Her Second Chance Family (Contemporary Romance)

by Holly Jacobs

  “You wanted to talk to me about a break-in.” Willow stood and moved directly in front of the cop. “Well, I can save us a bunch of time by telling you that I didn’t do it.”

  Bea pushed back her chair, ran over to Willow and took her hand. “Yeah, she didn’t do it.”

  Clinton didn’t say anything, but he came and stood on her other side.

  “Maybe the kids should let me talk to Willow on her own,” the cop said.

  “No,” Clinton said. “We’re a family. If you suspect Willow, you might want to ask me and Bea questions. Maybe we’re a gang and we all did it. Or maybe you’ve got a time you think it happened and we can give her an alibi. Plus, she’s a minor. You can’t talk to her alone.”

  “I think that means I get to stay with her, not you two,” Audrey said gently.

  “It’s okay, you guys,” Willow said. Suddenly, she felt better. Looking at Audrey, Clinton and Bea, she knew that no matter what happened, she’d take their belief in her with her. “I didn’t do anything, so I’ve got nothing to hide.”

  Bea looked at Trooper Stevens. “You can’t take her. Clinton said you gotta have evidence, and since she didn’t do it, you don’t. I want to be her...” She looked at Clinton.

  “Character witness,” he supplied.

  “Yeah. She’s nice. She made a mistake, but that’s what happens when you’re a kid. Audrey says kids’ brains don’t work like grown-ups so sometimes they make bad decisions. But Audrey fixed Willow’s brain just fine and she’s been making good ones now.”

  The cop knelt down next to Bea and nodded. “I’ll tell you what. I’m going to talk to Willow and then, if your mom says it’s okay, I’m going to take a look around the house. But if Willow didn’t do it, I’ll find out who did.”

  “Promise?” Bea asked.

  He nodded. “Promise.”

  Clinton took Bea’s hand, and as they reached the doorway, he turned and said, “It’ll be okay, Willow.”

  Willow’s anxiety started to fade. Audrey believed her. So did Clinton and Bea. In her whole life, no one ever had. And now these three people did. That meant more than they’d ever know.

  Audrey sat next to her at the table, and the cop sat across from her.

  “Willow, you understand why I need to talk to you?” he asked gently.

  She nodded, but said nothing.

  “I talked to your probation officer, and he said you seemed to be doing well. That you finished up your school year with good grades and had kept your nose clean. And I talked to...” He flipped open a notebook. “Sawyer Williams. He said you’d been mowing his lawn because you broke into his house and you needed to ‘balance your karma.’ He said your foster mom used that phrase and you agreed.”

  He hadn’t asked a question, so Willow didn’t say anything.

  “Is that right?” the trooper asked.

  She knew that the police read people they arrested their rights. This guy hadn’t done that, so maybe he just wanted to ask questions. “Yeah.”

  “I asked Mr. Williams if he believed you when you said you didn’t do it and he said...”

  For an instant, Willow hoped that Sawyer had told the cop that of course he believed Willow didn’t do it, but then the cop finished his sentence. “He said he wanted to believe you didn’t do it.”

  The trooper closed his notebook. “So, Willow, did you break into the Mellons’ home?”

  Willow had watched enough cop shows and read enough mysteries to know that short answers were best when talking to the police. Well, not talking at all was best, but Audrey expected her to help, so she answered, “No, I didn’t break into any house. Well, not since Sawyer’s. And I’d never broken into one before his, either.”

  “Sir,” Audrey said. “I know I can’t prove that Willow didn’t do it. I can tell you that during the day she’s with me, with our neighbor who watches the kids while I work or she’s working at Sawyer’s and Mrs. Wilson’s.”

  He nodded. “I talked to her, too. Mrs. Wilson had nothing but praise for you and how hard you work.”

  “But if you asked,” Audrey continued, “I’d have to say Willow could have snuck out at night and I’d have been none the wiser. But even as I admit that, I’m sure she didn’t do it. I can’t prove it. And I know my intuition doesn’t mean anything to you, but there it is. I believe her.”

