Chapter 10

 

The hospital where the children were was warm. There were pictures on the wall that were bright and happy. Lucas wasn’t paying much attention to the things—he was more concerned about seeing the kids. Micky was holding his hand so tightly that he was sure that she was going through the same anxiety he was.

Lucas smiled at the woman at the big desk in the center of the room. “We’re the Mannings. I think my brother made arrangements for us to come and see the orphans that were just brought in.” The nurse, Wanda her badge said, smiled at them with a big toothy grin. “They’re all right, aren’t they?”

“Right as rain. We were just trying to get the little girl to eat something. She’s still having a difficult time of it. The baby, another little girl, is too young to remember much about her home life and ate well.” Wanda led them to the back end of the hallway. “They’ve both had baths—you’d not believe the number of bruises and hurts we had to take care of. They had nothing with them when they arrived here for a checkup. Amber, the oldest, she’s got a ragged teddy bear that smells like she might have picked it up at the dump. But she won’t let go of it.”

“How much do they know about their parents?” Micky watched the children that were playing in a large area as she asked questions. Lucas could tell right away which one Amber was. She was sitting in the corner as far away from the other children as she could get. He asked to go into the room.

“Don’t be surprised if she screams at you to go away. She’s not been sexually abused, thank the good Lord, but she’s been abused all the same.” He nodded and was let in the room with her. Micky was right behind him. He sat down on the floor in front of Amber and she looked at him, then away.

“My name is Lucas Manning. My wife is Micky. We’ve come to talk to you.” Amber asked where Mary Anne was. “Your sister? She’s being cared for in another part of the hospital.”

“I have to watch her.” Lucas said that he knew that she was doing a good job too. “Those people that came to get us, they took my sister away and wouldn’t let me see her. I have to watch over her.”

“All right. How about I have them bring Mary Anne here so that you can be with her? Would you like that?” She eyed him carefully and he felt his dragon curl around him. He wanted to protect her too. “If you’d talk to my wife for a few moments, I’ll see what I can do.”

It took him the better part of an hour to get the baby brought to them. There was red tape out the ass, and he hated every second of it. But every time he looked, Amber and Micky seemed to be getting along well. When he was taken to the nursery and the baby put into a cart-like bassinet, he took her to the little room that Amber had been brought to.

As soon as Amber was able to hold the baby, she seemed to light up. The baby too. They had missed each other, and he was glad that he could give them this little bit of comfort. While Amber talked softly to her sister, he reached out to Micky and asked her what she thought.

They’re both going to need someone to talk to. Maybe not the infant, but for sure, Amber. She’s the one that found her parents. Amber told me that she was glad they were gone, that they’d hurt her all the time. He had already figured that out when he’d read over the report while waiting on the okay to get Mary Anne. Do you think we can take them home today? I so want to get them out of here. This is no place for a child that is hurting as she seems to be.

I agree, honey. I think I can pull a few strings to see if we can do that. According to the doctor that treated them, they’re both in good health, but Amber is underweight for her age.

Micky said that they’d get her fattened up. Lucas laughed. I guess that is the wrong thing to say to a dragon.

It’s fine—funny though.

He stood up and told them all that he’d be back. As soon as he could find their doctor, he was going to take his children home with him. At least he hoped so. If not, he’d sic one of the women of his family on him.

He made his way to the front desk. “I’m looking for Doctor Fleming.”

“She’s just come on duty, Lord Manning.” He nodded. Lucas wondered when the village as a whole would start to call them mister, or even by their first names. Sitting in one of the soft chairs, he waited for the doctor. “I let her know that you are here and told her that you’re here for the children. To have them go to such a good home, I’m so happy for them.”

“Thank you very much. I only hope that everyone sees this as a good move for them.” He really wasn’t worried about them having a background check. They both had their own money, jobs that they were proud of, as well as a family dynamic that was strong and tight.

He felt so embarrassed when he met with the doctor. He’d been dozing in the chair, it had been that comfortable. After telling her what they wanted to do, Lucas followed her to her office.

“I’m going to be honest with you, Lord Manning, I’d love nothing more than to turn them over to you. But there is a holdup on this. It’s your wife’s family, and the trouble that they have been in lately.” He assured her that they’d never be around the children, as they were set for prison. “Be that as it may, we still have to consider that. I’ve sent through the application already. Lady Carson called here and told me that you’d be in to take them. She’s somewhat scary, isn’t she?”

“Yes. But loveable. They have their own children from someone that passed away. The mother had cancer throughout her body and had called Cooper when she needed someone to take over raising her sons.” She said that she remembered that. “If you don’t mind me asking, what will it take to see to it that they come home with us?”

“I’ve already filled out the paperwork for the adoption and asked that you and your wife be foster parents for the two of them. It’s the best I can do under the circumstances.”

