by M. L. Ray
The list of accusations he threw at her each time they got into an altercation just kept coming, stealing her self-worth as the injuries stole her ability to participate in normal teenage activities. The final straw had come when she had withdrawn from the school newspaper as editor. Writing and journalism had been her passion since middle school, but she had given it all up. And to make matters worse, she had refused to answer any of the questions her friends threw at her in regards to why.
She knew her actions had been viewed as hurtful to her friends, especially her best friends Missy, Brooke, Taylor, Stephanie and Michelle – Trey’s younger sister. What she hadn’t realized is that they had begun following her and were fully aware of what was happening in her home. Trey’s father, Pastor Cottrell, had tried speaking to her father, but the man had thrown the preacher out of his house.
Taylor had even gotten her father, Sheriff Watson, involved. Cathedral Hills was a very small community, and while everyone usually knew everyone else’s business, the fine people of the community also respected each person’s right to handle their affairs as they saw fit. At Taylor’s insistence, Sheriff Watson had even begun dropping by the house every couple of days to see if he could be of assistance. Everyone living in town knew there was a problem brewing in the Baxter household, but only Jenna’s closest friends truly knew how quickly things were escalating out of control.
Jenna remembered very distinctly the day her friends had cornered her outside the church and urged her to file charges against her father so that he could get the help he needed. They had just finished choir practice, and Jenna had been forced to decline a solo in Sunday’s morning worship service because she’d had another unfortunate accident and her jaw was swollen and bruised.
When her friends had called her on the lie, she had gotten angry with them. Jenna had been terrified of being all alone. She’d already lost her mother, and there was no way she was going to be responsible for sending her father away. She had assured the girls that her father was just going through a bad spot and things would get better soon.
But they hadn’t gotten better! They had continued to escalate, and Jenna had sunk even deeper into the quagmire her life had become, even to the point of believing she actually deserved her father’s poor treatment. It had been five months since her mother’s death, and Jenna was no longer the same teenager she’d once been. She was nervous, scared easily, and refused to participate in any social activities.
Michelle and her other friends had finally come up with a plan to save her from herself and had contacted the Four Corners Women’s Shelter and arranged for Jenna to go there. They had chosen a shelter several hours away, afraid if they contacted the one in Montrose, her father would be able to find her and their efforts would have been in vain. The only problem had been how to get her away from her father and to the shelter. That’s where Trey and his friends had come in.
The plan had been simple. Go by Jenna’s house and convince her she needed a night out with the girls for a sleepover, and then once they arrived back at Michelle’s house, Trey and his friends would have shown up and they would have loaded up in the various vehicles and all taken a road trip together. All of their parents were away at a church retreat that weekend and they figured they could get her to the shelter, make sure she was going to be okay, and then get home before anyone was the wiser.
What they didn’t plan on was having to move their schedule up by several hours. Trey’s friends had been returning from a band trip, and weren’t supposed to be back in town before 9 p.m., meaning they weren’t scheduled to take their little trip until after 10. Circumstances required them to move their schedule up by over 3 hours!
Michelle and the other girls had shown up at Jenna’s house, intending to surprise kidnap her for a pretend sleepover. They had knocked on the door, and when they heard the sounds of her father screaming in anger, Michelle had forgotten all of the lessons her momma had taught her about respecting other’s property. She had reached out and opened the front door, walking in on a horrific scene straight out of a horror movie, but this was real life and happening to someone she loved and cared about.
Michelle and the other girls had watched Jenna’s father hit her hard enough to knock her off her feet, sending her tumbling down the stairs to land in a crumpled mess at their feet. They had immediately rushed to her aid, taking stock of her most visible injuries and trying to get her back onto her feet.
When Jenna’s father had attempted to come down the stairs, Taylor, Brooke, and Stephanie had stopped him, physically threatening him with everything they could think of if he didn’t turn around and go back up the stairs.
Michelle had immediately called Trey for assistance while the other girls continued their screaming and verbal attack of Jenna’s drunken father. After hanging up the phone, Michelle did her best to console Jenna, anxious for her brother to arrive before Jenna’s father decided to come back down the stairs. Trey showed up only a few minutes later, sans friends as they were still traveling, but he informed the girls that Sheriff Watson was also on his way. Michelle tried to convince Jenna that she needed to press charges against her father this time, but she still refused!