  Audrey meant it. Audrey absolutely believed her.

  The cop listened to her and then he looked at Willow. “If I believe you and your guardian, then I’m back at square one, looking for whoever broke into the Mellons’ house. I read the reports from Mr. Williams’s break-in before I came here. Everyone seemed to feel that you didn’t act on your own, but you never admitted that. You never gave us any name or names.”

  Willow knew what he was going to ask, and her heart sank because she knew that Audrey would want her to tell the cop. And part of her wanted to. A big part. But she simply couldn’t seem to make the words come out.

  The cop continued. “If you didn’t act alone at Mr. Williams’s house, then your accomplice or accomplices are still out there, and it sounds as if they’re still breaking into people’s homes.”

  Willow didn’t know what to say. Nico and Dusty had told her that if she gave the cops their names after Sawyer’s break-in, no one would believe her. She was nothing. A foster kid. They came from a good family.

  But Audrey would probably believe her. She wasn’t sure about the cop, but he might.

  Still, she’d never ratted on anyone.

  “Willow, do you have anything else to tell me?” the cop asked quietly. Kinda nicely.

  “I wish I could.” And as she said the words, she realized how very much she did. “All I can say is, I didn’t do it, sir.”

  He looked...maybe disappointed was the right word? She glanced at Audrey and knew that disappointed was exactly what she felt.

  He shook his head. “When I find out who broke into the Mellons’ house, if you knew something and didn’t tell me, you can still get in trouble even if you didn’t do it. You know that, right?”

  “I’m really sorry, but I can’t help you,” she said. “I really don’t know anything.” She suspected, but that wasn’t knowing.

  The cop tried one more time. “You know whoever did this won’t stop. They won’t have a reason to stop if they got away with it at Mr. Williams’s house and now the Mellons’ house.”

  “I didn’t do anything.” She didn’t know what else to say.

  “Do you mind if I take a look around the house?” Trooper Stevens asked Audrey. “Just to be sure that none of the Mellons’ missing items are here? I don’t have a warrant, and you are well within your rights to tell me no.”

  “We don’t have anything to hide, sir,” Audrey said. “Please, feel free.”

  She hadn’t asked Willow. Audrey hadn’t asked because she’d known the cop wouldn’t find any of the Mellons’ things here.

  “Willow, I’d like to start with your room.”

  She nodded and led him up the stairs and Audrey followed.

  He opened her drawers and then the closet. “They’re empty.”

  “I packed my stuff,” she admitted, and pulled the avocado-green suitcase out from under her bed.

  She glanced at Audrey, who didn’t say anything.

  “Would you take your things out for me?” the cop asked.

  Willow nodded and piled her clothes on the bed. She saw as she took the bottom layer of clothing out that he noticed her false bottom. Slowly, he lifted the edge of the material she’d fastened down, and pulled out her e-reader and the picture from the beach.

  “I saved up money for over a year to buy that, sir. I didn’t steal it, and I didn’t use any stolen money to buy it. It’s mine.”

  He didn’t say or ask anything about th
e picture, but Audrey noticed it.

  He nodded and continued to search her room. When he was done, he said, “Are you sure there’s nothing else you want to tell me?”

  Want to tell him? Sure. But Willow answered instead, “There’s nothing else I can tell you.”

  He stared at her hard as he said, “You know, when I heard that phrase, balancing your karma, I understood right away what Ms. Smith was trying to teach you. And for what it’s worth, I believe you’ve done it. Maybe you should think about whoever was with you. They’ve gotten away with it once before, and if they did it this time, they’re starting down a slippery path. Maybe if you tell us their names, they’ll have a chance to straighten themselves out and balance their karma, too.”

  He turned around and walked out of her room.

  “Why don’t you stay and put your things away in your drawers and closet,” Audrey told her. “I’ll take Trooper Stevens through the rest of the house.”

