Only for You (8 page)

This response of hers is
one of the reasons why I love her. Cupping her face, I kiss her
lightly on the lips. “Is that why you’ve been so sweet to me? Why
you’ve put up with everything?”

“
It hasn’t been easy, but
I figured you needed time to work things out. And you’ve been there
for me, too.”

This girl knows me so well,
and now I feel even worse. “Everett said that Crystal sold Jaxon to
him.”

“
Sold?” Big blue eyes go
wide. “You believe him?”

I nod. “He’s Crystal’s all
right, and I think he’s Everett’s too.”

Her face pales. “Are you
sure?”

“
He might not be, but I
am.”

Violet and I turn at the
same time.

“
Mommy?” Kelly gasps,
running to her. “Merry Christmas!”

Crystal tips up her chin,
sending her blond hair swinging, as she wraps one arm around my
sister. “What—no Christmas greeting for me, Cole?”

*** *** ***

Violet

So this is the woman
responsible for making Cole’s life so miserably hard. This is the
woman responsible for stealing from him and not taking care of him,
Parker, or Kelly.

This is the woman who made
Cole grow up too fast and play daddy to his sister and his brother.
This is the woman who
sold
her child into luxury while her other children
wallowed in squalor.

My hatred of her doubles as
she bends down and kisses Kelly’s curly head. “Still in your
pajamas in the middle on the day?”

“
Rae said I could,” Kelly
says, running to me. I pick her up, holding her close, because I’m
afraid her mom will leave at any time and crush Kelly’s fragile
little soul.

Blue eyes, so like Jaxon’s,
I realize, focus on me. “You’re Rae?”

“
I am,” I say. I’d love to
say more but none of those words should be said with Kelly in
hearing distance.

Cole has yet to say a word.
I glance up at him. He’s just starting at her, more in shock than I
am after his disclosure.

“
And you are?” I
ask.

She gives me this smile,
this ‘you can’t out bitch a bitch’ smile that would frighten most
people, but not me. “Crystal.”

I pretend to brighten. “Oh!
Cole’s grandmother.” I glance at Cole. “You were right. She does
look good for her age.” Turning my attention back to Crystal, I
smile sweetly. “It’s so nice to meet you.”

“
Bitch,” she says, smiling
back just as sweetly.

It actually hurts my heart
to see her smile like that, because in that smile, I could see a
woman capable of many things: love, abandonment, loyalty, and
deceit.

I take Cole’s hand in mine.
He grips me tight while Kelly’s hanging on to my neck like a little
monkey in a tall tree but I don’t care. If I have to take on this
woman for both of them, I will.

“
Why’d you do it?” Cole
asks, his voice raspy.

“
Why not?” Crystal says
with a shrug. She glances around the room, noting all the
improvements Cole has made. The new table and chairs in the
kitchen. The new cabinets and granite countertops he’d traded
several kegs of beer for with a local contractor who had some
leftover from a job site. She turns a calculating smile on Cole.
“Somebody hit the jackpot.”

“
Answer me, damn it,” Cole
suddenly shouts and takes a step forward.

Kelly whimpers and I let go
of Cole, wrapping my arms around her. She buries her face in my
neck, small puffs of air tickling my skin.

Crystal crosses her arms,
all defiant in her pose, but I also notice she takes a step back.
“I needed the money.”

“
Not good enough,” he
says. “The real reason.”

Her lips smash together,
jaw working. She takes a breath. “Because he said if I gave him
this
gift
that
he’d finally leave Kathy and be with me. That all she wanted was a
baby boy, with blonde hair and blues eyes, just like
her.”

“
So you just did
it?”

“
I was homeless, Cole. We
didn’t have anywhere to go,” she screams, her façade finally
breaking. “It was you and me, and I was pregnant with a baby I
couldn’t afford. With a baby Everett told me he’d take care of…
that he’d take care of us.”

“
Jaxon’s not…” I begin,
and then smash my lips together. This revelation of Crystal’s makes
no sense to me. At twenty-four, Jaxon is two years
older
than Cole. I want
to point this out to both of them, but I’m positive that my
interference wouldn’t be welcomed.

“
Like he had with me? You
say you were homeless, yet you were pregnant again and you had me.
It doesn’t add up. It doesn’t make sense,” Cole says.

That’s because she’s still
lying
, I want to say.

“
My parents kicked me out.
Okay? They kicked me out because I was a pregnant slut.” Her lower
lip trembles. There’s truth in her word. I’ve known enough liars in
the music industry to spot them, but she’s still lying. She’s still
playing the sympathy card. “You know what they are, what they do
for a living. Forgiving me for one sin was one thing. Something
they could tell their parishioners at their mega church they’d
done. But twice a prodigal daughter, then a third and fourth
time—not happening. I wasn’t supposed to see Everett in the first
place, after I got pregnant, but I needed him. Not
them.”

“
Who?” I can’t help but
ask. Cole mumbles their name and I gasp in shock. For some reason
I’d always assumed Crystal’s last name was Morgan, like Cole’s.
“
The
Dr. Daniel
Newton is your granddaddy?”

“
Yeah,” Cole says, and
then looks away. “You know him?”

I shake my head. “No, but I
visited his church once, with my parents, but they decided not to
go back due to the message.”

Cole’s granddaddy had
preached on positive scripture, praying for prosperity and
happiness, something my parents thought was going against
everything they’d been taught.

“
There’s no such thing as
a Bank of God,” my dad had muttered after church. “And giving
people false hope is wrong. Besides, I didn’t like his smile. Too
toothy. And he dyes his hair.”

“
Davis,” my mom had
snickered. “That’s not very Christian to say.”

“
I’ll pick one of those
prosperity scriptures and pray on it.”

