“Get in the car,” Bobby demanded, lifting himself to his feet and rubbing at his ribs. The girl was still in shock, her eyes wide and her hands shaking. Neither of them moved, hearing his words, but not responding. He stood in front of Piper and used his thumb to tilt her head back so he could see the raw spot on her cheek. She stared up at his face, thinking for a moment his hand might guide her face closer to his until their lips met. He dropped his hand to his side. Her thumping, adrenaline-filled heart had stopped for a moment at his touch, but now kicked back into motion.
“Come on, get in the car.” He pointed to Piper’s car and spun Piper to face it. His hand on the small of her back sent a chill through her. They hustled across the street, and as they reached the car Piper caught his arm before he could cross in front of her. She had a million things to say, but instead she just slid her two arms under his and pressed her cheek to his chest, listening for a minute to his heartbeat. He put his hands on her arms and slid them down and off him. “We need to get out of here,” he said flatly. They all took a seat in the car where Jules was frantically speaking faster than any of them could follow.
“Jules,” Piper said as she grasped the steering wheel in an effort to ground herself and keep her hands from shaking, “calm down. We’re okay.” It was said to assure herself as much as Jules. With a centering breath, Piper turned herself and looked over her shoulder at Bobby sitting in the backseat next to the sobbing girl. “What are you doing here? Have you been following us?”
“I was trying to tell you that, Piper, before you raced out of the car. I didn’t call the police, I called Bobby.” Jules’s voice was still not calm, but now the nerves were mixed with an apologetic tone. “I spotted him in Central Park and then again outside the hospital the first day we were there. I called him and told him I knew he was following us.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Piper asked, sounding hurt.
“I asked her not to,” Bobby admitted. “I didn’t plan to get involved unless you two got in over your head. I had Jules put an app on her phone so I could track where you were. It’s not easy following people in the city.” He readied himself for her angry rant on how she had everything under control. Instead she reached her arm into the backseat and grabbed his hand.
“Thank you,” she whispered. She could forgive the white lies, she was just happy to see his face.
Bobby shook her hand off and reached over the seat in front of him and squeezed Jules’s shoulder. She patted his hand and looked back to give him a familiar half smile. “Do you ever miss a chance to save the day?” she teased.
“Feel free to stop getting in situations where I have to save you two. You’re nothing if not consistent.”
“This one wasn’t our fault,” Jules insisted, as she turned her eyes to the girl sitting next to Bobby.
“Who the hell are you people?” the girl composed herself enough to ask.
“What were you thinking?” Piper snapped, turning her attention to the girl. “You don’t come down here alone, trying to score a fix. Do your parents know you’re an addict?”
“I’m not,” the girl answered defensively. “I’ve never done drugs in my life. My parents think I’m a complete screw-up, but they have no idea what kids are like these days. I’m a saint compared to half the girls in my school. I was just going to come down here, buy something, and show them what a real screw-up looks like.”
“That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. You were nearly robbed and could have been killed,” Piper lectured, narrowing her eyes. “What’s your name?”
“Jennipher,” she replied, her voice as low as her eyes now.
“Well, Jennipher, we’re going to take you home.”
“I don’t even know you. I’m not going to leave my car here and go off with you.”
Piper paused, weighing her options. The truth would be blunt, but it would come out eventually anyway. A lie would buy time, but who would that help really? “I was following you,” Piper said evenly, and she saw the fear spread across Jennipher’s face. “I’m not a stalker or anything. I know this is going to sound strange, but I think your father is my father, too.”
“Piper!” Jules exclaimed, obviously surprised by how candid Piper was being with someone so young.
“Come on, she’s going to find out eventually, and I’d like her to let us help get her home safely. I’ve had enough lies in my life, I don’t need this to be the start of another one.”
Jennipher’s mouth was agape. Her mind seemed to be racing as she found the words she was looking for. “How sure are you?” she asked, surprising everyone in the car. That seemed like an odd question, a weird response to such a big revelation.
