Redeeming the Stepbrother

by Andrew Grey

  “I know who he is and what’s going to happen. I’ve always known.” He had never lied to me about that. He was here on business, which would be concluded. I wasn’t sure what I expected or even wanted to have happen once he left. There were a lot of things I didn’t know. “But I can either be happy while he’s here, or make myself miserable about what’s going to happen in the future.” I shrugged. “I think I’ll take a little happiness for now.”

  Mom shook her head. “I think I’d have said the same thing if I was in your position before I met your stepfather. I think I’d have given almost anything for the time I had with him. But that was before I lost him. Now, the pain and hurt, years later…. Sometimes I wish I’d never met him. Then I couldn’t have been that happy just so I could have had it all ripped away from me.” She headed to the doorway, and I stared after her.

  Maybe she was right, but I didn’t think so. My life didn’t make me happy and hadn’t in quite a while. I needed to make changes. I fully intended to move out. But letting her think I might stay and continue to help would buy me some time so she didn’t act rashly.

  “I’m not you, Mom, and I have to make my own decisions.” Besides, I could smell alcohol on her breath, so who knows just how good her reasoning abilities were at the moment? Not that they worked particularly well under the best of circumstances. “I’ll be fine.”

  I figured she’d argue with me, but instead she left the room, and I heard her footsteps on the stairs as I closed the door.

  Once I knew she was gone, I sent Dieter a text to thank him for the flowers. That done, I thought about working on a painting, but I wasn’t inspired. After all the ups and downs my side business had taken me on for the last few days, maybe it was best if I took a break from it. I considered going down to the Bay, but that didn’t hold any interest for me either. In the end, I changed clothes, went downstairs, and parked myself in front of the TV. I found a show on Ovation about art and watched until Jeremy came home.

  His jaw was black and blue, and his face a little swollen. He glared at me, and I returned his look.

  “Jackass,” he muttered as he passed. I didn’t take the bait. That would piss him off more than getting down to his level.

  Ella came in and sat next to me to do her homework. It wasn’t the best thing for her to be working in front of the television, but I could keep an eye on her progress and make sure she understood her lesson.

  Mom called us all to dinner, and thankfully it was better than a casserole—well, a little, anyway. She’d heated up frozen chicken nuggets and opened canned vegetables. It was far from gourmet, but it showed a little more effort than usual. Jeremy gobbled the things down. I was hungry, so I ate as well, but I kept hoping for something better.

  “Did you show Mom the rest of your paintings?” Jeremy asked halfway through dinner.

  “No. What I’m working on is my business. And you shouldn’t have gone through my things. Don’t deny it—I know you did, and you deserve a sore jaw for that.” I pointed my fork at him. “So you can stop acting like a martyr. No one is buying it.” I rolled my eyes. “Your acting skills suck, anyway.”

  Ella giggled next to me.

  “You slugged me!” he groaned, rubbing his jaw.

  “And I’ll do it again if you cross the line like that in the future. You were drunk and you acted like an ass.” I set down my fork to pick up my phone when it vibrated. I read the text from Dieter and smiled. Then I took my plate to the sink. “I’m going into town,” I announced.

  “Can you drive me?” Ella asked, jumping up. “Weston messaged and asked me to the movies.” She was so smiley.

  “Be ready in five minutes.” I hurried out of the room and upstairs, where I checked how I looked in the mirror, changed my shirt quickly, and brushed my teeth. I met Ella on the stairs, and she practically floated as we left the house and got in my car.

  “So is Weston your Prince Charming?” I had to tease her. It was part of my big-brother duties.

  “Florian!” She giggled and blushed. “He’s been really nice.”

  “What’s he like?” I didn’t know anything about him and tried to place who his family was. One of the beauties of a small town was that if someone treated your sister wrong, you knew how to apply plenty of pressure.

  “He’s on the wrestling team at school. He’s really good, and he has a lot of friends who he hangs around with. He’s smart and takes French in school.”

