Chapter 26

 

Nothing about the desert had changed. We were standing in the sand, with the same sun beating down on an empty desert landscape. Although the sun wasn’t high, the dry air was much hotter, and I could feel the sun shining on my skin. Maybe it was time to get some sunscreen.

Looking ahead, I could see a green sign in the distance next to the road. I couldn’t see the words on it, but I was pretty sure what it said. It was the same mileage sign we had been seen when we first arrived in Strangetown.

“Did you know we were gonna end up outside of town again?” I asked Raven.

“I figured we would,” she said. “We‘d better get moving. That sun‘s strong and it‘s not even midday.”

“Yeah, is it like the middle of the summer or something?”

I pulled out my working phone and found out I was right on the nose. The date on the screen was Sunday, August 6, 2005. At first I was happy it was summer, until I remembered that in Strangetown that was the only season and that the last thing I wanted to do was walk across a whole town under the beating desert summer sun.

As I started to put the phone back in my pocket, I remembered that Bella had told me to come see her after we had jumped. Then it hit me - we didn’t have to walk. We had a friend who would be more than happy to give us a ride, especially after not having seen us for the last eight months.

I flipped open the phone and looked at the contact list. Not only did Bella put her number in the phone, but she also put it on speed dial.

I looked at Raven to tell her, and she gave me a look that let me know we were thinking the same thing. I went ahead and dialed the number.

“Hi, Joan,” came Bella’s voice from the other end, “It‘s great to hear from you.”

“It‘s great to talk to you as well,” I told her. “How are you?”

“I‘ve been doing great and everyone is just fine. Did you just arrive?”

“Pretty much.”

“I would ask you how you‘ve been, but considering no time has passed for you, I know the answer to that question. Where are you?”

“About a quarter mile out of the poorer side of town. We‘re right by the mileage sign. We could kinda use a ride if that‘s not too much to ask.”

“No, not at all. I‘ll be there in about 30 minutes. I‘ve got your bags at my house. I got your text message and kept them for when you got back.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Your welcome. Bye.”

About a half hour later, Bella’s bright red car pulled off the road next to the spot where Raven and I where waiting. She got out of the car, got something out of the back seat, and walked around to greet us, carrying a baby in her arms. She said hello and introduced us to the newest member of her family.

Alice Erica Goth was born on January 22, 2005. The delivery had gone smoothly and without any complications. Cassandra had gone directly to Bella at the first signs that her baby was on the way, and even though Cassandra had had a baby before, Bella talked her through the whole thing. It turned out that Lauren’s mother was a nurse in the maternity word, and Cassandra had gone with Bella’s suggestion and requested Lauren’s mom to help with the delivery. Alice was the spitting image of her mother and grandmother, with brown skin and black hair. 

I let Raven have the front seat so I could sit next to Alice as Bella drove us to her house. She seemed to like me, as she had the same smile on her face that she did when Bella was holding her.

Bella filled us in on what had been happening in the last few months. Joanna hadn’t needed to be worried about her new school after all. Both she and Randy had graduated from the eighth grade with honors. Jessica got a new boyfriend, and he stayed by her side, through all her hardships. Lauren was still single, but her friends told her not to give up. One day she would also find someone.

But the biggest news was that earlier that summer, Bella, her family, her friends and Joanna were invited to be guests on special edition of The Oprah Winfrey Show.  They had all flown to Chicago and stayed for a while, visiting all of the places that I had gone to a lot when I was a kid. From that point on in our conversation, Bella and I talked about places like the Field Museum and Millennium Park. She seemed really happy to have seen one of the cities that I call home.

As soon as we entered the house I heard the sound of a girl scream “Joan‘s Back!” Amanda and Anne raced into the room and practically ran into me while trying to give me a hug. I hugged them back and when I said that I’d play with them in a little while, they went back to whatever they were doing in the other room.

Bella brought us our things and I went into the bathroom to change. I opened the bag. I was expecting to see just the one outfit I had tossed in there the day before New Year’s Eve. Instead I found that everything I owned was in there and it was all washed, folded and everything.

I came back in the living room to find Bella lying on her stomach playing with Alice.

“Did you find everything okay?” she asked me.

“Yeah,” I said. “Thanks for washing everything.”

“It‘s the least I could do for my friend.”

I got down next to her and watched Alice stick a plastic colored shape into her mouth. She kept it there for a while, and as she pulled it out a noise from the other room caused her to drop her plastic triangle.

“Give it back!”

Raven came down the stairs wondering what in the world was going on, and Bella and I got up and entered the next room to find Amanda and Anne both trying to grab a toy horse out of each other’s hands.

“Girls, stop that right now!” Bella said. The girls dropped the toy and looked up at Bella. “Amanda, sit over there.” Amanda got up and went over to the wall. Bella turned to Anne. “You don‘t grab stuff out of someone‘s hands. Anne, you know better than that.”

“But I didn‘t do it!” Anne pleaded. Bella gave her a disapproving look.

“Grandma, it wasn‘t her,” Amanda said from across the room. “I took it out of her hand.” Bella turned around to look at Amanda. The girl had a sad and guilty look on her face.

“Don‘t do that again,” Bella told her. “You did the right thing by telling me the truth.” She looked back at Anne. “I‘m sorry Anne. Why don‘t you girls come play with Alice for a while. I‘m sure she‘d love to see you.”

The girls followed us into the living room.

“What is Alice doing?” Amanda asked.

The baby was on her hands and knees. She had a determined look on her face but at the same time she wasn’t sure she knew what to do. Bella took one look at the little girl and got back on her stomach. Alice gave Bella a look that seemed to ask her grandmother for help.

“Come on Alice,” she said. “That‘s it girl. You can do it!”

“What‘s she doing?” Amanda asked again.

