Justice Is Always Ready (A Graham Family Story, 1) (23 page)

The young girl toddled over to her and
reached up for her. With a smile, she bent over and lifted her up.
Tears welled in her eyes when Torrie wrapped her arms around her
neck and squeezed her tight. It was brief hug but it meant so much
to her. In the next second, Torrie was wiggling to get down where
she ran back to Justice. They stayed for a couple hours and left
after Justice told Torrie a story and tucked her in with a kiss and
the promise of returning soon.

After a farewell to Torrie, Justice
drove them to a restaurant where they had a nice lunch. Then he
took her back home after a stop off to check on her dad. He stood
on the porch with her and stared at her.

“
Thank you, Justice. For
today.”

“
Kassidy?”

She could see it in his face, he
wanted to talk about his admission of love and what was next for
them. Pushing up on her tiptoes, she brushed her lips along his and
gave him as much of a smile as she could. “I’m really
tired.”

Pain leeched into his gaze but he
nodded. “Okay, Kassidy. Do you want me to take Duke? Since I’m off
for a few more days I don’t mind taking him out of your
hair.”

“
Yeah, that way you can
take him when you go see, Torrie.”

All too soon, he had Duke loaded up in
his car and had her pressed back against the shut front door, his
gloved hands on either side of her head.

“
I meant what I said,
Kassidy. I’ll respect your need to be alone, but don’t hide from
everything. I’m just a phone call away if you need me.”

The kiss he placed on her lips was as
gentle as anything she’d ever experienced in her life. He observed
her closely, not saying a word, just holding her gaze.

“
I know.” She lifted a
hand and caressed the side of his face.

“
I’ll see you soon,
beautiful.” He lowered his forehead to hers and whispered, “I love
you, Kassidy.”

Then he left. She considered
everything while he drove away. When his taillights were no longer
visible, she entered her house and headed straight for the shower.
Once she’d finished and dressed in warm lounging clothes, she sat
at her kitchen table, a mug of hot cocoa before her, and mulled
over the past few days.

Justice had told her he loved her. Her
mom had died from a heart attack brought about by the Lupus she
had. The Lupus she’d had and hadn’t shared with her only daughter.
She had an appointment to discuss things with her doctor tomorrow.
Her stomach already twisting with a case of the nerves.

That night she hardly slept at all.
Bright and early the next morning, she was on her way to the
doctor. When the nurse called for her, she rose and followed her
into the back and quickly had her blood pressure, weight, and other
normal statistics taken. Then she was escorted to her doctor’s
office.

“
Kassidy, good to see
you,” Doctor Marta Lémieux said with her slight French accent she’d
never been able to get rid of. A beautiful woman with gray in her
hair, a firm handshake, and wonderful beside manner, the doctor
stood and moved around to give her a hug. “I’m so sorry to hear
about your mom.”

She swallowed the familiar lump and
responded, “Thank you.”

“
Now, they said you wanted
to see me about Lupus?” Doctor Lémieux frowned as she skimmed the
file before her. “Any particular reason?”

“
My mom had
it.”

Marta lifted her head and nodded. She
closed the folder and nodded. “And now you’re worrying that you’ll
have it?”

“
Somewhat. I just want to
know how she could have died from this? I thought it wasn’t a fatal
disease.”

The doctor laced her fingers and sat
forward in her chair, her arms resting on the smooth desktop. “In
most cases systemic lupus erythematosus isn’t fatal but it can
become severe enough to cause death. Did they say that was the
cause of her passing?”

“
No, officially it’s down
as cardiac arrest.”

“
Kassidy, I’ve been your
doctor for a long time. There are things that happen which don’t
make any sense. Lupus may not have been it, heart attacks are
common. Without seeing her chart, I can’t say for sure. Lupus has a
person’s immune response attacking healthy and normal tissues which
leads to chronic inflammation and the heart
is
one of the organs that can be
affected.”

“
But

”

“
No, you listen to me. It
attacks women nine times more often than men. But we can’t let that
stop us from living. Kassidy, life is fragile and can be taken away
at any moment. We do our best to prolong life, take care of
ourselves and all of that, but truth be told, there is no guarantee
on longevity. You have a perfectly healthy immune
system.”

“
Can’t that change?” Her
brain had locked on to the fact she could get it.

“
Yes, anything is possible
and it could change, at some time in the future, but right now,
Kassidy, at this moment, all your blood work came back fine. Your
blood pressure is a little high but that’s understandable
considering you’ve just buried your mother and you’re worrying
about this. You eat well, you exercise.”

“
But I’m more prone to
getting it versus someone else.”

“
African Americans and
Asians get Lupus more than other races.” She laid her palms out
flat on the desk. “Listen to me, Kassidy. We could spend all day
going back and forth about the stats on this. I know you’re
frightened, given what you’ve just been through, I understand. But
right here, right now, you do
not
have Lupus.”

Kassidy sat there in silence and
stared at the doctor. “I’m scared,” she finally said in a
whisper.

Compassion filled the woman’s face and
she reached across the desk and took one of Kassidy’s hands. Her
touch was warm and calming.

“
Just because something
happens to one of our parents does not automatically mean it will
happen to us. Yes, there are things like heart disease, cancer, and
stuff if it is prone in a family line one should be more cautious
but, you can’t go jump into a plastic bubble because of
this.”

Hiding in a bubble sounded pretty darn
good right about then. With a nod, she squeezed Marta’s hand and
got to her feet. “Thank you for taking the time to talk to
me.”

