Simone (The Ciprianos of Kellington Book 2) (7 page)

“I got into my car
heading back home. Then a cop pulled me over after I had been driving awhile.
That’s why I’m here now.” She watched him looking over the papers in the
folder.

“Other than all that
happened, how do you feel?”

“The lady officer gave
me something for my head because I had a booming headache. But I’ll be happy to
get out of here.” Delia told him.

“Well, from what the
witnesses have stated, especially one customer who was sitting in the other
booth, it seemed that Mrs. Smith was the instigator in this whole thing. She
stated that Mrs. Smith had been bad-mouthing you the entire time you were
there. She even went on to say that basically both Mrs. Smith and Rodger got
exactly what they deserved.” Simone chuckled while Delia smiled. “And it seemed
like the hostess as well as the waitress said the same thing too, because you
all were very loud. Don’t
worry,
I’ll go see if they
have set up bail for you yet. If so, we will pay it, then you’ll have to go to
court when they state a date. If there is no bail posted, then you’ll have to
stay until they call for a court date. But honestly, Delia, you don’t have to
worry about a thing because I plan on getting you out of here and home.” Simone
told her, holding her hand.

“Thanks Simone, I so
appreciate this.”

Simone smiled, “You
know I would do anything for you Delia, always remember that. I’ll be back, all
right?” He knocked on the steel door for them to open it. The lady officer came
quickly to do so as Simone looked back at Delia, giving her a wink as he left
her alone once again in the cell.

Simone went into the
lobby to make a few calls and saw Jaslyn and Renzo walking through the door.
“Hey guys, over here!”

Jaslyn
almost tripped herself when she aimed straight for him, “Everything is fine,
I
just went to talk with her just now. I don’t plan on having
her in that jail overnight, that’s for damn sure. Much less do I plan on having
her facing assault charges when from eyewitness reports it was basically the
other two who were in the wrong. Like I said, everything will be fine, you
guys.” Simone told Jaslyn while she gave a contented sigh of relief.

“Can I go and see her?”

“I don’t know if they
will let you or not. Come and I’ll see what I can do.”

Simone worked
tirelessly to get Delia out from jail for the most part of the day all the way
until that night. He had made himself a makeshift office out of some of the
chairs in the lobby. He even had a plug to charge up his cell phone when it was
losing its charge. Even though they could have gone back home, Jaslyn and Renzo
stayed right there with him, keeping in touch with Andrew and Filomena who were
both very concerned over how Delia was.

“Mr. Cipriano, there is
a call for you.” The lady behind the front desk of the visitation area told
him.

“Yes, this is Simone.”

“Hey, Simone, this is
Anthony Walker calling.”

“Hey, Anthony, how are
things going? Don’t tell me you are the Smiths’ lawyer?”

“Yeah, I am, man.
Listen, I had a talk with Mrs. Smith and her son. They didn’t want their name
brought up in scandal because mommy dearest doesn’t like her son’s girlfriend.
So we have decided that dropping the charges would be best for everyone
involved. That is if Ms. Whitney will forgo using anything incriminating
against the Smiths in the near future.”

“I honestly think
that’s the best idea and I know she will go along with it as well. So when can
we have her out of here?”

“It won’t be until
tomorrow morning before she’s out so she’ll have to stay overnight.”

Letting out a sigh
because he had hoped that she would be out that night, Simone was happy that at
least she was getting out. “That’s fine, man. I know she’ll be happy to hear
this because I know it’s been a trying day for her.”

“From what I read, I’m
surprised she didn’t end up slapping Mrs. Smith as well.”

“Thanks, man, I
appreciate the call. Check you later.” He ended the call. “Great news guys,
they are going to drop the charges.”

Jaslyn smiled as Renzo
breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank God, so what about her car?”

“Damn. That’s right,
it’s been impounded. Don’t
worry,
I’ll handle that
myself in the morning. You guys go on and head on back and when she gets out in
the morning, I’ll call you guys and let you know.”

“Thanks Simone, for
helping her out, I’ll let Andrew know what’s going on. You go and get you some
rest.” Jaslyn told him, giving him a hug while Renzo gave him a pat on the
shoulder. Walking to the desk, Simone talked with the officer, trying to get in
the back to talk with Delia again. Luckily the girl who had been there for most
of the day had quickly taken a liking to him and took him to the back to talk
with Delia.

Chapter Eight

She was slowly starting
to fall asleep while waiting and waiting to hear word on what was going on.
When she heard the familiar sounds of the doors opening, Delia sat up for a
moment looking to see Simone walking toward the door with a smile on his face.
Good news, she thought to herself, for after all they had been through today,
his smile was a welcome sight to see. When the door opened, he came in and told
her, “The Smiths have decided to drop the charges against you just as long as
you don’t use their names in any incriminating way. I told the lawyer that I
know you wouldn’t do that, so they are going to drop everything against you.”

Delia shouted for joy,
this had been the best news she had had all day. Quickly giving him a hug she
found herself crying again, the entire time softly saying to him, “Thank you,
Simone, for helping me.” Feeling him holding her tightly, the whole ordeal felt
like it was finally was coming to an end.

