Chapter 53
"Oh my God! Marcy! Get in here!" Greg yelled to his sister.
Not just Marcy, but the whole family ran to see what Greg had seen. There on the television, the lead story on the Tulsa News 21 was about Taylor and his family. There he was holding Zoe, surrounded by fans, reporters, cameras and flashes. He seemed to be alright, she thought, relieved. Then a microphone was shoved in his face as a thoughtless reporter asked the question, "Taylor, how do you feel about..." Too late the reporter realized what he'd done. It got quiet and for one agonizing moment, Taylor looked at the microphone as if it were a cobra about to strike.
Then, all hell broke loose.
"Get that outta his face!!" Isaac shouted as he swung and hit the microphone, knocking it out of the man's hand.
Zoe, seeing both her brothers upset began to shout, "no!" and shake her head violently, blonde curls going every which way, as Taylor tried to shield her and himself from the sudden onslaught of hands and cameras all trying to get the best shot. Walker was just far enough away that he couldn't help Taylor, so he just tried to keep Isaac from assaulting the man who'd inadvertently ticked him off. Even Sparky made himself known, snarling and barking viciously. Marcy watched, her hand over her mouth as the drama was played out on the screen in front of her.
The segment ended and Marcy sat down on the couch. "Why don't they leave that poor family alone? As if they haven't been through enough already..."
Her mother said as she walked back into the kitchen followed by her husband.
"So..." Greg started, "did you have a good time last night?"
Marcy let out a breath, then looked up at both her brothers and nodded.
"Anything crazy like that happen?" Tim asked.
"A lot of people looked at us and talked and stuff, but nothing like that!" She answered.
"Oh man," Greg said, "I just keep hoping someday he'll ask you to marry him 'cause excitement just follows him around. Man, did you see Ike? I thought he was gonna pound that guy!"
"Yeah, I'd say that guy's lucky... between the kid, the dog, and the big brother, one of 'em was gonna connect." Tim replied. "Where the heck were their bodyguards? Don't they have bodyguards Marcy?"
~~~~
"Tell me again why we didn't need any bodyguards today, Walker... 'cause I really want to know."
It was rare that their parents fought so when it happened, the Hanson children usually made themselves scarce. After taking the little ones to their room and showing them how to choose a movie from the hotels pay per view, Isaac had retreated to the room he would share with his brothers during their time in New York and lain down on the bed, rubbing his temples, trying to erase the events of the last hour from his mind. Zac found himself walking over towards the couch where Taylor was sitting looking out the window at the incredible view from the twentieth floor. The manager of the hotel had insisted they take the large three bedroom suite for the same price they'd previously paid for three small rooms. Zac sat down on the couch and looked at his brother staring out the window, Sparky on his lap. He'd hoped he wouldn't be crying or something and he wasn't. His face was just that of someone daydreaming, his eyes not really seeming to focus on anything in particular.
"So, what happened out there, man?" Zac asked.
For a moment, he thought he hadn't heard him, but then Taylor turned to face him and just shook his head.
"You don't know? Or, you just don't want to talk about it?"
Again, just a shake of his head.
"Alright, that's cool." Zac could tell his brother wasn't in a talkative mood. "Nice place, huh?" He asked.
Taylor looked around him as if seeing it for the first time, then nodded.
~~~~
In the kitchen, Diana and Walker had come to the conclusion that the events of that morning had been unavoidable, but that made them no less nerve wracking and so they were making a plan to see that it didn't happen again. Diana was talking to the boys' manager and Walker was talking to the prosecutor. The next calls would be made to arrange for the boys' bodyguards to be on duty ASAP.
"Hey guys, it's almost lunchtime." Diana walked over to the couch where Zac and Taylor sat, "What do you want to eat?"
Taylor shook his head.
"Honey, you have to eat. You haven't eaten anything today."
He shrugged and she looked at Zac.
Jessica walked up just then, "pizza." She said, then plopped down next to Taylor. "Cheese."
"Supreme." Zac retorted from the other side of him.
Walker now joined them, "Mr. Conover is on his way. He needs to talk to us as soon as possible to get prepared for trial."
They all looked at him, "Now?!" Diana asked.
"Yep, now."
"Why?" Taylor mouthed.
His father, already stressed, said back, "What do you mean 'why?' You know why."
Taylor signed, "he already knows everything—what more is there? They know he did it. Why does there even have to be a T-R-I-A-L ?"
Walker sighed, then sat in the chair facing them. "Tay, we know he did it, but his punishment will be decided by the jury and they want to know why he did it."
"That's none of their B-U-S-I-N-E-S-S." Taylor signed.
"Well, whether we like it or not," his father continued, "it is their business. If they believe he was suffering from temporary insanity, he could be sentenced to spend time in a mental facility rather than a prison. Also, they'll decide if it was a crime of passion or if it was premeditated. If it was premeditated, which of course we know it was, then his plea of not guilty won't stand up and he'll be found guilty and go to prison."
