by Naomi Niles
What did I do? Should I tell Rhett that I wouldn’t go anywhere with him unless he told me everything, or should I just blindly follow? As I gazed into his eyes I could see that all he wanted to do was keep me safe, and when I thought back to that boy that I’d met at Camp Woodtree, before everything got complicated, I couldn’t stop my heart from melting. He wasn’t a bad guy, not really, we just found ourselves in a shitty situation that was all.
“Come on,” I finally decided, after only a few moments of deliberation. “Let’s go and wake up Mom. She needs to know what’s going on here. She needs to be in the decision-making process.”
“Okay,” Rhett nodded, looking relieved. “Let’s do it.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Rhett
Thank God.
My heart didn’t stop pounding until I saw Danica’s face relax and she started to agree with me. I half expected her to turn me away or to demand to know my plan, but luckily she didn’t. I wasn’t sure how I would have explained my potentially dangerous idea to someone who I absolutely knew was going to stop me. She wouldn’t like to hear what I had up my sleeve, and I really didn’t want to have to tell her.
“Mom,” Danica shook her mother lightly, trying to wake her up in the gentlest way possible–which was fair enough, because what was to come next was going to be a little brutal. For Lyla to learn the truth about her husband was going to be awful.
As I watched Danica caringly calling to her mom, I saw another image of her forming in my mind–the one of her as a mother, caring for our child. I still couldn’t get my head around how lucky we were, but I knew that I’d be able to digest everything properly once all of this was done, and life returned to normal.
If I allowed my brain to even think about becoming a father, it went into meltdown mode, so I knew that I couldn’t do it until all of this was over. I mean, how was I going to be a dad? How were we going to get everything organized before the baby came? How were we…
No, I couldn’t think about that. Once my dad was out of the picture, then I could deal with everything.
There were still so many unknowns when it came to me and Danica, but I was certain that we would be able to work it out soon enough. The one thing that I was certain of was that we would come out of this on top. Once my dad was gone, nothing would ever tear us apart again.
“Ngh?” Lyla finally sat up, sleepy and very groggy. “Brad?” That was the first person that she asked for, which tore my heart in two. It was obvious that she still loved him despite everything, and I hated that I was going to be the one to ruin that for her.
“Mom, it’s me,” Danica continued with a soft, childlike quality to her voice. “I’m sorry to do this to you, but we really have to go. We need to pack up and get out of here.”
“What? Why?” She jumped up in her bed, really paying attention now. “Rhett, what are you doing here?” She was shocked and confused, and I knew that I needed to dispel all of that quickly so that we could get a move on. I had no idea what my dad would do next, especially if he saw me here with his wife and Danica, and I needed to escape to get my plan into place before he did anything stupid.
“It’s my dad,” I stepped forward, and handed her the stack of papers, knowing that reading it all would make more sense to her than me explaining it. Lyla wouldn’t need me to tell her what was going on in my half understanding kind of way. She was a lawyer and a very intelligent woman. She could get a better grasp of it just by looking, and she would get the implications of dad’s actions much better than I ever could. “
He’s not the man you think he is. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but I don’t want you to find out in any other way.”
She scanned her eyes over the documents, much quicker than I could have read it, her face going whiter with every single word. “What does this mean?” she gasped, throwing her hand over her mouth. “Is it…is it what I think it is?”
“I’m afraid so,” I admitted, assuming that she’d at least gotten the general gist. “Which is why we need to go. My dad has been very good at evading the law up until this point, and he knows that I’m on to him now. He’s been following Danica, and he isn’t afraid to use her to get to me–he told me as much himself.”
I suddenly cringed at the implications of this sentence, but luckily Lyla was too tied up in knots to notice. I didn’t want her to find out about my relationship with her daughter in such a shocking way.
“When?” she snapped, sounding angrier than I’d ever heard her before. “When did he tell you this? Have you seen him? Do you know where he is? Why hasn’t he been talking to me?”
“Last night,” I told her, knowing that she was going to hate this part. “He turned up in my hotel room and threatened me. He threatened all of us, really.” I needed them to focus on the danger that faced us, rather than the fact that Brad Fronton was a dickhead–we could all process that much later on.
“That fucker,” she growled, and I couldn’t help but flinch. I’d never heard Lyla curse before, and it was too weird for words. But it proved just how deeply all of this was affecting her. “How fucking dare he?” Her face was red with rage. “I’ve been worried sick about him, and he’s been doing…this!” She slammed the papers down in front of her, and sprang into action. “Right, Rhett. What do we have to do?”
“Come on,” I tried to smile reassuringly at her, hoping that I could at least instil some confidence in her that everything would be okay in the end. “Let’s go. I’ll sort everything out.” I sounded more sure than I really felt, but I didn’t want to give anyone even a second to doubt me. This plan had to go perfectly if it was even going to come close to working!
***
After much discussion about where we were going to go next–a location for which I didn’t mind, as long as it was far out of the way–I ended up dropping Lyla and Danica off at Lyla’s sister’s home. I vaguely remembered Danica’s Aunt Catherine, or Cat as they all seemed to call her, from the wedding, but I hadn't had the opportunity to speak to her too much, which made meeting like this a little awkward.
