The Convention
Nikki’s Decision
Back in her hotel room, Nicky wrings her hands at all she’s seen, not just today, but over the years. Subconsciously, she’s understood all along that there was a reason she couldn’t avoid getting everything she wanted, no matter how hard she tried. And her father... all she remembers of him from her childhood is the boat full of moaning women who could barely remember her name. Her mother used to use some of them in their tea parties, now that she thought of it. She never understood her mother’s sense of humor, not until now. Until today, she never understood why his father had started his journeys again a few years ago. She thought then that he had just gotten off her mother’s leash and gone back to being the horndog she always thought he was.
At least she’d been right about one thing. Her mother had been a powerful controller, able to keep things from going too far. She wonders now if her father picked up where her mother left off, if that’s why he does what he does now.
She could run tonight. Take Steve and Beth and Tommy and take the first flight back to St. Paul. Her presence was only required on the first day, though the convention runs for three days. She could run tonight and leave it all behind, the empty eyes and blank faces, the warped bodies and twisted minds, the nameless and brainless toys, the perverted legacy of her father. She could, but then she wouldn’t be Nichole Samuels-Thatcher, daughter of Sawyer and Eliza Samuels and the Mississippi River. She wouldn’t be the woman who had taken Steve when he blurted out that he had cheated on her with his secretary during an office party. The power is hers, whether she likes it or not.
And because the power is hers, and there’s nothing she can do to turn back time and keep herself from using it on Steve, the next best thing is to use it to fight the evil that sickens her. She has to be the best woman she can, the woman she was raised to be.
The key snicks in the lock, and Nicky puts aside her thoughts to paste on a smile as Steve returns with the kids from their tour of the city. Beth runs up to her and shrieks, “Mommy, mommy, did you hear, did you hear?”
“No, sweetie, what?”
“I got picked to be a ball girl at the Bulls game tonight!” Beth yells, holding up the three front row passes.
“You did?” Nicky asks, a little worried; in the world she’s just been thrust into, nothing comes without a price, and she can imagine someone using her family against her and her father.
“Uh-huh! Of course, Tommy boy got in front and almost made the Bulls guy mad!”
“Did NOT!” Tommy yells.
“Did TOO!“ Beth whines, and Tommy relents, but Nicky can’t tell whose death glare silences him, hers or Beth’s. Beth goes on, “They thought I was sooooo cuuuuute that they had to have me front and center tonight.”
“Steve, is this true?” Nicky asks sternly.
“All of it,” Steve responds without a thought, as well trained as he is.
“Well, your grandpa was going to take us all out to dinner tonight, but I guess you can meet grandpa later. I know he’s going to want to meet both of you very soon. Hmmm, we’ll have to find someone to take you to the game. Oh, I know! He ought to be in town, and it’s been years since you’ve seen your Uncle Darvin,” Nicky says. It’s a bit of a gamble, but if she had to make an appearance, she’s willing to bet that her half-brother has to be here too.
“Dad giving up basketball to meet Grandpa? What kind of grandpa is he, anyway?” Beth asks with suspicion too smart for a girl her age. A pit opens in Nicky’s stomach as she understands what her daughter is.
“Oh, I just love your mommy that much,” Steve replies while Nicky calls Darvin. Of course, the casual mention of free front row NBA tickets gets the attention of any male, whether it’s for the basketball or the cheerleaders, so he agrees almost as soon as the words are out of her mouth.
“Aww, sweetie,” Nicky says, blushing. Beth’s looking at them with a very odd smirk, and it disturbs Nicky to the core, but Beth’s only ten. If... education... is needed, it can wait another couple of years. But that only cements her decision to help her father, because if they don’t clean up the world...she doesn’t want to think about what Beth could be if she grows up in a world where power is the only concern. She sits back and lets Beth brag until Darvin arrives with a handful of Mardi Gras beads for both kids and a Saints cap low on his head.
“Well, thank God they’re not playing the Hornets,” Nicky says with a smile.
“I ain’t that dumb!” Darvin replies in a Southern drawl so thick that Nicky can hear right through it in a second. “Now, c’mon, you two, give your uncle a hug!” He bundles the two kids up in a heartbeat. Beth laughs at him, but Tom seems to take to him well.
“I thought you hated gambling and riverboats and all that kind of stuff,” Beth says with a note of confusion in her voice.
“They have their purposes,” Nicky replies with a secretive smile.
“We’d best be getting a move on, with these seats. Don’t want to have to climb over too many folks to get where we want to be. And if we have a little time, maybe I can teach you to play cards. Y’all already know Go Fish?” Darvin asks as he heads out with the kids.
“Nice brother you have there,” Steve says.
“He has his uses. Now, about tonight...” Nicky says in her most seductive voice, the one Steve is trained to hang on every word of, as she slowly explains the day away at him. She’s never taken him this far down before, but he seems happy to go along- almost frighteningly so, but she can’t stop to think about it. She has to bring him this far down to gain admission to the lower floors, where her father has promised there is worse evil to be revealed, and while taking the random (and very cute) bellhop might be more fitting, she’s not going to cheat on Steve. By the time she’s done, she can comb her hair in his glassy eyes. She puts on the finest dress she has with her, and dresses Steve in a tight shirt and khaki pants, and together they head out to the convention center, Nicky fighting off the growing sense of unease with every step.