by Cassie May
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Title
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Read More
About the Author
www.facebook.com/cassiemayauthor
A
Peace Series Novella
By Cassie May
Copyright 2017 Cassie May
All Rights Reserved
Table of Contents
:
Title
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Read More
About the Author
Taking a deep breath Laynee Bradshaw turned around to look at herself in the mirror. The girl looking back at her from the door of her closet didn’t show any similarities with her. Her normal daytime attire consisted of jeans and a shirt. Regular stuff. Nothing that would attract unwelcome attention; her parents made sure that she looked as unimpressive as possible. They did everything to keep her safe from him and Laynee was more than grateful for it. She had heard the rumors why Dexie McBride had left Peace a year ago and believed the truth to be even worse. No one had seen her since she had left. Not even her own mother had heard a peep.
Smoothing the skirt of her dress down Laynee sighed. Ever since she started high school she managed to avoid being noticed by Brent Harrington. Her parents were a big help with that, never letting her out of sight for too long, always making sure she was modestly dressed and never alone around him. After all these years of being careful and looking over her shoulder Laynee was now surprised to see the dress her mother had bought for her. It was a beautiful knee-length organza dress in a turquoise color that made her hair pop. Strawberry blonde was not a usual color in Peace and normally Laynee had her hair in a ponytail to hide it a little, but her mother insisted on letting it fall down her back in loose waves.
She knew there was no way Brent wouldn’t notice her today, but Laynee trusted her parents to keep her safe. Taking a deep breath she took one last look at herself, put her shoes on and walked down the stairs where her parents were already waiting for her.
Jacob, her father, looked at her and wiped a tear out of his eye. “You look wonderful, pumpkin.”
Her mother, Eleanor, smiled quietly and offered her a hand for the last few steps.
“Thank you, momma.”
“Are you ready for today? It’s your big day, after all.” Eleanor smiled encouragingly and Laynee shrugged.
“Honestly? I’m not sure. Do you really think that it is the best thing for me to leave? I could always go to college in Billings. It wouldn’t be so far away. You know, New York is not the only city where I got a scholarship.”
Immediately a shadow raced over her father’s face and he shook his head. “We talked about this, Laynee. You know Brent gets more dangerous each day and I prefer to know you are 2000 miles away and healthy instead of just around the corner and in danger. Will we miss you? More than you can imagine, but I prefer missing my lovely daughter over having her hurt when I know better.” Jacob’s voice shook with suppressed anger while sadness seeped out of his posture. “I won’t make the same mistake Elaine made. I will keep my daughter safe, not like other people in this town!”
Eleanor put a hand on her husband’s arm in a calming gesture and once again Laynee admired the relationship of her parents. Married for twenty-five years it happened often that her parents finished each other’s sentences and the looks they shot each other only confirmed the deep love those two shared with each other. Laynee knew that she could count herself happy to have grown up in a household full of love and respect. Her parents had supported all of her dreams and encouraged her to apply for a journalism scholarship to get out of Peace as soon as possible.
“Okay, daddy. It’s just… I am going to miss you so much!” Laynee couldn’t stop the tears from running over her cheeks when she wrapped her arms around her dad. His big hand stroked her hair while his soft voice tried to calm her down.
“Shhh, pumpkin. Don’t cry. We’ll visit you as often as we can. I promise. Now dry those tears and let’s go, we’re almost late and I want to spend the last day I have with my baby girl laughing and celebrating her genius mind.” He winked and Laynee couldn’t stop her laugh.
“Okay, let’s go.”
As soon as Laynee entered the festively decorated gym, she knew it was a mistake to dress up like this. She felt eyes following her every step and was glad when someone handed her the gown and cap to put on over her dress. As soon as she was dressed she felt a hand on her elbow. Turning around she looked in the leering brown eyes of Brent Harrington. “Looking good, Laynee.”
She fought the shudder that threatened to shake her body. “Never show weakness in front of a predator, pumpkin.” The words of her father sounded in her head and she smiled. “Hi Brent, I didn’t count on you being here. I mean, you finished high school last year.”
His leer intensified while he tried to grin. “Well, I’d like to see the prosperous young women of Peace flourishing and maybe find surprises like you. And what a surprise you are, Laynee Bradshaw. Your parents hid you well all these years.”
Now Laynee felt the bile rising in her throat. All these years she had managed to hide in the shadows and on the edges of the groups when they went out and Brent never took notice of her. Till now. She pulled her elbow out of his grasp and nodded politely. “Well, you have to excuse me, Brent. I think the ceremony is about to start and I really need to speak to my parents about something important.”
With that she turned around in search of her parents. She slid up next to her father, not able to stop the shivers racking her body anymore. “What happened to you, pumpkin?” Jacob’s worried eyes rested on his daughter and Laynee forced her lips to cooperate and pull into a smile.