“I think she‘s trying to figure out how to crawl,” I told her.

Alice picked up her arm and looked at it as if she couldn’t figure out what to do with it.

“Oh my gosh!” Bella called out. “Mortimer you have to come see this!” Alice couldn’t figure out what to do with her arm and set it back on the floor. “It‘s okay, Honey,” Bella told her. “Try again.”

Mortimer came in the room and sat next to Bella to see what Alice was doing. They both cheered the little girl on as she made a few more attempts at movement. She couldn’t figure it out and gave up, going back to her plastic shapes.

“I wish Cassandra could have seen this,” Bella said as Mortimer ran a hand up and down her back.

“She‘ll be able to see the next time,” he told her.

“Where is she anyway?” I asked.

“She went to the mall,” Bella said.

“Yeah, and Dad had to work today,” Amanda told me. “Are you going to write on the calendar?” she asked Bella.

“Yes, I‘ll go do that right now.” Bella got up and went to the baby development calendar that was hanging on the wall. She took a pen from the holder and wrote something down.

The back door opened and we heard Joanna’s voice.

“Joan, you‘re back!” she said when she and Randy came in the room. “Mario Kart has not been the same without you.”

“We tried to unlock some of the tracks by ourselves and got nowhere,” Randy told me.

“Don‘t worry,” I said, “I‘ll play more of it with you. Do you want to play now?”

“Randy and I were going to go to the mall,” Joanna said. “Do you want to come with?”

“That‘d be great,” I told her. Then I realized that there was one small problem. “Actually I don‘t know if I can. I‘m kinda low on cash. That shopping trip before the wedding almost wiped me out.”

“No, you should go. Wait here, I‘ll be back in a minute,” Bella said. She left the room and when she came back she gave Raven and I each some money. “Take this. Don‘t worry about paying me back.”

I looked at the money in my hand and found out that she had given me 50 whole dollars.

“Are you serious?” I asked her.

“Of course. It’s a welcome back gift.”

“We can‘t thank you enough,” I told her. She smiled.

“You don‘t have to. You‘ve done that by being my friends.”

 

Chapter 27

 

The single strip mall of Strangetown was just like a mall you would find anywhere else. There was an arcade, a food court, a movie theater, and a number of department stores . Despite that the mall was in the middle of nowhere, the place was just as crowded as malls in the city. That was probably because the mall was the only place in town where you could find certain stores.

After a few hours of shopping, we decided to eat lunch. The food court was right next to a children’s area, and contained several fast food places as well as a few privately owned venues. We bought our food and found a table near the back of the food court. Joanna, Randy and Raven started eating right away, but there was no way I was touching my food before making sure my hands were clean.

“I‘m going to wash my hands,” I told them. “Anyone want to come with?”

“No thanks,” Joanna told me. “We already did while you were in that long sub-sandwich line.”

I got up and made my way to the bathroom, which was between the food court and the child area. As I walked I noticed the people in the mall, but there was one woman in particular that caught my eyes. It was the one standing where the food court joined with the rest of the mall - the one with blonde hair and a black cocktail dress.

Oh, come on!  Out of all the places in town, Dina had to be in the building where I was. Not that it mattered. She had probably forgotten that I even existed, and that was just fine with me. She was too busy to notice anything anyway. She was next to a guy who had his arm around her, and she was flirtatiously brushing her hands across his chest. I was all set to ignore them and head to bathroom when the two turned around and I saw who Dina was with. At the entryway of the bathroom, I froze. There, with his hand slowly inching its way up the side of her body was Cassandra’s husband, Don.

A sudden chill ran up me as I saw him turn Dina around and pull her right against him. His hands went straight to the back line of her dress and their lips met up as they began to devour each other. Dina’s face showed tons of emotion, and I knew that this time it was real. He had kissed her. I knew I should walk away, but no matter haw hard I tried, I just couldn’t get my legs to move. I was stuck standing in the restroom entrance, looking like an idiot and staring at Don and Dina approach levels of intimacy that shouldn’t even be shown in public.

I never think that a bad situation couldn’t get any worse, but I didn’t need to. It got worse on it’s own. Before I could even take time to think, I saw Don’s wife, Cassandra, walking right by the two of them. She took one look at them and turned her head away in an effort to ignore Dina’s presence. Something made Cassandra look back though, and the two chose that very moment to part slightly. They only parted for a split second before they went back to each other’s mouths, but that was all Cassandra needed to realize his identity. I saw her stand there in disbelief as she watched her husband intimately kissing that vile woman.

I still couldn’t move. I couldn’t do anything but watch as Cassandra headed right for them.

“Don!” she yelled. “What in the world do you think you‘re doing?” She looked furious. “What are you even doing here?”

The two stopped cold. They turned their heads to towards the voice while still holding on to each other. Don realized he’d been caught and let go of Dina.

“Oh, you know you‘re the only one for me,” he told Cassandra with a flirtatious tone. He placed his hands on her waist and got closer for her as if she would just melt in his arms in response to his touch. Like that was going to happen.

Sure enough she ripped his hands off her and pushed him away.

“I don‘t want to hear it!” she told him. “What the heck is this to you? Some kind of game? A way to find out how many women you can have to satisfy your lust?”

Dina stepped forward so she stood next to Don.

“I‘ll have you know that he loves me, and that you‘re just his toy,” she snapped. “We‘ve been together for years so just get over it!” She was obviously saying that to make Cassandra mad. Cassandra, however, wasn’t going to give Dina the satisfaction of letting her know that it worked.

“You‘re not going to believe her, are you?” Don said. “You know how she is. She took me by surprise.”

“And you let her?” Cassandra recoiled. “I saw you kissing her. You know as well as I do that you lied about going to work just so you could meet with that jerk! You only care about me and our children as long as you…” I could see tears form in her eyes. “Don‘t even think about coming in my house until you get your priorities straight!” And with that she left them and headed for the bathroom.

