Divided (The United Trilogy Book 2) (14 page)

“What about if a nurse is present with him, will he be able to go?”

“All our facilities are fully staffed and at the moment, we just don’t have the time to rearrange everything. Maybe in a few days, but R.J.’s health isn’t going to get better.”

He is full-on glaring at me now. Well, it looks like it’s time to flex a little muscle.

“So what your saying is that he is able to go, it just won’t be ideal for you. That’s great news because I have the means to make it happen! Since my mother is working on my schedule and is to travel wherever I go, I just so happen to be going to the zoo today.”

If looks can kill I would be dead on the spot. No doubt the doctor is not a fan of mine, but Annalise sure is. She throws her arms around me and sobs. “Thank you so much, President Thatcher. This is going to mean the world to him!”

“I will be back. Please go be with your son and I will meet you shortly. If you can hold off telling him until I can work out all the details; that would be best.”

I grab my mom’s hand and take off at a fast pace down the hall. I call Judy back and I can barely make out what she is saying through her sobs. After asking her to repeat herself several times, she told me the zoo is shutting down for the rest of the day, and as soon as we make it to the train, the zoo is ours for the day. I then call Masters to meet us and have my mom whisper the news to Annalise for her to share it with R.J.

“You did a good thing, Roz,” my mom says, looking at me proudly.

“I thought you didn’t approve.”

“Of course I approve. It’s just going to be hard to make every dream for every child come true. It’s a big undertaking and most of these kids don’t have any time left. But what you did is help one child with his dream today, and that’s all that matters.”

I hug her. “I’d like Molly to get a program started to help all the kids do something they have always dreamed of, at least once in their lifetime. A staff from the Ministry can put it all together and a group of nurses and doctors can accompany the child. When we can, we will try to bring the dream to the child, but I think this will work, mom.”

“I think so too. Just remember me for that list of people who go with the child, okay?” she winks at me. “What a fun job that would be to be around that much joy every day for work!”

I smile at her. “You bet! You can even lead the program if you want. I’m going to send Molly a message once we get on the train to get started on putting something together. I know hundreds of years ago they had something similar. I think it will be great to bring it back.”

Once R.J has been told and he has everything he needs and my mom has her medical kit just in case, we all go down and get on the train. Just being on the train fascinates R.J, and he can’t stop chattering all the way there.

Masters whispers in my ear: “The zoo, really, Roz? First, you try to spring the inmates, now you are stealing sick kids?” He has amusement and laughter in his eyes.

“Yes, now just think how much fun we are going to have today, Masters! It’s been ages since I’ve been to the zoo,” I say excitedly.

“You know this is going to majorly put us behind, especially if you take these little trips at each stop for every kid,” he reminds me.

“Oh hush, stop being such a party pooper, Masters. So we will get behind; just think of how much joy we will bring. Personally, I can care less if this delay’s the inevitable with the Council. What a way to go out, huh?” He just smiles at me and soon we are pulling up at a stop at the zoo.

That is the most fun I’ve ever had, I think. We spend the rest of the day at the zoo. R.J. uses up a good hour at the monkeys; they even let him hold one of the trained ones. We have had such a good time; I’ve never seen anyone happier. I make sure to take a ton of pictures and send them over to Wes and ask him to put something special together for the Cartwright family. I’m not sure how long they will have R.J. around, but I want them to always have this day to remember. We take him back to the hospital and are well on our way to the next Zone. I have so much running through my head and I spend most of the night on the phone with Molly, going over ideas and how we can make a Dreams Come True program at all of the R&R centers. If we increase the amount of jobs in the nursing area and in production and event coordinating, we can have more kids being slotted each year for apprenticeship. We will not be taking any nurses away and we will have a new great program. The logistics are going to take a lot longer to implement. It won’t be as fast as the prison acts, but at least I will be proud to leave this legacy behind. I tell Molly to have George pick someone from our staff to head a new team. They will be in charge of the Dreams Act and take care of everything on the Ministry side of things.

