by Donald Wells
Mona and I were sitting at the kitchen table, sipping coffee. She was telling me about her life, about what happened after she killed her father.
“I figured that they would look for me in Philly and so I went south, to Atlanta. I hitchhiked down there, nearly got raped once on the way, but I made it, and that’s where I met Tyler.”
“I noticed that he looks like me.”
“I know; that’s what made me notice him at first. I always did think you were hot Johnny, you know that.”
“I seem to be irresistible to Delgado women.”
“Felicia loves you more than life, you know? She called me, freaked out because you believed she was cheating on you.”
“Again,” I said, “That I believed she was cheating on me again.”
Mona leaned back in her chair.
“Wow, she really hurt you with David, didn’t she?”
I sighed. “Yes, but it’s behind us, right now I’m angry that she lied to me all these years, that she didn’t think she could trust me.”
“But don’t you see? She grew up in a home without trust, we both did, and it’s warped us. Besides, she didn’t sleep with David to hurt you; she did it to hurt herself. You loved Felicia more than she’d ever been loved and she didn’t feel worthy of it, couldn’t feel worthy of it, and so she found a way to end it.”
I sat my cup down.
“You sure aren’t the Mona I remember.”
“The crude girl with the big mouth? She died in a shack in the mountains of Georgia.”
“What?”
“I told you, I became a crack whore. Oh, when I first got to Atlanta I worked as a motel maid, that’s where I met Tyler. He worked at the gas station across the street and that’s where I caught the bus. One day he asked me if I needed a ride and the next thing I knew, I was in love.”
“Must have been some ride.”
“I never made it home that night. We went out for coffee, and then drove to Venable Lake and talked until the sun came up, just talk. He never once tried to touch me in a sexual way; that was a new experience for me.”
“So, how’d you go from falling in love to getting addicted to crack?”
“My social security number didn’t check out and so the motel fired me. I soon ran out of money and when I was two months behind on the rent, my landlord suggested another way I might pay him. Not long after that, I was turning tricks, but I was still dating Tyler. When he found out what I was doing, he started working two jobs and gave me the money from his second job.”
“He really loved you, didn’t he?”
“He did, and it freaked me out. I mean, he should have been disgusted by me, but instead he works his ass off so I won’t turn tricks and moves me into his apartment. That’s when I told him the truth, that I had murdered my father and was wanted by the police. He just nodded his head and said we’d get through it, that he’d protect me and keep me safe.”
I looked around the brightly lit, clean kitchen, as the sweet aroma of a freshly baked peach cobbler wafted throughout the room.
“He’s kept his word.”
“You don’t know the half of it. Tyler’s love scared me to death. I wasn’t fit to be loved. I was Mona Delgado, the town pump of Castle Ridge, the girl who killed her own father, a part-time hooker and a full-time loser. I thought Tyler was crazy and I was going to prove it to him by becoming an even bigger loser. That’s when I started on the drugs. I had smoked pot since I was twelve, but never crack, I was instantly addicted. And then Tyler started talking about getting me into a program… and that’s when I slept with his brothers, all three of them, at the same time.”
I winced. “Either Tyler’s a saint, or that’s where he got off.”
“He got off. He kicked me out of his apartment and all was right with the world again. I remember thinking, ‘I knew it! Who in their right mind would love me?”
“And yet, you two are still together, what happened?”
“Things got worse. I weighed less than a hundred pounds at one point, and was turning about ten tricks a day. That’s when Tyler kidnapped me and took me to this shack in the woods. No running water, no electricity and an outhouse for a bathroom.”
“And no crack I would guess,”
Mona chuckled. “You’d be right,”
“You must have gone out of your mind.”
“I did Johnny, literally, one night I left my body while I was sleeping and looked down at Tyler and me, there was a gold light running from his heart to mine and I understood immediately that it meant we were one, that no matter what I did, I couldn’t lose him, because how can you lose yourself? So what if we were in two bodies? We were still one. I know this probably sounds crazy to you, but that’s what happened. I woke up the next morning and felt better than I had in years. I told Tyler I loved him and that I wanted to turn myself in to the police. He talked me out of turning myself in and we’ve been together ever since.”
“When did you contact Felicia?”
“After Mary was born; Mary’s our oldest, she has MD.”
“You called her for money?”
“No, I called because I missed her. I called Janey and asked her about Felicia, she told me about you two breaking up, about her and David Thorne, and gave me her cell phone number.”
“When was this?”
“About a week before her eighteenth birthday, Felicia told me she had broken up with David and was leaving school. She said she was going to Castle Ridge and beg you to take her back.”
“What? That never happened.”
Mona began to cry.
“I know. Felicia and I agreed to meet halfway at a restaurant in Virginia, in Roanoke. Soon after she showed up, so did David, and he had five men with him. He told Felicia that if she didn’t come back to him, he was going to have me arrested along with Tyler.”
I held up a hand. “Hold on. You’re telling me that Felicia was coming back to me, but that Thorne blackmailed her into staying?”
Mona took a deep breath as she wiped at free-falling tears.
