“Just hold on. There’s more,” he continued. “She said she knows that you are the one that’s pregnant with Adam’s baby, not Sarah. She knows Sarah is just faking her pregnancy.”
“Oh no.”
“Well they got into an argument in the library the night of the big storm and after Teresa threatened to tell everyone what she knows, Violet came at her with a knife. She said Violet was drunk and they fought over the knife and Teresa stabbed Violet in self-defense. Then she panicked and ran out the back door. That’s her version of the story anyway.”
“Oh my god.” I was in shock and sat there thinking about the whole thing for a minute. Huck just waited. “Well that does fit with everything. I heard Violet arguing with someone in the library, then she was stabbed and the person left by the back door. Wow. I can’t believe she told all of that to you. Isn’t she afraid that you will go to the police?” I asked him.
“No, I don’t think so. She said she is in love with me.”
“Of course she is.” I kind of rolled my eyes.
“I saw that,” he smirked.
“What are we going to do? We should call the police, right?” I asked.
After hearing what Teresa confessed to Huck, I was pretty sure the part about Teresa fighting with Violet and stabbing her was correct. But, not entirely sure the part about it being self defense. I could see a drunk Violet coming at her though. I didn’t really know. The whole thing was just crazy to me. I was certainly glad that we had police to figure all that stuff out. I don’t think I could do it. It’s so hard to tell who is lying and who isn’t. The whole thing just made my head hurt to think about it.
“You know, Adam has been blaming me for killing Violet. He believes the ridiculous lies Sarah has been telling him.”
“Maybe we should go have a talk with him.” He was beginning to sound angry. “And let him know exactly what Teresa told me. Then he can deal with the police, not us.”
Without waiting for me to respond, he stood up, took my hand and pulled me toward the front door.
“Mom!” he yelled to the other room. “We are going out for a while.”
“Okay!” she called back. “Have fun. Nice meeting you Abbey!”
“Let’s go,” he said as he slammed the front door behind us.
I was starting to get worried that it was not going to go well. Of course it wasn’t going to go well. Huck was about to confront Adam about the way he’d been treating me. It definitely was not going to go well at all. I tried to stay calm about the whole thing, for my baby’s sake. She was all that mattered to me.
When we arrived at the ranch a few minutes later, Huck pulled right up to the front door and jumped out of the car. He didn’t even wait for me to get out and he walked right into the house without knocking. I almost had to run to keep up, and in my condition, that wasn’t easy.
“Where is he?” Huck asked the first person he saw, a meek woman in her 40s that I rarely came across. She was one of the housekeepers and I don’t think she had ever said a word to me. She just pointed toward the library and Huck grabbed my hand again and headed that way.
“We need to talk to you,” he blurted out as we stormed into the library.
Adam and Sarah were sitting on the couch talking. Both jumped up when we burst into the room.
“What’s going on?” Sarah asked, clearly confused.
“I’ll tell you what’s going on,” he said directly to her.
I knew this was going to get ugly and I parked myself partially behind Huck, almost hoping they wouldn’t notice I was there.
“I had an interesting conversation yesterday with Teresa, your horse trainer.”
“What are you talking about?” Adam asked him.
Huck went on to tell him exactly what he told me earlier, the confession that Teresa made to him about killing Violet in self defense.
“Self defense? Really? You are telling me that Teresa had to fend off my elderly mother with a knife? Teresa is half her age and in really great shape. Your story is ridiculous.” He started to turn his back on us in a dismissive manner. Adam obviously didn’t believe a word that Huck said.
“You can believe me or not, but that’s the truth. Teresa told me all of it. Why would she do that if it weren’t true?” Huck asked. “And there’s more,” he added. “If you think for a second that Abbey was the one that left your mother in the car to die, you are an idiot. I believe her when she says that Sarah knew she was still alive and made no effort to go back for her.” Huck was talking to Adam, but looking Sarah straight in the eyes when he said it.
Adam turned to look at Sarah and she just denied it, as usual. Perhaps that truth was never going to come out. It will always be my word against hers. And with everything that had happened, no one would believe a pregnant, run away teenage girl over the lady of the estate.
“Why are you always with Abbey?” Adam asked Huck, with suspicion in his eyes. “Is there something going on that I should know about?”
Huck and I looked at each other. That’s when I stepped up. I walked around Huck and looked Adam right in the eyes.
“My relationship with Huck is none of your damn business,” I said sternly.
I have no idea why I suddenly felt so brave. Maybe because it really was none of his business. He had no right questioning me on any relationship that I had.
“Is that right?” Adam responded, not backing down. “How do I even know this is my baby?” He quickly looked down to my belly and back up again.
That’s when Huck gently pushed me aside and hit Adam. He punched him so hard in the face that Adam stumbled backward over the back of the couch and landed on the floor.
As Adam was getting up, Huck said in a menacing voice to him: “If you don’t stop threatening Abbey with all of this, I will kill you myself.”
That made Adam stop in his tracks and think twice. I do have to say that Huck sounded deadly serious. I was never so proud of him. I knew that he was in love with me, and that was why he was confronting Adam. I did love him, but it wasn’t the same. Even after everything, I was still in love with Adam. I knew it was stupid and foolish, but I couldn’t help myself. Even though I was in love, I certainly didn’t like Adam at all at that moment.
