Johnson, C. W.

by The Son of Man 2, Elders of Zion

  "Go?" Todd said, "Go where?"

  "You and Eric are needed in Lehi."

  "But how come—"

  "Just get out of here!" Gladys shouted. "A helicopter’s waiting for you. Where’s Louis?"

  Todd nodded his head towards Parktown."He’s at the cabin by the radio. How is Maria? Is she okay?"

  "Ask her when you get there…now GO!"

  "She wants to talk to me?"

  "GO!"

  Todd stood staring for a moment, slowly turned and moved with Eric to the door. Just outside the clinic, two men dressed in military uniforms separated them and escorted Todd into the parking lot. As they rounded the corner Todd pulled to a stop.

  Two colossal military helicopters sat stately on the asphalt outside the clinic. Each helicopter stretched sixty five feet and stood twelve feet high. Their spinning rotors pounded the chilled air clearing out all remnants of the powdered snow from the parking lot. Todd instantly recognized them as Blackhawks.

  One of the Mums took hold of Todd’s arm. "Come with us please."

  Todd continued towards the helicopters. As he approached he could see several other Mums helping Eric, Louis, the little orphan girl Lylya and Charlene Jensen into one of the choppers. He was taken to the other one and guided into the rear compartment.

  He glanced around. Matching benches took up space on each side of the small fuselage. A muscular middle aged man with sharp, striking features and dressed in military clothing sat on one of the benches flanked by two Mums on his left and right.

  The big man in the middle smiled friendly and confident. He stood, hunched over in the confines of the helicopter and offered his hand. "Todd Riley?"

  Todd nodded and took the man’s hand.

  "I’m Heber, and this is Brad and Cory." He motioned to the men still sitting on the bench. "We’re here to take you to Lehi."

  Todd nodded. "Nice to meet you," he said politely, looking at the two men. "Why the helicop—"

  His attention shifted back to the big man in the middle. "Did you say Heber?"

  "Yes," the man said.

  "President Heber Taft Hatfield?"

  "Yes."

  The chopper began to ramp up.

  The president gestured towards the bench."You should sit down."

  Todd sat and turned his attention back to the man sitting across from him. "Why… why are you here?"

  "The Fasbenders asked me to straighten out a few wrinkles," the president said.

  "What wrinkles?" Todd hollered over the rotor noise.

  "Can’t hear you!" the president yelled back. He shook his head and leaned back on the bench.

  Todd peered out the small port side window. He watched Parktown slowly drop away. The helicopter made a long swooping turn and began moving southwest over the Wasatch Mountain Range. He leaned forward and looked to his right, spotting the other helicopter moving nearby in perfect motionless formation.

  Within a very short time he noticed patches of snow-covered civilization among the jutting mountain peaks. They passed above another mountain range and then they were over a city. To the west, a vast lake glimmered in the distance. The iconic landmark could only mean the choppers were directly over Salt Lake City.

  The choppers then veered south, over another small mountain peak and began to slow down. Soon they were touching down in the parking lot of the Lehi clinic.

  Todd was surprised by the number of military vehicles, cars, Humvees, and even a few olive drab SUVs, parked within sight of the clinic.

  The chopper door opened and the President stood to leave. The two men fell closely behind. Todd stood to follow but the president turned to him. "You go to room twenty-four. Your wife is waiting."

  Todd held back. "Uh, truth is, I’m not sure Maria will talk to me." He glanced away and noticed Louis being helped from the other chopper, his hand firmly holding on to little Lylya. Eric and Charlene Jensen were being escorted away ahead of the others. He returned his attention to the president. "Maybe you should send Louis first."

  The president reached into his left breast pocket, produced a pair of dark sunglasses and placed them on his face. "She’ll talk to you," he said grinning. He turned and moved into the crowd that stood waiting for him.

  Todd turned away and began walking towards the clinic, turning one more time to glance back at the president. "What the hell?" he said under his breath. He turned back and joined Louis and Lylya. "Do you know who rode with me in the chopper?"

  "President Hatfield," Louis said quickly. "Of course I know who rode with you."

