Firefly Lane

Page 36

 

  "Push," the doctor said in an entirely reasonable, pain-free voice that made Kate want to scratch his eyes out.

  She screamed and pushed and cried until as quickly as it had begun, the agony was over.

  "A perfect little girl," the doctor said. "Dad, do you want to cut the cord?"

  Kate tried to lift herself up, but she was too weak. A few moments later, Johnny was beside her, offering her a tiny pink-wrapped bundle. She took her new daughter in her arms and stared down into her heart-shaped face. She had a wild shock of damp black curls and her mothers pale, pale skin, and the most perfect little lips and mouth Kate had ever seen. The love that burst open inside her was too big to describe. "Hey, Marah Rose," she whispered, taking hold of her daughters grape-sized fist. "Welcome home, baby girl. "

  When she looked up at Johnny, he was crying. Leaning down, he kissed her with a butterfly softness. "I love you, Katie. "

  Never in her life had everything been so right in her world, and she knew that, whatever happened, whatever life had in store for her, she would always remember this single, shining moment as her touch of Heaven.

  Tully begged for an additional two days off of work so that she could help Kate get settled in at home. When shed made the call, it had seemed vital, unquestionably the thing to do.

  But now, only a few hours after Kate and Marah had been discharged from the hospital, Tully saw the truth. She was about as useful as a dead microphone. Mrs. Mularkey was like a machine. She fed Kate before she even mentioned she was hungry; she changed the babys handkerchief-sized diapers like a magician; and taught Kate how to breast-feed her daughter. Apparently it was not as instinctual a thing as Tully would have thought.

  And what was her contribution? When she was lucky, she made Kate laugh. More often than not, though, her best friend just sighed, looking both remarkably in love with her baby and profoundly worn out. Now Kate lay in bed, holding her baby in her arms. "Isnt she beautiful?"

  Tully gazed down at the tiny, pink-swaddled bundle. "She sure is. "

  Kate stroked her daughters tiny cheek, smiling down at her. "You should go home, Tully. Really. Come back when Im up and around. "

  Tully tried not to let her relief show. "They do need me at the studio. Things are probably a real mess without me. "

  Kate smiled knowingly. "I couldnt have done it without you, you know. "

  "Really?"

  "Really. Now kiss your goddaughter and get back to work. "

  "Ill be back for her baptism. " Tully leaned down and kissed Marahs velvety cheek, and then Kates forehead. By the time she whispered goodbye and made it to the door, Kate seemed to have forgotten all about her.

  Downstairs she found Johnny slumped in a chair by the fireplace. His hair was a shaggy, tangled mess, his shirt was on backward, and his socks didnt match. He was drinking a beer at eleven oclock in the morning.

  "You look like hell," she said, sitting down beside him.

  "She woke up every hour last night. I slept better in El Salvador. " He took a sip. "But shes beautiful, isnt she?"

  "Gorgeous. "

  "Katie wants to move to the suburbs now. Shes just realized this house is surrounded by water, so its off to some cul-de-sac where they have bake sales and play dates. " He made a face. "Can you imagine me in Bellevue or Kirkland with all those yuppies?"

  The funny thing was, she could. "What about work?"

  "Im going back to work at KILO. Producing political and international segments. "

  "That doesnt sound like you. "

  He seemed surprised by that. When he looked at her, she saw a flash of remembrance; shed reminded him of their past. "Im thirty-five years old, Tul. With a wife and daughter. Different things are going to have to make me happy now. "

  She couldnt help noticing that hed said going to. "But you love gonzo journalism. Battlefields and mortar rounds and people shooting at you. We both know you cant give it up forever. "

  "You only think you know me, Tully. It isnt like we traded secrets. "

  She remembered suddenly, sharply, what she was supposed to forget. "You tried. "

  "I tried," he agreed.

  "Katie would want you to be happy. Youd kick ass at CNN. "

  "In Atlanta?" He laughed. "Someday youll understand. "

  "You mean when Im married, with kids?"

  "I mean when you fall in love. It changes you. "

  "Like its changed you? Someday Ill have a kid and want to write for the Queen Anne Bee again, is that it?"

  "Youd have to fall in love first, wouldnt you?" The look Johnny gave her then was so understanding, so knowing, she felt skewered by it. She wasnt the only one who was remembering the past.

  She got to her feet. "I gotta get back to Manhattan. You know the news. It never sleeps. "

  Johnny put down his beer and got to his feet, moving toward her. "You do it for me, Tully. Cover the world. "

  It sounded sad, the way he said it; she didnt know if what she heard was regret for himself or sadness for her.

  She forced herself to smile. "I will. "

  Two weeks after Tully got home from Seattle, a storm dumped snow on Manhattan, stopping the vibrant city in its tracks. For a few hours, at least. The ever-present traffic vanished almost immediately; pristine white snow blanketed the streets and sidewalks, turned Central Park into a winter wonderland.

