Matter of Time (17 page)

As he pulled his T-shirt over his head, then put on his socks and shoes, he thought about her question. He didn’t know how his answer would go over with the kids, but he also didn’t care. He wanted to be with Lizbeth, and dammit, he was sick of sacrificing what he wanted for everyone else. The kids would meet her eventually, and yeah, there would be a better time and place, but he hadn’t put them in this position. Bobbi Jo did that.

“I want you to come with me.” As her eyes widened and she drew in a sharp breath, he said, “You asked what you could do for me, and that’s what I want. All I’ve ever wanted is to be with you.”

Lizbeth chewed on her lip and got back up on her knees, putting her closer to eye level with him. “How about this? You go to the house. Talk to the kids. Make your phone calls. Figure out what’s going on and get things settled. Then I’ll come over. You need to have a conversation with the kids about this, and they don’t need a witness. This has to be humiliating for them, not to mention devastating and scary and confusing. They need to be able to express themselves and their feelings without an audience.”

He squeezed his eyes shut and scrubbed his hands over his face while growling with frustration. She was right. Despite not having children of her own, she was incredibly insightful. He appreciated her thinking of his children and respecting their needs as well as his.

“You’re right,” he said as he exhaled sharply.

“Do they like to swim? The hotel has an indoor pool. You could bring them here, and we can order pizza or something and they can swim. That way, I’m not coming into their space, and they can do something fun to take their minds off their mom.”

It was becoming clear, despite his best efforts, he’d never stopped loving Lizbeth. But having her put so much thought into helping his children, while also trying to satisfy their need of being together, made his love for her grow a thousand-fold.

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. “You’re incredible. I can’t believe I lost all those years with you, but I’m determined to stop dwelling on the past and make the most of the years ahead.”

She drew in a deep breath, and he felt her smiling against the side of his face. “I love you, Logan, and truly… there’s nothing I won’t do to make this work.” She released him from the hug and slid off the bed to stand next to him. “Go take care of the kids, and I’ll be here, chewing my nails, waiting for your call to tell me you’re headed back this way.”

He laughed and dropped a kiss to her lips. “There’s nothing to be nervous about. They’re going to love you. Maybe not right away, but they’ll eventually see what an amazing woman you are.”

At least he hoped. And to make sure none of them got out of line tonight and treated Lizbeth rudely or disrespectfully, he’d make sure they knew if they acted up, they would be grounded for the next three months.

T
he second Logan walked through the door, the kids assaulted him with a barrage of questions.

“How could she do this?”

“Mom can’t be guilty, can she?”

And the most heart-wrenching of all… “Are you going to go get her out?”

He tried to call Hernandez’s cell on his way home, but not surprising, the call went straight to voicemail. Logan asked him to call with whatever information he could share, and hopefully, once they talked, he’d have answers for the kids’ first questions. As for the last one about getting her out…

“Guys, come in here,” he said, moving from the foyer into the living room, “and let’s sit down and talk. I need more information.”

The grumbles, complaints, and questions continued to fall from their mouths, but they all landed in one big unintelligible heap in Logan’s mind. Luke sat in Logan’s recliner, then had the gall to appear confused when Logan tilted his head to the side and gave his son a
get out, now
look. He wasn’t in the mood for messing around, and after a huff and an eye roll, Luke slid to the floor next to the chair.

Brianna sat on the couch, and Maggie tried to cuddle against her, but Brianna—never one for showing much emotion—flexed her arm and shooed Maggie away. “Move down there. God. We have the whole couch. You don’t need to sit right on top of me.”

Maggie moved, but Logan saw the hurt flash in her eyes and the glistening moisture of unshed tears. He loved Brianna, but sometimes she was so much like her mother—selfish and thoughtless—he wanted to wring her neck. How could she not see Maggie was hurting, like all of them, and needed a little comfort and support? Or maybe she did see and just didn’t care.

“Okay. You’ll all have a chance to talk, but I’m starting with Brianna. Tell me what happened, starting at the top.”

“Luke opened the door—”

“I thought it was safe to open the door since they were cops!” Luke defended. “I didn’t know they were going to take Mama away.”

Based on Luke’s quick defensive maneuvering, they’d obviously been over this at least once prior to Logan’s arrival, so when Brianna opened her mouth to speak again, Logan put up his hand to stop her before she got started. “You didn’t do a thing wrong, buddy,” he said, addressing his son, who looked on the verge of tears for being a traitor. “You were right to open the door.” To Brianna, he said, “Go on.”

“They asked for Mom, and when she came into the living room, they told her they needed to talk to her alone. I thought that was weird.” She paused and twisted up her mouth. “So I followed them and stood outside the kitchen door while they talked. They read Mom her rights, then started asking her questions. They asked if she knew someone named Vito. She said no, but then they showed her cell phone records where she talked to the guy three times over the past two weeks.”

Logan drew in a deep breath, then slowly exhaled, working hard to make sure he didn’t show any reactions as Brianna relayed the story.

“They asked her about ATM withdrawals, and again, she said she didn’t know anything. But they said they had video of her making the withdrawals while the guy stood next to her and even had her on camera handing the money to him. After that, they said they were arresting her.”

She paused, glanced at Maggie from the corner of her eye, then continued. “I was standing in the hallway, too shocked to move or do anything, when the guy you know came out of the kitchen. He asked if you were in town this weekend or gone to the track. I told him I thought you were nearby and I’d have you on the phone before he even got Mom to the car.” She paused and a small smile touched her lips. “He kind of laughed at that and said that would be good, and then he went back into the kitchen with the other officer who was standing with Mom.”

