Wedding Bell Blues (18 page)

"Ow!" I protested as she pulled the tape away none too gently.

"Quiet!" she snapped. Then, to my horror, she buried her head
in her hands and began to cry.

"Mama, it's all right. I'm all right." I gathered her in my
arms and
held her, comforting her just as she had comforted me so many times
before.

"No, you're not." Her voice was muffled, her face pressed to
my
shoulder. "But you will be. We'll make sure of it." She gently eased
out of my arms, gave one sniffle, and scrubbed away her tears. "But
first, let's get you taken care of."

What could I do? Nothing, really, so I gave her another quick
hug.
Then I stood still, letting her do what she needed - letting her take
care of me so she could see for herself that nothing else had happened.

She worked quickly and carefully to cleanse the cut down my
cheek. I
hissed slightly in pain as her fingers gently probed the bruising. It
hurt, but not as much as the day before. That had to be a good sign,
right? Still, her expression was grim and I swallowed hard, hoping it
wasn't because of what she saw.

Okay, maybe I'm more vain than I wanted to admit. But, just
then,
the last thing I wanted was to have to worry about a scar. Of course,
if I'd been thinking straight, I'd realize that look was because of all
that had happened since Saturday. Until that moment, I hadn't given a
thought to how it must have impacted her or Daddy. God, it must have
been killing them to know someone had tried to hurt me and they
couldn't do anything about it.

That also meant she'd try to wrap me in cotton and protect me.
I
couldn't handle that. It was bad enough I had Colton hovering, barely
letting me go to the bathroom by myself. If my parents joined in, I'd
go mad.

Or maybe I was already mad and this was just some strange
delusion in my mind?

Unfortunately, I knew it was all too real. Including the fact
that Heather was waiting for us.

"All right, Mama, what gives?" I asked as she put away the
small
medical kit she'd been using. "What the hell is that bitch doing here?"
Anger once more flared and I tried to fight it down.

For a moment, she didn't answer. She didn't need to. Not when
her
eyes flashed and her lips formed a tight line of anger. Seeing it, my
stomach lurched rebelliously. I might not have told her why Colton and
I split so long ago, but it was obvious she now knew why, or at least
suspected.

Damn it.

That didn't answer my question, however. Surely Heather hadn't
come
all the way from San Antonio just to tell my mother what she'd done.

Or had she? Maybe she'd joined one of those recovery groups
where
you have to go to all the people you've hurt, tell them what you did,
and apologize for it. But, if that was the case, why tell my mother?
Heather should have been on her knees before me, begging my
forgiveness, not running her mouth off to Mom.

"Jessie, she showed up here about half an hour ago. All she
said was
she'd heard what happened and wanted to make sure you were all right. I
couldn't just close the door in her face."

"No, I guess not." Although my life would be so much easier if
she
had. "I suppose we should go make sure she's not pocketing the silver
or something."

"Not yet." Mama's hand closed over my upper arm, preventing me
from
leaving. Obviously, she wasn't ready to let this go - whatever this
might be. "Why didn't you tell me you'd caught her with Colton? That
she used her position as your friend -" She almost spat out the word -
"to try to seduce him?"

I shoved my hands in my pockets, not quite sure who I was more
upset
with just then, my mother for asking the question or Heather for
opening her mouth, or even myself for never telling Mom what happened.
No, that's not true. I knew exactly who I was mad at.

Damn her.

"Mama, you didn't need to know." I squirmed as she gave me the
look
- that look all mothers perfect to get the truth out of their children,
no matter what that child's age might be. "Okay, I didn't want to talk
about it. I didn't want to admit I'd been a fool where both of them
were concerned."

"Oh, baby." She drew me in, holding me close just as I'd held
her a
few minutes earlier. "I know you don't want to, but you need to deal
with her. Let her see she's nothing more than a mild irritation best
forgotten. Then I want you to get some rest. We can talk later." She
paused and gave a ghost of a smile. "We
will
talk later."

"Okay." I didn't like it, but she was right.