“I’m calling the police,” Sarah said, as she reached for the phone.
The police showed up about an hour later. I made myself scarce, which was fine with Adam and Sarah. I didn’t want the police to see me there and start inquiring on why an unrelated pregnant teenager was living there. Huck did stay though. He needed to give his statement because Teresa confessed to him directly. No one told the police about Huck hitting Adam, even though a nice black eye was starting to shine through.
After all the statements were given, the police found Teresa out in the stables and questioned her. I couldn’t believe that she was still on the ranch working after all that had happened. She obviously had no idea that Huck would repeat her story to anyone.
The police believed Teresa’s story about it being self defense. The autopsy did show that Violet was intoxicated, so that part fit. Besides, she didn’t die of her wounds, she drowned. So technically Teresa didn’t kill her. They didn’t even believe it was attempted murder. Teresa was that convincing. She could definitely be charming when she wanted to be. So, she was off the hook. No arrest or anything.
Adam fired her immediately. No surprise there.
Chapter 27
A few days later, Huck and I were hanging out at the cafe after hours, having a snack and gossiping. It was something we did often, with the cafe owner’s blessing. She was a sweet woman, in her 70s probably, and I think she thought of Huck as the grandchild she never had. I had met her on several occasions and she even gave me some things for the baby. I never told her I wasn’t keeping the baby. I didn’t have the heart to try to explain why. She told us she didn’t mind if we hung out there and kept an eye on the place. She was so sweet to us.
We were right in the middle of a deep conversa
tion about our future, and trying to come up with a name for the baby, when there was a knock on the door. We both turned to look at the same time and were shocked to see Teresa standing outside watching us. It was locked, so she couldn’t just barge in, thankfully. Huck turned to me as if to ask if he should let her in. I just shrugged my shoulders. I was a bit afraid of her, but technically she didn’t do anything wrong. She was found to have stabbed Violet in self-defense. I think any of us would have done the same thing if that crazy lady was coming after us with a knife.
Huck walked over and let her in, locking the door behind her.
“Why are you here?” he asked her.
“I want to talk to you,” she said, looking over at me a couple of times. “Alone.”
“No. Abbey and I are here hanging out. I’m not going to kick her out because you showed up. What do you want?”
He sounded impatient and I could see that he didn’t want Teresa there. She either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
She looked at me one more time, and motioned with a wave of her hand for Huck to come closer, over to a corner table so they could talk without me hearing. He looked over at me with an apologetic look on his face. I just smiled and went back to my snack. Hopefully she would say what she needed to say and not hang around. I could hear whispering, but not what they were saying.
About three minutes into their conversation, they started getting louder and I turned to look at them, curiously.
“Are you serious?” Huck asked her. “You can’t really expect to tell me that you stabbed someone and me not to tell the police. Besides, it was self-defense anyway. So, what’s the problem?”
“The problem is that I don’t like talking to the cops. Besides, it wasn’t really an accident.” She looked my way and lowered her voice, but I could still hear her. “The truth is that I went over there to get money out of her about Adam and you know who.” Her eyes cast my way and I quickly looked down at my feet. Who was I fooling? “Violet just laughed at me and told me to get out or she would have me arrested for blackmail. That’s when I just lost it and stabbed her. That stupid bitch, it was all her fault.”
Her voice was getting louder and angrier as I watched the two of them. I couldn’t believe that I just heard her confess to murder. I didn’t know what to do. Should I call the cops or just wait until she left to do so? In the end, it didn’t matter.
“Let me see if I got this right,” I heard Huck say. “It was Violet’s fault that you tried to blackmail her and then stabbed her? Oh my god, you are delusional!” he yelled. “I’m calling the cops.”
As he turned to walk back toward where I was sitting, I saw her pull a knife out of her pocket and run at Huck. I screamed. Before he could even turn around she plunged the knife into his back. He lurched forward and they both hit the floor. She pulled out the knife as he struggled and stabbed him three more times before I hit her hard in the back of the head with a heavy bowling trophy that had been sitting nearby on the cafe’s counter. Teresa was out cold. Huck had been so surprised by her attack that he didn’t even have a chance to turn over and defend himself. All of the stab wounds were in his back and he was bleeding profusely.
“Oh my god, Huck, are you okay?” I said as I kneeled down beside him. Stupid question. Of course he wasn’t okay.
“Call 911,” was all he said before he passed out.
I jumped up and ran for the phone. While I waited for the police to arrive, I unlocked the front door for them. I also kicked the knife away from Teresa, in case she woke up before they arrived. Good thing I did. She woke up a couple of minutes later and tried to get up. I just let her. I didn’t need to get into a fight with her, not in my condition. I held tight onto the bowling trophy though, just in case she got the bright idea to come at me. It wasn’t necessary though, because she just put her hand to the back of her head, obviously in pain, and walked out the front door without saying a word to me. She didn’t even look my way.
As I was watching her leave, I heard Huck start mumbling.