I finally was able to move and I raced in the bathroom and hid in a stall just in time to be out of sight when Cassandra entered, her eyes filled with tears. I wanted to make sure that she was okay, but if I asked her she would know I had seen what had happened. Instead I hid in the stall until she left.

As I walked back to the table where Raven, Joanna and Randy were eating, I couldn’t be more thankful that Joanna and Randy had their backs to the entrance to the food court.

“We need to talk,” I told Raven as I approached her. She knew what that meant - we needed to have a one on one conversation. I took her arm and led her over to an area where Joanna and Randy couldn’t hear us.

“What happened?” she asked me.

“Guess who showed up here?”

“Dina?”

“Not only that but she is having an affair with Cassandra‘s husband.”

“You have got to be kidding me” Raven said sarcastically. She knew I would never actually make any of that up. “Wait, does Cassandra know?”

“She walked right by them,” I told her. “She totally let him have it too.”

“What should we do? Joanna and Randy are going to know something bad happened. Do you think we should tell them?”

“You‘re not seriously suggesting that I should go up to Randy and say I‘m sorry but I just saw your adoptive mother witness her husband having an affair with her father‘s ex-wife? That‘s nuts!”

“I know,” Raven said, “but he‘s going to find out sometime. It might be better to just tell him and Joanna now and get it over with, but I‘m not sure about that. What do you think?”

“I say we forget about it for now and if they ask us, we were talking about our situation.” I said. Raven nodded and we went back to our table as if nothing had ever happened. I did my best to hide the shocked and upset feelings I had. Raven, as always, showed no emotion whatsoever.

 

***

 

“So there‘s always a secretary with my name somewhere,” I said about 20 minutes later after we were done eating. “I went to see my counselor at college the other week and when she called my name the secretary thought she was talking to…” My phone buzzed in my pocket the duration indicating that someone had texted me. “Hold on, I‘m getting a text,” I said as I pulled my phone out of my pocket and flipped it open to reveal a message from Bella: We need your help ASAP.

“This is worse than I thought,” I said under my breath. I got off the chair and grabbed my bags. “We have to go - now.” I showed Joanna and Randy the text and without saying another word we left the table and walked to the entrance where bikes we had used too get there had been locked. As we left the mall, I sent Bella a text telling her we were on our way.

 

 

Chapter 28

 

Bella let us into the house. Her face which had been so cheerful a few hours ago was now sad and concerned. She was holding Alice, who was silent and was resting her head on Bella’s shoulder as if to comfort her.

“Thanks for coming on such a short notice,” Bella said. “We need you to watch the kids.”

“What happened?” Joanna asked.

“Is something wrong?” Randy said.

Bella sat us down and sighed. She told us that Cassandra had seen her husband kissing Dina at the mall. Randy looked shocked, Joanna looked sad, and I couldn’t tell what the look on my own face was, but no one could tell that already I knew about the affair.

“Cassandra came home in tears,” she told us. “We asked her what happened, but she didn‘t want to tell us in front of the little kids.”

“What do they know?” I asked her.

“I told them that Cassandra was sad about something that they shouldn‘t worry about and they went back to playing in the other room. That‘s when Cassandra told Mortimer and I what happened.”

“So where is she now?” Randy asked.

“She‘s in her room with Mortimer,” she said. “I‘ll be up there if you need anything. Randy, either Mortimer or I will come get you if Cassandra asks for you. Don‘t worry too much.” Bella handed Alice to me. I took the baby in my arms and smiled at her. Her face seemed to brighten just a little bit. “Please keep Amanda and Anne busy until we can sort this whole thing out.”

We told Bella not to worry about them and she went up stairs to comfort her daughter.

I looked at the baby in my arms. The poor girl had probably seen her mother come home and had gotten upset when Cassandra didn’t take her. She knew something was wrong.

“It‘s okay Alice,” I told her. “It‘ll be all right.”

Amanda and Anne were in the other room sitting against a wall with sad looks on their faces.

“What happened to Mom?” Amanda asked. “She was crying and wouldn‘t tell us why.”

“Is she okay?” Anne asked.

“She‘ll be fine,” I told them, hoping it was the truth. Randy was still speechless.

“She‘s just upset about something that happened,” Joanna said.

I gave Alice to Randy and went looking for a game we could play to get our minds off everything. I opened a closet and found Apples to Apples. Perfect. Laughter always makes everything better.

We had been playing for 15 minutes or so when the doorbell rang. Randy answered it and Jessica came into the house.

“Is Bella here?” she asked. “I called her as soon as I heard and she said I could come over…” She then noticed me in the next room. “No Way! Joan and Raven came back! Is that Apples to Apples? I love that game! But is Cassandra okay? I came as soon as I heard….”

“What do you mean you heard?” Randy asked. “Heard what?”

We had pretty much stopped playing our game and were all staring at her.

“Lauren called me when she heard about Cassandra. She was at the mall to get something for work tomorrow and she heard about it there. She said people were telling her about it as soon as she walked in the door.”

“You mean everyone at the mall knows?” Joanna asked.

“I don‘t think it will be long before the whole town knows,” Jessica told us. “Around here gossip spreads like wildfire.”

Bella came down the stairs and Jessica gave her a comforting hug.

“How is she?” Jessica asked.

“She‘s holding on,” Bella told her. “Is Lauren still at the mall?”

“Yeah. She told me I could take the car and come over right away and she‘ll take a taxi or something and come over as soon as she can. Is it all right if I talk to Cassandra?”

“We can ask her,” Bella replied and she took her friend up the stairs. Randy went up with them and came back 5 minutes later.

“Cassandra said that the best way for me to help her is keep the kids busy,” he said.

