by Abbi Glines
It was rare that Stone pissed me off. Normally, I took his know-it-all attitude with a laugh. But this . . . He’d gone too far. I sat my coffee down and glared at him. Not looking away. Not giving him a pass because he was my best friend. “Are you questioning my love for her?”
He didn’t back down. “Yes.”
We sat there in silence, neither of us speaking. I was furious, but there were too many words to explain exactly how wrong he was, and I was calming myself before I started yelling.
The knock on the door stopped me, and as it opened, Beulah walked in.
Beulah
STONE WAS BACK. MY GAZE went from Jasper to Stone, then back to Jasper. Maybe I should have waited until he said to come in. I didn’t walk in any further. “I’m sorry. I can work somewhere else. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
Jasper stood up from where he was perched on the edge of his desk facing Stone. They both looked serious but his face immediately softened as he walked toward me.
“You can walk in whenever you want. I’ve told you that,” he said.
Yes, he had, but I also knew Stone didn’t like me. “Okay,” was all I said in return. Stone made me nervous. His presence just brought tension. I couldn’t figure out why Jasper liked him so much. Sterling and Tate were much easier and enjoyable to be around.
“We were talking business and we’re finished. Stone was leaving.”
Stone didn’t move from the chair. I didn’t think he planned on leaving. I didn’t mention it or look directly at him.
“I need to get to the filing. I’ll be out of the way. Y’all can keep talking business.”
“How was your visit?” Jasper asked.
“Great. Heidi was so excited to see me. She wasn’t expecting me, so it was a treat. Thank you.”
He cupped the back of my head and kissed me. It was deeper than I was comfortable with Stone in the room, but I kissed back.
“Don’t thank me for that,” he whispered against my lips then pressed one more kiss to my mouth before letting me go.
“Please continue to suck her face while I’m present. I don’t mind at all,” Stone said in his deep voice, sounding unamused.
Jasper rolled his eyes and gave me a crooked grin. “Ignore him.”
That was hard to do. “I’ll get to work,” I said again, then hurried out of the room to the filing closet.
“Are you always going to be an ass around her?” I heard Jasper ask him.
“More than likely,” he replied.
I closed the door between us and let out a relieved sigh to be away from him. I hoped Stone wasn’t back to stay at the pool house. I didn’t think we’d ever be okay together. He wasn’t going to approve of this. Not the way the others had.
I’d had a wonderful morning with my sister, and I wasn’t about to let Stone ruin my mood. I sat down and began working on the messy pile that I had barely made a dent in. The time ticked by, and it was lunch when the door opened and Jasper came walking inside.
“I’m starved. Come eat with me.”
I stood up and straightened my skirt. “Sounds good. I’m getting hungry too.”
He held out his arms and I walked into them. I liked this. Feeling like I had someone.
“Stone will thaw eventually,” he said into my hair as he held me against him. “One day, the two of you will get along just fine.”
I doubted that, but I hoped it was true. “If you say so.”
Jasper laughed, then pulled back enough to kiss me. That was enough. Having him. His friends didn’t have to like me. He did.
He held my hand as we made our way to the elevator. He wasn’t hiding this. Whatever we were now he was making sure everyone knew. Brandy Jo would throw me out of a window if she got the chance. At least the pure hate in her eyes as we passed her in the lobby said as much. I would need to watch my back around her.
“Where are we going?” I asked and Jasper paused. His eyes fixed on something straight ahead. I followed his gaze and saw Portia stepping out of a black limo outside the entrance. This was going to mess things up. She would be even less thrilled about me than Stone.
I expected Jasper to let go of my hand, but his tightened around mine. I thought we were going to stand there like a wall to keep the evil out for a moment, but he began to walk moving us forward. It wasn’t until the doorman opened the door and we stepped out into the sunshine that she saw us.
Her steps halted. Her eyes went from both our faces to our hands joined. I expected fury. Outrage. Or even a dramatic fit. But instead, there was fear. That, I didn’t understand.
“I didn’t think of this. I should have. She’s gorgeous. Her gene’s are excellent. You’re a man and I left you alone with her. I just . . . I expected more of her. More determination. More pride.”
Jasper was tense before, but his grasp on my hand was so tight now it was bordering on painful. I didn’t say anything. “I won’t allow you to hurt her or say anything to upset her. You’ll be out without a dime. Do you understand me?” his tone was so cold it made me shiver.
Portia didn’t look concerned. Her shoulders remained straight. Her head held in that lofty way I was accustomed to from her. “You’ve made a grave error, son. One that you’ll no doubt blame on me, but one you were going to find out eventually. Secrets can’t be hidden forever. I’ve learned that the hard way. But this secret? The lies? They have to come out now. It won’t just hurt her, it’ll hurt you both.”
My heart began to beat nervously. There was something she hadn’t shared. I knew there was a secret she was hiding. It was the only thing that made sense about her taking care of Heidi and me. I just couldn’t figure out what it was.
“What the fuck are you rattling on about? I’m not going to waste time listening to your bullshit.” Jasper looked unamused by Portia.
