Chapter Fifty-Six

Parker

“Gina?” I said back. “What’s the matter?”

“What took you so long?” she said, sounding slightly relieved at hearing the sound of my voice, but the fear in her voice never really eased.

“I was gone,” I said. “When did you call?”

“Three hours ago!” I could hear that she was almost in tears from worry. “God, what took you so long?”

“Gina, what’s the matter?” I said, making my voice firm and commanding, but somehow patient and gentle the way she always did with me. It was harder than I had at first thought. I heard myself come off as almost angry that she had even called. I winced at it and tried again. “What happened?”

“You know that important thing you were going to tell me the other day on the phone?” she asked.

I stiffened immediately. She sounded extremely small when she said that. It could have just been the embarrassment at remembering what had happened that day over the phone, but from her general panic, I knew that it wasn’t.

“Yeah,” I said.

“You really should have told me,” she said. “I mean, you...really...should have told me.”

“How?” I said. Oh great. Now the anger was surfacing. What convenient times my anger picks...

“I don’t know how!” she said, dismayed, again almost to the point of wailing. It would have been funny if it wasn’t such a serious situation. One of her boyfriends once told her that she sounded like Lucy from I Love Lucy when she was doing that. “God, Parker...I mean...”

“What happened?” I asked, returning my voice to its more gentle tone. Now was not the time or place. Mrs. Hanson was already encouraging the little girls who had wandered into the kitchen looking for something to do to go out and play for a little while. Grudgingly, they both agreed. “Tell me.”

“How about you tell me,” she said. “Because I seriously have no idea. I would really like to be informed.” Now she almost sounded businesslike which was not a good sign for Gina at all. “I mean...are you okay? What did he do to you? What happened?”

“Me?” I said. “Gina, I’m fine. What are you talking about?”

“What are you talking about?” she said.

I suppressed the urge to laugh in hysterical frustration just as Taylor walked cautiously by, throwing me a curious glance, but quickly disappearing up the stairs.

“Is this about Lyle?” I asked.

A pause.

“Yes!” she said like a game show host who had just had to ask the judges if she could accept an answer one of the contestants had given her. “Yes, it is,” she said. “What did he do? Why did he call me this morning telling me he had been arrested and that he wanted me to come down and bail him out? What do you know?”

My eyes widened.

“He’s in jail?”

“Yes!” she said, exasperated. “I assume this has something to do with what you were going to tell me the other day because if it doesn’t, then I just gave you one hell of a chance to say ‘I told you so.’”

“What is he in for?”

“So this has nothing to do with what you were going to tell me the other day?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “What is he in for?”

“He didn’t say,” she said. “But something told me that it had something to do with what you were going to tell me, so tell me now. What did he do to you? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I said again. “Gina, I’m fine. He didn’t do anything to me.”

She sighed and the relief was obvious.

“Oh thank God,” she said. “I don’t know what I was thinking. Lyle wouldn’t do anything to you, right?”

Right, I answered in my mind. Lyle wouldn’t do anything to me because I was his girlfriend’s son and if he did, she’d probably drop him like a bad habit. My twin brother, on the other hand...

I must have been quiet for a long time.

“Parker? Are you there?” she said.

“Yeah, I’m still here,” I said.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked cautiously. “He didn’t do anything to you?”

“No,” I said. “He didn’t do anything to me. It was Taylor.”

“What was Taylor?” she said.

With a sigh of resignation, I launched into a rather sketchy version of Taylor’s story, keeping my voice low now that Mr. Hanson had entered the kitchen and was holding his wife’s hand worriedly as they both watched me. They knew what I was saying, though, and Mrs. Hanson turned her face away. I kept my eyes away from their heartbroken faces after that.

As I told the story, Gina was perfectly silent. I almost expected to hear the dial tone halfway through the story, but instead there was a quiet shifting as my voice faded away and I waited for her reaction.

“You knew, didn’t you?” she said, her voice soft and heavy. “You always knew. Why do I never listen to you?”

In happier circumstances, I would have taken the perfect opportunity to gloat that she had finally come to see the light. But instead, I felt tears come to my eyes as she said it. She just sounded so...betrayed and worn.

“I liked Dan, you know,” I said. “And Jerry.”

She chuckled without humor at that. “But you never liked Lyle.”

“Or Brett,” I added. “But he never turned out to be...like that.”

“That’s true,” she said. “Parker, are you sure? Are you sure Taylor’s...telling the truth?”

“I’m sure,” I said.

“Why did he wait so long to say something?” she said and now her voice simply sounded vacant.

“He was scared,” I said. “He threatened to kill him, Gina. He damn near did.”

A long silence.

“Gina?” I said. “Are you there?”

“How could I have let this happen?” she said.

“You didn’t know,” I said.

“You did,” she said back.