  Todd smiled down on the child walking at Louis’s side."Hi Lylya."

  She glanced up, her sullen green eyes sparkling in the glow of the fresh snow. "Hello," she said, apparently unaffected by the surreal happenings going on all around her.

  As they neared the clinic door, Todd took hold of her other hand. She glanced up at him. He was reminded once again of the extraordinary resemblance she had to Maria.

  They moved into the clinic and began making their way down the hall to room twenty-four.

  "I don’t think this is a good idea," Todd said as they walked. "She’s not going to want to talk to me. She needs rest now. The last thing she needs is for me to pop in outta nowhere and get her all worked up."

  "It’s okay," Louis said. "Don’t worry about it."

  A young student nurse Todd knew well appeared from room twenty-four and moved towards them. Her face was flushed and taut. "Doctor Riley," she said breathlessly. "She wants you to wait here."

  "What?" Todd said.

  "She wants you to—"

  Todd reached and took hold of her arms. "Julie, what’s wrong? Why are you so upset?"

  "Upset? I’m not upset. Do you know who’s here?"

  Todd shook his head. "What?"

  "President Hatfield is here," she said, her eyes tearing up, "right here at the clinic."

  A sudden burst of commotion erupted in an adjoining hall, bringing everyone’s faces around.

  "That’ll be the Jensen and Wheeler families reuniting," the nurse said. She glanced down at her wrist watch. "Okay… time's up. Maria says you can come in now. She wanted to freshen up a little."

  Todd sighed and stood looking at the nurse.

  "We’ll stay out here and visit with Lylya for a while," Louis said. "Stop wiggling and go see your wife."

  Todd blew out a sigh, turned and slowly made his way to room twenty-four.

  He stopped at the hospital door, gingerly knocked and pushed the door open. Maria was sitting on the bed in the dim directed light of the hospital room, her raven hair hanging loose around her face. Her sparkling emerald eyes looked up at him. The sight of her profound beauty was nearly shocking. His love for her jumped into his chest so intensely it ached. Her expression was soft and unreadable. A tiny smile adorned her lips. She sat holding Joshua, gently rocking him.

  "Maria," he said softly. He moved towards her and sat on the foot of her bed. "You don’t know how bad you scared—" a lump rose in his throat and he swallowed his words. "Are you alright? Is Josh alright?"

  Maria sat silently studying his face.

  Todd shifted uncomfortably.

  "Maria," he continued gingerly."You gotta believe me. Debby and I never—"

  Maria’s hand touched down on top of his own. He looked up at her intently, his words trailing off into silence.

  "I know," she said. A soft, sweet smile slowly formed on her full lips. Tears welled in her eyes. She pulled her hand away and placed Josh in the crib next to her bed, turned back and raised her arms to him.

  Her sweet smile faltered and she began to cry. She reached for him and they fell together, pulling him down to the bed where he rolled in next to her. She kicked the blankets away and wrapped her arms around him. Her legs encircled him. She pressed herself tight against him and pushed her face into his chest. Todd could feel urgency in her embrace, as if she were desperately clinging to the edge of a cliff. Her body began to convulse in deep sobs.


  "Baby," he said, "Are you okay?" He tried to tenderly push away but she clung to him. He rolled his fingers through her thick hair and kissed the top of her head. "It's all over," he said. "You're safe now. Everything is going to be fine—"

  "I thought you stopped loving me," she said between sobs. "I thought you were gone." Her weathered voice sounded hoarse and panicked.

  "Oh, no, no, no," Todd moaned.

  He held her tight for a time before lifting her face in his hands, and gazing into her tear filled eyes. "Don't you know yet, sweetheart?" he began, his velvety baritone voice breaking with emotion. "The moment I saw you, I loved you. I've never stopped and I never will. It's an irresistible force that I don’t seem to have any power over. He gently kissed her forehead and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I know you're afraid," he continued."I know you feel that lovin' me is like stepping out into an abyss... giving yourself over heart and soul to something so important and so completely out of your control, but... it's what lovers do.

