Probably the shock was thinking that anyone would believe that he was innocent. Although he knew Liberty had believed all along.
Her excitement was because everyone else would now believe it too. Or that’s what she thought. He’d been in the world long enough to know that people believed what they wanted to believe. Most of the time, it didn’t matter how many facts were staring them in the face.
Plus, he wasn’t sure he could forgive her parents for what they had done. Her dad hadn’t presided at the trial, but he was a driving force behind it. It was his daughter after all.
He thought about what Liberty had said about trials making him stronger. About the preacher saying that fire refined gold.
At first, when they’d been talking about that, he’d believed everything he’d gone through—being lied about, having no one believe him, going to prison, everything—was the trial that was supposed to make him stronger.
But now, he couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe this – forgiving – was part of the trial.
Why did God think that he should go through such a hard trial? He didn’t know a single other person, in his acquaintance, outside of prison, who’d been sent to prison when they were innocent. Why had God done that to him?
And the trial had lasted for years. From the time Mariam had accused him until his parole was finished had been five years; the stigma of registering would last the rest of his life.
It wasn’t easy for sex offenders in prison, putting it mildly. He immediately shoved that thought out of his head. There were still some things he just couldn’t think about.
Now, after everything he’d been through, God expected him to look at Liberty’s parents and be okay when they realized that they hadn’t believed him and he’d been telling the truth. He wasn’t supposed to be angry, and he wasn’t supposed to be bitter.
Well, he was both.
Liberty moved against him, putting her arm around his waist.
He looked down at her.
She had lived with her trial a lot longer than he’d lived with his. All her life. It would never be over.
Through the pain, and the twisted leg, all the surgeries that were unsuccessful, even the marriage that didn’t work that everyone else wanted except for her, she’d allowed it all to mold her into a beautiful person. And he could tell from the way she was standing that if her parents said that they believed him, she would forgive them easily.
Maybe for Liberty’s sake, he could try.
Judge Hopkins got within earshot and didn’t give anyone else a chance to speak. “What’s that child-molesting sex offender doing on my property?” The judge didn’t even look at Blade. His words were directed at Liberty. “You better get him off my property, or I’m calling the cops and reporting him for trespassing.”
“Dad, we found Mariam’s diary in the attic when we were cleaning. Justice accidentally dropped a box, and I read the pages where she admits that she lied about Blade.” Liberty’s words were slightly rushed, but she said them with confidence.
Blade squeezed her waist.
“You’re making it up. I’m not blind. I’ve seen you two around town. I hear about it, too. It’s embarrassing, after what our family’s been through because of him, that you’re running around being his little tramp.”
Blade’s chest exploded.
The judge could say all he wanted to about him, but he wouldn’t stand to have Liberty called a tramp.
Liberty’s hand tightened around his waist. He kept his mouth shut. He wouldn’t have been surprised if his eyes popped out from the pressure.
“Daddy, you didn’t hear me. Mariam lied.”
Justice spoke up. “I was there. Liberty is telling you exactly what happened. I spilled the box, the diary came out in pieces. And when she picked up the page, she noticed the date and read it. She didn’t have time to make any markings on the page. Plus, you can see that it’s all in Mariam’s handwriting.” Justice waved at the book that Liberty was holding.
“Dad, you’re always saying that we should listen to the facts and make our decisions based on rational thought. But you’re not doing that right now.” Liberty still spoke softly but firmly. Her words were slower, more clear.
Judge Hopkins’s face had turned mottled red. “I don’t need to. He was tried, and he was convicted in a court of law. He was sent to prison. He served time. Now he’s a registered sex offender. There’s nothing for me to believe.” The judge looked like he wanted to bang a gavel on a desk, but he let a dark glower suffice and walked past them into the house, slamming the door behind him.
Liberty probably didn’t realize it, because her eyes had followed her dad into the house, but when she looked back around, her mother still stood in front of them.
“Mom?” she whispered softly.
Blade’s heart broke for her. He wished he could ease the pain that was on her face over what her father had just done, even as he wanted to grab the judge and wring his neck. Not for what he’d done to Blade, but for what he’d done to his daughter.
“Is that really what the diary says?” her mother asked in a tone that was almost humble.
“Yes.” Liberty’s voice was firm.
Her mom nodded. For the first time since Liberty had told him that she’d found the diary, Blade felt a shred of hope.
“Your dad can be pretty hard at times. But if the diary is real, if that confession is in Mariam’s handwriting, then he will come around. He will believe you.”
“I know that too, Mom.”
Epilogue
Blade clung to the side of a trailer with one foot hooked over the top. He was welding a corner post and there was no other way to get to it. He’d almost reached the bottom, though. A good thing, since his leg was getting tired and his toe felt like it was slipping off the tiny bracket he’d braced it on. Part of the job, he supposed.
He settled the last bead, then twisted the oxygen line. His rod shut off with a snap and hiss and he shoved his helmet up. The air felt cool on his sweating face. His hair was damp and sweat trickled down his back. He wondered how Libby would feel about taking a swim in the river during their lunch break.