I go from Zone to Zone and meet children, adults, old people, all sick and dying; some of them living on borrowed time, others just hoping to make it through the day. Most people are happy to see me while some are just angry with the world. I try to do nice things for the kids with some trips here and there. However, it has taken much longer than I have anticipated. I thought a month would be plenty enough and by the end of two and a half months, I have finally visited the last facility. I am completely exhausted and emotionally worn down. I don’t know how my mother does this every single day. It is heart-wrenching, and I feel completely useless and helpless as I watch all the slowly dying people who are so full of life and love and have families. I hardly have to make any changes to the facilities; they are run efficiently and all the patients seem very well taken care of by a loved one. I am glad to see that there aren’t any issues with cleanliness or lack of maintenance in any of the facilities.

Chapter Ten

After saying good-bye to my mom, Masters and I travel toward the Ministry while my mom goes back home. As soon as my mom leaves, I turn to Masters.

“So, did you find anything? Please tell me you found him.” It’s been absolutely killing me that I haven’t known if Masters has found Ed or not. Two and a half months is a long time to wonder.

Master looks torn for a minute, and he is taking way too long to answer me so I snap at him. “MASTERS!”

“Roz, this is a very complicated situation, and I think it will be best if you stay out of it.”

He can’t be serious. After months of planning and worrying, he just wants me to stay out of it? I look at him with shock, anger and confusion. I don’t even know what I’m feeling right now, but I burst into tears.

“Roz, come on, don’t cry. You are taking this the wrong way. I’m trying to protect you. If I tell you the Council can use it against you, it’s best if you don’t have any clue. That way, you will look much more credible to the Council.”

He is right. I know what he is saying is true, but how can I just not know? I need to have some idea before I walk in there.

“Masters, you’ve got to give me some idea, please. I can’t take not knowing.”

Masters lets out a long sigh.

“Roz, this isn’t as easy as we thought it would be. Once I was in there and talking to your mom, I found out that anyone of high importance such as a Council member is put in the system under a different name. There’s no Ed Jones in the system or a patient by that name. I have no clue who knows the name he is using now, but they are the only ones who can help us.”

“We have to go back to the OC.” I decide.

Masters raises his eyebrow and gives me a disapproving look.

“This isn’t me wanting to see Dex and Grace. I mean, of course I do, but we need to talk to Malik. He is the only one who can tell me if Ed is close to anyone on the Council. I’m just praying that it’s Annabelle because she is the only one I can get alone.”

“Do you really think it’s going to be that easy?” Masters inquires.

“Of course not, but it’s been a long day. I’m exhausted and I really just need a freaking break here!” I almost shout at him

Masters is wise enough to keep further comments to himself.

“You are right about needing to go to the OC to talk to Malik, but the guards will be too suspicious if you show up unannounced again. I’m going to call them off and tell them I am doing a drill. We will stay the night and head back to the Ministry in the morning.”

I try to hide my excitement about staying for a whole night, but there is no hiding it. Masters gives me a smirk.

“I love you, Masters.”

“Yea yea, no need to blow it out of proportion. It’s just the best thing to do right now.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to name my firstborn after you or anything?” I say teasingly to him.

“Depends on how cute he is.”

I can’t stop laughing at that. Somehow over the past two months, Masters and I have gotten even closer. Next to Wes and Molly, he is probably my closest friend. All of my exhaustion seems to have melted away at the thought of seeing Dex and Grace again. Masters gets on his phone and makes a few calls, telling Green to call a drill and make sure he is the only one on sight both tonight and tomorrow. There isn’t a need for a guard tonight, but the morning guard will have to be Green and nobody else.

I change out of my suit and into jeans and a t-shirt. I’m glad I thought of bringing some lounging clothes for after the tours.

When we get to the station, Masters told me to wait inside the train until he can check to make sure that the men are gone. I pace back and forth while I wait for him to come back. I wish I had some cookies to bring for Grace, and then I remember the box of snacks my mom has packed for us for the train ride. I have a candy bar that I haven’t eaten that she would love. Just as I am putting the candy in my pocket, Masters comes back with the all-clear signal.

We pull up to the gate and Masters scans himself in, leaving me out of the system.

“Since when did they give you access to the gate?”