  I saw her bite her lower lip out of my peripheral vision.

  “Do you think he’s too smart for me? That he’ll think I’m too dumb for him? I’m scared to say stuff because what if I say the wrong thing? Then he won’t like me anymore.” She wiped her eyes.

  I pulled off the road and handed her a travel packet of tissues from the console. “You’re plenty smart enough for anyone. You just need to be you. Don’t worry about what he’s going to like or not like.” I reached across to wipe the tear from her cheek with my thumb. “He’s going to like you once you let him see who you are. Be happy and have fun.” I mock narrowed my eyes. “But not too much fun,” I growled, and Ella turned to me, rolling her eyes.

  “I’m not ready for that yet.”

  I sighed with relief. “Show him the girl you are. Okay?” I smiled, and when Ella nodded, I pulled back onto the road and drove the rest of the way to town. Ella asked to be let off at the theater and then hurried over to where Weston waited for her. I saw them go inside, then headed to the café, where Dieter had asked to meet me.

  “Hi, Betty,” I said as I went in. “You’re working a long day today.”

  “One of the girls has the flu, so I’m filling in through the rush.” She led me to Dieter and poured a cup of coffee. I could use it. “Are you having dinner?”

  “Maybe something small. Mom cooked,” I said.

  Betty rolled her eyes. “Then maybe you need a stomach pump.” She turned away, putting the coffeepot back behind the counter, and I chuckled as I sat down.

  “I guess your mother’s cooking is legendary,” Dieter said as he set down his menu. “I’d hoped you hadn’t had dinner already. It took me some time to build up my courage to ask you. I wasn’t entirely sure that you’d even talk to me.” He sighed. “I made a real mess of things.”

  “Sometimes things are just a mess and then we have to clean them up afterward.” I shrugged.

  Betty approached to take our orders. Dieter ordered a turkey dinner, and I ordered a small salad, wishing I hadn’t already eaten. Betty thanked us and hurried off toward the kitchen.

  “I dropped Ella off at the movies on my way here. That boy from the party asked her out.”

  “Your sister is a delight,” Dieter said with a smile. “And she’s a beautiful dancer. She had people lining up to take a turn on the dance floor.”

  “Ella is kind and rather innocent. I think Mom has kept her too sheltered, and not for the best of reasons. Ella needs a chance to experience life, but in ways she can digest. She can’t handle everything coming at her all at once. Ella is a ‘one thing at a time’ kind of girl.”

  Speaking of my sister, she sent me a text stating what movie they were going to and that she was okay. I relaxed and set the phone aside.

  “She was her father’s little princess, and I remember meeting her for the first time. She held his hand while she met Jeremy and me, standing halfway behind him. She must have been all of ten at the time. Jeremy didn’t have much to do with her, and since I was closer to her in age, she and I hit it off pretty well right away.” I sighed.

  “It’s good that she has someone to look out for her. Teenagers don’t always appreciate that.” Dieter sipped his coffee. “But I really didn’t ask you here to talk about your sister.”

  “I suppose not.” What did he want to talk about, then? “Now… Clarice isn’t going to be showing up again, is she?” God, I hoped not.

  “No. She has returned to Europe from New York. She left this morning. Her intention was to help her father conduct som
e business, but he changed his mind and brought her home. It seems his business was with people I do business with, and my business is far more valuable than his.” Dieter paused and took a deep breath, probably to gather his thoughts. “Clarice’s father… her family… they’ve squandered much of what they once had, and my family… we benefited from their downfall in many ways. I come from a long line of aristocrats who were shrewd businessmen, my father included. Clarice’s family always treated their position as one of entitlement, so they didn’t work for what they needed, and now they have fortunes that will come to an end. I pity whoever Clarice does marry.” Dieter’s fingers ghosted over the back of my hand. “But I can tell you that person will not be me.” He smiled.

  I believed him, simple as that. “How long will you be staying here? I know you’ve done what you came here to do and you’ve probably about concluded your business.”

