Another round of teasing was directed at Michael’s dumb comments regarding Jules’s current state and he looked fed up. “At least I managed a decent proposal,” he shot at Bobby whose grin didn’t match the accusation.
Jedda watched as Piper tried unsuccessfully to make an inconspicuous slashing motion across her throat to stop the conversation.
“Do you see what my lovely fiancé is doing over there?” Bobby asked, still grinning widely. “She’s begging you not to bring this up because, although none of you have noticed, there is no ring on her finger. She lost it.”
“Misplaced it,” Piper protested loudly. “It is somewhere in our house. I just can’t find it at the moment.” She looked sheepish and embarrassed, her cheeks pink.
“So I officially have a free pass on the proposal joke right now. No making fun of me about it until she finds her ring. She actually tried blaming Bruno. Like a dog could up and take her ring off the kitchen counter.”
Jedda watched as laughter and camaraderie continued to pass between them all so fluidly. These were happy people, with an endless amount of joy.
When the dishes were cleared and the chatter was coming to a close Jedda thought he’d be saying goodbye to everyone. He assumed they’d all head out to their respective lives and he’d be left alone with his thoughts. An idea that made his nerves flare. He wasn’t ready to be alone and maybe that was written clearly on his face, because they all kept making reasons to stay a bit longer.
Bobby lit the firepit by the porch and everyone settled in. It was eerily dark in all directions of the yard, the crackling fire and porch light only reaching out so far into the night, then the world dropped off into nothingness. It was quiet here, and it bordered on scary in Jedda’s opinion.
He watched as Piper and Bobby settled onto the porch swing. Betty and Clay relaxed on two side-by-side rockers. Michael helped Jules slowly sink into the cushioned love seat and then sat beside her. There was one chair left, a kitchen chair that had clearly been added as an after thought. A spot squeezed in for the new guest.
“It’s really peaceful out here,” Jedda said, staring down into the crackling of the fire.
“I couldn’t get used to it at first,” Piper admitted as she rested her head on Bobby’s shoulder. “It was almost creepy. I’d grown up in the city with so much noise, and being here, you have a lot of time to hear yourself think. That can be good and bad. Depends on what’s going on in your head.”
Jedda nodded his agreement. He was feeling the same way at the moment. He’d been fighting off the unnerving sensation for hours now. The inevitable moment when everyone would clear out, head home, and go to bed. Even Betty and Clay would eventually go upstairs and leave him alone for the night. He wasn’t ready for things to be that quiet.
“So, Jedda, Michael mentioned to me that you used to cook in the prison kitchen. I’d love to chat with you some time about it,” Clay said, rocking in unison with Betty.
“Sure, that’d be great. I like to help out. Do what I can.”
Betty smiled at Jedda while patting Clay’s hand. “You settle yourself in here first before we go putting you to work just yet.”
The rumble of an approaching car and the cutting of headlights down the driveway drew everyone’s attention.
“Anyone expecting company?” Michael asked as he stood to get a better look at the approaching car. Everyone paused for a minute then agreed they hadn’t been the one to invite anyone over.
“It’s Riley Dean Cook,” Betty said, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. “Y’all do me a favor, let me handle this. R.D. and I go way back and I’ve got a good idea what he’s coming here to say. I know y’all would like to jump in and give your two cents, but don’t.” Betty left no room for debate on the matter and Jedda watched as everyone fell obediently quiet. This is what people meant when they talked about Betty. This was the mysterious power she wielded. People listened to her, though Jedda hadn’t figured out why yet.
“R.D.,” Betty sang as the man in the police uniform approached the porch. “What brings you out here tonight? Liza and the kids are okay, I hope.”
“Yes ma’am,” R.D. said as he tipped the front of his police hat at the group on the porch. “They’re doing fine and send their love.”
“I heard about your promotion. Congratulations. Second in command on the force. Stan would be so proud of you.”
