Chapter 3
Chapter Three
A fter helping Ferd get settled in what Connor hoped was her temporary office, he headed back to his own. He situated himself behind his desk and opened an old book he’d had in his drawer since he’d taken over this office from his father. It was probably the one thing that hadn’t changed in ten years. An old address book.
He flipped to the letter K and saw all three of his brother’s names in there. All of them had cell phone numbers listed, ones they’d had before they walked away from Dad. If they hadn’t changed, he could still reach them. If they had, he knew where they lived. He’d just chosen to give them the space they seemed to want.
Paul was the oldest. At age forty, he was probably the most likely to come. Maybe all of them had changed. There was no way to know until he made the call. He pressed the numbers on his phone, suddenly saddened by the fact that he didn’t have his own brothers programmed into his long list of contacts.
“Hello?” Paul’s voice came over the phone, not the slightest bit apprehensive.
“Paul, this is Connor.”
He snorted. “I still know the phone prefix for Piper’s Ridge. I figured it was you or Dad. Is there something you need?”
He’d always tried to be direct, but in this case, direct would seem like he was going for shock value and that wasn’t the case. “There are a few things that have happened around here that I think you, Kevin, and Hunter need to know about.”
“Oh, is this about dad’s affair?” He went silent for one breath before he plowed on. “I can see it is. Look, I don’t want to meet anyone. Dad showed his true colors when he cheated on Mom. It was pretty clear that you didn’t think so.”
“You knew?” How had he been the only one kept in the dark?
“Yeah. Mom told us before she left. That’s why we all left with her. Don’t tell me you didn’t know.” Paul’s voice suddenly sounded a lot less sure.
“I didn’t. I was still in high school when all of this happened. I came home and Mom was gone. Dad didn’t tell me anything. I only found out about three weeks ago.”
“You’re serious?”
“Completely.” Had his mother died thinking that he’d chosen Dad over her? He would’ve loved to have had a relationship with both of them.
“I’m sorry, man. We’ve always thought you sided with Dad. That you thought his sleeping around was okay.”
Connor swallowed hard and leaned his head against the back of his office chair. At least he’d chosen to close the door this time. This was a conversation no one else needed to hear. “I didn’t. I chose to stay because I was still in school, and I had no reason to doubt Dad. I don’t know if this changes anything at all, but it only happened once, and he was very sorry about it. He told me he knew it was wrong. Mom hadn’t loved him for a long time, but Gloria did. After a while, he wasn’t able to fight how he felt. That doesn’t make it right, though.”
“Why didn’t you reach out to us before now?” Accusation filled Paul’s tone.
“Because I tried calling Mom multiple times and she wouldn’t answer. She never returned my calls. I didn’t get the chance to say anything to her.” Connor scrubbed his hand down his face, hoping his life would be steady again soon. This rollercoaster of emotions was for the birds.
“I’m sorry, Connor. I didn’t realize. All three of us tried to make sure Mom still felt loved after she left. It’s odd. She never grieved the loss of Dad, but you . . .”
He couldn’t hear this. Not when he couldn’t change the past. “Then why didn’t she return my calls? She left me.” Abandoned him. That still hurt.
“I don’t know. Maybe she was worried you’d try to gloss things over about Dad? I can’t answer that.”
Connor swallowed hard and focused on what had to be said. He didn’t want to have any more conversations about Mom when they weren’t face-to-face. “Look, I called to tell you that Dad got shot about a week ago. He’s doing okay, but we’ve found someone to replace him in security here at Wayside. He is now married to Gloria . . . and his daughter is here too.”
“What did you just say?” Paul’s voice went quiet.
“We have a half-sister.”
“And what did you hope I would do with this information? Should I welcome her into the family? Should I pretend that all the awful things I saw happen to Mom never happened?”
“Keep in mind that Ferd had no choice in the matter. She is innocent in all this.” Connor realized he was coming her defense naturally.
“I suppose that’s true,” Paul grumbled.
“Look, I’m having a small Christmas get-together with Dad, Gloria, Ferd, and I hope all three of you. Bring your spouses. You can meet your sister. She is twenty, I think, and has a good head on her shoulders.”
“I don’t know that my wife will want to come. Things aren’t good between us. When are you planning this?” Connor heard him sigh.
“I’m sorry. Things aren’t great with me relationship-wise either. I’m divorced.”
“I’m probably headed that way without a miracle. Just so you know, Kevin and Hunter are in the same boat. Who knew that growing up in a house where our parents never talked would make us into horrible spouses?” He laughed without any humor. “At least we tried.”
“Yeah,” Connor muttered. Had he tried? Or had he simply given up before Lacy had a chance to hurt him? Every day she’d stayed after the divorce had surprised him. When she’d stayed at his side through all the infections after he was shot, he was shocked. She didn’t have to do that.
But she had.