We went back to the game for another 30 minutes or so and then we heard the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. We all got up to see who it was. Alexander got out of the driver’s seat, and to our surprise Lauren got out from the passenger’s side.

“Thank you so much,” she told him as they walked towards the house. “I just hope your sister‘s okay.”

“I do too,” Alexander said as he pushed open the front door. “Hi everyone. You will never guess how we ran into each other.”

“Did you hear about it at the mall too?” Joanna asked him.

“That‘s all anyone talked about,” he said. “I heard the news five minutes after my girlfriend and I got there. We were heading out when we ran into Lauren.”

“Man, am I glad I saw you,” Lauren said. “I told him I was planning to take a taxi because I had to go back to work to drop off what I had bought and he even offered to drive me there before coming here. Is that an insane amount of luck or what?”

I turned around to see Bella running down the stairs as Randy and Joanna complemented Alexander.

“Bella, is everything all right?” Lauren asked pulling her friend into a hug.

“There‘s no way to tell right now,” Bella said. “Jessica‘s up there with Cassandra right now, but Cassandra‘s still really upset.” They pulled away.

“Oh my gosh,” Lauren said. “Joan, I didn‘t even notice that you and Raven came back. When did that happen?”

“This morning,” I told her.

Lauren took a deep breath.

“I‘m so sorry this happened,” she said. And then she, Bella and Alexander went up the stairs.

We went back to our game, and Amanda went to use the bathroom. After a while, Lauren and Jessica came back down to join us.

“Where‘s Amanda?” Jessica asked as Joanna and Randy gave them their cards.

“She went to the bathroom,” I said, “fifteen minutes ago.” Uh oh, that wasn’t good. I got off the floor. “I‘ll go see if I can find her.”

My first guess was that she was crying in the bathroom, but when I checked, she wasn’t there - or in any other bathrooms in the house. Had she gone to check on her mother? I had passed the room several times but hadn’t seen her. I made another pass just in case.

The door to Cassandra’s room was about halfway open. Cassandra was crying on her mother’s shoulder, with her dad right behind her.

“He couldn‘t be the man I married,” she said. “Was he really the same guy who made me feel like I could get through anything? The same guy who touched my stomach when I was pregnant so tenderly that there was no doubt in my mind that he loved both me and my baby? Does he love our kids? Does he even care about them?”

Bella pulled her daughter into a hug. She didn’t say anything, but the message she was sending was clear. She noticed me standing outside the door. I didn’t know if she could understand me but I silently asked her if she’d seen Amanda. She knew what I was asking and shook her head. She then motioned for me to shut the door and I did.

I had no idea where Amanda would be, so I put myself in her position. Where would I go if something happened and I was upset? The answer was simple and fortunately, there was a place a lot like that in this house. I ran up the second and third flights of stairs to the roof.

Amanda was sitting by herself, looking in the distance. I walked over to where she was sitting.

“Amanda, is everything all right?” I asked. “We were kinda wondering where you went.”

She took her eyes off the desert sand and turned her head to look at me.

“How did you know I was up here?” she said.

“Because this is the place where I always come when I need to think,” I told her. “Well, not this exact place but I have a roof a lot like this on my house.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. It‘s just larger and flatter and it has a basketball hoop, a tennis court and a helicopter pad.” Amanda looked at me, stunned.

“You have a helicopter pad on your roof?” she asked in disbelief.

“It‘s huge.” I told her. “But anyway, what‘s going on?” I sat down next to her and looked at the landscape she had been staring at. It was just an endless amount of sand, but there was something peaceful about it, like the way the San Francisco Bay looked when everything else seemed to be falling apart.

“I‘m worried about Mommy,” Amanda told me. “She came home crying and she hasn‘t come out of her room. On my way up here I saw her with Grandma and Grandpa and she was still crying. I‘ve never seen her that sad before.” She closed her eyes, and a small tear ran down her cheek. “Why is she telling them what‘s going on and not me? Why is she in her room with Grandma and Grandpa? Why…” Her voice trailed off as more tears fell from her eyes. I took her hand to console her.

“Sometimes,” I told her, “even as an adult, you just need to talk to Mom and Dad. Your mom is upset right now, and her parents are trying to make her feel better. It‘s the same thing your mom does for you when you’re sad. She just needs a shoulder to cry on.”

“But why won‘t she talk to me? Why won‘t she tell me what happened?”

“Because she loves you, Amanda. She wants to protect you from getting hurt by the same thing that hurt her.”

“I don‘t want to be protected,” Amanda said, her voice running like the river of tears from her eyes. “I want to know if Mommy‘s okay.”

“She will be,” I told her. “Your grandma and grandpa are making sure of that.”

We sat in silence for a couple of minutes, as Amanda cried and I tried to calm her down. We sat there for what seemed like hours, just staring at a backdrop of sand and sky, wishing that what was going through our minds was as simple as the scene that lay in front of us.

It was Amanda who broke the silence.

“This has something to do with Dad, doesn‘t it?” That caught me by surprise. How the heck did she know that?

“Yes, it does,” I said. “How do you know?”

“I heard Mommy talking about him,” she told me, “and when she did she sounded sad.”

The poor girl. The one thing she really needed right now was her mother. Maybe it would make her feel better to hear her Cassandra’s voice - to hear her mother tell her everything would be all right. And since this whole thing had Amanda on the roof in tears, I thought that at least one of the adults should know.

“Come on, Amanda,” I said. “Let‘s go see if Mommy‘s okay.”

We stood up and went down the stairs to Cassandra’s bedroom. I knocked on the door.

“Is everything all right in there?” I asked. “It‘s Joan and Amanda.”

“Are you okay, Mommy?” Amanda said.

The door opened and Bella came out of the room, taking one look at her crying granddaughter.

