Chapter 27 – A Bone to Pick
The sun was shining on the beach at Malibu and Jesse sat on a blanket, his two daughters just beside him. Anneya had slept a little less than he had expected, which meant that he had enjoyed her company for longer than usual. He had picked Eliana up early from Sally, wanting to spend as much time with the two of them as possible.
Jesse had stayed for just over an hour and a half with Sally explaining the situation to her, and had been relieved and delighted that she still wanted to look after his daughter. In fact the whole meeting had gone better than he'd dared hope, and he knew that when he told Rae what had happened she would be delighted too. Told Rae, Jesse realised that he was actually making plans to speak to his wife without feeling that his world might fall apart and, as he watched his daughters play together, he went back over his successful trip.
"Jesse, what a lovely surprise, how are you?" Sally had seemed genuinely pleased to see him and Anneya at her front door and they had both beamed at her.
"I'm good, well, not as good as I used to be, but getting better all the time, thanks."
"I'm gla…"
"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" The voice of his eldest daughter split the air and Sally turned, trying to be stern and, in Jesse's view, only partially succeeding.
"Eliana, what do we do when someone rings the doorbell?"
"We waitin pyawoom. Yana, sowee." Eliana looked at the floor and Jesse wasn't sure whether she was actually sorry or putting on an act and he realised that he had missed a lot of growing time with his children.
"Well, I suggest that you go back, Daddy will come to you … go on!"
Eliana turned without another word and traipsed back the way she had come, as she got closer to the door Jesse could hear her mumbling to herself, and he was sure that Miss Amy got a mention there someplace.
Sally had placed a hand on Anneya's arm and the little girl had smiled at her. "Aii, eee."
"How did everything go this morning?" Sally held out her arms as Anneya leant towards her and she carefully took her from Jesse. "You don't mind do you? I have missed her so much."
"No, I don't mind at all, in fact we need to talk, could I come in?"
"I'm sorry, of course, but maybe we should go down the hall, I think we have left Eliana alone for long enough."
Jesse looked at his eldest daughter who was carefully filling a bucket with sand and shook his head. She had been sitting just inside the door to the playroom when they arrived there and had looked up, her dark brown eyes full of tears, and he'd felt his heart melt. After a nod from Sally, he had crouched down and been almost flattened by the hug he received, and then, once she had been appeased, both Eliana and Anneya had gone to play with the toys and he and Sally had begun to talk again.
"How did you get on this morning? Did Rae go with you?"
"Rae took her, I was on duty, but I got there about halfway through the test." He had paused, he was about to tell someone for the first time what was wrong with his daughter, and for a moment he wasn't sure if he could do it. He looked up as he felt Sally's hand on his arm and blurted out the truth. "Sally, Anneya is Deaf, she can't hear anything. The test came back with a result of profoundly Deaf."
Sally had been obviously upset and for a while the room had been silent except for Eliana's happy chatter as she played, and Jesse had known that she was content; she was back at pre-school, back with Sally, and her daddy and her sister were here too, for a three-year-old that was almost perfect.
"Neya! Daddy, yook!" Eliana's offended voice broke into his thoughts and he did as he was told and looked. The sandcastle in front of him was now a batted down pile of sand, and Anneya had a grin on her face.
"Honey, when you were little, you used to do that too. I tell you what, why don't I make a row of castles for you and your sister to knock down?"
"Es peeze." The offer was immediately taken, there was, Jesse knew, something very therapeutic about knocking down someone else's sandcastles and as he lined them up he let his mind drift off again.
"Jesse?" Sally's voice was charged with emotion, and he had looked across to see her sitting, with tears in her eyes, staring at his youngest child.
"Yes? Oh, Sally, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."
"Jesse, I have never looked after a child longer than about a year before, your two daughters are so much a part of my life that when they hurt, I hurt too, and they have been through so much in their short lives, it is so unfair. But … but if you want Anneya to go to a specialised carer I will understand."
