car. She gave her horn a quick honk, and Darlene turned. Her sister looked exactly how Judith felt—stressed beyond reason.
S
he jumped out and caught up with Darlene. Darlene’s hair was pulled back and she wore a baggy sweatshirt and leggings. When Judith closed for a hug, she said, “I’m sorry for the way I look. I was working out when I got the call.” Judith took her hand and they walked into the emergency entrance together.
“We’re here for Ben Higgins,” Judith said, to the gray-haired woman behind the desk. “He was brought in by ambulance.”
The woman spun in her chair and looked behind at an EMT standing off to the side reading something on his phone. “Ray.” The man looked up and she nodded her head toward Judith and Darlene.
The EMT named Ray slid his phone in his pocket and walked over, clasping his hands in front of him. “Are you related to Ben Higgins?”
“We’re his daughters,” Darlene said.
“Follow me.” He waved them forward and guided them through the crowded waiting room, down a hallway into a smaller room and gestured for them to sit on an uncomfortable couch. Once they were seated he closed the door and leaned against it. “I’m sorry to say that your father passed away on the ride here from Pleasant Oaks.”
Judith’s vision narrowed and her head swirled. She heard Darlene crying loudly. But Judith couldn’t cry, probably because there was no breath. She wasn’t breathing, couldn’t breathe. The breath had just been knocked out of her.
Her sister reached over, grabbed her, pulled her in tight, buried her face in Judith’s shoulder, and cried.
Judith brought her arms around Darlene. That is what it took to bring the air back to her lungs. It flooded in, and like an ocean wave, flooded out again with wails of grief.
The two sisters clung to each other for several minutes, not speaking; just drifting in and out of long moments of uncontrolled tears. To his credit, Ray let them have a few moments. Then stepped over and knelt. “I’m so sorry for your loss. I can tell he was a very special man. He is still on our ambulance. We’re waiting for the medical examiner to see him, but then we would be happy to deliver him to a funeral home for you.”
Judith and Darlene both nodded, and blew their noses in concert. They looked at each other, still holding the tissues to their noses, and to their surprise they giggled. Judith pulled Darlene in close, and touched forehead to forehead. “I love you, Sister.”
Darlene reached up and rubbed her shoulder. “I love you too, Sister.”
Then they both sat back and pulled their phones out. “I’ll call Jim and let him know. He may have an idea of a funeral home, if that’s okay with you.”
“That would be fine,” Judith said. “I have to call work and let them know I’m not coming back in today.”
Judith was happy that Bernie missed her call, and she could just leave a message. She didn’t need his attitude right now. She was sure she would say something he would regret.
The rest of the afternoon was spent at Riley Spence Funeral Home, picking out the urn, writing the obituary, and making arrangements for the funeral.
That evening, after bringing Noah home from Keener, she sat in the chair across from the couch and watched her son eat from a bowl of dry Cheerios while he watched Cartoon Network. He seemed more interested in the Cheerios, however. He would pick them out of the bowl one at a time, hold it up to his eye, look through it, and then pop it into his mouth and chew it. There were a few that were either not completely circular, or broken. Those he would carefully set on a coaster on the coffee table. The coaster became the island of unwanted Cheerios.
“Grandpa died today,” Judith said to him. “We won’t be able to see him anymore.”
Noah continued on, not noticing that she spoke. She wished, at the very least, he could look up at her and say, “Sorry, mama,” with that sweet little voice of his.
She thought about her dad’s voice, and more tears ran from her eyes. When she was just a girl, his voice was strong and authoritative. When she grew older, his voice was tired but wise. After his stroke, it was muffled, but still sweet to her ears. And now it was gone, never to be heard again. She began to cry once more. She pulled the small pillow from behind her back, and buried her face in it, so as not to upset Noah.
The doorbell rang.
Judith dropped the pillow and grabbed a tissue. She dabbed her eyes and blew her nose, and the doorbell rang again. Judith stood, and shambled to the door. The bell rang again before she reached it, and she was about to say something snarly to the person on the other side but when she opened it, Jack was standing there, gleaming in his business attire. “Hey,” He said. “Your dad?”
Judith felt her lip quiver. She couldn’t speak. She shook her head.