“Oh, honey,” she said as she embraced the girl. She led Amanda over to a sofa that was at the end of the hall and when they sat down she put her arm around Amanda and pulled her into a comforting snuggle.

“What’s wrong with Mom?” Amanda asked.

“Something happened that made your mother upset,” Bella explained, moving Amanda’s hair out of her face.

“Why won‘t she tell me?”

“Because it’s hard for her to say. She knows you‘re upset, honey. She wants to make sure you‘re okay as much as you want to make sure she is. She wants to be strong for you, but right now there‘s no way she can. Don‘t worry. She‘ll tell you when she‘s ready.”

Bella started to stroke Amanda’s hair as the girl rested her head on her grandmother’s side and continued to cry.

“It‘s okay, honey, it’s okay,” Bella said. “It‘s going to be fine one way or another.”

After they sat there for a while, the door to Cassandra’s room opened and Cassandra come out, fallowed by her father. She had been able to stop crying, but it looked like her tears would come back any minute.

Amanda saw her mother and leaped off the couch crying “Mommy!” She ran to Cassandra, who embraced her daughter and led her back to the sofa. Not a word was said as the two joined Bella on the couch. Cassandra gave her daughter a hug and let Bella place an arm around her shoulder.

“Amanda,” Cassandra said, “I want you to know that whatever happens I‘ll always love you and be here for you no matter what.”

“Did something happen with Dad?” Amanda asked.

“Yes, Honey,” Cassandra told her as she held Amanda close to her. He voice began to shake as tears once again fell down her cheeks. “He broke Mommy‘s heart.”

“He‘s not like that,” Amanda said. “He‘d never do that.”

“I know,” Cassandra said. “That’s what I thought too.”

The three of them sat there comforting each other. They tried to reassure each other that everything would be fine just because those words made it seem true.

Something made a noise in my pocket. My communicator! I had totally forgotten about it, which was pretty much impossible considering I transferred it to different pockets everyday. It was a phone that could send and receive video calls. I used it to talk to my teammates back in San Francisco. I pulled the round, yellow device out of my pocket and moved to one of the upstairs bathrooms. I knew it was Raven calling me - she was the only one other than me around here that had one.

I flipped open view screen and saw that Raven was calling me from the entryway.

“Did you find Amanda?” she asked me.

“Yes.”

“Good, because we have a bigger problem.”

“What do you mean?” Raven moved her communicator so I could see what was going on.

“You‘ve gotta be kidding me!” I said. There, on the screen, was the front doorway. Dina was inside the house. What in the world made her think she could just waltz right over here after what happened at the mall just hours ago? Like we all needed another reason to hate her guts.

“I know,” Raven said. “And she didn‘t even knock. She just came in the door. She won‘t tell us, but we‘re pretty sure we know what she wants.”

“I‘ll go tell everyone. Thanks for the heads up,” I said and flipped the view screen down. Well, that was just great news.

I left the bathroom and rejoined everyone by the sofa. Bella looked at me, knowing that I had just gotten an important message.

“I just got off the phone with Raven,” I said. “Guess who‘s at the door Or should I say guess who just ignored the door and walked right in the house?”

Mortimer rolled his eyes and ran down the stairs. I knew Bella could handle the situation with Cassandra and Amanda so I fallowed him down.

“Where the heck is my kid, Mortimer,” Dina said as soon as he got off the stairs, except what she actually said was a little more nasty.

“I‘ll get her,” Mortimer said, “Wait right here.”

Anne was in the other room still playing Apples to Apples with Lauren and Jessica.

“Your mom‘s here,” her dad told her.

“Dad, I don‘t wanna go with her,” Anne replied. Mortimer got down next to her and looked her in the eyes.

“Look, your big sister‘s really upset right now, and the last thing she needs is another problem,” he said. “Do it for her, okay?”

“Okay,” Anne said as she put her cards down. “I‘ll do it for Cassie.”

At first I wasn’t sure who she was talking about. Then I realized that Cassie was short for Cassandra. Anne probably called her that because she didn’t know how to say her sister’s full name.

Mortimer and Anne went back to the entryway, where Anne joined her mother at the door. Dina turned around giving everyone present a mean look and walked out of the house, slamming the door behind her.

 

Chapter 29

 

The roof was the only quiet place in the whole house, and that was where I sat writing a letter to one of my teammates in Japanese. I had to practice sometime if I wanted to remember any of it by the time I got home, whenever that was. The phone had been ringing off the hook with people offering their condolences, and Bella suggested I take a much needed break from the chaos.

I was trying to remember how to conjugate the word for large when Cassandra came up the stairs and joined me on the roof. Her eyes were dry now, and there was no redness or swelling of any kind. She walked over to the side and looked over the railing as if the desert held the answer to her problems.

I immediately forgot whether the word I was looking for was ookiidesu or ookiimasu and got up to head to the railing where Cassandra was standing. She turned to face me when I approached.

“I‘m sorry I didn‘t get to welcome you back,” she said.

“Don‘t worry about it,” I replied. “Are you going to be all right?”

“I hope so, but I‘m just not sure. Just be glad you have no clue what it feels like to have your parents tell you that the man you married once tired to kiss your mother.” So she did know about what had happened 11 years ago on that rooftop in Pleasantview. But why would she tell that to me? Maybe she just needed to talk to someone.

“I wish I had something to say,” I said, “but I have no experience in the romantic department.”

“What I don‘t understand,” Cassandra continued, “is why they didn‘t tell me if they both knew about this.”

“Well,” I told her, “one reason is that you both seemed to love each other and were happy.”

“What‘s the other reason?”

“Because if they told you, then you wouldn‘t learn anything.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your parents teach you to walk, talk and use the bathroom, but life - that‘s the one thing you have to learn on your own. They wanted you to figure out if he was no good by yourself. That way, you might not have to go through this the next time.”