Doctor Lémieux rose as well. “My door
is always open for you, Kassidy. You know that. If you have any
other questions let me know.”

“
I will. Have a nice
day.”

She left and headed out to her car.
The winds whipped through the area and she fought off the shivers.
In her car, she sat in the parking lot while it warmed up. A lot of
thoughts raced through her head.

Back home, she sat on her sofa with
Libby and tried to sort through those thoughts. The love her
parents had was something she’d always wished for. But the pain her
father currently experienced for losing his love of so many years
wasn’t something she was sure she could handle, to love so
passionately and so deep only to have it taken away from you so
prematurely, so suddenly.

I don’t think I’m strong
enough for that.
Tears gathered in her
eyes as she reached over her dog and lifted the receiver off its
base.

* * * *

Justice swallowed back the bile that
swamped him at the message on his cell phone. He sank to a bench in
the locker room and listened to it one more time, as if that would
make it clearer.

“
Hi Justice, it’s… it’s
me, Kassidy. I know this is wrong to do over the phone but it’s the
only way I can. I think we need to take a break from each other.
I’m just… I just need some time, some alone time, to sort things
out in my head. I really appreciate you being there for me during
the funeral but I think we need to step back before anyone gets
hurt.”

Then it ended.

Before anyone gets hurt.
He was dying inside.
I tell her I love her
and she tells me she wants to take a break.
On his feet, he grabbed his bag and left. He drove to her
house and knocked. No answer.

“
Kassidy,” he called out,
trying to peer in through the windows. “Open the door so we can
talk.”

Nothing.

Whipping out his cell, he dialed her
number. He could hear the phone ring but there was no answer. He
ended the call and cleared the steps as he returned to his vehicle.
Her car sat there in the drive but she declined to come to the door
or take his call if she was in the house.

He sat there and drummed
his fingers on the steering wheel and debated his next move. With a
groan he drove home to take care of Duke. As he ran with the lab,
he tried to figure out what scared her.
Was it my telling her I loved her?
The cold winter air stung his eyes but the rhythmic pounding
of his feet had the impression of familiarity and grounded
him.

Back at his apartment, clean and fed,
he picked up his phone and tried her number again. Both of them.
There was no answer on either. When his landline rang he scrambled
to grab it.

“
Hello?”

“
Hi, Justice, this is
Carly.”

He sighed. “Hi, Carly, what can I do
for you?”

“
There’s been a
development and I was wondering if you could come to my office
today and we can discuss it. I’d rather do it face to face versus
over the phone.”

His heart skipped a few beats. “Sure.”
He glanced at his watch. Three-thirty. “Does five work for you? Or
is there a better time?”

“
Five would be fine. I’ll
see you then.”

“
Sure thing.” He hung up
and looked at Duke who remained at his side. He’d grown accustomed
to having the dog in his life. “Come on, boy. I think it’s time you
got to see my mom’s house for a bit.”

He loaded up into his car and drove to
his mother’s home. At the house, he looked at Duke and said, “Best
behavior here, ‘kay?” The dog huffed as if indignant. Justice
laughed.

At the door he knocked and swung it
in. “Mom! Grandpa! It’s just me.”

“
Hi, Jamal,” his mom said,
coming down the stairs with a welcoming smile on her face. She
kissed his cheek and glanced between him and Duke. “Why is there a
dog in my house?”

“
This is Duke, mom.
Torrie’s dog.” His mom had met Torrie, but Duke had not been
there.

“
Ahh.” She scratched her
temple. “And is he… umm… well behaved?”

“
You won’t even know he’s
here.”

She scoffed. “Right, like I didn’t
know about the turtles you tried to hide in the house? Or the
squirrels?”

He shrugged shamelessly. “You were too
good of a detective for me, mom.”

“
Humph. Come on, grandpa’s
in the kitchen.” They began that direction and she halted him with
a hand on the arm. “Where’s Kassidy? You two need to come for
dinner.”

Kassidy. Was it possible to experience
a heart being torn in two more than once in a day?

“
I don’t know if she is in
my life anymore, mom.”

“
What
happened?”

“
I don’t know. I got a
message on my phone today about her believing it best if we took a
break from one another, before anyone gets really hurt.”

Compassion filled his mom’s brown
gaze. “She just lost her mother, give her some time. She sounds
scared.”

“
Of what? I’ve done
nothing but be there for her? She knows I won’t hurt
her.”

“
Maybe it’s not her she’s
trying to protect.”

He frowned. “What do you
mean?”

“
Did you ever think she
may be trying to protect you from being hurt?” That stopped him
cold. His mom gave him a soft smile. “Think about it,
son.”

His grandpa walked out of the kitchen
and engaged him in a conversation. He convinced his mom to keep
Duke while he went to talk to Carly. All the way to his meeting, he
ran over his mom’s final question to him. Why would Kassidy feel
the need to protect him?

He hurried into the child services
building and continued on to Carly’s office. The room was mostly
quiet but he found her hard at work, fingers flying across the
keyboard as she typed.

“
Carly,” he said
softly.

“
Justice,” she replied
with a tired smile.

“
Sorry I’m late, hit a bit
of traffic on my way.”

She waved a hand and gestured to a
chair. “No problem. Have a seat.”

He did and waited for her to say
whatever was on her mind. “Okay, so like I said on the phone I have
some news for you. I want to preface this by saying don’t get too
excited.”

A thrill ran down his spine. Good
news. “What’s the news?”

“
I managed to pull some
strings and can get you an appearance before a judge in regards to
Torrie. Now, you have to make sure one hundred percent this is what
you want to do before I tell them yes.”