Chapter Seven

"Is Dr. Cavanaugh here?" Cal asked the pretty lady with green eyes who met him in the hallway.

"Are you here to identify someone?" Lily asked.

"No…I'm just a friend. I was in town and thought I'd come by to see her, if she wasn't busy." Cal had dropped Woody off at work and had conned his way into using Woody's car for the day. Told him he wanted to do some sight seeing. He had circled the block and made a beeline for Jordan's office, careful to park several blocks away so Woody wouldn't see his car.

"What's your name and I'll ask her if she has time to see you."

"Calvin. Calvin Hoyt."

Lily looked closely at the young man for a minute, noting his smile and dimples. "You're Woody's brother, aren't you?"

"Yes ma'am."

Lily grinned back. He was nearly as good-looking as Woody. "Come with me. I'm sure she'll see you."

Jordan was in her office, shuffling through paperwork when she heard a knock at her door. "Hey good-looking…" said a voice.

Jordan turned around in her office chair. "Calvin…Calvin Coolidge Hoyt…what the hell brings you to Boston?" She stood up and walked over to give him a hug.

He eyeballed her stomach. "Well….Woody didn't make it to Aunt Jean's for Christmas and I was worried about him so I came to see what he was up to…" Jordan hugged him anyway, then they settled down on her couch. Calvin seemed like he wanted to talk and for once in her life, Jordan was ready to listen.

"So it looks like you've been busy," he said, still not taking his eyes off her mid-section.

"Just a little. How much has Woody told you?"

"Pretty much everything. The baby is his…and he's acting like an ass."

"That he is. It's so not like Woody, Cal. I can't figure it out…not that I was pushing for a proposal, because I'm not. I can take care of myself and anyone else who comes along…but I had hoped that he would be supportive…be a dad. It seems like he's not interested…he just gets real nervous when he's around me…I mean, I'm sure some of that's to be expected, but he acts like, well….he…he….doesn't want anything to do with the baby."

Calvin gently took Jordan's hands. "How much has Woody told you about his past, Jo?"

Jordan thought for a minute. "Not a whole lot. Not really. I know your parents are dead. Your mom died of cancer when Woody was four. Your dad was a deputy and was shot in the back by an 18 year-old when Woody was 16. He watched his dad suffer for 10 days and he died in Woody's arms. Then he kind of helped raise you…then Annie…then got the hell out of Kewuanne. That's it."

Calvin nodded. "I thought so. He didn't tell you anything about our dad, did he?"

Jordan shook her head no.

"Got some time? I can fill in the gaps, so that you know exactly why my brother is acting like an ass."

"Got all the time it takes."

So Calvin filled in the gaps for Jordan. From the time that their mother died and their father began his abusive cycles to the horrible fight that he had Woody had had before their dad had stumbled off the local bar to lose himself in yet another bottle of whiskey.

"Dad was abusive, Jo. Tremendously abusive. If this would have happened now, social services would have been all over it and Woody and I would have been taken away….but it didn't. And it happened in Kewuanne, where people tend to mind their own business about family issues. As a result, we were beat. Sometimes nearly to death.

"Woody got the worst of it. He was the oldest. Dad thought that Woody should be able to make perfect grades, keep a perfect house, and watch me. He thought that way since Woody was four. And he would beat Woody if anything went wrong. And then, when Woody couldn't take it anymore, Dad would beat me. Then Woody would try to stop him from beating me, and Dad would beat Woody again. It got worse if Dad was drinking. As Woody got bigger, Dad had to think of another way to keep Woody under his thumb. So he developed his fine art of verbal abuse. Called Woody all kinds of things. Made him feel like shit. Called him a coward….yellow….that he would never amount to anything and would always be a failure. Just another damn dairy farmer from Kawuanne.

"They had fought all day the day that dad got shot. Woody finally told him to get out the door…leave and not come back. He had seen a lawyer about me and him becoming emancipated. Dad asked what that meant. Woody told Dad that meant that me and Woody would no longer have to answer to him…we'd be on our own. Dad got real mad and left and went down to the bar and got drunk. When that 18 year-old showed up to rob the bar, Dad was in no shape to try to defend anyone, but he pulled his service revolver anyway. The punk shot him before Dad could even get his gun out of his holster. Woody has always blamed himself…said he drove dad to drink and that he was the reason dad wasn't alive…"

"So anyway," Cal continued. "Woody stuck around until after I was through with high school and had a couple of community college years under my belt. Then after the thing with Annie fizzled, he high-tailed it to Boston and you know the rest. But you have to remember, Jordan, it's not that Woody doesn't love you, or the baby. It's that he thinks he can't be a good dad. He really believes that if he was to become a father to that child," Calvin placed his hand on Jordan's stomach, "he would end up abusing it like our dad did us. So he's thinking that for your good and the kid's best interest, it is the best thing for him to stay away….he really believes that what your parents did to you, you will repeat to your kids. And he doesn't want that…I know it's wonky, but that's what he believes."

Jordan listened in horror to Cal's story. She hadn't heard a tenth of what Woody's life was actually like before Cal filled her in. All she wanted to do now was find Woody and just hold him…protect him from anything else. "But Woody's not that kind of person, Cal. I've seen the man in action. He's saved my butt more times than I could count. He's a gentle, loving man."

"Who thinks he's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

"And who had to grow up too fast under difficult circumstances."

"And who still hears in his mind his father's voice calling him loser and a coward every day, Jordan."

"Oh God, Cal. What do we do?"

"I don't know….I've wrestled with the issue for years. So has Woody. There aren't any pat answers. I thought Woody had come to terms with it…dealt with it. He's so quiet about it – rarely talks about Dad anymore. Guess I was wrong. Guess he just kept it pushed down inside."

"And I thought I was complicated."

"Nope. You just had a few problems. Woodrow has issues….lots of back issues that keep poppingup."

"What can we do?"

"Nothing…nothing until he decides he wants to deal with them, sweetie."