THE FIGHT FOR GRACE
Chapter 3: Lucy and Grace
A dream woke Rick from his sleep, and for a moment he stayed where he was, spooned against Evelyn, his chest pressed up against her as she continued to sleep, unaware that he was awake. What he and Evelyn had learned from the attorney had disturbed Rick, mostly because Lucy didn’t have a normal childhood, and because she had married so young. His mind was filled with thoughts of her, and with the knowledge that he was not going to be able to go back to sleep, Rick gently slipped his arm out from under Evelyn’s body, and then he got out of bed. In the main room of their suite, Rick sat down on the sofa and leaned forward resting his forehead against his hands. He needed to know what had happened to his sister, and did not want to wait until morning to find out, but there was no other alternative; the only person capable of telling him about Lucy’s life was asleep, and the only other person who knew about Lucy would no more understand what had happened to her, than Alex. Unable to relax, Rick stood up from the sofa he had been sitting on, red velvet covered, and very comfortable, and began to pace the floor, to try and calm his nerves.
A room away from where Rick was trying to calm his jumbled emotions, Evelyn woke up in the large bed she had been sharing with her husband, realizing that she was alone. She sat up and looked around the darkened room, and when she could not find her husband, Evelyn slipped out of the bed. At the end of the bed, where a trunk was placed, she took her satin robe, and pulled it on, tying it around her waist as she started out of the room. At the door she stopped, watching as Rick paced the room with his head down. “Rick?” she called out softly. He looked at her, and she knew that he was hurting. Quickly she made her way across the large room, and hugged him, relieved when he returned her embrace. “Come back to bed,” Evelyn said as she looked up at him.
“I can’t sleep Evie, every time I shut my eyes, I see Grace, or Lucy crying, and there isn’t anything I can do for them.” He was frustrated, Rick hated feeling helpless, he was used to being able to do what he needed to solve a problem, but in this case it was out of his hands. Evelyn wrapped her arms around him, resting her cheek upon his chest. “I wish I could do something Rick, and the only think I can do is to stay by your side and love you, I do love you,” she said near tears. It was painful to watch the strong man whom she loved, struggling with this tragedy. Rick once again wrapped his arms around her, trying to draw strength from her love. “Let’s go back to bed,” he finally said after long moments of silence. Evelyn moved to his side, leaning against him as they went back to the bedroom. Rick slipped into bed, and when Evelyn moved in on her side, he reached out and pulled her gently against him. “I love you Evie,” he said as he nuzzled her neck. She turned over to face him, and they shared a slow searching kiss. When they parted, Evelyn settled her cheek against his chest, just below his neck hearing the strong beat of his heart. It soon lulled her to sleep, but for Rick sleep would not come, though holding Evelyn in his arms gave him the comfort he had sought just a few minutes before.
0
Morning arrived with the howling of wind outside, and rain pelting down against the roof of the large hotel. Rick and Evelyn had spent their waking moments making love, and then they had gotten dressed, and gone to the dining room for breakfast. At a small round table with a glass top, the two were having tea, and talking about Alex and their conversation with him. “I hope that dog stays out of my garden,” Evelyn said as she took a sip of her tea from a plain white china tea cup. She was slightly worried about Alex’s new pet, and hoped that Alex would continue to take care of it. Her thoughts were on the pet fish he had, whose care fell into her hands, and his pet turtle whose care also fell into her hands, once the excitement and newness of the pets wore off.
“I’m sure he will be fine, Alex seemed really happy to have him around, and I remember having a dog growing up,” Rick said. Evelyn noticed as he talked about the dog, that he was in a more positive mood, and she was happy to see that. When they finished breakfast, it was nearly 10am, and with at least an hours drive to see Rebecca, Rick paid their bill, and then walked around the table to Evelyn’s chair. He pulled it back for her, and helped her up.
In the lobby of the hotel, which was decorated with black marble floors, and beautiful Chandeliers on the ceiling, Rick made his way over to the reception area to enquire about transportation. As he waited for attention, and older man with grey hair approached him. “You are Mr. O’Connell?” he asked. Rick turned to him, and confirmed his question, and the gentleman informed him that a car had been provided for him, and Evelyn to use during their stay, by Franklin, the family attorney. After informing Rick of that, he sent his young Bell Boy to fetch the car, and pull it around front of the hotel, and reminded both Rick and Evelyn if they needed anything, all they had to do was ask.
