Vindicated (2 page)

“Relax,” I chuckled.
 
“It just happened less than ten minutes ago.”

“I’m sorry,” she suddenly blushed slightly.
 
“Mornings don’t make me very nice.
 
Congratulations Jess.”
 
She pulled me into a hug.

“Still bleeding over here,” Caroline said in her scratchy voice.

Amber and I both laughed and I sat back down to finish cleaning Caroline’s self-inflicted wound.

There were so many things that weren’t right in my small world.
 
There was the never ending angel situation.
 
My future mother-in-law obviously wasn’t doing very well in getting clean.
 
I couldn’t help but think of Emily, how Cormack was now gone for good.
 
She had said that everything would be alright earlier that day.

And in that moment, with everyone eating breakfast happily and talking over one another, I almost believed her.

In that moment, I was happy.

“Sal?” I called as I walked through the front door later that day.
 
There were piles in every corner, things strewn out on the counter, dishes piled in the sink.
 
I could tell the housekeeper had not been by in a while.
 
“Sal?”

I found her in her office, curled up in a big plush chair that was in the corner.
 
Her knees were tucked up under her chin, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs.
 
She looked anxious.

“Is everything okay, Sal?” I asked, my eyebrows furrowing together.
 

“I had a bad dream last night,” she said as she stared vacantly at a spot on the wall.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked as I squatted next to the chair.
 
I was careful not to touch her.
 
She still didn’t like physical contact.

“Roger was there,” she said in a quivering voice.
 
“His breath smelled so bad.
 
He was hitting me again.”

“Oh, Sal,” I said as I felt my stomach sink.
 
Sal’s ex-husband was now serving a life-sentence for nearly killing Sal when he was drunk.
 
Sal was the way she was because of Roger.
 
“I’m so sorry.
 
He’s gone now though, remember?
 
He can’t hurt you anymore.
 
They locked him away.”

She squeezed her eyes closed, taking in a long breath.
 
“I don’t want to see him anymore.”

“Have you been having other dreams about him?”

She nodded her head.
 
“He was scary.”

“Yes, he was,” I said as I stood.
 
“I have a surprise for you,” I smiled as I said it, attempting to change the subject.

“Is it a new book?” she asked, her tone instantly lifting.

I shook my head, holding my hand out to her.
 
Sal’s face looked confused at first.
 
Her eyes trailed from my shoulder, down my arms, and then finally resting on my finger.

“You’re getting married?” she asked in an excited tone.
 
I just nodded.
 
“It’s beautiful!
 
And it matches your bracelet!”

I let my eyes take in the ring again.
 
It was set with a marquee diamond, fixed in a wide band made of intricately carved vines, small diamonds set in the lacy pattern.
 
I’d never seen anything like it.
 
And it did match the bracelet Alex had given me on Valentine’s, just days after we had met.

“When?” she asked as she let go of my hand.

“We haven’t picked a date yet, but soon,” I said, the smile on my face bitter sweet.

The cell phone that Alex had gotten me the day after we got back from England suddenly vibrated.
 
I flipped it open, a text from Rita asking if I could come in for Austin that afternoon.
 
The shift started in just over an hour.

“I have to go Sal,” I said as I slid the phone back into my denim shorts.
 
“I wanted to let you know though.”

“Thank you,” she said with a smile.
 
Just as I was about to walk out the door she called “Jessica?” I stopped, looking back at her.
 
“Don’t let them take him.”

My blood suddenly chilled.
 
“What did you say?”

“Hmm?” she asked, her eyes starting to glaze over.

“You said ‘them’,” I said quietly.

“Them who?” she asked, quietly, her eyes fixing on a place on the wall.

“Never mind,” I said as I shook my head.
 
Sal was in a different place now.
 
“I’ll see you later.”

I went and changed, telling Alex that I was filling in for Austin.
 
We made plans to go out that night, to try and work some details out.
 
I agreed absentmindedly, heading out to my GTO and climbed inside.

Don’t let them take him.

I knew they were already trying to take Alex.
 
I had seen what had happened to Cole.
 
His entire frame started collapsing in on him, like he was being sucked away from the inside out.
 
Cole had said how the dead couldn’t stay long in the land of the living.
 
Cormack had told me how difficult it was to stay here.

I had seen the brief moments when Alex would close his eyes, how his knuckles would turn white as he held onto the edge of the counter.
 
How something in his countenance seemed to quake and shiver.

Alex could be pulled back at any moment.

And somehow I had to stop it.

But I had no idea how I was going to keep the inevitable from happening.

CHAPTER TWO

The sky started to gray over as I spent my day inside the bookstore.
 
