aherospromise_211-3e3.htm

by A Hero's Promise (lit)

  "What notion?"

  "For some reason he keeps thinking I’m still in love with Mac. He keeps comparing our marriage to mine before. I can’t make him see how wrong he is. And there’re things he’s not telling me. I begged him to come back to me!"

  Jessica’s mother was quiet for a moment, resting her hand over her daughter’s. "Mac was a hard act to follow," she said gently. "Dane has every right to worry. It doesn’t help that he was Mac’s friend, or that he’s a substitute father to Mac’s son."

  "You sound like you’re defending him."

  Her mother did not respond to Jessica’s accusation. Instead, she looked up brightly. "So what’s up with Roxanne these days?"

  "We’re not speaking."

  "And why not? You’ve always been so close."

  "She told the police that Dane killed Mac."

  If her mother was surprised at Jessica’s bold statement, she did not show it. Jessica continued.

  "We haven’t been friends for awhile, Mom. She had a miscarriage last winter and didn’t even tell me. I still don’t know what I did wrong."

  "It might have nothing to do with you," her mother said at last. Jan rose from her chair and put her cup in the sink. "I’ve got to get up early, dear. I promised my grandson he could go with me to feed the horses in the morning."

  "Good. That might cheer him up. On top of everything else, he argued with Alex as we were leaving."

  "He’ll be fine. You’ll all be fine."

  Doubtful, Jessica rose also and followed her mother’s lead. Bed sounded good.

  Before retiring, Jessica tiptoed into the attic room with the sloping ceiling where Devon lay sleeping, innocent of all. She was already worried about how the events of the last eighteen months would affect his adulthood, how he would relate to the women and men who would pass in and out of his life. Closing her eyes tightly, she could only pray that he would turn out okay.

  Later, lying in her own bed, her thoughts turned back to Dane and what he might have felt while reading her brief note, relief or pain. She wondered if he would stay in Wyoming over the holidays or beeline it back to L.A. She labored over whether she had made the right decision or not.

  ~ * ~

  Devon’s excited shouts brought Jessica around the next morning.

  "You should see! They’ve got a new baby horse! Mom, get up!"

  "Okay, okay, give Mommy a minute, will you?" Jessica begged, struggling to sit up from the unfamiliar mattress. Devon stepped back and gave her a winsome smile, and for just a moment, Jessica was certain she was looking into the face of a five-year-old Cory MacKendall. The image shook her. "I’ll be just a minute, sweetheart. You go on back downstairs and I’ll be there soon."

  In the kitchen, her mother was putting out a plate of muffins and scones.

  "There’s coffee, honey. My neighbor brought over the pastries. Help yourself."

  Desirous of nothing more than a sugar-and-caffeine rush, Jessica did help herself as she watched Devon romping in the pasture behind her mother’s house. "Looks like he’s having fun," she said, gulping a healthy dose of coffee while peering out the kitchen window. "He loves horses. Dane’s got him riding pretty well now."

  "Feel any better?" Jan asked, her face a picture of pity and yet a certain determination that bothered Jessica.

  "No. Not as tired, but I’m still… still… upset." It wasn’t the right word, but her mother’s expression unnerved her.

  "Oh, before I forget, I’ve got some mail here for you. Seems the post office was unable to deliver it to your address in Wyoming, something about there being no address on the road? Anyway, it looks important. Only how they found me I have no idea."

  Jessica took and then slit open the certified mail envelope, quickly skimming the letter inside. "It’s about Wesley."

  "What about him? He’s not out, is he?"

  Jessica glanced up at her mother’s wall calendar. "Yes, he was paroled a week ago. It’s policy to let the victim know. And they couldn’t find me. That’s just great. As if I don’t have enough to worry about."

  "Well, he doesn’t know where I am. I moved up here the year after they locked him up." Jan picked up a piece of paper from the kitchen counter, and after a brief moment of obvious uncertainty, she cleared her throat. "Jessica. I’ve been thinking, and I feel you’re being too hasty about Dane. You haven’t even given this marriage six months and you’ve already packed it in. Men are… not all that… astute about their feelings. Sometimes you have to drive the bus yourself."

  "I tried driving the damned bus, Mom. I used all my power. And for what?"

