Part 1--
Julia went to the preemie unit to go see the baby. She was in an isolette, and Julia thought she looked so small and helpless in there.
"Would you like to hold her?" a nurse asked.
"Yes, please," Julia said. "I would."
The nurse brought the baby to Julia as she sat in a rocking chair. The baby was awake, and Julia could already see that her eyes were changing from blue to brown.
"Hello, again, little one," Julia whispered. "I guess we're going to have to give you a name. We have one all picked out for you."
The baby's eyes were fixated on Julia. Despite her small size, Julia marvelled at how perfect her little girl was. She only weighed a little just under four and a half pounds, and was eighteen and a half inches long. She would be in the preemie unit until she reached a minimum of five and a half pounds.
"I wanted you to know, little one," Julia said, "that you were conceived out of love and respect, and not because of a violent act. I'm just so sorry that you'll never get to meet the man who helped me create you. He was honorable and kind, though he had a reputation for being cruel. He gave me his love freely, he was gentle, he was loving. He would be so thrilled to know that one of the last acts in his life was to give you to me.
"Before me, he had one great love in his life. She meant everything to him. He took her death very hard. I came into his life right after that, and I hope and pray I gave him a reason to keep going. He didn't know his time was limited. Maybe someday, when this stupid war is over, we'll go find his final resting place, you and I. For now, you give me all the right reasons to help end this war. I don't want you to grow up in this place, with its cruel and evil leaders. I want you to know freedom, respect for others, and a sense of purpose. That's what I want for you, Mirielle Grace. A chance to live in a world I didn't get to grow up in."
Baby Mirielle yawned, and her mother gently rocked her to sleep.
Julia watched her daughter sleep, and thought, this war ends this year. For you and other little ones.
Julia's killer instincts were still there, but now, they had a real purpose: to give her daughter a safe place to grow up. When that was done, maybe I could let the killer in me sleep for good, she thought.
----------
Jordan was having a hard time explaining to her three year old daughters why they couldn't go and see Julia and the new baby.
"I just want to see her, Mama," Kimber whined. "Why can't we go see the new baby?"
"Because she was born too early, and needs time to get bigger before lots of people come and visit," Jordan said.
"So?" Niki said. "We'll be good, Mama. Promise!"
"I don't think it has anything to do with being good, Nicole," David said as he walked into the room; "The baby can get sick easily if there's too many people coming to see her. We just have to be patient and wait for Julia and Ryan to say it's okay."
"Well, poo," Kimber said. "She just needs to hurry up and get bigger."
David rolled his eyes. "It doesn't work that way," he said.
After the girls went back to playing, David looked at Jordan and said,
"Well, Jord, that went well."
"Didn't it though?" asked Jordan sarcastically.
"Did Julia and Ryan give their daughter a name yet?" asked David.
"If they have, they haven't told anyone," Jordan said. "I'd like to be able tell people my granddaughter's name."
David sighed. He couldn't believe he and Jordan (or at least Jordan) were grandparents. He thought about how he made his parents wait til he was over forty to have children, and here was Julia, at eighteen, who had made her mother a grandmother at forty-two.
"You're the hottest grandma I've ever seen," David said, putting his arms around Jordan's waist.
"David, I've only been a grandma for four days, I'm not even used to the idea of being called Nonna yet!" Jordan said.
"She won't being calling you anything for a while," David said. "She is, as you've said, only four days old."
"At least they'll let Julia stay with the baby until she's ready to come home," said Jordan. "I just wish Julia would tell me if they've named her yet."
----------
Ryan stopped by the preemie unit on his way to Julia's room. A nurse came out to show him to his daughter's isolette. There she was, a perfect little replica of Julia, sleeping peacefully.
He sat in the rocking chair nearest the isolette and just watched the baby sleep.
On the little tag that had been slid into a clear envelope, was written "Summers, Baby Girl" along with her birth weight and length. Then the number that matched the bracelets that both Julia and the baby wore; Julia's on her wrist, and the baby's on her ankle.
"How is she doing? She's not having any problems because she came early, is she?" Ryan asked the nurse tending to his baby girl.