“David said he would set us up somewhere and pay for Mary’s medical care if Felicia came back to him. I told him to go to hell and started walking toward a police car that was parked down the block. That’s when he threatened you. He told Felicia he would send the men he had with him to Castle Ridge to beat you bloody and burn your business down, he also reminded me that once Tyler and I were in jail, Mary would become a ward of the state and probably die of neglect.”
I shot up out of my chair, fists clenched. I didn’t think it was possible but I actually despised Thorne more than I had before.
Mona clutched at my hand. “Please don’t hate me! I know I ruined your life, I know I ruined Felicia’s life, but I did it for my daughter, I did it for Mary, and Felicia did it for you.”
I fell back into my seat with a sickening knot in my gut.
“I don’t hate you Mona, you’re just another one of Thorne’s victims… and so is Felicia. Oh God, what she must have gone through those years she was with him.”
“David bought a house in upstate New York and placed us in it. In those early years, Mary’s medical costs were astronomical, but David paid them as long as Felicia stayed with him.”
“The last I heard, you were suspected to have drowned somewhere near Montreal.”
Mona grinned around her coffee cup.
“That was our brilliant plan, Felicia and I, we knew we couldn’t be under David’s control forever, and so we were going to make it look as if I drowned. Felicia was secretly sending us money for years so that Tyler and I would have at least a little bit for Mary, but then the police discovered that David was PLATINUM, the sick bastard, and we had to move our plan up by faking my death before David could give us away.”
“He never did give you up; he was probably too busy staying ahead of the police himself.”
“We couldn’t risk it. Tyler and I sunk that old houseboat and eventually moved here. Then, we hoped that the Ca
nadians would assume that I had drowned.”
“It didn’t work, without a body they simply listed you as missing.”
“And the police are still looking for me?”
“Yes, but maybe there’s a way I can help you.”
I heard a door open, and then the pounding of little feet, followed by a woman calling, “Yoo hoo Dana, honey are you here? I brought the kids back.”
Mona whispered, “That’s my neighbor Carol, I’m Dana, and you’re… Johnny.” she then called out, “I’m back in the kitchen Carol!”
Four children appeared in the doorway and stopped, then stared at me as if I were an illusion. The oldest one, a girl, had leg braces on. The taller of the two boys pointed at me.
“He looks like daddy.”
Carol the neighbor, forty something, with cheerful blue eyes, appeared in the doorway and handed ‘Dana’ a plastic container.
“I made you some of my rice pudding, oh, I’m sorry; I didn’t know you had a guest.”
I nodded to Carol. “Nice to meet you,”
“Nice to meet you too, but Dana honey I’ve got to run; I left a chicken in the oven.”
“Okay Carol, and thanks again for watching the kids.”
“No problem, they’re all angels, bye bye.”
Mona told Carol goodbye, as the kids continued to stare at me.
“Mommy,” said the smallest one, the girl who looked like Hannah.
“Yes precious?” Mona said.
The little girl pointed at me. “Who’s that man?”
I smiled at her. “Honey I’m your Uncle Johnny, and I’m so happy to meet you.”
The little girl climbed up onto my lap and hugged me about the neck. “I love you Uncle Johnny.”
“Oh my God, Mo—Dana, she’s adorable.”
“Thank you Johnny.”
The girl with the leg braces, Mary, walked up to me.
“You’re John Faron aren’t you?”
“Yes honey, but I’m also your Aunt Felicia’s husband.”
Mary spoke to her oldest brother. “Tyler, take Joey and Alison and go watch TV, I need to talk to mommy for a minute.”
Tyler Jr., who looked to be about nine, nodded at his sister and herded his younger siblings out of the room.
Mary stared at her mother.
“I know you’re really Mona Delgado.”
Mona’s face collapsed. “Oh God baby,”
“It’s okay mom, I know what your father did to you, that he killed your baby. I’ve read all about it on the Internet and I don’t blame you, really, but… are the police coming? Is that why Mr. Faron is here?”
“Mary?” I said.
“Yes Sir?”
“Your mommy is safe, no one’s coming. I’m here because… well, because of a mix-up, but I’m so glad I came and I’m happy I got to meet you kids. Now, can you do me a favor honey?”
“Sure,”
“Go give your mommy a big hug, she needs one right now.”
Mary smiled at me, and for a flash, I saw some of Felicia in her. She then went to Mona and the two hugged.
From the living room came a chorus of “Daddy, daddy, and hi Aunt Felicia,” and a moment later Tyler Denton stepped into the kitchen, with Felicia following and the kids trailing behind.
I smiled at Felicia. “Hello baby.”
She sighed with relief. “Hi.”
I stared at Tyler. “Hey Tyler,”
Tyler looked from me to Mona to Felicia and then back to me.
“Yeah?”
“I’ll say one thing for you buddy, you’re a handsome devil.”
Felicia started laughing, then Mona along with Tyler and the kids, and with each face reminiscent of another, it felt like being among family.
73
Felicia and I were sitting together on Mona’s bed.
The room had pink walls and white trim and the bedding matched with a pink and white comforter. In a corner was a wicker rocking chair with a big teddy bear sitting in it. It was a soothing room and a good place to talk.