“You told them that Green needs it, that’s when. Since I override Green’s clearance, we are both given access into the system. Now I have one night to come up with a good enough reason why I needed to come in tonight.”

“You are cleaver. I’m sure you’ll come up with something.” We reached the OC just around dinner time so everyone is probably in the dining room. We walk in and I scan the crowd, looking for Dex. He’s not too hard to spot since he’s so much taller than everyone else. Luckily, he has my sweet little pixie on his lap, and Malik is sitting across from them. I run into the room and come up behind them. Malik smiles wide when he sees us. I cover my hands over Dex’s eyes. “Guess who?” I whisper in his ear. He whirls around so fast he almost knocked me over, but he reaches out with one arm and wraps it around my waist so I will not fall.

“Swept you off your feet?” he asks with a chuckle. Grace sees me and she instantly grabs onto me. I start hugging her and whispering how much I missed her and asking her if she has been good. She nods, gives me a kiss on my cheek and digs into her dinner. I look over at Dex and he nods to the candy sticking out of my pocket.
 

“She’s a sneaky one, that little mouse. You seem to have given her a pretty bad sweet tooth.”  Now that I look at her closely, she seems to have gained some weight and is looking much better than when I last saw her.

“She’s eating well and sleeping better?”

“She is eating much better, thanks to Green bringing her so many sweets. The sleeping is a little better, but she still wakes up with nightmares some times,” he tells me.

I nod, and then I turn to Grace. “Guess what, little mouse? I get to tuck you in tonight.” 

Dex’s head snaps up when he hears it and asks, “You get to stay for a few hours?” The grin on my face confirms this.

“What would you say to all night?” His eyes widen and a slow smile starts spreading over his face as Masters clears his throat and sends Dex a pointed look.

“We are here on business,” Masters says, looking at Malik.

Malik nods his head, “Go grab some dinner and when we are done eating, we will talk.”

Dex says he will have his neighbor watch over Grace and will meet us at the pond when he is done. We all eat fast; I can’t even remember what I have eaten. After that, Masters, Malik and I make our way over to the pond. Dex shows up shortly and shoots me a little smile and a wink for our choice of spot.

Once we get to the pond, we immediately dive right into the reason for our visit. “What did you find out?” Malik asks. I nod at Masters to fill him in on everything. Malik sits quietly while Masters is filling him in on the changing of the Council members’ names. He just keeps nodding his head as Masters tells him that we need to find out who Ed was close to during his stay at the Council.

“It makes sense that they would change the names. I don’t know why I haven’t thought of that before,” Malik says.

I look at him with hope in my eyes. “Do you know who might have been close enough to Ed to know how we can get in touch with him?”

Malik has a frown on his face. “I don’t, Roz, I’m sorry. I didn’t know the Council very well, and as you know, they didn’t really share much with me.” My shoulders fall in defeat.

“Amira.”

We all turn to Dex. We just assumed that if anyone would know, it was Malik, but Dex was in line to be a member, and I should have known that he may have gotten to know them on a more personal basis.

“Amira was close to Ed?” I ask, looking up at him for confirmation. His face is a blank slate, not showing any emotion.

“They were engaged. He broke it off when he got sick, and he left the Council. I’m not sure if they stayed in touch, but I know she would have kept track of him. Ed and Samuel are best friends; if anyone knows how to reach Ed, it’s one of them.”

I am not even sure if Ed is still alive, but if he is, it’s good that Amira and Samuel have been close to him, because I think they are the only ones who see things my way.

“Samuel was out here last month.” Malik says, throwing me off my train of thought.

“Samuel? He came out to the OC?” I ask. Surprise is not a good-enough word to describe my shock on hearing about this.

Malik nods.

“He stayed for the day, worked beside the men, talked to Dex for a while, and then he left. I was shocked to see him here, and he didn’t tell us why he came.”

I can’t help the smile that has spread across my face.

“He listened to me! I told the Council members to come see on their own that you guys weren’t a threat, that they didn’t know why they were banning you. He listened to me! This has to be a good sign, right?”

