“Paige—”
“I fucking slipped okay?!” The sound rang through the entrance hall, and sent three small body scurrying back behind the adults.
Bastian walked forward. Pulling something from the envelope, he placed it on my lap.
Are You Being Abused?
Sweeping it off my lap, I roared in sheer anger, “I slipped! I slipped! Why won’t you fucking believe me?!”
“Because I can see your lies.” Fischer took my hand and studied my fingers. He touched my index finger. “I can see your lie about tripping. I can see your lie about being happy. I can see your lie about being in love. I can see your lie about all of your injuries.” He lifted my pinkie aloft and studied it for a moment. I heard Lincoln and Sebastian gasp. “And I can see the lie about the baby.”
Wren’s whisper was loud. “You’re pregnant.”
“For now,” I answered, softly.
“Oh, Paige…”
“Nurse, can you take me out to the door. I need to go home. Right now.”
Wren’s voice was still soft. “Paige…”
I grabbed the grips on the wheelchair and started pushing forward. “Now. I’m going home now.”
The nurse grabbed the handles and pushed me forward. The little crowd parted and let me roll though, my shame following me like a cloud that smothered any joy in the room.
Once the chair was out the door, I was up and out of it and limping toward the parking lot.
The nurse called after me, “Please, Mrs. Domingues, go slow. Take it easy. You have a lot of injuries that just need time and care.”
Didn’t that sound like my whole fucking life?
Bastian
The massive folder hit the table between us, and I looked up to find Fischer there shaking his head.
“What’s that?” Wren asked. “You keep bringing these folders home, but this is the thickest one yet.”
I snickered. She whacked my arm.
Fischer tapped the top of it. “This is Paige Balin Domingues’ medical records for the past four years.”
“That’s four years?” Lincoln gasped. “That’s like…serious medical issues.”
“There’s not one single issue,” he said.
“Aren’t medical records protected under law, and you shouldn’t have this?” I asked.
“I’ve murdered people, Bastian. Medical records are the least of my worries.”
That rolled off his tongue way too easy. But he was right. We all had, and medical records would only get him a fine.
Flipping the folder open, Wren started paging through. “This is all just four years.”
Taking a deep breath, Fischer shook his head. “I didn’t want to request her whole history. This is heartbreaking enough.” He pointed then plucked out a paper. “This is where it starts about three years ago. She was inpatient at Horsham. Did you know?”
Wren shook her head. “No. Not at all.”
“For delusions,” I said, studying the paper. “She was diagnosed as paranoid and they worked through it with talk therapy and CBT.”
“Cock and Ball Torture?” Lincoln asked.
“Cognitive behavioral therapy.” Wren snorted, and whacked his arm. “What’s wrong with you?”
“A lot.” He snickered.
“So the therapy didn’t work?” I asked.
“Who knows? Right after, she started to have a lot of little accidents,” Fischer said. “A lot. Bruises, cuts, odd issues. She broke several bones, and there was this, two and a half years ago.”
Pulling out an X-ray print out, he put it on the table. I saw it right away, and so did Wren. Lincoln traced the lines with his finger, seeing it, but not able to name it.
“It looks like something spun her bone around.”
“Two hands,” Fischer said.
“It’s called a spiral fracture.” Wren traced the cracks. “Most common in DV cases.”
“Domestic violence,” Lincoln whispered.
Fischer’s nod was tight. “Yes.” He started paging through the file quickly. “Bruises, sprains, lacerations, fractures, dislocations, burns, concussions. She’s not that clumsy, you guys. Wren and Lily have known her for a long time, and she’s just not that bad.” He paused and flipped one more page. “But this…this is what has me worried the most.”
I leaned forward and looked at the sheet: orders for a termination of pregnancy.
“She’s allowed,” Wren snapped.
“I know that, I’m not questioning her right. What I am worried about are the three more I found in here, plus all the various kinds of birth control mentioned in here. She’s done pills, Norplant, patch, ring, IUD, diaphragm, and a few others I had to look up because I’d never heard of them. And all of them have failed and ended in another termination. Even in combination.”
“Wow,” I mumbled, running a hand down my face. “That’s not good.”
Wren waved a hand. “Clue us in?”
“From a biological standpoint,” I said, “using all those meds and methods is dangerous. Most women who don’t want to have a child while married have a partner that supports them on that. They both take precautions. But with all that she’s been on, and all of it starting up after the first termination, makes me think that her partner either isn’t on board with the no-children, or…”
“Or he doesn’t want them either and it’s her job to keep from getting pregnant,” Fischer answered.
I tapped my nose. “Another option is that he doesn’t care if she gets pregnant, but does care if she wants the baby.”
Lincoln shook his head. “Wait…what?”
“It’s form of abusive manipulation,” I explained. “The partner uses their power over the other. It’s always been traditional for the woman to bear the brunt of birth and reproduction, right? And that also fell on birth control. So her partner doesn’t care if it’s the wrong time of month or if she’s fertile or on anything. He just takes, and then blames her for the pregnancy.”
He looked at the sheet on the table. “And makes her terminate the pregnancy. Which would then make her up the drugs and precautions she was taking previously.”
