A New Start

by Morris Fenris

  That had been a long time ago, yet he could still see the young teenager who’d had her life disrupted so violently when the only parent she had still living lost control. He mentally shook his head as he remembered those days and the ones that had followed. Cathedral Hills had been rocked by the events of that night, and then the surrounding days, weeks and months had caused more upheaval and heartbreak. Now she’s back! Maybe everyone could finally get some answers to their questions.

  “Jenna?” he asked softly, pleased when she raised her eyes to his own, even though his heart tripped at the unshed tears he saw brimming in her own. “I assume you’re here about your parent’s estate?” He’d written the last letter personally, expecting to receive another terse letter from her point of contact, Teresa Martinez. The woman had made several phone calls on Jenna’s behalf, having first faxed over the proper documentation allowing her the right to do so. Trey had looked over all of the communication to date, and been concerned that Jenna wasn’t taking care of her parent’s estate herself. Thus, his letter practically demanding her physical presence in Cathedral Hills before the end of October.

  Glancing at the calendar on his wall, he saw that only eight days had passed since he’d sent that letter off. She must have gotten the message and finally decided to take things seriously. I only wish she had returned to Cathedral Hills under better circumstances. I don’t want to be the one to foreclose on her parent’s house. God, give me wisdom to know what to do here.

  While Trey was lost in his thoughts, Jenna was trying valiantly to maintain her tenuous grip on control of her emotions. Jenna swallowed back the tears that were still threatening to spill over onto her cheeks. The last time she’d seen Trey Cottrell he had been backing out of an office at the Four Corners Women’s Shelter, his hands tucked into the pockets of his baggy jeans, as the staff assured him she would be taken care of. He’d left and never come back.

  The words of her counselor came back to her and it took all of her remaining mental energy to focus on the task at hand, rather than the memories of the past. “I received several letters from this bank – your bank – and there seems to be a problem with the mortgage not having been paid since my father’s death?”

  Trey allowed her to bring herself back under control and took his cues from her, “Yes. I personally drafted that last letter. I’ve already pushed the boundaries of what our board of directors will allow in regards to the missing mortgage payments.”

  Trey had written that letter? How did I miss that piece of information? Oh yeah, I only read the first few lines and then folded it up and put it away! Idiot! You should have read the entire letter so you could have been prepared for whom you were going to have to deal with. Jenna shook her head, “The house should have been more than paid off with the life insurance money. I personally signed the paperwork, turning the entire proceeds over to this bank, with a letter to deposit any overages into an interest bearing account to be held in trust for a future cause. I have a copy of the notarized form right here.”

  Jenna reached into her large bag and pulled out a manila folder containing all of the paperwork related to her parent’s estate. Her father’s death had come and gone, and Jenna had gone on with her life as if nothing had happened. She’d made an effort to reconcile with her father three months after leaving Cathedral Hills, but he’d still been mired in alcohol and grief over his wife’s death. The conversation had been more destructive than anything and the impetus for a ten-day slide into drugs and alcohol that had ended with Jenna in rehab for the first of many such mandatory stays. Don’t go there! You’re done with that part of your life. Focus on settling your parent’s estate and taking the money held in account and getting on with your future.

  She pulled out the correct form and handed it across the couch to Trey. “There should have been more than two hundred thousand in excess funds.” Funds that are going to let me go far away from here and start a new life. One that doesn’t include memories of the past!

  As part of Jenna’s self-imposed therapy, she had asked Teresa to help her discover what she was supposed to be doing with the rest of her life; knowing that for her, a purpose would help keep her from dwelling on the failures of her past. As a result, she now held an associate degree in counseling, and was currently enrolled in an online program that would help her finish the required credits needed for her bachelor degree.

  She had used herself as a working case study, and with Teresa’s help and guidance, she was well on her way to becoming a licensed counselor, specializing in young women who had lost their way – whether by their own choices, or those beyond their control. Upon receiving news of her father’s death, she had allowed her goals to be derailed for a short period of weeks. But Teresa had helped her navigate her way through the myriad of emotions that had come with that knowledge, and in the end, she had decided to use the remaining life insurance money to help start a combination half-way house and life re-building center for young women.

  She’d already decided to name her program You Are Not Alone, in deference to how alone she had been as she tried to recover her life. She was determined to help as many young women as possible and she had left the money alone until now because she hadn’t been ready to start. Now she was! I just need to get things in Cathedral Hills closed up and then decide where I want to base myself.

  Trey watched the thoughts cross Jenna’s face, wishing he knew how to interpret them. She had a determined look upon her face at whatever thoughts had captured her attention. He gently took the form from her hand and looked it over carefully. Mrs. Withers entered with a tray containing tea and coffee, as well as a plate of decadent chocolate brownies she had pilfered from the break room. “Here we go. I wasn’t sure if you preferred tea or coffee, so I brought both, just in case.”

  The introduction of a new voice startled Jenna back to her present surroundings. “Thank you,” Jenna told the aging woman, giving her a kind smile as she remembered how kind the woman had been to her after her mother’s sudden death.

