Chapter Eight
Istand up from the porch swing when I see Jen’s car appear in the distance.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” I whisper to Riggs, who moves up beside me and kisses my temple.
“You can. You will. It’s gonna suck. No getting around that, baby. But we’ll help her get through it.”
I wrap my arm around his back and lean into him as we wait. Nausea swells in my gut, making me glad I didn’t force myself to eat breakfast.
I can do this. I can do this.
The car stops, and Jen gets out, her eyes coming to me, scanning me from top to bottom before she moves to the rear passenger seat and opens the door.
Oh god, I can’t do this.
Riggs holds me steady, ensuring I can’t run away like the coward I am. When Hannah spots us, she runs over with a huge smile on her face.
“Hey Riggs, hey Calliope. Do you wanna see my picture?”
“Absolutely,” Riggs answers, dropping into a squat so he’s eye level with Hannah as she shows him her painting of the ranch and the people on it.
“And that’s you kissing Calliope.” She makes a face at that. “And that’s Mommy watching. Where is Mommy? I want to show her too.”
Somehow, I manage to stop myself from puking everywhere. Jen moves closer as I kneel in front of Hannah and caress her face. “Your mom got hurt.”
Hannah stops smiling, her eyes turning serious. “Is she gonna be okay?”
“No, Cookie. She’s not. I’m sorry.”
“My daddy hurt her again?” Her lip wobbles, and despite my best efforts, I can’t stop the tears from falling.
“I don’t know, but Shepard is looking for him.”
“Do I have to live with Daddy now?” Her eyes turn glassy.
I look up at Jen, who shakes her head. “Your mother wanted you to stay with Calliope.”
Before I can say anything, Hannah throws her arms around my neck and starts sobbing. “I want my mommy.”
“I knew you do, sweet girl. I know.” I wrap my arm around her and lift her, carrying her to the swing. I sit with her in my lap and rock her.
She sobs so hard I worry she’s going to make herself sick. I look at Riggs, whose jaw is tense, his hands fisted at his sides. I eye Jen, who stares at Hannah like she wants to fix everything but knows she can’t.
Eventually, Hannah cries herself out. I’m reluctant to let her go, but when Riggs bends down and gently eases her from my arms, I don’t fight him.
He’ll keep her safe. I watch until he disappears inside with her before Jen takes a seat beside me.
I rest my head on her shoulder as she wraps her arm around me, neither of us saying anything for the longest time.
“I’m so sorry about your friend, Calliope.”
“Thank you.”
I tip my head up as she looks at me. She wipes a stray tear from my face. “She told me about Porter. I know who he is, Calliope. The question is, why didn’t you tell me?”
My shoulders slump. “At first, I didn’t know.
It took me years to figure out that something wasn’t right.
Thinking about that night made me think of what happened to me, so I pushed all thoughts of it away.
I knew deep down he was alive, but I wasn’t one hundred percent certain until I saw him here that first day we arrived.
It didn’t matter how much work he had done.
His eyes were still the same. Just like mine. Just like Hannah’s.”
“You knew who Hannah was to you from the start?”
I nod. “First time I saw her that day at the bar parking lot.”
She blows out a shaky breath. “You went to prison for his murder. How are you not more angry?”
“Oh, I’m angry. So fucking angry. But I had a plan. God, I was so fucking arrogant. I shouldn’t have waited.”
Her eyes widen a fraction. “You were going to kill him.”
“I’d already been convicted of the crime, why not get the pleasure of doing it?”
“You didn’t, though.”
“And Dawn is dead because of it.”
“No.”
I don’t argue. We won’t agree on this.
“Dale knew, of course. That’s why he came that night,” she hisses.
“Dale helped put his master plan in place. He was the one who fired the gun before I passed out.”
“Did he really have a heart attack?”
My heart skips a beat in my chest as I look at her.
“I’ve heard the tales, Calliope. I dismissed them, of course. But some things, I just can’t explain.”
“Like what?”
She cocks an eyebrow and points to one of the knurled trees protecting the house.
“Oh, that.” I rub my hands together before turning my palm over and showing her the sparks. “Dale had a heart attack,” I answer her earlier question. “An assisted one, but a heart attack all the same.”
“Good. The asshole deserved it.”
