Free as a Jailbird

Chapter 69

It's a Thursday morning when I walk to the local park. There are children playing with their friends while their mothers sit on the benches, socializing and trying to stop their kids from injuring each other. The air is brisk but the sun is out and I'm kind of looking forward to the community service I have this afternoon.

It's been four months since my trial. And in those four months, I've not only changed my life but the way I look at it. Things don't seem so empty anymore. Life has a purpose.

I've been seeing my family. When my brother graduated, I sat with my parents and Joey in the stands and cheered for him when his name was called. I watched my mother cry and glance at me and smile. Even my dad had tears in his eyes. I don't think I've ever had such a beautiful moment.

Maybe one. Alice and Shane had their baby. When I got the phone call I was in community service and couldn't leave for another hour. I raced to the hospital, feeling as if it were my baby – which would be weird because I'd actually be in the hospital if it were me having the kid. When I came to their room I found Alice in the bed with Shane sitting next to her. Her head was in the crook of his shoulder and neck, the baby in her arms. It wriggled and made little sounds.

I walked into the room and was so consumed with joy that I felt tears spill down my cheeks. I couldn't help but realize that if things went differently with Garcia, I could be in jail right now – or worse – and I'd never get to feel this kind of happiness.

"Hey," I say softly when I come to sit beside Alice and look at the baby in wonder and fear.

"Took you long enough," says Shane. "You missed all of the blood and baby goo."

Alice and I chuckle.

"Want to hold him?" asks Alice.

I nod and carefully take the baby in my arms. "What's its name?"

"Don't know," says Alice. "We haven't named him yet."

"It's a he?"

She nods.

I stare into the little boy's face. His hair is dark and his eyes are so wide. I'm not sure if he's afraid of me or just full of wonder. Probably both.

When I look up at Alice and Shane, they both have wide smiles on their faces.

"It'll be your turn next," says Alice with her eyebrows jumping up and down.

I chuckle. "One day."

They ended up naming him Benedict, after Shane's favorite actor, and since Alice liked 'Benny', that's the nickname he's been dubbed with.

It's been hard to visit them, what with all of the time I've been spending in community service, the fact that I have a curfew and everything else I have to fit in. I try to visit Danny in prison every now and then. Surprisingly enough, he has nothing against me. He knows what he did and that the right thing to do was to confess. He has accepted his sentence. Thankfully he's underage and it's not as nasty as mine would have been.

Lizzie is harder to crack. She still hasn't spoken to me. Danny has been trying to get through to her, but she's trying to forget that I was ever a part of her life. Fair enough: I wouldn't want to be reminded of the night my mother killed herself and my brother shot my father. Regardless of what I went through, Lizzie's night was worse. But I have faith that one day she'll forgive me. She has to.

On a more positive note, the streets are far better off now that Garcia is out of the mix. Not only that – Morrison was sentenced to life in prison. Thanks to an anonymous tip, the police found enough evidence to put him away. Part of me was nervous that I'd be hunted down by the other members of the Mafia for ratting him out. Another was thankful that I finally got my revenge on him for killing Belle.