The idea of Libby, soft and wet, sliding in the water beside him, almost made him forget how hot and thirsty he was.
“Truax.”
His foot slipped off the bracket, but thankfully he still had his leg hooked over the side. He caught himself with his leg and hand, finding the bracket again, and straightening. He thought he recognized the voice.
Without bothering to look over his shoulder, he held the rod in one hand, and climbed down off the trailer, jumping the last few feet and landing easily beside the back duels.
He took his helmet off, tucking it under his arm as he turned to face Judge Hopkins.
“Yes, sir?” he said. Not that he wanted to show that respect, but he needed to. He wanted to marry the man’s daughter. Although the fact that the judge was here, in their garage, didn’t bode well for him. Was the judge going to threaten him with a restraining order? He couldn’t do that, could he?
Blade hadn’t had the hearing for his speeding ticket yet. Maybe the judge was going to threaten him with jail time for that somehow. It didn’t matter. Blade wasn’t giving Libby up unless she wanted rid of him. It would break his heart, but he’d leave if she asked him to. That was the only way.
“I’m sorry. My daughter lied to me.” The older man’s face pinched just a little, like that statement hurt.
Blade supposed it did. It couldn’t be easy to have your child lie, and in such a public way. Still, anger burned hot in his chest. He could understand the judge’s position, but that didn’t excuse or erase what he’d done.
“I believed her over you, despite the fact that there was no evidence to back her testimony up. I was just so sure she was telling the truth.” The judge paused, as though weighing his words. “Your reputation wasn’t the best, and I allowed that to color my opinion as well.”
That was fair. The jud
ge was correct about his reputation.
Blade kept his feet planted and didn’t move, even though he could see Libby and his brothers gathered in the background. The judge seemed like he had more to say.
“I know an apology doesn’t wipe out what you went through. And it doesn’t make things right.”
Blade wanted to shout an “amen” to that, but he swallowed the angry words, clenching his jaw over them.
“But I’d ask that you’d try. I also vow to help get your conviction overturned. I will pull every string at my disposal to make it fast and painless and to get your name removed from the registry.” The judge’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. His bearing was as proud as ever, although his shoulders stooped.
His mouth closed. The garage rang with complete silence. It seemed to be holding its breath, waiting for Blade to speak.
Angry words, impossible demands, things designed to bring the proud, old judge to his knees ran through Blade’s mind and pressed on his tongue.
But his gaze went from the bent head in front of him, to the small blond one just behind. The slightly misshapen hip. The beautiful heart and sweet spirit that made up the essence of the woman he loved. He couldn’t get past the hopeful look on her face. It didn’t completely erase the bitterness and anger in his heart, but it shaved off the rough edges, so that his insides didn’t feel like they were cut and bleeding anymore.
The pain and anger weren’t completely gone, but he could see that it might happen.
He considered the trial by fire. The thought that God was refining him. And the idea that perhaps he’d gone through this all to shape him into a man that deserved the woman who looked at him, her eyes full of trust and the knowledge that he would make the right choice, say the right words, do the right thing. It was all over her face.
Maybe the love that he felt for her was on his.
It was in his heart and he didn’t think about the words before they came out his mouth. “I want to marry your daughter.”
To give the judge credit, he barely looked surprised before the graying head nodded. “I don’t think she could find a better man. If you can forgive what I’ve done to you, you’re a better man than I am, and you have my blessing to wed my girl.”
“I forgive you.” Blade didn’t even stumble over the words. In fact, he found them freeing. His chest felt free and his heart beat easily as the judge’s face split into a massive smile.
Blade stepped forward, switching the welding rod to his left hand and holding his right hand out.
The judge met him half-way, clasping his hand, before pulling him in. Blade took one more step and did something he never thought he’d do – he hugged the father of the woman who’d lied about him. The father of the woman he loved.
THAD WATCHED HIS BROTHER embrace the man who had led the charge against him, sending an innocent man to prison.
He wasn’t sure he could forgive that easily. But love had a tendency to change things, he supposed.
A dark-haired woman came to his mind. Sweet kisses on hot nights with the gurgle and flow of the river beside them.
He wished this reunion of Blade and Judge Hopkins fixed his own problem, let him bring his romance out into the open, but it didn’t.
Because while he and his dark-haired beauty might share steamy kisses in the moonlight, during the day they were adversaries. Not just their families’ feud, but the success of the business she funded was likely going to put the Richmond Rebels under. He wasn’t sure his brothers would forgive him if they knew.
But as long as she would meet him, he would go. Because it didn’t matter how wrong they were for each other, he couldn’t tell her no, and he was afraid he’d do anything, sacrifice anything, just to spend one more night under the stars with his secret romance.
Thanks so much for reading!
If you would like to order book 2 in the Richmond Rebel’s series, The Bad Boy’s Secret Romance, click HERE.
The Bad Boy's Forever Girl Page 17