The Iron Quill (17 page)

“Yes?” I yelled.

“Come here, please,” my mom called.

I hadn’t planned on leaving Wes down there for long, but for her to call me as soon as he came in was weird. She’d at least offer him a glass of something first. “Coming!”

Downstairs, my mom was standing defensively in our foyer staring into the familiar faces of Officer Petty and Officer Wright.

Perfect.

These guys were never going to go away. Maybe we should just invite them to this year’s Thanksgiving.

“Hey,” I said casually coming to a stop behind my mom.

She turned, “Hey, Sophie, Officer Wright and Officer Petty have come to talk to us.”

“Okay,” I answered waiting for them to begin.

“May we come in?”

“Certainly.” My mom opened her hand, leading them to the living room. They knew the way.

We all sat down and the officers looked at Tom. My mom took the cue. “Officers, Tom is like family. He is welcome to hear whatever you have to say.”

They squirmed around in their seat uncomfortably, and then Officer Petty took the lead.

“Alright, Ms. Slone,” he cleared his throat. “We came by to let you know of some new developments in the attack on you.”

The sounds of the word
attack
sent a sharp sensation through my spine.

Officer Wright took over. “The girl who attacked you is Mara Cooper. She’s Tim Walter’s girlfriend, and she’s been arrested.”

My mother gasped. “I told you that boy was stalking Sophie. I warned you guys and you didn’t protect her!” She began to stand up, but Tom held her back.

“Gayle. Please. Let’s just listen to what they have to say.”

He darted them a cutting glare. “Officers can you please tell us why you’re here? You could have told us this over the phone.”

“Right.” Officer Petty regained the control. “Ms. Slone, we’re here to tell you that Mara is HIV positive.”

That news sort of came as a surprise for some reason. Maybe I had thought she bought the blood somewhere. I blinked in a slow daze, finding my thoughts drifting to her, feeling sorry for her too.

My mom looked at me. “That doesn’t mean you’re infected.”

“And, further investigation,” the officer continued, “determined that Tim Walters is also positive.”

My hand flew up to my mouth.
Oh, my gosh.
“No wonder his grandfather wanted to find a miracle medicine. He wanted to save Tim.”

“There’s more,” Officer Wright chimed in.

“What more?” my mom pressed. “What
more
could there possibly be?”

“Well,” Officer Wright continued, “I had a hunch that it didn’t end there. I figured that Tim wanted Mara to infect you, so that he could manipulate you from jail. So I started thinking about who else he may have wanted to manipulate, and Chase Chambers came to mind.”

No.
I shook my head.

“Yes,” Officer Wright said. “We pulled his hospital records and Chase was also positive. We believe Tim shared needles with him on purpose. When Chase found out his status, he did whatever Tim said because he promised him he could eventually change it. We believe that’s also why he killed himself.”

“That jerk!” I gritted. “How
rude
.”

That seemed like such a lame comment, but that’s the first thing that came to mind. How dare he purposely spread something so horrible? That is the lowest of the low. That’s worse than murder. It’s not like he acted on impulse or rage. He purposely wanted to make other people suffer slowly. How
awful
.

“Yes, we agree. We just thought you should know.”

“Thank you.” My mom began to stand, and I was expecting Tom to hold her down again, but he didn’t. He let her practically sweep them out the door. That was her way of coping. In her mind, if she could get rid of them, then she didn’t have to dwell on the possibility that Tim single-handedly ruined the lives of several people, including possibly me.

I expected her to rant and rave after they left, but she just went and fixed herself a cup of tea and sat back down. She still looked tense until she inhaled the herbal scent coming from her mug. After taking a sip she closed her eyes as it went down. It seemed to be what she needed for the moment.

“Sophie?” Tom asked, breaking the silence.

I broke away from watching her, “Yes?”

“There is a very good chance you will remain negative, and even if you don’t, we have an early start on making sure you stay healthy.”

He had no idea. “Thanks,” I replied, wishing Wes would hurry up. The idea of Tom and my mom knowing the truth was getting more and more appealing by the second. I could no longer stand them not having any idea that my test results were only a fraction of what lurked around the corner for me.