As I listened to Lyla explain to her sister about why they needed a place to crash, I kept feeling her scrutinizing gaze upon me. She was obviously trying to size me up, to see if I was as much of a scumbag as my father, and I was desperately trying to communicate that I was nothing like him and that I was innocent without saying a word.
When they finally went inside, leaving Danica and me alone, I felt an odd mixture of relief and sadness. I was happy to have protected her and her mother from what was about to come, but I didn’t like leaving them behind. I knew that I didn’t have a choice–it was what needed to be done–but that didn’t make it any easier.
As I stared into Danica’s eyes, I felt like I could end up losing her all over again. I’d only just gotten her back into my life, and despite the circumstances I didn’t want that to end.
“I’ll message you,” I insisted, needing some sort of communication to bond us together. I wouldn’t have been able to cope without it. “Every half an hour, and you do the same. That way we can know that we’re both safe.”
“Okay,” she nodded, looking about as unhappy as I felt. She clearly didn’t want me to go, and if it wasn’t for the fact that I absolutely had to, then I might have allowed her to convince me to stay. “Look after yourself, okay? And, I’ll see you very soon.”
We hugged tightly, and I found myself wanting to say lots of things to her. I knew that it wasn’t the time or place, but if I was totally honest, I couldn’t be one hundred percent sure that we would get another shot. The feelings that I’d been experiencing for a very long time came bubbling to the surface and I could no longer keep them inside.
“I love you,” I mumbled into her ear, feeling free as those words finally spilled past my lips. “I love you so, so much.”
I could already feel the wetness on her cheeks as she replied, “I love you, too. I have since the very first day I met you.” I’d made her c
ry, but as I pulled back to get a look at her face I could see that it was from happiness rather than despair.
I thought of us back when we first met, sitting in that orientation room next to one another, tentatively flirting, having no idea what we go on to mean to one another. Who knew that we would go on to fall in love, to be having a baby, and to be having all of this madness surrounding us? It seemed totally unthinkable at the time; I had just thought that she was a very beautiful girl.
Now, she was my everything. I didn’t know what I would do without her, and I hoped never to have to find out.
“I won’t be long,” I promised, knowing that I truly meant it. I had to get this done quickly, to get back to her now so that our real lives could finally begin. “You stay safe indoors, and I’ll be back to get you soon. When I do, things will be different. We will finally be free.”
“I wish I knew what you were doing,” she smiled morosely at me. “I think I’d feel better if you would just let me know. I’m worried enough; I honestly don’t think that you could make it any worse.”
“I can’t,” I shook my head firmly. “I’m sorry; I’ll tell you all about it when it’s done. I promise. I just… I need to do everything within my power to keep you safe; you know that.”
“But I can’t keep you safe,” she whined, looking sad enough to break my heart.
“Yes, but I have to think about both of you, don’t I?” I rubbed her swollen stomach gently, feeling a rush of love wash over me as I considered the child inside of her. She was carrying our miracle, and I needed to ensure both of their safety. “You and our unborn baby.”
She nodded, finally agreeing with me, seeing that I was being reasonable with this one. “Be quick?” she pleaded, and I agreed.
“I’ll be back before you know it.”
I stared into her eyes for a few moments, wishing that I didn’t have to tear myself away, but then the darkened face of my father popped into my mind, and I remembered what a madman he was. I needed this done now before anything else could happen, and for that I had to go. So I forced myself to let Danica go, and I span on my heels and made myself move.
As I sat back in the front seat of my car, before I switched on the engine, I fired off a text to my dad, smiling smugly to myself.
This was going to work; it just had to. Brad Fronton was such a proud man that I knew this would drive him crazy. He wouldn’t be able to resist stumbling straight into my trap.
‘I have taken Danica and Lyla back to my hotel room, so you better not try anything. Leave them both alone. Forever.’
I knew that he wouldn’t reply, but that didn’t matter. I didn’t need him to text me back; I needed him to get himself tied up in knots. So far, everything had gone exactly as I needed it to, and I was starting to feel a little more confident that I might just be winning at last.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Danica
‘I’m here; are you okay? I love you, Rhett xxx’
I kept staring at that message over and over again, waiting for the clock to tick by, waiting for his next communication. Every time my phone pinged, my heart fluttered like crazy, but the moment was always over far too quickly, leaving me to wait in the endless thirty dark minutes stretched out in front of me until I would get to talk to him again.
‘I love you too,’ I wrote back quickly. ‘Be safe; look after yourself. We’re counting on you. xx’
It wasn’t much, but it would have to be enough for the time being. I didn’t know where “here” was, but I knew what it meant. Rhett was finally putting his mysterious plan into action, which also suggested that he was in danger. Until this was all over, I didn’t think that I’d be able to even consider relaxing.
When Rhett finally spoke the words, “I love you,” aloud for the very first time, they had meant so much to me. The moment had been so perfect and I’d felt it so deeply. But now I couldn’t help but wonder if had been some sort of goodbye. If he wasn’t exactly certain that his plan was going to work. Okay, so things had never been smooth sailing between us, but it finally felt like the obstacles were melting away–my secret, our parents, the wedding–and I didn’t want to lose him forever, just as there was the real possibility that he could be mine.