"She's a little jaundiced, but that's to be expected in ones this small," the nurse said. "She's being treated for it. She seems to be eating well, and your wife nursed her today without problems."
"So all she has to do is gain weight?" asked Ryan.
"Pretty much," said the nurse. "She's being monitored for breathing troubles, but it looks like her lungs were pretty well developed, so she only needs a little help there, and that will clear up as she gets bigger."
Ryan thanked the nurse, took one last look at the baby, then headed to Julia's room.
Julia was awake, reading a book on baby and child care. "Hey pretty mama, whatcha doin'?" Ryan said.
"Reading everything I can get my hands on," Julia said. "You go see Mirielle?"
"Yeah," Ryan said; "She seems to be doing well. And I hear that you got to nurse her today."
"I did," Julia said, "and that little girl has no problem latching on. So her sucking reflex works... maybe a little too well."
"Sore, are ya?" asked Ryan.
"A little," laughed Julia; "Good thing that I get to alternate or we might have problems. They gave me this creme that helps with that, but the jury's still out on if it does help."
"I wish we could have people come and see her," Ryan said; "but with her being so small, it's probably a good thing that they not. Mom wants pictures of her granddaughter."
"She's just going to have to wait like everyone else," Julia said. "We should tell people that the baby has a proper name now. I filled out the birth certificate info this afternoon."
"Did you have to spell Mirielle for them?"
"I filled it out in all caps," Julia said, "so if they get her name wrong it's their fault and not mine. I'll get to check it for errors before they send it to the records office."
"What do we tell people when they ask how we came up with the baby's name?" Ryan asked. "I was just thinking of telling people that we found it in a baby name book."
"That's a good idea," Julia said; "Only you and I have to know where her name really came from."
"It's a pretty name, Jules," Ryan said. "We don't have to explain nothin' to nobody."
"Don't talk like a hick, Ryan," Julia said, laughing; "it sounds weird coming from a guy from Wisconsin."
"I did spend summers on my grandparents dairy farm," Ryan said; "but neither of them talked like that. My grandparents were college educated. They paid for me to go to school down here. May as well, right, since my parents both worked on the compound."
"Too bad your dad didn't live long enough to see you graduate from college with honors," Julia said. "He'd be so proud."
"He liked you Julia," Ryan said; "He told me that he expected me to marry you one day."
"If he only knew," Julia said. "I'm just sorry I didn't get to know him better."
"Me, too Jules," Ryan said.
----------
Oh, for the love of God, Dan thought as he went through the intel that morning. It had been piling up in the ten days between Christmas and the middle of the first week in January.
He ran across something that made him seriously question the sanity of the men on the Committee.
There was a death threat against Julia's daughter. "She's four fucking days old! What could she have possibly done to warrant this, other than be Julia's child?"
Dan was on the phone to Morbus. The former bodyguard had plans to go to Arlington to see Christine Collins, and Dan knew he was about to throw a monkey wrench into those plans.
"Morbus," Dan said when he got him on the phone, "you might have to cancel your trip to Arlington for a while."
"What's up, Dan?" asked Morbus. And Dan told him. This did not make for a happy Morbus.
"I'm sorry, brother," Dan said; "I just got this moments ago. It's dated today so it's recent."
"Nobody is going to get near my granddaughter, Dan, you got that?" Morbus said angrily. "I'll stand watch over her myself if that's what it takes."
"Before you go over there and freak out all the nurses," Dan said, "we need to tell Julia and Ryan what's going on."
"Agreed, Dan," Morbus said; "but let me do it. I haven't seen the baby yet so I want to at least know what this little girl looks like."
"Okay, Morbus," said Dan; "Just don't scare people. And don't scare Julia. She's a new mom now, and she will want to protect her baby."
"I know, Dan," was all Morbus said before he hung up. No one is going to get near my daughter and granddaughter, he thought. I'll die for them if that's what it takes.
----------
Part 2--
Carl Parks, it was becoming obvious to those around him, was sinking deeper and deeper into madness.
