19. Chapter 18
Jolynn
I couldn’t stop shaking. The medics were doing their thing, and I felt torn between my dad and Richie. I looked out the picture window and saw them leading him to the back of a police car. And Johnny went inside another one.
Holding my head and my stomach, I belted out a primal scream, ending it with vomiting on the floor. Hands rubbed my back, then helped me to the bathroom. I kept my eyes closed and let them lead me.
Once inside, I heard the door snick closed, and they helped me sit on the closed toilet. The water ran and soon a cool cloth was cleaning my face.
“Your babies are safe.” Olivia spoke softly.
My hand trembled as I reached up and grabbed hers.
“Mama Jean, Jeremy, Andrew, and Cooper are with them. I came to get the diaper bag and anything else we might need for the next few days.”
“But …”
She crouched and looked into my eyes. “We’re family. We take care of each other. Let’s get you ready to head to the hospital. You focus on your dad. We got the kids.”
“This isn’t a dream?”
She stood back up and brushed my hair. “Nope. This is a fucking nightmare, but we’ll get through it.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
She helped me stand, got me undressed and into the shower, then brought me clean clothes. Libby even ensured that I’d rinsed all the soap from my hair. The way a sister would and she was like a mind-reader anticipating my needs.
“I get the feeling you’ve done this before.”
She busted out laughing. “Have you met my sister Cora? I did this for her all the time.”
I laughed with her and found it easier to breathe. She watched me as I shut the water off.
“I think you got it now.” She offered me a towel.
“I hope so.” Nodding, I wrapped the towel around myself, feeling numb.
She gave me a wink. “I’ll meet you out there.”
She slipped from the bathroom, and I took a deep breath. I needed to get dressed and face the police to give my statement. Then I needed to go check on my kids. From there, I’ll head to the hospital and then, at some point, I’ll call and see if I can bail Richard out.
Coming out of the bathroom, I smelled fresh coffee. I followed the scent and found an officer sitting at the kitchen table with Olivia.
“Here she is Officer Campbell.”
“Thanks for the coffee.” He lifted his cup.
“My pleasure.” She smiled.
She poured a fresh cup, handed it to me with a hug. “We’ll see you when you’re done.”
“Thank you.”
“I told you, we’re family. It’s what we do.”
She picked up the diaper bag, a duffle bag, and a small box of toys and headed out the door. Richard was the one who made me feel like everything would be okay, and now? Now I felt like I was part of a big, wonderful family.
“Hello, is it Jolynn Evans?”
Shaking my head, I took a seat. “I took my maiden name back. It’s Whitman.”
“I don’t blame you. Are you ready to give a statement? Do you need some time?”
“I’m good. Let’s get this over with.”
He nodded and opened his notepad. “What happened here today?”
I took a long drink of the hot coffee, letting the dark bitter brew give me strength.
“Since the divorce, John has mostly behaved. Which was weird. But he had a new girlfriend, and he missed most of his scheduled visitations.” I chuffed out a laugh. “My phone has been blissfully silent. The kids are going to therapy, healing. I was healing.” Sighing, I lifted my cup of coffee again. “About a week or so ago, he started commenting on my social media. Then a couple days after he started texting me and they kept escalating.” I took a drink.
“Did he threaten you?”
Shaking my head, I tapped out a beat on the table. “No. He just kept throwing blame at me. About the divorce, the kids. About his lack of license. Everything was my fault, and I made his life hell.” I shrugged.
“Was that how things went when you were together?”
My head nodded in a big, slow, affirmative motion. “The day I left, I found out my mother was dying. We didn’t have the money for me to come see her. And he wanted to go play cornhole. My dad wired me money. Told me everything was replaceable except me and the four kids at the time. I had Emma two months later. During that time, there were a lot of calls and texts.”
Swallowing, I swiped at a stray tear. “You have no idea how hard it was to not just go back. To just give in and do what I could.”
“What changed?”
“My van died.” The tears fell faster. “And Richard was the tow truck driver, and seeing him made me remember what my life was before I moved away. Then we went to the fair, and I realized the boy who stole my heart when I was a teen still had it.” I wiped my eyes. “And I believed I deserved a better life with a better man.”
“Don’t doubt that.” His voice was firm. “You do.”
“I wish I believed that.” I stood up and paced for a minute. Leaning back against the counter, I looked back over at the officer. “About an hour before he showed up here today, he called and told me he was done being without his family. I hung up, told the kids to clean up, and I cleaned the kitchen. We ate an early lunch here with my dad and I sent the boys to get ready so we could go to Richard’s mom’s house.”
Pointing out the window at the house you could see from the kitchen window, I smiled. “They live there, but with five kids I was going to drive around the block. I put up all the leftovers, put the dishes away and then went to make sure I had enough diapers, clothing, and incidentals in the diaper bag when I heard the knock on the door. I paused to hear who it was, and the boys paused too.”
Standing there, I shook.
This is a bad dream. It has to be.
“Ms. Whitman, maybe you should sit back down?”
Fuck me running. It’s not a dream.