  “You are most welcome, Miss Jenna. It’s good to have you home once again.” Mrs. Withers patted Jenna on the shoulder after setting the tray down and then gave her a warm smile, “Welcome home, dear.”

  Jenna started to correct the woman, but didn’t get the chance. Mrs. Withers vacated the office, shutting the door behind her, and leaving Jenna alone with Trey, once again.

  Trey gestured towards the coffee service, “Help yourself.”

  Jenna nodded and reached for an empty cup, “Do you want some?”

  Trey shook his head, “Not right now. I’ll just read over this paperwork for a minute.”

  Jenna fixed herself a cup of tea with sugar and then helped herself to a brownie. She closed her eyes as the chocolate melted on her tongue. Why does chocolate always make things seem so much better?

  Trey watched her from beneath his lashes, remembering a similar look of pleasure on her face when he’d been driving her to the shelter. She’d been crying and shivering in reaction to her father’s abusive behavior, and he’d been desperate to make her feel better. He’d found a chocolate bar hidden in his glove box, no doubt put there by his sister, Michelle, and had offered it to Jenna.

  She’d taken the treat, and by the time she’d finished eating it, her tears had dried up and she’d looked more capable of handling what was happening around her. She spent the remainder of the drive silently looking out the window, her arms wrapped tight around herself as she had withdrawn from him and his attempts to draw her into conversation. After more than an hour, he’d finally stopped trying and found an easy rock station to help dispel the atmosphere inside the truck.

  Trey grabbed his reading glasses, and then began looking over her documentation. As he finished reading the first piece of paperwork, he walked over to his desk, grabbed a tablet, and started making notes for himself. The paperwork Jenna had given him was all just as she’d explained, however, the insurance money had never arrived at his bank. At least, n
ot to his knowledge.

  “Jenna, do you mind if I make a couple of phone calls?” Trey asked, gesturing to the paperwork in his hands.

  “No,” she answered, shaking her head. Whatever you need to do to clear this mess up so I can get out of town! “I called the insurance company when the first letter arrived and they assured me a check had already been sent out. I spoke to someone in your loan department when the second notice arrived, but they couldn’t seem to find any evidence of an open mortgage under my parent’s name, so I assumed everything had been taken care of.”

  Trey nodded, “Give me a few minutes to try and straighten this all out, okay?”

  * * *

  Chapter 3

  Jenna nodded, leaning back against the couch and trying to calm her racing heart. The memories had taken her by surprise as she had made a conscious effort to forget that horrible night, and when she’d seen Trey’s name sitting there on the desk, she had completely fallen apart. That was back then and you’ve already spent enough of your life living in the shadow of the past. Just let it go!

  The last time she’d been in Cathedral Hills, she had been a sixteen-year-old kid, her entire world having fallen apart around her ears in the space of a few months. First, her mother had died of an unexpected stroke, leaving her and her father alone in this world.

  Her father had taken the loss of his wife hard; very hard. Her once loving father had become bitter and angry at the world. He’d abandoned his sobriety of thirty years, diving headfirst into the closest bottle and refusing to surface.

  The more Jenna had pushed, the angrier he had become until he’d started taking his anger out on her – physically. The first time he’d hit her, she had told her friends and teachers at school a story about falling down their stairs at home. Over the next several months, she’d had more and more accidents, withdrawing from after-school activities and spending time with her friends. She sank deeper and deeper into depression and feelings of guilt that somehow she was to blame for her father’s behavior. She’d not been quiet enough! She’d burned his toast! She looked too much like her mother!

  The list of accusations he threw at her each time they got into an altercation just kept coming, stealing her self-worth as the injuries stole her ability to participate in normal teenage activities. The final straw had come when she had withdrawn from the school newspaper as editor. Writing and journalism had been her passion since middle school, but she had given it all up. And to make matters worse, she had refused to answer any of the questions her friends threw at her in regards to why.

  She knew her actions had been viewed as hurtful to her friends, especially her best friends Missy, Brooke, Taylor, Stephanie and Michelle – Trey’s younger sister. What she hadn’t realized is that they had begun following her and were fully aware of what was happening in her home. Trey’s father, Pastor Cottrell, had tried speaking to her father, but the man had thrown the preacher out of his house.

  Taylor had even gotten her father, Sheriff Watson, involved. Cathedral Hills was a very small community, and while everyone usually knew everyone else’s business, the fine people of the community also respected each person’s right to handle their affairs as they saw fit. At Taylor’s insistence, Sheriff Watson had even begun dropping by the house every couple of days to see if he could be of assistance. Everyone living in town knew there was a problem brewing in the Baxter household, but only Jenna’s closest friends truly knew how quickly things were escalating out of control.

  Jenna remembered very distinctly the day her friends had cornered her outside the church and urged her to file charges against her father so that he could get the help he needed. They had just finished choir practice, and Jenna had been forced to decline a solo in Sunday’s morning worship service because she’d had another unfortunate accident and her jaw was swollen and bruised.