“I was thinking Christmas Day. Since most everyone does their holiday on Christmas Eve nowadays, that day is usually open.”
“Yeah, Paula’s family celebrates on Christmas Eve, so we’ll have that day free. You sure you want to do this?”
“I promised Ferd I would. If it would be easier for you to agree without Dad or Gloria there, I could try to do that, but I know Dad would like to see all of you. Do you have kids?”
Paul was silent and when he spoke again, there was a harshness to his voice that Connor couldn’t name. “No. Kevin has one and Hunter has one, but we have no kids.”
He wasn’t sure if he should say he was sorry or not. That seemed like a landmine, and he wasn’t ready to make this conversation any more stressful than it already was. “Come on over around two. We’ll sit and talk for a while, then have an early supper.”
“Sounds good. Thanks for reaching out. Do you want me to call the others for you?”
In a way, he wanted to talk to them all, but he’d purposely called Paul first as the oldest, knowing the other two were more likely to follow if Paul agreed. “I’d appreciate that.”
“Is this your cell phone?”
“Yes. Texting is fine.” In fact, he’d prefer it.
“Good. I’ll let you know what the others say. It might be a hard sell. Sorry or not, Dad broke up our family.”
Connor swallowed the urge to defend Dad. They only knew Mom’s side of the story, just like he only knew Dad’s. It was natural for them to believe the best of Mom, but the truth was, both parties had messed up. “I hope they’ll want to at least meet Ferd.”
“Does she look like a Kincade?”
“Yes, she looks a lot like me.” Connor snorted. She more than looked like him, she had the Kincade stubborn streak too.
“So, this isn’t someone trying to take what used to be our part of the inheritance?”
“Are you bothered that you gave it up?” Connor had always wondered why they’d done that.
“No. Wayside reminds me too much of dirty, hard work that was never good enough. It reminds me of the line between the barn which was Dad’s domain, and the house that was Mom’s. I can’t ever see myself going there often. I’ll come for this, but that’s it. No amount of money is ever going to make Wayside welcoming for us.”
Connor swallowed hard. He’d thought he was the only brother hurt by all that had been done. In some ways, his brothers had been hurt much more. “It’ll be good to see you. Thanks for taking my call.”
“Yup. Talk to you soon.” He hung up without saying anything else.
Lacy followed Melinda’s directions to the police station despite her insistence that they wouldn’t be helpful. The police had already decided she was trouble, and nothing could be said or done to change that. The building was two-story and stucco, giving off a distinctly 70s vibe.
Melinda sat in the car even after Lacy had turned off the engine. She glanced over her shoulder and Lacy briefly wondered if that was a habit.
“I was watching the whole time. We weren’t followed.”
“Only because he was too drunk to find his keys.” Melinda took a deep breath. “I hid them in the cabinet with the water glasses. He won’t look there until morning when he goes for his morning huge glass of water to get rid of his headache.”
Lacy thanked God that, while Connor had various other issues after his time in the military, drinking wasn’t one of them. “Will he still call the police?”
“Depends on what he did to himself in the moments after I left. Maybe he was too far gone to remember his plan. I guess I can hope.” She ducked her head, and Lacy saw the distinct form in the shape of a hand across Melinda’s face.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get there sooner.” It was still morning. How in the world was he already that drunk?
“It’s fine. Just another Monday in paradise.” She opened her door and stood, then leaned against the back door as she closed it.
Lacy got out and came around. For some reason, even though Melinda was out of that house, she was sure this was only the beginning of what she needed to do. The hope that she could come, report the issue to the police and let them handle it, looked less and less likely as the minutes passed.
“I don’t think you realize how many times I’ve tried this. I’ve told them what actually happens in that house. It’s like they don’t hear me. I applied for a restraining order and was denied on the basis that there was no apparent threat, and I could leave his residence at any time. Since I don’t have my own place, I couldn’t restrain him from his own rental.”
“It’s not like a spouse is likely to have another house. That seems like a terrible loophole.” Lacy could believe the justice system didn’t necessarily have a good plan in place for domestic issues.
Melinda shook her head and swiped her hair behind her ears, then shivered in the cold. “There have been very few times in the last few years where I haven’t felt like the deck was stacked against me. I feel like I can’t do anything to make my life better. You were my last hope.” She headed in her bare feet toward the front door.
Lacy rushed ahead to hold the door, then waited with her along the wall where they were told to. Lacy slipped her boots off her feet and handed them to Melinda. She’d still have her socks and then Melinda wouldn’t have to walk around on the concrete floor in bare feet.
As soon as Melinda slipped them on, a deputy came out and led them to a small room. The deputy seemed young. Then again, lots of people had started to seem young once Lacy had passed the age of thirty. Whereas, five years ago, she’d fit into the category of ‘young’, she now was in this weird in-between of feeling not young, but not old.
