CHAPTER 2
Joan was extremely proud of her daughter. Sitting in the university’s Canfield Courtyard with fifteen hundred other friends and family members, she was anxiously awaiting for her daughter’s name to be announced. Smart, beautiful, and curious, Emily Elizabeth Fitzgerald was graduating summa cum laude from Stanford Law.
Three years ago, when Emily received her undergraduate degree, the commencement speaker was Tom Brokaw, the former NBC Nightly News anchor and author of The Greatest Generation. Joan remembered how inspiring his speech was, and how he challenged the graduates that day to be the next, great generation.
Today’s speaker, however, was a different story. Professor Etienne Pilotte, was a self-centered law professor so arrogant, students often referred to him as “Pompous Pilotte.” The professor droned on and on about how “if he were” in these graduates shoes, “he would” use “his” newly minted JD to improve the lives of “the ninety-nine percent.”
Joan thought otherwise. After seven years of ridiculously expensive tuition, and eating Ramen Noodles twice a day, she figured most of these graduates were more interested in focusing on improving their own lives at this point. Emily was already on her way, having landed a coveted position at Greene & Greene,” one of the top law firms in Eagle. Once she passed the bar exam, she would officially be an associate in its family practice division.
As “Pompous Pilotte” continued, Joan reminisced about her own life. The first thirty years sucked. There was no other way to describe it. Her life began badly, and went downhill from there. Joan’s mother died in the delivery room from complications during childbirth. Her father, having no interest in raising two children alone, left Joan and her older brother with his elderly mother and was never heard from again. When Grandma Alice died six years later, Joan and her brother became wards of the state. They were separated, with Joan living in a string of eight different foster homes. By the time she turned eighteen, Joan had been sexually abused by several of her “fellow fosters,” and spent time in Juvenile Detention for selling drugs. She earned a GED while in “Juvy,” and studied nursing at the local community college after being released.
Joan thought she had finally turned her life around when she married Ron Fitzgerald, the assistant manager at the local grocery store. Their first year of marriage was wonderful. Unfortunately, the only luck Joan had was bad luck, and eventually that happiness evaporated. After three failed pregnancies, Joan no longer had any interest in intimacy, causing her marriage to crash and burn. Frustrated, Ron had an affair with one of his cashiers, who quickly got pregnant. Joan remembered signing the divorce papers on her thirtieth birthday.
The sound of applause as “Professor Pompous” concluded his speech brought Joan back to the present. As they began to confer the degrees, Joan joined the other parents trying to get the best vantage point to take a picture with her camera.
Emily’s row stood and began walking toward the stage. “Katelynn Jessica Fischer… Daniel Marshall Field… Samuel Leonard Fishman…”
She’s next, Joan thought, stepping forward with her camera poised to record this important moment in both of their lives.
“Emily Elizabeth Fitzgerald…”
While many of the other graduates received extra applause generated by extended families in attendance, the announcement of Emily’s name was only followed with a polite smattering of congratulatory applause from the audience, and the sound of her mother’s voice yelling, “Congratulations Emily!”
Emily was accustomed to this, of course. With Joan her only living relative, celebrating the milestones in her life have been rather small affairs. Typically, her mother would take her out to dinner at some chain restaurant like Olive Garden, then give her a greeting card with a personal check enclosed.
She had friends of course, and even an occasional boyfriend, but for some reason these relationships never lasted for more than a year. Joan always kept her close. When Emily was young, she thought it was because her mother was being overprotective, wary of losing the only person in her life. As she got older, however, Emily suspected that somehow, her mother was the reason she never had any close relationships growing up. Things got really ugly when it came time to select a college. Joan had been so angry and disappointed when Emily did not accept the invitation to attend Boise State. For Emily, it was an easy decision. A full-ride scholarship at a prestigious university often referred to as “the Harvard of the West,” or paying in-state tuition to a university known more for his football team, and its blue stadium turf.
Walking back to her seat, Emily told herself, “Your life begins now. Make it your own!” Her mother did not know it yet, but Emily had already rented an apartment in Eagle, about twenty miles from the condo her mother thought she would once again share with her daughter after seven years of college in California.
