A series by November

Chapter 68: Keep Your Head Down

“Little Amsterdam,
in a southern town
Hominy, get it on your plate girl.
Momma keep your head down,
Momma it wasn't my bullet...”
--Tori Amos

April came and Marie was again engrossed in finals. Logan took Maggie ice skating and to the zoo. He tucked her in sometimes, sometimes Marie did, sometimes they both did.

One day they were eating lunch at the kitchen table. Marie’s books were spread out over much of the table, and they were eating sandwiches on the rest.

"Hey Logan?" Maggie said.

"Yeah, kid?"

“Can I call you daddy?” Logan was shocked. Marie looked up from her book and grinned. Maggie nervously played with the top of her sandwich.

Logan got up and swooped Maggie up out of her chair. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek. “Darlin', you can call me anything you want,” he said. “But it would make me incredibly happy if ya called me Daddy.”

She hugged back, and he inhaled a lungful of her little girl smell, and wondered if it was possible for a heart to break from joy.

Mariah and Charles had been talking a lot. To their surprise, Mariah announced that she was going to visit in May.

They threw Maggie a sixth birthday party with some of her friends from school. It was a much happier time than the previous year, with no mission to mar it. Mariah made a three-tier pink chocolate cake.

Logan was happy to see his mother again so soon, but not sure how he felt about how close she was to Charles. Part of him was happy about it but another part didn’t want to think about people that old getting romantic. He knew, however, that it was his one chance to tease Charles, and he used it.

“Hey, Marie,” a familiar voice said. She turned around and saw Dr. Pileggi.

“Hi. What are you doing here?”

“Billy’s my son,” she nodded to where the web-footed boy was playing with Maggie.

“Oh, I didn’t realize that! I spoke with, I guess your husband? On the phone, but I didn’t make the connection. Well, welcome.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ve heard a lot about Billy but in all this time I never met him.”

“And I’ve heard a lot about Maggie. It seems they’re boyfriend and girlfriend.” She had never seen that amused, lighthearted, look on Judy Pileggi’s face before.

“I know,” Marie said, amused. “Hey, come on, let me introduce you to my fiance and everybody.”

“Okay.”

Logan was sitting with Mariah and Charles eating a burger. “Logan, I’d like you to meet my teacher, Dr. Pileggi. This is my fiance Logan.”

He wiped the grease off of his hand and extended it to her. “Good to meet you in person.”

“Oh yeah, we did talk on the phone once, didn’t we?” Dr. Pileggi said. “So you’re the infamous Logan. You snagged yourself a handsome one, Marie.”

Before he could be anxious about her calling him infamous, which, to his horror, he certainly was, he became utterly disarmed that she called him handsome. He wound up laughing instead.

“Damn straight I did!” Marie said, becoming more comfortable with her teacher’s presence.

“I don’t know what to call you,” Marie laughed. “I can’t go around calling you Dr. if you’re gonna be flirting with my man.”

Dr. Pileggi laughed and relaxed. “Call me Judy, silly.”

“Judy it is.”

“Judy, this is my mom, Mariah,” Logan said.

“Hi. Gorgeous turquoise.”

“Thank you. Nice to meet you.”

“And this is Professor Xavier.”

“Hello. I believe we’ve met.”

“Yeah, we have, when was it? It was some benefit thing, huh?”

“I believe so. Marie’s told me a lot about you.”

“Oh no,” Judy laughed a sudden, braying, disarming laugh.

“All good, I assure you.”

Cody, Kayla and Leah approached, carrying presents. “Hey,” Marie said. Kayla had shot up three inches and was starting to fill out a little. Marie hugged Leah and Kayla. Logan grudgingly shook Cody's hand.

Marie made the introductions and Logan watched her as she flitted around, making everyone comfortable, introducing people. Marie circulated, taking pictures. Maggie looked gorgeous in a blue and white sundress that matched her hair. This was the most comfortable he’d ever been at any sort of party, with the sun on his arms, a beer in his hand, and Marie and Maggie within his sight.

Mariah brought Maggie a red and yellow burro pinata from Santa Fe and on the previous evening they had stuffed it full of candy and coins. Hank went up a tree and hung it on a pulley. The kids took turns whacking at it with a stick. Though Hank kept moving it up and down they landed some good whacks, but the damn thing still didn’t break. The adults made jokes about the Cement Pinata and drank beer.

Finally Rogue got annoyed and took the stick from Kayla. “Ok kids, get ready!” All the kids grinned and got ready to dive for the loot. Hank grinned and pulled the string just as she swung. Rogue grinned and missed twice. On the third whack the stick connected, hard, and candy rained down on them and the kids shrieked in delight.

Marie grabbed a beer and sat on the grass near Logan. “I was getting sick of watching 'em struggle,” she said.

A good time was had by all, except for Jean, who was two weeks past her due date and ready to pop, and Scott, who had to bear the brunt of her hormonal wrath.

That night Jean went into labor, a long, horrible labor, and on May 19, Nathaniel Charles Summers was born. Two days later she brought him home to the eager loving family who had long awaited him, and everyone went into the foyer to greet him.

Scott first handed Nate to Charles, who took him in his strong arms and looked down at his namesake. Logan thought that this kid also looked sort of peanut-ish, and he wondered if they always came out that way. Charles started cooing nonsensically at the baby whose eyes fluttered a startling blue.

“He has your eyes,” Marie said to Scott. She had seen old pictures of Scott where his eyes were the same startling blue.

“He better not have my eyes,” Scott said. Everyone laughed.

Charles passed the baby to Jubilee who took him with a smile. He was a beautiful little thing, little tiny fingers, rosy cheeks. She passed him to Logan, who was beside her.

