by Wendy Vella
Branna felt the anger inside her slip away to be replaced by a weariness that made her slump onto the sofa. It was all too much for a girl who, until recently, would have walked miles over hot coals to avoid any emotional entanglements. All these people dragging emotion from the block of ice that had, until recently, been her heart was getting to be more than she could handle.
“I can’t take much more of this.” Leaning back, she rested her head and closed her eyes.
“I’m sorry, love, sorry that I’m causing you this pain, but I’m not going away, neither I suspect is Jake, or for that matter, Macy. It’s my belief that she will be around for a while and need us both to hold her up.”
“The bruises, Dad, they were all over her body, some old some new. He’s been beating her for years and no one knew. She just caked on her makeup, put on her high heels, and faced the world each day, knowing that when she shut herself back inside her house at night, she was once again in the hands of that monster.”
“Do you want more tea?”
“Whisky, I think.” Branna went to rise, but he placed a hand on her head.
“I’ll get it; tell me where it is.”
“Kitchen cupboard, top left.”
Had she forgiven him? No, it would take time for that. Did she want him back in her life? Branna tested those words in her tired mind and realized she did. The door was open again, and she was letting people in. But forgiveness would take time.
“Here.”
She took the glass he handed her and watched him drag the chair across the room and place it before her.
“Here’s the thing, daughter.” He sat and cradled the glass between his long fingers. “I’m not leaving you again, so you can live your life apart from mine, and I will respect that, but I will stay here, Branna, never doubt that. I know it’s hard for you to forgive me, but if you will just try, love, please.”
She looked down into the amber liquid as he spoke; she heard the pain in his words now that she allowed herself to. “I’m just scared because I don’t want to ever hurt like that again and now it’s not just you that has that power over me, Dad; Jake does too.”
“And you think we’ll both hurt you?”
“No,” she looked up at him, daring to hope. “I know he wouldn’t, and I want to believe you won’t again.”
“Sweetheart,” he lowered his glass to the floor and she noticed his hands shook. “I can only promise you again and again that I won’t, but if you don’t believe me, then I can do no more.”
“What will we do for her, Dad? Macy is hurting and I don’t know how to go about fixing her, fixing the mess that is about to unfold around her.”
He understood that she didn’t want to talk about them anymore. Picking up his glass, he took another mouthful, sighing as the liquid burned its way down.
“We take it in small steps, love. When she wakes, we give her breakfast and then we talk to her. She will have to tell someone she’s safe, maybe her parents? But she doesn’t have to give away her location if she doesn’t want to and we can keep that a secret, and for now we will just keep her here, out of the hands of that monster.”
“Jake will know because I can’t keep this from him.” Branna wanted him so much right at the moment, needed his strength and his wisdom, but most of all, she wanted him to hold her.
“Go to sleep now, Branna, and I’ll watch over us.”
She struggled to her feet and let her father brush a kiss on her forehead before she stumbled up the stairs and fell into his bed.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Jake and Ethan arrived back in Howling as the sun rose. They covered his helicopter and made their way into the house.
“You going to Branna’s now, Jake?”
“Yeah, I’ll just wash and change, then head over.”
“Pretty early, bud,” the Texan said, as he put on the coffee.
“I need to see her.” Was all Jake added, and twenty minutes later, he was walking out the door. Ethan had already disappeared into one of the spare rooms and would be asleep.
Jumping into his pickup, he made his way out the driveway and drove along the lake. This early, the sun was coloring the water as it rose and all around him Jake could see the signs of a day about to begin. Pulling into Branna’s drive a few minutes later, he stopped the pickup behind her van, which was parked close to the house. Relieved that she appeared to be here, along with her father, his rental was parked too, Jake then headed for the front door and knocked. He heard footsteps, then the door was opened, to reveal Declan O’Donnell.
“Jake.”
“Mr. O’Donnell.” He stepped inside when the man stepped back to allow him room. “Is Branna awake?”
“She’s not, but I thought I heard her stirring. If you’ll tell her breakfast will be ready soon, I’ll put on some more for you.”
What was Jake meant to say to that? He’d come here ready to have it out with this man, get him out of the house and away from Branna if she wanted him gone and here he was telling Jake to go and get his daughter from her room, so they could all eat breakfast together.
“Ah, sure.”
“She’s in the spare room because we have a guest.”
“You do?”
“I’ll let Branna fill you in on the details.”
Jake watched Declan O’Donnell make his way back to the kitchen before heading up the stairs. Knocking on the door, he then turned the handle. She was lying on her front, hands flat under the pillow on either side of her head. The covers had ridden to her waist and her shirt was tangled around her ribs, showing him the line of her vertebra that disappeared into her blue panties. He couldn’t see her face, even though it was turned his way, as her hair was covering it. She slept deeply, her breathing even, body still. He just stood there, drinking in the sight of her. Jake felt the pain of longing in his chest, the need to hold her, press his lips to hers, trail his hands up her back and cup her neck. This woman was his future; she now controlled his happiness. With her, he wanted a family and roots of his own. The darkness that had settled over him for so long was lifting and it was due to her, his prickly, belligerent Irish woman who was kind, honest, and had a beautiful soul.
