A Rescued Heart (Rescued Heart Romance) (10 page)

“No. Please don’t think that you have pressured me in any way. I want to talk about this.”

He shifted to the left giving him a better angle to look at her square on. His eyes searched hers as he waited for her to continue. He braced himself mentally as she began.

Ava took a deep breath. “When I started college I met this guy, Tim, who was also in the education department and from Rockford. We quickly started dating and ended up staying together all through college. When we returned home after graduation I got my teaching job, but Tim couldn’t find one and finally had to relocate over an hour away.”

The pieces began to fall in place and Matt realized why she had acted so sketchy when she spoke about college on their first date. This guy obviously surrounded every detail of her college experience.

Matt noticed how she tried to keep her emotions in check while she told the story about how Tim had proposed and how they had planned to marry the following year. She said everything had been going well, but as the wedding approached, Tim became more distant.

“The day of the wedding, I was in my room fully dressed and ready to walk down the aisle when the news came that he cancelled the wedding.”

Tears slid down her cheeks, chasing each other. He brushed them away before she could. He slid his thumb across her cheek, not wanting to stop touching her soft skin. She looked up at him and smiled.

She had never looked so beautiful.

“He left a note telling me that he was sorry, but he couldn’t make me his wife.”

It crushed Matt to watch her have to relive the past. He could see the battle that raged within her. “Oh Ava, I am so sorry. It must have been horrible.” He wanted to wrap her up in his arms but chose to give her space.

“I was finally getting my life back to normal when he showed up at my door.”

Matt had to control his fury while she told him about their conversation. Anger bubbled in his veins when she said that Tim had spent time with another woman during their engagement and started to have feelings for her. The final blow came for Ava when she had found out he married this other woman shortly after. He was grateful, however, that the guy didn’t marry Ava when he wasn’t truly in love with her. A woman like Ava needed someone who couldn’t live without her.

Ava’s fear of being in a relationship completely made sense now. She had trusted this man and he broke that trust into a thousand pieces.

“It’s been almost two years now and the problem isn’t that I still have feelings for him or wish that we were still together. It’s just that his rejection cut so deep and I’ve lost trust in relationships and love. I feel wounded and I’m petrified to fall in love again.”

Ava turned away, trying to hide her face. She didn’t cry, but it was there beckoning at the threshold.

“Ava, look at me,” he said gently, barely above a whisper, waiting to speak until she turned to look in his eyes. “Do you like me?” It felt like a grade school question, but the simple words held so much impact.

“Yes.” Her answer held no hesitation.

“This we can work with. If your only reluctance is because you’re scared to care for me, then I can be patient and walk you through this fear. I’m not going anywhere.”

A ticking bomb couldn’t stress him out more than waiting for her reply. The sun shifted lower, causing shadows to shift. A few birds crept closer in search of food. The grass clustered in the sand whispered in the breeze. Ava could be a hostage negotiator for the way she could draw out a conversation.

“I do want to give us a chance.”

He let out a relieved sigh. “Okay, that’s all I need to know. We can just take it one day at a time.” He reached over and took her hand in his, lacing their fingers together. He pointed to the west as the sun began to set down over the trees. “I’ve been waiting for this all day.”

The colors were breathtaking. The sky filled with orange, yellow, and pink while the clouds stretched out, racing each other. They sat in a comfortable silence, just enjoying the moment of beauty. The waves crashing against the rocks were therapeutic. Ava shivered as the warmth of the sun slowly left them. He untangled their fingers and wrapped his arm around her, bringing her to his side. She laid her head on his shoulder and he breathed in the scent of her shampoo. It pleased him to see how comfortable she was with his touch and that she didn’t refuse and ask him to let go.

Matt spoke into her hair, keeping his voice low. “Did you know if you break your leg, when it heals, it’s stronger in that area?”

“I heard something like that. Are you an expert in this area too?”

His smile beamed. “No, but I think the same could be true about your heart. When it’s broken and you allow the Lord to heal it, I think He makes your heart stronger than it was before.”

“Oh Matt, you deserve someone so much better than me. I’ve got roller coaster emotions that will drive you crazy.”

Ava was her own biggest critic, but hearing her story, he understood. She had been rejected in the worst possible way and it so obvious that underneath it all, she blamed herself. Ava had
left that relationship thinking something was wrong with her and that she didn’t have worth. It was time for someone to change her mind.

“Ava, I’d rather have a little crazy than to not have you at all. We’re going to get through this together.”

