Hedging Bets – Chapter Four – Emersli1

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6 Minutes

Chris was thankful for his upper body strength as his dad helped him out of the car and into his wheelchair.

At least he was able to use a manual wheelchair and didn’t need a fancy, motorized one.  Using arm crutches had given him the upper body strength to operate the wheelchair himself, and he was grateful for that.

Evan looked over at his son as he shifted to the wheelchair.  “Do you want your dad to push you in?  I can come around and move the truck if you want that.”

Chris actually shuddered.  His dad walking him into school?  He was in the third grade!  He didn’t need to be walked in.  “I got it.  Bye Mireya.  Keep Dad and Papa in line today.  Don’t let them buy anything dumb, like a moped.  Bye Papa, Bye Daddy.  Take care of each other.”

Eddie watched his son move a little diffidently towards the school in his chair, and watched the growing confidence as his friends gathered around ooh’ing and aah’ing at his fabulous ride.  Laughing a little to himself he hopped back into the truck and headed for home.

Evan looked over at him ruefully.  “It probably says something about me that now I really want to go buy matching mopeds.”

Laughing again, Eddie put on his turn indicator and waited for his chance.  “Maybe for your birthday, dear.”

Lady Magick was watching the situation in England.

You would think after all the trouble and grief, they would be kinder to each other.  But more and more they just seemed determined to tear each other apart.

“Ceri?”

Startled, she looked behind her to see her most frustrating sibling.  “Aerfen?  Is this a social visit or something more dire?”

For a second the being looked sad, before once more becoming the inscrutable force Lady Magick was accustomed to seeing.

“I don’t know that it’s dire, but … I’ve tried to abide by our agreement.”

The Lady wasn’t sure what to say to that.  “So far as I know, you have always abided by our agreement.”

“Thank you.  The child known as Mireya Rose Buckley-Diaz… she is one of yours.”

“Yes.  Yes, she is.”  The Lady drew herself up very tall, ready to fight for her child.

“Something is … moving.  She has caught the attention of something …”  Fate stopped speaking, as though they were trying to find the right words to describe the situation.

“What is happening?  Whatever is moving can just move on past!  Mireya is mine, and that means you can’t make use of her.  Find a different way!”  Lady Magick was firm.  “By the terms of our agreement, those children I claim are not to be messed about by you!  Aerfen, you gave your word!”

“And I am trying to keep it!  I just don’t know … I’m not sure where the danger is.  Something is pulling on my threads.  I wanted to give you some warning.  And I’m recruiting assistance elsewhere as well.  I just,” Fate sighed.  “I just don’t know.”

“Well, just remember your promise, and keep your hands off, and Mireya will be fine.”  Lady Magick was a determined force in her own right.

Shoulders slumping, Fate nodded.  “I will not interfere with Mireya Rose.”  They turned and left the space Lady Magick inhabited.  Looking back at the sparking blue space, they whispered under their breath, “No Sister.  I will not interfere with your child.  But perhaps I might get another to do so for me … Now, who would be best?”

They had taken her phone and shut her in.

They said it was for her own protection.  That she had been wandering in her mind and losing time.

She didn’t believe them.

She … remembered … everything.

The phone call, overheard on the patio.  She’d gone into the kitchen without turning on a light, just to grab some water, and heard him on the patio.

“Give me a day or two once we get to LA.  If the baby goes missing the same day we arrive the conclusion is obvious.”

Four days.  She had four days to get to Los Angeles.  Without a car, or money for a ticket, or the ability to hot-wire a vehicle … that left only one way.

Quietly forcing open the window, she looked out into the night.  This room was on the second floor, so this was going to hurt.  She accepted that.

Dressed in an old dark hoodie and jeans she’d found in the back of the closet, the woman turned and put her feet out the window.  Rolling onto her front, she shimmied out until she was dangling by her hands from the sill.

She prayed the hedge beneath her would be enough to break her fall, and let go.

The hedge broke her fall, and kept her from breaking any bones.  That was the positive.  On the negative side of the equation, she surely looked as though she’d gone three rounds with a wildcat … scratched and bruised from head to toe.  But she was out.

Pity she couldn’t close the window.  They’d be after her soon after eight when they brought her breakfast and came to let her out for the day.

Pulling the hood close around her face, she headed for the lights of the main road passing the neighborhood.

Grateful for the old hiking boots she’d found in the room, and the two pairs of thick socks she was wearing with them, the woman began her long walk.

‘Don’t be scared, Mireya.’ she thought.  ‘Gramma’s coming.’

If Eddie had more energy, he’d be bouncing in place.

He hated to admit it, but he wasn’t particularly looking forward to his father’s visit.  But it had been years since he’d seen his uncles, and he was definitely looking forward to seeing them.  As a boy, with his father gone frequently and expecting him to look after his sisters and mother, Eddie had often been grateful his Uncle Stefan and Aunt Macy lived next door.  And Uncle Jerry and Aunt Astrid were just around the corner.

His uncles had kept him from disaster more than once during those difficult years, so Eddie was glad they were coming to meet his family now.  And really his pop had been remarkably decent about everything, so maybe …

Eddie’s ruminations cut off with the sound of the key in the door.

“Hey honey, I’m home.”  Buck whisper-shouted as he came through the door with bags of groceries draped over his big arms.

Eddie quickly moved to help Buck unload everything, putting things away as they went.  “Evan, you have group in about an hour, right?”

Evan nodded as he tried to squeeze the last few packets of fruit snacks into the new box so he could throw away the old one.  “Yeah.  Do you need me to stay home?”

“No, of course not.  I just thought you might take my truck instead of yours.  Since Carla’s here to watch Mireya, I figured I could change the oil in your truck while you’re gone.”  Eddie wondered why they had bought more peanut butter.  “Why did we buy peanut butter again?  Didn’t we just get it last week?”

Buck took the jars of peanut butter and placed them to one side of the counter.  “They’re doing a ‘Meet the Teacher’ event on Friday and asked every family to bring some baked goods to share.  I agreed to make peanut butter cookies.”

Eddie immediately backed away slowly, as though the jars of peanut butter might explode at any moment.  “OK.  I’ll just leave that with you then.”

Having seen the epic disaster that was his man in the kitchen, Evan agreed whole-heartedly.  “You do that.  Chris and I have it well in hand.  Your only responsibility is to try one and tell us it’s the best peanut butter cookie you’ve ever had.”

Chuckling, Eddie replied, “Oh, I think I can handle that … though beating out Pepa’s cookies is gonna be a hard thing to do.”

Giving his partner a roguish wink Buck replied, “Who do you think gave me the recipe?”

Folding the last of the sacks and putting them under the sink to use or dispose of later, Evan grabbed Eddie’s truck keys off the rack by the door.  “Well, I’m off.  If you think of anything I forgot at the store, just text me and I’ll pick it up on the way home.”

The front door closed behind him quietly.

Eddie went to change clothes.  If there was one job messier than bathing a baby, it was changing the oil in a truck.

Tomorrow would be Mireya’s christening, and he wanted everything to run smoothly.

Even the truck.