Depart the Darkness Read online

  “That had to be so hard though,” I said, not even wanting to imagine what that must have been like.

  “It was.”

  I slowly got back to loading the dishwasher.

  “I had no idea.”

  “I don’t imagine it was something we talked about in front of you,” Mom said. “The most important thing to remember is that everything turned out completely different than we thought it would, and different than we wanted it to, but everything turned out just right. I wouldn’t go back and have my way, not for anything. At the time, I couldn’t imagine ever feeling like this. But, that’s time and retrospect for you.”

  “You and Dad… you’ve been through so much,” I said, seeing yet another facet to my Mom. “That, and then Doreen being so sick, and Dad losing his job, and our house, and Tryon was just a baby…”

  I stopped and hugged Mom hard.

  “So have you,” Mom replied softly. “I appreciate and admire how you sacrificed, without being asked and without a complaint, and did everything you could to make things easier for the rest of us.”

  “It wasn’t hard, I had a great example,” I answered. Mom sniffed, and rubbed her eyes. I rubbed mine too. “I’ll be happy if I can be even half as good a mom someday.”

  “Thank you,” Mom said, rubbing her eyes again. “And you will.”

  “I hope so,” I said, as worry crept back in.

  “You will,” Mom said with certainty. “You’ll find a way, one way or another. If you didn’t come along and surprise us, your Dad and I intended to become foster parents.”

  “What?” I exclaimed in surprise, letting go of Mom so I could give her a startled look.

  “We were in the middle of completing the training required for certification, when we found out I was expecting you.”

  “That’s a funny way to put it, considering you weren’t expecting me at all,” I couldn’t help saying. “I can’t believe I never knew any of this!”

  “I’m sure there are lots of things we never got around to talking about after the fact.”

  “Great! Now I’m going to lie awake all night, wondering what,” I declared. I was mostly kidding. “So you decided not to foster after that?”

  “What we wanted most, was to be parents. Thanks to you, we were. We felt we’d be overextending ourselves if we fostered while you were a baby, and because we had a child under the age of three, we no longer met the state’s requirements. We never pursued it any further. My point in telling you this isn’t to shock you, but to reassure you that there is more than one road to parenthood.”

  I mulled that over as I wiped the counters and Mom finished rinsing dishes.

  “You’re right,” I finally said. “Miles’ sister and her husband couldn’t have kids. So they adopted an entire orphanage. Not literally, but figuratively.”

  “Miles’ sister?” Mom asked. I didn’t have to look at her to know she was staring at me funny, and her eyebrows were knit. My own eyebrows knit as I struggled to remove an invisible stain from the counter.

  Not for the first time, I wondered if it would be the equivalent of lying if I pretended to faint. I had an anxious moment or two, before remembering it was completely safe to tell Mom the truth.

  “Yeah, Miles’ sister,” I said. “There were four of them. Four kids, I mean. Miles, his older brother Delevan, his younger sister Cynthia, and little brother James.”

  “Oh,” Mom said, and she started to laugh. “That’s right! You silly girls, and your teasing. I forgot there for a minute that my son-in-law has more than a hundred-year head start on me.”

  Mom laughed some more.

  “If your Dad and I had any idea when you first brought him home that he was so much older than you, we wouldn’t have been so quick to approve!”

  I raised an eyebrow at that.

  “You were quick to approve? I recall being grilled nearly to death, and given a talk that still turns my dreams to nightmares.”

  Mom laughed some more as she waved away that comment.

  “Oh, it wasn’t that bad! It could’ve been so much worse.”

  “I know! Why do you think you never got a minute alone with me before our wedding?”

  Mom laughed again, and popped me with the dish cloth. Popped at me, anyway. The dish cloth mysteriously fell short of its goal. Which meant I was within Miles’ eyesight.

  “Mom’s trying to beat me to death with a dish towel,” I tattled, as I felt Miles put his arms around me.

  “I saw that,” said Miles soothingly, playing along. To my mother he said, with a resigned sigh, “What has she done this time, Mom?”

