Chapter 6

Using Ian's key, Carlotta let herself into his and his now ex-wife's lovely modern home. She smiled at the pictures on the wall  then frowned as she noticed the blood dried on the floor. It was mixed with something slightly sticky, and she realized quickly it was the amniotic fluid from giving birth. There were bloody handprints in places and clutter knocked on the floor from the sideboard table by the front door.  Everything was knocked from one of the end tables too. The french door in the corner was slightly ajar and the bottom panel cracked like had been kicked. An overturned ladder lay the opposite way from the toppled Christmas tree. The scene looked like someone attacked Lily while she was decorating and knocked the Christmas tree down in the struggle. Lily's purse was missing.

Going out to her car to get her cleaning supplies, she saw the community groundskeeper, and asked, "Do you know what happened to the lady who lived here?"

He shook his head. "No, the police never came but when they were putting her on the ambulance, it looked like she was stabbed in the stomach."

Carlotta frowned because she knew Mrs. Hastings did not approve of her son's marriage. "Did you see any strangers near the house?"

He shrugged. "There are always people coming and going." Then he went back to blowing the leaves away from the curbs.

She wondered why the police had not come. There was no police tape. It was a newer neighborhood with a wall and gate but surrounded with high crime areas. Shaking her head, Carlotta cleaned up the mess, disposing of the broken ornaments and stood the tree back up before turning it so the broken and bent branches faced away from the room. She washed the wall, the scrapes on the paint were barely visible.

Moving some of the ornaments around, she filled the holes of the ones that were broken, but oddly she couldn't find an angel for the top, so she tied one of the giant bows from the banister to the top. When the ladder almost tipped the second time, she realized there was a rubber foot missing and quickly got down. The missing piece was by the door, but it wouldn't stay in place when she tried to snap it back on. She put it back in the garage with the ladder.

Mrs. Hastings had given her a list of items to be taken from her son's home and put in Lily's SUV. Upstairs, Carlotta packed all of Lily's clothing and personal toiletries. Labeling the boxes, she put the hangers from the closet in with them. Malevolently thinking, that the family was wealthy enough to buy more. It was a petty thing but Carlotta was not feeling particularly charitable toward them. The more she worked and thought about what the groundskeeper said, the more she was reminded of the other wealthy families she had worked for. Getting tissue paper, she carefully wrapped the pictures and the knickknacks she knew were the things belonging to the now-ex-wife of the youngest son of the Hastings. She also took everything from the nursery and put them all in the Range Rover.

It made her sad to lose the sweetest person in the family, but the Hastings were rich and powerful, and one did not ask what another did to fall into their disfavor. As she left the home, Carlotta decided she needed to find another employer before they got rid of her and sent her family home to El Salvador. She drove the expensive SUV to the hospital patient parking lot and left it. Talking to the old woman at the information desk, she sent the keys and title up to Lily's room with the christening blanket she made for the baby, but didn't go up to see her. The less she knew about what happened between Lily and the Hastings, the better, but she was sad for the entire busride back to get her van from Ian Hastings's home.

<<@>>

Reading her half-sister Jessica's text messages, while she listened as her Great-Aunt Evie described what happened to Lily, Kitty's blood boiled for her sister. After hanging up, she went to her boss's office.

"Mr. Leomons, I need to go home. There is a family emergency." Her mouth made a thin line for a moment then she admitted, "I know I am supposed to be leaving to drive to Anchorage but..."

"Is your old Aunt okay?" He asked worriedly. As an Oconto native, he had known Evelyn Rosen his whole life.

"It isn't her. I need to go to Florida and get my sister. She just had her baby five weeks early and major surgery after an accident. She's moving back to Oconto but can't drive," Kitty explained.

"Let me make some calls. I have a trio of rigs I bought in Atlanta. If you could drive them piggyback, I'll let you detour to Wisconsin at full pay," Mr. Leomons offered.

"I'll take the run. Thank you, sir."

"I take care of my drivers... She's in Miami, right?"

"Yes, sir."

Kitty waited while he typed rapidly on his computer, then he turned and pulled a sheet off the printer. Her phone chimed with the electronic boarding pass.

"Here's your flight info. You have two hours to be at the airport to make it through security. Is that quick enough."

"Thank you, Mr. Leomons, I really appreciate this."

