by Amy Starling
“My father... offered me to you?”
He nodded. “I'm well aware of your unfortunate pregnancy, but it will be all right. Marrying before the baby arrives is what God would want you to do.” He patted my hand politely. “I know you're not a virgin, and premarital sex is a sin – but I forgive you.”
“You forgive me? I don't want your forgiveness.” I yanked away from him, so mad I wanted to spit in his face. “I don't even know you. There's no way in hell I'm marrying this guy, dad.”
Dad's jaw clenched. I'd angered him, but for once, I didn't care. He'd gone too far this time.
“We are not calling off this wedding, Anna. And I won't have an unmarried daughter of mine, running around with the bastard child of that... that degenerate!” He stiffened. “Henry is willing to father the baby as his own. I've provided him with generous compensation.”
I glared at Henry. “He's paying you to marry me?”
He shrugged. “I wouldn't quite put it that way. I plan to use the money to support you, of course. Nothing to be upset about.”
I was so shocked by all this that I stopped crying and started to laugh. It wasn't funny, not in the least, but I just couldn't believe this was real life.
Rachael and mom wandered off, chatting about their hair and dresses like nothing had happened.
“But what about the invitations? You sent them out ages ago with Max's name on them.”
“That won't be a problem, dear. It's already been taken care of.”
She held up an invitation for her to see. I saw it, too. Max's name wasn't on it at all.
Henry's was.
“You,” I hissed at dad. “You've been planning this all along. You were never going to let me marry Max. You said you'd give him a chance. You lied.”
He tried to put his arm around me. I dodged it.
“Now, honey, it's for the best. I simply didn't want to upset you. It will be better this way. You'll see.”
“And what if Max passed your stupid test? What then?”
“I knew that would never happen.”
Henry reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. In it was a ring, the biggest diamond on it I had ever seen.
“I bought this for you, Anna. I realize our engagement will be a short one, but every woman needs a pretty ring before she can marry.”
Pissed beyond belief, I threw the ring back at him. He made no move to grab it as it rolled into the bushes.
“I'm not marrying him, end of story.”
“Yes, you will. If you refuse, I'm putting your house and farm up for sale. And don't expect help from your mother or I ever again.”
I went over my options. I had a little money saved up, but not enough to buy another farm. And farming was my life now; it was all I knew besides the law, and I'd be damned if I went back to that again.
I'd have to take a crappy job while I got back on my feet – tough to do in a small town like Bastrop.
Then there was the baby to think about. Struggling to make ends meet for myself was one thing, but how could I put my child through that?
I had to be smart. Max had always been clever. What would he do?
Every time I thought of him, my stomach turned. I wished that I could stop.
Perhaps it'd be wiser to play along. If I was made to marry him, at least he had money. He could provide for me and the baby. I didn't love him and never would, but love didn't matter when I couldn't afford to put food on the table.
I was stuck. I had two awful choices: infuriate dad and end up homeless and broke, or give up my pride and marry for money so the family remained intact and happy.
Well, they'd be happy, anyway. Not me. Right now, the one man who could make me happy, who could make it better, was locked away for his alleged crimes.
“Anna? Don't be foolish,” dad said firmly. “Do the right thing. It's time to stop thinking of yourself.”
I would let them win – for now.
“I'll think about it, okay?”
“You'd better think quickly. The wedding is less than forty-eight hours away.” Dad smiled. “Do the right thing for us all.”
Funny, I thought. All my young life, I yearned for my parents to be pleased with me. They never were. My accomplishments paled in comparison to those of Rachael.
Now, when I finally had a chance to make dad proud, I realized I just didn't care anymore.
I went back to my car and gazed a picture of Max on my phone. I'd captured a shot of him, still in the wheelchair, without a shirt as he helped repair the broken porch step. His smile made my stomach do flips even now.
“Oh, Max.” I stroked his face through the screen. “I thought I knew you. Looks like you had me fooled.”
Then I drove home to cry.
Chapter 22 - Max
My life was over.
I raped that girl, they said. It made me sick to hear it. I never laid a finger on her, damn it.
But she told the cops it was me. Said I came into her house, partied with her friends. Had sex with them all. And then, when they were gone and she wanted me to go home, I didn't take no for an answer.
She was covered in marks that proved violence. The cops had photographed them all very well to show me, and the court, the damage I'd done.
My semen was found on her, worst of all. Holy shit, what had I done? Did I really sleep with Lola and all her stripper friends?
If so, why the hell couldn't I remember a single piece of it?
“Hey, shithead.” The husky Hispanic man in the cell next to mine kicked the bars. “So, what'd you do? Kill someone?”
I laughed, though I felt like puking. “I might as well have.”
Anna would never forgive me. I was supposed to be marrying her tomorrow, too. I couldn't even imagine how disgusted she was with me. What had they told her? Would she believe them?
I hoped she didn't. I prayed she knew me better. I was a jackass, but I wasn't a bad guy.
“Hey, wait a second. I know you.” The other guy pressed his face against the bars. “You're the firefighter who showed up when I called a couple months back. My mama lit her trailer on fire, remember? She was so caught up watching her talk shows that she forgot to turn off the stove.”