  “Oh, she’s being silly and overly dramatic, and making me laugh,” she replied.

  “She’s telling the truth,” I said automatically, which made Miles laugh. Mom laughed too. I bet she’d stop if she knew why Miles thought it was so funny!

  “Anika was reminding me that you’re really the Miles from the 1800’s,” Mom told him.

  “That would explain the handwriting,” Dad said, as he entered the kitchen, Doreen and Tryon following along. Dad held Tryon’s practice notebook in his hand. He glanced at the open page, which Miles ‘practiced’ writing on to encourage Tryon to do the same thing. “Have you seen this, Sam?”

  “No, I guess not,” she said, and looked. And looked amazed. “What beautiful handwriting!”

  “It makes mine look like chicken scratches,” Dad said, and Tryon laughed.

  “Gramma Thompson has chickens,” Doreen said conversationally, as she searched the refrigerator. “You have to really watch where you step. Chicken poop is so disgusting! It smells awful, and it’s hard to get off shoes.”

  She turned and gave Miles a sly look.

  “I’ll bet that never happens to you.”

  “You’re right,” he replied seriously. “Anika and I have no chickens.”

  Doreen rolled her eyes and turned back to her hunt for—the water bottle, which was right in front of her all along.

  “You’re supposed to play along,” she informed him.

  “Sorry Doreen, maybe next time. Anika and I need to get going, it’s a school night for you and Try, and a work night for the rest of us.”

  “Not for Mom,” Tryon said, giving his big brother a puzzled look.

  Miles answered, before me and Dad had a chance to leap to Mom’s defense.

  “It only seems that way because Mom never stops. You’d notice if she did. She doesn’t complain either, and she makes everything she does look easy. But Mom’s working. She’s always working, even right now. When she’s asleep, she’s still on-call to handle any problem that comes up.”

  “Oh,” Tryon said, giving that some consideration. “Tyler says it isn’t work unless you get paid, though.”

  “So make sure you pay your Mom for all her hard work,” Miles replied.

  “How?” Tryon asked, his eyebrows knitting.

  “With hugs, kisses, and thank yous to show your appreciation. By keeping your room clean without your Mom having to remind you, and by being thoughtful and observant, so that you find ways to help and make Mom’s job easier.”

  “Huh,” Tryon said, mulling that over. He looked at Mom as if seeing her for the first time, then looked back at Miles. “Okay. I’m going to tell Tyler that. I don’t think he pays his mom enough.”

  “Just be certain you don’t make the same mistake,” Miles said.

  “Alright, I won’t,” my little brother replied.

  While Tryon hugged Mom and told her thank you, and Mom battled tears while she told Miles thank you and gave him a hug, Doreen sidled over.

  “What Mom’s thinking right now is, ‘if only he had a brother,’” she said quietly.

  “He does, but they’re both way too old for you,” I replied, and she spit water all over the kitchen. And our Dad.

  “Thanks for the shower,” he said dryly, and by that I don’t mean he was literally dry. He was literally drenched.

  “She made me!” Doreen cou
ghed and gagged out.

  Tryon gave her a disapproving look as he picked up a dish cloth, and began mopping up the water on the floor. Then he stopped, got up, got another dish cloth, and handed it to her.

  “Mom’s got enough to do already,” he told her.

  “Good job, little brother,” Miles said, patting him on the shoulder as we passed by on our way out. Tryon grinned, and got back to soaking up water. Doreen, still hacking and coughing, followed Tryon’s lead, and did too.

  We said goodnight, and returned to our Lodge. Chances were good that we wouldn’t get an update from Jackson until late. But then again, it was a work night for most of us, including the employees at Intersect. It could go either way.

  We sat in the puppy nursery, holding puppies. A moment ago I’d say playing, but that moment was passed. For the most part, our puppies were now passed out. Chip was stretched out, sound asleep on the floor. Several puppies were curled up beside him, and more were on top of him. He was such a good… what, exactly? Not their dad, that’s for sure! Not an uncle, or big brother. I had no idea what he is to them, but whatever it is that he is, he’s a good one.

