Wounded Love (G Street Chronicles Presents From Love to Loathe Series)

by Rayne, Phoenix

  “I left the day before Thanksgiving and flew to Maine, and then I hired a driver to drive me to Tennessee. I couldn’t risk the chance of renting a car.”

  My voice cracked and I had to stop. I took in a deep breath knowing this would be the hardest part for him. I rubbed my sweaty palms on the seat cushion under my thighs. He watched me silently, I’m not sure if he knew how hard this was for me or not. But he waited patiently, never rushing me or the story. I wanted him to reach for me and tell me everything was okay between us. I needed him to show me something. I looked into his dead eyes, pleading with mine for him to do or say something. But he never did. He sat right next to me, but he seemed miles away.

  “I went into labor on Christmas Eve. No one at Aunt Nan’s could believe I didn’t know the sex of the baby. I told the doc several months before that I didn’t want to know. He asked me why, and I told him that since the baby was due in late December or early January, she or he would be my Christmas present and you’re not supposed to peek. I had the baby in no time, and the labor wasn’t that bad. She came out with a head full of hair, and she went right to the tit. I breast-fed her for a month and then we had to wean her off because I wasn’t going to be there to feed her. It almost killed me to leave her, but I had to protect her.”

  “What’s her name?” he whispered.

  “I call her Babe for now. After all the planning Cinnamon and I did, we never thought of a name.”

  I smiled at Jyme, but he didn’t return the gesture. He turned from me and faced forward in his seat now. I sucked in a deep breath and leaned my head back. There was a huge wedge between us now and I didn’t know how to fix it. I looked over at Chyna. I was still in complete confusion on how she was sitting here now. I had searched all over for her and no one had seen or heard from her. I couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t have contact me. We had a plan; we were supposed to meet up at the church if something were to happen. But she never showed; she never sent word for me. She just let me think she was dead.

  Chyna started getting restless, and she had scratched her arms so raw that they were bleeding. I got up and went to her. I told Cinnamon to give me the first aid kit in my purse. I looked at Chyna’s arms real good; she was a shooter. Her arms and veins looked awful. Where had she been and how did she end up like this? Troy knew she was alive, he had over a year to tell me this but he didn’t. He was using her as a weapon against me. But why would he? If he was only going to bring her to me, why did he wait so fuckin’ long? That twisted fuckin’ bastard. Hopefully, Nan would show us some pity and help her. I didn’t know a lot about junkie’s recovery. Chyna was my sister and she had to recover.

  I had absolutely nothing that would fit her small frame. Our family was big-boned people; and I’d never seen Chyna this small ever. Cinnamon, Jyme, and I all had clothes. I would have to get something from Cinnamon for Chyna to wear. Chyna’s dress was filthy and it looked three sizes too big. What had happened to my beautiful, big sister? We all changed clothes on the plane and I borrowed clothes from Cinnamon for Chyna.

  We landed in Nashville as the sun was rising. Cinnamon ran ahead of us pressing the unlock button on the big key. We were running through the long-term parking and heard the chirp. Cinnamon pressed it again, and we ran over to the four-door Nissan Titan truck. We piled in and buckled our seatbelts. Then we were off. I drove the truck and Jyme sat in the passenger seat. Cinnamon pulled the plastic off the baby’s car seat that was already buckled up in the back. We had a bag packed with three weeks’ worth of baby stuff.

  Chyna started moaning and rocking uncontrollably; I told Cinnamon to give her two of my orange pills. Cinnamon handed the two orange pills and a mini water bottle to Chyna. She swallowed them without even asking what they were. I prayed those pills would keep her calm for a while, but I knew it wouldn’t last too long since Chyna was used to much stronger stuff.

  “How far?” Jyme asked.

  “Twenty-five minutes,” I said.

  We made it to Mount Juliet exactly twenty minutes later, and six minutes after that, we were driving down the gravel road. We drove about three miles and pulled up to a high electric fence. I rolled down the window and pressed my code in. The gate opened and we drove up to a guard booth. Two guards stepped out and made all four of us get out of the truck. We showed them picture IDs; Chyna used her fingerprint as her proof since she didn’t have any ID on her. We waited a couple of minutes for her to be cleared. They went through everything we had on and everything in the truck. They looked under the truck and stepped into the bed.