He had an almost sick fascination with Julia Summers, and he wanted to make her life as miserable as possible. If that meant threatening to kill her days old baby girl, so be it.
He almost was gleeful as he wrote out the order to kill the child and anyone who got in the way of that goal. When a New Army non-com questioned the order, Parks was adamant: nothing less than death for the child, her mother, and anyone who dared get in the way.
The non-com expressed his concerns to his superior. He was told not to carry out the order.
"Parks is not playing with a full deck," the Lieutentant in charge said. "I will not be the one who takes Carl Parks' sick revenge fantasies out on an innocent child."
So the order was ignored. Parks had no clue. He still believed that someone would go out and make Julia Summers watch the death of her child.
However, the one person who could prevent this aborted attempt at revenge was at the hospital on the compound, visiting his granddaughter.
----------
Morbus really didn't want to scare the nurses in the newborn ward, so he kept his hood up and asked where Julia Summers' room was.
A nurse led him to just outside the door of Julia's room, then asked,
"What interest do you have in this patient, Mr. Morbus?"
"I've known Julia Summers her entire life, and she's like a daughter to me," he said. "I don't understand why I have to explain my intentions of being here."
Jasmine was just getting off the elevator to come see Julia herself, and overheard the exchange.
"Morbus," she said, "I'm sure that Julia would be happy to see you. Tell her I'll be in to see her shortly."
To the nurse, Jasmine said, "Morbus has permission to be in any part of this hospital without being interrogated. He's the one who trains people like Julia Summers to keep your ass safe, so just watch yourself."
"Yes, Nurse Donovan," the young nurse said, cowed.
On her way to Julia's room, Jasmine thought, I hate having to pull rank like that, but geez, why are people so freaked out by Morbus, after all the time he's spent here?
----------
Morbus knocked on the door to Julia's room, saying, "Julia, it's me, may I come in?"
Julia looked up from watching her daughter nurse, to Morbus. "Hey, Morbus," she said; "I'm glad you came by. They're letting Miri spend more time in here with me."
Morbus felt a little uncomfortable watching Julia nursing her child. Julia sensed this and broke Miri's suction on her nipple so she could burp her. The baby was half asleep anyway.
"Can I see, Julia?" Morbus said. Julia turned the baby around so that Morbus could see his granddaughter's face. She was halfway between being asleep and awake.
"She looks like you, Julia," Morbus said. "Just like that little girl I rescued from the New Army's plans nearly nineteen years ago."
"Was I this small?" Julia asked.
"I think you were a little bigger," Morbus said. "I think on your isolette, it said you were five pounds and one ounce. You were born more or less on time. I think your due date was June 12th."
"So I shouldn't be too worried that Miri is so small?" asked Julia, "Since I wasn't much bigger. You know, I don't even think Mom knows how much I weighed."
"How did you come up with her name?" Morbus said. "'Miri'? Is that short for something?"
"Her name is Mirielle Grace, Morbus," Julia said. "Miri is just easier to say."
"I think that was Jack Coltrane's wife's name," Morbus said. "I know that you and he had an understanding about what would happen to you."
"I didn't show him the fear he expected to see," Julia said. "He never did to me what he was supposed to, what he was known for. I may have begrudgingly earned his respect. He made me his aide, because as he put it, 'I can't scare someone who can't be scared.'"
"So he never hurt you?" asked Morbus.
"No, Morbus, he didn't," Julia said. "His wife had died just a couple of months before, and I think he came back to work too soon after."
"But you were gone for such a long time," said Morbus. "He could have easily let you go."
"He did, eventually," Julia said. "I stayed because I said I would in exchange for Niki, Kimber, and Noah Paul's freedom."
"He was fond of you, wasn't he?" Morbus asked.
"Yes," Julia said. "He said I reminded him of his wife. Same temperment, same strengths; she was fearless, he said, like I am."
"She had to be, being married to a military man," Morbus said. "I understand now why you were so upset when you learned he had been killed."
"I was fond of him, too, Morbus," Julia said. "He made my incarceration at Great Lakes bearable. He didn't have to do that."
