Crossing Lines: A gripping psychological thriller (Behind Closed Doors Book 3) (34 page)

“I'm going to let you do it,” she continues, “because it's what
you
need, not me. I’ve never been surer that this is the right thing for me.”
She opens her eyes and our gazes lock. I swallow. “I will go to New York, because you want me to. And I will see Caleb, because you think I should. And when you think I’ve had enough time, or when you’ve had enough time to do whatever you need to do for us to feel right, then you come and get me.”

I smile, as a sensation warms me through. I lean forward to kiss her cheek as she turns her head. My lips brush the corner of her mouth. Our lips linger for longer than they’re allowed to. She steals my breath away. I want her to stay.

“Julia, I …” I shake my head. “I …” I take one last look into the soulful depth of her silver eyes as they reach deeper inside me than anyone ever has been before. I whisper, “Goodbye, Julia.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

19
th
January 2013

“WHOSE HOUSE IS THIS?”

I tear my gaze away from Rylan as he sweeps the perimeter of the area, and look at Lisa. “Faith’s.”

“Faith was rich?” She gapes. “This house is gorgeous, D, far nicer than any of the houses owned by the richest people living in Hawthorne Creek. And this is … this is …
Southampton.
”

“This is where I grew up, Lisa.” I look back at the front door, the one that hid far too many secrets and lies, for far too many years. “It's where Georgia and Caleb grew up, and where Caitlyn and Zoe lived too.”

“This is Calvin’s house?”

“Technically, it’s mine!” I snap, and she clamps her lips together. Her pupils widen and she stares back at me. “Sorry, Lisa.” I take a deep breath and look back at my childhood home. “Coming here is a lot harder than I thought it would be.”

“Why are we here?” she asks.

“You’ll see.” That’s all I'm willing to say yet.

Rylan steps out of the house and walks toward the car. At the door he stops, looks around, and then opens it. “All clear.”

I climb out of the car and he hands the keys back to me. When Lisa follows me out of the car, I point to the listing tree at least fifteen yards away. “Caleb did that to the tree,” I tell her. She frowns. “Well, the car that knocked him off his bike did.”

“Caleb got run over?” she asks.

I nod. “Yeah, when he was nine, and I had him convinced all summer that he was a robot, too.” I chuckle, then catch a glimpse of the crack in the sidewalk where Georgia tripped on her roller skates. I shake my head, unable to believe it hasn’t been fixed in all this time.

Out of nowhere I hear voices, and look around as the images fill my mind. I’m flying around the house and gardens, high above Calvin’s head. I’m squealing with delight as he sings the theme tune to the new Superman movie. Someone calls from the house and Cal throws me up in the air, catching me, then sitting me on his arm as we turn. She had red hair and blue eyes, just like Faith, but she was smaller. It wasn’t Faith, it was …
Mom
.

Rylan steps in front of Lisa as a car pulls around the corner. It’s a black town car with darkened windows. Not unusual for this estate, but my senses go into hyper drive as Rylan initiates full on bodyguard mode.

The memory of my mom is gone. I don’t know where the memory came from, because before this moment the earliest memory I’ve ever had is of the night Faith and I camped on the beach and she told me Mom and Dad lived with God now. But I know Dad was there too that day. I know, because I remember going into the house and Dad taking me upstairs to wash up for dinner.

The car pulls up behind ours and Uncle Robert doesn’t wait for the chauffeur to open the door. He climbs out of the car first, greeting me with nothing more than a nod. Honestly, I don’t expect anything more. But he’s always been the Hawthorne family’s lawyer, and I’m not about to change that.

“Georgia! Caleb!” Lisa squeals and ducks out from behind Rylan, running toward her older siblings as they also climb from inside the car. “Oh my God!" She throws herself into Georgia’s arms. They haven’t seen each other since Christmas.

Georgia hugs her fiercely for a moment and then pulls back. “You doing okay, Bunny Rabbit?” she asks, all the protectiveness of a big sister in her expression as her gaze gives her the once-over. “Is he treating you right? Because I’ll kick his ass if he isn’t!”

