“You’re back?” Tony asked with a look of confusion on his face. “Your doctor friend said you might show up here.”
“Josh?” Willow asked, stunned that the two would have talked again.
“Yeah, he left yesterday.”
“What do you mean? He was here?”
“You bet he was. I don’t know how he did it but he was down in that basement storage for two whole days sorting through everything. It took him almost a full day just to get to the back utility closet where I put all your old stuff.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I told you, your parents’ things were down there but they were so buried I didn’t know how you’d ever get to them. Well he said that he thought you’d be back here one day to go through everything and he wanted to make sure you could get to them. I’ll be honest, it’s nasty down there. He came up out of that basement at the end of every day looking like he’d been working in a coal mine. That kid must really care about you to do that. But I didn’t expect you back here so soon. He thought you’d maybe be back some time down the road, but not now.”
“I’ve been scared,” Willow admitted, her emotions making it impossible for her to block the truth from coming out. “I’m really scared.”
A look of discomfort, swirled in with some empathy, filled Tony’s face. “Maybe you should call him. This doesn’t sound like something you should do alone. I’m sure he’d come back.”
“He would. But I can’t ask him to. I wasn’t very nice to him.”
“It didn’t seem to stop him from doing this for you,” Tony reminded her, gesturing toward the house. “I know there is a lot of stuff down there. Maybe four or five boxes full. I’d hate to see you do that alone.”
“Me too,” Willow said, staring up at the cloudless sky. “Maybe I could get them shipped somewhere. My brother would want to see this stuff, too.”
“I could help you with that. Josh moved them right out to the front of the basement. I could get my boy to help me carry them up. But I think it would cost a fortune to ship, they’re heavy as hell.”
“Maybe I’ll rent a car and drive them down.”
“Down where?”
“North Carolina.”
“I think that would be a good idea.”
“I still need to see the apartment though, I think.” The shake in Willow’s voice was telling.
“I’ll let you in if you want, but can I tell you something?”
Willow nodded, unable to form any words for a second as her throat closed up with the thought of walking up the narrow brown stairwell toward her parents’ house.
“This place isn’t going anywhere. Nothing up there is changing. I don’t mind letting you in, but I’ll be honest, I’m not real good with emotions and stuff. You should have your people with you.”
“My people?” Willow asked wiping the tears away.
“Yeah, you know the ones who were here the last time you tried. And maybe more. I don’t care how many you bring, have a party up there for all I care. I think there are some things best done alone, but this ain’t one of them. It’s just my opinion. You do what you like.”
Willow thought on it for a minute. Her people. Who exactly were her people? Josh? Bobby and Piper? Her adoptive parents whom she’d completely shut out? Betty? Jedda? When she really thought about it, if she had the guts to ask any of them they’d all drop what they were doing, lock arms with her and practically carry her up those steps if she needed it. Without deserving it, or knowing how it had happened, she had people.
“Maybe you’re right,” she relented as she stepped down off the porch and stood in the tall weed filled grass. She tilted her head up to see the window she’d spent so much time staring through. Turning toward the street she’d always looked out over, she was amazed how little the corner store had changed. Squinting, she focused in on a man leaning against the wall smoking a cigarette, pressed down tightly between two of his fingers. He pushed off the wall and walked a few steps as he greeted another man with a bump of their fists. The limp in his left leg brought her back to her childhood instantly.
“That guy, what’s his name?” Willow asked, walking toward him without much thought.
“Where are you going?” Tony asked hurrying up behind her and catching her elbow. “Don’t go over there. That’s Lucian. He’s trouble.”
“I remember him. That limp, he’s been hanging out there forever right?”
“He’s a punk. Yeah, he’s been hanging there for as long as I can remember. Why?”
“I just remembered something. He was with a girl for a while and then she was gone. I remember her,” Willow said, thumping her palm to her forehead, trying to force the memories to come together.
“So?” Tony asked, shrugging his shoulders and not letting go of Willow’s elbow.
“Someone recently showed me a picture of that girl but I’d forgotten her. I didn’t make the connection. I’m sure of it now though,” Willow asserted, nodding her head as the puzzle came together for her. “I need to go do something, but I’ll be back for those boxes. If you can bring them up I’ll be back in a day or two for them.”
“Okay,” Tony answered, looking completely confused. It didn’t dissipate as Willow threw her arms around him for a hug. Something neither of them really expected would happen. “You’re a nice man.”
“Thanks,” he stuttered, with a bashful smile that made Willow happy. Happy, she thought to herself acknowledging the wave as it swept her up.
She raced to the curb and had to fight the urge to cross the street and confront Lucian. She slipped her phone out of her pocket and snapped a picture of the man with the limp on the curb. She hailed a cab and headed for the only person she knew in the city that might be able to help.
Chapter Nineteen
“I need to talk to him now,” Willow demanded of the man in front of the police precinct. Finally, the he rolled his eyes and gestured for her to head back as he buzzed her in.
