I shoved Macy out of the way and stepped inside to get a better look. She was right. We were standing in what appeared to be a two bedroom apartment. Make that a furnished two bedroom apartment. We went through the place, oohing and aahing over every little thing. It was far nicer than anything I had ever seen on the farm when I lived there.
When we were finished oohing and aahing over the apartment, the boys drove us back to Cedar Valley. Macy had left her car parked there and I needed to finish dress shopping, even though it was the last thing I wanted to do.
“As a thank you for your help today, I’m going to help you finish shopping. Unless something has drastically changed, I’m guessing you still hate clothes shopping,” Macy said.
“You are most certainly correct. I don’t know what it is, but I just hate it, especially when it’s for a special event. The whole thing stresses me out.”
She giggled. “You just relax and I’ll have you fixed up in less than an hour.”
She wasn’t kidding. Less than an hour later, I was waving goodbye to her and climbing into the SUV with three dresses, three pairs of shoes, and accessories for each.
Phoenix was at the clubhouse and asked the boys to bring me there instead of taking me back to his house. I chuckled to myself and our obsessive need to see each other as often as possible. I was planning on asking them to swing by the clubhouse so I could see him before going to the house.
He stood and came around his desk to greet me with a kiss when I walked into his office. A long, mouth-watering, panty-melting kiss. “Hey, doll face, how was shopping?”
“Huh?” I dumbly asked, still reeling from his magical lips.
He laughed and arched a brow. “Shopping? Did you find a dress?”
“Oh, yes, I did. Well, I didn’t so much as Macy did, but that’s neither here nor there. I have three dresses and all the shit I need to go with them.”
He leaned against the edge of his desk. “Tell me about Macy.”
“Not a lot to tell. I ran into her in the dressing room. We talked over coffee. She’s recently divorced. She moved backed to Cedar Valley and was living with her parents, but Ember hired her and she’s moving into one of the rooms on the farm property tonight.”
“What?”
“Uh, she was having a hard time finding a job and I knew Ember was looking for some help. It seemed like a win-win situation,” I explained, not liking the sudden tension in the room.
“It probably is for Ember and Macy, but I don’t know how Badger will feel about it.”
“Why would it matter how he feels about it?”
“Badger and Macy didn’t exactly part ways on friendly terms. She crushed him, Annabelle. I mean, she really did a number on him. I know it’s been years, but I don’t think he’ll be happy to see her.”
“What happened between them?” I asked.
“I have no idea. He didn’t want to talk about it after it happened and he never did.”
“Phoenix, he was probably just butt-hurt about being dumped. If he never said anything else about her, he’s probably been over it for a long time.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. I’ve got a few things to finish up here. Do you want to stay and wait for me or go on to the house?”
“I’ll see you at the house. I want to hang my dresses before they get wrinkled.” I raised up on my tiptoes to give him a kiss before I left him in his office.
As I was putting my new dresses and accessories away, I decided I would drop by to check on Macy the following morning. Phoenix may not have been able to get Badger to talk, but I knew I could get Macy to tell me what happened. Besides, they were going to have to see each other sooner rather than later, seeing as how I already invited her to the wedding.
The phone ringing interrupted my thoughts. “Hello,” I answered distractedly.
“Doll face, is everything okay?” Phoenix asked, sounding tense.
“Everything’s fine. Is everything okay with you? I just left there.”
“Yeah, I know. I need you to come back over to the clubhouse. I was just calling to let you know I was sending Coal to bring you over.”
“Okay…you know I could’ve just walked over.”
“Humor me, okay? I’ll see you in a few.” With that, he disconnected the call, leaving me with an uneasy feeling.
Coal and I walked to the clubhouse and if my son knew why I was being summoned, he didn’t let it show. He led me to Phoenix’s office, kissed me on the cheek, and disappeared down the hall.
Anxious to know what was up, I pushed the door open and stopped dead in my tracks when my eyes landed on a face I’d never seen before, but instantly recognized because he looked just like his sister. “Luke,” I whispered as tears welled in my eyes.
“Hello, Annabelle,” he said with a soft smile. “It’s nice to officially meet you.” He stood and extended his hand to me.
I pushed his hand away and pulled him in for a hug. The man saved me and my son from a horrible existence; a handshake wasn’t even on the table. “I never had the chance to thank you for everything you did for me and Nathan.”
He returned my embrace, despite the low rumble coming from Phoenix. “I was happy to help, but now, I wish I’d known more about your situation. If I did, I could have—”
“Don’t. If I’ve learned anything through this entire experience, it’s that the ‘what if’ game does more harm than good. You did what you thought was the right thing at the time and I will forever be grateful for your help,” I told him honestly.
Phoenix tugged me away from Luke and held me against his chest like a damn caveman. Luke snorted and I giggled. I tilted my head back to look at Phoenix. “Is this why you called me over here?”
He grimaced. “No, it’s not. Luke has some information to share.” Phoenix sat in the chair behind his desk and placed me on his lap.
“What information?”
