LOST & FOUND – PART IX
COUSINS
CHAPTER 83
Ted was smiling his usual broad smile, so much like his sister's, as he clattered down the stairs at the end of the passenger car and strode across the platform. He stopped to go down on one knee to fish Fred out of his valise, and then bounded down the stairs to the street while the little dog settled himself on his master's broad shoulder. His mind was still on the gathering he had just attended in San Francisco, which was more a large meeting than convention of physicians with a deep interest in the workings of the human mind. He was mulling over the new title "alienist" for such doctors, so he only vaguely noticed the smiles and grins from the other pedestrians as he made his way home to the cream-colored house. He was concentrating so hard he also didn't hear the commotion going on inside until he was at the front door.
"Thomas, hold still!" Joe practically shouted, no doubt to be heard over the babble of baby voices, Balor's whining and Minnie's barking. Having a pretty good idea of what was going on, Ted hurried in and loped down the hall to stop in the sitting room doorway. His smile widened and he held back a laugh as his sharp eyes took in the chaotic scene.
Joe was desperately trying to calm Thomas down while trying to pry the baby's head out from between two of the bars supporting the right arm of the rocking chair. Balor was sitting close and shifting his huge front paws anxiously, only pausing in his whining to lick the top of the boy's head. Matthew was also trying to comfort his brother by patting him on the head in between the dog's licks, while Benjamin sat watching with wide-eyed fascination and shouting the word, "Goober!" over and over. Minnie was pacing back and forth behind him, her head and tail down as she let out short sharp "woofs" of distress. Fred decided to join the chorus, lifted his pointed snout, and howled in sympathy.
"Would you be needin' a little help there, cousin?" Ted's loud, but calm voice, cut through the noise as he carefully stepped over the gate, paused to put Fred on the floor, and moved toward the now silent group. Everyone, dog and human alike, turned in his direction, except for Thomas, his head was still firmly stuck.
"Oh thank God, another adult!" Joe said in a deeply thankful tone. "I don't understand how he could get his head in there without being able to get it back out again." Ted took him by the upper arm and tugged the other man to his feet.
"Go on down to the kitchen and bring back some butter," he said to his exasperated cousin and Joe quickly took off in that direction. Sitting down sideways in the rocking chair, he carefully turned the still crying child over and began to rub his belly as he spoke to him softly, but firmly.
"Now Thomas, don't be makin' yourself sick now, we'll be getting' you out of there as fast as we can. Your uncle Joe just doesn't know the trick about it yet."
The baby's huge green eyes were still welling up with tears, but he stopped squirming around as he looked up at Ted's smiling face.
"Owie Unca Ted!" he said solemnly and his lower lip began to tremble again as Joe hurried in with the requested butter in a small bowl.
"You push and I'll pull," Ted ordered as he slathered butter on both sides of the boy's head and in a few seconds it slid free. Shifting the child to his shoulder, the blonde man stood as Thomas wrapped his little arms around his uncle's neck and burst into tears again.
"Is he all right?" Joe asked anxiously as he rubbed his nephew's back gently.
"He's fine, just reactin' to bein' scared," Ted answered and chuckled softly. "This isn't the first time he's done this and don't be thinkin' it will be the last. For some reason the boy's been tryin' to stick his head through a lot of things lately."
Shaking their heads, the two men moved over to the sofa and sat down; Joe's cheeks puffed out and he slowly let out a deep breath while raking his fingers through his tousled hair.
"I guess this one WOULD be harder to figure out than why Thomas kept waking up screaming and what to do about it." Nodding, Ted pulled his handkerchief out and started wiping the butter off the baby's head.
"Bein' taken by that human monster and stuffed into a dark basket would be enough to make anyone wake up screamin'," Ted's tone reflected the fury he still felt toward the now dead Simon Albrecht even as he smiled down into his nephew's tear-stained face.
"And putting all three of them in the same crib is what finally worked, right?" Joe asked as he reached to pull out his own handkerchief and handed it to his cousin now that Ted's was completely butter covered.
