Tristan laughed, “God, no.”
“That was great.”
***
The commencement continued and awards were handed out for excellent commitment to education, volunteer efforts, and good citizenship. Cole won a $100 good citizenship award for his efforts in helping his fellow students. Shane won a $500 Sportsman award for his time dedicated to the Steeplechase gridiron. Meanwhile, Tristan received the highest honor: The Principal’s Scholarship for $10,000 for sixteen consecutive marking periods on the honor roll. She graduated top in her class and acted as the president of the Honor Society at Steeplechase. Jack could not be more proud of his children. When he rolled Tommy to receive his diploma, he struggled to keep him in his seat. The last thing he needed was for Tommy to blow out his stitches. But Tommy was so excited that he wanted to jump out of his chair and hug the Vice Principal. The very same Vice Principal that had suspended him countless times for reckless or rowdy behavior.
“Our high school days are over…” said Tristan.
“And there are far better things on the horizon,” reminded Cole.
As the recession music began to play, Tristan held Cole’s hand and departed up the aisle. The future had never looked brighter.
Chapter 35
July 2, 2000
St. Mary’s Cemetery
Elkhart, PA
10 A.M.
A murder of crows lined the roof of 27 Caribou Road as Gwen and Roger O’Mara stepped out into the late morning gloom. The day that they both had dreaded since this ordeal began had arrived. Courtney O’Mara would be laid to rest. Roger escorted his wife to the car with a strained look on his face. As he shut her car door, he cast a weary look at the three birds that lined his roof. Something about them cause him greater unease.
***
A harsh familiar ache overtook Gwen O’Mara’s body as the funeral directors lowered Courtney’s casket into the ground. She wished that she could say that she felt heartbroken, because even that would be better than what she currently felt. She felt hollow inside. It was a heavy emptiness that wore her down. Her worries and devastation echoed through her, unchecked and unresolved, in the great empty space where her heart used to reside. She wanted to cry as she watched her sweet granddaughter being lowered into the ground, but her tears were all cried already. Roger wept into his palm as he kept a firm grip on Gwen’s shoulder.
Tommy Morrow sat in his wheelchair as he somberly looked at his ex-girlfriend’s coffin. Tristan and Cole stood by him like bookends, offering whatever support they could give. Jack stood behind Tommy, keeping a firm hold on his shoulder. Tommy was doing better than anyone expected. Jack wheeled Tommy closer to the coffin and Tommy dropped a single red rose into the grave. As a tear slid down his face, Roger O’Mara approached him. Tommy looked up at him with an almost fearful glare. But Roger did not approach him with ill-intent.
Roger held out his hand firmly and he waited for Tommy to reach out to him. Tommy shook Roger’s hand firmly and looked him in the eye. Roger had a strained look painted upon his face.
“I’m sorry I ever doubted you, Thomas,” Roger said with a pained expression.
Roger continued to grasp Tommy’s hand for a moment, then shook Jack’s hand and departed with his family. Tommy sat where he was and watched the O’Mara’s leave the burial site with a look of shock and pain on his face.
***
Gwen O’Mara walked home from the funeral with a distant stare in her eye. One daughter was laid to rest in a respectful, peaceful way. The other daughter would get exactly what she deserved. Gwen marched upstairs to her bedroom and retrieved the simple silver urn that contained Angie’s remains. She would not be laying her to rest peacefully, but in a way that would not only have sent her obsessions into overload, but also sent her delusions running amuck. Gwen walked alone to St. Mary’s Cemetery. The funeral party had dispersed, and Gwen was alone as she walked through the older section of the Cemetery. Some stones were toppled over. Others nature had tried to reclaim. Finally, she approached the twin stones. Both stones were fairly new. Dorothy Kendricks had purchased the plots when she became engaged to Bernard’s father Nathaniel Crowe. The plots were intended for Dorothy and Nathaniel, but instead she lay there with her beloved son instead. Gwen hovered over Bernard Kendricks gave with a look of pure rage on her face.
“You wanted him so badly. You went nuts over him… Now you can be with him forever! Killed your own daughter over him! Curse both of you to hell! Maybe you’ll be happy there!” Gwen shouted as she spit at the grave.
She dug with her bare hands over the space where Bernard Kendricks’ dead body lay. She pulled up grass and dirt and kept digging and digging until finally she had dug a one foot by one foot hole.