Luke leaned forward in his chair and clasped his hands together. “Phoenix asked me for help tracking down your parents. I haven’t been able to find anything on your father, but I may have something on your mother. Both of your parents went off the grid approximately 20 years ago, consistent with the time they would have started working off their debt with Octavius. Later that year, a significantly decomposed female body was found in a field on the outskirts of Croftridge. Efforts were made, but the body was never identified. It’s possible the body belongs to your mother. Would you be willing to provide a DNA sample for analysis?”
“Uh, sure, I think. I mean, how would that work exactly? For all intents and purposes, I’m Taylor Davis, not Annabelle Burnett.”
“Right, but your DNA is still your DNA. I can run the analysis under the radar if you prefer. I don’t mean to sound insensitive, but this would basically be just for your knowledge. The body has long since been buried or cremated,” Luke explained.
“How did she die?” I asked.
“The medical examiner’s findings were inconclusive due to the advanced decomposition. I’ll spare you the details, but the report suggested she may have been beaten and died from her injuries or it could have been from a drug overdose. There were drugs in her system, but the technology at the time couldn’t produce accurate results based on the age and state of the tissue samples.”
“Okay, I’ll do it if you can keep it under the radar,” I finally decided.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Annabelle
The day after Luke’s visit to the clubhouse, Kathleen showed up to Phoenix’s house for a surprise visit. She immediately pulled me into her arms and we both burst into tears.
“Oh, my sweet friend, I’ve thought about you often over the years,” she said.
“Same here. I don’t even want to know what my life would’ve been like if it weren’t for you,” I confessed.
She waved her hand dismissively. “That was all you, sweetheart. I didn’t do anything other than call my brother and drive you to the hospital.”
I smiled at he
r modesty. “We’ll have to agree to disagree on that.”
Phoenix entered the room to tell me he would be in his office at the clubhouse for most of the day. “Before you go,” Kathleen said as she stood and whispered something in Phoenix’s ear.
He smiled and nodded before walking out the front door. Kathleen turned back to me. “Just wait.”
Moments later, Phoenix reentered the house carrying two large boxes. He placed them on the floor by Kathleen’s feet, kissed me on the cheek, and left for the office.
Kathleen opened the box on top and said, “I know I shouldn’t have, but I kept the things you brought over the day you left.” She removed a much smaller box and handed it to me. “I never opened it, so if this isn’t a welcome surprise, I’ll take it back and never mention it again.”
I shook my head and fought back the tears. “It’s very welcome. Thank you,” I whispered.
She reached out and patted my hand. “If you want to save that one for later, it won’t hurt my feelings any.”
I sniffled and nodded. “If you don’t mind, I would like to look through it with Phoenix. It’s full of mementos and things from the year we were together,” I explained.
“I completely understand. There’s plenty more we can look through together, but let’s finish with this box first.”
I didn’t understand what she meant until she carefully pulled my old Christmas tree from the box. “My tree,” I gasped.
“I saw it when I unpacked the toys for Coal. Obviously, it was special to you and I’ve never been able to bring myself to throw out Christmas decorations. We put it up in Coal’s bedroom every year. Even though none of us knew it at the time, a part of you was with him each Christmas.”
Once again, I turned into a blubbering mess. “I can’t tell you how much that means to me.”
“You don’t have to. As a mother, I already know.”
She gave me some time to get myself together before she declared it time to open the second box. “I like to take pictures. A lot of pictures,” she said as she pulled several books from the box. “Each one of these books represents a year of Coal’s life. Around 10 years ago, I got a coupon to create a photo book online for free. After I did one, I was hooked. I went back and did one for each year of his life and continued to do one as each year passed. And since each book was saved in my order history, it was a piece of cake for me to go in and order a set for you, which I did last night. I ordered a set for Phoenix after we found out he was Coal’s biological father and his set should be here this week,” she explained as she handed the first book to me.
I was blown away by her thoughtfulness. Instead of being defensive or threatened by us, she was welcoming me and Phoenix with open arms. At a total loss for words, I focused on the pages before me and spent the next few hours watching my son grow from an adorable infant to a handsome young man.
“Now, I can’t promise anything, but I made a few calls to some of the women who used to look after the children at the daycare on the farm. Many of them were living on the property because of their husbands’ misdeeds and took Ember up on her offer to provide housing and help them get back on their feet after the farm was raided last year. Anyway, I’ve asked all the ones I could get in touch with to look through their things and send me any pictures they have of Ember so I can put together a few books of her for you.”
“Oh, Kathleen, I would love that. Thank you so, so much!” I cried.
“You’re quite welcome,” she said and settled back into the sofa. “Now, tell me about your life after you got out of Croftridge. Coal wouldn’t tell me diddly-squat.”
I laughed and said, “Let me get us some coffee and I’ll tell you everything.” And for the rest of the day, I did just that.
Kathleen stayed until Phoenix returned from the clubhouse. We made plans to get together for lunch the following week before she went home to her family.
“Did you two have a fun day?” Phoenix asked over dinner.
“We did. She brought some things over for me that I want to show you when we’re finished eating.”
