Dropped Gloves (Five for Fighting #5)

by Amber Lynn

  “I’ll let her know, but I’m actually hoping we can keep this conversation short. Do you happen to know her birth mother’s name and where she was born?” Jean didn’t say anything, so Ryan again had to prod for a response. “Jean, her mother’s name, do you know it?”

  Jean sniffled into the phone, the only indication Ryan heard that she was crying. “I am and will always be her mother, so if you’re talking about the other woman, please preface it with birth. Can I ask why you need that information today? Once Lisa’s ready to talk, I’d be happy to give her any information she wants.”

  “We have our reasons for needing it, and it sounds like you know it, so why don’t you just tell it to me. I’d really like to get on with my day.”

  Jean was quiet long enough that Ryan thought he’d need to say something again. His patience was thin to begin with when it came to the woman, and she wasn’t helping matters.

  “Her name was Erin Plumb and she was from Lincoln.”

  Ryan looked down at the form they needed to fill in and saw that they needed more information. He assumed the Plumb was a maiden name, so he didn’t feel the need to double check the information.

  “What about middle name? Do you know that?”

  “We have Lisa’s birth certificate if she’d like to see the information. Her middle name was Renee. Can I ask why you need that information? I get the feeling this isn’t just a call to get her name so you can research who she was.”

  Ryan didn’t know what he’d done to give that impression, but evidently it wasn’t the prime time of the day to be calling up asking questions because you wanted to search the internet. He didn’t feel like he had the authority to share why they needed the information with Lisa’s family, so he looked to Lisa for direction.

  “She’s asked a couple of times why we want the information. Should I tell her?”

  Lisa had stopped trying to write and was focused on trying to read his face. He smiled at her, trying not to lose the smile he’d had all day. It was a little harder than he’d expected.

  “Did she tell you what we needed to know?” Ryan nodded his response. “Then go ahead, but make it quick. We still have to find a judge.”

  “Thanks for the information, Jean. We decided to make a pit stop in Omaha to get married, but the pesky license requires us to fill in stuff about our parents.”

  Ryan hung up the phone before Jean could reply. The instant ringing of the phone told him she didn’t really like the way he’d ended the conversation.

  “Her name was Erin Renee Plumb and she was from Lincoln. I assume that’s Nebraska since she didn’t say another state.”

  Lisa took in a big breath and nodded before turning back to her writing. Ryan told her what to fill in for his parents, only briefly wondering if he should call to verify he didn’t have any of his own skeletons in the closet.

  “So what did she say when she answered the phone?” Lisa was in the process of signing her name. She slid the paper over to let him sign while she waited for his answer.

  “She was worried about you and wanted a chance to give her side of the story. Evidently she wasn’t too happy about you disappearing with the weird guy you showed up with out of the blue.”

  Lisa scoffed and pushed the paper towards the woman waiting for them to finish. The woman took it and immediately went to work doing whatever she had to do with it. Ryan had spent enough time observing the interactions of the people ahead of them in line that he knew it’d be a minute before they were sent on their way.

  “Thanks for making the call. I’m just not ready to talk to any of them right now.”

  Ryan wrapped his arm around Lisa and pulled her close to him, kissing the top of her hair. She’d been upset that she didn’t have anything to do her hair up nicely, but Ryan was quick to assure her that it looked beautiful. He liked the way it naturally hung around her face.

  “I’d prefer you only cried happy tears today, and I’m sure if you talked to her, there would be anything but happy tears.”

  After spending time with Lisa, he knew it didn’t take much to get the water works going. He’d been surprised that she’d been able to keep the tears away since they woke up that morning. She really had cried herself to sleep, so there was a chance there weren’t any more tears in her body.

  “I was hoping to get through the day without having to think about them. I mean, it’s impossible not to think about the fact that my father isn’t here to walk me down the aisle. Right now, I don’t know that I’d want him here even if he could be, but I sort of imagined he always would be when I thought about getting married.”

  “We can wait to get married until everything is sorted out.” Ryan didn’t want to wait, but if Lisa needed to, they could move forward with their lives together and hold off on having a piece of paper that tied them together.

  Lisa started shaking her head as soon as he said the word wait. “You got me in this dress, so we’re getting married today.”

  She fidgeted with the waist of the dress. Ryan had told her at least ten times that it looked amazing on her. It molded to her torso like it was made for her. They hadn’t really discussed what they were going to do after it was all official, but Ryan hoped Lisa didn’t mind the fact that he was taking her back to their hotel room and they weren’t going to be disturbed until morning. Or at least not until Pepe needed a bathroom break.

  “Hopefully it will only be a little while longer before you can get out of it.” Ryan rested his head on Lisa’s and focused on the clerk. She was making odd faces as she typed. He didn’t think it meant there were any issues, it just seemed to be a tick or something. “I’m not sure if you’ve been able to pick up that this is kind of a last minute thing, and we haven’t figured out who’s going to be officiating. Do you have any suggestions of someone who would be able to do it today?”

