“I’ll bet.”
Linda’s face crumpled, all her earlier bravado cracking to nothing, falling away. She cried, “All right. I just have to say this. I just have to tell you that I have been thinking, I truly have, since that horrible evening four weeks ago when you and I fought so bitterly about this. I need you to know that I... Chloe, oh, Chloe... I know I was wrong. I was wrong to listen to him at all, wrong not to tell him immediately to leave us alone and then hang up the phone, wrong not to tell you right away that he’d called me. He...well, he charmed me. He fed my ego. And I fell for his lies. But I did not tell him anything about you. I gave him no information. I swear it. I didn’t!”
Quinn reached over and brushed the back of Chloe’s hand. She glanced at him. His eyes spoke of forgiveness.
But Chloe wasn’t to the point of forgiving her mother—not yet anyway. She said, “All right, Mom. I believe you. And the truth is if he’s determined to reach me, I’m not that hard to find.”
“That’s what I told you, remember, four weeks ago, right before you...threw me out?”
“I remember. Did Ted say anything else?”
“Not that I can think of. Really, that was it. That was all. I haven’t heard a word from him before or since.”
“Did you tell Dad about that call?”
Linda shook her head. “Not until last night.”
A little wave of relief washed through Chloe that her dad hadn’t known, hadn’t kept that secret from her, too.
Her mother went on. “After you called to say you wanted to speak with me tonight, I just got so upset about everything. I stewed over what you would say to me, knowing that I really did need to admit to you that Ted had called me, to tell you what he said. I just...well, I started crying and I couldn’t stop. Your father was so worried. He had no idea what was the matter with me. I realized I couldn’t keep the truth from him a minute longer. So I ended up telling him everything, beginning with the call from Ted and ending with exactly what happened when you and I fought four weeks ago.”
“So he knows the whole story now?”
Her mother bobbed her head and fingered her pearls. “Your father’s not very happy with me at the moment. I know I can’t blame him for that. I only want you to know, Chloe, that I have been thinking about what I’ve done. Not only thinking about how I’ve kept a secret of the fact that Ted called me. More than that. So much more. I’ve been thinking of the past, too.”
“Mother, I—”
But Linda wouldn’t quit. “No. Please. Don’t stop me. I need to say this. I need you to know that I see now, I do. So many ways that I have been wrong. I’ve been thinking how very proud I was at your beautiful wine-country wedding. How sure I was that you had everything then—and that I deserved a lot of credit for how well you’d done, how I had worked so hard to make you the kind of woman you are, an accomplished woman who marries just the right man. I’ve done a lot of bragging, about you and your ‘great’ life down in San Diego.”
“Mother, I just don’t...” Her objections trailed off as Quinn’s big hand covered hers. She drew strength from that simple touch, strength enough to let her mother continue. “Never mind. Go on.”
“Thank you,” Linda said. “Because there are so many ways I know that I’ve failed you. That first time you left Ted, when you came home to us and said you weren’t happy with him? You said you were finished with him, you never wanted to go back. And what did I do? I pushed you to try again, to work it out, even though you told me he’d hit you, even though you said that sometimes he frightened you. I was so very proud of the fine life I thought you had, the life I had insisted you make for yourself—so proud, that I refused to see your desperate unhappiness. If I had listened to what you were telling me then, you might never have gone back to him. He wouldn’t have hit you again. But you did go back. And he did hit you. And he betrayed you, too. And I see that I have to face all that now. I have to admit that it happened, to own my part in it. I have not been the mother that you deserve. But I want you to know, at least, that I do finally see how wrong I’ve been. I hope that someday you will find it in yourself to forgive me. I love you so much, Chloe Janine. You’re the bright, shining star of my heart. I hate having to count all the ways I’ve let you down, all the—”
Chloe couldn’t take any more. “Please stop.”
Her mother shut her mouth and stared at her, stricken.
Chloe stood. “I would like you to leave now. I need a little time, you know? To process all this.”
Linda gazed up at her, eyes brimming, mouth trembling, looking suddenly every one of her fifty-nine years. “Yes. Of course.” She got up. “I understand. I’ll just...” She waved her hand, a weak little gesture, as though she couldn’t recall what she’d started to say. And then she turned to go.
Chloe followed her and pulled open the door.
Linda said in a small voice, “Please believe me. I am so sorry. And I hope that someday you’ll give me another chance.”
Chloe only nodded. She knew that if she said another word, she would lose it.
Quinn was right there, at her side. He said, “Linda, do you need me to drive you home?”
A single tear tracked down her cheek. She refused to wipe it away and she kept her chin high. “Thank you, Quinn. But I’ll manage.”
And then she went out into the fading light. Chloe stood in the open door and watched her walk along the breezeway to her car. As soon as she disappeared around the far corner of the garage, Chloe shut the door.
So gently, Quinn took her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. She didn’t want to look at him. He always saw too damn much. But he put a finger under her chin and made her meet his waiting eyes.
That did it. With a hard sob, she threw herself against him.
His big arms closed around her. “Hey, now. Hey...”
