by ML Gardner
“Fine. Well, see, not too long ago, Marvin asked if he could store some overflow hooch in the barn. I didn’t think anything of it and since I could pick a little off the top for free, I agreed.”
Jonathan looked at him as if it were the first time he’d seen him.
“Are you sober right now?”
“Have been for two days.”
“Damn, that’s a record lately.”
“Thanks. Anyway, so Patrick comes to me and tells me Marvin is storing much more than hooch in the barn.”
“What else is he storing?”
“Opiate elixir, it looks like.”
“Why would he store that at your place?”
“Damn if I know. But Patrick said Marvin would have me busted as if the stuff was mine, if he told me. Well, he told me anyway. I’m not sure if I’m glad he did or not, but I thought you’d know what to do.”
“Marvin said that? Marvin? The deputy?”
“Patrick thinks he’s crooked. What do you think?”
“Nothing would surprise me anymore, Caleb. And there’s a lot of money to be made in that stuff. But I’m sure Marvin has a good explanation. It’s gotta be confiscated stuff. Why don’t you talk to him? Even if it’s on the up and up, tell him you want him to get rid of it. Tell him you’re getting another horse and need the room or something.”
“He’ll know Patrick talked to me. I’m actually a little afraid of him, Jon.” He looked down, ashamed.
“Then dump it in the damn ocean, that’s what I’d do.”
“That’s exactly what Patrick said. But I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Jonathan Garrett?”
“Right here.” He moved quickly across the room. “I’m Jonathan. How is she?”
“The doctor can see you now.”
He followed the nurse through the door and down a long hallway. The doctor was in his office at his desk. He was older, thick in the middle with a balding head and round spectacles. He appeared troubled as he scanned a chart, but put on a smile as he raised his head.
“Mr. Garrett, come in.”
“How’s Ava?”
“She’s resting.”
“Is she going to be okay? Is the baby ok?”
“She is going to be fine, I believe. As for the baby, time will tell. I’m afraid we aren’t able to stop the labor.”
“You mean she’s having the baby now?”
“In the process of it, yes. It’s early, as you know. Seven weeks early, and while I’ve seen a number of babies born and thrive at this point in gestation, it’s always prudent for the parents to be aware that, well, to put it bluntly, anything can go wrong. The baby’s lungs might not be mature enough to breathe on its own. The heart may not be strong enough, the kidneys and liver might not function properly, leading to jaundice and build up of blood toxins. Then, there’s always infection to worry about.”
Jonathan nodded and swallowed hard. “If you had to put odds on it?”
“I can’t do that. There’s too much out of my control. I would never get a father’s hopes up, only to be wrong.”
“But it could all be okay, right? It’s early and it’ll be small, but it could be fine?”
“Anything is possible, Mr. Garrett.” He tried to smile. He wanted to give Jonathan hope. Experience had taught him it was better to avoid giving a shred of false hope to a parent during a dangerous delivery. “But do you understand all of the possibilities?”
“I do.”
“Let me assure you we will do everything we can. I will do everything I can.”
“Thank you, Doctor. I’d like to see Ava now.”
“I’m afraid she’s been sent to the delivery ward and no visitors are allowed. She is being made comfortable. You can wait in the father’s waiting room and her nurse will give you updates.”
“Wait, no, I have to be with her!”
The doctor stood with an amused smile. “In the delivery room? We don’t allow fathers in the delivery room, Mr. Garrett.”
“She wants me in there.”
“We will take good care of her.” He put a hand on his shoulder and turned him toward the door. “We will keep you informed,” he said with finality.
∞∞∞
Bomani stood facing away from the few people gathered on the platform of the train station. He glanced at his watch. The eight o’clock train was running late. His nerves were wracked and he tried to shake his anxious feeling, wanting to get out of this town as fast as possible. It had been too close a call. If they had just left a few minutes earlier when Ruth wanted to—he froze. If they had left a few minutes earlier, they would have run smack into Victor as he came up the sidewalk. He shuddered. It was only by staying those extra minutes and waiting downstairs that they narrowly avoided him. Huddled together in the middle of Jonathan’s living room, they had seen the front door handle start turning, ever so slowly. They had run for the backdoor and left it wide open.
