“Rogen had you put in here to rest. Thatcher, my son, he’s working on getting things squared away with Jimmy. Do you need anything? A drink of something?” She said that she didn’t drink anymore. That it was one of the things that had hurt her family. “Yes, well, you have that about right. Would you like some water then?”
“No. My husband is gone.” The woman said she knew that. “I don’t know what I’m going to do now. He was all I had in the world.”
“Really? Then why for pity’s sake did you travel all the way across the United States to see the daughter and son you have?” She didn’t care for the woman’s tone and told her so. “I don’t really care what you care about, Ms. Hall. You’ve done those children of yours a big disservice being like you were. They’re good kids, and I love them like they’re my own. Someone should have beaten you more as a child. Perhaps then you would have—”
“That’s enough, Maggie.” They both turned to the doorway where Rogen was standing. “Thank you for defending Jamie and me, but I’ll take it from here. Would you please tell Mrs. B that we’ll be one more for dinner?”
“Yes, of course.” The woman kissed Rogen on the cheek and then hugged her. “Thatcher is going into town for a bit. When he gets back, we’ll have dinner, all right?”
“Yes, thank you. For everything.”
Before the door shut on the woman, Jamie made his way into the room with them. He didn’t look happy, nor did he look like the child she’d hurt. Lisha asked him if he’d sit with her and Rogen.
“For Rogen, not you.” Nodding, she watched as they sat side by side and held hands. They’d always been close, the two of them, and she envied that. “I have a good job. And my own money. But you’re not getting any of it. Nothing from me.”
“I didn’t want anything from you. I promise. I only wanted to come and tell you how sorry I am for being such a shitty person and parent.” Rogen said nothing, but Jamie glared at her. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to believe me. In fact, I don’t think I’d believe me either if I was in your shoes.”
“Dad left you a letter, as well as one for me.” She asked if she’d read it. “No, neither of them. One is addressed to you, and I’m not sure I want to know what he said to me as he was coming here.”
“Again, I don’t blame you. Your dad, he was so happy when we figured out where you lived. And scared. We didn’t know if you’d want to see us or not.” Rogen and Jamie both said that they didn’t. “Yes. I guess, as I said, I’d not want to see me either. But we came here to tell you how sorry we were. That’s not how it started out. We were going to come here and ask you for money. But we have some now.”
“The bank robbery.” Lisha asked her how she knew about that. “It’s my job to know all about people that do shitty things. Why didn’t you turn it in?”
“It was all we had after our home was taken from us. We stole the truck as well as the camper, yes. And found the money too. When we talked about it, coming to see you, each mile we covered together, we talked about how terrible we were. Your dad, he cried a great deal. He was so hurt.” Rogen said they’d done nothing to them. “No, you’re right, you didn’t do anything, and you could have, I guess. No, he was crying because every day we’d think of something else that we’d done to the two of you. How we had treated you and what we’d done to Jamie. We were heartbroken at what kind of people we were. And we know that it was entirely our fault. We shouldn’t have had children at all, not with the type of people we were. But we did have children, two of the best. Neither one of us realized it until it was too late. Because in every way possible, we hurt you and then shoved you out of our lives like you were no one to us.”
Jamie left them then. Lisha didn’t want him to, but she had no right to beg him to stay either. She looked at Rogen. Such a beautiful woman. Her heart was hardened, and she’d done that to her too. Looking around the room, she said it was a lovely home.
“It is. And if you think that I married Thatcher for it, then you’d be wrong. I love him with all my heart. And we plan on having children together. Ones that we’ll love and hold dearly to us.” Lisha nodded and bowed her head. Her own heart was shattering bit by bit.
When Rogen got up to pace, she didn’t watch her. She had not only lost her husband today, but all her family. It was wrong to come here, she thought. No matter how they wanted to make amends, they should have gone on.