  "You asked me once, a long time ago, to show you how to love. Well, sweetheart, this is it. We step out in faith.

  "Maria...I loved you when you were unattainable; knowing you didn't love me, knowing there wasn't a chance in hell you would ever love me; knowing without doubt that it would all someday train wreck and you'd leave me. But I stepped out. I had to. I love you. That's what lovers do."

  Maria groaned and pressed her lips to his. She rolled her face against his and hugged him tightly. "What a miracle you are," she whispered in his ear. "What were the chances of me finding such a treasure as you? What have I ever done to deserve such a gift as you?"

  ~~~

  Todd and Maria held each other in timeless, perfect contentment until all the tears were spent. After a time Maria pulled away and lay gazing into his eyes. She pursed her lips, frowned and gently caressed the bandage on his forehead. “What happened?” she said, her voice little more than a whisper.

  “Took a tumble.”

  “Hmm,” Maria grunted. “Sorry I hit you with my knee.”

  Todd chuckled. “Me too.”

  “It isn’t funny,” Maria said softly. “I hit you hard.”

  “Debby thought it was funny.”

  Maria pulled back slightly. “I should have hit her with my knee!”

  Todd chuckled. “I’m not sure it would have carried the same weight.”

  Maria sighed and pushed her face up under Todd’s chin.

  “How did you find out the truth?” he said finally.

  "Gladys made Debby tell me everything. She told me she lied about you two being together. She said something about spilled alcohol—"

  Todd pulled away, interrupting her mid-sentence. "She lied? When did she lie? About what?"

  "She told me you two were in love. She said you were trying to tell me—"

  "Oh my God!" Todd yelled, sitting up. "When? When did she tell you that?"

  "The night I walked in on you at the clinic...I thought you knew."

  Todd rolled away and leapt to his feet. "She told me you knew everything! She told me she explained everything! I would never have let you go without you knowing the truth. Maria, I swear to God, I would have sat on you if I had to. I thought you were...finished with us."

  Maria left the bed and moved to him. "Todd," she said, taking hold of his arms, "it doesn't matter anymore. We're together. Nothing will ever separate us again. We won't let it."

  Todd wrapped his arms around her. "You two could have died. I'll never forgive her for that. How could I believe anything she tells me from here out? Thank God you believed her when she finally told you the truth."

  "Well," Maria said, smiling, "she had a little help."

  Todd backed away slightly. "What?"

  "Someone backed her up... right here in this room."

  He wiped a lock of hair away from her eyes."Who?"

  “President Hatfield," she said flatly.

  Todd looked at her curiously. "He picked me up from Parktown. Why is he taking an interest?"

  Maria studied his face for a moment. "We need to talk about that. President Hatfield and I had a pretty good talk."

  She paused, pondering her words and continued. "Todd, you have to promise me you won’t get angry. You have to listen until you hear the whole story…okay?"

  Todd leaned away and looked into her eyes.

  She took hold of both his hands. "He knows," she said softly, "about Josh."

  Todd backed away.

  "Todd," Maria said. "Don't overreact. Promise me you won’t overreact until you have heard everything."

  "But."

  "Promise."

  "But, how could he—"

  "Promise!"

  Todd slowly sat back down on the bed.

  She waited until he was settled before joining him. "He found out because of some genealogy search you and Debby were doing—"

  Todd grimaced."Oh no, I never even considered that."

  "Yeah," Maria said. "Why were you doing a genealogy search?"

  Todd glanced up at her. "Uh, we were… how much does he know? Who else knows?"

  "He knows everything. He calls the Vinces the Signo Vinces."

  "He knows about the Vinces?"

  He returned to his feet and began pacing the room. "We really have to leave now…but where?"

  "Listen," Maria said. "Sit down and listen."

  Todd stood looking out a nearby window before slowly returning back to the bed.

  "Gladys is somehow involved in this," Maria continued. "I think Louis is too."

  Todd sighed deeply. "Oh hell…yeah, we're all involved. What have I done?"

  "But it’s all right," Maria said. "President Hatfield is on our side. He told me he’d protect us. You should have seen the way he looked at Josh."