“Hey, Rosebud.” He reached out to brush aside her hair as she stirred. Bending, he then kissed her cheek as she came awake, her sleepy green eyes widening as she realized he stood beside her bed.
“Jake?”
“You been entertaining anyone else in here? Because, I have to say, that would really piss me off.”
“Why are you in my room?” She pushed herself upright, rubbing her hands over her eyes. “What time is it?”
“Early.” She didn’t fight him when he pulled back the covers and picked her up. He carried her to the chair under the window. Sitting, he slipped one hand under the hem of her shirt, skimming the warm soft curves of her body as he kissed her.
“I’m sorry, baby; I never meant to hurt you.”
“Me either and I’m sorry too.” She settled into him, her chin under his, one of her palms flat on his chest.
“I’ve been to Brook with Ethan to see a shrink. I’ve had two sessions, but I need more. He pulled stuff out of me that I didn’t even know was in there.” She listened as he spoke, her hand rubbing circles over his chest as he told her everything that needed to be said, and he felt calm for the first time since he’d left her.
“Do you feel better for talking to him?”
“Yeah, I think so, but I’m not sure I’m ready to practice medicine yet.”
She tilted her head back, resting it on his shoulder, her green eyes studying him. “It wasn’t about you being a doctor, Jake; it was about you making the decision not to be because you could, not based on what had happened to you.”
“I think that makes sense.” He kissed her again, soft and lingering.
“I wish your father wasn’t downstairs.”
“Me too,” Branna sighed.”
“How’s that working for you?”
&n
bsp; “He’s talked at me for two days and I’ve listened and tried to understand, and then last night everything changed.”
“How?” Jake felt her tense, saw as she remembered something that she didn’t want to.
“I went to the Book Club.”
“How’d the cake go down?”
“Good,” she waved a hand in his face. “It was weird and kind of cool, but I’ll tell you about that some other time. Right now, I have to tell you something else.”
“Okay.”
“I need you to promise me you won’t tell anyone else, Jake.”
“Okay.” Jake rubbed a finger down the line that had appeared between her eyes.
She told him the events of last night, finishing with the fact that Macy was now sleeping in her bedroom.
“Brian?” Jake couldn’t get his head around that. “Brian Delray has been beating Macy for years. She’s miscarried at his hands?”
“You don’t believe me, do you?” She tried to get off him as he spoke, but Jake held her there.
“I’m not saying I don’t believe you, Rosebud, but give me a minute here, all right? It’s just going to take a bit to process something like that.”
“I shouldn’t have told you, but I thought you needed to know and that you would help us keep her safe.” He saw she was genuinely worried and that just pissed him off…that she would think he was a threat to Macy.
“You think I would betray a woman who is being beaten, to the man who’s responsible?”
“No!” Her reply was instant and made him happier. “I just don’t know where to go from here, Jake. Brian is a popular man in Howling and when it gets out what he’s done, I’m sure there will be some people who won’t believe Macy.”
“Because she’s never shown us what he’s capable of until now?”
“Yes, but, Jake, if you could see the bruises on her that I saw last night, some old some new, you’d feel as bad as I did. I just stood there and cried and do you know what she said?”
“What?” He had a really sick feeling in his stomach now, at the thought of Macy suffering and none of them realizing it.
“That she deserved some of them.”
He whistled softly. “I’m going to have a little chat with Mr. Delray when the time comes and explain how a lady should really be treated.”
“You believe me then?”
“Of course. If you say it’s true because you believe her, then it is.” And it was that simple to him.
“Oh…oh dear.” She pressed a hand to her mouth and tried to get off his lap again.
“You going to cry?” He wrapped his arms around her tight.
“No…maybe. It’s all the emotion; I’m not used to it.”
“Here’s some more for you,” he said to the top of her head. “I love you.”
“What?”
“I’m sure you heard me.”
“I love you too.”
“You don’t sound too happy about that, sweetheart.”
She chewed her lip. “I am; it’s just that I’m not used to it anymore.”
“It, being love?”
“Love, friendship, emotion, they’re very tiring. People always smiling at me or asking after me. Last night I made more friends, more relationships to juggle. Even Mr. Heath told me that I could go to him if the Book Club ladies gave me any angst.”
He smiled into her hair. His town was folding her into their ranks slowly, molding her into one of them.
“Millie Lawrence doesn’t like me, though.”
“Millie Lawrence doesn’t even like her own kids, Rosebud; don’t take it to heart.”
She sat upright and looked at him. “Okay, you all win; I give up. I’m now a Howler.”
“That’s the spirit.”
“And if you ever just fly off in that helicopter without telling me where you are going or when you will return again, I will not be accountable for my actions, Jake McBride. You got that?”
“Got it.”
She braced her hands on his chest and kissed him, soft and sweet and way too brief; he felt it to the edges of his heart.
“I never wanted to love someone so much that just seeing them walk into room makes something ache inside me. I didn’t want to have my happiness reliant on another person ever again, but you’ve done that to me, McBride, and I’m sure I should be really pissed with you, but all I can think is that you’re mine and I’m yours and I always want it to be that way.”
