by Kris Calvert
“Will you come to the nursing home? Z needs to stay with the children,” he whispered, doing his best to hold in his emotions.
“I’ll have them drop me there first. We’ll be there as soon as we can,” I promised.
We sat in silence and I listened to him breathe on the phone line. Neither of us had anything to say. There was nothing to say.
“I’ll stay on the phone with you until I arrive.”
I heard him take a deep breath and sigh through his tears.
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Just knowing you’re on the way makes me feel better.”
“I’m on the way,” I whispered.
“I love you, baby.”
“I love you,” I whimpered into the phone. I tried to be strong for Mac, but I’d lost the ability to hold in my tears.
I handed the phone to Leo. “Thank you.”
“I’m so sorry, Samantha,” Polly added.
I leaned into Timms as he drove and stroked his arm. “Timms, I have some bad news.”
“Miss Nancy has passed,” he replied, not taking his eyes from the road.
“Yes.”
“I’m sure Mr. Edward was waiting for her,” he nodded. “It’s as it should be.”
“I guess,” I replied.
“I don’t guess,” he continued. “Heaven gained an angel tonight, Miss Samantha. I’m sure of it.”
Leo made sure an agent met me at the doors of Autumn Valley and I rushed through the entrance trying to make my way to Mac as quickly as possible. I turned onto the C wing and spotted King in the hallway. He opened his arms to me and pulled me in for a hug.
“Where is –”
Before I could finish my sentence, King nodded to Nancy’s room.
“He’s been in there alone. I told him to take as much time as he needs.”
“Thank you,” I whispered as King gave my hand a reassuring squeeze.
“She made all her own arrangements, Sam, so let Mac know there’s nothing he needs to do except meet with the counselor. Everything can be handled from there.”
I nodded and slowly opened the door.
Mac looked up to me as I walked to Nancy’s bedside. It was as quiet as anyone might expect. Death was funny that way. And even though I knew he’d gone through this with his father and I with Daniel, nothing prepares you for the finality of it.
He stood and I rushed into his arms. We held each other tightly without saying a word. I rocked him back and forth and felt him begin to sob on my shoulder.
I knew I had to be strong. It was my turn.
I finally took his face in my hands and kissed his tear-stained cheeks. “We’ll get through this,” I promised him. “We’ll get through this together.”
He nodded and kissed me.
“Z’s with the children?”
“Yes,” I confirmed. “And Polly. They should be home by now. Sweetheart, I told Timms.”
“He loved her so much. Took such good care of her.”
I nodded and choked back the emotion flooding my body.
“Tell me what you need,” I said as we sat down on the couch in Nancy’s suite. “King said we could stay here as long as we want. Everything is already planned. We just need to meet with a counselor before we leave for some instructions.”
He nodded and dropped his head into my lap. “I didn’t get to say goodbye, Sam. I didn’t get to tell her goodbye.”
I stroked his hair. “I remember when we left King’s house you held her hands and told her you loved her. You even asked if she understood and she nodded. Do you remember what she said to you?”
“Be good.”
“Be good,” I agreed as I continued to stroke his back.
“I don’t want to leave her.”
“I know, sweetheart. You don’t have to,” I cried, unable to hold my tears in any longer. “You know, Timms said something tonight. He said it was as it should be. Your mom was never really happy after your father died. He said Mr. Edward was waiting for her to arrive.”
“It’s true. They never spent more than a couple of days apart the entire time they were married. They couldn’t bear to be away from one another.”
“Kinda like us,” I smiled through my tears.
“Exactly like us,” he agreed.
I nodded and took his hand in mine. “Sorry our honeymoon has been such a disaster.”
“I’m sorry it’s been such a disaster.”
I nodded. “Couldn’t be helped.”
Mac sniffed as he sat up to look at me. “Timms is right. She’s not confused or afraid anymore. Most of all, she’s with my dad.”
I nodded and wiped my tears on the sleeve of my sweater.
“Sorry, baby,” Mac said as he stood to search his back pocket for a linen handkerchief. “I didn’t bring a handkerchief today.”
“It’s okay,” I smiled as I walked to Nancy’s bathroom in search of a Kleenex. I flipped on the light and looked across the marble vanity for the box I knew was there. Pulling a tissue, I blew my nose and looked into the mirror expecting to be horrified by the mascara running down my cheeks.
I blotted my eyes and turned on the faucet to splash water on my face. I opened my eyes and stumbled backwards and out of the bathroom with a gasp.
“Mac,” I whimpered.
“Yes?” he asked as she stood over his mother’s body shaking his head.
“He’s been here.”
I backed away from the bathroom and put my hand to my mouth. Mac walked toward me and I pointed my shaking finger to the mirror where a single kiss mark in red lipstick was smudged in the center. Two words were written underneath. Remember me?
“Mimi!” I shouted.
I rushed past the agent and walked into her room, startling her at once.
“Who’s there?” she asked.
“It’s Sam.”
“Samantha?” Mimi’s voice cracked.
I walked toward her bed as she turned on the lamp by her bedside. “Thank God, Mimi.”
“What’s wrong?”