He blinked, surprised that they were handing the kid to him. But he took him, held him the way he had seen the others do it.

The baby’s eyes opened wide and blue and locked on Logan’s. He swore the kid was checking him out. “Hi Kid. What’s up?” He touched the tiny hand and it curled around his finger. Logan smiled with surprise and held him for a few more seconds before he handed him to Rogue.

Marie only had two semesters of college left, and she would go back in the fall. She took the summer off to plan her wedding and sew dresses for her bridesmaids and help Jean with the baby.

In June they got a phone call. "Hello?"

"Marie? It's Cody."

"Hey. What's up?"

"Your dad's trial starts next week."

"Get out."

"I have to go down and testify."

"Shit. When are you going?"

"In two weeks, I think."

"We'll be there."

That evening she approached Logan in the gym as he was bench-pressing. Nick was spotting him. "I'll take over," she said, nodding. The boy nodded and went back to his own workout.

"S'up, darlin'?"

"My dad's going to trial next week."

"Oh."

"I want to be there."

"What?" He was incredulous. With a grunt he pushed the bar up onto the rest and stood up. "Why?"

"For Cody and Kayla. And for myself, too. I need to face him."

"It's dangerous."

"I got that, considering it's a murder trial and all." She smirked playfully at him, seemingly unaware of the gravity of the situation. "I was thinking maybe we could make a little trip of it. Hit Six Flags on the way down."

"You want to take Maggie into that... environment? Are you freakin' crazy, Marie?"

"Hey, I promised myself I'd never sugarcoat things for her. It won't hurt her to get a taste of what the world is really like out there."

"I think she's already had a taste of that!"

"Besides, what's gonna happen? We've got our own personal bodyguard."

"So did JFK." Marie stopped smiling.

"Logan, this is important to me. I was hoping we could do it as a family."

He could see that she was going, with or without him. He wiped his face with his towel and sighed. "Fine. But I'm not letting you out of my sight."

Cody left the next week. Leah had to be in DC with her mother, who was in the hospital. Kayla said a tearful goodbye to Cody, afraid for what might happen to him. She wasn't stupid.

Marie and Logan took Kayla while Cody was away. The prosecutor said that if they put her on the stand it wouldn't be for at least a month. So, for a week or so there were two girls to take care of, to cook for, to tuck in at night.

They left before dawn one July morning, the four of them. The girls slept through New York and much of New Jersey, down into Pennsylvania. Around Philly they hit rush hour traffic and were driving bumper to bumper. "This is where Momma found me," Maggie said to Kayla.

"Want me to take over, sug?" Marie asked, putting a hand on Logan's denim-clad knee.

He smiled at her. "In a few hours, maybe." He took her hand and squeezed. They were good, solid, even though he didn't want to do this.

They stopped and ate dinner that evening, then Marie drove on for several hours while the girls watched a DVD and Logan snored. The movie ended, and it was quiet in the car. She watched the lines on the pavement stretch out before her and thought about Meridian. She was terrified.

She pulled over once she crossed the border into North Carolina at a random exit with a lodging sign and pulled up at a La Quinta Inn. She checked them in and they slept without waking. In the morning they drove to Six Flags. That was a surreal day for them. They rode the rides, ate the sugary amusement-park fare of cotton candy and funnel cakes, bought the obligatory cheesy souvenirs. They had fun, but none of them, even Maggie, forgot where they were headed.

"You know, I've never been on a rollercoaster before," Logan said as they strapped themselves into the Racer. Maggie and Kayla were strapped in in front of Logan and Marie.

"You're kidding?"

"No." She smiled and took her hand as they went flying down the hill.

.

It was nearly impossible to park near the courthouse, and insufferably hot. The humidity was like a living thing, cloying, clinging, incessant. They circled five times before they got lucky and a space opened up on the side of the building. A crowd of demonstrators was held at bay by tense-looking police. Their expressions gave Logan little comfort.

They walked through lines of Klansmen with pale eyes looking out from white sheets. Logan lifted Maggie and held her close. He reached for Kayla's hand and she gave it to him. Marie met every cold eye that followed them into the courthouse. Marie wore a simple black flowered dress, with her hair down. She looked soft and beautiful, but her eyes were tough as flint. Above the tense humid silence he could hear her heart pounding hard and he wanted to soothe it.

Marie spotted her mother near the front, sitting behind her father at the defendant’s table. She did not know Marie was there, did not turn around. Marie explained the proceedings to Maggie. Logan watched the crowd vigilantly, unable to relax. He didn’t like being outside of the protective aegis of the mansion, he realized. It sickened him that this was the case.

Marie was looking down at Maggie’s book, reading over her shoulder when they led Max D’Ancato in, cuffed, wearing a new gray suit. He looked pale and haggard. Logan could smell Marie’s emotions and he put his arm around Maggie to rest on her neck, stroking her hair. He didn’t take his eyes off of Max D’Ancato.

“Is that my grandpa?” Maggie whispered. Marie’s mother turned then, and saw her.

“That’s Mom‘s biological dad,” Logan said tightly.

Marie sat calmly, hands in her lap, staring her mother down. Her eyes darted from Rogue to Logan to Maggie, and back to Rogue, taking in the inches she'd grown, the poise she'd cultivated, the hard look in her eyes, the ring on her finger. Marie sat and let herself be judged. She felt the cold, tight satisfaction of knowing that she had done nothing wrong. She was proud of her girl, her man, and herself.

“Is that your momma,” Maggie asked Rogue. Rogue leaned down to answer her, never taking her flinty eyes from her mother.

“That used to be my momma.”