"Sally, no! I certainly don't, and I'm pretty sure that Rae hasn't even had time to think things through yet, but she has said before that you provide one of the few rocks in her life, she won't want you to stop having the girls."
"I've done a course on working with Deaf children, and I'll contact the local college to see what else is available. I'm sure that you're totally overwhelmed by this, but I'll help in any way I can with whatever you want me to do."
Jesse looked at the battered and flattened row of sandcastles, which now resembled sand-hovels and pretended to be upset, both children rushed at him and he took them into his arms and hugged them. They would be alright, both of them, Eliana would carry on in her happy, sunny, and occasionally stubborn, way, and Anneya would get all the help she needed to do the same, he and Rae would make sure of that.
ooo
The day had seemed almost never-ending to Rae; she had spoken to Ron about her assertion that Matthew or Dominic Little was their Red Rose Killer and he had agreed with her. She had then called Sally and found out that Jesse had the children with him at the beach house.
By six o'clock she was so tired that she wasn't sure if she could actually drive to both Malibu and Beverly Hills. Jesse had answered the phone when she called him and offered to keep the children until the morning and, with the prospect of finally getting a full night's sleep stretching out in front of her, Rae had left the station and headed for home.
Dinner had been a frozen meal defrosted and cooked in the microwave, not very palatable, but it had filled her up and was quick and easy. Rae had planned in the car to eat, sleep and nothing more, but she found her footsteps taking her towards the computer in the small office she had set up down the hallway and soon she was surfing the net for anything and everything on deafness in children.
ooo
Detective Jemimah Monroe, known to all the other officers in the Santa Monica Police Department as Marilyn, looked down at the body at her feet and shuddered. It had obviously been where it was for a long time, and she knew that they would have a difficult job just working out who it was, let alone who was responsible for what had happened. Of course, nothing could be all that had happened, with just a partial skeleton left it was difficult to decide whether this was accidental death or murder, but Doctor Saperstein was a good ME, and he would work it out. That was if he ever got here, the weather was awful, the rain was coming down in sheets, and the beautiful clear blue skies of the day were just a memory. Snuggling into her waterproofs a little more the young cop waited for someone to come and join her and her bony friend.
ooo
"Walter, this is not a problem, we've had a wonderful dinner, and I don't mind at all accompanying you on this call." Amanda smiled across at the elderly gentleman driving the car slowly through the rain. She was a little concerned about her friend actually working at all in the torrential downpour Los Angeles was experiencing, and if she could get him to stay in his vehicle she would do just that.
"Amanda, this is kind of a busman's holiday for you. We were supposed to have a nice dinner to keep in touch, and for me to meet your intended. He had to leave early because of a call from his office, and now I have had to do the same, but you didn't have to come with me."
"Are you trying to say that you would rather work without me?" Amanda asked the question in as serious a voice as she could muster, knowing that her companion would instantly apologise.
"No, no, of course not, I'm sorry if you got that impression … Amanda, stop it, you are kidding me now." The gentleman, who, Amanda knew, was about ten years younger than Mark, and not nearly as spry, took his eyes of the road for a second to smile at her.
"Yes I am, and here, you need to turn right here." Amanda saw the sign for Topanga State Park just as Walter did and indicated where he should go. She then watched as the world about her got darker and a little claustrophobic from all the trees and knew that by accompanying him she could be in for a long night.
The actual crime scene, or supposed crime scene, was lit up with arc lights, but the trees were a definite hazard and Amanda was glad that she had worn a trouser suit and flat pumps for her dinner date. To her amazement Walter handed her a spare pair of rubber boots which, as they were a couple of sizes too large, she slid on over her shoes. "I always come prepared."
"Doctor Saperstein, thank you for coming." A young woman's voice cut through the darkness, and a face was suddenly visible in the lit up section of the forest. "We're over here, Sir."
"Thank you, Jem, thank you, it is you isn't it?"