I paused to catch my breath now that I knew she was safe. “Why would you think something’s wrong?” I sobbed, breaking down and dropping my head into my hands.
“Darlin’,” she consoled as she reached out to me.
I fell into Mimi and cried uncontrollably. For the first time I let out every emotion I’d had over the past two weeks. I was mad, heartbroken, afraid, frustrated and confused. It all poured out of me at once as if the leaky dam had burst into a cataclysmic wave.
I laid my head in her lap. She didn’t say a word, but continued to stroke my hair from front to back.
“Life’s hard.”
“I guess if it was easy, we’d call it something else,” she said softly. “Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?”
I lifted my head and wiped the tears from my face with the sleeve of my sweater yet again. “Nancy died tonight.”
Mimi took a full and deep breath and I watched as her tiny body expanded and contracted with her sigh. She was so frail these days, her body starting to revolt from the ninety-nine years it had protected her.
“She was a beautiful lady inside and out,” Mimi sighed. “I shall miss my friend. Mac’s taking it hard, I’m sure.”
“It’s worse, Mimi. Hector was in her room. He’s been here. He’s followed me everywhere and I don’t want to worry you – I think Richard may have something to do with all of this. I was worried that you –”
“Now stop.” Mimi pursed her lips. It had taken me years to know when she was really angry. This was it. She took another deep breath and looked me in the eye, “I gave up worrying years ago. Worrying is for amateurs, people who think they have some sort of divine control over their destiny. If you live to be as old as I am, you’ve seen just about everything.”
“Mimi, I’m talking about our safety. Hector wants me dead. And now I’m pretty sure Richard wants the same for both of us. Aren’t you afraid?” I asked as I hiccupped
through my tears and stood to pace the room. “If Hector can get to Nancy, he could get to you and I’m done with people dying. I’ve had enough of it!”
“Afraid?” Mimi asked. “Afraid of Hector? Hell no. If he thinks he can end me then tell him to bring it on. I’m about twenty years past my expiration date already.”
“And Richard? I called Pete Peterson. Richard’s pulled the title and deed to your house. He wants it.”
“You think he’s gonna kill you and me to get that house and property?”
“No. He’ll have Hector do it for him.”
Mimi shook her head and motioned me to her. “Come here, sweetheart. You’re worrying about things you needn’t worry about.”
She took my hand and kissed it, giving it a loving squeeze. “You take care of your husband. He needs you right now. Be strong for him.”
“I’m tired of being strong,” I whined.
“Samantha, it takes balls to be a woman. And you’ve got ‘em. I should know. You got ‘em from me,” she smiled. “Now find your husband and take care of him.”
“What about you? I couldn’t bear it if something happened to you. If Hector…”
“I know, I know,” she nodded. “But I have a big strong FBI agent outside my door with a firearm on his side. I think I’ll be just fine. That is as long as he can shoot straight. God forbid he hit an oxygen tank in here and blow us all to hell.”
I gave her a single laugh through the tears still streaming down my face.
“That’s my girl,” she sang. “Now, get your balls out of your purse and go find your husband. You’re a Peterson. Act like it.”
I said the only two words she wanted to hear from me. “Yes, ma’am.”
“King?” I asked as he walked down the hallway. “Do you think Hector could’ve caused the heart attack? I mean, do you think he scared her and then it happened?”
“There wasn’t anyone in the room when we got to her for the cardiac code. She was still on telemetry from her last episode a couple of days ago. I guess anything’s possible. I just don’t know how anyone would’ve gotten past the agent at the door.”
Mac wandered the hallway. I looked into his eyes as he walked past me toward the room as if I wasn’t there.
“Mac,” I spoke up. “I’m right here, sweetheart.”
He turned and the distant gaze of his empty face left me worried. He was a broken man and it showed.
“Tell me what can I do for you.”
“Nothing,” he said, looking back into his mother’s suite. Nancy’s once beautiful room had been transformed into a crime scene in the blink of an eye.
“Do you want to go home and get some rest? We can check in on all of this tomorrow.”
“I’m not leaving,” he said without making eye contact. “But you should go home.”
“I’m not going anywhere without you, Mac. If you stay, then I stay.”
“Whatever,” he said as he walked away.
Suddenly my husband was absent. He was absent from himself and I was more worried for him than I was for my own safety.
28
MAC
I sat in Dad’s old study and looked around the room. On my desk were photos of the lipstick on the mirror from my wedding day and now Momma’s room.
I sipped on Maker’s Mark as I looked at all the portraits that hung there. Over the fireplace were my parents. Young and vibrant, they held onto each other in love. The other portraits, my grandparents and their families before them. I was the only Callahan left. A long line of fine men and women and what was left? Me. Piece of shit me.
I looked into the painted eyes of my father and whispered, “I’m sorry.” I didn’t know what else there was to say. I was an FBI agent and I couldn’t even keep my own family safe.
I thought I’d finally made it past the guilt and feelings of inadequacy when I met Sam and had a child of my own. And yet, here I sat, alone in my pity. My father would be so disappointed in me for not keeping my mother safe.
I took the last gulp of bourbon and poured myself another. The numbness was beginning to overtake me, and everything was slipping away, including my will to care.
