Live To Tell Part 9

Chelsea sits in a back booth; Michael's across from her. He's wearing a light summer suit over the top of a striking blue Johnston & Murphy shirt. The suit drapes his muscled frame nicely. Obviously, he's been keeping up with his weekly boxing habit. You can take the boy out of the neighborhood, but not the neighborhood out of the boy.

When Michael spots me weaving my way through the crowded dining room, he puts away his BlackBerry and slides to standing.

"Victoria," Michael says.

"Michael," I answer.

Same exchange, every week. We never deviate.

"I'll be back at six-thirty." He says this more to Chelsea than to me, bending down, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

Then he's gone and I'm alone with my daughter.

Chelsea's six. She has Michael's dark hair, my fine features. She holds herself tight, tall for her age, mature for her years. Living with an older brother like Evan can do that to a girl.

"Have you ordered?" I ask, sliding into Michael's seat, placing my purse beside me on the red vinyl.

She shakes her head.

"What looks good?" I sound forced. It's like this every week. I have one evening to try to prove to my daughter I love her. She has six evenings that tell her otherwise.

Chelsea closes her menu, doesn't say anything. A balloon pops across the room, and she flinches. By the terms of our divorce decree, Michael's supposed to provide counseling for Chelsea, but I don't know if he's doing it. After all the experts we saw for Evan, he's soured on that sort of thing.

But Chelsea isn't Evan. She's a lovely little girl who spent her first five years never knowing if her brother would hug her with affection or attack her in a psychotic rage. She learned by age two when to run and lock herself in the nearest bathroom. By three, she could dial 911. And she was there, eleven months ago, when Evan found the crowbar in the garage and went after every window in the house.

Michael and Chelsea left the next day. It's been me and Evan ever since.

"How's school?" I ask.

She shrugs. I have to honor the mood, so I reach across the table for the cup filled with crayons. I flip over my place mat and start drawing a picture. After a moment, Chelsea does the same. We color a bit in silence, and I tell myself it's enough.

The waitress comes. I order a garden salad. Chelsea goes with chicken fingers.

We color some more.

"I get to be the flower girl," Chelsea says abruptly.

I pause, force myself to find yellow, add to my gardenscape. Wedding? The divorce was only finalized six months ago. I knew Michael was seeing someone, but this ... It seems undignified somehow. A gross display in the middle of a funeral.

"You get to be a flower girl?" I ask.

"In Daddy and Melinda's wedding. It will be during Christmas. I get to wear green velvet."

"You'll ... you'll look beautiful."

"Daddy says Melinda will be my new Mommy." Chelsea's not coloring anymore. She's staring at me.

"She'll become your stepmom. You'll have a stepmom and a mom after the wedding."

"Do stepmoms like to eat at Friendly's?"

I can't do it. I put down the crayon, stare hard at the tabletop. "I love you, Chelsea."

She picks up her crayon and returns to coloring. "I'm mad," she says, almost conversationally. "I don't want a new mom. Sarah has one, and she says stepmoms are no fun. And I don't like green velvet. It's hot. The dress is ugly."

I say nothing.

"I want to rip the dress," she continues. "I want to get scissors and cut it up. Cut, cut, cut. Or maybe I could drip paint all over it. Drip, drip, drip. Then I wouldn't have to wear it." She looks up again. "Mommy, am I turning into Evan?"

My heart twists. I take her hand. There are so many things I'd like to say to her. That she's special, unique, beautiful. That I have loved her since the moment she was born. That none of this is her fault, not her brother's illness and certainly not the Sophie's Choice made by her mother every day.

"You're not your brother, Chelsea. Evan ... Evan has things in his head no one else has. His brain works differently. That's why he gets so mad he can't control himself. You're not like that. Your brain isn't his brain. You are you. And it's okay if you get mad. Sometimes, we all get mad."

"I don't like Melinda," Chelsea says, more plaintive now. "Daddy's always at work. He's no fun anymore."

"I'm sorry."

"Weddings are stupid. Stepmoms are stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid."

"I'm sorry."

"Why can't Evan go away? Daddy says that if Evan would just go away ..."

I don't answer. This is where Michael and I diverge. He wants his children to be fixable, whereas I've come to accept that our son has an illness no doctor can currently cure. Evan's still our child, however, and just because he's troubled is no reason to throw him away.

The waitress arrives with our food. She slides two oval plates onto the table. I rearrange my salad. Chelsea pokes at her french fries.

"Evan misses you," I say after a moment. "He wishes you could both go to the park."

Chelsea nods. There were times she and Evan were close. When he was calmer, in his sweet, charming mode. He would play dress-up with Chelsea, even let her do his hair. They'd play hide-and-seek, or form a rock band using all the kitchen pans. Those times, he was amazing and I imagine she misses that big brother. I also imagine there are plenty of other incidents she wishes to forget.