“Thank you. That means a lot to me, Betty. With all the cleaning up they did after Judge Lions and Rylie, it opened up a lot of opportunities for guys like me who steered clear of the corruption.”
“It’s well-deserved,” Betty said, widening her smile. “So are you here on business tonight, R.D.?”
“No, ma’am, this is a friendly visit. I want to give you a heads up about something that happened at the diner today. I assumed you’d heard already through the grapevine.”
“The Edenville rumor mill does seem to be working overtime lately,” Betty sighed.
“It’s about your new house guest,” R.D. said, intentionally not looking in Jedda’s direction.
“He’s right here. His name is Jedda.”
“Good to meet you,” Jedda said, though his heart was in his throat. Seeing a man in uniform, someone who could easily put him behind bars again, made him instantly uneasy.
“You as well,” R.D. answered back with a quick glance in Jedda’s direction before he went right back to talking about him like he wasn’t there. “Betty, folks in town are worried about what you’ve got going on down here. They think you’re bringing more danger here to Edenville. The people you’ve brought here in the past, they’ve caused lots of problems. The townsfolk don’t want a repeat of that.”
“I’m not sure I’m following you, R.D. I’d imagine you’re talking about our sweet Piper here. I don’t think she’s ever done anything to hurt anyone in Edenville.”
“Maybe not directly, but after she rolled into town we had a kidnapping—your own daughter no less, a serial killer on the loose, and, for hell’s sake, a federal officer was gunned down on the stairs of St. Julian’s church. You can’t really blame people for being worried when now you’ve got a convicted killer holed up here too.”
“R.D.,” Betty said with a furrowed brow of disappointment, “Piper didn’t cause any of those things. She was a victim, and frankly she’s lucky to be alive. Jedda has been paroled from prison. The court saw fit to let him go, and I don’t see how anyone in town has any business making a fuss about it. So you can go on back there and tell them all to mind their own asses.”
“Betty, I’m here as your friend.”
“Oh, so you’re saying today at the diner when this conversation came up you acted like a friend to me? You looked those ignorant folks in the eye and said, ‘Any friend of Betty’s is a friend of mine. If she believes this man deserves a second chance, then I trust her.’ Or did you sit there and tell them not to worry, that you’d come up here and set me straight? That you’d give me a warning ’bout all this? Because if that’s the approach you took, you and I need to talk about our definition of friendship. We’re rowing different boats on that one.”
“Bobby, could you please get my back on this? You’re a cop, you understand the worry people must be having,” R.D. said, pleading his case.
Bobby swallowed down a swig of his coffee and shook his head. “You’ve got to do better research before you come up here, R.D. Jedda is my brother. My folks adopted him before all that happened with his parents. If I’ve got anyone’s back it’s his and . . .” Betty shot a sideways glance at Bobby and he let his words trail off. Jedda took in again the quiet power of this woman, and he was starting to see where it came from.
“R.D., don’t cast judgment on someone before you know him. I taught you that in Sunday school when you were a boy.”
“You don’t know him either, Betty. You don’t know what prison has done to him or if he’ll offend again. What gives you blind faith in the man?” He pointed over at Jedda who felt
the heat blazing in his body. Not an angry fire, but a nervous one.
“You’re acting like you’re so different from him. We’re all just one twist in the road away from where he is.”
“That’s a bit of a stretch, Betty. I read the police report. He killed two people in cold blood. His parents. You really want to say we’re all on the verge of that?”
“You’ve lived here your whole life, R.D., which means you remember my daddy. He was a beast of a man. Hurt people just because of the color of their skin. Incited mobs of others to do the same.”
“And you think he should have been killed?”
“He never laid a finger on me. I think if he’d directed any of that hate my way, or he ever looked at me with the intentions Jedda’s father looked at Jedda’s sister, I may have killed him. You know how quick my trigger finger is. But fate didn’t twist it that way, so we’ll never know. And what about you?”
“Are you suggesting I contemplated killing my parents? The preacher and the preacher’s wife, really?”