They’d heard the gunshots. Ruth wouldn’t let him stop. They ran two blocks and hid in a broken down shed for over an hour. Then they heard it. An old lady going door to door. Rockport’s very own town crier, telling everyone that someone broke into Jonathan’s house and got shot. Bomani prayed nothing had gotten confused in translation.
They crawled out of the shed and came nose to nose with a shaggy black dog staring at them, his head cockeyed and curious.
“Good dog,” Bomani said as he slowly stood. “That’s a good boy, stay right there. We’re not going to hurt you, and you don’t hurt us, okay?”
He put his hand out for the dog to sniff. After a moment the dog backed up. He gave a low ‘woof!’ and went about his business, leaving the yard.
“Let’s get to the train,” Ruth said, pulling him along.
And here Bomani stood, waiting for Ruth to get out of the restroom—seemed like she’d been in there forever—when he heard the train whistle in the distance. He walked over to the women’s restroom and called to her from the door. A young woman gave him a distrustful look as she passed him.
“Excuse me, Ma’am, my…wife is in there and this is our train, could you let her know, please?”
He stepped back affording her plenty of room to pass, and after a moment she emerged from the restroom.
“There’s no one in there.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. It’s empty.”
Bomani scanned the platform. Folks had started to line up to board the train. He passed by them quickly, looking for Ruth. She had been right there, right by his side and he watched her walk into the restroom. She couldn’t have gone anywhere else. He walked around the small ticket office and scanned the lot in vain.
“Ruth!” He walked out onto the road toward town, still calling her name.
October 25th 1930
“Mr. Garrett?” A waif like nurse with thin blonde hair touched his shoulder. “Wake up, Mr. Garrett.”
He sat bolt upright in the chair. The first rays of dawn were peeking through the window.
“Is she okay?”
“I was just coming to let you know that things are progressing very slowly. You might want to go home and clean up. Change and get something to eat. You have plenty of time.”
“I don’t want to miss it. I want to be here.”
“I understand, Mr. Garrett, but the doctor doesn’t expect anything to happen until tonight at the earliest.”
“Tonight?”
She nodded with a patient smile.
“Ava’s doing alright?”
“She’s doing fine, Mr. Garrett. Sleeping right now as a matter of fact. We’re taking very good care of her. Now, you have to take care of yourself, okay?”
“I’ll take him home,” Caleb said, and just as Jonathan started to protest, he added, “And bring him right back.”
His stomach growled but he didn’t feel hunger. His neck was pinched from spending the night in a steel chair, but he didn’t feel the pain. He rose and walked
toward the exit looking distracted and anguished.
“Take me by Maura’s would you, Caleb?”
∞∞∞
Katie Mallory had to all but nail the door shut to keep Maura in through the night.
“I need to go to him,” Maura said, gathering her clothes.
“Ye need to rest,” Katie replied, guiding her back down into bed.
“I don’t need rest! I need to go to Jonathan!”
“Don’t raise yer voice to me, child.”
“I’m not a child! And I’m not sick! I’ve lost a babe and I’ve had ample time to get over it! I don’t need ye here anymore, Mam.”
She threw the covers back and stood, defiantly. “What are ye going to do, Mam, throw me back in bed and sit on me?”
“If I have to. You’re not fit—”
“I’m perfectly fit!”
She was almost there and Katie’s smile was impossible to suppress as she turned around, fidgeting with the clothes in Maura’s top drawer.
“I’ve got just about everything straight and I don’t need ye to go messing it up.”
“What do you mean, you’ve gotten everything straight?”
Maura crossed her arms.