“I’m Officer Bakersfield. Please have a seat.” He glanced at Lacy’s feet but said nothing.
“Thank you.” Lacy took over, deciding she would first tell him what had happened to her, then Melinda could back her up. That way, they couldn’t say Lacy had developed the story while Melinda was telling her side.
“I went to this address about ten minutes ago.” She opened her phone and flipped it to show the officer. “While there, the man living there made threatening remarks and even jumped on the hood of my car when I tried to leave. I think he left a dent.”
The officer raised a brow. Melinda took a deep breath. “I asked her to come. He’s been angry with me lately and I was frightened. He doesn’t let me leave the house without him, which is why I’m still in yesterday’s clothes and I’m wearing her boots.” She pointed her thumb at Lacy.
Lacy laid a hand on Melinda’s arm. “Show him your cheek.”
Melinda brushed her hair back behind her ear. “He also grabbed my wrists.” She pushed each of her sleeves up, one at a time, showing red marks above her hands.
“Let me get a form and a camara so we can document this.” Officer Bakersfield stood and headed out of the room.
“Have they ever documented this kind of thing before?” Lacy watched the door, wanting to keep her questions between her and Melinda.
“No. Only his. The wounds he gave himself but said I did.”
The officer returned and took photos of her bruises and wrote down her statement. “Do you have anywhere you can stay while we look into this?” He tapped the paper with his finger.
“My aunt lives twenty minutes from here. I don’t have her number though.” Melinda again ducked her head.
Lacy gave him her cell number and promised to get her to her aunt’s house. As soon as they were outside, Lacy took a deep breath. “Let’s go find some clothes and shoes for you, plus a coat. Then, you can tell me how to get to your aunt’s.”
Melinda gave a curt nod. “Okay. I don’t have any money though.”
Lacy hadn’t expected her to pay anyway. “I didn’t figure you did. Is there a thrift store around here? Those are usually my favorite places to shop.”
“I haven’t shopped in a long time. I think there’s one on First Avenue, as you head out of town.”
“Great. Then we don’t have to go out of our way.” She clicked the fob to unlock her car and both of them got inside.
Forty minutes later, Melinda had two outfits, plus necessities, and boots with a coat. She seemed to have relaxed slightly, and Lacy was ready to get her somewhere she could sleep for a bit. As soon as they got in the car, Melinda directed her to the nearest highway. Before long, they were in another tiny town in rural New Mexico.
“Auntie Joy moved here to be close to me, but I was never allowed to have her over and I couldn’t go see her.”
“Oh! I remember Joy. She moved about a year after you did.” Lacy hadn’t realized Joy had followed Melinda south.
“Yeah, I just hope she’s home. I kept her address in my memory, not written down. So, hopefully, he never knew exactly where to find her. If he did, he’d try to con her out of money or threaten her. He never had any money. Up until he got the job at the car repair place, he couldn’t keep a job.”
Lacy looked up and down the street where each house had plenty of room between them. There were bird baths and flower beds that were now brown with the cooler temperatures. She followed Melinda to the front door and waited as she knocked.
Down the street, an engine started. Out of habit, and because Connor had taught her to always be situationally aware, Lacy looked for the vehicle but couldn’t find it. No one came to the door and Melinda knocked again.
The more seconds passed without a response from Joy, tension coiled in Lacy’s neck. From down the street, the car that had started slowly turned onto the street and headed toward them.
“No. No, no, no.” Melinda pounded on the door. “That’s his car.”
“Let’s go around back.” Lacy tugged on Melinda’s arm and they both took off before the car could get close.
Melinda cupped her hands together and looked in a window that seemed to be a sitting room or sunroom. There was no sign of Joy inside.
“Melinda, you’re sure she still lives here?”
She nodded quickly. “She came to my house one evening and talked to me. I had to explain to her that she couldn’t come, even when Tod was gone. She told me she would be here for me if I ever needed her. I was too afraid to have her come and face Tod when I realized what he was doing. She’s old. Frail. He wouldn’t think twice about hurting her.”
“Look.” Lacy pointed to a sliding door. “If that’s open, we can duck inside.”
“Good idea. If she’s asleep, she won’t mind.” Melinda ran over, jiggled the pull and the door slid open.
“Aunt Joy?” Melinda called.
Lacy wanted to check the bedroom before Melinda could. If Aunt Joy had fallen asleep last night and simply not woken up, this would turn from a bad day to a lot worse for Melinda. She could at least save her from that discovery.
The soft sound of water running met her ears as she approached the bathroom. Maybe Aunt Joy was in the shower and hadn’t heard the knocking. She went further down the hall to find the bathroom door open.
Her breath lodged in her throat and Melinda screamed behind her. “Aunt Joy! No!” She tried to push past Lacy, but Lacy held her in place.
“Don’t touch anything. They’ll need to fingerprint the scene. Let’s call the police.”