Chapter 25 The end of their lives with Tonia (Some Anemones are Blue CROSSOVER Chapter)

Three of cups, Five of Wands, Reversed Queen of Pentacles

~~~~

Dinner was the best grilled monkfish they had ever eaten. Tiana ate three servings and hugged the elderly man who was the cook when he gave her a box to take home. Lloyd and Tim each carried a cooler filled with ice and Tiana's precious ice cream back to the cottage.

As they sat on the porch watching the moon rise and talking about the evil Tonia had done to their hometown, Tiana admitted that she felt responsible for her mother's thefts. Tonia always told Tiana that she was doing it to take care of her daughter. But Lloyd quickly admonished her, reminding her that it was Tonia's choices that mismanaged their finances, and the McConnell-Ballard clan would have helped them if Tonia had just asked. Tim added that Tonia's addiction to shopping and spending outrageously began long before their divorce and that Tiana who was very frugal should not feel guilty for a single thing her mother did. They all agreed that there was something wrong with Tonia's constant need for affection, attention, and things.

After 9PM, the resort up the coast began shooting off fireworks. Tiana yawned watching the display.

"Are you tired, mermaid?" Lloyd asked affectionately.

"Not really, I just... Talking about Mum makes me tired. I always tried to be good enough and never was. Gramma Dorine said it was never me, it was always her. That she didn't have the love of a mother or father, so she didn't know how to give love like a parent should." Tiana wrapped her arms around her belly. "I guess I was lucky to have a dad and a stepdad who really love me. I don't want Tadpole to ever feel like I felt when Mum was yelling at me because she found a speck of dust in the guestroom we barely used or because I ate ice cream or didn't put on my makeup after diving practice. I... I don't want my baby to ever wonder why it isn't good enough." Fat tears made shiny paths down her cheeks as her father held her hand.

"Oh, baby girl, you're the best thing in the world." Tim felt distressed as he said it. He wanted her to believe his words and he regrated how horrible Tonia treated their daughter.

Lloyd reached out and squeezed Tim's shoulder. He could see his cousin breaking under the weight of all their ex-wife put his daughter through, culminating with the fact that Tonia actually sold Tiana to a known sex offender for three horrible nights. Tim had been a brother to Lloyd after Tim's mother had run off with Lloyd's father. When they were found dead together, it seemed like Tim and Lloyd spent years standing up for each other. All it took to break them was Tonia.

Grandma Fern always insisted Lloyd felt ashamed that he turned his back on Tim and regretted not listening to Tim's warnings about Tonia after their divorce and that Lloyd wished he never married Tonia. They both hated themselves for leaving Tiana with Tonia. There was so much both wanted to say and nothing that would come out. They sat with only the sound of the waves for several minutes before the night was shattered by a scream. Lloyd was on his feet, bolting over the rail and running down the beach toward the sound of men yelling and the desperate woman's calls for help.

Tim ran after him, shouting at Tiana, "Call the island police."

They saw two men holding a woman down in the sand as she fought to get free and a third watching.

"Halt, Military Police," Lloyd bellowed in a tone of authority.

The man trying to hold the woman's feet let go and ran as Lloyd tackled the man on top of her. He rolled letting his momentum slam the bearded man into the sand while he regained his feet. The man, who was standing pulled out a knife and jumped at Lloyd. The fair-haired man was fast, but he was no match for Lloyd's extensive training. A quick grab and twist had the knife falling in the sand, then two solid jabs put the man on the sand in a dazed heap. As Lloyd fought the other one, Tim punched the one Lloyd rolled. The bearded man grabbed Tim's shirt, trying to thrown him on the sand so they stood, tussling while the third ran away. He was swearing at Tim in some Germanic language as Tim was knocked down.

