Beside of me Kieran tensed up. I knew that this was going to be hard for him. He knew what The Pervert had done to me, down to the very last detail. One night as I lay in his arms I had told him everything about my time as Stephen Thorne’s stepdaughter. Now as he stared at the man his first instinct was to demolish the man who had hurt me. To make him wish that he had never been born. But he had promised not to cause bodily harm to the man…Not today at least.
Greg spotted us in the doorway where the butler had left us without announcing us as I had I requested. “Reese.” He came forward and I forced myself to look away from the couple. “It’s so good to see you…I thought after what had happened in Phoenix that I would never see you again.” He muttered in an emotionally choked voice.
He embraced me and I hugged him back. We had spoken on the phone twice over the last month. I knew that he had only been trying to make sure I was well looked after and had thought that Kevin Stone would have made me a good husband. But I had explained to him that there was no way I would ever marry that particular Stone…Maybe his brother…One day.
Until then Greg had to understand that I didn’t need a husband to take care of me.
Behind him Stephen Thorne had stood. He had recognized Kieran who was just a few inches away from me, still holding my hand. “When you said that you had some company that you wanted to introduce us to I had no idea it would be such an interesting guest. But I guess that I should have remembered how much you enjoy the sports world, Greg.”
The sound of his voice made my skin crawl. I unconsciously leaned into Kieran who wrapped an arm around my waist. Greg turned to face the man who had married his late son’s wife and gave him a cold glare. “Actually I have no intention of introducing you to Kieran. Have a seat, Thorne.”
Stephen frowned at the older man. “What…” He broke off when he finally took a better look at me.
I met his gaze without flinching and watched him blanch. “Hello, Stephen.” I murmured.
Sharon stood and put a hand on her husband’s arm. “Greg, if you are going to be rude I think that we will just go. I’m not in the mood for your petulance tonight…” She had yet to look at me. But that didn’t bother me in the least. This woman, she was just the person who had given birth to me. I had stopped thinking about her as a motherly figure long before I had ran away. Mel was my mom in all ways that counted. Mel loved me. Sharon Thorne had never felt any such emotion.
“You can take a seat as well, Sharon.” Greg informed his ex-daughter-in-law. “The night is young. And Reese wants her five minutes.”
“Reese..?” She finally raised her eyes toward me and frowned. “Who…Rebecca?” She took a step back as if frightened that she had seen a ghost. “My God, I thought you were dead!”
I raised a brow at her. “Really? Maybe you just hoped.” I took a step in her direction and she shrank back. “I’m worth so much more to you dead after all.” Perhaps she had thought that she would inherit all of the Daventry money and other assets if I were dead…
“How dare you talk to me like that, Rebecca Daventry! I am your mother; you will speak to me with respect.” But she took several steps back as I continued to walk toward her.
“You are no mother of mine. No mother would ever set back and let her husband do the things that you did. A mother would have killed the man who dared touch her daughter the way Stephen Thorne touched me.” My gaze shot to the man standing white as a sheet beside of my mother. “No mother would stay married to the man who attempted to rape her daughter repeatedly.”
“What do you want?” Stephen asked, his voice not much louder than a whisper.
“Oh I want nothing from you. I just needed to face the two of you one last time. Kind of like putting my past to rest so that I can move on with my future.” I watched as his shoulders seemed to ease from under a great pressure. “You have nothing to worry about from me, if that’s what you thought.”
Greg stepped up beside of me, his hand on my arm lending me the support that he had been too busy to give five years ago. “You will, of course, have to deal with me.” Stephan nearly fell over when he realized that I had not been the real danger to him. Greg Daventry had the power to make Stephen Thorne’s career obsolete. The hotshot stock broker would never work on Wall Street again if that was what Greg decided. And considering all of the insider information he had acquired over the years a little while in a federal prison seemed likely…If that was what Greg decided.
The thought nearly made me smile. It wasn’t a good kind of smile either. More sinister and evil. The picture of Stephen Thorne, The Pervert, becoming the victim to some big biker was vindicating. But I was not going to turn into that person. Revenge was not something I wanted to consume me. Not when I had so much love in me now.
My gaze went back to my mother as I put a hand over the life growing under my heart. “I will never be like you.” I murmured, more to reassure myself than anything else. “I will not be the mother that you were. My child will come first with me; now and always. I will be there every day for it, no matter what.”
“You…You’re pregnant?” Sharon frowned. Her beautiful face was drawn and pale.
“Yes. But you will never be a part of your grandchild’s life. Never. There is no way that I would ever let you in the same room as her.” I took a step back, wanting Kieran’s arms around me once more.
I was finished with the couple standing defeated before me. My grandfather could do what he wanted with them. With the loss of Stephen’s high paying career, Sharon Daventry Thorne would not have the money to accommodate the lifestyle that she was accustomed to. And her expensive drug habit would no longer be easily afforded.
“I suggest you go home now, Throne.” Greg instructed Stephen. “You might want to talk to a lawyer. In the morning you will have a completely different life to worry about.”
I didn’t watch them leave. Tuned out the sound of my mother’s heels clicking on the hardwood floors as she dejectedly made one last exit from my life. Instead I turned into the arms of the man I loved and let him enfold me in his strong arms.
I was safe.
About the Author
This is Terri Anne Browning’s first published work. Find her on face book and let her know how you liked Reese and the first installment of Safe Haven.
Reese: A Safe Haven Novella Page 11