Riversong (37 page)

Cindi twirled her arm in the air like she was roping a cow with a lasso and whooped. “Say it again, sister.”

Zac's eyes blazed and he lifted his chin. “You guys are so full of shit. No one's gonna cut off my fingers.”

“Who wants to hold his hand up on the bar?” Annie raised the meat cleaver in the air.

Linus smoothed his hand along the surface of the bar. “Don't do it here and ruin the wood. Let's take him to the kitchen.”

Tommy shifted his stance, keeping the gun on Von, but looking at Zac. “Listen, these guys are having fun at your expense. Truth is we're not going to hurt you. None of us have it in us. However, Lee needs this money, so we're going to give Von back his gun and let you two work it out between you.”

Von raised an eyebrow and surveyed Zac. “You gonna keep him tied up?”

Linus put his hand on his hip, with a mock innocence in his tone. “Don't you think that's best?”

Von grunted yes and nodded at Zac. “What's it gonna be then?”

Zac's eyes widened and for the first time he looked frightened instead of just angry. He turned toward Von and spoke like they were old friends. “Listen, you and me, we could work something out. Between us, y'know?”

Von looked at him, his face stony. “You wouldn't last a day in the company I keep.” He turned to Tommy. “Can I get my gun now?”

Tommy moved like he was going to give him the gun but before he reached him, Zac jerked in his seat. “No, no, I'll give you the money but you'll have to let me go so I can pull it together.”

Linus titled his head, tapped the back of Von's stool and pursed his lips in a smirk. “I don't mean to be bossy but I wouldn't let him go before I got the money.”

Von glared at Linus for a moment and then turned to Tommy. “You gonna give me my gun now so this idiot can get me the money?”

“We have an even better solution.” Lee reached under the counter and placed a small suitcase in front of Von. “Zac, you needn't worry about getting the money together. We took the liberty of taking care of that for you.” Lee opened the suitcase, which held stacks of money.

Zac stared at the bills. “What the hell?”

Lee pushed it closer to Von. “This is all of it, in $100 dollar bills, but we'll wait if you want to count it.”

He nodded, picked up several stacks, and flipped the bills, his eyes snapping with what appeared to be silent counting. After a few minutes, he seemed satisfied and closed the lid of the suitcase and shut the clasps. “You people are crazy in this part of the country.” He nodded towards Cindi. “Let me know if you're ever looking for work.”

“I run the bar here and someday we'll be known as the best restaurant in Oregon, so no thank you.” She fluffed her hair-sprayed coif, flushing a little as if she were flattered.

Tommy kept his gun aimed at Von. “Now that you've worked it out with Zac here, we'd like to keep your gun, make sure you leave without any trouble.”

“Consider it a gift.” He got off his barstool, gave a slight nod of his head, and limped to the front door. Billy unlocked it and Von disappeared into the darkness.

Annie went behind the bar and put her arms around Lee. “You're free.” Lee slumped into her, fatigue and relief washing over her in equal measure. Annie helped her to one of the tables and had her sit, smoothing her hair. “It's okay now. Ellen, she's really pale.” She pulled a chair next to Lee. “Put your feet up here.”

Ellen pointed her gun at Zac. “You want him over at the table now?”

Tommy walked to the table. “Go get Mike and then wait for us in the back, in case we need you.”

The others left as Tommy pulled Zac off the barstool and over to the table. Lee wanted to tell Zac that everything was going to be fine, that he just needed to get himself cleaned up and then he could go to the beach. She might say, you don't need a million dollars, you could live there anyway, start to make a life for yourself slowly, get a job and an apartment. She wanted to tell him that her mother's life could have been different if she'd faced her pain instead of trying to kill it with vodka. She wanted to tell him that rehabilitation would help him, and that he could rest there and heal from the years of drowning all that rage and sorrow with booze, drugs and women. But Zac wouldn't meet her eyes, kept his gaze on his hands, slumped forward, so she stayed silent too.