I chuckle at her ability to roll with the punches. “I just confirmed I’m a witch and that I killed a man, and you didn’t even blink.”
“I represent killers all damn day. Trust me, kid, you aren’t special.”
“Rude.”
“And the witch thing makes sense. There was always something spooky about you.”
“Like a sexy, mysterious vibe?”
“Like a creepy doll with those weird eyes that are always watching,” she deadpans, making me laugh.
When I calm down again, she slides one of her hands into mine and rests it on her leg.
“His name isn’t on the birth certificate.
Not as Martin Hart nor as Mark Porter. Dawn didn’t even notice to begin with because she was sick in the hospital after her C-section got infected. Porter filed the certificate alone.”
“So he can’t claim he’s Hannah’s father without a DNA test, and that test would rat him out as being Martin Hart, not Mark Porter.”
“Exactly. He probably thought he was being clever, marking down ‘father unknown.’ But all he did was fuck himself over.”
“What about the grandparents?”
“Dawn asked me not to contact them. She doesn’t want them to have contact with Hannah, let alone custody.”
“So she’s mine?”
“She’s your sister. Of course, she’s yours.”
“Does she know?”
“That I don’t know. I’m sorry.”
I wave her off. “So legally, none of them can come for her, even though I have a criminal conviction?”
“They can try, but they won’t win. You now have legal guardianship and power of attorney over everything related to Hannah.”
I nod, feeling overwhelmed by it all. I’m not sure I planned on having kids of my own.
I liked the idea, sure, but sometimes I felt I missed the window.
I know women have them older than I am now, but it could take years to conceive, and the idea of running around after a kid in your forties sounded exhausting. But this is different.
“You want her, right?”
“Yeah, I want her. I didn’t want this for her, though.”
“I know.” She pats my hand and leans back just as my cell phone rings. I pull it out and see its Shepard. “Hey, everything okay?”
“Em…kind of. I think you need to see this, though.”
“See what? Where are you?”
“Main Street.”
He hangs up before I can tell him I’m not ready to be back there, not with Dawn’s blood still staining the pavement. “Fuck!”
“What is it?”
“Shepard wants me to head into town. Said there is something I need to see.”
“Okay, I can drive you.”
“I don’t know, Jen.”
“He wouldn’t ask you to come if it wasn’t important.”
“I guess.” I look at the house and sigh.
“Put some boots on. I’ll go and track down Riggs so he can keep an eye on Hannah.”
She’s off before I even get up. With a curse, I walk to the edge of the porch and lean on the railing, wondering what the hell it is that’s so important. Rubbing the back of my neck, I head inside for boots. I guess there’s only one way to find out.
Iadmit, the trip into town is done in a daze. I’m so lost in my own head, I don’t realize we’re there until Jen speaks.
“What the hell?”
I glance out the window to see what’s got her attention and gasp.
There are flowers everywhere, covering the road and footpaths. Shrubs have sprouted from nowhere. Climbing ivy is crawling up the buildings, and previously empty hanging baskets are now bursting with a riot of color as an alarming number of flowers fight for dominance.
I get out of the car and stare in shock as people begin to notice me. “Look, there she is!” I panic. Someone is pointing at me.
When I feel hands on my hips, I try to jerk away, only to hear Shepard’s reassuring voice in my ear. “It’s okay, Poppy. It’s just me.”
I turn in his arms. “What happened?”
He smiles at me, sliding my hair behind my ear. “You happened.”
“Oh my god, Calliope. You’re here. Are you okay?”
I turn at the sound of Sarah’s voice and see dozens of people approaching, asking millions of questions, making my head feel like it’s gonna explode.
“Alright, guys, that’s enough. I get that you’re excited, but don’t forget what happened here yesterday. This is a lot for Calliope to take in,” Shepard barks, making everyone quiet down.
“I’m sorry, Calliope.” Sarah flushes with embarrassment.
“It’s okay. You want to show me what’s happening?”
She grins, taking my hand and pulling me away from Shepard. I look over my shoulder at him as he nods. Jen follows behind us, looking around in wonder, and I turn to follow suit.
“I don’t understand.”
“I don’t know why. Those of us who see you regularly already know what you’re capable of. My house has never looked so beautiful. Hell, even Doyle noticed, and that man notices nothing,” Mary says from the crowd.
