A Gift of Time (The Nine Minutes Trilogy Book 3) (20 page)

Chapter Thirty-Two

Tommy

2001,
Fort Lauderdale

Tommy and Ginny
walked hand-in-hand down Fort Lauderdale
beach. It was winter in South Florida, but the hot afternoon sun warmed them as
the gentle ocean breeze caressed their skin.

It was the
weekend after Ginny was supposed to return home from her visit to Illinois. She’d
called Tommy the previous Saturday night and told him she wanted to make
another stop on her way back and wouldn’t be returning on Sunday like she’d
originally planned. She’d then filled him in on everything she’d learned from
Sister Agnes.

Tommy was disappointed,
but he knew it was something she felt compelled to do, and he wouldn’t
interfere. He rescheduled their special night on the beach. He’d been excited
to tell her his news, but the reason for her change in travel plans had put a
damper on his enthusiasm.

Now, he
clenched her hand tightly in his and blurted out, “Grizz isn’t my father,
Ginny.”

She froze.
“What?”

“You heard
me right, Gin. He’s not my father.”

“How could
you possibly know this, Tommy? I mean, how can you know for sure?”

Her voice sounded
cautious but hopeful.

Tommy
explained how he’d had his DNA compared to Mimi’s back in 1999. Or rather, what
he thought was Mimi’s DNA. How he’d taken a pink toothbrush to his friend Dale.
A toothbrush he’d mistakenly thought belonged to Mimi.

“So that
pink toothbrush you took to your friend back in 1999 was Jason’s? And Dale
confirmed the DNA was a match to yours?”

Tommy
smiled. “Yes. And it was a match to mine, because it was Jason’s, but I didn’t
know that. When I heard the kids talking about their toothbrushes right before
the cruise. I grabbed the fork Mimi used that morning for breakfast and took it
back to him. I would’ve known sooner, but my friend was in a serious car
accident. Then with Christmas and New Year’s right after that, he couldn’t get
to it. Anyway, he got back to me last week.” He squeezed Ginny’s hand. “He
checked and double-checked, Gin—Mimi and I are not biological relatives.
I know you were faithful to Grizz. Mimi is definitely his daughter. But I’m not
his son. I’m not Mimi’s half-brother. I guess it’s a good thing we never got
around to telling her.”

She squealed
then and jumped on him, wrapping her legs tightly around his waist. The
momentum caught him off guard, and they tumbled to the sand. He looked down at
her and gently caressed her chin with his thumb. He brought his mouth to hers
and softly kissed her. When he pulled away, she had a serious expression in her
eyes.

“Your real
father. Do you think you’ll ever want to find your real father, Tommy? I mean,
you’ve told me your mother’s history. Would it even be possible for you to know
who your real father might be?”

He took a
deep breath. “I’m pretty sure I know who he is, Ginny.”

She blinked.
“How? How could you know?”

He sat up
then and placed his elbows on his knees as he faced the ocean. He could feel
her sit up next to him, and she gently laid her head on his shoulder.

“The
Internet is a pretty amazing thing, you know? Search engines and social media.
If it had been around in the seventies, you’d have probably been found the same
day Monster took you.”

She didn’t
answer, just rubbed his back lightly as she continued to listen.

“When Dale
told me my DNA didn’t match Mimi’s, I decided to do some digging and started
searching for Candy’s mother, my grandmother. I probably should’ve done it
years ago. It was easier than you might think. I found her, Ginny. She hasn’t
gone very far. Lives in a little trailer park just north of West Palm Beach. I
took a drive up there this past week, and I didn’t even have to introduce
myself. She knew me. Recognized me. Or rather, she recognized someone else.”

“Who?” Ginny
lifted her head off Tommy’s shoulder and stared at him. He could feel her eyes
boring into him.

“It’s not
pretty. It’s not a good story. Are you sure you want to know?”

“Yes, Tommy.
I want to know.” Her answer was so quiet he almost didn’t hear her over the
sounds of the crashing waves on the beach.

“I need to
tell you some background first, Gin. I need to tell you the rest of Grizz’s
story. What he told me when I saw him before he died. You already know about
his childhood and his little sister. You know he killed his family after his
little sister died.”

She nodded.

“There’s
more.”

He then
proceeded to tell her the rest of Grizz’s story—about them, and the
layers upon layers of deception—leaving nothing out.

