Surfacing
Part 14
By Lauren
The room was dark and cool when Drew opened her eyes. She was in the hospital, she could tell, and she knew that she wasn’t remembering anymore, because Ray was asleep in a molded plastic chair across from the bed.
“Uh,” she whispered as she exhaled. Pain was still shooting through her body, and she gasped for air as her memory sucked her in, pulling her down again.
She was sitting at a table in Millennium, busily figuring up order forms and billing paperwork. The sun was bright outside, and she recognized that it was near the end of March by looking at the date on the bills; fifteen days after Elena had been born, and about a year and seven months before the incident at the Santos house.
“Drew?” a familiar voice called out, and as she looked up, she saw Marah walk in the door. Her face still looked horrible, and now added to the bruising, her lips were bruised and looked to have been bleeding.
“Over here,” she said quietly, unable to keep herself from staring at Marah’s mottled face.
“That bad, huh?” she asked, sitting down across from Drew and sliding her purse off her shoulder.
“Huh? Oh, your face?” Drew asked innocently, tearing her eyes from Marah’s bruises and staring back down at the paperwork.
“No, the third eye I sprouted last night,” Marah began sarcastically, then checked her smirk. Drew knew that Marah was still incredibly uneasy around her, and part of Drew insisted that Marah had a right to be. The newly discovered conscience that Selena had pointed out begged Drew to forgive and forget, but the wounds were too fresh in Drew’s mind. “Yeah, I mean my face.”
Drew shrugged indifferently. “It looks like it took more than a splat against a concrete floor to do that kind of damage.”
Marah paled. “What are you saying?”
“I’m simply saying that it’s common knowledge that you and I aren’t the best of pals since Jesse died,” Drew stated, inwardly wincing at the mention of Jesse. “Since you don’t have to impress me, why don’t you go ahead and tell me what really happened?”
Looking away, Marah shook her head. “It’s a long story.”
“Does this have something to do with the Santos case?” Drew asked.
Instead of going off as she’d done at the pool, Marah simply stared at Drew coolly. “I told you before, the Santos case isn’t something that I’m entitled to discuss.”
“Oh, for God’s sake, cut the lawyer crap,” Drew said, rolling her eyes. “You haven’t even taken your bar exam yet. You must know something if Griffin Williams is trusting you to help with this case.”
“I’m interning with Griffin,” Marah said sharply. “Of course he trusts me.”
“I still think that it must be more than that,” Drew probed. “Any other case about a multi-million dollar corporation would be plastered all over the front page of the papers, but not this one. I find the circumstances surrounding this to be rather unusual, don’t you?”
Marah sat back in her chair and regarded Drew with a skeptic’s eye. “Why are you so interested in this case?”
“I’m a curious person,” Drew smirked. “And then there’s the fact that one of my friends, who just had a baby, is married into this godforsaken family.”
Marah’s eyes narrowed. “What do you know, Drew, exactly?”
Drew took a deep breath, then set her pencil down and stood up. “I know that the Santoses and the Spauldings are in some sort of quiet legal brawl about something. I know that you, for some reason unknown to me, are in pretty deep as far as the case is concerned. I know that Andy Reardon, a newspaper reporter, has plenty of information regarding the case and, as of yet, has not published it. And I know that Danny’s baby daughter is in danger, along with his wife.”
Marah’s mouth was set, her eyes cool. “What do you want me to say, Drew?”
“I just want some answers so that I don’t have to worry about this anymore,” Drew said. “Why don’t you start with the whole Andy Reardon question? I know that he has this information because I overheard your conversation; we’ve already established that. But I also know that he did a story on a Mafia family in Boston. He’s done it before; why isn’t he covering this story again?”
“Andy is a respectable journalist, and I’m sure he wants to be certain that all his details are correct before he divulges them to the public,” Marah responded mechanically.
“Spaulding has your father’s company, right?” Drew asked suddenly.
Marah looked taken aback. “Yes, Spaulding does have control of Lewis Oil at the moment.”
“Is that why Griffin wants you to work on this case? Because you have an in with the Spauldings?” Drew asked.
“Since when did you become a law student?” Marah snapped, standing and picking up her purse. “You have no right to cross-examine me on this.”
Drew sighed. “I know. I know. I just want…I don’t even know what I want. I want to make sure this baby isn’t hurt.”
“This case isn’t violent,” Marah insisted. “You want to know the basics? Okay. You know that Danny’s been wanting to go legit with SanCorp for a long, long time.”
