The City of Rossford

“Am I in trouble?” Dylan said when Fenn closed the door behind him.

“Yes,” his father told him. “And a great deal of it. Now sit.”

Dylan obeyed.

“Where does she stay, and how long has she been around.”

“I knew Sheridan would tell,” Dylan said in a low voice.

“That’s because he has more sense than you,” Fenn said. “Or did you want her to take you away?”

“No!” Dylan’s voice was shrill.

“It didn’t enter you head that she might?”

“I don’t know!”

“Don’t wail,” Fenn said calmly.

He sat down in the chair across from Dylan. There were benefits to having a child when you were closer to fifty than forty and as far away from twenty as you could get.

“I don’t suppose you did think about it. Nine year olds shouldn’t. She gave you away Dylan, and then she disappeared for years.”

“I know,” Dylan said.

“She is capable of anything. And she’s as capable of taking you away as she was of giving you to us. Do you have any idea, any idea how I would have felt if my son disappeared?”

Dylan nodded his head. Miserably.

“Or Tom? Do you know how he would have felt? Do you have any idea how much we love you?”

“I know,” Dylan said, beginning to cry.

“Where does she stay?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“She comes to me in the park. Across from school. And then she goes away.”

Fenn took a deep breath. He stood up.

“Alright,” he said. He got up and went to the door.

“Am I grounded?” Dylan said.

“No,” Fenn said, dismissively. And then: “Yes! Don’t you even think of leaving this house. If you leave this house I’ll beat you within an inch of your life, and then I’ll beat everyone in here and lastly I’ll find that woman and beat her. Do you hear?”

Dylan looked absolutely terrified, which was exactly the way Fenn needed him.

“That’s not an answer.”

“Yes,” Dylan said.

“Good,” Fenn Houghton said, and then he left the room.

Todd came into the house, Maia trailing behind him.

“You won’t believe what happened today."

“Mommy met an old girlfriend,” Maia said. And then she stopped, pointing to Laurel.

“Who are you?”

“This is your new… step cousin,” Fenn said. He looked at Todd, “What are you all talking about?”

“Tara ran into Melanie Fromm.”

“Melanie Fromm is in town?”

“Melanie Fromm has been in town,” Todd said, excited. “And I told Tara I would take Maia back, and now she and Melanie are talking.”

“Well that should be interesting.”

“You think they’ll get back together?” Todd asked.

“Then Mommy won’t be alone,” Maia said.

Fenn told her, “Your mother’s never alone. I have to talk to your father.”

“Where’s Dylan?” Maia said.

“Being grounded.”

Todd raised an eyebrow at Fenn, but Maia said, “Can I be grounded with him?”

“Yes, you and Laurel,” Fenn said without missing a beat.

“Com’on,” Maia said to the older girl, and the two of them went up the back steps while Todd looked at Fenn. Then he blinked and looked at Caroline.

“This is my new niece. Only she’s not new. She’s thirty.”

“Pleased…” Todd began, reaching forward to grab her hand with a dubious expression, “to meet you.”

“And pleased to meet you, Todd. But there’s more news.”

“More?” his eyes went from Caroline to Fenn.

“It’s Dylan’s mother,” Fenn said.

“Dylan doesn’t have a mother.”

“Everyone has a mother,” Fenn said. “And Dylan’s is back in town.”

“Where is Maia tonight?” Melanie said.

“Staying with Todd and Fenn.”

Melanie nodded her head. She swirled the wine in her glass.

“I thought you would be with someone else by now.”

Tara shrugged. “I didn’t want to be.”

Melanie said, “You were always good at being alone.”

“But I wasn’t alone,” she said.

“No,” Melanie realized.

“I always thought that people who just decided to have children had everything easy,” Tara said. “Because then they only had to be parents. They didn’t have to think about who they wanted to be, what their goals were or anything like that. You were a mother. You were a father. That was the most important thing to be. Everyone told you it was. I thought it was a cop out.

“And then I was a mother, and cop out or not, it was the most important thing. I haven’t had to worry about being alone for seven years. I haven’t had to worry about a lot.”

“That,” Melanie said, “is one thing I remember from being a stepmother.”

“My mother wanted to be a wife,” Tara said. “She said she lived for her children, but she was a much better wife than she was a mother. I never had that excuse. It let me be Maia’s mother with no conflicts.”

“She’s a beautiful girl.”

“I see a lot of Todd in her.”

Melanie said, “The eyes.”

Tara said, “Why don’t we talk about the truth?”

Melanie looked at her.

“That Maia is why you left. You didn’t want to be a mother.”

“I had been a mother.”

“I know,” Tara said. “I’m not blaming you. I’m just saying, let’s look at the truth. We were happy, and then I said I wanted a child and you were gone.”

Melanie sat up on the sofa. Her voice changed.

“It wasn’t quite that simple.”

“Did you think that you would come here,” Tara said, without anger, “and this wouldn’t be an issue? It was like I said I wanted a child on Monday, and you were gone on Wednesday.”

“And by Thursday you were pregnant?”

