by Sarah Hegger
“This way.” Vince led her down the passage and into a kitchen, which lay open to a dining room and doglegged into a family room.
Two dark heads sat on a navy sofa facing away from them. “Kids,” Vince said. “I’d like you to meet Kelly.”
Both heads whipped in her direction. Hannah, she recognized from outside of Grover’s. She looked exactly like Chelsea, a mirror image with a mouth full of hardware and a look of teenage scorn all over her face.
She found her big girl pants and gave them a tug up. “Hi.”
“Hi,” the boy said. “When’s lunch?”
“Soon.” Vince put his car keys on a hook over the telephone. “First come and let me introduce you to Kelly.”
While his back was turned the girl took the opportunity to roll her eyes so far back in her head Kelly wasn’t sure they’d ever be able to face forward again.
“That’s okay, I can—”
“Daniel, Hannah.”
Daniel and Hannah dragged themselves closer.
Vince did the introductions. “Kelly, this is Daniel.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“And Hannah.”
“Nice to meet you. You look so much like your mother.”
All three Greerlys stiffened.
“Um…I went to school with your mother. And your father. We all went to school together. When we went to school. I mean we did all go to school. It’s not like we could pick and choose when we went.” Shut. Up. Shut up, shut up, shut up.
“Great,” Hannah drawled. Then she looked at Vince. “Now can we eat? You said we were waiting for her. Well, she’s here now.”
“She has a name.” Vince raised a brow at his daughter.
Hannah stuck her hip out and put her head to the side. “Now that Ke-e-elly is here, can we eat?”
“In a moment.” Vince turned to her. “Can I get you a drink?”
Thank you, Jesus. “A glass of wine would be lovely.”
He flushed. “Umm…”
“We don’t drink in this house.” Hannah sneered.
“Oh…er…okay.” Note to self, next time she was bringing a hip flask. Lots of people didn’t drink, and it wasn’t like she was a habitual drinker anyway. “Water would be great.”
Hannah gave her a scalding look from top to toe. And that was enough of that.
It was super childish, but Kelly gave it right back to her.
With a huff, Hannah turned, slapped her brother’s shoulder and they flounced back to the couch.
“I should have warned you about the no drinking thing,” Vince said softly as he brought her water. “Chelsea instituted it about five years ago. She didn’t like me going to the Elk and coming back smelling of beer.”
“But she’s not here anymore.” Kelly took the glass of water from him. Now she sounded like she was being petulant about a glass of wine.
Vince shrugged. “Yeah, but I try to keep things as constant as I can for those two.”
“Understandable.” She nodded and sipped her water. “Now, what can I do for lunch?”
“Nothing.” Vince grinned and kissed her on the cheek. “I’ve got this.”
Kelly took a seat at the counter. “I see you’ve learned to cook.”
“I won’t make Master Chef anytime soon, but I know my way around a kitchen.” Vince chuckled.
“I’m still as useless as ever,” Kelly said.
Daniel dragged out the stool opposite her and climbed onto it. “My mom is a really good cook. She is teaching me and Hannah.”
“That’s nice.” She was the adult. She could be polite and not react, and they could all have a lovely lunch together. With fluffy kitties rolling in balls of wool and unicorns spreading rainbow love sprinkles over them all. “I never learned, and now, I guess, I’m not that interested in learning. I can do a couple of basic things, and I excel at sandwiches and ordering takeout.”
Daniel looked like he might laugh but then covered it up with a scowl. “How old are you anyway?”
“Thirty-three. How old are you?”
“Eight.”
Hannah joined them at the table. “Don’t you own the coffee shop?”
“Yup. It’s all mine.”
“Huh.” Hannah smirked. “My mom said she’d rather choke than get coffee from there.”
“Hannah!” Vince scowled at his daughter. “You’re being rude.”
“I’m not.” Hannah looked as innocent as a baby lamb. “That is what Mom says. I heard it. So did Daniel.”
