Page 42 of The Disputed Legacy
Bringing Saul to my home was a significant breach in my privacy. Yet, I couldn’t think of what else to do.
I didn’t want to be there when the police showed up. I couldn’t linger and let Oscar or myself be checked out by the paramedics because they’d want to put our names into the records for any care we’d need.
And I didn’t like the idea of hanging around there where men had run up and shot out the windows of the diner. My workplace, the location where I spent the majority of my waking hours, wasn’t a safe haven anymore. Violence had happened there. My first brush with gore and danger had occurred there.
Getting away was all I wanted to do, but not without Saul. That meant bringing him home and praying that I could help him with this wound.
He took a bullet for me. For Oscar.I’d been so distracted and claimed by panic when I hit the floor, but I was with it. I watched with my own eyes when Saul grabbed Oscar and brought him down. He’d saved him. This strange man who made me feel so desired and special had saved my son’s life.
His arm was bleeding and soaking my sleeve because he’d taken the hit that would’ve struck my baby boy.
Tears burned at my lids again as that thought repeated in my mind.
He saved him.
Saul saved Oscar.
He risked his life for my son.
It seemed too incredible to believe, but the further we limped away from the diner and the closer we drew to my apartment building, I had to take it as a fact.
It really had happened. In a deep recess of my mind, a defense mechanism was kicking in. Skewing my thoughts and making me second-guess whether it all had happened was a trip of doubt I didn’t want. Maybe it was a way of my mind protecting me, altering the memories that couldn’t be challenged. Whatever it was, I didn’t dwell on it, focused on keeping Saul upright and checking that Oscar was with us and not struggling in this assistance we offered.
He saved your life.
Without any obligation, he’d saved your life, Oscar.
It left me bewildered and so stunned that the gratitude bubbling up inside me couldn’t come out. That was how shocked I was by the entire experience that I could evenfeelanything properly anymore.
“No cops.”
There it was again, the replay of Saul telling me that he refused to be there when the law enforcement arrived.
I couldn’t make sense of it, but that simple declaration rang loudly in my mind.
Is he hiding from the law?
Is he a fugitive?
He couldn’t be a bad man, not when he dressed so well, had such manners, and was clearly loaded. The scarcity of facts I knew about Saul was an obstacle as I opened the front lobby door to my building. If I had gotten over my resistance and let myself have a chance to really talk with him for once, I might’ve learned more about him. Real things, like who the hell he was and where he was from.
Yet, the unknown merged with a fleeting hope I couldn’t shut down.
If he’s hiding from the law… then he won’t judge me for doing the same.
We hadn’t spoken on the walk home, not even now as we crammed into the elevator. Despite Oscar and me focusing on helping Saul walk with his hurt leg, we both scanned our surroundings, riled up and paranoid after escaping such a violent scene at Tiny’s. Saul wasn’t a slouch, either. With his jaw clenched tight and the muscles in his body stiff with his movements, he seemed to plow through any pain he had to be feeling to scope out where we were. More than once, he checked behind us, as if afraid someone could be following us. No one had, though. We’d snuck out the side exit from the diner before the police cruisers showed up. I’d only slowed enough to grab my purse from the counter, shooting Margo a look that told her I wasn’t hanging around here to be questioned or even see a single cop. I hadn’t filled her in on all the details of my past, but it seemed that she understood anyway, nodding once at me in acknowledgment that I had to go.
In the privacy of the elevator as we rode up the three floors to the apartment, we collectively sagged against the wall and released a deep breath. Running was out of the question, but we’d hurried enough that we were all out of breath. Or maybe it was just the hyped-up sensations of needing to run and hide.
“You’re okay?” Saul asked, checking on us both.
Oscar nodded, but I huffed a wry laugh. “You’re the one who’snotokay,” I replied as the doors slid open.
“I’ll be fine,” he replied.
Together, we checked that no one was lingering in the hallway. Then we got Saul into our home. The second the front door was closed and locked by Oscar while I led Saul to the bathroom, I ordered my son to find all the first-aid supplies I thought we’d need. Tending to minor scrapes was something I could handle, but as Saul leaned against the tiny bathroom vanity and started to pull his shirt off, I feared he would need a real doctor.
“Can I help?” Oscar asked from the doorway as I assisted Saul and made sure he didn’t fall.