Miri had awaken and started to fuss. "Oh, someone might be wet," Julia said. She got out of the bed and went over to Miri's isolette and quickly changed the baby's diaper. "Is that better, Miri? All nice and dry now?" Julia said in the singsong voice new mothers use.
Morbus sat spellbound. His little girl was all grown up with a little girl of her own. Only one thing nagged at him.
He suspected that Jack Coltrane, and not Ryan Summers, was baby Mirielle's father.
But he would keep that to himself.
----------
Life had become routine. Get up, get dressed, go out and feed the animals, clean up after them, check the henhouse for eggs. During the winter, there was the shoveling of snow to take care of as well.
Christofferson liked the routine. He'd lived with it his entire military career, he just now applied it to his ranch instead of his troops.
He had met a young woman out in town, and they spent time together. After a few weeks, he ended it because, as he told her then, "I'm too old for you, and you need to find someone closer to your own age to play house with."
She had protested, but realized he was right. After New Years, he was alone again. The real reason he ended it wasn't just because of the age difference, but because she didn't measure up to the two women he'd trusted his feelings to before her.
How in the hell could any woman live up to such high expectations? he thought.
Occasionally, he'd run across a ribbon in a book, and think of Julia. He wondered how she was doing and how her life was turning out. He caught himself thinking of her when he least expected it-- a woman her age with a similar build; same hairstyle; when he read about strong women in the local paper who had overcome desperate odds...
He'd take the picture out of the nightstand drawer and look at it and wonder what life with her would have been like. Then he'd chide himself for being a sentimental old fool and put the picture away.
But then she'd invade his dreams, and he couldn't let her go. That last night always played with his mind: Jack, come with me...
Why did I let you get away? he'd always ask her in his head.
----------
Sarah Kathryn wasn't doing too well mentally or emotionally.
She was still reeling that Neil was not only dead, and had been for months before he was found, but that he gave everything he owned to his former secretary. It was very hard for her to not hate Jayme. Stupid bitch got everything I helped Neil work for. Then he has the nerve to put in a "no contest" clause in his will, making it ironclad, she fumed internally. What's that whore going to do with all that money, Sarah Kathryn thought.
There were nights that she went to bed and prayed she wouldn't wake up the next morning. But she always awoke, another day to get by in as the President for Life.
Sarah Kathryn detested her job. She detested the Committee even more. She was convinced that Carl Parks was one crisis away from losing it completely. But he'd never admit to himself that he was going insane.
The day she heard that Parks wanted a newborn baby dead was the last straw. She started an inquiry into Parks' mental health, and somehow, that went nowhere. Parks had somehow convinced the Committee it was she, and not the Committee Chairman, who was losing their marbles.
Why don't they try to impeach me, then, if I'm so "impared", Sarah Kathryn asked herself. Each day, she waited for the order to come down to have her removed from office, and each day, it never came.
She knew they had no grounds to have her removed, because between her and the Chairman, she was the one who was sane.
She, of course, had no idea of the elaborate plans the Disturbed Ones had for her and the Committee. And no clue as to who would help her put her out of her misery, and punish the Committee with crimes so sick and bizarre that Carl Parks would have wished he'd thought of them first.
That is, if he were sane.
----------
Part 3--
Julia got the news that she and Miri could go home as soon as the following week if Miri gained just a few more ounces. She was nearly a month old, weighing in at just about five pounds six ounces, and Julia was itching to take her baby and go home.
Ryan was pleased with this news. "She will finally get to sleep in the crib in her bedroom, Jules," he said. "I could get up at night and take care of her when you're too tired to. I feel like I haven't had enough time with her."
"I know, Ry, and it will be good to be all under the same roof," Julia said. "Miri should get to spend time with Daddy."
"You've done such a good job so far, Julia," Ryan said. "I can't wait to help out on a regular basis."
"Yeah, and I know some grandparents who want to spoil their first grandchild, too," Julia said, laughing. "And some little aunts and uncles who want to see their niece for the first time."
"Oh, I know," Ryan said; "Kimber actually told me that pictures weren't going to cut it for her, she had to see Miri in person, as soon as possible!"