Looking uncomfortable, Daniel nodded.
As Kelly would happily choke Chelsea on a cup of coffee before she gave it to her, Hannah’s dig missed its mark, and she smiled. “That’s okay, Vince. Really. She’s repeating what her mother said. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and there are certainly enough Starbucks around for people who don’t like my coffee.”
“I like Starbucks,” Daniel said.
“There you go.” Kelly sipped her water and wished it would magically transform itself into wine. A barrel of wine, with a straw. She didn’t entirely blame the kids, although they were doing a great impersonation of little shits. The fault lay with Vince. It was too soon for them, and they saw her as a threat. What had India said she should talk about? “Do you guys have any hobbies? Things you like to do?”
“No.”
“No.”
“Yes, you do.” Vince brought a huge dish of lasagna to the table. “Hannah likes dancing, and she’s very good at it, and Daniel plays about everything with a ball in it.”
Kelly managed an easy smile for Vince. “Sounds like you.”
“Dad doesn’t play sports.” Hannah scoffed.
Kelly held her ground. “I don’t know about now, but he used to. And loved it.”
“Well, he doesn’t anymore.”
“Hannah, can you get the salad out the fridge?” Vince’s voice sounded tight and strained. “Daniel, please get the plates.”
Conversation stopped while everyone got ready to eat. It didn’t flourish much after that either. Despite Vince’s attempts to introduce common topics, the moment Kelly entered the conversation, his children exited.
The lasagna was the only high point in the day, and she ate too much. After lunch, she helped them clear away in a tense silence that made her want to giggle hysterically.
“Okay.” Vince clapped his hands. “What movie shall we watch?”
A high-pitched panicked giggle got away from Kelly. “No, that’s fine. I have to go and…er…check on India and Jacob anyway.”
“What kind of name is India?” Hannah whispered to Daniel, loud enough to carry into the kitchen. “That’s a country, not a person.”
“Hannah.” Vince looked thunderous. “India is a lovely name, and it belongs to a lovely lady.”
Hannah shrugged and stuck her lip out. “I was just saying.”
“I think you should—”
“Now, Vince.” Kelly ran out of playing nice. “I want to check on India. Now.”
A loaded silence filled the car as Vince drove her to Dot’s. “Listen,” he said. “I really am sorry about that. They still miss Chelsea and our family.”
“I understand.” She hoped Gabe was home because a dose of him was exactly what she needed. There was so much wrong with that thought, and even more right with it, and she didn’t want to think about it anymore. “But perhaps meeting them so soon was not a good idea.”
“You’re right.” Vince sounded glum. “I forget that they don’t have any idea of our history.” He stopped the car outside Dot’s. “I want us to move forward, Kelly, and maybe I jumped the gun.”
“You think?” It was meant to come out light and teasing but it sounded a lot more loaded than she had planned. “Why don’t we try this again, another time, when you and I are sure of what�
��s going on between us?”
“Good idea.” Vince leaned in for the kiss.
“Not here.” Kelly had a sudden vision of Gabe standing in the kitchen window, and she didn’t want him watching Vince kiss her. Because she didn’t want to upset him. Yeah, bullshit! “I don’t want India to see. She’s so fragile right now.”
Amazingly, Vince bought that load of utter crap and turned the kiss into a light peck on her cheek. “I really am sorry about today, Kelly. I’ll call you, and we can make an adult date.”
“Great.” She scrambled out the car and may have walked a tad too fast toward Dot’s kitchen door.
Gabe stood at the sink, one hip propped against it. He raised his brows at her. “That’s not a happy face.”
“Are we friends?”
A smirk tilted the corner of his mouth. “Amongst other things.”
She headed straight for him and dropped her forehead to his chest. “Then get me the biggest glass of wine you can find. Or a beer. Or whisky. Battery acid, if you can’t find anything else.”
On a deep, soft laugh, Gabe’s arms folded around her and brought her closer. “You got it, gorgeous.” He kissed her temple. “Anything and everything you want.”
