Epilogue
San Francisco
May 14
Cissy opened her eyes and fought the headache that had been with her since the night at the Amhurst mansion, the night she nearly died. Had it not been for Paterno and the EMTs, she probably wouldn’t have made it. Nor would her husband or child.
As it was, they were safe.
She rolled slowly out of bed and stretched, feeling pain in her back. It might be with her the rest of her life; then again, she was making a “remarkable” recovery.
Slipping out of the covers, she hobbled into the baby’s room. No longer on crutches or a cane, she fought the pain and was able to walk on her own.
“Hey there, big guy,” she said as she found her son standing in his crib.
“Big guy!” B.J. said, raising his little arms to be picked up.
With difficulty she lifted B.J. into her arms and kissed his head. Oh God, she loved this child, and to think that she’d almost lost him. In the aftermath of the battle with Diedre, the police had found B.J. safe, if frightened out of his little mind. Between Jannelle, Deborah, and Rosa, the baby had been cared for and brought to the hospital daily while Cissy recovered.
“Let’s go wake up Dad,” she said.
“Dad-dee wake!”
“Not yet, but he will be.” She let B.J. down to do the honors and watched as he ran into the other room. Coco, who had been curled in her bed in the corner, stretched and followed after him.
Life was nearly normal.
Nearly.
There were still reminders—issues to be discussed, decisions to be made. Jonathan had been laid to rest and Diedre allowed to die when they’d finally pulled the plug.
Cissy shuddered when she remembered the horror of meeting her half-sister. If it hadn’t been for Jack, she would have been pushed over the railing and surely dead. As it was, he’d caught her on the third step, just as the police arrived. The police had swarmed through the building, but she remembered little of it, only pieces of the ambulance ride to the hospital as she was in and out of consciousness, all the while wondering about her baby, her husband. Later, in the hospital, she’d learned that Jack would survive, no serious complications from a clean wound that had just nicked his spleen.
Anthony Paterno had found the baby locked in the basement, terrified but unharmed. Time would tell if there would be emotional scarring for Beej as well as the rest of them, but apart from a little extra neediness, he seemed pretty resilient. Cissy refused to worry about that now. What good would it do? She just wanted to hold tight to her husband and her baby boy. Nor would she allow herself to dwell on Jack’s father’s part in the horrible scheme to kill them all. Or how, when it came time to pull the plug on Diedre, the only family she had, Diedre’s adoptive, widowed aunt had agreed to take her off life support.
For now, she would push all those dark thoughts aside. It was over. She, Jack, Beej, and even Coco were happy. Gran’s miserable little dog had won them all over and burrowed into their hearts.
Cissy peeked into the master bedroom where Jack was playing peek-a-boo with Beej, much to the boy’s delight. Each time Jack ducked his head under the blankets, Beej squealed with delight and said, “No, Dad-dee! Don’t hide!”
“Good morning,” he said, smiling up at her from the rumpled bed. “Is it my imagination, or were you a wild woman last night?”
Cissy smiled. “You mean apart from the ‘Ouch, my back’ fifty times?”
“Love talk.”
She laughed. “I have a surprise for you. Happy Valentine’s Day,” she said, throwing open the blinds and letting the spring sunshine stream into the room.
“What? Am I in a time warp? Isn’t it May?”
“But we didn’t get to celebrate, so I bought you a very special and sexy gift.”
“And you’re giving it to me in front of our son.”
She walked to the closet and pulled out a paper shredder. On its top she’d pasted a red bow with a purple heart tied to it.
Jack frowned. “Okay, I give. Have you gone out of your mind? I hear it runs in the family.”
“Not funny, Jack,” she said, but smiled as she plugged in the machine, turned it on, and first shredded the heart, then the ribbon.
He looked totally confused.
Then she pulled the unsigned divorce papers from the nightstand and slowly, page by page, shredded the entire document.
“Like I said before, Happy Valentine’s Day!” Laughing, she grabbed the basket of diamond-cut paper and tossed the shreds into the air like confetti.
Jack took her hand. “How about I give you a Valentine’s present too?” One of his eyebrows arched devilishly, and she shook her head.
“I have a feeling your present might not be appropriate in front of our child.”
He grinned and glanced at his watch. “Point taken. Just when is nap time for the little guy?”
And they both laughed.