  “We can’t guarantee anything since it’s up to the judges, but I can give you a list and circle some of the most likely candidates. You are aware that you need two witnesses, right? I don’t want to imply that you guys haven’t thought this through, but it’s kind of clear you haven’t.”

  “Yeah, well, I’ve got the witnesses covered, so we’re a step in the right direction.” Ryan smiled as warmly as he could, even though he was feeling a little disgruntled by the comment.

  Lisa moved a step away and looked at him sideways. He’d kept the little surprise that they were expecting company a secret.

  “I’m guessing you would like a certified copy of your license, right?”

  Ryan nodded as the woman finished up what she was doing and gave them the papers they needed to continue their day. He paid and kissed Lisa as they started walking towards the door.

  “Who are the witnesses?” she asked as soon as they were out in the hallway. He’d been surprised she didn’t ask as soon as she heard they existed.

  Ryan laughed slightly, not exactly sure how she’d take the news. “I texted Dylan last night to let him know our plans were changing, I didn’t tell him what happened, just that we’d decided to get married and would be home at least a day earlier than expected. He asked if we had people to stand up with us, and when I said we didn’t, he said he and Casey were on their way.”

  Ryan had told them it wasn’t necessary, and a waste of jet fuel, but the couple was stubborn and wouldn’t listen. Ryan woke up to find a text saying they’d landed and just needed to know where to go. It was hard to believe anyone would drop everything to be there for him like that.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Lisa startled when the doorbell rang a week later. She had just finished her morning routine of pinching herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. Her wedding to Ryan hadn’t been fancy, but it was perfect and the days that had followed were far above her wildest dreams.

  Ryan had already left for morning practice and Lisa was getting ready for her shift that started in an hour. Since she’d officially moved into his apartment, they hadn’t had any visitors. Casey always threatene
d to drop by, but so far Lisa had been able to avoid a house call.

  The doorbell rang again, and Lisa sighed. She still needed to dry her hair, but at least she’d put her uniform on. Ryan had told her she didn’t need to keep working. They both knew she wouldn’t stop, though. It wasn’t in her to sit at home and let him bring in all the money.

  “Come on, Pepe. Let’s go see who’s here to see you.”

  Lisa left her brush and hair dryer to head towards the door. If it wasn’t Casey, she wasn’t sure who it could’ve been unless one of the neighbors needed to borrow a cup of sugar. Lisa laughed at the thought. She and Ryan were getting good at playing house, but they hadn’t spent any time with the neighbors. Clearly there had to be other people living on their floor, but Lisa hadn’t seen anyone.

  The doorbell rang a final time just as Lisa opened the door. She was ready to tell the person off for their insistence, until she saw who was standing there. Jean looked like she was tired, and Lisa could imagine why. What she couldn’t imagine was the other woman showing up out of the blue. They’d left things unfinished, but Lisa was still trying to figure out how she felt about everything and thought she was being given some space.

  “What are you doing here?” Lisa wasn’t sure what else to say. She kept her voice calm, but felt like a panic attack was on the horizon.

  “You haven’t been returning my calls, and then two days ago I got a forwarding address card in the mail. I thought I should put it to use.”

  Lisa had sent out a batch bunch of postcards, but she hadn’t expected people to show up at her door. She wasn’t exactly sure what to do, and wished Ryan was around so he could offer some support.

  “I thought it was clear from my lack of picking up the phone that I wasn’t ready to talk. I assume since you’re here, Daddy is doing fine.”

  Jean nodded. “He’s still in the hospital, but things are looking better. He was supposed to be released yesterday, but they’re thinking about putting a pacemaker in because his heart’s having trouble beating regularly.”

  None of that sounded like Lisa’s dad was doing fine. She was a little pissed at Jean for not being there by his side as he dealt with his health issues. Whatever she thought needed to be said could’ve waited until her husband was out of the hospital.

  “You really think it’s good for you to be here right now?”

  “Did you really think it was a good idea for you to up and leave the way you did? I know things are in turmoil right now since everything came out, but we need to talk about it, not run away from it.”

  It was impossible not to scoff. “Things were in turmoil long before I found out the truth. Our family has never been right.”

  “Secrets and lies have a way of driving people apart. Every family has them, ours is no different.”

  Jean didn’t sound like she enjoyed that fact, but she had come to accept it. Lisa couldn’t just sit back and let bygones be bygones. It didn’t matter what had happened before she was born. None of that was her fault, but yet she was treated like it was.

  Trying to go back to their deranged happy family would mean she condoned the way she was treated. There was a time when maybe she’d just accept things the way they were, but Ryan changed that. Being with someone, even if it was for only a short time, who loved Lisa for who she was, flaws and all, changed things. She didn’t have to deal with the taunting and put downs to feel like someone out there in the world loved her.

  “I seemed to be the only one in the family not in on the secret. Knowing what you all kept from me,” Lisa’s voice dropped off. “I should’ve been the first to know.”

  Lisa hadn’t figured out when the right time should’ve been for someone to tell her. It had to have been before her father was scared from a near-death experience. There were so many times over the years they could’ve said something.

