Faith (Rescue Me, A Contemporary Romance) (19 page)

She looked out the window, scanning the yard for any sign of the press or obsessed fans that had hounded them incessantly since she’d brought Liam to this house. Lately they seemed to be tapering off though, or was it just wishful thinking on her part that made her think so? No, it seemed possible that maybe just maybe they had started moving on since for the first time since they’d moved in she didn’t see anyone at the fence down the road.

God bless that fence, she thought not for the first time. A big fence with a big gate and lots of trees in front of the house to discourage taking photos from the road and to shield them from the world – that’s what they’d asked of the super exclusive realtor that had helped them find this oasis from all the drama that had swirled around them since Rory’s suicide.

She loved this house, she truly did. It sat on five acres, outside the city, and away from prying neighbors. It had a barn for horses – not that they had any, but maybe when Liam was feeling better he would like to learn to ride—and the house itself was big without being imposing.

Faith could tell that Myra loved it to. For all her talk of cursing Rory for causing her to sell the house she’d lived in her whole life, Faith could see that Myra delighted in working in her garden behind the house and
puttering around in the large chef’s kitchen making them comfort food.

A little too much comfort food, Faith thought patting her growing stomach.

Maybe she’d go for a jog around the property. She thought about it and decided that was a great idea. She would get a little fresh air and some exercise, the perfect antidote to the nagging concern and fear that plagued her all the time these days.

She was just stepping out the door in her running gear when she saw a car pull up to the gate far down the driveway and a girl got out to look up the house.

“Damn it!” Faith exploded in anger, “That is just it! These fucking people need to get a damn life!”

She took off toward the gate at a run. She had bought this house because she’d made the decision to fight for her life and her privacy and her freedom, and that of her son’s, and she was tired of sitting in it like a prisoner while these crazed fans and paparazzi hounded her like a caged dog. When were these people going to realize that Rory had been absolutely crazy and he was less matinee idol and more Charles Manson? He was a movie star people, she thought angrily, not a god!

“Hey!” she yelled at the girl as she ran closer, “what are you doing here? Get the hell out of here and leave us alone!”

“Sorry,” the girl said obviously startled at the sight of Faith running toward her yelling and angry, “I’m so sorry! I didn’t know how to call or get in contact with anyone. I just wanted to stop by and see how Liam is?”

“He’s going to be a lot better when you assholes start leaving him alone,” Faith answered. “When are you going to move on to a real story? And how old are you anyway? Do you write some crime blog or something for teenagers?”

“No!” the girl answered indignantly, “I’m not a writer or anything! I’m a friend of Liam’s. I mean, I was a friend of his? From East Magnet?”

Her obvious nervousness struck Faith as sincere. But what friend of Liam’s was this? He didn’t have any friends at that school that she ever knew about.

“What’s your name?” She asked suspiciously.

“Emily.”

Faith looked at her and her knees shook. This was Emily.

“What did you say your name was?” Faith asked her with a shaking voice.

Could it be possible that Liam was imagining conversations with a real person that was not the evil Emily they’d had the bad fortune to run into in Alaska, but with another girl that was sweet and obviously cared about Liam?

“My name is Emily,” she said again.

The two females stared at each other through the bars of the gate for a long moment. Neither seemed sure of the next step. Neither wanted to speak first.

Finally Emily broke the awkward silence.

“Liam told me what happened to your family in Alaska. He told me why my name might be a surprise to hear.”

“When did Liam tell you that? Faith asked astounded.

She couldn’t imagine her son confiding in anyone, much less a girl. He had never had a serious girlfriend as far as she knew. In fact, she’d heard him discussing girls on the phone or in his room with his friends in Alaska, but as far as she could tell he wasn’t exactly a Romeo with the ladies in his class. Now here was a strange girl, named Emily no less, saying that she’d known Liam at school. Known him well enough to inspire him to talk about what the attack on them in Alaska. This had to be a trick.

“At school. Before everything happened with Rory Reynolds of course.” Emily told her.

“Well that was awhile ago now. Why is this the first time we’ve heard of you?” Faith asked.

She didn’t want to be rude. If this girl truly was the girl that Liam had been using as his friend to help him mentally process everything that was happening then she wanted to make sure she stayed  - maybe she could help snap him out of the stupor he’d been in. But reporters were crafty she knew. It wouldn’t be unthinkable for them to dig up a teenage cub reporter and give her a back story to recite to Faith at the gate. Once the girl was in the house she’d have access no reporter had had since the story broke. It would be a jackpot for one lucky media group and Faith had no intention of handing over that prize without a fight.

“Because I didn’t know how to contact him. He never came back to school and I only found out where he lived in the news. You guys never came back to that house. There was no way I was getting into TJMH to visit, and anyway I figured if he was sick enough to be there then I should probably stay anyway. Let him get better, you know.”

Faith nodded slowly. It made sense. Of course, just because it was a logical explanation didn’t make it the truth.

“Well, look,” Faith said, “I want to believe you, but you have to understand that we’ve had so many reporters and crazy people trying to reach us that I have to be careful. I can’t just let you see Liam without questioning this, okay?”

“I get that,” Emily said. “Look, I don’t know if it will help make you trust me, but I could come back with my dad if you want. He’s a vice principal at East Magnet, and he’s got his school ID and all that. You could even call the school and check him out. To be honest, he wanted to come with me in the first place but I wouldn’t let him. It just felt strange, getting my dad to come visit Liam with me. I mean, Liam and I were just starting to really hang out when everything happened. We never got a chance to be like best friends or anything.”

Faith nodded slowly. That could work.

