Firestone

by Christian, Claudia Hall

  “Why is that?” James asked.

  “She’s my mother’s favorite daughter,” Edie scowled.

  “Younger sister?” James asked.

  Edie nodded.

  “There were always guys like that at the orphanage,” James said. “They liked to make people feel uncomfortable. It’s like they got off on it. Very . . . uncivilized.”

  “Uncivilized?” Edie smiled.

  “Exactly,” James smiled. “Plus, I have a younger brother who can be a total pill.”

  “John,” Edie said.

  “So I have some idea of what you mean,” James said.

  “My older sister is the blue fairy right now,” Edie said. “She’s also obstinate. She does whatever she wants to do and drives everyone crazy. Your brother is her personal favorite.”

  Edie gave James an angry nod.

  “Makes me sick,” Edie said. “The blue fairy is supposed to be supportive to humans and uphold a moral compass for children. She just does whatever she wants.”

  “Does the blue fairy rotate?” James asked.

  “It’s supposed to,” Edie nodded. “But my sister has been at it for a long time. I think now that Mom is back to herself, she’ll sort this kind of thing out. But without a queen, we’ve all been just kind of . . . making do. You did a big thing.”

  “I did?” James looked surprised. “Really it was Jacob and Jill.”

  “You helped,” Edie said. “You’ve been chronicled as ‘James the wise’ for all your help.”

  James smiled.

  “I would like to get to know you better,” James said. “My life is not stable or really sane.”

  Edie nodded. They sat in silence watching the baby for a while.

  “Mari said you were ready to have a child,” James said.

  “That’s the crazy thing,” Edie said. “Like Mari would know one way or another.”

  “So you’re not looking for a . . . uh . . . someone to breed with?” James smiled to soften his words.

  Edie’s face became red and blotchy. The baby moved in her arms and she got up to put him back in the crib. When she looked back at James, he was smiling.

  “I have a lot of sisters too,” James said. “And more than my share of meddling brothers.”

  Edie smiled.

  “I’d like to get to know you better,” Edie said.

  “Hi, my name is James Kelly, international man of mystery,” James said. Edie grinned at him for repeating Valerie’s introduction. “I’m from Northern Ireland. My mother died when I was four, and my father when I was eleven. I grew up in an orphanage.”

  He nodded to her.

  “Hi, my name is Edith the fairy,” Edie said. “I grew up on the Isle of Man. My mother is Queen Fand and my father is the Manannán. I was raised by fairies.”

  “Nice to meet you, Edith,” James said.

  “Oh, you can call me Edie.” she smiled.

  “Well, Edie, I’d like to get to know you better,” James said.

  “I’d like that too,” Edie smiled and nodded.

  “What are you doing right now?” James asked.

  “Uh . . .” Edie looked at the boys and then at the clock. “Jill’s mother is . . .”

  Anjelika swept into the room. She picked up the boys. With a knowing smile to Edie, she swept out of the room.

  “How about lunch?” James asked. “My brother owns a bakery here. I know he’d love to meddle . . . I mean make us some lunch.”

  “That sounds very nice,” Edie said.

  James stood and held out his hand. Edie took his hand and followed him out of the room.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Saturday—2:52 P.M.

  Blane lay back on the medical exam table. After spending the morning with the police at the job site, Blane had driven like a mad man to get to this appointment. Today was the day he was finally going to heal his liver. Valerie and Jackie’s cord blood had held him over until now.

  Jill and her son’s cord blood would heal his liver for good and extend his life for at least a few years.

  He closed his eyes to thank whatever God was listening for all of his good fortune. Tink was doing well at their home. Mack was healthy, happy, and mischievous. Heather was pregnant with his biological child.

  As of today, he would most likely live long enough to see Heather deliver.

  There was a knock on the door and his doctor came in. The man closed the door. For a moment, the doctor just looked at him.

  “What’s going on?” Blane asked.

  “Remember how I wanted to run tests to have a baseline reading of your liver function before we started?” the doctor asked.

