Gail Bowen - The Nesting Dolls

“Was Delia still there?”

“Oh yeah, and wearing one of my T-shirts. Darryl asked Delia why she put out for everybody but Murray and him. At that point Noah showed up and threatened to kill Darryl. It was quite a morning.”

“And you think Darryl’s waited all these years to get even?”

Zack shrugged. “All I know is if I were advising Nadine, Darryl Colby is exactly the lawyer I would have suggested. He’s a junkyard dog. Even when he’s winning, he never misses a chance to snap at opposing counsel. People respect Delia. Most of the lawyers in town would have a tough time going full bore against her. Darryl will dig up the dirt, and lick his chops as he tears her reputation to shreds.” Zack rolled over. “God, I feel awful.”

“Too much talking,” I said. “Go back to sleep. I’ll go up to the drugstore and pick up your prescriptions, and then we’ll get you into the shower and change your sheets. Okay?”

Zack just nodded and shut his eyes.

When I came back from the drugstore, Mieka was in the kitchen, unpacking groceries.

“You’re a wonder,” I said.

“Nope, just one of Lakeview Fine Foods’ best customers. I called ahead and they had everything ready.”

“Zack always says the more people you know the more people you know who can do something for you.”

Mieka made a face. “Cynical, but true. Is he doing any better?”

“Not yet,” I said. I held up the bag of medications. “I’m counting on these.”

“And on Helen Freedman’s chicken soup,” Mieka said.

“That soup’s been our standby since you were in kindergarten,” I said. “And this time I’m really counting on it because life is not getting simpler.” I took off my jacket. “Do you have time for a cup of coffee? I should get Zack started on his pills. But if you have a moment, I’d like to talk.”

Mieka glanced at her watch. “I’m already over-caffeinated, but I’m okay for time.”

I had to wake Zack up to take his pills. “Nurse Ratched here,” I said. “Do you want this medication orally or should we arrange another way?”

Zack pushed himself to a semi-sitting position. “I never figured you for a mean woman,” he muttered.

I kissed his shoulder. “Would you believe me if I said I would rather it was me going through this than you?”

“Hell, yes. I’d rather it was you, too.” He gave me a weak smile. “You do realize that was a joke, don’t you?”

“It better have been,” I said. “I’m the one who controls the drugs.”

When I got back to the kitchen, Mieka was washing the stewing chicken.

“Bucking for sainthood?”

“No, just for someone to babysit the girls New Year’s Eve.”

“Won’t you be at the lake with us New Year’s Eve?”

“Yes, and I was hoping I could bring a date.”

“Anyone I know?”

“Yes, but it may fall through, so don’t get your hopes up,” Mieka said. “Anyway, just in case, could the girls stay with you and Zack New Year’s Eve?”

“Absolutely. An excuse for me to have my perfect New Year’s Eve. Everyone in bed by nine o’clock.”

Mieka smiled. “Same old Mum.”

“Same old Mum,” I said.

Mieka opened the knife drawer, took out my heavy-duty knife, and waved it in the air. “Do you want to do the honours or shall I?”

“I’ll do it,” I said. I took out the cutting board and set to work.

“Okay, so what’s going on?”

“Abby’s partner, Nadine Perrault, called this morning. She’s coming to Regina.”

“So, this is bad news?”

“It’s going to make life more complicated for Zack,” I said.

“If Zack weren’t involved, where would you think Jacob should be?”

“I don’t know. Nadine would be a very good parent. She’s warm and thoughtful. She doesn’t put herself first, and she’s capable of great love. But Abby Michaels wanted Jacob to be with Delia and she must have had her reasons. Certainly Delia’s legal position seems solid.”

“Why ‘seems’ rather than ‘is’?”

The leg came free and I severed the thigh from the drumstick. “Zack’s uneasy about this case,” I said, “I guess it’s rubbing off on me.”

“So what’s going to happen?”

“I think Jacob will end up with the Wainbergs. It’s not going to be a fairy-tale ending, but if life unfolds as it should, it’s possible that everyone involved will be reasonably content. Delia’s prepared to offer Nadine access, and if Nadine’s lawyer can prove that Abby’s decision was based on something other than concern about Nadine’s character, the access should be generous.” I began cutting the other leg free.

Mieka shook her head. “You didn’t spend much time with Nadine, Mum. She could have some skeletons rattling in her closet.”

“The priest at Nadine’s church in Port Hope didn’t think so. He told Nadine that everything Abby did at the end grew out of her love for Nadine and her desire to protect her.”

Mieka’s eyes widened. “Are priests in Port Hope allowed to divulge the secrets of the confessional?”

I cut the joint between the drumstick and the thigh. “Apparently this priest had a generous heart, and the moral decision with which he was faced was clear-cut. He saw a good person suffering needlessly, and he was able to help. He was lucky.”

“But you’re not?” Mieka asked.

“Zack is Delia’s lawyer, so I can hardly make overtures to Nadine.”

Mieka frowned. “I understand why Zack can’t, but I don’t see why you can’t do what you want to do.”

I began removing the wings. “You may have a point. I like Nadine, and she is going to be so alone. Given the circumstances, there’s no guarantee that Delia will even let her see Jacob. It might be perceived as a concession.”

“Where’s Noah in all this?”

“Where he always is – with his arms protectively around his wife.”

“That sounds a little bitchy.”

“When it comes to Delia, I’m a little sensitive these days. She has an amazing success rate as a litigator, but the men around her treat her as if she’d fall apart in a stiff breeze.”

I turned the bird onto its breast and began cutting along each side of the spine to remove the backbone.

“So does your ire extend to Zack?”

“I’m probably overreacting to the Ontario trip but, yes, it does. He treated Nadine badly and he risked his health because he felt he had to protect Delia.”

“Jealous?”

“Probably. There’s this primal thing among the partners at Falconer Shreve. It goes way back. No matter how brilliantly Delia performs as a lawyer, Zack still sees her as the girl he had to hold all night because, the year they were articling, she was at the centre of a fight.”

“And Delia felt responsible?”

“As Zack described it, it was more that she was in a state of shock. Anyway, there was no shortage of knights in armour prepared to defend her.”

“And Zack was among them,” Mieka said. “So, was there a romance?”

“I doubt it. Zack’s had a lot of women, but Zack’s and Delia’s feelings for one another go deep. I can’t see them risking their relationship for a one-night stand.” I removed the stewing hen’s backbone, cut through the breastplate to make two halves, and flourished my knife. “Done,” I said. “This chicken is ready for the pot.”

After Mieka left, I covered the chicken parts and gizzards with water, chopped onions, carrots, parsnips, and fresh thyme and added them to the pot, seasoned the broth, and turned on the heat. Chicken soup, the anodyne for all the ills of the world, was on its way.

Mieka and I had arranged that I would pick the girls up at school at three-thirty. The day ahead was clear. I took a biography I’d been waiting to read into the bedroom, sat by the window, and looked out at the day. It was bright, still, and cold enough to create sun dogs in the sky. I turned to the first page of my book. It opened in Tennessee. A young woman was driving through heat so blistering the plastic of her car seat was sticking to her legs. She was singing, “I’m Going to the Chapel and I’m Going to Get Married.”