“I’m pretty sure. Not completely positive, but I hope to talk to him so I can find out.”
“How old are you, like thirty?” Jennipher guessed, looking Piper over.
Now it was Piper’s turn to answer defensively. “No. I’m twenty-five.”
“Well my parents have only known each other for twenty years, so at least my mom won’t be pissed.”
“Don’t get your hopes up, I’d imagine she isn’t going to be too excited. I can’t think of any woman who would want to hear her husband of twenty years has a child he didn’t know about.”
“You’d be surprised,” Jennipher muttered, talking more to herself than to any of them. “I can’t leave my car here, you guys can follow me home if you want. I promise, my parents will want to meet you. Sooner rather than later.”
Jennipher pushed open the car door, but didn’t get out. She looked more out of sorts now than when she was pressed against a wall about to be robbed. She bit at her lip with a bewildered look on her face. “Thank you,” she said, flashing a half smile at Bobby. He nodded his head and smiled back as Jennipher stepped out of Piper’s car and quickly ran to her own. Piper wasn’t watching her. She couldn’t manage to pull her gaze from Bobby. At the sight of his grin, she felt her heart tug against the walls of her chest, aching to be next to him.
When his eyes met hers, his smile faded and it reminded her of every ounce of trouble that stood between them. She thought maybe this was something she should do alone, since they weren’t exactly in a good place right now. “I think I want to go by myself. Bobby, can you drop Jules off for me? She had a brilliant idea today, and if she were to meet the doctor tonight I’d have a lot of explaining to do about why her name isn’t really Scarlett Cherrywind. Plus, I don’t really think they’ll want an audience when I talk to them. It’s going to be awkward enough.”
“Sure,” Bobby said tersely, getting ready to step out of the car.
A flash of panic filled Piper at the thought of not connecting with Bobby again. “Where have you been staying? Can we meet up later?” She was so afraid to watch him drive away now and not see him again. She knew it wasn’t likely that he’d just evaporate out of her life, but she needed to hear him say he wouldn’t.
And in his usual openhearted fashion, he used his words to calm her. “I’ve been staying in different hotels, depending on what is cheapest. I want to know how it goes. Call me when you finish up there. I’ll make sure I’m around tonight.”
That was all she needed, the thread she’d hold on to. No matter what she was about to face, knowing Bobby would be around when it was over, gave her some peace.
Chapter Six
The house still looked flawless, even up close, and Piper was dying to get inside. She wanted to see if it was as perfect inside as it appeared on the outside, if those who resided in it were perfect, too. As Jennipher took in a deep breath and pushed her way through the front door, Piper could smell the warm scents of the Christmas season: pine as they stepped past the towering, beautifully decorated Christmas tree in the foyer and cinnamon from flickering candles. She heard the thumping of feet charging in their direction and her breath caught in her throat as Jennipher’s mother rounded the corner, almost in a run. She saw a flash of her own mother storming toward her, and nearly dove i
n front of Jennipher to protect her. But hesitation saved her from a very embarrassing situation. Jennipher’s mother wasn’t coming to punish her; she was coming to hug her. She held her daughter tightly, stroking her long hair, not even noticing Piper.
“Marty, she’s back. She’s okay.” Around the same corner strode Jennipher’s father, not as caught up in the situation that he could overlook the stranger in his foyer.
“Hello,” he said, more of a question than a greeting. Piper wanted to fight it. She didn’t want to be completely enamored with his voice. She didn’t want to have the urge to run to him—she didn’t want to need him to want her—but the moment she saw him, she couldn’t combat her emotions. This was her father, or at least she thought it was, and he seemed happy, he seemed normal. She might possibly be related to someone who actually had his life together.
“Oh,” Jennipher’s mother said, waking from the joy of holding her daughter. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there. I’m Connie, Jennipher’s mother. Are you a friend?” Connie’s wide smile was glistening white. She had clearly spent the last few hours intensely worried, her eyes rimmed red from tears. But that didn’t take away from the fact that she was tall and classically pretty. She looked like a mom, and a very good one. Even as she spoke, she couldn’t completely let her daughter go.