  "I’m only saying, don’t rush into a major decision. Here, I want you to take a few days off, just by yourself. I’ve made reservations at a wonderful little bed and breakfast up in Port Townsend for you. You can take Daddy’s car and be there in an hour. Kick back, think things through, maybe give Dane a call." She forced the paper she’d been holding into Jessica’s hand.

  "I can’t do that. What about Dev?"

  "Devon will be fine here with me. I raised three pretty decent kids myself, you know. And I need to get to know my grandson a little better."

  "But… but…"

  "But what? I dare you to think of a reason why you shouldn’t go. And you’ll love this little inn. It has a ring of familiarity to it. Very relaxing there. The town is just as laid back and easy going as can be."

  Jessica stared at the paper, then back at her mother’s determined expression. "Well… if you think it would be okay… I could use a break."

  "Settled." Jan went to the back porch screened door and hollered. "Devon! Come inside and see your Mama."

  ~ * ~

  Just outside the town limits of the small burg in which her mother lived, Jessica began to cry. Her father’s shiny red Cadillac fairly glided down the blacktop, the well-maintained engine purring and unhurried. Hastily she brushed the tears aside.

  "Oh, Daddy, why can’t any of them be like you?" she whimpered, blinking quickly to clear her vision. "I’m such a wreck. I can’t seem to do this marriage thing at all." Even my marriage to Mac was flawed and messy. "Ha! And Dane thinks it was so perfect."

  After a time, she calmed down and her mind cleared a little. She started looking forward to relaxing alone for a few days. Devon had been no less than thrilled to stay with his grandmother and the horses she boarded.

  The inn was, as her mother assured her, a beautiful relic of elegant days gone by. Jessica parked the Caddy in front on the curbless street and pulled her travel bag from the back seat. Taking a deep breath, she turned the small knob on the manually-activated bell.

  After a few moments, the wide front door swung open and a young woman stood smiling at her. Jessica dropped her bag in surprise. "Amy! Oh my gosh! Is it really you?"

  "It’s me! I couldn’t believe it when your mom called me. She actually kept the card I sent her when we bought this place last year. Come on in!"

  Jessica picked up her bag. "Brian told me you were living up here. But I was such a mess at the time… like when am I not a mess! I totally forgot about it." Stepping inside, Jessica again flung her bag down and embraced her old roommate.

  "Well let’s get you into a room so you can freshen up and gather your wits. Then we’ll talk. Gosh, it’s great to see you."

  Jessica loved the suite Amy had reserved for her. Pink floral prints were everywhere. A huge private bath adjoined the room, complete with a claw foot tub and pedestal sink. A view from the bay window looked over Puget Sound. "This is just perfect," Jessica murmured while unpacking her bag. "I can’t believe this. Thanks, Mom."

  Soon, Jessica was sipping wine in the living room while Amy arranged cheese and crackers on a large platter.

  "We set up wine and cheese nearly every night for the guests," she explained.

  "Where is Casey?"

  "Down at the wine shop buying some Pinot Grigio. A special request from the couple in the honeymoon suite across the hall from yours."

  "Ah. We
ll, I can’t wait to meet him. When are you two getting married?"

  "Umm, don’t know. We’re not sure we want to be married, you know? It’s like, we don’t know anyone who’s all that happily married."

  "I hear you," Jessica muttered, taking another sip of wine. "You might just be right."

  "Well, really, I hope I’m not. I do want to have kids someday, and I think I’d like to be married when I do."

  "That could be a good idea." Jessica sighed, looking around the lovely room filled with antiques and charm. She would not, could not, add the thought of not having more children to her growing list of woes. "What’s to do around here? Where should I have dinner?"

  "With us, of course. Don’t be silly. But tomorrow you might want to wander downtown, there’s lots of shops and restaurants, boutiques, you know, touristy type stuff. I might be able to slip away and go with you for a while. Hey, we even have a movie theater!"

  "No lie?"

  Jessica found Case McKenna to be a warm, if quiet, gentleman. As Amy’s significant other, he was a matching bookend for her friend. Educated, witty, and yet down to earth.

  "MacKendall, McKenna. Yes, I thought of that right away," Jessica acknowledged over dinner.

