Lost Cause, Chapter 29
Fox watched Simone get into the car and drive away.
“ I see now.”
Fox turned around to face his father. “ Father, what do you see?”
“ I see now that your lecture of me the other day was extremely personal.
You want to be very personal with Eve’s daughter.”
“ You don’t know what you’re talking about, Father.”
“ The hell I don’t, Foxworth. It’s written all over your face. You are
falling for Simone Russell. Not that I can blame you. She’s very much her
mother’s daughter.”
“ You know, that falls under the ‘ too much information’.”
“ Be that as it may, you have feelings for Simone.”
“ Do I want a relationship with her, Father? Ok, Yes, I do. I really do.
There’s something about her..”
“ You don’t have to explain being captivated by Eve’s daughter. I understand.”
“ But, my name is Crane, and she has no intentions of being involved with
me.”
“ I never took you for a quitter, Fox.”
“ I’m not a quitter.”
“ Aren’t you? I know..you’re a Crane, her father hates me with a passion,
and now, the two of you know that you share a brother. All around, it’s
a messy situation. But, not impossible. You and Simone are consenting adults.
You’re young. You should be able to have any kind of relationship that you
want.”
“ You don’t disapprove?”
“ IS is genuine? Or is it you sowing your wild oats? If this is a knotch
on the belt kind of thing, then NO, I don’t agree. There are millions of
young women that you could use for that.”
“ I don’t intend to use Simone.”
“ Then, fine. Pursue her. But, she has Eve and TC’s stubborn genes in her.
She’ll not enter into a relationship willingly. She’s going to have to be
wooed. Convinced.”
Fox smiled. “ I hope you mean right by Dr. Russell. You mess that up Father,
and Simone won’t talk to me again.”
“ I told you my intentions towards Eve. I love her. I won’t hurt her.”
“ I hope not. Well, I’m on my way.”
“ Where?”
“ To the hospital to see Simone.”, Fox replied with a smile.
The Russells were in the car. Simone stared out the window.
“ What did you have to talk to Nicholas Crane about, Simone?”
Simone was startled back to reality. “ Oh, nothing much. He was wondering
how I was doing.”
“ So, it was nothing serious.”
“ Serious?”
“ Yes, serious. I could have sworn that I saw romantic intentions in his
eyes towards you.”
“ Daddy?”
“ Well.”
“ Daddy, Nicholas saved me. At the very least, I consider him a friend.”
“ Cranes can’t be good friends.”
“ Daddy, it’s not fair to paint Nicholas with the same brush as Julian.”
“ Julian’s no good and so is his no-good son!”
“ If that were REALLY true, do you know that Whitney and I would BOTH be
DEAD?”
Silence.
“ Yes, think about that, Daddy. The evil weevil Cranes saved the lives
of both of your precious daughters. For that alone, you need to tone down
the hostility.”
“ You have no idea what Julian’s done!”
“ Of course I do, Daddy. I’ve grown up in a house where I was fed a steady
diet of Crane hatred. But now we know. Mom loved Julian…so, how bad can
he really be?”
TC pulled the car to the side of the road.
“ You did NOT just say that to me.”
“ Daddy, Simone didn’t mean it..”
“ Whitney, don’t speak for me. I know exactly what I said. And nothing
I said wasn’t the truth. Mom loved Julian Crane. She had a baby with Julian
Crane. Yes, she lied to us, but I get that now. I get why she lied. She
had a choice. She could either love you and lie, or tell the truth
and watch you walk out of her life. She CHOSE to love you, Daddy. But, you’re
not the most understanding of men. Oh, you love us. You’re our defender.
You’re our protector. But, understanding? No, you’re not. Daddy, I’m going
to be honest with you. I’m not going to lie to you like Mom did. Nicholas
IS interested in me. And, to be honest, I was very interested in him, until
I found out what his last name was. NOT because I hated him for it, but because
I knew that YOU would have such a problem with it. Well, now, I don’t care.
I’m not saying that I’m in love. I’m barely over Whitney and Chad’s behavior
towards me. But, I like the way that Nicholas looks at me. I like the way
he listens to me. I like the way that I’ve not had a false moment with him
since meeting him, and he seems to like me anyway. I’m sorry if this hurts
you. I’m sorry if it makes you mad. But, it’s MY life, and I’m going to be
friends with and date whomever I want, as long as they’re not a criminal
or lowlife. But, his last name being Crane isn’t good enough for me to censor
myself. Now, can we go?”
Whitney and TC both just stared at Simone. Neither one could believe the
words coming out of her mouth. TC turned on the car and they went to the
hospital.
Whitney, TC and Simone got to Eve’s room, and it was empty.
“ Well, I guess Mom went for some tests.”
Whitney arranged the flowers that they had bought for Eve, and Simone was
decorating the room when a nurse came in.
“ Coach Russell, we’ve been trying to get in touch with you.”
TC pulled out his cellphone. “ Damn, the battery is dead. What’s wrong?”
“ There was a crisis. She spiked a fever. They took Dr. Russell back in
for more surgery.”
“ MORE surgery?”, Whitney asked.
“ Do they know what’s wrong?”, TC asked.
“ No. They think that maybe they didn’t seal up every leak from the bullet.
If you want to go down to the surgery waiting room, I’ll let you know.”
“ Thanks.”
The nurse left and TC sat down on Eve’s bed. “ Julian was right. Your mother
was awake, and little else. She really IS that sick. We’ve got to get our
acts together to help her. And whatever lies we have to tell her to make
her feel better, we’re going to do. Nothing is going to stop us from helping
your mother heal and come back to us – healthwise. Agreed?”
Whitney and Simone nodded as they went to their father for a hug.