“He’s doing okay.” Lisa shrugs, glancing at me. “Actually, he's a pain in the ass because he’s got nothing to do anymore.” She hugs Caleb just as fiercely as she asks, “You know loads of girls in L.A. Can you set him up or something? He needs a girlfriend.”

“Hey!” I pretend to be wounded. “I’ll have you know keeping you out of trouble is a full-time job!”

“If you say so,” Rylan snickers beside me.

“Happy Birthday, Darryl!” Georgia smiles and Caleb repeats the gesture before we fall into an awkward silence for a moment. Then Georgia asks, “What are we doing here?"

“You’ll see,” I say, and turn to walk up the garden path. They follow, and I wait until we’re all on the front porch before I look at Robert. He reaches into his coat and offers me an envelope.

“Georgia,” I begin. “It’s taken me a really long time to realize that when I took my inheritance away from Cal, I made a mistake. Because I didn’t take everything away from him. I took it from you and Caleb.”

She shakes her head.

“I did. You were always going to work for him, with him at the practice. You were always going to follow in his footsteps. It was never said, but it was always going to be yours. Not mine, not Caleb’s, but yours!” I hold out the envelope to her. “So now it is.”

“I don’t understand,” she whispers. “I have the practice already.”

“No,” Robert shakes his head. “Hawthorne Medical, and its various other trading names, has been Darryl's since your grandparents died. He was six years old, so Calvin became the interim CEO. Just like you are now.”

“Dad lied to me?” she asks, but no one replies. “Robert?”

“This isn’t about Cal, Georgia,” I say, drawing her attention back to me. “It’s about you. Everything your grandparents had, everything I took from Calvin, is yours.” Again, I hold out the envelope to her. “If you want it.”

“But what about Caleb?” she asks.

“I already have what I’ve always wanted.” He smiles. “I’m helping thousands of men, women, and children across the country—people like Mom!”

She doesn’t challenge him, this time. “I have Mom’s letters,” she admits and looks up at me. “When the police searched the house they forced the lock on the drawer you kept them in.”

“I know I told you to read them, Georgia, but I don’t really want you to.” I look away. “Faith wanted to protect you from all this, for as long as possible.”

“I know,” she whispers. “But I think I have to. I’ve never known you to hate anyone. But you do hate Dad, and I know it’s because of what Mom wrote in her letters.”

“He’s still your dad, Georgia. What happened between him and Faith doesn’t change the way he brought us up, or the way he feels about his kids. Nothing's going to change that.”

“You’ve forgiven him?” Caleb asks, looking affronted by the idea of forgiveness.

“No,” I shake my head. “Not by a long shot, but … I'm coming to terms with it. And that makes a hell of a difference.”

He frowns.

“You’ll see when you get there. You both will.” I place the keys in Georgia’s palm and fold her hand around them. “It’s yours. If you don’t want it, then sell it!”

“No, I do want it.” She smiles. “This house has been in our family for generations.” She slips the key into the lock, twists it, and pushes the door open. She looks over her shoulder and says, “Thank you,” then walks inside.

Caleb and Lisa follow, which naturally means Rylan enters the house too, leaving me on the porch with Robert. When he looks at me, there’s a relieved sadness in his eyes. “It’s taken you a long time to get here, son.”

“Yeah.” I walk to the railings and wrap my hands around them. “Someone made me realize that I wasn’t to blame for anything that happened before Faith ran. And I’m not to blame for what he did to her afterward, either.”

“You did everything you could have done to help her, Darryl. You sacrificed your happiness, and Izzy’s. And I know Faith gave me all of the credit, but it was all you and it was only after she met John that you started living your life again.”

“Faith wouldn’t have let me get that involved if she’d known it was me.”

“I shouldn’t have let you get that involved.”

I look at him.

“Look at what it cost you,” he looks away. “And Izzy.”

“How is she?” I ask, as if I have a right to know. I don’t.

