Catch My Fall (23 page)

A few months later

Naturally Brady said that my father made him do what he did, and Teresa and her lawyers managed to keep him out of jail when even I had to admit that my father had been the one calling the shots that day.  Brady’s explanation for why they were there at all was that my father was angry with me because Brady had gotten himself kicked out of his University ‘for no reason’.  According to Brady, my father had been convinced that it had something to do with me because it happened after I severed all communication and returned the car.  Brady claimed to be innocent, insisting that he had only come with my father to try to talk some ‘sense’ into me.  Not surprisingly, he took responsibility for nothing.

Once Brady and his mom turned on my father, things happened fast.  Teresa filed for divorce immediately and my father was held without a bail option.  The charges against him for what he did to me are very serious and he’s facing twenty years in prison. As far as I’m concerned, he can rot in jail.

It weighed on me that Brady was getting away with everything.  He’d violated my best friend, assaulted me, drugged us both and had taken photos of us while he did it all.  He might not have been calling the shots the day he and John showed up at Tristan’s and attacked me, but he hadn’t had any problem bringing John that knife.

I spent about a week discussing it with Macy before we decided that we had to go forward with child pornography charges against Brady and Chad.  Considering the size of our hometown, it was inevitable that not long after the charges were filed word got out.  At first we were both upset, but as it turns out it was the best thing that we could have done. Within six weeks of our charges being filed, seven more girls came forward to reveal that Brady and Chad raped them as well, and had also taken photos of them in the process.  Of the seven girls, five were minors, and one of them was only fourteen when it happened.  In addition to that, it came to light that Brady had been expelled from his University for attempting to assault someone.

The police department in my hometown was investigated for ignoring evidence, and anyone that was involved in disregarding my statement that day in the hospital when Macy had her breakdown was fired.  Brady and Chad are both in jail and are being charged with multiple counts of rape, assault and child pornography. 

Most people back in my hometown have turned their backs on Teresa entirely.  It came out that she’s damn near broke because my father was busy gambling it all away, and whatever she has left is likely going to be sucked into Brady’s defense.  Word on the street is that she’s already attached herself to an eighty-year old retired executive from Dallas.  True to form he’s old and rich, and I’m sure that she’ll be married again as soon as her divorce from John is final. 

My father made three attempts to ask Uncle Jesse for help, and every one fell on deaf ears.  John blames the whole thing on Teresa and Brady and swears that if he had known how serious things were, he would have protected me.  Once a liar… Always a liar.

I hope it doesn’t seem petty that I find it amusing that my father, Teresa and Brady have all turned on each other like rabid dogs, but if it does, oh well.  They all treated me like garbage and I’m not going to pretend I have any empathy for them.

The two people that had the hardest time with what my father and Brady did that day are my mom and Tristan.  My mom was devastated that my father had hurt me and said such horrible things to me, and she felt responsible for his anger toward me because she’d stayed married to him even though she knew he was bad.  She’s been seeing a therapist for the past few months and she’s definitely getting better, but I know it will always upset her that my father did what he did.  My mother is the strongest woman I know and it’s her strength and resilience that was a constant reminder for me that being knocked down didn’t mean I had to leave the ring forever.

Whenever the need arises, I talk to Tristan, Neil and Uncle Jesse about how hurt I am by what my father did.  The things he said and did aren’t the kind of things that you just forget about, but as time passes, I am able to deal with it better.

When we got back home from my mom’s house, it became obvious right away that Tristan couldn’t stand to be in the house anymore after what happened.  I couldn’t blame him at all because it definitely bothered me to walk through the living room every day.  A few weeks later Tristan and Trace put the house up for sale and for now they’re renting a big house not far from where my mom and Neil live.  This was not a coincidence—Tristan and my Mom have a mutual admiration society going and he loves spending time with her. 

It took us some time to find a house with that split ranch layout so that both Tristan and I and Darby and Trace could have privacy, but eventually they found something that was even better than the original house because we’re further apart.  Since we moved I haven’t woken up to the sounds of Trace and Darby having sex even once, and that’s a big improvement.  Darby says that the same thing holds true for her as far as hearing us goes.  I’d be mortified if Darby weren’t so awesome, open and easy to talk to, but the truth is that there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.  We’re lucky to be in love with two really amazing guys, and hitting the good-sex lottery is the cherry on top. 

* * *

Coming home from visiting with my brother, I found Tristan sitting in the living room yelling the answers at the TV while he watched
Wheel of Fortune
.  Chocolate Eyes has brains and it’s HOT.  Climbing up onto his lap, I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him like I hadn’t seen him in days. 

Darby and Trace are away for the weekend, which left me free to take my shirt off.  I smiled when he inhaled sharply and groaned because I wasn’t wearing a bra.

“Babe, how about we christen this new recliner?”

He nodded his agreement immediately.  “Did you lock the door when you came in?”

“Of course.  We’re all alone in the house for the next forty-eight hours and I plan to use each and every one to our advantage.  Now we just need to cross our fingers that no one shows up to visit between now and then.”

“Baby, if this chair’s a rockin’, no one better come a knockin’.”

In addition to being hot, my boyfriend is hilarious.  I’d say I got pretty damn lucky the day I walked into that math class and he asked me for a pen.

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.