“And when those start failing, as they clearly have,” Wren said, “you have to suspect that someone is tampering with something.”
“What is she currently on?” I asked, flipping through the file, and coming across her discharge papers from another incident three weeks ago. “NuvaRing and uses a diaphragm, which also implies spermicide.”
“Fake NuvaRing,” Lincoln said. “And probably switched out the spermicide with normal lube in the bottles. So, he gets her pregnant on purpose and then makes her terminate.”
We were quiet as we kept searching through the medical file. This was horrible. Maybe the others didn’t like Paige all that much, but no one, absolutely no one deserved this treatment.
“Does she think she deserves this?” Wren whispered. “God, I hate DV.”
“Why would she let him hit her?” Lincoln asked.
“This doesn’t only take the form of physical violence,” I said. The man was a genius with money and financial negotiations, and very innovative in the bedroom, but he wasn’t a doctor, or social worker.
“It’s insidious,” Wren said. “It starts with a raised voice and ends with someone destroyed. And it’s not just men who abuse women—there are a lot of women who abuse men. Entrap them, hell even beat them. It’s just not as wildly known because…well.” She glanced around at the three of us. “Masculinity is fucking stupid.”
“I am completely comfortable in my masculinity,” Fischer said.
Lincoln smirked, jerking a thumb at me. “Your masculinity likes to watch my masculinity invade his masculinity.”
I shrugged.
“God, you’re crude,” Wren murmured.
He merely lifted an eyebrow.
Wren turned eight shades of red and laughed, looking away. “Fine. I like you crude.”
“So, what the hell do we do about this?” Fischer
asked, leaning against the counter and folding his arms.
“Nothing,” Wren and I chorused.
“What do you mean, nothing?” Lincoln asked. “The woman is being abused and forced to terminate unintentional pregnancies, and we’re not going to do anything?”
“It’s like anything, Linc,” Wren explained. “Until they are ready to see it and admit it, you’re not going to be able to change them. You can put a drug addict in rehab time and time again, but until they are really ready to be clean, it’s a waste of time and money.”
“Something is keeping Paige with Alain,” I said. “Until that something isn’t there anymore, she’s not going to leave him. We don’t have a way to find out what that is. Only she knows. And from the way things went down the other night in the lobby, I seriously doubt she’s going to come to me or Wren for therapy and help.”
“What about the forced termination?”
I looked down at the tabletop, while Wren and Fischer chose to pick at their fingernails. Lincoln looked between the three of us and shook his head. “We do nothing?”
“Not completely nothing,” Fischer said. “I’m going to talk to the OB she’s scheduled a consult with and see what we can get on the whole pregnancy thing. We…might be able to convince her to leave based on what she wants to do with the baby.”
Wren shook her head sadly and slowly. “That’s just as manipulative, Fischer. We can’t do that. As much as we hate it, she’s got the right and she has to make the decision.”
“But she’s not,” Lincoln said. “Not really.”
I raised my eyebrows. He was right. She wasn’t really being given the choice. She was being forced into a certain decision.
I held up a finger. “What if we can get her into a situation where we know she has a real choice? It might be manipulative or slightly dangerous, but couldn’t we do that? Give her the real chance to choose what she wants—with the baby, with her life, with her marriage.”
“How the hell would we do that?” Fischer said.
Tipping my head, I answered with a shrug, “Humane kidnapping?”
“You gotta do better than that,” Fischer said. “For now, I’ll get in with the OB she’s seeing and get her take on it. She’ll have to schedule through the OB anyway, so we have a few days to figure this out.”
It hurt a little in my heart that she would want to terminate without the pressure that her douche husband was putting on her, but it was not my place. I also recognized that I was missing my kids something awful. I was glad for Tim and Tabi, and now Ben, but they weren’t mine.
Pushing that back before it overwhelmed me, I leaned forward and stared at the other two men. “Are we still down for the Robin Hood gig?”
“Excuse me?” Wren asked.
“If we can’t get Paige out of her situation, then yes.” Lincoln turned and looked at Wren. “We’ve been talking about this for a few days. We can all see sins on people, which woo, lemme tell you about the sins on some people. Anyway, Fisch has a client who has been abusing her pool boy, to the point where she’s crossed into raping him. No one thinks twice about this shit, because she’s rich and white and he’s just the pool boy—but this kid is falling apart.”
“Since we have the ability to see the sins,” I continued, “and we have some meager abilities or whatever, we were thinking that we should really do something to get this poor kid out of this situation.”
“Guys—”
Fischer held up a hand to stop her. “We’ve talked it through a few times, Wren. We really have. And we all agree that this is probably part of who we are and why we are here. The situation is impossible. We know we could call the police, but she’s a rich white woman, and he’s a Latino who lives in a pretty rough neighborhood. He needs the job, and they’ll never believe him over the rich white lady.”
I nodded. “We have the ability to right the wrong, in a way that may not be orthodox but will be effective.”
“Guys, I’m not sure that this is a good idea.” She looked between us.
Lincoln laughed. “We’re sins, Temperance. Almost nothing we do is a good idea—but they are effective.”