  "Weirder still, McKenna isn’t my birth name. My folks were named Jenner. I moved in with my aunt when my, uh, dad passed away. Uncle Steve thought it would be easier if I went by McKenna, it was a small town, you know."

  "I see." Jessica nodded, thinking about her own phone book length collection of names. Perhaps Dane had been wise not to have Devon take the Pierce name during the adoption.

  The adoption. Another messy situation. Jessica dabbed at her lips with her napkin. "So. I’m going to play tourist tomorrow and spend all my money," she said with a chuckle.

  "That could take awhile," Amy said with a smile, "if you brought your credit cards."

  After dinner, Jessica retired to the living room with Amy when the dinner dishes were cleared away. The girls chatted before a blazing fire, and Jessica was only remotely aware of Case’s voice as he checked in a late arriving guest. The creaking of the staircase faded and Amy grinned at Jessica.

  "It was his turn," she explained.

  "Do you usually get guests this late?"

  "Sometimes. We were expecting this one, though."

  Jessica nodded. "You have such a different life than I do. Seems like so much fun."

  "I’d love to be in a movie," Amy said, rocking on the floor, her arms wrapped around her bent knees.

  "Okay. We’ll trade." Jessica giggled. "Not sure when I’ll ever do another picture, though. Haven’t felt much like it."

  At Amy’s prompting, Jessica described the mechanics of filmmaking and how long it took to put together a complete production.

  "Amazing," Amy murmured, the firelight reflected in the dream-like expression in her eyes.

  Jessica agreed, but offered a caveat. "You really do give up a lot," she said softly. "It’s really, really hard to have a normal life. I never thought--" The words stuck in her throat as a woman walked haltingly through the doorway.

  Amy got quickly to her feet. "You made it! I was getting worried." Without a shred of hesitation, Amy embraced Roxanne heartily. Over Amy’s shoulder, Roxanne looked expectantly at Jessica.

  "I got a little lost," Roxanne said quietly. "But I’m here now."

  Jessica knew she should stand and greet her former best friend. Instead, she was rooted to the spot, a stone pillar unable to express any emotion.

  Roxanne soon pulled away from Amy, and Amy grabbed a clean wineglass from the nearby sideboard.

  "Join us for a bit of the grape, girlfriend?"

  "Don’t mind if I do," Roxanne finally answered, accepting the glass with a half-hearted salute before sitting at the opposite end of the settee from Jessica.

  The conversation became stilted, Jessica only speaking when necessary to maintain decorum.

  "So catch me up, Aim. Tell me about that lighthouse," Roxanne ventured, not looking at Jessica.

  "Point Surrender." Amy shuddered visibly and took a gulp of her wine. "Let’s just say it’s a whole helluva lot better now than when I stayed there."

  "Why is that? It was lovely when I was there," Jessica countered.

  Amy’s face took on a serious, cloaked expression. "Did you go up into the tower?"

  "No. It was locked. Your brother told me it was because I had Devon with me."

  "Did you?" Roxanne asked Amy, her eyes round with curiosity.

  "It was before Case and I were… together. We’d really only just met--it’s a bit of a long story, but--we were up there, it was a stormy night, lots of wind, waves, you know, a hurricane like, and we needed to get the light working. There were boats," Amy said, her eyes looking beyond her friends on the couch and into the past. "We argued, I fell down those spiraling stairs… I lost my baby later that night." Amy now swallowed hard and attempted a vague sort of smile. "She would have been about a year old now."

  "Oh, no…" Jessica heard herself whisper. "I’m so sorry."

  "It was pretty horrible. The good news is, Case and I got together after that and he took me away from that… place. Brian and Judy fixed it up then moved to San Francisco."

  "That’s awful," Roxanne said. "I had no idea."

  Jessica turned toward Roxanne with an accusing look. "Sometimes people don’t share their heartaches with those who would want to help them." Turning back to Amy, Jessica gave her a sympathetic smile. "My daughter would have been around six by now."

  Amy covered her mouth briefly. "I’d forgotten you lost a baby. It’s so sad. Both of us."

  Once again Jessica turned her eyes upon Roxanne, who was staring into her lap.

  "My son would be six months old right now."

  A gasped escaped Amy’s lips. "You, too, Rox?"

