They had moved out of the rental in January and were now staying at the home that Jeremiah had offered them. The rent was less than what they paid for and the house had more room. The downside was that the utilities were higher. It was worth it because the girls had their own bedroom and bath and Max’s bedroom was on the other end of the house giving them more privacy.
They used the extra bedroom as an office which also came in handy. The backyard wasn’t that big, however Eric had already stated that they would most likely only stay until the end of the lease anyway since he’d gotten a better job making more money. Max didn’t know yet what she was going to do when they moved out, but she told herself that she still had time and that she wasn’t going to dwell on it just yet.
She sat back on the sofa and her phone rang. She picked it up and saw that Matthew was calling.
“Hey beautiful.”
“Hey,” Max responded with a smile.
“What are you doing?”
“Resting. I’ve cleaned the entire house since no one is here but me,” Max groaned. “I’m putting my feet up as we speak.”
“You deserve it.” Matthew responded. “We’re still on for tonight, right?”
“Yep.” Max nodded. “Reservations at Mario’s have been made.”
“Mario’s?”
“Yep. It’s our four month anniversary or did you forget?”
“I did not forget.” Matthew replied. “However four months ago was Thanksgiving and not when we had the pretend date!”
“Our relationship wasn’t official until Thanksgiving so I’m going from that point, thank you!” Max insisted.
“You wearing that black and white outfit you wore on the date?”
“You remember?” Max asked feeling pleased.
“Of course. It was the most fun ‘pretend’ date I’d ever been on,” Matthew chuckled.
“Well, I’m going to get off this phone and finish getting ready for tonight. I have a hair and nail appointment.” Max replied.
“So you’re going all out, huh?”
“Well, I do have a special guy I’m trying to impress,”
“Special, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“It better be me,” Matthew insisted.
Max laughed. “Maybe.”
Nadine and her Mom went to their third mall shopping for Easter outfits for the girls. Nadine hated shopping and groaned as her mom led her into Macy’s.
“Mom, Eric and I don’t have that much money. Besides the girls can wear what they already have. They have a ton of dresses.” Nadine complained. She had gone with her mother because she’s kept asking her, but Nadine would have been happy just to lie around the house.
Her mother laughed. “That won’t stop ME from buying for the girls and a new dress for my baby girl too. Humor me!” she said, kissing Nadine’s cheek.
Nadine groaned. “All right, Mom.”
After they had gone to several more stores and they had finally found outfits, Nadine called Eric since she knew that he should be off from work. He told her that he was on his way to his mother’s house to pick up the twins.
After getting the outfits her mother wanted to shop for shoes and accessories and Nadine began to protest.
“All right, Mom. I’ve had enough,” she said. “Let’s go! I can’t carry another thing!”
They walked back to the car carrying their load. Nadine was glad to dump the packages into the trunk of her mother’s car.
“You were never much of a shopper,” her mother complained. “I should have brought Max with me.”
“You know Max hates shopping as much as I do.” Nadine grumbled. “Plus it’s hot in there and I have on all these clothes!”
Olivia James sighed and closed the trunk. “All right, let’s go.”
They drove to her mother’s in record time and Nadine helped her bring the Easter baskets they purchased into the house while she put the clothing items in her car trunk.
“I’ll put this stuff in the spare bedroom.” Nadine said, taking the stuffed toys and Easter baskets they had purchased upstairs.
She threw the bags on the bed and sat down on the bed a moment to catch her breath. She noticed a photo album sticking from under the bed and reached down and pulled it out, wondering why it was there.
She opened it and found that it was full of newspaper clippings that had turned yellow with age. She then realized that it contained a folded up newspaper covering the trial of James Rogers. His picture where he was covering his face as he was being taken to jail was on the front page. Nadine sat there and scanned the article and then opened the paper to read the rest.
She was shocked when she saw a clear picture of his face near the end of the article and her mind immediately went back to the Thanksgiving dinner. It was him! She knew that man there had looked familiar! What was he doing at her family dinner? Had he been stalking Max? Nadine trembled as she stuck the paper back in the album. She had to tell someone, not her parents, they would freak out for sure, especially her father.
She took the album and put it under her arm hoping that she could get to the car before her mother saw her with it and questioned her.
She was in luck. Her mom must have been in the kitchen. She quickly went out the door and threw the album in the trunk of her car and then walked quickly back in the house.
“Is that you, Nadine? Are you leaving?” her Mom yelled from the kitchen.
“Not yet Mom. But I do have to go in a little bit,” she said, walking back toward the kitchen.
Her mother tried to get her to stay for lunch, but Nadine begged off saying that she wanted to go and check on Eric and the babies.
She drove back home trying not to speed. What were they going to do? She called Eric and asked for Matthew’s number telling him that she’d explain when she got home. She quickly called Matthew and told him to please come to their house and that it was an emergency and not to call Max. She hung up the phone not giving him time to ask her any questions.
Luckily Max was at the hair salon and Nadine knew that she could discuss the situation without her walking in on them. She parked and quickly got out of the car.