  “You mean a half hour ago?” Blane smiled.

  “Yes,” the doctor said. “A half hour ago.”

  Blane felt the blood rush from his head. The doctor was trying to tell him that he was too sick to have the cord blood. On this day, this very day, the day he’d waited so long to come, the day he was going to get well and live long enough to see his Mack enter kindergarten, his doctor was going to tell him he was on his death bed. Blane swallowed hard.

  “What’s going on?” Blane asked.

  “Remember how the nurse came in and got a second vial?” the doctor asked.

  “Yes,” Blane said. “I’m sorry. I’m kind of freaking out. Can you just tell me?”

  “Tell you?”

  “I’m dying right?” Blane asked.

  The doctor shook his head.

  “Your liver is functioning at a hundred percent,” the doctor said.

  Blane was so surprised he could only stare at the doctor. The man’s head went up and down.

  “What?” Blane asked.

  “Your liver is functioning better than mine is,” the doctor said. “Or probably anyone in this building.”

  “It is?” Blane asked.

  “It is,” the doctor said. “Any ideas why that would be?”

  “None,” Blane said.

  The doctor smiled.

  “What about the cord blood?” Blane asked.

  “We have some decisions to make,” the doctor said. “Jillian Roper is HIV resistant. There’s a procedure that’s proven to cure a few people, twelve, I think, of their HIV.”

  “What?” Blane asked. “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that your liver is miraculously whole,” the doctor said. “Because of that, I’d like to suggest that we try this procedure. It’s a type of bone marrow transplant. We’d have to destroy your bone marrow and replant it with Jill’s cord blood. We have enough cord blood to do it twice, if we need to. Of course, there are risks. Everything has risks, but it could just give you a normal life expectancy.”

  “Uh,” Blane felt like he was in the Twilight Zone.

  “How about if I call Heather?” the doctor asked. “You can look it up online, and make a decision.”

  Blane nodded and hopped off the treatment table.

  “The only thing I’d say is . . .” the doctor touched Blane’s shoulder. “Don’t take too long. We’ve been able to cover the existence of this blood, but I don’t know how long we have. In fact, I’d like you to take it back to the special refrigerators we set up at Jake’s house. That way, we know you have it.”

  “We’ll let you know in the morning,” Blane said.

  The doctor shook Blane’s hand and left the room. Blane got dressed and picked up the cooler with the cord blood. He walked out of the office. He didn’t call Heather until he was in the car.

  “You’ll never guess what just happened,” Blane said.

  “What?” Heather asked.

  “I have a chance of being completely healed,” Blane said. “No HIV, no liver damage, nothing.”

  “What?” Heather’s voice went up with surprise.

  “I might even live long enough to see our boys married,” Blane said.

  When Heather didn’t say anything, he asked, “What’s going on?”

  “I’m just . . .” Heather said through her tears. “Ha
ppy.”

  “Me too,” Blane said. “I’m on my way home. We’ll figure it all out. Together.”

  Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty

  Cause . . .

  Saturday afternoon — 3:12 P.M.

  Sandy grabbed a load of laundry and started out the door of their apartment. After all of the excitement of Jill’s labor, she had canceled her Saturday clients and forced her family to take a day off to rest. Of course, Aden had to be at the job site early. But the kids had slept in until almost noon. They got up for something to eat and were now sacked out watching movies. With Rachel in a carrier on her back, she had filled their apartment washer with Sissy’s ballet wear and was headed down to the basement laundry with another load of sheets.

  A day of organizing and cleaning was exactly what Sandy needed. She moved slowly down the stairs and into the Castle main living room. Rosa and her team of cleaners had been through already today to put right what had been torn apart last night. She set her load down on a couch to open the door to the basement.

  “Um . . .” Sandy heard as she came back into the living room. She looked around the room, but didn’t see anyone.

  “Delphie?” Sandy guessed at who had spoken to her.

  Delphie was leaning against the doorway to the room Charlie was using for school.

  “Are you all right?” Sandy asked.

  Delphie shook her head.