"Yes, Doctor, it's me, you know I get all the goodies. Oh, hi, I'm sorry, I didn't realise you had company, I'm Detective Jemimah Monroe, but most people call me Marilyn."
"I hope you don't mind me tagging along with Doctor Saperstein, but we were having dinner together. Doctor Amanda Bentley; I'm Adjunct County Medical Examiner for Los Angeles." Amanda saw the young officer smile, obviously relieved that she wasn't going to have to send her back to the car.
"Well, if you would both like to come with me, I'll show you what we have."
The journey into the trees was squelchy and slippery and Amanda kept a hand on Walter's arm, not only to keep herself upright, but him as well. After a few minutes they stopped and looked down at the skeletal remains of someone.
"Hmm, he or she's been here a little while. Some bits are missing by the look of it, probably taken by small animals, but we have the skull, and the lower extremities seem to be intact. Difficult to tell whether the bones still smell, which would give us a time indication, but if we move them to look at back at the lab they are likely to fall apart, so I guess we are in for a long and very wet evening, my dear." Walter had been playing a flashlight over the scene as he spoke, and Amanda could see him taking in the minutia of their job as he did so.
"Who found the body?" Amanda directed her question at Jemimah, who appeared to be the only plain clothes officer at the scene.
"There was a group of school kids out on a day excursion. They were told to keep close to the path, one group of two boys didn't do as they were told, and hey presto, one late wet night in the forest!" The artificial brightness was lit up even more as a camera flash went off, and Amanda turned to see a young man taking pictures. "That's Richard Jamieson, my partner and picture-taker extraordinaire. I'm guessing that you work mostly with a different division, so you won't have seen us before."
"No, I haven't. I don't get to all parts of the city, which is a shame. I would imagine that in the daylight, and without the rain, this is a lovely place." The flash went off again and Amanda and Jemimah returned to the matter at hand.
ooo
The bay area of San Francisco was lit up beautifully and Dominic looked out across the water and took in a deep breath. He hadn't realised, until he returned, just how much he had missed being here.
"It's beautiful isn't it?" the voice that spoke to him was as golden as its owner's hair and he turned and smiled.
"Yeah, I used to live here, a few years ago now, I hadn't realised that it had made such an impression on me." Dominic pulled her a little closer to him as he spoke. "Just like you have."
"So, would you like to go down and walk on the sand? It seems a shame to end such a lovely night quite yet, and it's almost deserted."
"Lucy, you have some wonderful ideas, I am so glad I met you." Dominic took her hand in his and they made their way towards the steps and down onto the beach.
ooo
The beach house was finally quiet and Mark, Alex and Jesse sat, as they had done for over an hour, exhausted, in the living room listening to the rain pound down on the deck. "Jesse, I love your daughters dearly, but I am getting too old for this." Mark laughed as he eased himself out of the chair he was sitting in and began to put the Twister game away.
"Hey, blame your grandson and Maddie; they're the ones who introduced her to it, not me." Jesse laughed as well, the game they had played had been lively and entertaining, Eliana had been given the responsibility of explaining the game to her daddy and Alex while Anneya had sat on her Grandpa Mark's lap and helped him turn the spinner. She had also eaten a plate of jelly sandwiches, drunk a carton of juice and then fallen asleep in Mark's lap.
"Guys, thank you, thank you for taking me in, for letting me start to find myself again at my own pace. Mark, please, can I stay a little longer?" Jesse was suddenly afraid that his old friend might want him to move out, would think that because they had spent an evening laughing and joking together like old times he was ready to return to his previous life, and he wasn't, not yet.
"Jesse, you know that you can stay here as long as you want, and the girls can come over whenever you want them too, as long as we hide that game! But, and it is a big but, you have a wife who loves and needs you, she thinks that you don't love her any more, you have to sort that, one way or the other, it's not fair on you and it's not fair on her either."