"Kimber would say that!" said Julia. "Nothing that comes out of any of their mouths surprises me any more. Especially the boys, because they parrot everything they hear!"
"But what's most important," Ryan said; "is to get our little princess home and into her own little bed." He reached over into Miri's isolette and touched the baby's hand. She grabbed on to Ryan's finger in her sleep. "And I'm going to be the best daddy I can," he said to Miri.
"I know you will, baby," Julia said. "We're a family now."
----------
The training of the BlackOps squad kept going in Julia's absense. They all sensed that the end of the war at home was near. That meant that training was as intense, and at times more so, than ever.
The "BlackOps Girls" seemed to put themselves through a harder training schedule that what was necessary. Morbus was pleased with their progress, and reminded them that they were allowed to take time off.
"We need all of you to be at your best whenever the final battle is," Morbus said. "If you feel you need to take some time off, just let me know, and I'll see that it's arranged. But right now, until Julia returns, we all need to be focused on the endgame. It's coming, but we don't know when."
"Julia will be back by then, right?" asked Rebekah. "I hope she doesn't decide that she doesn't want to do this anymore because of her new family."
"That's always a possibility, Rebekah," Morbus said, "but this is Julia we're talking about. She does want to come back, but her daughter has to come first."
Everyone agreed. They all knew that Nik would be taking a leave soon for his own new edition, so staying together as a unit would be paramount.
What none of them knew, not even Morbus, is that it would be Julia who would take matters into her own hands, and mete out the punishment she swore she would when she saw her guardians murdered when she was twelve years old.
----------
Julia and Miri were indeed released from the hospital the following week. The baby had been checked for any developmental delays, and her doctors saw none. She appeared to be progressing as though she were born on time. Ironically, the day they were allowed to go home was the day she was originally due, January 31st.
Ryan was a nervous wreck driving his wife and daughter home, but they got there safe. Julia then took Miri upstairs to her bedroom, which was Julia's until her guardians were murdered nearly seven years before. The sheets and blankets in Miri's crib were freshly washed and dried, into the crib is where Miri was placed. Sleeping away soundly in her own little bed, with her parents watching lovingly.
"It's so good to finally be home," Julia said softly. "For the three of us to be under the same roof. To finally feel like a family."
"She's so beautiful, so perfect," Ryan replied. "Our little princess is finally at home."
"So, you ready to get up with her every night?" asked Julia. "Just like I do?"
"I'm looking forward to it, Jules," said Ryan. "In fact, I'll do all that tonight so you can remember what it's like to sleep through the night."
"Well, then," Julia said; "I better provide something for you to give her when she gets hungry."
They turned on the baby monitor and left the room. They headed downstairs where Julia proceeded to use the breast pump to express milk for Miri.
"Doesn't that hurt, Jules?" Ryan asked as he watched.
"A little, but it's worth it," Julia said. "Miri actually nursing is more so. I sometimes feel like a dairy farm. I wonder if cows get sore."
"I remember the automatic milking machines my grandparents had," Ryan said; "They would put something on the cows udders and it would do basically what you do with the breast pump. I guess sometimes the cows would feel sore afterwards. They never complained."
Julia laughed at that comment. "No, I guess they couldn't really complain," she said, laughing.
Miri then started to cry on the baby monitor, and Julia said,
"Ryan, would you check and see if Miri needs to be changed? I just nursed her before we came home, so she can't be hungry."
"Um, change her diaper?" Ryan asked. "You mean, alone?"
"You can do it, Ry," Julia said; "I've watched you. Just talk to her while you're changing her. She seems to like that."
"Okay," Ryan said, heading for the stairs; "I'll call for you if there's a problem."
"Ryan, she's a month old; how much of a problem could one little girl be?" asked Julia, kissing Ryan on the cheek.
----------
After the baby had been home a few days, Jordan and David brought their kids over to see their baby niece.
Fortunately, Miri was awake and alert in the little bassinet that was a gift to her parents from Christine Collins. Miri was making baby sounds and looking around her environment.