Jennipher wasn’t fighting it either. She may have had a tough-girl attitude in the car, but now in her mother’s arms she looked like a lost child reunited. “This is Piper, Mom. She helped me tonight. I did something really dumb.” Her voice cracked with emotion and the tears quickly began to flow. “I just wanted to show you guys there are a lot worse things than a bad grade. I thought if I could just show you what everyone else my age was doing you’d realize I could be a lot worse.”
“Oh, sweetheart, we know you’re a good kid. We don’t care about the grade, we are just wondering why you’re not doing as well in school,” Connie said soothingly, trying to wipe Jennipher’s tears away, but unable to keep up with the streams rolling down her face.
“You know why, Mom. How could anyone concentrate like this? You know it’s all my fault.” Connie opened her mouth to speak, presumably to tell her daughter that whatever she was blaming herself for was surely not her fault.
But instead, Dr. Wheeler spoke first. “What did you do tonight? That’s what I’m most concerned about.”
Jennipher hesitated, burying her head for a moment in her mother’s shoulder. “I drove into the city. I was going to, you know, buy some stuff.”
“What stuff?” her mother asked, leaning away from her daughter so she could look her in the face.
“Like, I don’t know, drugs I guess.”
“You guess you were going to buy drugs? Jennipher, do you know how dangerous that is? You could have been arrested or hurt.” Her father’s voice was booming slightly and a glance from his wife reined him in.
“I know,” Jennipher cried. “If Piper and her friends hadn’t been there I wouldn’t be here right now. The guy, he was going to rob me, hurt me.” She trailed off again and both parents looked over at Piper, hoping she’d fill in the details, but she stayed silent. She’d nearly forgotten about the scrape on her cheek that was now drawing Connie’s attention.
“Marty, she’s bleeding,” Connie spoke, pointing at Piper’s cheek. Marty walked toward her, passing his wife and daughter, and leaned in to get a better look. Piper had been standing in the dim shadow of the candle-lit hallway. When their eyes met he stopped short and in a ghostly whisper gasped, “Coco?”
Piper’s eyes grew large and she took two steps back. “I, um . . . I . . .” she stammered.
“What is it, Marty?” Connie asked, watching the color drain from her husband’s face.
“She looks just like Coco,” Marty stammered, eyeing his wife and shaking his head in disbelief.
The silence in the room was piercing as the three pairs of eyes fixed on her. “She was my mother,” Piper said finally, hanging her head, thinking maybe tonight was not the right time for this. Maybe there was no right time to slice through the gut of a loving family.
“Did you know that I knew Coco? Did you know I’m Jennipher’s father? I’m sorry, I’m just trying to understand why you were there tonight.” You could almost see the husband and wife trying to quickly connect the dots as they exchanged confused looks.
“I was following you,” she admitted timidly. “I’ve been watching you, and today when I saw Jennipher storm out, I followed her. I know how that must sound.”
“Why were you following me?” Marty still looked as though he was trying to sort out what decade he was in, who he was looking at.
“I’m not really sure how to say this tactfully, so I’m just going to come out with it. I think you might be my father.”
Connie stifled a shriek, as she pulled her daughter in tighter. Her face was twisted, her eyes instantly wet with tears.
“I’m so sorry. You guys have this perfect life and I barge in and tell you something like this. I’m not completely positive that you are, so this could all turn into nothing. I’ve just had kind of a screwed up life, and I’m hoping to find out who I come from. I’m not here for money, and I don’t need anything, I’m so sorry.” Piper reached behind her for the doorknob, ready to run.
Connie touched her husband’s arm, squeezing his bicep. Piper didn’t know what that meant. Was it some kind of code just between them? Or perhaps it was a way to ground her husband who seemed to be floating away with the emotion of this.