She sat back
and looked at him, eyes wide with disbelief. It explained everything. Now she
knew why Grizz had rejected her. Why he’d insisted on her marriage to Tommy.

Before she
could say anything, he returned his gaze to the ocean and continued.

“You’re an
intelligent woman, Gin. He could’ve trusted you with the truth, but believe it
or not, I understand why he didn’t. It’s some pretty heavy shit. It’s the
reason we read books and watch movies. To escape into a world that’s not real.
Unfortunately, a lot of what we see and read is all too real, and Grizz’s
story, no matter how strange it might sound, is the truth. At least he believed
it was the truth.”

He paused
and carefully weighed the significance of his next words. “But now that he’s
dead, it’s a non-issue. It was probably a non-issue for them long before he was
executed. They never wanted to hurt you. They just wanted to hurt him for
blackmailing them for so many years.”

He looked at
her then and waited for her to say something. Anything.

He knew what
he needed to hear. This would be the defining moment in their marriage. It all
boiled down to the next words that would be coming out of her mouth. He was
holding his breath.

Would she
say them?

She
swallowed thickly and looked into her husband’s eyes. She knew she was being
tested. He needed her to validate her real feelings for him, and the only way
she could do it was with the truth. And she was certain he knew—or at
least had guessed.

“Thank God.
Thank God you know, Tommy. I never wanted to tell you because it was pointless
as far as I was concerned.” After all the talk of lies and secrets she’d
convinced herself that what Tommy didn’t know was best for him. She had been a
hypocrite.

The words
tumbled out before she could stop them.

“He’s not
dead.”

His sigh of
relief was audible. He grabbed her and pulled her into his arms, stroking her
hair and whispering in her ear.

“Thank you.
Thank you for telling me the truth, Gin.”

They sat on
the beach, wrapped in each other’s arms, feeling safe and secure in the comfort
of their love.

After a
minute, she pulled away and tilted her head slightly as she looked at him.

“How did you
know?”

“I suspected
it when Axel paid me for the cars and bikes. I figured out Grizz’s favorite
bike wasn’t in the garage. I thought about the story he told me. I thought that
if anyone could pull a stunt like that, it would be Grizz.”

He asked her
how she’d found out and how long she’d known. She told him about the day she
went to clean out Carter’s garage and had planned on returning the blue bandana
to Grizz’s bike before she sold it.

“A story
like the one I just told you is something you read in fictional suspense
novels.” He looked at her questioningly. “You don’t seem surprised by it.”

“I guess
it’s because I’m not surprised by it. Think about it, Tommy. Think about some
of the Bible studies we’ve done or what we see in the news every day. I’m not
shocked to learn there are forces, real people, out there running things behind
the scenes. Or at least trying to run things. If Grizz was able to pull off a
fake execution, why would the existence of this group surprise me?”

“And it
doesn’t scare you? What’s happening behind the scenes?”

She looked
at him seriously and gave a small smile.

“I know
where my faith is, Tommy.”

He nodded
and smiled. His Ginny. So steadfast and strong in her faith. He loved her to
the core of his being.

But he also
knew he needed to bring up one more thing. He’d thought long and hard about
this after she postponed her trip home. He didn’t want to do it, but he knew he
had to. It was going against everything he fought for, but it was also the only
way he could see a future with her without the shadow of Grizz lurking in their
lives.

It was the
only way to find peace.

“So what did
you do with the bandana?” The hope in his eyes pierced her heart.

She smiled
at him and told him the truth.

“I threw it
in the garbage that same night, Tommy. It’s gone.”

She knew he
believed her. His grin was so wide she thought his face would crack. He stood
then and pulled her up to him.

Taking his
face in her hands, he told her, “I want you to promise me something.”

“Of course!
Anything, Tommy.”

“When we’re
finished with our little getaway, we need to stop at the store on our way
home.”

“A shopping
trip? You know how much I hate to shop, Tommy, but a promise is a promise,” she
teased. “What are we buying?”

She snuggled
into his chest, arms tightly wrapped around him. She could feel his chin
resting on her head.

And gasped
at his next words.

“We need to
buy another blue bandana. I want you to wear it.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

Ginny

2001,
Fort Lauderdale

I couldn’t believe
what I was hearing. I pulled away from
Tommy and looked at him. My brows knitted in concentration as I tried to make
sense of his last sentence.

“You want me
to what?”

He didn’t
answer me right away as a small family made their way past us and continued
happily down the beach. I placed my hands on my hips and waited for his reply.