“Good,” he replies. “Glen’s a good guy, and the boys keep her busy; two under the age of two are a handful!”

“Have they set a date yet?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t think she’ll ever marry him, or anyone else. I know what she did to make you throw her out, and I don't condone her behavior, Darryl, but what you did, cutting her out of your life without another word, is a scar I don’t think will ever heal for her. And I don’t think she’ll ever forgive you for it, either.”

“What I did,” I nod, “was probably worse than what I feared I was going to do.” He narrows his eyes me. “I loved her, Robert. Never doubt that. I’d have done anything for her, but I couldn’t give her the one thing she wanted from me. Glenn can, and did. Twice, in fact.” I turn to him and admit the truth. “I never would have let her stay in harm’s way. And that night, I was intent on causing harm, and she wouldn't get out of my way.”

“You’d never have hurt her, Darryl, not the way Cal hurt Faith. You’d have left first. You’d have taken some alone time, and I honestly believe if you’d talked this through with her, if you’d just tried to forgive her for deceiving you, then you’d still be married, and my grandsons would be your children, not Glenn’s.”

“So do I,” I admit, and I do believe it. If I hadn’t struck the mirror and then seen the fear in her eyes, none of this would have happened. But I did, and I did see it. I realize now, more than ever before, my path and Izzy’s had separated long before that night; we were already well on our way to being different people who wanted different things. We would’ve divorced eventually. It was better this way, although I’d always regret handling the situation the way I had.

“It was never about the deception, Robert. It wasn’t about Izzy at all.” I lift my gaze to his. “I severed our relationship like a limb, as cleanly and as quickly as possible, because I couldn’t trust myself not to hurt her the way Cal hurt Faith. But the truth is, if I was ever going to hit her I’d have hit her then instead of the mirror. I know that now.”

He and I both stare out into the street, and don’t say anything for an age. Then he places a hand on my shoulder. “I’m glad we had this chat, son.”

“Me too.”

“Don’t be a stranger now you’re living in L.A.” Then his mind seems to drift, “So who is she?”

I look at him.

“The woman bulldozing these walls you’ve had up since, well, since forever, because you’ve never been the kind of guy who talks about anything with anyone. The only person you ever spoke to about what was going on inside your head was Faith.”

Heat burns in my cheeks, and I feel ridiculously self-conscious. “Is it that obvious?” I ask, and he nods. “Her name is Julia.”

Despite my desire to give her space, she still calls me every night, and I reject six out of seven calls. It kills me to listen to the messages she leaves, to listen to her voice and not be able to tell her how my day is going, or that Lisa got another A in school. But I do answer once a week. And when I do, I ramble on for hours, wishing she was with me, face-to-face.

Her parents are driving her crazy with preparations for the baby’s arrival, but she’s doing well in New York. Her mother, Madeline, is making sure of that, fussing over prenatal vitamins, eating the right diet, and getting the right kind of exercise, which involves three different classes a week. Just last night she asked me if I was going to rescue her from the madness. I wanted to tell her we were visiting New York, how could I not? But I was incredibly selfish, and said no. It wasn’t time yet.

“Whatever Julia is doing, she needs to keep at it.” Robert shakes his head, and then smiles his approval. “I never thought I'd see the day when you, Georgia, and Caleb were as close as you were living here. You’ve put this family back together, and what you’ve done with Lisa is nothing short of a miracle. I never thought I'd see this family back together, not without Caitlyn and Zoe. And maybe not then, either.”

I nod, because I did pull us back together, with the help of people who accepted me for who I am and not who I should be, and then by asking Georgia and Caleb for help when I needed it, instead of charging on and doing things my way.

Robert smiles and pats my shoulder. “Your dad, God rest his soul, Ben would have said, ‘A girl this good for you, she’s a keeper!'”

I look at him, as the wisdom he’s just given me resonates to the very core of who I am. “You’re right, Robert.” Instantly, I turn. “Rylan!” I shout through the front door. “We have to go.”

He runs down the stairs, gun in hand. “What’s wrong?”