I gave her one more hug, both to reassure her I was all right
and to
draw on her strength and love. Maybe I'd be lucky and could deal with
Heather before Colton and the other cops decided they were ready to
talk to me. Of course, it might be a little difficult to hide the body
with cops traipsing all around the place, but I was sure Mom would help.

Heather was where we'd left her, standing in the den, looking
as
uncomfortable as I felt. The moment she saw us, her face lit up in,
much to my surprise, relief and joy. I honestly think she was glad to
see me. Maybe I wasn't the one going mad. Maybe the rest of the world
was. Then, she stepped forward, one hand extended, only to pull up
short when I gave a quick shake of my head.

She might be glad to see me and want to renew our friendship,
but I
most certainly did not. The sooner she understood that, the better.

"Jess -"

"Don't. Just don't." I help up a hand to keep her from saying
anything else. "I'm not in the mood to deal with you and, to be honest,
I can't believe you had the nerve to show up here. I assumed you
understood I never wanted to see you again."

"Jess." Now it was her turn to hold up a hand to stop me from
speaking. "I understand. Until I heard what happened this weekend, I
had no intention of contacting you. But then I realized I had to talk
to you, had to try to explain what happened. Not so you'd forgive me,
but so you'd understand Colton really didn't do anything wrong."

"Nothing wrong?" She had to be kidding. I'd seen them. Hell,
I'd
made a bonfire out of my kitchen table because of what they'd done.

"That's right, Jess. He did nothing wrong." She sighed and
shook her
head, suddenly looking like she wanted to be anywhere but here. That
made two of us, because I certainly didn't want her here. "Look, Jess,
I don't blame you for hating me. God knows you have no reason to
believe me. But please, just listen. I promise it won't take long and
then I'll leave."

"Heather, I really don't want to hear it. You lost any right
you had
to talk to me when you made a play for Colton, knowing what he meant to
me. Worse, you come here and compound the fact by telling my mother
what happened. So why the hell do you think I'd want to hear anything
you could say now?" God, I was angry enough to hit something or
someone, preferably her. My hands clinched and unclenched at my sides.
It would be so easy to use them on her, to take all my fear and anger
out on her. It would be pretty satisfying as well, at least until
common sense reared its head and the guilt set in.

"Damn it, Jess! I wouldn't have said anything if I'd even
suspected you hadn't told her."

"Jessica,"
Mom said softly as she placed a steadying hand on my arm. I looked at
her, saw how she wanted me to calm down. I nodded once, breathed deeply
and counted slowly to ten.

"All right. I'm listening."

"Long story short, I was jealous of you and what you had with
Colton. It had always just been you and me until he came along and then
it was as if you'd tossed me aside. Oh, not really, I know that now.
But that's how it felt back then. So I decided to do something about t.
I wanted you to know how it felt to be the one left out.

"I used the key you'd given me to let myself into the house. I
knew
you weren't home and that Colton was due anytime. When he came inside,
I surprised him, wrapped my arms around him and did my best to make him
forget you. If he wasn't such a damned gentleman, he probably would
have decked me before you walked through the door. Instead, he was
trying to push me away. I took advantage of his sudden shift in
attention when you walked in and pushed him back on the table. You saw
exactly what I wanted you to, only it wasn't real."

Tears glistened in her eyes, much to my surprise, and part of
me
actually wanted to believe her. But I couldn't forgive, much less
forget. Not yet. Maybe never. Still, she had finally decided to come
clean.

"Fine. Appreciate you telling me." Even if it did take
ten years. "Now, I'd appreciate it if, once the cops are done with us,
you leave."

"Of course."

Disappointment filled her voice, along with a dose of
acceptance. At
least she didn't seem to expect me to say all was forgiven, because
that wasn't going to happen. Still, I didn't have to be a total bitch
about it.

"Heather, I do appreciate you telling the truth. But I can't
just
act like it never happened." She nodded, a faint flash of hope lighting
her expression. "And I don't really want to talk about it anymore.
Basically, I'd appreciate it if you left me alone. I'll contact you
when - if - I'm ready to talk."

