A Chance at Forever

by Melissa Jagears

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  And with that, both Mercy and Lydia quietly stood and slipped out of the room.

  Lydia closed the door softly behind her and sighed. “I’m so glad those two have straightened things out between them.”

  “Me too. I hope your husband agrees to let them take over the orphanage, though they are quite young.”

  “I think he will. We’d be here to advise them, of course, and plenty of couples start off with children quite young. I’m glad you thought of it.” She gave her a side glance. “If they do take over, what do you hope to do?”

  The Lowes would likely allow her to take over Sadie’s position as housekeeper if she asked, but though Lydia and Nicholas wouldn’t think less of her for taking a lower position, she’d feel uncomfortable in such a role under a friend. “I think I’ll try what Sadie was planning—see if Evelyn can find me work.”

  Though she was happy for Sadie and Franklin, her heart was so heavy with the loss of a future with Aaron that she likely would only dampen the gaiety of their wedding festivities. “I’d like to leave as soon as possible, if that’s all right with you.”

  Lydia put a hand on Mercy’s arm. “I hope you don’t think I was hinting for you to leave.”

  “No, of course not.” She started forward, not sure where she was going exactly, but figuring Sadie and Franklin didn’t need to find them right outside the door when they left the parlor. “But there are so many reasons for me to go. I could ask Evelyn if she’s interested in adopting Owen. She seemed rather taken with him at the auction, and it could relieve some of your financial burden.”

  “That’s nothing to worry about.” Lydia shook her head as she walked beside her.

  Mercy smiled a little. “I knew you’d say that, but if I’m going to take advantage of one friend’s hospitality, perhaps it shouldn’t be the one trying to finance half the town’s charity cases while dealing with financial setback.” She slowed as they approached the French doors that opened onto the eastern porch. The view of residences amid industrial buildings and green trees spread for miles, the house she’d once lived in with her brother and sister-in-law among them. She didn’t know where they were at the moment, but they’d likely find a place in that area. “Besides, I think it’d be best to find a job elsewhere so the rift between my brother and me doesn’t cause people to speculate.” Though she feared Patricia was right about her brother not changing his ways, if he did attempt to turn around, she didn’t want speculation over what had happened between them to make it harder for him to straighten out his life.

  “And Aaron?”

  She avoided looking into Lydia’s eyes lest her friend see how much it hurt to talk of him. “If they find him and he ends up in court, they won’t need me to testify. If he’s not guilty . . .” She swallowed hard, letting herself send up a quick prayer for that outcome. “If he asks, please let him know where I am.”

  36

  Aaron leaned his forehead against the jail cell bars. Had he really been locked up five whole days? He didn’t understand legal things, but keeping him from talking to anyone this long was excessive.

  Surely Nicholas was fair-minded enough to come hear his story. Since Aaron had yet to be given a chance to talk to the lawyer he kept asking for, perhaps Nicholas hadn’t been informed he was in custody.

  If what Jimmy said was true and corrupt cops were aiding his mother, who knew how long he might be imprisoned. Officer Foster was clearly taking pleasure in taunting his former tormentor, but might he also be in cahoots with Jimmy’s mother?

  Aaron groaned. In his desperation to get out and search for Jimmy, he shouldn’t have spilled out so much information to the lawmen detaining him.

  He pushed away from the bars and paced his little cell, four steps—that was it—and back.

  Had the boy been found? If he’d returned to the mansion, had he blamed Aaron for his criminal activities? Maybe that was why he was still in jail.

  Mercy had finally believed he’d become a new man, right? If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have asked for his kiss. So surely she would’ve come to hear his story—if they’d been told.

  He pressed his forehead against the cold, grimy bars again.

  And yet it wasn’t that long ago she hadn’t believed anything he’d said. Two months was a short time in light of the years he’d antagonized her. Had she gone back to believing the worst of him?

  The clank of the main door echoed through the hallway of cells, but conversations, snoring, and someone’s whistling continued on.

  The short, brown-haired Officer Foster, who Aaron had finally remembered was named Dennis, swaggered down the aisle in front of the cells, swinging his baton in lazy circles.