I heard a knock at the door and Sam’s voice calling to me.
“Mac, open the door.”
“I just want to be alone right now,” I shouted. “Please,” I begged.
“I’m worried about you.”
“I’m fine,” I mumbled.
“I can’t hear you, Mac. Please open the door.”
“I said,” I shouted as I dropped my head back in a drunken surrender. “I’m fine!”
“Mac,” Samantha insisted as she banged on the door causing a rattle. “Open this door. Now.”
I said nothing as I stared at the photographs on the desk. I could feel my eyelids drooping with each deliberate blink.
“Mac, open this door or I’m taking someone’s gun and shooting the lock off. I’m coming in one way or another. Now,” she continued with gusto. “If you want me to ruin this two hundred year old mahogany door, I will. Or you can just open it!”
I pushed myself away from the desk and stumbled to the door. With one turn of the wrist I unlocked it with the skeleton key and walked away.
Samantha burst through the door just as I took a seat.
She looked at me with wild eyes. I just wanted to be left alone. Was that too much to ask? I couldn’t look at her. It was too hard. I couldn’t look at her and not think about everything that had happened in the last week.
She walked straight to me and dropped to her knees in front of me. I looked away as she took my hand and kissed it. I was drunk, pissed off and had never felt so overcome with emotion before. I wasn’t strong. I was weak. So weak that I’d allowed a man to come between my family and me. I’d allowed a man to get the best of me, professionally and personally. I wallowed in it and I sank into the couch further, pulling my hand from her as I tried my best to disconnect and simply feel the bourbon.
“What are you going to do, Mac?” she asked as she walked away from me. “Sit in here and pretend what’s happening isn’t happening? There are armed men standing outside our children’s bedrooms right now. A crazy man is on the loose – talking to our son and looking for me. And yet you’re in here getting drunk?” she ranted as she picked up the wax-sealed bottle and gave it a strong shake before slamming it on the desk.
I looked up at her through my blurred vision. “I’m sorry,” I whimpered, my voice cracking.
“I’m sorry,” she repeated as she took a seat next to me on the couch. “Mac, I want to be your rock, but shutting me out when all we have is each other isn’t going to work.”
I nodded. “I couldn’t save her, Sam. I let her down. I let my father down.”
“Is that what this is about?” she asked. “You think because your mother had a heart attack, which King told you was inevitable, you’ve somehow failed as a son?”
I couldn’t even respond.
“Your mother had a beautiful heart that stopped working.”
“I let it happen.”
“All you’ve done is try to take care of everyone. Hector is evil and I’m scared to death of him.” She took my chin and turned my face to meet hers. “But I believe in you.”
I blinked in an alcohol-fueled slow motion.
“Now, I love you. But I’m not above kicking your ass right now. It’s time to buck up and sober up.”
I nodded.
“All the arrangements have been made for your mother. The funeral is day after tomorrow. She had everything planned down to the last detail.”
“I suppose she knew I wouldn’t handle this well.”
Sam nodded and gave my hand a squeeze. “Let’s get you in the shower and I’ll have Celia make you some coffee.”
“Oh God,” I gasped. “Miss Celia. Did you –?”
“Her father told her, sweetheart. Everyone is more worried about you.”
“I’m worried about you,” I slurred as I took her face in my
hands. Abruptly I stood and walked to the desk and picked up the photos again. “He’s not finished, Sam.”
Sam snatched the papers without looking. “He may not have anything to lose, but I’ve got everything to lose. And I’ll be damned to hell if I’m going to let Hector take it.”
I awoke on the couch in Dad’s study, covered in a blanket. My head ached and my mouth was dry. As I sat up, Miss Celia walked into the room and gave me a glare.
“Well look who’s decided to join the living.”
I rubbed my hands through my hair and realized I still had on a shirt and tie from last night. “Celia,” I began. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Baby, you know I’d do anything for you. I love you like you are my own child.”
I nodded, knowing I was in for a lecture when all I really wanted to do was hug her.
“But your momma would be upset with you if she knew you were acting this way. You’re a Callahan.”
“I know,” I groaned. “And she’d say it just like that I’m sure.”
“You’ve got a mess of people running around this house who are counting on you. And I don’t think I need to remind you that there are two little people who are counting on their daddy to take care of them.”
I nodded. “Celia, I wasn’t there. I couldn’t stop him from scaring her, and now…”
“And now she’s gone,” she said. “Baby, if I know Miss Nancy, and believe me I do, she wouldn’t give Hector the satisfaction of scaring her to death. Miss Nancy’s stronger than any old lowlife.”
I nodded again.
“Now the question is,” she paused. “Are you?”
I didn’t answer her but instead asked a question. “Where’s Sam?”
“She’s upstairs with the children. Your FBI friends wanted me to wake you, but I told them anyone who woke you up would have to deal with me.”
I gave Celia a half-hearted smile.
“It’s a new day, McKay Waverly Callahan. Get in the shower. Go to your bride. I’ll get you some coffee.”
I stood and stretched as my head pounded with each beat of my heart.
“Miss Celia?” I asked, dropping my arms to my sides. “Can I get a hug?”