“Yeah,” Drew agreed.
“And you know about the Spaulding bankruptcy matter a while ago. Okay. Spaulding’s biggest financial company is the plastics division, and when they lost their Middle East petroleum suppliers, some of their products were unable to be produced and they filed for bankruptcy. Danny, being the shrewd businessman that he is, saw the opportunity and began negotiations to buy the plastics division; they eventually made a deal with Danny, and he acquired the company. Then Philip Spaulding took over Lewis oil, and voila, they had their petroleum supply back. He reneged on the deal, and Carmen decided to take legal action. That’s where Griffin and I come in.”
Drew took a deep breath and swallowed. “That…that explains a hell of a lot of things that have been going on around here.”
“Yeah, but trust me, they don’t need to be explained to anyone else,” Marah said sharply, reaching up to rub her eye and wincing as she touched a bruise.
“Well, for God’s sake, I’m not going to run out and tell Michelle,” Drew said defensively.
“I hope not,” Marah replied shortly. “Listen, I have a lot of work waiting for me at the office, and I have homework, too, so if you’ll excuse me…”
“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Drew said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “But hey, did you want to ask me a question or something? You didn’t tell me why you came in.”
“I was looking for someone,” she answered quickly.
Drew persisted. “Who?”
“Andy,” Marah admitted. “I was going to tell him that I’m moving away from the farm.”
“Oh,” Drew replied, raising an eyebrow. “Find a little apartment near the courthouse?”
“No,” Marah replied, her voice tight. “I’m moving in with Ben.”
“Oh?” Drew asked. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you. Now, if you haven’t seen Andy, then I’ve got to go find him myself.”
“He hasn’t been in today,” Drew responded.
“Well, then, I’ll see you later. Coming to the christening this afternoon?” she asked, her hand on the doorknob.
“I had planned on it,” she answered. “St. Michael’s isn’t a far walk.”
“Well, I’ll see you there,” Marah replied, walking smoothly out the door, managing to look elegant even with a marred face.
A few moments later the numbers in front of Drew began to swim, and she decided to run upstairs to grab a sandwich. The staircase creaked under her feet as she climbed up to the second floor; the doorknob to the apartment was cool under her fingers.
“Hey, Max, what are you still doing here?” she asked as she shut the door behind her and crossing to the kitchen.
Max was sprawled out on the couch, watching television. “Drew, it’s Saturday morning,” Max replied, rolling his eyes. “I don’t have to be at school or anything.”
“I know that,” Drew replied with a smile. “But you’re usually out of the apartment as quickly as possible on the weekends.”
“I just didn’t feel like it this morning, that’s all,” Max sighed, pressing a button on the remote control and changing the channel to Saturday morning cartoons.
Drew’s countenance wavered with concern. “Are you sick or something?”
“No, I’m just worn out from school and everything,” Max replied, adjusting the pillow under his head and rolling on to his side.
“How’s school going?” Drew asked cautiously. She knew that she hadn’t been paying as much attention to Max as she should have lately. With everything that had happened, she just hadn’t felt able to cope with her responsibilities, including her brother.
“Fine,” Max answered automatically.
“I mean, I know you’re taking some pretty serious classes this semester,” Drew ventured. “Everything’s okay?”
“I told you that things are fine,” Max repeated shortly.
“Are you sure? Because—“
“Yes,” Max said firmly, rising from the couch and retreating to his room.
“Elena’s christening is this afternoon, and I want you to go with me,” Drew called out.
“I don’t want to go,” Max yelled back.
“I would really, really appreciate it if you would come, and I know that Danny and Michelle would, too,” Drew tried again.
Max reappeared momentarily. “I really don’t know either of them very well,” he said. “I have plans with Susan later.”
Drew sighed and slapped her sandwich together. “Fine. But you’re coming to temple with me tonight, whether you like it or not.”
“I’m not Jewish, Drew,” he called back.
“I know you’re not Jewish,” she replied, walking to his room and standing in the doorway. “But I would really like it if you’d come. I miss being around you. We hardly ever talk anymore.”
“I miss Jesse,” Max said suddenly, and Drew felt her heart drop.
“I know you do,” she whispered. “I miss him, too. More than you could know.”
“He was like my brother,” Max began, his voice raw. “I had never had a guy around all the time that I could talk to before Jesse.”
“You can talk to Buzz,” Drew offered, “or Ben.”
“Buzz has his own family to worry about,” Max explained. “And I caught Ben the bartender sneaking a bottle of bourbon from the liquor case the other night. Not exactly a role-model kind of guy.”
