Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
TESSA
“So? What do you think?” I turned to Lily as we made our way down the hall from the common area.
It was the day after Bryce’s covert op to force me into moving in with him, and Bryce and Sam had swung by to drop Lily off on their way to work on the barn.
Her face was soft, her smile sincere as she replied, “They’re lovely. Each and every one of them. I can see how this would be your calling, sweetie. You’re so good with them.”
“I understand where they’re coming from,” I confessed. “That makes it a little easier for me. And they appreciate having someone looking out for them who’s walked in their shoes.”
She linked her arm through mine as we made the slow trek down the long hall. “I hope you don’t mind, but Bryce told us about your parents.”
I gave her arm a reassuring squeeze. “I don’t keep it a secret. I’m not ashamed that I was a foster child. It’s just the hand I was dealt.”
“Precisely,” she said with a firm nod of her head.
“It breaks my heart you had to suffer that kind of loss then live the way you did. But it made you the woman you are today, a woman who can look at these kids and see the potential in them they might not see in themselves. Life is all about the bumps and bruises we receive along the way. Each one builds character. They mold us into who we’re supposed to be and help us appreciate the little things we might have taken for granted. ”
I turned my head and looked down at her, a piece of my heart now belonging to this wise, big-hearted woman as I mimicked her word. “Precisely.”
“Ms. Tessa!” We both turned to find Charity skipping down the hall, excitement stretching across her face. She waved a piece of paper in the air as she skidded to a stop in front of us. “I got my report card today. Check it out!”
I took the paper she offered and scanned down the list of grades, my eyes going big.
“Four B’s and two A’s,” she chirped, hopping in place.
“Charity, this is . . .” I looked up from the report card, my mouth hanging open.
“Sweetheart, this is amazing!” Reaching out, I pulled her in for a hug.
I didn’t care if hugging wasn’t her thing, I was damn well going to give her one.
This was epic. “I’m so proud of you,” I said softly, feeling a lump form in my throat.
“I can’t believe I did it,” she said once we broke apart, her eyes shining and her cheeks bright pink. “I mean, I worked really hard to get my grades up, but I still wasn’t sure, you know?”
“I was,” I stated firmly. “I knew you could do it, Charity. You’re one of the smartest, strongest girls I’ve ever known.”
She ducked her head bashfully, looking up from beneath her eyelashes. “Thanks, Ms. Tessa.”
“Anytime.” Grabbing Charity’s hand, I shifted her to face Lily. “Charity, I have someone I want you to meet. Lily, this is my girl, Charity.”
I didn’t miss the way her shoulders squared with pride at me calling her my girl, but I didn’t draw attention to it.
“Charity, this is Mrs. Dixon, Bryce’s mother.”
“No way!” The girl’s eyes bulged out of her head. “You gave birth to that huge dude? But . . . you’re so little!”
“Had two more before him,” Lily said on a laugh. “Each of them just as big as the last. They get their size from their father.”
The shock slipped from her expression, replaced with the tough girl persona she liked to wear so often. “He told us he was an idiot and screwed up with Ms. Tessa, but that he was trying to make it right now.”
I caught the flash of surprise on Lily’s face before she masked it and nodded. “That’s correct.”
“So, since you’re his mom, you can like make sure he doesn’t act like an idiot again, right? ’Cause if he hurts Ms. Tessa, I might have to do something that won’t make her all that happy and might get me picked up by the cops again.”
“Charity!” I cried, a laugh coming out that was only partially aghast.
Lily reached out and patted my arm, silently telling me she had this.
She had three boys who were probably just like Bryce; clearly, she knew what she was doing.
“We wouldn’t want you having to do something that would upset Ms. Tessa or lead to a visit with the cops.
I’ll keep my boy in line, but you have my word, if I fall down on the job, you’re the one he’ll have to answer to. Deal?”
Charity gave that some thought before nodding. “Yeah. I’m cool with that.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of movement, and turned my focus on Diana, who was waving frantically from the end of the hall. “Thanks for having my back, Charity, but it’s homework time. I’ll be by in a little while to help out, okay?”