  Willow nodded. When Audrey and the cop left, she quietly closed her door, then sank to the floor and started to cry.

  She didn’t normally cry. She was good at holding it in. But this time, she couldn’t hold it in and, once she started, she couldn’t seem to stop.

  It wasn’t fair. She didn’t do anything and still the cops were at Audrey’s house, and even if Audrey believed her, no one else would.

  The cop had said that Sawyer wanted to believe her.

  ’Cause he didn’t.

  She cried some more.

  * * *

  AUDREY’S HEART BROKE when Trooper Stevens opened the drawers and found them empty. Willow hadn’t believed her and still packed all of her things to be ready to go.

  The fact she’d hidden the picture with her e-reader...well, Audrey took it as a sign that Willow cared about them as much as they cared about her. “She’s had that reader for a while, sir,” Audrey said as the trooper walked into the basement.

  “It wasn’t on our list of stolen items,” he assured her.

  The basement was pretty bare. Other than the washer, dryer and the table she folded clothes on, the furnace and water heater, there was not much else.

  He turned and looked at her. “I’ll want to check the garage, too, if that’s okay, but I don’t see anything here.”

  “I didn’t think you would,” Audrey assured him.

  “But she knows something,” he said. “I think whoever was with her when she broke into Mr. Williams’s feels emboldened. They’ve broken into another house in the neighborhood because they figured everyone would suspect Willow.”

  Audrey agreed with him. “I don’t know what else I can do to help her tell us their names.”

  “Talk to her. She obviously listens to you.”

  “Is there something else I should do? Does she need a lawyer?”

  He shook his head. “No. I had to talk to her because of the circumstances, but I found nothing here, and so far, nothing at the crime scene that ties her to it. So for now, there’s not much else to do. Unless you can get her to give you a name or names.”

  “If she does, I’ll call you.”

  She thought that was it. He started walking to his car, then he stopped. “Listen, from what people have told me, she’s turning her life around. I don’t want to see her mess it up again protecting someone who doesn’t deserve to be protected. Someone who let her take the fall the first time, and seems to be capitalizing on that with this new theft. She’s got a good heart, and possibly a misguided sense of loyalty.”

  “I appreciate that. Thank you.”

  She was walking back into the house when her cell phone rang. She pulled it out of her back pocket and looked at the caller ID.

  Sawyer.

  Part of her wanted to just let it go to voice mail. But she couldn’t quite manage it. “Hi, Sawyer.”

  “The cops were here, talking to everyone in the neighborhood. Trooper Stevens said he was coming over to your place.”

  “He’s just leaving,” she said.

  “And?” he asked.

  “And what?”

  “Is he taking Willow with him?” She could hear the anxiety in his voice.

  “No, as a matter of fact, he isn’t.” What she wanted to say is, Not that you were any help. She was angry. Angry on Willow’s behalf. “Willow didn’t do anything, so why would he take her in?”

  “I know that’s what you hope,” he said slowly. “I do, too. I just don’t want you to get your heart broken if...”

  “Thank you for your concern, Mr. Williams. I have to go.”

  “Audrey, please. I don’t want this to come between whatever it is we have.”

  “Sawyer, I don’t know how it can do anything but come between us. Like I said, the kids have to come first. I have to concentrate on them right now.”

  “Audrey, please...”

  “I’m sorry, Sawyer. I know this isn’t your fault,” she admitted as the rest of her anger evaporated. “And it isn’t mine. It’s not Willow’s, either,” she added firmly. “It is what it is. Sometimes things happen. Sometimes bad things. All we can do is take those moments and try to turn them into something good. This whole episode reminded me that the kids are my priority. My job is second. I don’t know that I have room for anything else.”

  “Audrey.” That was all he said, just her name. But she heard so much more in it. He wanted her.

  Truth be told, she wanted him, even now. But she was right. The kids had to come first. “I have to go. Willow needs me.”