After another few minutes of awkward silence, Tom stood and said, “Well, Gayle, I’m going to help you start dinner. We might as well make the most of the evening and not let Tim have his way.”

My mom gave him a soft attempt at a smile and stood, “I’ll come with you. Sophie, do you want to help?”

Um
. “Sure.”
Why not?

Maybe I was buttering them up or just trying to keep my mind off of Tim. Whatever the reason, I was chopping carrots for the pot roast while Tom was peeling the potatoes. No one said anything. We all worked in silence, talking about the food only when needed.

By the time my mom put the roast in the oven, it was time for Wes to arrive. I left the kitchen with Mom and Tom peeling apples for her homemade apple pie. Thoughts of how hard she was working to put together this meal made me consider waiting until
after
dinner to tell her.

When Wes pulled up, I met him on the porch and closed the door behind me. He hadn’t heard the news about Tim yet, so I wanted to tell him in private, hoping he wouldn’t flip.

“Hey,” I said, blocking his path to the door.

“Hey,” he leaned in giving me a quick kiss, “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” I said nonchalantly.

He cocked his head to the side, “Sophie? Why are we out here?” His eyes slowly surveyed my front stoop.

“Well, there’s something I wanted to tell you before you went inside.”

“Okay.” He leaned forward with one brow raised, not forgetting to include his half smile.

I shook away the distracting thoughts. “Um, the cops were here again.”

“And?” he asked not surprised.

“And they said the girl who attacked me was Tim’s girlfriend and they are both HIV positive.”

He didn’t show surprise until I added the information about Chase being tricked by Tim, too. It immediately made me question his initial reaction.

“Wait a minute, you already knew that didn’t you?”

“I didn’t know about Chase. But I knew about Tim.”

“What?!” I pushed his chest back with both hands. He gave way on his own. He was letting me have my rant, so I pushed him again, this time forcing him off the step.

“I just found out yesterday.”

“And you weren’t going to tell me?!”

“I
was
going to tell you.”

“When, Wes, when?”

“I don’t know yet. I was trying to figure out what good it would do. You already have to deal with fearing the worst from your tests. I didn’t want you to have to worry about the reasons behind it.”

“What difference does it make? The reasons? I wish you’d stop making choices without me.” I went to turn back into the house, but he grabbed my waist and pulled me into a bear hug from behind, his cool breath close on my neck.

“Stop,” he whispered. “I’m sorry. I’m trying here. I’m not perfect, I don’t know what I’m supposed do.”

“You stop keeping stuff from me.”

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry.” He squeezed me securely.

“Wait,” I turned myself around, still secured to his chest. “How did you know?”

He let go of me with one hand to scratch his neck.

“Wes,” I warned. “Tell me.”

“I paid him a visit.”

“What?!” I squirmed and this time he let go, knowing I needed to walk it off. I began pacing my porch and after a moment, I stopped in front of him. “Let me get this straight. You got upset because
I
got close to him and then you turn around and do the same thing?”

“I wouldn’t have, had he not sent that girl with that damn needle.”

I don’t think I’d heard him curse before, so I knew he was mad. Of course he would want to confront Tim after what he did, even if it was risky.

“Alright,” I said, forcing myself to relax. “What did he say?”

“Well, he hadn’t heard if it was a success or not, because they’d arrested Mara and he hadn’t spoken to her. When I told him he’d made a mistake by sending Mara, he started laughing. He told me that now you’ll know what it feels like, and I pieced it together from there.”

“So then what?”

“I told him that he was wrong to assume it would work.”

“But, it did work.”

He shook his head. “No, it hasn’t. And I let him know that you’re negative and will continue to be. Then I told him that thanks to his new stunt, he will undoubtedly spend the rest of his life in jail, which is too bad, because when our cure for AIDS comes out, he’ll be rotting in jail.”

“Wait, what cure?”

He was silent.

“Wes, please tell me what’s going on. You’re making phone calls all the time, keeping information from me. Please don’t let me live every day wondering what you’re doing. You’re planning something, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I’m planning to do everything I can to make sure you live past nineteen.”

“You have the medicine don’t you?”