“I just saw Brent, daddy.” Understanding and then anger clouded her father’s caramel colored eyes.
“Did he do something to you?”
Laynee shook her head. “Everything’s okay, daddy. I just would like to drive to Billings directly after the ceremony. Let’s celebrate there, okay?” Even though the encounter left her feeling jittery and nervous, she knew she was one of the lucky ones. Brent didn’t physically harm her and his words could be forgotten sooner rather than later. The tears that had burned in her eyes the whole morning threatened to spill over when she thought about her last day at Peace being tainted by Brent Harrington. Oh, how she hated him, but she knew nothing could be done against him since his father had nearly the whole town under his thumb.
Her father’s strong arms pulled her to his chest and she breathed his familiar woodsy scent, relishing in the calmness it always brought for her. “Okay, pumpkin. We’ll do that. We’ll just get your bags from the house and leave for Billings directly after the ceremony. You don’t have to stay here longer than necessary. Not when I can help it.”
And with these words Laynee’s fate was set.
Laynee Bradshaw struggled to keep her eyes open. She had only a few miles to go and transported precious cargo, so she had to stay awake, not matter how exhausting the last few weeks had been. A quick
glance to her right showed her that Abigail still wore the same stoic attitude she had since the day they had gotten the message. The message that had turned both of their lives upside down and – in the end – forced her to move back to her hometown Peace and leave New York behind.
As a bestselling author Laynee could live and work almost everywhere and after the events that took place a few days before she deemed it safer for her and her little ward to move to Peace. Nothing ever happened there and that was how she preferred it for now. Abigail didn’t need more stress pressing down on her. “So, are you excited to see where I grew up, buttercup? You’ll see horses and other animals and you can meet my parents. What do you say?” Laynee shot the small girl another glance and met stoic silence. Sighing she left the Interstate to find a hotel in Fargo, their last stop before Peace.
At the first modest looking hotel Laynee pulled her car in the parking lot and shot her small passenger another glance. “So, we’re here, buttercup. Do you have any special wishes concerning dinner?”
Abigail turned around, her pale face void of any emotion and just shrugged. It had been like this since the day their world exploded. Since the day Abby’s mother – Laynee’s best friend – had been killed during a home invasion. Thankfully Abby had stayed with Laynee for the night she didn’t dare to imagine what might have happened with Abby if she had been in the house. Shaking her head Laynee forced herself to think of something else. Something more positive. She didn’t allow herself to linger too long on the thoughts of her deceased friend. Just one more day. One more day till she could finally break down.
She had kept it together when the police knocked on her door to inform her about the sudden and brutal death of her best friend, when she became the legal guardian of the beautiful sad girl now sitting next to her a few days later and when Abby refused to leave her side in the weeks following all that. She had to. She couldn’t break down in front of the little girl who was struggling so much with the death of her mother. Taking one last deep breath she opened her door and got out of the car. She helped Abigail out of the car and took her small hand in hers. “Come on, buttercup. We’ll gorge ourselves on room service, okay?”
No reaction from the little girl, but at least she walked next to Laynee into the hotel. The receptionist didn’t ask too many questions and Laynee relaxed a little bit more. Sometimes her readers found her in the oddest places and right now she couldn’t afford to concentrate on anything other than Abby. They took the elevator to the top and Laynee opened their room. It was a nice room with a king-sized bed that would accommodate them both. Ever since she had lost her mom Abby could only sleep while clutching to Laynee like a little monkey. Laynee threw her dufflebag on one of the chairs and pointed to the bathroom. “Okay, buttercup. You go in there and wash that travel dirt from your body. I will order some room service and call my parents. You can leave the door open if you feel better when you can hear me.”
Without a word Abigail shuffled to the bathroom and left the door wide open. She never ventured far from Laynee these days and it made Laynee’s heart bleed when she thought back a few months and remembered the happy outgoing little girl her ward had been. Before. Before it all happened. When she heard the water running Laynee dialed her parent’s number and assured her mother that everything worked concerning the plan and that she would arrive on the next evening. She still didn’t tell her parents about Abigail and felt awful for keeping such a big thing from her mother and father. But how do you tell your parents something like this? Laynee never kept anything from her parents, not since the day her father pulled her aside to tell her that they would send her away after her graduation because it was too dangerous in Peace. Because Brent Harrington had become too unstable for her father’s liking. They were so proud when Laynee got a full scholarship at the NYU for creative writing and even though Laynee never visited Peace in the last ten years her parents visited her in New York. The Big Apple, how her dad had called it. The city that never sleeps was her mother’s opinion. And both never were comfortable there. They preferred the small town of Peace over the big city any day.