"Yep...I just figured we needed to wipe out the memory of bein' in that terrifyin' darkness with the memory of a comfortin' one."
"A comforting one?" Joe asked as he nudged his cousin and tipped his head toward the three dogs and two babies who were sitting in a line in front of them and staring at Thomas with wide-eyes. Ted chuckled as he leaned forward to put a now almost butter-free Thomas down in front of them.
The big dogs quickly got to their feet to sniff Thomas all over before licking the rest of the butter off his small head, while his brothers came crawling to pounce and knock him over. All three were giggling as they rolled around on the floor and the two big dogs sighed and moved away to take their customary positions next to the doors, obviously relieved that the danger was now over.
"In the womb," Ted explained quietly and Joe laughed at the other man's cleverness.
"That was pretty dang smart, cousin," he said, his eyes narrowing as he focused on his three nephews. "Just look at them, seeming so innocent and sweet, but I swear to you there've been times this morning when they seemed like little demons."
Laughing, Ted leaned back and stretched his legs out in front of him. "Well now I don't find that at all surprisin' Joe, considerin' who their parents are."
"I guess," the corners of Joe's mouth lifted slightly as he watched the three babies collapse in a small heap. "No sooner had everyone else left, then Matthew took a disliking to his breakfast and threw up. And that wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't thrown up on the other two." Shaking with silent laughter, Ted didn't respond, sensing Joe was on a roll.
"Thank God that was in the kitchen so cleaning up the floor wasn't all that hard, but the only thing I could do was strip them down right there before taking them upstairs. By the time I got them out of the tub I was soaked, and then each one wet their diaper even before I could get them dressed again!"
Nodding his head vigorously in agreement, Ted ventured a choked comment. "They DO have a tendency to do that after a bath."
"Gee, thanks for the timely warning," was Joe's acerbic response as his cousin sputtered with laughter. "Those three were as hard to hold onto as greased piglets when I carried them down here, and their squealing made the dogs stick to me like burrs. I swear the high-stepping I had to do would have made any saloon-dancer proud!"
Ted had both hands pressed to his aching stomach as he limply leaned back on the sofa and abandoned any attempt to hold in his amusement. The younger man eyed him darkly.
"I suppose you're going to think it's funny too that Benjamin chose today to not hide behind Adam's chair and was basically cheering the other two on." He shook his head then ran his hands through his curly hair again, messing it up even more. "If I didn't know better I'd think the three of them put their little heads together and decided to make this morning a living hell for me!"
"Well, there might be some truth to that..." Ted offered breathlessly as he sat back up. "What did they do?"
"Believe it or not, sweet little Thomas was throwing blocks around the room until I had to take them off of him, then threw himself around in a screaming fit. While I was trying to calm HIM down Matthew managed to climb up on the back of the sofa, and slipped through all except for his feet, so he was hanging there upside down and howling at the top of his voice."
"Holy Mary, Mother of God, no wonder your lookin' about done in."
"Yes, no wonder. By the time I managed to fish Matthew out and turned around I saw Benjamin helping Thomas climb up on the rocking chair. I didn't even have the chance to take more than two steps over there before he'd stuck his head in between the bars."
"So the three of them were gangin' up on you, eh?" Ted's voice still reflected his amusement, but a reflective gleam sparked to life in his eyes as he mentally pictured his three nephews in action.
"I have no doubt about it," Joe answered with conviction then sighed as he rubbed the palms of his hands on his thighs. "I guess I better get to cleaning the butter off that damn chair while the three of them are down for the count." He started to stand but stopped when the other man put a hand on his shoulder.
"There's plenty of time for that," Ted said firmly and Joe leaned back to give his cousin an expectant look.
"I take it there's something you want to talk about."
Nodding, Ted turned slightly sideways to meet the younger man's gaze.
"I've been meanin' to talk to you about Joan for a while now, but haven't been able to catch you alone."
Joe's eyes instantly became hooded and his expression tightened. "What about Joan?"