“Come over here now, no
tears.” Simone reached into his pocket, taking out a handkerchief to give her
so could she wipe her face. “You’ll have to stay overnight because everything
won’t be processed until tomorrow. I’ll be here in the morning to make sure
things will be all right.”

Nodding in agreement,
she said, “I want to thank you for doing this for me, I honestly don’t know
what I would have done without you.”

“Like I said before,
you know I would do anything for you, Deedlebug. I would never let anything bad
happen to you.” He took her hand in his and she softly squeezed his. “You get
yourself some rest and I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Can you see if they
can get me a blanket? It’s cold in here.” Her voice trembled.

He started to rub her
arms up and down furiously to try and get her warm, “Yeah, it is a bit nippy in
here, I’ll try to make sure they get you what you need. I know it is always
cold in these cells. I hate that you’re cold and that you are so stressed by
all of this. Did you eat already?”

“Yeah, they gave me a
sandwich and some cookies and a juice.”

“Well, so much for a
full course meal, huh? I promise that when you get out I’ll take you for
breakfast, all right? Try and get you some rest.”

“Thank you, Simple
Simon.”

“You’re welcome,
Deedlebug.” Simone winked, hitting the door to let them know to let him out.
Once out, she saw him pointing toward her while the officer nodded and walked
away. Giving her another wave, Delia watched him leave her once again, all
alone, but hopefully, not for long.

* * * *

Delia never got any
sleep during the night for the shouts from other inmates along with the
slamming of doors made her feel uneasy. Thinking back to all that had happened
to her that day, she reflected that she had never been pulled over, much less
arrested, for anything in her life. Now she had been in jail. Yeah, this was
something to tell her children about, that is, if she ever decided to have
children. How could she think about children now that her dreams of a future
with Rodger were dashed?

Sitting up on the
mattress, she felt a sharp pain in her side from sleeping on that non
supportive mattress. God, she couldn’t wait to get home, take a long hot shower
and go straight to bed…for a week. Slowly getting up she moved around the cell
a bit to try and get the kink in her side out. Bending down to touch her toes, then
back up to bend from side to side a bit, she knew that after a couple of
minutes of this that the pain would go away. She peeked through the small
rectangular window of the door to see if anybody was coming by or anything. But
no, no one was coming down the hall. She looked up overhead at the only window
that brought in any sunlight to the cell. She guessed they had it there so that
people wouldn’t go insane, missing the outside. All she could do was wait for
Simone to come and pick her up.

She wondered what her
brother must be thinking of her now that he had a sister who had been put into
jail. Delia knew that he would probably lecture her up and down about what she
had done. Either that or he would more than likely laugh at the situation. She
just knew that once she got out, she would never find herself in this situation
ever again. Delia couldn’t stop remembering the smug look Mrs. Smith had on her
face when she told her how she didn’t think she was rich enough much less had
any class. This was coming from the same woman who, from what Rodger had told
her, had lived in an old rundown shack in the back woods of Alabama and would
work in the fields along with her family at times to get enough money to make
for food. She’d never even finished school, only making it as far as the eighth
grade before dropping out. All of this and she thought that Delia had no class
whatsoever. Just because Rodger’s mother had a husband who was a self-made
millionaire and bought her lovely things didn’t mean a thing. She was still the
same woman regardless of her status in life.

And then there was
Rodger, the man who she’d thought loved her just as much as she loved him. She
thought about the days when they use to talk about their future endeavors
together, like how he always wanted to work with kids and get a community
center opened right there in Kellington. He had always talked about having
children, maybe two or three and how much he had wanted to have them with her.
He’d told her that he didn’t care what his parents thought for he was going to
make a future for them both. Now Delia realized that those were all lies and
within that short amount of time she had been in that jail cell, she came to
realize that she didn’t mean that much to him. That maybe his mother was right
that she was just being used by him to satisfy his lustful needs. He had really
pulled the wool over her eyes after all these years. Was she so blinded by love
that she hadn’t realized what was happening? She must have been, she thought,
because all she could ever think of during the time they were together was how
much they meant to each other. Never would she have thought that two years of
love on her part wasn’t even shared by the man she’d thought loved her back.

Once she got out of
here, she thought, she was going to make sure that things were right in her
life. She knew that things would be better for her, heck; she was going to be
an aunt soon, which she still couldn’t believe.

Aunt Delia, can you
believe that? She thought, and it made her smile, bringing a small bit of joy
into life at that moment.

* * * *

All Simone had wanted
to do the night before was get home, take a shower and get a drink of Scotch.
Even though he knew that Delia was safe in her own cell, he was still worried
about her well-being. Bless her for having to deal with so much in such a short
amount of time, all he knew was that he would help her along the way no matter
what it took. Delia was his match and they were meant to be together forever.
He didn’t care how long it would take now for her to recover, just as long as
he was there for her.

Simone didn’t get any
sleep either for he had been worried for most of the night about Delia.
 
Poor thing, he thought. She probably has been
sick with worry. Washing his face in the bathroom sink, he looked at himself in
the mirror. He decided that once he had gotten his clothes on, he would call in
at work and just close up the office for the day. When he walked into his
office to grab some paperwork he needed, the phone rang, nearly scaring him to
death. “Hello?”

