A Fresh Start for Two (9 page)

She lifted her gaze to his, her lashes blinking to clear away tears. “All right. I would like to tell you. It’s very difficult for me to say no to my mother because she blames me.”

“For what?”

“When I was six and Tiffany was three, I had a favorite doll. It was dinner time, and Mom was fixing spaghetti while Dad was sitting at the table reading the paper.” Her gaze returned to her lap. She clicked the nail of her thumb against the nail of her middle finger.

He didn’t say anything, hoping it would give her the time she needed.

She sighed and continued, staring out the windshield. “Mom and Dad were arguing about something, but I don’t remember what. Tiffany and I were sitting on the floor playing with our dolls.”

“In the same room?”

“Yes. I don’t remember what they were arguing about, but I do remember they were arguing. They did argue quite a bit, but they always seemed to make up quickly.”

“And since it was a common occurrence, you didn’t really pay any attention to them.”

“Right. Anyway, I loved dolls and spent most of my time playing with them, but Tiffany was too young to play nice. She would often leave my dolls’ clothes outside or tear something. I had several dolls, but I begged my mother and father to allow me to keep my favorite one away from Tiffany. She could play with the others, but I didn’t want her playing with my princess doll.”

“So that night, she grabbed my princess doll the instant I turned my head. When I tried to grab it back from her, the head broke off.”

Jake couldn’t help but smile. His childhood tragedies had all been about hurting himself or a pet, or punching Ryan. Hers were about dolls. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to laugh, but little girls are so different than little boys.”

“I know. Right? It seems so stupid now. But…” Her face paled, and her eyes filled with tears. “This is where it gets hard.”

“Take your time. We’re in no hurry.”

She took another deep breath and swiped at her eyes again before continuing. “I started screaming at Tiffany and she threw the doll’s head at me. The tiara was broken, too. I don’t know why, but I took one look at that and burst into tears. I remember leaning my head back and wailing that I hated Tiffany for breaking my doll. And I started screaming for my mama. The next thing I knew, my father was standing at the door. Both Tiffany and I were screaming and crying.” She grabbed a tissue from her purse to wipe her eyes.

“Before he closed the door, he turned to look at my mother and said, ‘I am so sick of all this crying. I have to get the hell out of here.’ He slammed the door, and that’s the last thing I remember.”

Jake waited, somehow sensing the story wasn’t over yet.

“He died in a car accident that night. My mother reminds me at least once a week that it’s my fault. She blames me completely.” She covered her face as her tears turned to sobs.

Jake’s heart broke in an instant. Jeez, how could a mother put something like that on a daughter’s conscience? He reached for her and managed to slide her over onto his lap so he could hold her while she cried.

“Sweetheart. I don’t know what to say, except that you were six. It wasn’t your fault.”

She buried her face in his shoulder and clung to him. “According to my mother, it was all my fault.”

“What happened? Did he hit another car?”

“He ran a red light and was broadsided by another car. Killed instantly. It was the worst day of my life. I’ve never seen my mother cry so much as when the police officer came to our door. And every time she cries now, I blame myself.”

“Okay, wait a minute. He went through a red light. How could that be your fault?”

“My mother says he was so angry at me that he wasn’t paying attention to the road.”

“And wasn’t Tiffany crying, too?” He had to show her this wasn’t her fault. How could her own mother heap blame on her every day?

“Yes, but my mother said she was only crying because of me.”

He brushed the hair back from her face and cupped her cheek. “It’s not your fault. I don’t care what she says. Do you know how many factors there are in any car accident? Maybe his brakes failed, maybe the condition of the road was bad, maybe the traffic signal had a glitch in it that night. There are so many factors to be considered. Did they ever check any of those things? Was the other driver drinking?”

“My mother never mentioned anything else, so I don’t know. I was too young to remember anything other than my daddy died.”

“Julia, you cannot blame yourself for this. It’s not your fault. You were a six year old who cried over what amounts to a catastrophe for a kid that age. Believe me, my sisters cried over much less. Mallory started sobbing once when I dropped her glove in the mud room because there was an ant crawling ten feet away. Little girls cry.” He kissed her forehead, then her lips. “That’s what they do. My sister, Paige, is seventeen, and she
still
cries over stupid things.”

She smiled and wiped both cheeks with her hand. “I will. Thank you, Jake. You just gave me a wonderful gift.”

He gave her a perplexed look.

“Hope.” She smoothed her hair, trying to corral the wild strands. “Hope that maybe it wasn’t my fault after all.”

