33. List Of Concerns

33

LIST OF CONCERNS

“ T hanks for meeting with me so late,” Sloane said to Zander Conway.

She’d been thankful the private investigator was willing to come to her house after she put Shiloh to bed.

She didn’t want her sister to know what was going on.

“Not a problem,” Zander said. “I don’t know everything. Only a little of what Chloe said. She was in the building the other day with Royce to look at something and said you’d be calling.”

Zander was Chloe’s husband’s best friend.

As much as she’d wanted to put some of this behind her, she didn’t have a choice.

Last week she’d gotten a call that her mother died of multiple organ failure. No other explanation as to why though.

Dane argued that they should run more tests, but she’d been told the hospital just needed to verify that since Nadine Redding died on their premises they had to ensure they weren’t liable. There was nothing to say otherwise.

Nothing that her mother’s current job she’d worked at for three years would have attributed to heart and kidney disease, nor liver failure.

There were more questions than answers at this point.

Dane had intervened and asked that tissue and blood samples be sent to Duke and Dr. Mick McNamara would run more tests.

She’d argued she couldn’t pay for that and didn’t see that insurance would cover it.

She knew Mick was a friend of the Fierces and that Dane knew him also having met him at some wedding or another.

Dane had told her he’d take care of it without any management on either of their parts. These were special circumstances and since Shiloh was now a patient at Duke, for the little girl’s long term care, they needed to see if they could figure out what caused her young mother’s organs to fail.

It’d killed her to hear those words.

That maybe there was some hereditary issue that she or Sabrina had to worry about too.

But she had never been sick like her mother always seemed to be.

Neither had Sabrina that she could remember.

And since there were so many things up in the air regarding her mother, she had to see if she could find out anything about Shiloh’s father.

“I’m not sure I can tell you much,” she said to Zander. “I’ll give you all the documents I’ve got, which isn’t much. I don’t want Shiloh to know about this and I don’t think she could answer any questions. I’ve asked and she doesn’t recall any guy in her life. Ever.”

It wasn’t just Shiloh saying that, but Casey had said the same thing. Her mother’s neighbor might have known more than anyone else.

The only thing she had to go by was the fact a friend gave her mother that locket, which she didn’t want to hand over to Zander but would if he could get DNA off it.

Her guess was no. It wouldn’t happen, but someone had to have touched those pictures to put them in.

“That makes it hard but not impossible,” Zander said.

She handed over copies of everything she’d been given from Knox County. “This was released to me last week. It’s my mother’s work history, where she has lived and her visits with the case managers. She’d been getting assistance for years and meeting with case managers. I’ve read it all but nothing is standing out.”

It’d been depressing to see what became of her mother’s life.

She thought of her business and the money she had hidden away. The money she made and what she had in her business.

Could she have helped her mother out?

She could. If she could have reached her.

Her mother had her number, but Sloane didn’t have her mother’s.

She’d always said she’d be there if needed, but everyone went their own way.

She left because she needed to figure out her life away from her mother’s thoughts and opinions.

Though her mother escaped with her and Sabrina and saved them from being stuck in the same life Nadine had given herself at fifteen, it didn’t mean her mother wanted to leave the comfort of having someone care for her.

Of not having to take care of children on her own. Pay her own bills. Worry about clothing or food .

All those things were just provided in the cult.

Sure, her mother worked for it, but everything else in life was taken care of.

When her mother talked about returning after Sabrina was out of the house, Sloane knew she had to leave.

She tried to talk her mother out of it and it appeared as if she’d never returned.

“That’s for me to find out,” Zander said. “Is there anything you can tell me that isn’t in these files?”

She didn’t want to admit the cult part but had no choice in the matter.

“My mother left home when she was fifteen. She joined a cult and became pregnant with me and then my sister, Sabrina, two years later. I don’t know where Sabrina is right now.”

She went on to fill Zander in on everything she remembered.

He never once judged, he just asked questions and took notes, but he was recording the conversation too.

“You’ve had no contact with anyone from that cult since you and your mother and sister left?” Zander asked.

“No,” she said. “I’d like to think my mother didn’t either. But you should know, she stole money from them. I’m not sure how much. I never asked and it was probably for the best, but based on her life history, it couldn’t be a lot. It was enough to get us a place to stay and food and clothing while she found a job and was set up for public assistance.”

“I’ll look into that too. My guess is no one was going to report the theft to the police when they’d have to answer questions about the underage pregnant women,” Zander said drily.

“That was my thought too,” she said. “For all of my mother’s faults, she got Sabrina and me out of there. Maybe I should have been there for her more.”

“It’s hard to do that when she cut off communication,” Zander said. “You said the last number you had was disconnected?”

“Yes. I put that down in the papers. The last number I had and roughly when I talked to her last. I guess I could have tried to find her before now.”

“Families don’t talk for years all the time,” Zander said. “For reasons much less than what you went through.”

He had a point. “I know,” she said. “I’ve told myself that too.”

The front door opened and Dane came in. “Sorry I’m late,” he said. “I got called to the hospital.”