I didn't remember the guy, but I was too tired to argue. “Yeah, you look kind of familiar.”
The guy sighed. “We could be neighbors for a while, so... I'm Javier. Got busted for street racing last night. My girl's not come to bail me out yet.”
I didn't want to swap life stories with him. I wanted to get out of this dump so I could call Anna and tell her there had been a horrible mistake.
But how could I prove my innocence to her when I wasn't even sure of it myself?
“So, come on. Tell me what you're in for.”
“Don't really wanna talk about it.”
He bugged me for an answer so much, I finally gave in to shut him up.
“They said I sexually assaulted this chick, but it's not true.” I punched the wall, ignoring my throbbing hand. “She's lying. I have no damn clue what happened, but she's got to be lying.”
Javier cocked his head. “Hmm. I believe you, man. Some chicks be crazy like that.”
“I don't get it. I was at this club, and the next thing I know, I wake up naked on the side of the road. Can't remember a blessed thing.”
His eyes widened. “Oh, you got drugged, amigo.”
“Drugged?”
“Sure sounds that way. You was drinking, right? You take a drink from someone you don't know?”
“No, I was with my friends and...” Wait a minute. All those beers the dancers kept bringing me! “Now that I think of it, yeah.”
He clucked his tongue. “My guess is, someone roofied your booze.”
It made sense, sort of. At least it gave me an explanation for how I ended up in the ditch come morning. But why would Lola drug me and take me home if she was just gonna claim rape later? What did she get out of it?
If she'd robbed me, I would hav
e understood. But she hadn't taken anything of mine, save for my dignity. It was so confusing, I felt like ramming my head against the wall just might make the pieces fall into place.
“Hey, guy. You got a phone call.”
The guard unlocked my cell. A call, for me? I prayed with all my might it was her. Please, please...
“Don't be long. You got five minutes,” the guard said, and handed me the phone behind his desk.
I swallowed hard. “Hello? Anna, that you?”
“Oh, Max. What have you done?”
It was her! Praise the sun, she cared enough to call me. Just hearing her sweet voice made me feel better, if only for this brief moment.
“Anna, listen to me. I did not do it. Whatever the cops told you, I'm innocent. Okay?”
She sighed. “But there's physical evidence it was you. The wounds, and the... the semen stains. How can you explain that?”
“I can't. I just can't; not right now. But I promise you, darlin', I would never, ever do something so sick and wrong.” Tears welled in my eyes. A guard snickered; I didn't care. “Believe me. Please, I need you to believe me.”
“I want to, but I'd be stupid to just accept your word. This is serious, Max.”
“I know it is, but this is all just a real big misunderstanding. Tell them to give me a lie detector test. I'll do it right now. Whatever it takes to get out of here and back to you.”
“My dad showed me the pictures.”
I couldn't breathe. “The... Huh? What's your dad got to do with it?”
“I know everything. I know why you stayed in Bastrop so long without worrying about your job at the Waco station. Every time we asked, you blew us off. Now I get why.”
Oh, no. She knew. How could this get any worse?
“Rachael did some digging and found out you'd gotten fired. For drunk driving a fire truck through a window with women in the back seat! Christ, Max.” Her voice wavered. “You need some help.”
“No, you don't understand. That was a long time ago. I'm not that way anymore. It was a big mistake, and I know that now.”
“How can I trust you? All your life, you've been this way. I can hardly believe you'd change so drastically in a couple of months.”
“I didn't believe it either, but Anna, it's thanks to you.”
She scoffed. “Sure.”
“It is! Living with you, getting to know you these past few months, changed my mind about everything. I did say I never wanted to settle down, but you're something special. I wanted to make a go of things with you.”
She sniffled and blew her nose. “Your words are sweet, but they don't mean much. I can't forget the way you've hidden things from me, or your horrible actions, or those disgusting pictures.”
“What pictures, damn it?”
“After Rachael discovered all this about you, my father was livid. He decided to pay for your bachelor party and send some people to keep an eye on you. He thought of it as a test. Well, you failed.”
Keep an eye on me? My head swam with all this new information, mixed with the bits and pieces I could recall from that night. Daniel hated me, obviously. He likely wanted me to crash and burn so I'd never marry his daughter.
What kind of creep sent people to watch a guy at a strip club? What was a good Catholic man doing sending me to a strip club anyway?
“There were photos of you with slutty naked girls in your lap, rubbing all over you. You didn't look the least bit upset about it.”
Aw, man. I could vaguely remember the lap dance Lola offered me before we left, but I knew damn well I'd kept my hands to myself. Every time they tried to take things too far, I declined.
“You were kissing them,” she continued.
“No I wasn't!”
“How can you lie about this? Pictures say it all.”
I rubbed my throbbing head. I would have remembered making out with a stripper. Right?
“Maybe it's not me in those pictures. Your dad loathes me. Could be a guy who looks like me.”
“Max, please.” She paused to blow her nose again. “It gets worse. He had shots of you at Lola's apartment. You were all naked together. The things you were doing with those girls... I can't unsee that.”