Lao Tzu

I get to take the hottest girl I’ve ever known to bed every night and then to top it off, I wake up every morning with her wrapped around me like an additional appendage.  Being with Mimi is the best fuckin’ feeling in the world.  She’s the most incredible girl alive and she’s mine, all mine. I ignore that Mia leaves her Chucks all over the house and she ignores that I eat too much sugar, which is the way a real relationship is supposed to be.  She isn’t just my girlfriend; she’s my best friend.  I fought for her and if it ever came down to it, I would die for her.   There is nothing that I wouldn’t do for this love.

I never saw myself with kids or a family because I didn’t want to pass on my biological father’s DNA, but watching Mimi with baby Mia calls on every caveman instinct that I have to procreate.  She’s on the birth control shot so that won’t be happening anytime soon, but someday, I hope to make that girl my wife.  She stood her ground when I wanted to run, and that act of faith changed everything.

We’ve built a life together that is the happiest thing that I’ve ever had.  Having Trace and Darby living in the house and seeing how happy they are now is huge.  The addition of Macy and baby Mia in our lives is something else that makes me happy.  Seeing my girl light up for that baby is just another reason that I love her so much.  I’m in awe of what a great friend and aunt she is, right on down to the fact that now that Macy’s taking classes at Evermore, Mimi insisted that they coordinate their schedules so that if Macy has a class, Mimi has the baby.  There are many, many days that I come home from work or school to find baby Mia, baby Nate and some mix of Mimi’s family and extended family or Darby’s family in the house, and I love it.  I never thought that I could have something so perfectly normal, and it feels fuckin’ amazing.

The scars of my upbringing are still there, and it will always weigh on me that I was conceived by rape.  Having my grandmother tell Trace and me that we had to stay on constant guard so that we didn’t unleash the evil within us definitely fucked us both up, and I don’t think that either of us will ever stop trying to be the exact opposite of the man that forced himself on Lynette.  She won’t ever see or speak to us, but I hope that at the very least it helps her to know that the children she gave birth to didn’t turn out like her attacker.

What I’ve learned from Mia is that I can’t let the past take away the happiness of today.  My father was a monster but I’m not.  The love that I thought I didn’t deserve has turned out to be my salvation.

What were the odds?

* * *

Sitting in the kitchen with my journal, I was working on something for Mia for our first anniversary.  It’s in a few weeks and I want it to be just right. 

One Year

Twelve Months

Three Hundred and Sixty-Five Days

Eight Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-Five Minutes

When I write it out it sounds like a lot

But it’s not

It’s only a drop in the ocean of the time that I want to spend with you

Before you, my life was an overdone cake without icing

Or a bowl of burnt popcorn
with no candy in sight

But then you brought the sweet into my life

And saved me from myself

You’re the color, the flavor and the joy in my days

And I love you more than any words on this paper can ever hope to express

Setting my lucky journaling pen down—the very one that she gave me on our first day of school last year—I reviewed what I had written for her. It’s almost good enough, but I know that I’ll be fiddling with it right up until the last moment.

Hearing the doorbell ring I closed the journal and stood to answer the door, smiling when I heard Mia yell that she would get it. While I waited for her to tell me who was at the door I helped myself to one of her homemade chocolate chip muffins.

Our house is always a hive of activity.  Mia and Darby both cook and bake like crazy and the house is full of family and friends dropping by.  Before Mia I never would have admitted that I desperately wanted a life like this, but now, I tell everyone who will listen.  This life, our life, is bigger and better than I ever dreamt it could be.

A minute or so after the doorbell rang Mia came into the kitchen and whispered my name.  Looking up, I saw that she was pale and anxious.

I jumped up and grabbed her hands in mine. My heart dropped when I felt that she was shaking.  “Baby, what’s wrong?”

“There’s a man at the door… he says he’s your grandfather.  Stan… it’s Senator Gibson.”

To Be Continued
in Trace & Darby’s Story

“Catch & Release”

Release date to be announced

Thank you to my family for putting up with my weird schedule and my constant need to be typing.  You’re awesome and I love you!!

Thank you as always to my fans, because they inspire me every single day to keep plugging away.  This story has been in my head for a long time and I am so happy to finally be able to share these characters with you all.

Huge
and very special thanks go to Juliet Fowler for guiding into the next phase of my writing career.  You’re already a game changer for me and I can’t thank you enough for what you’re doing.  You ROCK.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to ALL of the book blogs that have taken a chance on Indie writers.  You ladies are all amazing and I think that you do an incredible job.  It’s no small feat to get people to read these days and I love your enthusiasm for books!

Thank you to my beta readers: Midian, Bianca, Jen, Kristi & Amy.  You ladies are absolutely amazing & I really appreciated your hard work.

Thanks to Dawn from Sizzling Pages for finding the typo that was making me crazy! 

I love to read. Always have, always will. My favorite genre is romance, but I also enjoy thrillers, mysteries, some sci-fi, rock n' roll biographies and autobiographies.

I'm obsessed with music. OBSESSED. I'm very partial to rock music, but I also enjoy rap, country, classical, oldies and pop. I could go on "Don't Forget The Lyrics" and clean up! My two favorite bands of all time are Fleetwood Mac & The Foo Fighters
.  I've got eclectic taste in music though and if you got a look at my iTunes library you would die laughing.

I'm a total practical joker. I love to laugh. My favorite TV shows
and movies tend to be comedies.  All-time favorites include Seinfeld, Always Sunny, Eastbound & Down, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Arrested Development.  I have a soft spot for eighties music. If I could hang out with any celebrity for one day, I'd choose Dave Grohl from The Foo Fighters. My celebrity crush is (currently) Chris Hemsworth.  How hot is he?!?!?!

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