“I was thirty-eight years old. You were gone. There was no time to waste.”

“You didn’t think I might come back?”

“There wasn’t time,” Tara repeated. “And when you left, I knew what I wanted to do.

“Dylan was two, and not Todd’s. He calls Todd Uncle. Fenn didn’t care about not having a biological child, and Dylan thinks of him more as a father than he does Tom. Todd wanted his own child. He wanted a baby. He was desperate for it and Fenn told me that. He’d known for a long time. Every since Dylan, Todd was desperate for a child.”

“How did you all do it?” Melanie said.

“We fucked until we got it right.”

At the look on Melanie’s face, Tara said, “Don’t be a fool. How do you think we did it? Not that I haven’t thought once or twice in the back of my lesbian head about sleeping with Todd. He’s a nice tall drink. But anyway, we had Maia together, and she has his last name, which just sounds better. Maia Meradan, that’s just musical. And you know, it’s sort of like Todd and I did make love. The way we can. I do love him. I love the idea of having his baby. I would have hated the baby not having a real father. And… if Todd ever fucks it up, Fenn is there.”

Just then the phone rang and Tara said, “Forget it.”

But Melanie said, “No. You might want to pick it up.”

Tara went to the stand and picked up the cordless. The caller ID flashed FENN HOUGHTON.

“Shit,” she said.

Tom declared: “This is terrible.”

“You think?”

“Don’t be mean,” Bryant said to Fenn.

Fenn looked at him.

“Well, don’t,” Bryant said, shrugging.

Tom folded his hands together.

“This… crazy woman is talking to my little boy.”

“The crazy woman is his mother, though,” Lee reminded him.

“Yes, and didn’t you call her a crazy bitch the first time you saw her? And isn’t she? I mean, she stole my sperm.”

“Technically I sold it.”

“Yes, you did. After you stole it,” Tom pointed at Fenn. “And who in the world buys stolen sperm in a cup from a crazy black guy?”

Fenn looked at Bryant. Bryant said to Tom, “Now you be nice.”

“I showed her your pic,” Fenn said. “She thought you were beautiful. And Dylan does look a lot like you.”

Tom just stared at Fenn.

“I was just saying she wasn’t completely crazy is all.”

“Could we get back on track?” Todd asked.

“Thank you,” Lee muttered, beside him.

They looked at Lee.

“There’s no point in placing blame,” he said. “What we need to do is find out where she’s staying, and then confront her.”

“Well, how?” Tom said.

“Bait. You need bait,” Lee said.

“Now, you’re not making any sense either,” Tom said, crankily.

“Yes he is,” Danasia’s voice was low. “Daddy always makes sense. To draw this woman out, you need bait.”

“Danny, no.” It was Todd who spoke.

And then it was Bryant who understood.

“You mean Dylan.”

“Keep a close guard on him,” Lee began.

“Follow him to the park,” Danasia concluded.

“No,” Tom and Fenn said together.

Bryant didn’t say anything.

“What?” Fenn said to him.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“But you thought something.”

Bryant shook his head.

“I think they’re right,” he said.

“That’s great, Bryant,” Tom said. “When you have a kid, if you ever have a kid—”

“Now, who’s being nasty?” Todd looked at Tom, and there was nothing sweet in his expression.

“I’m sorry,” Tom apologized. “I’m scared.”

There was a knock at the door, but of course it opened before anyone could get up to answer.

“What’s going on?” Tara demanded, entering, followed by Melanie. “What’s this shit about Dylan’s mother?”

“We’re going to find her,” Fenn turned from the table and looked up at his friend.

“But before we stick Dylan on a fishing line and throw him out for crazy bitches, how bout I go downstairs for a legal counsel?”

“Of course there’s another way,” Brendan said. “You’re just being stupid.”

He had been asleep and, hair sticking up, was standing before Fenn in a pair of black briefs.

Fenn said, “I thought that if there was something I wasn’t seeing, then you would.”

“You hire an investigator or investigate yourself. Lee can do that. You track down all the women of that description. You track down the ones who don’t come from here, who are just in town visiting. The transients. Rossford isn’t that big. You whittle it down to Dylan’s mother. It’s not as easy as it sounds, but it’s doable and you promise me we’ll do that before you put your kid out as bait.”

“I was thinking that if we were just quick enough, even if she tried anything—”

“But you don’t know what she’ll try,” Brendan looked at Fenn levelly. “Do you?”

Fenn was silent.

“Look,” Brendan said, “most people would have thought about the police immediately. Your problem is you’re afraid of the law, and rightly so, since you stole millions of dollars from under the nose of the Port Ridge Police Department and covered up a murder. And maybe local police wouldn’t have been that helpful anyway. But I’m the law, and I can help you. Me and Lee together, we can track this woman in a couple of days. Don’t you even worry about it.”

Fenn sat on the edge of Brendan’s bed, and then he began laughing.

“What?” Brendan said, for the first time now looking very serious, and sitting down beside him.

“Even with no clothes on, you are an amazing man, Brendan.”

“Yes, well,” he said, holding his palms out, “You are sort of responsible for making me that way.