Chloe held on tight to him and surrendered to her tears. She didn’t even know for certain why she was crying.
Maybe it was the shock of seeing her mother like that—so broken and sad. Or maybe it was relief that for the first time in her memory, her mother had actually admitted that she’d been wrong.
Chapter Thirteen
Two weeks passed. They were good weeks, overall.
Monday through Saturday, Chloe’s days were filled with work. When she got home, she went to the log house and had dinner with Quinn and family. At night, Quinn came to her. And most mornings by the time she woke up, he was gone.
He didn’t mention setting a wedding date again. But she knew it was on his mind. It was on her mind, too. She wanted to move forward with their lives together. But she couldn’t, not yet. Not until...
She wasn’t sure what. She just felt she was waiting. It was like that old saying about the other shoe dropping. She wasn’t really sure what the first shoe had been, but it had already fallen. And now she was just waiting for the other one to drop.
On the first Monday in September, Jody called her at Your Way to tell her she’d just refused a second order from Ted. Chloe felt no surprise. None. In her mind, she pictured one of those classic Christian Louboutin black patent pumps, the dagger-heeled ones with the signature red-lacquered soles. She pictured that beautiful shoe dangling from an unknown hand.
Not dropped. Not yet.
But soon, yes. Very soon.
Jody said she would email her the proof that Bloom had refused an order from Ted at Chloe’s request. “But aside from that, I just wanted to give you a heads-up,” she said.
“You’re the best,” Chloe said. “Quinn has such amazing sisters.”
“Call me. Remember. If I can do anything...”
“You know I will.”
Chloe had her self-defense class that evening. Her trainer in his padded suit didn’t stand a chance. She went absolutely postal on the guy, screaming and kicking, punching and gouging. The instructor had to shout at her to stop fighting and run. Later, he reminded the class that the point of the exercise was to incapacitate the
attacker long enough to get away, not to keep pounding on him once he’d let you go.
She went home that evening and put another entry in her TD file. She didn’t tell Quinn about Jody’s call. He knew there was something bothering her, but she insisted it was nothing. And she wasn’t nearly as upset as she’d been the night she found the email from Ted. Quinn let it go, but he was watchful and edgy the rest of the night.
Yes, she knew she should tell him. She’d promised to tell him if Ted tried to get in touch in any way. And she would tell him. She wasn’t actually keeping anything from him, she reasoned—not for long, anyway. Ted would find another way to get the flowers to her. And it would be soon. And she would tell Quinn about Jody’s call and the latest bouquet then. Two birds with one stone, you might say.
As long as Jody didn’t let it slip to Quinn about refusing Ted’s order before Ted sent more flowers, Chloe figured it would work out all right—not that there was anything right about any of this.
And actually, Chloe dreaded telling Quinn more than she did the inevitable appearance of the next floral masterpiece. Every time she told him about some move Ted had made on her, he got harder to convince that this was her problem to solve.
She truly did fear that the time would come when she wouldn’t be able to hold Quinn back. He would go after Ted, do physical damage to Ted. And then what? If Quinn ended up in jail because of her...
Well, she just didn’t know how she would bear that.
So, for the time being, she was breaking her promise to him, lying about Ted by omission. The issue of Ted was a wedge between them, a wedge that created an emotional gap, a gap that widened incrementally as the days passed and the problem remained unresolved. Her love for Quinn got stronger and stronger as time went by. And she knew the bond Quinn felt with her was equally as powerful.
But sometimes love and a soul-deep connection just weren’t enough, not when he needed to protect her and she wouldn’t let him do that. Not when he wanted to marry her and she kept putting him off.
* * *
She didn’t have to wait long for that second bouquet of flowers.
It arrived the next day, Tuesday.
Like the other arrangement two months before, the flowers were waiting on her doorstep. She found them at a little after eight in the evening, when she came home from dinner across the street. She hadn’t expected to be that upset when they came—after all, she knew they would be coming. But the sight hit her hard nonetheless.
Her blood roaring in her ears and her knees gone to jelly, she sank to the front step next to the cobalt-blue vase filled with bloodred roses. The little card in the plastic holder had Tilly’s logo on it. But she could have guessed that without the card. The vase wasn’t anywhere near as nice as the one from Bloom that she’d smashed in the compactor. And roses were always beautiful. But the whole presentation just came off as ordinary.
“Ordinary,” she heard herself mutter under her breath. “No offense to Tilly’s, but you’re slipping a little, aren’t you, Ted?” And then she laughed.
It was a slightly manic-sounding laugh, not altogether a sane laugh. But somehow, it helped. The laugh made her pulse slow, soothed the roaring of her blood in her ears and strengthened the odd weakness in her knees. She was able to grab the blue vase and rise to her feet.
Inside, she put the vase on the counter and read the card. You’re not marrying that guy. You know you’re not. My darling, we need to talk.
Ted
* * *
“Look on the bright side,” she said to Quinn when he arrived an hour later and saw the roses in their blue vase right there on the counter where she had left them.
“Bright side?” He looked at her as though she’d said something in a language he didn’t understand.