“Everything straight. With yer wee broken friends. I’ve been working my magic, making them see the light, so to speak, and things have worked out quite nicely.”
“Worked out how? What have you done, Mam?”
“Well.” She turned around, still smiling. “I’ve talked with Kathleen and gotten her to realize that Aryl isn’t coming back. She’s grieving hard but she’ll start eating again, eventually. It’s better than letting her fly around on false hopes.”
“You had no business doing that. Let the woman grieve how she sees fit! If it comforts her to believe it—”
“It’s a silly notion that had to be set straight. Also, I’ve convinced Arianna that Caleb has gone worthless. She’s asked him to leave and he’s agreed. He has plans to head to Boston, alone.”
“You WHAT!”
“And yer friend, Claire, well, we’ve had a lot of time to talk with ye on bed rest and she knows now that the only way she will ever be happy is if she allows herself to fall in love when she is ready, not when it’s practical. She’s rejected Gordon and he didn’t seem overly broken up about it. Proves it wasn’t a good match.” She drew herself up tall.
“Are you mad, woman! How dare ye come here and start messin’ in other peoples affairs like that!”
“I wasn’t messin’, Maura, I was helpin’.”
“The hell ye were helping! Ye don’t know these people! Ye don’t know what’s in their hearts or what’s best for them!”
“Oh, and I suppose you do!”
“I do, thank ye very much! Much better than you, that’s for sure!” She gripped her forehead. “How am I going to undo all the damage you’ve done,” she grumbled.
Katie leveled her head and stared at Maura. “Ye can’t.”
Maura met her stare with an equally stubborn one. “Yes, I can.”
“No. Not with you up here brooding on bed rest.”
“Yer the one that’s got me up here on bed rest!” she roared.
“You’re not strong enough to help them.”
“Yes, I am!” Without thinking, she grabbed the lamp and hurled it across the room. It exploded against the wall.
“Are ye angry, Maura?”
“Yes!” Maura seethed.
“Good! Tell me, how does that feel?”
Maura opened her mouth but no words came. She stared at her mother in shock. Her heart was bounding, her face was flushed and her lungs felt full of air for the first time in weeks. She felt the floor beneath her feet and her finger, which bent when she threw the lamp, throbbed. Her stomach was empty and her bladder was full and she wanted to laugh, cry and scream all at the same time. She took a moment to gather herself and leveled her gaze at Katie.
“Ye never told Miss Arianna to kick Mr. Caleb out, did ye?”
Katie shook her head.
“And ye didn’t speak to Kathleen?”
“No.”
“And Miss Claire is still seein’ Mr. Gordon, isn’t she.”
“She is.” Katie’s smile bordered smug. “I said those things because—”
Maura held up her hand. “I know why ye said it. So long as none of it was true…that’s what’s important.”
“No, Maura.” Katie walked over and put her hands on Maura’s shoulders. “What’s important is that you’ve come back to yourself.” She glanced at the shattered lamp.
“I really thought you’d done those things. Kept me a prisoner in this bedroom just to ruin my friend’s lives.”
Katie kissed her on the cheek. “Don’t doubt me, child.”
She paused at the door and looked back at Maura. “Jonathan is downstairs. Don’t keep him waiting, aye? He needs you. They all need you.” She winked.
∞∞∞
A few moments later, Maura emerged downstairs with her handbag tucked under her arm. Katie stood in the kitchen sipping a cup of tea, smirking. Jonathan stood holding Jean, talking to him in a low voice, his little arms wrapped around his neck, listening intently. He moved him to his hip when he saw Maura.
She smiled and hugged him tightly. “I’ve heard all about it. How is Ava?”
“In the hospital. They can’t stop the labor. It’ll be born tonight, the doctor thinks.”
“And what I heard about Victor, is it true?”
“He’s dead, if that’s what you heard.”
She crossed herself. “I shouldn’t be glad that someone has lost their life, but I’ll have a hard time grievin’ that one.”
