Moving Targets
Mick and Nuala always seemed to turn up when it was time to go to the barn, whether Bill was feeding the cats or I was doing llama-duty, it didn't seem to matter. We invariably had small, chattering Irish shadows stapled to our heels. So Mick and Nuala and I fed and bedded the stock while they nattered on about their school - Ryan had enrolled them in St. Michael's Catholic preschool and Jade had told me what an experience that had been - and then Nuala had spotted an errant peahen headed for the front yard and she had to grab Mick and follow the bird.
I watched them run out of sight round the corner of the house and thought nothing of it. We were on umpty-acres, those acres were full of state of the art security devices and other equipment that I was simply unable to imagine, it never occurred to me to think that someone intent on mischief would merely tool down the long drive, let alone that they would get away with it.
I heard a childish scream. This was not the excited, playful variety common to a happy child. It was stark terror, and it was brutally choked off. I took off like a rocket.
The first thing I saw was Cole, looking casual in a white cotton shirt and black slacks. The second thing I saw was what he carried - Mick under one arm and Nuala under the other, with a big hand clamped across the small mouths.
I had no idea who was in the house when I screamed across the yard after him. My only concern was in catching up with Cole before he could do the unthinkable. I started yelling for the world and, by God, the world came. By the time I had managed, with an almost superhuman burst of speed, to catch up with Cole and hit him across the knees with a flying tackle, Elmore was tumbling out the front door, struggling to get into his shirt. Sam was right behind him, barefoot and bare-chested.
I clawed desperately at the only thing I thought might hurt the big ape and I managed to grab hold of him and yank. He grunted, tried to twist away from me. It worked. I hadn't had a good grip on him in the first place and he tossed me aside. I hit the ground and bit my tongue, hard enough to bleed, but I grabbed onto the first thing I saw. That was Nuala's leg. I held on for dear life.
Distantly I heard the tinkling of glass and a deep voice, roaring in Irish. Ryan had decided that the shortest distance between himself and Cole was to go through the window. He was bleeding from dozens of small cuts, but he didn't seem to notice. His big hands clenched and relaxed as he approached, raving and swearing. eyes locked on Cole.
Quite suddenly Nuala was released, thrown into my belly. I managed to catch her and preserve my tongue at the same time. Jade had appeared out of what seemed like thin air and she caught Mick to her chest. Cole swung into his car, lithe and dangerous looking even in retreat. Ryan reached for him but just missed grabbing the man's elbow. Cole put the Lincoln into gear and gunned it, swinging through a tight arc across Bill's immaculate front lawn. Ryan threw himself across the trunk lid of the car, scrambling for a handhold. As Cole accelerated, Ryan lost his tenuous grip and slipped to the ground. Jade and I bent over the babies, shielding them from flying gravel and dirt, as Ryan attempted to chase the car down on foot. Jade took off after him.
Jade: Ryan! You won't catch him, stop!
He stopped, stood stone still. Vibrating.
Jade: Ryan.
His hands were flexing, and he was speaking in brutal, angry tones, in Irish Gaelic. The children seemed to know what he was saying and huddled closer to me.
Deb: Jade, he's scaring them…
Jade: Ryan, shut up. Please.
Ryan closed his mouth, eyes finally moving towards the children. When he saw their fear, his face softened and he dropped to one knee. They moved to him, hesitantly at first, but when he smiled they ran to him. He hugged them close, big hands resting on their heads. When he looked up again, his face was murderous.
Ryan: I'll have that man.
The youngsters were not happy campers on the ride to North Carolina. We had decided to drive, Cole notwithstanding, because the idea of asking them to cope with strangers on an airplane seemed cruel.
What they wanted near them were men. Men had saved them… Uncle Ryan, who was authority, Uncle Elmore, who represented fun… even Mr. Sam had been on his way to their rescue. And they understood that Mr. Bill would have come to their aid had he been at home. Jade and I had sheltered them and so we were a good second line of defense, but men had protected them and it was men that they saw as their ultimate safety. They had also become clingy, nervous, teary children. This tendency in Mick was especially upsetting as he had begun to sport a comical miniaturized version of Bill’s swagger. Dr. Jake was the only place to take them.
Dr. Jake: What’s this?
He removed his glasses, dropped them on his desk and rubbed his eyes.
Deb: Jade Riordan, Dr. Jacob T. Beerlander—
Dr. Jake: Thank you.
Deb: For what?
Dr. Jake: For not mispronouncing my name.
Deb: have I ever done that?
Dr. Jake: No, but everyone else does, so why wouldn’t’ you start?
Deb: Paranoia will destroy ya, Dr. Jake.
He drummed his long fingers against the top of the desk.
Deb: This is Jade’s niece and nephew, Dr. Jake. They’ve had a big scare.
