Outcast (The Friessen Legacy Series, Book 2), A Western Romance

by Lorhainne Eckhart

  The whole county knew that Faye was his father’s plaything and had been for years. Andy couldn’t blame him, considering who his mother was. She was cold, heartless, and she didn’t want his dad touching her. Nor Andy, for that matter. He couldn’t remember if his mother had ever hugged him. So he couldn’t blame his dad for going elsewhere. It was a wonder Andy had been conceived at all. Todd wasn’t faithful and never had been, but Caroline seemed oddly relieved instead of offended. Todd was hot blooded and very much the town playboy, and he’d found his way into many beds before settling somewhat on Faye Claremont. But Todd kept his wife and plaything separate. He was always careful not to upset Caroline, and he’d never leave her or stir the gossips, not for a piece of trash like Faye.

  Hailey tightened her grip on his waist and squealed. “Oh, Andy, hurry! It’s getting dark. I’m going to be late. I’m supposed to be having dinner with the Thornes at the country club to finalize the wedding.”

  He quickly unsaddled Valentino and set him loose in the large corral, tossing in a fleck of hay before he followed Hailey to his red Porsche. He didn’t bother to open her door, and she didn’t expect it.

  She tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder and flashed him perfectly straight white teeth, a bright smile. “When can we do this again?”

  He laughed because he’d spent most of the summer trying to get into her pants, and today he’d taken her to his special spot by the creek in the shelter of trees, where it opened to a small private meadow, perfect for an afternoon romp. That was exactly what he’d had as he rode her hard.

  “I don’t know. I’m back to school soon.”

  She traced her finger up his arm as the Porsche sped down the driveway, and, with a quick glance, Andy skidded onto the highway. Hailey frowned and batted her lashes.

  “Anytime,” he conceded. “I’ll have you home in a few minutes.” He definitely wanted nothing to interfere with her engagement to Parker.

  His mind wandered again to that middle Claremont girl, hoping she made it home okay. Someone needed to keep a closer eye on her. The forest was always filled with kids and teens sneaking around—the teenage boys around here would see a Claremont and wouldn’t care that she was just a kid.

  ***

  Diana flew into the two-story cedar house, with its saggy porch and rotted windows. The old hardwood floor was splintered and worn here and there, so she had learned to leave her shoes on inside instead of chancing a sliver in her foot.

  “Diana, where you been, girl? Get supper started,” her mama shouted from the only bathroom, which was always cluttered with her makeup and fancy creams and soaps. It was the bathroom where she spent every morning and evening primping and curling her long, deep red hair and shadowing her sky-blue eyes before slipping on her tight skirt and four-inch heels. Diana would watch and dream that one day she too would be as beautiful as her mama. Diana took after her mother, with deep red hair, the same magnetic blue eyes, and high cheekbones. But that was all they shared.

  She needed to take special care with her mama, especially when she was late for Mr. Friessen, where she helped him with whatever important work it was that he did. But since Mr. Friessen owned just about everything in the county, Diana didn’t rightly know what her mama did, exactly. What she did know was that most of it was on her back. She also had to take care that Louisa didn’t touch her mama with sticky hands or whine or fuss, especially when Mama needed to get out the door. Diana spent her days caring for her younger sister, cooking, cleaning, keeping everything organized for her mama.

  “Diana, make her stop that racket, would you?” Faye muttered in a frenzy as she rushed out of the bathroom. “I’m going to be late.”

  Diana turned off the burner, where she was frying the burgers she had pulled from the old fridge, wiping her hands on her faded cutoffs. She went to her sister Louisa, who was whining and slapping the door because she wanted to go outside. But Louisa couldn’t go outside without someone watching her, because she didn’t understand what “Don’t leave the yard in front of the house” meant and would wander off into the forest. Because of the severe seizures that left her unable to breathe and incapacitated for hours, she couldn’t be left alone.

  “Louisa, how about coloring me a picture?” Diana asked. Louisa’s coloring book and crayons were always in easy reach and often distracted her. But not today.

  “Okay, how do I look?” Her mama teetered on dark red heels, wearing a short red skirt and a red sequined halter. Diana thought her mama was the most beautiful woman in the county.

