Past Tense Rising - 12
All notes and disclaimers are in the previous eleven parts.
**
Danny pulled the car up to Marilyn and Bob Ashton's house and turned
off the motor. He stared into space for a minute or two until CJ
spoke.
"I'm sure everything will work out, Danny." she tried in vain to
reassure him, for the eighth time in the past half hour. "She'll love
that present you got her."
"I don't think a present can make up for losing her parents this
way." Danny remarked, taking a deep breath.
The front door opened and a tiny girl came out onto the porch,
obviously looking for someone. From what CJ could see, her face was
pale, with a splashing of freckles across her nose, and she had dark,
almost auburn, red hair that was pulled into a messy ponytail with
bangs swept carelessly to one side of her forehead.
"Oh my God, is that her?" CJ asked, feeling a wave of what she'd
later describe to Toby and Carol as deja vu. "Danny, she looks just
like you."
"Guess it's now or ever." Danny grabbed the package and got out of
the car.
The little girl's face lit up and she bounded down from the stairs.
"Uncle Danny! Uncle Danny!" she shrieked in what could only be
described as pure joy, jumping into his open arms.
"Hi, Princess!" Danny lifted her off the ground and hugged her
tightly. "How's my favorite Megan? I missed you so much!"
"I missed you too!" Megan kissed his nose, then squirmed to get
down. "Lookit the hat and shirt that Mommy and Daddy got me last
week."
CJ looked at the navy blue baseball cap, which had a simple, "United
States Navy," logo on it and smiled sadly. The shirt Megan was
wearing was plain white with red and blue words that said, "Don't
mess with me, my mommy's a Marine!"
"Oh, that's great, Princess." Danny cleared his throat to keep from
bursting into tears. He briefly thought something unsuitable to be
repeated in the presence of a woman and a five year old child of
Marilyn and Bob Evers. His eyes welled up. "I brought you something
too, Princess." He handed her the package.
"WOW!" Megan shouted as she ripped the paper off the package to
reveal the miniature F-14 jet. "COOL! Just like the one Daddy flies!
Thank you, Uncle Danny!" she attacked him again with hugs and kisses.
"Come here, Megan." Danny said, laying his hands on her
shoulders. "Did Marilyn tell you why you were staying here?"
"No." Megan said. "She said you would tell me."
CJ's mouth dropped open and she quickly closed it. She winced away
from the look in Danny's eyes. 'How dare they.' she thought
spitefully. 'They want custody of this child, yet they won't even be
the ones to tell her what happened to her parents.'
"Okay, well, I'll tell you in a little while." Danny promised. "Right
now, I want you to meet a very good friend of mine." he turned her to
face CJ. "This is CJ."
Megan looked at CJ for a moment, her brow crinkled in concentration.
"It's nice to meet you, Megan." CJ shook her hand. "Danny's been
telling me all about you while we were coming down here."
"You're the lady on the TV!" Megan exclaimed. "When the 'dent was
sick! Is your real name CeeJay?"
Surprised, CJ smiled. "No, CJ's a nickname. My real name is Claudia
Jean. How do you know I was on television?"
"My daddy and mommy made me watch the news with them while the 'dent
was sick. He said 'history shouldn't be forgotten so we won't repeat
it.' Then he hugged me. My daddy, I mean." Megan replied, proud of
herself for remembering something that had happened months ago. "I
like Claudia better than CJ."
Danny looked up and saw Marilyn Evers at the front door with her
oldest daughter, who looked to be about seventeen or so, watching
them from the window.
"Why don't the two of you talk while I go say hello to Marilyn?" he
suggested.
"Okay!" Megan said happily. She grabbed CJ's hand. "My mommy and
daddy aren't here right now, but they've been gone forever, so
they'll be back soon!"
CJ nodded at Danny. "We'll be fine."
Danny approached the porch. "Can I talk to you, Marilyn?" he
asked. "Alone?"
Marilyn nodded. "Come inside, Danny." She led him into the living
room.
"You didn't tell her yet." Danny accused. "About Matt and Trish.
"No, we thought you'd want to break the news to her." Marilyn
replied.
"That's great, Marilyn." Danny said sarcastically. "You want to raise
her, but you haven't even told her that her mommy and daddy aren't
coming back? Jesus Christ, the funeral's in three days!"
"Keep your voice down!" Marilyn snapped. "We all thought that since
Matt was your brother, you should be the one to--"
"Bullshit." Danny spat out. "Tell me, Marilyn, since Matt was my
brother, why is it that I'm qualified to break Megan's heart, but to
not take her and raise her as my own child?"
"You're not married." Marilyn said. "Your job takes you all over the
place at a moment's notice. Trish has told me you tend to lose your
temper at times. And I've done some digging on you, Danny Concannon.
You drink and you seem to have no inhibitions about trashing your
office whenever you get angry."
"You had me checked out?" Danny asked, his voice rising along with
his anger level. "What the hell gives you the right to judge me and
my life?"
"When it's my cousin's child you'll be wanting to raise, I make it my
right." Marilyn said, crossing her arms.
"What about the funeral?" Danny asked. "Or am I banned from that?"
"Don't be an idiot." Marilyn said. "We contacted the Navy and the
Marines. They're taking care of the arrangements."
**
"GINGER!"
Ginger's head snapped up at the shout from Toby's office. She ran
into the office. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"God dammit, Ginger, did you deliver that memo to Leo that I asked
you to?" Toby shouted.
Ginger wracked her brain for a moment before answering. "You didn't
give me a memo to deliver to Leo, Toby."
"Bull!" Toby shouted. "Jesus, what the hell is wrong with you?"
"Toby, what's so important about this memo?" Ginger asked,
unconsciously backing away, out of his reach.
"Leo's going to a meeting on the Hill this afternoon. I was supposed
to have the information he needs to him an hour ago. I gave you the
memo, what did you do with it?" he glared at her menacingly.
"Toby, you never gave me any memo." she replied evenly. "Why don't
you just calm down and we'll figure out what happened."
"Ginger, you're lying." Toby snapped. "Just tell me what you did with
the memo, for Christ's sake, before Leo leaves."
"Dammit, Toby, I couldn't have done anything with the memo because I
never had it!" she shouted back. "I don't deserve all this screaming
and abuse because I didn't have the goddamn memo!"
"Then why do you take it?" Toby asked quietly, the anger disappearing
from his countenance and voice. "Why do you take it from me and why
the hell do you take it from him?"
Past Tense Rising - 13
|