“Who?” Marty cut in, genuinely curious about who had helped.
“Gertrude Meriwether.” She watched as he nodded, memories flooding back to him. “Well if you got any information out of her then she must have softened with age. The way I remember her, she was one tough lady.”
“She still is, it wasn’t easy. She said she knew right away, just by looking at me, that you were my father. I don’t know if I see the resemblance as clearly as she does but . . .”
“I do,” Connie cut in. “It’s like looking right at his eyes. It’s incredible, really.”
“Well, we looked you up online and followed you here from the hospital. I know that sounds creepy, but I just wanted to know you a little before I introduced myself. I have had some really big bumps in my road, and I was only trying to prevent one more. If you were a jerk or something, I’d have gone back home and never introduced myself, I guess. I’ve hit my jerk quota for my lifetime.”
They all laughed, and Piper heard her own breathy chuckle in her father’s laugh. Something he’d perhaps unknowingly handed down to her?
Marty recounted the years that seemed like a lifetime ago. “Well the timeline certainly makes sense. I was with your mother in the facility. As a matter of fact, I was with her long before that. We went to middle and high school together. We were very good friends, even dated a little toward the end of school. I went off to college and she stayed in the city. We drifted apart, but between college and medical school, I came back home. There was no social media or anything then, so if you wanted to reconnect with someone you just went and knocked on his or her door. Your mother didn’t live at home anymore. Both her parents were killed in a car accident the previous year. I hadn’t heard that terrible news, and I wanted to find her and tell her how sorry I was. I looked everywhere until someone finally told me she was living in the Demon, I mean, DeArmon Heights with some guy.” He poured himself a cup of coffee and Connie reached over and put a scoop of sugar in his mug. Piper warmed a little, watching how these two complemented each other, how they moved like a well-orchestrated ballet. A knowing touch, an old habit.
“I went down there and got the shock of my life when I saw your mom. She was completely strung out, tragically skinny, and looked like she’d endured a beating or two. I dragged her out of that hellhole and brought her home, swore I’d help clean her up. But two days later she left. She said she was happy with her life and I should leave her alone. She was in love. About a month later I got word from a friend of mine that she’d been arrested and would likely be put into a mandatory treatment program. I looked up which one would be closest to her and started volunteering there. A week later, there she was. As she began to go through the steps, I got to see the light return to her eyes. She turned back into the girl I used to ride to school with every day.”
Piper had never thought of her mother as a normal girl, someone with friends who did well in school. She had always imagined she was born a drug addict. She knew, logically, that didn’t make sense, but it was the image she had in her head nonetheless.
Marty looked like he was becoming more uncomfortable by the minute, as though he was embarrassed to continue the story. “She stayed in the program for the full ninety days, and during that time we got together. I broke a lot of rules and now, looking back on it, I realize how selfish and irresponsible I was. I cared about Coco very much, but what we did while she was supposed to be recovering, I’m ashamed of that. Toward the end of the program she began acting strangely. She would avoid me and tell me she didn’t want to see me. I tried to make plans with her for after she’d completed the rehabilitation program. I wanted to help her find a job and a place to live, keep her away from Roberto, but it was like a switch flipped. I guess, in retrospect, maybe it was because she was pregnant, or scared. I just wanted to fix her, but she disappeared, and as hard as I tried, I couldn’t track her down. Almost two years passed before I heard anything about her again. She was back in the projects, still with Roberto, still on drugs. I tried a few more times over the years to help her break away, but at some point Roberto and the drugs just became too much for me to contend with. I moved on, started my own life. At some point I heard she had a daughter, but I never thought anything of it. I can promise I didn’t know about you. If I had, I wouldn’t have left you there with them. I can only imagine the life you lived, and I am sorry for that.”
“Don’t be. I’ve put it behind me. They’re both dead now, they can’t hurt me anymore.”
“Did they really hurt you?” Jennipher asked, and her mother shot her a meaningful look.
“That’s not appropriate, Jennipher,” her father said, in case the look had been missed.
“It’s okay,” Piper reassured them. “Yes, they hurt me. They were very abusive and neglectful. I’m lucky to have survived at all. So next time you go running away because you can’t see eye to eye with your parents, think about how many kids out there are hiding under their beds and wondering when they’ll have their next meal.”
Jennipher nodded feverishly in complete agreement, and a small smile passed between her parents.
Connie reached her hand out and patted Piper’s leg. “I’m so glad you came here tonight, Piper. I’m sure that must have taken a lot of courage.”
Piper shook her head, trying to get a better emotional handle on this powerful moment. “I’m sorry, I’m struggling a little bit here. I didn’t expect you all to be so nice, so welcoming. I guess I’m just wondering what comes next.”
The room was quiet. Connie grabbed her husband’s hand again and squeezed it tightly, another telepathic message perhaps. “We’d like to meet these friends of yours Jennipher told us about. We’d like to thank them. Would you all like to come over for dinner tomorrow night? Our son, Eli, is already in bed for the night, but we’d like you to meet him as well.”