"She's so little," Niki said; "she looks like one of my dollies."
"She's not a doll, Niki," her father said; "She's a little girl, just like you and your sister. Just smaller and younger."
"She can't talk yet, either, right Daddy?" Kimber asked.
"Not yet," David said. "She'll be making baby sounds for a while until she learns real words."
Just then, Sammy toddled over and pointed at Miri and said, "Baby!"
"Yes, Sammy," Jordan said; "that's a baby. That's Julia's baby. Her name is Mirielle."
Sammy looked at Julia and said, "Baby?"
Julia laughed softly at her fourteen month old brother. "Yes, Sammy, that's my baby."
Johnny had just found out how strong Miri's grip was. She grabbed on to his finger and wouldn't let go. "Owww!" he cried out.
Julia unclasped Miri's hand from Johnny's finger. "Sorry, Johnny," she said to him, "Miri doesn't quite know how strong she is yet."
"Who wants pie?" Ryan called out.
"Me, me," he heard the girls shout. The boys just ran over.
"David, Jordan? Pie?" asked Ryan.
"None for me, thanks," David said.
"I might have some later," Jordan said, picking up her granddaughter out of her bassinet. "I kinda have my hands full with your daughter right now."
Ryan went about serving pie to Julia's siblings in the kitchen, while his inlaws got up close and personal with Miri.
"Well," Jordan said; "aren't you a pretty little girl, Mirielle? Look like your mama, yes you do..."
Julia just rolled her eyes.
Her parents were going gaga over Miri. Even David was getting into it.
"She's got a lot of dark brown hair," David said. "And look at those big brown eyes! She's going to need a bodyguard of her own when she's a teenager to keep all those pesky boys away from her."
"Right, David," Julia laughed; "You know this now while she's only a month old?"
"He says the same thing about the girls, Julia," Jordan said, rocking Miri to sleep; "Been saying it since the day they were born!"
"It's true," David said. "All the baby girls born around here are gorgeous. Must be something in the water you mamas have been drinking."
"Maybe that's why there are so many girls, David!" Jordan said. "But the boys are no slackers, either. At least Nik and KateLynn are going to add a new boy to the family soon."
"True, true," David said.
After a while, Miri was asleep, and all four Draiman kids were wearing more pie than they ate. "Looks like it's time to go home," David said upon seeing the mess his kids made of themselves and the Summers' kitchen table.
"Baby? Pie?" Sammy asked.
"Miri's too little for pie," Ryan said. "She has to be a big girl to have pie."
"Oh," Johnny said before his brother could.
When Julia's parents and siblings left, Ryan went to work cleaning up the kitchen. "I hope I'll get to clean up similar messes that Miri makes one day."
Julia sighed contentedly. Her baby slept in her bassinet without a care in the world. It's my job to make sure that she doesn't have anymore death threats from the insane people running this country, she thought. As soon as the doctor says I can go back and train fully, I'm so going to plan to bring down the Illegals. Even if I have to do it myself. Because I don't want Miri to grow up in this crazy, fucked up world where she'll be a target because of me.
----------
Part 4--
The car drove down the long drive that led from the main road. The driver had been here several times before, none of those occasions good ones for his memory. It had been over a year since his last visit, and that was from the main road, where he had noticed that the house that had stood there for some seventy years had been torn down, and being rebuilt about a thousand yards down the beach from its previous location.
Maybe the ghost of that poor man can rest in peace, knowing that house has been torn down, he thought at the time.
Now, though, as he approached, he saw that the drive had been rerouted behind where the original house stood. In its place was a greenhouse. Inside, he noticed that plants, trees, and vegetable plants were growing.
His reason for being there now was to thank the woman who inherited all of the dead man's estate. She had given him a reward for finding the body of the man, and it enabled him to buy his car, move out of his parents house into a place of his own, and have some savings.
The only thing is, she didn't know he was coming.
He parked his car next to the carport where the old BMW was parked along with an SUV. He got out, went up the steps and rang the doorbell.
Within seconds, a boy about seven answered the door.
"Is Jayme Crist here?" the visitor asked.