Eric opened the door before she could put her key in the lock looking worried. He had both girls and they quickly ran to their mother.
“What in the world is going on? Matthew just called me and told me that you told him to come over here and it was an emergency! Did something happen while you and your Mom were out shopping?” He asked as she pushed past him.
“No, that’s not it.” Nadine said, looking over her shoulder at him. She glanced at her watch. “When will he get here? Did he say where he was?”
“He was on his way to work. He should be here any minute, I guess. What’s going on, Nadine!” Eric asked again. He followed her in the kitchen as she got each of the girls a juice box out of the refrigerator.
“It’s about Max. Wait! I have to get something from the trunk of the car.”
She grabbed her keys and went back out the door just as Matthew was pulling into a vacant parking space. The girls were on her heels and began to protest as Eric grabbed their hands stopping them from going outside.
Nadine quickly opened the trunk and retrieved the album. Eric was standing in the doorway still looking confused.
Matt jumped out of his car and followed her back into the house.
“What in the world is the emergency, Nadine? You hung up before I could question you further. What’s wrong?” He looked at Eric for answers who only shrugged his shoulders.
“Both of you sit down.” Nadine said, walking into the kitchen and pulling out a chair. She looked up to see that the girls were sitting in front of the television now looking at a cartoon. She put the album on the table and they all sat down as she opened the album.
“I found this at Moms. It has all the articles and things about Max’s abduction and rape.” She began unfolding the paper.
“I don’t understand.” Eric said. “What’s
the emergency?”
Nadine turned to the picture of James Rogers and pointed at it and then looked at the two of them.
“He was at our Thanksgiving dinner!” she said, shaking the paper in front of them. “This man was at our family dinner!”
“What?” Matthew gasped, shocked. “How can that be? You must be mistaken, Nadine!”
“No, I’m positive. I even talked to him.” Nadine insisted. She stood up clearly shaken. “He had this baseball cap pulled down over his eyes, now I know why! I don’t know how he got there. I told him he looked familiar and he hurried through the line and mumbled something. I just let it go. Now I know why he looked familiar. It’s him! I’ve never been more certain.”
Matt felt himself grow hot with anger. He thought about the conversation he had with Max on Thanksgiving. Why would Rogers be at their family outing? How could he have known about it? Had he been stalking Max since he got out?
“Did you tell Max about this?” he asked Nadine.
“No! I’m not going to tell Max unless I have to do so. I’m not telling my parents either! I just don’t know what to do. Why was he there? Is he stalking Max? The thought of that scares me to death. Maybe it was coincidental. Who could have invited him? Did either of you see him?”
Eric shook his head and looked at his brother. “I didn’t. Did you Matthew?”
“No.” Matt said. “But we need to find out what he was doing there. Someone must have invited him not knowing who he was. I can’t see him just showing up like that, though anything’s possible.”
He looked at Nadine. “Can you remember where he was sitting? Who was he sitting with?”
“I don’t know.” Nadine said. “I think he was in the back, but I’m not sure.”
“I still have the table arrangement we set up, Matt.” Eric said. “Let’s look at that. I think it’s still in the trunk of your car unless you took it out.”
“No I haven’t even thought about it,” Matthew said, tossing Eric the keys. “It should still be in there.”
Matt followed his brother to the door and watched as he got the seating plan from the trunk of his car and then slammed down the trunk.
He turned around to return to the living room and found Nadine blocking his way.
“So how are things going with you and Max?” she asked Matthew.
“What do you mean?” he asked trying not to be defensive.
“I think you know what I mean.” Nadine replied.
“We’re together if that’s what you mean. You know that! It’s no secret,” he said smugly.
“Well, I know how Max feels about you. I just don’t know how you feel about her. I guess since you broke your neck getting over here that you do care about her, huh?” Nadine teased.
“I care!” Matthew said. “We became a couple on Thanksgiving! She’s making progress, and I don’t want that asshole to cause her to have a setback! He shouldn’t even be in this county after what he did to her!”
Eric came back in with the rolled-up poster board.
“Here it is.” He held it up, then unrolled it on the kitchen table so they could look at the drawings of the tables with the family’s names on them.
“Now, here is the stage.” Eric pointed. “Think about where you saw him sitting.”
Nadine paused for a moment and pointed. “I think it was around here.”
“That says Jessup. Is that Grandma’s table or your family?” Matthew asked.
“I think it was my family. Your Grandma was sitting with her sons. I think her table had Ferguson on it, not Jessup,” Nadine said.
“Addie is divorced. I wonder if he was with her.” Nadine looked at the drawing and tried to remember.
“Why don’t you call your cousin? Do you have her number?” Eric asked.
“I’ll have to get it from Daddy. I don’t want him to know what’s going on.” Nadine said.
She took out her cell and called her parents’ house and was relieved when her Mom answered the phone.
“Hey Mom. Do you know Addie’s number? I need to ask her something.” Nadine said, glancing at Eric and Matthew.
Nadine pointed to a pad and Eric retrieved it for her. She quickly wrote down the number after holding a moment.
