The investigation into the competency of Beau and Thallea as parents did not take very long. It was the fallout thereafter that was timely. Ultimately, Tiger-Blood remained in the hospital for a few weeks before he was packed off to live with Sue after much effort on Beau's part. Thallea was required to go to a court-mandated sobriety house for what Jena considered to be far too short of a period to have much effect on her vices. At the height of the situation's uncertainty, Sue approached Jena begging for her to submit a letter endorsing Beau as a good father. Jena declined. She had run out of support for him somewhere along the way. Of course, Jena became persona non grata at her mother's because of that, but she could no longer go against her conscience. Beau was not the person he once was in her eyes. Sue was quite upset with her for it.
Jena was relieved when the ordeal had wrapped up by the end of spring. Finally, with Thallea out of her home, she felt she could begin to mentally decompress from the year's events, something she hadn't had the time to do previously. Jena invited her mother to stay with her at every chance, but Sue's sense of obligation to her grandchildren was too much for her to set aside. Beau was putting their mother into an early grave, which angered Jena in turn. Although she did miss visiting her family very much, she was aware that she would be met with uncomfortable silences from her nephews, violent outbursts from Thallea, and hurtful taunts from her brother. Jena was the enemy to them now, and she knew it.
Things have a way of settling though. Turner continued to pay nearly all of Jena's bills. In the meantime, Jena perfected the process of establishing endless lines of credit in Nate's name, so much so that she stopped going to work for the most part. Even Ivy-Mae had moved on from their negative interactions which seemed to give her a twisted sense of empowerment over Jena, because she stopped visiting Nate completely and found other things to do, thankfully. Gus occasionally would call Jena just to check on Nate's health, but even he had ceased his interest in his son's recovery. All talks of Nate waking up had ended long ago. At the facility, his room was kept at a nearly freezing temperature as if to preserve his lifeless body while the machines he was hooked up to pumped his organs rhythmically. It was grotesque to keep up the charade that he was simply asleep, which seemed to have no end. Jena resented this but also accepted that it was the reality she was being forced to endure.
At the barndominium, Jena felt like she was living in an ivory tower away from the world entirely. She utilized her time to get Tiki back from Ms. Flossie. However, Jena found that old Tiki was not the same playful bird he once was. Jena even went as far as to get him another playmate, whom she named Kora, but Tiki never interacted with Jena as he once had. She was quite hurt by it. She assumed Ms. Flossie kept him locked away in his cage too much for too long. It had dimmed the light of his very soul. As much as she wished she could have taken it back, like all things: what was done can never be undone, only mended.
The house itself had an echoing emptiness to it. To protect Nate's things, Jena took the time to put them away. She gathered his personal effects and put them aside safely preserved in storage containers in the garage. To fill the empty spaces Jena moved the furniture she had around but the house simply felt unlived-in to her. It had been Nate's house, not hers from the start. She felt like she didn't belong there. On top of this, Jena had stopped going into town. Mainly because she was avoiding the many outrageous rumors that flew about her. Some believed she killed Amber Coates in a jealous rage, and others that she covered it up for Nate. The rumors about her and Nate's marriage were the most hurtful though. Jena had become reclusive to prevent heartache more than anything else. Jena would have necessities sent to her P.O. Box, which let her go for long periods without speaking to a single soul. To fill her loneliness Jena often looked at old pictures or watched saved videos from days long forgotten, by herself in her bedroom. Still, it did not give her the comfort she sought.
Before she knew it, it was the heat of a very hot summer that year in Oklahoma. Most of the townsfolk spent their idle days at the lake soaking up the sun. This was why the pale housebound Jena was so surprised when out of the blue none other than Thallea herself dropped in on a particularly humid morning. Jena wouldn't have answered her door, had it not been for Thallea banging on the frame's fiberglass panel beside it with so much vigor that Jena was sure she was going to smash it in. "Girl, get the damn door Jen! It's important!" Thallea shouted. Jena looked from the bedroom window down at her. Thallea was wearing a purple sequined tub top with unbuttoned folded-down cut-off jean shorts. She was holding Tiger-Blood who was crying uncontrollably. The poor infant had dark circles under his eyes, and scratch marks all over his face from where it looked like he had pawed at a rash around his mouth.