The moon illuminated her face and even in the twilight he saw a smirk form on her lips. “Okay, so you have me a little hooked with your suave words and stunning looks. So where do we go from here?”

“Stunning, huh?” She jabbed her elbow into his ribs. “Okay, okay, focus Matt. I get it. I was just hoping to see you every weekend, talk to you on the phone, and when you’re ready to admit that you’re my girlfriend, we’ll take it from there.”

“A little overconfident, don’t you think?”

“Hey, a little confidence never hurt a man. Seeing that I have suave words and stunning looks, you add confidence to that list and hopefully you’ll melt in no time.”

“You’re awful. What am I going to do with you?”

“Hmm … I have a few ideas.”

“That’s okay, I’ll figure it out myself.”

“Just here to help.”

He brought his arm around her shoulder for a hug. She nestled her cold face into his neck and it burned against his warm skin.

They sat nestled together, enjoying each other’s presence in the darkness that surrounded them. The night turned late and the rocks had become uncomfortable. They decided to head home. Two hours of driving still awaited them.

After a drive punctuated by a few laughs and musings but mostly cloaked in relaxed silence, they reached her apartment shortly before midnight. Matt walked her up the flight of stairs to her door.

“Thank you for such a wonderful day and thanks again for the flowers, it was very thoughtful,” Ava said softly.

“You’re welcome.”

Her next move came as a complete surprise. She lunged forward and wrapped her arms around his neck and held him in a tight embrace. Without hesitation he brought his arms around her waist and brought her even closer. A penny couldn’t have been wedged between them. Matt wasn’t sure how long they stood there holding each other, but when she released, he didn’t like the distance.

“Wow, I should get you flowers more often.”

“Are you always full of this much wit and charm?”

“I guess you’ll have to just stick around and see.”

He moved his hand up to her face and tucked some hair behind her ear. “Sleep well, Ava. I’ll talk to you soon.”

Matt walked down to his Jeep in sweet relief. They had a long road ahead of them, but a road well worth traveling.

The alarm going off didn’t sound right as Ava reached over to her night stand to shut off the shrill. After hitting the snooze button twice she realized it wasn’t her alarm clock, but the phone. She glanced over at the bright red numbers screaming back at her, announcing that it was ten minutes after three o’clock in the morning. Ava shot up out of bed and answered the phone in a panic.

A silence hung on the other end. Ava became annoyed by the prank call. Ready to hang up, she stopped when she heard a soft voice. “Ava, it’s Kim.”

“Kim.” She cleared the phlegm in her throat. “Are you okay?”

“I’m sorry to bother you, but I needed someone to talk to.” She was crying and her voice held a low hush, clearly trying to remain invisible to someone at her end.

“I’m glad you called. What’s wrong?”

A long silence stretched between them. Ava wasn’t sure if Kim would continue. “You were right. Ray is hitting me. I’m just so scared, Ava, I don’t know what to do.”

When Ava had started with the support group she was required to take a class on counseling the abused. It prepared each person on the leadership team on how to respond to the women seeking help. The class gave great information and made perfect sense then, but when given the opportunity to use what she had learned, her mind went blank. All she wanted to do was
scream, “Run, Kim, Run.”

“Kim, I know you’re scared. You need to get out of your house. It’s not safe to be around him.”

“I can’t. If I leave him, he will hurt Tessa.”

Tears pricked her eyes just thinking about sweet little Tessa sitting in her butterfly bedroom while her mom cried downstairs in pain after being hit. No child deserved that life.

“Kim, there are people we can talk to that will make sure that never happens. You have to trust me. The best thing for Tessa is to get her away from him.”

After no response, Ava couldn’t be sure if her words were getting through. Fear kept Kim a prisoner from the truth and fear would keep her paralyzed from running.

“I know you’re right. I just need some time to think about it. Please don’t call me, I’ll call you.” Kim paused and then gasped, “I have to go!”

The line went dead.

Ava hung up the phone and sat on her bed with her face buried in her hands, crying out to God for Kim and Tessa.

Kim covered her mouth with her hand, trying to suppress her ragged breathing. Maybe she just imagined the footsteps on the second floor above her. When she slipped from the bed to sneak downstairs and call Ava, Ray was sound asleep, snoring even.

It was a moment of pure insanity on her part. She had tossed and turned throughout the night, debating what to do. Finally, pretending to need to use the bathroom, she escaped down the stairs and hid in the darkened room. As she spoke with Ava, she realized she had just opened Pandora’s Box … and nothing but trouble and danger would emerge.