“No, I didn’t,” I said. “I didn’t know that.”

“But you knew something,” she said. “You knew something wasn’t quite right. I should have listened to you.”

“Why?” I said. “Gina, Lyle was always a creep as far as I was concerned. But I never really had a real reason to think that. I mean, think about it, he always seemed like a decent guy.”

“Yeah,” she said. Then suddenly, “Damnit! Damnit damnit damnit! This ruins everything, doesn’t it?

“What does it ruin?” I asked.

“Everything!” she said and I could just see her gesturing around the kitchen with her hands. “I keep things from you, I get myself creepy boyfriends who do bad things...You’re not going to come home after this, are you?”

I paused for a minute. The question...the suggestion was shocking. I knew from before I left that Gina had been worried that I wouldn’t come back. But I myself, personally, had never thought about that prospect. Especially not after...everything.

“Of course I am,” I said.

“She hasn’t told you yet then, has she?” she said quietly.

“Told me?” I said. “I just got done thanking her for giving me over to such a great lady when I was a baby and how good to me she’s been over the years. What difference does telling me make?”

“Don’t you want to stay with her?” she asked blankly, sounding utterly confused. “Like Taylor.”

“No,” I said. “She knows that. I want you to know that.”

“So you’re not mad?” she asked, sounding suspicious.

“We’ll talk about that when I get home,” I said. “And we’ll take care of this when I get home, too, okay? I’ll be home soon.”

“You don’t even want to stay with the Hansons?”

“No!” I insisted. “For Pete’s sake, Gina. You’ll be lucky if you can get rid of me when I’m old enough to have my own place, much less now. No, I’m not staying down here. Oklahomans are way too melodramatic, if you ask me.”

I chose not to add that I was the one that had locked myself in my room for the past week.

“Hey!” she said. “I’m originally an Oklahoman. So are you.”

“Oh yeah,” I said. “Anyway, I’ll be home soon. I promise. We’ll take care of this together, okay?”

“They’re going to ask Taylor to testify, you know,” she said abrubtly.

“I know,” I said. “It’ll be hard. But at least afterwards, there’s a good chance that he’ll be put away for a long time.”

“Not good enough,” she said. “I’d like to see him get his balls chopped off.”

“Oh yeah,” I said. “Public castrations are always fun.” I shuddered at the thought.

She chuckled. “Maybe one of us could do the honors.”

“Uh, no thanks,” I said. “I have no desire to see Lyle’s private parts, thanks.”

I heard her sniff.

“So...I’ll see you soon?”

“You’ll see me soon,” I confirmed. “Bye, Gina.”

“Bye, Parker,” she said. Then added, “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I replied and then hung up.

“What happened?” Mrs. Hanson asked as soon as the phone was settled back in its cradle.

I turned to Taylor’s parents. They were still holding hands.

“Lyle got caught,” I said.

They both practically sagged with the relief of it.

“The doctors said that they would notify the police,” Mr. Hanson explained to me after a moment of closed eyes in what appeared to be a silent prayer of thanks. “When did they catch him?”

“Today, I guess,” I said. “Gina was upset. She didn’t know what was going on since I never got around to calling her back that day due to...other things,” I added, looking down at my feet in guilt. She should have known. I should have persisted. But what if I did? Would I have decided to forget about what she had said in the first phone call after finally getting through? Would she even have believed me? It hardly seemed like she did now. “Should I tell Taylor?”

“We will,” Mrs. Hanson said firmly. Mr. Hanson nodded in agreement.

“How did things go with Annie?” Mrs. Hanson asked next, just as I was turning to exit the room, thinking there was nothing more to say.

Really, I was uncomfortable standing in a room alone with Taylor’s parents. I couldn’t help but feel that every time they looked at me they saw Taylor...only a Taylor from a different reality...a traveller from some alternate universe come to ruin everything they had probably tried so hard to keep secret all those years. I realized that it wasn’t Taylor and his siblings that made me feel, at times, alienated from the rest of the family. It was them. Because while Taylor and his brothers and sisters could accept me as just an eighth sibling, brought into the family under strange circumstances, Mr. and Mrs. Hanson, while never unkind to me in any way, always gave me the impression that if they closed their eyes, I would go away.

“Not as bad as everyone probably thinks,” I said, smiling grimly. “We’ve come to an understanding, I think.”

“But you’re going back to Rochester?” Mr. Hanson said.

“Yeah,” I said. “I think I have to at this point. Gina kind of needs me.”

He nodded, but made no comment, but I knew that if he thought he wouldn’t insult me by doing so, he would have made some comment of commendation. He would have told me I had made a good choice.

But I didn’t need to be told that.

“With the stars as my guide, I’ll be there by your side. I am coming home.” -- “Coming Home”

Okay, send your scenarios of how I could better have done Lyle in here. I know you all have them.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Seven