Her chin lifted and she sighed wearily. “I’ll meet you both at the house in an hour. I have things you both need to see,” she paused and looked from me back to her son. “So you can see I’m not rattling on about bullshit.” Even when she cursed it sounded polished.
She turned on her heel, the chauffer opened the door of the limo, and she climbed back in. We didn’t move until she drove away.
Jasper’s body was wound so tight, he reminded me of a bomb about to explode. “We don’t have to listen to her. Let’s eat,” his tone was hard and the anger was there sizzling.
“I want to hear what she has to say. This is about my mother. I know it is. I’ve always known there was something Portia hadn’t told me. The reason she had helped us. After hearing all that, I think we should listen to what she has to say. I think we have to, Jasper. You hate her, but that doesn’t make it okay to ignore this.”
He took my hand and tugged me to him. Then he held me there tightly as if I were about to evaporate. Like I would leave him for good. “I don’t trust her. She is going to try and end us.”
I didn’t think that was what she was doing. “Let’s see her proof. That’s all I’m asking. Hear her out.”
He sighed and continued to hold me. We stayed that way for several moments. When he finally let me go he nodded once. “Okay.”
Jasper
NOTHING HAD EVER TERRIFIED ME like this . . . this unknown. Not even when my father had a heart attack. I had never been so wracked with despair over possible impending doom. I fought the urge to turn the car south and drive until we were in the Florida Keys. Or west until we got to California. Or even further away. Further from this. From my mother.
It wasn’t her lies that scared me. I told Beulah it was, but it wasn’t. It was her secrets that I was afraid to face. She hadn’t been furious. She hadn’t acted as if us holding hands was distasteful. She’d been . . . different.
I didn’t let go of Beulah’s hand as we drove home. I needed to feel her and to now she was there. That I hadn’t lost her. This wasn’t over. It hadn’t had a chance to really begin. We hadn’t spent a holiday together. We hadn’t danced. We hadn’t been on a date.
I wanted to take her to Paris, Italy, and Spain. Show her my favorite places. Experience life with her. Maybe we should drive to the airport now and fly away. Leave. Protect what we had. What we had found. Nothing my mother could tell me would change my love for Beulah. My need for her.
“I love you,” she said softly.
“I love you,” I repeated.
“This will be okay,” she told me.
I wanted to think that too. But deep down the dread was there. I’d never been happy. She had been my first real glimpse at happiness, and I’d been stupid to think I’d keep that. I wasn’t meant to have that in my life.
After I pulled into the drive, I parked the car and looked straight ahead. This was it. I had to trust what we would find out. Trust that Beulah loved me enough. That whatever horror my mother unveiled inside, we could withstand it.
“Let’s go,” I said, looking at her.
She nodded.
We walked into the house. Our hands no longer joined. The heaviness and ache of loss was already there. I couldn’t fit the darkness that was already washing over me. It was going to be something that my mother had done. Something I was afraid Beulah couldn’t forgive. A reason for her to run from here.
I stopped and grabbed her hand. “Don’t hate me because of her. Whatever she’s done, please love me. We will go far away from her. We don’t ever have to see her again. Just . . . don’t let her sins be mine.”
Beulah smiled at me. Not her bright happy smile. A smile that was reassuring and she placed her hand on my face. “She can’t make me stop loving you.”
God, I hoped so.
We walked inside and found Portia in the great room. She had a shoebox on the table and a glass with at least two shots of bourbon in it.
She turned to us and took a drink. “You both need to sit. A drink could also help.”
We didn’t take a drink or sit.
“Just tell us. Get this shit over with,” I said, my anxiety still clawing at me.
She raised her eyebrows as if she didn’t appreciate my speaking to her that way, then reached down into the box and took out a folded piece of paper. I watched her as she walked over to me and handed it to me. I stared at it as she held it out for me to take.
“Look at it. Then I’ll explain.”
Reluctantly, I took the paper and unfolded a birth certificate.
Reading, my first question was why did my mother have Heidi’s birth certificate? But the sickness that grabbed me after I read Portia Edwards name as the mother almost knocked me to my knees.
I shook my head and moved away from her. “No. This, this isn’t real.” My world was spinning. So many questions I didn’t want answers to. This was worse. Worse than my fears earlier.
“I was young and engaged to your father. I’d lived in a small two-bedroom home that didn’t even have central heating and air. My parents were strict, religious people, and I hated the world I’d grown up in. Luckily, I had beauty. I used my beauty to get away from it all. I was about to have my fairy tale. The life I wanted. When a man that I considered an uncle, a deacon in the church, someone that everyone admired, raped me. I had been sent to take him a meal from my mother. She said he’d been feeling sick and she wanted to do the Christian thing, and send over a meal. I wanted my sister to take it but she was sick as well. She had been throwing up that week. No one knew why. Not yet.
“I took the meal, he wasn’t sick. He was drunk and a big man. He was over sixty years old, but he was tall and kept in shape. He said things to me. Tried to get me to have sex with him willingly. I tried to fight him, to leave, but in the end, he won. I told no one.”
