Choices of the Heart (2 page)

His parents were polite to her but cool. They knew how upset Reese had been when she left town, knew he’d planned to marry her. He saw the tears in his mother’s eyes as Chloe handed Bobby to her.

Ronnie’s living memory.

Damn, why was Chloe so beautiful? Why did he feel butterflies in his gut when she was near? This should have passed with time, but it hadn’t, and he wondered if it ever would. She made him crazy, feel foolish. He’d known why she’d left. But that hadn’t made her departure any easier. He loved her back then and still did, even now. The feeling hadn’t faded. Despite his attempts to move on with Isabelle, Chloe was always at the edges of his mind, from the time he woke in the morning until he fell asleep at night.

He moved into the circle of his family.

“We best be goin’,” his father said.

Darkness was quickly covering the sky. The moon had already started its climb.

“Can we give you a ride home, Chloe?” his father asked.

“No, thank you.” She shook her head. “I’ll be staying in town.”

“In town? But your father—”

“Thank you, Mrs. Lloyd,” Chloe interrupted his mother with a soft pat on the hand. “I don’t wish to see my father at this time.”

Reese itched to offer her shelter at his home but knew how inappropriate that would be. There had been enough gossip whirling about town when she left, and looking around, there were plenty of eyes fixed on their family right now, too. No need to stir it all up again.

“Will you help us plan the funeral, Chloe?” his mother asked. “The priest will meet us at the funeral parlor at nine o’clock tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, I’ll be there.” She nodded, her silky hair caressing her cheek as her head bobbed. She handed his mother a leather bag. “This came with Bobby. There are sealed envelopes inside that I didn’t open, but the birth certificate was open, so I looked at it.” Chloe caressed the little boy’s cheek. “He’s just over two. There’s a trunk, too.” She looked around and saw it, pointed to it. “Unless there are better fitting things in there, I think we’ll need to make him some clothes.”

“I can’t believe my son didn’t tell me he was a father—that I had a grandchild.” His mother began to cry, holding the boy close to her heart.

Reese swallowed hard and looked away. Grown men didn’t cry.

“I didn’t know, either,” Chloe told her gently.

Reese could see the tears in Chloe’s eyes, and the sight made him hurt all the more. This reality of loss they were all sharing should have brought them close, but in truth, he never felt farther away from Chloe than he did right that minute. In days past, he would have pulled her into his arms, kissed away her tears. Today, he couldn’t. Hell, she’d probably slap him.

“Can I walk you to the hotel?” Reese offered. “Carry your bag?” He sounded like a sap, he thought, but he couldn’t leave Chloe. Not just yet.

“Yes.” She nodded and smiled gently at him. “I have only the small case over there.”

She pointed back to where the suitcase sat, and he noticed a leather satchel leaning against the wall of the little station house.

“We’ll see you tomorrow, Chloe,” Reese’s mom said.

His parents walked away. Bobby cried, reaching toward Chloe, trying to crawl out of his mother’s arms.

His mother stopped and turned back to them. “Do you want to keep him with you?”

Chloe met his mother’s gaze. Reese could see the uncertainty in her eyes. She ultimately shook her head. “I don’t know much about children.” She rubbed Bobby’s back and leaned forward to kiss his forehead. “He’s in far better hands with you. I will help with whatever he might need, but I think its best he get used to being with you and Mr. Lloyd.”

Reese’s father tipped his hat to Chloe and guided his wife toward their car. Reese and Chloe stood there, watching his mother and Bobby settle into the front seat. His father loaded the trunk into the back of the car, waved silently to them and then climbed in behind the wheel.

As they pulled away, Reese retrieved Chloe’s small bag, placing it under his arm, and then he picked up her satchel and took her elbow in his free hand. The hotel was only a short distance from the station and it was a beautiful, warm night for a walk.

“Have you eaten?” Reese had no idea what else to say to her.

“We had food on the train,” Chloe answered, looking straight ahead.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go out to your father’s?” Reese asked. “Will you be all right all alone here?”

“I grew up in this town, as you well know.”

She smiled and waved across the street to Mrs. Martin, who was walking her small white poodle, gawking openly at them.

“I’m safer here than at my father’s farm.”

“I’m sorry for that.” Reese stopped walking.

Placing his free hand on her shoulder, he turned her toward him. He searched her beautiful, honey-brown eyes, looking for something, anything. Was there anything left in her heart for him? He’d waited for so long to see her again, to touch her, talk to her.