“You got pictures of that?” I perked up. “I need to see them. I gotta figure out what's going on with me. If they're a clue...”
“You've got some nerve. Do you want the pictures of Lola all bruised up, too?”
“You listen here, dang it. I didn't touch that girl, and I'll swear until the day I die that's the honest truth.”
“Yeah, right, buddy.” Some handcuffed criminal spat at me as a cop led him on by.
“C'mon, Anna.” I lowered my voice. “I think I know what happened. I might have been drugged that night. They gave me something to knock me out, to make me forget.”
She said nothing, then laughed bitterly. “That's an original excuse for shitty behavior, I'll give you that.”
“But what if it's true? There's this guy here, he said women do that to guys sometimes. I dunno why; so they can rob 'em or screw them, I guess.”
“You're acting crazy,” she muttered. “Think about it for a minute. If all she wanted was money or sex, why would she go turning you in to the cops? And what about the bruises all over her?”
I paused. That did make my theory seem somewhat implausible, but I wasn't letting it go yet.
“Not only that, if she knocked you out, how did she get you home all by herself? You're a pretty heavy guy. I doubt that little girl carried you into her house.”
“I don't know. Hey, you've got the pictures. Does it look like I'm passed out in any of them? That'll tell us all we need to know.”
“No.” She inhaled sharply. “You look awake to me. Drunk, but awake.”
So, basically, all those dumb photos were gonna do was make me look even worse in court. Besides that, now Anna believed me even less.
“Anyway, as you'd expect, my father won't let me marry the likes of you.”
“So he called off the wedding?”
“Nope. He's demanding that I marry this guy from his office. He's paying the man to be my husband and raise the baby as his.”
Rage broiled inside me so strongly, I almost crushed the phone in my grasp.
“You're not going to do it, of course.”
“I don't want to, but... I'm scared. I have no other choice.”
“There's always a choice. Tell him to piss off.”
“He's going to take everything away if I don't. He told me, in no uncertain terms, he'd sell the farm and my house if I said no.” She erupted into loud sobs again. “The farm is my livelihood. If he takes it away, it'll devastate me.”
“So you'd rather marry some asshole you've never even met before?”
“You don't understand,” she snapped. “It's more than that. I've got a baby on the way, remember? I don't have a lot of money in the bank. If my dad's true to his word, I won't have a home or income, either. What kind of mother would I be then? And worse... I'd be alone.”
“You don't have to be alone, Anna. I'm getting out of here; I swear I am.”
She ignored what I said and kept on with her spiel. “I may not love Henry, but my father says he's a good guy.”
“And I'm not?”
“He has a nice home in San Diego. He'll be more than capable of caring for me and the baby.”
“It sounds like your dad has brainwashed you. Listen to yourself.” I laughed at how nuts it sounded. “So what, you're gonna move to California? What happens to your farm then?”
“He said I could stay here if I wanted and come visit him when I liked. Or, if I moved in with him for part of the year, dad would hire help to keep the farm going until I get back.”
Jesus, they were already working out living arrangements. Not good. What the hell? I'd only been gone for a couple of days, and this happened.
“You got one minute left, boy,” the guard yelled.
It was time do something I hated
, something I never thought I'd have to do because before, I was just too cocky and good for it.
I had to give up my pride. Had to admit that I wanted her. That I needed her with every fiber of my being, and if I couldn't have her, nothing had a point anymore.
“Anna, please don't do it. You can't marry this loser.”
“Of the two of you, he's not the one rotting in a jail cell for assaulting a woman.”
“I told you already a thousand times I didn't do it!” I took deep breaths. Had to stay calm. “I know you don't trust me after I hid things from you and all of that. The only thing I can do is apologize, I guess. Yeah, I screwed up a lot. I don't deserve an awesome woman like you.”
“Max...”
“That guy can't make you happy. You're not supposed to get married like it's some kind of business transaction.”
“That's what we were about to do.”
“Not to me, we weren't. My feelings for you are real.”
“But marriage is about more than feelings. I need security. Stability. I can't raise my kid with a man who's been arrested a dozen times, who fights, drinks, and commits crimes so awful I can't speak of them.”
I was losing her. God damn it, I couldn't lose her!
“What do I have to do, huh? How can I possibly prove to you I'm a changed man, that I didn't touch that woman?”
“There's nothing you can do. I wanted things to work out with you, but you're in there, I'm out here, and I have to do what I have to do.”
I closed my eyes and tried to fend off the impending panic, that horrible sense of doom that this was the end, that once she hung up she'd be gone forever.
“Do you care about me, Anna?”
She hesitated. “Of course I do.”
“Do you love me? I need to know. I have to hear you say it.”
There was a hitch in her breath. In the background, her mother yelled for her to hurry up.
“I did love you. I wanted to make us work so badly,” she whispered. “But it's too late for that now. I... I have to go, Max. Goodbye.”
And she was gone.
I growled and slammed the phone down hard. The guard didn't much like that. He grabbed me roughly and pushed me down the hall.