He kissed her again, wanting to take away her pain. “I’d love to keep you on my lap, but I want to meet your mother and your sister.”

She climbed back over the console. “Aren’t I graceful?” she asked as she fell into the seat with a giggle.

He laughed. “Do it again. It gave me a lovely view of your nice ass.” He couldn’t hide the sparkle in his eyes. Hell, but he really did want to get a look at her lovely ass.

Though she smiled back at him, her happiness seemed to fly away almost immediately. “Promise not to mention this to my mother?”

“I won’t if she doesn’t. But if she brings it up, I’ll have a thing or two to say.”

***

So he would stand up for her if it came down to it. It helped to know that. Her lips pressed into a tight line as she stared at the stained glass window at the front of the church etched with an angel and a dove. She had walked past this church each day back when she was still in school. And she would always slow down just so she could look up at the angel’s beautiful wings. When she was little, she had often dreamed she had those very wings.

She had also prayed for the angel to bring her daddy back. A few years ago, the angel had come to her in her dreams and told her that her daddy’s love would return to her someday, but in a different way. The last thing she remembered about that dream was begging the angel to explain more, but instead the ethereal being had just waved at her and left. It was her most cherished dream, one she reviewed over and over in her mind in the months and years after experiencing it. She still clung to it as evidence that her father did indeed love her and didn’t blame her for crying that night.

“Julia?” Jake brushed his fingers down her cheek.

“Huh? Oh, I’m sorry. I was looking at the angel in the church window.” She lifted her finger up, almost in a wave to the image.

“I said I won’t say anything about the accident unless she brings it up.”

She gave Jake her complete attention. “That’s fair. And before we get there, I would like to apologize for my mother.”

“For what?”

“Trust me. She likes Vincent and she’s very upset with me. Based on the messages she’s left me, she’s furious that I haven’t been coming home these last few nights, and I’m sure Vincent has been in touch with her.”

They pulled down her street and Julia pointed to her driveway. Vincent’s car was not there. She squeezed Jake’s hands before getting out of the car.

It was now or never.

Chapter Nine

When Julia stepped into the kitchen through the back door on the small porch, her mother was sitting at her usual spot at the table, reading something on her tablet—a gift from Vincent. As soon as she stepped inside, her mother stood up.

“Julia, it’s about time. You’ve had me very worried, and so is…” She stopped as soon as she realized that Julia wasn’t alone.

Jake held his hand out to her, and Julia introduced them. Tiffany came into the room, as if attracted by the drama, a shocked expression on her face, so Julia introduced her to him, too.

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Ross. Tiffany.”

Julia’s mother sunk back down in her chair. “So that’s it. You’re already seeing a different guy,” the older woman said with a sigh. “You’re a fool, Julia.” Tiffany just stood there, taking it all in.

Julia glanced at Jake as her face blushed a deep shade of pink. “Mama, I don’t want anything to do with Vincent, and you know why. I wanted you to get to know Jake. He’s on the police force here in Summerhill, and he has been watching over me. I shouldn’t need someone to do that, but thanks to Vincent, I do. Jake, please sit down.” She pulled out a chair across from her mother’s, and Jake sat in the seat next to hers. Tiffany didn’t move to sit, but she also didn’t try to leave.

Julia’s mother glared at Jake. “I’m sorry. You seem like a nice guy, but did my daughter tell you she’s engaged? Because she is. She’s been engaged for three months now, and her fiancé has been worried sick about her. What am I supposed to tell him, Julia? Huh?”

“Vincent and I are through. I gave him his ring back because I will not marry a man who hits me. I’ve already explained that to you
and
him. I am not getting back together with him, and I don’t want you talking to him. Mama, he’s threatening me. You need to let him go.”

“That’s pretty hard to avoid given that he bought my cell phone. Just because he lost his temper a couple of times and gave you a tap doesn’t mean you shouldn’t marry him. What is wrong with you?” She glared at her daughter, ignoring Jake completely.

Jake interrupted. “Excuse me, but since I’ve been in the police department, I have some experience with men who abuse women. This will escalate. The next time will be worse, I can promise you that.”

She turned to Jake. “And who asked your opinion?”

“Julia did.” Jake’s jaw clenched and he reached to rub the back of his neck.

“Well, I’m asking you to stay out of it. Leave my daughter alone. She’s engaged.”

“No, I will not leave her alone. She needs protection right now. And in case you weren’t listening, she’s no longer engaged, and she’s being threatened. I would expect to see some concern for your daughter’s safety.”

