Cutler 03 - Twilight's Child

tonight, not tomorrow, and certainly not after months and months of legal maneuvering in New York courts."
    "What are we going to do?" I asked.
    He thought for a moment. Then he turned to Fern. She looked up from the magazine when he went over to the sofa and sat down beside her.
    "Do you think," he began softly, "that you can go back with us and confront Clayton just one more time?"
    "What do you mean?" she asked. She looked from him to me and back to him. "Why?"
    "Tell him to his face what you told us," Jimmy explained. She bit down on her lower lip and dropped her eyes back to the magazine.
    "You're going to have to do it eventually, dear," I told her. "Why can't we just leave New York and go live in your hotel?" she cried.
    "I told you," I said softly. "They are your legal parents."
    "But Jimmy's my real brother! And you're his wife!" she exclaimed.
    "That doesn't mean we have a legal right to take you away with us, Kelly," I said.
    "I don't want to be called Kelly anymore. I want to be called by my real name: Fern. Fern!" she emphasized, her eyes burning with determination and anger.
    Jimmy turned toward me, his face lit with satisfaction.
    "And I want to go home with you. I want to be with my family, my real family, and not with them. I hate them," she repeated, pounding her knees with her fists. "I hate him for what he did to me."
    "That's why we've got to go over there and tell him what we know and make him understand he has to let you go home with us or . . . or he'll go to jail," Jimmy said. "You don't have to be afraid," he emphasized, taking her hand into his. "I'll be right beside you, and if he should so much as threaten you—"
    "And he can't make me stay there?"
    "No, not after what you've told us," Jimmy said. "That's for sure."
    Fern shifted her gaze to me to see if I agreed with what Jimmy was telling her.
    "Okay," she said. "As long as I can leave with you right away."
    "Good," Jimmy said, clapping his hands over his knees. "Jimmy." My heart began to pound in anticipation. "What?"
    "We can't guarantee that she can come home with us right away," I said.
    "Sure we can," he said, waving me off. "Don't worry, Fern," he said, running his hand over her hair, "you're going to be safe from now on. No one's going to do sick things like that to you again as long as I'm around."
    Fern's face broke into a wide smile, and she threw her arms around his neck.
    "Oh, Jimmy," she cried, "I'm so happy, so happy you finally found me."
    Jimmy beamed. He gazed at me over her shoulder, his eyes so full of happiness and pride, I couldn't resist smiling back at him. Only deep down inside, I had a feeling there was more to this . . . much, much more, and only time would tell if we were doing the right thing.
    "Let's go," Jimmy said, standing and pulling Fern to her feet along with him. "Let's finish this off."
     
    "How did you get to the hotel?" I asked Fern as the doorman hailed us a cab.
    "I snuck out of the house and walked to the corner and waved and waved until I got a cab," she said. "I've done it before, by myself and with Melissa," she said proudly. "I have my own money. I took it all with me when I left," she added, and she opened her little pocketbook to show me. There was a pile of bills all crunched up inside.
    "That looks like a lot of money, Fern. How much is in there?"
    "More than five hundred dollars."
    "Five hundred dollars? How did you get so much?" I asked.
    "I saved it up from my allowance," she said quickly. "I just knew I would need it someday."
    "Clayton must have given you a big allowance," I remarked.
    "Oh, no. I saved it over a long, long time. Sometimes he punishes me and doesn't give me any allowance for weeks and weeks and weeks. He says I don't deserve it. He tells me I should be paying him instead, for keeping me . . . for putting up with me," she added.
    "Putting up with you, huh? That son of a—"
    "Jimmy," I cried, swinging my eyes toward Fern. "Please. Watch your language."
    "Oh, right."
    We all got into the cab, and Jimmy gave the driver the Osbornes' address. Fern sat between us. I thought she would become more and more frightened as we drew closer and closer to Clayton and Leslie's townhouse, but she was filled with questions about Cutler's Cove and about Christie and the other members of what might soon be her new family.
    What a remarkable young girl to have such courage, I thought.
    When we got out of the cab I grasped Jimmy's arm.
    "You have to promise me you won't lose your