A few minutes later, Rick was driving a brand new ford V8. He had looked at a map before they took off, to find the best way out of the city, which had changed a considerable amount since he was last there, and as they drove he pointed out various spots to Evelyn. “Not far from there is a park, I’ll take you there if it is nice tomorrow,” Rick said as they continued on their way. He knew how much Evelyn loved the park, primarily because she loved to go on walks with him, and truthfully he liked parks for that reason, to be with his wife, and share the day’s events as they experienced nature first hand.
While they were in the city, Evelyn sat in her seat listening as Rick told her about his time as a boy there, but as they left the city, and arrived on a long two lane road, leading into lush green countryside, he stopped talking. “It is pretty here,” she said as she looked out her window. It was still raining, but Evelyn was able to tell that American countryside was as pretty as her homeland.
Rick thought of his childhood, and remembered the good times along with the bad. “I guess living here wasn’t always so bad. My parents were adamant about attending church every Sunday, and I remember being threatened with my father’s belt when I complained about going, but every Sunday after service, we would take long drives, and eat the lunch my mom had made us.” Evelyn smiled as Rick shared that memory with her. She and Rick rarely attended church, though they both had a strong faith in god, especially due to recent events.
A few hours after leaving Chicago, and after a few missed turns, Rick finally found his way to Rebecca’s home. As he pulled the car in front of the large farmhouse, Rebecca herself stepped outside onto the front porch. She looked the same to Rick, just a little older, and as he and Evelyn made their way up the stairs she was smiling at them. Rebecca was tall, and had long silver hair which went down her back, and was pulled into a braid. Her skin was well tanned, and she wore a beautiful dress. “My, what a handsome man you have become Richard,” she said as she reached out to give him a hug. Rick hugged her, and introduced her to Evelyn. After the introductions were made, she led them into her den, which was right off of the front entrance of the house.
Just as Rick remembered as a boy, Rebecca was still the same caring person she had always been. She brought them tall glasses of iced tea, and once she was sure they had what they needed, she sat down in an old rocking chair across from where they were seated on a sofa. “I suppose I need to get started don’t I,” she asked offering them a smile.
Rick and Evelyn smiled back at her, and then Evelyn said, “We have a great deal of time on our hands, and Rick was telling me about his childhood here, but I was curious as to how you met his parents,” really interested in that, and also trying to make not all of what they talked about such a sad affair. Rebecca smiled at Evelyn, and it was evident that she was grateful to be able to talk about that time, times that for her were full of great joy. She spent the next hour and a half talking about those times, and Rick and Evelyn told her about Alex and their adventures in Egypt, and were surprised to find that she had heard about the find of Hamanaptra. “It was in all of the news clips at the theaters, though later they said that the find really could not be confirmed,” she informed them.
Rick took his last sip of tea and explained that to her. “It was too dangerous to us, and by then Evelyn was carrying our son Alex. It wasn’t hard to find the right contacts and pull the wool over the publics eyes,” he said as Rebecca stood up and took their glasses into the kitchen for a refill. When she came back, and was seated she began to tell them about Lucy. “She was so distraught after they were killed, and she had found a box of your things in the attic, Richard. A few Sundays after your parents were laid to rest, Dennis ran into James at his store and he agreed to come and talk to Lucy. He told her that her best bet in finding you was to start writing the embassy in Paris which she did weekly. We did not have the money to keep sending her letters, so she went along collecting pop bottles and tops for money, and managed to get enough for each week’s letter.”
While Rebecca talked about that, Rick thought about what she had said about the news clippings and enquired about that when he had the chance. “Did they tell you that it was Evelyn and myself?” he asked, somewhat puzzled. Rebecca took a long sip of her tea before she put it down on the coffee table in front of her. “They had your wife’s name, but not yours, and it did not even occur to me that the two of you were related, though I wish Dennis or myself would have thought to question that.”
There was so much Rebecca knew she should tell him about Lucy, but she knew that they needed to know about her later years, and she started with that. “When Lucy was fourteen, one Sunday at our church in Chicago, she met Michael. He was three years older than she, and very polite. It wasn’t long before Lucy was begging us to allow him to go on our picnics to the park, and we did, thinking that eventually Michael would move on to an older woman, or that Lucy would get tired of being around him so much of the time. We were wrong, and it wasn’t long before they were leaving us at our spot in the park to go off alone.”