  "He doesn’t know the Vinces," Todd said. "He doesn’t know what they’re capable of."

  "No… he’s got the Mums…He is the Mums."

  Todd stared at the wall before returning his attention to Maria. "But…now everyone will know. We won’t be able to—"

  "President Hatfield promised me that he was the only one who knows. He said he destroyed the records."

  "Why would he do that? Why would he destroy the records?"

  "I told you," she said, grinning. "He’s on our side."

  Todd sat thinking for a time and shook his head. "Still, we should go."

  "You need to talk to him," Maria said. "He said we should go back to Parktown and raise our son like any other family, and he also said you and that...Debby … have been working on a surprise…. What does that mean?"

  "Oh yeah," Todd said, his face brightening. He scanned the room once more and continued.

  "Sweetheart... Debby and her husband are active Mormons. They have this thing...well they believe they can do work for their ancestors, or something."

  Maria looked back at him puzzled.

  "They have this... monstrous archive of genealogical data."

  "I’m sorry Todd. I’m not following at all."

  "Debby and her husband were spending every other Tuesday going over their family genealogy. I sort of mentioned to Debby that you were an orphan so one night they kinda’… threw your name in."

  "No," Maria said. "I don’t have any relatives except Jason my crazy cousin, and I don’t think he’s even alive. I doubt he made it past the Day. Besides, Rose hasn’t always been my name. It was Roseman originally; I changed it."

  "This database of theirs," Todd continued, "is probably the world’s largest and most state of the art. It cross-matched your name and… two names came up."

  "No," Maria said again, smiling. "Their computer’s made a mistake. Jason is my only living relative."

  "Yeah," Todd said, "Jason is sure enough your cousin all right, but it turns out ol' cousin Jason has a few surprises. He was institutionalized three years ago in Memphis Tennessee but they let him go over a year ago."

  "No, Jason couldn’t have been released," Maria said. "He’s profoundly s
chizophrenic."

  "Maria," Todd said softly, "There are records of Jason that have survived. Apparently he… reformed or regrouped or… found clarity. The point is, we… you know this guy."

  "What are you talking about?" she said giggling. "Why don’t you just stop doing cartwheels and tell me what this is all about?"

  "Turns out Jason is your old friend Michael," Todd said flatly.

  Maria gasped.

  "Ol' cousin Brother Michael is a rich European philanthropist now."

  Maria’s eyes flashed. "Michael is not Jason! You don’t think I’d know my own cousin?"

  "Oh but he is Jason," Todd said. He reached into his shirt pocket and produced a small printed photograph. "This picture was part of the hospital records. It was taken a good two years before the Day."

  Maria stared at it. "Oh my God," she said. "It is Michael! How could I have not known that? But look at his eyes, they’re so empty. No wonder I didn’t see him. I wonder if he knew… Of course he knew. He knew everything. Why didn’t he tell me?"

  Todd took hold of Maria’s hand. "But sweetheart," he continued softly, "this is the real news. There’s someone else."

  Maria, still obviously trying to process the news about Michael glanced up at him, "what?"

  "Her name is Lylya. You and Michael are her only known living relatives. She’s from a branch of your family that converted to Islam and eventually settled in Chechnya. She lost her entire family only months ago. She desperately needs us."

  "Maria," he continued haltingly, "I want to talk to you about adopting her. I know this is going to be a shock, and of course it's all up to you, but sweetheart...that's what we've all been up to. We've been working out the adoption process."

  They sat in silence for a moment. Finally Maria shook her head, still trying to clear her thoughts. "Now...wait a minute..." she stammered, “you want to adopt a child?"

  "Of course it's completely up to you," Todd said quickly, "and she's not just a child, she's your distant cousin...the only one, other than Michael."

  Maria looked up at Todd. "But…is this something she wants?"

  "Why don't you just meet her?" Todd said smiling. "No pressure or anything. It might give you a chance to see if something clicks. If it doesn't, no harm done, she'll simply go back to the orphanage and we'll—"