Cassandra took her eyes off the desert and looked at me.

“How do you know all this?” she asked me.

“I don‘t know,” I told her. “I guess I just figured it out.”

“I wish I could figure out what to do. I just don‘t know.”

“I can tell you one thing. You should do what you think is right.”

A voice came from behind us.

“See, I‘m not the only one with that advice.” We turned around to find Bella coming up the stairs with a half asleep Alice in her arms. “Are you feeling better?” she asked Cassandra.

“Not really,” Cassandra responded. Bella placed her arm around her daughter’s shoulder.

“You know what might help?” she said. “You should think about the good things you have - a family that loves you and two beautiful little girls.” There was no response. Cassandra just looked out at the desert, but maybe she was thinking. “In fact I‘m holding someone who needs you.”

Bella handed Alice to Cassandra. The baby opened her eyes, and a smile crossed her face as she looked at her mother.

“Alice, I love you,” Cassandra said. Then she gave her daughter a kiss. “You don‘t need to worry about me, sweetie. I‘m fine.” Alice rested her head on Cassandra’s shoulder. “I heard you tried to crawl this morning. I‘m so proud of you.” Cassandra turned to Bella. “Thanks for bringing her up here, Mom. I guess I just needed some time with my kids.”

“She needed to see you. She was so upset when she saw you come home and then she fell asleep so I decided to let her rest. She just got up,” Bella told her. “Oh, Joan,” She turned to face me. “Do you want to stay for dinner?”

“I really don‘t want to intrude…” I started.

“No, it‘s all right. You won’t have a ride anyway - Lauren and Jessica are staying. We didn‘t have time to cook anything, so we‘re just going to order pizza. What do you say?”

“Free pizza,” I said as we headed for the stairs. “I can‘t turn that down.”

Thirty minutes later, Raven and I found our places at the dinning room table and sat down. I hadn’t had a family dinner that wasn’t for a holiday in like, well, forever. We never had family dinners. At Titans Tower we sat down and ate together sometimes, but it wasn’t really the same. The Goth family, however, actually sat down and had dinner as a family every day.

Once everyone was seated and Alice was in her high chair, Bella, who was sitting with Mortimer at the head of the table, begin handing out slices of pizza.

While we were eating the phone rang, again. No one got up to answer it. Instead the answering machine picked up the call.

“Amanda, it‘s Anne. Your dad is over here and…”

Lauren, Jessica, Bella and I exchanged “oh shoot” glances and Bella got out of her chair and rushed over to the phone.

“Anne, I’m sorry but we’re having dinner so this isn‘t a good time to call,” Bella said once she picked up the phone. “You can talk to Amanda later okay?” Then she hung up the phone and came back in the dinning room.

Cassandra didn’t look like she was upset. She just kept feeding Alice pureed pears in between slices of pizza.

After dinner we stood on the porch said good bye to Bella and Cassandra.

“Again, we‘re so sorry about everything that happened,” Lauren said. “Call us tomorrow if you need anything.”

Bella went back in the house, but Cassandra stayed out on the porch as we got into Lauren and Jessica’s car. We were about to back out of the driveway when we saw Anne run up to the front door.

“Cassie,” she asked, “why does your mom hate me?”

We gave each other another “oh shoot” look and wondered if Bella had heard that. We got our answer as we looked in a window and saw Bella dash up the stairs. One thing was for sure, we weren’t leaving our friend when she was in distress. Instead, we bolted out of the car and went back in the house, leaving Cassandra on the front porch to comfort Anne.

 

Chapter 30

 

“If I hadn‘t been the one to answer the phone, she wouldn‘t think I hate her!” Bella exclaimed as she paced around her room. I sat on a sofa with Raven, Lauren and Jessica, along with Joanna, who had sprinted over from her house once she heard about what Anne had said. Mortimer was with Cassandra. He had joined her and Anne on the porch as soon as he heard that she was upset.

“You don‘t hate her, do you?” Jessica asked.

“No,” Bella answered. “Of course not.”

“Do you know why she might think that?” Lauren asked.

“I don‘t know.” Bella sat down on her bed. “I… maybe I‘ve been treating Amanda a little better than Anne, but not on purpose. I try my hardest to not to. Sometimes I think my feelings might be getting in the way. I thought I quit feeling that way about Anne when we got to know each other, but now I just don‘t know how I feel.” She looked down at the bedspread.

“But you don‘t hate her,” Lauren said. “If this feeling isn‘t hate, then what is it?”

“It‘s not a hateful feeling,” Bella said. Her voice seemed fragile. “It‘s more of… a feeling of… hurt.” She buried her face in her knees and her hair fell over her head. She sounded like she was crying. We all got up and sat with her on the bed.

“How bad is it?” Jessica said. She put her arm around her friend.

“It‘s small, and I thought I pushed it away, but I think that sometimes when I was around Anne it might have come back. I didn’t even realize it until now. I try my hardest, I really do, but now she thinks I hate her.”

“Have you told anyone about this?” Joanna asked. Bella shook her head.

“Not even Mortimer?” asked Lauren in surprise.

“I don‘t want to hurt his feelings,” Bella said. She lifted up her tear stained face and sat in silence for a moment. “What should I do?”

“Tell him,” the five of us said at the same time.

“He‘ll understand,” Jessica told her.

“I‘m sure he‘d feel the same way if you had a child with another guy,” I said.

“He loves you Bella,” Lauren said. “He should know how you feel.”

“All right,” Bella said, “I‘ll tell him.”

We sat with her on the bed as she continued to cry. After a while the door to the room opened to reveal Mortimer standing in the doorway.

