“You need to snap out of it Grace because no you didn’t.” Elizabeth said as he stood by her friend. “Many things happened tonight, but none of them were you shooting my brother. You don’t have to feel guilty on that front.”
“I am guilty,” Grace said. “I shouldn’t have even been in the park.”
“Why were you there sweetheart,” Jim asked the frightened girl.
“It was after the movie with Dominic. We weren’t ready to call it a night, as it was a nice night, so we decided to take a walk in the park and only later did I come on Elizabeth and Tommy together.”
“Which was a recipe for disaster,” Elizabeth muttered as she came into the conversation.
“I was walking home from Sue’s place where I headed to after dinner at your place Grandpa. I needed to pick up something for school. Sue wanted to drive me home, but I said I would be fine getting home and then when I got to the park I happened upon Tommy and I admit I let him goad me into talking to him or even worse pushing my buttons.”
“How did he do that?” Jim asked.
“He pushed my buttons about certain people in my life,” Elizabeth admitted. “So, we were discussing events and things and then suddenly we were fighting, and certain revelations popped out and it only aggravated the situation when Jake and Grace happened upon us.”
“When I was in the park with Dominic and we were concluding our walk but I wasn’t ready to come home Dad, so I decided to let Dominic head home and I stayed in the park to do some thinking and that is when suddenly Jake was there and offered to walk me home and so we talked as we walked out of the park and when we got to the end, we couldn’t help but hear the fight between Elizabeth and Tommy which was becoming loud and then it escalated from there as Jake couldn’t be prevented from entering into it….”
“Oh god,” Isabel said.
“Yeah,” Elizabeth admitted. “And one thing led to another...”
“And I really just wanted to scare Tommy and stop the fight. I wasn’t meaning to hurt anyone. I really wasn’t. But I wanted them to stop fighting about me and that night.”
“So, you?” Max asked.
“So, I was prepared to out of the sight of maybe anyone except maybe Elizabeth who saw, try to bring down the branch with my powers. But before I could bring down the branch in such a way that would distract and not hurt.... I saw....”
“What?” Jim asked. “What did you see?”
“It was a gun!” Elizabeth inserted.
“A gun,” the adults yelled.
“I didn’t see any gun on the ground,” Jim said as he feared the situation had escalated to such a point where disaster was all but certain.
“I have it,” Elizabeth admitted. “In my purse, wrapped up in my ripped-up sweater, I used the other half for Jake’s leg wound, to stop the bleeding.”
“Oh, god Elizabeth,” Isabel said warily. “What did you do?”
“Tommy had the gun,” Grace admitted as she flashed back to the scene in the park. “He had it pointed at Jake. But I didn’t see it until I had the branch in motion and it hit both and set off the gun which hit Jake. The branch knocked Tommy out, but both the branch and the gun got Jake.”
“Oh damn,” Jim said.
“So, it’s my fault that Jake got so hurt,” Grace said. “I shot Jake.”
“No, you didn’t,” Elizabeth demanded. “The gun shot made the shot and Tommy was holding the gun. You never intended to.”
“But it doesn’t stop my guilt,” Grace said adamantly. “I just wanted them to stop fighting. Tommy was goading Jake, and Jake was pushing his buttons, and both knew it. I just wanted it to stop.”
“Why?”
“Because Jake was angry at Tommy and he didn’t want to stop, and I was worried he might do something to Tommy.”
“Why would Jake do something?” Jim asked.
“Jim, please no. It’s enough,” Max asked as he knew where this was going and didn’t want his daughter to have to go through it. She had already gone through enough tonight.”
“Grace!” Jim asked.
“Because Tommy raped me!” she said as she declared the unspoken words that hung in the room of the encounter months before and her being silent about it. “I said NO, but he didn’t listen, and Tommy raped me” she said as she broke down in tears and ran into her dad’s arms. Max wordlessly took his precious daughter into his arms to try to heal the tears. Isabel had tears coming down from his eye and Elizabeth went to hug her grandfather, who took his granddaughter into his arms.
*******
“I am sorry Max,” Jim said moments later as Elizabeth took Grace downstairs to get something to drink, and to get some air away from the emotions of the night. “Did you know?”
“She never told me, but Maria let me know she suspected because of something Grace said when she was in the hospital,” a heart broken Max said to both Isabel and Jim.
“Was Tommy the father?” Jim asked quietly.