“I’m being especially cruel. I’m sorry.” Lisha didn’t know what to say, so didn’t say anything. “You came here to unburden yourself, and I have no right to take that from you. I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for, Rogen. I know now that we shouldn’t have come here. We should have just…. Well, we should have done a lot of things and we didn’t. And now that your father is gone….” Her heart hurt for losing him. “I don’t even know why we bothered, honestly. Or what we expected.”
“You expected something that I don’t have to give you. Forgiveness. Perhaps I can give you that, but I’m sorry, there isn’t any love in my heart for you. For either of you.” Lisha thanked her. “I don’t know you, nor do you know Jamie and myself. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t have come here. You...I’m not sure what you should have done. I’m as confused and heartbroken as you are.”
“Jimmy and I, we...we were terrible people. Not just as parents, though that was bad enough, but with people in general. And pigs. The clean camper has been such a joy to us—we never realized how nasty our house had become.” Rogen looked out the window as Lisha sat up and on the side of the bed. “We didn’t rob that bank that we found the money from. And I’ll return the rest of it. We really didn’t use all that much of it. Perhaps ten grand, your dad told me last night.”
She thought about the conversation they’d had last night—their last conversation, as it turned out. He’d told her that they’d give the money to the police and then tell them that they’d pay back what they’d spent. She had no idea what she was going to do now, without any money or Jimmy, but she’d do something.
“The money is yours.” She asked Rogen what she’d said. “The camper too, along with the truck. I’ve taken care that no one will come looking for you about it, and you’ll have a title to both as well. You can sell them if you wish or live in it. It belongs to you.”
“How did you...? I don’t want you to get into trouble over this.” Rogen told her that she wouldn’t. She had strings she could pull. “I don’t know what to say. Thank you seems so— We’ve been looking over our shoulder since we left home. Thank you.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Rogen turned to look at her. “This is not me telling you that things are fine with us. I don’t know that they ever will be. But you can stay here. Like I said, you can live in the camper or not. But I have enough money to buy you a nice house and furnish it for you so that you can live close by. Not next door or with us, but close enough that if we have children, you can get to know them. I’m sorry, but I have to go. I have to do some work for another hour or so, then I’m free for the rest of the evening. If you want to talk then, I can do that.”
“I…thank you.” Rogen nodded and moved toward the door. “What about your dad? I don’t even know…he’s gone, Rogen. I don’t know what to do now.”
“The arrangements can be made tomorrow for Dad’s funeral. No one is going to question anyone on why he died in the back of the camper. You will be fine.” Lisha thanked her again. “I have to go. Missy, the upstairs maid, will help you out here. And show you around. I don’t have a problem with you staying here for a while, but you can’t live here. I…I’m not ready for that.”
It was more than she deserved or had even hoped for. Getting up, she went to the bathroom and found a small basket of things like shampoo and other personal items. There were fluffy towels too. Taking a long shower sounded good, but she had nothing to wear. Coming out of the very lovely bathroom, a woman, Missy she thought, smiled at her.
“I have clothing for you, Mrs. Hall. Mrs
. Robinson sent someone out right away for you to have things to wear while you’re here. And there are a few things that you can use too, should you want.” Lisha thanked her. “If you need anything after your shower, you have only to pick up the phone there by the bed and push six. I will be in the kitchen and will come up to show you around.”
When she left her, Lisha looked at the clothing. She had expected it to be things like fancy dresses and high heels. But it was only sweaters and pants, comfy ones, and socks and under things. There were two black dresses in the closet that made Lisha remember that she’d have to bury her husband soon. Going to take a shower would wash away the tears. Lisha would make Jimmy proud of her, she thought.
~*~
Thatcher waited for the coroner to tell him the cause of death. He assisted as much as he could, but it was just as he’d been told by Jimmy. He’d died of complications of his body being riddled with cancer.
“I’d say that he’d been dead no more than a couple of hours when he was found. I’m sorry, Thatcher. I know he was your father-in-law. But I have to tell you, from the looks of things, I’m completely blown away that he lasted this long. The man was in bad shape.” Thatcher thanked him. “I can have the body ready for the funeral home in a few hours. I’m to understand that he wasn’t from here. Do you know where you’re going for the services?”
