by Dawn Brown
“I don’t have a lot of time, Paige is watching Lilly and Tess.”
“I miss them,” she said. “How are they?”
He shook his head. “Confused. We all are.”
“Where are you staying?”
“My mother’s.”
“Garret, I don’t like the girls around her. The way she drinks, she’s unpredictable.”
“Funny, you had no problem leaving them alone with your psychotic, murdering father.”
The words hit her like a slap and she dropped her gaze to the floor. “How is Haley?”
“She’s okay. Her face still looks like she was hit by a truck, but she seems better.”
“And Dean?”
“He comes home from the hospital today.”
“Good, I’m glad.”
Garret snorted and shook his head. “Are you?”
“Of course I am. I can’t believe you can ask that.”
“Neither can I. How could you have kept this from me?” His voice was terse and filled with fury. She wanted to touch him, but his body practically hummed with pent-up violence, and she was afraid.
“I wanted to tell you, so many times.” She choked on a sob. “I just didn’t know how.”
Garret stared down at his wife’s bent head. No this woman wasn’t his wife. This lying bitch was a virtual stranger to him. “You could have started with, ‘Garret, my father murdered your sister, and you’ll find her body buried in your grandmother’s basement’.”
The urge to hit her, to punch her right in her manipulative, lying mouth, the same way her father had hit his sister was overwhelming. He turned his back to her, the sight of Erin dressed in the clothes he gave her on her last birthday, wearing the perfume he liked, looking soft and hurt only enraged him further. Everything from her to this house felt staged.
“I wanted to. I did.” Her hand closed over his forearm.
He jerked away and snarled, “I guess you couldn’t tell me though, you were an accessory to murder after all.”
“No, it wasn’t like that,” she denied again.
“Then what was it like? What was it like covering up a murder with your father while playing the mourner with me?”
“He was my father, what else could I do? I had to protect him and my mother. What if it had been your family?”
His hand closed into a tight fist. “It was my family. We were just on the other end. The falling apart and losing our minds end. For God’s sake, he murdered your friend. How could you have protected him? Helped him? Let alone stand back while he did it again. Innocent women, and you let him get away with murder.”
“Innocent women?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. The big glassy tears dried. “They lured him, Garret. He was a good man, a family man, but Michelle flirted with him just to hurt me. And Haley was no better.”
The hate glowing in her gaze made him take a step back, and strengthened his resolve. He was doing the right thing. “You’re as delusional as he was.”
“Don’t say that.” She turned weepy again. “Please forgive me. I’ll do anything to get back what we had.”
“What we had is dead,” he said. His heart felt like a stone in his chest. Heavy and cold. “If it existed at all.”
“Think of the girls.”
“They’re all I’ve been thinking of. They’re the only reason the police haven’t carted you off—yet.”
“What do you mean?” Her voice was soft and wary.
“This is a document signing over all of your parental rights for the girls to me. I’ve started the paperwork for a separation.”
“No,” she gasped.
“You can’t honestly be surprised.”
“We can get through this. I will spend every day of my life making it up to you.”
“You can’t make this up to me. You were a part of Michelle’s murder, and you very nearly let Haley end up the same way.”
“There has to be hope for us.”
“There is no us. Now, sign the papers and give me the girls.”
“You can’t take away my babies.”
“You would rather have them see you go to prison?”
“I don’t understand.”
“We’re getting a divorce. You can have the house and everything in it, I don’t care, but you’re going to give me the girls. I’m going to take them and start over somewhere else. If you don’t, I’ll go to the police, and you’ll be arrested for your part in what happened to Michelle.”
“Do you hate me that much?”
“Yes.”
She cried, but she signed the papers. Her sobs filled his ears as he left.
Once he climbed into the truck, he closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the cold plastic steering wheel. Again doubt filled him. Memories of Lilly crying for her mama and Tess staring at him with reproachful eyes gripped his heart and squeezed.
Nate had done this. It wasn’t enough to murder Michelle and destroy his parents. It hadn’t been enough to ruin Dean. Or torment Haley. Now Garret’s own children, innocent in every way, were suffering.
His stomach twisted. Was it wrong to take their mother from their lives? How could Erin have lied to him all that time? Let her father try and kill Haley, then to blame Michelle and Haley for what happened? There had to be something fundamentally wrong with her. What choice did he have?
He backed out of the drive and headed to the mall. He had Christmas presents to buy, and Santa would be overcompensating this year. Then, when he returned to his mom’s, he’d find the old artificial Christmas tree that had been his family’s when he was a kid along with the old ornaments.
For the first time in more than a decade there would be Christmas in his mother’s house.
“Here, you can lean on me,” Haley said, helping Dean from the passenger seat of her car.
“I think I can manage.” She ignored his indignant tone and gently took his arm. He rolled his eyes. “The bullet barely grazed me. It was nothing.”
“Then why did the doctors make you stay in the hospital for five days for nothing?”
“They were more concerned about my head than the gunshot wound.”
“Stop your whining and come inside,” Haley told him, leading him up the walk to her front door. “It’s cold out here.”
