by T. I. Lowe
“I might as well just go sit down with you,” Crowley said to Leah as he neared.
“Why’s that?” She rested against the fence.
He tucked his glove in the back of his ball pants and placed his hands over hers. “There’s no way I’m going to be able to concentrate with you flaunting your lovely self in that pretty dress,” Crowley said playfully into her ear, sending delightful tingles along her neck.
Crowley leaned over and placed a kiss on her cheek and started backtracking to the field, causing the entire dugout to come alive with whistles and catcalls. Crowley’s buddies were having a heyday over him finally laying some claim to Leah publicly.
To egg his friends on even more, Crowley jogged back to the fence and used his tattered ball cap to block his and Leah’s faces from the dugout as he kissed her thoroughly. With her looking so amazing, he didn’t want his friends to have any doubt about his claim.
Leah was pretty impressed when Crowley hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning. It was a lively game, with the lead changing in each inning. The game concluded with Crowley’s team winning by two runs. Everyone rushed onto the field to congratulate the winning team and to rag the losers in good spirit. In the excitement of the win, Crowley made a beeline to Leah and swept her up in his arms. She pulled his cap off so she could give him a celebratory kiss.
“The teams are heading to the steak house in a few,” he said.
She smiled. “Have fun.” Leah was disappointed at the small amount of time they could spend together in the long day, but she wanted him to enjoy his friends.
Before Crowley could reply, a group of players rushed him with a water cooler, and a free-for-all broke out. Leah and Lulu managed a quick getaway to dodge the shenanigans. On their way out, one of Lulu’s friends mentioned that by the end of the game, with the player donations, concessions, and ticket sales, over ten thousand dollars had been raised to help fund an indoor playground for the patients at the children’s hospital.
Several long hours later, Leah snuggled up on her sofa, trying to concentrate on the new mystery Nick dropped off a few days ago. At midnight, a faint knock on the door sent a thrill of anticipation through her. She had longed for Crowley to pop in but was about to give up hope and go to bed.
She tried tamping down the smile before opening the door, but the first glimpse of him did her in. “Hi.”
He had both hands hidden behind his back and a grin on his face as wide as hers. “I want to go swimming.”
“Well, you’re dressed in a T-shirt and swim trunks. You also have a perfectly good pool. Go for it.”
He pulled his right hand from behind his back and handed her a small gift bag. “I want you to go with me, Miss Smarty-Pants.”
Leah reached inside the bag and plucked a skimpy black bikini from it. “No!”
Crowley placed his free hand on his hip. “Well, why not?”
“First off, it’s a bikini. Secondly, it’s a size small.”
He shrugged. “Yeah . . . a small bikini seems ’bout right to me.”
“No,” she said firmly.
“Fine,” he relented and offered the other bag that was hidden behind his back.
This time, Leah pulled out a baby-blue tankini halter top and bottoms. “Why didn’t you just give me this one to begin with?”
“Hey, can’t blame a guy for trying.” Crowley stepped into the apartment and closed the door. Before she could go change, he gathered her in his arms and kissed her lightly on the lips. He then moved to delicately place kisses along her earlobe. “I’m glad you enjoyed the pool while I was gone,” he murmured in her ear.
Leah backed away from him. “How do you know about that?”
Crowley pulled her back to him. “I had an attempted break-in a couple of years ago. After that, I had the alarm system installed along with some surveillance cameras around the property. The cameras are linked to my laptop.”
Leah reared back the two gift bags gathered in her right hand and whacked him with them. “You jerk, you’ve been spying on me.”
“Hey now . . . I didn’t mean to. I should have warned you I’d be checking in now and then.”
“If I would have known—”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to creep you out.” He nuzzled her neck, his breaths tickling her. “It helped me to see you while I was gone. To know you were okay. It gave me the restraint not to call you up each day.”
“What about me? I was miserable with you calling everyone else but me.” She pouted as she laced her hands through his hair.
“I hoped it would make you miss me more.” He grinned.
