The guy on the screen had gone way beyond just talking her out of her clothes. He did more than just watch and make sounds. He’d said all the right things. Over the previous couple weeks, he had spoken to her heart and made her feel beautiful—as beautiful as any of the women in any of the pictures that she had seen. More beautiful, even!
His name was Jason.
He was eighteen. He had just graduated from high school, and he was gorgeous! And he thought she was gorgeous! And it all seemed so perfect!
He wanted to meet her. But she was scared that he would find out the truth about her, that she wasn’t really sixteen like she’d said.
Reluctantly, though with an intense desire to have “it” finally happen, she agreed to get together. Jason wanted to see what she looked and felt like in person. They only had to figure out a way to secretly “hook up,” as he’d put it.
She was so nervous.
He had offered to come to her house, as he had a car and only lived two towns away. At first, she thought that the idea was a good one. There were going to be a couple evenings in which her parents would be gone. But then it dawned on her; there was evidence all over her bedroom proving that she wasn’t really as old as she claimed. Not much had really changed about her room since she was twelve.
She told him to pick a day and she’d meet him at the public library. She knew she could get her mom to take her there and leave her to study for a few hours after school. And that’s exactly how it took place.
She had watched for him at the entrance of the library. He pulled up in his slightly used-looking Nissan Sentra—it was a pretty navy blue. He smiled at her as she waved, then leaned over and pushed the door open for her. No one had ever pushed open a door for her before.
She remembered being both excited and terrified. She knew she was trembling. Her heart pounded insanely. She stepped to the open door. She could smell the scent of an air freshener drifting out. It was pleasant.
She got into the car, said a shy “Hello,” and closed the door. I’m in this all the way, now, she remembered thinking. Please, let him be a good guy and not an axe murderer. Before she even had her seatbelt on, he had pulled away from the curb.
“I’m Jason,” he said with a big grin.
“Elizabeth.” She almost offered her hand. Awkward.
He was taller than she had thought, but he was every bit as beautiful. Slim, but not skinny. He looked a little muscular. When he looked over at her again, still grinning, she couldn’t help but smile.
“I thought about us going back to my mom’s house, but she won’t be gone long enough for us to spend much time together. Then I remembered that my dad is out of town, so his apartment is completely available!”
Her stomach tightened. She forced “That sounds great” to escape her lips, with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. Oh God, why am I doing this?!
“You’re still good with this? I mean, I can still take you back to the library.”
He was sounding safe now. Safe and nice.
“It’s … it’s okay. I’m okay. With this.”
He laughed. “We’ll have a good time. I promise. You’re still all right with us just getting together for some fun, right?”
The way he emphasized the word just made her heart sink a bit. She knew that they had previously agreed, but a part of her had still hoped. Hoped that if they hit it off….
He made his point even clearer: “You’re not looking for this to be the beginning of a relationship, right?”
“Yeah, I’m good. Just some fun.” That was the moment she realized that she’d been lying to herself. It wasn’t good. Or was it? Could it be good? Could she be fine with it?
She almost said, “Stop.” She almost said, “I’m sorry” and “Please, take me back.”
She almost said those things.
Instead, she faced forward, looking through the windshield as the traffic signals, street signs, and buildings whizzed by. She’d been foolish to think that she could have had more than a one-time “hook up”—foolish to think he was different than all the guys who immediately turned off their cameras when their own “excitement” was over.
It couldn’t work between them, anyway. Right? After all, she couldn’t lie to him forever about how old she was.
That’s when he asked a confusing question: “Did you bring any protection?”
What? Protection from…? “No. Umm.… No, I didn’t.”
He laughed. “Well, that just means things will be all that much more exciting. Now, won’t it?”
She hadn’t known how to respond.
One baby girl later, she knew exactly what her response should have been.
Chapter 6
D
inner in the Lawton household was almost always lively. Laughter and banter amongst the six of them was commonplace. This evening proved no exception.
Amy, now nearly nine years old, was the only one who had a little difficulty keeping up with some of the funny quips made around the table. The question, “Why is that funny?” escaped her lips more than once and usually resulted in her brother rolling his eyes.
Elizabeth’s thoughts roiled, still trying to figure out how to broach the subject of Kyla’s name with Brent. Trying to remain patient only proved that patience wasn’t her strong suit.
After she half-heard and half-laughed at something Jamie said, she clumsily brought all the family focus upon herself.
“I put my work schedule on the refrigerator,” she said to everyone for no good reason.
“Yes, I saw that. Thank you,” said Tara with a smiled acknowledgement.
Inwardly, Elizabeth cringed. “Just didn’t want any surprises about having to watch Kyla.”
Elizabeth saw that Tara gave her a curious look. And why wouldn’t she? She’d never brought it up for consideration before.
“Sweetheart, you don’t have to worry. We know you have a job you’ve got to go to.” She paused, then asked, “Everything okay?”
Elizabeth now felt everyone’s focus on her. She felt herself tense, warmth rising into her cheeks.