“Yes,” Max said. “Grace was very negative about him in the hospital without naming names and only said it was a mistake. It was only in later musings with Maria did she mention something about a party on New Year’s Eve and events that came from that party while Jake apparently suspected but they never talked about it. It was unspoken. I gather today is the first she’s spoken the words...”
“God Max,” Isabel muttered.
“I know,” Max said. “It is part of why she is dealing with many emotions over Connecticut because she hasn’t wanted to talk about it and I haven’t pressed her on it as it would have done more damage...And if any of us had gone after him ourselves it would have done more harm than good for Grace even though I honestly wanted to kill him.”
“If Tommy wakes up and fingers Jake?” Isabel asked.
“Which he might do to catch off suspicion on himself,” Max admitted.
“I have the gun,” Elizabeth said to remind the group as she came in the room. “He can try all he wants to finger my brother, but I have the gun so how is my brother?”
“Where is my daughter?” Max asked when he noticed it was only Elizabeth coming back into the room.
“She is in the backyard getting some space and air. She will be back up in a minute,” Elizabeth answered as she took a glance at the room and her fallen brother broken and unconscious on the bed, shuttering she looked at her Uncle.
“Jake is holding on,” Max assured the teenager “And you having the gun will only make the situation even more complicated and I am speaking as a lawyer here,” he told the girl.
“Elizabeth what possessed you to move your brother and to take gun?” Jim asked his granddaughter.
“I forgot about the gun at first. I moved Jake because I worried because of Tommy’s tendency to skate with the authorities and who his parents are, the pressure will be on to blame Jake if he was discovered. Jake is eighteen years old. He will be treated as an adult and even if Tommy goes down, given his age, he’s going to get leniency. Jake won’t be that lucky.”
“You don’t know that Elizabeth,” Max said.
“Uncle Max. Jake is eighteen and loosely attending school. It’s all over school he fled over state lines with Grace, and you guys had to go after them. He is at serious risk, so I didn’t want to take any chances even though we know someone in law enforcement.”
“You thought of everything, didn’t you?” Isabel asked seriously impressed at the scary way her goddaughter had analyzed everything. “But you can’t really know how this would pan out for Jake if he were to be dragged into this mess.”
“I believed I did. It was later, that I saw the gun and thought finger prints. So, I decided to take it so that the authorities wouldn’t be tempted to play games. Not that I don’t respect your department Grandpa but given whom the Ellis family are to this town. I didn’t want to take any chances. I figured we could have leverage if he does threaten to finger Jake.”
“This isn’t television sweetheart,” Jim reprimanded his granddaughter.
“Family first Grandpa,” Elizabeth muttered.
“You really are a Guerin!” Max marveled.
“Yeah I am. And given I witnessed Grace’s display of powers. They were going to question how a perfectly solid branch fell and knocked out Tommy. And I didn’t need Jake and a gun to also be involved,” she admitted. “Grace already has too much baggage because of Tommy.”
“I need to check with the hospital,” Jim said putting his Sheriff hat back on and not the grandfather one. “I’ll go downstairs to make the call and then I’ll make my exit.”
“Thanks Jim for everything,” Max said. “I need to check on my daughter.”
“Go Max, go.” Isabel said pushing her brother out of the room following the footsteps of Jim. Isabel turned to face her goddaughter. “You!”
“Me, what?” Elizabeth asked innocently.
“I appreciate your family first motto and it is indeed dicey with your brother if he had been found by the police. But it’s a big risk to take and I am not sure it’s wise to go to that kind of lengths.”
“I am sure you guys went to incredible lengths when you were our ages, and when one your own is at risk of the legal system, you will do anything. Jake did what he did to protect Grace and because when one of your own is hurt, you hit back and hell with the consequences and yes, I know how that sounds. But so be it. We all know that Jake has some pretty significant feelings for Grace and to know she’s hurt, and to see the guy who did it cracking jokes and making crude remarks. It pushes you past the point of no return and, so I am not going to feel sorry. Grace is going to feel guilty for the rest of her life regardless of what happens with her and Jake. Because for one, she believes that she deserves be treated like crap by Tommy because she didn’t fight back given who she is, and second when she did fight back, she hurt Jake. So, I will fight for whoever I love, regardless of the consequences.”
“I respect that fight, but you just have to be careful.” Isabel warned her god daughter. “Give there are just so many stakes in being who we are and hey how did you know what happened to Grace. Did Grace tell you?”
