Epilogue

It took two days tops for the doctors to release Kenna and little Gabe. Both were a picture of health. Gabe was eating like his Daddy did when he was small and making sure that he had his meal every three hours whether Mama and Daddy were ready for him to eat or not. Unlike with many of the older grandchildren, Gramma and Grampa would not be keeping Gabe. As much as they would have loved too, they'd had their share of that for the four months that they kept Jordan's kids.

David and Brie made it to the different stores in town for the Black Friday sales so that they could make sure that all of their grandchildren got something special for Hanukkah. Their children, they figured, were all adults and could worry about themselves. As long as the grandchildren had Hanukkah gifts, they didn't care.

Right before the holiday season, David got interesting news from his stock broker. All of the stocks that he regularly were all climbing rapidly and paying out big. After talking briefly about how to invest his money and what to do with the stocks that were paying out big, they continued with their holiday preparations.

Hanukkah was its usual chaos as David and Brie watched their children chase children of their own. They could help but spend their nights reminiscing about spending their Hanukkahs breaking up fights and the like. Now they were watching the very children that were always fighting get along like the best of friends and breaking up their children from fighting. Oh sweet irony, they thought. Sweet irony indeed.

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After the holidays once the New Year rolled around, everyone started to trickle home. David and Brie had a new trip they wanted to plan. After she'd seen this last country, they were done with their globetrotting. It was high time for them to get still and stay that way to the best of their abilities. Being in their 70's, they knew that it was high time to slow down. Hospital visits at their ages were especially no fun.

The kids were all reenrolled in school. They were excites to get back to their friends. They were a year ahead of all of their friends, but their parents decided that the reinforcement of the material that they had been learning would do them good.

Jordan was all over Malachai and the boys to get back into the studio. She had some shit she needed to get off of her chest and the only way to do that was to get back into the studio and make music. They were all for it.

Life for Jake and Jeremiah returned to normal. Jake resumed seeing patients regularly at the practice that he'd all but abandoned for the better part of a year. Jeremiah was right back to enlightening the minds of young adults.  He had been looking forward to teaching philosophy and theology again.

Maddie, Jona, Delilah and Damien were back at their clinic full time.  Their clients were all happy to see them all again.  It was nice to finally be back in the full swing of things; to have a busy schedule again.  Better that then sitting around the house all the time.

Life was bliss again.  Life was quiet.  Life was peaceful.  Nothing could ruin that peace.

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Davina’s allocution was set for after the New Year began.  She’d decided to take the plea.  Fifteen to thirty sounded better to her than fifteen to life.  She knew what the evidence against her was.  The most damning would be the testimony of the young man she helped to raise.  He hated her and she knew it.  She also knew that he wouldn’t lie.  So, she decided to plead guilty to assault with a deadly weapon rather than go to trial on assault and battery on a minor child.

The judge that drew the case knew about what had happened in the family court.  He’d read the transcripts from what happened when the defense moved to have them excluded from evidence.  It hadn’t worked.

Judge Mason called the court to order and looked over at the defense table.  “Mr. Riley, I take it that your client has decided to agree to a plea?”

“Yes, your Honor.”  He and Davina stood.

“On the sole count on the indictment, Assault with a Deadly Weapon, how do you plead, Ms. Kealoah?”

“Guilty, your Honor.”

“You may allocate when ready.”

Davina took a deep breath and looked at the judge.  “There were many times over the ten years that I was married to Jordan Draiman that I did, in fact, beat the children- Levi in particular.  I would whip him with belts, wooden spoon handles, the wire handles of fly swatters, and worse than anything was the time that I whipped him with a bamboo cane.  I do regret doing what I have done, and I deserve every bit of the time that I’m getting.  I deserve worse to be truthful.”

The judge looked at Davina.  “That is sufficient with the court.”  He looked at the Prosecutor.  “Do you have any objections?”

Sydney Osbourne stood and shook her head.  “No, your honor.  It satisfies the prosecution.”

The judge nodded.  “Alright.  Well then, Davina Michelle Kealoah, you are hereby sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison with a possibility of parole after 20 years imprisonment.  You are to be remanded to the custody of the Colorado Women’s Correctional Center in Pueblo.  We are now adjourned.  Officers, please escort Ms. Kealoah back to county.”

The court officers took Davina into custody and led her out of the courtroom.  She was about to bet more than what she deserved for the next fifteen years… if the other inmates allowed her to live that long.

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One afternoon in February while Reckless Disregard was in the studio recording, they had a visitor.  A tall, athletically built man in a cheap suit was standing in the mixing booth as Jordan was laying down vocals for the cover that they were putting on the record, “What You Do To Me”, originally written and performed by Straight Line Stitch.  She looked at Malachai- who was messing tinkering with the switches and got his attention.  “Hey fucker, look over your shoulder.  I’m coming out.”

Malachai looked up to see what Jordan was talking about as she was talking about.  “Hello.  How can I help you?” he asked the tall stranger.

“Hi.  I’m J. Eric Masterson.  I’m the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and I’m here to speak with Jordan.”

Jordan had just come through the door when she heard him say Director of the FBI and that he wanted to speak to her.  “I’m Jordan.  You are?”

He turned to see her standing behind him.  “Director J. Eric Masterson; FBI.  You’re Jordan Draiman?”

“I am.  What can I do for you, Director Masterson?”

He extended his hand.  “I wanted to shake the hand of the woman that took out Porter Jessop Grissom.  He was our #1 with a bullet, no pun intended.”

She chuckled a little.  “Number one with a bullet.  I like that.  What was that song from back in the day?  ‘We’re going down, down in an earlier round and sugar we’re going down swinging.  I’ll be your #1 with a bullet, a loaded God complex, cock it and pull it’?”

“It was called, ‘Sugar, We’re Going Down’”, Malachai said.  “I can’t remember who sang it.”

She took the FBI Director’s extended hand.  “It really wasn’t planned that way, Director Masterson.  I just gave the man what he deserved.”

“And from what Morbus tells me, it was pretty.  He wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry with pride from what he said.”

“Did he tell you what I did to the man?”

“Oh yeah.  He said that you shot him in the head after torturing him for a while.  The CIA could learn a lot from you.”

She laughed and shook her head.  “If you say so, Director.  Now, I appreciate you coming by, but we’re in the middle of recording a new record.  I really need to get back in the recording booth.”

“I understand.  Again, thank you for doing such a service to the country and saving the tax payers several hundred thousand in funds to hunt that bastard and his organization down.”

“If you say so, Director.”  Jordan turned on her heels and walked back into the booth.  “Whenever you’re ready Malachai.  I wanna redo that chorus.  It sounded a little flat on playback.”

“You got it Jord.  Gimme just a sec to tinker with something in here and it’s all you.”

Director Masterson walked away as the two Draiman siblings started working.  He passed the blonde Moyer boy and the black haired drummer.  Dynamic bunch of kids, he thought that it walked back out to his car.  Just as dynamic as Disturbed.  They’ve changed the course of history, much like their fathers before them.  I wonder if their children will be as influential.

For that, only time would be able to tell.

THE END