Jesse's eyes had grown wide as he heard Mark speak and now as he answered him he realised some of what he had done. "No, Mark, no, it's not that I don't love her, I didn't ever tell her I didn't love her did I? Oh God, Rae, I am so sorry."
"Jesse, I don't know if you actually said those words, but you didn't tell her that you do love her either did you? And telling someone that you wished you had never met them isn't exactly declaring undying devotion." Mark's expression was full of compassion and he felt his young friend's pain.
"Jesse," Alex wasn't sure he should intervene but he'd had more contact with Rae than either of his friends recently, "all she wants is her life back the way it was. She knows it can't be, but that is what she wants. And she loves you, just as she has always done."
"That was all I wanted too." Jesse stood up; the pleasure of the evening was gone. He moved across the room and reached for the phone, but saw that it was coming up to ten o'clock and he knew that Rae had been planning an early night; she would probably be fast asleep already.
"Jess, what you have to tell her can't be done on the phone, you need to sit down and talk with her, get everything out into the open, let her fight your demons alongside you, because that's the only place she has ever wanted to be." Mark had followed as he realised that Jesse was heading for the phone, and now he placed a hand on Jesse's shoulder.
"I … I do love her, Mark, it's just … it's just so hard to be with her right now." Jesse couldn't say anything more, he knew that the person he had to talk to was Rae, however hard, however painful; she was the one who would ultimately help him.
ooo
Rae finally closed down her computer and stretched herself. The amount of information on the internet had been staggering. Not all of it had been of use, but she had at least been heartened to know that she wasn't alone, that her child wasn't alone either. The task that lay before them though was, as she had thought, immense, and Rae knew that to make any type of success of it would mean dedicating herself to it for the rest of her daughter's life, or at least until she could take control herself. It was a task that Rae was more than happy to take on, although she would be far happier if she didn't have to do it at all. With a yawn and a shake of her head Rae looked at her watch, saw with dismay that it was after nine-thirty which wasn't anywhere near as early as she had planned to go to bed, and made her way out into the hallway, she set the building alarm and then went up the stairs and towards her room.
The house had a totally different feel to it when it was empty, Rae felt as if she was an interloper, as if she was tippy-toeing around someone else's home, and she was glad to close the bedroom door and enjoy her own suite. The wedding picture of her and Jesse was sitting in its place of honour on her dressing table. For a long time anything to do with photos or photography had taken her back, in her mind at least, into Levington's clutches. She'd just begun to come to terms with it and enjoy the pictures of herself with Jesse and her new family when she had lost everything in a house fire and to her surprise Rae had felt the loss of all the photographic reminders more than anything, but thanks to her mother and her friends she now had a complete new set and, as she no longer had a husband, it was one of her few reminders of one of the happiest days of her life.
Rae sat at the dressing table and ran the brush through her hair; it was in need of a cut, and she couldn't decide whether to keep it long or go back to her short spiky look. There was a bit of grey showing through too, and although she didn't think she would contemplate it seriously, the idea of colouring it came into her mind.
"You are supposed to be winding down for an undisturbed night's sleep, not fiddle-arsing about in front of the mirror, get yourself a shower and go to bed!" Rae stood up as she spoke, stuck her tongue out at herself, and made her way into the shower, stifling a yawn as she did so.
ooo
"You know, if we had both decided to specialise in something ordinary, like brain surgery, we would be in our own warm little houses right now, I would probably be retired, and we would both be fast asleep." Walter dried his glasses on the towel he kept in his pocket, for about the hundredth time, and then continued his painstaking evaluation of the remains before him.
"But think of all the fun times we would have missed. All the clues that might have slipped past someone else, the exciting places we have visited that other doctors fear to go, sewers, storage lockers, forests at midnight, or eleven-thirty at least ... No, I see what you mean; a nice warm bed seems real enticing right now. But I disagree on one thing."
"Oh, what's that?" Walter's voice was a little distant as he carefully probed underneath a limb.