The older man looked down for a moment before he shifted to the side even more. He lifted one hand as though intending to grasp Joe's shoulder, but seemingly changed his mind and let the hand fall into his lap.
"What do you know about the night Joan disappeared and when Albrecht was killed?"
Letting out a short, harsh bark of laughter, Joe shook his head and his mouth curved into a bitter smile. "Not much, every time I bring up the subject Adam gets this...strange look on his face and won't talk about it."
"I'm not surprised," Ted's voice was soft and Joe's expression relaxed a little in response.
"Why? Why aren't you surprised and why does Adam continue to push me away?"
"Adam isn't really pushin' you away Joe, he's actually tryin' to hold on to you too tight." Joe stared, completely baffled for a moment until the true meaning of the young doctor's words broke through.
"You mean he's trying to protect me again." Sighing Joe leaned forward to prop his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together tightly.
"Why is he still doing that, Ted? Why does he continue to do the one thing that Pa used to drive him crazy with? And don't bother pointing out that he does these things because he loves me. I know that, and I also know he feels as much like a father to me as a brother." Ted couldn't help but smile at the younger man's world weary tone.
"I didn't realize you were smart enough to figure that out cousin." Joe sighed again.
"No pats on the head please, I didn't figure that out – Adam told me."
"He TOLD you?"
"Yes."
"Just came right out and TOLD you?"
Nodding, Joe glanced at Ted's incredulous expression and smiled.
"Well score one for Adam over you, cousin. I don't think I've ever seen that look on your face before."
Ted smiled back while shaking his head. "Every time I think I'm done figurin' that man out, he goes and does somethin' that knocks me back on my heels again." He laughed softly and Joe did the same.
"Adam does have a tendency to do that to people."
"I guess I better just get used to expectin' the unexpected from him."
"Not a bad idea..." Joe agreed and looked down at his clasped hands again. "So what has he been holding back from me about Joan?"
Ted took a deep breath, gave his young cousin an assessing glance then decided the best approach was to be matter of fact and clinical.
"Joan was definitely mentally ill Joe, and I'm inclined to be thinkin' I knew that from the first moment I met her. But I'll be admittin' to you I have no idea just how deeply disturbed she was." He paused, looking for any signs of distress in the other man. Seeing none, he continued.
"From everythin' she said she said the night she died I could see how badly she had suffered as a young girl – how cruel her father had been, and I believe his final heartless act of throwin' her out into the street caused her mind to break. In effect, I think it actually split in two and another person, or personality, came into bein'."
Joe slowly turned his head to stare at his cousin with bleak eyes, darkly shadowed with pain. "Another personality? Ted, you're not making any sense. I mean, how can that possibly be?"
"Well, you might be right about that Joe, but our knowledge of the human mind and brain is still so limited it's hard to explain what I saw that night in any other way. Unless you believe in spiritual possession, which I don't."
Joe blinked rapidly, obviously trying to take in what he was hearing and understand. He unclasped his hands, scrubbed them over his face a few times, and then straightened up before leaning back and letting his hands drop limply into his lap.
"All right, assuming you're right about this, just who was this 'other' person?"
"Hunter."
"Hunter? You mean JOAN killed those two coachmen, cut up Albrecht's face, and set that abandoned church on fire?" Joe's voice rose almost hysterically until it broke on the last word.
"Yes. I'm sorry, but I'm tellin' you the truth, she freely confessed to it all." Ted took note of the younger man's now punch-drunk expression with a heavy heart, but then felt a warm glow of pride in his cousin to see him clench his teeth and shake his head in an attempt to clear it.
"I just can't believe the woman I knew would be able to do such a thing!"
"That's the whole point, Joe. JOAN wasn't capable, but Hunter was. Hunter came into bein' at first to protect Joan, and then to protect the only other person in the world she cared about...Thea."
Shaking his head again, Joe struggled to understand. "You mean...the only reason she did those things was to protect Thea's husband...not Adam himself?"
"Right. You see Thea was the only person who ever stood up for Joan. She just happened to be drivin' by when Joan's father threw her half naked out into the street." Badly shaken, Joe still smiled at the mental picture.