“You must be a writer to have those words at your disposal.” Jake slipped his hand under her hair. “And if I say ditto, will that be an okay response? Because there’s no way in hell I can compete with you.”
“Yes.”
He held her and kissed her until he had to lift her off his body or take her back to bed.
“We need to go downstairs now, Rosebud, before your father comes looking for us.”
“Okay.”
Jake was happy that she sounded as frustrated as him. He watched as she pulled on a shirt of her father’s that reached her knees, then rolled the sleeves five times.
“You’re one sexy woman, Branna O’Donnell.”
“Okay, sure, now let’s get out of here before I jump you.”
Jake’s eyes crossed at the thought of her sitting on him. “Give me a minute here.” Adjusting his jeans, he thought about his grandmother, who was at present sailing the med, and felt himself begin to calm.
“Right, get moving,” patting her backside, he followed her out and down the stairs.
Declan, Branna, and Jake sat around the table drinking coffee and discussing Macy in hushed voices. They decided it was best to take things slow and work out what to do with her, instead of for her.
“She’ll want to go back to him at first. He will have brainwashed her into making her believe that she’s to blame and that combined with the fear of both him and exposure to the town, will make her want to go back,” Jake said.
“We can’t let her go back.”
“I know that, baby, but I’m telling you what she’s going to say.”
“It will be hard in a small town,” Declan added.
Jake looked at him and nodded. “And she’s going to need strength that she probably doesn’t even know she has right now.”
“Morning.”
Jake stood as Macy appeared in the doorway. He hadn’t seen her without makeup, six-inch heels and expensive clothes for years and he’d forgotten how small she was…fine boned. She looked like a child standing there in Branna’s robe. He took in the bruises on her face and the wounded expression in her eyes, and wondered why he hadn’t looked closer over the years.
“Morning, Miss Macy,” Jake said, forcing himself to smile at her, when inside he was angry as hell.
“Come sit down beside me, Macy, and I’ll get you some coffee and toast.” Branna pulled out a chair and motioned her into it. She hesitated and then did as Branna asked.
“Would you be able to take me home soon, Branna? Brian will worry about me if I’m not there to make his breakfast.”
“No, Macy, you’re not going home.”
“Why, Jake?” She looked genuinely confused at his words.
“Because Brian has been abusing you, and you’re pregnant, and it’s my understanding that you don’t want to lose this child like you have the others.”
Her face broke, she lowered it to Branna’s shoulder and began to cry, silent tears that made her shoulders shake. Branna held her, speaking softly, and Jake and Declan stayed where they were, very aware that the last thing she wanted at the moment was support from a man.
They talked to Macy gently, asked questions until the story of her life at the hands of Brian Delray began to unfold. Declan was gentle; Jake was insistent, but gentle, and Branna was the rock Macy had tethered herself to.
He asked her questions about her pregnancy and the state her body was in. Was she experiencing pain anywhere? Did she have nausea, any bleeding? Jake’s training came back as he questioned her, trying to wor
k out what she would need from a medical standpoint. His mother needed to check her out, as he was sure she wouldn’t want a man touching her, but that would come, just not today. He would get her something to help her sleep, because at the moment that was the best he could do for her and the baby.
It was Branna who told Macy that Cubby would need to be involved and when she finally agreed, the sheriff arrived twenty minutes after Jake phoned him.
“You got a full house now, Branna?” Cubby wandered in, dressed in an old pair of shorts and a T-shirt. Jake had told him to come out of uniform and that they had Macy here and that Brian had been abusing her. He’d heard the hiss of his friend’s breath down the line, but nothing more was added, only. “Be there soon.”
“I’m a social sort of person, Cubby, you know that.”
Branna was sitting with Macy at the table still and Jake could see the stress in his girl. She was torn between rage and pity. Like him, she wanted retribution for the broken woman who had lived the horror she had for so long. Her smile was strained and Jake wanted to wrap her in his arms and tell her how proud he was of her for handling everything the way she was. First her father, now Macy, and then the small matter of someone threatening her.
“Sure you are, never met anyone who likes people as much as you, all that soft mushy stuff you’re always spouting tears me up.”
Macy was watching the sheriff as he moved to take the seat across from her. Declan took one end of the table and Jake the other, closest to Branna. Taking her hand, he rested it on his thigh and threaded their fingers.
“Hey there, Macy, hear you’re having a few problems?”
“This was a mistake, Cubby. I-I need to go home now.”
“Here’s the thing, Macy,” the sheriff said in his calm voice. “I heard that Brian has been abusing you and that you’re carrying a baby. Now, it seems to me that as there’s another life besides yours involved, that you shouldn’t think about going back to a man who has no respect for either of you.”
“Y-you don’t understand what he’s capable of, Cubby!” Macy cried.
“Macy, you need to calm down now,” Branna said, placing her hands over the ones Macy had clenched on top of the table. “You know you can’t go back to him, you know it inside you. Yes, you’re scared and from what you’ve told me, you have every right to be, but it has to stop now, right here.”