Dane was on call this week. She knew that. They were lucky to get through the Sunday lunch and meet and greet with the kids without more than the three calls that he’d had to take.

She wasn’t sure what she was expecting that day and told herself to be open to anything.

The fact she left hours later with Shiloh and everyone was smiling and talking was a huge improvement from how it started.

She could only hope that the next time was better.

“Not a problem,” she said.

Zander stood up and shook hands with Dane. “Good to see you again,” Zander said.

“You too,” he said.

“I was just filling Zander in on everything about my childhood,” she said.

“I’ll let you both talk,” he said. “I’m just here for support. ”

Which she’d told him he didn’t need to be, but she found he was always there when she needed him the most.

She and Zander talked more, then she added the last part about the locket. “It’s the only thing I’ve got of my mother’s. Shiloh said a friend gave it to her. It’s a picture of Sabrina and me from when we were in school. A friend could have been another woman. It could mean nothing.”

“Why don’t you hold onto that for now,” Zander said. “I’ve got enough to get started. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. I’m not guaranteeing I can find out who Shiloh’s father is. We’ll see if we can figure out any man in her life around that time and just go from there. I don’t like to give false hope and should warn you that we could also come up with things you don’t want to know.”

“I don’t think much could surprise me anymore,” she said. “Not with the way I grew up and what is happening now.”

Zander left after that and Sloane went to plop back down on the couch.

“Sounds like it was a long day,” he said.

“I don’t know what it’s like to not have a long day,” she said. “I’m not sure I will again.”

“Sure, you will,” he said. “Everything feels overwhelming right now. I know. But I do have some news for you. Part of the reason I was late.”

“What’s that?” she asked.

“I went to talk to Mick. He was working late and I wanted to see if there was any news.”

She knew everything was being done for the sake of Shiloh and that as Shiloh’s doctor ordering the tests, he’d get the results prior to her.

“Was there?” she asked. “Do I have to add health worries to my list of concerns now? ”

“Actually, no,” he said. “We did find out what most likely caused the results of your mother’s organ failure. It’s sad and something that could have been prevented.”

“What?” she asked, her shoulders sagging.

“Your mother had Lyme disease. Left untreated it will develop all sorts of complications in someone who can’t fight an infection. Did she ever complain about joint paint?”

“All the time,” she said. “She always said her legs or back or hips hurt. They told her she was being a baby. Are you kidding me? This is all from a tick bite?”

“That is how it’s looking,” he said. “You said no one saw doctors. Simple antibiotics could have stopped it from attacking her organs at the very least. It’s rare but not unheard of what can happen. If she saw a doctor regularly.”

“She wouldn’t have,” she said. “Even if she had one, she wouldn’t go. She didn’t like doctors.”

“I’m sorry, Sloane. Sorry that this all happened and it might have been prevented. I’m going to have Shiloh tested now. It’s unlikely she’s been bitten by a tick, but you’ll feel better knowing. I think, considering where you lived, you should too. Some people can go years with no symptoms and not know they were even bitten.”

“I’ll make an appointment for both of us to get tested.”

She didn’t know what to think of this.

That so much of her mother’s life was based on poor choices.

Here she was once again being stuck living with the results of them.

“I know it’s hard to understand, but maybe try to think of it as you’ll be able to give Shiloh a much better life.”

“And there you are again saying the right thing at the right time without even knowing it,” she said. “Is it horrible to feel that way? ”

“No,” he said. “I’m going to tell you the same thing I told Tiffani the other day. You’ve got every right to feel what you do about things. And you can tell someone how you feel too. But you should be open to listening and understanding that not everyone will feel the same way or there might not be any way to make something better.”

“You’re pretty smart,” she said. “You’re so good with your kids. We haven’t had a chance to talk about what happened on Sunday.”

“I’m sorry it happened the way it did,” he said. Sloane slid under his arm on the couch.

“Don’t be sorry for something that you didn’t do. You handled Tiffani better than most. Better than I could have done. She’s a kid. Just like Shiloh is. Both of them are going through things and for different reasons. I don’t hold it against her and won’t.”

“I need to talk to Mel about this. I’m not sure what to say yet.”

“Will it make a difference either way?” she asked.

“Probably not.”

“Then why bother causing waves?”

“Because Mel needs to understand that her comments started this off. She shouldn’t have said what she had about the toys. And I’ll point out to her that she might be in the same situation someday. Maybe she’ll end up with someone that is going to want a child and she’ll have another one. She’ll want and need my help with that transition and I won’t forget what she did.”

“I didn’t expect you to be that way,” she said. “Or say that to Mel.”

“I don’t think Mel will expect it either, but she’ll know I mean business. She made her choices in life and she has to live with them. ”

Which made her wonder more about the fact that Dane didn’t give Mel a second chance. He gave her what she wanted.

Did Mel want Dane to fight for her and didn’t get that wish?

Something else to think about but not tonight.

Tonight she was going to let the man she was in love with hold her because she needed someone to do that when she’d never had it before.