  “What if I said that I need you, too?” he asked softly.

  “I’d say I’m sorry.” She hung up the phone.

  She’d thought that she might have found someone who could handle taking on a woman with three kids and a demanding career.

  She’d been wrong.

  * * *

  WHAT HAD HE DONE?

  Sawyer should have lied. He should have told Audrey that he believed Willow. He wanted to believe her, so it wouldn’t have been much an exaggeration.

  What he didn’t want was to lose Audrey. He hadn’t felt this way about anyone since Millie left.

  And Sawyer wasn’t even engaged to Audrey, but he knew he didn’t want to lose her.

  He wanted a chance to see if what they had could be something more.

  He remembered what Willow had said. If she screwed up, Audrey would forgive her and give her a second chance.

  He wondered if Audrey would be as generous with him? Could she forgive him for not believing in Willow?

  Could Willow forgive him?

  The biggest question of all was, could he forgive himself?

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AUDREY,” the kids called as they burst into her bedroom at seven o’clock Sunday morning. Clinton carried a tray.

  “Scootch up in bed,” Bea commanded.

  Audrey obliged and Clinton gingerly sat the tray down in front of her.

  They’d made her breakfast.

  “The eggs are a little runny,” Bea said. “But there are no shells in them this time.”

  Clinton looked at Willow. “Yeah, last year there were a couple small pieces of shell. Audrey ate them, anyway.”

  Willow made a gagging motion.

  “I pretended they were nuts,” Audrey recalled, making a face. She was proud that she managed to get those eggs down without tossing her cookies.

  “Uh, nuts in eggs doesn’t sound appetizing,” Willow pointed out.

  “It sounds better than shells,” Clinton said sagely.

  The kids sat on the edges of the bed and watched as Audrey ate her shell-free eggs, toast, and drank her coffee and juice.

  “So what do you want to do today?” Clinton asked. He turned to Willow. “On our birthdays we get to pick.
And if it’s a school day, we get a weekend day. I picked skiing last year for mine. We spent the day at the Peek ’n’ Peak. Turns out, skiing is not Audrey’s greatest skill.”

  “Or mine,” Bea said. “But I was better than Audrey.”

  “Hey, let’s be nice to the birthday girl,” Audrey protested.

  Clinton laughed. “Two years ago Bea wanted to go to Paris. We didn’t make it, but...”

  “Hang on,” Bea said, “I’ll show her.” She sprinted down the hall.

  “What’s she doing now?” Willow asked.

  “Getting you her pictures,” Clinton said.

  Bea came back into the room with a frame full of photos. There was a picture of all three of them outside Paris Cleaners. One on the bayfront with the Bicentennial Tower in the background. A picture outside the art museum. And then one of them at a dinner table.

  Bea pointed. “That’s Bertrand’s. They’re down on Perry Square and have French food.”

  “When’s your birthday?” Bea asked Willow.

  “It’s September fifth,” Audrey supplied before Willow could say anything.

  Willow looked at her with surprise.

  It had been almost a week since the break-in. A week of Willow walking on eggshells. A week without Sawyer.

  Audrey forced herself to put Sawyer out of her mind and concentrate on Willow. “Certainly I know when your birthday is. You’ll have to think about what you want to do.”

  She saw the doubt in Willow’s eyes. Doubt that she’d still be with them on her birthday. “You’ll be here,” Audrey assured her.

  Willow shook her head. “I’m not sure. They still haven’t found out who did it and the cops...”

  “Found nothing to tie you to the crime,” Audrey finished for her. Trooper Stevens had called on Friday and said as much. “They didn’t find anything because you didn’t do anything.”

  “I go see my probation officer on Tuesday.”

  “And I’ll go along.” She reached across the bed and patted Willow’s hand. Willow smiled.

  Bea threw her arms around Willow and hugged her, practically knocking her off the bed. “You’re ours, Willow. We’re keeping you. Audrey won’t let anyone take you away.”