  “Not quite. I have a few meetings this week in Baltimore, and then I’ll need to go back to Europe, probably leaving on Sunday.”

  That soon. I had been thinking he’d stay longer. But if I was interested in spending time with him, then I needed to take what I could get. It wasn’t like I could travel back and forth to Europe on a regular basis to see him.

  “I was hoping you could come over to visit.”

  “Maybe.” I could afford a plane ticket, and I had plenty of vacation time coming. It was really nice that Dieter wanted me to visit. But it was still temporary. Of course, where Dieter and I were concerned, things were going to be temporary. We lived on separate continents and came from hugely different backgrounds.

  Betty brought dinner, setting down our plates and refilling our mugs before hurrying away.

  “I know things aren’t ideal, but we can make the most of it, can’t we?”

  I nodded. He was right. I could lament what came at the end or I could enjoy what I had. “I’ll check and see if I can get a few days off. We could go down to Ocean City and see the beach, have some fun. Maybe then go down to see the ponies if you want.” If I was going to have him for only a few days, then I figured we should make the most of them.

  “How about Wednesday and Thursday? I have a meeting tomorrow and Friday,” Dieter offered.

  I sent a message to Richard, my supervisor, and he replied that it was about time I used some of my time off. I smiled. “Well, that’s done.” We were going to have such a good time.

  The conversation faltered as we ate. I was just finishing my salad when my phone vibrated on the table. It was Ella, and I snatched it up, checking the time. The movie wasn’t supposed to be over for a while. I pressed the button to connect the call and all I heard were tears and sniffles. “What happened?” I set down my fork, listening intently.

  It took Ella a few seconds to find words. “He… they… he… I left the movie and….”

  “Did he hurt you?” I asked, and Dieter set down his fork too, motioning Betty over. She handed him the check, and he passed her a credit card, eating the last of his dinner in huge mouthfuls.

  “Yes… no…. I wanna go home.” She was still in tears, and I stood, with Dieter following.

  “We’re on our way,” I told her, hanging up as Dieter signed the check.

  We left the café and turned down the street toward the theater a few blocks away. I saw her huddled near the box office window by the front entrance. I broke into a run as she pushed away from the wall. Ella had her arms wrapped around herself and practically fell into my embrace, gasping and crying. I held her and let her get out the first waves of hurt as Dieter caught up to me.

  “Where is Weston?” I asked her. “Is he still inside?”

  Ella nodded, and Dieter took off into the theater. I didn’t pay much attention to see if he was stopped, but two minutes later, Dieter came back out, hauling Weston by the collar, along with the theater manager, who seemed about twelve and as pale as a ghost.

  “Did you hurt her?” I was two seconds from going Henry Hill in Goodfellas on him. If I’d had a weapon, I swear I’d have beat the shit out of the kid with it.

  “It wasn’t Weston,” Ella croaked, and Dieter let him go. Weston gasped and found his feet.

  “What happened?” I asked him.

  Weston held up his hands. “She said she had to go to the bathroom, and I gave her a ticket so she could get back in and waited for her. But she didn’t come back.”

  “I found him in the lobby,” Dieter said.

  “I was trying to find her. I asked a lady to see if she was in the bathroom, but she said no one was in there.” He stepped back.

  “It wasn’t Weston,” Ella said.

  “Okay.” I took a deep breath. “Tell me what happened?” I asked as patiently as I could. I really wanted to lay someone out like I had Jeremy. I never considered myself violent, so wanting to slug two people in one week was more than I ever imagined.

  “I left to go to the bathroom before the really good part of the movie, and the lobby was empty.” She gasped, and I turned to the manager. Where were his people in all of this? “I went into the bathroom and was washing my hands afterward when two boys burst in. I jumped and was going to scream, but one held his hand over my mouth, and they dragged me toward one of the bathroom stalls and….” She broke down in tears once again. “They called me names and said I was a dumb slut and that I’d get what I really wanted.” She sniffled and cried at the same time.