  There were two sides to the secret. The fact that she didn’t share a mother or a father with the rest of her siblings. If they were set in their ways about not letting her know about her father’s infidelity, they could’ve at least told her that he couldn’t have more kids. As absurd as the reason sounded when she thought about it, they could’ve told her that story.

  “I thought you’d never have to know. Whether I gave birth to you or not, I am your mother. Look, I know you weren’t expecting me, and you’re clearly not happy to see me, but I want to start mending fences. We still want to be part of your life. Don’t you think running off and getting married without any of us there is enough punishment?”

  Jean tried not to make it obvious, but her eyes kept drifting down to where Lisa’s hand rested on her hip. When she finally mentioned the ring, she glared at it, almost like she could somehow scare it off Lisa’s hand.

  Lisa wanted to slam the door in her face for the comment. She should’ve done it the second she realized who was on the other side of the door. Eventually she thought maybe she could mend the fences Jean was talking about, but it wasn’t time for that yet.

  “If you think I married Ryan to punish you guys, you really don’t know who I am.” Lisa felt her face turning harder than the neutral expression she tried to put on. “I married him because I love him and for the first time in over a decade, I feel like I belong somewhere and that someone has my back.”

  There were a lot more feelings than what she listed, but she was getting tired of the conversation and wanted to get to work. Trying to explain to Jean everything that had changed about her since meeting Ryan would take longer than the five more minutes she was willing to give the other woman.

  Lisa thought for a second about something that had been on her mind often in the week since they’d last spoken. She was still trying to figure out why she was distancing Jean and the mother label, even in her mind. As soon as she heard the news that Jean wasn’t her mother, she started using her name more. It was like a switch went off, whether Lisa wanted it or not. Until she figured things out, Jean was Jean, even though her father stayed just that in her mind.

  “You belong with your family. That man, your husband, doesn’t know you like we do. He hasn’t been through the stuff we have. He wasn’t there when you were scared something was going to come out of your closet and get you when you were five. I was the one there holding you, soothing you to sleep.”

  Lisa shook her head. The statements were a bunch of crap. Yeah, things were hunky dory when Lisa was five and no one treated her like dirt. Fast forward about a decade and there wasn’t much hand holding going on.

  “No, he wasn’t there when I was five. He was there last week when I heard my sisters debating whether they thought I’d paid him to show up with me. He’s been there for me in ways none of you ever have. You can say you’re my mother over a person I’ve never met, and never will, because you did in fact raise me. But does that really make you my mother?”

  That was the question Lisa kept asking herself when it came to thinking of Jean as just Jean. Was what the woman did over the years enough to call her mother? If things hadn’t turned sour, maybe it would’ve been. The way Jean seemed to always try to play peacekeeper after the fact, and not stop the hurtful things being said before they went too far, told Lisa that Jean would always side with the kids she gave birth to over the one she basically adopted.

  “I am your mother,” Jean said forcefully. “That woman wouldn’t have loved you anywhere near as much as I do. She was a grifter, looking for scores. She saw your father and thought he was an easy mark.”

  Lisa started shaking her head, trying to get rid of the sensation her life was turning into a soap opera.

  “What are you talking about?” Lisa knew she hadn’t gotten every bit of detail from her father, but whatever path Jean was going down seemed crazy.

  “Trust me when I say that the best thing that happened in your life as far as she was concerned was her death. Your father doesn’t know I know everything, maybe even more than he does. I knew something was up when I came home from school the week after it happened. He
couldn’t figure out if he should be standoffish or over-affectionate. That’s something good to keep in mind with your new husband. They think they’re keeping secrets, but most men are horrible actors.”

  Jean was back to glaring at the ring on Lisa’s hand. Lisa had thought once she made a point of bringing it up, her finger would lose the scrutiny, but evidently it was more offensive than she thought.

  “Are you going to get to the point where you’re explaining the whole easy mark thing?” Lisa looked behind her to try to find a clock she could check, but there weren’t any in eyesight. She had a vague sense of how long she had to leave for work, and that didn’t give them much more time.

  “I can see you’re dressed for work, so maybe we can pick up this conversation later tonight when you have more time.”

  It was a decent suggestion, but Lisa had plans. Part of her wanted to know as much as she could; another part wanted to pretend it was all a dream.

  “There’s a team dinner tonight that we have to go to. You may have missed it when I said it earlier, but I’m really not ready to talk about this stuff. I know I haven’t stopped you from saying your piece, but I need more time to think.”

  “How can you think about things if you don’t know the whole story? That woman thought she could blackmail your father. She left notes for him, thinking she could get money for her silence. She wasn’t all that bright, because he never saw one of the notes. I doubt he even realized she stayed in the area. I took care of things, letting her know she wasn’t about to get a big payday. I knew what kind of woman she was and if she tried to come after us, I was going to the police with the notes.”

  Lisa didn’t know what to think about what she was hearing. The soap opera notion was even truer than she thought. She was afraid to ask if Jean had somehow taken care of the problem by cutting some brake lines. The determination on Jean’s face told her there was a good chance it was a possibility.

  “I’m not sure what to say.” Lisa didn’t enjoy the feeling of complete astonishment.