  After fifteen minutes or so, we got the clearance to go through and drove up to another booth. This guard took all of our fingerprints and checked us in his system. He waived us on to the next set of gates—iron this time—and we sat there for a minute before the doors opened. There was huge water fountain out front and a few dozen flowerbeds. We drove up to a small, gravel parking area that said, Visitor Parking.

  We got out of the truck and headed for the front door. I pressed the buzzer and stated my name and how many were in my party. A guard came up to the door holding a shotgun, and then he waved at someone inside; we were buzzed in. We had to step through the metal detectors one by one, show ID, sign in, and state the nature of our business. We all wrote down “pick up” and were asked to leave all of our items in small lockers to which we were given keys on stretchy bracelets. We all slid them on our wrist, well…all of us except Chyna; she didn’t have anything to check. We walked through another set of double doors and headed down a sloping hallway toward a huge lobby.

  There, the receptionist took our names and printed out wristbands that were to be put on and not taken off until we left the premises. Jyme’s, Cinnamon’s, and mine were pink with the words “Baby B Hooper” on them. Chyna’s was blue, and it said “Michael Hooper”. The receptionist told us to have a seat.

  Chyna was calm and somewhat collected; I guessed the pills worked. We all sat there in silence. I wanted to touch Jyme’s knee that was bouncing like crazy, but I fought back the urge.

  “What’s your baby’s name?” Chyna whispered to me.

  “She doesn’t have one yet.”

  A man in white scrubs walked into the lobby and asked us to follow him. We went down a hallway and walked through the gym. Chyna clawed my arm when she saw the gym floor. I knew she was remembering what had happened here so many years ago. I gritted my teeth and pulled her fingernails out of my forearm. I wrapped my arms around her, and she hung her head down; shaking. I patted her shoulders and kissed her nasty hair. We exited the gym and were inside another hallway.

  The man in the white scrubs stopped at a door and opened it for us. “Wait here, please. Someone will be with you in a moment.”

  We walked into the large room; there were toys and games all over the place. There was a big window that we couldn’t see through, one of those two-sided mirrors like the police stations use. I knew we were being watched, but by whom, I didn’t have clue. We all sat in a row on a huge, soft ottoman. The door opened, and a very small, brown-skinned boy walked in with a smiling, plus-sized woman behind him.

  “Hi,” he chimed out to all of us and then he waved. He went straight to the blocks. The lady that came in with him sat all the way across the room. He started playing and talking to himself.

  Chyna tugged at my arm and I turned to her. “That’s my boy.”

  The door opened again. A short plump older woman came in holding a baby in a pink blanket. She looked at us and asked, “Who’s the child’s mother?” I raised my hand and then she gave the baby to me.

  I looked down; her little eyes were wide open and she was so alert. I opened up her little pink blanket so Jyme could see all of her. I kissed her little fingers and then the tears started. I looked over at Jyme and he was a complete, blubbering mess.

  “She looks just like my mom,” he choked out.

  “No, she looks just like you.”

  I sat her up a little so Cinnamon and Chyna could s
ee her. Cinnamon held one of her little hands and told the baby that she was her Auntie Cinnamon. The baby started kicking and flailing her arms all over the place. She talked that baby gibber, and my heart just melted.

  I gave her to Jyme. He was a natural; he knew just how to hold her. I smiled at this because it wasn’t that easy for me, I hadn’t known what to do when she was born. I held her wrong, I rocked her too fast, and I fed her way too much. I got the hang of it eventually, but by then I had to leave her.

  I looked over at Chyna, and she was just staring at Michael. “You want to go talk to him?” She shook her head and told me that he didn’t know her. I got up and walked over to the small child.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” I asked Michael.

  “I’m building a house.”

  “WOW! That’s going to be a big house.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Who’s all going to live in your house?”

