CHAPTER 18

O livia had already explained to her that she was done with treatment for her cancer. She’d been done with it prior to Hollis returning. Hollis had hoped that she’d reconsider because even an extra month together would be important. Hell, Hollis would take an extra day with her mom, an extra hour or minute, even, because she still had so much she wanted to learn, talk about, and enjoy with her. She knew her mom wouldn’t get to see her walk down the aisle. She wouldn’t get to hold her grandchild if Hollis ever ended up having kids. She’d never be able to help Hollis learn to be a mom herself. So much had already been taken from Hollis that it took everything in her to not be upset with her dying mother for not wanting that extra time together.

“Hello?” she said into the phone, answering the unknown number.

“Hollis Richardson?”

“Yes,” she replied.

“My name is Clint Oswald. I’m with the federal prosecutor’s office, handling your father’s case.”

“Oh,” she uttered and stood up instantly to go to her bedroom from the living room for some privacy from her mother, who was sleeping on the sofa. “What do you want?” she asked when she closed the door.

“Well, we need to talk to you about the case. I was hoping you could come by the office for an interview,” he said.

“I work. And when I’m not working, I’m with my mom. She’s sick.”

“I can come to you, if it would be easier, but we do need an interview. ”

“Why?” she asked, sitting on the end of the bed. “I said everything to the FBI in Vancouver and repeated it when I got here.”

“We were hoping your father would take a deal to avoid a trial, but we’ve offered him two, and he’s declined both. His lawyer is telling us that he wants to take this to a trial, and we can do that, but that would mean dragging you and your mother through this and you testifying. It’s very unlikely that he’s going to take any deal we offer him, but we also don’t think he’s at risk for recidivism. That is, he’s not going to kidnap someone else. This was very situational. We’ve offered good deals, too, but he’s uninterested.”

“So, now what? You want me to talk to him for you? Try to get him to take it?”

“That would be ideal, yes. No one wants this to go to trial but your father.”

“What did you offer him?” Hollis asked.

“Fifteen years instead of twenty-five-to-life. When he turned that down, we offered twelve. He could even be out in six with good behavior. We said we wouldn’t fight early parole, assuming that was the case, but he said no to both.”

“He won’t listen to me. He never has before. I don’t see this being any different,” she replied.

“It’s worth a shot,” Clint insisted. “I’m willing to go down to ten years. So, he could be out in five. He could still have a chance at a life after that.”

“I’m sorry, Mr.Oswald. I haven’t talked to my dad since Vancouver, and that was for about five minutes, with him just making excuses. I’m not interested in hearing him tell me why he wants to go to trial instead of taking a deal and owning up to what he did.”

“I understand. But I still need to interview you. If we’re going to trial, you’ll have to testify. I need to prep you.”

“I don’t want to testify.”

“Miss Richardson, I’m sorry, but your father is putting us in this situation. We need you to testify. Your mother will have to as well, assuming she’s… ”

“You’re not making my mother do anything,” Hollis stated. “She’s dying. I’m not putting her through this.”

“I’ve already spoken to your mother,” Clint revealed. “I talked to her right when this started. She’s agreed to record her testimony for us.”

“She did?” Hollis asked, surprised.

“In the event that she’s not around at the time of the trial, it’s possible the judge will let us play it. They might not, but it’s the best we can do in this circumstance, I’m afraid. I can ask for a speedy trial, but it’s the defendant who has that right, not the prosecution, so if he doesn’t ask for it, it won’t happen. They need time to prep their evidence as well.”

“What evidence? My dad kidnapped me.”

“And you’ll testify to that,” Clint replied.

Hollis shook her head and said, “Look, you’ve got a job to do, I get that, but this isn’t something I’m ready for. My mom… I just need to be focused on her right now. Maybe you can tell him that I think he should take the deal, but I really don’t want to be involved right now.”

“We still–”

“I’m sorry, Mr.Oswald. I have to go.”

Hollis hung up the phone and stared down at it in her hands. Her father wanted to take this to trial. She couldn’t understand why, but he probably just wanted to make more excuses and blame her mother. Hollis stood and went back into the living room, where she found Olivia sitting up and changing the channel on the TV.

“You’re testifying?”

“What, honey?” the woman asked groggily.

“That was the prosecutor on the phone. He said he talked to you about recording your testimony for the trial.”

“Oh, yes. That was ages ago. I haven’t heard from him since,” Olivia replied. “It’s in case the trial doesn’t start until after…” She met Hollis’s eyes then. “After I’m gone.”

“Mom, you don’t have to testify.”

“That man stole my child from me. You better believe I’m telling that court what he did and how it impacted me, and you, too, Hollis. I can’t ever get the years I lost with you back.”

Hollis sat down next to her mother and asked, “Why won’t you go back to treatment, then? I know we can’t get the time back, but we can at least have more time together.”