"Who do say is calling," the boy said politely.
"My name is Joshua Rockwell."
"Okay," the boy said, "I'll go get my mom."
Josh sat there for a few moments, then a woman in her early thirties came to the door.
"May I help you?" she asked.
"My name is Joshua Rockwell, ma'am," he said. "I'm looking for Jayme Crist."
Jayme sighed in relief. She thought it was someone else looking for a handout. That had been happening a lot since she decided to move here once the new house was finished.
"I'm Jayme Crist," she said. "You're the one who found Mr. Hope's body."
"Yes, I am," Josh said.
"Won't you come in?" asked Jayme.
Once Josh was inside, he was surprised by what the house looked like. It looked like a woman of modest means lived there, and not a woman who inherited a fortune from her former boss.
"You look surprised, Joshua," Jayme said.
"I thought this would be decorated to the nth degree," Josh said.
"I've never been like that," Jayme said. "It's not about money or possessions. It's about what you do with what God gave you. I have the means to help other people, and that's what I do."
"That's why I'm here, Ms. Crist," Josh said. "You gave me a reward for finding Mr. Hope's remains. I came here to thank you."
"You're quite welcome, Joshua," Jayme said. "I know that the sheriff wanted to bring you up on murder charges. I knew Mr. Hope was ill, but I had no idea that he'd die here alone."
"How did you know about the sheriff's plans?" asked Josh.
"My lawyer found out after the sheriff was killed in that car accident of his, the one where he left some rambling note about a little girl telling him to leave Joshua alone," Jayme said. "It was from that note that my lawyer contacted your lawyer to find out your identity. I just wanted to thank you for finding him and sticking to your guns about what really happened."
"I didn't do it for the money, Ms. Crist," Josh said. "I did it because it was the right thing to do. After the sheriff allowed me to come in, I saw Mr. Hope's corpse. I had nightmares for months afterwards. I never, ever want to see a decomposed human body ever again!" Jayme saw Josh shudder at the thought of what he saw.
"I know you didn't do it for a reward," Jayme said. "I had your background researched. You're a preacher's kid, just like I am. Sometimes I strayed from the path, and so have you at some point. We're not perfect, but we do have a greater sense of right and wrong."
"I didn't know you were a preacher's kid," Josh said.
"My father led a predominantly African-American church in Baltimore for over thirty years," Jayme said. "He was the first, and so far, only white preacher they've ever had. He gained the community's respect. When he died several years ago, the community came to our aid, doing whatever they could to help us through that difficult time. I was still in high school then. Our family was declared Undesirable by the current government because of that. My mother was horrified when I went to work for Mr. Hope's law firm, knowing who his wife was. I was fond of Mr. Hope. He treated me well. I think that's why he gave me everything he had when his will was read."
"The President was probably really pissed off," Josh said.
"Indeed she was," Jayme said. "I knew more secrets of the inner workings of her government than anyone had a right to know. I know more than my share of secrets about our so-called leaders. They knew better than to mess with me."
"The Disturbed Ones could probably use your knowledge," Josh said.
"They have," Jayme said, "but you didn't hear it from me."
The little boy who had answered the door came back into the living room and told his mother that his sister was awake from her nap.
"Joshua, could you excuse me a moment?" Jayme asked. "My daughter needs me."
Josh nodded and stayed seated on the couch. He looked around the room some, noticing that a lot of the old photographs on the walls were of Jayme Crist's family. Nothing about Neil Hope. It looked just like his parents house. Probably the most expensive thing in that room was a computer.
Jayme returned to the living room with a little girl about a year or so old. She looked like she had just awakened from a nap.
"She's cute," Josh said. "How old is she?"
"This is Cassie, and she's almost sixteen months old," Jayme said. "My son is Jayden and he's eight."
"No father?"
"Jayden's father left me when I learned I was expecting him," Jayme said. "Cassie's father died before I learned I was pregnant. Mr. Hope was helping me out financially because I had been attacked at the office and was out of work for a long time. I'd started a relationship with a man who I thought was perfect for me. He was murdered after we'd been together just a few months, and shortly after the funeral, I learned I was pregnant."