This bit of knowledge made Rick shift comfortable in his seat. “You let my fourteen year old sister have time alone with him?’ he asked not pleased by this. He felt Evelyn take his hand and shut his eyes. “I am sorry Rebecca, I didn’t mean to raise my voice,” he said as he saw the pained look in her blue eyes.
She shook her head. “You are right Richard, but it was so rare when we found a smile on her face, and with Michael she was always happy.” Telling Rick and Evelyn about the marriage was more difficult, and Rebecca remembered how upset she and Dennis had been. “We tried to make her see that she had a whole life time ahead of her, and though there were other girls in her school who were married, neither Dennis nor I felt that she should do so. When it was evident that no amount of forbidding was going to sway her, we gave her our blessing, and were prepared to be at her side, should the marriage go wrong.” Talking about that time in Lucy’s life was evidently difficult for Rebecca, and Rick made the decision that for the time being they would discuss different things, and so he asked about Grace.
The mention of the baby brought a smile to Rebecca’s face, and she told them all about the little one. “Lucy was almost fifteen when she was born, and was living with us at the time. She and Michael had more bad times than good back then, and he was not happy about the baby at first, so we went to their apartment in Chicago and brought here her.
It was another surprise to Evelyn, that Lucy had been so young when she had her baby. She remembered what life was like when she gave birth to Alex, and could not imagine being just under fifteen with a newborn to care for. “That must have overwhelmed her,” Evelyn said as Rebecca returned from the kitchen with sandwiches for them all. Rebecca shook her had at that, and explained. “Lucy was very good with her baby, very attentive, and very patient. Grace was well loved by her mother, and I think her birth made Lucy realize that she needed to find a way to take care of that baby by her own means. You see she had hoped that Michael would come take them back, but as the time went by, she took her life, and Grace’s into her own hands, and by the time Grace was one, Lucy had gotten a job just at the edge of Chicago at that little café we all used to go to when you were a boy Richard. While she worked, I took care of the baby, and in no time at all, Lucy had the means to get a small apartment close to where she worked. Dennis and I worried for her safety, but she had met a few other mothers, who were without their husbands, and she seemed happy there.”
When they finished lunch, they took a small rest from talking about Lucy, and helped Rebecca with the dishes. For a while they told her about Alex, and their life in England, and a few of their adventures, without telling about the curses, and then, once again, Rebecca went back to Lucy, knowing that they needed to know more. “When Grace was nearly two, Michael arrived at their apartment begging Lucy to have a second chance. He promised her not to gamble anymore,” Rebecca said, feeling a little guilty about telling them of his bad habit. She was not a woman to gossip, and talking about another person’s wrong doing, and judging was not something she liked to do.
As Rebecca continued to tell about Michael’s return to Lucy’s life, and Grace’s, Evelyn thought about her brother Jonathan, and his love of the game, she had always thought his ways irresponsible, but compared to Michael he seemed to be a saint. They learned that Lucy and Michael got back together, and after that time, they visited Rebecca and Dennis almost every Sunday, and even met each other at church. “Michael truly changed, and Lucy’s life was finally the way we had hoped, until we received word from her a week before she went missing that she and Michael had been arguing over money. She was ready to come here with Grace, but then, the next day they all came over, and Michael asked us to pray for them which we did. He wanted our help to set up trust funds for Grace, and Dennis was ready to do that when Lucy went missing.”
By the time they left Rebecca’s the day was approaching its end. The sun was setting and they left Rebecca with more questions than answers. After a measurable amount of silence, as they traveled back to the city, Evelyn asked Rick what they were going to do, and he blew up at her. “I don’t know what to do Evelyn, do you think if I knew I would be telling you. I’m no closer to answers as to why she got killed than I was when we got to this damned place,” he yelled.
“Don’t you raise your voice to me Rick O’Connell, I was simply trying to figure out where to go next, but it is clear that you want to do this on your own, so I will pack my bags and get home to our son, where I should have stayed in the first place.” That last little bit she yelled, and the rest of the way to the hotel they didn’t speak to one another. When they arrived at the Renaissance Chicago, as Rick waited for the Bell Boy to come get the car, Evelyn made her way to the front desk, got out the money she had with her, and payed for a room of her own. She was upset by all of this, and most of all by Rick’s sudden out burst as well as her own. In their room she got her things, and managed to get out before Rick arrived. Her room was a floor below the one they had been sharing, and after she shut the door and had put her cloths down on a padded bench near the door, Evelyn went to the bed and sat down. She began to cry, even though she had tried not too, and once she started she found that she could not stop.
