Tiny Dancer

by J. M. Worthington

  Chapter 31

  Annie Prieto

  I had the entire ride over to process this ... everything. Too bad it was a short trip and my mind was foggier than when I walked out of the house.

  I had used my time in the car to study Wes trying to see some resemblance in him to me. Our eye color was definitely the same, but my eyes were more almond shaped. He was much shorter than I figured my father to be. I would’ve, however, considered myself blessed to have a touch of his auburn locks. It would have contrasted nicely with all my brown.

  I had finally found my father, but it didn’t feel like the blessing I thought it would’ve been.

  Wes parked the car and stared ahead. “I talk to her about you. She’s always seems happier when I’m talking about you. I do love you, always have, always will, but I’m all Evie has. Understand that. I never wanted to hurt you. Hell, I’ve wanted to love you, but I had to keep my Evie safe.”

  I rubbed a fist over the tee-shirt covering my scars. At least, he kept one of us safe.

  Wes got out of the car and never even looked back to see if I was following him. He led me down a long hallway and into a sterile room. I glanced around the room and stopped dead in my tracks when my eyes landed upon a woman in a hospital bed. Her long, mahogany hair feathered out over a pillow, her face was turned to the window and the small sliver of her profile showing appeared as if she was enjoying the view. It would have been a peaceful and beautiful sight if the view wasn’t of a brick wall.

  Wes walked over to the woman and kissed her on top of the head then wrapped a strand of hair around one of his fingers.

  “Evie, sweetheart, you look beautiful.” A smile appeared on Wes’s face and a softness washed over every line of his body. “But you’re always beautiful. I brought you a surprise today. It’s Annie. I told you she would come back one day. She’s grown now, and too big to crawl around on your bed anymore.”

  All I could do was stare. My feet planted firmly to the floor. Never once in any of those sappy romances I loved to read was a love more apparent then what I was witnessing in front of me. It was the real kind of love, not some fantasy in a fairytale.

  He glanced over at me, a hint of worry glistened in his eyes, and shifted my mother around to face me. My heart slammed in my chest as ice coursed through my veins. I wanted to run away from my body but I couldn’t. Swallowing, breathing, speaking became impossible. Total panic sit in. It was all too much. My mother was alive and in front of me.

  My eyes roamed over her face as I slowly took in the woman in front of me. I had never even seen her picture until that morning but I could tell it was the same woman in the picture Lucas had shown me.

  She was plumper than the picture but other than the vacant look in her eyes and numerous machines hooked to her body, she appeared well taken care of.

  I carefully took a few steps, unsure if I could even stay upright, and approached her bedside. “Hey.” I paused, wondering if I should address her as Mother, Mom, or Evie. She was still a stranger to me. “I’m Annie. Your daughter.” The words sounded odd coming from my lips.

  Her eyelashes batted quickly as she focused in on me. It sounded like she tried to grunt but it was hard to hear over the swishing sound of the numerous machines connected to her body.

  “I told you she was a mirror image of you. Lucky for her, she only inherited my eyes. Who would ever believe that something from me would make her even more beautiful?”

  I glanced up and noted the familiar shade of Wes’s eyes. They were carbon copies of my own.

  Wes took Evie’s hand in his, and I swear Evie’s head leaned toward him. It was hard to tell if she simply slipped or if she deliberately moved herself. “I love you, too.” Wes smiled and shifted the pillow under Evie’s head.

  Did she need him as much as he wanted her to?

  Wes’s head dipped down and the tip of his nose grazed the skin of Evie’s neck. “Having her here makes you happy, doesn’t it? It makes me happy to have my girls together again,” he whispered in her ear and kissed her cheek as if she was the most precious person in the world.

  What the heck? The man who the small town of Carterville said had it all was sitting there holding a woman’s hand like she was all that mattered. A woman who could no longer return the love. How did he do it? Knowing she will never be more than ... a living vegetable. Death no longer looked like the worse fate a person could have.

  The tears wielded up in my eyes. It all made sense. All the lies weren’t because of me. Wes didn’t abandon me as a baby, he did what he needed to do to protect my mother. The bitterness and ache I’ve had for the man who had fathered me all my life faded into sorrow and understanding. The tears poured down my cheeks. The devotion and love Wes Carter had for Evie Prieto was obvious and breathtaking. Wes wasn’t the only one breaking in two anymore — I was too.

  I caught a glimpse of the mirror hanging on the closet door. It framed the image of my mom, Wes, and me perfectly. A portrait of a family. My family. I no longer saw the broken girl without a family anymore but a grown woman accepting her new path.

  “I used to bring you here when you were a baby,” Wes paused to take a deep breath, drawing my attention back to him. “You would crawl on her bed. It was the happiest time in my life. I know it sounds crazy, but to have you and Evie together.” He shook his head and stroked a hand over Evie’s hair. “I never cared about the money, anything, but you two.”