Drew’s eyes were confused. “You saw Ben stealing that liquor?”
“It sure looked like it. I mean, I guess he could have been doing inventory or something, but that’s not how I took it,” Max clarified.
“I’ll talk to him about it later,” Drew promised. “Hey, what about Ross? You guys seemed to get along great.”
“I haven’t talked to Ross in months, Drew,” Max replied. “And it’s not the same. Nothing’s the same. It makes me sick.”
“I know,” Drew whispered, tears beginning to well in her eyes.
“I just hate this so damned much,” he said, gritting his jaw. He picked up a framed picture of himself standing outside Company with Jesse. Drew recognized it as coming from the day Max got his driver’s license.
Max looked at the picture, then hurled it against a wall, denting the paint and shattering the glass of the frame.
Drew gasped unintentionally. “Max…” she began, but stopped when he sat down on his bed and began to sob.
She’d never seen her brother this way, crying unabashedly. “It hurts, Drew,” he whispered through his tears.
Feeling her own tears slide down her cheeks, she sat next to him on his bed and wrapped her arms around him. “I know,” was all she could whisper. “I know.”
Max cried until the tears wouldn’t come anymore, then wiped his puffy eyes and stood, grabbing his jacket and mumbling a time that he would return. “Have to pick up Susan,” he murmured as he left the room.
Drew sat for a long time, thinking, letting her ever-present grief and pain flow through her veins. She was startled to discover that it was almost three o’clock; the christening was at three-thirty and she had to make herself look presentable.
Her hair was a mess. She’d had it cut shortly before Jesse died, to shoulder length, so it was easier to style. Unfortunately, now she had to style it, or it stuck out in a million directions. She plugged in the curling iron and plodded over to her closet to find something to wear.
She was ready in record time, and hurried out of the apartment to St. Michael’s. The church was already almost full when she walked through the heavy wooden doors. Michelle and Danny were seated near the front, with Dahlia and Ray on either side of them. Ray was wearing a regular suit and tie, as Father Tomas was performing the ceremony. Rick, Abby, and Ed sat behind them, and Carmen and Danny’s grandmother were across the aisle from them. Miscellaneous other Springfield citizens were gathered, including Matt and Vanessa, who were sitting with Andy.
Drew slipped into the back pew, across from Marah and Ben, and slid her purse off her shoulder and into the pew. I have to talk to Ben, she reminded herself, her eyes cold as she stared at his placid face. The service began, and Danny and Michelle approached the front of the church, Danny cradling the baby in his arms. Drew unintentionally tuned most of the service out, simply watching Danny and his daughter interact.
Whenever Elena fidgeted, Danny automatically shifted her in his arms to make her more comfortable. Every time she gurgled, he smiled down on her, and when she waved one of her tiny fists in the air, he immediately reached for it and let her curl her tiny fingers around his larger one. Drew found herself so engrossed in their interaction that she jumped when Selena sat down next to her and touched her shoulder.
“Sorry,” Selena whispered with a smile. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Drew whispered. “Why are you late?”
“Things were pretty hectic at Company,” she explained, brushing away a strand of hair.
“Oh,” Drew replied.
“What did I miss?” Selena murmured.
“I don’t really know,” Drew admitted. “I really don’t get all this Catholicism stuff. I’ve been watching the baby.”
“She’s already beautiful, isn’t she?” Selena observed, grinning as Danny handed the baby to Michelle. Father Tomas poured water out onto the baby’s head, and she began to cry.
“Yeah, she is,” Drew agreed. “It’s so weird to watch Danny with her. I mean, he’s definitely different around Michelle, but when he’s holding the baby, he seems like a completely different person. Softer.”
“He’s never experienced that kind of love before,” Selena mused.
“What do you mean?” Drew whispered back, watching intently as Danny attempted to soothe his daughter.
“It’s very strange to be loved and depended on that unconditionally,” Selena explained, her eyes far away. “I mean, Michelle loves him, but not the same, blind way that a baby loves. It makes a person feel like they’ve done at least one thing right.”
Drew half-smiled from the corner of her mouth. “How did you get so smart?”
Selena turned to her with a wistful grin. “I experienced it,” she replied, tucking a strand of Drew’s hair behind her ear.
Drew allowed her smile to spread over the rest of her face and leaned against her mother’s shoulder. Selena smiled and patted her daughter’s head softly.
Contented, Drew closed her eyes, and opened them again to a familiar curtain of blackness.