"What happened?"
"She said that Thea came runnin' to help her and that man came chargin' down the stairs, shoutin' something about leavin' garbage in the gutter where it belongs. Of course our sister paid no attention to him until he started for her, so she threatened him with that knife she always carries. And believe me I remember everythin' Hunter said that night clearly and she was laughin' about her father running away. She said, 'Little Thea threatened that big, tough MAN with a knife and he ran away. I've loved her ever since, I'd do anything for her.'"
"Oh Lord," Joe breathed and the two men fell silent then, the only noise in the room came from the deep breathing of the three babies who hadn't been disturbed at all by the noise. They were used to a loud, chaotic house.
The silence stretched on while Ted watched the color start to return to the younger man's face and he braced himself to deliver the final blow. Just like pulling a bandage off quickly, the rest had to be done in the same manner.
"But that's not everythin' Joe..." he started to say and was surprised as well as glad to see the other man's eyes narrow slightly with the first stirrings of anger.
"Damn it, what more could there possibly BE?"
"What I can't help but be belivin' is irrefutable proof that Joan loved you." He paused to choose his next words carefully and had to hold back a smile at his cousin's dubious expression.
"Go on Ted, let's get this over and done with so I don't ever have to think about again!" Joe's voice was steady as well as impatient.
"What I'm about to tell you even Adam doesn't know, so please keep this just between us. You see, after assessin' Joan's physical condition that night I realized she was dyin' because she was willin' herself to die. Her injuries alone weren't enough to cause death."
"She was willing herself to die?"
"Yes, I believe so."
"But why? Was she afraid of going to prison? Or did she just not want to live anymore?"
"No...Joan DID want to keep on livin', desperately I think...but she also knew the only way to be keepin' you safe was to die... and to take Hunter with her." Ted reached out to grasp his cousin's shoulder firmly before continuing.
"She made the ultimate sacrifice for you Joe, out of love. She gave her life to keep Hunter from killin' you."
COUSINS
CHAPTER 83
Ted was smiling his usual broad smile, so much like his sister's, as he clattered down the stairs at the end of the passenger car and strode across the platform. He stopped to go down on one knee to fish Fred out of his valise, and then bounded down the stairs to the street while the little dog settled himself on his master's broad shoulder. His mind was still on the gathering he had just attended in San Francisco, which was more a large meeting than convention of physicians with a deep interest in the workings of the human mind. He was mulling over the new title "alienist" for such doctors, so he only vaguely noticed the smiles and grins from the other pedestrians as he made his way home to the cream-colored house. He was concentrating so hard he also didn't hear the commotion going on inside until he was at the front door.
"Thomas, hold still!" Joe practically shouted, no doubt to be heard over the babble of baby voices, Balor's whining and Minnie's barking. Having a pretty good idea of what was going on, Ted hurried in and loped down the hall to stop in the sitting room doorway. His smile widened and he held back a laugh as his sharp eyes took in the chaotic scene.
Joe was desperately trying to calm Thomas down while trying to pry the baby's head out from between two of the bars supporting the right arm of the rocking chair. Balor was sitting close and shifting his huge front paws anxiously, only pausing in his whining to lick the top of the boy's head. Matthew was also trying to comfort his brother by patting him on the head in between the dog's licks, while Benjamin sat watching with wide-eyed fascination and shouting the word, "Goober!" over and over. Minnie was pacing back and forth behind him, her head and tail down as she let out short sharp "woofs" of distress. Fred decided to join the chorus, lifted his pointed snout, and howled in sympathy.
"Would you be needin' a little help there, cousin?" Ted's loud, but calm voice, cut through the noise as he carefully stepped over the gate, paused to put Fred on the floor, and moved toward the now silent group. Everyone, dog and human alike, turned in his direction, except for Thomas, his head was still firmly stuck.
"Oh thank God, another adult!" Joe said in a deeply thankful tone. "I don't understand how he could get his head in there without being able to get it back out again." Ted took him by the upper arm and tugged the other man to his feet.