  I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around him. He hesitated before tightening his grip around me. “I’m sorry about those four years. I should’ve let Ruth and Charles adopt you, but that would’ve required the courts deeming your mom as unfit. I know she will never be able to be a mother to you, but I couldn’t let anyone call her unfit.” Wes kissed the top of my head. “I love you, but I’ve never loved anyone like I do your mom. She will always be the most important person in the world to me.”

  I couldn’t be mad at Wes. He was stating the truth, and I was glad my mother had that kind of love in her life.

  It was hope that I would have it too one day.

  The GPS led me straight to the address Granny gave me and a building so utilitarian I felt I needed to take a bath in bleach simply to walk inside. It was only twenty-five minutes from my front doorsteps to its front door. The place that housed Evie Prieto. A woman whose grave I’d seen with my own eyes. It was still hard to wrap my head around the whole thing. My entire life had been a lie but so had Annie’s, and she was the only one I gave a damn about.

  I fell back on the bench directly in line with a bank of elevators. I had no intention of going up. I just wanted to be here when Annie came down.

  It had already been a full hour since I showed up. I rolled my head against the stone wall. The picture of Miles Blankenship kept playing in my head. Damn, it was no doubt he was my dad. We were almost a mirror image.

  The bing from the elevator signaled the doors opening. My eyes snapped open to see Annie exiting it. She was holding my dad’s hand, or her dad’s. Hell, I didn’t know what was up or down anymore. The only thing I was sure of was that Annie was all that mattered, even if she was now my step-sister. Damn, just the thought made me want to slam my fist into the wall. Annie released Wes’s hand and wiped her nose. She had been crying. I stood up. Wes noticed me first.

  “Lucas,” he said.

  Annie lifted her eyes and found mine. They widened, and she smiled behind the tears. She ran to where I was standing and threw herself in my arms. Wes walked up behind her as Annie buried her tear stain cheeks against my chest.

  “I’m sorry,” Wes said. “I don’t know what else to say. Except that Jennifer and I did what we thought was best for the both of you.”

  “Because the foster system is always best,” I said through gritted teeth. He did what was best for him not Annie. That was going to change. Annie would come first from that moment on.

  “Lucas, don’t. Please, for me.” Annie never lifted her head from my chest.


  Wes placed a hand on Annie’s shoulder and squeezed. Annie used both of her hands to grab a fistful of my dress shirt as her body flinched under his touch. Wes never noticed but I did.

  “Sweetie. I’m going back up to make sure Evie is okay. Today had to be hard on her.”

  Hard on Evie. What about Annie? Did he even care about Annie?

  Wes punched the button on the elevator without even a backward glance at us. I never hated anyone more than I did him. I wanted to somehow make everything okay. I wanted to do something, but how the hell did I fix this. It turned both of our worlds around.

  “He ... he loves her. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Annie said with a small whimper.

  I might’ve never seen it, but I had felt it every time I looked at Annie. “I …” I started to say, “I love you”, but it wasn’t the right time. I didn’t want her memory of hearing those words to be intertwined with the memories of all this shit.

  “He treats her like she was still able-body and they’re a couple. I don’t even know if she understands anything, but he doesn’t care. She is still his Evie. Wes is broken. He needs us to forgive him.”

  The emotion in my chest wasn’t something I wanted to examine. He gave away his daughter to total strangers, and she said to forgive him. The destroying of our lives wasn’t easily forgiven.

  “He holds her like she is the only thing that can save him. My heart was broken but in a good way.”

  I stroked a hand over Annie’s hair and watched the dial over the elevator move higher and higher. I tried envisioning the hard man who raised me acting like that. I couldn’t.

  “He did visit me when I was little, and even brought me here when I was a baby.”

  That wasn’t the revelation I was expecting, but it still didn’t change the fact he let Annie live in hell for four years. Forgiveness wasn’t something I would freely give any of them. I hid my face in her hair, wishing it was her I could hide from all the pain.

  Annie let loose of my shirt and smoothed her hand over the wrinkles. I lightly grabbed her hand and held it. I didn’t give a damn about my shirt. The wrinkles only added to it because it showed that Annie needed me.

  “Let’s get out of here,” she said and finally looked up at me. Her face was wet with her tears.

  I reached over and wiped the last of her tears away. “Where does my girl want to go?”

  “Wes called Evie that same thing.”

  “What, my girl? Well, if he feels for her like I do you than she is his girl.”

  Her jaw dropped to her chest and small wrinkles appeared across her forehead. She was breathtaking, and I felt like a superhero for putting that look on her face. That might have been better than me saying I love you.

  I laced my fingers with her. “Ready?”

  She glanced at the elevators then turned back toward me. “Ready.”

  Chapter 32

  Annie Prieto

  I switched the radio again. For the first time, music couldn’t numb the feelings I was experiencing. Lucas hadn’t said a word since we climbed into his Jeep almost ten minutes before. He was allowing me the time to process but I was tired of thinking.