We’d all laughed, even if I
really didn’t know what any of it had meant. I’d only been twelve
at the time.

Never in a million year
would I have connected the Newtons to Cole’s family.

“
You really picked a
winner, Cole. All high society with none of the class. Hell, it’s
like you picked your momma, without all my little problems,”
Crystal says, a smirk in her voice. Anger too.

“
Rae has nothing to do
with you and me, with what you, your parents, or Everett did. Got
it?”

“
You have mommy issues.
Got it.”

Never in my life have I
wanted to smack another human being so hard. Not even
Jaxon.

“
Jesus,” he mutters, and
then his voice rises. “Did Everett get this place for you after you
sold him my brother? Does this house belong to him? Because, damn
it, Crystal, if I’m paying rent to the son of bitch…
I’ll—”

“
No!” She shakes her head,
tears making her mascara run. “No. He took my baby and didn’t give
me a red cent. Just paid for the hospital bills and a bus
ticket.”

“
Then who?” Cole strides
to her, taking her by the wrist. “Who the hell am I paying rent
to?”

“
Me.”

Chapter Eight

Cole

“
I own this house,”
Officer Ford says. “A leasing company handles everything for
me.”

“
Who are you?” Rae asks.
She doesn’t know of my longstanding relationship with the man,
mostly because I’ve kept her away from him by keeping my temper in
check.

“
He’s Brent Ford, local
cop, and frequent arresting officer.” I don’t know what to believe
anymore. I don’t know what to think, what to say… all I know is
that this is the most surreal, most embarrassing, experience of my
life, and Rae’s here to witness it all.

“
Oh. Well, Crystal hasn’t
done anything yet, except if you count trespassing,” Rae says, and
I want to kiss her. I want to hug her and take her and Kelly away
from all this. For once, there’s someone on my side.

“
My name is still on the
lease,” Crystal points out.

“
Only because it’s too
inconvenient to take it off,” I point out.

“
But your money hasn’t
been anywhere near it, which makes him a sub-letter,” Rae says, and
I wonder where she’s getting her information.

Ford steps in front of
Crystal, and for once, he’s not wearing his uniform around me. He
looks like any other guy in his late thirties, wearing jeans and a
button down. “Crystal didn’t come here to make trouble. She came
here to apologize.”

I laugh. “Quit yanking my
chain.”

“
And she’s here to say
good-bye. We’re leaving for Colorado tomorrow, and I’m escorting
her personally.”

Automatically, I grab Kelly
from Rae. “Not with her, you’re not.”

Crystal moves from behind
Ford. Her face is soft for once, and I think the tears and emotion
are genuine in her eyes. “I’m not going to take Kelly with me.” She
reaches out, cupping my little sister’s face. “She’s better off
with you.”

“
But what about—?” I can’t
even finish that sentence. I’m too damn terrified that the more I
say, the more likely Crystal is to change her mind. But I don’t
want to be able to keep my sister safe from her mother, then the
state turn around and take her away from me, because Crystal fled
the East Coast.

“
It’s been taken care of.
I know the lady in charge of CPS and she’s agreed, along with Judge
Solomon, to give you temporary custody of Kelly while your mother’s
getting help. Real help, from people that won’t be swayed by her
parents’ money or influence,” Ford says.

“
Why are you taking her?
Why are you helping us?”

Ford looks at my mom, and
I’m pretty damn sure I see love there. Or something pretty close.
Maybe insanity, because any man willing to put up with my mother
while knowing everything about her has to be crazy.

“
Because it’s the right
thing to do,” Ford says.

Yeah, she’s screwing him
six ways from Sunday. I want to be mad, but I don’t have it in me
anymore. At least Ford seems to respect her, and I know he won’t
abuse her, which means I won’t end up in jail

So, in the grand scheme of
things, it’s a win-win for everyone.

“
I wanted to spend
Christmas with you guys,” Crystal says as my brother walks in the
door. He freezes, taking in the scene. “Parker.” She runs to him,
giving him the hug she stopped giving me years ago. For some reason
I think she feels sorry for him, sorry for Kelly too, but doesn’t
know how to fix things without fixing herself first.

Rae’s hand slips into mine
and I shake it away. “I think you need to go.”

Hurt flashes in her blue
eyes. “Why? There’s no need to be—”

“
I need you to go.” This
painful family reunion of sorts is going to happen, and I plan on
Crystal answering all of my questions, including who Parker and
Kelly’s dads are. There can’t be any more surprises in my
life.

I want normal and
boring.

Only the girl I love is a
Country Music Star, not exactly normal and certainly not boring.
But I harden my heart against the pain on her face. I can’t focus
on her right now.

“
Okay.” She stands on her
tiptoes and kisses my cheek. “Text me later. Nana would like for
y’all to come to Sunday dinner tomorrow.”

“
I’ll see what I can
do.”

Rae stares at me. “Don’t do
this,” she whispers. “Please don’t close yourself off from me. What
your mom said doesn’t change the way I feel about you.”

I exhale, pass Kelly to
Parker, and steer Rae out to the front porch, grabbing her coat
along the way. She can’t drive yet, and I’m not that much of an
asshole to make her walk, so we trudge out to my Jeep.

In no time flat, we’re
sitting in her Nana’s driveway. Puffs of hot air are coming from
Rae’s sweet lips.

“
I’m scared,” she says.
“I’m scared that you’re scared, that this is the end of us, and
you’re using your family as an excuse to—”

“
My family?” I shake my
head and bark out a laugh. “Have you seen my family, Rae? My
mother
sold
a
baby, not adopted… fucking sold because my sperm donor promised to
come live with us.”

Rae exhales. “Cole… Jaxon,”
my jaw clenches at the sound of his name on her lips, “he’s two
years—”