“Here! Take her! Sick bastard! At least you can’t take anymore of my daughters!”
Gwen took the lid off of Angie’s urn and dumped her into the ground that lay above Kendricks’ body. As she covered Angie’s ashes in the hole, Gwen pounded the earth with fury. She looked to the sky and screamed.
“What have I ever done to deserve the hell you’ve given me?! What have I ever done?! I paid attention. I raised them well and half of them are dead! Take me instead!”
Though Gwen’s tears were squelched, the skies were not. Rain began to pour from the clouds above. The droplets ran down Gwen’s face and her screams of agony were only drowned out by the sound of thunder. As she continued to scream, Jenna DiNolfo ran from her squad car and lifted Gwen out of the mud and to her feet.
“You’ve done nothing wrong. This is not your fault.”
Gwen moaned, but it was undecipherable.
“Come. I’m taking you home.”
As Jenna led Gwen to her squad car, Mrs. O’Mara’s wails cried over the thunder that sounded in the distance.
***
Jack Morrow couldn’t seem to get Gwen O’Mara’s face out of his mind. She had looked so lost, so deeply disturbed. Who could blame her, really? Jack didn’t know what he’d do if he had lost his children… Or discovered that one of them was a murderer. He knew that Gwen and Roger O’Mara were good parents. They doted on their daughters and did right by them. Was it luck of the draw that his children turned out right? No. That wasn’t it, Jack decided. He provided everything his children needed, but most of all he gave them guidance, advice and crucial life lessons. He kept a firm eye on them.
While Tristan would complain that Jack was overbearing, he was that way for a very good reason. He would go to hell and back for all of his kids, especially his daughter. Jack ran a tight ship, and by doing so, he kept his kids walking a very narrow line. Even Tommy, the wildest of the bunch, knew not to cross his father. When Jack wasn’t around, Frank and Bridgette were certainly not afraid of disciplining his lot of kids. They were as much Frank and Bridgette’s children as they were his own. In town, Joe Piedmonte and Jenna DiNolfo kept a close eye on all of them. But when it comes down to it, Jack knew that he raised children that looked out for each other. They didn’t want to harm one another. They weren’t jealous of each other. They enjoyed each other’s company, most of the time.
Jack believed that he would know if one of his kids was hiding a secret like Angela O’Mara. He didn’t want to discredit Roger and Gwen’s parenting, but he was sure that if they had run a tighter ship, they could have controlled the damage caused by their daughter’s delusional mind, and her mentor, the depraved Bernard Kendricks. When Jack heard that Bernard Kendricks had molested Angie when she was only thirteen, he immediately thought of Tristan.
“Are you sure he never tried anything like that…?”
“Dad… For the millionth time. I told you what happened… I didn’t let him near me.”
“You’re very lucky…”
“No, I’m not lucky… I just know how to defend myself. When are you going to learn that?”
“When are you going to learn that we will never stop trying to protect you?”
“And that there is nothing wrong with
that?!” Cole quipped.
Tristan laughed.
“Thanks guys… And trust me; luck has nothing to do with it. I was trained well.”
Chapter 36
July 15, 2000
Fox Hollow, PA
Morrow Manor
4:17 P.M.
It’s amazing what a little time will do to heal your wounds. Liam was back on patrol, Tommy was getting around just fine now, and Bridgette had never missed a beat. While the external wounds healed fast, the internal wounds would take longer. Everyone was making significant strides in putting the horrors of June of 2000 behind them.
“C’mon, Tristan… What are you waiting for?!” Tommy shouted from the bank of the Croft Lake.
Tristan stood on the edge of the lake with Bernard Kendricks’ jewelry box in her hands. She was surrounded by her brothers Tommy and Blake, as well as Shane, Cole and Natalie. Adam and Liam ventured out onto the deck of the Lake House to view the spectacle.
“Chuck it in!” yelled Shane
“Let’s put all this behind us…” urged Cole.
“What are you waiting for?!” asked Natalie excitedly.
Tristan looked back at the anxious crowd and smiled. She gently pressed down on the clasp to open the jewelry box and removed two photographs from her pocket; an old year book photograph of Bernard Kendricks and a photograph of Angie O’Mara. She placed the two photographs gently in the box and slammed it shut.
“Okay. Now we’re ready,” said Tristan. “Does anyone have any last words for them?”