Jack sighed, threw his hands in his pockets, and looked at his shiny black shoes. “I’m sorry. I know how bad that hurts.” He raised a thumb to his car. “I’ll come back. We can do this another time.”
“No,” Judith said, surprised at how frantic she sounded. “Let’s do it now. It’s exactly what I need.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded, and stepped aside to let him enter.
Jack walked in and headed directly to the couch and stopped. He stared while Noah performed his Cheerio ritual. “Why is he doing that?”
Judith shook her head. “Why does he do anything that he does?” She sat next to her son. “The world of an autistic person is vastly different than that of yours and mine. That is the biggest thing you have to get past. Once you realize that sounds are different to them than they are to you and I, lights are different, textures are different, communication is different, then you can begin to cope with the large amount of work you have ahead of you. You can try to do things based on their world view. You have to. They don’t have the capacity to do them in your world view. If they did, they wouldn’t be autistic.”
“That’s a very strong way to handle it.” Jack sat in the chair across from them.
Judith smiled at the compliment. “It is what it is. Strength isn’t the issue here. Learning how to make it through a day is.”
Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out an over-sized smartphone. “This is for you.” He held it up. “This is now Operation Noah-Delton Central, right here.”
Judith’s mouth fell open. “Jack. What are you doing? You aren’t required to supply me with a phone.”
“I’m not paying for this,” Jack said. “Danser is covering the whole thing.”
“Why would they pay for it?”
Jack sat back in the chair. “I told you, you’re an official pro-bono client now. You have friends in high places over there. I showed Al your video and told him what we were trying to do, and he told me to do whatever it took, and to bill everything to the company.”
“Did you tell him that…?”
“That Noah is my son?”
Judith nodded.
“No,” Jack said. “Only you, me, and Kate know, and whoever you’ve told.”
Judith took a breath. “Kate knows?”
“Kate is the one who saw your video and showed it to me.” Jack sat the phone down on the table next to him. “Don’t get me wrong, she’s not home thinking this is the cutest thing ever but…”
“You told her…about…?”
“I had to. It was killing me from the inside out, just to look at her.”
Judith stared at him, incredulous. “When?”
“I told her just before you quit.” Jack picked up the phone and started fumbling with it. “Believe me when I tell you that it didn’t go over well. We spent several months in separate bedrooms, and a great deal of counseling. I was glad that you left the agency when you did. You wouldn’t have wanted to be around me then, trust me.”
Judith clasped her hands in front of her and looked down at them.
“I’m sure that if she didn’t have MS she would have left me. And she should have.” His voice cracked. He coughed to cover it, waited a moment and spoke again. “But over time, she realized I was committed to her. We both worked very hard to put our marriage back together. So believe me when I tell you that I’m no
t all that happy to see you.”
Judith looked him in the eye. “Then why are you helping me? Why don’t you just leave me alone? I’ll figure this out on my own.”
“The number one reason is because I’m accountable for this too,” Jack said. He put the phone down again. “I was there that night. And even as drunk as I was, I should have stopped it…but I didn’t. It would be incredibly small of me to blame you for everything. I won’t do that. Number two is that Noah is my son. I haven’t been here through any of his life, and he’s a boy who has very special needs. But his biggest need right now is to get another man into his life who appears to be able to help him be all he can be. And if that’s my current role as his father, then you can be damned sure I’m going to do everything I can to make that happen.”
“And Kate?”
“Kate is totally on board with this,” Jack said. “I can say with certainty that she never wants to meet you, but she’s…pleased, for lack of a better word, to know about Noah.”
“She is?”
Jack nodded. “She’s glad that I will have someone in my life to care for after she…” He looked down at his shiny shoes again.
Judith wanted to run to him, hold him, let him know she would be there for him. But that was what had gotten them into this predicament to begin with. And even though she wanted to tell him that she never stopped loving him, she would forever bury those feelings.
Jack picked up the phone once more. “Okay, let’s go over this.” He acted very upbeat. “I have it all set up. There is a Noah-Delton Facebook account, Twitter account, and Pinterest account. You need to be active on these accounts. Something has to go up on each one every day.” He waved her and Noah together. Go ahead and hug Noah, I want to get your picture.”
“Jack. No.” She wiped at her eyes. “I’ve been crying.”
“That will only help us,” Jack said. “Hug him, close, and give us just a hint of a smile.”