Logan sank back into the chair and rested his head back but stopped short of pulling out the leg rest. Oh, but he wanted to. He wanted to pull that little lever on the side, let his legs pop out in front of him, close his eyes, and sleep for a week.

“What was your mom’s reaction?”

As three mouths popped open, he held up his hand again. “Brianna, you were closest. You field this one too.”

“The only thing she said was it didn’t matter anymore anyway. What’s that mean? How can it not matter?”

Logan banged his head against the back of the chair a couple times and squeezed his eyes shut as a heart-wrenching pain ripped through his chest.

My God, she really did this.

He scrubbed his hands over his face and sat back up, then rested his forearms on his knees and linked together his fingers.

“I don’t know.” He certainly had his suspicions, but the kids didn’t need to know that. He glanced at Luke, who sat stoically beside him, then to Maggie, whose arms were wrapped so tightly around her upraised knees she had to be cutting off the circulation to her lower legs and feet. “Did you guys hear anything other than what Bri’s already told me?”

Both shook their heads no.

After a moment, Maggie said, “Can you get her out?”

When he first got the call, his primary concern was getting home to the kids. Bailing out Bobbi Jo never crossed his mind until one of the kids mentioned it. Everyone was innocent until proven guilty, but he was starting to believe she really hired someone to burn down her house. And if she were willing to go that far to get what she wanted, to put one of her own children at risk, he didn’t want her anywhere near his kids. And at this point, the
safest
place for her was behind bars where he couldn’t get ahold of her.

He diverted his gaze from Maggie’s penetrating green stare. “No, pumpkin, I won’t.”

She gasped and turned to Brianna and Luke for backup. “How can you leave her there?”

“Mom burned down our house, Maggie,” Luke shouted at her. “She should be in jail.”

“Okay, wait just a minute,” Logan said, cutting off the battle before it escalated further. Putting words to his previous thought, as not only a reminder to Luke, but to himself, he said, “Everyone is innocent until proven guilty. You and your mom have your issues, but she is your mom and you need to remember that. However…” Logan drew in a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. “Some things have happened recently that make me nervous about bringing her back into the house with you guys until this is all sorted out.”

“Like what?” Brianna demanded.

Like the constant phone calls to Lucas, demanding Lizbeth’s full name and number, and the call to his secretary, asking prying questions about Lizbeth. Logan saw a side to Bobbi Jo over the past week he’d never seen before, and it was more than a little disconcerting. But again, her children didn’t need details, so he shook his head and said, “I’m not getting into it with you guys.”

“I don’t suppose your attitude and your unwillingness to help Mom has anything to do with your new
friend
.” Brianna spat out the word with so much venom he was surprised she didn’t hiss in the process.

Man, had Lizbeth ever been right about him needing to speak to the kids first without her around.

Before he could chastise Brianna for her attitude and tone, she continued. “How can you be all about this woman when you just met her? If I got like that about a boy, you’d be mad.”

“I didn’t just meet her,” he said quietly, trying to control his temper and not erupt on Brianna out of frustration or in defense of Lizbeth.

Maggie turned her big green eyes onto him, and the pain he saw in them nearly cut him in two. “You and Mama aren’t ever getting back together, are you?”

“No, pumpkin, we’re not.”

There was silence while they all processed this latest bit of information. After a moment, Maggie said, “What’s her name?”

She seemed resigned and curious, but not angry, so he released the breath he’d been holding and said, “Lizbeth.” He intentionally withheld her last name so the kids didn’t accidentally—or intentionally—give their mom that information.

“How did you meet her?” Maggie was the one asking the questions, but Luke seemed curious, and while Bri was less interested, she’d calmed down and at least seemed willing to listen. Bobbi Jo would have a fit over him revealing the details of his past with Lizbeth, but fuck her. She was in jail, so she obviously wasn’t the expert on everything.

“I met her in college, so I’ve known her a long time. But,” he added, before any of them jumped to the wrong conclusion, “until this past weekend, I hadn’t seen her in fifteen years.”

“But… that doesn’t make sense,” Brianna said. “You might’ve known her in college, but you didn’t date. So how can you be so crazy about her after just a weekend?”

“I did date her in college. For a year.” He held his breath and waited for the kids to start doing the math. They were smart, and it didn’t take long for them to realize none of this was adding up.

“You and Mom were high school sweethearts,” Brianna supplied helpfully, with a side of accusation for emphasis.

Bobbi Jo insisted on telling the kids they’d been together since high school and even lied about their wedding anniversary so none of them would know Brianna was six months old when they got married. He never agreed with her and argued if they wanted the kids to be honest with them, they needed to give the kids the same courtesy and lead by example. But Bobbi Jo said there wasn’t any example to be set, because the kids would never learn the truth, so no harm, no foul.

Boy, was that ever blowing up in their faces. Except, wait… she was in jail, and he was the one looking at their children, about to reveal the truth… Their entire lives had been built on a lie.

Yes, jail was definitely the safest place for Bobbi Jo at this point.

“Your mom and I dated our senior year of high school and then my freshman and sophomore years at State. I broke up with her before I went back to school in the fall of my junior year.”

Maggie looked at Brianna. Brianna gaped back. Luke sat statue still, clearly not sure what to think.

“Lizbeth and I were friends, but never crossed the line when I was involved with your mom. It’s important to me that you know I
never
cheated on your mom. Not back then. Not while we were married. When I went back to school that fall, after breaking up with your mom, Lizbeth and I started dating. We dated all that year and even stayed in Raleigh and took summer classes so we didn’t have to be apart. I was going to take extra fall classes so I could graduate in December, start racing full time in January, and then marry Lizbeth the following summer.”