Water from Stone - a Novel (28 page)

Sixty-Nine

Jack.

Jack sits in the dark. He’d fucked up. He never should have gone through with it this way. Christ. He should have taken a few more days to figure out how to handle this better, called Shaheen and let him handle it. What was he thinking, rushing out here. For what? To look at some little girl and say, ‘yeah, she’s mine, thanks for taking care of her all these years, but we’ve got to go now?’

But that’s what it comes down to, isn’t it? At some point, after the DNA tests are done, he’ll have to take her, get on a plane and go home. Will she think of it as home? He doubts it. That little girl’s world is all about Mommy, about Mar. And vice-versa. No way is she going to want to leave the only mother she’s ever known.

FUCK! He throws his empty tumbler across the room. The satisfying shattering of glass doesn’t come. Instead, the glass rolls off the bed and thunks impotently onto the floor.

Jack puts his head in his hands and tries to think. He should never have come here, should never have met them, seen them together as a family. As a lawyer, he should have known that. You make your clients keep their distance, keep it as clean as possible. You send the lawyers in to do the dirty work, mess up people’s lives. If he’d been smart about it, he’d’ve hired a local attorney to get the court order for the tests, waited it out in New York, and then flown in just to pick up Lizzie. Mia.

He laughs at himself in the dark. Yeah. That’s clean. That’s easy. For him. What about Lizzie? He can’t even think of her as Mia anymore. What about Mar? His thoughts return to the look of horror on her face as he’d reached for her in the restaurant. Jack gets up to fix himself another drink.

Twenty minutes later, Jack isn’t surprised when there is a knock on his door. In fact, he is glad for the respite from his own mad thoughts. He opens it and lets Sy in.

“How’re you feeling?” Sy asks. “I been calling, but your phone’s shut off and the room phone’s been busy.”

“I took it off the hook. I needed some time alone.”

Sy takes the beer Jack offers him and sits on the suite’s sofa. “It’s her, isn’t it?”

Jack picks up his drink and sighs heavily, “Yeah, it’s her.”

“So why are you so depressed?”

“Because I get it. I get what you said about it not being so easy as coming in and picking up my daughter. I mean, if she’d still been with the kidnapper, hell yeah, with guns blazing. But Mar? This is going to kill her.”

“Uh-huh.”

Jack gets up and starts pacing. “Help me out here, Sy. I’m at a major fucking loss. What am I going to say to her? Lizzie? That woman you’ve been calling Mommy all these years? Well, she isn’t really your mommy after all, so let’s go home.” He shakes his head.

“You don’t think Mar’d move to New York? Isn’t that an option?”

Jack shakes his head, “No, I think she’d do it. From what I saw tonight, I think she’d walk on water for Lizzie.”

“So?”

“So all these years I’m thinking when we find her, she’ll come home and she’ll be as happy to be with me as I am with her. Only now, I see that’s not going to happen. I take her home and she’s going to hate me.”

Jack drops into a chair across from Sy, but the nervous energy can’t keep him there. He pops back up and resumes pacing. “And what about Mar? How do you think she’s going to react?”

“She’s gonna lose it.”

“Exactly. And she’s going to get lawyers and she’s going to fight me every step of the way. No way is she giving up Lizzie without a fight.”

“But, shit, Jack, she’s not stupid. You gotta talk to her.”

“I don’t know. Don’t you see?  The whole problem with this is that I’m too close and it’s all too fucked up. I spent four years wanting to find that woman, Myrna? Natalie? Whatever. I spent four years wanting to find her and rip her fucking head off. Now I’m here and this mom person, this really nice lady who has no fucking idea I’m her worst goddamned nightmare, is sitting at home with my daughter not knowing her whole world’s about to blow apart.”

“Yeah, I get that.”

“Fuck you, Sy.”

“No, I mean, that’s what I’ve been tellin’ you.”

Jack rounds on him. “You know what? This is bullshit. This is all bullshit. That little girl? She’s my daughter. Mine. I’m sorry for Mar Delgado, but Mia is my daughter, and I really think the biggest fucking problem with this whole thing is that I’m here trying to figure out a way to be nice and I’m the one who was wronged. I’m the one whose wife was killed. I’m the one whose daughter was kidnapped. I’m the one who’s had to live with nightmares every fucking night for the past four years, and now I’m gonna be the bad guy. How’s that for justice?”

“Jack...”

“No, Sy. No fucking way. That’s it. I’m going home. I’m getting a lawyer and I’m going home. Ms. Delgado’ll just have to deal with it. I did.”

“So now she’s Ms. Delgado.”

“Back off, Sy.”

“Just see her, for Christ’s sake.”

“No.”

“Just give her a chance. Maybe you can work things out.”

“No.”

“Jack, come on. What can it hurt? Just talk to the lady.”

“No, Sy. No.”

“Please? Come on. What can it hurt? Maybe you guys can work it out together.”