"You wouldn't have retired; you would still be there, doing your brain surgery or whatever it was." She smiled and watched as Doctor Saperstein carried on his work.
"You may be right, you may be … well now, what do we have here? Amanda, my dear, could you shine the flashlight for me, I think I may have found something rather interesting."
Walter had worked quietly and with almost total concentration for a long while. Pictures had been taken; he had also made a sketch of how he saw his find. Once that had been done he spoke intently with Amanda, asking her opinion and giving her his. As soon as she realised what information the body was giving up Amanda moved outside the shelter of the trees, where the signal wasn't good, and punched in the telephone number of one of her closest friends.
ooo
The warm water of the shower had relaxed Rae wonderfully, and she had rubbed in some lavender scented body lotion for good measure. The bed had finally been changed once Anneya came home, and so she slipped in between the clean cool sheets and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
The ringing was getting more and more insistent and Rae put her arm out, her hand patting the nightstand until it found the phone. She put the receiver to her ear and hoped upon hope that it was a wrong number. "Detective Yeager." The voice of her friend reached her ears, and Rae woke up quickly noticing that her full night's sleep had lasted just over three hours.
ooo
Steve stood up and switched off the television set, picked up the empty beer can from the table and moved back out into the kitchen to put it in the recycling. Once he had done that, and double-checked that everything was locked up tight for the night he began the climb to his bedroom. Michael had offered to stay up until his movie had finished, but Steve had told him to go to bed. The film was three hours long, and it may have taken him seven years, but he had finally seen that boat sink, and now he was definitely ready for some sleep.
As he let the water from the shower beat down on his back Steve tried to work out why sitting at a desk all day was more tiring than being both on the street and fitting in desk work when he could. He hadn't decided by the time he was ready to dry himself off, and so decided that it was too late to try.
As he carefully climbed into bed next to his sleeping wife he looked over at her, she was by far the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to him, and he still had to pinch himself to realise that her loving him wasn't a fantasy, and that he wouldn't wake up and find himself alone again. He slid down into the warmth of the bed, letting her scent waft over him and accompany him into his dreams.
"No, please, no!" The face of the person in front of her was indistinct, and Jo didn't think she wanted to try to make it out anyway. The hands though, the ones trying to touch her stomach, to take her child from her, were black, and she knew, through her dream, just who it was. "You can't do this, not now, please." She tried to back away from him, but someone took her arms and held her tight, Jo began to struggle, to turn this way and that, to loosen the hold the person had on her, but the voice stopped her dead. "Don't fight me, Jo. It's no good; no good." She knew it was her husband's voice, but she couldn't hear everything he was saying, and she had no idea why he was holding her, keeping her where Werner could get her, she had to get away, escape from wherever she was. For a second she felt herself falling and then, feeling pressure again, Jo looked wildly around her, she had no idea where she was, but in the distance she could see the hedge that hid her private glade, she would go there, there she was safe and no one could harm her. "Let me go … LET ME GO!" She screamed, but still she could hear him. "Jo, Honey, shhh, it's ok." His voice had changed, he didn't mean her harm now, if only she could reach him.
Steve didn't know what it was that woke him, but as soon as he opened his eyes it became abundantly clear. Jo was obviously held in the grip of a bad dream and, if the sweat on her skin and the tangles in her hair were any indication, it had been going on for a while before it disturbed him.
"You can't do this," Jo was trying to move up the bed, but her head was pressed against the headboard, and she was becoming more and more agitated.
Steve was worried about the baby, he knew it was well protected, but she was almost in danger of falling out of the bed, and he leant over and placed a hand on each of her arms, wanting to pull her towards the middle of the mattress. "Honey, please, don't fight me, it's doing you no good, no good at all." The desperation in his voice was obvious to him, he felt totally helpless, and she was still trying to get away from him. Her legs were thrashing about, the covers almost totally kicked off, and suddenly her foot disappeared over the side of the bed, unbalancing her and causing Steve to hold her more tightly.
