We both stared at the decrepit house for another minute, but then movement caught my eye. It was Sandy, Matthew’s mom. She was still here. I was out of the car before I could think about it, rushing over to her. Matthew’s mom wrapped me up in her arms, tears falling down her face.
“You’re back.”
“I told you I would be someday.”
She held me at arms length as her eyes roamed over me. “Wow, you’ve grown into such a beautiful, young woman.”
I smiled and swallowed hard. “I’m so sorry about—“
“Oh, hush. You know Matthew wouldn’t have had it any other way.”
“I miss him so much,” I said, tears slipping down my cheeks. “I can never repay him for what he did for me.”
“Oh, honey, that boy loved you since the day he saw you run out of your house and scrape your knee. He used to tell me that he was going to marry you someday.”
“It never should have happened like that,” I sniffled. “His life was cut too short.”
“So were so many others. This town…so many people have died over the years.”
“Well,” I said, composing myself. “That’s why I’m here. I have money now. A lot of money, and I’m putting it back into the town. Nobody here will ever have to go hungry again.”
She smiled at me, her hands cupping my cheeks. “You know, I always thought of you like a daughter. With how Matthew talked about you constantly, I was sure you were going to be my daughter-in-law someday. But some things in life aren’t meant to happen.”
She hugged me again and then stepped back, wiping the tears from her eyes. “And who is this handsome man you’ve brought with you?”
“This is Andrew. He…” I didn’t know quite how to describe Andrew, especially after what she just told me.
“I’m a friend, and potential murder victim.”
I laughed and Sandy looked confused. “He thought I was a serial killer.”
Sandy burst out laughing. “Well, I can see where you would think that. We all heard about what your father did. I’m glad he came through in the end.”
I bit my lip as I glanced back at my house. “Did you ever see him around town?”
She nodded. “I know everyone else was just spreading rumors, but about a month after you left town, he came back here. He was drunk as usual. I told him if he ever wanted to be worthy of calling himself your father, he would get clean. I found a clinic that took patients that didn’t have money. It took him three stints at the clinic, but he finally did it.”
“And then he stayed here?”
She nodded. “I helped him when I could, but it wasn’t much.”
“Thank you for taking care of him.”
She sighed. “He didn’t deserve it, not after what he put you through, but I knew him from before you were born. It was hard to just walk away. Anyway, you should see if there’s anything in the house you want. I would imagine most everything is decaying at this point.”
“Thank you.” I hugged her again, squeezing her tight. I knew this would be the last time I came back. I could handle everything else from back home, but I didn’t belong here anymore. There were too many bad memories to ever make a home here again.
Walking toward my dad’s house, I did my best to not let the memories overwhelm me. There was so much I wished could be different about my life, but with how it turned out, I couldn’t be upset. I had a new life, a new family, and a man that I knew I could always count on.
I felt his hand slide around mine, encasing me with his strength. I stepped through the broken door and looked inside at the ratty furniture that still remained from when I was a kid. Everything looked the same as when I left, just dirtier with a smell of rot. The house would have to be torn down.
“Is there anything you want?” Andrew asked.
There was one thing I really wanted before I walked out of here, one last memory to remind me of when things were still good. I headed for my bedroom and pulled open the closet doors, digging on the top shelf until I found the old, metal box. I had found it at the mine after it shut down, and brought it home to keep my few prized possessions. Of course, the only things I wanted from it now were the picture of my mom, dad, and me, from before the mine closed. We were a happy family then, and that’s how I wanted to remember us. This picture epitomized our time before my mom was weakened by cancer for the second time, and before my dad became an abusive drunk. Then I pulled out the picture of Matthew and I. We were just kids, hanging out in front of the minimart down the road. We were eating ice cream, something that we rarely got the pleasure of having. I had just shoved my ice cream cone in his face and we both were laughing, without a care in the world.
“Is that him?” Andrew asked from behind me.
“Yeah,” I grinned. “That’s Matthew.”
He didn’t say anything else, just rested his hand on my shoulder in support. I felt the tears trickle down my face before I even realized I was crying. Andrew wrapped me in his arms and held me as I cried. I clung to him as I shed the last of my tears. I would keep this picture of us, but I would remember us for the fun we had and forget the rest. That’s the way Matthew would have wanted it.
“You ready to go?” Andrew asked when I stepped back.
“Yeah, let’s get out of here.”
We headed for the living room and I was just about to leave when I had a thought. I headed for the kitchen and dug around in the cabinets until I found what I was looking for. Andrew looked stricken when I pulled out a cast iron frying pan.
“Is that what I think it is?”
“Yep.”
“You’re…you’re taking the murder weapon with you?”
I looked at the pan and frowned. “Technically, it’s not a murder weapon. Besides, you never know when I might need it again.”
He swallowed hard and took a step back. I rolled my eyes and tossed it over my shoulder, wincing slightly at the large bang it made against the stove. “I’m kidding. We buried that one in the mine.”
He sighed in relief. “Thank God, because for a moment, I thought you were bringing that home in case you needed to use it again.”