Following the ceremony, Joan found Emily sharing congratulatory hugs with several of her fellow graduates.
“Congratulations, Sweetheart! I’m so proud of you,” Joan said as she hugged her daughter. “I found an Olive Garden in town. Let’s go celebrate your graduation in-style!”
Really? In-style? Emily thought. Over the past seven years, she had experienced many 5-star Italian restaurants in Silicon Valley, which made Olive Garden look like a fast food restaurant in comparison. But, Emily knew it was her mother’s favorite, so she acquiesced, especially since she needed to break the news to her mother about the one-bedroom apartment she had rented near her new place of employment. An hour later, they were eating salad and breadsticks, while waiting for their entrees.
“So, are you packed and ready to move back home to Caldwell?” Joan asked, excitedly.
“Yeah. I’m renting a small U-Haul trailer tomorrow. I should be able to fit seven years’ worth of stuff in the trailer and my Jeep.”
Leaning in closer, as if revealing a secret, Joan said, “Before I left, I redecorated your room, and cleared a corner of the basement to make room for all of your college stuff. Everything is ready for you to move back in!”
Emily waited for the server to finish placing their entrees on the table, before telling her mother about her new apartment.
“Mom, I won’t be moving back to Caldwell with you.”
“But, I repainted the walls, hung new curtains, and bought a new bedspread,” Joan replied, adding, “It looks very nice! I even bought a nice bookcase for all of your law books at IKEA!”
“It sounds wonderful Mom, but I’ve rented a one bedroom apartment in Eagle, not far from G Squared.”
“G Squared? What’s that? Some dance club?” sputtered Joan.
“No Mom. It’s how people at the firm refer to Greene & Greene.”
“That’s silly. Just like the idea of you moving out on your own.”
“Mom, I’ve been on my own for the past seven years. What’s the difference?
“You were just away at college… living in college housing.”
“Mom… I’m a twenty-five year old college graduate, who also happens to be a lawyer now. It’s time for me to get my own place.”
“Well, it’s not happening Emily. And that’s final!”
“I’ve already signed a lease agreement. IT IS HAPPENING MOTHER,” Emily said, accentuating each word.
“I suppose you want your own place just so you can have sex, any time you want,” Joan said in a slightly raised voice.
People eating at nearby tables to glanced in Joan’s direction, with one woman nearly choking on her spaghetti upon hearing the comment.
“Mother!” Emily exclaimed.
Following that exchange, the two women finished their entrees in an awkward silence that continued until Joan parked her rental car on the street in front of Emily’s student apartment.
“Well, I imagine you still have some packing to do Emily. I have a plane to catch. Will I get to see you when you get back to Idaho?”
“I thought you were only flying home tomorrow afternoon, Mom?”
“I’ve decided to take an earlier flight. It sounds to me like you big shot lawyers at “G Whatever-you-call-it,” need your privacy.”
“Mom. That’s not what I meant, and you know it. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
“I’m sorry Emily, but you managed to completely ruin what started out as an excellent day.”
“Don’t you think you’re being a little dramatic Mother?”
Ignoring the comment, Joan said, “I’ve got to go.” Reaching into her purse, she took out a greeting card-sized envelope. “Here’s your present. Congratulations.”
“Thank you, Mom. You didn’t have to do this,” Emily said opening the envelope.
“I didn’t have to do a lot of things, young lady. But I did them for you. It was always for you.”
“Then you understand why I’m doing this Mom. I’m doing this for you. Now you can move on with your life.”
“That’s the biggest load of bullshit, I’ve ever heard, young lady. You’ll make a fine lawyer.”
Emily sat there in shock. She’d never heard her mother talk like that before. After a few more seconds of awkward silence, Joan said. “I’ve got to get to the airport. I’ll see you, whenever. Please call before you come over. I don’t want you simply dropping by whenever you feel like it.”
Seconds later, Emily stood alone on the sidewalk with her diploma and a large tote bag in hand. Alrighty then…That went well, she thought sarcastically, watching her mother speed away, running a red light in the process.
* * * * *
“I can’t believe she’s not moving back in with me,” Joan kept muttering to herself, as she made her way through airport security. One TSA agent, noticing she was talking to herself, stopped her to ask if she was okay.