  “You, me, my mommy and baby cousin,” he said pointing at me and then at Chyna and the baby.

  “Michael, where’s your mommy?” he looked up at me. Then he frowned and pointed at Chyna.

  “Do you know who I am?” I asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “What’s my name?”

  “Aunt Cricket.”

  I smiled at him and waved for Chyna to come over. She walked over and kneeled down to the floor.

  “Michael, can I have a hug?”

  He got up from his blocks and gave me a hug and a kiss on my cheek.

  “Michael, go give your mom a great big hug and kiss and I will give you a present later,” I whispered in his ear.

  He walked over to Chyna, and he gave her a giant hug and a big kiss on her cheek. He cut his eye at me, and I nodded at him. He started playing blocks with Chyna.

  I went back to my seat next to Jyme. He was still enchanted by the baby and I understood completely.

  “Do you want to hold her now?” he asked.

  I smiled and then shook my head at him. “I had time with her before. You didn’t. Bond with your daughter,” I smiled at him.

  The door opened and Aunt Nan walked in. I stood and she hugged me. Chyna stood and walked over to her and gave her an awkward-looking half hug then moved away from Nan.

  Michael and Babes’ guardians had left the room now so we could talk with Aunt Nan. Aunt Nan pulled one of the soft blocks over to us and sat down right in front of me.

  “All of the paperwork will be ready in about ten minutes. If you would have called me ahead of time, you guys could have already been gone. I want the both of them to see the doctor before they go since you guys may be on the road a while. If you tell me what states you’ll be in, I can give you a list of doctors that take cash only. They understand and work with delicate situations like this.”

  “Aunt Nan, why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.

  “She asked me not to.”

  I looked over at Chyna. She wasn’t listening to us. Her attention was all on Michael. She was absentmindedly rubbing her fingers through his hair.

  “Where has she been?” I asked.

  “I don’t know, but she stayed here a whole year after she had him. When she left, she told me to track you down if anything ever happened to her. She gave me your social security number and everything.”

  “But how is she paying for all of this?”

  “His father is. There’s an account set up and the money goes into it every month.”

  “I wonder who his father is.”

  “I don’t know, but she didn’t put him on the list to take him out of here.”

  I nodded.

  Aunt Nan took in a breath. “Cricket, you know I have a strong policy of no questions asked, but I have to know whose going to take care of Michael? He is such a gifted boy, and he needs to be given a strong education. He picks up on everything so quickly; it’s almost scary.”

  “I will take care of both of them.”

  “Okay then.”

  She stood up and told Chyna she would bring Michael right back. Michael went to Aunt Nan and placed his little hand into hers. She looked at Jyme and then she looked at the baby. “She looks just like him.”

  Jyme looked up and smiled wide, and then he went back to ooohing with his daughter. I noticed she had a fist full of Jyme’s hair twisted up in her hands. It was the cutest thing I’d ever seen.

  I looked over at Chyna. She had a small smile on her face and I could see a little of the old Chyna in her. “Chyna, do you remember Cecily?” I asked.

  She looked at me and then turned away. “Little bitty baby,” she said.

  “What happened to Cecily?”

  “The monster men took her.”

  I looked down at the ground and thought for a bit. I had Jyme, Chyna, Cinnamon, and the baby; but Cecily was out there somewhere, and I knew she didn’t have a clue about me and Chyna. I had to find her. I didn’t know how, but I had to.

  “Who’s Cecily?” Cinnamon whispered.

  “My baby sister.”

  “I didn’t know you had another sister.”

  “Neither did I.”

  I looked over at Jyme who was still enchanted by the baby. I looked over at Chyna again. She was rocking with a genuine smile on her face; she was happy.

  “Chyna, who’s Michael’s father?” I asked her. She wouldn’t look at me; she looked everywhere in the room but at me. I went and sat down right in front her. I held her hands and sat there until she met my eyes.

  “You gone be mad at me,” she said, rocking back and forth, “but he won’t hurt him now. He’s never seen him.”