“Willow, what are you doing here?” Denny asked as he gathered up the gruesome crime scene photos he was analyzing and tucked them into a file.
“I need your help.”
“Another bar fight?” he asked with a half-smile.
“No, I remembered something else and I need you to help me do it the right way. I thought about confronting the guy myself but I came here instead.”
“That’s a good choice. About time you started making some.”
“Funny,” Willow mused with a forced laugh. “Here, see this guy?” She flashed a photo from her cell phone toward Denny. “His name is Lucian. He hangs out in front of the place my parents lived. He has forever. When I was,” she hesitated as she looked for the right words, “being kept at my parents’ house I used to just look out the window for hours. I remember this guy with a girl. Then she was gone and so was he for a while and then he came back and she never did.”
“Willow, that’s not really a crime. I’m afraid I can’t help you.”
“Let me finish. A while back, that girl’s sister, knowing that I had lived in that neighborhood, showed me a picture of the girl and asked for my help in finding her. The girl has been missing for years. She’s never been found. Her family is still looking for closure. I didn’t make the connection because I was only thinking of the girls in my parents’ house. But when I saw him out there, it came back to me. I think he did something to her.”
Denny took in deep breath and folded his arms across his chest. Willow braced herself for more objections and fully intended to fight her way past them. But she didn’t need to. “What’s the girl’s name? Let’s see what we can do.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“Don’t thank me yet. Good chance you won’t like this one either but I’m going to give it a try because, frankly, you’ve got a fire in your belly so few people have anymore.”
“I really do want to do something. Anything that might help.”
“Pull up a chair. Let’s look he
r up and then we’ll go have a chat with Lucian. I can’t promise you anything but we can try.”
“I feel good about this one, Denny,” Willow announced with a wide smile. “I think we make a great team.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I don’t really do teams. But you can get the coffee or something.”
Chapter Twenty
It’s funny how adrenaline can make a twelve-hour drive feel like a breeze. The weight of the boxes in the back seat of her rental car was slowing her down but nothing was going stop Willow from getting to that wedding. The last week had been life altering. It had made her feel things she never had before. Everything was stripped back and she had shed layers of herself she never knew she could. The last seven days she was Willow, in the truest form she’d ever experienced.
Every song on the radio was speaking to her. Every state she blew through got her closer to where she was desperate to be. When her eyes grew tired she reminded herself that she had no time to rest. Everyone would already have headed for the coast. They’d be there any minute and at the pace she was keeping, she’d be there just in time to see Piper walk down the aisle. She’d be wearing the jeans and T-shirt with a ketchup stain on it but she was hoping everyone would be able to overlook it.
Luckily, in true Betty fashion she’d gotten a voicemail two days earlier with all the wedding information just in case. And like usual that just in case had come to fruition. She knew where she was heading. She knew when she had to be there. The only thing she didn’t have figured out was what the hell she was going to do or say once she was.
Chapter Twenty-One
“You ready for this, brother?” Michael asked as he slapped Bobby on the shoulder, both of them dressed for the ceremony.
“I think I’ve been ready for this since the first time I saw her in the diner. I just hope she’s ready.”
“She is. I saw her this morning. So happy, so confident,” Michael assured him as he cracked open a beer and passed it to Bobby then grabbed one for himself.
“Thanks for standing up with me today. I’m not sure we would have had much in common if it weren’t for our two lunatic women, but I’m glad they’re as crazy as they are so we can be friends.”
“They are trouble makers but I wouldn’t trade this for anything. We got pretty lucky. Hey speaking of crazy women, have you heard any updates on Willow? She still out in California?”
“I got a call from that detective in Jersey who helped us, saying he’d seen her and she was doing okay. So I guess she’s back there. But I haven’t told anyone else. It’ll just drive Jedda nuts and I think Josh is barely over it. I don’t want to drag him back to it.”
“I saw him this morning; he looks like shit,” Michael said as he adjusted his tie in the reflection of the glass door. They’d been banished to the back porch of the beach house so the women could get ready. Jedda and Clay were good enough to get everything set up for the ceremony out by the water. Chairs. The arbor, the trail of flowers over the sand that would serve as an aisle.
Bobby and Piper had decided on simple, as absolutely simple as Betty would allow. They’d have been perfectly happy packing a lunch, everyone piling in the car and heading to the courthouse for a quick and informal eloping ceremony. But of course, that wouldn’t fly with Betty. A certain level of pomp and circumstance was still required, even if it was just for her sake. She’d earned it after all. They’d all put her through the emotional ringer over the years. Loving them, worrying about them, it was no small task and she did it tirelessly. The least they could do was stand up in front of her and all the people they love and commit themselves to each other.
“Boys,” Betty’s voice sang as she peeked her head out the screen door and looked them over. “Bobby, for goodness sake, your tie looks like it was tied by a blind ape. Get over here.” She stepped out and immediately yanked him over by the collar to get him squared away.