"Hey, Herr asshole." Snarling, Lloyd walked up on the bearded man's blind side. The man turned enough to meet Lloyd's fist and collapsed like his accomplice.

The woman stood up, swaying, and demanded, "Who in the blimey hell are you?"

"Lloyd McConnell, retired U.S. Marine Corps, ma'am. And this is my cousin Tim." Lloyd tried to step back as she staggered into him and latched her arms around his neck.

"My father was a Royal Marine," She said in a drunken daze then added, "I don't know how I got drunk, I didn't drink anything but pomegranate juice. It has lots of anti-oxidants." Her head lolled as she looked up at him, in the lights of the oncoming beach patrol. "Huh, your eyes are as brown as dirt." Then she passed out in Lloyd's arms.

Tim started laughing as he rubbed his jaw, "Why do they always say dirt? I think your eyes look like chocolate."

"Tim?"

"Yes, cousin?" Tim answered in a patronizing tone.

"Shut up." Lloyd retorted coldly.

Still chuckling, Tim went to talk to the police. In Japanese, he explained the woman screamed and they here holding her down as the policemen handcuffed the two men and roughly dragged them away. "We need to take her to the clinic, they drugged her with something. Before she passed out, she said she only drank juice."

"The Clinic is closed for the night. We can put her in a cell until they open in the morning," one announced as Tiana came rushing down the beach with the elderly Korean couple from the neighboring bungalow.

He watched then talking as he told the officer, "You can't be serious. They drugged and tried to assault her and the third ran off that way." Tim pointed down the beach.

"It is all we can do."

"Wait a moment please." Walking away from the island police, Tim went over to his family with an angry scowl. "The island clinic is closed for the night, so they want to put her in a cell next to them." He jerked his head at the patrol vehicle.

The elderly man said something to Lloyd in Korean, and he answered then he looked back to Tim. "Tell them, our neighbor is a doctor, and we will take care of her."

Tim nodded and went to talk to the authorities while Lloyd followed Dr. Joongi back to their cottage. Tiana helped his elderly wife walk through the soft sand.

Tim revealed, "Our neighbor is a doctor and says he will take care of her until the clinic opens. What time do we need to bring her down to your headquarters to file charges?"

"We do not handle that. They will be sent to the main land on the morning ferry," as the officer explained what would happen to the attempted rapists and how hard it would be for the woman to have them charged, Tim gaped at him. Walking away from the island police as they drove away, he scanned the beach for the woman's belongings. Something dark and rectangular was laying on the white sand in the moonlight. He picked it up and realized it was a handbag. Shaking his head, he headed back to the rental house.

Tim walked inside with a purple clutch. "I found her bag on the beach, the local police didn't even look for it. They don't even have a court or anything, they just put criminals on a boat to the mainland where they will have to pay a disturbing the peace fine and be banned from returning. They are not even going to press charges against them for drugging and attacking her."

Tiana shook her head, quoting one of Coach Wally's lectures, "Sex crimes against women and children are the least prosecuted criminal activity in the world." She shrugged when Lloyd and Tim looked at her. "What? It's the truth... I am going to make some ginger mint tea. Uncle Lloyd will you ask... uh... Mrs. Joongi how she takes her tea?"

Lloyd nodded, "I'll ask, mermaid. It's very sweet of you to offer."

"Sweet of me?" She snorted, then retorted, "No... I need it or Tadpole will show me my toenails in the morning. I'm just offering to make extra because I'm a good daughter who wants a diving pool." Tiana winked at Tim and Lloyd outlandishly, making Tim pretend to groan as Lloyd laughed. Tiana didn't know Lloyd had already submitted the plans to the county commissioner to have just that built.