He crossed his arms. “No, not yet.”

“Not yet? What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means we’re missing something and it hasn’t been tested yet. But we’re close. And I swear to you, if you’re positive, it’ll be ready before you let out one cough.”

I shook my head. “This is crazy.”

“Yeah, well it’s what we’re faced with in this day and age, so we’ll deal with it.”

I liked the way he said that
we’ll
deal with it, and just as I was about to give him a hug as a peace offering, my mom opened the door. “Hey guys, why are you outside? The party’s in here.”

My body jumped at her interruption, suddenly even more aware of what news we were about to share. “I was just telling Wes about what the officers told us.”

Her nostrils flared at the memory and she rolled her eyes. “Right. Well come on in. Tom’s coddling is driving me nuts.”

Inside the living room, Tom turned on a baseball game and he and Wes talked with ease. I leaned against Wes’ shoulder with my feet kicked up on the sofa beside me. I was on the verge of complete boredom, when their conversation moved on to “The Big Red Machine.” They went on about the Cincinnati Reds leading the league in everything. My ears perked up when I figured out they were talking about baseball in 1976. Tom went on about how he and Wes’ dad had watched the world series at a bar and had a blast.

Wes was completely relaxed talking about it and after a few minutes, I realized he was getting Tom to remember past moments on purpose. And it was then that I knew Wes wasn’t going to change his mind about telling his secret.

After dinner was ready, we all ate in the dining room and Wes continued soliciting Tom’s memories of his “father.”

Listening to them was fascinating because I was learning more about Wes through the stories of his past, but it was also hard for me to keep a straight face. The food was delicious, but I ate like a nervous mouse, because in a few moments, my mother would know, not only that her daughter had lived past lives, but that the future
really
didn’t look good.

Suddenly, I couldn’t figure out why I’d ever thought it was a good idea to tell her. She was horrible with stress. It made no sense. My mashed potatoes took a beating as my fork turned them into railroad tracks on my plate.

“Sophie, that’s a beautiful ring,” my mom appraised from the opposite end of the dining room.

My gaze snapped to my left hand. It was the first time I’d let my hand be openly seen and it couldn’t be missed. “Thanks,” I said putting it under the table, immediately remembering why I wanted her to know the truth. It was because I wanted to marry Wes and for her to understand why.

“Is it new?”

I looked at Wes, whose gaze was locked on mine. “Um, yes, Wes got it for me. It has a crazy story behind it. I’ll tell you about it after dinner if you want.”

A hint of realization crossed her face. “Oh, okay.” Her eyes narrowed at Wes a little.

Tom came to our rescue. “Well, how about we clean up this mess and have dessert in the living room?”

I stood up quickly. “Sounds good.”

“Let me help,” Wes said, and in the blink of an eye, the three of us had cleared out with our plates, leaving my mom just as she was starting to come out of her thoughts.

In the kitchen, Tom took my plate. “Sophie, I think you’re about to give your mom a heart attack.”

His assessment surprised me, so I gave him a confused look. When he smiled, I felt a sense of comfort that he was on my side. “You have no idea.”

He laughed, “Well, let’s fix her a strong cup of coffee and a large slice of pie then.”

My mom busied herself with putting the dishes in the dishwasher and wouldn’t even make eye contact with Wes and me. Tom kept his promise and brewed the coffee and pulled the pie from the oven.

“Why don’t you go sit down, Gayle? We’ll bring in your coffee and dessert.”

She wiped her hands on the towel, tossed it on the counter, and nodded without a word.

“Yikes,” Tom said after she walked out.

“Yikes,” Wes repeated.

I gave him a hard look. “Don’t you chicken out.”

“I won’t. If you won’t.”

My mom ate her whole slice of pie in three bites and then buried her nose in her coffee cup. Her right leg was crossed over the other, swinging back and forth.

“Mom,” I started, “Wes and I have something to tell you.”

“Oh, no,” she said.

“Um.”

“You are not going to tell me that’s the kind of ring I think it is, are you?”

I cleared my throat. “Oh heavens, Sophie. You’re just a kid. And
you
.” She pointed her cup at Wes. “This is not the answer.”