The Devastatingly Beautiful Series

by M Dauphin

  Waiting for him to get home, I pull out my laptop and start checking e-mails. If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to keep the business afloat even with the last two months pay missing, but it will be tight. Of course I have an e-mail from my mom, but it seems like everything was ok on her end. Did she not know what happened? I then check my work e-mail to find that nothing is out of place. There are no hate e-mails about missing shoots or prints not being delivered, there’s nothing. What? That’s not right, I had a wedding and a ton of family shoots lined up for the last two months. Hopping over to my bank’s page, I check my account and sure enough, the payments that were scheduled to be made by those clients were made in full and then some.

  What the hell?

  I hear the door close and Tatum walks in the kitchen with arms full of groceries. I laugh as he tries to set everything down on the table but half of it ends up falling.

  “Holy cow that’s a ton of food! We can’t have needed all that!” I laugh as he starts putting everything away. His steps pause when I say it and immediately notice why. The fridge is empty, there was nothing in the pantry and the only thing on the counter is a banana. “Shit, I’m sorry Tatum. I didn’t think…”

  “It’s fine. Cooking was difficult while you were gone, I just didn’t have it in me. BUT now that you are back I plan on spoiling you with the one dish I know how to make!” Wow he’s in a great mood. I know we both slept soundly last night, no nightmares, not much tossing and turning. It’s amazing how good two people can be for each other, and it’s even more amazing that I’ve found the man I want to spend the rest of my life with and he’s staying with me after everything I’ve been through.

  “Hey babe?” I decide to ask about the money.

  “Yea?” He keeps back and forth from the table to the cabinets, putting everything away as fast as he can so he could make me breakfast.

  “Would you happen to know how my photography business seems to be running smoothly, even though I’ve been missing from the shoots for the past two months?” That gets him to slow down.

  “Oh yea?” he asks, the can of soup he’s holding has suddenly become very interesting.

  “Yup. I just signed on, expecting a slew of angry emails and empty bank accounts. Instead, I have one e-mail from my mother who I don’t think knows anything about what happened, no other e-mails, and very, very happy bank account.”

  He sighs, defeated, and sat at the table next to me.

  “Fine, you caught me. I’ve been keeping up with the business as much as I could, anything I couldn’t handle the assistant helped out with. Oh, I hired you a new assistant. I’d rather be the boyfriend anyway. And your mom.... well they didn’t know. Not until this morning at least.” He smiles and I’m so stunned by this I’m not sure how to react.

  “You did the shoots?”

  “What, am I not good enough?!” he feigns hurt, laughing at my reaction to him. “Molly, the man I hired as your new assistant actually is a huge success with the clients. He’s fantastic… you are going to love him. Trust me.”

  “I don’t know what to say. Um... thank you?” I’m so confused by it all.

  “Don’t thank me. I know how much you love that studio. When you lost the Delany gig I knew you would be taking a huge hit financially so I threw myself into it when I wasn’t on the hunt for you. I didn’t sleep much at all when you were gone so it was a good way to help keep my mind occupied.”

  Shit the Delany job. They didn’t pay me a dime. My soaring mood is kicked down a few notches. I was really betting on getting the land next to my studio, I had my heart set on it. Now I’ll just have to pray no one else buys it up before I’m able to scrounge up the money needed to buy and renovate it to my liking.

  “Well thank you, I appreciate it. Would you mind if we went in today? I kind of miss it.”

  “Absolutely, babe,” he smiles, then gets to work fixing me breakfast

  I’m one lucky girl.

  17

  Tatum

  “So what do you plan on doing with Delany?” Eddie’s voice booms through the Bluetooth of Molly’s car as I drive to the grocery store.

  He called this morning to tell me the entire town back home is buzzing. Someone knows what’s going on, but if my father finds out who that is, they won’t be a problem for too much longer.

  “I need to see him. Face to face. I need you to make that happen, man,” I sigh, rubbing my face with my hands.