“No,” Elizabeth admitted. “But I put two and two together. Grace admitted she had too much to drink at the party. Jake was pissed, I mean really pissed the day after when he realized she hadn’t come over for a sleep over after the party with me. He admitted to getting punched out by Tommy when he tried to prevent Grace from leaving the party and then Tommy came to school after Christmas break making crude comments and Grace tried to let it flow off her back like it didn’t matter but it did matter, I could tell... So, without saying anything, I made the connection. And then when she went off with Jake to Connecticut, and you know lost the baby, I knew.
“Was it why he and Camryn broke up?” Isabel inquired.
“Probably,” Elizabeth admitted. “He says things were going south since last summer when Camryn went off to help her aunt’s election campaign and he and Grace became much closer friends, but it doesn’t take a genius to suspect that the New Year’s fiasco helped things along.”
“Grace didn’t want to talk about it!”
“No, and she still doesn’t. It truly hurt her to hear Tommy and Jake go after each other. Provoking each other, and pushing each other’s buttons. She didn’t expect that when she fought back, it would have such results.”
“I wouldn’t think so,” Isabel remarked as she looked at her god son who was lying pale and unconscious on the bed. “We all have buttons that can be pushed, and there can be immense damage if the right ones are indeed pushed. Sweetheart, I am thinking we need to call your mother.”
“I know!” Elizabeth sighed. “She’s going to kill me.”
“I think she’ll have more pressing worries than plotting your death but let us worry about that at another time,” Isabel said as she took a step towards the bed and sat by Jake and watched and prayed that he would wake up. “Jake, come on, wake up”.
******
Miles away, small eyes opened in a fright. Looking around her room, she saw the darkness and the blinds closed. She knew she was safe where she was. But her dreams told her something bad had happened. “Mommy,” she cried. But her mother didn’t come. So, she got up quietly and put on her house coat, and went searching for her mother.
******
“Are you okay honey,” Max asked as he walked into the backyard of their home. He had come downstairs and seen the kitchen dark. And the door was still partially open, and he figured she was still outside. She found his daughter sitting on the picnic table, the one that he remembered buying with Liz when they first moved into the home and how much they loved to have their little picnics when their daughter was a baby.
“I am fine Dad,” Grace said as she had taken the time to get a hold of her emotions. “How is Jake?”
“He is holding his for now,” Max smiled. “I don’t think he’s going get any worse. He’s lucky.”
“Yeah,” Grace said. “Lucky, yeah real lucky...”
“Grace....”
“It’s alright Dad, I am doing better. Sorry for falling apart up there,” Grace smiled as she looked at her father. “I am usually better at keeping my emotions in control.”
“We all have our moments, and tonight is worthy of an explosion of emotion,” Max smiled.
“I miss Mom,” Grace cried. “I wish she could be here on a night like this.”
“Me too,” Max said as he hugged his daughter.
"Oh baby, you will never know how much I wish she could be here tonight".
*******
Oblivious to the action back in Roswell with his son, Michael was currently watching a distraught Beth await word on her missing daughter. Alexandra was still a no show and Beth was going more insane as she waited for word. Alex’s phone was still off, and even Carrie didn’t know where her twin sister had gone.
“Is there anything?” Beth asked as Serena and Keith arrived at the house and joined the search party.
“Keith has his people on it, and we are thinking that maybe in a few minutes he’ll know something, preliminary at least.”
“Thank you, Keith. Keith this is Michael Guerin. He’s from out of town, here on an unrelated mission.”
“My wife has told me all about you,” Keith said as he eyed Michael with some fascination. “It’s nice to meet you finally.”
“You too,” Michael nodded. “So, you and Serena are close to Beth and her girls?”
“Yes. It’s been one big family,” Keith nodded.
“I know the feeling,” Michael nodded. “I have a source and I want to check in on him to see if he knows something,” he smiled at Beth. “I am sure Alexandra is perfectly safe.”
“Oh, I am sure she is, but she’s known to get a fool’s notion in her head and follow it,” Beth said. “Those girls of mine I don’t know anymore because Carrie is the one I was always afraid of doing something wild like this. Alexandra was my sensible daughter. I don’t like this switch at all or the wakeup call that my girls are growing up.”
“I know from my own experiences, kids can be hell.” Michael muttered as he saw his phone ring and
Max’s name come up. Needing to concentrate on finding Alexandra he decided to ignore the call.