“My wife and mother-in-law are taking care of that tomorrow afternoon. She’s pretty beat up, as you can imagine.” Thatcher stood up and looked at the man he’d never met. “Billy, what would you do if this were your father-in-law? He wasn’t a good man, not to my wife and her brother. He was heartless and a bastard. Both he and his wife. And they drove all the way across the United States, practically, to tell them that they were terrible and were sorry. I don’t know how I feel, nor how I should feel about it.”
He and Billy Wind had been friends since Thatcher had started med school. In fact, Billy was the one that had told him to switch his major from English lit to medicine. He’d even told him that he should be a surgeon when he was working one of classes with him. Friends didn’t even cover what they’d become over the years.
“You say he came to make amends? Then I’d say that was a good thing in his corner. Sure, he died before he could. But I’m telling you right now, Thatcher, had my father done that, just made the trip? I’d be as happy as a clam with a fat pearl inside.” Thatcher asked if he’d been abusive physically. “No, not him. He sexually abused both me and my brother. I found a way out of it and a way to get over it. I help others. But my brother, Tommy, he wasn’t so lucky. Killed himself when he was only about ten. Poor kid. I never knew he was being done too. So twice a week, more if I can swing it, I go down to the shelter and talk to people. Mostly kids. And if I can’t get them out—well, they do get out. But I won’t go into that with you.”
Thatcher thought about it as the man finished up with Jimmy. “Billy, I’d like for you to see if they need a doctor down there. I don’t have a great deal of time at the moment, but I can move things around over the next few weeks and spend a day or two there too. If you think they’d need me. I don’t want to step on toes.”
“They’d surely love to have you there, Thatcher. There are a few of them little fellas that need more than someone to talk to. They need someone to look after some of the abuse too.” Thatcher said he’d set up a clinic there. “Good for you. I knew the first time you showed up at my class that you were going to be one of the good ones. Thanks, Thatcher. They’ll surely love that.”
Stopping by the emergency room to see his brother, he and Dawson decided that they’d have lunch today. It would be hospital food, but here it wasn’t so bad. Not as bad as some that Thatcher had eaten in. As they waited in line to get their food paid for, he told his brother what he was going to be doing.
“I’ve actually been thinking about that place.” He leaned in closely, talking just below a whisper. “I’ve had enough here, Thatcher. I swear to you, it gets harder and harder for me to come to work. So many children abused.”
“I know what you mean.” He did too. Thatcher couldn’t count on both hands how many children he’d put back together in recent months. They sat in a part of the cafeteria where they’d not be overheard. “What do you plan to do? Leave here and put out a shingle of your own?”
“No. I’ve been really thinking about this hard for the last couple of months. I think I’d like to go back to school and be on the other end of the tests. Be a teacher. I think I can do it, don’t you?” Thatcher said he’d told him to do that long ago. “Yes, well, I guess I had to figure it out on my own. This is a dead end. And so much is changing daily that it takes me almost my entire shift to get through the new policy changes in this place. I think that someone upstairs is just making some of this shit up as they go along. I got a memo yesterday that said that we had to wear our lab coats all the time, including our free time. Who the hell tells someone that? Don’t I give enough blood, sweat, and tears here?”
“Here’s a good one for you. I have a memo in my inbox that tells me that from now on I have to rinse out my gloves and try to reuse them. Or send them to another department to use. I’m keeping that one. I have a feeling that when it gets out, and it will, there will be hell to pay.” Dawson pulled out his phone and told him that he had six more emails right now. “Anything I need to know about?”
“Yes, I’d say so. You’re not going to like this one. Not one bit.” Dawson handed him his phone just as Morgan joined them with a bag of fast food. He was munching down on a sub as big as his leg as he talked around his full mouth.