“Nothing for it, Reese. He is what he is.” She looked away from him. “I just don’t want to face him until I absolutely must.”

She moved away and resumed her walking. He followed a pace behind until they reached the Burlington Hotel.

He opened the heavy glass door for her and followed her inside. She walked up to the front desk and was immediately greeted by a clerk. Reese stood aside and watched her register. The hotel was old, needed to be modernized. The carpets were threadbare, and the place smelled like the inside of an old trunk someone had dug out of the attic. He hoped her room would be in better repair.

“Can you afford this, Chloe?” He waited until she was signed in and they had moved away from the curious registrar to ask the personal question.

“For a few days.” She rested her tiny hand—physically, everything about her was small—on his sleeve. “I’ll be just fine.”

He swallowed the lump in his throat. He set down her suitcase and then handed her the bag he’d carried from the station. “If you need anything, you ring me. I’ll come fetch you tomorrow, if you’d like. Walk with you to the funeral home?”

She nodded and gifted him with a smile. “I’ll see you then.” She removed her hand from his arm and let it hang at her side. “Good night, Reese.”

He watched her walk toward the stairs that led to the rooms on the second floor. Numb and lonely. That was the only way to describe what he felt as he watched her walk away from him again.

His beautiful Chloe. No longer within his reach.

Chapter Two

“Well, well, well. The whore’s come home.”

Chloe backed up a step, tripped over her foot, and landed flat on her backside. Her father, drunk and disorderly, pushed his way farther into her hotel room the next morning, kicking at her legs as he pressed his rank, disgusting-self inside, slamming the door behind him with his boot. She thought the knock had been from Reese, coming to pick her up for the funeral parlor appointment, so she hadn’t even bothered to check before opening the door.

She quickly regained her feet and reached for the first weighty item she could find—a silver hairbrush. She threw it at his head, missed and hit the door instead. “Help!” She screamed as loudly as she could with fear lodged deep in her throat.

“That’s not a very nice way to greet your father, Chloe. Especially not one who
loves
you so much. How dare you leave me, you bitch!”

He slapped her open-handed across the face, ripping open her lip and bringing tears to her eyes. She drew a deep breath, then screamed again. Damned if she’d put up with this to save her family name. Damn the town’s gossips, and damn this evil bastard to hell!

She picked up a heeled boot and whacked him in the head, still yelling for help. He pushed her onto the bed. His dirty, oily hand pressed her chest onto the mattress.

“Get…off…me!”

She kicked at him, and he grabbed her legs and separated them.

A roar, dragged from somewhere deep in her soul, exploded from her mouth. Chloe kicked him in the groin with her free foot. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Reese barrel into the room. He pulled her father off her, punched him square in the jaw, and sent him backward with a thud into the wall.

“Call the police,” Chloe yelled to the desk clerk, who suddenly appeared in the doorway. Her gaze darted between her father and Reese. Would Reese hit him again?

“Now, now, Chloe, baby. There ain’t no need for the police to git involved in this. This is a family matter.”

Rubbing his dirty, stubbly jaw, her father picked himself off the floor. He fell back once before getting his drunk-self up all the way. He stumbled toward her, but Reese blocked his way.

“I ain’t done nothin’ wrong. Just welcomin’ ya back to town, is all,” her father said.

“Get the hell outta here, Brandt.” Reese folded back the sleeves on his shirt, readying for a fistfight.

“Protectin’ the slut? Even after she left you for faster times? You more stupid than I thought!”

Her father rushed forward, but Reese was ready for it and pushed the older man back down on the floor. Her father shook his head, as if getting rid of the cobwebs. He stood again.

Reese crossed his arms and widened his stance, shielding Chloe behind him. “Get the hell out of here before I haul you to the police myself.”

“I’d like to see you try.” He smacked Reese on the shoulder as he stumbled past, leaving a trail of alcohol stench in his wake. He stopped at the door and turned.

“I’ll be back, Chloe baby, you just wait for me. It’s been two long and lonely years.” He winked at Chloe and stepped out the door.

She shivered, grabbed the trash bin, and threw up the contents of her stomach, so disgusted by what her father had just done to her. Reese rubbed her back and spoke soothing words as, kneeling on the floor, she continued to retch. Finally, with his help, she stood, only to collapse on the edge of the bed, her tears flowing. He held her against his side and rubbed her back. She couldn’t stop crying, taking big gulps of air.