  “You look great, Mama,” Diana said, because she knew it was all her Mama wanted to hear. She had a one-track mind when it came to Mr. Friessen. Even though Mama was striking and extremely beautiful, Diana also knew she had the morals of an alley cat.

  “I’m leaving. Bye, darling.” She bent to brush a kiss on Diana’s head and dashed out the door without a glance at Louisa, who was now staring blankly out the window.

  Faye darted into her new Jeep. She’d come home with it one morning because she had worked all night for Mr. Friessen. She never said a word about where she’d gotten it, but everyone knew Mr. Friessen had given her the shiny new vehicle.

  Louisa started whining again. She couldn’t talk, so she screamed and whined. And when she was especially agitated, she’d bang her head. Who knew when a seizure would happen? She had medicine that Diana doled out daily, but it didn’t always work. The doctor said she wasn’t right in the head, and she had epilepsy and a heart murmur. The one thing Diana did know was that Louisa wasn’t retarded, nor did she have Down syndrome. She’d seen those kids, and Louisa looked nothing like them. But then her mama never told the doctor how she had partied, always drunk and high, when pregnant with Louisa. Diana knew it was something more and wondered if there was help for Louisa. But the small-town doc wasn’t too interested in helping a Claremont.

  She wondered too if Mr. Friessen was Louisa’s daddy. For a while, she hated him for not stepping up to his responsibilities. If he’d take her to his large estate, he could afford to get her the help she needed. Then maybe she could talk and would be able to dress herself. But Mama had so many men then that it could just as easily have been one of them. Louisa didn’t resemble Mama or Todd. She was a dark-haired, scrawny little imp with huge dark eyes. Diana had looked after Louisa since she was a tiny baby, abandoned by Mama in her crib for hours. Nina never gave Louisa a second glance, except to shout cruelly when she carried on with one of her spells. Diana protected her little sister from Faye and Nina.

  Nina was Mama’s favorite, not that she cared what she did. But she too was never home. She’d stumble in late, drunk and stinking of beer and sex. Every time, she would stumble over Diana to wake her and remind her that guys liked her better, talking about the fun she’d had.

  Diana was disgusted. And it bothered her the way the townsfolk would stare at her, their hurtful whispers about the trashy Claremont girls, saying they were all drunks and whores. All of them.

  Every time, she’d blink back those blinding tears, choking on the urge to scream at all of them, I’m not like that! It’s not me! I’m a good person! Why couldn’t the people in this town see that? She didn’t walk around in tight clothes, drinking and flaunting all she had. Her clothes were worn and patched castoffs, but they were always clean and decent. She went to school, did her homework, and never missed a day unless Louisa was sick. She never got in trouble and kept her head down. She didn’t hang around the sleazy bars and clubs—not that she could get in, anyway—chasing everything in pants. She wanted these people to respect her for who she was, not for the Claremont name. But it didn’t help that she resembled Faye, with her striking red hair, and not Nina. She was the spitting image of her mama.

  Diana had dreamed that Todd was her father. She would never know, of course, but she fantasized that he would divorce his wife and move them all into his huge estate, and she’d be able to live with Andy, to ogle him up close when he was home. She’d want
for nothing, and the townspeople would no longer treat her like dung they had wiped from the bottom of their shoes. No, Todd and Andy would protect her, and she’d no longer have to wear worn, frayed clothes. After thinking a while, though, she decided she didn’t want Todd to be her father, because she wanted to be Andy’s wife one day. It would turn the entire county upside down, a Friessen marrying a Claremont. She was so far beneath him—she knew that sort of thing was not done among the very wealthy, even now, in the nineties. He would marry within his class, which Diana was not. She was shocked sometimes by the turn her daydreams would take, but they always ended in her being rescued one day by her prince, Andy.

  Chapter 3

  Something shattered and clanked. Diana bolted upright, listening to the familiar drunken cursing of her mother. She glanced at the bedside clock. Just after midnight—it was early for Faye. She made no effort to be quiet as she stumbled around. Diana hurried down the steps in her thin nightgown before her mother woke Louisa, which was never good, as she’d be confused and would scream for hours.