“So you have two kids,” Piper concluded with a smile and then watched each of them grow uncomfortable. How stupid, she thought, putting them on the spot like that. How would they say that now that she was in the picture?
“Okay,” Marty said, and Piper saw Connie’s grip tighten a little. “So can we count you all in for dinner tomorrow night? Do you have a favorite meal?”
“I’m just getting used to home cooking. I didn’t really have any growing up so I wouldn’t know what meal to pick. Whatever you like best is fine by me. Bobby and Jules aren’t picky either.”
“Where are you staying? You’re welcome to stay here. We can make up a bed for you. No need to rush out tonight.” Connie seemed anxious now, on the edge of panic at the thought of seeing Piper go.
“Mom,” Jennipher said, shooting back the almost identical out of line look she’d gotten a few minutes ago. “Piper will be back tomorrow. She said she would, no reason to think she wouldn’t.”
“I know. I’m just assuming this is a confusing time, and we want to make sure we see you again. Marty has already lived half his life not knowing you, we’d like to change that going forward.”
“Thank you so much, Connie. Of everyone, I’d imagine this is probably hardest for you. You are being so kind. My friends and I will be back tomorrow. Is six o’clock okay?”
“Yes, of course. You can come back whenever you want, our door is always open. Marty, write down our phone numbers for her.” Connie reached over to a side table with a box of markers and scrap paper, the art supplies of a child. She handed them to Marty and nudged him to hurry up. “Can we have your phone number as well?”
When phone numbers were swapped and plans for the following night were all but written in a contract, Piper made her exit. “It’s getting late. Thank you all so much. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
Connie pulled her in for a tight hug, patting her back. “Thank you,” she said, squeezing her tighter. Piper thought this thank you must be for stepping in and helping Jennipher.
Marty, perhaps not a hugger, or maybe just trying to balance his wife’s gushing, opted to nod his head as a goodbye.
Jennipher waved her multi-colored polished fingers at her and gave a crooked, almost apologetic smile.
Before her key was even turned in the ignition Piper felt the tears coming. She tried to hold in the sobs, the incoherent sniffling, that came from the pure joy she was feeling. She backed out the driveway and pulled out her phone. When she heard Bobby’s familiar voice on the line she tried to pull herself together, but she couldn’t.
His tone changed instantly from casual to fear. “What is it, Piper, where are you? I can’t make out what you’re saying. Are you hurt?”
“No, no,” she insisted, realizing how she must sound to him. “I’m all right. I just want to see you; I want to tell you what happened. Where are you?”
“Jules gave me the address to the doctor’s house. I got a hotel not too far from where you are now. I wasn’t sure how late you’d be or how it would go. I wanted to stay close.” Piper was thrown by the fact that his actions, his desire to be around her and protect her, didn’t line up with his words. He kept saying he couldn’t love her, not right now, not after what he had done, what he had allowed to happen in the cabin. So why did he keep acting like he did? “I just texted you the address, room two-thirty-three.”
“I’ll be right there,” Piper answered, the joy in her stomach turning to butterflies. What did this mean? A hotel. Did he want her to stay? Had he changed his mind about them?
She pulled up to the address and parked. The boutique hotel had a quiet lobby with a fire burning in the small fireplace. She walked past the front desk and awkwardly flashed a smile at the studious woman perched behind it. As she walked down the long hallway, reading the room numbers, her throat felt like it might close. Every step closer to room two-thirty-three brought with it slightly more anxiety. When she finally stood in front of the door, she extended her hand to knock but suddenly stopped herself. What would they do? Hug? Would he kiss her? Or would they act as though they had never loved each other?
She finally rounded her hand into a tight fist and knocked harder than she probably should have, but her adrenaline was pumping.
She braced herself as if the opening of the door might hit her like an oncoming ocean wave. She planted her feet, closed her eyes, and held her breath.
Bobby was standing there, now out of his jeans and button-down, wearing basketball shorts and a T-shirt. She loved him in his uniform, the crisp pleats and shining badge. She loved him in his dark jeans and dress shirt, the sleeves rolled halfway up, his broad shoulders filling the fabric perfectly. But she loved him most of all just like this, in casual clothes. That told her they were beyond impressing each other, beyond formalities. Maybe they weren’t in a defined relationship, maybe they had stalled and floundered. It didn’t matter to her, she still saw herself with him someday, dressed in her sweats and wearing a messy ponytail while cuddled up to watch a season of some mindless television show all in one sitting.
“Hey,” was all he said. His expression was one of indifference. It looked as though he was fighting to remain upset with her, like it was a chore to not kiss her.
“Hi,” she murmured, disappointed at his welcome and the sight of two full beds in the room rather than one large king. If it became late and she needed to sleep over, they’d have plenty of space to stay away from each other.
“How did it go?” he asked, gesturing for her to come in the rest of the way. He sat on the desk chair in the corner of the room. She took a seat on one of the beds, trying not to get too comfortable.