“I want you
to signal Grizz. I want you to wear it.”

“Have you lost
your mind?” I glared at him. “After everything you just told me? You want me to
see him?”

My eyes
narrowed as another thought occurred to me.

“Is this a
trick, Tommy? Are you using me to lure him out? So someone can actually kill
him?”

Without
giving him time to answer, I started marching back toward our hotel. I could
feel him close at my heels. He grabbed me by the elbow, swung me around to face
him.

“Absolutely
not, Gin. That’s not why.”

His
expression was so sincere, I was caught by surprise. I waited for him to
continue. He looked up at the sky and shook his head slightly.

“I can’t do
it anymore, Ginny. I don’t want to do it anymore, honey. You need to have Grizz
come to you so you can figure out your heart.”

“I know my
heart!” I shouted it so loud some birds scattered. He wouldn’t look at me. “I
know my heart, Tommy. It’s here, with you.” I couldn't believe he was asking me
to wear the bandana. Was Tommy purposely sabotaging the progress we'd made? And
if so, why? My heart ached at the possibility and my sense of disappointment
was acute.

He looked at
me then, and I saw something in his eyes that saddened me.

“No, it’s
not Gin. Not all of it. I can’t compete with Grizz. I don’t want to spend the
rest of my life looking over my shoulder, wondering if he’ll show up again. I’m
glad he left a way for you to contact him if you needed to. I just can’t live
like this anymore. I’m refusing to live like this anymore.”

“I’m not
stupid, Tommy. I know you just tested me back there, and I know I passed. Why
are you doing this? Our future is finally here, right now. All the years you
waited to be with me. The last fifteen years of our marriage, a good marriage,
and it comes down to this?”

“If he’s
alive, you need to make a choice.” The resolve in his voice was firm.

“I have made
a choice, Tommy. I’m with you. I’m not going anywhere. Did you not hear me? The
bandana is in a landfill.”

“But you did
go somewhere, Gin. After you talked to the nuns, you stopped on your way home.
You stopped where Grizz’s real parents were born. You’re still searching. For
what? Why?”

I swiped my
hand through my hair as his accusation and question sunk in.

“I stopped
there for you and Mimi. Grizz’s roots are Mimi’s roots, Tommy. And up until ten
minutes ago, I was still under the impression that you were his son. They
would’ve been your roots, too.”

“And after
everything we’ve been through, you’re ready to connect Mimi back to Grizz’s
family? Don’t you realize, Ginny, that it’s not going away? It’ll never go
away. You need to see Grizz and confront your feelings once and for all. I
don’t like it. And you’re right. It’s going against everything that I’ve fought
for, but all of a sudden, I’m tired. Ginny. I’m really tired.”

I just
stared at him. I wasn’t sure how to react.

I was angry
because I felt like he’d tricked me, but at the same time, I knew he was being
sincere. And worse yet, I knew he was justified.

My shoulders
slumped, then something else struck me.

“So I guess
you don’t believe the story he told you. I mean, if he comes to me, then I
guess there isn’t any threat to his life. My life. That’s all nonsense?”

“I didn’t
say that. I believe the threat was real. But not anymore. If he’s still alive,
it’s because they don’t give a shit, Gin. If I believed there was still a
plausible threat from them, no matter how small, I wouldn’t be telling you to
put on that bandana. I wouldn’t have told you any of this. Besides, he won’t be
able to just roll up and knock on our door. He still needs to live off the
grid. He wouldn’t risk being seen or recognized by someone who may remember
him.”

I crossed my
arms. “So if I decide I want to be with Grizz, how does that work? I ride away
into the sunset, leaving you and my children?” I stomped my foot in the sand.
“It sounds ludicrous, and it’s not even a decision to be made, Tommy. I am your
wife. Your wife.”

I poked him
in the chest. He didn’t flinch.

“Seeing
Grizz isn’t going to make me change my mind,” I added.

He softly
grabbed both of my shoulders and what he said sent a chill up my spine. I knew
it was painful for him, but I also knew he was serious.

“If it ever
comes to that, I promise you we’ll figure out a way to make it work. I don’t
know how. Don’t ask me details, because believe me, it’s not something I let
myself think about.”

I roughly
shoved him away and spun around to head back to our hotel.