“Oh … yeah. Everything’s good,” she responded with an exaggerated nod of her head. “Just don’t want to be a burden.”
Jenna spoke up next. “We all love Kyla. Nothing to worry about.”
“Okay.”
All eyes were still on her. She forced a smile. “That’s good to know.” She nodded again. 1 … 2 … 3 … “So, do you think Kyla is a goofy name for a girl?”
There, she’d said it. Got it out into the open. She held her breath.
Now what’s going to…?
Brent produced a facial response that let her know she’d maybe hit on something. Or maybe he was just purely confused. Then she noticed that Tara’s eyebrows went up a little as she looked across the table to Jenna.
Turning her head slightly to look at her mom, Jenna’s eyes grew large as she formed an expression that was akin to asking, “How did this become a subject of discussion after we just talked about it upstairs in your bedroom?”
“The moment I heard her name for the first time,” Brent responded, breaking the awkward silence, “I knew it was a perfect fit.” A pause. “She’s a beautiful girl with a beautiful name to match.”
Brent looked at Tara. Tara looked at him. They both turned to look at her.
He continued. “Why are you asking?”
The door to her change of topic was now wide open.
It wasn’t time to confess that she’d overheard Tara’s and Jenna’s conversation, so a ready-made response proceeded from her lips. “Oh. No big reason, I guess. It’s just that I made the name up. Don’t know exactly where it came from.”
Elizabeth didn’t see it, but Jenna mouthed the word Wow! to her mom.
There. She brought the subject up. Now it was her turn to see if there were any awkward responses.
Brent was the only one to initially
respond. “Well, I’ll say that I was a bit curious as to why you gave her that name. Don’t know why I didn’t ask you directly. I just supposed that … I guess … you knew someone from your past who had that name. Or a similar name. I didn’t know you made it up.”
Time to leap in a little further.
“Yeah, weird, isn’t it? I’ve never known anyone with that name before. Don’t really know where it came from.” She looked at Tara. “Is that strange?”
Tara looked at Brent for a quick moment before looking back into Elizabeth’s eyes. There were definitely looks of revelation and indecision that briefly registered.
“Strange? Oh, I don’t know that there is anything actually strange about it. Interesting that you should ask such a question so long after naming her, though. Are you regretting the name you chose?”
“Shoot!” came an overly loud cry from Jenna. All the attention shifted to her.
“Shoot, what?!” asked Jamie, maybe a little too happy that something had just stressed out his sister.
Jenna glanced at Jamie, then looked straight into her mother’s eyes. “I forgot! I’ve got tooo…” She stalled briefly, making it obvious that she was trying to pull something out of the air. “…go over to … Kara’s!”
She immediately grabbed her plate, stood up, walked it into the kitchen, and placed it in the sink. “I’ll see you all in a little while!”
And with that, Jenna had effectively extricated herself from the situation, leaving Tara, mouth slightly agape, to watch as her daughter quickly walked to the front door.
Now, that was fun! Jamie couldn’t hold back a grin as his sister marched out the door. Her need to leave meant something was definitely going on.
When he saw Jenna mouth the word Wow! to their mom, he knew he was witnessing what could, by all appearances, turn out to be the most uncomfortable dinner conversation ever.
How good is this going to get?
Watching his dad wonder where the conversation was heading, and seeing his mom seem to stress over … well, he didn’t have a clue what she was stressing over, but it certainly looked like it was going to be interesting!
Jamie propped his elbows up on the table and rested his chin on folded hands. Do I look “concerned” enough? he wondered. He knew that anything that gave the appearance that he was finding the situation humorous was going to get him booted from the table.
Elizabeth had both of his parents looking rather skittish. He could tell, though, that Elizabeth wasn’t sure how to react to Jenna’s sudden departure.
Maybe it was time for him to help the conversation along.
“Is there something wrong with Kyla’s name?” Jamie asked, causing his mom and dad to break the stare they had going on with each other.
His dad gave him a glancing you’re-treading-on-thin-ice look before looking over to Elizabeth again.
Jamie didn’t for a minute believe that his parents had done anything bad, but it was certain that Elizabeth knew something that they knew as well, and she was doing her best to get them to admit it.
All eyes were back on her. It gave him an opportunity to look—okay, to stare—at her without feeling uncomfortable. Even while Elizabeth looked somewhat uneasy, she was still gorgeous.
“Uh. Well, no. Nothing’s wrong with it. I really like it. But have any of you ever heard a name like it before?”
Elizabeth turned her eyes down toward her plate. She was obviously expecting someone to come clean about something that she was scared to deal with.
Jamie heard his mother sigh. He looked over to her as she turned to his dad again. She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted before she could utter a word.
“Can I have some more chocolate milk?” Amy was obviously not fazed by the drama playing out before her.
Jamie’s mom couldn’t help but smile because of the untimely question. It even caused his dad to drop his head and chuckle.
“Yes,” she replied. “You can get it out of the fridge.” Turning to face Elizabeth, Jamie’s mom said, “To answer your question … yes. We’ve heard a similar name before.”
