Interconnected Hearts

by Bethany Daniel

  Scott laughs and it warms my heart to hear it, I haven't heard that much the last few weeks.

  "I'll tell him to get a hold of you to see what he needs to do to get that process started. Or Zoie might like if he starts doing the whole tutor thing with her." I hear a smirk in his voice and roll my eyes.

  "Oh no, none of that. Neither one of them would ever graduate!"

  "True, man its weird thinking like a parent." He sighs and I frown.

  "I know, but it'll come. One day at a time."

  "One day at a time."

  Chapter 29

  My work day goes by surprisingly fast, the kids who came to see me today were more interested in finding out about Cason and Brenna than plotting out their futures. You would think being immersed with L.A elite or those that are just one step down from that would make the people here a bit more immune to the gossip, unfortunately that's not the case.

  With a sigh, I pull my purse over my shoulder and make my way out to Matilda but stop short when I spot an all too familiar short round woman with blonde curly hair the exact same shade as mine and the tall, broad shouldered, now Gray haired man beside her.

  "Mama? Daddy?" I pick up my pace and hurry over to them. "What are y'all doing here?"

  Daddy crosses his arms and gives me a stern look. "Now Krista Alayne, we came here to find out what's really going on around here."

  "We're sorry to just show up unannounced sweetheart, but with all this gossip those shows have been saying and the phone calls...we just had to make sure our baby girl is ok." Mama smiles warmly and grabs my hands. "Did you have a good day at work?"

  I look back at the building and shrug. "Good enough, I guess. Did y'all get a rental car?"

  "Yep, that big thing." She points to a large black pick up behind her. "Your Daddy says he needs something big to get through the traffic here."

  I laugh and turn to the first man in my life and side step around Mama to hug him. "It's not too bad Daddy, Matilda does just fine."

  Shaking his head at my little green bug, he hugs me back. "I still say that thing is a death trap, Krista. It's tiny, how can it protect you?"

  "She's done just fine for the last almost 10 years. She's a classic."

  "Ok you two, we aren't gonna have this argument right now. We have much more important things to talk about." Mama says as she gives me her sternest look.

  "We do." I nod and walk towards the driver’s side on Matilda. "How about y'all follow behind me?"

  They both nod and I smile watching Daddy help Mama get into the passenger side of the truck before getting in himself and starting up the engine.

  I slide into my own car and grab my phone to send Scotty a quick text about our unexpected visitors.

  A couple seconds later, he responds saying he'll whip up something for dinner and I send up a quick thank you that he's so good in the kitchen.

  Taking a deep breath, I start the car and begin the drive to our house. By the time we get to the gate of our community, I'm feeling extra anxious about revealing everything to my parents. They know bits and pieces from what the media has revealed but they haven't heard the whole story and I just hope it doesn't change their view of Scotty.

  Once I pull into our driveway, I watch my parents pull in behind me and smile when I spot Scotty walking out of the house with an easy smile on his face as he comes to open my door.

  "On a scale of he's mad to he's gonna kill me, what kind of mood is your dad in?" He whispers before quickly giving me a hello kiss.

  I gratefully return the kiss and hold him to me. "I don't know yet. Right now, they are both confused about what's going on."

  "Krista?" I hear Mama call and I step around Scott to link my arm in hers.

  "Come on, y'all must be exhausted from your trip."

  "Oh not too bad."

  "Not too tired to talk, princess. We need to know what's going on, Scott has a child?" Daddy says from behind her and I take a deep breath.

  "Let's get inside and talk, shall we?" Scott plasters on a grin as he opens the door.

  Daddy gives him a glare before shoving past him and standing in front of the couch with his arms crossed. "We're inside, get to talking Adams, now."

  Scott escorts my mom to the couch and walks to stand in front of Daddy.

  "I'm sure you've heard all kinds of things from the media. Not all of what they say is true. Yes, I have a son. His name is Cason Bennett, at least I assume he goes by his mother's last name. His mother is Brenna Bennett. We had a relationship about five years ago, and apparently that relationship resulted in Cason."

  "You had no idea about this boy?"