“No. I’m not suggesting that. But I do vaguely remember you beating the hell out of Kyle Long for getting a little handsy with your sister after prom. Gave him a concussion didn’t you? Sent him to the hospital.”
“That’s different,” R.D. said, crossing his arms defensively and shaking his head.
“It is, but what if he’d gone too far? What if he’d taken from your sister something she could never get back? Her innocence. Would you have stopped at a concussion? If one thing in our lives woulda been different we could be walking in his shoes, and you know what that tells me? We’re only a few steps away from being where he is, and more important than that, it means he’s only a few steps away from finding his way back to where we are. I think it’s our job to help him do so.”
R.D. was silent as he hung his head and gritted his teeth at the truth being spat in his direction. Jedda could see the tension in his jaw even from the distance between them. “One of these days, Betty, all these stray dogs you keep taking in, you’re going to get bitten.”
“Well that’ll learn me won’t it, R.D. But you know, I’d rather find out I was wrong the hard way than start wrong and stay wrong. You’re in here talking like I have a decision to make. Like putting this boy out on the street is some kind of choice for me. You’re the one who has a choice here.”
“And what’s that?”
“Next time folks are talking ’bout him, talking ’bout me, you need to decide what kind of man you’re going be. The kind that stands up for someone who’s trying to start his life over and not doing anyone no harm, or if you’ll stand with the people trying to knock him down before he’s even gotten himself up yet.”
“You know how things are here. I’m worried folks are gonna try to run him out of town. Try to put him in a position that gets him tossed back in jail. For good.”
“Don’t let them.”
“It ain’t that simple.”
“It’s as simple as you make it. I know you have a good heart, R.D. Your mama taught you how to give people a chance. So try it.”
R.D. dropped his head like a soldier waving his white flag in defeat. “I’ll give your love to the girls,” he said, backing down the steps of the porch. “Just try to stay out of trouble.”
“He will,” Betty promised.
“I was talking to you,” R.D. said, causing a small chuckle to roll across the porch.
“Night, R.D.,” Betty called, starting to rock her chair nonchalantly again, as though nothing had happened.
“Jedda,” she started as she sipped at her hot coffee, “I’m sorry you had to see such ignorance up close and personal.”
“I guess I underestimated the intolerance here in Edenville,” Michael groaned, shaking his head at R.D.’s brake lights pulling away.
“I should be the one apologizing. I wasn’t looking to bring you guys any trouble here.”
Jules snickered a bit and looked over at Piper. “Well unless you have a time machine that can take us back before we met this one,” she raised her thumb and gestured over to the porch swing, “then it’s a little too late for that. If you’re bringing trouble here, you’re in good company.”
“Hey,” Piper shot back defensively, “I tried to get you guys to leave me alone. You’re all just so damn persistent.
“Oh cut the crap,” Bobby said, looking down into Piper’s serious face. “You loved it. You couldn’t stay away.”
“There are days I’m still trying to get out of here,” Michael teased, immediately bracing himself for Jules’s slap against his arm, which came just as he expected. “But seriously, Jedda, just lay low. You are on a no-strike program. Any type of infraction will land you back in jail. For good. Just stay here, and relax.”
When the conversation turned back to something else and the laughter was rolling once more throughout the group, Jules leaned over to Jedda as if she had something to say.
“I won’t let this town turn you into a prisoner in this house. Tomorrow you and I are breaking out of here.” The smile that spread across her lips was one of pure mischief and made a knot form in Jedda’s already nervous stomach.
“But Michael said—” Jedda began, but Jules’s dismissive hand waved off his words.
“The man called me fat, how smart could he be? Just trust me, tomorrow I’ll get you out of here.”
Jedda smiled and nodded as he leaned back into his chair, away from the hush-hush conversation with Jules. Maybe the cliché about redheads was true. Maybe they were trouble. He guessed by this time tomorrow he’d be finding out.