Chelsea is why Michael left me. He claimed my inability to inst.i.tutionalize Evan was putting our daughter's life at risk. Is he right? Am I right? How will we ever know? The world doesn't give us perfect choices, and I couldn't figure out how to sacrifice my son, not even for my daughter.

So here I am and here she is, and I love her so much my chest hurts and I can't swallow my food. I just sit here, across from this quiet little girl, and I try to will my love into her. If I force my love across the table, form it in a tight little ball, and hit her with it again and again, maybe she will feel it. Maybe, for one instant, she will know I love her more than Evan, which is why I had to let her go.

She'll be okay. Evan, however, needs me.

We draw some more. I ignore my salad. She eats french fries. She tells me she got to try the violin at music camp. And Sarah and her got into a fight, because Sarah said Hannah Montana was better than The Cheetah Girls, but then they both agreed that High School Musical is the best ever and now they're friends again. Dance starts in two weeks. She is nervous for the first day at school. She wants to know if we can go shopping together for school clothes. I tell her I will try. I can tell from the look on her face she already knows it won't happen.

The waitress clears our plates. Chelsea perks up at the thought of ice cream. She goes with the junior sundae. I decline, though ice cream would be good for me. I could use some weight on my frame. Maybe I should go on an ice cream diet. I will eat a gallon a day and balloon out to three hundred pounds. It's not like anyone would care.

Self-pity gets me nowhere, so I reach across the table and hold my daughter's hand again. Tonight, she lets me. Next week, I'll have to wait and see.

She's going to have a second mother. Some woman I've never met. I try to picture her, and my brain locks on some twenty-something blonde. Younger, prettier, perkier than me. She'll help Chelsea pick out clothes for school, maybe braid her hair. She'll be the first to hear of Chelsea's school dramas, perhaps give her advice for handling her equally dramatic friends. They will bond. Maybe there'll come a week when Chelsea won't want to come to Friendly's anymore.

I want to be bitter, but what would be the point? Chelsea's job is to grow up, move forward. My job is to let her go. I just didn't think it would be happening at the age of six.

Michael appears in the dining room. He doesn't say anything, just stands there. Chelsea and I take the hint. I place money on the table for the check, then gather my things. By the time I slide out of the booth, Michael is already at the front doors, Chelsea lagging somewhere in between, trying to split the difference between her father ahead, her mother behind.

I catch up with her and we push out through the gla.s.s doors, where the storm has finally broken and cooling rain comes down in sheets. We hesitate under the awning, gathering ourselves for the sprint to the cars. Michael uses the moment to say, "I'm sure Chelsea mentioned the wedding to you."

"Congratulations," I say. Then ruin the moment by adding, "When would you like Evan to get fitted for a tux?"

The look he shoots me would've killed a lesser woman. I deliver it right back. I dare him to deny our firstborn child, who still asks when his father will be coming home.

"I didn't leave you," Michael states crisply, voice low, so Chelsea won't hear. "You left me. You left me the second you decided his needs mattered more than anyone else's."

"He's a child-"

"Who needs professional full-time care."

"An inst.i.tution, you mean."

"There are other ways to help him. You refused to consider any of them. You decided you knew best. You and only you could help him. After that, Chelsea and I didn't matter anymore. You can't blame us for getting on with our lives."

But I do, I want to tell him, I do.

He motions to Chelsea that it's time to go. Her head is down, her body language subdued. Even if she can't hear the words, she knows we're fighting and it's hurt her.

I put my arms around my daughter. I feel the silk of her hair, the lightness of her slender body. I inhale the scent of coconut shampoo and Crayola markers. I hug her, hard, for this hug has to last me an entire week. Then I let her go.

She and her father bolt across the rain-swept parking lot, hands over their heads to protect themselves from the deluge. Minutes later, they're both in Michael's BMW and it's pulling away, rear lights glowing red in the gloom.

I don't know how it feels for a father to leave his son. I only know how it feels for a mother to leave her daughter, my heart driving away from me and leaving a gaping hole in the middle of my chest.

I step out in the storm, unhurried now. I let the rain soak my hair, batter my white blouse. I let the deluge pound against my face.

Friday night. Three more days, I think.

I drive home to Evan.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

D.D. had never been to a locked-down pediatric psych ward, and she wasn't sure she wanted to start. But of all members of the Harrington family, Ozzie remained the most intriguing. Patrick's former employer had nothing but positive things to say. Denise's boss was so choked up over her murder he could barely speak. They got bursts of "great woman," "devoted mom," "heart as big as the sky," in between fresh bouts of m.u.f.fled sobbing.

Phil phoned in with the credit report; it was about what they'd expected. The Harringtons were down to their last eight hundred in the bank. They had a substantial mortgage payment due, not to mention ten grand in credit cards. Up until this point, the family had never missed a payment. Chances were, that had been about to change.