Finding the room empty did not concern Rick at first, in the past when he and Evelyn had a falling out, she would usually go on a walk to cool down. He was angry, but not at her, and new he owed her an apology when she arrived back in their room. For the time being he tried to go over in his mind what they had learned about Lucy. His initial reaction was to blame Michael for her murder, but it was evident from the way Rebecca had spoken of him, that he was not the one to point a finger at. Nearly an hour and a half passed when Rick realized something wasn’t right. He was getting dressed in something more comfortable, and realized that all of Evelyn’s things were gone and that caused him to sighed. He had a lot of making up to do, and with that in mind, he left the room to find out where she was staying.
0
A gentle kiss on her right cheek roused Evelyn from her sleep, and when she opened her eyes she found Rick looking down at her. “I’m sorry,” she began to say, but he placed a finger over her lips as he sat down next to where she was resting. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for. I didn’t have any right to yell at you, and I damn well shouldn’t have taken out my frustration on you.” She sat up, and he drew her into his arms. “I love you; will you come back to our suite?” He felt her head nod, and helped her get her things, and then they walked hand in hand back to their room.
As soon as the door to their suite shut, Rick let her things fall out of his hands, as he drew her into his arms. He lowered his head, and took her lips in a demanding kiss that left her breathless. Right now Lucy was the furthest thing from his mind, as he continued to kiss Evelyn, lifting her into his arms, cradling her as his lips traveled from her lips down her neck. Upon entering the bedroom he lifted his left foot, and shut the door that way, and for a very long time, they spent needed time together, making up for their falling out, and giving into the desires that seemed to always consume them.
II
The next morning after talking to Alex, and finding that he had experienced a bad dream, both of them were ready to wrap things up with Lucy’s murder, and get back to him. They knew they still had at least a month’s stay ahead of them, and their next point of interest was Michael. They phoned him at his mother’s and when they did not receive any answer, Rick took charge, and they drove through the city out into the residential areas being built to meet him as well as Grace.
In a newly developed subdivision, where a row of houses very similar in build stood, a man immerged from a three bedroom house with a white picket fence in front. He was relatively tall, perhaps just less than 6 feet, with a clean shaven face, and short hair. He had on overalls with stains, and looked well built. Behind him within the house were cries from some room unseen, and without a turn back to enquire about the cries, he shut the door and walked down the two stairs to the sidewalk and went to his car. Michael Arlington opened the door to his beat up pick up truck, and slid inside finding instantly that he was sitting on something. He pulled out a doll from under his bottom, and looked at it with annoyance. He looked out his open window as a black car drove past him, and as it traveled down the street a little ways he threw the doll out of the car, and then he started his truck and drove off toward his work at a meat packing plant.
Trying to find the house where Michael lived with his daughter and mother was proving to be frustrating. Rick remembered this part of town being farm land, and cursed under his breath as they came to the end of another street. He looked over at Evelyn who kept looking behind them. “What?” he asked. He turned left as she told him what she had seen. “I saw a man throw something out his window, it look like a baby, but that couldn’t be so,” Evelyn said. Rick knew this was bothering her, and when he offered to turn around she seemed relieved.
In a small barely furnished bedroom, of the house Michael had just left, Grace lay on her bed sobbing, as she rubbed her bare bottom. She hadn’t meant to wet the bed, and when she told her father, he had put her over his knee and spanked her very hard. He then stood her up to face him, and explained to her that she was a big girl, and knew better than to do such things. As she dried her eyes she looked around the room for her doll and when she didn’t find her, she remembered the truck. Grace ran to the door to her room, which was partial open. She knew she would get another spanking if she went out to try and get her dolly, but she needed Sarah, and as quiet as she could, so not to wake her grandma, she left her room, and made her way to the front of the house. The door was not shut all the way, and Grace opened it enough to look out the outer door. To her horror she saw Sarah lying in the middle of the street, and cried out when a car ran over her. Without another thought she ran out of the house, right into the street without thinking about anything accept her baby, a doll her momma had given to her. Grace had just picked up the porcelain doll that was all broken, and as she cried and rocked her she didn’t see the car speeding toward her, and only heard the squeal of the brakes a moment before she felt incredible pain as she was knocked to the ground, her head hitting the concrete with terrible force. The car that hit her, and went over her small body without running over her, sped on leaving her nearly lifeless on the ground, that is where Rick and Evelyn found her not more than ten seconds later. They both realized from the picture Franklin had given them, that the child they were seeing was Grace, and by then people were coming out of their houses to see what had happened.