He looked into her face as she worked with a look of determination to fix the mess he’d made of it. “You ever stop cleaning up after everyone?” Bobby asked as she tightened the knot and laid it flat with a gentle push of her hand.
“I sure hope not. That’ll be a sad day when no one needs me anymore,” her eyes glazed over for a moment as she brushed some invisible lint off the sleeve of Bobby’s coat.
“Good thing you associate yourself with a group who can’t seem to keep themselves out of trouble. One of us gets sorted out and two more show up with something for you to worry about.” Michael grinned as he stepped toward Betty, allowing her to straighten his already perfectly straight tie.
“Speaking of which, anyone heard from Willow? I sent her the information for the wedding but I didn’t hear back.” Betty said, in a hushed voice.
“It’s okay,” Bobby shrugged. “Thank you for trying, but we have lots of people here. I’m so glad Marty and his family could come. It’s nice having my parents here and seeing them with Jedda again. It’s like going back in time to when he first moved in with us. I can almost imagine what it would have been like if none of the bad stuff happened and we all just ended up right here. Time helps. It’s why I believe Willow will eventually come around.”
“She will,” an out of breath voice called from behind them. They all turned to see Willow looking harried and bending to relieve the cramp in her side from running down the long driveway toward the house.
“Willow, you made it,” Bobby cried out, pulling her in for a hug. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Just out of breath,” she huffed into his shoulder as his arms closed tighter around her. He’d already resigned himself to her not coming, and the sight of her here now was stirring his already raw emotions.
“I’m so sorry I’m late, and I look like crap. I don’t have anything to wear. I can stand in the back or something,” she apologized as she looked down at her messy clothes. “I actually just needed to tell you something and I didn’t want it to wait. I need your advice.”
“No way,” he said, shaking his head assertively. “Not about the advice, that’s fine. But you aren’t standing somewhere in the back. Betty you can do something right? I want her standing up with me.”
“With you?” Willow asked furrowing her brows.
“Yes. Michael is my best man, and Jedda is standing with me. I want you up there too.”
“Why?”
“We have a bond, Willow. Jedda is our brother and as far as I’m concerned, you showing up here today makes you my sister. It means the world to me and I want you up there. You’re my family.”
“I,” Willow bit at her lip and finally just nodded her head in agreement when the words couldn’t be found.
“Let’s go find you something to wear.” Betty rejoiced, locking her arm in Willow’s and tugging her toward the house.
“Someone should warn her,” Michael said and it had Willow digging her heels in and turning around to try to decipher his comment.
“Warn me about what?”
“Your parents are here,” Michael said calmly and directly. “I thought you should know.”
“They are?” she asked in a tiny, childlike voice and turned to Betty as though she’d have something supportive to say. And like usual she did.
“Child, if the worst thing you have to face in a day is your wonderful parents, then you’ll be fine. I’ve had the pleasure of spending a morning with them and they are truly lovely people. They have the one thing you need in parents.”
“What’s that?” Willow asked, leaning in slightly toward Betty for support
“Absolute unconditional, no strings attached kind of love. It’s not easy to do and it’s even harder to find, but they’ve got it. So I know you’ll work it out.”
“I hope you’re right,” she sighed, as she stepped into the house.
“With my track record, the odds are in your favor sweetie. I’m always right.”
“I wonder what she needed your advice on?” Michael asked taking a long swig of his beer.
“Well with her track record it doesn’t matter, she wouldn’t take my advice.”
“She seems different,” Michael offered, leaning against the rail of the porch.
“She does,” Bobby agreed as he clanked the side of his beer against Michaels. “Maybe another broken person all fixed up? I’m starting to think we might be onto something here. Maybe we can save the world.”
“Let’s just try to keep our little world safe and calm for a while before we try to conquer anything else.”
“I can live with that.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Willow tried on seven dresses before settling on the simple cream-colored eyelet capped sleeved one.
“Tell me again why you have this many dresses here in my size?” Willow asked Betty as she stepped out of the bathroom. She laughed as Betty let out a happy gasp at the site of her in the dress.
“I’m a firm believer in being prepared for all types of scenarios. But I’ll be honest I was pleasantly surprised to need one of these dresses. I’ve known a lot of people in my life but you’re the first to flat out call me a bullshitter.”
Willow felt the heat rise in her cheeks as she thought back to what she’d said on the phone to Betty while she was drunk. “I am truly sorry about that Betty. I was so angry.”
“I know child, no need to apologize. I like that spark you have in you. I think if you can harness that and use it for good you could move mountains.”
“Can I ask your advice on something? Well two things really.”
“Of course.” Betty said, patting the bed next to her and Willow settled shoulder to shoulder with her.
“I have something really important to tell everyone but I’m afraid my timing is wrong. I don’t want to keep it for another minute but I also know this is Bobby and Pipers day.”
Settling Scores (Piper Anderson Series) Page 13