"And I appreciate you bringing those trucks back. It saves me hiring contractors to bring them up and risk the transmissions like the last time. See you when you get back." Mr. Leomons wished her well and watched her leave.

He shook his head worrying for Lily. The poor girl had a rough time in high school then again, after she found her college roommate murdered, but she got sober and stayed in Florida to finish college. He wondered if Lily would stay in Oconto to run the Tiger Lily Inn, and if Kitty would leave her job to support her sister. He hated that he might lose one of his best drivers, but he understood, family was the most important thing a person could have.

<<@>>

Kitty Johansen listened to the radio as she packed. The weather for her flight would be rough and she prayed she wouldn't get delayed in Denver. However, an hour into her flight from Seattle to Denver, the pilot announced all connecting flights were cancelled. Kitty groaned, she hated sleeping in airports. The next day the airline got her to Chicago in the afternoon, but she ended up stranded for the night because there were no pilots with hours available to fly to Florida.

It took three days for her to get to Miami. She took an Uber to the hospital. Signing in, she went upstairs to the floor where her sister was staying. Lily was asleep so Kitty went to stand over the clear box that held her niece.

"Can I help you?" The nurse asked.

"I'm Lily's sister."

"I can see that." The nurse chuckled. "I'm Rachel, Lily's nurse until 11PM. She has a slight infection in her incision so the doctor is keeping her here... but honestly, I think he is doing it because he knows she can't afford a hotel to stay close to her daughter."

"I came to take her home to Wisconsin," Kitty admitted. "Then I have to go back to Washington for work."

The nurse nodded. "Ava will be able to leave in a few days to a week. Is...is there anyone who can stay with Lily?"

"She will be at our aunt's Inn... Do you know what happened?" Kitty asked.

"Only that she fell decorating a Christmas tree and was rushed in after an ornament impaled her. We are glad she and the baby are doing as well as they are." Rachel patted Kitty's arm as she paled. "She won't be able to have any more children, but your sister is a lucky young woman because the ornament narrowly missed her baby and an artery."

"Has..." Kitty swallowed then asked, "Has she shown any signs of depression? She tends to get really depressed when bad things happen."

"No. After that jerk lawyer forced her to sign the papers, she didn't cry when she woke up and read them. She got mad and told the night nurse, she was determined to leave and never come back. I had heard about the Hastings family being rich arses, but this takes the cake. You should go to the papers and demand a paternity test for child support. They can afford it." Rachel lifted her work phone from her smock pocket as it vibrated, "Sorry, it's the pharmacy. Don't worry, your sister and her baby will be fine."

Sighing in relief, Kitty leaned over and kissed her sister on the forehead. Pushing back her bangs, she traced the scar left by their mother's homicidal rage. Lily's eyes fluttered open.

"Hey you. I know you love the holidays but death by Christmas tree isn't the cool way to die and take my niece with you," Kitty teased.

Gasping in shocked happiness, Lily pulled her sister down for a hug. "You're here. Why? How?"

"Aunt Evie called. Why didn't you call me?" Kitty tried not to sound hurt.

"Because I can't afford the bail money to get you out of jail," Lily announced with a frown.

Sitting down, Kitty vowed, "I won't kill Ian. Just tell me what happened."

"First, promise me you won't go after or talk to Ian or any of his family."

"Really?"

"Really. Promise... Say it."

"I promise."

"All of it," Lily insisted with a scowl.

"I promise I won't go after or talk to Ian or any of his family. Okay?" Kitty growled out in frustration.

Closing her eyes, Lily began to tell her story, "I wanted us to have a perfect first Christmas..."

<<@>>

Kitty stared up at the ceiling in the waiting room. Restlessly, she went out to Lily's Range Rover in the parking lot. Putting down the windows, she reclined the seat as far as it would go with all the boxes in the back and sat there. Staring up at a thunderstorm moving across the ocean, she battled with her vengeful nature. She wanted to confront the Hastings in the worst way, but that might put Ava at risk. Rather that fight, Lily had decided to do what Lily did best; run away. The only thing Lily had not been able to run away from was her depression and addiction to anti-anxiety pills. It had taken a year and a third detox program after a suicide attempt to get her clean enough to return to college and Kitty worried about the drugs she was on now. Opiate addiction was the hardest to break or so she had heard. As the rain started to fall, she put up the windows and fell asleep praying her sister wouldn't get hooked again.