He gave me a funny look before he nodded and told me about his day.
After dinner, he made himself comfortable on the sofa while I slid the large box in front of him before taking a seat at his side.
“Okay, close your eyes,” I told him.
“Why?” he asked.
I huffed with impatience. “Just do it.”
After several rounds of bantering back and forth, he finally gave in and closed his eyes. I removed my tree from the box and placed it on the coffee table. “Okay, open your eyes.”
He did and his eyes widened immediately. “How did Kathleen get your tree?”
“The day she helped me escape, I showed up at her house with a box of things that were special to me. I told her I couldn’t bear to leave them with Octavius and asked her if she would take care of them for me. I meant throw them out, but she hid them away in her house instead.”
“There’s more than the tree?” he asked.
I nodded and pulled out the smaller box. “This box is full of our memories, from our year together. I haven’t opened it yet. I wanted to wait and do it together,” I explained.
He lifted his arm and looked at me expectantly. “Get in here, woman. I want to see what’s in that box.”
I giggled and snuggled up next to him, placing the box in my lap. Taking in a deep breath, I slowly removed the lid and was immediately transported back in time. The box was full of notes, ticket stubs, pictures, greeting cards, trinkets, even my Homecoming queen sash was in it. We spent hours looking at every item and reliving the memories associated with each one.
“I can’t believe you kept all this stuff,” Phoenix admitted.
“Technically, I didn’t. Kathleen did,” I pointed out.
“Well, I’m glad she did.”
“Yeah, me, too,” I agreed.
Phoenix held up one of the last pictures taken of us. “It was only a year, but we made it one hell of a year, didn’t we, doll face?”
I smiled wistfully. “We sure did.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“You just did.”
He snorted at my smart remark. “What happened to the phoenix necklace and earrings I gave you?”
I grinned. “I was told I could only take what I had on me when I left, so I made sure to wear them that day. I have them locked away in a safe at my house in California. What about your drawing? Do you still have it?”
He chuckled. “You haven’t noticed it?”
“Obviously not. Where is it?”
“It’s in the bedroom,” he said on a laugh. “Guess I’ve been doing something right.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Annabelle
I didn’t have a chance to go over and check in with Macy like I’d planned because I ended up spending the rest of the week helping Ember with wedding plans, which included helping her friend, Reese, plan her bachelorette party. Ember made the wise decision to have the bachelorette party the weekend before the wedding, but that didn’t leave Reese much time to get things arranged.
When Saturday rolled around, the party had turned into an all-day event. First, we met at Ember’s house for a catered breakfast. The next several hours were spent at the spa getting anything from manicures/pedicures and massages to mud baths and full body waxes. I opted for a pedicure, facial, and body scrub. I planned to get my nails done before the wedding, but there was no way I would keep them intact for an entire week.
We had a late lunch after the spa and then went back to Ember’s house to get ready for our night out. I thought it might make Ember uncomfortable to have her mother tag along, but she assured me, several times, that she wanted me to attend. With all the girls in the house, it took several hours for everyone to be ready to go. Unbelievably, we didn’t have to wait for anyone when our ride showed up.
Reese arranged for a stretch SUV limousine to drive us to and from the bachelorette pa
rty. Since Croftridge was such a small town, we had to drive to a larger city nearby to find some bars/clubs that would be suitable for this type of party.
Once in the limo, drinks were poured and passed around. Reese then informed everyone she had some special accessories for Ember to wear—a sash declaring her a bride-to-be, a tiara with a small veil attached, and a candy necklace. My drink nearly came out of my nose when I realized the necklace was made of little candy penises.
Once Ember had donned her new accessories, Reese presented her with a checklist of things to complete before the night ended. “Now, I know what a lot of you are thinking. Those brutes we claim as our men would totally flip their shit if they found out we were talking to or touching anyone of the opposite sex. So, to keep the peace, this list requires none of those things.” She smiled proudly and handed the list to Ember, who promptly groaned and slapped her hand over her face.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” Reese exclaimed and reached into her purse. She held up what looked like two credit cards and squealed, “I got Byte to make us fake IDs!”
“You did what?” Ember asked. “I don’t want him to get into any trouble.”
Reese smirked. “He won’t. Your dad okayed it, but just for tonight. We have to give them back tomorrow.”
Ember turned her worried eyes to me. “I’m sure your dad only agreed because he knew I would be with you. Enjoy your night, baby girl.”
One of the other girls chimed in, “Tell us what’s on the list.”
Ember lifted the paper and began reading. “It’s your final fling before the ring. The party won’t stop until you’ve completed all of your tasks. To ensure your success, alternate shots and tasks as you move through the list. Tasks—Dance on a bar or table, Sing one karaoke song, Blow your candy pecker whistle when all of your candy penises have been devoured (by people other than yourself), Drop a penis straw in the drinks of five people you don’t know, Collect 10 condoms from people you don’t know. Shots—Blowjob, Cockteaser, Sex on the Beach, Screaming Orgasm, The Dash.”
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