Chapter 29

Lea was pacing back and forth. She was waiting for the other Hanson, uh, Baker female to show up, and come up, with a solution!

“Mom,” said Kari Baker coming in to the library. “You called, and you sounded desperate.”

“And understatement, but yes, I did call,” I said. “I talked to your daddy.” Kari looked around. Is he here?

“No, your other daddy, Andrew Brown,” she said, sounding pressured.

“Mom?” she said.

“You know he hates me, right? After what he heard that night, and I know you know about that too from talking to Anna; well, there is almost no saving any kind of a relationship with him, not for me. And Kari, I need to have a relationship with the man who saved me, and you too if it comes to that,” she said. “I need to. I’m desperate to.”

“Mom. He’s kind of angry with me too,” said Kari. “I don’t know if I can really be of much help to you at this point in time.”

“You? Why is he angry with you?” she said.

“It’s the name thing, Kari-Sarah-Kari-Sarah. I kinda let him know that I thought it was stupid and well, he kicked me out of the house,” she said. “And oh, yes, I want to have a good relationship to the man too!”

“Jesus! This has got to end!” said Lea. “It’s all my fault, and that in any number of ways, If I had just kept my one promise to him, my one inviolable promise, none of this would need to have happened. But life happens and things change. But, I guess, not for a man in prison, who has no reason for being in prison. Things don’t change for prisoners, not ever.”

“Mom, the name thing. I just had an idea. It’s maybe crazy, and it might be too late. But it is an idea, a logical idea,” she said.

“Lay it on me because I’m out of ideas,” said Lea.

“Well, Dad, I mean your husband would have to be onboard with it. I would never do it if Dad was against it. But, on purely logical grounds it might work,” she said. “I could change my name, legally.”

“What, you think maybe changing your name ... but you’re a Baker now,” said Lea.

“No, not that exactly. How about changing it to Sarah Brown Baker,” she said. “I know it would be kind of be a slap in the face to Dad, but in reality, nothing would be changing, not in practical terms. But it would give Daddy Andrew back his fatherhood even if nobody else found out.”

“But they would find out. Changing your first name...” said Lea.

“And so, it would just be something that a crazy young person had wanted to do her whole life and finally did,” she said.

“But adding the Brown part in the mix?” said Lea.

“A bit more of a problem, but only a bit. We’d just say it’s in honor of the man who saved my life. Which by the way it would be!” she said.

“You know it is logical. I mean I think it would be even from Andrew’s point of view,” said Lea. “Given his level of anger and bitterness it would not be a sure thing, but it would be a real strong maybe.”

“Yes, it would, indeed it would,” said Kari. “In the best of all possible worlds it might solve everything. That is...”

“That is?” said Lea.

“That is if you could be persuaded to stop dissing the man behind his back, and I mean even by accident” said Kari.

“Done and I really mean it!” said Lea. “And I mean even if the plan doesn’t work.”

“Barney, this is for real, and it’s time sensitive,” said Carlton. Bernard Costley, was seventy years-old, and still the best lawyer in the state.

“I get it my friend,” said Barney. “You, and your daughter, have made that very clear to me. The changes will be official and in place, legally in place, by the end of the week. Judge Holstrom owes me.

“Good, good,” said Carlton.

My meeting with my ex-fiancée was more than a week gone. I smiled. She wasn’t going to be able to come up with her panacea for all of the hell she put me through for nothing, well nothing on her part, not in this lifetime.

I heard the buzzer. It was Saturday, and, I was off; and I was about to be interrupted; well, sort of, by my daughter and some well-dressed stranger, he did look familiar, but I couldn’t place him if I’d ever had seen him before. I laughed, the guy looked like a damn lawyer: I’d seen enough of them in my long and illustrious career. And then it came to me. But he looked older, a lot older. He was the guy who got me out ... but ... he was a lawyer.

I saw them coming and left the door ajar as I had for her mother eight days gone. This one was going to be interesting; I could smell it.

“Well, and welcome to you, Missus Kari Baker,” I said. Well, I was making a point.

She seemed to look around as though not realizing I was speaking to her.

“I mean you,” I said, making my meaning clear.

“Oh, well of course, you’d be wrong if you are referring to the name thing,” she said.

“No, I’m not,” I said. “You’re Kari Baker, not anyone else. I recognize you.” I was kind of snickering.

“You weren’t kidding, Missus Baker. He is kinda down on you,” said the lawyer.

“You’re Costley, right?” I said, finally remembering his name. “My lawyer, I mean ... Well it’s been a few years.” The man smiled, essentially acknowledging my identification.