In the plus column, the Harringtons received a check every month from the state for Ozzie; also, Denise had just gotten a modest raise at her receptionist job. Judging by the going rate in Dorchester, the family could hang on if they got the upper two floors rented. Phil and Professor Alex were going to walk through the s.p.a.ce this evening to estimate just how close Patrick might have been to that goal.

And if the Harringtons did lose the house? Patrick's first wife was dead; Denise's first husband, out of the picture. Did Patrick or Denise have other family that could take them in? Was there a possibility of them receiving a.s.sistance from the church?

D.D. wanted answers to those questions. Better yet, she wanted to find out if Denise or Patrick had made the same inquiries. From their perspective, how deep was the chasm that loomed in front of them? Was it a matter of Oh well, we can always move in with brother Joe? Or was it Dammit, we're facing three kids in a homeless shelter with no hope of getting out?

Eighteen hours after the initial call, D.D. had four dead, and one in critical condition. For suspects she got to choose between a middle-aged family man and his nine-year-old psychotic son. The father had more physical capability. The son had more mental inclination.

Which brought her and her new shadow, Professor Alex, to the Pediatric Evaluation Clinic of Boston, part of the Kirkland Medical Center.

First steps into the locked-down psych unit weren't what D.D. expected. The ceiling yawned nine feet above. Natural light poured in ma.s.sive windows to illuminate pale green carpeting and soft blue walls. Built-in benches featured fabrics dotted with small yellow ducks, while a cl.u.s.ter of wooden tables bore buckets of Legos. Place reminded her of a waiting room in an upscale pediatrician's office. Except the kids checked in for a much longer stay.

D.D. was just turning toward Alex when a black girl with twin braids flapping underneath her red helmet whizzed by on Rollerblades. A second later, a smaller boy in sagging blue sweatpants followed in hot pursuit, not as well balanced, but churning forward for all he was worth.

D.D. jumped back. Alex, too.

"Becca, Arnie, not beyond the orange cone!" a man's voice boomed. The girl and boy each turned-her gracefully, him awkwardly-then raced back the other direction, barely missing D.D. and Alex a second time.

"Sorry," the man called out, sounding more amused than annoyed. A younger guy with buzz-cut brown hair, he stood next to an orange cone in the middle of the hall. He looked like a gym coach, wearing blue sweatpants and a white T-shirt that defined a well-developed set of pecs. In his hand, he carried a clipboard, while a lanyard bearing ID and a set of keys jangled around his neck.

His charges zipped straight toward the large window at the opposite end of the long hallway. He turned to follow. "Slow down, Arnie. Easy, buddy; you don't have to win the race your first time out."

D.D. decided it was safer to stand with her back against the wall. So did Alex. They'd made it through the locked front doors into the lobby, then through the next set of locked doors connecting the reception area to the unit. Now they were waiting for their designated nurse, Danielle Burton, to join them; she'd needed to fetch Ozzie Harrington's file, and had left them standing next to a common area.

The left half of the s.p.a.ce was set up with half a dozen oak tables-the dining/craft/games s.p.a.ce. The right half contained several comfy-looking couches lined up in front of a screen-the TV/movie lounge.

As D.D. watched, one dark head popped up from behind the first sofa, followed quickly by two more. The kids' gazes zoomed in on D.D. and Alex, then the three boys scrambled over the furniture.

"Hola. Como esta?" the smallest boy said, running up, then stopping in front of them, his bare toes touching D.D.'s pointed black shoes, his face all earnest interest. His two friends lined up behind him. D.D. pegged the leader's age at seven or eight. He had his jeans rolled up all the way to his thighs. As he stood there, he started folding and unfolding his right pants leg.

"Bueno," D.D. ventured. "Y tu?"

"Que bueno. Did you find Lucy? Donde esta?"

D.D. didn't know who Lucy was. She looked at Alex; he shrugged.

The door next to them opened, and Danielle Burton reappeared. All three boys turned to her, the first tugging on the hem of her T-shirt.

"Donde esta Lucy? Donde, donde?"

"Esta bien, esta bien," the nurse soothed. She ruffled the boy's inky black hair. "Lucy esta aqui. Tranquilo, okay?"

"Okay," the boy agreed.

"This is Jimmy." Danielle introduced the lead boy to Alex and D.D. "And here are his partners in crime, Benny and Jorge. If you ever want a dynamite game of Matchbox cars, these are your boys."

Alex took the bait. He squatted until he was eye level with Jimmy and asked, "What's your favorite car?"

"Monster car!" Jimmy whooped. He stuck out his arms and took off in a wide-arcing run, looking more like an airplane than a car to D.D. But Benny and Jorge apparently thought this was good enough, and they took off running around the tables in the common room as well.

"Walking feet," Danielle called out.

The boys slowed to a trot. The nurse seemed to feel that was close enough. She gestured with her hand and D.D. and Alex followed her to the left, where a smaller corridor led to a bank of cla.s.srooms.