Instead of getting tied up in the conundrum of their current relationship, she turned to the happiness that came from her other encounter tonight. “You wouldn’t believe how well it went. They were so happy to meet me. I just took the plunge and kind of blurted it out, and it went fine. Actually, Connie, that’s his wife, seemed worried they wouldn’t see me again. She kept wondering where I was staying, offering me a room there. She wanted my phone number and kept insisting we all come over for dinner tomorrow night. I had thought if anyone would take the news badly it would be the wife of the man who had an illegitimate child, but she seemed the most excited.”
“That’s strange, don’t you think?” Bobby twisted his face and pondered the scenario. “You wouldn’t really expect them to be so happy about it. Not at first anyway. Were they at least shocked?”
Why this stabbed at her, she wasn’t sure. She had so few opportunities in her life to deliver good news, and the fact that this was met with skepticism infuriated her. “Of course they should be upset about it. Look at what they’re getting, some screwed-up person who was raised by monsters. I’m not good enough. Who’d want someone like that around? You’ve made it clear that you don’t.” So much for steering clear of their relationship status.
“That’s not fair,” Bobby retorted. “You know that isn’t what I was saying. There isn’t anything wrong with you and they’d be lucky to have you in their family. I just don’t think that’s the normal response to news like this.” He wheeled his chair over to her and put his hand on her leg. “You know it isn’t that I don’t want you around. I still want you with me. If I didn’t I wouldn’t have followed you up here to make sure you were okay. It isn’t that you have something wrong with you, I’m working on something right now . . . so that I can be good enough for you.”
She laced her fingers with his, hope of their future filling her again. “Come with me tomorrow? Come meet them.” She inched closer to him. If things were different, if she weren’t afraid he’d recoil, she’d slide onto his lap and bury her face in his neck, soaking in his warmth and scent.
“Of course I’ll go,” he replied, as if it were silly for her to even have to ask him. “If this is your family, I want to meet them. But I have a favor to ask you.”
“Anything,” she whispered hoping he’d infer that it applied to whatever she had to do to help him feel whole enough again to be with her.
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, about my brother Jedda and my parents. All these things I’ve been holding onto, believing in, they’re all through the eyes of a nine-year-old boy. I know now from my own job there are many sides to a story, and you can’t form a whole picture until you investigate all of them. I don’t know if I’m trying to prove myself right or wrong here, I just know I want to go back, know more. I’m going to see my parents in New Jersey in a couple of days. I’d like you to come with me.”
She didn’t want to sound too anxious. Her urge was to jump up and kiss him, shouting yes! Instead she squeezed his hand tighter. “Of course.”
The moment seemed to stretch out before them. This was a tipping point. They had a plan, they were both trying to evolve into a person worth loving, but what did that mean for tonight?
“You’re welcome to stay here tonight. It’s late, and I’d like to hear more about what happened.” Bobby shifted backward, wiggling his hand from hers.
“I noticed you got these two very individual beds here. When you say I’m welcome to stay, do you mean like a slumber party? Will there be movies and popcorn?” She scooted back on the bed and kicked off her shoes.
“I was trying to think ahead,” he sighed. He looked as if he didn’t know where they stood, nor, for that matter, where they should sleep.
“I’m not sure I could stay here tonight if it meant I couldn’t sleep with you, or sleep closer to you than this.” She gestured at the two beds and held her breath waiting for his response.
“I know I won’t be able to stay in my own bed if you’re here. But I also know it won’t fix anything. We’ll wake up tomorrow and still not know how to get us right.”
“I’m not disagreeing, I’m just saying that doesn’t stop me from wanting to.”
“Me either,” he admitted.
“So we know it won’t help our situation,” she said, standing and moving toward him in the chair. “Do we know if it will make it worse?”
“We don’t know that,” Bobby murmured, combating his smile, and losing.
“I think we owe it t
o ourselves to prove the theory through.” She straddled him in the chair and he leaned back, pulling her in closer. She ran her nails over his short, stubbly shaved head, and he shook with pleasure. That sensation always drove him wild.
“For the purpose of science I think you’re right. Doing this solves nothing, but does it wreck everything?” He slid his hands up the back of her shirt and swiftly unfastened her bra. He slipped it and her shirt off, and tossed them to the floor.
She leaned down to him and stopped just short of his lips. She didn’t want to kiss him, she wanted him to kiss her. He’d stepped away from them and decided they couldn’t work. It would be up to him to lean back in. Without hesitation he met her lips, and she instantly felt everything that had disconnected in them come together, plugging back in.
He pulled his shirt over his head and added it to the growing pile of clothes on the floor. Their bare skin—his warm, hers cool—fused together. Her silky-soft bare chest pressed against his firm muscular build. In a flash, their tentative reconnection turned to an intense dance of passion. He lifted her easily, she purred with delight as he laid her on the bed and came down on top of her. His body was grinding into her and doubling her anticipation. He slipped out of his pants and then unfastened hers, leaning down to kiss her belly, his tongue trailing to the top of her lace panties. She felt the heat of his breath warming her, and once again she ran her nails across his scalp and smiled as he moaned.
Changing Fate (Book 3) (Piper Anderson Series) Page 7