  Two of our service dog trainees were asleep on Miles’ lap, and he held Ed. I had two more puppies on my lap, and Fidget in my arms. If Trixie knew what was good for us, she’d find her a home right here.

  I pet Fidget’s soft little ears gently, and kissed her forehead.

  “Why were you and your siblings so spread out?” I asked Miles.

  “Well…” he said, thinking about that for a second. “There weren’t all that many years between Delevan and I. But, there was the same distance between me, Cynthia, and James, as there is between you, Doreen, and Tryon. I never wondered why, though. I wouldn’t have asked even if I did. That would be worse than failing to shave, or bringing another skunk into the parlor.”

  I laughed at that, and he did too, a little.

  “Times have changed, huh,” I said.

  “They really have. I wouldn’t say that’s all good. But I wouldn’t go back for anything, not even if I could take you with me.”

  “Kind of fond of that iPhone, aren’t you,” I smiled, and so did he.

  “Yes… that and computers, the internet, motor vehicles, technology in general. Microwaves are nice. So is electricity, and refrigerators.”

  “I can’t imagine what it was like to live without all those things.”

  “It’s difficult for me, too. That was a long time ago.”

  “So… speaking of a long time, me and Mom were talking. I found out why me and my brother and sister are so spread out. That’s not how they wanted it, but that’s how long it took. We talk about when we want to have kids, how many, and all that… but not everybody gets to decide.”

  “You’re right. Not everyone does. My sister didn’t. We like to think we have all the control in life, when really, we have very little.”

  “Talking to you always makes me feel so much better,” I said a bit sarcastically. “Usually, that’s the truth.”

  “Sorry,” he said penitently. “That wasn’t what you needed to hear just now.”

  “What do I need to hear?” I asked. Miles gently lay Ed beside Chip, and put his arm around me.

  “That everything will be alright.”

  “Sometimes I don’t want to wait,” I said, feeling a little desperate.

  “Is that because you want a baby before the end of this year, or because you’re afraid?”

  “It’s because when Mom took away my ignorance, my bliss went with it. Part of me is being logical, and thinks we should stick with the plan. But most of me is panicking right now. I’m afraid if we wait until we’re ready, we’ll be ready, and still be waiting. If we don’t wait, either we’ll find out we don’t have a choice, or we’ll find out we do. The agony of wondering will be over.”

  “Okay. I can see your reasoning.”

  He was telling the truth. I got nothing from my truth ability, but I didn’t need to. I knew what he was thinking. But instead of arguing, and turning this into an emotionally driven stand-off, he was holding back his opinion and feelings on the subject, and letting me talk out my own.

  “We’re just figuring out how to navigate our abilities and the responsibility that comes with them. Our life is often chaotic because of that. I can’t imagine adding the responsibilities of a parent so soon. But last month, I would’ve said the same thing about adding twelve puppies. And that’s working out.”

  The truth was that Trixie was doing all the work at this point. Next week when we introduced solid food, and started house-training, our daily responsibilities would increase significantly. Miles didn’t point out any of that. He listened instead, and let me argue with myself.

  “We didn’t have a choice about that, though. If we went to a breeder or shelter and brought home twelve puppies, that would be irresponsible. We’ll be stretching ourselves thin when house-training starts next week. We’ll manage somehow, because we’ll have to, and we’d manage if we had a baby. But I want to do better than manage. So… in spite of being worried now, and scared that we won’t have the choice when we want it, I think we should stick with the plan.”

  Miles rubbed my shoulder, and kissed the side of my face.

  “I think you’re right. I’m amazed at how quickly you worked that through, and came to a conclusion.”

  “It’s been a long day. I don’t have the energy to drag it out. Besides, I don’t want to make a decision based on fear. I think I’d keep on being fearful, even if we were successful right away. I’d worry that we wouldn’t be able to have a second, or a third… where would it end? I recall you suggesting it would take about three-thousand kids to fill the estate. That’s a lot of worry.”