O
At the hospital, Rick and Evelyn sat in the waiting room of the children’s ward worrying about Grace. Michael had been contacted at work, and Child Services had already been by to talk to them about what they had found. Michael’s mother who had been supposed to be taking care of Grace had been in bed. It appeared she had passed out when she had too much to drink, and no one knew if all of Grace’s days there were spent alone, with that woman passed out in another room. After too much time seemed to pass by, Rick stood up and was ready to go ask about their niece, when a doctor walked in. “Are you with the little girl who came in?” he asked. Again before Rick could get a word in, Michael arrived. “I am her father, how is my baby girl?” he asked not realizing that Rick had been ready to take the information.
“She has severe trauma to the back of her head, and her scull is cracked from the base of her left ear to the back of her skull. She has a broken arm from the blow of the car and she has been coming in and out of consciousness and has been very upset, asking for her mother”. Michael put his hand over his face and Rick went to him. “Michael?’ he asked. Michael looked at him and when Rick told him who he was for a very brief second, Rick saw what he thought was fear in that boys eyes. Michael was 20, and a handsome man, despite his messy cloths. “Franklin said he had sent for you.” Rick nodded his head. “Did you know about your mother?” he asked wanting to get to the bottom of this neglect his niece had obviously lived with for too long. Again Michael hung his head. “Yeah, but I never thought she would do this.” Evelyn walked over to them. “You should go in and see your daughter.” She said as he walked over to a chair to sit down.
“How can I face her, I left her with someone who let her run out into the street and nearly let her die, god I almost lost her just like my Lucy,” he said as he began to cry. Evelyn and Rick did what they could to comfort him, and when he asked Evelyn to go to her she was hesitant. “But your daughter does not know me, and I am sure she needs you,” Evelyn tried. Michael was clearly not in the right mind to go see her, so Evelyn found a nurse, who took her to the room where Grace was staying.
In a very large bed lay Grace, who looked very tiny in that bed. She was looking at the ceiling as Evelyn walked in. The nurse seated beside her stood up, and walked over to Evelyn. “She needs to be kept awake; the doctor says if we can keep her awake for the rest of the evening the likely hood of her slipping into a coma will lessen. Evelyn walked over to the bed and Grace’s eyes focused on her. “Hello Grace.” Grace covered her eyes and started to cry. Evelyn sat down next to the bed and tried to hold her hand but Grace wouldn’t let her. As she began to drift to sleep, Evelyn took her hand and patted it waking her up, and again making her cry. “Shhh, I’m sorry Grace, but the doctor needs for you to stay awake.”
Grace withdrew her hand, and then Michael came into the room. When he spoke her name, Grace stopped crying, and Evelyn told him about the doctor. A nurse arrived and told them only one person could be there with Grace, so Rick and Evelyn left to sit in the waiting room. As they sat in the uncomfortable chairs, things seemed too calmed down, and Rick found his wife deep in thought. When he reached out to take her hand she drew in her breath, and when she looked at him, he could tell she was worried. “Rick, the doll, when we passed by Michaels house I saw him throw that doll out of the truck before he took off.” Rick knew Evelyn couldn’t have seen the driver of the truck, and told her as much. “We can’t jump to conclusions Evelyn, he loves his daughter.” Evelyn wasn’t so sure, and for a while longer they sat before a man approached them from child services. He began to ask them about something a neighbor had seen, about the very thing Evelyn had seen as well. The man took down the information Evelyn gave to him, and left.
An hour and a half later, an officer passed by them, and neither Rick nor Evelyn thought anything about it, until they head commotion coming from the area where Grace’s room was. They ran there and found Michael being escorted out by an officer. “Wait a second what are you doing,” Rick asked as a woman dressed in a business suit walked into the room Grace was in. They heard her start to cry, and as Michael was led away they told Rick and Evelyn he was spending time in jail for possibly abusing his daughter.
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