We could actually be a family–that possibility was real–as long as we all got through this in one piece.
I wished I knew what it was that he was doing. That would help me right now, but sitting here in silence with my mom and Auntie Cat with no knowledge whatsoever was driving me insane. I felt twitchy and annoyed, and I was sure that I was winding everyone else up too.
“Are you okay?” Mom asked me, for what felt like the hundredth time. “Do you need anything? Can I do anything for you?”
Now that we had nothing better to do, she was obsessing over my pregnancy, which wasn’t helping anything. I was trying my best to keep calm, and to stop myself from getting too worked up, but it was getting me nowhere, and this wasn’t helping one bit. She kept trying to fuss me, and that was winding me up just as much as anything else.
“I’m fine, Mom,” I replied dully. “I just can’t stand all of this waiting.”
“Rhett didn’t tell you anything?” she asked again. “Absolutely nothing about what’s going on here?”
“Lyla,” Auntie Cat snapped, growing frustrated. “Will you just give it a rest? If that boy said he’s sorting it, then there is nothing else that you can do.” Auntie Cat had always been the stern one of the pair, but this telling off was on another level–even for her.
“What you need to be doing is focusing on your future. From what you’ve told me, your entire life is in jeopardy. You need to contact your employer, to check that you still have a job to go back to, then you need to start organizing your divorce to this awful man.”
“It’s not quite that simple,” my mom replied, clearly chastened, but Auntie Cat was having none of it.
“Bullshit!” she exclaimed. “Brad will be in jail soon enough–that’s grounds enough to get the ball rolling in advance. You’re the lawyer; you know that.”
“I’m in business law, not marital-”
“Stop making excuses, Lyla; just get this done.”
And with that, she stalked from the room, leaving me and Mom to collapse into half hysterical giggles. It was as if we were school children, being told off in the principal’s office, and that was enough to dispel at least some of the awkward atmosphere.
“I’m sorry,” Mom finally said as we calmed down a little bit. “I have been going on a bit, haven’t I? I just can’t seem to stop myself, all of this is a little too much for me.”
“It’s okay, Mom; we’re all just worried. This is stressful.” I held her hands in mine, wanting her to know that I really didn’t blame her for freaking out, because I was, too. I was just doing it in a much quieter fashion.
“I’m sorry that I brought Brad into our lives–this is all my fault.” But I jumped in quickly. I didn’t want her to start feeling sorry for herself, of feeling guilty for what had happened. It was done now; we just needed to deal with the consequences for the time being.
“Mom, we all trusted him. He seemed genuinely sweet and kind, but that’s what conmen do. They trick even the most intelligent of people because they are so damn clever with their games,” I said sincerely, hoping that I could at least help her feel a little bit better. “We just need to get rid of him, that’s all. Then we can start on finding your happiness again.”
I didn’t want this awful experience to put her off men forever; I wanted her to find love again. She’d spent far too long on her own, and now that I was about to start my own life, it was only fair that she did too. She’d sacrificed so much for me, and I wouldn’t let her spend another moment of her life doing that.
“Danica?” she asked me, with a new, curious tone to her voice. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything,” I replied, just happy to have her opening up to me. I hoped that whatever this change of subject was it wo
uld take our minds off of this for the time being.
But I wasn’t expecting what she actually said.
“Is Rhett the father of your child?”
Oh my God: there it was again. That pit of dread that threatened to swallow me up. My heart fell as I spun into an abyss of fear. She knew that my baby’s dad was Rhett–my stepbrother, the son of the conman that she married. This couldn’t have been a worse time for her to figure that one out. I wondered if maybe she’d seen us outside, and that was what had confirmed it for her. We’d been very careful not to kiss in case we were being watched, but there had been a definite intimacy between us, which apparently was obvious to everyone.
It was now or never. Did I lie, and threaten everything that I finally had with the man that I loved, or did I confess and accept the fallout that was to come?
“Yes,” I hung my head, fully waiting for the barrage of abuse that would undoubtedly follow. “He is. But I met him before I knew anything. I lied before. We really were close at Camp Woodtree and I just freaked out when I saw that he was Brad’s son.” I hoped that she wouldn’t ask if things had been going on under her roof, because I really didn’t feel like that would be a good road to go down.
I finally risked glancing my eyes up and connecting them with hers. Luckily, and totally unexpectedly, there was a shining happiness there.
“I’m so glad,” she announced, clapping her hands together with joy. “Rhett is lovely.” Then her voice quieted down. “I was wrong, you know. With what I said before. If you want to be with Rhett, and have him in your child’s life, then you should. I shouldn’t have put my own feelings onto you. Just because I raised you alone, and we got by just fine, doesn’t mean that you should have to do the same. As fulfilling as raising you was, I was always a little lonely, which is why I latched onto Brad when he showed me some affection.”
I couldn’t believe for one second that Brad was the first man to show her any affection, she was absolutely gorgeous, but maybe he had come along at a time when I was old enough for her to feel ready to respond. It was just a shame that he’d turned out to be so rotten.