Instead of
making love in our romantic hotel room that overlooked the ocean, we spent the
rest of our night talking. We canceled our dinner reservations and opted to
have room service. The hotel served a quality meal, but it might as well have
been cardboard.

We put the
bandana conversation on the backburner as Tommy told me more details about his
meeting with his grandmother. Apparently, she’d mistaken him for someone else.
Her mind, clouded by years of alcohol, thought she was being visited by someone
from her past.

“Apparently,
I’m the spitting image of David Enman,” Tommy told me. “Or rather, what David
would’ve looked like if he’d lived longer.”

I shook my
head, not recognizing the name.

“He was
Donald Enman’s brother,” Tommy said. “Donald Enman was Red, the guy I told you
about that Grizz met at the motel. Red was Candy’s godfather—and, I
suspect, my father.”

“Why do you
suspect that? Maybe your father is David, Red’s brother. That’s who she thought
you were.”

Tommy
explained how his grandmother knew both Donald and David Enman, and that David
had died years before Candy got pregnant.

“Candy’s
mother, my grandmother, grew up with the Enman brothers. Red was responsible
for introducing her to Candy’s father, Tom, the man I was named after. She knew
Donald and David Enman long before Tom even came into the picture.” He stared
at the wall over my shoulder and sighed.

“It makes
sense now, Gin. What Grizz told me. How Red was obsessed with getting Candy off
the street. How he had her practically held captive in Grizz’s little apartment
above the garages. I remember Grizz specifically telling me Red stayed there
with her when Grizz and Anthony couldn’t. I think he was raping her, Ginny. I
think it had probably been happening long before her teens. I think that’s why
she turned to prostitution and drugs. To get away from him. I get creeped out
when I think about how Grizz must’ve come up with her nickname.”

“Tell me.
How did he come up with Candy?” My stomach roiled.

“Grizz told
me Red kept a bag of candy behind his bar because my mother, then Stacy Ann,
loved candy. Makes the hair on my neck stand up thinking about predators and
how they use sweets to bait kids. I wonder if he’d been doing the same thing to
my Aunt Karen. Might explain why she was so miserable, too.”

“Oh, Tommy.
Grizz knew what Red was doing to your mother?”

“No. I don’t
think he knew at all, Gin. I really think Grizz thought I was his kid. He would
never have known Red’s brother, so he wouldn’t have seen the similarities or
made the connection like my grandmother did. Of course, I can’t prove any of
it. I suppose I could find out where Red is buried and have him exhumed, see if
there’s any usable DNA, but no. I have my proof. I think I’m done.”

All of a
sudden, I’d felt the weight of the world that had rested on my husband’s
shoulders and knew why he felt so tired. I did my best to console him.

I spent the
rest of our mini vacation trying to talk him out of the ridiculous plan to
summon Grizz. He was still insistent. But we also didn’t stop on the way home
to buy a bandana. I was relieved.

**********

A week passed, and we fell
back into our routine with our life and our children. I secretly hoped I’d
dreamed the whole bandana nonsense. It hadn’t been mentioned since that day at
the beach, and I was certain Tommy’s suggestion had only been brought on by the
emotions of finding out about his real father.

Of course,
I’d told him that night at the hotel that he was grabbing at straws based on an
old woman’s memories. He’d quietly reached for his wallet and pulled out a
picture. My jaw dropped as I saw the truth. I was staring at a picture of an
eighteen-year-old David Enman, and it could’ve been Tommy.

But by now,
I thought everything was back to normal. I’d tucked what I’d found out about
Grizz and his family into a corner of my mind, telling myself that if I ever
decided to share it with Mimi, I wouldn’t do it now and definitely wouldn’t do
it without Tommy.

I was in the
laundry room folding clothes. Jason had a basketball game coming up, and all
his uniforms were dirty. I heard Tommy come in through the garage, I could hear
his briefcase as it made its familiar thunk on the bench. I was smiling to
myself when he came up behind me and kissed my neck.

“Dinner
smells good.”

“It’s your
favorite,” I said, leaning back into him.

“I’m going
upstairs to change my clothes. I’ll be back down in a few.”

I turned to
face him and stared into his eyes. My smile faded as I saw an expression that
made me uneasy.

Without
breaking from my gaze, he felt around for my hand and tucked something into it,
slowly closing my fingers around it. He turned around and headed out of the
laundry room. I could hear him walking up the stairs toward our bedroom.

I looked
down and saw what he’d placed in my hand.

A blue
bandana.