“Hey man, how’s
everything going?” Andrew asked.

“Doing good here, I was
getting ready to get your sis out of jail.” Simone yawned while rubbing his
eyes once more.

“You sound tired as
hell, man, did you get any sleep?”

“Not really. I was too
worried sick about Delia being in jail.”

“Man, I hear
ya
. I was tossing and turning myself. But at least you’ll
get her out today and then she’ll be home.”

“That’s right. I’ll
have her call you when she gets out, all right.”

“Again, bro, I want to
say thanks for all of this.”

“You know I would do
anything for Delia.”

“I know you would man,
and whatever happens during this time, bro, I give you my consent because I
know you are going to pursue her at all costs, now.”

Simone chuckled, “I
appreciate it but I’m going to keep things slow. She’s had a major breakup with
this guy. I don’t want her to feel like she’s in open waters and I’m the shark
getting ready to grab hold of her. I’ll just let things build up once more and
when she’s ready I’ll be more than ready for her. Call you soon.”

Heading out of the
door, he found the air was crisp and clean and seemed to wake him up a bit. It
was a great relief to him because Lord knows that he needed a wake-me-up. First
thing before he picked Delia up, he was going to get them both some coffee.

After refueling with a
nice hot cup of coffee along with making the call to Beverly about not coming
into work, Simone headed to the jail. He knew it wasn’t going to be a problem
because he had called Anthony ahead of time and confirmed that things had
already been turned in so it was just a matter of a couple of minutes before
she got out. When he walked inside he went to the visitation desk and
thankfully they told him that it would be about ten more minutes. Sitting down
in one of the chairs, he continued drinking his coffee before realizing he was
almost done. The front door opened and he saw Rodger heading straight for the
visitation desk.

“Excuse me ma’am, was a
Ms. Delia Whitney already released?”

Simone walked over toward
the young man, who was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a black T-shirt.
“Excuse me sir, I’m her lawyer and no, she hasn’t been released. Why are you
here?”

The man looked him up
and down before he responded. “I need to talk with Delia, if you don’t mind.”

“Well, I do mind
because I honestly think it was crazy for you to bring yourself here in the
first place. What do you have to talk with her about, anyway?”

“I wanted to apologize
to her for all that I had put her through. I didn’t mean any of what I said to
her at the restaurant. This whole thing was my parents’ doing because my dad is
dying. My mom never did like Delia as much as I loved her.”

Simone looked at the
guy and even though Rodger was telling him all of this, he honestly didn’t
believe a word he was saying. He heard the door opening and looked over to see
Delia walking around the corner. The look on her face was that of complete
shock when she saw Rodger. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I came to apologize to
you about what happened at the restaurant, Delia. I didn’t mean for it to go
this way.”

Simone watched as Delia
walked past Rodger to smile sweetly at him which made him smile even more
broadly. She quickly hugged him, and his arms welcomed her into his embrace.

“Delia, please listen?”
Rodger demanded.

“No, you listen. I want
you out of my life since you want to side with your parents. Why don’t you go
and buy yourself a new girlfriend. Did you think that after the shit you pulled
the other day that I was going to leave here and just fall back into your arms
and your bullshit lies? You have another thing coming if you think I’m that
fucking stupid. Go on and live the life that your mother decided to choose
Rodger, just leave me out of it.” Looking back at Simone, she put her arm around
his and said, “Let’s get out of here, because I’m starving.”

They decided to go to a
restaurant in Bristol for breakfast. She was tired but so hungry for some real
food. She ordered a stack of pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream along
with some sausage. They both sat in the booth in silence for a while, sipping
on their coffees every so often, giving out a sigh here and there. “You look
tired.” She had been looking into his eyes off and on while they sat across
from each other. He looked the way she felt at that moment, emotionally drained
and physically tired.

“I am tired. I didn’t
get a lick of sleep last night, worried sick about you being in there all
night.”

“Neither did I. Lord
knows that mattress wasn’t good for my back at all. It’ll feel so good to eat,
get my car and head on home so I can get clean. But I do want to thank you for
doing this all for me.”

He took one of her
hands, slowly rubbing along her knuckles with his thumb. “You know what I have
already told you, I would do anything for you Delia. I was just shocked to hear
that you had been put in jail. I was reeling that these people would do
anything this low to you. I would never let anyone hurt you or cause you pain
and suffering. I would shelter you from that as much as I could so that I can
see that pretty smile of yours on your face every single day of your life.”

Delia didn’t know what
to say when she heard him talk like that. The look in his eyes reminded her of
the way he used to look at her when they were young. It was a look that she’d
never thought she would ever see again.

“All right, here are
your strawberry pancakes with whipped cream, ma’am.” The older woman set down
the warm plate of pancakes with fluffy mounds of whipped cream and juicy red
strawberries all over. “Here is your steak and eggs, sir, as well as toast.”
Delia eyed the huge T-bone steak that looked so good along with the sunny-side
up eggs. Now she wished she had gotten the steak instead. “Let me get your
sausage and I’ll refill both your coffees.”