“You messed with the wrong family!” shouted Tommy.
Shane and Cole agreed with his statement wholeheartedly.
“Rest in pieces?” suggested Blake.
“So wrong…” said Natalie as she nudged Blake in the gut.
Tristan shook her head as she prepared to let the past go.
“We cast you away and condemn you to the depths of the lake where our mother’s life was stolen from us. You can no longer haunt us, because we are not afraid. Your memory is no more than a nuisance; a bee in our ear that we will forever shoo away. There is light and dark in everyone and everyplace. Our light will snuff out the darkness and it will forever shine over this land and this family. There will be bumps, but regardless of the challenge, we have the courage, strength, intelligence and resilience to overcome them.”
As the final word escaped from Tristan’s mouth, she launched the metal jewelry box in the air. From the other side of the lake, Jack and Frank raised their shot guns and sent a pair of bullets flying through the blue sky over the lake. With great force, Jack’s bullet met the box and ravaged the metallic frame. The bullet punctured through the beautiful BEK monogram, tore through the red fabric inside, sliced through Bernard Kendricks’ eye. Frank’s shot gun ravaged Angie O’Mara’s neck and came out the other side demolishing the frame of the box. As the box tore apart, the Crowe diamond, which was discretely hidden under the velvet lining of the jewelry box, was shattered to a million pieces, each splashing into the water with a brilliant sparkle. The most prized possession that Bernard Kendricks ever owned was banished to the abyss of Croft Lake. Tristan and Tommy watched as what remained of the box rained into the water. While the others cheered, Tommy and Tristan pulled each other in tight. If anyone could understand the true depths of Angela O’Mara and Bernard Kendricks’ depravity it was them.
“It’s over now,” Tristan said softly.
“For good,” replied Tommy firmly.
“And guess what?” Tristan asked with a happy expression in her eyes.
“What?” asked Tommy.
“Life goes on.”
Epilogue
A murder of crows lined the roof of 27 Caribou Road, like ancient gargoyles keeping watch from above. They passed judgment on all who entered, and all who strayed. They chased the shadows and they knew the truth of everyone who resided within. It was their duty to know. One by one the trio spread their wings and alighted from the cursed house of the O’Mara’s. Battered wings beat against the unseasonal chill as the birds flew from one house to another, storming through the sky like a black rain cloud. As graceful as a swan, the crows landed on the roof of the Piedmonte residence. Their claws hooked into the roof, and as the sun went down that day, the murder of crows called into the night.
All secrets must come to light. Like a fungus that thrives in the dark, secrets will find a way to the surface. Angie O’Mara proved that not all secrets are harmless. Yet, no matter how you try to squash them, they always find a way out of the dark and into public view.
Everyone in Elkhart has a secret; it just so happened that Angie O’Mara possessed one of the darkest of all. Not everyone in town possessed skeletons so rancid, though. Joe Piedmonte’s only secret was that he wanted to marry the girl that got away so many years ago. Jack Morrow’s deepest secret was one that broke his heart: His beloved Catherine was torn from him by a depraved lunatic whose obsessions were more real than the threat of a gun to his head. Jack would never love another woman again like he had Catherine. Cole’s biggest secret was that though he was the most mild mannered of the group, he had no trouble defending the people he loved, especially Tristan.
The one person Angie spent her life running from was not Bernard Kendricks, but the girl who loved and obsessed over Bernard. The girl who would do almost anything for him. The girl who gave birth to his child at the age of seventeen. The one person Angie spent her life running from was none other than herself.
Bury a secret, and prepare to have it haunt you well past your dying day.
Acknowledgements
There are many people that i need to thank for their support during the publication of this book.
First and foremost, I want to thank my husband for his patience, support, and encouragement.
Thank you to my family for continuing to support my endeavors.
Thank you to my assistant tessa for your continued help. Couldn’t do it without you!
Thank you to my street team for spreading the word. Thank you to amy, danielle, kristi lynn, leigh stone, carmen paez, m. sembera, margaret civella and so many other names i forgot to mention. the support, advice and constant encouragement mean the world to me.
Thank you to the bloggers that help spread the word.
Thank you to the readers that have been with me since day 1 and to the new readers who took an interest in my novels. I do this for you.
Thank you
Stolen Innocents (The Shadow Series Book 2) Page 33