“I don’t think so.”

“So it won’t hurt to try, will it? She’s your daughter, right? You can always get a lawyer later.”

Jack smacks his hand on the window. If anything, he feels worse now than he had in the past four years. All that time, Mia’d been only a dream. Now she is a gorgeous little girl named Lizzie. He takes a deep breath and lets it out. “Fine. Fine. I’ll talk to her.”

Seventy

Mar.

“No.”

“Mar.”

“Don’t ‘Mar’ me, Diane. I said no and I mean no. The guy’s a creep.”

“He had jet lag, he was sick.”

“You’re damn right he was sick. Sicko is more like it. Did you see the way he was staring at Lizzie all night? And then how he touched me? That was sick.”

“Come on, Mar. Before that, you thought he was a really nice guy. I mean, what was that yesterday when you shook his hand? You were interested in him.”

“I wasn’t.”

“You were. You said so. You said you think he’s gorgeous and funny.”

“That was before I knew he was a creep.”

“Honey, please.”

Mar throws some Payne’s Grey onto the canvas and instantly regrets it. “Christ,” she mutters, and begins scraping it off before it has a chance to dry.

“Mar,” Diane’s voice turns pleading.

“I’m not listening.”

“Please.”

“That’s not fair.”

“I never ask for anything.”

“Shit!” Mar stamps her foot and slams the palette knife onto her worktable. “This is so not fair.”

“I know, but…”

“Stop it! Fine, we’ll go, but if that freak so much as looks at me weird or does anything to Lizzie, we are so out of there.”

Diane nods, “I hear you.”

“I mean it. I’m only doing this for you.”

“Thank you, sweetheart.”

Mar glares at her, realizing she’s been played. “Shit!” she repeats and stomps down the stairs to change for a day of sightseeing.

Seventy-One

Mar.

Lizzie fell asleep on the drive home. Contrary to Mar’s expectations, it had turned out to be a fun day that had included lunch, sightseeing and then dinner. Jack had been on his best behavior and Mar had slowly warmed to him, had been touched by how easily Lizzie had taken to him. 

When they pull into Mar’s driveway, it is the most natural thing in the world for Jack to offer to carry her from the car. “Be careful to bend your knees. It’s the weirdest thing, but when she’s asleep, she weighs so much more. There, now, jump her up. She’ll put her legs around you.”

And she does. Instinctively, Lizzie wraps her little legs around Jack’s waist and buries her face in his neck.

Mar, turning from closing the car door, has to catch her breath. Something about the sight of Jack holding Lizzie causes her world to shift a few degrees. She blinks, and it is gone. She’ll have time to think about it later, figure out what she was seeing.

Mar leads the way through the curtain of pearls and turns on the lava lamp before asking Jack to put the little girl on the bed. He does so and laughs gently when the water bed begins to rock her.

“Won’t she wake up?” he asks as the waves rise and fall.

“No. When she’s out, she’s out.” Mar smiles. She’d been wrong about him. Today he’d been wonderful. Kind and attentive. She offers him a seat in the gliding chair while she gets Lizzie ready for bed.

“Wow,” Jack says looking around the room. “This is pretty incredible.”

Mar straightens, pajamas in hand and looks around the room. The undulating light from the lava lamp makes the room come alive, lends life to the sea creatures painted on the four walls and the ceiling. “I really didn’t want to paint it. At the time, I kind of had a phobia about the ocean.”

“Really? It all looks so real.”

“It’s what I used to paint. My husband died in a diving accident,” Mar begins as she undresses Lizzie. “Well, anyway, for awhile after that, I didn’t want to paint the ocean. This,” she waves her arm to indicate the room, “kind of put me back on track.”

“It’s beautiful. I really like Lizzie on the back of that dolphin.”

Mar turns her head and smiles at the image. “That’s my favorite, too. I can’t believe how much she’s grown since then, though. I don’t know what I’ll do if she ever wants to change this room. I’ll have to take that wall down and find a way to frame it.”

“I can’t imagine anyone ever wanting to change this room. It has to be the coolest kid’s room ever.”

Mar tugs Lizzie’s pajama bottoms up and then pulls the covers up over her. Reaching for Boosie, she tucks the blanket in next to Lizzie, who instinctively reaches for it. After tucking a stray hair behind Lizzie’s perfect seashell ear, Mar bends to kiss her daughter. “Dream well,” she whispers.

She straightens and turns to Jack, “Coffee? A glass of wine?” she asks. And then, “Are you OK?”

In the murky light, Jack looks spooked, but then the goo in the lava lamp shifts and Mar sees that it was only a trick of light.

Jack pushes up out of the glider. “All good,” he says and smiles.

Mar is again struck by his good looks. When he smiles like that, a thrill runs up her spine and buzzes around inside of her. She stares at him, enraptured. There is something so familiar about him, so compelling, that she can’t take her eyes off of him. “I’m sorry I’m staring,” she says as soon as she realizes that she has indeed been staring at him. “You remind me of someone.”

