One Year Later
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We make it to Petal Brooke in record time.
We’re early so we stop by Cups and Saucers for an early dinner, I easily squeeze the compact rental car into a space between two huge SUVs. I take Elijah out of his car seat last so he doesn’t run off before I can get Charity in her wheel chair. When we finish dinner there is still some time to spare I drive to the park around the corner from the Justice Complex.
The park is close enough that we can walk to Martina’s office.,Elijah still has a ton of energy and I have to jog with Charity’s wheelchair to keep pace with him, never letting him stray too far in front of me. He’s really good at staying on the sidewalk and Charity claps the faster I push her wheel chair
“Faster! Faster”, she says and I’m out of breath by the time we get to Martina’s office, but Elijah begins to curiously explore her office.
“Sofia”, Martina says enveloping me in a hug, “I didn’t see your rental car.”
“We walked from the park.”
“It’s a nice day out. Let’s get this over with so y’all can get back outside.”
“Is he here?” I ask fishing around in my book bag for waters.
“No. He came by earlier…he was…he was a little difficult””, Martina said somberly as she leads me into her office.
“Oh”, I say a little heart broken.
"How is Ms. Charity?”, Martina asks brightly.
“She’s good”, I say reflexively. Today had been a good day at least. I’d learned not to tell people about the bad days. That wasn’t the story anyone wanted to hear.
“Well, then”, Martina goes to her desk and takes out a stack of legal papers, “Let’s get this over with.”
She goes over the paperwork point by point, I nod and sign. Nod and sign.
Finally, she can legally present me with sealed envelope from Petal Brook Regional Hospital Corp.
“Okay”, she carefully slid the check out of the envelope, “My fees and cut have already been taken out. So you just have to deal with the taxes.”
I look over the check for $539,403.46. It’s a big number that brings some pain with relief.
“That’s it.” I said with a good bit of finality.
“I—we discussed the amount”, she said nervously.
“I mean—that’s how much is cost to get away with rape.”
Martina closed her eyes, “Sofia.”
“Sorry”, I said biting my lip, “I thought I put this behind me.”
“Take it”, Martina said, “Do some good in this world and don’t ever stop telling your story.”
“I won’t”, I managed to whisper.
“Okay, enough sadness. Let’s make a little joy shall we?”
I nodded trying to hold back tears. Martina scurried over to her coat closet and pulled out two big bunches of rainbow balloons and a small cake from the mini fridge. Elijah is immediately taken by the balloons and Charity laughed watching him play with one.
I pulled the new set of paperwork towards me and picked up Elijah and put him in my lap“Okay Elijah I want us to be the most loving family in the world. I want us to have so much love that we can share it with Charity. I’m going to sign this today so Charity can stay a part of our family. You are always going to be the first-born, my first child even though Charity is going to be your older sister, you have to be the big brother, okay?”
He gurgles and laughs as the balloon escaping his hands and
floats to the ceiling. I run my fingers over the page where Judson Maynor has
already signed away his parental rights—the ink is cool and still wet to the touch.
I flip the page and sign the line dotted with an ‘X’ and then the amended
birth certificate. That's it.
We stay long enough for cake and Martina walks back to the park with us, we stay outside until I can check into my hotel
“Don’t be a stranger,” Martina says.
“We won’t be”, I promise and engulf her in a hug, “Thank you…for everything.”
“Thank you”, she said getting in the last word.
The boring old Holiday Inn in St. Vincent felt like a reprieve compared to the hustle and bustle of Queens and all the contractors coming in and out of the duplex. When we get inside the room there is an edible arrangement waiting from Tomas.
After we eat all the chocolate covered pineapples I get Elijah and Charity settled in bed before calling Tomas. He picked up on the last ring and I hope I haven’t caught him at work.
“Hey”, I hear street noise and traffic in the background, “Are you going out?”
He sighs and I self-consciously bit my lip.
“The new kid quit, Dan needed a cashier for tonight so…” he said but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be out all night.
“Okay. Thank you for the present.”
There is a loud audible silence that I’d gotten used to in person but over the phone it felt vast.
“Are you happy?” he said finally filling the silence
“Yes”, I said watching the--for once--silently sleeping children. I’m overwhelmed. Tired. Scared. Sleepy but I’m happy. For the past year when things got hard and impossible I always reminded myself this wasn’t permanent. But now I couldn’t turn back. This was it.
“What?” he said faintly
“I said, yes I’m happy.”
“God, I can barely hear you, Sofia.”
“Bad connection?” I whisper as loud as I can without waking the kids up.
“Wait... Fuck. Hold on.”
The phone goes silent and I hear him faintly again. I wish he’d give up because it’s too painful to admit it’s not the connection that’s bad, it’s the distance.
The End
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