Putting down his own phone, Keith came into the room and approached Beth, “She has been spotted,” Keith announced carefully.
“What, where?” Beth asked as she came leaned forward. “Where is she?”
“We think she’s still in New Haven or she was but around 10 p.m. she was spotted not on the bus headed back here, but on the bus heading towards the airport in Hartford. She was seen purchasing a ticket, but the bus has now departed so if she’s on it than she’s headed in the direction of the airport.”
“Alex, no....” Beth cried. “But… her bank account shows no activity. And I checked with my credit card that the girls use for emergencies and there has been no activity since I was out earlier today. How could she purchase a ticket? What is she doing?”
“I can’t really answer that,” Keith admitted, and Michael looked at Carrie with a frown on his face, and the teenager looked down towards the floor, so Michael approached the teenager.
“We need to talk!” Michael whispered the teenager as Beth continued to bandy about reasons for Alexandra’s trip with Serena and Keith.
“I need to go to bed,” Carrie said. “I have school in the morning.”
“That is a nice one, like I haven’t heard that one from my own children. But we have do have to talk unless you want me to ask you in front of your mother and her guests, and they would be very confused by the nature of my questions.”
“Okay, talk fast.” Carrie suggested, and “and please quietly.”
“How talented is your sister?” Michael asked.
“I don’t know. She knows how to do certain things sure. What do you mean?” Carrie asked.
“She mentioned that you two were pretty creative in your creation of the DNA request to run your DNA with the system. Was that power related?”
“Yes,” Carrie admitted. “That was more my idea, but she helped.”
“So, you two know how to create false fronts?” Michael asked.
“I guess,” Carrie said. “We made sure the request came from Mom. Since she’s our guardian and then we sweet talked our ways into getting the test done. Mom didn’t know until she got the results and she busted us.”
“So, your sister can be powerful if she wishes?”
“I really don’t know,” Carrie admitted. “A lot of it has just been coming on lately. We were younger and knew we could heal, but in terms of doing something with our gifts, that is more recent.”
“But Alexandra would know enough to create a plane ticket or a bus ticket?”
“Yes, probably,” Carrie admitted.
Across the room, Beth was talking to Serena and Keith “Thank you for all your help Keith,” Beth smiled as she looked around and saw Michael in a deep conversation with her daughter in the corner of the room. Wondering what was going on, she approached the duo. “What’s going on?”
“I just had some simple questions for your daughter. I was trying to get to the bottom of the bond between the twins.”
“Is that all?” Beth asked suspiciously. “The discussion you two had did seem pretty intense.”
“It’s nothing Mom,” Carrie insisted.
“I am not sure I believe you. But I need to find your sister. You better go to bed,” she instructed her daughter.
“Wake me if you know anything about Alex!” Carrie asked.
“I am sure I will,” Beth smiled. “Good night.”
“Goodnight!” Carrie smiled, and the teenager expressed her thanks to her Aunt and Uncle and then headed upstairs.
“What were you asking my daughter?” Beth asked.
“It’s nothing,” Michael insisted and changed the subject “I was talking to Kyle and he’s running over to the airport to find out any details to see if Alex was actually heading to the airport.”
“Okay, thank you.” Beth taking the information as distraction because she suspected Michael was asking something of her daughter that was more serious, and she suspected she was going to need to know sooner than later. Which was Michael’s intention because he knew tonight was not a time for Beth to find out weighty and life changing information about anything her daughters might be able to do that no other human could do. He just hoped they could find Alexandra before anything bad happened as he got another
ping from his phone and another call from
Isabel this time. Electing to ignore yet again, he decided to check in with Kyle.
Kyle meanwhile was driving towards the Hartford airport to try to see if he could intercept the devious teenager. He suspected her motive for this little trip despite he or Michael not giving ant hints to the child, but the teenager was obviously Max and Liz’s daughter and taken it into her own hands. And he just hoped he got there in time, and she didn’t head off into the unknown and play the hand of her mother. “Yeah, nearly there but whether she’s there I don’t know, or she might have headed some other place.”
“Oh, she’s headed there, there is no other way to get to whether she’s going but the long way and there are too many ways she can be caught using that way, so she’s going to take the route that gets her where she’s headed quicker.”
“I know,” Kyle acknowledged through the speaker. “How is Beth handling it?”