“Joanna, your mom‘s here… oh my goodness, Bella what’s wrong?” He quickly got on the bed and Lauren moved to give him some room. He took Bella in his arms and guided her head toward her shoulder so she could have a place to rest her head. Jessica still had her hand on her friend’s back.

“I heard Anne ask Cassandra why I hate her,” Bella told him.

“Honey, she’s had a rough day. I know what happened this morning and I think she just took things the wrong way. I‘m pretty sure she‘ll be fine once we both talk to her,” Mortimer said. 

“Honey, there‘s something I need to tell you,” Bella said without taking her head off his shoulder.

“Go ahead,” Mortimer said.

“About Anne… I don’t know for sure, but it feels like I still have hurtful feelings regarding her. No matter how hard I try to push them away, I still wonder if they‘ve come back.”

Mortimer pulled her as close to him as he could, and Bella put her arms around him.

“How long have you felt like this?” he asked her.

“Since I heard Anne say that I hate her.”

“You didn‘t need to worry about that,” Mortimer told her. He gave her a kiss on the side of her face. “Honey, that‘s normal when things like this happen. Just take a deep breath. You‘ll be fine.” He gave her cheek an even more passionate kiss.

I knew it was time to leave them alone to work it out so I got off the bed and headed for the door. Joanna, Raven and Lauren fallowed me, Lauren dragging Jessica behind her.

Joanna and I went down the stairs to find Cassandra, with Alice in her arms, talking to Joanna’s mom in the entryway.

“So we‘re having a few problems and Joanna‘s been helping us out.”

Joanna joined her mom in the doorway.

“Sorry about your husband,” she said to Cassandra.

“Thank you. Take care.”

Once Joanna and her mom left, Cassandra turned to me.

“Anne‘s in the upstairs bathroom,” she told me. “She got upset when she found out that Mom heard what she said. Dad and I have talked to her. We tried to explain to her that Bella was busy with… other things today, but I’m not sure she understands yet. Would you mind explaining things to her? She asked for you.”

“Not at all,” I said, even though I had no idea what to tell Anne, but I went back upstairs anyway. Maybe listening to her would be the best idea. It would give me a chance to see where she was coming from.

I walked in the bathroom to find Anne sitting on the rim of the bathtub.

“Joan,” she said when I came in, “why did Bella run upstairs when I came over?” I could not believe she was really asking me that.

“She heard you ask Cassandra why she hates you. Why did you say that?”

“I wanted to know why she does,” Anne said.

“She doesn‘t hate you,” I said. “Do you realize that she‘s in her room crying because of what you said?”

“No.” Anne looked at the floor. Great. I had been too harsh on her. I got down to the floor and looked her in the eyes.

“Look,” I told her, “Bella doesn‘t hate you. She tries really hard to let you know that.”

“Then why does she treat Amanda better than me?”

“She doesn‘t, Anne. I think you just took things the wrong way.”

“No, she just hates me,” Anne said. “I know she hates my mom but why does she hate me too?”

“She never hated you.”

“Then why did she act like she didn’t want to be around me when we first met?”

“I don’t think she acted like that,” I told Anne. “She had a lot of people to see and catch up with, and she didn‘t know about you at first so she talked to you later. But remember when we went roller skating? She spent a lot of time with you.”

“What did she first think about me?” Anne asked.

I got up from the floor. How the heck was I supposed to explain this to a five year old girl? I looked down and saw the “Best Friends” necklace that was always around my neck, the one Raven had given me when we became best friends. There was my answer. I sat down on the bathtub rim next to Anne.

“Who‘s your best friend?” I asked her.

“Amanda,” she said.

“Let‘s say that you and Amanda share a necklace because you are best friends. And let‘s say you go away for a while, on vacation, and when you come back, Amanda has a new best friend. How would you feel?”

“I would feel hurt.”

“And then you find out that Amanda and her new friend also share a necklace. What do you want to do to that necklace?”

“I‘d want to rip it off her neck!”

“And why would you want to do that?”

“Because it would make me mad.”

“Wouldn‘t you be a little hurt as well?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, your dad became friends with your mom, but instead of a necklace they had you.”

“I‘m the other necklace?” Anne asked me.

“Exactly, but what Bella felt about that had nothing to do with you, and she certainly wouldn't to anything to hurt you,” I told her. “She does like you. She likes you enough to treat you as her own child.” Anne looked at the ground and seemed to fight back tears. “What‘s wrong?” I asked her.

“I heard Mom say she only had me so she could have Dad‘s money,” she told me. “Nobody loves me.”

“Anne, that‘s not true,” I told her. “There are lots of people who love you. Your dad loves you, your sister, your brother, Amanda…”

“But my Mom doesn‘t love me.”

“I don‘t think that‘s true,” I said, like I actually believed it. But why would I tell a five year old that her mother doesn’t care about her? “I‘m sure she shows it in her own way.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. We should go into in the hall,” I said. “Your dad will want to talk to you any minute.”

Anne got off the bathtub in silence and we walked into the hall and sat on a sofa. It was getting late, and Anne was getting tired. She rested her head on my lap and closed her eyes. It felt like she was asleep, so I tapped her shoulder when the door to the master bedroom opened. She lifted her head off my lap as her father appeared in the doorway.

“Anne, can I talk to you in here for a minute?” he said.

Anne told him that she wanted me to come with her and he said that was fine. We went in and sat down on the sofa across from the bed where Mortimer sat next to Bella. Bella smiled at me, and I knew I had to be there for both of them.

“Anne, I know it‘s late, but there‘s been a misunderstanding and we need to resolve this now,” Mortimer said, looking directly at Anne. “Would you like to sit in my lap?” Anne ran over to him and he picked her up and placed her on his lap.

“Anne, I love you,” Bella said. Her voice sounded much better and she must have been feeling better as well. “I love you very much. You’re a sweet girl and you‘re fun to be around.”