  When her friends had called her on the lie, she had gotten angry with them. Jenna had been terrified of being all alone. She’d already lost her mother, and there was no way she was going to be responsible for sending her father away. She had assured the girls that her father was just going through a bad spot and things would get better soon.

  But they hadn’t gotten better! They had continued to escalate, and Jenna had sunk even deeper into the quagmire her life had become, even to the point of believing she actually deserved her father’s poor treatment. It had been five months since her mother’s death, and Jenna was no longer the same teenager she’d once been. She was nervous, scared easily, and refused to participate in any social activities.

  Michelle and her other friends had finally come up with a plan to save her from herself and had contacted the Four Corners Women’s Shelter and arranged for Jenna to go there. They had chosen a shelter several hours away, afraid if they contacted the one in Montrose, her father would be able to find her and their efforts would have been in vain. The only problem had been how to get her away from her father and to the shelter. That’s where Trey and his friends had come in.

  The plan had been simple. Go by Jenna’s house and convince her she needed a night out with the girls for a sleepover, and then once they arrived back at Michelle’s house, Trey and his friends would have shown up and they would have loaded up in the various vehicles and all taken a road trip together. All of their parents were away at a church retreat that weekend and they figured they could get her to the shelter, make sure she was going to be okay, and then get home before anyone was the wiser.

  What they didn’t plan on was having to move their schedule up by several hours. Trey’s friends had been returning from a band trip, and weren’t supposed to be back in town before 9 p.m., meaning they weren’t scheduled to take their little trip until after 10. Circumstances required them to move their schedule up by over 3 hours!

  Michelle and the other girls had shown up at Jenna’s house, intending to surprise kidnap her for a pretend sleepover. They had knocked on the door, and when they heard the sounds of her father screaming in anger, Michelle had forgotten all of the lessons her momma had taught her about respecting other’s property. She had reached out and opened the front door, walking in on a horrific scene straight out of a horror movie, but this was real life and happening to someone she loved and cared about.

  Michelle and the other girls had watched Jenna’s father hit her hard enough to knock her off her feet, sending her tumbling down the stairs to land in a crumpled mess at their feet. They had immediately rushed to her aid, taking stock of her most visible injuries and trying to get her back onto her feet.

  When Jenna’s father had attempted to come down the stairs, Taylor, Brooke, and Stephanie had stopped him, physically threatening him with everything they could think of if he didn’t turn around and go back up the stairs.

  Michelle had immediately called Trey for assistance while the other girls continued their screaming and verbal attack of Jenna’s drunken father. After hanging up the phone, Michelle did her best to console Jenna, anxious for her brother to arrive before Jenna’s father decided to come back down the stairs. Trey showed up only a few minutes later, sans friends as they were still traveling, but he informed the girls that Sheriff Watson was also on his way. Michelle tried to convince Jenna that she needed to press charges against her father this time, but she still refused!

  Fearing the authorities would release Jenna back into her father’s custody, Michelle convinced her brother to just take Jenna and drive her to the shelter instead of waiting for the authorities. He’d been easy to convince as he looked at the broken young woman his sister held in her arms. She had a split lip, bruises on her arms and according to Michelle, over her ribcage as well.

  Trey had suggested taking her over to the hospital in Montrose first, but they wouldn’t have treated a minor without parental consent. In fact, he and his sister hadn’t been able to come up with any alternatives that wouldn’t immediately involve putting her father right back into her life. Without a second’s hesitation, he had gingerly helped Jenna into his truck
and headed out on the five-hour one-way drive to the shelter. She hadn’t put up much of a fight, and he’d wondered if she wasn’t partially in shock.

  Along the way, Trey had explained his sister and her friends’ plan, but unbeknownst to him, Jenna had been too hurt by her father’s latest accusations to give his comments much consideration. Her father truly believed she was the reason her mother had died. According to her father, her mother had been so disappointed in Jenna that her mother’s heart and brain had simply given out.

  Jenna recalled sitting in the truck, trying to figure out what she could have done differently. She’d been an A student, top of her class and always on the honor roll since entering high school. She had been voted the Homecoming Queen both her freshman and sophomore years. And she stood a good chance of being voted into the treasured position her junior year.

  She had friends aplenty, sang in the church choir, and thought she had a perfect mother-daughter relationship – until the moment when her father had hurled his drunken accusations at her. The moment when her entire reality had shifted and the veils had been removed. Your mother sacrificed all of her dreams for you! She couldn’t wait until graduation so that she could stop having to put her life on hold to take care of you!

  Her counselors had told her that she couldn’t listen to the drunken ranting’s of a grief-stricken man, and that she still had to trust her heart to know the truth. But Jenna had been so hurt by everything that had happened, she had let her father’s words become her new reality. Teresa had made more progress in this area than any of the others; forcing Jenna to dwell on the years and months before her mother’s death. Even going so far as to video record some of her sessions. Anyone watching and listening to Jenna speak about her mother would have come away with the same conclusion – Belinda Baxter had loved her only child deeply! But those revelations hadn’t come soon enough!