“Who?” Jack asks.

“I don’t know,” she says. “I’ve been trying to figure it out, but I don’t have a clue.” Finally, she pulls her eyes away from him and heads through the pearl curtain. “Anyway, would you like a glass of wine? Or maybe some coffee?”

“I really should be going.”

Mar laughs. “Got a blowtorch? That’s what it’s going to take to peel Sy away from Diane,”she says, referring to the other couple who’d headed over to Diane’s house.

“Well then, sure,” he says, “a glass of wine would be great.”

Mar reaches in and turns on the kitchen lights. As the lights come up and Joaquin steps out to greet them, Jack lets out a sound of surprise. “Sorry,” she says, “I should have warned you.”

”Is that your husband?” Jack asks.

“Yes,” Mar says softly. “That’s Joaquin.”

“He was a chef?” Jack asks.

“Yeah,” Mar nods. “He was going to open a restaurant in the Keys, in Florida, when...” her voice trails off. “Anyway,” she continues, “he was killed and he never did get to open that restaurant.”

Jack’s eyes find hers. “I’m sorry, Mar.”

She nods. “Me, too.” She lets out a large sigh and then turns back to the kitchen. “I’ve got Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet, Chardonnay, any preference?”

Jack whistles softly. “Wow.”

Mar turns to find him taking in the kitchen. “I know, it’s great, isn’t it? The guy I bought it from thought of himself as a kind of Emeril. Bam!” She shakes her head ruefully, “Not much ‘Bamming!’ going on since I got it. Oh! That didn’t come out right, did it?”

Jack laughs, “No, I think it came out just fine.”

“Sorry. It’s a thing I do, open mouth, insert foot. So, to definitely change the subject, what would you like? I think I’ve also got a Zinfandel and possibly a Pinot Grigio. Your choice.”

“Impressive.”

“It comes with the territory. The previous owner was also a wine fanatic and he left that huge cooler. It looks stupid empty, so I keep it filled. Look, he has a pantry just for the reds.” She opens a door. “Well, there you are, Goofball. I was getting worried.”

Picasso stretches and shakes herself off. Catching sight of Jack, she moves to him and sticks her nose deep in his crotch. “Picasso, no! God, I’m sorry, she has no shame.” Mar grabs the dog by the collar and pulls her back. “Now, sit! Be nice.” The dog sits for a second and then runs to the back door and sits again. “OK, that’s better. Out you go.” Mar opens the door and Picasso takes off. “I’m sorry,” she repeats. “Do you have a dog?”

“No, not in the city. I always had dogs growing up, though.”

“Oh. Well, I can’t imagine not having one. When Lizzie gets a little bigger, we might get another one. We’ve certainly got the space. Now what have you decided? How about a Merlot? I’ve got this Blackstone from Napa that’s delicious.”

“Sounds great. Would you like me to open it?”

“Sure, the opener’s over behind you. No, to the left. There.” She brings two glasses over to the island and allows him to pour. “We can take these upstairs to the family room or, if you prefer, out onto the porch. The fire pit out there keeps it pretty warm and I have a couple of Adirondack chairs that are real cozy.”

“Then the porch it is. What about Lizzie, though? Will she be OK?”

“She’s fine. I’ll just take this,” Mar shows him the baby monitor she has in her pocket and leads him to the back door.

Seventy-Two

Mar.

The fire catches quickly and puts out enough heat to keep them warm. Jack settles into a chair and Mar hands him a heavy down blanket to tuck around himself.

“My god, I’ve never seen so many stars before,” Jack says.

“That’s Lizzie’s star,” Mar points out.

“That’s the North Star.”

“I know, but it’s also Lizzie’s star. She wanted one and that’s the one we chose for her. Whenever we come out here at night, she wants to find her star.”

“She’s beautiful.”

“Isn’t she? I still can’t believe how lucky I am.”

“She’s adopted?”

“Yeah,” Mar smiles proudly as she tells him how it had all happened.

“She’s lucky to have you.”

Mar laughs, “No, I’m lucky to have her. I had no clue what I was doing, but she was patient enough until we got it right.”

They are companionably silent for a time, sipping their wine and watching the heavens. “Oh, look,” Mar points out a shooting star. “Make a wish.”

“I’d forgotten what a real nighttime sky looks like. New York insulates you and you forget that there is the rest of the world beyond its borders.”

“I don’t know how you live there,” Mar says. “It’s too busy, too loud, too impersonal for me.”

“You’re right,” Jack agrees after a moment. “I guess I don’t think about it anymore, but when I first got there, I hated it.”

“How’d you end up there?”

“I was recruited for a job out of law school. And, my best friend lives there. He was always telling me how much I’d love it.” Jack shrugs, “I guess I believed him.”