She screamed at him, her voice high and edged with hysteria and Steve closed his eyes for a moment, feeling the tears behind them as they threatened him.
"Jo, Honey, shhh, it's ok, Baby, it's me, it's Steve, you're safe here, it's alright." Somehow he knew that he was finally getting through, her demeanour, even in sleep had changed, and she was trying to calm herself. "Jo, open your eyes, Sweetie, please, for me, open your eyes."
Gradually, to his relief she began to do just that, and as she did so, Steve heard Michael's voice the other side of the bedroom door, and that of his son too.
"Sir, is there anything I can do to assist you or Madam?"
"Dad, is Mom alright?"
"Yes, Son, she just had a bad dream, Michael, no, we're fine, thank you."
He forgot them almost the instant he finished speaking, his attention reverting to his wife immediately. She was lying on the bed, her face ashen, and her breathing heavy. "Steve? Oh, God, Steve, help me, please, help me."
ooo
The dark blue sweat suit that Rae had pulled from her closet was at least warm, whether it would stay dry was another thing altogether. She grabbed a set of waterproofs from the coat cupboard in the hall on her way out, and was dismayed to find out how wet she had got in just the short distance from the house to the car.
The traffic should be light at least, which was more than could be said for the rain and Rae was sure it was coming down even heavier now. LA didn't get much rain each month, and she had a feeling that the entire thirty-day's worth was falling in one night.
Amanda's phone call hadn't told her very much, just that, even though it was out of her jurisdiction, she needed to come to Topanga State Park as quickly as she could. Rae had been very tempted to call Steve, at least that way she could have grabbed another however-long-it-took-to-get-there's worth of sleep, but Cheryl was her partner this week, and as she lived in a different part of the city, she was making her way to the park alone.
Rae cast her eyes towards the house of Texas and Steve as she passed it, all the lights were off, and she was glad that she hadn't had to interrupt her friend and partner. She knew he didn't like the enforced deskwork that being the senior detective sometimes required him to do, but at least he could enjoy the perk of having an uninterrupted night's sleep.
ooo
The beach was red, somehow blood and sand didn't mix very well and Dominic tried to wipe himself down without getting all the little grains on his shirt. Lucy had been almost too easy, wanting to find a secluded spot, encouraging him to kiss her tenderly, he had found her melting under his touch until the actual killing had happened, there had been no struggle until the last moment, no screaming except with passion, and the betrayal in her eyes had been almost non-existent.
Now though, she lay at his feet, her hair inviting him to play with it, to style it and ultimately to cut it. The blood was pooling on the surface of the sand and he knew that before he did anything else he would need to move her a little. He hadn't killed anyone on sand before, but he had imagined that it would have all just drained away.
The part of the beach that he was on had a set of steps just behind where he was standing and Dominic pulled at Lucy's shoulders, dragging her a little further up the sand so that he could sit on the cold, hard concrete as he looked at her now naked body. She had been beautiful, sensuous, but just the same as all the others, they all let him down in the end, would desert him, leave him to face life on his own again. Well, not this time, never again would he be the one left to suffer the pain, he would get in first.
The blood from her feet had left a trail across the sand so Dominic stood up and brushed some of the annoying little grains across it, he then double checked and made sure there was, as he had already guessed, no-one about. Finally, he took the scissors and combs he always kept with him out of his pocket and prepared himself for his next step.
ooo
The wipers on Rae's car were working on double speed and still her vision was blurred by the water on her windshield. She peered out of the glass watching the road signs and names hoping that she hadn't gotten herself lost. At last, after what seemed like forever, she saw the name of the park she was aiming for, and turned gratefully into a smaller road and made her way towards a mantle of trees.
Her headlights lit up the parking lot and Rae cast her eyes over the scene looking for any vehicles that she recognised. Not finding any she got out of her car, pulled up the hood on her waterproof top and, keeping a firm hold on her ID, she walked in what she hoped was the general direction of the lights.