There was little to do as it was a Tuesday afternoon and the sky threatened to open at any moment.
 
The hours slowly ticked by until closing, the only excitement of the day was showing Rita the ring and hearing her congratulations.
 

I tried not to think that there was the real possibility of telling her I was a widow so soon after the actual wedding.

After my shift ended, rain started to drizzle as I pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant.
 
Alex’s black truck was already dotted with drops.
 
I stepped inside the door, my eyes immediately finding him.
 
He would be hard to miss.
 
Everyone in the entrance was staring at him.
 
Ignoring them, he gave me his dazzling smile and indicated to the hostess that we were ready to be seated.

“I always feel so weird going out like this,” I chuckled as I sat across from Alex, picking up the menu the woman had set in front of me.
 
“You don’t eat at all and I only eat when you make me.”

“Forgive me for pretending to be normal,” he gave me a half smile.
 
He was doing a better job than me at pretending half the restaurant wasn’t staring.

“It feels like I can hardly even remember what that is anymore,” I said with a sigh.
 
“Normal.”
 
Alex reached across the table and took my hand in his.
 
As I looked into his gray eyes, I felt my throat tighten.
 
They were just one more reminder that he wasn’t supposed to be here anymore.

“What made you change your mind?” I asked quietly.
 
“You were so determined before.”

He gave me one more small smile before letting go of my hand and leaning back in his chair.
 
“It was Caroline actually.
 
We talked while you were with Cole.
 
And I just kept thinking about how it would have been better if she had been a part of my life, even if it was just for a little while.
 
A little while would have been better than nothing at all.

“I’m ready to move on, Jessica,” he said as his eyes burned with intensity.
 
“I’m sorry it has taken me so long.”

“I understood your reasoning,” I said as my eyes dropped to the surface of the table.
 
Alex’s hand was suddenly under my chin, lifting it until I looked at him again.
 

“Moving on?” he breathed, so much weight behind his voice.

“Moving on,” I said, pushing the knot from my stomach.
 
We both sat back as our waitress introduced herself and brought water.
 
I ordered a bowl of soup and a salad, Alex ordered the most expensive steak on the menu.

“You money waster,” I teased him as soon as the waitress was gone.

“Hey, it sounded good,” he said in mock defense.
 
“If I can’t eat it I can at least look at it, right?”

I just chuckled and shook my head.
 
“If you like torturing yourself, I guess.”

We were quite for a moment, Alex studying my face.
 
“Don’t get mad when I bring this up, okay?” Alex said, his eyes softening.

“What?”

“I know how things were between you and your parents but we need to tell them about the engagement.
 
In person.
 
Especially your mom.”

My eyes dropped to the table, my hand rubbing the brand on the back of my neck without thinking about it.
 
“I don’t know if that is a good idea.”

“She’s your mother, Jessica,” he said in a low voice.
 
“I know she hurt you in the past but it’s time to let that past go.
 
You haven’t talked to her in how long?”

“Five years,” I answered quietly, recalling the day I overheard her talking to the mental institution, the day she decided to have me committed.
 

“I want to meet her.
 
I can’t be married to someone and never meet my own mother-in-law.”

“Alex, she…”

“We’re moving on, remember?” he cut me off.

“Moving on,” I said quietly.
 
If Alex could forgive his mother, who had abandoned him completely for his entire life, couldn’t I forgive the woman who had raised me?
 
She had been there for me, for everything else in my life.
 
She’d just been trying to help me.
 

And really, who could blame her for the things she had done?
 
I had thought I was crazy myself at times.

“Okay,” I answered, looking Alex in the eye.
 
“We’ll go out to Ucon.”

“Really?” he asked excitedly.

“We’re moving on with life,” I said, my insides all twisted up.
 
“I have a few days off next week.
 
I’ll call my dad tonight and let him know we’re coming.”

“I can’t wait,” he said, giving me a sly smile.
 
I just glared at him.
 
“Hey, maybe it won’t be as bad as you think it will be.”

“I think it will be exactly as bad as I think it will be,” I said sarcastically.
 
“Anyway, we should probably talk to Amber and Rod about going out with us.
 
Dad still hasn’t met him and I don’t think he was too happy with Amber for waiting so long to tell him she was already engaged.”

“Not a bad idea,” Alex said as he dug his cell phone out of his pocket.
 
“I’ll ask him about it right now.”
 

I pulled my own out, and clumsily set to texting Amber.

I heard the clatter, the sound of someone tripping over a purse set on the floor, the sound of dishes flying off of their tray.

And the next second I felt the searing pain of the steak knife embedding itself into the fleshy space where my shoulder connected to the rest of my body.