  “Can do. Texas or Illinois corn fields?” he asks, laughing. Apparently the fact that I now live in southern Illinois is funny to him. If I have it my way, though, we’ll be back in Texas in no time.

  “Somewhere else. My father has a warehouse in Kansas. Have him moved there, make him wait a few days. Only feed the asshole a piece of bread a day for a week, then I’ll be there.” I growl into the phone.

  Robert Delany is about to get a taste of his own medicine.

  ***

  Later that day we go up to the studio so Molly can meet her new assistant. To say she is shocked to see who it is is an understatement.

  “Oh my GOD Trey?! What are you doing here?!” She squeals when he walks up front after hearing the door open.

  “Hey sweet! SO GOOD to see you. My Lord you have gotten bony, girl. Did Tatum not tell you about our arrangement!?” he looks at me and I smile and shake my head.

  “Wanted it to be a surprise,” I laugh as she playfully hits me in the arm.

  “Well what the hell? How did all of this happen?” she asks.

  I then explained to her how Trey had stopped me in the hospital and told me to take care of her. I could feel the connection that the two of them made, so when she went missing I contacted him to help out. Offered him a shit ton of money to come work here and as it turns out he’s a damn good photographer.

  “So Trey has pretty much been keeping this business afloat since you’ve been gone. I’ve just been the puppeteer. He has put in most of the man hours,” I say as she laughs again and hugs me tight.

  “Thank you, Tatum. This means more to me than you know.” Her eyes are bright with emotion. I’d do anything to have them like that every day.

  Knowing I have hired guards outside both of the studio exits, I leave Molly and Trey to start learning how to work together. I have a plan to bring to life, hopefully sooner than later.

  ***

  Later that evening I’m finishing up dinner when Molly walks into the kitchen. She hugs me as I am putting the noodles on, then again thanks me for what I did for her studio.

  “Mol stop, you would have done the same for me. Now go put your things down, I’m almost done.” I have to stop myself from slapping her ass as she walks away. One day I’ll be comfortable with that, but not tonight. It’s still too soon.

  She heads into the office and my thoughts drifted to the house. We really need to get that office cleaned out and finish putting all of the boxes away. I left everything sit while she was missing. I couldn’t stand doing something so meaningless when I could have been looking for her.

  “Hey babe!” I yell down the hall. “We really need to clean that office. Want to start after dinner?”

  “Sure, that’s fine! Now finish up… I’m starving!”

  A woman who loves food. How did I get so lucky?

  Molly

  After an insanely delicious dinner, it’s time to finally tackle the rest of the boxes left over from Tatum’s move here. We divide and conquer and within a few hours we’re already making progress. The final box in my assigned room is the box from my parent’s house. I really have no use for any of it, but something tells me to look through it, just in case. On top is a picture book of my wedding day. TRASH! Under that are the sonograms from Alice. Though they bring back memories in my life I’d rather not remember, these are a keeper. Definitely. Underneath everything is the unmarked envelope I received shortly after the threats came. The envelope I was too afraid to open. The one I left sitting on the counter, unaware that my parents kept it this whole time
. I guess since I never told them about the threats they wouldn’t think twice about saving this.

  I sit next to the box, Tatum’s in the room but completely unaware of what’s going on over here as I start to open the letter. Everything else around me fades away as I read the letter that would have changed everything had I opened it five years ago.

  Molly,

  I hope you are doing ok. I am sorry that you were hurt, and I’m sorry that your husband was lying to you. Know that I am hurting right along with you. I couldn’t wait to hold that tiny baby and treat her like the sister I never had. The sister I will never have. Understand that even though I am only 18, I know a lot more than one would think. My whole life I’ve been observing the behavior of the men my father would bring home for supper, the friends he played cards with. When I was younger I was naive, but now that I know the truth, I feel less bad about what I’ve done.

