Hope spent one hundred days and nights in jail before her lawyer,
Courtney Steinbecker, was able to get her removed from California
State Correctional Facility permanently. Hope was able to get back to
Philadelphia before her Uncle Tony passed on. She spent several weeks
at her father's house in Philadelphia in the time leading up to her
uncle's passing.
In his final days, Tommy played Let It Be for his brother on a
record player in his room. He played the song time and time again.
Tommy meant well but Tony once told him that he couldn't wait to get
to hell so he didn't have to listen to mother Mary whispering words
of wisdom anymore. Tommy continued to play the song.
Hope kissed her uncle’s pale forehead as he lay dead on the bed
where Scotch had died. The cool sweat on his still warm forehead
transferred to her lips.
“Christian arrived later that night and I know this is strange but
I was afraid to kiss him because I wanted to keep that last piece of
Uncle Tony with me. I didn’t want to pass him on to Christian. I
wanted to hoard that last glimpse of Uncle Tony for myself. I loved
that man so much.”
At the funeral Hope delivered the eulogy. There were eight people in
attendance: Senior, Tommy, Penny, Rider, Christian, Hope, a pastor
and a mortician.
There was a time when I thought it would be
okay if I could just see him one more time. One more time is never
enough. I'm not going to make a big production of this. It's not what
he would have wanted. I just have a couple things I want to say.
Uncle Tony was a great man. He was a great
uncle, brother, son, and we all loved him. We will all miss him. I
wish he could have lived forever but that's what makes life so
precious. We all just get a little plot of time here on earth so we
must make the most of it. Love big and live hard. Uncle Tony did
that. No one lived as hard as he did and he loved too. He loved
Scotch and when he lost her he lost a piece of himself. I wasn't here
for her funeral and I wasn't around to support him then, now I wish I
had. I wish a lot of things today as we lay him to rest.
I understand that he can't live forever but
I wish he could have lived long enough to meet my baby. I didn't even
tell him I was pregnant because I didn't want him to think about what
he would miss in death. My baby will miss out because he or she will
live without a Great-Uncle Tony. I wish it didn’t have to be that
way.
Our family lives and dies but this is not
the end.
Tony was buried beside Scotch in the family cemetery. Tony's grave,
alongside Rick's grave, was visible from Senior's bedroom window.
Their ghosts were everywhere.
Hope gave birth to a baby boy the following spring. They named him
Jude.
Gloria and Tommy (ex-UCLA Tommy) have now been dating for the past
five years.
Lilia started dating the bassist from the New Hope Community Church
band. She still works in an office and drives a Honda Civic.
Hope and Christian currently spend their summers in Philadelphia with
their four-year old son, Jude, and their one year-old daughter,
Grace. The family spends the rest of their time in their house in the
Palisades. Hope splits her time between the Palisades and New Hope
Ranch.
New Hope Ranch, purchased as a birthday gift and summer
getaway, has been transformed into a rehabilitation facility for drug
addicts. Hope works at the ranch on a casual basis, alongside a
highly trained and qualified staff.
“I feel like I’m finally doing something good with my life,”
said Hope, the founder of the Ranch. “I’ve been on the other side
and I know how they feel and I know they can be better. I’ve came
to peace with my past and they will too.”
She is clean1.
No one ever expected her to be clean and even her father, still
addicted, is proud of her for cleaning up her act. She is reformed.
She is a heroine.
“I have an amazing husband and two precious children. We have a
great life.”
“Hope was never wholly good nor was she wholly bad,” said
Christian. “No one is. Hope may have embraced a noxious path but
it’s brought her here and she’s doing some really great things.”
“Everywhere she flew on the wings of life, she was propelled their
by her ambition,” said feminist theorist and author, Audrey Hart.
She holds a notorious place in history. She leads a normal life.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
The names, dates, and places have been changed to protect the
innocent and the guilty.
1
The only thing not accounted for are the drugs confiscated from the
luggage of new in-patients.
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