Open Your Heart

by Cheris Hodges

  “As much as I can be,” she replied. “Will this ever end? What happens if they figure out that Robin is my sister and they come after her? Now, if somebody got Logan, that would be fine.”

  “Remind me to stay on your good side,” he said with a grin. “And you really can’t wish that on your brother-in-law when your sister seems to be ready to forgive him.”

  Yolanda opened her mouth to respond when Alex and Robin returned to the car. “This cake had better be everything you say it is,” Alex said once they got in the car.

  “As much as you love chocolate, you’re going to enjoy this,” Robin said as she shot Charles and Yolanda a questioning look. “What are you two doing back there?”

  “Plotting Logan’s beatdown,” Yolanda quipped.

  “Give it a rest, Yolanda,” Robin said with an exasperated sigh.

  Charles stroked Yolanda’s knee. “No one is going to do that,” he said.

  “Speak for yourself,” Alex said, shocking everyone in the car.

  “I need your support right now,” Robin said. “Or you can take me to get my car and I’ll have dinner with my husband without y’all.”

  “I want to support you, but I don’t understand how you can just forgive him so quickly,” Alex said. “Until that woman started spouting your health issues I was in Logan’s corner.”

  “Can we not do this now?” Robin snapped.

  Alex started the car and kept quiet. Charles was equally shocked that Yolanda hadn’t said much either. While everything that was going on with Robin seemed very emotional, he couldn’t get caught up in the Richardson family drama. He needed to make sure Yolanda was going to be all right. Everything else they would have to handle among themselves.

  When they arrived at Robin’s home in Richmond, Charles’s neck was aching from all the turning he’d done in the car. Every time a vehicle seemed as if it was too close to them, he’d stared at it, trying to figure out if the driver was following them or not. Luckily, no one had followed them.

  When they arrived at Robin’s other place, Charles’s phone rang as they walked inside, and it was Madison.

  “Hello?” he said when he answered the call.

  “Hey. Got news. Well, I made news. I sent an anonymous tip to the Richmond police and they have recovered Danny’s body and his ex-wife’s.”

  “So, what does this mean going forward?”

  Madison cleared her throat. “Danny’s killer is still out there, and the police need to be put on notice. I’m going to text you a picture. This guy is lethal and I’m not sure if he has decided to disappear or continue to come after your girl.”

  “Thanks for the update, but are you safe?”

  “For now. I’m out in Danville right now. Just to do some research and see what we’re up against.”

  “Sounds like a good plan. Thanks for all of your help on this.”

  “You know I always have your back. Just wait a few days and see how things shake out before heading to the police. I think you should go check out her old shop and see if it’s being watched.”

  He was about to reply when Yolanda walked into the living room, where he was stationed. “I’ll call you back.”

  “Everything all right?” she asked.

  Charles nodded. “Are you good being here?”

  Yolanda shrugged. “Not my decision. I’m just here for the food. Speaking of, are you hungry?”

  He was, but not for whatever was in a pot in the kitchen. “Yeah, I could eat.”

  “Really?”

  “Come here,” he commanded softly. “When we go to the police, we’re going to put this behind us and we’re going to have some decisions to make.”

  “Yeah. But let’s not do that now while all of these people are in here doing whatever they’re doing.”

  “What’s going on with your sister and her husband?”

  “Insanity. I really don’t know. It’s like he cheated, but he didn’t. My sister had cancer, but didn’t tell us. It’s too much.”

  “So, y’all keep secrets from each other all the time?”

  “Whatever,” she replied.

  “Have you actually come clean about what happened to you?”

  “Something like that,” Yolanda said.

  “Um, okay.”

  She pinched him on his arm. “You play too much.”

  He was about to say something when his phone vibrated in his pocket. “Hold on,” he said as he pulled the phone out of his pocket. It was Madison again. “Hello?”

  “We have a problem. Can you meet me tomorrow morning?”

  “Yes,” he said. “But what’s going on?”