  “Can I help?” Sandy asked.

  Delphie nodded. Sandy gave Delphie a long assessing look. Delphie’s face was pinched with anxiety. Her shoulders were folded forward as if she was carrying a great burden. The woman’s happy go lucky, earth mother glow had been replaced with a muddy kind of darkness.

  “Why don’t you come down with me to the basement?” Sandy smiled, knowing Delphie’s love of clean laundry. “I wanted to get some sheets done.”

  Delphie face shifted into a bright smile. She grabbed Sandy’s laundry and started down the stairs to the basement. While each apartment had their own washing machines, Jacob had installed two large washers and dryers in the basement. They were perfect for doing large loads of sheets and comforters.

  In the basement, Delphie and Sandy silently went through the piles of sheets and comforters Sandy had already brought down to create two loads for the big washers. Sandy was stuffing sheets into one of the washers when Delphie said something.

  She leaned out of the washing machine.

  “I didn’t hear what you said,” Sandy said.

  “I know,” Delphie gave her a sad smile. “I . . .”

  “Is this about Keenan?” Sandy asked.

  Delphie nodded.

  “And Ivy?” Sandy asked.

  Delphie nodded. Sandy looked at Delphie and waited. Delphie’s head moved up and down in a slow nod.

  “So . . .?” Sandy started.

  “I remember that I was really afraid about Ivy.” Delphie’s words came out in a fast push. “How will I take care of her? What do I know? I remember feeling like that.”

  “Do you feel like that now?” Sandy asked.

  “No,” Delphie said. “I feel . . . excited. Happy.”

  “That sounds like a really good thing,” Sandy said. She smiled and started stuffing the washer again.

  “But . . .” Delphie said.

  Sandy leaned back to look at her.

  “But?”

  “Why do you think I don’t feel anxious about it?” Delphie asked.

  “Maybe you’re ready,” Sandy said.

  Delphie shook her head.

  “What do you think it was?” Sandy asked.

  “Fairies,” Delphie said. “I feel like something is gone.”

  Delphie’s hands moved around her heart and chest.

  “Like a brokenness is lifted,” Delphie nodded and then scowled. “I know that I can’t raise the kids by myself. But I also know that Sam is going to be there and you and Jill and Val. They will be raised by all of us and teachers and . . . I don’t have to be their everything, just their something.”

  Delphie gave Sandy a pensive look.

  “I mean you said that before, and certainly Celia always said that,” Delphie said. “I really know that now.”

  “That sounds like a really good thing,” Sandy said.

  “But . . .” Delphie bit her lip.

  “But?”

  “How?” Delphie asked. “It’s like all that awful stuff is just gone . . . Not gone, like it never happened, but like it’s over.”

  Delphie nodded.

  “It is over,” Sandy smiled. “All the awful stuff I went through too. It’s over.”

  Delphie gave Sandy a thoughtful look.

  “Why would fairies want to help you?” Sandy asked. She gasped and covered her mouth. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean that like it sounds. It just seems like they are so . . . involved in what they want that something like taking away the negative effects of your trauma . . . Well, it’s too thoughtful for them, too kind.”

  Sandy nodded. Delphie leaned forward.

  “Do you notice anything . . . missing?” Delphie asked.

  Delphie’s hands moved up and down her body.

  Sandy cocked her head to the side. She thought for a moment.

  “Now that you mention it . . .” Sandy started.

  “There you are!” Valerie said, as she came into the laundry room. Valerie’s long dark hair was tied in a knot. She was wearing one of Mike’s old dress shirts and a pair of ratty old jeans. Her effortless beauty made her look like a magazine advertisement. She gave them a bright smile.

  “I wanted to . . . you know, clean up,” Sandy nodded.

  “I’ve been doing the same thing,” Valerie said. “Nothing like being jerked from your life to make you want to . . .”

  “Clean,” Sandy laughed. She gestured to the machines, “Do you need these?”

  “No,” Valerie said. “I used them this morning.”

