by Angela White
Silence descended as everyone turned to discover who was happy at such a bad time for our family.
Across the room, seated in her customary place at the head of the table, Mary didn’t even blink. Drool ran down her chin in a thin line and I knew it was true. The stroke had removed her ability to function. She was aware, but unable to respond in any way. I found the irony immensely satisfying. For once, she had to listen. She couldn’t even protest whatever we decided to do with her or her precious family legacy. The doctors had said that she could recover with enough effort, but I doubted anyone was praying for that, beyond Douglas. My siblings certainly weren’t. My sister was pregnant with another abusive man’s baby. My brothers had taken off on everyone the instant Mary had been stricken.
“Marcie’s here!” Bean exclaimed. “Praise the Lord!”
“We’re saved,” his wife sighed from her seat behind him.
Except, Mary had gotten her way on that, too. Bean and Zack were heroin addicts now and Angel no longer went to church. She cooked their drugs.
Three dozen people erupted in cries, some good and bad, some of them standing to make their shouts travel. I ignored them all and crossed the room to my mother. As I went, the fighting stopped and their attention returned to me, where I wanted it.
My personality drew people now. It had given me team leader, along with my efforts, and I knew that I could make these useless bags do anything I wanted in a short amount of time. But I’d already chosen their fate and set it in motion. My regret about this moment, other than Mary not being able to shout and cry, was that Scot and Rodney would miss it. They were both in jail. Rodney for selling drugs and Scot for two murders. He was serving life and I was glad, considering that Scot was likely the serial killer we’d had here. During my time away, I’d put a lot of things together.
I took the handles of Mary’s wheelchair and gently pushed her over to the window as the family murmured and muttered in confusion and speculation.
I made sure she could see outside as I knelt down in front of her and took a pamphlet from my jacket pocket. I held it up. “The town nursing home already has a room waiting for you, mother. I’ve made payments on it since you came to the base and told me Angie was gone.”
My family reacted much as I’d expected, aside from one. They exclaimed their fake surprise, and then waited to discover what else I had planned. The one who didn’t react that way was Georgie. He stiffened in response to the name and glared at the empty seat where Frona should have been.
I’d heard she overdosed, but I was certain that Georgie had helped that along after Angie ran. He would have needed someone to take his anger out on. Between him and my cousins, all the females in our neighborhood had been terrorized.
Mary couldn’t respond as I sat the pamphlet on the windowsill where she would have to stare at it. “Across that cornfield, was a clubhouse. It took us eight years to build. It’s gone now, but that was my home. Angie was my home. I always, always hated you. I know you lied and now, you’re legacy, the Brady family name, will cease to exist. In one or two generations,” I whispered cruelly. “People will say, Mother Brady who?”
I stood up, turning around before her lack of response could ruin it for me. As far as I was concerned, my last meeting with Mary Brady had been her final visit to the base, where she’d told me that I could come home. I’d declared her dead to me then, and I still stood by that. A stroke had crippled her and the nursing home was a punishment, but for me, that moment of Mary finally seeing that she’d gone too far, that she’d cost me too much, would always be our last meeting. I hadn’t come here for her anyway. I’d come to remember Angie and to pay them all back for our pain.
I spotted Larry, with Judy seated demurely behind him, and finally let my true feeling out. I spewed them all over everyone.
“I have always been ashamed to call myself a Brady. You might be tempted to think that’s because of my mother, but you would be dead wrong.” I swept them in contempt. “I’ve watched you grovel, beg, steal, and allow someone to ruin your lives. You sat by while she sent people away, banned them, killed them. You’re all as bad as she is. And I would never, not for anything in this world, save this family.”
The room erupted in chaos.
“Until she recovers,” I continued, forcing them to quiet down. “My dear mother will be in the home down the street. Georgie will run things.”
I slowly rose and walked toward the door, enjoying their dismay. The truth was setting me free.
“Where are you going?” Judy called angrily. “We trusted you to fix it! Where are you going?”
I stared back at her in dislike. She’d almost been my mother, but I doubted that life would have been any better than the one I’d barely survived. “You guys started this shit all those years ago with my dad. I’m just finishing it.”
Judy paled and sat back down as if I’d slapped her. That was the final confirmation for me. My dad was dead, on Mary’s orders.
“I’ll drive you around,” Douglas offered, still hovering near my mother like he always had.
“I wouldn’t let you lick my shoes,” I spat, suddenly furious. “You told her we were leaving. I know you did.”
“I didn’t have a choice!” Douglas whined. “You know what she was–”
“Save it!” I cut him off without sympathy. “You betrayed me. Her little spy.” I glowered. “You sold your family.”
“Some family,” Douglas muttered. “She never trusted me again after your lie. Even when she knew it wasn’t true, she turned on me!”
“How many of us did you sell out to her, Dougie?” I demanded, taunting him. “How many lives did you crush, just when they were about to run like hell? Don’t expect sympathy. You don’t deserve it.”
Douglas sank into the chair by Mary, now looking very much like her twin. Through her spies, Mary had been able to keep her grip over everyone. They deserved to rot with her.
I swept the tense family and settled on Georgie, who gamely glowered back.