Leah extracted herself from his embrace and headed to the bathroom to change. “You succeeded, Crow.”
Soon after, they hopped onto their bikes parked behind the café and pedaled off to the pool. The humid air blanketed them as they frolicked in the pool for the next few hours. The clear night sparkled with glowing moonlight and stars so bright that Crowley didn’t have to turn the pool lights on. Leah felt as though the two of them were in their own private world.
As they tired of swimming, Crowley wrapped Leah’s long legs around his waist and stood in the six-foot-deep water in the middle of the pool. He kissed her gently behind her right ear and then traced his fingertips along the thin scar tucked there. “I want to know about this,” he whispered as he skimmed his lips over the scar.
Saying nothing, she shook her head.
He surprised her then by tapping the jagged scar she thought was hidden on her hip. “I want to know about this,” he murmured into her ear.
How could he know about that? He looked up and gazed at her intensely. She detected a deep sadness in his ocean-blue eyes. She didn’t want him to carry any part of the burden of her pain, but he had obviously taken it on anyway.
He pressed his lips to the faint scar tucked in her left eyebrow. “I want to know about this.” He worked his way to the scar barely visible on her chin, which had been in the process of healing when she had arrived in town last fall. “I want to know about this.”
He remembered.
Crowley looked into Leah’s eyes as they swayed in the water. He released her hip and pulled her scarred palm to his lips and brushed kisses over it. “I want to know about this.” He pressed it to his pounding heart. “I need to know about this.” The deep timbre of his voice was strained with emotion. Her body trembled from the longing in his voice.
Lastly, he traced the long scar across her bottom lip with his thumb. “I need to know about this,” he said again.
Her breath hitched at the passion in his voice. Tears pricked her eyes. He was too observant and too persuasive. She laid her head on his shoulder to hide the tears. “Why do you need to know about some old ugly scars?” she mumbled against his shoulder.
He dipped into slightly deeper water so that she would have to raise her head and meet his gaze. “I need to know so I can help them heal.” He brushed his hand over her cheek to wipe away her tears.
“Some scars don’t ever heal,” she whispered. “No matter how awfully bad you want them to. They’re just too deep.” She let him dance her to a gentle rhythm in the water for a while longer as she buried her face in the comforting crook of his neck.
As she held tight to him, his words began to resonate. It was time to take care of the past, even if it meant losing the future she would do anything to have.
She pulled away from him and swam to the steps to exit the pool. “Fine. I’ll meet you at your office after work tomorrow. I’ll tell you everything then.” She grabbed her towel and stomped over to her bike, trying to be mad at him but unable.
Crowley lifted himself over the side of the pool and reached out to stop her. “Please don’t leave like this.”
“It’s late. I have to be at work in only a few hours.” She climbed on her bike and tucked the towel around her.
“Don’t you want to do this so we can make a good go of this relationship?” he asked, his voice pleading.
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br /> “After I tell you, there won’t be any more relationship to worry about.” She took off, hoping he wouldn’t follow even though she knew he would.
Crowley didn’t say another word as he escorted her to the back entrance of the café. For that, she was thankful. Seemed everything that needed to be said for the night had been. It was too late to go any further with it, anyway.
Leah knew it was time, though, so she turned before closing the door and said, “I’ll meet you after work tomorrow.”
24
LEAH QUIETLY KNOCKED on Crowley’s door a little after three the following afternoon. He opened the door and motioned her in. She stepped inside and noticed three doors, adorned with brass nameplates, lining a long hallway. She moved to the left and read the nameplate that stated Crowley J. Mason III, Attorney-at-Law. Then she moved over the right and read the nameplate on the door across from Crowley’s dad’s office. It stated, as she expected it would, Crowley J. Mason IV, Attorney-at-Law. Leah took the few steps to the last office and was surprised to find the nameplate inscribed, Lydia C. Mason, Attorney-at-Law.
Leah looked at Crowley. “Lydia?”