“Ted signed his name. I called Tilly’s and they’ve agreed not to send me any more flowers from him. So next time he’ll have to pay to have them sent from Boulder.”
Quinn took a long time reading the card. Finally, he said flatly, “There is no bright side. We both know that. Something’s got to be done about this guy.”
This was not going well. She’d known that it wouldn’t. She really, really wished she hadn’t told him. But lies didn’t work; keeping the truth from him was no way to carry on a relationship.
She made herself tell him the rest, “Also, you should know that Jody called me yesterday to tell me he tried to send flowers through her.”
His eyes flashed dark fire. “And last night when I asked you what was wrong, you lied and said there was nothing.”
“I...” There she went with the one-word responses again. She made herself give him a few whole sentences by way of explanation. “I knew he would go through Tilly’s next and that I was going to have to tell you soon. I didn’t see any reason we had to fight twice over this. So I decided to tell you about both the call from Jody and the flowers, when they came, together.”
His expression was set as a slab of granite. “You lied.”
She threw up both hands. “Fine. All right. I lied. And I’m sorry.”
“Are we in this together?” he demanded.
“Of course. Where are you leading me with that question?”
“I’m leading to the fact that ‘together’ means when something happens, you tell me now. And by now I mean, if Jody calls you with information, you call me as soon as you get off the phone with her. You don’t store up the bad news to deliver in batches.”
She really hated that he was right. “Yes. I get that. I won’t do that again.”
“And who says we’re fighting?”
She felt so...tired suddenly. Just tired to her bones. “Look at you. You’re furious at me.”
“No. Not with you, angel. Never with you.” He held up the little white card in his big, rough, wonderful hand. “This. Him. I need to deal with him.”
“No. No, you do not need to deal with Ted. And you will not deal with Ted.”
He shook the card at her. “He knows about me, knows you’re with me.” His voice was the low, focused rumble of some powerful predator, crouched and gathering to strike.
“Quinn, come on. That we’re engaged wouldn’t be all that difficult to find out.”
“Not the point, Chloe. This card says I’m in this now. This card says—”
“That card says nothing of the kind. You know it doesn’t.” She dared to approach him. He watched her come with a stillness so total it raised the goose bumps on her skin. The need to take action seemed to radiate right out of his pores. When she stood in front of him, she said, “Put down the card.”
“Chloe.” Wary. Vigilant. And so very unwilling.
“Put down the card and put your arms around me.”
He didn’t. Not for several seconds. But then, finally, with a low oath, he dropped the card to the counter and hauled her close.
She wrapped her arms around him, too, as tight as she could. His big heart pounded, hard and insistent, under her ear. She lifted her head and looked up into his eyes. “If you play his game, you weaken us. You know you do.”
He scanned her face, as though seeking the right point of entry. “I got demands. I need you to agree to them.”
“This doesn’t sound good.”
“Hear me out.”
She sighed. “Of course.”
“Tomorrow, we take what little we’ve got in that file of yours and we go to the police station. They’re gonna tell us that no crime has been committed and there’s nothing they can do.”
She got that. “But they’ll write it up and then if he does make trouble, there’s at least a record that we complained.”
Quinn nodded. “And I don’t like to think of you alone here. You move in with me.”
She stepped back from the shelter of his arms. “Not yet. Uh-uh. Look, I really don’t think he’s that dangerous.”
“The guy’s a whack job, Chloe. You don’t know what he’s gonna do next.”
She took a slow, calming breath.
“As I was saying, if he did try anything, I’m not having that happen in the house where Annabelle lives.”
“Annabelle.” Quinn said his daughter’s name thoughtfully.
“You know I’m right, Quinn. We don’t want her traumatized by any of this. We just need to go on as we are for a little longer. That note says ‘We have to talk.’ I get the feeling he means soon.” She was actually starting to hope that it would be soon, whatever it was. She wanted that other shoe to finally drop. “I’ll be extra careful, I promise. I’ve got Mace and I know how to use it. Plus, you should see me in self-defense class. I’m outta control, I’m so bloodthirsty.”
He grabbed her close again. “Don’t make jokes about it.”
“Sorry. Not funny, I know. The stress is kind of getting to me.”
* * *
Chloe had Tai open the showroom for her the next morning, and Quinn took her to the Justice Creek Town Hall. They talked to Riley Grimes, a patrol officer who had been two years behind them at Justice Creek High. Riley went through Chloe’s TD file and said he’d write a brief report of their visit for possible future reference. He suggested that they might try for an order of protection, known in some states as a restraining order. But that would be iffy, as Chloe had reported no incidents of abuse during her marriage and the evidence she’d gathered so far didn’t indicate she was in any immediate danger.
Quinn was all for calling his half brother James, the lawyer in the family, and seeing if James thought they had a chance of getting a protection order.
Chloe vetoed that for now. “You heard what Riley said. Ted hasn’t come near me. He hasn’t broken into my house or even shown up in Justice Creek to have that ‘talk’ he mentioned. He hasn’t threatened me in any way.”
The Good Girl's Second Chance (The Bravos Of Justice Creek 2) Page 16