"Go on down to the kitchen and bring back some butter," he said to his exasperated cousin and Joe quickly took off in that direction. Sitting down sideways in the rocking chair, he carefully turned the still crying child over and began to rub his belly as he spoke to him softly, but firmly.
"Now Thomas, don't be makin' yourself sick now, we'll be getting' you out of there as fast as we can. Your uncle Joe just doesn't know the trick about it yet."
The baby's huge green eyes were still welling up with tears, but he stopped squirming around as he looked up at Ted's smiling face.
"Owie Unca Ted!" he said solemnly and his lower lip began to tremble again as Joe hurried in with the requested butter in a small bowl.
"You push and I'll pull," Ted ordered as he slathered butter on both sides of the boy's head and in a few seconds it slid free. Shifting the child to his shoulder, the blonde man stood as Thomas wrapped his little arms around his uncle's neck and burst into tears again.
"Is he all right?" Joe asked anxiously as he rubbed his nephew's back gently.
"He's fine, just reactin' to bein' scared," Ted answered and chuckled softly. "This isn't the first time he's done this and don't be thinkin' it will be the last. For some reason the boy's been tryin' to stick his head through a lot of things lately."
Shaking their heads, the two men moved over to the sofa and sat down; Joe's cheeks puffed out and he slowly let out a deep breath while raking his fingers through his tousled hair.
"I guess this one WOULD be harder to figure out than why Thomas kept waking up screaming and what to do about it." Nodding, Ted pulled his handkerchief out and started wiping the butter off the baby's head.
"Bein' taken by that human monster and stuffed into a dark basket would be enough to make anyone wake up screamin'," Ted's tone reflected the fury he still felt toward the now dead Simon Albrecht even as he smiled down into his nephew's tear-stained face.
"And putting all three of them in the same crib is what finally worked, right?" Joe asked as he reached to pull out his own handkerchief and handed it to his cousin now that Ted's was completely butter covered.
"Yep...I just figured we needed to wipe out the memory of bein' in that terrifyin' darkness with the memory of a comfortin' one."
"A comforting one?" Joe asked as he nudged his cousin and tipped his head toward the three dogs and two babies who were sitting in a line in front of them and staring at Thomas with wide-eyes. Ted chuckled as he leaned forward to put a now almost butter-free Thomas down in front of them.
The big dogs quickly got to their feet to sniff Thomas all over before licking the rest of the butter off his small head, while his brothers came crawling to pounce and knock him over. All three were giggling as they rolled around on the floor and the two big dogs sighed and moved away to take their customary positions next to the doors, obviously relieved that the danger was now over.
"In the womb," Ted explained quietly and Joe laughed at the other man's cleverness.
"That was pretty dang smart, cousin," he said, his eyes narrowing as he focused on his three nephews. "Just look at them, seeming so innocent and sweet, but I swear to you there've been times this morning when they seemed like little demons."
Laughing, Ted leaned back and stretched his legs out in front of him. "Well now I don't find that at all surprisin' Joe, considerin' who their parents are."
"I guess," the corners of Joe's mouth lifted slightly as he watched the three babies collapse in a small heap. "No sooner had everyone else left, then Matthew took a disliking to his breakfast and threw up. And that wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't thrown up on the other two." Shaking with silent laughter, Ted didn't respond, sensing Joe was on a roll.
"Thank God that was in the kitchen so cleaning up the floor wasn't all that hard, but the only thing I could do was strip them down right there before taking them upstairs. By the time I got them out of the tub I was soaked, and then each one wet their diaper even before I could get them dressed again!"
Nodding his head vigorously in agreement, Ted ventured a choked comment. "They DO have a tendency to do that after a bath."
"Gee, thanks for the timely warning," was Joe's acerbic response as his cousin sputtered with laughter. "Those three were as hard to hold onto as greased piglets when I carried them down here, and their squealing made the dogs stick to me like burrs. I swear the high-stepping I had to do would have made any saloon-dancer proud!"