~~~~

Tim was awake early as was his habit on the oil platforms and took a cup of tea into Lloyd's room. They had put the woman they rescued, a Lesley Arbuthnot from New Zealand according to her passport, in there and Lloyd slept in Tim's room. He set the tea on the bedside table and bent down to pick up her handbag which was on the floor.

She gasped and as he turned to look at her, Lloyd shouted, "Don't!"

Her fist knocked his glasses off and sent him sprawling onto his side.

"Easy, Darlin', we saved you," Lloyd explained as she leapt out of bed and picked up a lamp to throw.

Tiana rushed past Lloyd, calling out, "It's okay, you're safe."

"Where the bloody hell am I?" Lesley demanded as Lloyd pulled Tim up off the floor.

"I'm Tiana, this is my Uncle Lloyd and that's my dad, Tim. Three guys had you down on the beach, they drugged you and you passed out after you screamed," Tiana explained, "My Uncle is police officer and retired Marine. He and my dad fought the guys off, then Dr. Joongi who is staying next door took care of you. The island police are sending the two guys they caught back to the mainland but they probably won't be charged for what they did to you. I'm sorry," Tiana said as she moved to stand by the bed. "We didn't mean to scare you."

Staring at the pregnant Tiana for a moment, Lesley looked between them in terrified realization. "Oh gawd, I'm so sorry I hit you." She apologized then she stood up shakily, holding out her hand to Lloyd. "I... I... Thank you for save..."

Just as Lloyd took her hand, she doubled over and vomited on him.

"Nope, I'm out," Tiana gagged as she ran from the room. Tim chased after her holding his eye.

Lloyd just stood there, holding her hand and shoulder until she finished being ill. Standing up, she swayed unsteadily. "Easy, Lesley, I've got you. Let's get you into the bathroom."

"How come you didn't get sick too?"

"Darlin', I've had a lot nastier people than you drunkenly vomit on me. I used to be with the American Marine Corps Military Police," Lloyd admitted.

She wiped her mouth on the back of her hand, "I didn't drink any alcohol, I have a blood thing. Alcohol..."

"Makes you sick? Yeah, I had a friend a long time ago that she and her dad both couldn't drink alcohol but her brother became an alcoholic after their dad's death." Lloyd left her sitting on the toilet. Get cleaned up, I'll see if Tiana has anything you can wear."

"Sorry to ruin you and your boyfriend's holiday," Lesley apologized, and Lloyd laughed.

"We're cousins." He cocked his head listening to Tim answer the phone somewhere in the house.

"Right..." Lesley sounded disbelieving.

"No, we are actual related by blood cousins. My mom and his dad are first cousins and we were raised together so I came to chaperon Tiana while he works. He only gets weekends off," Lloyd revealed.

She blushed in embarrassment, "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought... You were a gay couple; you don't look anything alike. I mean your eyes are the color of dirt. He and his daughter's eyes look like the Aegean Sea."

Lloyd tried not to grind his teeth as he took a few towels. "I'm going to clean up the floor and change clothes. Tim, found your purse on the beach." Lloyd closed the door and turned to see Tim standing there with a pint of ice cream pressed to his bruise. Tim looked like he was about to start laughing and Lloyd knew what about so he growled out, "Shut up."

Chuckling, Tim then became serious as he revealed, "The island police called. They found two other women tied up in the guys' bungalow. They want Lesley to come with them to the mainland. I volunteered to go as their translator."

Lloyd nodded, "I'll stay with Tiana."

"You should, they want to have you arrested and charged with assault," Tim warned. "It's such bullshit." Smirking, he glanced at Lloyd, adding, "Kinda like the color of your eyes."

Lloyd threw the towels at Tim's chest. "Clean up the damned floor, I'm going to take a shower in Tiana's bathroom."

~~~~

They flew back to Colorado and rested one day before the trial began. Lloyd and Tim glanced at each other, both had the same surprise at their ex-wife's changed appearance. Tonia's dark died hair was growing out, she looked older and more evil without all her heavy makeup. Tiana held her mother's glare with a stiff spine and her hand resting over her prominent baby bump. Tonia looked like a serial killer until her lawyer nudged her then her expression became the mask of a terrified victim who was nervous about being wrongly accused.

The first day was the presenting of the charges and the defenses' motions that all of them be removed except the negligence charge. The defense lawyer was sticking to the claim that Tonia was an innocent victim of Donatello Valtini, manipulated into giving him access to her daughter because she had attachment – abandonment issues. The lawyer insisted Donatello held her captive after she went to him in a mother's rage to find out why he raped her daughter. The claim was presented that the evidence was all fabricated or coerced, including 'the receipt' found in the Valtinis' Monarch Mountain chalet. He ended with the reminder that Antonia Ballard was a respected member of the community, a teacher, a community volunteer, and a devoted mother.

The prosecuting attorney shook her head, opening simply, "The proof of Mrs. Ballard's true intent in her community will come in the evidence. In the computer files, she kept on those she blackmailed, and folders revealing misinformation she spread and the rumors she fostered to cause harm to her fellow residents..." The prosecutor finished with, "She admitted she murdered a maid who tried to stop her from leaving the Valtini estate with her loot and the millions Donatello and Giovani paid her for her services as a prostitute and the sale of her daughter's virginity. Mrs. Ballard is not a victim. She is a perpetrator. She is a predator, a thief, and a murderer."