“And me in my delicate condition.”
She unlocked the front door and they stepped inside. Over the past five days, she’d returned home only a few times to shower and change. Now, the air smelled stale. Empty.
She clutched her keys, the cool metal pressing against her flesh. Why did she feel so awkward and nervous? She knew why. She might want to pretend everything was the same between her and Dean, but it wasn’t.
There was no reason for him to stay now. They had the answers they’d been searching for. Nate had killed Michelle, and she had killed Nate. Something quivered inside her and she forced the images of those terrifying moments in the barn to the back of her mind.
More than once she’d tried to bring up the subject of what happened next, but every time she worked up the courage one of the nurses, or a doctor, or Paige, or Garret would interrupt. They were alone now, though. Finally, they could talk.
“Sit down,” she instructed, helping him to the couch.
“I’m fine.” Gingerly, he lowered himself to the cushion.
She knelt in front of him. “I’ll get your boots.”
“I can take off my own boots,” he said, exasperated. He leaned forward and winced.
“Stop being stubborn. You’re going to rip your stitches.”
She unlaced his boots and pulled them from his feet. He scowled all the while.
“I’ll get you a blanket from upstairs.”
“Haley, I don’t have pneumonia, I was shot.”
“I know.” The image of him falling, hitting the barn floor, his blood spreading out over his shirt played again in her mind, turning her stomach and leaving her cold.
His hand cupped her cheek and gently forced her t
o meet his gaze. “I’m fine,” he told her, gently tracing her bruised cheek bone with his thumb. The swelling had gone and the ugly purple had faded to an uglier yellow-brown. “I hate that he hurt you.”
She smirked. “I wasn’t so wild about it myself.”
He drew her closer and covered her mouth with his. She melted into the kiss, sinking into his warmth, momentarily finding the reassurance she sought.
Her arms wrapped around his neck, as if of their own volition. His teeth tugged at her lip and heat pooled between her legs. The need to touch him, to feel him against her, warm and living rushed through her, driving away the uncertainty. She shifted closer, running her hands over his chest. His sharp hiss made her scramble back.
“Oh God, are you okay?” What the hell was she thinking, making out with an injured man?
“I just need to lean back.” He shifted on the sofa. “Now, come here, I’ve missed this.”
“No, you’ll hurt yourself.”
“I’m fine, damn it,” he whined.
“You’re not that fine.”
A sharp knock at the front door ended the discussion. Before Haley could answer, Paige let herself in. “Am I interrupting?”
Yes! Haley wanted to scream. At this rate, she’d never get a chance to talk to Dean.
“You seem to be settling in,” Paige said to Dean, shrugging out of her coat and flopping into the armchair. “Your color looks better.”
He looked at Haley. “That’s because I’m fine.”
“Mom wants to see you,” Paige said. “I told her Dean had just gotten out of the hospital, but she’s a little high-strung today and wants to see you now. I think she’s afraid that you’ve died and Garret and I are just hiding the fact from her. Oddly, had you died, that’s probably what we would have done. For a drunk, she’s quite astute.”
“How much does she know?” Haley asked, standing.
“Everything, except Erin helping Nate hide the body.”
“Has Garret decided what he’s going to do?”
“He’s leaving her and wants her to give him custody of the girls. He won’t tell the police or anyone else about what she did as long as she never tries to contact any of them again. Personally, I think he should have hung her out to dry, but I guess he’s worried about the effect on their kids.”
“Nate was crazy. There’s no telling how he manipulated Erin as she grew up,” Haley said.
Paige shrugged. “You’re much more forgiving than I would be.”
“Don’t misunderstand, I don’t want to be her best friend or anything, I just think she’s as much his victim as any of us. More so, maybe.”
“Well, you better get over to Mom’s. Don’t worry, I’ll invalid-sit for you.”
Dean scowled. “I’m sitting right here.”
“Thanks.” Haley dug out an orange plastic pill bottle from her purse. “Here’s his painkillers.” She glanced at her watch. “He can have another one in two hours.”
“Thank God you’re both here. Getting shot in the side did make me illiterate and caused me to forget how to tell time.”
Both women ignored him. “I’ll try not to be long.”
“No rush,” Paige shrugged.
“Speak for yourself,” Dean muttered. “Whatever happened to my car?”
Surprise and hurt speared her heart and she did her best to squash the unpleasant sensation. She would do what she had to do. She had hoped Dean would be a part of that, but if he wasn’t she would manage on her own. She always had before.
“The police impound,” Haley told him. “I’ll take you tomorrow to get it.”
“You can’t.” Paige leaned forward and snatched the remote off the trunk, flicking on the TV. “Tomorrow’s Christmas.”
“Right. I’ll have to take you after the holidays.”
Dean shrugged. “No big deal.”
“Okay, I’ll see you both in a bit.”
As soon as the door closed, Dean hauled himself off the couch, went to the window and waited for Haley to back out of the driveway. His side throbbed dully. Maybe Haley was right. Maybe he was trying to do too much.
Once her car had left the street, he turned to Paige who eyed him suspiciously. “I need you drive me somewhere.”