Ted had both hands pressed to his aching stomach as he limply leaned back on the sofa and abandoned any attempt to hold in his amusement. The younger man eyed him darkly.
"I suppose you're going to think it's funny too that Benjamin chose today to not hide behind Adam's chair and was basically cheering the other two on." He shook his head then ran his hands through his curly hair again, messing it up even more. "If I didn't know better I'd think the three of them put their little heads together and decided to make this morning a living hell for me!"
"Well, there might be some truth to that..." Ted offered breathlessly as he sat back up. "What did they do?"
"Believe it or not, sweet little Thomas was throwing blocks around the room until I had to take them off of him, then threw himself around in a screaming fit. While I was trying to calm HIM down Matthew managed to climb up on the back of the sofa, and slipped through all except for his feet, so he was hanging there upside down and howling at the top of his voice."
"Holy Mary, Mother of God, no wonder your lookin' about done in."
"Yes, no wonder. By the time I managed to fish Matthew out and turned around I saw Benjamin helping Thomas climb up on the rocking chair. I didn't even have the chance to take more than two steps over there before he'd stuck his head in between the bars."
"So the three of them were gangin' up on you, eh?" Ted's voice still reflected his amusement, but a reflective gleam sparked to life in his eyes as he mentally pictured his three nephews in action.
"I have no doubt about it," Joe answered with conviction then sighed as he rubbed the palms of his hands on his thighs. "I guess I better get to cleaning the butter off that damn chair while the three of them are down for the count." He started to stand but stopped when the other man put a hand on his shoulder.
"There's plenty of time for that," Ted said firmly and Joe leaned back to give his cousin an expectant look.
"I take it there's something you want to talk about."
Nodding, Ted turned slightly sideways to meet the younger man's gaze.
"I've been meanin' to talk to you about Joan for a while now, but haven't been able to catch you alone."
Joe's eyes instantly became hooded and his expression tightened. "What about Joan?"
The older man looked down for a moment before he shifted to the side even more. He lifted one hand as though intending to grasp Joe's shoulder, but seemingly changed his mind and let the hand fall into his lap.
"What do you know about the night Joan disappeared and when Albrecht was killed?"
Letting out a short, harsh bark of laughter, Joe shook his head and his mouth curved into a bitter smile. "Not much, every time I bring up the subject Adam gets this...strange look on his face and won't talk about it."
"I'm not surprised," Ted's voice was soft and Joe's expression relaxed a little in response.
"Why? Why aren't you surprised and why does Adam continue to push me away?"
"Adam isn't really pushin' you away Joe, he's actually tryin' to hold on to you too tight." Joe stared, completely baffled for a moment until the true meaning of the young doctor's words broke through.
"You mean he's trying to protect me again." Sighing Joe leaned forward to prop his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together tightly.
"Why is he still doing that, Ted? Why does he continue to do the one thing that Pa used to drive him crazy with? And don't bother pointing out that he does these things because he loves me. I know that, and I also know he feels as much like a father to me as a brother." Ted couldn't help but smile at the younger man's world weary tone.
"I didn't realize you were smart enough to figure that out cousin." Joe sighed again.
"No pats on the head please, I didn't figure that out – Adam told me."
"He TOLD you?"
"Yes."
"Just came right out and TOLD you?"
Nodding, Joe glanced at Ted's incredulous expression and smiled.
"Well score one for Adam over you, cousin. I don't think I've ever seen that look on your face before."
Ted smiled back while shaking his head. "Every time I think I'm done figurin' that man out, he goes and does somethin' that knocks me back on my heels again." He laughed softly and Joe did the same.
"Adam does have a tendency to do that to people."
"I guess I better just get used to expectin' the unexpected from him."
"Not a bad idea..." Joe agreed and looked down at his clasped hands again. "So what has he been holding back from me about Joan?"
Ted took a deep breath, gave his young cousin an assessing glance then decided the best approach was to be matter of fact and clinical.