Nodding, I took a seat back at the table, took the last swallow of my coffee. Rubbing my eyes, I looked back at the officer. “I heard his voice, and my skin crawled. Then I heard a thud and my dad cry out in pain. I motioned to the boys to keep quiet. Emma was asleep, and Briar was curled up on the bed. Johnny asked where I was, and my dad said we weren’t there. That’s when we heard the gunshot.”
My whole body shuddered uncontrollably as I relieved the last hour of my life. I wiped the snot on my hand and shook my head. “Sorry.”
“You’re okay.”
Nodding, I pushed on. “I told Harrison to stay in that room no matter what, and I locked the door as I left them. Johnny grabbed me by my hair when I ran to the living room. I wasn’t thinking. I tore myself away and dropped to my dad’s side.”
Looking at my hands, even though they were clean, I still saw blood on them. “I put pressure on the wound and begged him to let me call 9-1-1. He ignored me, rambling on about his petty bullshit unless I moved. When I would try to reach for a phone, he’d aim the gun at me. So, I just held pressure on my dad. I know it was only five or so minutes before Richard got here, but it felt so much longer.”
I looked up, trying to stop the flow of tears. “He took the focus off me. I heard someone yell clear, and he mouthed the kids were safe. I don’t even know how they knew what room the kids were in.”
“I do.” The officer chuckled. “You should be proud of your boys. Your oldest got the window open and put one of the younger boys through. He ran and hopped the fence and got Parks. His younger brothers got the kids out and back to their mom’s.”
“My boys?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I am proud. After that, Richard and Johnny had their mini brawl and then the police and ambulance were here.”
“Anything else to add?”
“No.”
“Alrighty. I’ll get this typed up if you would be so kind to stop by tomorrow or the day after to sign it.”
Nodding, I took another deep breath. “I can do that.”
“Thank you for your time.”
“Thank you and the rest of the officers for coming.”
“It’s what we do.” He flashed me a boyish grin and left the room.
I got up and went to the living room. As I looked around, I decided I’ll deal with the mess later. Right now, I needed to hold my babies.
Richard
This was not how I saw thanksgiving going. Maybe a small food fight. Maybe some cold weather making out in the treehouse. Asking Jo and the kids to spend the night with me over the garage and tomorrow we could fill out all the paperwork for our house.
But being cuffed in the back of a police car that I just tuned up wasn’t even close to any of those. I still heard that dumbass ranting and going on from the other car. Shaking my head, I sat quietly and waited until it was my turn to speak.
A light purple car pulled up, and I watched my brother and Olivia get out and walk over to the officer outside. I don’t know what Libby said, but she got the green light to go inside and the officer led Coop to me, opening the door so we could talk.
“You doin’ okay?” I asked before anything else happens.
Cooper chuckled and nodded. “Thanks for understanding.”
“Sit up, monkey-man.” The officer joked with me, and he removed my cuffs. “You guys do good work. My wife wants a car like that one.” He nods to Olivia’s sixty-five Mustang.
“Actually, we didn’t do that one. The girl you were talking with did most of it. That’s her baby.” Cooper beamed with pride.
“Damn.” He nodded. “Alright, keep it quiet and I’ll give you a moment.”
Cooper looked at the other squad car. “Has he shut up yet?”
“Nope.”
My brother handed me a cigarette and I have never been more thankful for something to do with my hands. He lit me up, and I took a long, deep drag.
“How are my kids?”
“They’re safe. They’re with ma, Jere, and Drew.”
“Were they hurt?”
“No. Only Tyler when he scraped the window and fell.” Cooper chuckled. “Those are some damn brave boys.”
“I’m so proud of them.”
“Richdad. That was cute.”
“They all slip here and there calling me dad. Jo doesn’t correct them, and I don’t. I know I should, but I love them so much.”
“Why? If she’s okay with it and let’s be honest. It’s not like fuckwit cares.”
“No. He doesn’t.”
“How bad was it?” Coop sighed and leaned against the car.
“He shot Ed in the gut. Jo was trying to keep pressure on it. He put the gun in my back, I tried to talk him down, got a chance to knock some sense into him and took it.”
“Don’t blame you.”
We watched the medics come out with Jo’s dad and load him up in the ambulance. Flicking my butt to the ground, I watched as they left and shook my head at Johnny, who was still running his mouth. Thankfully, the officer who had him in the car came out of the house, went to his car, and left.
“Guess it’s my turn.”
“Once O comes out, we’ll head to the station and see what we need to do for you.”
“Nah, stay at Ma’s I’ll call when I need ya.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. The kids need you more than I do. Jo’s gonna need to go to the hospital.”
“You got it.”
“I’m ready, Garcia.”
“You know, most people aren’t this chill in the back of a cop car.”
“What can I say? No reason to argue.”
He laughed, shut my door, and talked to my brother before coming around and getting in to leave. Once we pulled away, I leaned my head back on the seat and relaxed for the ride to the station. I’ve been inside the police station a couple of times as a kid for field trips, but it’s completely different when you’re being led through it to an interrogation room.
“Do you need the cuffs?”
A chuckle rumbled up. “No. I’ll stay here.”
I folded my hands on the table and sat back in the chair.
Waiting.