  Dennis had hit puberty late in life. He’d been the size of a ten-year-old up until their last year of high school, making him easy to bully.

  Stopping in front of the desk across from Aaron, Dennis leaned back against it, crossed his arms, and grinned.

  Smiling back probably wouldn’t help any, so he’d try to apologize—again. “Did I mention I’m sorry?”

  “Sorry you got caught for theft?” Dennis sneered. “Or sorry you’re having to answer to ‘Small Fry Foster’?”

  How many times did he have to say this? “I’m not talking about the theft, because I can’t be sorry for something I didn’t do, but I am sorry for humiliating you as a child. Please tell me you’ve at least told Mr. Lowe you’ve taken me into custody.” Considering how wide Dennis smiled every time he came in, he might actually believe Aaron was falsely accused and didn’t care.

  This man didn’t want apologies; he wanted revenge.

  A door slam somewhere down the hall dragged up the image of Owen’s Aunt Ivy slamming the door in his face. He closed his eyes and sighed. Walking away from Ivy without her forgiveness hadn’t been so rough after all.

  The sound of steady footsteps stopped in front of him, and he opened his eyes to find Nicholas standing before him, his face blank.

  Aaron closed his eyes again for a second. Finally.

  Please let him believe me—not because I don’t deserve punishment for what I’ve done in the past, but because someone needs to find Jimmy.

  Dennis walked up beside Nicholas. “You don’t have to talk to him if you don’t want to. We’ve got his statement, which you can read at your leisure.”

  “No, please!” Aaron reached out to grab Nicholas but stopped short to keep from wrinkling his fine wool suit. “Hear me out, for Jimmy’s sake.”

  Nicholas dismissed Dennis with a toss of his head.

  Hallelujah! If he hadn’t been holding on to the bars, Aaron might have fallen at Nicholas’s feet. “Has Jimmy returned to the mansion?”

  Nicholas seemed to think over whether or not he should answer but then shook his head.

  Aaron let loose a curse he shouldn’t have. “Sorry.” Jails weren’t known to be filled with high-caliber men, and he’d been surrounded by foul language for days. “Did you not get my message?”

  Nicholas’s face scrunched. “Message?”

  “A man I met in Caney said he would be traveling through Teaville. Said he was willing to stop by the mansion to tell you what I was doing.”

  “Not that I know of.” Nicholas dragged a hand through his hair. “Wait, when would he have come by?”

  “He said he was going straight home. He’d have been there on Saturday.”

  Nicholas’s face grew strained. “Either it wasn’t delivered or someone else got it first.”

  “Was that why you didn’t come sooner?”

  “I didn’t know you were here until this morning.”

  Aaron glared at Dennis, who still stood behind Nicholas with his arms across his chest, a slight upturn to his cocky lips. How many times had he asked Dennis to ask Nicholas to come? What had Nicholas been thinking of him this whole time?

  But it didn’t matter what his boss thought of him if Jimmy was still missing.

  “I didn’t steal yo
ur stuff. It was Jimmy. I was trying to find—”

  “Pshaw.” Dennis rolled his eyes. “Big bad George is blaming his crimes on a kid?” He strutted forward. “What? Are you afraid? Worried there’ll be men in the jury who’ll remember you from our school days and make sure you get the punishment you deserve?”

  Aaron shook his head. “I’m better off than I deserve. I understand that full well, but that doesn’t negate who did what.” He turned back to Nicholas. “The boy was stealing because his mother sent him to the mansion to do so. He said someone on staff decided what was to be stolen and after hiding it for a while to determine if anyone noticed it missing, Jimmy was informed of where to find it. Then he took it to a cellar on your property, where someone picked it up. He disappeared so often because he was smuggling things out.”

  Nicholas hadn’t moved. Was he believing any of this?

  “They’re forcing him to do it, Nicholas. The burn he got at Ragsdale’s was because he tried to stop one of his mother’s henchmen, not because he set the fire. She’d sent someone there to make sure Ragsdale kicked Jimmy out so he could return to the mansion. I’m not in the house much, but has anyone mentioned finding things in odd places or gone altogether?”