I repeated, “Georgie has control of the family.”
I walked out the door to wait, enjoying the groans and mutters. Everyone knew Georgie couldn’t handle this job. He was too reckless, too careless. He would get them caught. As people began to talk of leaving the family for a better connection, I felt the hatred in my heart for this place ease. I had a royal hill in the city to find and a lost love to reclaim, if it wasn’t too late. I would spend the rest of our lives trying to make up for the last two years, and for the other errors of youth that I’d made. Angie and I could still have our happily ever after.
A group of uncles and cousins followed me outside and congregated nearby as I lit a cigarette, waiting for one last need to be fulfilled. I hoped they left Mary at the window for a long time. Let her have a few hours of dread before the nursing home employees came for her. I’d paid them to arrive at dawn tomorrow, with orders to treat her as if she was anybody else. There wouldn’t be any of the special privileges that she’d certainly expected me to arrange. Mary would have the basics of life, the same as she’d given her children.
Hatred flashed through me as the door opened again. The uncles moved back, recognizing the danger. I wasn’t the naïve young heir they’d last seen.
Georgie stomped straight toward his wagon.
I rushed forward to slide into the passenger seat.
For a second, while Georgie paused in surprise, I thought I could smell vanilla. It infuriated me and I waited encased in ice for him to shut the door.
“I’ll bet you know where she is!” he accused in the low growl of a wounded, dangerous dog.
“And I’ll bet you’re on the way to check the office safe for money to track her down.”
Georgie flushed guiltily and the red shading continued to spread over his skin as I laughed harshly. I knew the type of dirty, bloody fight he wanted. Beating the hell out of me with walls hadn’t been enough. Now that I was different, it might be a challenge and I was tempted.
Since joining the Marines, I’d discovered a need for fighting, an outlet for my rage, and this piece of slime deserved someone to let go on him.
Still, I had other plans. Georgie was about to become a lesson, an example.
“You molested her. A little girl. All her life. You hounded her like a fucking animal. I can’t wait to see you in prison.”
Georgie’s anger fled in a wave of fear that twisted my stomach. With that confirmed, I calmly asked the last thing I needed to know. “What would you have done to her, if she hadn’t ran?”
Georgie wanted to deny it all, maybe worried that I was taping the conversation, and my anger unleashed itself without my permission. Like it did during battle, the fury was a blade that cut the offender’s throat.
“You’re being investigated for murder, rape, and embezzling. Your restaurant will be shut down next week by officials from three different agencies.” Which was a lie. They would be at his trailer tomorrow morning and the restaurant an hour later.
“You might as well tell me the truth. If Mother Brady was right and confession is good for the soul, you need it.”
“All a lie, right?” Georgie demanded, ignoring my suggestion. “Giving me the family?”
“No,” I told him, unable to stop the grin. “That’s the best part. When the investigators come next week, the family will tell them you’re the leader of our clan. Perfect setup, right?”
Trapped and about to fight his way out, Georgie pinned me with furious hatred. “She was mine.”
“Tell me about her dad.”
Georgie went so still that I wasn’t sure he was breathing.
“I already know it wasn’t a Brady. I checked into things like birth certificate dates and family lines. He wasn’t a local.”
“Mary doesn’t know. I wouldn’t tell her.”
“Why would you…” I laughed again. “That’s what you had on Mary. You know the truth and you… Did you threaten to tell people her husband had impregnated a gypsy whore?”
Georgie’s face grew even redder and I made the final connection. “You were bluffing! You have no idea who Angie’s dad is. She figured that out and you lost your power.” I grinned. “Well, ain’t life grand.”
“I found out later, from my wife!” Georgie shot back. “It’s some fancy man from Washington who came through to tour the tornado damage in Cleves. Never knew he dropped a gift on a working girl.”
Relief and infinite sadness competed for room in my heart. Of course, my mother had lied. How else would she have gotten her way for so long?
“What happened after I left?”
Georgie relaxed a little, probably thinking he might be able to talk his way out of trouble with me, be forgiven.
“Mary went crazy. She drove herself into the ground trying to find Angie.”
“You helped her on that, right?”
Georgie clammed up at my accusing tone. He was realizing that I wasn’t the forgiving kind.
“I’ve arranged something special for you, Georgie,” I confided, subtly adjusting my position to be ready. “See, I have this new friend. He hates a person who messes with kids. Well, he knows this guy who runs the prison we’re gonna send you to. He’s got the perfect bunkmate waiting.”
I’d never seen Georgie so angry and yet so helpless. For a brief instant, I wished that Angie were here to enjoy it.
“You can’t do that to me!”
“I can do anything I want,” I stated calmly, welcoming that cold shield. “Maybe I’ll be in Angie’s arms an hour from now. She’ll laugh and laugh when she hears where you’re going.”
“I’ll kill you!”
Magic words, I thought, snatching the knife from my belt as he swung on me. His big blow bounded off my arm and I jerked forward, stabbing him in the groin.
“Aaahhh!”
I leaned back as Georgie forgot all about me, then eased out of the car without memorizing the image. Angie couldn’t ever know I’d come here and settled some things. She couldn’t know about this side of me. I was a killer, born and bred for the position.