  “Listen, that hired killer Chase Franklin is lethal. He has never been arrested and he’s filled more graveyards than a little bit. He’s relentless and he’s not going to stop until he thinks all of his loose ends are tied up.”

  “I thought you were in Danville.”

  “I’m on my way back. The car I was in last night had a camera and I got an image of him. Chuck, I don’t think you understand how dangerous this man is.”

  “Where do you want to meet?” He looked at Yolanda, who was staring at him with questions dancing in her eyes.

  “I’ll call you at six and we’ll figure it out.”

  When he ended the call, Yolanda started with her questions. “What’s going on?” she asked.

  “Let’s get some food and then we can talk about it,” he said.

  They walked into the kitchen and grabbed two plates of food, then headed to the living room. As they took a seat on the sofa, Yolanda heard Alex yelling about the woman whom said Logan fathered her child.

  “There is so much going on right now,” Yolanda said. “And you wonder why I don’t want to be totally honest with them.”

  “I get that you want to keep them safe, but maybe they should know what’s going on, in detail.”

  “That’s not what you said in the beginning. Stop flip-flopping,” she said as she picked at her chicken.

  “Your family is a lot closer than I realized. Seeing you all in action is something else.”

  “What did your source say?”

  “The guy looking for you is trying to tie up all the loose ends since . . .”

  She nearly dropped her plate. “And I’m a loose end?”

  “I’m not going to allow him to hurt you. Madison and I are going to figure this out.”

  “And what am I supposed to do? I can’t stay here and risk being found. What if he figures out that Robin and I are related and he comes after her? Who is this man?”

  “That’s not important, babe,” he said.

  “What the hell do you mean it’s not important? He’s trying to kill me, not you.”

  Charles set his plate on the table and took Yolanda’s plate from her hand and placed it beside his. Then he took her hands in his. “When I tell you that it isn’t important, trust me on that. I’m going to stop him from hurting you, no matter what.”

  “Even if that means you get hurt?”

  “Yolanda, that’s my job.”

  “You told me you weren’t Secret Service, so that means you don’t have to take a bullet for me, right?”

  “I may not have to, but if it comes to that, I will.”

  She gasped. “No.”

  “Yolanda, it may not even get there. This is why I didn’t want to tell you.”

  “Well, now that I know, what happens next?”

  Alex stuck her head in the living room. “Why are you two being so antisocial?” she asked. “Robin is about to cut this cake and I’m not eating it alone.”

  “Give us a second,” Yolanda said.

  Alex shrugged and returned to the kitchen. Charles stroked her cheek. “Yolanda, this ends tomorrow, one way or another. Maybe with him going to jail or being eliminated. But Yolanda Richardson is going to be fine.”

  “Promise?”

  “Yes. Now, let’s go in the kitchen before they come back and ask why I made you cry.”

  Y
olanda and Charles joined the rest of the crew at the table as Robin doled out slices of chocolate cake and poured glasses of wine. Charles opted for water. He watched Yolanda sip her wine and wanted to be the rim of that glass. He meant what he’d told her: He’d take a bullet for her if he had to.

  Alex walked over to Yolanda and touched her elbow. “Can we talk for a second?”

  Yolanda drained her wineglass and nodded. Alex pointed at Charles. “Can you come too?”

  Charles knew this was about to be a moment. He just hoped it wouldn’t turn into a screaming match. They crossed into the foyer and Yolanda tilted her head to the side at her sister. “What’s up, Alex?”

  “That’s what I want to know, finally. We’ve had a lot of honest moments and it’s time for us to have one,” she said calmly.

  “Fine,” Yolanda replied. “But keep in mind, everything I did was because I didn’t want any harm to come to you and the rest of the family.”

  “Why would . . .”

  Charles and Yolanda exchanged a look. “Alex, someone wants to kill me. And that’s why Chuck and I have been . . . It happened here in Richmond and I didn’t want anyone to know. Silly me, I told Nina and she went to Dad.”

  “What the hell? Does Robin know?”

  Yolanda shook her head and Charles ran his hand across her back. “Nina was the only one who knew a little about what was going on.”