Nuala, who was getting to be an armload, huddled against my neck. Mick grabbed Jade’s leg.
Dr. Jake: Why did you bring them to me? It’s not going to be another one like the last one, is it?
Deb: Bill told us to bring them and not to worry about money. Actually, they’re Ryan Gaerity’s niece and nephew and Jade is Ryan’s…
I hesitated, turned to Jade.
Jade: Companion. For life.
Wife? Not on a bet. But would she ever leave him? Again, not on a bet.
Deb: And Ryan and Bill work very closely. Bill doesn’t want Ryan preoccupied with this. He said to take them to the best there is, so here we are.
I avoided looking at Jade, who would only call me a suck-up. Actually, she would call me a suck-up at our hotel, but I could avoid the cheesy grin.
Dr. Jake rose slowly to his feet and came around his desk.
Dr. Jake: Spare no expense?
Deb: Nope.
Dr. Jake: Best there is?
Deb: Jacob T. Burlington, that’s you.
Dr. Jake: Beerlander…
Deb and Jake: Jacob T. Beerlander.
Dr. Jake: I oughta throw the both of you out of here.
Jade: Normal is awesome, Dr. Jake. The way these two are acting right now is neither.
Dr. Jake reached out and touched Nuala’s hair with a gentle hand. She relaxed visibly. Dr. Jake held out his arms experimentally and she nearly fell out of mine trying to get to him.
Dr. Jake: Why don’t we send these two into the playroom next door and you tell me what you’re concerned about.
There was instant fear, absolute and complete. It was another thing--they refused to be left alone even for a minute. The only reason Ryan and Jade had been able to maintain anything approaching a normal private life was because Elmore took them once in a while. To look into his room on those mornings was to find him on his back with two heads pressed tightly against him, one on either side.
Dr. Jake: See… nobody can get in. The door locks and I’m the only one who can get inside, me or someone I trust. It’s okay…
He dropped to a crouch, putting that big body on a level with Mick and Nuala. The children regarded him gravely, then stepped through to the playroom. The door clicked shut behind them and Jade and I both sagged in relief.
Deb: We could have tried for half an hour and they would have gone into hysterics first.
Jade: They won’t go to preschool, won’t play outside, won’t sleep alone, won’t let an adult, preferably a male, out of their sight. This isn’t like them.
Dr. Jake dragged out two straight chairs.
Dr. Jake: So. Tell me why.
The telling of the story of the original trauma took no more than ten or fifteen minutes, even to describe in detail.
Dr. Jake: George Cole? No wonder they’re frightened.
Deb: You know about him?
Dr. Jake: I know Ryan Gaerity. I’ve heard of George Cole.
Jade: Just how do you know Ryan?
I leaned forward. It was a question I’d wanted the answer to a number of times.
Dr. Jake: He brought a child to me… Elizabeth Dove. She’d been orphaned and he claimed he’d been asked by the family to find someone to help her work through her grief. She was here about two weeks and he went her back to Boston. Tragic case… mother and stepfather killed in separate accidents on the Fourth of July… what was it… 1994?
Jade: Something like that. Was she okay, the child?
Dr. Jake: Needless to say, very upset. But Ryan had done a lot for her in the interim and it helped her to cope.
Jade and I stared at one another. It would be just like Ryan to be kind to the child after he had neutralized the parents. I was full of questions about that, anyway, but would need to file them away. This wasn’t the place for them.
Dr. Jake sat back, thoughtful and distant.
Jade: These children were sent to us from Northern Ireland.
Were there ways to make this worse? We had them.
Dr. Jake raised his eyes to Jade.
Dr. Jake: And?
Jade: Their parents are Catholic, devout, so I’m told. The mother is dying. She got pregnant at about the same time as a cancer was diagnosed. They might have been able to save her with the proper treatment.
Dr. Jake: Which, I’m assuming, included a therapeutic abortion.
Jade: Yes. And her parish priest is of the old school. He convinced her to wait to begin treatment until after her babies were born. Instead of a cure they’ve been buying her time. She’s just about out of that. The father is unemployable, because of his politics, and there are adolescent brothers in the house who make things less than desirable for the children.
Dr. Jake leaned his head against a hand.
Dr. Jake: I’d ask you if you were making this up, but I can see you’re not. So… we’ve got separation anxiety on top of the other safety issues… do they know about their mother?
Jade shook her head. For someone who’d made a life decision not to have children, she had taken it upon herself to learn a lot about Mick and Nuala Gaerity. On the other hand… the twins had instantly taken priority in Ryan’s life and what was priority to Ryan eventually became priority to Jade.
Dr. Jake: How do you plan to explain it to them?