  Still Tully made it to work at four A. M. In her freezing walk-up apartment, with the radiator rattling and ice collecting on her paper-thin antique windows, she dressed in tights, black velour stirrup pants, snow boots, and two sweaters. Covering it all with a navy-blue wool coat and gray mittens, she braved the elements, angling her body against the wind as she made her way up the street. Snow obscured her vision and stung her cheeks. She didnt care; she loved her job so much shed do anything to get there early.

  Inside the lobby, she stamped the snow off her boots, signed in, and went upstairs. Almost instantly she could tell that much of the staff had called in sick. Only a skeleton crew remained.

  At her desk, she immediately went to work on the story shed been assigned yesterday. She was doing research on the spotted owl controversy in the Northwest. Determined to put a locals "spin" on the story, she was busily reading everything she could find—Senate subcommittee reports, environmental findings, economic statistics on logging, the fecundity of old growth forests.

  "Youre working hard. "

  Tully looked up sharply. Shed been so lost in her reading that she hadnt heard anyone approach her desk.

  And this wasnt just anyone.

  Edna Guber, dressed in her signature black gabardine pantsuit, stood there, one hip pushed slightly out, smoking a cigarette. Sharp gray eyes stared out from beneath an Anna Wintour razor cut of blue-black bangs. Edna was famous in the news business, one of those women whod clawed her way to the top in a time when others of her sex hadnt been able to come in the front door unless they had secretarial skills. Edna—only the single name was ever used or needed—reportedly had a Rolodex filled with the home numbers of everyone from Fidel Castro to Clint Eastwood. There was no interview she couldnt get and nowhere on earth she wouldnt go to find what she wanted.

  "Cat got your tongue?" she said, exhaling smoke.

  Tully jumped to her feet. "Im sorry, Edna. Ms. Guber. Maam. "

  "I hate it when people call me maam. It makes me feel old. Do you think Im old?"

  "No, m—"

  "Good. How did you get here? The cabs and buses are for shit today. "

  "I walked. "

  "Name?"

  "Tully Hart. Tallulah. "

  Ednas gaze narrowed. She looked Tully up and down steadily. "Follow me. " She spun on her black boot heel and marched down the hallway, toward the office in the corner of the building.

  Holy cow.

  Tullys heart was pounding. Shed never been invited into this office, never even met Maury Stein, the big kahuna on the morning show.

  The o
ffice was huge, with two walls of windows. Falling snow turned everything outside gray and white and eerie. From this vantage point, it felt vaguely like standing inside a snow globe, looking out.

  "This one will do," Edna said, cocking her head toward Tully.

  Maury looked up from his work. He barely glanced at Tully, then nodded. "Fine. "

  Edna left the office.

  Tully stood there, confused. Then she heard Edna say, "Are you epileptic? Comatose?"

  Tully followed her out into the hallway.

  "Do you have a pen and paper?"

  "Yes. "

  "I dont need an answer, just do as I ask and do it quickly. "

  Tully fumbled into her pocket for a pen and found some paper on a nearby desk. "Im ready. "

  "First off, I want a detailed report on the upcoming election in Nicaragua. You do know whats going on there?"

  "Certainly," she lied.

  "I want to know everything about the Sandinistas, Bushs Nicaraguan policy, the blockade, the people who live there. I want to know when Violeta Chamorro lost her virginity. And youve got twelve days to get it done. "

  "Yes—" She stopped herself from saying maam just in time.

  Edna came to a stop at Tullys desk. "Youve got a passport?"

  "Yes. They made me apply for one when they hired me. "

  "Of course. Well be leaving on the sixteenth. Before we go—"

  "We?"

  "Why the hell do you think Im talking to you? Do you have a problem with this?"

  "No. No problem. Thank you. I really—"

  "Well need immunizations; get a doctor here to take care of us and the crew. Then you can start setting up advance interview meetings. Got it?" She looked down at her watch. "Its one oclock. Brief me on Friday morning at, say, five A. M. ?"

  "Ill get started right now. And thank you, Edna. "

  "Dont thank me, Hart. Just do your job—and do it better than anyone else could. "

  "Im on it. " Tully went to her desk and picked up the phone. Before shed even finished punching in the number, Edna was gone.

  "Hello?" Kate said groggily.

  Tully looked at the clock. It was nine. That meant it was six in Seattle. "Oops. I did it again. Sorry. "

  "Your goddaughter doesnt sleep. Shes a freak of nature. Can I call you back in a few hours?"

  "Actually, Im calling to talk to Johnny. "

  "Johnny?" In the silence that preceded the question, Tully heard a baby start to cry.

  "Edna Guber is sending me to Nicaragua. I want to ask him some background questions. "

  "Just a second. " Kate handed the phone off; there was a sound like wax paper being balled up and a flurry of whispers, then Johnny came on the line.

  "Hey, Tully, good for you. Ednas a legend. "

  "This is my big break, Johnny, and I dont want to screw up. I thought Id start by picking your brain. "

  "I havent slept in a month, so I dont know how much good Ill be, but Ill do what I can. " He paused. "You know its dangerous down there. A real powder keg. People are dying. "

  "You sound worried about me. "