~~~~

The fifth morning of the trial was horrific and painful. Listening to Tonia's lies on the stand about what abusive husbands Lloyd, Alan, and Tim allegedly were. It was all Tim could do to not shout at her lies. With Tonia on the witness stand, the defense played her as the hapless victim of multiple abusive men. Until the judge got tired of the objections and reminded that Mrs. Ballard's ex-husbands weren't on trial, she was. The Prosecutor shredded Tonia's story and pointed out every inconsistency between it and the evidence. Pointing out that Ex-husbands Tim Ballard, Alan Patrick, and Lloyd McConnell paid her bills and were still paying her bills when she sold her daughter. Final arguments were quick, but the jury deliberation was quicker. Guilty on all charges concerning Tiana, and guilty of six counts of accessory after the fact in the murders of the Copper Mountain Chalet and Las Vegas Mansion Victims.

Worse than Tiana taking the stand to testify against her mother, was her victim statement. Tiana recounted years of abuse, infidelity to her husbands, thefts from the community, and at last, what it felt like to hear Donnie's own incriminating statements against Tonia at the Ridgeline Ranch. Her mother stood up and started screaming at her to shut up, and insulting Tiana, who broke down crying and shouted back at her mother that she hated her because she sold her like a breeding heifer and wanted to murder her baby.

Tim only stayed in his seat and not attacked Tonia because Lloyd and Sheriff Tanner physically held him down. The judge ordered a short recess because many in the jury and the gallery were weeping or angrily shouting at Tonia. When Tiana was released from the witness stand, many in the community called out encouragements to her. When court resumed, Antonia Ballard was sentenced to twelve years for the rape of her daughter, ten years for the thefts from the community, and one-hundred-thirty-two years for the accessory to murder after the fact charges. The soonest she would be eligible for parole was in seventy-one years.

Tiana wept in her father's arms as the bailiff removed a shrieking Tonia from the court room. Her last desperate act of revenge was to shout out the sins of the community. As soon as Tiana and Tim stepped out of the courtroom, they were mobbed by the media.

In the chaos, Mitch Abernathy swept in and helped them make an escape from the press of two states trying to get a scoop on the trial. Mitch and a man who was obviously his father helped Lloyd and Tim get Tiana through the crush of reporters when they tried to leave the courthouse. Their truck was blocked in by media vans, so Mitch steered them to another vehicle, but getting into the armored SUV, Tim, Lloyd and Tiana had not expected to come face to face with the uncle of the men who tried to kidnap Tiana.

"I'm Don Luciano Valtini, and I apologize humbly for what my great-nephew put you through." The elderly man then offered Tiana anything she wanted in reparation. "What can I do to make things right between us?"

Tiana held up her head and demanded, "I want my baby and me to be safe from any future mafia life harassment... And for my mother to never get out of prison. I don't want Tonia killed; I want her kept in a cage like the rat she is."

"I can arrange that." Don Luciano promised then added, "How much do you need to live comfortably?"

"I don't want money; I only want my child to be safe for its whole life."

Don Valtini promised, "No harm will ever come to either of you as long as the Valtini family lives." Then he said something very strange. "I wish Donatello was more like my grandson Luca and courted you properly because I would be proud to have such a brave young woman in the family."

The Don gave Tiana a box of her favorite cupcakes and told her, "If you ever need anything, you only need to tell Mitch."

"I'll take you back for your truck if you want, Lloyd," Mitch offered.

"We're at your house, but the press is following," Mitch's father warned.

Tiana and Tim got out behind their new house and rushed inside through the back door.

Mitch took his father and the Don back to the Wild Anemone, and then drove Lloyd back to the courthouse to get his truck. By the time Lloyd got back to Tim's house, the press was there and at the gates of the Rocking M, according to a message from their grandfather. Tiana hid in her room while Lloyd and Tim tried to decide what to do. Fifteen minutes later, they were headed to Durango and catching a flight back to the Pacific rim.