  Nicholas didn’t respond, but at least he appeared to be listening.

  He plunged on. “I know Jimmy’s all gruff and spittle, but the boy was shaking when he told me about his abusive mother. I know Mercy didn’t tell you about the time we found him fighting with a stranger in the root cellar because she was trying to save my job, but I misinterpreted what was happening and beat the man up. When it was likely he was only—”

  “Mercy saw you beating someone up on my property and didn’t tell me?” Nicholas’s face was no longer calm.

  Aaron grimaced. Hopefully he hadn’t gotten Mercy into trouble. “Yes, sir. Please don’t hold it against her. She . . . she saw how terrible I felt and decided my guilt was punishment enough.” His chest tightened at the thought of how she likely now believed her trust had been misplaced. “Anyway, the man who hauls the loot off your property was due to pick things up on the night of the auction. I couldn’t let that happen, but we had to load wagons, so Jimmy and I took the things to my cabin, but Cook detained me long enough that Jimmy got away. I don’t know whether he ran on his own or was taken.”

  Nicholas turned toward Officer Foster and pointed at the padlock. “You can release him.”

  Really? In spite of how improbable his story sounded? The tightness in Aaron’s chest loosened, and he drew in his first full breath since he had been jailed.

  “Now, wait a minute.” Dennis placed a hand atop his key ring, as if fearing Nicholas might wrestle him for it. “No need to be hasty. Let us check on what he said. Let’s—”

  “No, I believe him.” Nicholas’s chest lifted with a big breath of air, as if he was just as relieved as Aaron. “Drop the charges.”

  Dennis shook his head while waving a finger. “I know you’re a savvy businessman . . . but I’m savvy when it comes to criminals. They know how to sound like they’re not lying because it’s second nature to them.”

  Aaron blew out a long breath and started counting to ten.

  “Thank you for your concern, Officer Foster.” Nicholas’s voice was much cooler than Aaron’s would’ve been. “But if I’m wrong, all I lose is the chance to regain what’s been stolen from me. But if he’s right, Jimmy’s in trouble, and I’ll need Aaron’s help.”

  “Fine.” Dennis slid the keys around the ring, looking for the right one. “Want us to press charges against this Jimmy, then?”

  Nicholas stepped aside to give the officer access to the lock. “Not yet. But could you ask the officers to inform us if they see him? He’s blond, has a very angular face, and his shoulders are rather broad for a thirteen-year-old. Green eyes, big attitude.”

  “Hmm.” Dennis jiggled the key in the lock. “I’d say we already have him.”

  “What?” The second the bars opened, Aaron flew into the corridor and grabbed Dennis by the lapels. “I’ve been telling you since I got here that Jimmy was in trouble. Were you not listening?”

  Dennis flicked away Aaron’s hands and brushed off his shirt. “Watch it. I can arrest you again for assaulting an officer.” He glared at him for a second before heading down the corridor. “You can come see if this is who you’re looking for. We caught him breaking and entering. He wouldn’t tell us his name.”

  Aaron charged after him. “I described him several times over.”

  Dennis shrugged. “I don’t waste my time listening to inmates. Courts and lawyers are paid to do that.”

  “You never got around to sending me a lawyer.”

  “He was busy.”

  Sure he was. Dennis had dragged his feet in getting him a lawyer just to antagonize him. Aaron clenched his hands tight. He needed to see whether or not Jimmy was safe first, then he could deal with this arrogant lout, if need be.

  Dennis stopped in front of the last cell and shook the barred door. The clanging filled the entire jail block. “Get up.”

  The gray wool lump on the cot didn’t move. The cell was miniature, compared to the others, as if the builders had incorrectly divided the square footage.

  “You’ve got visitors.”

  The lump groaned and rolled up to sit.

  Aaron nearly cried. “You’re safe.”

  Jimmy jerked his head toward them, and his gaze flew to Nicholas. “Did Mr. Firebrook tell you I didn’t steal your stuff?”

  “Now wait a minute.” Aaron held out his hand. “You stole the stuff. Don’t lie even a little. Trust him with the truth.”