  “Mama, you’re home early.”

  Faye wobbled on her spiked heels. She reeked of cheap booze and cigarettes. She yanked open the old, rotted cupboards in the dingy kitchen. They were mostly bare of food. “Where’s that sister of yours?”

  Diana wanted to snap, “Which one?” But that would earn her a cuff, as her mama never acknowledged Louisa except when she shouted for Diana to shut her up. “Nina’s out,” she answered.

  “Damn slut, never home when I need her. She’s out waving that skinny ass of hers. If she gets herself knocked up, I’ll toss her out on her ear so fast….”

  Diana rolled her eyes, as she heard this every time her mama was discarded by Todd, which, lately, was almost every week.

  “Mama, don’t talk like that. Did you have a bad night?”

  “Now, don’t you sass me, girl, or I’ll smack you.” Faye swayed, and the strap to her barely decent sequined top was ripped. Her skirt was stained with brown as she stumbled to the table, sinking in a chair. Dropping her head on her arms, she burst into tears and screeched as if someone were trying to kill her. This was always a killer for Diana; she couldn’t take her mama’s tears. Before she knew it, she hovered and pressed her hand to her mother’s hair, petting softly. Her mama whimpered, then turned her pale, creamy cheek into Diana’s hand.

  “Do you think I’m beautiful, baby? Desirable?”

  She knew what her mother wanted to hear, and it wasn’t the truth. “Of course you are, Mama. Any man would be lucky to have you. You know that.”

  Faye smacked her hand away. Sitting up, she tossed her head back and snorted a deep, throaty laugh. Diana hated when her mama got like this. She’d swing her moods high and low, worse when she was drinking. Worse when she smoked whatever she would get her hands on. Tonight, Diana could tell she’d done both.

  “Mama, are you hungry? There’s leftover dinner in the fridge. I can heat you up some.”

  “No, I don’t want no dinner. I want something to drink. Where’s the liquor?” She started to get up and staggered, losing her balance and dropping back in the chair.

  “Mama, I’ll get it for you. You just sit there.” Diana hurried to the cupboard in the hall and yanked out a half bottle of gin. She’d hid it under the sheets, mainly to keep Nina out of Mama’s booze so she’d not get cuffed if it was gone. She set it down in front of her mama with a glass.

  “You’re a good girl, Diana. You always look after me, not like that trashy, freeloading sister of yours. And the other, who’s an idiot.”

  Diana turned her head, blinking back tears. She ached for Louisa, hoping she couldn’t understand how her mother disdained her. Because her mama was a mean, vicious drunk who got her kicks from hurting others, if she saw the hurt in Diana, she’d move in for the kill. Surprisingly, her mama had a sixth sense for picking up on someone’s misery. So Diana put away the clean dishes and moved into the living room, putting away Louisa’s drawings. After a while, she heard her mother refill her glass and sigh, and she knew she could safely sneak away, as it wouldn’t be long until her mother passed out. But it would be a long night, like every other. Until everyone was home, she would wake every hour to see if both Nina and Faye were tucked safely in bed.

  Chapter 4

  Diana leapt from bed at the pounding on the door. The sun was barely up, so it took a moment for her eyes to adjust. This time, she pulled the sweater that she’d laid at the end of her bed over her nightgown and hurried barefoot down the narrow stairs. Faye was passed out, snoring and drooling at the kitchen table, her hand wrapped around a glass, the empty bottle lying on its side on the floor. Her tangled red hair stuck to the side of her face. The door shook, and Diana was positive it would have splintered open from the pounding if she hadn’t hurried to slip the lock and pull it open. Faye didn’t stir from the noise but lay sprawled across their rickety kitchen table when Andy Friessen burst through the door, shouting, “Where’s Todd?”

  He didn’t even spare a passing glance at Diana as he bore down on Faye. He shook her and then kicked her chair until she jumped up, swaying and holding her head.

  “What the hell…” She blinked a couple of times, shrinking back as Andy loomed over her.

  Louisa was crying upstairs, and it would take hours to calm her down if Diana didn’t get to her fast. She raced up the stairs as Andy shouted at Mama. Something shattered downstairs just as she reached Louisa.