"Joan was definitely mentally ill Joe, and I'm inclined to be thinkin' I knew that from the first moment I met her. But I'll be admittin' to you I have no idea just how deeply disturbed she was." He paused, looking for any signs of distress in the other man. Seeing none, he continued.
"From everythin' she said she said the night she died I could see how badly she had suffered as a young girl – how cruel her father had been, and I believe his final heartless act of throwin' her out into the street caused her mind to break. In effect, I think it actually split in two and another person, or personality, came into bein'."
Joe slowly turned his head to stare at his cousin with bleak eyes, darkly shadowed with pain. "Another personality? Ted, you're not making any sense. I mean, how can that possibly be?"
"Well, you might be right about that Joe, but our knowledge of the human mind and brain is still so limited it's hard to explain what I saw that night in any other way. Unless you believe in spiritual possession, which I don't."
Joe blinked rapidly, obviously trying to take in what he was hearing and understand. He unclasped his hands, scrubbed them over his face a few times, and then straightened up before leaning back and letting his hands drop limply into his lap.
"All right, assuming you're right about this, just who was this 'other' person?"
"Hunter."
"Hunter? You mean JOAN killed those two coachmen, cut up Albrecht's face, and set that abandoned church on fire?" Joe's voice rose almost hysterically until it broke on the last word.
"Yes. I'm sorry, but I'm tellin' you the truth, she freely confessed to it all." Ted took note of the younger man's now punch-drunk expression with a heavy heart, but then felt a warm glow of pride in his cousin to see him clench his teeth and shake his head in an attempt to clear it.
"I just can't believe the woman I knew would be able to do such a thing!"
"That's the whole point, Joe. JOAN wasn't capable, but Hunter was. Hunter came into bein' at first to protect Joan, and then to protect the only other person in the world she cared about...Thea."
Shaking his head again, Joe struggled to understand. "You mean...the only reason she did those things was to protect Thea's husband...not Adam himself?"
"Right. You see Thea was the only person who ever stood up for Joan. She just happened to be drivin' by when Joan's father threw her half naked out into the street." Badly shaken, Joe still smiled at the mental picture.
"What happened?"
"She said that Thea came runnin' to help her and that man came chargin' down the stairs, shoutin' something about leavin' garbage in the gutter where it belongs. Of course our sister paid no attention to him until he started for her, so she threatened him with that knife she always carries. And believe me I remember everythin' Hunter said that night clearly and she was laughin' about her father running away. She said, 'Little Thea threatened that big, tough MAN with a knife and he ran away. I've loved her ever since, I'd do anything for her.'"
"Oh Lord," Joe breathed and the two men fell silent then, the only noise in the room came from the deep breathing of the three babies who hadn't been disturbed at all by the noise. They were used to a loud, chaotic house.
The silence stretched on while Ted watched the color start to return to the younger man's face and he braced himself to deliver the final blow. Just like pulling a bandage off quickly, the rest had to be done in the same manner.
"But that's not everythin' Joe..." he started to say and was surprised as well as glad to see the other man's eyes narrow slightly with the first stirrings of anger.
"Damn it, what more could there possibly BE?"
"What I can't help but be belivin' is irrefutable proof that Joan loved you." He paused to choose his next words carefully and had to hold back a smile at his cousin's dubious expression.
"Go on Ted, let's get this over and done with so I don't ever have to think about again!" Joe's voice was steady as well as impatient.
"What I'm about to tell you even Adam doesn't know, so please keep this just between us. You see, after assessin' Joan's physical condition that night I realized she was dyin' because she was willin' herself to die. Her injuries alone weren't enough to cause death."
"She was willing herself to die?"
"Yes, I believe so."
"But why? Was she afraid of going to prison? Or did she just not want to live anymore?"
"No...Joan DID want to keep on livin', desperately I think...but she also knew the only way to be keepin' you safe was to die... and to take Hunter with her." Ted reached out to grasp his cousin's shoulder firmly before continuing.
"She made the ultimate sacrifice for you Joe, out of love. She gave her life to keep Hunter from killin' you."