Lily was lying in a speckled puddle of vodka vomit when Kitty found her. She carefully lifted her sister's head up as their half-sister Jessica shouted for her aunt and her aunt's girlfriend. "Aunt Evie. Aunt Ava! Help!"

Their half-sister stared at the mess Lily was for a moment more, then ran downstairs with gagging sobs. Kitty pushed the vile mass from her sister's face. "Don't leave me. Lily. Don't die." Her sister's seasonal depression had never been bad enough to make Lily hurt herself until this year. Three of her friends died leaving a party. Jess picked up one of the hard yellow circles, it looked like a sweet tart candy but there was a shape in the center. The letter 'V'.

A bolt of thunder startled her awake. Sitting up before she realized where she was, her breasts smashed painfully into the steering wheel. Relaxing, she wondered how she could keep her sister from repeating that horror as she tried to fall back asleep. Unable to rest, Kitty texted her half-sister Jessica in Tampa Bay, their half-brother Jack in Atlanta, and their half-brother Leonard who lived in Indianapolis now. It seemed like their father had left children behind all over the deep south. She and Lily would have two places to stay on the way back to Oconto. Turning to look over her shoulder, she looked at all the things stuffed in the Range Rover. There was no way to get the vehicle back to Wisconsin since Lily would not be able to drive. Also, a motor vehicle made for the Florida coast was not adjusted to deal with the harsh winters of the Great Lakes, even if it costs more than Kitty made in a year. She could put Lily's stuff in the cabs of the trucks she was hauling. It wasn't legal but she'd have to risk it.

Jack texted her back confirming they could stay. He was excited to meet his new niece. Kitty asked if he still was friends with his college buddy whose dad owned a car dealership. He called and she explained about Lily's new Jaguar Range Rover. By the time visiting hours started, Kitty had arranged to sell the vehicle for twenty thousand less than dealer list price, but over the depreciation value. The almost seventy thousand dollars from selling the most expensive family SUV on the market would cover Lily and Ava's living expenses for two or three years in Oconto, if Lily was careful.

Kitty looked at the text message from Jessica which came while she and Jack were talking. The wild child of the family was on the way and her probation officer be dammed. Shaking her head, Kitty hoped Jessica wasn't caught. She had only been out for three months after a brawl in the club she was dancing at spilled onto the stage. She clubbed a grabby drunk with her shoe, but he turned out to be an assistant D.A. who pressed charges to the full extent of the law. She had been lucky to only get a six-month jail term for simple assault.

<<@>>

Twenty-one days before Christmas, Ava Marlana Johansen was fourteen days old. The doctor said she was well enough to go home from the hospital with her mother and her aunts.

Lily stood stoically as the priest from Ian's family's church poured oil and holy water over Ava's coppery-red fluff. The two godmothers took solemn vows to protect and love the child. Franciscan Father Benito had the single Aunts sign the documents to become Ava's godmothers.

The old Franciscan smiled at them knowingly like he knew them. "Even if the Church Father doesn't approve of your choices, The Lord loves all His children." Jess and Kitty glanced at each other wondering what Lily had told him.

"Thank you, Father Benito, for everything." Lily shook his hand after Kitty took Ava from Lily so he could hug her.

"Do not let your grief overcome you, my daughter. You understand that the Church does not recognize your divorce."

"Yes, Father."

"I promise to light a candle for you on Sundays and the High Holy Days. It will be my prayer that you and your husband can reconcile."

Jess scoffed as Kitty bit her tongue to keep from saying she didn't care if Ian ever came back to their sister while Lily apologized, "I am so sorry to leave the volunteer corps on such short notice at the holidays but I'm moving."

During morning mass, there were prayers and communion. Jessica squirmed uncomfortably until Kitty pinched her arm. They glared at each other until Lily sniffed. Their sister had converted to Catholicism at Ian's mother's insistence, and she seemed to like it, so they tried to be calm for her.

Lily prayed for strength and a safe trip home. Thinking of Ian, she tried not to let the tears fall, wishing she was strong like Kitty or resilient like Jess so she would never cry over her failed marriage again. She still didn't understand what happened and never would because she would never be able to ask Ian why.