Chapter 37
Fiona gave Cassie a questioning look at the carefully applied foundation makeup. “Where’s Frank today?”
Cassie put her head back and groaned. “I knew I forgot to call someone. I left a message yesterday with Mother then I talked to Bonnie and Meghan and then I had to get back to the hospital.” She took a deep breath. “Gord showed up at the house Friday morning to demand money. Frank tried to stop him and got badly beaten. He’s in the Queensway-Carleton recovering. He told me I should come to church this morning and pray for him before I head back there, which is why I’m not at the hospital right now.”
“Ah. That was the Frank we were praying for.” Fiona took another look at the makeup. “Gord hit you, didn’t he?”
“He did. But he’s in jail now and he won’t be getting out for a very long time.” Cassie looked over Fiona’s shoulder to see Trevor’s concerned face and Anne and Henry approaching with Pastor Ron. “Good, everyone’s here so I only have to tell it once.” She quickly ran through everything, ending with “I think Gord thought that it was Frank driving when the Infiniti left the house with only one person in it. Josefina dropped the car off at the dealer for us because Frank didn’t want to leave me alone in the house, which was a good thing. So it was Frank that took most of the damage while we waited for the police to show up.”
“Damage?” Fiona looked very concerned.
Cassie sighed to let out some of her residual anger. “He’s got three broken ribs, a broken collarbone, a broken nose and a whole bunch of bruises. They had to re-inflate a collapsed lung, too. The surgeries took a few hours to complete. When the swelling goes down they’ll have to figure out if they put his nose back in the right place.” Cassie gave a tired shrug. “At least I’m used to hospitals.”
Trevor asked, “What did they charge Gord with?”
Cassie looked like she was trying to remember the details then gave a vengeful grin. “At the house it was trespass, two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of uttering death threats, which two of the officers witnessed. After the detective finished his interview with me at the hospital, Alain brought me a hot chocolate and sat with me while we waited for Frank to get out of surgery. I knew from the fingerprints they ran after Mum was killed that he was in the police records as Réal Charbonneau, but he has about five other names he’s gone by in the past ten years, here and in the States. They found a hidden compartment in his duffel bag that had a pile of fake ID. On top of the extortion charge they added for demanding money from me, he’s facing a pile of charges in both Canada and the U.S. He’s been charged here with first degree murder, accessory to murder, escaping custody, procuring, accessory to human trafficking, forcible confinement, drug trafficking, using a forged identity and, get this, bigamy. He never divorced his wife in New Hampshire before he married Mum. So because he wasn’t legally married to Mum and they didn’t live together for a full year, her estate, such as it is, comes to me. At least I’ll get to keep Grampa Horace’s paintings.”
Trevor looked serious then gave a rueful shrug. “The forged ID and escaping custody should be easy to prove if they need to put him away while the rest of the charges are investigated. I’ll pray for a quick recovery for Frank.”
Anne noticed the barely contained tears in Cassie’s eyes and said, “Do you need a hug?”
Cassie nodded mutely and stepped forward into Anne’s embrace. After a long moment, she stepped back. “Thank you, all of you, for your support over the past few months. I don’t know what I would have done without all of you.”
Fiona gave her a hug and a smile then Pastor Ron came forward to pray with her.
———
Cassie was about to turn the corner into the private room but stopped when she recognized the voice of Kiera Barnes saying, “So, is she still worth it, Frank?”
Cassie slumped against the wall, afraid to move, her heart sinking into her shoes.
In a weak voice, Frank replied, “Every minute of it, Ki.”
“I’m so glad to hear it.”
Cassie’s heart began beating again.
“Did I ever tell you about the proposal?”
Kiera’s voice was full of curiosity as she said, “No, but I don’t think we’ve had more than ten minutes to ourselves to talk since you got married.”
“Well, I’m sure I told you about heading over to her mother’s place the morning after we met.”
“Yes, you said that the place was a disaster and that her mother looked strung out and the stepfather was having beer for breakfast.”
“Well, we were getting yelled at by Penny because she thought I was a social worker making an inspection visit. I knew it would be best if we got Cassie’s stuff then headed to Youth Services to see what they could do for her when I got this total sense of … I don’t know how to describe it … rightness, I guess, or peacefulness, and it was like the Holy Spirit took over my voice. I told Penny that I was Cassie’s fiancé and needed a letter of permission from her so we could get married.”
“Really, Frank, the Holy Spirit?”
“As God is my witness, Kiera, most of my brain was going, ‘I can’t believe I just said that.’ but there was a small smug voice way deep inside me that said ‘Good call, Frank. Take good care of her.’ So that’s what I’ve been trying to do.”
“How’s the counselling going?”
“Up and down, but mostly up. I hope we don’t have any setbacks from this. But it might give both of us some closure knowing Gord’s in jail.”