"Rae." Amanda's voice came out of the gloom and then she was there, waiting to show her friend where the action was.
"Hi, I didn't see your car, I wondered if maybe I was in the wrong place."
"No, I came with Doctor Saperstein, he and I were having dinner, otherwise I wouldn't have been here, and I wouldn't have been able to help with what he's found." Amanda carefully moved back over to where her colleague was working. "Walter, this is Detective Reagan Yeager, LAPD, Rae, Walter Saperstein, who is the Chief ME for the West LA Precinct."
"I'm pleased to meet you, Sir, Amanda is being very mysterious, so can you tell me what you've found?"
"Yes, of course, Detective Yeager, if you would be so kind as to direct the flashlight this way." Walter handed the torch to Rae and waited as she did as she was bid.
"What exactly am I looking at?" Rae crouched down and played the beam of light over Walter's gloved hand as he pointed with what looked suspiciously like a chopstick towards a section of bone.
"This is the Calcaneus which is a Metatarsal, or sole bone. It is the one which is furthest away from the toes." Walter stopped talking and looked up to see Rae listening intently to every word he said.
"Ok, so you have a foot, the only reason I would be … oh my." Rae looked up, she suddenly knew why Amanda had called her, and she saw her friend nodding her head. "But this isn't a body, it's a set of bones, how can you tell that this is our Red Rose Killer? There isn't any way of telling that she was stabbed, or tortured is there?"
"Well sometimes there is, especially if the first thrust is made with such force as to break the tip of the blade off and leave it resting in a groove in the bone." Walter shook his head as he spoke, Amanda had been telling him a little of the case that she feared this body related to, and the unnecessary violence and suffering that had been caused shocked him.
"So we have victim number four, who was probably victim number one in the timeline, and no idea who she is. Great." Rae tried to stifle a yawn but wasn't very successful.
"I'm going to work here for a little longer, Detective Monroe who is the Detective in charge is over there if you would like to go and find out what information she has, as soon as I'm ready to move the body I'll let you know."
"Thank you, Doctor, I'll do just that, and sooner or later I'm gonna have to call our acting captain." Rae smiled at him once more, and then as she realised that there would be no more sleep for her tonight Rae made her way further into the trees where she could see a very wet and despondent young woman.
ooo
Jo had taken a long time to calm down, but Steve had let her take it at her own pace. She cried in his arms, her body shaking, and her tears wetting his skin and running down his chest. Gradually though she had looked up and smiled a half-hearted smile. "Thank you, Darlin', I'm so sorry that I disturbed you."
"Honey, any time, if you are having trouble sleeping, or if your dreams are upsetting you, disturb me all you want. I'm just sorry that you're having nightmares again." Steve nuzzled his face into her hair, the smell and silkiness of it easing his own pounding heart. "We've had a traumatic evening one way and another, I guess I should have realised that you might have a disturbed night and come to bed when you did."
His words brought back the terrible news she had found out that evening and she began to speak again. "Oh, Steve, that poor chil', however is she gonna survive in this world without being able to hear anythin'?" The tears were back and flooded her eyes, the discussion over dinner had been upsetting for all of them, and as she snuggled closer to her husband's body she relived the conversation.
The table in the morning room had been set, immaculately as usual, and Steve, working the more regular hours of a police captain had arrived home with plenty of time to spare. Jo had been cataloguing a small box, from her home in Texas, in the library when he arrived, and she hadn't heard him until he had crept right up behind her.
"Good evening, Madam, I understand dinner will be served in thirty minutes." She had let out a little scream and jumped out of her skin.
"Oh, I just hate it when you do that … don't do that!" Jo had swung round in the dark brown leather reading chair and leapt to her feet.
"I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist. What are you doing in here anyway? I thought this was just for visitors you don't like!" Steve finished his question with a long lingering kiss, and by the time they separated Jo had totally forgotten what he had asked her.