Taylor stood up. "I don't want to go in there in front of everybody. I don't want everybody to know what happened."
"Taylor," his mother began, "you are not the one on trial here. Some of the things he did are punishable by life in prison. Jurors don't give that verdict lightly, so we have to convince them that he deserves that. And he does."
Taylor had begun to pace now.
Diana and Walker looked at each other. Hoping to cut down on the tension in the room, Diana changed the subject, "Well, let's call it in so it gets here before we all kill each other. Jess, put together an order. Zac, you make the call." Then, she got up and went into the bedroom, coming back very quickly, realizing they hadn't brought in the luggage. "Walk, can you and Ike bring up the suitcases?"
He got out of the chair stepping away from Taylor. "I'm thinking he probably needs to take one of those pills." He whispered to her, looking back at his son.
"Yeah," she sighed, "I think you're right."
~~~~
Zac watched Taylor pacing the floor back and forth, back and forth in front of the large glass window. He supposed it was better than the nearly catatonic state he'd been in earlier. Jessica stood up and walked over to Taylor. "Give me some paper." She said to him.
He still paced. Diana watched wondering if he were on the verge of a panic attack.
"Tay!!" Jessica nearly shouted, "give me some paper so I can write down everybody's orders!"
He stopped for a moment, looking at her, then reached in his back pocket, pulling out the small pad of post-it notes he always carried and handed them to her.
"Pen please." She said.
"Jesus Christ..." He muttered.
"You better watch your mouth, Mom's watching you." She said as he handed her the pen. "Now, what do you want on your pizza?"
Diana smiled, knowing her daughter had just kept Taylor's agitation from spiking any higher. The simple act of pulling paper and a pen from his pocket and thinking about sausage and pepperoni instead of scalpels, handcuffs and courtrooms had brought his mind back from wherever it was about to go.
~~~~
When John Conover knocked on the door of room number 2018, he wasn't sure what to expect. What he saw when the door was opened by a small boy with sandy hair and tomato sauce on his chin, was a large group of people, gathered around a table covered with five pizza boxes, various soft drink cans, napkins, paper plates and what appeared to be a pair of dirty socks and a Barbie doll wearing only a bright pink mini-skirt.
"Hi, I'm Walker Hanson. We've spoken on the phone, glad to meet you in person." And he wiped his hands on a napkin, then shook the outstretched hand of their attorney. "And this is my wife Diana."
"Nice to meet you." She said, "Are you hungry?"
"Actually, I grabbed something on the way over, thank you."
"Uh, would you like me to come back later? I don't want to interrupt your lunch." Taylor nodded, but only Zac noticed.
"No, of course not, we're almost done." she said.
"Mom, he ate all the cheese but he said he wanted pepperoni and now I only got two pieces." Avery interrupted.
The man smiled, thinking, millionaires or not, most children were very similar.
"Well, just pick the pepperoni off." As were mothers.
He walked over and sat on the chair and opened his briefcase on top of the glass table that sat between it and the sofa. Taylor eyed him from across the room. A knock on the door was answered this time by Avery. "Hi, I believe I'm supposed to take some people swimming." The young woman smiled, "am I in the right place?"
"Yes! Come on in!" The little girl squealed, then backed away and ran to tell the others, "Hurry up Jess! Mack, we're gonna go swimming!"
Diana walked over to the girl, "Thanks, we're going to need a couple hours, I think. Everyone can swim except Zoe and I brought her ring. It's got a seat so she doesn't fall through..."
Walker sat across from Mr. Conover as his wife arranged for some peace and quiet. "I'll need to speak to Zachary and Taylor separately. Sometimes people remember things differently and I just find it works better that way."
"Well, John, do you sign?"
"No, I don't, " he answered.
"How about if Isaac translates for Tay. He wasn't there so he won't feel the need to correct him or change anything. Think that'll work?"
"I'm sure it will." He answered glancing over at Taylor who was leaning against the wall staring at him.
Isaac got up from the kitchen table and walked over to his brother, leaving Zac to finish his lunch. "Tay, he's not the enemy, stop giving him your death glare. It's not working anyway."
Taylor furrowed his brows and looked back at him. From the table, Zac watched the two. Isaac obviously had a headache as every once in a while he would rub the sides of his head, a sure sign. And Taylor in the course of the day had gone from extreme melancholy, to nervous, to spaced out, to grouchy. He sighed, hoping the man wouldn't take too long. He wanted to go swim with everybody else and just clear his mind. He looked at his watch. It was twelve minutes after two. "God," he thought, "we've been at it since seven and who knows when Taylor last slept."
"Zac, you done eating yet?" His mother asked.
"Yeah, I guess." He said
and he wiped his hands on his pants and made his way over, sitting between
his parents. As Isaac and Taylor left the room together, Zac began
to tell the story again of the night his brother was taken away from him.
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