She ignored him again, focusing her attention on her daughter. “You’d rather go out with a cop? What kind of life is he going to give you? You’ll probably have to work. They don’t make much money.”

“I want to work. You know how I’ve always dreamed of opening my own shop. I can do it and do it well. I know I don’t have the start-up funds to do it now, but I plan to try.”

“And what hours does he work? That’s no life compared to the one you could have with Vincent. You could stay home every day and live a life of leisure, attend party after party. You have no idea how wonderful it would be. He even said he would pay for all of us to all go on vacation together.”

“Just because it’s what you wanted all your life doesn’t mean it’s what I want. It’s really all about money with you, isn’t it, Mama? You don’t want to lose everything he promised you. You saw what he did to me, and you still want me to marry him?”

“Get over it, Julia. You’re not the first woman to be slapped around. Besides, you owe me, and you know it.”

Jake pushed his chair away from the table and stood up. “I can’t believe what I just heard. You would condone a man beating your own daughter? Did I just hear you telling your own flesh and blood to get over it?”

He glanced over at Julia, and his expression grew even angrier when he saw the tears streaming down her face. Her sister still stood in the corner staring, saying nothing.

“She’s willful and stubborn. She probably had it coming. I’ve seen her act like that before.” Julia’s mother pointed her finger at him. “You just wait and see how she is.”

“You know what, Mrs. Ross? I hate to disagree with you, but I’ve spent quite a bit of time with her, and I know Julia to be an intelligent, sweet, kind, hard-working woman who goes out of her way not to cause trouble for anyone. So I don’t know how you see something different.” He leaned down and kissed Julia’s cheek. “You’re not going to come back here anytime soon, no matter what. Do you have anything you need to get?”

She nodded to him. How she wanted to throw her arms around Jake’s neck for standing up for her, for supporting her in this time of need. Yes, oh yes, she wanted to get out of here and away from her mother. If only for a couple of extra nights so she could get her head on straight.

“Get a suitcase and grab what you need.”

Julia stood up and pivoted in a circle.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t have a suitcase,” she said sheepishly.

“Shopping bags? I’ll help you carry them out. Go ahead, I’ll wait for you.”

She tore up the stairs to her room and found a couple of shopping bags, unable to process everything that had just taken place. Jake had been wonderful, and her own mother? Terrible. Her room was at the top of the stairs, so she could still hear them.

Her mother yelled up at her. “Julia, you can’t leave me. You owe me.” Her voice carried a frantic edge to it. “You owe me, and you know why.”

Jake said, “And what exactly does she owe you, Mrs. Ross?”

“You stay out of this. This is family business. She knows what I’m talking about.” The woman headed for the stairway, the better to yell up to Julia’s bedroom. “Julia. You can’t leave.”

Julia started to throw things into the bags as quickly as she could. Her mother was wrong—she couldn’t
stay
.

***

Jake blocked Julia’s mother from going upstairs. “Ma’am, she’s leaving. Based on what I know about Vincent Nye and the attitude you’re demonstrating, this is no longer a safe place for her. I’ll protect her until we get this all straightened out.”

“She owes me!”

“For what?” He leaned against the side of the staircase.

“Because. It’s all her fault. My husband got into a car accident because he was upset by all of her screaming. If she hadn’t been such a big baby, he would still be alive.”

“How old was she?”

“She was six, and she should have known better.”

“Ignoring every other rational problem with your argument, you’re holding her behavior as a six-year-old against her? Let me ask you a couple of questions. According to Julia, he was hit after going through a red light, correct?”

“Yes, and he never would have left if it hadn’t been for her.” She pointed over Jake’s shoulder. She was so worked up, spittle flew from her mouth with each word.

Jake’s voice dropped to a level tone as he braced his hands on his hips, his legs now apart, taking up the entire entrance to the stairway. “When your husband died, did anyone check the traffic signal to see if it malfunctioned?”

“What? No. He was hit broadside.”

“Did he fall asleep at the wheel? Had he had any alcohol? Was the other driver drinking? Did you have the brakes checked to see if he tried to stop and couldn’t? Was there an engine failure? What were the road conditions at the time?”

She looked to be at a literal loss for words, and he could tell she hadn’t considered any of those possibilities.

***

Julia had heard everything, and she came down the stairs and stood behind Jake, her two shopping bags in hand, in time to watch her mother’s reaction.

Her mama fumbled for words, stuttering, but she was finally able to form a semi-coherent answer. “No, no. There was no need to check any of that.”