“Yeah. My grandmother. She followed in the footsteps of her dad, who was a lawyer as well,” Crowley said as he ran his hand over the nameplate in question.
“That’s a long line of lawyers.” Leah admired the rich history of it.
“Yeah. It runs through my veins.”
Leah decided to stop stalling and stood at bit straighter, trying to muster up some courage. “Good thing for me . . . because I’m in need of a lawyer.”
Crowley nodded. If he’d changed his mind about wanting to know her sordid past, he didn’t let on. “Then I guess we need to go have a seat in my office.”
Leah turned to Crowley J. Mason IV’s office, but Crowley gestured toward the office of Crowley J. Mason III. “I moved into my dad’s office after law school. Come on in.” He opened the door and led the way.
The office was of a good size with a massive, intricately carved antique cherry desk in the middle of the room. Two wingback chairs sat in front of it, and a large leather chair that looked buttery soft stood grandly behind it. Leah sat in one of the wingback chairs as Crowley took his seat behind the desk and pulled out a legal pad. Even though he was casually dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, Leah was impressed at how quickly he took on the air of a professional lawyer.
He sat with a pen ready and patiently waited. When she remained quiet, Crowley tried to get the ball rolling by saying, “How may I be of service to you, Miss Allen?”
Leah took an unsteady breath and blurted, “I was married to the devil himself for the past ten years . . . Brent Sadler.” Almost choking on his name, she looked down at her body. “He gave me all these scars.”
“Was. So that means you’re divorced?” Crowley asked as he jotted the information down. From the dark frown on his face, he was already forming a plan to find Brent and put a few scars on him.
“No. I killed him,” Leah whispered. She couldn’t believe she said it out loud. She watched a stunned Crowley drop his pen as his mouth fell open. She couldn’t take it, so she stood abruptly and knocked the heavy chair over in the process. “I’m sorry.” Leah bolted out of the town house.
Lulu stood in the kitchen, shocked to the point of being unable to move, after hanging up the phone. Crowley had explained in a rush what Leah confessed and asked her not to leave the upset woman. Before she could unglue her feet, the door banged open and produced a distraught Leah with tears streaming down her face.
Instead of going upstairs like Lulu expected, Leah headed over to the display case and snatched up a slice of chocolate cake.
“You know that won’t fix anything,” Lulu said quietly. She caught a glimpse of Crowley easing into the shadows of the back hall, visibly shaken. Poor boy.
“Can’t I just eat this in peace?” Leah snapped. “Alone!”
Lulu placed her hand on Leah’s trembling arm. “Honey, he can’t hurt you ever again.”
Leah yanked away from her grasp, threw the slice of cake down, and let out such a guttural screech her entire body shook from it.
At a loss as to what to do, Lulu could only stand there and witness Leah’s walls crumble and spill everything that was locked inside.
Crowley began to move into view, but Lulu met his gaze and gave her head a slight shake to warn him to stay put. She knew this broken girl had to let it out.
After Leah’s screams died down, Lulu repeated, “He can’t hurt you anymore.”
“Don’t you dare say that to me.” Leah gave her a warning look and began to pace like a caged animal reaching its breaking point. Abruptly, she whirled around and held her palm up for Lulu to view. “This scar was my punishment for burning his supper one night. He held it to the gas burner. It still tingles from the nerve damage—still!”
Lulu’s stomach flipped, but she stood stoically and chose not to say anything. At the moment, the girl didn’t need to listen. She needed to be heard.
She pulled her hair back so Lulu could see the long scar behind her ear. “I have another burn. I earned this one with a flat iron for not having my hair perfectly straight when my husband arrived home early one day.” She let her hair fall back down. “He got the iron as hot as it would get and branded me, saying he bet I would never forget to do my hair again. He was absolutely right.”
Lulu’s eyes moved to Leah’s ankle when she lifted the leg of her pants to expose it.
“This aches every time it rains. Do you know why?” Leah asked, and Lulu slowly shook her head. “He slung me down a staircase for wearing heels that were too high. Broke it so bad it required surgery.” Leah turned away from Lulu and yanked her yoga pants down to reveal another secret.