  “Fine. My mother made me tell you I had no parents so I could swipe your things.” Jimmy’s voice was quiet as he stared at his lap. “If I don’t do what she wants, she hurts me.” He turned to face them. “So can I go now?”

  Dennis laughed. “You’re in here for breaking and entering. They can’t free you.”

  “Mother made me do that too.”

  “These fellas might feel sorry for you being a weak momma’s boy, but I don’t.”

  Jimmy got up and charged at Dennis, who just laughed and stood out of reach.

  Aaron swallowed. Watching someone taunt someone he cared about, someone so young and hurting, made his chest ache. To think, he’d done that to dozens of people over the years. He’d caused so much hurt he couldn’t fix.

  Nicholas reached for Jimmy, but the boy pulled his arms back inside the cell and stepped away from the bars.

  Nicholas turned to Dennis with a scowl. “No need to goad him, Officer Foster.”

  “And you’re not my boss. Take it up with the chief, if you’d like.” He spun the key ring around his finger. “Criminals don’t get special treatment because of their age.”

  Aaron had to look away from Dennis to keep from throttling him and landing himself back in a cell. “Why were you breaking and entering?”

  Jimmy flopped onto the far end of his cot, nearly collapsing it. “Zachary told my mother how much I lost the night I ran away. She said I had until the morning to get her no less than twenty dollars’ worth of stuff or she’d take it out of my backside.” He shrugged. “I couldn’t go back to the mansion, since you would’ve told everyone I was a thief by then.”

  “I hadn’t told anyone. I was trying to find you to make sure you were all right.”

  Jimmy just gave him a side glance.

  Nicholas leaned against the wall beside the cell’s bars. “Why didn’t you come tell us you were being forced to steal?”

  Jimmy glanced at Dennis. “Like you’d believe me.”

  “Seems Mr. Firebrook did,” Nicholas said.

  Aaron leaned against the bars, as if getting closer to the boy might help Jimmy believe them. “I told you we’d help you get free of her. We can go to the courts and have her declared unfit.”

  “You think that’ll work?” The boy’s voice was sharp and loud, echoing against the stone walls. “Some of these coppers and
judgers are in cahoots with her. What if they give me back to her? Do you know what she’ll do to me?” His fists clenched his blanket so tightly his whole body trembled.

  Aaron crouched to his level. “I understand your fear. When I was growing up, all I ever wanted was a different life. And if someone had cared for me like the Lowes care for you, I might have gotten it much sooner.”

  Jimmy seemed to fold even farther into himself, hunched like a homeless man in the rain. “And if it doesn’t work?” His voice was barely audible.

  “Aren’t you in danger already?”

  Jimmy just stared at him, his eyes reddening.

  “She’s not going to stop hurting you, no matter what, is she?”

  He could’ve sworn Jimmy shook his head a little, but all the boy did was stare.

  “The problem about staying with your mother is she’s pushing you to commit crime. Though I understand why you obey her, you’re responsible for your choices. Years ago, I treated my classmates poorly—one being Officer Foster, here—because of how my uncle treated me. But the hurt I caused was still hurt I caused—no one else. Officer Foster doesn’t like me now and probably never will. I’m the one who humiliated him, not my uncle.”

  Jimmy seemed to be listening, but his face had grown so hard Aaron couldn’t read him.

  Nicholas laid a hand on Aaron’s shoulder. “I think we best go.”

  “What!” Jimmy shot up. “You’re going to leave me here?”

  Nicholas crossed his arms, but it was more a patient gesture than a defensive one. “Are you going to take responsibility for what you’ve done and trust us to help, or are you going to go back to how things were? We don’t need you back how you were. If you don’t trust us to fix this situation, we can’t help you.”

  The boy huffed and sat with a thump.

  Aaron got up slowly, hoping that by the time he reached his full height Jimmy would change his mind, but the boy kept his eyes trained on the stone wall across from him.

  But when he’d been thirteen, he’d not have trusted an adult either. It had taken him an entire decade to feel kindly toward anyone, to trust anyone. He hadn’t wanted anyone to get close enough to hurt him. . . .