“All right. See you, Ms. Tessa. Nice to meet you, Ms. Lily.”
“You too, my dear.”
As soon as Charity disappeared into the common room behind us, Diana all but ran down the hall. “Reggie sent me to get you. We have a problem.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. “What kind of problem?”
“Ava Winslow,” she hissed, rage radiating from every pore. “She’s out front makin’ a scene.”
“Crap,” I clipped, starting in the direction she’d just come from.
“Diana, stay with the kids. You and the rest of the adults keep them inside and away from the windows, but don’t let on that something’s going on.
You know the drill, call the police and inform them there’s someone on the premises that isn’t allowed. And take Mrs. Dixon with you.”
“I’m going with you,” Lily insisted, her shorter legs pumping to keep up with me.
I came to a stop and spun around on her. “I can’t let you do that. This woman is volatile, and I don’t know what I’m walking into—”
“I’ve raised four children, Tessa. Three of them boys chock-full of attitude and hormones. Trust me, I can handle anything, and I’m not letting you deal with this on your own.”
I didn’t have time to argue, and I could tell by the firm set of her jaw she wasn’t giving in. “Fine,” I said, blowing out a breath. “But you stay back, okay? Let me handle it.”
We hit the entrance, and through the glass double doors, I saw Ava Winslow in a standoff with Reggie. He was standing sentry, his arms crossed over his chest, blocking her path as she raged at him, hair flying and arms swinging.
We pushed through the doors, Lily thankfully hanging back while I rushed forward in the hope of doing some damage control. “What’s going on here?
The sorry-excuse-for-a-mother’s eyes came to me, narrowing into vicious slits. “What’s goin’ on is that I wanna see my daughter, and this asshole won’t let me in!”
Reggie remained still in the face of her fury, not giving her the satisfaction of a reaction.
“Ms. Winslow, I’ll ask that you keep your voice down and watch your language while you’re on this property.”
“And I’ll ask that you stop bein’ such an uppity bitch and go get me my kid!”
“That’s not going to happen,” I informed her. “You know how this goes. You have supervised visits with Charity that have to take place in a public location with the caseworker involved. You’re not allowed to just show up here to see her.”
“And you also know that, after what happened last time, Charity’s caseworker had no choice but to inform the judge of your behavior and that the man you brought along for the visit was under the influence of something.
And last, you know that, because of everything I just stated, you’ve lost your visitation privileges for a month.
But even if you hadn’t, it bears repeating: you are not allowed to come to this house.
It’s a violation of the court order. So you need to return to your car and leave. ”
“That’s bullshit!” she shrieked. “I didn’t do nothin’ wrong that last visit! You’ve just got it out for me, ’cause you’re tryin’ to steal my daughter!”
My blood went from a simmer to a rolling boil in a heartbeat.
My rage was so great it actually scared me.
I wanted nothing more than to drag this woman to her car by her over-processed, ratty hair, after knocking her teeth down her throat.
But violence wasn’t an option, no matter how badly I wanted to lash out at this despicable woman for everything she’d put her daughter through.
“Ms. Winslow, I can assure you, that is not my intention—”
She scrunched her face up and mimicked in a high-pitched voice, “I can assure you, that’s not my intension, blah, blah, blah. How ’bout you stop bein’ a fancy-ass bitch and try talkin’ normal, huh? And I’m not stupid. I know you’re tryin’ to replace me. But guess what, skank, you ain’t her momma!”
“Ms. Winslow—”
“All she’s been talkin’ about for the last month now is Ms. Tessa this and Ms. Tessa that, like the sun rises in your snatch or somethin’.
You ain’t special, and you ain’t gonna steal my kid from me.
She’s my kid! Not yours!” She jabbed her finger like she wanted to gouge my eye out, and Reggie moved faster than I’d ever seen him move, shoving me behind him and out of that vile woman’s reach.