I put my hand on his head to comfort him. “It’ll be all right. The ambulance is on the way.”
“Abbey.” He was a bit slurry. Of course he was, he had lost a lot of blood.
“Yes?” I asked him, while rubbing his head.
“I love you.”
“I know, Huck, I know. I love you too.” I burst out crying.
“Don’t cry. I’ll be fine.” He was starting to drift off.
“Huck. Stay with me. Huck? Please. Huck wake up!” I yelled.
I checked his pulse, but it was too late. There was nothing I could do. Huck was gone.
That’s when the tears started flowing, more than ever. Then I started sobbing. It was the worst moment of my life and I could barely breathe from the gut wrenching sense of loss. I knew at that moment that I blew it. Adam was no good for me. Huck was the one that I really could have loved, if I had given him half a chance. I knew that he loved me. He even said so as he was dying. I had been so stupid. I didn’t see what was right in front of me. Huck could have been the love of my life. He would have been a wonderful father to my baby. Now that will never happen. I was the one to blame for that. I should have seen what a mess I was making of my life, pining for a married man that didn’t even love me, when I had the most wonderful man right there in front of me.
As I heard the sirens getting louder and louder, getting closer, I suddenly felt a strange sensation in my abdomen. I just dismissed it as stress, or the baby reacting to all the trauma of the night. A couple of minutes later, as the paramedics were running through the front door, I felt it again. I tried to stand up and doubled over in pain. As one of the paramedics checked on Huck, the other came over and asked me if I was all right.
“No, not really. My best friend just died and I’m pregnant. This baby isn’t happy about any of it,” I wailed.
“Sweetheart, I think you are in labor,” he said. “You need to get to the hospital to get checked out. I’ll call another ambulance for you.”
“I’ll take her. It’s not an emergency, is it?” a nice looking man, definitely police, but not wearing a uniform, said as he walked into the cafe.
I looked at the man and back to the paramedic. “That’s fine, you can go with him. Perez will take care of you,” he told me.
“Come on. I’ll drive you over to the hospital. I have a few questions to ask you on the way.” It didn’t seem like I had much choice in the matter.
“Okay.” I followed dutifully. I thought that he looked really familiar. Then I realized that he was the same man that Huck and I passed on the street one day. He was the detective that had his son with him.
As we drove out of the parking lot, he started talking. “What’s your name, dear?”
“Abbey,” I said quietly.
“How old are you Abbey?”
I thought about lying. I really wanted to say 18, but didn’t think he would believe me. Besides, I had no ID to back that up and it would be stupid to lie to the police.
“I’m 16.”
“I have a son at home not much older than you. Name’s Sam. Where are your parents Abbey?” He was very nice and his questions were friendly sounding, if that’s such a thing.
“Um, I’m staying with friends right now.” I really didn’t want him to call my parents.
He thought for a moment. “I see. Well, we’ll get back to that later.”
He then proceeded to grill me about Huck and what had happened. It almost sounded like he thought I did it. But, I told him everything about Teresa, Violet, what Teresa confessed to, all of it. I was still having pains all the while, and realized that I was in labor, like the paramedic said. I didn’t know if Perez believed me or not, but we arrived at the hospital about that time, so I was through answering questions for a while.
Chapter 28
I had the baby that night. All alone. No family. No friends. No one at all to be there with me on what was supposed to be the happiest day of my life.
&n
bsp; I didn’t call Adam and Sarah until after it was over. I knew it was the last time this baby was going to be all mine. Once I left the hospital I was going to have to share her. She wouldn’t even be mine anymore. Since Huck was gone, I knew there was no way I would be able to raise a child on my own. As devastating as it was, I knew in my heart that she was better off with Adam and Sarah. I would do what was right and let my child have a wonderful life. A life that I couldn’t give her. A life without me in it.
Before they showed up, I named the baby. I picked out the most wonderful name I could think of and Adam was just going to have to live with it. After I called them, it didn’t take long before Adam and Sarah got to my room. They were very fast.
“Why didn’t you call us before the baby was born? We wanted to be here,” Adam asked as he walked in and over to my bed to take a look at our daughter. He didn’t even ask how I was doing.
“There wasn’t any time to call. I had her right after I arrived. Besides, I was being interrogated by the police on the ride to the hospital, so I didn’t even think about calling. I’m sorry. You should have been here.”
Adam and Sarah looked at me with surprise.
“Interrogated about what?” Sarah asked.
“I’ll tell you about it later,” I told them.
Our happy occasion was not the time for a conversation about my best friend being murdered in front of my eyes. I tried my best not to burst out crying, on the worst and the happiest day of my life. I didn’t think such a thing was possible, but it was.
Adam seemed to quickly forget my declaration about being interrogated by the police, as he reached his arms out and I handed the baby to him. “Meet your daughter, Madison,” I said as he took her.
I looked at his face for a reaction, hoping he would not fight me on it. Her name was the last thing I would be able to give her and it meant the world to me that she keep it.
He looked up. “You already named her? Madison. I do like it. What do you think, Sarah?” He turned to Sarah and handed my baby to his wife.
A Reckless Life Page 16