“About how you would expect her too,” Michael admitted. “She’s also suspicious as I had a talk with Carrie about how much she and her sister can do. And I figure manoeuvring a fake airline ticket is right in her wheel house.”
“And that is because of that particular talent being in your own wheel house?” Kyle asked.
“Yeah, you remember that time Max and I needed to take a last-minute trip to California to have that run in with Khivar,” Michael admitted.
“When Isabel married Jesse?” Kyle asked of his wife’s first marriage that was ended just months later.
“Yes,” Michael admitted. “We manufactured tickets for both of us using unpaid bills.” He thought of the time he lived a bachelor life in that apartment and had to deal with being a teenager and having to pay rent and many other bills that came with that apartment.
“So, we figure Alexandra is doing something similar,” Kyle asked as he took exit that would take him towards the airport.
“No doubt because she can’t do it any other way” Michael agreed. “It’s just whether we can get to her in time. There looks to be no flights tonight out there, but who knows what flight she could get on, anyways I must go, as Serena and her husband are coming my way. Let me know what you find out,” he asked before shutting down his phone and Kyle continued driving only to have another buzz, he pushed the button to take the call on his headphones, “Michael.”
“No, it’s Isabel,” Isabel said coming on line. “Where are you?”
“I am in the car, why?” Kyle asked.
“Isn’t it late there?” Isabel asked checking the clock on her phone. “I tried the hotel, and but you weren’t there.”
“I am helping Michael on his case,” Kyle lied. “Why, what’s wrong. Is it the kids?”
“No. Max and I both have tried Michael and we couldn’t connect with him, so I thought of you and maybe you can get him to call us as we need to talk to him pronto which means, right away.”
“Why?” Kyle asked.
“It’s Jake!”
“Tell me,” Kyle said as he slowed his speed and felt Alexandra slipping away from them with every second he was delayed getting to the airport.
********
“Mommy,” Belle came running into Maria’s bedroom up at the cabin. Belle should have been in bed by now, and Maria had just been rereading the newest chapter of her manuscript that she was plowing through as she used it as a distraction from thinking of all the revelations she’s been dealing with over the last few days.
“What is it Belle,” Maria asked as she looked up at her pint size daughter. Belle really did look like her, right down to the blonde hair. Elizabeth was more and more looking like Michael these days as her blonde hair was growing darker with age, but Belle was full blond curls and her bubbly personality made her recall her own early days. “You should be in bed!”
“I had a dream,” Belle complained.
“What was your dream about, sweetheart?” Maria asked. “Michael usually chased away the monsters in their youngest daughter’s dreams, and if it was a scary dream than she would have to figure out how to do it.
“Jake Mommy,” Belle asked with wide open eyes.
“What about Jake?” Maria asked immediately on alert as she looked at her youngest. Belle was so young that they didn’t know what kind of gifts the child could have or if she had any yet. The boys didn’t really, although they had a few minor ones that Maria and Michael could witness, anything else they weren’t being upfront about, yet which could be troubling, but they were trusting their sons to come to them. Elizabeth had everything her father had at her age, but with more command and emotional balance to keep it all on an even keel most of the time. But Belle was a mysterious one for them, so young and so inexperienced.
“He was calling out to me,” Belle whispered. “It’s like he’s hurt or in trouble. It’s more pleading,” the pint size six-year-old told her concerned mother. “I don’t know how say it.”
“Do you think it’s something coming, or something that has happened” she asked as she went to her phone and saw that she had turned off her phone and cursed her need for privacy and realized anyone could have been trying to call her, and indeed she saw several messages. Checking them, she heard two from Max asking her to call him at home and two from Isabel. None were from Michael, so it didn’t seem to indicate there was a going concern on his trip. Was he aware? She wondered. “What did you see in your dreams honey?”
“He was lying on the ground. Grace and Elizabeth were standing beside him and then Uncle Max came up upon them.”
“Oh god,” Maria muttered. “Sit down on my bed okay I don’t want you to go anywhere. I’ll call home right away,” she smiled, and she called the house and got no answer and looked at her watched. Jake and Elizabeth had to be at home by now, or at least Elizabeth if Jake was working late or something. So, she went with her gut decision, and called Max so she dialed, and smiled to her youngest daughter while she waited for someone to answer the phone.
“Isabel, where is Max?” Maria said when she got someone to answer. “Isn’t this his phone number?”
*******
Outside Max and Grace sat in the darkness looking at the starless night. “Are you okay?” he finally asked after several minutes of silence as he decided to approach his daughter.