"That sucks," Josh said.
"Yeah, it does," Jayme said; "But I do what I can to give them a normal life. I'm sure it's not easy being my kids right now. Sarah Kathryn Hope said some pretty nasty things about me in the press, and Jayden got all kinds of grief for it. It's not his fault. It's part of the reason we moved here from Baltimore. I didn't feel safe there any more."
Jayme and Josh talked for a while longer, then Josh took his leave. Jayme invited him to come back anytime he was in the area. She watched him start the drive back up the side road that led to the main highway, then turned away from the window.
He's a nice young man, Jayme thought. I'm glad that he turned out to be worthy of the gift I gave him.
And for the millionth time since she learned about her inheritance, she silently thanked Neil for believing in her and their love.
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Later that spring, Nik and KateLynn became the parents of their second son, whom they named Peter Steven, after both Nik's adoptive father, and KateLynn's father. They started to reconsider the name "Peter" when Sandrina started pronouncing it "Pee-er".
"No, no, Sandrina," Matty said, "the baby's name is Pee-ter, not Pee-er!"
"Pee-ter?" asked Sandrina, looking at her parents.
"That's right. Peter," Nik said.
KateLynn relayed this story to the other couples present after the double baptism of Peter and Mirielle. It got a few good natured chuckles, and more stories about little kids mispronoucing names.
Once the little ones were down for naps, though, the talk amongst the adults grew serious. The Committee was getting out of hand, Sarah Kathryn was doing nothing about it, and the New Army breathing harder down the necks of the Disturbed Ones leaders.
Over the previous few weeks, it seemed like the beginning of the war again, where the New Army was arresting anyone with any connection to the Disturbed Ones. Chris Patrick had gotten arrested, and Rebekah thought the worst-- that he would be tortured and killed for deserting the New Army two years before. But he had found a way to escape custody because he knew how the prisons were run.
The Great Lakes prison, where Black Jack Coltrane ruled until his death, was in upheaval. The man who was named warden after Coltrane's death was ruled incompetent (something that Julia had first hand knowledge of, but said nothing), and subsequent wardens were just as ineffectual. Finally, a man was brought in from the outside, and he seemed to be worse than the man who was warden before Coltrane. He killed any and all Undesirables, Disturbed Ones, and others without so much as a hearing. He also favored sexual servitude like Coltrane's predecessor, and girls as young as fourteen were fair game.
"He's cut from the same cloth as Parks," Julia said angrily. "Drunk or insane with power, he makes Black Jack Coltrane look like Mickey Mouse. I'd love to kill the sick motherfucker!"
"You and me both," Rebekah said. "I've seen a couple of the women who managed to get out of there alive. They're shellshocked. One of them was only fifteen years old! I was at the clinic when she was brought in and when I was told where she had come from and what they thought happened to her, they doubted that she'd live. She was that messed up!"
"I didn't want to have to start training my kids like Peter trained us," Nik said, "but if this goes on, I don't think we'll have much choice."
"The Illegals are desperate," Jeremiah said. "They know they're losing, and want to lessen the number of those who are in the resistance camp. I read in some of Dan's intel that Carl Parks was thrilled to learn Julia was pregnant because that would take her out of the game for a while."
"I have even more of a reason to want to end this war, Jere," Julia said. "I don't want Miri to grow up like we did, under a government with evil and corrupt leaders. I was fighting for our way of life, for the way things used to be, for our right to be heard. Now," she paused and looked in the direction of the travel crib that Miri slept in, "I fight for my daughter's future."
The others looked at her with new eyes. Everyone in the room knew that Julia always had a reason to fight: to avenge the deaths of Peter and Kiera San Marco. Now that she was a mother herself, Julia had renewed priorities. Now the fight was not only for revenge for the senselessness of the deaths of her guardians, but for her daughter.
Everyone in the room knew that alone would make Julia even more dangerous than she was before.
As Jeremiah put it after he, Jasmine and Adriana got home later that afternoon, "May God have mercy on the Committee and the President, because Julia Summers won't!"
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