I strolled casually toward the uncles now clustered behind the wagon in tense, quiet alertness. I wiped my hand down my jacket. “He’ll need an ambulance. He fell on his knife as he got in the car.”
They regarded me in disbelief. They’d all witnessed the event through the windows.
“That’s what happens when you’re drunk,” I stated. “Right?”
I pinned them with my Marine glare and got nods right away in return.
“Does this mean he...” Larry hesitated; worried over his little part of the family, but I had no time for his timidity either.
“All of you are guilty. Georgie is the best leader you can have when you’re corrupt.”
I looked at the family lawyer, who had been staring at me thoughtfully since I arrived. “Pass it all to Georgie. I never wanted any of it.”
The lawyer nodded, respect appearing on his tired face. “I will.”
“Do it quickly,” I warned, telling them all that more action was coming. It was the only warning they would get.
“What about us?” someone called.
“Yeah, we’re your family!”
I snorted at them in derision as a hollow ping filled my stomach with acid. “I had one family member here, and none of you protected her. Go to hell.”
I left them in terror for the future, as I’d meant to, but the satisfaction wasn’t as good as I’d imagined. Mary’s condition had made it less enjoyable. In my mind, our last meeting would always be at the base, when I’d denied her and sent her away. That was what she’d deserved and even though my mother might know that I’d given her the nursing home life, it wasn’t enough. I would try to find the rest of my peace in the family falling apart. Mary had been a tyrant, but she’d also been a smart tyrant, which was what had allowed her to operate under the law for so many decades. That was all over now.
The tornado siren sounded suddenly, jarring me, making my heart clench. It’s Wednesday.
I caught a flash of voices on the May wind, our voices, and soaked them in like a desert needing rain.
My Brady.
That’s me, baby-cakes.
“You’ll love me forever?”
“Yep, but not a second longer.”
Pain flooded my soul.
I tried to lock it away as I jogged to the storage facility that had been built while I was gone. It was along 128 and held a payphone.
I called a number that was written on the box, heart pounding.
“Towne Taxi.”
“I need a cab at the Branch Hill Mobile Home Park entrance.”
“The one way out on 128?”
I smiled. “Yes.”
“Okay. Might be a while.”
“No problem.”
“Where you going?”
“Queen City hill, near the top.”
“Hey! Nice fare. Keep an ear out for us.”
“You got it.”
I hung up, wondering if Angie’s escape had included a taxi. My investigator friends hadn’t been able to discover how she’d made it to the hotel. She’d checked in under Miss Angie Brady, like I’d told her to. My friends had assumed she’d hitchhiked, but that theory hadn’t fit with our plan. However, none of the city cab companies held records long enough to track her down that way. In fact, she’d only been found at all because of a hospital admittance form. It had been about eight months after she split, and from there, the trail had gone cold. The addresses I had for her were long shots, but at the same time, I knew she was there. It was as if I could feel the old magic, the connection that had lit us up each time we got close.
A shiny orange and white taxi arrived at the payphone about twenty minutes later, time that I spent wading through the nearby corn and having flashbacks that I planned to never explore again once Angie and I were reunited. It was too sad.
I climbed into the seat and an older man turned to me with a yellow grin from the driver’s seat. “Hiya.
Where we going?”
“Queen City hill, in Cincinnati,” I answered, handing him two twenties.
“Great!”
He got us rolling quickly and started the usual small talk that people expected from a driver.
“You know, this is only my second fare ever from this zone, in three whole years, and it’s even better than the last. How sweet is that for a streak?”
I nodded in agreement, trying to think about what I was going to say to Angie, but he kept talking.
“Yeah, that girl called from a pay phone too, but she was at the amusement park we already passed. And it was late.”
My head snapped up as my heart pounded in my chest. “How long ago was that?”
“Oh, about two years, I guess, maybe a bit more. Was cold out. She had on a lot of clothes, but I could tell she was frozen. I bumped my heat before she got in. Nice kid.”
Angie!
“What did you two pass the time with?” I tried to sound casual, as if I weren’t hanging on his every word.
“She didn’t want to talk at first, just seemed glad to be gone. Said her mom was meeting her at the hotel. But ol’ Fred had her yapping like any female by the time we got there. Nice kid,” the driver repeated.
I spent the rest of the ride prying tiny details from the driver while trying not to let him know why. It was a good test of my skills as team leader, but when we got within minutes of Queen City, I grew impatient.
“I used to know her. She was running away.”
The driver’s shoulders rose and fell. “Yeah, I thought it was something like that. I told her to keep half the fare because I wasn’t sure she had someone meeting her when we got there. That hotel wasn’t even open.”
I winced, thinking of how she’d been alone, in the cold, short on cash, while I’d been signing papers to go away for two years. She’d stuck to our plan all the way. I hadn’t.
“Did you see her again?” I had to ask, giving away my concern with the need in my voice.
The man grew serious, meeting my eye in the mirror.
“I still do, each Monday when she does her shopping. When you said Queen City, and you called from the pay phone out there, I knew where you were going.”
