Vivian

by Marie, Bernadette

  “I don’t even care at this point. I haven’t eaten since breakfast and we certainly wore that off.”

  He watched her load up a plate of the frozen clumps and put them in the microwave. Picking up his phone he called his house.

  “Hey Dorothy.”

  “How is your evening?” she asked and he could only smile, looking at his wife in a bed sheet cooking chicken nuggets.

  “It’s amazing. How are the girls?”

  “Asleep on the floor. I told them we’d have a slumber party in the front room.”

  He laughed. “I’ll bet they’re loving having you there.”

  “Well, I’ve decided they’ll get to do this any time. I’m going to stay, Clayton. If you were serious about me living here.”

  “I am.” He wanted to tell her about what they’d done today, but the girls needed to be the first ones to hear it. “I just called to say goodnight, but I’ll let them sleep. Thank you for taking them.”

  “My pleasure. Enjoy yourself,” she said and his heart raced just a bit faster. He hadn’t thought about Linda much all day, until that moment. But it didn’t hurt for the first time.

  “We will.” He disconnected the phone and looked at Vivian. “Mine are asleep.

  “Let me call mine.” She reached for her phone.

  “We forgot to lock the door when we raced upstairs,” he said, giving the sheet around her a yank.

  Her eyes fixed on his. “No. I locked it.”

  He shrugged. “Maybe we jostled it.”

  She looked at her phone. There was a text from Sam. Stay there. I’m coming over.

  “Why did he send me this?” She showed Clayton the text.

  “If he’s coming over we’d better get dressed,” Clayton joked just as they heard something crash upstairs. “What the hell?”

  He looked back outside and the wind had kicked up.

  “Maybe something blew over in the attic. We have those walls torn out.”

  Vivian watched him readjust his towel.

  “I’ll go up with you.”

  He gave her a smile and touched her face. “Are you afraid of something?”

  “No, just…” She didn’t know. She just couldn’t stand to be away from him for even a moment. “I’m coming with you.”

  They took the first few steps before her phone chimed again from the kitchen.

  “It’s probably Sam. Go check.”

  She gave him a nod and headed back to the kitchen to retrieve her phone.

  Her hands began to shake as she picked up her phone and the display read MESSAGE FROM STELLA MONROE.

  “Clayton! Clayton!” Her voice shook and wasn’t as loud as she thought it should be.

  The text came up on the screen. Stella. Frank. Now it’s his turn.

  As she took a breath to yell his name again, she heard the horrid sound of something being hit and then falling down the steps of the attic.

  “Clayton!”

  Dropping her phone, she went for her bag. Fumbling with the zipper, she finally managed it open and grabbed for the gun Sam had given her.

  She pulled it back to cock it and it shook in her hands. Wrapping the other hand around the handle she called out again, “Clayton!”

  There wasn’t an answer. There should have been some damn answer.

  With the sheet wrapped loosely around her and the gun trembling in her hands, she started up the steps.

  “Clayton, c’mon. I don’t like this. Where are you?”

  As she crested the top of the steps, she could see the steps to the attic were down. Another two steps, she could see Clayton on the ground face down at the bottom of the steps.

  Her first reaction was to run right to him. The back of his head was covered in blood and a baseball bat was lying next to him covered in blood.

  “Clayton! Oh, God!” She set the gun on the ground in front of her. “Clayton, please wake up. Please!”

  She pressed her fingers to his neck, but she wasn’t sure if she felt anything. Her fingers were covered in his blood. The only thing she could hear was her heart beating in her ears.

  Her head spun and her eyes filled with tears blinding her from the shadow that moved across the attic. A moment later, someone flew at her, knocking her back on her back, her head slamming into the floor.

  She struggled beneath the gangly limbs of a man who held her hands to the ground.

  “You’re going to work harder than that,” the man said as he dipped his head to her collarbone and bit down.

  Vivian screamed. “Get off me! Get off!”

  “My turn.”

  And as the man pushed up the sheet she’d had wrapped around her she managed her knee between his thighs just enough to have him roll off of her.

  “Bitch!” He yelled as she rolled toward the gun she’d laid next to Clayton.

  The sheet tangled around her, but she fought to grasp the gun as he came back toward her and the moonlight caught his face.

  “Darby!”

  “Give me the damn gun, Vivian.” He lurched toward her knocking her back again and ripping the gun from her hand. “You’re so weak!”

  “Darby! Get off of me!” She fought him. “What are you doing?”

  He kept his body on her legs and her arms pinned with his. In his right hand, he held the gun he’d ripped from her and it pressed into her skin as he held her against the wall.

  “Where do I begin?” He pressed the metal of the gun further into her skin. “First, Adam took you from me.”

  “Darby, that was a long time ago. Please,” she pleaded. “I have to get him some help.” She was looking toward Clayton.

  “C’mon, let’s just take care of this now.” He took the gun and pointed it toward Clayton.

  “No!” She screamed and lurched to try and reach the gun, but he only came back with it and smacked her in the head with it.

  Now her vision was slipping away with her consciousness.

  “You’ll die here with him.” She could feel his breath on her face and his hands on her bare thighs. “I want the money, Vivian. Where is all the money?”