  "Last winter. I’m--I’m sorry I didn’t tell you guys. I just couldn’t." Roxanne looked like she was about to flood tears, and Jessica took a deep breath.

  "I can’t imagine why," she said finally.

  The silence that followed lasted longer than was comfortable for anyone. Amy stood and placed her glass on the fireplace mantel. "I’m sorry, girls, but I’ve got to hit the sack. Coffee’s on at seven-thirty, breakfast at eight-thirty. Sleep well."

  The silence continued after Amy’s footfalls had long died away. It was Roxanne who finally spoke.

  "It’s more than just the baby."

  Jessica raised an eyebrow in Roxanne’s direction. "I’m listening."

  "Tom didn’t think we’d really get pregnant. But it turns out that micro-surgery really works. He was beside himself."

  "Why? Didn’t he want a baby?"

  "It was more complicated than that. I wanted the baby to be legit."

  "I don’t understand."

  Roxanne looked up from where she’d been twisting the corner of a small throw pillow in her lap. "Tom and I… we never really got married. We lied."

  Jessica nearly choked. Quickly she put her wineglass on the coffee table. "What?"

  "When I told you Tom was divorced, I didn’t know he’d lied to me. He has a wife, and she’s institutionalized. It’s a very well kept secret."

  Jessica shook her head. The thought of straight-arrow, easy-going Tom Jarrick living a lie was an impossibility. "What’s wrong with her?"

  "She’s legally insane."

  "Oh, God."

  "He said he couldn’t divorce her. I was pressuring him. I wanted him to find a way. We argued for days, and one night Robbie came in on it. He sided with his dad, of course. Devon was there, too, playing in the back room. I didn’t want him to hear us. I was mad at you for being late. I didn’t know you were late because Robbie had walked out on you."

  "Huh?" Jessica’s confusion grew with each revelation. "Robbie walked out on me? Whatever--?"

  "Robin. Tom’s son. He goes by Quill. It’s his mother’s maiden name."

  "Robin Quill is your stepson?"

  Roxanne nodded. "I was
already mad at you because you… you had everything I didn’t. You had a wonderful marriage, a beautiful son. When Mac died I was devastated, but you seemed to pick up your life and just go on. I couldn’t imagine doing that."

  "Rox, I wish you’d said something…"

  "I was always saying something. Just not the right things."

  "You thought Dane killed Mac."

  "I don’t know what I was thinking. I was taking meds for depression. I was out of my head. Tom started thinking I was going the route of his first wife. He almost went out of his mind trying to straighten me out. Dane was just… convenient, I think. It made sense to me. He’s always loved you, obsessed over you. I became consumed by the idea that he did it. I wanted him to have done it."

  Jessica looked toward the fire, which was beginning to die out. Roxanne’s confession was tearing at her gut. "Dane cared about Mac."

  "From where I stood, he couldn’t have been more hateful." Roxanne sighed, and raked her fingers through her dark bangs, pulling them away from her forehead. "I sneaked around, Jess. After the wedding, I was using his computer to see if my orders were in, and it was too tempting. I know my way around that stuff now, and there was this document he’d been writing, a diary--"

  "Stop. I don’t want to hear about it."

  "It was personal. I shouldn’t have read it. I know, now, what an awful thing I did."

  "It might have helped send him to prison, or worse."

  Roxanne’s fingers fidgeted in her lap. The only sound in the room was the crackle of the log in the fire. Roxanne’s story was heartbreaking, overall, and Jessica’s empathetic side began to surface.

  "I wish you’d confided in me. I’m so sorry about Tom and his… wife, the baby… even Robin. I didn’t have a clue about any of that. I need you to know," Jessica said, forcing her hand to reach for Roxanne’s and grasp it, "I’m still your friend. And for the record, yes, I did pick up my life and go on. But it wasn’t without heartache. Losing Mac devastated me, too. It was like losing myself. I was so empty. I had nothing inside anymore. Until Dane came back into my life. He was the one, the only one, who truly came to my rescue. Without judgment or demands. He was the one." Jessica stopped, noticing that her chest was heaving in evidence of the strong emotions within her. "I love him, Rox. He’s as flawed as they come and I still love him."