  I peeked over at him. The tight grip he had of the steering wheel, the stiff posture of his shoulder, firm line of his lips spoke louder than any words — he was terrified or pissed or both.

  I pulled my legs up onto the seat and hugged them with my arms. The measly attempt I made at trying to stay calm couldn’t kept the tears from welling up in my eyes.

  “I’m not going to break. It’s still hard to comprehend it all, but it is what it is.”

  If the pain Wes was experiencing was even one-percent of than the pain I experienced when those boys hurt me, I didn’t know if I wanted to have a love like that.

  Lucas took my hand, and I knew it was already too late; I’d already found a love like theirs.

  “Do you want to talk about it? We can discuss your amazing step-brother.”

  Step-brother! That word hadn’t even entered my thoughts. I knew it was hard on Lucas. I wasn’t the only one going through this. His life had been a lie, too. How hard was it to learn that the man who raised you wasn’t your father at all, but a man who died in a car wreck? A wreck your grandfathers masterminded.

  “I’m pissed, not just about my life but yours, too. We both lost something today, but our parents lost something years ago. I’m glad I never have to meet their fathers, though.” I clutched the handle on the door and glared out the windshield, trying to regain my composure. “I don’t want things to change between us. You’re not my step-brother, or even my friend, you’re more, and you know it.”

  Lucas skidded to the side of the road and slammed on his brakes, bringing the car to a screeching halt. The seatbelt tightened, crushing me into the seat. Lucas moved toward me as I clamped my eyes shut. The close proximity was excruciating. He moved his nose down my neck. I arched my head to give him access. His skin only centimeters from mine never made contact. “I don’t know what I am. But I can’t have the only girl I ever wanted because the world is going to view her as my sister.”

  Lucas looked completely and utterly lost. It was as if I’d sucker punched him. His eyes widen with pure, undiluted horror.

  “No one will know. Wes is not going to tell anybody. It’s best.”

  Lucas fell back into his seat and slammed his fist over and over onto the steering wheel. “That bastard is still not going to claim you, and you tell me to forgive him.”

  “I don’t want him too. I’d rather have you than him as a father.” I closed my eyes to avoid his stare which was burning into me. “I’m tired of pretending that we don’t feel anything for each other. I shouldn’t ask you for this, but hell, I want to be your girl, not your friend, and surely not your sister, but your girl.”

  How was it possible on the same day my world was shredded that every piece fell into place?

  I stared out the windshield but saw nothing and prayed I heard her right.

  Annie Prieto wasn’t letting me in because she wanted something from me or even needed me. Annie had stopped needing anyone a longtime ago. She truly wanted me, and that was the purest gift I’d ever been given.

  “Lucas,” came from Annie’s soft lips. I twisted in my seat to cup her face in my hands. A line of tears streamed down her face I swiped at them with my thumbs. “If you don’t want me, I understand.” It wasn’t right that words from such a sweet mouth could hurt so damn painfully.

  No, no, no. I wanted her, she had to have understood that.

  Her bottom lip trembled. It was so damn cute. Everything about her was perfection. She had claimed my heart, and truthfully, I thought that was an impossible feat.

  I lowered my lips to her to show her with actions what I couldn’t find the words to say.

  I wouldn’t hold back any longer. She needed to know what she meant to me. No one or nothing had ever been more important. I knew that this one kiss would altered my life forever.

  The warmth from her breath washed across my face, awaking every part of me. My tongue peeked out and traced her lower lip. Annie hummed. I licked over her mouth again. I would have done anything to hear those sounds come from her. “I want you. You’re all I’ve ever wanted.”

  Not giving her time to respond, I covered her mouth with mine. Sweet perfection. My precious one.

  She not only smelled of strawberries, her mouth tasted of strawberries and honey as our tongues danced as one. Nothing could be sweeter than ... her.

  I pulled back a fraction of an inch. Enough not to lose contact with her, but to tell her, “I love you.” I had never spoke those words before, but I’d never felt them before either. She noticeably inhaled, then let a long-drawn out breath, attempting to not look blindsided.

  “Don’t say that if you don’t mean it. I can’t handle it.”

  I leaned back unsure if I heard her right and caught a glimpse of the bandage on my wrist. If that wouldn’t prove my love to her nothing would. />
  Annie caught me studying my wrist before asking, “What happened?”

  I slowly pulled back the tape that held the gauze in place to reveal ... my heart thumped wildly in my chest. It had been a weak moment. The moment I thought my world had crashed around me. It hurt like a motherfucker, too.

  She gasped when she got her first look at the black script tattooed in Gothic-style. The word Precious was scrolled across the underside of my wrist. The name I’d given Annie without even realizing it. It was a natural nickname for the only thing ever precious in my life.

  She picked up my arm and brought the tattoo closer to examine it. “Lucas Carter, what did you do?” I saw her lips moving but the voice sounded like it belonged to someone else. She let go of my arm, letting it flop against the gearshift.