Cimarron, Denver Cereal Volume 4 by Claudia Hall Christian

calm down.” Aden
gave Jill a broken toothed confident smile. “We have a baby on the
way.”
    “ She’s putting her condo on
the market,” Jill said.
    Jill’s simple statement wiped the confident
look off Aden’s face.
    “ What?”
    “ Social Services gave her
permanent full custody of Noelle and Nash,” Jill said. “Social
Services has filed to terminate your parental rights in Family
Court.”
    “ What?”
    “ Oh, I see I finally have
your attention,” Jill said. “That’s good.”
    “ Why are you here?” Aden
asked.
    “ Sandy asked me to heal
you,” Jill said. “She wants you to be well. That’s Sandy. You shit
on her and she wants you to be well.”
    “ How did I shit on her?
When?”
    “ You made a lot of promises
and didn’t follow through on any of them,” Jill said. “Sandy is now
a hundred percent responsible for every aspect of your life while
you sleep.”
    “ How is it my fault
that…”
    “ I was afraid you’d say
that,” Jill said. “Well, I’ve done what I can. Good luck
Aden.”
    Jill got up from his bedside.
    “ Wait, Jill, please. Just
wait,” Aden said. “I’m not processing very well. Give me a second.
Please. Please. I need your help. Please.”
    Unable to turn away from the pathetic look
on his face, Jill sat down again.
    “ Thank you,” Aden said. “I
can see it’s hard for you to be here. I don’t know what miracle you
worked… even to get in.”
    “ Sandy’s uncle made it
happen,” Jill said. “He’s delighted that she’s dumping you. He
doesn’t want his great-niece or nephew to have you as a
father.”
    “ I’m a great
father!”
    “ Yeah, a great father who
abandons his children because he wants to beat someone up? A great
father who says he’s going to financially support his children and then leaves
them penniless?”
    “ One mistake,” Aden said.
“And it’s perfectly reasonable…”
    “ To abandon your children?
To leave your girlfriend penniless? To dump every aspect of your
life on your pregnant girlfriend and expect her to take care of it?”
    “ I didn’t think it
through,” Aden said. “But I took responsibility for my
actions.”
    “ No you didn’t. Sandy took
responsibility for your actions,” Jill said. “You’re here,
asleep.”
    “ Slowly Jill,” Aden said.
“I’m sorry. I really am, but I need you to go slowly. How did Sandy
get responsible for my life?”
    “ Because you couldn’t
control your anger or simply use a telephone to call the police,
Sandy’s life exploded.”
    “ Ok, how?”
    “ Let’s start with her
father’s death. Big nightmare. Her mother has severed their minimal
relationship. Sandy was shot at. That’s not to mention the FBI,
Denver Police, and whoever else that picked her up and took her to
grilling interrogations at least once a week.”
    “ That’s horrible but you
said my life. She
was responsible for my life.”
    “ You said you would marry
her. You didn’t. You said she wouldn’t have to worry about money.
She’s flat broke. You said you would be there for the pregnancy.
You’re not. You said you were a great father and frankly, dumping
your kids on a woman who is basically a stranger to them isn’t
really a great father move.”
    “ I fucked up pretty big
time.”
    “ You fucked up really big
time.”
    “ My chances?”
    “ 2 percent,” Jill
said.
    Aden nodded.
    “ Sandy caught Noelle trying
to throw up this morning because she thinks she’s fat,” Jill said.
“Nash is a total wreck. He says that everything is his fault. He’s
not sleeping, has lost weight, he…”
    “ But wait. Delphie and Nash
are like best friends. Delphie knows what…”
    “ Delphie had a stroke last
week,” Jill said.
    “ Delphie… Oh my
God…”
    “ Delphie had surgery. She’s
coming home from the hospital today. No one really knows if she’ll
be all right.”
    Aden looked crushed by the news.
    “ You haven’t asked about
your unborn child,” Jill said. “Not like you’ve