Chapter Three
Willow couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was making her feel like she was about to lose her lunch. Maybe it was the bouncing of the bus on the barely paved roads of this impossibly small town. Or the fumes from the exhaust that were mixing with the cologne of the man who’d sat down next to her, rather than taking one of the many other empty seats. More likely though, it was what had gotten her on this bus in the first place that was turning her stomach. Bad choices and old habits were probably to blame for the burning and swirling she felt inside.
Up until this point, she’d done so well for so long. She’d been above all of the things she’d escaped. But now that her past was nipping at her heels again it felt like the world was falling in on her. She jumped as the overhead intercom rang out. “Next stop, Main Street, Edenville,” the driver announced as the brakes began to squeal to a stop.
Michael had told Willow to wait. He’d instructed her that he would contact her over her school’s spring break if he felt Jedda was ready to see her. A plane ticket would be arranged and her parents could join her for extra support if she wanted. But Willow couldn’t wait that long. She wasn’t sure she’d even survive until spring break if she stayed in New York. Going back home to Block Island wasn’t an option either. Her only hope was to slip away to this tiny southern town and buy some time. To count on her brother for protection, just as she had all those years ago.
She squeezed her way by the man sitting next to her and grabbed her bag as she hopped off the bus. Fishing out her phone, she pulled up Michael’s number. Surely he wouldn’t turn her away if she were already here. He wouldn’t leave her here on Main Street just because she’d ignored his suggestions. Or so she hoped.
As she walked down the sunny side of Main Street looking for a quiet place to make her call, a commotion caught her eye. Did they have commotions here in Edenville? What could they possibly argue about? Cows? Grass? Fences? Because judging the scenery for the last half hour on the bus, that’s all they seemed to have. Her curiosity brought her closer to the circle of people gathered in front of the general store. She stood behind a tall man in a painter’s jumpsuit and peeked her head around his shoulder.
A small but very pregnant redhead was standing with her hands perched on her hips, her skin flushed nearly as bright as her hair. Next to her was . . . Willow took in a quick breath as she realized who the man standing next to this ver
y angry woman was. It was her brother. Jedda looked entirely different from the day he’d freed her from the chains that kept her tied to the radiator in their parents’ house. His arms and shoulders had doubled in size, his hair was longer and slicked back, but was the same shade of shadowy black it had always been. He was taller, wider, and now had beard stubble on his cheeks and chin. But his eyes were exactly the same. Green, piercing, and almond shaped. The slant of his nose and the curve of his chin made it perfectly clear to her that this was her brother. Once that sunk in, all she could ask herself was, why was he in the center of a circle of people who looked like a lynch mob ready to strike? She leaned in to listen as the redhead began to speak.
“Everything I need for my wedding reception is in there, and you’re telling me you won’t let me in?” she shouted, her voice fierce and demanding.
“Here at Clint’s General Store we have the right to refuse to serve anyone we see fit. Isn’t that right, Toby?” the man blocking the store entrance asked the police officer who’d just walked up.
“He’s right, Jules. It’s his store and he can turn you away if he wants to,” the officer said, moving next to the owner of the store.
“This is horse shit, Toby. I’ve put a hefty down payment on all that equipment,” the redhead shot back, her finger pointing accusingly at them.
Jedda was standing stone-faced, sweat beading across his forehead and Willow worried what these people might want—what they might do.
“And we’ll be happy to refund you,” the storeowner said smugly.
“Shut the hell up, Clint. You’re acting like a damn fool. I don’t want my money back. I want the equipment I need for my wedding.”
“Then maybe you should have thought about that before you came down here with mixed company.” The store owner gestured at Jedda as though he were a stray dog. “Everyone knows your ma is a coot, but I didn’t think you’d be dumb enough to mess around with a killer. Don’t that man of yours give a damn what kind of men you run around with? Or is this your new man?” Clint spat a mouthful of chewing tobacco to the ground, splattering Jules’s white sneaker.
Finding Freedom (Book 4) (Piper Anderson Series) Page 3