Jade: The father is… not as… strong as Ryan, and the mother doesn’t want the children to know. She would prefer to have them settle into life here and then the question of her be handled when it’s asked. Ryan would rather tell them… in a way that they can handle, of course, and help them through it. But he’s abiding by their parents wishes. Eventually, he tells me, the brother wants him to adopt the two.
At that, Jade looked nervous.
Dr. Jake turned to the one-way glass viewing window and watched Mick and Nuala for a time. Mick had found crayons and was coloring, though his crayon of choice appeared to be black. Nuala had found a cloth doll. She sat, utterly still, and clutched it tightly.
Dr. Jake: I think I can help them.
Treatment was in full swing in North Carolina, but at home, things were dicey.
Bill: When ya comin’ home, baby?
Deb: I don’t know, Bill. Depends on how long it takes.
There was a click.
Ryan: Put Jade on the line, lass.
Bill: In a minute, asshole, in a minute. Hang it up.
Ryan: I’ll be bootin ye square in yer arse, boyo.
Bill: Yeah, yeah.
Another click.
Deb: Are you eating, the four of you?
Bill: Yeah, little mother, we’re eatin’.
Bill sounded tolerantly amused.
Bill: Put Bungholer on the horn for a minute.
Deb: We’re not at the hospital.
Bill: Why’n hell not?
Deb: He said it would be better if Mick and Nuala had to learn to trust the staff. So we drop them off and leave.
Bill: Damn, what’s up with that?
The next was more distant, as though Bill had pulled the receiver away from his lips.
Bill: Will you wait your goddamn turn, fool?
Ryan (very distant): Let me talk to Jade. How are the wee ones?
Bill: Get the goddamn hell outta here.
There were sounds of a minor scuffle.
Deb: Billy, hold on, I’ll get Jade.
Bill: What?
I turned to Jade, holding out the phone. Her face told me she already knew what I was going to say.
Deb: Gaerity. Obstructing normal function until he speaks to you.
Jade took the receiver.
Jade: Hey, amadon… I miss you, too…
Even I could hear the raspberries… plus the blows and grunts of pain.
Jade: … no, they’re fine… Dr. Jake is handling it personally… doing a wonderful job, too… be a little while, we’ve only just been able to get them to sleep by themselves again… what? … Bill’s out of sorts…
Jade winked broadly at me.
Jade: … lonely, you think?
Somebody was being badly beaten. Jade tossed me the phone.
Bill: Goddamn misbegotten… lyin’ sack-o’ potato shit… oh, hey baby.
Bill was panting.
Deb: Maybe you ought to take five there, bad boy.
Bill: Keep talkin shit, you’ll need five. Look, you see Buttburglar there, you have him call me. You hear.
Deb: Yes, Bill.
Bill: Now I gotta go. My night t’open. You be good now, girl.
Deb: Yes, Bill.
I was listening to a dial tone. No ‘I miss you, I love you,’ just continually making sure I could keep on doing what needed to be done.
Jade: What do you think?
Deb: They’re bringing in a lot of pizza. Must feel like old times.
Jade and I did Raleigh until we didn’t want to see another inch of the stately old city. We really only wanted to be at the hospital, but that was verboten. Otherwise there was nothing constructive to do. We saw every movie we could find, we shopped more than was good for us—I got one call from a rather sarcastic Strannix asking if, perhaps, the Titanium Visa had melted yet because all his indicators said the son of a bitch had to be smoking.
Deb: Nope. We’re working on it.
Bill: Give the bastard a rest.
He growled, but he paid the bills.
Ryan flew down to see the children and Jade. He and Jade ran me out of our hotel room for the best part of a day, but when we drove out to the hospital, Dr. Jake forbade Ryan to visit with them.
Ryan: They’re me own niece and nephew.
This became a refrain of the variety that could drive strong men to drink. Dr. Jake stuck to his guns despite Ryan’s superlative looming. If Mick and Nuala got wind of the absolute safety Uncle Ryan embodied, all of their progress would be erased. We wondered what we were to do with Ryan for the night because he was damned if he would leave, just as he was damned if I would stay. Then we discovered Dr. Jake had blandly taken care of it for us. The children went home with his assistant, a marvelous older black lady whom they had especially taken to. It was a treat for them. Making myself scarce was easy, also necessary.
I knew we were making progress the day Mick walked out to the car with a ghost of his old strut.
Jade: What have you done!
Dr. Jake: They’re not out of the woods yet.
Dr. Jake stood by while we loaded the twins in the Expedition. He boosted Nuala into the back seat and reached across to check Mick's seatbelt and scramble his hair. As usual, I was impressed with the gentleness the big man showed with his small charges.
Deb: How much longer?
Dr. Jake: You know I can't predict that, but they've responded well so far. Strannix want you home?