  I held her tighter, rubbing her back. “It’s all right. No one is going to hurt you again. Did you get away?” My throat was dry and I was seconds from throwing up at the thought of what could have happened.

  “I started kicking and got one of them in the nuts. He screamed, and the other one let go. I kicked him too, and he fell down. I got him once more and ran out of the bathroom. There was nobody around, and I ran out here and called you.” She seemed to have found her voice.

  “So they went back into the theater?” I asked.

  Ella nodded. “I think so.” She sniffed, and I looked over her shoulder at Dieter, who already had his phone out.

  “How much longer does the movie have?” I asked the manager.

  “Twenty minutes.”

  “Make sure no one leaves the theater before the police get here. Do they need to leave through the lobby?”

  He nodded. “The other doors are alarmed.”

  “The police are on their way,” Dieter said, and the manager went inside.

  “When the police get here, you’re going to have to tell them what happened and then give a description of the men. Can you do that?”

  Ella nodded, still clinging to me.

  “Once the movie lets out, they’re probably going to have you watch everyone and point them out.” I knew that was going to be harder for her. “The police will be here.”

  “Sweetheart,” Dieter said so gently when Ella shook her head. “They need your help to make sure they don’t do this to anyone else. Both Florian and I will be here, and the police too. They aren’t going to hurt you again. Remember what Florian did to Jeremy? I’m sure he’ll do that again if he needs to, okay?”

  Ella nodded as a police car pulled up and two officers got out.

  “I’m Officer Coleman, and this is Officer Spiegel.” He spoke the same way Dieter did to the horses: slow, low, and gentle.

  “This is Isabella Cinderson, my sister. Count Dieter and I were having dinner down the street when she called me in distress. We hurried down and called you.”

  Officer Coleman nodded. “Can you tell me what happened?” he asked Ella, and she relayed her story quite consistently.

  “I kicked them to get away and came out here and called Florian. I knew he was nearby.” She let go of me and seemed able to stand on her own now.

  “Did you see them?” the officer asked.

  Ella described them pretty well. It helped that one was wearing a Princeton T-shirt and the other one had on a Harvard T-shirt.

  “The movie should be getting out in a few minutes,” I told the officers. �
��The three of us will wait and see if they’re in the crowd, and you can do your thing.” I had no intention of letting these slimeballs get away with hurting Ella. The officers agreed, and a few minutes later, people started trickling out of the theater, followed by a steady stream. I didn’t see anyone who matched Ella’s description, and by the time the last people had left, they weren’t there.

  “Wait here.” The officers went inside to search the lobby, restrooms, and theater proper.

  I stood with Ella, my arm around her waist, and Dieter slipped his hand into my other one and squeezed my fingers until the officers returned, each with one of the men we were looking for.

  “I’m sorry, Ella. If I’d have known, I never would have brought you here,” Weston said. I’d forgotten that he was still there in all the excitement. “I should have gone with you…. I mean, I shouldn’t have left you alone….” He stammered more and more as he tried to talk.

  “This wasn’t your fault.” As much as I wanted to be angry with him, I meant it. Weston wasn’t the one who caused this, and I hoped Ella was able to see that. But as upset as she was, I wasn’t sure how she would react long-term.

  “Ella,” Weston said softly. “You were a lioness. You fought them both off, and did you see the one is still walking funny?” Weston paused, and Ella nodded, pushing away from me and wiping her eyes. “You did that. You wiped the floor with them and gave them what they deserved.”

  In that moment I wanted to hug the boy. In my opinion, that was the perfect thing to say from the perfect source. I could almost feel Ella’s strength and determination returning.

  “Miss Cinderson,” Officer Coleman said as he approached. “Did you get a look at the men as we brought them out?”

  Ella nodded.

  “Are they the men who attacked you?”

  “Yes. That’s them,” she said clearly, wiping her eyes one more time. “What’s going to happen to them?”