  He squeezed her thigh and the pain shot through her, but she couldn’t move. She couldn’t see. It was getting harder to even breathe.

  “She hid all the money in this house, Vivian. I know she did.”

  “Don’t—have,” she managed and he squeezed her thigh higher and tighter.

  “You know why I hated Adam as much as I did?” His mouth was on her again, pressed now to her ear. “It was my father Stella Monroe had an affair with. That’s right. My bastard father left my pregnant mother for a married woman. Her nasty spawn was Adam.”

  He moved his knee into her groin and she cried out.

  “Let me go. I’ll get the money for you.”

  She felt his hands on her hips and her body was yanked from the wall and slammed down to the floor again. He held the gun under her chin and pushed up the sheet.

  “He took you. He got you. I’m done being the forgotten one.”

  He straddled her, then sat up, but she couldn’t see now. Her eyes had swollen nearly shut.

  She knew he’d sat up and then another shadow moved across them and Darby had been knocked to the ground. A white light exploded in the darkness with the crack of a gun.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Vivian had heard the scream and she knew it was her own, but she couldn’t see. She couldn’t feel.

  Another set of hands were on her and she screamed again.

  “Vivian, it’s Sam. Honey, calm down.”

  She scrambled toward him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

  “The ambulance and police are coming.”

  She couldn’t let go. Her body shook and she could feel the cold of the air around them, which meant the sheet had fallen away.

  “Darby! Darby! He killed Clayton. Darby…” she kept repeating.

  Sam took her hands. “Clayton’s alive. But we have to get him to the hospital. You too.”

  “Darby,�
� she said his name quietly now.

  “I didn’t kill him. I want him to pay for what he’s done.”

  “Stella. Frank.”

  “I know.” He pulled her toward him as the flashing lights from outside illuminated the house.

  Vivian watched them load Clayton into the ambulance. He was still unresponsive, but he was alive. She had to focus on that.

  She held an icepack to her face as she sat on the sidewalk wrapped now in a robe and a blanket.

  Amelia appeared from around the ambulance they’d loaded Darby into. She was running and crying as she fell down next to Vivian.

  “God, look at you. Oh, God!” She pulled her into her arms.

  It was time to let the pain out and she began to sob against Amelia.

  “Darby. It was Darby.”

  “I know. Oh, honey, I know.” She rocked her back and forth.

  Vivian pulled back. “My girls. Where are my girls?”

  Amelia pulled her back to her. “With Dorothy.”

  The paramedic moved toward them. “Ma’am, we’re ready to transport your husband. Will you be riding with us?”

  Vivian nodded and Amelia helped her to her feet.

  “I’ll get you some clothes,” she said as Vivian walked toward the ambulance.

  “Thank you.”

  She held out her hand to the paramedic to help her inside.

  “Wait!” Amelia moved toward the ambulance. “Husband?”

  Vivian held up her hand as they closed the doors between them.

  ~*~

  Clayton woke with a splitting headache. He had to force himself to open his eyes.

  The room was dimly lit and unfamiliar.

  He tried to sit up, but the pain in his head was so immense he only closed his eyes again.

  “Clayton?”

  The angelic voice was one he recognized. Again, he forced himself to open his eyes.

  Standing next to him was a vision—a glorious vision. His beautiful wife.

  “Vivian, what happened to you?”

  She raised her hand to her cheek. “Darby.”

  “What did he do to you?” His eyes had managed to open wider to take in the bruises on her face and her neck. “Jesus, what is that?” He tried to reach for the mark on her collarbone, but she winced away.

  “Nothing. Don’t move.”

  “I don’t remember anything. I walked up the stairs, that’s all I remember.”

  “Darby hit you with a bat. You have a head full of stitches.”

  “Ah, that would explain this headache I have.”

  She smiled at his joke, no matter how weak it was.

  “They’ll give you some more medicine. The nurse said they would.”

  Clayton reached for her hand. “Some honeymoon, huh?”

  “I thought you died,” the tears in her voice made him ache even more than he already was.

  “I wouldn’t leave you that easily.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “Where is he?”

  “Sam shot him.”

  He sucked in a deep breath. “Dead?”

  Vivian shook her head. “No. He wants him to pay for what he did.”

  “Frank and Stella?”

  She nodded and then moved to sit on the edge of the bed. “Dorothy told the girls you fell down and you are in the hospital.”

  “She’s quick on her feet.”

  “She’s worried about you. You’re her child too, you know.”

  He managed a smile. “I do know.” He twisted her gold band between his fingers. “Did you tell her?”

  “No. Only Amelia. Which means that Sam might know.”

  “Everyone will know as soon as the girls know.”

  She nodded. “They want to keep you for a few more hours.”

  “Doesn’t a bed in a hospital come with Jell-O?”

  “I’ll go find you some,” she said standing.

  “Mrs. North,” he called as she moved from the bed and she turned back toward him. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  Vivian stepped out into the hall. As soon as the door to his room closed she leaned against the wall and let the tears she’d been holding on to fall.

  When they told her that Adam had died she got mad. The tears hadn’t come for days. But the moment she’d seen Clayton laying on the ground, everything inside of her wanted to release.