He would take whatever he could get at this point. Lucas knew that they’d have to have a good showing to make this work. He only hoped that Micky’s mother and sister made it to prison, and for a very long time.

Lucas looked up when Doctor Fleming’s phone rang at her desk at the same time his own cell phone went off. Standing up and moving to the other side of the room, he answered his cell. It was Winnie, and she was laughing when he answered. Saying her name, he wasn’t surprised when she told him to fuck off and to wait. Such a charmer his sister-in-law was.

“Okay. I’ve pulled some strings, made a few people see reason. I’m pretty good at being nice. But don’t think that it’s going to happen again.” He told her he wouldn’t and what was she talking about. “Your doc is getting a call from some important people. They just love you Mannings and what you’ve done for the community. That the children couldn’t be with better people if she were to put out a list of the perfect parents.”

“I don’t know what to say. You’ve done something extremely nice for Micky and me. I can’t—I have no idea how I can ever repay you for this.” She told him not to stress over it, that she’d enjoyed it. “Thank you again, Winnie. If you ever need anything, and I do mean anything, you’ll have it.”

“I have all I ever needed in the form of your brother. He makes me happy and satisfied with life.” Winnie cleared her throat before continuing. “Hudson and I, we’re thinking of doing what you guys are doing. Taking children not just to our home, but our hearts too. Okay, enough mushy stuff. I’ll talk to you later.”

When she closed the connection to their call, Lucas stood where he was and thought about Winnie and what she’d done for them. He swore he’d find a way to repay her for this, even if he had to kill someone for her. Why she’d need him to do something that she was better at than anyone else, he had no idea, but he’d do it. Laughing a little, he noticed that Doctor Fleming was finished with her call as well.

“I’ve just had a call from the mayor. He had company at his house and heard that you and Lady Manning were wanting to take the children home with you. His company was the governor. He, too, gave the two of you glowing recommendations. And they told me to put the paperwork through to them and they’d sign off on the adoption. You have some pretty powerful friends, Lord Manning.” He told her that he did but hadn’t expected that. “No, he said that you wouldn’t. Told me that if they had any children that were misplaced in their homelife, to call your family to see if you could take them as well. I don’t think you’ll have any issues going forward, and you can take them home with you.”

“Thank you so much.” She told him that Amber would have to see someone that could help her. “Yes, my wife and I were discussing that very thing. Thank you, Doctor Fleming. And if you need something that we can get for your hospital, then you’ve only to call.”

“Thank you. I will hold you to that. We’re a small hospital here and getting the things that we need to keep people healthy and happy—we could use some equipment.” He told her to give him a list and his family would work on it. “Thank you so much. You have no idea how much we need any one of the things I’ll give you on this list. Thank your family for me as well.”

Lucas was nearly giddy when he made his way back to the pediatric area. As he walked along the halls, he could see what the doctor was talking about. Some of the walls had water damage. The floors had missing or broken tiles. Even the desk that he was at had a computer that looked like it was new in the eighties. As soon as they got home and settled, he was going to call a family meeting and see what they could do about this.

We get to take them home with us. And the adoption is in the bag as well. Winnie helped with it, and if you don’t mind, I don’t want to ask her about it.

Micky told Amber where they were going. Micky was holding Mary Anne, but Amber was keeping a watchful eye on her.

Lucas stooped down in front of Amber. “There are all kinds of people you get to meet. I have five brothers and three sisters-in-law. They are all excited to meet you two.”

“I don’t want to go.” He had anticipated this. The child was terrified out of her mind and would balk at being taken away from the hospital. Especially since it more than likely had been the only safe place they’d ever been. “You aren’t going to make me either.”

Before he could speak, Micky did. “All right. You don’t have to go. But since Mary Anne is an infant and not able to make her own decisions, I’m making them for her. She can’t stay here. And when they think that you’re ready to be released, you’ll go to a family that could be as bad as the one you lived with. You should also be aware that you might be separated from each other forever. Your adoption might take you far away, and you’d not be able to see her every day. Like you can at our house.”

Amber fought tears, but she couldn’t hold them back any longer. He was handed Mary Anne and Micky reached for Amber. It was a struggle at first, both of them fighting to get what they wanted. But in the end, Amber let Micky hold her while she sobbed. It broke his heart to hear her crying like that, and it made his dragon roar inside of him with the need to protect her.

In the end, they were able to take both of the little girls home. The car seat for Amber was like a booster type of seat, while the one for Mary Anne was facing backward, and she fit perfectly in it. They were given a list of things that the baby would need, as well as the type of formula that they had been feeding her. Amber was quiet all the way to the car. Lucas had to stand outside his car for a few moments. He was a father.

“You all right?” Nodding at Micky, he noticed that she hadn’t gotten into the car either. “I’m not. I’m a mom, and I haven’t the slightest idea how to go about that.”

