Beautifully Unfinished (23 page)

“No, I know you wouldn’t,” she replied honestly. “But the truth is, you could.”

“You think I could?” Tucker asked, and Lucy could hear the hurt in his voice. “That I would do to you what he did?”

“No,” Lucy explained. “Of course, I don’t think you would ever do anything like that, but I know that you could still hurt me. Tucker, I have shut myself away for the last nine years. I built up a wall around me to protect myself. Bit by bit, you have broken down every wall I have built. Now you have the power to destroy me, and that scares me to death.”

“Lucy,” he sighed, as he moved closer to her. “Whatever power I have over you, you have over me too. But that is what comes with loving someone so completely. You give them the power to destroy you, but have to trust they won’t.”

“I trust you,” Lucy breathed softly. “I trust you with my life.”

“Good,” Tucker replied with a smile, as he leaned in and kissed her forehead. “I am happy to hear that.”

“I do love you,” Lucy reassured him.

“Then come back to bed with me,” he said with a smile, as he stood up and reached out his hand to Lucy. “Because tomorrow is the day we are going put your ghost to rest.”

Lucy woke with a start. She sat up in bed and was surprised to find Tucker was gone. She pushed back the bed covers and got up. She grabbed her dressing gown from the chair in her room and wrapped it around herself, as she went to look for Tucker.

She walked down the hallway to her open plan living room, but there was no sign of him. There wasn’t even a note.

Lucy was confused. She knew she had hurt him a little the night before, but she thought they had cleared the air. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe he had headed back to River Springs without her. She walked to her handbag on the sideboard and pulled her phone out. She needed to know where he was.

She was just about to hit dial, when she heard keys slip into her front door and the door being opened. She froze for a moment, but when Tucker appeared, she instantly relaxed.

“You’re awake,” he said when he walked in and saw her standing there. “I was hoping to make you breakfast in bed, but you had no fresh milk, and some of your other food was a little questionable too. I hope you don’t mind that I took your keys.”

“I was meaning to do some grocery shopping the day I got the call about Dad,” Lucy replied, as she followed him to the kitchen. “But the truth is, I spend so much time at my studio, I rarely even eat here.”

“Well I hope that is something we can work on when we get back from River Springs,” Tucker said, as he unpacked the groceries. “Because I plan on spending every night with you for the rest of my life, and I am not sharing you with a studio.”

Lucy smiled, then bit her lips nervously.

“Are you really sure you are ready to leave there?” Lucy asked, as she slipped onto the high stool that was in front of her breakfast counter. “I know it’s a lot for me to ask of you.”

“I told you,” Tucker said, as he stopped what he was doing and looked at Lucy. “I am not losing you again, so if that means I have to move here, then so be it.”

“What about my dad?” Lucy asked, as she remembered the conversation he had with Tucker two days before.

“I hope he will understand,” Tucker shrugged. “But I have to do what is right for me, and you are what’s right for me.”

“I just don’t want him to feel like we are abandoning him,” Lucy said with a sigh.

“Then maybe we should stay in River Springs together?” Tucker asked as he gave Lucy a hopeful look.

“Tucker…” Lucy began, but before she could say anything else, the intercom buzzed on the wall. Lucy stood up and went to answer it, grateful for the distraction.

“Hello,” she said, as she pressed the button on the intercom.

“Lucy, it’s David,” her friend fiancé’s voice came through the speaker on the wall. He sounded upset. “I have Ali with me. Can we come up?”

“Sure,” Lucy replied, and she pressed the buzzer to let them into the building.

“Who was it?” Tucker asked from behind Lucy.

“It’s Ali and David,” Lucy replied, as she walked to the door to wait for her friend to knock. “He sounded upset.”

Two minutes later, there was a knock on the door, and Lucy quickly opened it. The minute she saw Alison, she knew something was wrong.

“What’s happened?” She asked as Alison and David stepped into her hallway. “Alison, are you okay?”

“He was outside our apartment,” David replied, and Lucy could hear the anger in his voice. “That fucking animal came to our home. I swear I am going to kill him.”

“HE WAS WHAT?” Lucy cried, as a knot of fear formed in the pit of her stomach.

“We came out the door of the apartment,” David explained. “And there he was, standing across the street. The fucker just grinned at us when he realised we had seen him.”

Lucy could feel her heart racing in her chest. She turned to Tucker and gave him a worried look.

“I thought you called to have him picked up?” She asked, as she struggled to keep calm.

“I did,” Tucker replied just as angrily, and he pulled his phone from his pocket. “I have no idea what the hell is going on, but I am sure as hell going to find out.”

Tucker walked into the kitchen to make a call, as Lucy led Alison and David into the living room.

“Are you sure it was him?” Lucy asked, as she sat down across from Alison.

“It was him,” Alison replied, her voice barely more than a whisper. “I know it was. He was just standing across the street.”

“I tried to get him,” David replied as he paced up and down. “But that Son-Of-A-Bitch got away. Just as well, because I would have killed him if I had caught him.”

“Why is he here?” Alison asked, as she finally looked up at Lucy with the tears glistening in her eyes. “What does he want from me?”

“I don’t know,” Lucy replied as her heart raced faster in her chest. When she looked into Alison’s eyes, Lucy could see the same fear she had looked at in the mirror for the last nine years.

She wanted to be able to tell Alison everything would be okay. She wanted to push her feelings back down inside her, but they were too strong. She finally felt broken.

“I don’t know,” she repeated, as a tear trickled down her cheek. She quickly brushed away the tears from her face. She didn’t want to cry, she needed to be strong for her friend, but she could feel herself come apart. “This was supposed to be our safe place. The place was supposed to be where he couldn’t find us.”