“Two days later, my sister found out that her sickness was morning sickness. She was pregnant by the best-looking guy in town. He rode a motorcycle, lived for the moment, but he was going nowhere in life. My sister had fallen in love with him. He left town the moment she told him. My parents were going to send her away to have the baby then force her to give it up for adoption. Two days later, my sister was gone, leaving only a note apologizing. It was a scandal. One I hated her for.” Portia stopped for a moment, thinking.
“Our family was now the talk of the town and I was sure I’d lose my fairy tale. I didn’t though. He still wanted me. He didn’t care about my sister or my religious, insane parents. We were engaged, and it wasn’t until I was gaining weight I shouldn’t have been that I realized I was pregnant. I thought it was ours. We’d been having sex for a while. We rushed the wedding and didn’t tell anyone about the pregnancy. We went to Paris instead. I finished my pregnancy there. Away from his friends and our world. We’d return home after some time had passed, and take our baby with us. But she . . . wasn’t okay. She had Trisomy 21, also known as Down syndrome.”
“No!” Beulah’s loud outcry sliced through me. She was backing away shaking her head. “That’s . . . No!” she pointed at the birth certificate in my hand. “That is not Heidi. No. That is not Heidi’s.”
My mother looked at her then. Pity was in her eyes. She was destroying Beulah and that was all she felt. Pity.
“We couldn’t keep a child like that. I was young. We had society and this life to live. Travel, and well . . . she would be impossible. We discussed putting her in a home. But I couldn’t. She was a baby. She needed a mother. So, I found the mother I knew would love her. Care for her. Take care of her. Treat her like she was her own. I found my sister.
Slowly, that one word took my heart and shattered it while disbelief and despair consumed me.
Sister.
“Pamela was my sister. She was younger than me. More beautiful than me, but she’d had eyes for the worst boy in town. She’d thought she could save him. She had been saving animals and nursing them our entire life. It was her way. I found her and her infant daughter in a trailer park living in poverty in Alabama. I gave her my daughter and two hundred thousand dollars. Then I walked away and never contacted her again. That was nineteen years ago.”
This desperation was a nightmare that I’d wake up from any moment was all I could think right then.
“You left her. How could you leave her?” Beulah said in a whisper.
Portia took the remaining items from the box. A hospital bracelet, photos and a few letters. “Pamela still sent me letters with photos over the years. I never responded. But I kept them. You’re welcome to read them.”
Beulah stared down at the items in her hand, and I wanted to grab her and run. We should have gone to California. We should have left.
Beulah shook her head, and then backed away as if Portia were dangerous.
“I can’t. I can’t be here.” She shook her head again and started to leave.
“He’s your first cousin. I didn’t want to tell you, but y’all forced my hand by doing whatever it was you did. I’m not sorry for what I did. I’d have never been the mother Pam was. Never. Heidi had a better life with her.”
Beulah stopped, and without looking back she replied. “I agree. She escaped life with a monster, and got to live with an angel instead. You’re a horrible, horrible woman.”
Then Beulah walked away.
I watched her go.
“You can’t love her that way. It’s incest. Disgusting.”
I was too broken to respond.
I followed her, my entire body and mind numb knowing that the small joy I had was gone. Any hope I had was gone.
“Beulah,” I called out and she paused. “We can run away.”
She faced me then. Tears streaming down her face. “You can’t run from this. It’s ours to face,” she let out a short sob. “Goodbye, Jasper.”
My soul went with her as she turned and left.
ABBI GLINES IS a #1 New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Rosemary Beach, Sea Breeze, Vincent Boys, Existence, and The Field Party Series. She never cooks unless baking during the Christmas holiday counts. She believes in ghosts and has a habit of asking people if their house is haunted before she go
es in it. She drinks afternoon tea because she wants to be British but alas she was born in Alabama. When asked how many books she has written she has to stop and count on her fingers. When she’s not locked away writing, she is reading, shopping (major shoe and purse addiction), sneaking off to the movies alone, and listening to the drama in her teenagers lives while making mental notes on the good stuff to use later. Don’t judge.
You can connect with Abbi online in several different ways. She uses social media to procrastinate.
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ROSEMARY BEACH SERIES
Fallen Too Far
Never Too Far
Forever Too Far
Rush Too Far
Twisted Perfection
Simple Perfection
Take A Chance
One More Chance
You We’re Mine
Kiro’s Emily
When I’m Gone
When You’re Back
The Best Goodbye
Up In Flames
SEA BREEZE SERIES
Breathe
Because of Low
While It Lasts
Just For Now
Sometimes It Lasts
Misbehaving
Bad For You
Hold On Tight
Until The End
SEA BREEZE MEETS ROSEMARY BEACH
Like A Memory
Because of Lila
THE FIELD PARTY SERIES
Until Friday Night
Under the Lights
After the Game (Coming August 22, 2017)
ONCE SHE DREAMED
Once She Dreamed (Part 1)
Once She Dreamed (Part 2)
THE VINCENT BOYS SERIES
The Vincent Boys
The Vincent Brothers