“Why did you say that Bella hates you?” Mortimer asked.

“Well,” Anne said, “this morning Amanda and I were playing with toy horses, and she grabbed the one I had right out of my hand and Bella thought I did it and she yelled at me.” Bella closed her eyes.

“Anne, I‘m so sorry. I didn‘t mean to hurt your feelings. I didn‘t see what happened and when I came in the room you were pulling the toy out of Amanda‘s hands and I thought you had grabbed it from her. If I had seen Amanda try to grab it from you, I would have never blamed you for it.”

“Then why did you yell at me?” Anne asked.

“I didn’t yell at you,” Bella told her. “I told you that it was wrong because I want you to become a better person.”

“But what about when I called on the phone and you hung up on me?”

“I didn‘t do that because I hate you,” Bella explained. “I did that to help your sister out.” 

“What do you mean?”

“Anne, you know how she came home upset earlier today?” Mortimer asked her. Anne nodded. “That had something to do with Amanda‘s dad. So when you called during dinner and brought him up, Bella told you to call later so your sister wouldn‘t get any more upset than she already was, that‘s all.”

“It had nothing to do with you, sweetie,” Bella told her.

“Anne,” Mortimer said, “what happened at home before you called?”

“Mom had a fight with Amanda‘s dad,” Anne replied. Mortimer began to stroke her hair.

“Do you know what they were fighting about?” he asked.

“Not really,” she told him.

Mortimer gave Anne a hug and Bella took her hand. “It‘s going to be fine, Anne,” he told her.

“Bella,” Anne asked, “have I ever made you feel hurt?” I shook my head in my hands. Oh great. I was not expecting her to ask that.

“Why…” Anne cut Bella off.

“Because Dad‘s my dad but you‘re not my mom.”

“Anne, that doesn‘t matter,” Bella told her. “The fact that I love your father gives me another reason to love you and care about you.”

“You care about me?” Anne asked.

“Of course,” Bella said. “You‘re part of my family.”

“Anne, do you remember when you got sick a couple months ago?” Mortimer asked her. Anne nodded. “What happened?”

“Mom brought me over here and you carried me to your bed,” Anne answered.

“Yes, but what happened after that?”

“Bella gave me soup and you sat with us and we watched movies.”

“And who was with you when I couldn‘t be here?” Mortimer asked.

“Bella was,” Anne told him. “She held me when I felt bad and let me know I was going to be fine, just like you did.”

“Anne, do you really think that she would do all that if she hated you?”

“No.” Anne shook her head, and tears came out of her eyes.

“Anne,” Bella said, “Do you really think I would have snuggled you in that fuzzy blanket when your tummy felt bad if I hated you? No, sweetheart. I did all of that because I love you and care about you.” Bella got up and gave the little girl a hug. Anne accepted it and Mortimer joined in as well.

“I‘m sorry I said that you hated me,” Anne told Bella. Bella gave the girl a kiss on the check.

“I‘m so glad you‘re a part of my family,” she said.

“Dad,” Anne asked when they let go and sat back down, “no one was happy when I was born, were they?”

Mortimer took a deep breath and Bella put her arm around his waist. That memory must have been hard for him to think about. Knowing Dina, she probably started saying nasty words as soon as her water broke and didn’t stop until the doctors said “it‘s a girl.”

“I was delighted when you were born,” Mortimer said. He picked up his daughter and placed her in his lap. “I got a sweet, beautiful girl. How could I not be happy about that?”

“So it‘s not true that nobody loves me?” Anne asked him.

“Of course not,” he said. “I love you. Bella and I both do. Why would you think that no one does?”

“I heard Mom say that she just had me to get your money.”

“Honey,” Mortimer told her, “Whether that‘s true or not, you can be sure that I love you. I love you as much as I love Bella, as much as I love your brother and sister, that’s how much I love you.”

“Honey,” Bella told her, “your father sacrificed so much because he had your best interests at heart. He wouldn‘t do that if he didn‘t love you.”

Anne laid down in her father’s lap and closed her eyes.

“Anne,” Mortimer told her, “I want you to know that no matter what, Bella and I are here for you. We’ll always love you. If you‘re concerned about something, you can come to us at any time. And if something happens with your mother, give us a call and I‘ll come over and help you out. Do you understand?” Anne nodded.

“You have your father‘s hair,” Bella told her as she ran her hand through Anne’s hair, “and it‘s beautiful on you.”

They sat there for a while in silence, and Bella spoke again when she was sure Anne was asleep.

“Was it hard when she was born?” Bella asked. “It‘s okay with me if you want to talk about it. I‘m here for you, but I‘m sure you know that.”

“Well, you never called me names while you were having our children,” he said putting an arm around her shoulder.

“She really did that?”

“She said I was the reason she was in pain, which was ridiculous because she never told me that she was planning to get pregnant. I couldn‘t do anything about it though, she was having my child. So I helped her out, for Anne‘s sake.” Bella placed her head on his shoulder.

“Don’t feel bad,” she said. “You put your own needs aside and cared only about Anne’s. That‘s one of the reasons why I love you.”

“I love you too, honey,” he told her. “Let’s put Anne to bed.”

They both got up and Mortimer carried Anne up the stairs as I followed them. There was one room on the third floor - Amanda’s room. Amanda was already in bed with the lights out, but Bella pulled back the sheets and Mortimer placed Anne in bed next to her. I said good night as Bella tucked her in and both she and Mortimer gave Anne a kiss. They kissed Amanda, and then each other, and walked out of the room arm and arm.

“Honey,” Bella said as soon as they left the room, “I really do love her. I always have.”

“Sweetheart, I know you do. You rushed her to the toilet and stayed with her when she had thrown up all over you. That really means you love her.”