“That’s pretty much what I was thinking. I hope we don’t mess them up.” Micky said she thought they’d be fine at this. “Really? Because all I can think about right now is I’m a dad. You’re a mom.”

“We’ll be fine. I’m sure of it. And we have Hail and Tucker to keep us straight on all this, right?” Lucas was basing his ability to raise two children on faeries that were smaller than his hand. “Come on, Dad, let’s get the kids home. I, for one, am excited for this new venture.”

He was too, but that didn’t make him any less terrified. While they were driving home, he tried to engage Amber in conversation, but she just answered him in single words. He knew it would get better, but right now he felt as if he had failed her in some way. Lucas knew that he’d not, but it was the unknown that was making him feel this way.

~*~

Me-Me couldn’t get her mom to answer her. She’d been lying on her bed since she’d spoken to her attorney yesterday. Me-Me had no idea what had happened in there, but she was going to make someone pay for her mother acting this way. Surely, she hadn’t confessed to everything like she said she had. Mom would be in prison for sure if they only knew a part of what she’d done and done with Me-Me as well.

When their lunch was brought in, her mom got up and stared at it for several seconds before she laid back down. Even with Me-Me shouting at her to answer her, she didn’t even look her way. This was bad. Whatever was going on, it was making her nervous. Me-Me began to wonder what kind of confessions her mother had made. Did she tell on her? Were the attorneys for the other side calculating how much time she was going to spend in prison with her mom? Me-Me wouldn’t let herself believe that her mother had sold her up the river.

Giving up on getting her mom to talk to her, she watched her as her mind was working on how to get out. This place followed rules that she’d never heard of. Me-Me was sure that they were making some of them up. Like not being allowed to go outside for a little while. They had to change their own sheets and return them to the guard that stood there. And the shower.

She’d been mortified when she was stripped of her clothing and shoved into a shower stall. There wasn’t a curtain that she could close for privacy; the female guard that had brought her there stood right outside the stall and watched her every move. Me-Me wondered if they thought that she could travel very far with chains on her ankles. And no amount of begging could get her anything to wear that several hundred people had not worn before her.

After being given a towel that was thinner than the toilet paper, she was handed a clean but still orange one piece to put on. She’d given up on asking for something better. Not that she thought she was superior than anyone else—she knew she was, really—but it was terrible for her complexion. Of course, Me-Me hadn’t been visited by anyone since her sister had come by to tell them about Bethany.

She missed her sister. Bethany hadn’t been as adventurous as she’d been. Me-Me would have to bully or even beat her into submission to go along with whatever Me-Me found to be daring. That was what life was about, trying it all and going to your grave as an old yet satisfied person.

But life hadn’t been satisfying for her. Me-Me had two children, and didn’t want them around, except when she wanted to show off. Only the two children, but she had made up for her lack of more children when it came to husbands. Or in her case, ex-husbands. She had seven so far. Me-Me wondered if, when she got out of here, there would be a sucker out there that could give her what she wanted. And Me-Me wanted it all.

At about one, they came and picked up the trays and commented on her mom’s. She heard her tell the guard that she wasn’t hungry, and the guard left them. But another guard came back as soon as the trays were gone to tell Me-Me that she had a visitor. Her attorney.

Yesterday she’d tried to talk him into having sex with her for payment in getting her out of here. He’d declined so loudly that the guards had come in to see what was the matter. Mr. Daily didn’t tell them what had happened, but he did warn her to behave herself or he’d quit her. Like she was paying him or something, and he was going to quit a job that he’d been assigned.

Mr. Daily was sitting in the chair that he’d been in the other day, with another man sitting next to him. This man was dressed in an expensive suit, his tie matching his shirt like he’d ordered it that way. Me-Me smiled at them both as she was sat down and chained to the table.

“I hope you have good news today. I really want to get out of here as soon as possible. My sister died recently, and I need to make sure that the arrangements for her have been met.” It was a lie. She knew that if Micky was in charge, it would have been done perfectly. But it pissed her off that Micky had done it without consulting her. The second man pulled out a file from his briefcase. “What’s the deal with you both being here? Are you really quitting me like you threatened the other day?”

“No, I’m here to advise you on things. Not that I think you’ll listen—you haven’t so far. But this is Attorney General Marcus Turner. He’s here to ask you a few questions.” Me-Me told him that was all right. “You do understand that you cannot lie to him concerning this? You have to tell him the truth about everything that he asks you.”

“I understand that you’re talking too much and not saying what I want you to say. When am I getting out? You have avoided that question for long enough. Mom might have confessed to a lot of shit, but I had nothing to do with any of it.” The Turner man cleared his throat and asked if she was ready. “Sure, go for it.”

“The first thing I’d like to tell you is that this entire interview is being recorded. Both with sound and video. Do you understand that?” Me-Me nodded. “I need a verbal answer, Ms. Patterson, on this and all questions.”