“He’s gone, Chloe. You’re safe now,” Reese whispered.

“I’ll never be safe.” She shook her head and pulled from Reese, burying her face in her hands. “Not here in Broken Bow.”

A commotion in the hallway drew Reese to the door. “I’ll be right back, Chloe Anne,” he said before stepping into the hallway. He closed the door behind him.

She knew the sooner she left this awful place, the better off she would be. How awful that Pa should have found her already. She’d run away from that evil monster only to be hunted by him as soon as she returned. Life was simply not fair sometimes.

Reese was here, saving her from her father again…as if nothing had changed. Well…the date on the calendar, perhaps, but not her feelings and attraction toward Reese. She loved him still, probably always would, but she couldn’t stay here, not with her father on the loose. Not even for the love of her life.

A brief rap on the door surprised her. She stood and walked toward it, this time being smart enough to ask who was on the other side.

“It’s me, Chloe, with Sheriff Jacks.”

She opened the door and moved away. Fully aware of how awful she must look, she hesitated to look Lowell Jacks in the eye.

“Miss Chloe, I’m sorry for what happened, ma’am. Reese has told me what he saw when he came in. Do you want to add anything to his report, ma’am?”

She glanced first at Reese and then at Lowell before she sat back on the bed.

“He was going to rape me, Sheriff.” Her voice was thick, as if her tears were lodged inside her throat. “Had Reese not pulled him off, he might have succeeded. He’s much stronger than I am. He slapped me across the face and punched me in the jaw after I kicked him in his privates.”

Her face fell back into her hands. This was just not right! This was not how life should be!

“I’ll add that to the report, ma’am. My partner took your pa to the station, and we’ll keep him locked up until you leave town, Miss Chloe. You’ll press charges, won’t you?”

She nodded. “Yes, I will press charges,” she said. “And thank you, Sheriff, for locking him up. I’m much obliged.”

“You taking care of her, Reese? Does she need a doctor?” Lowell continued to stare at her.

She scoffed at that. How bad did she look? “I’m a nurse.”

“Right.” Lowell nodded with a sigh. “I forgot that’s what you went to Lincoln for.” He shot her a sheepish look and then ran a hand through his blond hair. “I’m sorry for your loss, Miss Chloe. You know Miss Daisy and I were in school together. It’s a sad loss. You too, Reese. Ronnie was a good man.”

She nodded toward the sheriff, agreeing with his assessment of Reese’s brother.

Reese showed Lowell to the door.

He turned back to Chloe. “I’ll go on down and get you some ice for your cheek. You’ll be wanting to change out of your dress.”

She looked down at the spot on her chest that he was pointing to. The outline of her father’s black, sooty fingers was silhouetted on the grey linen covering her breasts. “I guess so.”

“I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

He shut the door behind him, and she fell back on the bed. She’d left Broken Bow so she’d never have to go through that kind of scene again. Her pa had never tried to split her legs apart. That was a new one. Never hit her in the face, either. He was always careful to hurt her where no one could see, so the townsfolk wouldn’t think less of him. He’d called her plenty of ugly names. Whore was tame compared to some he’d come up with in the past. There had never been any sexual advances toward her, just the physical and verbal abuse. The man was obviously depraved.

Bastard.

He’d beaten her poor mother to death and hadn’t received so much as a slap on his wrist. Damn right, she was going to press charges against him. He deserved it, deserved to be locked up for a long time. After Ma died, Chloe and Daisy were still so young, left alone to fend off the man.

Chloe shook her head. Her father was nothing but a mean, ugly, sick drunk.

Chloe slipped out of her dress, noticing just how much damage to the seams her father had done. She glanced in the mirror, horrified by the face that stared back at her. A huge, ugly bruise was already forming next to her eye. Dried blood clung to her split lip. Her hair looked like a bird’s nest, a far cry from the sleek bob she wore of late. She dabbed at her lip again with Reese’s linen hanky and sighed.

Reese had come to her rescue again. Just as he had done so many times in the past. She couldn’t get back to Lincoln, away from all these memories, fast enough.

A light rap on the door startled her.

“Chloe, can I come in?” It was Reese.

“Just a moment.” She hastily pulled out another dress and slipped it over her head. She tied the sash that hung just below the waist and then opened the door.