She peeked at Tommy across the table. He looked tired, deep circles under his brown eyes. She put her hand on his arm and he looked at her. She mouthed the words, “thank-you” and he nodded but then looked towards the door. Her heart filled with remorse and she wondered if she could win him back after all she'd put him through. After a moment, Mike came in from the back and joined them at the table.

Mike nodded at Zac. “Son.” Zac didn't respond, except for a twitch and shift in his left leg.

Tommy leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs. “We've got video of you dealing drugs in the parking lot, copies of your client book and pictures of the sacks of money. More than enough evidence to get you thrown in jail for a long time.” Lee went to the bar and pulled the copies she made months before of the contents of his Fairy Book, photos of the money and fake tapes, and placed them on the table in front of Zac and sat again.

Zac looked at them, sullen for a moment and then his face turned purple like it did the day Lee confronted him, all those months before. His body shook and his eyes darted back and forth. “What do you want?”

Mike pulled his chair closer to the table and looked as if he might reach for Zac's hand but instead crossed his arms across his chest. “We don't want you to go to jail. We think you need some time to dry out and there's a place down in California that will take you. It's a full 90-day drug and alcohol treatment program. Get you cleaned up and help you deal with stuff. They even have the family participate. I talked to your mom and she's willing to come out for it. And me, too, of course.”

Zac looked up then, his eyes wide and his voice haggard and dry. “You talked to Mom about this?”

“Yes, and she was concerned about you. Wanted to help,” said Mike.

“I'm sure. ‘Cause she's been so involved the last twenty years. You can't make me go to rehab. I just drink a little too much. I'm not like those people.”

Mike glanced at Lee, looking uncomfortable. She caught Tommy's eye and motioned towards the kitchen. He nodded and they headed for the back. As the doors closed she heard Mike say, “Rehab or jail. Your choice.”

The rest were huddled around the chef's island in the kitchen. They all looked up when Lee and Tommy came through the door. “Are they still out there?" said Annie.

“We wanted to give them some privacy,” said Lee. She plopped into the chair by the walk-in freezer just as she felt a little pop and then a gush of fluid between her legs. And then there was a pool of water underneath her chair. She stared at it for a moment, unable to make out what happened and then it occurred to her. “I think my water just broke.”

The women circled and Annie took control. “Tommy, get your truck and pull around front. Ellen, call the doctor and have her meet us at the clinic.”

Lee shook her head, dazed. “But the baby's not due for three more weeks.”

Annie gripped Lee's hand. “Don't worry, after what we just pulled off, having a baby's going to be a piece of cake.”

Tommy, his face wan, appeared at her side and guided her towards the door. A pain like severe cramps started in her groin and she felt her belly tighten. She gasped and leaned against him until it passed. She grabbed his arm and whispered. “Please stay with me.”

“I will.”

The doctor, hair disheveled, was between Lee's legs. “Just one more push and we've got a baby.”

Lee flopped back onto the hospital bed, looking first at Tommy and then Ellen. She'd pushed for two hours and she was beyond fatigue, almost delirious. “I can't do it. I'm too tired.”

Tommy's voice was in her ear. “Just one more push and you get to see the baby.”

She looked in his eyes and anchored to that pool of brown. “It hurts.”

He wiped the sweat from her face with a soft cloth. “You're tough, you can do this.”

The doctor's voice sounded far away. “Alright, it's time, just one more push, Lee. Tommy, get behind her on the bed and prop her up.”

She leaned into Tommy's torso and tried to breathe through the burning pain and the intense pressure of the baby's head pushing through the small opening of her body. She concentrated on Tommy's voice in her ear, took a deep breath and pushed with her remaining strength. There was burning pain like she might rip in half and then she knew the baby's head was out. Then there was a gush of fluid and the sensation of the rest of the baby slipping into the world. Then crying that sounded like the exaggerated mew of a frightened kitten. The doctor held it in the air and Lee saw flailing limbs and a slightly bloody head thrown back. “It's a girl and she's got red hair”, said the doctor. A nurse wiped the baby with a cloth and placed the naked bundle in Lee's arms. The baby's stunned eyes, only minutes ago in the protected warmth of a womb, locked to her mother's face. Lee scanned her features, for clues about who she was, who she looked like, if Dan were etched anywhere. But she was so small that Lee couldn't see anything recognizable.