I look for her and spot her standing with her husband, who is rolling his eyes at her, but he doesn’t dispute her words. In fact, lots of people are nodding. That’s when I see Jackie. She’s walking toward me with a little bouquet of white calla lilies in her hand, tied with a red ribbon.
“Yesterday, this street was the scene of a horrific tragedy. A woman was brutally struck down, losing her life and leaving behind a little girl who will never know what a wonderful woman she was.”
I walk toward her, tears streaming down both of our faces as I stop just in front of her.
“People got up today, knowing they had to deal with the fallout. They came here to be together in the aftermath of a senseless tragedy and found themselves surrounded by life.”
I swallow hard.
“Look at what you did, Calliope.”
I look around and see beautiful flowers everywhere. The town will have a field day clearing the road. My eyes fall to the place where Dawn fell, and a sob slips free. A strip of sunflowers stands tall and proud, their faces tipped back as they bask in the sun.
“She really lived up to her name. A new Dawn. And when anyone thinks of her, they’ll think of the beautiful woman she was, standing tall, with her head tipped back and the sunlight on her face.”
I let her pull me into her arms as I cry again because that seems to be all I’m capable of right now. But it’s healing, somehow, seeing everyone come here to mourn her, knowing I won’t be the only one who misses her.
Jen steps up on the other side of me and slips her arm through mine. “I’m proud of you, Calliope.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Oh, honey. You did more than you’ll ever know.”
I spend some time walking among the flowers, talking with people who are curious about my gift. Sure, there are still some who are wary, but I don’t have the brain capacity to deal with that today.
I notice a difference in the town, and I’m not talking about the flowers.
I’m talking about the people coming together, neighbors supporting neighbors.
Sure, the crowd is seventy percent women and their partners they dragged along.
But I see men dotted around taking everything in with wide, if not fearful, eyes.
The town might have called me a witch, and other things, over the years, but believing I have tainted blood and actually experiencing me use my gift are two very different things.
It sounds ridiculous, but I’m guilty of compartmentalizing it myself.
I heard what they called me and felt the fear that led to my ostracism.
But I never, for a second, thought they believed I was a real witch, because I didn’t.
If it weren’t for the fact that Dawn is gone, this would all feel like a dream.
Jen wraps her arm around me, and I find myself staring at the sunflowers. “She loved you, you know.”
“I loved her too. I didn’t realize until she was gone.”
“That’s okay. She knew. You think she’d leave her baby with you if she didn’t?”
“I think she’d leave her with me because I’m the better choice out of the shitty ones she had.”
“She left her with you because she trusts you, because she admired you. And because she knows her daughter will grow up to be smart, fierce, brave, and kind under your watchful eye. She also knows that though you won’t ever let Hannah forget who she came from, you won’t paint over the dark parts with watercolors.
You’ll tell her the truth in the gentlest way possible so she doesn’t make the same mistakes, but also so she can appreciate just how brave her mom was the day she finally found the courage to leave. ”
Jen looks at me, smiling sadly. “Leaving is the hardest part.”
I nod. In her line of work, she must have seen stories like Dawn’s play out a million times over. And the outcome, though tragic, doesn’t diminish the bravery Dawn found to break free to protect her daughter.
And I’ll be damned if I let her go through all that just to let her down now.
“She’s right. I’ll do everything I can to make sure Hannah grows up safe and strong with a heart full of love and a mind full of memories of a remarkable woman that I was so lucky to know, even if it was just for a little while. ”
We stand there a while, taking it all in before I come to a decision. Right or wrong, it’s time for me to make a move.
“Hey, Sarah!” I call, spotting her talking to Mary across the street.
She jogs over, giving me a hug before straightening.
“I never know what to say. Sorry for your loss, always feels so…ugh, you know. But it’s true.
I’m sorry for your loss, for all our losses.
Dawn was a really nice person,” Sarah babbles.
She shakes her head, looking so uncomfortable, and I can’t help but feel amused despite the circumstances.
“Thank you. Do you think you could do me a favor?”
“Anything.”
I smile. “Can you call another town meeting for tomorrow? I think it’s time people learn the truth.”
“The truth about what?”
“The truth about everything.”