“It’s getting hot outside. Here’s some cold water.” He shoved the glass at her. With awkward movements, he rearranged the ice chunk and towel he held in his other hand.

Chloe stepped aside, letting Reese into the room. After a quick peek into the hallway, she shut the door. “Thank you. For this.” She held up the glass. “And for defending me. Once again.”

He was handsome in a rugged sort of way. Wide at the shoulders, he had wavy brown hair that just touched the top of his collar. Her eyes met his, and she felt the same spark of desire and need she always did when she met his soft-brown doe-eyes. Chloe swallowed and looked away.

“This isn’t really proper,” he reminded her.

She looked back at him and rested her hand on the footboard of the brass bed.

“I probably should wait for you downstairs.” He stared at her, seemed to be weighing his options.

Did he want her to ask him to stay?

“Go ahead and sit down.” He gestured to the tousled bed, the only seat in the room. “I’ll help you get this ice in the right spot, and then I’ll go.”

She did as he asked and looked up into his eyes with a smile. “How’s this? You patching up a nurse?”

His laugh ended in a snort. “You fixed me up plenty of times.” He wrapped the ice chunk in a towel and crushed it with his hand. “How many stitches did you put in me over the years? I was always cutting myself on something.”

“The plow, usually,” she said.

He set the ice against her swollen check where the bruise had begun to discolor her face.

“Ouch!”

“Right. The plow.” He met her eyes again. “That lip looks plenty painful. I’m glad it stopped bleeding.”

“
This
is why I left, you know.” She pointed toward the ice on her cheek. “It didn’t have anything to do with you.” She stood and looked up into his handsome face, admiring the line of his perfectly squared jaw. “I just knew my father would never stop this abuse. I knew, no matter what, I would never be safe. I knew, too, that there was more out there. More I wanted to see and do, before…”

“Before?”

“I just couldn’t stay here.” She swallowed. She just about said before she
married
him. How many times over the past two, lonely years in Lincoln had she considered swallowing her pride and coming home to him?

“I know.” He nodded. “That’s what you told me… The last time I beat up your father in your defense, and the last time you left our bed.”

“Reese…”

She grabbed his hand, but he pulled it away.

“This is damned hard, Chloe. Damned uncomfortable. I gotta go.” He stood, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Fix up your hair, and I’ll meet you downstairs. I’m sure news got to the funeral parlor that we’ll be delayed.”

He closed the door behind him. News flew through the air in small towns. Certain things, like the abuse by her father when she still lived at home, got ignored. But she had witnesses this time, could prove his guilt. And really, she didn’t care anymore what people in Broken Bow thought about her. It didn’t matter anymore if people talked about the Brandt family. She just didn’t care.

She found the brush she’d launched at her father’s head and ran it through her tangled, bobbed hair, cringing when it pulled at the bruised area on her head. She gently added some powder to her face to cover up the evidence of her father’s hand and applied more rouge to her lip, cringing as she touched the open spot.

It would be so easy for her to slide back under Reese’s protection, but nursing the sick and discovering the world beyond Broken Bow had turned into an adventure, an adventure she wasn’t ready to surrender just yet. Not that Reece would have her, anyway. She could tell by the way he looked at her, there weren’t any feelings left for her.

With a final glance in the mirror and an exasperated shake of her head, she left the room. She could smell bacon frying as she went down the stairs. When she hit the bottom step, she met up with Reese, the most wonderful man she’d ever known.

~*~

“I’ve missed Ronnie, you know?” Reese stated quietly, taking a long drag off his cigarette.

“Probably as much as I’ve missed Daisy,” Chloe told him.

Two hours later, Reese was sitting as far away from Chloe as he could get while they waited on the wide covered porch off the back of the funeral home. His parents were finishing up the arrangements inside the large, stifling-hot, Victorian-era mansion that sat on the edge of town. Reese watched Chloe fan herself, admiring the graceful arch of her neck, the pleasing shape of her crossed legs.

“I always thought Ronnie would come back to the farm after he satisfied his wanderlust.” Reese leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “If he hadn’t met those Chicago boys overseas, during the war, he would have stayed here instead of up and going to Chicago.” He looked up at her beautiful face and felt his stomach plummet. He ran a finger under the starched collar of his shirt, uncertain if it was Chloe or the heat that made him more uncomfortable.