  “Of course you told Nina,” Alex said with a scoff.

  “Well, I’m trying to tell you now,” Yolanda snapped.

  She threw her hands up. “Go on.”

  “There was a murder outside of my shop and I saw what happened,” she said. “The killers, they knew who I was and I didn’t want them to trace me back to Charleston and the bed-and-breakfast. Do you know how devastated I would’ve been if something . . .” Yolanda started crying and Alex pulled her into her arms.

  “I wish you’d been honest with me before now,” she said as they hugged.

  “And what would you have done?”

  “We could’ve stayed in contact with the investigators and . . .”

  “No, Alex, we couldn’t have,” Yolanda said.

  “The man Yolanda saw commit the murder is Danny Branch, who’s very connected in Richmond and it was important to make sure that whomever we talked to about what Yolanda knew wouldn’t put her in more danger. Now, there is another layer,” Charles said. “There is still a threat and I’m trying to make sure we neutralize it.”

  “I-I had no idea how much danger . . .Yolanda, I’m so sorry that . . .”

  “Let’s tell Robin good night before she comes over here and—” Yolanda stopped short and wiped a tear from Alex’s cheek. “Please, I can’t take you crying.”

  Alex shook her head then wiped her eyes. “Come on, let’s go.”

  Chapter 31

  After finishing dinner at Robin and Logan’s place, Yolanda, Chuck, and Alex headed back to Petersburg. Alex shocked her sister again when she allowed Chuck to drive. They were halfway to Robin’s other place when Alex spoke up.

  “My sister is running from a killer and it’s taken this long for us to find out? Charles, how are you going to fix this? How does any of this work?”

  “Alex,” Yolanda said quietly, “can we not do this?”

  “Oh, we’re going to do this. I know you’re scared and you wanted to keep us out of this, but I’m scared, too. If something happens to you . . .”

  “Alex, nothing is going to happen to your sister. My contact and I have a plan. That’s why I’m not going back to Charleston with you two tomorrow.”

  “What?” Alex and Yolanda exclaimed in unison.

  “Chuck, I’m not leaving you here to . . .”

  “Yolanda, how much sense does it make to have you right in this killer’s crosshairs? I know exactly what I’m doing,” he said.

  “Which is what?” Alex asked.

  “Saving Yolanda’s life.”

  A tense silence enveloped the car. Yolanda didn’t want to go to Charleston and leave Chuck alone to face this killer. But what could she do? She’d shot that gun one time at the range. And she didn’t even bring it with her. She just needed to be around in case something happened. What if he got hurt? What if she never saw him again?

  Chuck pulled into the driveway of the town house and hopped out of the car and looked around.

  “You haven’t been to Milan, have you?” Alex asked as she and Yolanda exited the car.

  “No.”

  “So, you would rather fight with me about a lie than tell me the truth?”

  “You just like fighting with me because that’s what you do,” Yolanda quipped.

  “I don’t say it enough, Yo-Yo, but I’m proud of you.”

  Yolanda stopped walking and faced her sister. “Technically, you never say it.”

  “And this is why. Give me my moment, here.”

  Yolanda threw her hands up. “Okay, carry on.”

  “You had a dream, you followed it and made a success of it. Then this happened and now you’re starting over. But I know your next act is going to be amazing.”

  Yolanda almost started crying. Alexandria Richardson had never said anything like that to her. “Maybe I should get death threats more often,” Yolanda quipped.

  “Don’t do that! You realize that I’ve almost lost every one of my sisters in the last year? Robin’s cancer, Nina’s accident, and now this. I may never come back from my vacation,” Alex said as they walked into the house. Chuck stood at the door and smiled at them.

  “I thought I was going to have to come out there and get y’all.” He handed Alex the spare key Robin had hidden underneath the welcome mat. “Tell your sister she shouldn’t leave her keys out like this.”