And we sure as hell had plenty to talk about.
I caressed her cheek. “Five years, that bastard blackmailed you for five years. Why didn’t you come to me? I’m sure I could have thought of some way to help Mona.”
“Johnny, we were no longer together and you were living with Tori.”
“Baby I could have been married with six kids and I would have helped you, when have I ever denied you help?”
She smiled, “Never, you have always been there for me. I’m just realizing that every problem we’ve ever had is because I didn’t trust your love for me.”
“It hurts you know, it hurts that you’ve lied to me for years about Mona. What did you think I’d do, turn her in?”
“No, it’s just… well, Bill, you two are so close that I figured there was no way he wouldn’t find out about Mona if you knew, so it just seemed best to keep her hidden, I mean he was a cop.”
“Mary knows about her mother.”
“She does? Oh God, how did she find out?”
“She’s a smart kid; she probably overheard something and looked up the rest on the Internet. She told Mona that she understands what happened, that your father used to beat you two.”
Felicia looked away. “You know that my father used to beat me?”
“Yes baby, Mona told me years ago, in the hospital after the fight.”
Felicia hung her head.
“I’m sorry I never told you back then, but I was afraid that he would also hurt you.”
“And then later, you became afraid that Thorne would hurt me, and you hid his abuse from me. I wish to God that you would learn to trust me.”
“And what about you? You thought that I was sneaking off every year to be with another man and you never said a word. Why didn’t you say something?”
“I was scared, scared of losing you again.”
“And so you said nothing, and meanwhile it was eating away at you, until lately you’ve been so distant that I was beginning to wonder if you had met someone.”
“You thought that?”
“It crossed my mind. I even confessed my suspicions to Ms. Lee and she told me not to worry, that you hardly pay other women any attention at all.”
I held her hand. “We’re quite a pair, maybe we need to talk more and worry less.”
“I will. I’ll never lie to you again and I’m going to trust you, with Mona and with Hannah. I know somehow you’ll work things out for both of them.”
I sighed. “I will, if I can only get my hands on Thorne, he’s the key to everything.”
“You’ll find him.”
“You sound so sure.”
“I am. You have never let me down and you never will.”
I took a deep breath.
“Baby there’s so much at stake and time is running out. Did Ms. Lee tell you about the DNA test?”
“She did, and I’m not worried about it, because she also told me that you think you might have a way around it.”
“I… might, but again, for it to work I have to find Thorne.”
“Then you’ll find him, and you’ll do what you have to do to protect our baby.”
I grinned. “Just like that, huh?”
“Just like that, because you’re Johnny Faron, and Johnny Faron can fix anything.”
We kissed and then she pointed at the wall behind us.
“Does that look familiar?”
I glanced back at the wall and there was her mother’s heart-shaped clock, the very one I had repaired for her when we were just kids.
“I’ll be damned. I figured it had gotten destroyed by the fire at the Thorne Estate.”
“Nope, I gave it to Mona to hold onto years ago, to remember mommy by, it still works too.”
“I like Mona, this Mona, and the kids are adorable.”
“You scared Tyler to death; he thought you were at the garage to beat him up.”
“He scared me to death, for years I t
hought he was your lover.”
“Do you forgive me for lying to you about the spa all these years?”
“Yes, and poor Janey, she’s been a pawn between us forever.”
“She’s the best friend I’ve ever had.”
“And me, what am I?”
Felicia pushed me back onto the bed.
“You’re the love of my life.”
* * *
We had gathered on the porch, saying our goodbyes, when a cab pulled up and Bill got out.
Standing beside me, Mona whispered. “Oh no,”
I reached out and took her hand, and gave it a comforting squeeze.
“He won’t hurt you.”
“He’s a cop.”
“Not anymore.”
“Once a cop always a cop, and I can’t blame him; I am guilty.”
Out at the curb, Bill simply stood and stared at us from under the streetlight, seeming to take in each of the children in turn, with Mary, he stared the longest, and I saw something shift in his gaze.
“Hello Bill, what are you doing here?”
“I came to find you John, to see if you needed help.”
“I’m fine. I’m with friends old and new.”
“Yes, I can see that.”
Bill walked up the steps and stared at Mary.
“My God, your mother looked just like you when she was your age.” He then turned to Mona. “I made you a promise once, do you remember?”
Mona swallowed before speaking. “A promise?”
Bill caressed Mary’s cheek. “When you were her age, the day I took your mother and you kids to the women’s shelter.”
“I remember that day. You let me play with the lights and siren and you gave Felicia and me candy.”
“And I made you a promise.”
“Yes, you said that daddy would never hurt mommy again.”
Bill winced at the memory. “But he did,”
“Yes, but Captain that wasn’t your fault, that was mommy’s, she went back to him. After all you did to help her, she went back to him.”
“Still, I promised,”
“But it wasn’t yours to keep,”
“I’m not here to hurt you.”
“Thank you Captain.”
“It’s just plain Bill now.”
“Okay, Bill, would you like to meet my children?”