  She had to remind herself that he was alive and he was fine. He’d been making jokes and keeping her comfortable.

  She wrapped her arms around herself.

  “Mrs. North,” someone called.

  She lifted her head to see Sam walking toward her.

  “I thought that might be the case,” he joked as he moved closer to her and pulled her into his arms. “Are you okay?”

  “I thought he was dead.”

  “I wish I’d have been five minutes faster,” he said, stroking her hair. “He’d texted me. I just didn’t know you two would be there, well…”

  She slapped his arm, then pulled back and looked at him. “Thank you. If you hadn’t come…”

  “I did. This is over.”

  She nodded. “He wants Jell-O.”

  “He’s going to have to wait. There is someone here looking for you.”

  “For me?”

  A smile formed on Sam’s face. “Penelope is in labor. She wants to see you.”

  Vivian’s heart began to race again.

  Penelope was having her baby—Adam’s baby.

  Vivian took a deep breath. She had to be supportive. She had to be ready.

  For the past six months they’d all moved past their failed marriages to Adam, but he was still very much around. He was in her girls and in Penelope’s baby. Without Adam hiring Sam, Amelia wouldn’t have fallen in love. Had he not sent Brock, Penelope wouldn’t have anyone but Vivian and Amelia to love her and her baby. And though he hadn’t hand delivered Clayton to her door, without months of learning who she was and who she could be—she wouldn’t have fallen in love again.

  “Where is she?” She asked.

  “C’mon, I’ll take you down.”

  Sam escorted her to Penelope’s room.

  She was seated on the bed with the back raised and her hands rested on her stomach as she breathed in short pants.

  “Oh, what happened to you?” Penelope winced as a contraction obviously moved through her.

  “Just a little run in with Darby. I’m fine.” She moved toward the bed. “Are you ready?”

  Penelope nodded. “But I had to apologize first.”

  “For what?” Vivian’s voice rose as she couldn’t think of one thing for the woman to apologize about, especially while she was in labor.

  “For marrying your husband. I’m sorry.”

  Vivian smiled and held her hand. “Without Adam’s misunderstandings of everything, we wouldn’t have each other.”

  “You forgive me?”

  Vivian shook her head and her heart nearly exploded with love for the girl who had sweat beading on her lip. “I forgive him.”

  Amelia moved in next to her. “I think they’re ready for you to do this.”

  “I don’t know. I’m scared.”

  They both took Penelope’s hand. “We’re a team,” Vivian said. “Remember?”

  “If we were a team you’d have invited us to your wedding,” Amelia jabbed an elbow into Vivian’s side.

  “You’re married?” Penelope’s eyes opened wide as much for the contraction she was having as the news of Vivian’s marriage.

  She jabbed back at Amelia. “Why do you have to ruin surprises? Did you tell her you’re pregnant too?”

  Penelope grit her teeth. “You’re pregnant?”

  Amelia jabbed back at Vivian. “I said to not say anything until the wedding.”

  “Ahhhh!” Penelope held tight to her stomach. “The baby is coming. The baby is coming and you two are married, pregnant, and still fighting.” She grimaced at the pain and Brock moved in closer to her. “Go get those girls of yours.
They’re about to meet their sibling.”

  Vivian and Amelia both watched as they readied her for the birth of Adam’s baby.

  Vivian looked up at Brock. “Thank you for taking care of her.”

  His eyes were wide with the anticipation of what was about to happen, but he smiled sweetly. “I love her.”

  Vivian and Amelia walked out of the room with their arms wrapped around each other. Who would have ever thought they’d be kindred souls?

  “I suppose I should call Dorothy,” Vivian said as they waked toward the waiting room.

  “I did.”

  As they turned the corner Vivian smiled at the room full of people there.

  All of Brock’s family sat in the room. His mother and father entertained his nieces and nephews. His brother’s wife sat rubbing her own growing stomach while his sister read a book to one of her children. Dorothy sat with the four girls lined up next to her. Weren’t they a sight?

  Amelia nudged her again. “You should take them to see their daddy.”

  Vivian nodded. “You’re right.”

  She walked across the room toward Dorothy whose eyes opened wide the moment she looked at her.

  “Were you in an accident?”

  Vivian rested her hand on Dorothy’s. “Sort of.” She looked at the girls who now looked up at her. She knelt down in front of Charlotte and Stephanie. “I want to take you to see your daddy. He’s in a room here. We did kinda get into an accident and he’s got some stitches in the back of his head,” she said as she pointed to where his injuries would be. “He has a big bandage on his head, but I know if he saw you girls it would make him feel better.”

  They looked at her and she knew she must be a horrible mess with her blackened eyes, swollen cheek, and the deep mark on her collarbone where Darby had bit her.

  “I’m okay. And so is your daddy.”

  Emma tugged on her shirt. “Can we go with you?”

  Vivian pulled her close to her and kissed the top of her head. “Yes. We want to talk to all of you.” She looked at Dorothy. “Please come too.”

  Her girls took her hands and Clayton’s girls each held Dorothy’s. Quietly they walked down the hall toward the room where Clayton rested.