“Don’t be silly,” I said, walking up to him and running my finger down his chest. “Why would I want to kill you?”
He chuckled nervously and shook his head. “Who knows.”
I walked past him and winked over my shoulder. “Besides, I can always buy a new one.”
Andrew
“Ugh, I’m so exhausted,” Lorelei complained from the back seat. “Let’s just stay home for a while.”
“That’s fine by me.”
Joe grinned beside me, in the driver’s seat of the truck. “Look at you two, all domestic and shit.”
“Well, I’ve always been domestic,” I argued.
“No you haven’t. You were just banging Stacy over the side of the couch a week before Lorelei came into town.”
I glared at him. “Thanks, man.”
“Hey, I’m just saying, never did I ever think I would hear you talking about just going home and staying there for a while. I bet you’ll even buy a plaid shirt and start chopping wood in your spare time, just for the fun of it.”
“Speaking of plaid shirts…did you see that guy that Eric hired to work for him? He wears plaid every fucking day,” I said, baffled by the whole thing. “I mean, who wears that much plaid?”
“Where’d he find him?”
“Derek sent him. Can you believe that?”
“Why would Derek send a plaid man to go work for Eric?” Joe asked.
“Something about the guy helping a friend of his and the guy was too hot to be around the girlfriend? I’m not sure. It doesn’t make sense.”
Lorelei leaned forward between the seats. “Wait, your brother said the guy was too hot, or the friend said the guy was too hot?”
“I’m assuming the friend. I don’t think Derek would ever refer to another guy as hot.”
“No,” Joe snorted, “but he would wear
a Superman costume.”
“Whoa, what’s this about?” Lorelei asked, practically moving to sit up front with us. “I have to know more about this.”
I shook my head. “I don’t actually know. He just announced one day on the phone that he wanted to put on his Batman costume to have sexy time with Claire.”
“He just announced it,” she said, sounding completely baffled.
“Well, in all fairness, he didn’t know he was on speakerphone,” Joe said. “The Superman thing we found out later from Eric.”
“So, is this something where he goes and saves her? Does he toss her out windows and then dive after her?”
“I really doubt it,” I snorted. “He’s not actually Superman.”
“No, but wouldn’t that be cool? To have your own personal superhero?”
“I have my own personal serial killer,” I said dryly. “That’s enough for me.”
She stuck out her tongue at me. “You’re such a party pooper.”
“Hey, can I help it if I would rather not delve too deep into Derek’s twisted world?”
“You know, your language skills are really coming along. I bet you’re happy Eric got you that book now.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I can see the appeal. But every once in a while, I still throw out a totes just to piss him off.”
Joe grinned. “Yeah, I like to say spill the tea. That one really eats at him for some reason.”
“Okay, what is it with this weird language you two have?” Lorelei asked. “And why did it just one day disappear?”
“Didn’t you ever have slang in high school?”
She quirked an eyebrow at me. “I was too busy scrounging for food to worry about cool phrases.”
“Right,” I cleared my throat. “Well, those are just phrases we use, but then one day, Eric came home with this tattoo and he wouldn’t show it to us. Joe made this deal with him that he would stop talking like a Millennial if Eric showed him the tattoo. And then I somehow got dragged into it also.”
“You know, you have a very peculiar family.”
Joe laughed. “Says the serial killer.”
“Am I never going to live that down? Surely someone around here has a more interesting life than me. What about Carly? Why doesn’t anyone tease her?”
“Because they’re too afraid she’ll kick their ass.”
Her mouth dropped open. “But you keep calling me a serial killer. How is it fair that no one’s afraid of me?”
“Because you’re too nice.”
“Nice?” she scoffed. “Well, if you want me to be mean, I can always—“
“Bring someone flowers?” I laughed.
“No, put a frozen bag of peas on someone’s injury,” Joe added.
“Make sure they take their medication,” I grinned.
Joe and I were laughing, glancing over at each other when we suddenly realized it was deadly quiet in the back. I looked over my shoulder and saw her glaring at me, and not in a nice way, but in a serial killer sort of way. I swallowed hard.
“I’m sorry, baby. I’ll never say you’re nice again. You’re totally scary.”
She narrowed her eyes at me and I smacked Joe in the arm. “Right, freakishly skilled with an axe.”
I nodded quickly. “Totally. I would never take you on in a wood chopping contest. Or any contest that involved an axe.”
“Or stand under a tub when you’re in the room above me,” Joe added.
I punched him in the arm. That was taking it too far.
“Ow,” he said, rubbing his arm. “I thought we were trying to make her feel like a badass.”
“Yeah, but not a murderer.”
“So sorry. It’s a little hard to keep up with all the different directions we’re going here.”
He pulled into Lorelei’s driveway, but it wasn’t empty. In fact, it looked like the whole town was parked in the driveway and in the grass.
“What the hell is going on here?”
“Ma and Dad are here,” Joe grinned. “It’s your welcome home present.”
“My what?”
“Whoa, I never said anything about meeting your parents,” Lorelei said, looking a little panicked.
