The Many and the One

by Donald Wells

  Simone stares with concern. “Lindsay, honey, Simona was Derek’s not Jason’s, those independent labs have extremely stringent protocols and safeguards, whatever you’re feeling is probably caused by the hormonal changes and the emotional intensity that pregnancy brings.”

  “Do you remember I knew Simona would be a girl? Well, this one’s a boy.”

  “Honey the odds are fifty-fifty, the baby could easily be a boy.”

  Lindsay lowers her eyes. “I shouldn’t have said anything, it makes me sound foolish. I haven’t spoken to Jason about it but I had to talk to you, to try and make sense of it.”

  “Well now you’ve told me, but I don’t know what else to say honey, I’m sorry.”

  “There’s no need to be sorry. I know what I know. Now I can just sit back and wait for our son to be born.”

  Matthew Paul Reynolds is born on October 29th, 1991.

  38

  By the summer of 1994, baby Matthew is fulfilling the prophesy of the terrible two’s, and is the constant shadow of his “big sister” Jenny. He also looks so much like his father that it appears Jason has cloned himself, rather than sired a son.

  Jenny, having experienced her first moments of puberty, is maturing rapidly toward womanhood as Jason and Lindsay essentially raise her.

  Emily’s mother died in the spring, a mere four months after Emily’s father passed away.

  As an only child, she’s become sole heir to a modest inheritance. She spends a portion of it every day on getting drunk; however, she’s also spent a sizable amount to obtain information. She sits in a booth at the Beach Club Diner, waiting for the detective to show.

  The diner is packed with vacationing families and sunburnt tourists grabbing a quick bite before heading back to the beach and boardwalk.

  From time to time a waitress tosses Emily a dirty look for sitting alone in a booth with only a cup of coffee, but at last, Emily’s party arrives and sits across from her.

  The man looks more like an accountant than a detective, and as he opens his briefcase, he smiles apologetically at Emily.

  “Sorry I’m late, but the traffic on this island is unreal.”

  “Only in the summers Mr. Burke, now, do you have something for me?”

  “Yes, your suspicions were correct, the Congressman is having an affair, many actually.”

  “I only care about the one, do you have photos?” Emily asks.

  Burke reaches into his briefcase and takes out an envelope, as he nervously pushes his eyeglasses back along his nose.

  “There’s something about those I need to explain Mrs. Stern.”

  “These are self-explanatory. I knew I wasn’t crazy. I knew they were having an affair.”

  Emily is looking at twelve 8 x 10 photos that appear to show Derek and Lindsay entering and leaving a hotel room together. In five of the photos they’re kissing.

  “Mrs. Stern, ah, those aren’t what they appear to be. We had men following both Mrs. Reynolds and your husband. At the time those photos were taken, Mrs. Reynolds was here on the island at the community theater rehearsing for a play. That woman only resembles her.”

  “What are you saying Mr. Bur—”

  The waitress interrupts. “So, you two want anything to eat?”

  They shake their heads and the waitress stalks away, mumbling under her breath.

  “Mrs. Stern we checked on that woman. Her name is Cassie Warren, she’s a prostitute.”

  “You’re telling me that this Cassie Warren, that my husband just happened to find a hooker who looks like Lindsay?”

  “No Ma’am, not exactly, Ms. Warren works with a high-end agency that handles, ah, specialties. They cater to any taste, usually this involves some sort of fetish, in your husband’s case, they made him a girl that looks like Mrs. Reynolds.”

  Emily feels her stomach loop.

  “What do you mean, ‘they made her?”

  “Well, our source tells us that Ms. Warren had extensive plastic surgery done on her face in order to look like Mrs. Reynolds, also breast augmentation.”

  “Derek did this? I know he loves her, but this! How long have they been… meeting?”

  Burke hands Emily an itemized bill. “The Congressman has been seeing her for nearly two years, I’m sorry Mrs. Stern.”