“Piper,” Marty said, reaching his hand up to her cheek where a drop of blood had formed and dried, “let me clean that cut and put a bandage on it. Please don’t be sorry, just come in and talk with us.”
Piper looked at each face in the room and they all met her with the same half smile, a tentative one, but a smile all the same. She couldn’t believe their reactions. Connie immediately shuffled her into the living room, which looked like a shrine of school pictures and family portraits. She left Jennipher there and disappeared with her husband for a few minutes. Piper didn’t look at any of the photos too closely, but it seemed like they must have more children than just Jennipher, and lots of extended family. Cousins, aunts, uncles, maybe even grandparents.
“I’m so sorry if they are arguing. I didn’t mean to make trouble for you.” Piper began to perspire, thinking she certainly had caused them to begin fighting.
“They don’t ever really fight. I’m like the only kid in my grade whose parents actually seem to like each other. We just have a lot going on with our family right now. It’s kind of complicated, but I’m sure they’ll tell you when they get back. A few months ago . . .”
“Jennipher,” Marty cut in, startling both girls, “you are not off the hook by any means. Your mother and I will deal with your punishment in the morning.”
He kneeled in front of Piper on the couch, and then leaned in closer. She could smell his cologne and it was exactly what she would have thought he’d wear. He was still in his work clothes: a crisp white dress shirt with sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his tie loosened and the knot pulled slightly to the side as if it had been choking him. His hair was salt and pepper, but you could tell it used to be dark like hers. His eyes were very much like hers though rimmed now with a few slight wrinkles. He was a kind-looking man, one you’d smile at just because.
He used an alcohol wipe to clean the dry blood from Piper’s cheek and then covered it with a bandage. None of this required the steady hand of a heart surgeon, but she wasn’t complaining.
“That should do it,” he said, crinkling up the bandage wrapper and patting her on the shoulder. She half expected a lollipop for being such a good patient.
Jennipher and Connie had disappeared into the kitchen under the guise of making coffee, which didn’t really seem like a two person job, but perhaps they needed to have a conversation of their own. When they returned with a tray of cookies and a pot of coffee, Piper felt relieved. She was prepared for them to run awa
y, hide out until she was gone. Instead, with wide smiles plastered on their faces, they came back.
“Oh that looks so much better, Piper. I never properly thanked you for helping Jennipher tonight. I don’t even want to think what would have happened if you weren’t there. We Wheelers are big believers in fate. Everything happens for a reason and everyone is right where they are meant to be when they are meant to be there.” Connie sat on the loveseat across from her and placed the tray on the coffee table between them. Jennipher sat by Piper and Marty by his wife. This was it, they couldn’t ignore the elephant in the room any longer, all the thank-yous had been doled out, all the cuts had been bandaged. It was time to talk.
“Tell me, Piper, what pointed you in my direction for this search?” Marty asked as he took his wife’s hand in his. If they had just had a screaming match in the kitchen, they certainly were good at hiding their animosity.
Piper took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts. She meant to skip over the more horrid parts of her history, but found herself unable to explain without starting with the worst possible part of her life. “I don’t know what you know about Roberto Lawson, the man I thought was my father, but he was a bad person.”
“I do know that. I’ve kept up on his story. I know what he did to your mom. Last I heard he killed himself a few weeks ago, right?” His face was solemn and he kept nervously clearing his throat.
“Yes, after hunting me down for the second time in my life with the intention of killing me.”
Connie put her hand over her heart and murmured, “You poor thing.”
“After he died, I found out he was not my father. I haven’t had a good life, to be honest, but recently I found some people who I care about very much and who care about me, too. They’ve become like a family to me. The detective working on my father’s—I mean Roberto’s—case had done extensive research on both him and my mother in an effort to learn more about them in the investigation. She discovered that my mother was in mandatory drug counseling when I would have been conceived. She revealed the facility my mother was in during that time to me. I found the address of an employee who had recently retired, and I thought she might remember my mother. Turns out I was correct. She led me to you.”
Changing Fate (Book 3) (Piper Anderson Series) Page 6