“So it was acceptable for you to put all the blame on your small daughter without knowing anything about the logistics of the crash? That suited your conscience okay?” Jake reached behind him for Julia, moving her next to him so he could wrap his arm around her waist. She set the bags down, and he tucked her close, her head resting on his shoulder. She turned her face away from her mother in an attempt to hide the tears flooding her cheeks.

Julia glanced at her sister, who’d followed their mother to the stairs, and saw her reaction was the same as hers, tears now rolling down her cheeks. She did her best to hold it together, but the sight of her sister’s tears was enough to push her over the edge.

Her mother continued. “We know what happened. They didn’t check for those kinds of things back then.” Her mother glanced at her first, then at Jake. “It was her fault. He wouldn’t have left when he did if she hadn’t been crying.”

He turned to Julia and kissed her cheek. “I don’t know how you have held it together as long as you have, sweetheart. Most mothers want what is best for their daughters, but not this one.” He turned back to her mother. “She’s going home with me. I’ll keep her safe. Unless you want to see your daughter lying in a hospital bed, I suggest you don’t contact Vincent Nye.” He picked up the two shopping bags and led Julia out the door and onto the porch.

Her mother fell into her chair with a thud. “Hospital bed? Julia?” She ran to the door. “You don’t really think he’ll hurt her like that, do you? Julia, wait. No, I never meant…” She turned around and halted in the middle of the kitchen, frozen in place.

Julia squeezed Jake’s hand so hard, she thought she was hurting him, but she didn’t know how else to let him know how much his support meant to her.

Once on the porch, Tiffany came out behind her and threw her arms around her sister. “Julia, I’m sorry. I’ll give my phone back to him. I don’t want it anymore.” She pulled away to stare at Jake. “Please protect her. I don’t want to lose her.” She rubbed Julia’s arm before she ran back into the house.

Before he left, he stepped back inside to look at her mother. “Oh, and Mrs. Ross? She doesn’t owe you anything.” He left her standing in the middle of the kitchen.

Once they got in the car, he reached for her hand. “You okay?”

She sniffled, “Yes. Thank you for sticking by me. I told you she was going to be a problem.”

“Julia, I would have done the same thing for you regardless of our personal relationship. You’re in danger. And I know you don’t believe this right now, but I think she does love you in her own way. She just thinks money would be the answer to all of your family’s problems. I have a feeling you didn’t have much after you lost your dad.”

“No, we didn’t.”

“She wants you to have a better life than she did. I just don’t want her to learn the hard way how wrong her thinking is.” He pulled out of the driveway.

“Thank you for inviting me to stay at your place.”

He reached over and squeezed her hand. “I don’t think you’re safe at Lucia’s. From what I have seen of Vincent, and the things he has said to you and your mother, he’s not ready to let you go. You’re safest with me right now. I’m off for two days, then we’ll go from there. I don’t want to leave you alone in my house either. Let’s take one day at a time. Today’s Saturday, and tomorrow we’re meeting with Lucia to work on our project. When do you have to work again?”

“Tomorrow night.”

“Okay, like I said, I don’t think he’ll bother you there. There’d be too many witnesses.”

“I’m off on Monday, so I’ll take you to the lake. You can meet some of my family. You never know who will be around. We’ll make a plan after that. Maybe you can go to my family’s house for a while. We have plenty of extra rooms at the inn.” He pulled into the parking lot at his apartment complex.

“I’d love to meet your family, though I’ll never be able to remember all their names. Wait a minute. At the inn? You have an inn?” Her eyebrows furrowed as she tipped her head.

He laughed. “That’s what we call my dad and my stepmom’s place. It’s on the lake. It’s the same place where we grew up, but after he married Lorraine, my dad added a new wing for bedrooms, a screened-in family room facing the water for our picnics, and another level to the boathouse.”

Jake parked in front of his bottom-floor apartment and carried her bags inside. “The place is a good size, but I only have one bedroom. I’ll sleep on the couch tonight.”

Once they were inside the door, she glanced at his apartment. A small foyer led straight into the dining room. The living room was on the right with a dark leather couch, two side chairs, and a big-screen TV. The kitchen was to the left, but it was connected to the living room with an open counter equipped with two stools. The furnishings, while not expensive, were all done in chrome, black, gray, with some green accents here and there. “Very nice, Jake. You have good taste.”

He brought her bags into his bedroom before returning to her. He grinned as he scanned the room. “You think so? I think you have that knack, not me. Everything I bought was quite simple.”

He moved over to her and nuzzled her neck. “Feeling better?”

“Yes, much.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and gazed into his forest green eyes, marveling at how warm and beautiful they were.