Chapter 7 #2
He opened the door and I peered inside. A king sized bed sat against the wall with a mahogany nightstand on either side.
A wide dresser rested on the opposite wall with a large TV mounted above it.
Lace curtains hung from the long windows, filtering the soft evening light onto the shining wooden floor.
I hummed. “Not bad, warden.”
Beau retreated down the hallway to bring up the first of my bags. I let out a breath before stepping inside my new room.
I passed a set of upholstered armchairs and resisted the urge to set my purse on one—I couldn’t surrender even a little bit until I had a full lay of the land.
I turned the knob of the first door I found and discovered a deep walk-in closet, perfect to store the three outfits that could currently fit me.
I chewed on my lip and put my hand on the swell of my belly. With twins, I’d outgrow my hoodie and sweatpants before I knew it. I’d have to figure out how to fill my wardrobe with what little savings I had left, but that was tomorrow’s problem.
I crossed over to another door and found a bathroom.
Tiny opalescent tiles covered the floor and a large shower took up the entire back wall.
The shower featured a mural of a voluptuous sea goddess because nothing in Beau’s house could be normal, but the shower did have a solid bench and an antique brass handrail. Practical.
In fact, the same handrails were installed all over the bathroom, blending in seamlessly with the vaguely Art Nouveau design.
Curiously, I walked over to the gigantic bathtub on the opposite end of the bathroom and pressed my foot on the bottom step leading into the tub. Solid construction. The large window over the bathtub caught my eye and I looked out at the vast expanse of the Fontaine ranch.
The sun was disappearing over the horizon, leaving the small black silhouettes of a herd of cattle grazing in the distance.
I held my breath as I counted five pumpjacks sprinkled across the land.
During the Herringbone case, I had gone down a rabbit hole researching how much each pump produced per day, and my heart thumped as I calculated how much money was being pulled from the earth with only the pumps I could see from my bathroom window.
The numbers were dizzying, so I dug into my purse for my anti-nausea medicine and left the bathroom.
As the little white pill settled my stomach, I gently rested my purse on my bed and pulled out that precious pewter canister full of ashes.
With a heavy heart, I placed my mom on the nightstand and quickly set two framed pictures around her.
My eyes moved from the photo of graduation day to my debut as Miss Kaye at the history fair.
“I hope you’re still proud of me,” I said to the canister. “I know you told me to never rely on a man, no matter what, but—”
I glanced past those lacy curtains, taking in the silhouetted peek of the land where the Fontaine fortune—my children’s future fortune—was growing by the second. A quick spark of exhilaration drowned in the deepest shame in an instant.
“But it’s not about the money,” I reassured my mom’s remains. “I can’t make it about the money. I worked so hard for so long because I thought money meant freedom, but…”
I picked at my fingernails before reaching into my purse, pulling out the last of my prized possessions. The soles of my red-bottomed stilettos were smooth in my hands, never having the opportunity to earn scuffs.
My breath left my lips in a sigh. “But money is more like cotton candy in the rain—gone in an instant. Temporary.”
I looked from my shoes to my mother’s smiling face in my history fair photo, then the photo from graduation, until I was blinking away tears at the sight of the person I loved the most reduced to a can on my nightstand.
“Everything is just…temporary,” I whispered.
The faint sound of suitcase wheels in the hallway grew louder, so I quickly switched my heels to one hand and dried my eyes with the other. I sniffed away my tears right as Beau walked in with two of my suitcases.
He gave me a brief quizzical look before dropping his gaze and clearing his throat.
“This used to be my grandparents’ room. We took up the rugs because they were a tripping hazard for Grandpa’s cane.
” He looked back up at me. “I can put them back if you’d like, but you’ll still probably trip if you insist on wearing those. ”
I glanced down at my stilettos.
“Oh,” I breathed as I sucked down a sob. “I’m not going to wear these anymore. I’d just be all dressed up with…nowhere to go.”
The end of my nose prickled and tears gathered in the corners of my vision, but I quickly blinked them away. I would not cry in front of Beau Fontaine, damnit!
Beau abandoned my suitcases and stepped over to me. He laid a comforting hand on my shoulder and I held my breath. His hand was so big and so warm, and his eyes were soft as he looked down at me.
“I know today’s been a hard day, but don’t be sad about the shoes,” he said gently. “Mom always said shoes like that were horribly tacky.”
He smiled and gave my shoulder a quick pat before turning to collect my other bags. I clutched my shoes as I watched him walk away, regretting with every fiber of my being that I had been too shocked to gouge out one of his pretty blue eyes with a stiletto.
I glanced at my mom as I let out a heated, tense breath.
“This is only temporary,” I promised.
As soon as my twins were born, I was gone.