Elizabeth’s eyes lifted.
Jamie’s dad picked up the explanation. “It’s something that I’m sure is completely unrelated, but it was certainly an odd coincidence when we heard what you decided to name your baby girl.”
Elizabeth looked at him in the eyes. “What kind of coincidence? Something that I need to worry about?”
“No, hon. Not at all.” Jamie’s dad pushed himself back and stood up. Walking over to Amy’s chair, he grabbed the gallon container, half full with chocolate milk, and began to refill her glass as she sat back down. He continued. “A long time ago, I had an experience that was sort of like a dream. But it seemed more real than that.
“In that dream was a girl named Elizabeth who had gotten pregnant. There was a boy in the dream who had tried to help her and the baby, and his name was Kyle. It was a very long story that I had already shared with Tara.” He paused. “I had shared it with her earlier on the very same day that we met you in the grocery store.”
Jamie looked at Elizabeth. He could tell that she was trying to take it in.
So was he.
“The same day?” she asked and looked over to her semi-adoptive mother.
“The very same,” she confirmed. “It startled us a little bit when you told us your name, but over time, the mystery behind your name and Brent’s experience—umm … his dream—began to fade. That is, until your baby was born and you startled us again with the name Kyla.”
Jamie hadn’t heard any of this before. Now he was the one that probably had a goofy look on his face. He looked to his dad.
“Wait,” he interjected. “You’re saying that in your dream you had already dreamed that all of this stuff was going to happen? You knew that a girl named Elizabeth was going to end up living with us?”
His dad pursed his lips before continuing. It was obvious he was carefully choosing his words.
“Not quite. And now that the cat’s out of the bag, it’s probably good to get the whole story out in the open. But.…” He looked at Jamie with something akin to apologetic sympathy. “Elizabeth, I would like for Tara and me to share it with you alone.”
Jamie sat back, betrayal registering in his face. “What?! Come on!”
“It’s her story, Jamie. Sorry.” His dad turned back to Elizabeth. “Well, that’s not exactly true. It’s not your story … I don’t think. It’s just a story that has an odd connection to you because of three things: your name, being pregnant, and the name you gave your baby girl. Outside of those, I see absolutely no other relation. But because these are so closely related, Tara and I are going to share some details, things that you can keep to yourself or share as you see fit.”
Though he was disappointed, Jamie could see that Elizabeth looked relieved—even hopeful—and with her dark brown hair and brown eyes, she looked awfully gorgeous as well.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 30
Chapter 7
M
an, it’s all so confusing,” Jamie said, as he wrapped up his breakdown of the previous night’s dinner conversation.
He and his best friend, Zach Miller, locked up their bikes in front of Game Stock.
“Dude, she’s hot.”
“Exactly!”
“But so is your sister.”
“Stop saying that! It’s … creepy!”
Zach laughed.
Walking into the store, they surveyed their surroundings. The space was a bit cramped with all the different games, gaming systems, and accessories for sale. Classic rock played through ceiling speakers, maybe a little too loudly.
A full-size cardboard cutout of a military operative stood before them—an attention-grabbing advertisement for a much-anticipated game release. They both looked at the release date.
“Still three months away for Call of Duty,” said Jamie.
&n
bsp; “I just hope Advanced Warfare doesn’t stink up the place.”
The pair of fifteen year olds migrated to the “Nearly New” wall, looking for a couple of decent options so as to kill some remaining summertime hours.
After a minute of browsing, Jamie said, “Still hard to believe she’s a mom. I mean, she’s barely a year older than me and she’s got a baby that’s already a year and a half old.”
Zach gave Jamie a half turn of his head then looked back at the games. “Strike Suit Zero is still an option. Timmy said it’s pretty good.”
Jamie didn’t verbally respond but did allow a wobble of his head from side to side, letting Zach know he’d consider it.
“It’s like I’m not supposed to notice her, like she’s supposed to be just another sister. But man, it’s not working too well. You should see how she walks around the house sometimes.” He shook his head and let out a whisper of air through pursed lips.
Zach laughed. “I’d like to!”
“Yeah, well, it just messes with me. It’s torture.”
Silent minutes passed as they continued looking at the rest of the options on the game shelves. Eventually, it was decided that Strike Suit Zero was the best available option.
With their purchase, they headed back out to their bikes.
“Your place or mine?” asked Jamie.
“You’re kidding, right? Elizabeth’s and Jenna’s place!”
“Dude, so not funny.”
ELIZABETH LOOKED AT the clock. 2:00 p.m. Three more hours before she had to be at work.
Brent was at work himself, and Tara had gone out to take Amy for a summer play date with kids from her school. That left just her and Jenna at home. Which was pretty cool.
Elizabeth, hair down over her shoulders and wearing a black tank top and jean shorts, walked back into the living room with two cans of iced cappuccino.
“Here you go,” she said, a can outstretched to Jenna.
Jenna was similarly dressed, though she was sporting a T-shirt with a scroll-work cross that ran down the left side.
That Dark Place Page 4