  “I’ll pass it along, but I don’t think she’s going to be living here much longer,” Alex said as she glanced down at her watch. “I’m going to bed. Since we’re leaving tomorrow, I’d better get some sleep. And you should too.” She pointed at Yolanda and Chuck. “Don’t keep her up too long.”

  Yolanda shook her head. “Classy, Alex.”

  Once they were alone, Yolanda flung herself into Chuck’s arms. “Is this the only way?”

  “Yes. Trust me, darling, this nightmare is coming to an end, all right.”

  “Or another one is about to start.”

  “I’ve been in war zones, I can handle this.”

  “You’d better, because I kind of like having you in my life.”

  “Good, because I enjoy being in your life.” Chuck brushed his lips across her forehead. “Now, you probably should go to bed because your sister is serious about leaving early.”

  Yolanda groaned. “Yes, she is. But do you have to be up all night or can you join me in bed?”

  “To sleep, I sure can.”

  She rolled her eyes at him. “You’re no fun.”

  * * *

  The bed in the guest room was small. Well, small for Charles. Yolanda went to sleep as soon as she got out of the shower, but he couldn’t sleep thinking about going after Chase. Madison had sent the guy’s picture over and he was certain that he was the man he’d seen outside of Yolanda’s shop in Charlotte. Knowing she’d been that close to death made his blood run cold. He held her a little tighter as she snored lightly. He loved this woman more than he’d ever expected. She held his entire heart and anybody trying to hurt her would have to get through him first. She pressed her hand against his chest and a smile spread across her lips. Charles wondered what was going on in that pretty little head of hers. When he actually drifted off to sleep, Alex was knocking on the door.

  “Let’s go, Yolanda!”

  “Alex, come on. Let’s wait another hour!” Yolanda called out.

  “No. I’m going to be ready in twenty minutes and I know you want to stay, but Charles said you have to go back to Charleston.”

  “I did say that,” he whispered.

  “Didn’t I tell you that I don’t like following orders?”

  “Thi
s is one time that you don’t have a choice. Get up,” he said softly. Yolanda inched closer to him.

  “I’ll get up and get ready to leave as soon as you kiss me.”

  She didn’t need to ask him twice as he captured her mouth in a slow and delicate kiss. Her body vibrated against his and Charles knew if he didn’t let her go, she wouldn’t be going anywhere—and neither would he. He pulled back from her. “Now, you have to get up,” he said.

  “Fine,” she replied with a pout. Yolanda got out of bed and headed for the shower. Charles picked up his phone and made a reservation for a rental car to be delivered to him. Alex was true to her word: Twenty minutes after her wake-up knock, she was back at the door.

  “Yolanda!”

  Charles pulled his T-shirt on, then opened the door. “She’s in the bathroom, Alex,” he said.

  She looked down at her watch and shook her head. “We really need to get going. And you need this.” Alex handed him the house key. “Just bring it back when you’re done. And you will be back in Charleston soon, right?”

  He nodded. “I have a lot to come back for.”

  “And that means my sister, doesn’t it?”

  Charles smiled. “Yes, I mean Yolanda.”

  “When did you fall in love with her?”

  “It’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment, but I do love her. That’s why I have to make sure this man is no longer around to try to hurt her.”

  Alex smiled and gave Charles a slow once-over. “Let’s be clear about a couple of things. Yolanda and I clash a lot, but I love her fiercely. You’re a big guy, but if you hurt my sister, I will be your worst nightmare.”

  “And I believe that, but you have to know this: I would never do anything to hurt Yolanda. Never met anyone like her before in my life and I don’t even know what life would be like without her in it anymore.”

  “Thank you for everything you’ve done to keep her safe. I wish I’d known what was going on, but you’re the first person, outside of Dad, who’s ever kept Yolanda in check. You’ve already won half the battle. But if your little girlfriend doesn’t hurry up, she’s going to have to take an Uber back to Charleston.”

  “Ugh!” Yolanda said from behind them. “Why are you like this?”

  Charles smiled at his woman, who was dressed in a pair of black leggings and a Spelman College sweatshirt. No matter what she wore, she was always beautiful.