Jamie Begley - Tainted

“Penni.”

Sawyer stared down at the picture in her hand, almost fainting. Only Vida grabbing her for support had her able to hold on to her control.

Penni was in the picture, sitting on a huge boulder with green lush mountains behind her. Sitting next to her, laughing into the camera, was a beautiful, dark haired woman. She was dressed in a dress, and the girls were obviously trying to keep the wind from blowing it up. Her gentleness could easily be read in her face, just as the heart-wrenching sadness in her eyes couldn’t be missed.

“W—who w—was the man in your picture?” Sawyer asked with a hoarse voice.

“That’s my brother, Shade,” Penni answered, staring at Sawyer curiously. “He looks kind of scary, but he can be sweet.” Then she added, “Sometimes.”

“Who’s the woman?” Vida questioned with a tight voice.

“That was my college roommate, Lily. I already miss her. We became really close friends. She doesn’t graduate until next semester.” Penni took the picture frame from Sawyer’s hand, setting it carefully back down on the desk.

“I want to thank you, Sawyer, for convincing Kaden to give me that interview. I know he wouldn’t have hired me without your help. I didn’t make the best impression during my internship with R.J.”

Sawyer didn’t answer, gripping the desk for support. One of her nails broke, but she didn’t feel the pain.

A knock sounded and Penni went to answer it. Sawyer and Vida gathered themselves during the reprieve. Seeing the deliverymen, they used the excuse to escape. Neither woman said a word until they were in the elevator. Vida was already crying when the elevator door closed.

“Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God!” Vida held on to the side of the elevator.

Sawyer weakly reached out, pressing the emergency stop on the elevator panel. Bursting into tears, she fell to her knees on the elevator floor.

“S—she’s a—alive! She’s alive!”

Vida came down next to her on the floor. Sawyer reached out, hugging her close as both of them cried.

“Callie’s alive!”

Sawyer opened the door to the back porch, carefully balancing the two glasses of ice tea. She accidently spilt a few drops as she closed the door with her foot, remembering the days when she could hold two glasses in each hand. She didn’t miss waitressing at all. She had enough people to wait on at home to fulfill that need.

Walking barefoot across the porch, she stepped carefully down the steps, determined not to spill any more. The grass felt wonderful on her feet as she walked across the yard.

“What took you so long?” Vida asked, taking her glass.

“I checked on Faith.” Sawyer climbed on top of the picnic table beside Vida so that she could get a better look at the game going on across the yard. She took the baby monitor out of her pocket, laying it down next to her on the table.

“How much weight has she gained since her operation?”

“Three pounds,” Sawyer said proudly. “The doctor said that was really good, that most babies born with drug addictions won’t gain weight as fast,” she said, relieved at the progress her adopted daughter was making.

“That’s wonderful. Wait until she’s old enough to eat your cooking; she will really start gaining weight.”

“Mom!” A little boy haltingly ran across the yard, his crutches slowing him down.

“What?” Sawyer asked, seeing what the problem was before her son could answer.

“Roxi and Axel won’t let me climb up the tree.” Sawyer could understand their concern. His foot brace would make it almost impossible and they had been very protective of George since the adoption was final.

“Go tell your dad; he’s strong enough to lift you up to the limb.”

“Okay.” Satisfied that his request would be granted, he turned around, searching for his father in the crowd. Her son was becoming a little spoiled. Sawyer leaned her face up to the sun, hiding her smile at Roxi and Axel’s disgruntled looks.

“Colton hit a homerun.” Vida stood up, jumping up and down on the bench.

Sawyer sat up, jerking her friend back down.

“Jeez, Vida. You trying to make them babies come early?”

“From your mouth to God’s ear. I haven’t seen my feet in a month.”

“Enjoy it while you can. I don’t envy you. Two crying babies at night. It was bad enough when George and Grace had ear infections and there was a year separating them in age. If Kaden hadn’t been so much help and so good about getting up at night, I would have been terrified adopting them.”

“I don’t know why. You’re a fantastic mom, Sawyer.”

Sawyer grinned at her friend. She was blessed and she knew it as she watched George complain to his father.

Kaden picked up George, and with Colton’s help, lifted him into the tree house with Grace. Roxie and Axel quickly climbed up the ladder, on the side of the tree, to play with their friends.

Both men started walking toward their wives.

“Did you ever think when we were little that we would get this lucky?”

“No. I didn’t.” Sawyer picked up her glass of tea, her tattoo catching her eye. The word freedom had several forget-me-nots wound through it, connecting it to a birdcage. Inside the birdcage, a tiny Robin sat on the perch, staring back with golden eyes. The cage was covered with flowers, and the vines spelling out Vida, Kaden and their children’s names. The ink work was beautiful; Colton had done his best work on her. He had even scrolled Callie’s name on the dangling cord, holding the key to the open cage door.