“Haley will kill me if I let you out.”
“Come on, Paige, help me. It’s Christmas Eve.” He met her gaze.
After a long measuring stare, Paige snapped off the TV and stood. “Of all the disgustingly romantic clichés.”
Doubt flickered inside him. “You don’t think she’ll like it?”
“She’s a big sap. She’ll love it.”
He hoped so.
When Haley got to her mother’s, Garret and her nieces were in the living room setting up a misshaped Christmas tree. While Garret bent the wire branches covered in dark green plastic needles in a sad attempt to hide the gaping holes, Lilly chattered and played with the dusty ornaments. Tess sat on the sofa, arms folded over her chest, glaring at her father.
“Is that from before?” Haley asked.
Garret looked up and smiled. “Yeah, how does the tree look?”
“Good,” she lied.
“What happened to your face, Aunt Haley?” Lilly asked, studying her with pale eyes. Her long, light hair was a mass of wild curls. She looked like her mother.
“I was in an accident.”
“That tree looks like it was in accident,” Tess muttered. Dark haired, dark eyed and sullen, she was a Carling, all right. “Our tree at home is better. I don’t understand why we can’t just go home.”
“We’ve never spent Christmas with your grandmother. Think about how nice this will be for her.”
“She’s always sleeping. She wouldn’t notice if we were here or not.”
“I miss Mommy. Why can’t Mommy come to Grandma’s for Christmas?” Lilly asked.
Garret rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand. Haley’s heart went out to him. How would he tell them? Or should he?
“Mommy can’t, she has some problems she needs to take care of.”
Tess rolled her eyes and stood. “I’m going to watch TV.”
“Okay.” Garret nodded.
“Oh dear, Garret,” Claire said, from the top of the stairs. “Your tree is tilting left.” As she came down farther, her eyes fell on Haley. Without a word, she walked straight over and hugged her, holding Haley tight with her skinny twig arms.
“I was so afraid,” her mother said, taking a step back. “The things I said the last time I saw you. I’m so sorry.”
“I shouldn’t have done that to The Shr—Michelle’s room. I had no right.”
Claire shook her head, more coherent than Haley had seen her in ages, but her breath still smelled faintly of alcohol. “I wouldn’t say that. Let’s go somewhere and talk.”
Her mother led her back upstairs, to Haley’s old bedroom. They both sat on the edge of the bed. Nerves made Haley’s stomach tight, and finding her mother rational had ruined the script she’d mentally prepared.
“How is Dean? I understand the hospital released him.”
“He’s doing better. I left him to Paige’s tender mercies.”
A faint smile touched Claire’s lips. “I was under the impression you liked this man.”
“You look good, Mom.”
“Do I?” She laughed shakily and her fingers brushed her smooth hair. “I’m not good, but I’m trying. I don’t want the girls to see me bad. They seem to be going through enough. I don’t know what’s happened between Garret and Erin. I can’t see Garret turning away from her because of what her father did. Do you know?”
Haley nodded. “You’ll have to find out from Garret, though.”
“I can still hardly believe that it was Nate. That he could do something like that and still play the part of our friend.”
“Believe it.”
“Why did he do it? I don’t understand.” A rasp tinged her voice. “Did he have a perverse obsession with her?”
�
�Yes.” How much should she reveal? Her mother’s grasp on the world was shaky at best, and Haley didn’t want to say anything to send her on another bender. Though, once Haley explained how things were going to change, she very well could.
“You can tell me everything. I won’t break, and I think knowing will help.”
So Haley did. She told her mother about Nate’s strange obsession with her father that shifted to Michelle and then to her. She explained about her father’s first wife. When she finished, her mother’s cheeks were wet with tears.
“Had he been looking for a female version of your father?”
Haley sighed. “I don’t know. Find a team of psychologists and maybe they’ll be able to explain it. I think for Nate it was all about control. I bet if we knew more about his relationship with Joan and Erin, you would find he controlled every aspect of his their lives. That’s what he’d been trying to do with Dad.”
“Why did he fixate on Michelle?”
“I have no idea. Maybe just another way to manipulate Dad.”
“He took so much from us—all of us.” Her mother’s hand shook badly as she tucked a strand of Haley’s hair behind her ear. “And he would have taken more still.”
Haley looked away. The naked pain and love in her mother’s eyes was strange, making her uncomfortable, and what she had to do even harder. Still, it had to be done.
“Mom, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“I think I can guess, but go ahead.”
“I’m going to leave here.” Saying the words out loud bolstered her resolve. She was leaving at last. “This town, the store, I don’t want it anymore.”
Her mother nodded, her eyes glassy with unshed tears. “Will you leave with Dean?”
God, she hoped so. “He’s not a factor,” she said carefully.
“What will you do with the store?”
“Sell it. Close it. Whatever’s fastest. I won’t be here to take care of you anymore. Paige will be going back to work and Garret will have his hands full, but Paige and I have found a clinic that could help you. We want to help you, but we’re not going to take care of you. You’re going to have to make a choice.”