“I found out something that I think you both need to know.” He looked around and Thatcher caught himself doing the same thing. When Morgan leaned in, he and Dawson did the same thing. “They’re closing down this hospital. One of my students, their mother is on the board. The place is losing money every day. And they’re sick of funding something this big that isn’t making them much in the way of returns. I thought that saving lives would be the big thing, but apparently being a college professor of finance doesn’t make me that smart.”
“That could be the cause of all the cutbacks that I’m seeing in my department. I’m short on nurses daily because of someone taking them off the schedule. And no overtime, not even for doctors. Like we’re supposed to just stop in the middle of stitching someone up and say, tough day for you. I’m off work.” Dawson tossed his fork down. “Damn it, this isn’t right. We need this place more than we need for them to make a huge profit.”
Thatcher thought of Rogen and her ability to dig deeply into things and find information that few would have. He wanted to talk to her face to face, but he knew that the sooner he told his family that it was being looked into, the sooner they’d feel better.
Are you busy, love? She said that her and her mother were shopping for dresses. You going to wear one?
I don’t know. Jamie told me that he’s not wearing a suit but a nice shirt and pants. He said that he didn’t know this man, didn’t like him when he did, and he won’t do it. I told him that was fine with me, so long as he behaved himself. You know what he did? He stuck his tongue out at me. I think that he’s spending much too much time with your brother Jonas. He’s a bad influence. But I love them both too much to complain. What did you need?
He told her what was going on with the hospital and that it might close up, and about the emails that he and Dawson had gotten. He asked her to hold on a moment. Dawson had something that he needed to read.
The email was addressed to everyone, and his name was in the subject line. When he read it the first time, Thatcher thought it was his brother playing a joke on him. After asking him about it and Dawson denying it, he told Rogen. She was fit to be tied, as he’d heard said by his mom.
So, you’re leaving for greener pastures, are you? Were you planning on taking me with you, or are you just going to continue on with a bachelor life? Rogen laughed and said to give her a couple of hours here, then she’d have m
ore information. My mom is crying again. Not that I blame her, she feels all alone right now. But I have a feeling that it’s more than that. I don’t know. Could be that I don’t want to think she’s that grief stricken. I’ll get back to you about the hospital thing later.
He told the other two and asked them to please correct anyone that asked about this information. “I’m not leaving, that I know of. And if I do, I’d certainly not tell anyone through email. Christ, this is just shitty.”
They finished their lunch and talked about different things about their jobs. Morgan had a degree in finance, but he’d never done much more than a few things with Jonas, who loved numbers. Teaching was all Morgan had ever wanted to do. And when the opening had come up a while back, he nearly jumped at the chance. Now he was working on tenure, as well as getting his PhD in his area of knowledge. Thatcher was very proud of his brothers, all five of them.
Morgan was a professor, and more than likely would be for the rest of his life. He was also one that got into trouble a great deal with women. Not that he harmed them, but they wanted him in ways that were not only against the rules but would cause Mom to kill him.
Houston was a potter. Few knew who he was other than the family and his agent, but his pieces, some larger than life and others small enough to fit into your palm, were world renowned. When he wasn’t playing in the mud, as Dad called it, Houston helped teach handicapped children how to color and to paint. Thatcher thought that he enjoyed that more than he did anything else he did.
Beckett was...well, he did what he wanted when he wanted. Somedays he’d be working in a winery. Then he’d work the line at some factory. He was forever doing things that he both loved and hated. But it never stopped him from doing them. Someday Thatcher was going to pin him down and figure out why he did such a plethora of things. He more than likely didn’t want to know the answer, but he’d ask anyway.
Jonas kept them all in money. He, like Morgan, loved numbers, but Jonas also liked to make a buck into a million. None of them, would never have to work again, the way that Jonas took care of them. And now he was helping Rogen with her money. Thatcher hadn’t figured out how much Rogen had, but she did tell him that his name was on all her accounts. He didn’t really care, Thatcher just loved the woman.
Thatcher: Robinson Destruction – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance Page 10