The nurse said, “Hold her close to your skin. That way she knows you're her mommy.” Lee did as instructed, holding the baby to her chest and kissing her damp forehead. She held one of the petite wrinkled hands in her own, gazing at the miniature fingernails and then back to the round newborn eyes, which hadn't moved from Lee's face. Lee shushed the baby, her baby, rocking her and kissing the top of her head. “Don't cry now, we're all so happy to see you.”

Lee looked up at Tommy. His eyes brimmed with tears and he murmured something in Spanish as he touched the top of the baby's head. Ellen, on the other side of the bed, sniffed and patted Lee's shoulder, “You did good girl, really good.”

The nurse took the baby from her and put her on a scale that looked like a bigger version of the one Billy used at the restaurant. “6 pounds, 9 ounces. Now all she needs is a name.”

It was morning when she awakened to the antiseptic smell of the clinic's recovery room. She lay back onto the pillows, wincing from the pain in her groin. Tommy was asleep on the cushioned bench next to her bed. Ellen rocked and cooed to the baby, who was wrapped in a pink blanket and cap. Lee watched them for a moment, swallowing the lump in her throat. Ellen looked up and came to the side of Lee's bed. “How're you feeling?”

“A little sore, but better.”

“You ready to feed her?”

“You think she's hungry again?”

“She's rooting around for something over here and I had to tell her that ship's long since sailed.” Smiling, Ellen placed the warm bundle in her arms. Lee stroked the small features before opening her hospital gown, guiding the mouth that looked like a rose petal onto her breast. The baby clamped on and sucked, her cheeks moving in nature's patterned rhythm of suck, suck, breath. Ellen clucked and patted Lee's shoulder. “I knew you'd be a natural. Your father was giant, almost ten pounds. Did I ever tell you that? He had a cone head the whole first month, but this one's so petite her head just came out perfectly round. To me she looks just like your Grandmother Rose.”

“I didn't think you'd be the gushing type.”

“Well, shoot, she's perfect.”

“Ellen, I'm terrified I'm going to screw this up. You've got to help me.”

“This mean you're staying?”

She reached for Ellen's knobby hand. “I can't leave your pies.”

Ellen's eyes misted and she pulled the baby's cap further down her petite forehead. “We've got a lot of pies to make up for.”

“Ellen, I've been thinking about something. I want to call Dan's parents and tell them about the baby.”

Ellen nodded, pursing her lips. “I think that's the right thing to do.”

“She's going to want to know them. And it might give them a little peace.”

“Having lost my own son, I can tell you that it will. You want your phone?”

She looked at Tommy's sleeping form and shook her head, no. She'd call them later, after some things were settled.

Tommy stirred and sat up with a start. “Was I asleep?” His eyes darted from the baby to Lee. “You alright?”

“Just tired.”

He jumped from the bench and hovered next to the women. “Is the baby alright? I heard the doc say babies that are born a few weeks early sometimes get jaundice and have to sleep under special lights. Did they check for that yet? What about you? Are you still in pain?” He looked at Ellen. “Has the doc checked on Lee? Should I go get her? Maybe we should give her one of those pain pills the nurses left. Where's the ice pack?”

Ellen laughed. “Relax, Papa Bear, they're both fit as fiddles.” She motioned to Lee to give her the baby. “It's been thirty-five years since I held a new life and I'm going to get my fill. I'll take her for a little walk around the clinic. Show her off to the nurses.” Ellen left, never taking her eyes from the baby. After the door swooshed shut, it was silent except for the ticking of a clock and Ellen's footsteps making their way down the tiled hall. Tommy sank into the bench, rubbing his eyes and scratching the stubble on his face.