  “On so many levels. Just imagine! Now I’m scared.”

  “Are not,” I smiled, and shoulder bumped him. Except he had his arm around me, so it was more of a hard lean.

  Miles’ phone vibrated, and we froze briefly. The air was charged with excitement, but it didn’t disturb the puppies. I quickly lay Fidget beside Chip, then scooped the puppies off of our laps and lay them beside the rest, as Miles reached for his phone. He answered on the way out of the nursery.

  “Hi, Jackson. What’ve you got?” Miles kindly put the call on speaker.

  The telephone in our suite began to ring before Jackson could get out a “good evening.” Miles took the phone off speaker, and I ran into the living room to answer. In spite of our case, we did have a Lodge to run. Only the front desk would call this number.

  It was Lucy, the new girl. I hope she’s not always this excitable, she was in a panic because the check-in software was glitching. Or maybe it was the computer itself, she didn’t know, but something was terribly wrong. I calmed her down and called John, who went to the rescue. He called back, and I called one of our housekeepers to clean up the coffee spill which shorted out the keyboard. Lucy was in tears, and it took a lot of reassuring before she believed me when I told her she wasn’t going to lose her job over it. I did recommend she pick up a lidded coffee mug from the gift shop. An ounce of prevention is, after all, worth more than a gallon of tears.

  Long before I said goodbye, Miles came into the sitting room and sat beside me on the couch.

  I’m not sure how much patience I had with people before my truth ability kicked in, but I certainly had patience now. For some people, that is. I knew from Lucy’s interview how badly she wants to please, and how badly she needs this job and a solid chance. So I had more patience with her, than I did impatience at having to wait to hear what Jackson told Miles.

  At last, Lucy’s mind was put at ease and my call was ended. I hung up the phone and turned to him.

  “So what did he find out?”

  “A lot.”

  “Really?” I asked in surprise.

  “Yes. With the aid of truth serum.”

  “What?” I exclaimed, and he smiled.

  “Alcohol.”

  “Oh,” I replied, sett
ling down a little.

  “Jadon Helms and Dillon Graves, were there for happy hour. Jack doesn’t drink, but he does buy. That made them even happier. Jack knows how to win people over, so once they were saturated, as Jack put it, they were more than willing to chat about almost any subject with their new best friend.”

  “So they lied about their names.”

  “They did.”

  “And they were willing to chat about almost any subject.”

  “In other words, our case isn’t wrapped up and the Edmunds’ problems aren’t resolved just yet. There’s more for us to do. There’s also more for us to work with.

  “Helms and Graves were already at Intersect when Phillip was brought on board. All three hold the same job title, and the same Top Secret clearance. The contract Phillip works on involves medical research and development. He isn’t responsible for the research, but for secure and reliable storage and retrieval of information relating to the research, which is conducted at a remote location. I don’t mean remote as in removed from society. I mean a location other than Glen Haven, and the building where Phillip works.

  “Jadon Helms is Phillip’s team lead. The hierarchy there is confusing. There are so many managers and sub-managers, he couldn’t tell Jack who was really in charge of the group.”

  “I know all about that,” I said, rolling my eyes a little at the memories which came to mind. “Dad’s job at the university was funded by a government defense contract. I remember it being chaotic and disorganized in terms of leadership. There was constant reorganizing, and it never made sense. One of the things he appreciated after he got laid off and went to work with Uncle Mark, is that there’s clear leadership and no confusion.”

  “Your Uncle Mark’s goal is to make a profit. Otherwise he can’t stay in business and pay his employees, but that isn’t the case with government, or the companies that are awarded government contracts. Your Uncle Mark has incentive to keep the workplace efficient and avoid waste. They don’t.”

  “That’s what Dad said too. There’s a lot of crazy stuff that goes on that would shut down any private company. So go ahead, what else did you find out?”