“I am okay,” Grace smiled. “I wish tonight hadn’t happened.”
“I know you do,” Max nodded. “We all do.”
“What’s going to happen?” Grace asked.
“We’re going to take a step at a time. For now, Jake seems stable. He’s probably sleeping off the injury, and will wake up in the morning. Elizabeth can spend the night in your room since I am not sending her home to an empty house.”
“Are you calling Aunt Maria or Uncle Michael?” Grace asked.
“I have tried both and neither is picking up right now, so I will try again in a little while.”
“I am sorry Dad,” Grace cried.
“It’s not your fault honey,” Max smiled at his daughter. “Tommy is at fault.”
“Maybe for what happened before, but not for tonight as tonight is on me. I should never have used my gifts although in my way, I probably wanted to strike out at Ellis because I couldn’t fight back that night, but I never wanted to hurt Jake. Jake is upstairs because of me.”
“No, you shouldn’t have used them, but I can’t blame you sweetheart. You were trying to prevent an even greater tragedy. It was either what you did, or Tommy using that gun because both of us know Jake wasn’t going to let it go. When you’re officially engaged in a fight, you’re not going to step aside. You’re full on, and Jake was fully in. A bigger tragedy would have happened. You didn’t intend for what the branch did.”
“Yes, I am, I lost my direction of where the branch was supposed to go,” Grace admitted. “Why couldn’t it have only hit Tommy?”
“It’s not like you planned it,” Max said as he hugged his daughter. “Jake will be fine. Once he wakes up, I’ll see about healing his injuries because we want him to fully be conscious or at least know what is happening to him.”
“What about Tommy. I am responsible for him,” Grace said.
“We’ll deal with it when we have to. I am still waiting for Jim to call about what is happening at the hospital.”
“Okay,” Grace smiled. “I am sorry for letting it all spill out, you know about the party,” she said softly.
“Well it happened to you, so you should talk about it if you feel up to it. Do you want someone to talk about it with? You know all of it, the party, and the baby.”
“No, I don’t think I want to talk to professional about it,” Grace admitted.
“If you do, don’t hesitate to ask or talk to Aunt Maria or Isabel if you don’t feel comfortable coming to me. I was forced to talk to someone in high school, and it didn’t help me but that was about something else that I couldn’t tell anyone about it.”
“You mean our heritage?” Grace asked.
“Yes. I had a bad experience once, and then your mother went away for the summer. It was during the time where we were having a bad time and ended things and it was just accumulation of things and my parents were worried, so they forced me to see a doctor and being who I was, I couldn’t talk. It proved frustrating for me, and for the doctor. It was before your grandparents were let into the secret. But
you sweetheart can talk to someone about what happened to you. What happened to you was appalling, it doesn’t help to hold it all in, so it might help.”
“I know I can,” Grace said. “I am not ready. I guess it is getting cold out here, we might want to go inside.”
“Yeah, we might,” Max said as they got off the table, and walked into the kitchen of the house and heard Isabel talking on the phone, and moments later they both heard that she was talking to Maria and Grace burst into tears and ran from the room and upstairs to see Jake.
****
“What is going on with my son?” Maria asked as they connected minutes later on Skype. When Max came into the house, he requested the change, so they could talk to Maria face to face to explain what happened.
“Are you sitting down?”
“Yes,” Maria asked. “Belle got me out of my writing because she had a bad dream. It seems my six-year-old had a dream of her older brother coming to her, pleading, and he was seen lying down on the ground. What’s going on?”
“Belle had that kind of dream?” Isabel asked of her namesake. “It’s something like what I can do?”
“I know as it’s a first.” Maria muttered not wanting to know what her youngest could can do. “She was frightened enough to come to me. I didn’t realize I had turned off my phone, so I missed the earlier calls. I am sorry.”
“It’s alright, you’re calling now.”
“What happened guys, I tried the house and neither my son nor daughter are home, or they aren’t taking my calls and because they know better than that I am officially worried.”
“Both are here,” Max said quietly.
“Uh oh, what happened?” Maria asked with a smile on her face that vanished when she could tell how serious this conversation would lead. “Belle, go to bed. I’ll come and tuck you in a minute.”
“Okay Mommy,” Belle said as she had this sense that her mother was going to get bad news and her dream was correct.
When the pint size version of herself left the room, Maria concentrated back on the computer screen. “What’s going on?”