Chapter Eighteen
Kelly didn’t get it. Things with Gabe were so easy. Sitting at Dot’s kitchen table, retelling the lunch from hell, with Satan’s small minions the funny side poked its head over the cloud.
Even India managed a giggle or two.
Dot joined them for a glass of wine. She immediately took possession of Jacob and cuddled him.
“Chelsea always overindulged those children,” Dot said as she made silly faces at Jacob. “I think she was trying to make up for Vince not being around much. And now, of course, she’s with her new man.”
“Who is that exactly?” Kelly had never mixed in the Chelsea and Tara circle. Up until quite recently, Claire had been part of that coven, but she’d turned away from the dark side, and they’d lost their source of gossip.
Dot made a face. “Some fancy suit from Denver she met through Tara.”
“Figures.” A niggling sense of dissatisfaction made her petulant. “What is it about Chelsea anyway?”
Gabe looked at her and grinned. “No idea, but she’s got nothing on you.”
“That’s the correct answer.” She laughed. “It doesn’t help that those kids look exactly like her.”
“Kelly.” India gave her a reproachful look. “That’s not their fault.”
Kelly pulled a face at her and felt like a bitch. “I know that, but they were mean to me.”
“Poor baby.” Dot’s eyes danced with mischief. “Did those rotten children pick on you?”
As everyone laughed at her, Kelly found her sense of humor. “Okay, point made. I’m the adult, and they’re the children.”
“Also, Vince didn’t make it easy on any of you by pushing this,” Dot said. “But men aren’t always that good at thinking through the emotional impact of their actions.”
Gabe straightened in his seat. “Hey! On behalf of men everywhere, I object.”
“Uh-huh.” Dot fixed him with a look. “And as the mother of five of you, I say protest all you want, but men do something and consider the emotional repercussions of their actions after the fact.”
Wincing, Gabe said, “True. Mildly insulting, but true.”
Kelly was still laughing when she answered her phone.
“Kelly?” Piers on the line killed her smile. “It’s Piers.”
“Yes, I know.” She stood up from the table, not wanting him to hear India. She glanced at Gabe.
He read her look and opened the kitchen door for Kelly to move outside. She had absolute confidence he would manage the situation inside. “What do you want, Piers?”
“The same thing I wanted when we last saw each other. My son and wife are missing and I’m going crazy.” He sounded genuinely upset. “The only guarantee I have that they’re alright is your word.”
“And that’s going to have to be good enough until I figure out what’s going on,” Kelly said.
Piers jumped immediately for the minute gap. “So, you’re at least thinking about what I said?”
“I didn’t say that.” Damn, she needed to be more careful. Piers was no dummy.
“It’s okay, Kelly.” His tone warmed. “I know how important India is to you. You take care of her, and as frustrated as I am by all of this, I know that as long as they’re with you, they’re safe.”
Like she said, clever and cunning. “She’s not with me, Piers.” No way was she falling into that trap. “I absolutely know where she is though, and I know that both she and Jacob are fine.”
Dot stepped on the porch, her face tight and tense. She raised an eyebrow in question.
Kelly shook her head. No, everything was not all right. Piers was on the hunt now, and he was getting insistent.
“Kelly.” There was no mistaking the edge to his voice. “India is my wife, and Jacob is my son; that gives me rights.”
“I would say you gave up those rights the first time you lifted a hand to her.”
Through the open door to the kitchen, India was freaking out and Gabe had her in his arms. Kelly motioned for Dot to shut the door.
If he heard Jacob or India make a sound, the jig would be up.
Piers’s voice was so carefully calm the hair on Kelly’s nape stood on end. “I never laid a finger on my wife in anger.”
“That’s not what she says, and she’s my sister. I believe her.”
Dot squeezed her shoulder in support.
“Now, I’ve told you all I’m prepared to tell you. If, and this is a very big if, you’re telling the truth, I would suggest you turn yourself in to the police and let them handle it.”