"I … I … what?" She had slotted her arms underneath his and then clasped her hands behind his back, revelling in the feeling of his muscular chest beneath her cheek and the steady rhythmic beating of his heart.
"Why are you in the library?"
"Oh, because the box I am lookin' at is full of books. I figured that I might as well catalogue them an' then put them straight onto the shelves."
"Find anything interesting yet?" Steve had moved closer to the desk that his wife had been working at and picked up the first book he came to. "'Austin, a History' Oh, fascinating, remind me it's here when I have insomnia next."
"Darlin', I'm sure I can find somethin' far more excitin' an' tirin' if you are havin' trouble sleepin'!" She had kissed him once more and then picked up the four books from her workstation and slotted them into a half empty shelf. "There, now I am all finished for the day, an' I can spend a nice relaxin' evenin' with my man."
"Where, who, did someone come in?" She had rewarded his sarcasm by sticking out her tongue, and then together they had gone into the living room where Daniel was sitting reading a rather battered copy of The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane.
"Hi, Honey, how's the readin' comin' along?" Jo had moved across and sat next to her son. "Daniel, you were on page fifty-six when I was in here last, an' now you are only on page fifty-eight, that's not a great deal of readin' now is it?"
"But, Mom!" Daniel had wailed and both Jo and Steve had laughed.
"Son, I read this book at school, I'm betting Grandpa did too, so if I were you I would just get through it, you might even find that you enjoy it?" Steve had sat down as well and he scanned the page that Daniel was on.
"And you did you like it? Or did Grandpa Mark have to watch over you and each page you read too?"
"I think we can let the boy off for a little while, at least until after dinner." Steve had stood up again, hoping to avoid the question.
"See, Dad didn't like it, did you finish it?"
Steve had been saved from answering by a knock on the door and Jo had seen him breathe a sigh of relief.
"Madam, Sir, Master Daniel, dinner is served."
Jo had been smiling, and Steve, not wanting to interrupt the happier thoughts she was obviously having had just held her close and enjoyed the feel of her next to him. Finally though, she had looked up and the sadness was still obvious in her eyes.
"You didn't answer my question, how is Anneya gonna survive in a world where any disability is indiscriminately discriminated against?"
"Honey, I don't know, but she has everyone that you do behind her, how can she fail?"
Jo knew that she couldn't argue against his logic, already she had seen that her pregnancy was a source of joy to so many people, and all of them had, either immediately they heard, or privately later, offered their support in any way it was needed.
"Come on, you can go to sleep right here, let's just move under the covers a little more, I like it when you are so close to me."
"Mmm, that sounds nice." The room descended back into silence and Jo made herself a little more comfortable on her husband's broad, firm chest. Once she had done so though, her mind began to return to scene at the dinner table earlier in the evening.
"Honey, do you know how Rae an' Anneya got on this mornin'? I called her a coupla times, but I guess she was either still at the hospital, or that new captain of hers was workin' her mighty hard." Jo had smiled as she spoke, not realising how her world was going to crash any second.
"Yeah, I know. Guys, Michael!" Steve had called out the name of the butler, and as Jo had known he would he was almost instantly at his employer's side.
"Yes, Sir, was there something that you required?"
"No, no, I have … information that I need to tell all of you."
Jo had known then that whatever tests the little girl had been having hadn't gone well, and she found she was holding her breath as her husband began to speak, but it had been worse, far worse, that she could have imagined.
"I can't remember the name of the test that Anneya had, but the results came back real quick. Honey, she's Deaf, profoundly Deaf."
Jo tried to rub the tears away from her face before Steve realised that she was crying. There was no movement from him so she knew she had succeeded. There was nothing that she could do tonight, maybe nothing she could do for a while, but Jo was absolutely certain that sooner or later there would be things that could be done for that sweet child, and she would make sure that they happened.