Kiera’s voice became wistful. “You really love her, don’t you?”
“I really truly do. I’d be so devastated if she left me.” There was a pause. “Thanks for coming, Ki.”
“Well, I was worried about you. Bonnie called to let me know what happened. Stephen wanted to come too but he’s got court tomorrow. I’ll call to let him know you’re as okay as anyone is after they’ve had their butt handed to them. Bonnie said that your mother will be here later this afternoon.”
Cassie slipped away quietly to get a drink and process what she’d heard.
———
Cassie returned from the chapel and entered Frank’s room to see Dorothy and Kiera chatting amiably while Frank dozed. Dorothy rose from the chair and said, “Are you okay?”
Cassie smiled and gave her mother-in-law a fond hug. “Much better than Frank. I’ll have a black eye for a while and some bruises but that’s all.”
Dorothy looked at her son’s bandaged face. “He’s in pretty bad shape.” She turned back to Cassie. “You know, this is the first time I’ve ever visited Francis in the hospital. Dale and Robert were in and out with broken bones. Bonnie’s been lucky as far as illness goes but she delivered all her babies at the General. Lita’s been in two pretty serious car crashes but Francis was always more careful than the rest of them. Not that I did more than show up with flowers, because that’s what Mother would have done. Visit for ten minutes, make certain there were enough nurses on duty and go off to my next scheduled appointment. I thought that was what parents were supposed to do.”
“But when Jan ran away this summer, I discovered that I didn’t really do a very good job of raising my kids. Robert is insular and sarcastic although Melissa has softened him. Dale is bright but has passive-aggressiveness down to a fine art which Supriya thinks is funny, fortunately for him. Bonnie was always angry until she and Gray started to really talk. Carmelita is still self-centered and manipulative but I see signs that her new job is giving her a sense of purpose. And Francis was on his way to being a drunken bully like his father, before he was born again.” She turned to Cassie. “You were right, you know. Grant was behaving like a miserable drunken bully the day we met. Anyway, you were so terribly dignified when you told him off before you thanked me so politely and left. After I got over the mortified embarrassment, I realized that I needed to make some changes or the only person in the family who would want to talk to me was Sophie and that would stop when she hit twelve.”
“So, I gave Grant an ultimatum after Francis’ birthday dinner, either treat the kids better or I walk. I love him dearly, despite all his bad habits but it was getting out of hand. After Elliott was formally charged with insider trading, Grant finally started to take Francis’ advice seriously and, as you know Kiera, Grant has been cooperating with the authorities and he’s sleeping much better. It helps that the economy has improved enough that the company is past its cash flow crunch. He’s even started counselling for his alcohol use. Sophie told him quite seriously that she didn’t like his hugs when he drank because he smelled bad like her Daddy used to before Jan ran away.”
Dorothy snickered and turned to Cassie. “About the only people who’ve told Grant the truth to his face this year are you, Kiera, Francis and Sophie, although I am getting better at it.”
Frank said, in a quiet mumble, “So that’s what the jewellery box incident was about.”
“Oh good, you’re awake.” Dorothy continued. “Yes, in part. When I mused out loud about giving Cassie her share, Grant tossed three different investigators’ reports at me and asked why we should trust her. I’ll admit that I was shocked by some of the things in the reports but they really weren’t reports about you, Cassie, because there wasn’t much to report. The schools said you were a model student and the neighbours didn’t say much about you at all and what they did say was uniformly positive. Grant assumed, and I did too, that you were like your mother. We were wrong, very wrong. I’m sorry.”
Dorothy straightened her shoulders. “So, I decided that, unlike my mother, I would start to put my family’s needs first and if my social obligations or reputation had to suffer because of it, well, so be it. That’s why I came after Penny was killed and that’s why I’m here now.”
Cassie said, “Thank you for coming.”
Kiera had a thoughtful look. Dorothy caught the look and said, “And Kiera?”
Kiera started at being addressed and came back to the present. “Yes?”
Dorothy rose and gave her a hug. “Thank you for being such a good friend to Francis over the years. I’ll have to make amends with your parents soon.”
Kiera snickered. “That might be fun to watch. Dad and Grant always look like two roosters spoiling for a fight when they’re in the same room.”
“It can be embarrassing at times. But Peggy and I should be working more closely together now that she’s on the board at the Museum with me. Maybe, over time, she’ll forgive me for snubbing her.”
Cassie caught an amused look on Frank’s face which was spoiled by the lined forehead that told of barely suppressed pain. “Shall I call the nurse for more pain medication, Frank?”
Frank gave a ghost of a nod and the tension and pain became more apparent.
Cassie stood and walked down to the nursing station and charmed the duty nurse into attending to Frank right away.