After the call Laynee ordered sandwiches from the room service and changed into something more comfortable to get ready for the evening. She had barely put on her yoga pants when the room service knocked and brought their sandwiches. Abigail peeked out of the bathroom and shuffled closer as soon as the waiter disappeared. Hopping on the bed, she grabbed a sandwich and clutched Laynee’s arm to keep her from leaving. It was something she did more regularly since her mother had died and Laynee’s heart broke a bit more for the small girl. She shouldn’t have experienced such a loss. “Damn, get yourself together, Bradshaw! This girl needs you to be strong”, Laynee muttered quietly to herself without Abby noticing.
After they had finished dinner, Laynee grabbed Abby’s favorite books out of the dufflebag and spread them in front of her. “Which one do you want me to read to you today, buttercup?”
Without hesitation Abby pointed to her favorite. The only book she wanted to get read since she moved in with Laynee: “Who Wants A Dragon”. The sad tale allowed Abby to cry her feelings out before going to sleep and even though it tore Laynee up to see the child in pain she read it every evening to help her ward cope with the overwhelming sadness.
The evening continued like the last ones. Abby clung to Laynee’s body till she was fast asleep and even then she never let go. Laynee tried to find a comfortable position without disturbing the kid and fell into a fitful sleep full of dark dream snippets that made it impossible for her to relax and rest.
The next morning Laynee rushed to get ready to get on the road again. After a quick breakfast consisting of the rest of the sandwiches from the day before she ushered Abby out to the car and they were on the road again.
Eight hours later she steered the car toward the parking lot of a mall in Billings and shot a look at Abby. “Okay, buttercup. We need to buy some stuff for Peace. You’ll need some more clothes, things that can get dirty and boots. It’s a little more rural there than in New York. What do you say? Shopping with your favorite aunt?”
Abby only shrugged her scrawny shoulders and buried herself deeper in her seat. Sighing Laynee opened her door. “Abbs, come on. Please. It’s not easy for me as well, but I can’t leave you here in the car. I know you hurt. I can’t even understand how you must feel right now, but please keep in mind that your mom was my best friend. I loved her. And you are not alone, buttercup, no matter how alone you feel right now. You have me. I’m not going to leave you, okay?” After that short speech Laynee could barely contain the sob and her voice shook with suppressed tears. She hurt so much, seeing Abby stoic like this, missing Kelly and coping with all the things that happened.
Finally she got a reaction from Abby. The little girl nodded once, her big eyes full of tears and she scrambled out of her car seat to hug Laynee as hard as she could. She still didn’t speak, but this was so much better than the stoic endurance Laynee had gotten the last weeks that she hugged her back fiercely. “I know you don’t want to see other people, sweetie, but we have to. We can’t close ourselves off from the world. Kelly wouldn’t have wanted that.” Now the tears were streaming down their faces and both of them clung to each other until they had run dry. Finally Laynee first wiped Abby’s face clean of the tear traces and then her own before grabbing Abby’s small hand and leading her to the mall.
Inside the mall Laynee realized how shut off she had been in the last weeks. Ever since Abby moved in with her the only step she did outside was to buy groceries. Confronted with the loud bustling groups of people in the mall she decided to get only the absolutely necessary things and come back another time. Slipping inside the first kids store she looked at Abby and tried to find her some clothes that would get her through the first months in Montana. They packed only the bare necessities after deciding to leave New York and were now in dire need for clothes that could get dirty and were sturdy enough to defy Montana weather.
&n
bsp; When Laynee noticed Abby perking up a bit while browsing through the clothes she slowed her tempo down. Even though she was exhausted she didn’t want her ward to miss some much deserved fun. Abby picked some girly shirts and trousers and Laynee grabbed matching boots and sandals for the dry summers in her hometown.
After they picked Abby’s stuff, Laynee dashed inside a JCPenney to grab some basic shirts, trousers and two pairs of sneakers before leaving the mall and taking a deep breath in the calm air of the parking lot.
“Okay, now we are ready for Peace. Are you at least looking a bit forward to meet my parents, buttercup?” Abby nodded slowly and both got in the car again. After making sure that Abby was buckled in safely, Laynee started the car to drive the last ninety minutes to Peace.
I
t was already after 9 pm when Laynee put the big car in park in front of her parent’s house. Abby was still awake and her eyes had grown wider and wider the more they got in the countryside. Laynee had shown her Jacob’s alpaca farm when they drove by and a spark of excitement had appeared in the little girl’s eyes. Smiling Laynee had made a mental note to arrange a visit later after they got settled to give the small girl something else to concentrate on.
As soon as she got out of the car her parents were rushing out of the house. Worry lines marred their faces and both hugged Laynee as hard as they could. “Why did you do the whole drive on your own, pumpkin? Why not take a plane?” Her mother asked while stroking Laynee’s face with both hands like she had done it so many times before to make sure her daughter was okay.
Forcing a smile on her face Laynee motioned to the car. “Because I was not alone and because it looks like I will move in with you for an indefinite time, so I had more luggage with me than I wanted to take on a plane.” She shrugged nonchalantly and opened the door to help the little girl out of the car.