“Sweetie, you’ve only seen me when I wasn’t in treatment. You never saw what it did to me. If you think I’m bad now, you should’ve seen me on chemo… I was throwing up all the time. My hair was falling out in clumps. I could barely walk more than a few steps at a time. I’ve chosen to have less time, yes, but more quality time. I made that choice before you found me, but I still think it’s the right one. I don’t want you to have to take me to and from the hospital like you had to when I fell. You’d have to do that all the time, honey. We’d lose more time than we’d gain, and there’s no guarantee we’d actually gain anything.”

“Mom, every day, every hour counts.”

“I know. But if I’m throwing up or sleeping all the time, it doesn’t count for much.”

“Raleigh has been working with a new detective on Eden’s case. Her brother-in-law is an oncologist. He has his own practice with his wife. Raleigh said he’d be willing to take a look at your records. He has trials and treatments that–”

“No, Hollis,” her mother interrupted.

“No? You won’t even see him?”

“No, honey.” Olivia shook her head.

“Mom, he might have a trial that–”

“He won’t,” Olivia interrupted her again. “I had cancer once before. It was less aggressive the first time, and I beat it. It took two years, but I was finally in remission. Then, it came back worse. And I’ve done all the treatments, Hollis. I even went through a clinical trial for a new medication. Nothing worked. At this stage, it’s too late for anything to help. I also stopped treatment a while ago now, so it’s spread more. Baby, I know this is hard for you to understand, and I am so sorry that you had to come home to this, but I did try. I tried everything I could until it got to a point where I just couldn’t anymore. I’m in constant pain as is. It’s only because you’re here that I’m even able to be this healthy right now. If you hadn’t come home, Hollis, I would have been gone by now.”

“Don’t say that,” Hollis said, tearing up.

“It’s hard, but it’s the truth. You’ve made me so happy. You’ve kept me healthier just by being here. I want so badly to go back to years ago, when I first got diagnosed, and tell those doctors to give me everything they’ve got because it’s going to come back worse if they don’t. I want to go back to the day your dad took you from me and never let him get close enough to you to do it. I can’t go back, though. I can only look forward. I want to be here with you for as long as I can, but it will get worse, Hollis. I can already feel the pain getting worse, and it’s harder to move on my own. I don’t know how much time I have left, but I do know that I don’t want trials or more medicine. I just want to sit on the sofa and watch TV with my daughter. You tell Raleigh and the detective thank you for me, though.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. Now, we just enjoy what time we have left together.” Her mom gave a small nod.

Hollis wiped at her eyes and said, “I’ll tell Raleigh.”

“I like her,” her mother replied.

“So you’ve said,” Hollis noted, letting a little laughter in to break the tension.

“So do you.”

“Yes, I like her.”

“Why hasn’t she come over for dinner again, then?”

“Raleigh has her own life, Mom. She can’t just drop everything to have dinner with us.”

“She did the other night when she was worried about you.”

“That was different.”

“She slept over,” Olivia pointed out.

“Nothing happened. It was late. We just slept. ”

“It would be okay if you didn’t just sleep, Hollis.”

“Mom!” Hollis laughed a little louder this time.

“What? You’re an adult. You’ve… done that before. We never got the chance to have the talk, but I hope your father gave you one, at least.”

“He told me boys only think about sex, so I shouldn’t think that a boy my age really loves me or wants more than that. Then, he told me about condoms and birth control.”

“He what?”

“I was fourteen.”

“I’ll smack him,” her mom stated.

“Don’t worry; it’s not like I even had anyone interested in me when I was in high school. We were never anywhere long enough for that to matter.”

“When you did, though, were you…”

“Safe?” Hollis finished for her. “Yeah. I never got the speech about the emotional side of things – it was more about not getting pregnant or an STI – but I knew enough, and it was with someone I trusted.”

“Good,” her mom replied. “And Raleigh?”

“Raleigh and I slept, Mom.”

“She cares about you.”

“She’s a friend,” Hollis argued.

“But you feel more than that.”

“I do,” she admitted. “But neither of us is in a place where we should try anything right now.”

“Hollis, you could wait forever, and you both might still not be ready,” her mother replied.

“Mom, we just talked about how you and I don’t have much time left. I don’t want to spend any of it away from you as is, but I already have to work and–”

“I want to know that you’ll be taken care of,” Olivia interjected. “I am your mother, Hollis. I want to know that there’s someone out there who will be there for you, with you when you need them.”

“That’s what friends are for. And Raleigh is a friend.”

“Listen, don’t use me as an excuse to not tell her how you feel. I won’t be the thing that stands in your way. If you like her, you tell her. Don’t wait, Hollis. Never wait, honey. If you want something, you go for it. If you think Raleigh could be more than a friend, ask her out on a date; see if she feels the same way. But don’t let me or what’s going on with your father stand in the way of something that could be.”

“What about Eden? It’s not just my stuff, Mom.”

“You’re right. But I can’t answer where Raleigh is with her feelings, honey. Only she can. So, in my not-so-humble opinion, I think you should talk to her and find out what those feelings might be.”

“And if she’s not interested or not ready?”

“Then, you know,” her mother replied. “Your life can be full of regrets if you let it. Don’t let it, Hollis.”