“I’m not doing that, Kelly. I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“If that’s true, then you have nothing to worry about.”
Piers made an impatient noise. “Get India to drop the charges. I’ve spoken to my lawyer, and he said that would help.”
“I wouldn’t if I could, Piers. If you’ve spoken to your lawyer, you should know this is going to court no matter what India does.” Kelly’s legs shook, and she took a seat on the porch step. Cold seeped through her jeans.
“I’ll find her,” Piers said. “And once I do, we’ll deal with this together.”
“You do what you have to do, Piers. India and Jacob are not in Twin Elks, mainly because it’s the first place you’d look for them, and I’m not that stupid.”
Dot gave her the thumbs up as Kelly hung up. “Well done.”
“Hopefully he buys it.” If she was wrong about Piers, she would owe her brother-in-law a massive apology. But like she’d said, that was a mighty big if. Dot had set her right. It was a long stretch of the imagination to go from postpartum depression to domestic abuse. “I better see how India is doing.”
“Gabe has her.” Dot gave her a hug. “Let him sort her out; he’s good with fragile.”
*
It took Gabe a while to calm India down.
Her freak-out had exhausted her, so he took Jacob with him to let her rest. She looked so tiny and broken lying on the bed, sleeping fitfully, dried tears on her cheeks.
If the conversation when Piers had visited Kelly had cast any doubts in his mind, they were now put to rest. He spent his life around wild animals who reacted in fight or flight.
India was in full out flight mode, and she was running for her life. He wanted two minutes alone with that fucker to set him right on what happened to boys who put their hands on girls in anger.
When he’d last spoken to Ben, his brother hadn’t been able to find Piers. The guy was in the wind and staying that way. Ben wouldn’t give up, though. That stubborn streak that pitted him and Ben against each other had benefits.
Ma was sitting in the kitchen with Kelly, and he joined them.
Kelly stood the moment he appeared. “And?”
“She’s sleeping.” He took the seat beside Ma and took a sip of her wine. “Kelly, you may not want to hear this, but he did it. I’m as sure as I can be without having seen it with my own eyes.”
“Oh, God.” She sat down again. “I’ve become one of those people who victim blame. How could I be such a bitch as to even consider he might be telling the truth?”
Ma opened her arms to hug Kelly, but Gabe got there before her and handed her Jacob. He tucked Kelly under his chin. “Piers is clever, and he preyed on India’s weakness to create doubt.”
“You weren’t even there,” she said. Her arms slid around his waist. Like she trusted him and took comfort from him. Yeah, right, because this was all about him and how he felt.
“But I know you,” he said. “You’re not stupid, and you’re loyal to a fault. If he got in your head, it’s because he knew what to say to find his way in.”
Kelly sniffed. “You give me too much credit.”
“Not really.” Ma had left them at some point, but he wasn’t sure when. “I know, for instance, that you suck at teens.”
“Asshole.” She squeezed him tighter and then stepped away. “But a truthful one.”
She took a deep breath. “I’ll go in and see India.”
Alone in the night, Gabe strolled out to the porch and looked at the night sky littered with stars. The sky was so different from the southern hemisphere, but no less beautiful. Twin Elks was far enough out that they still got those grand night skies.
Shit was getting complicated fast.
“Gabe.” Ma stepped on the porch with his phone. “There’s a call for you. Your phone was in the kitchen, and I answered it. It’s Steve Moffat.”
Speaking of complicated shit, Belinda’s father definitely belonged in that category. “Gabe.” Steve’s voice took him right back to Oz. “How are you?”
“Good, Steve.” Not really, but the explanation could get ugly, and he wasn’t ready to go there yet. “You?”
“Nah! Good, good.” He pictured Steve rubbing his hands together like he did when conversations got uncomfortable. “Listen, mate, I know you had a chat with Belinda the other day, and she said you’d think about our offer.”