“Okay, thanks,” she said. “When do you and your dad want to stop by?”

“Is tomorrow okay?” Emily asked. “We’re going to church tomorrow, but we can come over in the afternoon afterwards if that’s okay?”

“Yeah that’s fine,” Faith said and started walking away.

“Emily!” she called and turned around, stopping Emily from climbing into her car.

“Why don’t you and your dad plan on staying for Sunday dinner tomorrow? Myra always tries to make a big spread, but the three of us aren’t eating much these days and it would be nice to have some company. What do you think?”

Emily smiled and nodded.

“See you tomorrow Mrs. Byrne.” She said.

“Call me Faith.” Faith told her and smiled as she watched Emily back up and drive away.

You have to have a little Faith, she teased herself the way Mac used to when life got hard.

And look what happened when you did. Who would have guessed that one Emily could have started the string of tragedies, but it would take a second Emily to fix them?

Maybe, just maybe. You just had to have a little Faith, she hummed again, smiling for what felt like the first time in months.

“Do you think they like fried chicken?” Myra asked.

She was fussing around the big kitchen, preparing a feast for Sunday dinner. This would be the first dinner with ‘company’ they’d had since that fateful night Rory had crashed their family anniversary supper months ago. She needed it to be special. In fact, if it was possible for fried chicken to erase the events of the past few months, then that’s what this fried chicken was going to have to do. This wasn’t just a dinner she thought, this was the meal that could change their lives.

“Of course they’ll like fried chicken mom,” Faith told her for the fourth time.

“What about Liam?” Myra asked worriedly, “Is he going to be okay with chicken?”

“Mom, you know Liam doesn’t care,” Faith told her. “That’s the point. Hopefully he’ll be so excited to see Emily that he’ll remember how much he loves chicken. And grits. And collard greens. And all the other wonderful things you’re making for dinner.”

“Between the food and this girl, our boy should be smiling and laughing again in no time!” Myra said with a burst of enthusiasm that she showed off with a sizzling flip of the chicken on the stove.

Faith hoped she was right. Inwardly, she wasn’t sure. She’d told Liam about Emily’s visit, of course. She didn’t want to just surprise him with her at dinner. In the fragile state he’d been in another ‘surprise’ might just kill him, she thought sadly. But, his reaction hadn’t been as enthusiastic as she’d hoped. Certainly it was nowhere near as enthusiastic as Myra’s was.

She remembered the conversation she’d had with Liam after Emily’s visit yesterday.

“Guess what?” She’d told him excited, “Emily stopped by, and she’d going to come back for dinner tomorrow.”

Instantly she was rewarded with stark fear in his eyes and a stunned silence. She instantly regretted even telling him. Maybe that girl had been lying and she’d just set her son’s mental progress back by a year?

“Do you remember her?” she went on, hoping against hope that the girl had been telling the truth. “Emily? Your friend from school?”

She was rewarded with a slight relaxing in his posture and the fear left his eyes. 

“Okay,” he said.

It wasn’t the miraculous recovery Faith had been half hoping for. He didn’t leap up and shout, “I’m cured,” but she would take what she could get.

It was going to be a long road she knew. The doctors constantly reminded her of that, and Liam himself did almost nothing to encourage any hope, but maybe Emily’s presence would help bring him back to the person he had been.

The loud ring of the doorbell drew her back to the present with a jolt.

When was the sound of the doorbell going to stop making her blood run cold, she wondered with a mental shake.

A glance at Myra told her that her mother was going through the same thing.

She looked at Faith watching her and gave an embarrassed grin. I keep remembering the last time the doorbell rang and who was standing on the other side of that door? No one but a crazy movie star intent on death and destruction in the name of love.

Faith laughed at her mom. Bless her for making light of the situation.

“I know mom, but I’m pretty sure that the only people on the other side of that door are a harmless teenage girl and her father.”

She didn’t want to think about the last time ‘Emily’ and her father had rung the doorbell of a house she lived in. This time would be the exact opposite of that horrible night in Alaska.

Opening the door she was pleasantly surprised to find a handsome man grinning anxiously back at her. In one hand he held a bouquet of flowers and in the other he held a stack of video games.

“These flowers are for you and Myra and the games are for Liam,” he said with an embarrassed laugh. “My mother raised me never to come to a meal empty handed, and I wasn’t sure what would cheer Liam up. Emily told me he liked video games.”

Faith smiled in relief.

“They’re perfect, thank you!” Faith said.

“Come in!” Myra said from behind me where she had appeared at the door to the kitchen.

“I need some fresh tasters!” she called and waved Emily, her father, and Faith into the kitchen.

With a laugh and a shrug, they all trooped into the delicious smelling kitchen and were promptly put to work by Myra, who’s instincts for putting people at ease and making them feel welcome had been enhanced by the big house and the new lease on life she’d gotten after Rory’s attack.

Faith was put to work setting the table. Emily’s dad, Josh, was put in charge of keeping an eye on the frying chicken and flipping it when it got too dark. And Emily was sent upstairs to deliver the video games to Liam in his room.

Faith pointed the way to the stairs and explained which door to knock on.

Emily was obviously nervous about saying hello to Liam. This was a boy who the papers had suggested might have murdered two men in a jealous rage over his mother. Even though she knew it wasn’t true, she was still a little cautious about presenting herself at his doorstep –literally—out of nowhere.

Faith had seen the look pass between father and daughter when Myra had shooed Emily out of the kitchen to go see Liam. She was grateful to Josh for giving Emily a nod and a wink when he’d noticed that she seemed hesitant.