“Thanks Mom,” she said, hanging up. She then quickly dialed Addie.
“Hey Addie, this is Nadine. I need to ask you something.” She said casually, still looking from Eric to Matthew.
Matt watched her intently as she talked to Addie. After several minutes she hung up the phone.
“All right. I found out from Addie that she didn’t come with anyone to the dinner but her brother Carl bought a man that works with him. It must have been Rogers. What should we do?”
“You’re not doing anything.” Matthew said firmly. “Eric and I are going out there to your cousin’s job and see for ourselves.”
“Addie says that Carl’s not working today. Carl is at home. Maybe you should call him or go by there.” Nadine suggested.
“That would probably be best.” Eric said. “Give me his address.”
“I don’t know it by heart though I know how to get there.” Nadine said. “I can show you where it is, but it’s hard for me to tell you how to get there because of all the turns. Why don’t you two follow me and then I’ll just turn around and come back.” She looked at Eric. “Let’s get the girls and go.”
“How far is it?” Eric asked as he quickly changed Erika’s diaper while she checked Derika.
“It’s off of 501. We can get there in about thirty minutes.” Nadine replied.
Matthew watched as Eric and Nadine quickly put jackets on the girls. He did not know what he would do when he came face to face with Rogers. He knew that most likely the man was on parole, but he felt that he shouldn’t be anywhere near Max! She was just beginning to recover from all the damage he’d caused to her. She couldn’t afford to have a setback now!
He got in his car and Eric got in the passenger seat after strapping the babies in his and Nadine’s vehicle. Matthew was determined to do whatever he could to stop whatever sick game Rogers was playing.
“I told Nadine to go to back to Mom’s and wait for me there. I don’t want Max to come home and become suspicious,” he said as Matthew pulled off.
“I can’t believe he had the nerve to show up after what he did to Max!” Matthew snapped. “He probably was there when she gave her testimony.”
“I hadn’t thought about that.” Eric said. “There were a lot of children there. The thought of that now makes me ill. I can’t believe they let him out or that he had the nerve to come around Max’s family!”
Matthew followed Nadine as she turned off of 501 onto 9th Avenue and then turned down a road with no street sign. They went down a dirt road and then she slowed down and rolled down the window. She pointed to a white house and they knew that this must be her cousin’s home. She quickly backed up and turned the car around. She pulled up beside Matthew.
“That’s it. Do you think you can find your way back? I know there were several turns and it can get confusing.”
“We’ll be fine,” Matthew said. “I think I remember the turns. It wasn’t that hard.”
“I’ll see you at Moms,” Eric said, leaning forward looking at her.
“All right.” Nadine replied and pulled off.
Matt looked at Eric. “Let’s do this!”
Max left the nail shop and got in her car and headed home to get ready for her big date. She was surprised when she pulled up and discovered that no one was home.
She called Nadine on her cell to see if she was still hanging out with their Mom.
“Nadine!”
“Hey, Max.”
“Where is everybody? I thought Eric would be home by now with the babies.”
“I have the babies. I’m at Rachel’s. He and Matthew went to do some errand.” Nadine replied slowly.
Max was surprised. “I was wondering what was going on. I tried to call him earlier.”
“Keeping tabs on your man now, huh?”
“Am not! He told me that he was working today that’s all! So what’s up with him and Eric?” Max replied defensively.
“Why does something have to be up? I guess it’s just male bonding.” Nadine replied.
“Oh whatever!” Max said, clucking her tongue. “I just came home for a few minutes anyway. I’ve gotten my hair and nails done and now I have to check things out at the gym.”
“Fine.” Nadine replied.
Max hung up the phone. She decided to get herself something to drink. She was about to leave when she noticed a green photo album on the counter that looked familiar. She opened it and saw the newspaper and other clippings from her attack. What was Nadine doing with this? She quickly closed it. She didn’t want to relive that! Maybe Eric wanted to know more about what happened to her. She figured that must be it. Nadine probably didn’t want to say anything to her being the mother hen that she was because she probably thought she’d get upset.
Max took the album and opened Nadine and Eric’s room and put it on their bed. She didn’t want to see it or relive what had happened to her.
CHAPTER 21
Arise, for this matter is your responsibility. We also are with you. Be of good courage, and do it! Ezra 10:4
Matthew and Eric walked up to Carl Jessup’s door and knocked. Matthew braced himself as he wondered if he would get the chance to come face to face with Max’s attacker.
A young girl about sixteen answered the door looking at them curiously. Her light brown eyes ran over the two of them and she grinned from ear to ear. “May I help you?”
“We’re looking for Carl,” Matthew stated as she stared at them. She paused a moment and then turned away from the door.
“Papa, some men are here to see you,” the girl said before turning back around fingering her waist-length braids.
They waited a moment as Carl came to the door. Matthew immediately remembered him from the dinner. Carl Jessup was his cousin; the one Grandma Nellie had outed at the dinner. He was still trying to accept this new information. He was tall and reminded him of his father except that his hair was black and curly and his skin was a light brown.
Broken: The sequel to THE PREACHER'S SON Page 25