  The door opened up again, and Michael ran over to Chyna and gave her another big hug and a kiss. He looked at me and said, “Don’t forget, Aunt Cricket.”

  With that look, I froze; and everything inside me shook.

  “He looks just like his Daddy, too.” Cinnamon said.

  I nodded silently and looked over at Jyme; he was staring at Michael. Aunt Nan watched us carefully.

  “We need to go. Now!” I told her, shooting up from the floor.

  Chapter 8

  Pigeon Forge

  Aunt Nan put her entire staff under alert. I let Jyme go with the baby while the doctor checked her out one last time. Chyna and I signed all the paperwork, and then orderlies brought us their belongings. They had packed the baby a hefty diaper bag and I was appreciative. Michael had a backpack full of his favorite snacks and a hand-held video game with extra batteries and headphones.

  In a few minutes, Jyme was back with the baby, and the doctor gave both of the kids enough vitamins to last three months. He also gave us medicine for colds and fevers. One of the nurses came and talked to me about Chyna. She handed me four different bottles of pills. She told me this would last two months, but after that, I would have to play it by ear. A lot of the staff came through to hug and kiss the children. Aunt Nan had packed us a bag with a list of doctors and people she trusted in the surrounding four states. She also gave me her personal number and two untraceable phones. She told me to call her and let her know we were alright sometime. Then we were off.

  We all loaded up into the truck and headed to the mountains. We drove straight to Knoxville and then stopped to load up on supplies. We were less than an hour away from our destination, and we needed bathroom breaks. We stopped at a Target and stocked up on toys, games, household products, personal hygiene items, food, flatware, dinnerware, walkie talkies, a radio, two laptops, a baby bouncer, a baby swing, a basinet, a baby jungle gym, a series of children books, educational books and puzzles for Michael, a wireless air card, and pots and pans. We were in there almost two hours and we had four buggies full of stuff.

  We made it to Pigeon Forge fifty-two minutes later. We had to follow the navigation system to Sugar Mountain. Fifteen minutes straight up a steep mountain and we were home. We unloaded the truck and finally headed in for the evening.

  Chyna’s and Cinnamon’s rooms were upstairs, and Jyme and I had one downstairs. Each bedroom h
ad a queen size bed in it, and we had two and a half baths. The living room was wide open to the kitchen and had a stone fireplace with a flat screen television. Everything was trimmed in wood.

  In our room, a door stepped right out to the side porch. Jyme set up Babe’s bassinet and I made up our bed. We unpacked all of our clothes and hung up what we could. We awkwardly moved around each other as we tried to settle. I nervously started wiping and cleaning the already spotless room. I was on my second wiping of the cherry cabinet when Jyme finally broke the silence.

  “What’s in there?”

  I froze for a second; almost thinking I imagined what I heard. I turned to face him. He sat on the bed right next to Babe’s bassinet. She played with her stuffed animals, not paying either one of us any attention. He was pointing at the cherry cabinet in front of me.

  “It’s a gun cabinet.”

  “Are there guns in there?”

  “Yes, but it’s locked. The key is velcroed to the bottom of it, and there’s another key velcroed in the top of the closet.”

  The gun cabinet was full of guns and ammo; another part of our plan.

  We ate sandwiches and chips for dinner because we were all too tired to cook anything. The baby was asleep by 8:30, and Michael was knocked out at 9:00. Aunt Nan told me the baby slept a full eight hours if not a little longer. I showered and Jyme showered after me. He hadn’t said two words to me since early this morning.

  Each day after that got more awkward. The next three weeks were a strain on all of us. Our daily routine was to eat breakfast, mope around the house, have a snack, ponder outside, eat lunch, clean the house, eat dinner, watch T.V., and go to bed. Jyme held the baby twenty-four seven. I hardly ever got a chance. He did all the diaper changes and all of her feedings. Whenever I did pick her up, he would watch me so closely that it made me uncomfortable. I would now only kiss her or touch her when Jyme was in the shower. I didn’t think he’d taken a decent shit since we’ve been here. He was so paranoid about the baby.