  These men killed my father. The ones that used to come to our house for my mother’s homemade soup. The ones that used to swing me on our front porch. They killed him because he was trying to help you. I hope you are not upset with what I did, and I hope one day our paths cross again. I love you like my own mother (just younger and cooler)

  Love,

  Evelyn

  My hands are shaking and I don’t realize I’m crying until I hear Tatum’s voice.

  “What’s wrong, what is that?” he asks as he takes the letter and reads it. “Wow. It really was her.”

  I nod, wondering what she meant about me not being upset. Why would I be upset with her?

  I take the envelope and reach in, feeling a smaller, thicker envelope inside and bringing it out to the light. My stomach drops when I realize what’s inside. All of the cash that Brian stole is currently sitting in my hands. It was all Evie all along.

  “Holy shit what is that?” Tatum asks, sitting next to me.

  “It’s the money Brian stole… I don’t... oh my God she did know where it was….” Fuck, this is the money! This is a lot of fucking money! “Oh my God Tatum do you know what this means!!!?” He raised his eyebrows, smiling from ear to ear.

  “I can finally buy my outdoor studio!!” I laugh, we hug, I cry some more. Then I send a silent thank you up to Evie.

  “Does this mean it was sitting at your parent’s house all along?” he asks when I finally calm down.

  “Yea, I guess it does,” I say, scrunching my eyebrows together.

  “Didn’t my dad tell you a while back that you needed to call your parents?” Holy shit he did.

  “Do you think he knew?!” This is too weird.

  “I wouldn’t put it past him. That man has a soft spot for you and a way of getting information out of people.” He laughs then pulls me in for another kiss. One that leads to a night full of fun, right there on our office rug.

  18

  Molly

  Early the next morning there’s a knock at the door. I grumble and roll over, wishing away anyone that dares interrupt the warmth and snuggles I’ve been receiving all night. Tatum laughs and gets up to answer it, pulling on pants and a shirt on the way. I lay in bed, reveling in the feeling of being home with him again. Things are looking up for us.

  Moments later, Tatum’s face peeks in the bedroom.

  “Hey babe. Uh… our parents are here,” he says, a slight grin on his face. “You may wanna put some clothes on before coming down,” he laughs as I groan and roll out of bed.

  What’re they doing here? Both of our parents? As in, there’s four adults at our door right now? Shit! Looking in the mirror, I make a mental note that today needs to be haircut day. Rob sucks at a lot of things, haircuts being one of them. Tossing the short waves and washing my face, I slip on a sun dress and walk downstairs to meet his parents. His father I’ve met plenty of times before, but I’ve never met his mother.

  “Molly, dear, thank goodness you are home.” Al is the first to come over and hug me, not holding back like most people would have had they known what I lived through. It doesn’t bother me, though. The first time I met this man in person I was banged up terribly. The second time I am meeting this man in person I am bruised and beaten from head to toe. Great.

  “Yes. Thank you Mr. Savage.”

  He laughs at my formalness.

  “Please, call me Al. Molly, this lovely woman right here is Nate… er… Tatum’s mother. Alice Savage.” My breathing hitched and I cocked my head at Tatum who is standing behind me smiling at me the sweetest smile.

  “Alice?” I ask him in a whisper that I’m sure everyone hears.

  “Yeaaa...” he raises his eyebrows in defeat, smiles, and shrugs his shoulders. He didn’t ever tell me his mother’s name, and now I know why. I hear my mom’s tiny gasp as I introduce myself to Tatum’s mother.

  “Nice to meet you, Alice. Sorry for the weirdness. I’m sure you know about my past and my connection to your name by now. Your son never mentioned that to me, though, so I was a little shocked. I’m incredibly happy to have you here and to finally meet you.” She’s shorter than me, white hair falls straight to her shoulders, and her grey eyes smile at me.

  “I’m so happy you are okay, my dear. You don’t know what you mean to my son, do you?” I smile and raise my eyebrows back at him.

  “I think I’m starting to figure that out,” I say and he laughs, bringing me to his side and kissing the top of my head.