Of course, I’m okay,” barked Joan. “Just because my daughter no longer wants to live with me doesn’t mean I’m the crazy one!”
Watching Joan trundle down the concourse toward her flight’s assigned departure gate, the TSA agent rolled her eyes at her partner, as if saying, “Yeah lady. You’re not crazy.”
“I’ll call the United gate agent and give her a heads-up on that one,” her partner volunteered in agreement.
Joan arrived at the departure gate with plenty of time to spare. Her flight was not scheduled to leave for another ninety minutes. Sitting in the gate waiting area, she reached for the Danielle Steele novel she had started on the flight to San Francisco. Although she tried to read, Joan found it difficult to concentrate on the story. Her conscience kept returning her to an incident when her life changed forever.
After receiving her nursing degree, Joan had a difficult time finding a full-time job in a hospital because of her criminal record for selling drugs. To make ends meet, she took a few additional courses and became an Emergency Medical Technician, working for the local ambulance company.
That morning, Joan and her partner, Michael Young responded to two-vehicle accident near downtown. Arriving at the scene, they learned the woman had been driving through the intersection when a teenaged driver ran a red light, squarely hitting the driver’s side of her car. The impact sent the woman’s car careening across the intersection, and sent the unrestrained teenager through his windshield. First responders found the young man’s body atop the roof of the woman’s car. Luckily, the life of the woman and her unborn baby was saved because the car’s frame absorbed most of the impact.
Joan contacted the Emergency department at St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center, advising they were preparing to transport a pregnant Caucasian female, 35 to 40 years old, suffering from severe head trauma, as well as multiple cuts and bruises.
“Please save my baby! Do whatever it takes to save my baby,” the woman said to Joan, before blacking out.
Joan examined the mother and noticed the accident had induced labor. She could see the baby’s head crowning. This was not the first baby Joan had delivered. In fact, she had delivered more babies than any other of her fellow paramedics, who given her the nickname “The Stork.”
With lights flashing and sirens wailing, Michael adeptly guided the ambulance through traffic toward the hospital, while she worked on their passenger.
After delivering the healthy baby girl, Joan noticed a second, smaller baby was hiding behind its slightly larger sibling. Working quickly, she delivered the second child, another girl.
Joan remembered what the woman kept saying, “Save my baby… save my baby.”
Is it possible she didn’t know she was having twins, Joan thought. It’s possible given how they were positioned.
Then something clicked in Joan’s head. Her dark side was now in control. Looking to see if Michael noticed the birth of the second baby, she hid the tiny newborn in her now empty lunch cooler. When they arrived at the hospital, Joan had Michael deliver the young mother and her newborn to the trauma team waiting inside.
“Can you take them inside, Michael? I’ll stay here and clean up this mess, and complete the paperwork before Stacey relieves me. She should be here soon.”
Working quickly, Joan cleaned the ambulance’s interior, bagging all of the biohazard material into the appropriate red bags. She checked on hidden Baby Number Two and completed the paperwork just as Michael returned with the gurney.
“They stabilized the mother, and the doctor said her baby girl will be okay too. Nice work Joan!”
“Shit, I forgot to give you her purse when you brought her in, Michael. I’m sure they’ll want her information. I’ll go give it to them. What exam room is she in?”
“She’s in four,” Michael replied, as he watched the very attractive Stacey Leonard approach.
“Hey guys! Looks like you’ve had a busy day,” Stacey said.
“Hi Stace,” Joan said. “You ready to relieve me?
“I suppose so,” she replied, looking up at the cloudless, cobalt blue sky. It’s such a nice day, I’d rather be jogging along the Greenbelt.”
As Joan and Michael nodded in agreement, dispatch was calling on their radios.
“Sounds like you’ve got places to go guys,” Joan said. “I’m off tomorrow. See you Wednesday.”
With that, Michael and Stacey were off on their next call.
Joan looked in on the tiny baby inside her cooler before entering the hospital to drop off the woman’s purse. The little one was sleeping. She’d need some attention soon. Luckily Joan had the rest of the afternoon, and the rest of her life to take care of her new daughter.