Double parked was Sue's car behind Jena's truck. Jena rushed to answer the door when she realized the noise was scaring Tiki and Kora who had both just recently stopped pulling their feathers out. Had it not been for Thallea carrying Tiger-Blood she would have answered the door with one of Nate's loaded guns to scare off Thallea for good. Instead, she swung it open and asked, "What do you want Thallea?" Thallea straightened herself up speaking over her crying child saying, "Jeeze, what's wrong with you? I just came to drop off the little guy for a visit." Jena took a deep breath as if she were about to explain how rude it was to show up unannounced, but caught herself upon seeing how malnourished Tiger-Blood looked that she allowed Thallea to hand him off to her, then said, "I'll be back in a little." With that Thallea, pleased with herself took off without so much as saying when she would be back to get her son.
Jena put down some thick blankets on the floor for him to lay on top of for padding while she ordered some baby food to be delivered. No sooner had she looked up from her phone than she saw he was sleeping soundly. Jena not one to trust Thallea called Sue, who answered, "Jena? I expect you are calling about Tiger-Blood." Jena knowingly responded, "Yup, Thallea just dropped him off on my doorstep without so much as an explanation before she took off to God knows where for God knows what." Jena could hear Beau in the background complaining to his mother, "Mom why'd you answer the phone? This is our business. You know she's just as likely to call CPS like how they did at the hospital." Jena didn't acknowledge him. Sue went on, "I can go get Tiger-Blood or you can bring him here." Jena suppressed herself from saying that she'd be damned before she took that baby back to his idiot parents. Instead, she said, "You better come get him because I don't have a baby seat for him to go in." Sue not bothering to hide how inconvenienced she was replied, "I'm on my way, but it'll be a little bit before I get there." Jena hung up because she could hear Beau complaining to Sue about their exchange. Jena knew he would not go to her house out of pride in standing behind his poor decisions.
Jena checked on her birds fearing Thallea had upset them. Seeing that they were unharmed, Jena went back to little Tiger-Blood on the floor. As she watched him sleep she quipped, "I bet your mom is off doing something stupid." No sooner had she spoken, did she see that she had an incoming call from Turner. Jena thought to herself, "I might have known." She picked up to hear him order, "Hey, Beau's wife is setting off the security cameras at my house. Quietly go get her before one of my neighbors calls the cops. I don't need trouble right now." Jena complied through her disappointment, "I'm on my way." He had spoken to her like she was an employee, thus signifying to her that she was officially in his pocket. It was a place she had never wanted to be. Jena holding Tiger-Blood on her lap drove to Ms. Flossie's saying that she had a family emergency and needed to drop the boy off for a bit. She made sure she paid the woman handsomely for the interruption before she could reconsider.
Next, Jena drove to Turner's very cautiously not wanting to be ticketed. When she arrived, Edgar was sitting in the front walkway on the golf cart that he used for landscaping. He pointed to Thallea shaking his head, "Miss, she's been going up and down the driveway for a while now. Mr. Turner said not to make any trouble. I've been waiting for you to get her." Jena embarrassed by being associated with Thallea stormed in front of her by the driveway's curb like a disappointed mother. "Thallea, get over here now!" Jena yelled. Thallea ever indignant, stomped, "Why are you here? I'm not hurting anybody. I was just going for a walk." Jena certain that no law enforcement would be called by either party pulled the wirey Thallea by the arm saying, "It's time to go dumbass." Thallea still refused saying, "You're making a scene! Turner's gonna be mad at you." Jena still trying to drag the stubborn Thallea away from the house spoke through her teeth saying, "Who do you think called me to come get you? This is beyond creepy. Let's go."