  I look at my parents next, my dad brooding in the background, my mom tearing up next to him.

  “Hey guys,” I offer a smile and is met by a burst of tears and hugs by my mother. I don’t want to be fussed over, I don’t want to be touched this much yet, but I’m not going to make her stop so I stand there, stiff as a board, until Tatum gently reminds her not to smother me.

  My father glares at Tatum and I know why. Tatum never told them I had gone missing. I’m sure it was one hell of a shock when they found out, however they did. Either way, they are here. Maybe we can start healing things between us now.

  Tatum

  When we found Molly, I thought it might be nice to finally let her parents know what had been happening. I didn’t give them details, but they did know that she had been missing for a while and with the help of my father, she was found safe.

  Holy shit that was a bad idea. Looking back, not telling them she went missing when she did was a bad idea. Parents, no matter how far removed from their child’s life, want to know that their child is safe. In this case I didn’t think anything of it because they didn’t seem to care for five years, what would make them change their mind now? Apparently I was wrong, and boy did her dad let me have it.

  ***

  “She what!?” his voice boomed into the phone.

  “Well, she was missing. For two months. I didn’t tell you because you didn’t need to worry about it. She’s fine, we found her yesterday. No need to worry.”

  “The hell I won’t worry! This girl was fine until you stepped into her life! Now, in the last two months she’s been beaten close to death, kidnapped, God knows what was done to her when she was gone, and you didn’t think her PARENTS needed to know?!”

  I felt like a child, and I should have. It was a dick move not letting her parents in, but I was in a bad place.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to do with myself, I didn’t know the choices I were making were the wrong ones until after they were made. If you want, we will be home soon. I can have my dad fly out to pick you and your wife up so you can come see for yourself that she is okay.”

  It was the least that I could do. I just hope that when he sees me he doesn’t attack me. I could probably beat his ass with my eyes closed, but he’s Molly’s father. Even if he did attack me I wouldn’t retaliate. I couldn’t do that to her.

  ***

  So here we sit. All six of us in this tiny house. It’s cozy, but when we get married we will be building something a bit bigger. I have my eye on some land a few miles out of town that would be great to raise a family, have room to spread out. I’
m a Texas boy at heart, and land is kind of a must-have for my future home.

  I just brought back in the tray of drinks for everyone, my hand shaking as I hand her father his drink. He hasn’t said much to me since he’s been here, just sent those ever famous Ward family death daggers my way. I now know where she gets that look from.

  My dad clears his throat to talk, but Molly’s mom speaks up first.

  “Tatum, thank you for having us here today. Al, Alice, Thank you for making it possible for us to get here,” she starts, her eyes, as green as her daughters, start filling with tears. She reaches into her bag and pulls out a pile of what looks to be letters. She clears her throat, takes a breath, and goes on. Jesus Christ will this ever end? The insane amount of secrecy in this family is mind blowing. Any normal person would have run away screaming by now, leaving their lying family in the dust. Not Molly, though. She’s ready to fight, I can feel it in the tense way that she’s sitting on the couch. Shit, I’m either about to witness the best family make-up ever, or the explosion of the century.

  Her mom seems more upset that she has to tell the story, rather than being upset that she lied to her daughter all of these years. If I were her, I’d be more worried about the fact that she lied. Obviously her parents have never conjured the wrath of Molly.

  Molly

  In the last ten years I can count the amount of times I’ve seen my parents on one hand, and still have fingers left over. Seeing them today, standing in my living room for the first time ever, I see them in a whole new light. Maybe it’s just my new outlook on life, but they look more fragile than I remember. Granted, I was an eighteen year old girl who obviously knew more than her parents at the time, but they have always seemed so strong and strict. Standing here now, though, they look like one wrong word from me would break them.

  My mom just apologized to me. Mark that one for the history books. I’m still a little bitter about how everything went down between us so I’m trying my hardest to be nice to them. I have a terrible feeling I’m going to say something nasty to them without even realizing it.