"Hello?" She asked. He remained quiet.
"Hey? Is there someone there?" No response.
"Who's there?"
It is me Ethan, Elena. I am here. He wanted to tell her. He wanted to talk back to her. How are you doing? He would have asked. And he would inquire about the baby. His baby. Was it okay? Was she okay? Was she moving on? Was she still stuck in the past?
"Who are you talking to?" He heard a woman's voice in the background.
"I dunno aunt. I think it's a wrong number." He heard her respond. "I really need to get a new SIM card."
He chuckled a bit, as he heard her speak.
"I heard some voice. Hello, are you still there stranger?" She asked once again. Still numbed, he remained quiet. And she hung up. Ethan slowly removed the phone from his ear and placed it on the table, eyes watery already. He rose his head and saw the doctor standing by the door, arms crossed, and a worried look on her face.
"It's her. Isn't it?"
He nodded, a painful smile resting on his face.
"Don't worry Ethan. You're going to earn her trust one day." She told him as he walked towards him on the other side of the table. She patted his back slightly before rubbing her hand gently across it soothingly. "All stars will align one day."
******************
Layla walked to the backyard of the house after ending the call with Ethan and found her husband resting near the swimming pool, dressed in his suit. There were a couple of workers mowing the grass and cleaning the pool. There were a few workers making their way up to Ingrid's treehouse, cleaning and tidying up stuff. The treehouse itself was pretty old, being a hand-me-down that their daughter got from Ethan. She rarely used it nowadays as she preferred whatever sixteen-year-old girls preferred. But on rare occasions, she always found herself in the treehouse. Some things are just brought closer by years of bondage and are never really broken apart for life.
Paul Purcell was on his phone, talking as he paced up and down the backyard, so close to the pool, yet not so far from his wife who was waiting for him to finish the call. Layla went over to the treehouse and found a little toy on the steps that led to it. A little girl doll. The tree, which was about seven meters tall, was next to the short wooden fence. There was a rope dangling on the outside of the treehouse and she smiled when she held it, clearly remembering how Ingrid used to love this tree.
"I remember all the times she'd climbed up those steps to her house, lurch herself on the rope tightly, and swing across to her room," Paul said as he neared Layla near the tree. They all turned and looked at Ingrid's bedroom window.
"And no matter how many times we'd stop her from doing so, she'd never listen. Adventurous and wild. My little girl."
"She was born athletic... I suppose that's why she loves gymnastics. That girl can be so active, that you end up wondering what best she got from the both of us." Paul added.
"Just as her brother, Dylan." Layla seamed.
"Huh... how long has it been now? Seventeen years? And yet we live like he was never part of us." Paul told her.
"Don't say that honey," Layla said as she moved away from the tree for a worker who was climbing down to get his footing on the ground. "What we did, we did it for our family. For all of us. You know that."
"I miss him every day," Paul mumbled, eyes closed as Dylan's memories rushed in. His face was still fresh in his mind, despite how long it had been. The morning goodbye—see you later in the evening hugs of the morning, the running in the tall grasses, and wild games he had played that he would tell him at the end of the day. Paul still remembered. "He's the son I was never going to get back. And when I lost him, not even all the money in the world could fill the space he left behind."
"I know," Layla said as she rested her head on his chest, and he embraced her choreographically. "I wish things would turn out different. A lot has changed. Ethan's a grown man now and Ingrid... she's just flying through time."
"They grow up so fast, don't they?" Paul said.
"One moment you blink and you don't see it happening. Pre-school, middle school, high school, and graduations."
"Talking of blinking time, I just got a call from my office. Time's just blinked on me." Paul told her as he pulled her away from his embrace.
"Why? Is there a problem back at work?" She asked as she pulled down her sleeves. She was dressed in a two-piece set of long white sleeve blazers and white high waist pants. On her feet, she had golden color stilettos. Both were formally dressed and had a good public image to showcase if one was needed.
"Yeah. Apparently, the hearing for Clara's case has been moved forth, rather from the intended date."
"Why?"
"It's the government. They do what they want and we just have to abide."
"When are the hearings?" Layla asked.
"Next week on Wednesday."
"So you're going to travel back to the capital again... all alone?"
"I have to," Paul answered her. "I have to get my team ready. Mr. Grey and the rest will need to gear up because as you know, I'm banned from conducting criminal cases for a year. That bribery scandal with Cole Freeman had its effects."
"I know, I know." She said. "However, have you ever thought about dropping the case?" She asked. "I mean if it's too much for you to handle."
"Honey we discussed this already. Jenna Clara has to pay."
"To pay?" She squinted her eyes at him. "For what?"
"For everything... the backlash of my company, for landing Ethan in prison, me and you... trying to destroy our marriage...everything."
"Landing Ethan in prison. You blame that on her too?"
"I mean isn't it too obvious Layla?" Paul asked as he took her hands.
"How are you sure that she had any part in that, if it ever happened that is."
"Do I need to lay it out well too blankly to you? She's the vice president of the United States. She can make things happen with all that money and power she has. It's like it's her magic wand. She speaks some words into broke ears and poof... makes magic happen."
Layla sighed. "She didn't have any part in Ethan's case. You're just throwing frustrations at her for no reason at all."
"How sure are you? We had that judge at our fingertips like this." He clenched his fingers together. "And then she showed up and she promised me that she'd see that it'd happen. How can I believe anything else than what she blankly confessed to me?"
"Paul, she didn't have anything to do with Ethan's case," Layla spoke up immediately he was through. "Come on walk with me... the walls have ears."