After the dose had been administered and the lines in his forehead eased, Cassie turned to their visitors, who now included Anne Menzies, and said, very firmly, “He’s going to be asleep in about fifteen minutes. And I need to talk with my husband. Alone.”
Startled by Cassie’s very firm tone, the three women looked at each other. Kiera shrugged. “I suppose I could spring for a round of coffee.”
Dorothy stood and gently stroked her son’s hair. “See you in a few hours, Francis.”
Anne gave them an amused smile as she waved and said, “See you later.”
Frank gave his best attempt at a smile then gave a wave with the hand on his good side.
Cassie said, “I’ll join you downstairs when Frank’s asleep.”
Kiera called from the door, “I’ll be back later, Frankie. It sounds like Cassie’s got something serious to talk about so you’d better listen, okay?”
Weakly, Frank said, “Okay.”
Cassie followed them to the door and shut it firmly behind them then pulled up a chair to Frank’s bed. “I didn’t have any nightmares last night.”
“That’s good, isn’t it?”
“Frank, you aren’t listening. I didn’t have any nightmares, not even a hint of one. I actually slept through the night without you next to me. And I didn’t jump when the furnace turned on or turn on all the lights before I went to the bathroom.”
“Oh.” Frank reached over with his good hand to take hers. “I see.”
“And I didn’t fold when Gord was threatening me.”
“And you babbled like an idiot trying to keep his attention away from the front windows.”
“I also added some extra wiggle when I led him to the office so he’d look at my bum and not out the window.”
“Hey. Admiring your wiggle is my job, not Gord’s.”
“It worked.” Cassie squeezed his hand. “Thank you for defending me.”
“I didn’t do that good a job, did I?”
“It was good enough to delay everything ‘til the police got there. So, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Cassie made a humming sound and Frank recognized it as a preamble for something she wasn’t certain he wanted to hear. “Out with it, Cassie love. I’m sure I can take it.”
Cassie squared her shoulders. “I overheard you talking about the Holy Spirit taking over when you told Kiera about our wedding day. Is that the truth?”
Frank looked at Cassie with his one open eye, relieved that she wasn’t going to yell at him for taking on Gord with the golf club. “It was the strangest experience of my life. I was afraid to tell you because I thought you’d think I was crazy.”
“I almost interrupted your conversation to ask about it, but I needed to pray, so I went to the chapel. While I was praying and thinking about what you’d said, I looked up at the cross and I heard a voice say, ‘It is finished. Time to move on.’ You’re right. It’s a very strange experience when you get an actual message from the Holy Spirit. It rattled me a bit, so I prayed about that for a while, too.”
Frank reached for her hand and squeezed. “Did you get any more answers?”
Cassie grinned impishly. “Yes, I did but not in words. You know… despite what you implied when you told Kiera about it, you never actually proposed to me, ever. You just announced it to Mum and assumed I’d follow your lead. So, because you can’t seem to do it right, I’ll have to.” She dropped to one knee by Frank’s bed and gazed on his bruised face with the one open eye looking thoughtfully at her. “Frank Ellis, will you make me the happiest woman in the world and marry me?”
Frank’s face showed love, astonishment and thoughtfulness all at once. Cassie, knowing her introverted husband’s habits, waited until he could formulate a proper response.
“I would be most honoured, my love. Yes, I will marry you. When?”
Cassie got back onto her chair without releasing Frank’s hand and said, “I spoke to the doctor after I asked the nurse to come and give you the pain medication and asked him how long before you would be recovered enough to resume marital relations. He thought it was a very odd question but he thinks it will take about six weeks or so before you’ll be mostly pain free. So, I’d like to solemnize our marriage in church, with a proper reception and everything, on the Saturday before Christmas at St. Patrick’s in Toronto, if they have a time free.”
Frank brought Cassie’s hand to his lips and gave it a gentle kiss. “That sounds perfect, my love.”
Cassie began to weep. “I was so scared when Gord kicked you. I’m sure I heard your ribs break from the foyer as I was opening the door for the police. I thought I was going to lose you, too, and I love you too much to let you go. I’ve been so stupidly stubborn, Frank, about admitting to myself how important you are to me.”
Frank gave a lopsided smile. “Did I just hear you say that you love me?”
Cassie wiped at her tears. “You did. I love you, Frank Ellis. I love you. I love you. I love you.” She punctuated each phrase with a gentle kiss to his battered face. “And I can hardly wait to be your wife.”
Fr
ank thought about teasing her but decided against it. “So we’ll have two anniversaries?”
Cassie leaned her head down against his good shoulder. “But we won’t have to let anyone else know which is the real one, will we, my love?”
“No, love, that can stay between us.” Then Frank relaxed with a smile and Cassie stayed comfortably close until he fell asleep.
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