  "No sir, none. We were going out to lunch with Liam and Katy and happened to run into Brenna. Just one look at Cason, and learning how old he was and I knew."

  I step up beside Scott and squeeze his hand. "Trust me, Daddy. There is no denying that little boy belongs to Scotty. Cason is adorable."

  "How are you handling this, Krista?" Mama asks coming to stand in front of me. "This can't be easy."

  "It's not." I look over at Scotty and give him a reassuring smile. "But we'll get through it together, just like everything else we've been through in the last couple years. I'm not leaving Scott, I love him and I vowed to be at his side through the good and the bad. So here I am." I shrug.

  "You really are just like your Mama." Daddy grins at me. "A heart of gold."

  I smile and grab Mama's hand. "I learned from the best."

  "Oh sweetheart, I just don't want to see you hurt."

  "And I won't be, Mama. Scott loves me, and he might have just met his son, but he loves him too. There's plenty of room for the both of us."

  "Exactly." Scott looks up and straight into Daddy's eyes. "I swore to you when Krista and I got married that I would love her and take care of her till my dying breath. That hasn't changed, sir. She is still my priority."

  Daddy fixes a hard stare on him and I bite my lip nervously. I don't know how many times I've seen that same look on his face when he was upset with me in high school or he was close to blowing up about something.

  "There won't be any more unexpected children, will there?" Daddy asks.

  "God willing, no. I swear with any other uh...relationships, I was very careful."

  Daddy nods and comes to put an arm around me. "We love our girl a lot, Scott. I don't want some other woman to come around and hurt her in the process of letting you be with your son."

  "Krista won't get hurt, sir. That I can promise, like she said, we're in this together. No matter what."

  "Oh leave him alone, Victor. We'll just have to set those annoying journalist straight when they call us up again."

  "What exactly have they told you, Mama?" I ask, pulling her over to the couch to sit.

  "Well, they said that this girl showed up with the boy and just told Scott that he was the father of Cason and demanded a bunch of money to keep her from blabbing to the media circuits. Oh and that you were so mad that you were planning on leaving."

  "None of that is true. Brenna hasn't asked for anything, we're still figuring out how we're going to approach this with Cason. We don't want to confuse him."

  "Of course, sweetheart. This madness can't be good for him, bless his little heart."

  "Exactly, we want to be out from in front of a camera as much as possible."

  Before Mama can respond, Daddy clears his throat and rubs his belly. "I hate to interrupt you girls, but all this traveling and talking has really made me hungry."

  "Right, I thought we could go out to eat." Scotty chimes in.

  "Nonsense! I'll cook us up something." Mama smiles around at all of us.

  "Oh Mama, there's no need for that. Like Daddy said, you had to travel a lot."

  "Psh, this is the perfect time for me to show you how to do some good home cooking, Krista. I bet Scotty would love some chicken fried steak."

  "Mrs. Quinn..." Scott tries to interrupt.

  "I told you to call me Sarah. Now, wouldn't you
just love some chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and maybe some pie for dessert, Scotty?"

  Daddy slings his arm around Scott's shoulder and grins. "You haven't lived until you've had Sarah's chicken fried steak."

  Scott laughs nervously and nods. "Yes ma'am, I would love some."

  Mama grins and stands pulling me up with her. "Get your purse Krista Alayne, we're going shopping. The boys can stay here and chit chat." She lets go of me and walks right out the door to I assume stand by Matilda.

  "Daddy, be nice." I give him a stern look before walking across to kiss his cheek.

  "Of course, Princess. Scott and I have lots of catching up to do."

  I sigh and turn to Scotty and give him a long goodbye kiss. "I love you Scotty, and I hope Daddy behaves himself."

  Scott laughs and shrugs. "I love you too, just don't take too long, ok?"

  I smile and kiss him again. "We won’t, just play nice."

  "Always."

  "Krista! Are you coming or what? I don't know my way around this city, you know."

  "Coming Mama!" I take a deep breath and hurry to grab my purse and with one last wave to the guys walk out to join Mama in the car. I just really hope I don't come home to a knocked out Scotty. Victor Quinn can be one scary man when he sets his mind to it, he might just be a little scarier than any movie boogeyman that Scotty's come across.