  Sandy grinned. Valerie lifted Rachel from the carrier on Sandy’s back. While Valerie played with Rachel, Sandy put the rest of her laundry in the washers and stood up.

  “Listen,” Valerie said. She moved closer to them as if to tell them a secret. “Do you think the fairies did something to us?”

  “I was just asking that,” Delphie nodded.

  “Why?” Sandy asked, as she started one of the machines.

  “I don’t really know,” Valerie said. “We slept in, like everyone did, but . . . Mike woke up this morning without his headache. You know the one he’s had since he was in Afghanistan? I mean, sometimes he doesn’t have the headache as bad, but he always has it when his mother’s around. His mother and father are staying here to help with the babies. And this morning? No headache. He’s smiling, laughing. He asked me if we should have another baby right away like other stars do. He . . . well, let’s just say he was excited this morning. Optimistic. About our life.”

  Valerie nodded.

  “Too thoughtful for fairies,” Sandy shook her head.

  “I’m not afraid to raise the kids,” Delphie said.

  “What?” Valerie asked. “Really?”

  “I’m excited,” Delphie nodded.

  “I’m so glad.” Valerie hugged Delphie.

  “Do you feel different?” Delphie asked.

  “Yeah,” Valerie nodded. “And no. It’s weird. Mike made breakfast this morning. He was talking and laughing and I felt . . . For the first time since we lived in Monterey, I felt . . .”

  Valerie scratched her head. Delphie and Sandy waited for her to finish her statement.

  “Hope,” Valerie shrugged. “I haven’t felt . . . hopeful, like I can build my own future like I want it. I don’t feel that oppressive, looking over your shoulder for the next doom that’s going to ruin everything. I don’t feel it. I mean, it’s not like all that stuff is gone.”

  “Right,” Delphie said. “I remember why I was so afraid.”

  “I remember Mike being gone and everything that happened after that and . . .” Valerie said. “I
t’s not like the memory is just gone. I just feel . . .”

  Valerie looked puzzled. She shook her head as if to shake the thoughts around.

  “I feel . . . good,” Valerie said. “Hopeful. I can have Mike, and a career, and a bunch of babies, and live here, and have a place in LA, and . . . I have to make choices, sure, but . . .”

  “Do you think it’s . . . fairies?” Delphie asked.

  Valerie made a disgusted face.

  “I mean, I’m taking Queen Fand’s son,” Delphie said.

  “I still think it’s too thoughtful for them,” Sandy said. “How would they know that Valerie had lingering doubt about her life because of what happened to Mike? They couldn’t know that. No one knows about Mike’s headaches except us. And how would they know that the darkness from Levi Johanson still cast shadows in your life, Delphie?”

  Sandy shook her head.

  “They wouldn’t,” Sandy said. She looked up to see Honey roll into the room. “Do you need these? I haven’t started this one yet, I can . . .”

  “No,” Honey said. “Mike did ours while I was at work.”

  Sandy started the second washer.

  “How was the job site?” Valerie asked.

  “Scary. Hard. So many people lost their lives.” Honey shook her head. “Now that it’s light, I can see just how stupid Rodney and I were to be out there in that pit.”

  Honey gave a shiver and wheeled further into the room. Sandy pointed to Honey’s hands.

  “What?” Honey asked.

  “Your hands,” Sandy said.

  “Yeah,” Honey nodded. “Isn’t that weird? It happened while I was at the site this morning. One minute, they were like they’d been forever, the next minute, they’re like this. They both work.”

  Honey closed and opened both of her hands.

  “There’s a little weakness but . . .,” Honey said. “I’ve been busting my butt—in PT and with Blane—to get even the slightest movement in my hands. And look.”

  Honey picked up the laundry soap.

  “It’s like they aren’t . . . um . . . broken,” Honey said. “At all.”

  Honey stared at her hands.

  “Do you think it’s . . .?” Honey started to ask. She looked at the women and fell silent. “MJ did the laundry and went back to sleep after I left. He’s just getting up. That’s six hours of solid sleep. Edie took care of Maggie today.”