“Relax. They just came to see the woman that has Andrew so turned upside down that he was willing to risk death to be with her.”
“I’m not actually a murderer,” Lorelei muttered from the backseat.
“Exactly. I mean, only for good intentions,” I said, giving her a smile.
“Right, a murderer with good intentions,” Joe laughed. I glared at him, but he just held up his hand. “Hey, I’m just saying…it seems to run in the family. Between Derek, Josh, Carly, and now Lorelei, it’s like a new family profession.”
“Wait, Derek is—“
“Here,” I said, staring out the window at my brother who was stalking toward the truck.
“Oh, yeah, I may have forgotten to mention that Derek is here and he brought—“
“Andrew!” Claire squealed, yanking open the door. “I couldn’t wait to get out here to see you! Especially when Derek told me that you were seeing a serial killer. Not that that’s a bad thing!” she rushed on. “To each his own. I mean, Derek and I like to pretend that he’s a superhero and it gets us off, so maybe a murderer gets you off. It’s not a big deal at all.” She peered into the backseat and her eyes went wide and giddy. “You must be the murderer. Or is it murderess? Either way, it’s so good to meet you. Maybe we can trade secrets on our favorite weapons. Derek’s been teaching me all sorts of things. Right now I really like using guns, but he’s also teaching me to throw knives, which I bet is a specialty for you. Not that—“
I watched with humor as Derek snuck up behind Claire and slipped a hand over her mouth, essentially cutting off what she was saying. Her face turned bright red as she looked over her shoulder at Derek.
“She rambles,” he said by way of explanation.
I opened the door and then helped Lorelei out of the back, even though she didn’t ever need my help.
“Lorelei, this is my brother, Derek, and his wife, Claire.”
Lorelei smirked. “So, you must be the brother that likes to dress in tights. Not really my thing, but I suppose everyone has their kink.”
I cleared my throat and leaned in closer. “Derek is also the brother that is ex-military and kills people for a living.”
“I do not,” Derek refuted. “Maybe a little for fun, but never for pay. I work in security.”
“Where he kills people,” I added, just to egg him on.
“Only if they get in my way.”
He looked Lorelei over, like he was inspecting a weapon, then held out his hand. “So, you’re the deadly seductress.”
“I would hardly call myself a seductress.”
Derek’s eyebrows rose and he smirked. “I don’t think I’ve ever been terrified by a woman bringing me flowers and placing a frozen bag of peas on an injury.”
I rolled my head toward the sky and sighed. “I’m never going to live that down.”
“Not likely. Anyway, Ma’s waiting for you, along with the rest of the town.”
“Why?”
“Yeah, why?” Lorelei asked curiously.
“Oh, you’ll see,” he smirked, walking off with Claire and leaving us on our own.
“You know, we could just get out of here.”
“And go where?” I asked. “They’re at your house.”
“They have to leave eventually.”
“You don’t know my family very well. Come on,” I said, holding out my hand. “It’s best to just get this over with.”
We headed toward the house, surprised to see that there were a bunch of folding chairs set out, along with most of the town lingering around, talking with each other. And they were all dressed really nice, like they were going to a wedding.
“Uh…on second thought, maybe we should—“
“Andrew!” Ma yelled, running toward us.
“I’m guessing that�
�s your mother,” Lorelei leaned in and whispered.
“The one and only.”
“Anything I should know?”
“She’s going to try and get us married with kids before she leaves.”
She nodded and put a smile on her face as Ma ran up to me. “Andrew, I can’t believe that you waited so long to show off your fiancé.”
“My—“
“Oh, I’m just so happy to meet you,” she said, turning to Lorelei. “I told him that he needed a good woman to take care of him.”
“Ma, I think you’re misunderstanding—“
“From what I hear, you’re very handy around the house.”
Lorelei looked at her funny. “You do know that I just got out of jail for murder.”
Ma nodded. “For trying to save your hometown. Such a strong, brave girl.”
“Ma, I thought she was a serial killer up until a few weeks ago.”
“And that’s because you were behaving like a fool. Honestly, one look at this woman and you can tell she’s a wonderful person.”
I frowned. “The first time I looked at her, I thought she had the eyes of a killer.”
Lorelei smacked me. “If you’re trying to get your Ma to like me, maybe start talking me up instead of trying to convince her that I’m a killer,” she said through clenched teeth.
“Oh, who cares.” Ma through her hands up in the air. “Besides, in just a few hours, you’ll be family and—”
“Sorry, what?”
Ma turned to me and pursed her lips. “Now, I have dealt with all of your brothers running off and finding their women, but never going through with marrying them. Well, let me tell you something, that’s not going to happen anymore.”
I swallowed hard and looked around at all the other people. “Ma, please tell me that you didn’t…”
“Oh, I did, and not just for you, but for your brothers too.”
My eyes widened and I shook my head slowly. “You mean…all of us are getting married today?”
“That’s right. I won’t go another minute waiting for one of you to finally get this right. And if I have to wait any longer for Eric and Kat to get married, I’m going to die of old age.”
Tangled Web: A Small Town Romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 6) Page 30