  Closing my eyes, I send up a quick prayer to not come home to a war and put on a smile as I face the loving face that I imagine I will look a lot like one day. "Let's go shopping!"

  Chapter 30

  Going through the store grocery shopping with Mama makes me feel like a little girl again. I was always her shopping partner and eventually food tester when she would try out some new recipes.

  "So tell me baby girl, is there anything else that might come as a surprise while we're here?" Mama asks as she grabs a head of lettuce to make salad with.

  "Well, we have a house guest right now."

  "Who?"

  "Scotty's co-worker, Zoie Reese. She's 16. Her parents only care about her paycheck and she was acting out a lot and Excite asked me to help her. I kinda ended up bringing her home, she's filed for emancipation."

  "Don't you think that's a lot to put on your plate, Krista? Especially with Cason and Brenna now?"

  "Mama, you never once turned your back on someone in need. I'm not either, she needs me."

  Mama smiles and pats my hand that is gripping the grocery cart. "I just hate to see you overwhelmed honey. Your life has changed so much since you got married, I just worry about you."

  "I know you do, but you didn't raise a weak girl Mama."

  Mama gives me a sweet smile just as we hear my name called behind us and I turn to see Ms. Rosalie coming up to us.

  "Ms. Krista! I didn't see you come in. I wanted to tell you, my granddaughter was so happy that you suggested her work to your friend. She's had some requests for some jewelry from hot shots, she's so excited!"

  I grin. "No problem, Kate said she loved the ruby necklace she got. She got all kinds of compliments!"

  Ms. Rosalie looks over at Mama and back at me. "Is this your mother?"

  "Yes! Sorry. Ms. Rosalie, this is my mother, Sarah Quinn. Mama, this is Ms. Rosalie, her and her husband own the store."

  "So nice to meet you." Mama grins as they shake hands. "It must be interesting to run a store in L.A."

  "Oh it is, I have my share of stories." Ms. Rosalie smiles at us. "I'll leave you ladies to your shopping, thank you again Ms. Krista!"

  I wave at her and lean my weight onto the cart. "What's next?"

  For the next 20 minutes we load up on things that Mama swears we need in the kitchen and eventually get to the checkout lane. As we go through, I sigh seeing an awful picture of me where I look mad and another picture of Scotty not aware of the camera and the headline across the top reads "Krisco headed to Divorce Court."

  "Don't let any of that get to you, baby girl." Mama whispers as we put the last of our bags into the cart and start our walk towards Matilda. "They just want to make a penny off a story."

  "I know, but it sucks being the story that draws people in. Especially when it's nothing but a lie."

  "Just think, a couple years ago it was you gobbling up those stories like they were the gospel." Mama chuckles as she lifts a bag into the trunk.

  "Don't remind me." I roll my eyes and quickly help her load up the rest of the groceries. "Let's hope the boys haven't hurt each other."

  "Oh I'm not worried about your Daddy. But Scott is another story."

  "We better get home." I grip the steering wheel and quickly shift into gear and begin the drive home the whole way praying that Daddy hasn't harmed a hair on Scotty's head.

  By the time we pull back into our driveway, I'm scared of what we'll walk back into, but when we step inside we hear laughing.

  "Well that sounds promising." Mama smiles and we walk into the living room where we see the guys watching a movie together.

  "Scotty, Daddy?" I raise an eyebrow when they don't stop their laughing fit when we step up to the couch.

  "Oh hi, Princess." Daddy smiles and stands up to hug me. "Did ya get everything you need?"

  "Uh-huh...did you two have fun um, bonding?"

  "Baby, did you know that your dad and I share a favorite movie?" Scott smiles.

  "Anchorman? You and Daddy both love Anchorman?" I ask raising an eyebrow.

  "How can you not love Will Ferrell anything, Princess?" Daddy asks with a grin.

  I roll my eyes. "Boys."

  "Now boys, is there a reason you aren't out there getting those groceries? You do want to eat, don't you?"