“I’m glad,” Jonathan said. “And I’m not ashamed of it.”
“You look a mess and you haven’t eaten.” She eyed him up and down. “Let’s be on our way to your house.” She nodded firmly. “You can tell me more in the car.”
Jonathan moved Jean back to where he could look him in the eyes. “I need you to stay here with Katie a bit longer, okay? I’m going to go back to Ava and as soon as you have a new little brother or sister, I’ll let you know.”
“I want to go home,” he whined.
“You can’t go home just yet, Jean. Soon, I promise.”
“Because the bad man is still there?”
“No, he’s not. And he’s never coming back.”
He nodded with an apprehensive look as Jonathan set him down and he ran to Katie, clinging to her leg.
She ushered them out and when Caleb hesitated, she turned and held her hand out.
“Well, come on now!”
He just smiled.
“What is it, then?”
“You’re back.”
A look of relief washed over his face as a smile crept across hers, confirming. He took a large step forward, kissing her on the head before jogging ahead and opening her door.
∞∞∞
They stood staring at the pool of blood in Jonathan’s living room.
“Go and get bathed. Me and Caleb will take care of this mess. And after, I’ll make ye something to eat.”
“Maura, I couldn’t possibly—”
“You’ll eat or I’ll shove it down your throat,” she said calmly. “You’ve got a long wait for this son or daughter of yours and you’ll need to keep your strength up. Now go get cleaned up. Is that how you want to meet your child? Covered in blood and sweat and bits of that bastard?”
Jonathan turned toward the stairs.
Caleb stood, grinning at her. “It’s so good to have you back, Maura. God, it’s good.”
Jonathan stopped and turned slowly. He managed a smile and a nod, acknowledging her return, before heading upstairs.
“Caleb, I’ll need some rags and a bucket of hot water. And a scrub brush and some bleach, if you can find it.”
He frowned at the grisly task. “Sure. I’ll go look.”
The blood was still shiny in the middle but starting to dry out around the edges. A spray
of delicate dots fanned out in an arch, starting before and ending after the pool, and she knew she was staring at the last moment of someone’s life. The last second, even.
It’s for the best, a voice told her. He was no good.
She heard the water running in the bathroom above, glanced at the ceiling and back down at the blood. She put her hands on her stomach and took a deep, ragged breath.
It’s for the best, the voice said again. She nodded. Not for the same reason, but whatever the reason, it’s for the best. Perhaps it wasn’t healthy. Perhaps harder times were coming and it would be difficult to provide for a baby. Perhaps, the possibilities were endless. And though she was not to know why, maybe not ever, she acknowledged and accepted it with a deep, cleansing breath.
Caleb set the bucket on the floor. “I can do this, Maura.”
“No, I’ll do it. I need to,” she said and took the rag from his hand.
∞∞∞
Jonathan arrived back at the hospital clean, with something in his stomach but still holding a look of desperation. Everything that was happening was totally out of his control and he hated it. He was forced to wait and pace and sigh and glance at his watch every three minutes with the other ragged looking fathers in the waiting room. How he wished Ava was far enough along to have it at home. At least then he could be by her side.
Maura and Caleb stayed until the sun set, and when the nurse told them that there was no progress, the doctor hoped for something by morning, Jonathan insisted Maura and Caleb go home. They didn’t want to, but he was insistent. He wanted to be alone.
He sat in a chair after they left, resting his elbows on his knees, hanging his head down. The minutes passed painfully slow as he rocked, counting the seconds off to make them go faster.
October 26th 1930
Bomani walked the streets of Rockport long before the small town had woken up. He picked up his pace with the first rays of sunlight. Looping back to the train station, where he hoped he’d find her but didn’t, he began to feel frantic. He started asking around. Had anyone seen her? The ones that weren’t too leery to talk to a rumpled, sleep deprived stranger told him they hadn’t.