"That's all I want. Thanks." She broke off, turning as the
front
door opened and Colton and a couple of other detectives stepped inside.
Colton's cold, hard stare stopped whatever she'd been about to say.

"Jess, Faith, this is Oscar Villareal and Sandra Slovacek.
They need
to interview you now." Why did it make me feel all warm inside for him
to so pointedly ignore Heather?

"If you don't mind, we need to speak with you separately. Dr.
Jones,
if you'll come with me, my partner will talk with you -" Slovacek
looked at Heather, one eyebrow arching in question.

"Heather Grossman," she provided.

"Then, if we can find a couple of places where we can speak
privately?"

"Of course, detective," my mother said and motioned toward the
back
of the house. "We can use my study and your partner and Heather can use
my husband's."

As they left the den, Colton quickly moved to my side, his
expression worried. "Jessie?"

"We're going to need to talk later, Colton." Boy, did we need
to
talk. But I wasn't ready, not for that particular conversation. Hell,
I'm never ready if it means I might have to apologize for something I
was so sure was right only to find out just how wrong I happened to be.
"But not right now."

"Just tell me one thing - are you all right?"

"Yeah. But I'm getting damned tired of people taking pot shots
at
me." That was certainly the truth. More than that, I was mad and that
mad was taking the place of the fear that had held me since Saturday.
Maybe that was better. Still, I just wanted my life back. "But, I want
to say one thing while no one's around."

He looked down at me, his head cocked slightly to one side,
his
expression more than a little worried. I smiled slightly and reached up
to cup his cheek with my right hand.

"Colton, no matter what happens, thank you. Thank you for
protecting
me. Thank you for caring. Thank you for not turning your back on me
like I turned my back on you." I stood on tiptoes and lightly brushed
my lips to his. "I promise to explain later, but right now just let me
say I was a fool to jump to conclusions so long ago even though you
were probably right when you said neither of us was ready for a
commitment back then."

For a moment, he looked at me as if I'd suddenly sprouted a
second
head or turned into someone he didn't know. Then he grinned slightly
and nodded. Unfortunately, before he could say anything else, someone
called to him from outside.

"We will talk. That's a promise." Now it was his turn to bend
and
lightly kiss me. His hand gently stroked my arm as he straightened.
"After you finish with the detectives, get some rest. I'm going to have
to go back to the station for a bit. But, when I'm done, I'll come get
you. We'll grab a bite to eat and then return to my place. Then you can
tell me exactly what brought all this on."

"Sounds good." Again, someone called to him from outside. "Go.
I'll be here when you get back."

I meant to keep my word. Truly I did. I did my best to behave
myself
during the interviews with the detectives Colton called in. I didn't
even give in to the temptation to knock Heather on her well-toned ass
when she tried to give Colton a kiss on the cheek before leaving.
Actually, the only thing that saved her was the fact Colton literally
grabbed her by the arms, lifted her from her feet and carried her
outside, roughly depositing her on the front porch with such a look of
disgust that it did my heart good.

Still, it would have been so satisfying to have rearranged
that
surgically beautified nose - okay, sue me. I admit it. I still held the
mother of all grudges against her, and it wasn't helped by the fact
that I now realized how badly I'd botched the situation ten years ago.
Of course, that flare of jealousy didn't help either. I guess I hadn't
gotten Colton out of my system after all, not that it was any big news
flash.

Finally, it was just my mother, Colton and me, and Colton had
to get
back to work. I'd agreed to stay with Mama, maybe even get some rest,
until he came for me later. It had sounded good then. Besides, no
matter how hard she tried to act as if nothing out of the ordinary had
happened, I could tell that Mom was upset. Hell, you'd have to be made
of stone not to be. So, I'd walked Colton to his car and promised to be
there waiting for him when he got back.

Then I'd gone inside and, after making Mom promise to lie down
for
awhile, had gone up to the room I'd occupied until I'd left for
college. The moment the door closed behind me, my promise to stay put
wasn't exactly forgotten, but it was pushed aside by an anger and
frustration that surprised me. I'd been good and had given the cops -
even Colton - time to figure out what was going on. What had it gotten
me? My house burned down and someone shooting at me.