She put a hand on her head. “Please, please be careful you three. I don’t need to bail your asses out of jail.”
I reasoned it out for her. “The more practice we get in, the easier it will be to get Paige out of her situation.”
“Don’t pull that card,” Wren said.
I shrugged. “The kid really does need our help. I don’t think there’s a person in law enforcement who would be able to properly get Mrs. Rich and Infected to stop doing this.”
“And you can?”
“We need to try,” Fischer answered.
“I hope I can legally bail you out when this goes tits up,” she mumbled.
Wren
Lily grabbed my arm. “This is going to be weird.”
Lifting my eyebrow, I stared at her. “Miriam is weird.”
“No, no.” She shook her head. “This is going to be really weird. She remembers everything, now. Everything. Not just here or there, snippet or a flash of memory. She’s immortal and you don’t remember that. Yet.”
“Or ever, Lily. Who knows if it’ll ever come back.”
“It did.” Her voice was quiet. “Twice. It did. And you found me, and it was amazing to have all of you back. I am trying so hard not to hope for that again, Wren. really I am. But when Miriam remembered…”
I shook my head. “It is what it is. I’m still your friend here and now, Lil. That has to account for something.”
“More than you know.” Her grin was honest and open.
“Come on, I want a coffee.” I pushed her toward the little coffee shop we were meeting Miriam, alone, in.
Lily had understated what this was going to feel like.
As soon as Miriam saw me, her face exploded into emotions I had never thought could blend together. Happiness, sadness, love, hate, jealousy, fear, tenderness…it was all a jumble, passing over. She stood from the seat, walked over to me and wrapped her arms around me in a hug that said all of that and so much more.
A friend like none I had ever thought to have.
My eyes pricked with tears. I wanted to remember. I wanted to know what she was seeing and feeling. I wanted to be a full part of her life, of my brother’s, of Lily’s…of the men.
It might help me understand what was going on. Why the guys could see sins, why I could get mad enough to shake the universe? Why were demons after me, and why did I seem to attract trouble like shit attracted flies?
“God, Wren,” Miriam finally spoke, but her voice was wrecked, and I could hear the tears. A second later, she chuckled and backed up, studying me. “Sorry, I’m sorry. Laxi and Lily both tried to warn me to tone it down, but…I couldn’t. I can’t.” She grabbed me by the neck and planted a kiss on my forehead.
“You’re freaking her out completely, Miri.” Lily sighed.
She was right. I was freaking out.
Miriam stepped back and smoothed her shirt, cleared her throat. “Right. Uh. Sorry. I just…got overwhelmed.”
“You?” I managed.
I could really see into her eyes now, and they were the same eyes of my best friend, once-occasional-bed partner, and at the same time—they were completely different. Deeper, more soulful, more full of knowledge, love and sadness at the same time. Hate and happiness. It was confusing and frightening.
Miriam sat and folded her hands. I sat, and wished the café carried Irish Coffee. Lily took a sip of her espresso.
The whole thing was now awkward.
I didn’t know what to say to her. She looked like she had too much to say.
Lily just sipped her drink.
“How the hell is Laxmi handling this?” I grumbled.
Miriam let out a sigh. “Not well. She’s…avoiding me right now. I don’t like it.”
“Can’t imagine why.”
“I try not to say anything around her, but she’s my wife
, and… It’s been incredibly hard not to. Even things like dinner conversations go off the rails now.” She sighed. “I can’t even say that I blame her. I probably would have done the same if she was first.”
She slumped into the chair. “I can’t even turn it off. Everything just keeps running from the day I met you to right now. It’s maddening to have no one to talk to about it.”
I jerked my thumb at Lily. “Chopped liver?”
Lily slammed her cup down. “Fucking thank you, Wren. Jesus Christ.” She leaned forward. “I remember everything too, Miriam. All of it. You can talk to me and I can help you. I’ve been dealing with it for—” Her eyes cut over to me and she smirked. “—A long time. Why does it take Wren to point this out to you?”
“I didn’t even think…I don’t know…”
“There were four of us, Miriyam. You, Wren, Laxmi, and me. We were thick as thieves. We shared things with each other that were highly inappropriate and probably some things that should not have been shared.”
Lily looked truly affronted that Miriam hadn’t come to her to talk. Miriam clearly didn’t know what to say.
“You have everything back. Look at the memories,” Lily said. “Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me that you don’t remember all of it. That we became just as good of friends as you and Wren.”
My best friend looked well and truly chided.
And then she started crying.
My head hit the table. “What the fuck, Miri?”
“How do you deal with it?” she wailed, and I glanced up in time to see that she was addressing Lily.
“Oh, fucking suck it up, Buttercup,” Lily snapped. “It’s going to get worse before it gets better. There are a hundred thousand things I can’t say to Wren or Laxi or the guys. The fact that she knows about Luce it the best thing to happen to me in centuries.”
“But…”
I sat up, and sighed. “Miriam. You’ve never been like this before. You’ve been one of the strongest people I know. Don’t stop now. I don’t know what’s going on, but I do know that I can’t let it stop me. I have to keep moving forward, trying to figure out the puzzle without the picture. Just the pieces.”
Fall Page 8