“Tessa, go inside,” he commanded, his voice deep with anger. “I’ve had enough of listenin’ to this woman cut you down. Go inside and call the police. I’ll make sure she stays on this side of the door.”
“You ain’t callin’ the fuckin’ cops, you fuckin’ prick!”
Her arm reared back, ready to take a swing at Reggie. I wasn’t sure what came over me, but before she could land her blow, I skirted the big man, stepping in front of him and catching her by the wrist before she had a chance to make contact.
Years of meth and heroin abuse had made her nothing but skin and bones, so she was easy enough to hold at bay.
“That was a big mistake,” I hissed, getting into the woman’s face.
The sound of police sirens drawing close cut through the air, and as soon as she heard them, her eyes went wide.
“If you had left like you were told, you may have only gotten a slap on the wrist. But you wouldn’t listen.
You made this so much worse than it needed to be, and you have absolutely no one to blame but yourself. "
She gave her arm a jerk, but I held firm. “Let me go, you fuckin’ whore.”
“It’s my job to keep every single child in that house safe, even if what I’m protecting them from is their own flesh and blood. And I will do that until my . . . last . . . breath.”
On that, two police cruisers came screeching to a halt, kicking up gravel.
Letting Ava Winslow’s wrist go, I took a step back and looked at the two officers approaching Reggie and me. One of them heading in my direction was the polite officer who’d given Charity a break after the whole shoplifting fiasco.
“Ms. Day,” he said with a tilt of his chin.
I returned his chin tilt with a dip of my own. “Officer Duncan.”
“We received a call about a disturbance. Can you fill us in on what’s happened?”
I pointed to where Ava was now struggling against the other two officers.
“That woman is violating a court order by being here. She’s only allowed scheduled, supervised visitation, and is not to set foot on this property.
She was told to leave . . . by me and by my staff.
” I threw my thumb back at Reggie who was still standing protectively behind me.
“She refused to leave, then became belligerent. Well . . . that’s not entirely true.
She was belligerent the whole time she was out here. Then she tried to slap Reggie.”
“That’s a lie!” Ava screeched. “You’re a goddamn liar, you fuckin’ bitch!”
Officer Duncan’s features grew hard as stone, but he didn’t move his gaze from me. “She tried to physically assault a member of your staff?”
“That’s right.” I pointed to one of the many security cameras we had set up on the property. “We have the entire thing on video if you need me to have a copy made for you.”
“That would be helpful, ma’am. Thank you.”
“On it,” Reggie grunted, turning on his heels and lumbering back toward the building.
“You’re gonna pay for this, skank!” Ava screamed. “I’ll make you pay! Me and my man are comin’ for you! Watch your back, bitch!”
The sound of tires crunching across the gravel drive sounded again, cutting into her threats, and when I looked in that direction, I saw Bryce’s truck skid to a stop.
The doors flew open and he and his father rushed out, the former shouldering his way between Officer Duncan and me, and reaching up to take my face in his hands.
“Jesus, baby. Are you okay? Ma called, told us to get down here as fast as we could. What’s goin’ on? ”
I wrapped my fingers around his wrists and gave them a squeeze, hoping to ease some of the concern marring his face. “I’m fine, I promise. We had a little situation with Charity’s mom, but it’s all okay now.”
He looked toward the snarling, snapping woman, who was currently being shoved into the back of a squad car, with a deep frown etched onto his face. “This is okay? Christ. What was she like before we pulled up?”
“Trust me, man,” Officer Duncan started, “you don’t wanna know.”
Letting out a heavy sigh, I reached up and began rubbing my temples, trying to stave off a tension headache.
“Tessa, dear.” At the sound of Lily’s voice, we all turned in her direction.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. Diana and I tried to keep her back, but the kids saw the lights from the police cars and, well .
. .” She looked back toward the entrance doors, and when I followed her line of sight, I saw Charity standing inside, leaning against Diana with tears streaking down her face.
Damn it.