Ava could do nothing to help her. No one could. She was alone, stuck in her own hell. The only thing that made her life worth living was her sweet Tessa.

Her life felt like a double-edged sword. For Tessa’s safety, she needed to leave Ray. Get out of Dodge and never look back. But Ray had once told her if she told anyone about the abuse or left him, he would hurt Tessa.

It was a gamble she wasn’t willing to attempt.

As long as she stayed quiet, Tessa would be safe. Those words had become a broken record in her mind, reminding her with each hit that she had no other choice. Keeping Tessa safe was what kept her going and kept her from driving into a tree. Her sweet, angelic, little girl.

Calling Ava had been foolish.

Kim’s eyes darted around the dark bathroom as the faint sound of footsteps that started in her bedroom made its way into the hallway and down the stairs.

Ray was awake. How did he hear her? She thought she had been slick as silk in her attempt to make contact with Ava. Her heartbeat pounded against her chest.

How had she allowed her life to get to this point? She thought her life had turned perfect when she met Ray at a mutual friend’s party. Her first clue should have been that he and Ray were bar buddies, but who was she to judge? She had gotten pregnant at eighteen by an older man she had no business being with. Sure, he stuck around for a while, but last year he left one day and never came back, leaving her to support Tessa on a secretary’s salary in a house she couldn’t afford.

It was a breath of fresh air when she and Ray started dating because he vowed to always support and take care of her. And he did, at first. He would wine and dine her, tell her how beautiful she was, important, one of a kind. For a single twenty-three-year-old mom, her prince had come to rescue her. After only a few weeks of dating she asked him to move in with her and Tessa.

Enter in the worse mistake of her life.

Perfection surrounded their first couple weeks. Ray had been so good to her and really stepped up to the plate and helped with Tessa. The downfall started slowly, but escalated quickly. Ray’s job became more stressful and he often took it out on her. Then he became obsessively jealous, always needing to know where she was and who she was with.

The first time he hit her, he had been drunk and mad at her for going out with her co-workers after hours. He apologized for days afterwards and even cried.

If she could have only seen then what her life was like now. The dominos had started to fall and she couldn’t stop them. Now he was hitting her at least once a week, with absolute no remorse.

Last night was her breaking point. What pushed her to finally call Ava. As Ray threw her on the bed and raped her as she begged and pleaded for him to stop, Kim knew she needed help.

However, as the footsteps became more distinct as they closed in, trapping her, she realized the horrible mistake she made. Panic surged through her. How would she get Ray out of her life … and before he someday just finally killed her? At this point, he was capable of anything. At
least she was smart and updated her will last week to make sure if anything happened to her, her sister Stephanie would get full custody of Tessa.

The footsteps stopped outside the bathroom. She pushed down a scream.

A hard knock invaded the silence, mocking her that she would never be free. “Kim? Are you in there?” Ray’s gruff voice made goose bumps rise on her bruised arms.

With a last second decision, she flushed the toilet and threw her cell phone in the trash, covering it with toilet paper. “Yep, just finishing up.”

She washed her hands and opened the door to find Ray glaring at her with his arms crossed at his chest.

“Why didn’t you use the upstairs bathroom?”

Her voice quivered. “Oh, I didn’t want to wake you or Tessa.” She tried to maneuver herself around him, but he kept a hard stance on his position guarding the door.

“I heard you talking.”

Kim tried to swallow the lump stuck in her closing throat. She had never been quick with her words and she was a pitiful liar. “No I wasn’t.”

“Don’t lie to me, Kim. I heard your voice.”

Kim tried once more to get past him, but he pushed her back. She was stuck in more than one way. If he knew she had called Ava, he would do more than hit her, he would hurt Tessa. No matter what she said now, would it even matter?

“I’m sorry, Ray, that I woke you up. I’m so tired. I must have been talking to myself.” She rubbed his bicep, trying to press down the nausea that came with touching him. “Come on, let’s go back to bed.”

She thought she saw him loosen his shoulders, relax. But he refused to move. His eyebrows furrowed together and she had a sinking suspicion that he did not believe her explanation.

“Kim, you know I hate it when you lie to me.” His voice rose with each word. His fist met her left cheek bone with force, knocking her back a few inches. She immediately tasted blood from his knuckle that caught her lower lip with his follow-through.

Better her then Tessa.

Kim closed her eyes and waited for the second blow.