  They both hurriedly get up and go out to start bringing in our haul and I shake my head at them. Before I get into the kitchen to help put everything away, Zoie comes down the stairs stretching and raises an eyebrow when she spots our house guests.

  "More people?" She asks, sliding onto a bar stool that is in the living room.

  "Yes, my parents this time."

  "They aren't gonna wanna talk about make-up and wardrobe too, are they?"

  I laugh and shake my head. "No, but Mama just might feed you...a lot."

  "I can handle that."

  I smile at her as Mama walks out of the kitchen but not before yelling over her shoulder at Scotty and Daddy to put the cake mix aside and not eat the frosting.

  "Mama, this is the girl I was telling you about, Zoie Reese. Zoie, this my mama, Sarah Quinn."

  "Wow, you are like twins."

  I giggle and hear the echo of it coming from Mama.

  "Krista has always been my mirror image. She does have her Daddy's attitude though."

  "Hey I heard that!" Daddy comes up behind her and puts his hands on her waist. "I do not have an attitude."

  "Uh-huh. Whatever you say honey." Mama grins up at him and tilts her head back to give him a kiss.

  A lot of people are grossed out by seeing their parents be affectionate, but not me. They are what I strive to be, they are exactly how I hope Scotty and I are in 30 years.

  "Daddy, this is Zoie. She's staying with us, she works with Scott."

  "Another actor in the house huh? Nice to meet you, young lady."

  "Nice to meet you too, Mr. Quinn."

  "Ladies, how about y'all come and help me in the kitchen?"

  "Umm, I'm really no good at cooking, Mrs. Quinn." Zoie frowns.

  "Perfect, you can just learn right along with Krista."

  Zoie gives me a look as Mama grabs both of our arms and pulls us into the kitchen then immediately dives in to telling us how to go about making a chicken fried steak just right.

  "So, is this what a normal mom does all the time? Teach you how to cook, get covered in flour and all?" Zoie whispers from beside me as she puts her last steak onto a plate for Mama to fry up.

  "All the time." I smile at her as I walk around her to wash my hands of any mess. "Your mama never let you in the kitchen?"

  "Hardly. We had a
cook for that. Don't you know how awful it would be for her to ruin that manicure?" She gives me a sad smile and I pull her over to where Mama is putting the meat into the oil.

  "Mama, I think Zoie needs to be the one to learn the magic of your chocolate cake."

  "You sure, baby girl?" She asks turning towards me and looking between Zoie and me.

  Zoie looks down at the floor allowing her hair to become a curtain in front of her and I nod. "She needs some of that Mama magic right now."

  Mama smiles that sweet smile she's had on her face my whole life and reaches across to get Zoie's attention. "Of course. Come on, sweet girl, dive on in."

  "Oh I don't want to ruin anything."

  "You won't. Just follow directions, and take it a step at a time. It'll all work out." Mama squeezes her arm and pulls her up to the counter to begin instructing her and I stand back and watch them working together and smile seeing Zoie laughing as she learns this basic skill at the hands of the woman who taught me everything.

  Yeah, it'll all work out.

  Chapter 31

  After we finish the main course, Mama sends Zoie to the kitchen to bring the cake to the table.

  "She's such a lovely girl. Really a natural in the kitchen too." Mama beams. "She told me a bit about her parents, I can't even imagine ever being like that to my babies."

  "I know, it's taken a lot to get out from under them. Diane is a real piece of work."

  "So I hear." Mama clucks her tongue. "You did the right thing bringing her here, Krista."

  I smile and look over as Zoie slowly makes her way to the table with a chocolate frosting covered cake that has my mouth watering.

  "Ok, before you guys eat any of this. I made it, not Mrs. Quinn so there's a very good chance it tastes like cardboard." Zoie bites her lip as she sets the cake down in the middle of the table.

  "It will not!" Mama scolds her and grabs the cutter. "I'll even take the first slice."

  Zoie stands back and watches as Mama scoops her slice onto her plate and takes a big bite. I bite back a laugh as Zoie cringes.

  "Perfect!"