With that Thallea's restiance dropped and she relented before another bout of defiance made her yank her arm back, "You're lying, You just want me to stay with Beau." Jena frankly answered, "Nope, I'd be glad if you two broke up so I wouldn't have to deal with this anymore." Jena coaxed Thallea enough to get her into the car. Edgar watched with a stunned expression as Jena addressed him saying, "Have someone bring my car back to my place later. I've got to get her out of here." Thallea seemed to feel ashamed suddenly as she sat in the passenger seat. She covered her bare midriff but continued to whine, "You made it weird. I was just being polite." Jena out of the corner of her eye judged Thallea, "No one is stupid enough to believe you were just in the neighborhood and happened to be going back and forth in a person's driveway that you've been obsessed with for God knows how long. So stop with the excuses now." Thallea mumbled something passive-aggressive, while Jena focused on the road ahead telling her, "You're just lucky Turner didn't shoot you or call the cops. What the hell are you thinking? Seriously, this is not normal." Thallea didn't respond but looked out of the window and wiped away a tear from her eye.
This was the first time in months that Jena had seen Thallea. She looked as if she had gone to great lengths to be as done up as she could, but her mannerisms came off as if she were somehow missing her confidence. Jena considered that motherhood had made her depressed, as it had for Tawny. Ever so slightly Jena began to grasp Beau's concerns and she felt a ping of sympathy for the person next to her that she so typically loathed. To break the silence Jena spoke kindly saying, "You have a good thing going for yourself with Beau. Why are you doing this?" Thallea shifted uncomfortably before she answered, "I don't know...I just...I thought maybe if..." She trailed off looking out of the window, trying to avoid eye contact. Jena seeing that she was not going to explain herself went on, "Turner's not going to like you back. He's a miserable old drug dealer who fell into money. He doesn't care about anyone but himself and never will. He put Emily on the street when she was pregnant with his son and they had what everyone thought was a strong relationship. He didn't even care when his dad died. He's just not a good guy. Beau is."
Thallea with her arms still tightly crossed frowned as she talked herself into a corner, "You don't get it. Beau is nice and all, but...I hate living with them and having to do stuff for him and all his kids. It's...I hate it." She seemed to be lost in thought for a moment before she began again as if a flash of thought had energized her. "I bet Turner won't spend time with me because I have kids. Maybe that's why he dumped Emily. Maybe he doesn't like kids!" Jena's shoulders slumped as she drove realizing there was no reaching Thallea or having a "normal" conversation with her. Jena tried to use reason anyway with Thallea, "No that's not it, because he has lots of kids with lots of different women. He just doesn't support or acknowledge them. He uses his connections to get out of paying child support. Like I said. Turner is not a good person." Thallea huffed in disbelief. Jena decided there was no use in trying to argue with Thallea's flawed thought processes. She turned on the radio to a baseball game to prevent the discussion from regressing any more than it already had.
They stopped at Ms. Flossie's to pick up Tiger-Blood from the old maid's care. She was of course concerned as much as she was confused. "Is everything okay? Do you have to go out of town?" She inquired in her quilted housecoat. She had wrapped up the baby in a towel since he was out of diapers or clean clothes to wear. Jena thought she should call child services, but that they'd just give the baby back to Beau, who in turn would leave him with Thallea, thus repeating the cycle. Jena shook her head, "No I just had to go get his mom." She said as she pointed to Thallea hiding in the car looking down.
Jena tried to hand off the baby to his mom in the car, but Thallea kept her arms folded. At the house, the diapers, bottles, and baby support pillows had all been delivered while they were gone. The despondent Thallea was at least receptive to Jena handing her an old sweater to wear so she'd look more modest when Sue came and got her. Thallea though, didn't want to wait around. While Jena was in the kitchen putting together a bottle for the baby, she heard Thallea's engine turn over and from the window watched as she took off, leaving Tiger-Blood with her without so much as a note. Jena wondered how often Thallea made a habit of ditching her baby to run off like she had just witnessed. Then she went back to making the bottle once more.
Sue arrived an hour and a half later. Jena answered the door holding the baby. She told her that Thallea had already left. The normally placid Sue said a swear word under her breath. "It's not like I don't have my hands full from everything with the boys and now, your father has an infection that's not getting better. I'm at my wits end with all this nonsense!" Jena perfectly understood her mother's frustration. She consoled her by inviting her in, "Call Beau, tell him you are here with the baby and are having lunch with me. You can take a nap in my room with Tiger-Blood. Beau and Thallea need to have it out at your house anyway." Sue looked back at her car and then again at her daughter. She hesitated for a second before she stepped in accepting the proposal, "You know that's a mighty fine idea."
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