Lulu moved forward a step to get a better look at the jagged scar on her hip and barely contained a gasp.
“This beaut was acquired from a fire poker I was beaten with.” Leah let out a derisive laugh. “He said he didn’t mean to plunge it so deeply.” She pulled her pants back over her thin hip and faced Lulu.
Lulu opened her mouth even though she had no idea what to say, but Leah moved on.
“You know why I can never turn my head but only so far to the right?” She cradled her neck with both hands.
Lulu just shook her head, thoroughly shell-shocked at all the scars riddling the young woman’s body.
“He choked me one night until I passed out. This was after he shook me so hard that I heard something pop in my neck. But that didn’t stop him from choking me again two more times after that. . . . You saw the bruises, didn’t you?” Leah asked and Lulu nodded.
“And right now it throbs from me yelling, and I know I won’t be able to even move it tomorrow.” Leah batted the tears away from her red cheeks. “Ask me what the doctor says is wrong with my neck. Go ahead, ask.”
“What’s wrong with your neck?” Lulu asked cautiously.
“Who knows? He wouldn’t let it be seen by a doctor.” Leah raised her hands in the air. “Instead, I was locked in a closet for an entire week so Brent wouldn’t have to be reminded of what he did to me.”
There was no containing the gasp or her own tears from spilling as she moved forward only to have the skittish girl back away. “Oh, Leah . . .”
Leah was trembling uncontrollably as she spoke through gritted teeth. “So don’t you dare tell me he can’t ever hurt me again. He does it every day of my life!” She clenched her belly and nearly doubled over. “And it hurts so deep inside here that sometimes I can’t even breathe,” she whispered. “So how dare you tell me that cake won’t make it better? It’s the only way I can numb it.”
Lulu gathered the courage to speak. “It seems to me that Crowley was numbing it pretty well.”
Leah straightened and wiped her nose on the sleeve of her shirt. “Well . . . I told him I killed my husband, so I’m pretty darn sure that’s over with. Right now all I want is that piece of cake!” Leah shouted, close to hysterics.
Lulu picked up the slice of cake and set it aside, causing Leah to raise her hands in defeat. Lulu pulled out two forks, handed one to Leah, and grabbed up the layer cake she’d just finished frosting. She set it on the nearest table and said resolutely, “We are going to eat all the cake we want.”
The women sat down before the cake and dug their forks into the side of it. Still sobbing and hiccuping, Leah shoved an enormous bite into her mouth. Lulu, queasy from hearing about Leah’s abuse, took a big bite of her own and dutifully chewed. She knew this would only make Leah feel worse, but Lulu was determined to share the burden with her even if it meant dealing with a bellyache. She’d take on the pain of the poor girl’s scars if she could.
Lulu looked over Leah’s shivering shoulder at Crowley, who was shaking as well. She knew the best thing for him to do was go calm down, so she subtly waved him to leave. He hesitated briefly before slipping out the door.
Crowley stumbled over to the riverbank by his town house and plopped down in the tall grass. All the scars and all the reasons for them flashed through his head. “Stupid accident . . .” He huffed. It was how she described them. “Stupid accident,” he repeated, shaking his head. Bile rose up in his throat as he tried to imagine the pain from having his hand held to a gas flame . . . or the pain from a fire poker piercing into his flesh . . . or how excruciating it had to be to have an iron branded into his skin . . .
He knew her news was going to be bad, but he never could have imagined how severe. Unable to hold the bile back, he rose to his knees and vomited.
Once the heaving passed, Crowley moved to sit by the bank and stared vacantly out over the water.
Lulu joined him sometime later. “She went to bed just before seven o’clock. The poor girl had to have been completely wiped out,” she whispered.
“She eat that whole cake?” he asked hoarsely. His throat felt raw with emotion and from vomiting.
Lulu shook her head. “She barely ate enough to make up a slice. I think she realized it wasn’t going to make her feel any better.”