  Emily scribbles Burke a check and rushes from the booth. She stops at the post office where she takes the photos, along with a hastily written note, and mails them to Derek; next, she heads off Island over the Gateway Bridge.

  She pushes her car to well over a hundred miles an hour on the Garden State Parkway and slams head-on into a bridge abutment.

  The small car disintegrates, while Emily is killed instantly.

  Later, the police report states that her blood alcohol level, although elevated, was below the legal limit and that there were also no signs of skid marks.

  * * *

  When Derek receives Emily’s package, he collapses into a chair and reads her note.

  Derek,

  I have always loved you. When Lindsay caught us together in high school, that was no accident. I made sure she would discover us.

  I knew you loved her but I had to have you, and I thought in time you would come to love me too. I now see how wrong I was. The endless affairs never hurt, because I knew you didn’t love them. I always knew Lindsay was my only competition for your heart.

  With my discovery of this woman, this replica, I now realize how much you ache for her. I also feel your despair in knowing you will never have her again.

  An affair with Lindsay would have been painful, but I could have fought her for you. How do I fight this creation of yours? I can’t fight a ghost; I think I shall become one.

  Love always,

  Emily

  Derek cries after reading the note, he also never sees Cassie Warren again.

  39

  A month after Emily’s funeral, Lindsay is in the kitchen reading the local news while Jason peruses the sports section, on the floor, little Matt plays with his building blocks.

  “Wow, it says here that they’re tearing down The Wave bar to put up an all-suites hotel, something called Brannick Tower, that’s like the end of an era.” Lindsay says.

  “Yeah, it sure is.” Jason agrees, while thinking back to the time he met Rita Milano there and nearly slept with her.

  At a family gathering last Christmas, Jason’s Cousin Melody showed Jason a Christmas card she had received from Rita. It showed a smiling Rita with her husband and their three children. Rita looked very happy.

  Jenny uses her key and enters through the backdoor. Matthew runs to her laughing and she picks him up and kisses him, then he slides to the floor and continues his block building activities.

  “Good morning sweetie, don’t bother cooking us breakfast. Jason and I were both piggies and ate the leftover lasagna.”

  Jenny kisses them both hello and then reclines with her back against the refrigerator. “I’ve got something to tell you guys.”

  Lindsay reads the tension in Jenny’s face. “What’s wrong honey?”

  “Father came home last night with news. He’s been asked to run for the Senate and he wants me to go with him as he campaigns.”

  Jason and Lindsay look at each other. They’ve discussed this possibility before. They knew that someday their “daughter” might be wrenched away by Derek and they had prepared themselves for it. They each still feel like the world is ending.

  “Honey, how soon until you leave?” Jason asks.

  Jenny nearly whispers. “Tomorrow morning,”

  “Oh God!” Lindsay says.

  “I know.” Jenny says.

  “But you’ll be back after the election, right?” Lindsay asks.

  Jenny starts to cry, but before she begins sobbing too hard to speak, she gasps out. “We’re moving to Washington for good.”

  Lindsay gets up and hugs Jenny, when Jason walks over Jenny transfers herself into his arms and keeps crying. Baby Matthew, upset by this displ
ay of emotional turmoil, likewise starts crying, his mother picks him up and soothes him.

  Jenny’s tears subside and Jason releases her, she leans into him. “I don’t want to leave you guys, this is my home. Could you talk to father, he won’t listen to me.”

  Lindsay and Jason share a look of despair.

  “Jennifer, we’ll talk to your father but don’t expect much, he doesn’t like us.” Jason says.

  “You guys tell me that, but you never tell me why, why do you hate each other?”

  “Honey I think you’re still too young to know the reasons, we’ll tell you someday.”

  “But Lindsay, today’s all the someday we might have.”

  “Is your father home now?” Jason asks.

  “He said he’d be home all day, he said he’d be expecting you.”

  That, Jason does not like the sound of at all,

  “Please stay and take care of Matt, Lindsay and I will go see your father. We’ll try our best to keep you here.”