Deb: I guess so. He says he's about to brain Ryan and Sam…
Dr. Jake: They ought to brain him. Might do him some good.
Deb: They'd just hurt their hands. Anyhow, Dr. Jake, he told me to have you send any unpaid balance with me and he'll take care of it when we get home.
Jade had climbed into the passenger seat to examine and exclaim over drawings the two had done. I noticed particularly that Mick's featured many more bright colors and Nuala's was showing more organization than before. They were coming along.
Dr. Jake: I'll remember to speak to billing. Bring them in early tomorrow. We promised them breakfast. Tell Strannix to be patient. This takes time.
Deb: He's trying, but he's not used to fending for himself much anymore.
Dr. Jake: Strannix?
Deb: Strange, isn't it. Mr. Army Cot and Pizza. He won't admit it, though. Ryan will stand up and tell the world he likes his meals on time and his socks washed, but not Bill. Even so…
Dr. Jake grinned.
Dr. Jake: Even so… Even so, these things cannot be rushed.
The phone in the hotel room was ringing insistently when we returned.
Voice: Hey, Flash… how's those kids like Raleigh?
Before I could say a word, I was listening to a dial tone.
Deb: Oh, Jesus, oh, shit…
Jade: What? Who was that?
Deb: Cole. He knows where we are. We have to move.
Jade: I'm calling Ryan.
Deb: Whatever. I'll go check us out.
Ryan and Bill were on two extensions, and when they heard what I was doing, they howled their disapproval.
Bill: Goddamnit, Punk! Use your head. You bolt 'n run now, he'll be all over ya. He's watchin'. He knows where ya are. Ya sit tight 'till mornin and get your asses back here.
Deb: Our stuff…
Bill: Shit.
Ryan: Pack it. The hotel will ship it. Ye take only what ye need, lass, and send the rest.
Jade: But Mick and Nuala, they're not ready.
Bill: Braunschweiger will come t'us, I'll see to it.
It was not a leisurely jaunt home. Jade and I took turns driving, with the other snatching what sleep she could and the children cranky and confused, alternately dozing and fighting in the back seat. We ate from drive-throughs, only stopped when we had to go to the bathroom or the leg cramps were unbearable.
It was a relief when the twins finally conked, somewhere in Indiana, and Jade and I could talk at length.
Jade: My parents don't live far from here.
Deb: Too bad we can't stop in and say hi.
Jade: I'm not. They more or less wrote me off when I went back to Ryan. You guys are all my family now. Tell me, what's up with that guy instead.
I glanced into the back seat. Dr. Jake had been adamant--no mention of Cole. But the twins were deeply asleep.
Deb: I guess there's been bad blood there for years. And me slugging him in the nuts and hiding behind Bill doesn't help. Bill made a monkey out of him and he doesn't seem to like it.
Jade: Bill makes monkeys out of a lot of people. How'd this happen?
I had to tell her the story of the first Elmore's Corner and everything related to it, including my own involvement. I handled it as lightly as I could, but that wasn't very lightly at all, in the end.
Jade: Christ, no wonder.
Deb: I keep telling myself it could have been worse.
Jade: Did you ever… well… call a rape crisis center or a counselor or something?
Deb: I went for a while. But they kept asking me what kind of trouble I was having with the man in my life--I presume they meant what kind of trouble was Bill having with what had happened. They couldn't believe me when I told them how kind he had been, how supportive and understanding, what a master of restraint he had been and how he had soothed my fears of sex completely. They all but called me a liar when I said he had used sex to prove to me how protected and safe I was. I told them the only problem I was having was finding a way to keep Bill from busting into the County Jail and killing the man… and I decided I didn't want to go back.
Jade: But don't you still have trouble?
Deb: Not as much as I would have thought, but I do, especially when I know he's around. I would have gone back for more group sessions, but they had some predisposed notions that weren't true for me. Bill never reacts as expected.
Jade: No shit. I thought he would toss us all out when the twins came.
I rode in silence for a long time.
Deb: It's my fault.
Jade: How in hell?
Deb: They were out with me. I should have never let them out of my sight.
This from a mother who had gone from the frantic washing of a pacifier to a cursory glance for larger crawling things in six short years.
Jade: They were in your yard. They chase those birds all the damn time The only thing I can't figure out is why there's no security gate.
Deb: Bill said he thought it would look funny, a security gate out here. Besides which, he said he thought it might come to one of those days where he'd have to leave and not have time to open the gate.
Both of us could see Bill, tear-assing through a security gate.
Deb: But I feel responsible, just the same.
Jade: Trust me, I don't blame you. And neither does Ryan.
Deb: I appreciate that, Jade, but they were in my care and… oh, hell…
Jade: Oh, hell…