“I just spoke to the deputy,” Tucker said, as he joined them in the living room. “He said they went to his house yesterday, but his mother said he hadn’t been home since Saturday. I have no idea why they didn’t let me know. We have a car outside the house in case he comes home.”

“Only he is not going back there, is he?” Lucy said, as she stood up and looked at Tucker. She felt beyond angry. “He is here. Probably outside as we speak. He has finally taken everything from me. I have nothing…”

She could feel the room begin to spin as her breathing became shallow and laboured. She dropped to the floor and began to sob, as her chest tightened with unimaginable grief.

Tucker dropped to the floor before her and wrapped her in his arms.

“I am going to find him, and I am going to make him pay,” Tucker promised her. He held her in his arms long after she stopped crying. She just lay there, lost in her thoughts, shutting the world out the way she knew best.

Finally, Tucker raised his eyes to Alison, who was just sitting there, looking equally as lost as Lucy did.

“I know I have no right to ask you to do anything,” he began. “I know that you owe me nothing. But I am begging you. Come back to River Springs and let help me put this animal away forever.”

“What if you can’t?” Alison replied, as she blinked back the tears that were dancing in her eyes.

“I promise you, I will not let him walk away this time,” Tucker promised her. “Please.”

“Ali,” David said, as he reached out and took her hand. “He is right. If you are ever to have peace, you need to make him pay.”

“But I am afraid,” Alison replied. “You don’t know what he is like, neither of you do. What I went through was nothing compared to what happened to Lucy. Nobody wanted to help her, why would they want to help me?”

“That’s not true,” David insisted, sounding a little hurt.

“I’m sorry,” she said, as she reached up and softly touched his face. “I know you want to help me. I know you want to protect me. But you are not the police. You can’t lock him up.”

“But I am,” Tucker said from where he was sitting on the floor with Lucy. “And I am going to make him pay.

He looked down at Lucy and softly stroked her face.

“I mean it,” he promised her. “I will finish this.”

She looked up at Tucker, and he gave her a reassuring smile.

“Okay,” Alison said from the sofa, as Tucker and Lucy looked towards her. “I will go back. But you need to promise me, that this is going to happen.”

“I promise,” Tucker replied. “One way or another, Trent McAlister is going to pay.”

They drove back to River Springs in separate cars. Tucker thought it would be better for Lucy to have the couple of hours drive to clear her mind. Also, he believed it would give David and Alison some time to talk as well.

Lucy slept for most of the journey back. Tucker knew she was struggling, and he wished more than anything there was something he could say do to make things easier for her.

It was early evening when they reached the hospital. Alison had agreed to go to the emergency room with David to have herself checked over by a doctor.

Tucker took Lucy to see her father. She was still very quiet as they rode up in the elevator together.

“Are you sure you’re ready to see the Chief?” Tucker asked, as the elevator came to a stop.

“I need to see him,” Lucy replied in a quiet voice. “I need to know he is okay.”

“If you’re sure,” Tucker said as the doors of the elevator opened, and he reached down to take her hand.

When he did, Lucy looked up at him and smiled. It was the first time she had smiled since the day before they had left the city.

As they stepped off the elevator, Lucy froze. Tucker looked at her then followed her gaze and realised what had stopped her.

Riley was standing at the nurse’s desk, reading through some files. Lucy hadn’t seen him since the day he came to her father’s house.

“You don’t have to go down there if you don’t want to,” Tucker said, as he squeezed her hand.

“No,” Lucy said, as she forced a smile. “I’m okay. I want to see my dad.”

As they began to walk, Riley looked up, and his eyes met Lucy’s. He froze for a moment; then he gave her a sad smile before he turned and walked away in the other direction.

Lucy looked up at Tucker, and he too gave her a smile. Lucy was glad he was with her. He had become the one thing that seemed to keep her grounded.

When they reached her father’s room, Lucy stopped outside the door.

“What are you going to tell him?” Tucker asked Lucy, as he too stopped.

“I don’t know,” Lucy replied with a deep breath. “The truth, I guess.”

“Is that what you want?” Tucker asked.

“No,” she replied honestly. “I know it will just make him worry more, but I promised him that I would stop shutting him out. So I don’t see what else I can do.”

“I guess you’re right,” Tucker sighed.

Lucy took another deep breath and opened the door. She was pleased to see her father sitting out in his armchair once again, and this time, he seemed to be in better form than the last time she was there.

“Hey, Peanut,” he said the moment he saw her walking through the door to his room. “How was New York?”

“Not so good,” Lucy replied, as she sat down next to him. “There is something I need to tell you.”

Lucy told her father everything. About meeting Trent in the bar, to him being outside Alison’s apartment in New York.

“This time, I will kill him,” Tom growled when Lucy finished telling him everything. “I will put a bullet between his eyes.”

“And what would that do?” Lucy asked. “What would I do without you?”

“You will always have me,” he replied, as he grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly and repeated. “You will always have me.”

“But I won’t, not if you do something stupid,” Lucy reasoned with him. “I know you want to make everything right this time. But what I need is for you to concentrate on getting yourself better, and back on your feet.”

“But, Peanut…” Tom replied, but Lucy stopped him.

“Please,” she said, as she looked from her father to Tucker. “I need you both to promise me. Promise me that neither of you will do anything that will cause me to lose you.”

“Lucy,” Tucker said, as he glanced at Tom, then back to her.

“Promise me,” she pushed him.

“I promise,” Tucker replied. “But there is something I need to talk to your dad about.”

“Oh!” Tom exclaimed, as he sat straighter in his chair.

“I think I have a way of making McAlister pay,” Tucker said as he sat down on the edge of Tom’s bed. “And I don’t just mean for what he did to Alison, I mean for Lucy, too.”

“I’m listening,” Tom said, as he sat forward.