  “Thank you Jason, Lindsay, maybe, maybe he’ll listen.”

  * * *

  “Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds to see you Congressman,” Marta announces, as she ushers them into Derek’s office.

  Five years earlier, Derek sought to take a daughter away from Jason, now, Jason seeks to keep Derek’s daughter away from him. A sense of irony and a feeling of déjà vu are thick in the air and Jason thinks he can almost hear the Tinkle tinkle tinkle of Charlotte’s imbecilic bell.

  He looks across the desk at the only man in the world he truly hates and is surprised by what he sees.

  Derek’s once perfect face is now merely handsome, it has attained a puffiness that had not been there before, and by the way his suit jacket fits, Jason suspects the Congressman has acquired a layer of fat across his mid-section.

  The lifestyle of debauchery is having its effect, but the most startling change is in the eyes. Always before, Jason had beheld a spark of mischief flashing in the depths of those black eyes. But not these eyes, these eyes hold only a sense of hatred, of detestation. Jason looks into those eyes and knows that Jenny is lost.

  Derek leans back in his chair. “I assume you’ve come to see me about my daughter.”

  “We have; we would like you to reconsider taking her away.”

  “No Reynolds, my daughter belongs with me now.”

  “But you’ll be campaigning,” Lindsay says. “You’ll barely have time to spend with her.”

  “Staffers will see to her then, but this is really none of your business, is it?”

  “We’re concerned about her welfare Derek.” Jason says.

  Derek smirks. “When you were in charge of my daughter Simona’s welfare, you couldn’t even keep her safe in your own home.”

  Jason, now incensed, tenses to lunge across the desk, but then he feels Lindsay’s restraining hand on his arm. He sighs deeply and settles back into his seat.

  Lindsay’s right, this is for Jennifer, I have to control myself.

  Jason then watches Lindsay stand, lean across the desk, and slap Derek as hard as she can. The sound is like a rifle shot in the closed office.

  “Never again in your life speak our daughter’s name to us.” She says.

  Across Derek’s face is a deep ruby mark, as blood trickles from the left corner of his mouth, a mouth that wears a disturbing smile. Derek licks away the blood, as Lindsay retakes her seat.

  “Jenny’s leaving with me tomorrow and there’s nothing you can do about it, absolutely nothing.”

  “We’ll release the tape; we’ll send it to every news outlet in the country.” Lindsay says.

  “That would have unfortunate consequences for my political career, but I would still take Jenny away. Do not release the tape and I may allow her to visit in the summers.”

  “Why are you doing this, to hurt us?” Jason asks. “Jennifer’s probably the only person on this planet that honestly has a good feeling for you. You’ll destroy that; she’ll hate you for this.”

  Derek says. “On the contrary, Jenny will learn to love me.” And for just a moment, that spark of mischief is back within those eyes.

  Lindsay clasps her hands together atop the desk. “I, we, are begging, please let Jenny stay.”

  “No Lindsay, go back to your fucking perfect cabin with your fucking perfect husband and fucking perfect child. Jenny is mine, all mine, and I’ll raise her as I see fit.”

  “We’ll give you the tape if you let Jennifer stay.” Jason says.

  Derek shakes his head.

  “I’m not as gullible as mother was. I could never be certain that you’d given me every copy, so what would be the point? Leave now, you’re beginning to bore me.”

  * * *

  They return home. Jenny hears the gates opening and rushes out to greet them, carrying Matthew. When they exit the car, Jenny knows by their faces that there is no hope.

  For the second time in their lives, Jason and Lindsay know the horrendous feeling of not being able to protect a child from harm.

  The four of them come together as the great, black iron gates shut behind them, and their future comes to a close.

  THE

  MANY

  AND

  THE

  ONE

  PART FOUR

  40

  Three years later, Ocean Beach Island, New Jersey, Friday November 14th, 1997

  Jason is in the living room of the cabin, gazing into the fireplace, watching the flames dance among the logs they consume, and although he looks at them, he does not see them.