  When Diana crept back down, carrying a whimpering Louisa, she noticed Nina slinking in the door. She was wearing Mama’s spikes and her black leather skirt, stinking of booze, cigarettes, and sex. Her eyes were wide, and she appeared far from sober, not interested in jumping to Mama’s defense.

  “My dad never came home last night, and I know he was with you. Now you tell me where he is, you cheap slut!” he roared at Faye, who was cowering in the kitchen against the wall. Dark circles of black were coated under her eyes from her cheap mascara.

  “What? That’s impossible,” she said. “I don’t know where he is. He never showed last night where he was supposed to. I came right home and was here all night.”

  “You’re a liar. Everyone knows you were with him. You shake your cheap ass in those tight skirts and he comes running. You’re keeping him from my mama. You entice every decent guy in this county. And you,” he glared at Nina, who cowered behind the door, “whoring around just like Faye, the spawn of the devil and every one of her bastards.”

  Diana gasped. She’d never heard such hatred from Andy. He heard her, though, because he leveled his hard, dark eyes on her, flashing with disdain.

  “What time did Faye get home?”

  Diana darted a quick look at Faye, whose face now appeared white as a ghost, staring at Diana in a way that had her taking another step back. “Around midnight, I guess, give or take.”

  Faye stumbled over and smacked Diana across the side of her head, just missing Louisa, whose scrawny arms were wrapped around her neck. “You lie, girl. Don’t you listen to her, son. She’s always lying. She’s kind of slow.”

  Louisa wailed louder and buried her head against Diana’s shoulder. Her legs were wrapped around her waist. Diana felt tears stream down her face, shamed and humiliated in front of Andy and too stunned to comfort Louisa.

  Andy glared in disgust from Nina to Faye. “I want you gone by nightfall. You’ve tainted our land and my family for too long.”

  “You can’t do that! There are laws to protect us,” Faye said.

  “You pay nothing. You’re a trespasser, and renter laws don’t apply to the likes of you.” Andy turned to leave. “Get off my property.”

  “Wait!” Faye raced after Andy and grabbed his arm. He shook her off, and she fell to the floor.

  Diana could read everything in his gaze—his unforgiving expression as he swept it over the dilapidated slum, with the uneven floor, rot, decay, broken floorboards, windows and cupboards. He was cataloguing her life as nothing more than s
omething to be swept away.

  “Be out by nightfall, or I’ll torch this shithole around you.” He stormed out the door, gunned the engine in his Porsche, and he was gone.

  Faye whimpered on the floor. Louisa screamed, and Diana was numbed by what Andy had said. They had to leave. Where would they go? She reached up and rubbed Louisa’s back. “Everything’s okay, Louisa. Shhh … don’t cry.” But it wasn’t okay, and it wouldn’t be ever again.

  Chapter 5

  Diana crammed Louisa’s clothes and coloring books in plastic bags and started packing up the kitchen.

  “What are you doing there, girl?” her mama slurred, drunk still, weaving into the kitchen after she showered and changed into a pair of skintight shorts. At least the stink of sweat and heavy perfume had been washed away. But the booze she’d downed the night before seeped from her pores.

  “I’m packing. We have to be gone tonight.” Diana was still numb, and she hadn’t been able to eat a thing as worry nibbled at her, twisting her gut until she ached all over.

  “Well, you just put everything away. We ain’t leaving.” Her mama waved her slender hand, with long, red nails, before wandering into the bathroom. The hairdryer whirred, and Louisa was clinging to her leg, rubbing her tired eyes and whining. If she didn’t get her to stop, Mama would lose it.

  “Louisa, please, honey. Color me a picture,” Diana said.

  But Louisa wouldn’t sit. She threw her crayons and ran after Diana, whimpering, so Diana hefted her and carried her on her hip as she’d done since she was a toddler. Louisa was getting too big, but today was definitely not the day to force the issue.

  Diana leaned in the bathroom doorway and caught a glimpse in the dingy, cracked mirror of a scrawny girl with tangled hair and a tired, pale face holding a skinny, dark-haired imp. Her mama was primping like she did every night, and she sprayed her hair, coating it with a layer of hairspray after she had all the curls just right.