“I don’t think it could hurt.” Masters replies. Dex is being awfully silent, and it makes me uneasy. I don’t want to put him on the spot, but I have to ask him about his conversation with Samuel once Masters and Malik have left.

So I move on with the topic. “So I need to somehow talk to Samuel or Amira and ask them to contact Ed? How am I going to do that exactly?”

“Well if the vote isn’t split, you will not have to worry about it. If it is split, you will have to ask them if there are any Council members who can come back to vote. Then see what they say. If Amira or Samuel does not bring it up, you will have to find a way to ask. The best way is to have one of them comfort you. I don’t think being upset will be too hard to do, will it?” He asks and I glare at Malik.

“No, Malik. I’m pretty sure if they shoot me down, I can be upset enough to get comforted. Last time I cried, Samuel held me in his lap so getting a hug shouldn’t be a problem.” I don’t mean to go into that much detail, it just comes out, but all three of the men stare at me with wide eyes.

“What?”

“He held you in his lap?!” Dex yells with a little too much force.

“He wasn’t being a pervert or anything; he was just trying to comfort me,” I try to appease him.

“On his lap?” Masters asks, trying to hide a smirk.

“Will you guys knock it off? It was innocent, okay?” I’m slightly annoyed now.

“Well, he is pretty good looking and quite the charmer as well.” Malik says, adding fuel to the fire.

“Really, Malik?” He just smiles at me and says goodnight as he and Masters walk off.

Dex of course is in one of his usual snits now, although this time I take full blame. Why on earth have I let that come out of my mouth?

I scoot over to him and grab his hand. “Hey, don’t be mad at me. It’s not like that. Samuel isn’t my type at all. He’s much too sweet and charming, not to mention old. I prefer my men to be mean and moody.” This earns me a small smile.

He wraps his arms around me. “So you don’t like older men?” he asks, nuzzling my neck. Oh crap, I forget that he is older than me. He can’t be too much older though, probably only two or maybe four years older.

“I didn’t say I didn’t like older men. Just that he’s too old for me,” I correct myself.

“What am I going to do with you, you saucy little thing, if I can’t keep you out of other guys beds and off their laps?”

“Wow. That makes me sound awesome!”

He laughs. “It does, if you are that lucky guy.”

“What did Samuel talk to you about?” His smile fades.

“You, mostly.”

“Me?”

“Yes, but he conveniently forgot to mention the lap incident.” This makes me jump up.

“You didn’t tell him about us, did you?” He pulls my hand until I fall back down next to him. He wraps me in his arms and places a soft kiss to my forehead.

“Calm down. Of course I didn’t say anything about how enchanted I am with you,” he answers with a grin.

“Nice save.” He just laughed at me.

“He wanted to know what I thought about you, and he told me what an amazing President you are, but I already knew that. He also asked how I was, and what I thought about the people here and if I thought the ban should be lifted.”

This has me very intrigued; I hope Dex didn’t blow this opportunity with his surliness.  “And? What did you tell him?”

“I told him I liked it here. My life now was much better and I had no desire to go back to the Ministry. But I also said I understood why you wanted the ban lifted and I thought there were plenty of things about the Ministry that needed to be changed, and maybe they should start listening to you and let you do the job they gave you," Dex explains.

“What did he say to that?” I ask him.

“He laughed and said maybe I was right; that Peter and the other older people were afraid of change, but that he tends to agree with you. ‘That one is smart as a whip and has no problem putting us in our place.' He said it like he was proud of you."

“Well good, at least I have one person there who likes me.”

“They all like you, Roz. They are just afraid of change, and they don’t want to mess up what they see as a good thing.”

“Is that all he said?” I can tell that he is still holding back, but I don’t want to push him.

He replies so quietly it is almost a whisper, “He asked if I would ever consider coming back on the Council. Apparently, a few of the members are getting too old and tired and have been waiting until someone is ready so they retire. They have a few possibilities, but nobody that jumps out at them. Apparently, the person who was slotted for Peter’s position after I left didn’t want it. It was the first time a Council position has been turned down. He didn’t say a name, but I got the feeling it might have been Wes.”