“There is no easy way to tell you this but bluntly,” Max said carefully as he prepared for a Maria Deluca meltdown. “But there was an accident.”
“What kind of accident,” Maria asked warily.
“Jake got into an altercation with Tommy Ellis tonight in the park,” Max said glumly, and Maria’s eyes went wide. “The fight was about Grace!”
“Oh, holy hell.... What happened?”
“Tommy is in the hospital. It’s a head injury and he’s still unconscious, and they don’t know if he will wake up.”
“Jake?” Maria asked as her eyes welled up.
“He’s been hurt,” Max said simply. “He’s right now unconscious, and has other injuries”
“Max!!!!!”
“He’s not in the hospital as your daughter and Grace prevented that occurrence and therefore he’s here at the house.”
“Is he hurt, bad?” Maria asked genuinely fearful for both of her children. “And why do I think this is a disaster if my daughter and Tommy Ellis were in the same vicinity.”
“It’s not good, but it could have been worse. Right now, he’s unconscious, but there is every hope he’ll pull through and wake up tomorrow and if not, I will make sure he recovers.” Max promised.
“I am coming home!” Maria stated with authority. “I can pack Belle up and we can be home in a few hours.”
“Maria,” Max said. “It’s late. You would need to pack up the cabin, and your bags and then it’s a several hours drive home. You will be frantic with worry over your son, and we don’t need another tragedy right now. Wait until the morning. I will let you know first thing as Jake right now is safe here at my house. Elizabeth can spend the night. She and Isabel are already planning to head over your place to grab some clothes, and then it’s back here. And I’ll make both your kids are safe and sound tomorrow. You can come home when it’s light out, and it is a safe drive.”
“Whether it’s tonight or in the morning, I’ll be frantic. Max, is it bad?”
“Medically it’s not good, but I promise you that it could be worse. Tommy seems worse off right now. Jake is holding his own and with his sister here, and me here he’ll be safe hands. If you can’t sleep then spend time on your book or pack up so you can leave first thing, I can promise that I’ll update you when we know more.”
“Oh Max. Have you tried Michael?” Maria asked.
“We haven’t been able to get a hold of him,” Max said telling the truth and Isabel popped into the conversation.
“I talked to Kyle and told him. It seems they are in a middle of a dicey situation involving the case and Kyle promised to get Michael to contact me, and we promise you that he’ll know as soon as possible.”
“Okay,” Maria grumbled at the notion that Michael was being incommunicado from his best bud Max. She worried that even if Kyle told him, that Michael would still resist the urge to call given what he knew that Max didn’t know.
“I promise Maria your boy is being well taken care,” Max said, and those words brought his friend to tears.
“How did this happen Max?” Maria asked. “How”
“I wish I could say something to comfort you but right now we’re trying to assess the situation,” Max sighed. “The police are investigating.”
“Police, Max!”
“So far we have kept Jake out of it. Primarily because of your daughter’s fast thinking, but it’s going to be complicated.”
“How?” Maria asked.
“If Tommy doesn’t wake up then it becomes a lot complicated because Jake is the not the one who injured him or is Tommy the one who injured Jake.”
“Then who did?” Maria asked.
“Grace!” Max said simply.
*****
Upstairs Grace was sitting by Jake’s bedside. She couldn’t sleep. Elizabeth had just left to head over to her house to pick up her clothes for the next day and maybe something for Jake if they could get him to wake up. And she knew that her father was still talking to Maria, and her involvement was going to come out.
“Jake, you need to wake up. Promise me you will wake up. I have enough worries if you don’t wake up,” she whispered. “This entire thing is all my fault.”
Jake remained unconscious, oblivious to all the pain in the room.
“Come on Jake. Please wake up for me. It would mean the world to me if I could just see your eyes open, even if you’re feeling tremendous pain. I just need to see your eyes open up...pretty please,” she pleaded...
“Then I am going to have to do something drastic,” Grace warned. “Okay, here I go,” she smiled and did something that she prayed would be seen and especially not by her father or anyone else.
She kissed Jake. Leaning over she gave him a long lingering kiss.
Dejected that it truly had no response, she decided to give up for the night and go to bed and see if he could wake up in the morning.
As she elected to leave the room, she heard a quiet voice. “Hey”
She turned around and saw Jake’s eyes open.
“Hey,” she smiled.
“Did you just kiss me?” Jake asked softly.