“Yes, I understand. Get on with it already. I want to go home. I have to see my sister.” He asked her if this was Micky Manning. “I guess it’s her. I know she got married recently, which will never last, but I didn’t catch her last name.”

He pulled out a single sheet of paper. Me-Me couldn’t read it upside down like it was, but she could make out that it was a numbered list. It was a long one too. Whatever it said, she knew it wasn’t going to go good for her.

“Your mother, Mariam Mantle, has signed a written confession about all the crimes that she has committed. At her trial, the list she gave us will be read to the judge by me, and he’ll decide what happens to her as for sentencing. I believe that she will be put away for a very long time.” Me-Me was all right with that, so long as it didn’t affect her getting out of there. “She named you as an accomplice to a great many of these crimes. She even gave us enough details that we were—”

“Just hold on a fucking minute. What do you mean, she told you that I helped her kill people? I didn’t. Whatever she said, it’s nothing to do with me.” He told her that he’d not mentioned any murders. Me-Me was suddenly seeing the big picture here. “She didn’t have my permission to name me in anything that I didn’t do with her.”

“She didn’t need it. She confessed to a great many things, including murder, and she told us that you were involved in nearly all of it.” Me-Me looked at her attorney. She thought for sure he should be doing something right now. “We have enough information to go to the places that you buried your victims. They are being exhumed as we speak. So far, on two of the deaths that she told us you were helping her in, we found enough DNA and fingerprints on the murder weapons to know that you were there.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Maybe she put it there to get me into trouble.” She laughed, and even to her ears, it sounded manic. “Can you believe this shit? A mother pinning things on her own child? I’m appalled at this. I would like to go back to my cell, so I can ask her about it.”

“Your mother was taken to the courthouse to hear her judgment. Since she confessed to it all, there will not be any need for a trial. We’ve worked to make it so that she is going to prison today, if we can manage it. But we’re here about you and what you’ve done. I’d like you to go over the list that your mother gave us, and tell us your involvement in each one you’re named in.”

The list, even turned around, was difficult to read. She was angry. Her head was in pain from this. Then she was able to make out the first incident, when she’d been just eighteen. It mentioned how she and her mother rolled an elderly man for enough cash for them to celebrate her getting out of school. The man died later as a result of what they’d done to him.

Me-Me read each one, denying any involvement in any of it. When she was finished, Me-Me was wondering what they’d do now when her attorney stood up. The other man, Turner, did as well, and told her guy that he’d step out for a moment.

Her attorney sat down and didn’t say anything for a long while. It made her nervous again, and she lashed out at him to tell him to say something. When he laughed a little, Me-Me wondered if this entire thing was a joke. But then he spoke to her.

“You will be put to death for your crimes. I’m sure that once you are before a jury, they’ll see you as you are—a woman who did anything to get whatever she wanted. And not only that, but Ms. Mantle has implicated you in just about everything that she was found guilty of.” Me-Me didn’t know what to say. She felt as if she was underwater with no way to get up to where the air was. “If I were you, I’d plead guilty to all of it. Even if you don’t remember any of the things that are on that list, they’re going to blame you for it. But even by pleading guilty, Ms. Patterson, I don’t know if it will save you from being executed.”

“This isn’t right. You know that, don’t you? I shouldn’t be in here. I don’t want to be in here. Don’t you see? My sister is gone, and now this.” He said that this was there long before her sister had died. “Micky did this, didn’t she? She made Mother confess to all kinds of shit so that we’d be out of her life. I’m going to make her pay as soon as I get out of here.”

“You’re not getting out. Going to trial or not is going to be the difference in how you get to spend the rest of your life—either living in prison or ending it very soon. I would suggest you plead guilty to make it look like you’re somewhat be repentant for what you’ve done.” She told him she wasn’t going to do that. “Then may God have mercy on your soul. You are signing your own death warrant.”

Me-Me didn’t see when the Turner guy came back in the room with them. All she could think about was that her mother had sold her up the river without a paddle. And if she did confess, like they wanted her to do, she’d never be able to show her face in the country club again. Me-Me decided that she was going to be on her best behavior while she was in prison so that she could get out early. That way, she could take care of Micky when she got out. Me-Me looked at her attorney.

“Yes, I’ll confess. I’ll do it so that I can get out someday. And I will.”

Neither of them said anything but handed her the paper again. Signing her name across the bottom, she was helped up and led back to her cell. Her mother was gone. The cell was like hers had been when she’d first gotten here—the mattress folded over and no sheets on it.

Sitting on her bed, she thought about what she’d just done—signed a part of her life away. When she made her way to the courtroom, whenever that was, she was going to put her best foot forward. That way, they’d lessen the sentence. Me-Me had no idea if that would work or not, but she was going to do it. Even if it killed her.