  In his mind, he once more sees the crying eyes of his beloved “daughter” Jennifer as she climbed into the limousine that carried her away, seemingly forever.

  For three years he and Lindsay have tried without success to contact her. Letters and phone calls go unanswered and pleas to the Stern’s maid, Marta, are useless. Four times they’ve made the trip to D.C., and four times they’ve come back empty.

  “Daddy,”

  “Daddy?”

  “Boomer, your son’s calling you.” Lindsay says. She’s standing beside him with Matt.

  Jason snaps out of his reverie of Jenny and grabs his six-year-old son onto the sofa and starts tickling him.

  Between giggles, Matt cries out. “Stop Daddy stop, mommy help!”

  Lindsay joins them on the sofa and tickles Jason, soon the whole family is laughing. Matt then playfully punches his father in the stomach and runs upstairs.

  Jason calls after his son. “Ouch, hey come back here, I’m not done tickling you yet.”

  “No! Mommy can I play video games until dinner?”

  “Sure baby, dinner will be ready in about an hour.”

  “I’ll get you later tiger.” Jason says.

  “No you won’t.” Drifts down from Matt’s room, the room that was formally Simona’s,

  “Honey, you were really in a fog when Matt and I came in. What were you thinking about, your dad? Your mom says he’s been doing great since his bypass surgery, I wouldn’t worry too much.” Lindsay says, she then sucks the tip of her thumb, wetting it, and rubs tiny flecks of blue paint off of Jason’s chin, flecks acquired while he was working on a painting earlier.

  “No honey you’re right, my dad’s like a new man now, no, I was thinking of Jennifer.”

  “Oh Boomer, I think about her all the time too. I miss her so much. I wish we could hear from her just once, just to know that she’s all right.”

  “What if Derek turned her against us with lies? I mean why else not even a phone call, in all these years?”

  “All we can do is pray that she’ll come back someday.”

  “Lindsay I’ve been praying for years.”

  “Me too, oh I almost forgot, Tyler called and thanked us for our donation.”

  “He’s welcome, I still feel bad about the way we deserted those kids when Simona died. They enjoyed the beach so much and when we left, we took that away.”

  “Tyler understood, and I think the kids back then und
erstood also.”

  “Well, it’s theirs every summer now.” Jason says.

  “It wouldn’t feel like summer without them.”

  Jason sighs heavily.

  “What?”

  “Jennifer,”

  Lindsay hugs him and whispers. “I know, I know.”

  * * *

  Tuesday, December 9th, 1997

  Marta opens the front door of the Stern family home on Ocean Beach Island, and the owner walks in for the first time in over three years.

  “Sen… Senator, it’s good to see you Sir.”

  “Yes Marta of course, I see you’ve kept the home up, but then you and McGee have basically had a vacation these years I’ve been gone. All you’ve had to do was see to the few colleagues I’ve let stay here, incidentally, where is McGee?”

  “Sir, Mr. McGee’s out running errands, he should be back soon.”

  Derek says, “Fine,” as behind him, Jenny walks in.

  “Madre de Dios—Miss Jenny is that you? You’re so grown-up and beautiful.”

  Jenny gives her a half-hearted smile. “Hello Marta.”

  “Marta, Jenny and I will be in the office. Do not disturb us.”

  Marta wrings her hands.

  “In the office Sir? Both of you?”

  “Yes, is there a problem?”

  “No, no Sir.”

  Derek stares at her. “I thought not.”

  Jenny goes into the office with Derek behind her and the door is closed and locked, she stands by the desk with her head down.

  “Jenny take off your coat and come sit next to father dear.”

  Jenny immediately takes off her coat and sits on the couch.

  “Aren’t you happy to be home dear?”

  “Yes father.”

  “You’re thinking how nice it would be to go and visit the Reynolds, aren’t you?”

  “Yes Father.” Jenny says, a touch of hope in her voice.

  “Father agrees, you’ll visit them tomorrow.”