Fearing the authorities would release Jenna back into her father’s custody, Michelle convinced her brother to just take Jenna and drive her to the shelter instead of waiting for the authorities. He’d been easy to convince as he looked at the broken young woman his sister held in her arms. She had a split lip, bruises on her arms and according to Michelle, over her ribcage as well.
Trey had suggested taking her over to the hospital in Montrose first, but they wouldn’t have treated a minor without parental consent. In fact, he and his sister hadn’t been able to come up with any alternatives that wouldn’t immediately involve putting her father right back into her life. Without a second’s hesitation, he had gingerly helped Jenna into his truck and headed out on the five-hour one-way drive to the shelter. She hadn’t put up much of a fight, and he’d wondered if she wasn’t partially in shock.
Along the way, Trey had explained his sister and her friends’ plan, but unbeknownst to him, Jenna had been too hurt by her father’s latest accusations to give his comments much consideration. Her father truly believed she was the reason her mother had died. According to her father, her mother had been so disappointed in Jenna that her mother’s heart and brain had simply given out.
Jenna recalled sitting in the truck, trying to figure out what she could have done differently. She’d been an A student, top of her class and always on the honor roll since entering high school. She had been voted the Homecoming Queen both her freshman and sophomore years. And she stood a good chance of being voted into the treasured position her junior year.
She had friends aplenty, sang in the church choir, and thought she had a perfect mother-daughter relationship – until the moment when her father had hurled his drunken accusations at her. The moment when her entire reality had shifted and the veils had been removed. Your mother sacrificed all of her dreams for you! She couldn’t wait until graduation so that she could stop having to put her life on hold to take care of you!
Her counselors had told her that she couldn’t listen to the drunken ranting’s of a grief-stricken man, and that she still had to trust her heart to know the truth. But Jenna had been so hurt by everything that had happened, she had let her father’s words become her new reality. Teresa had made more progress in this area than any of the others; forcing Jenna to dwell on the years and months before her mother’s death. Even going so far as to video record some of her sessions. Anyone watching and listening to Jenna speak about her mother would have come away with the same conclusion – Belinda Baxter had loved her only child deeply! But those revelations hadn’t come soon enough!
She’d made a trip back to Cathedral Hills three months after Trey had taken her to the Four Corners Women’s Shelter, calling her father from a pay phone in Ridgway to see if he could come get her. The response had been…
“I’m sorry?” Jenna asked him, bringing her thoughts back to the present and focusing on the man sitting next to her. He was tall, well over 6’ tall, with gorgeous dark hair and warm brown eyes. He’d changed since high school, losing his boyish appearance in favor of the handsomeness that only came with maturity. He still had an athletic physique and Jenna quickly brought her eyes back up to his face, lest he discovered her checking him out.
“It seems there was a small mix up with the paperwork when it arrived. The clerk who handles the mail, read the attached letter and sent it off to the Denver deceased accounts office. That employee thought the entire life insurance check was to be deposited in an account under your name, since the check was made out to you, and she didn’t find any open loans under your name. The life insurance company included the customary form with your information on it, asking for any excess funds to be deposited in an interest bearing account and held for you, so there was no reason for her to question those directions. The entire life insurance check was placed in such an account under your name.
“The mortgage was under your parents’ names and with the insurance check being handled in Denver, no one made the connection between the two.”
“But I called and spoke to someone in your mortgage department and they told me they didn’t have an open account under my parent’s names,” Jenna told him in confusion.
Trey nodded, “Unfortunately, once the will was read giving you the house, the mortgage paperwork was placed on someone else’s desk that handles accounts of the deceased. It was simply a miscommunication within the bank. I’m so sorry for the mix-up.”
Jenna nodded her head, “So, the money is all sitting here in your bank?”
“For all intents and purposes – Yes! The Denver branch is holding the account paperwork, as well as the mortgage papers for the deceased.”
“So, what? I have to go to Denver to pay off my parents’ estate?” Jenna asked, growing angry at having made this trip for nothing. I left Denver to come here! It had taken everything she had in her to come back to Cathedral Hills and now she was finding out it might have been for naught?
“No. That’s not what I’m saying at all. Look, it might take me a day or two to get the required paperwork sent over to clear this mess up, but that shouldn’t be a problem since you just arrived. Right?”
Jenna shook her head, “It will be very much a problem. I wasn’t planning on staying in Cathedral Hills beyond this afternoon.”
“What?!” Trey asked, confused as to why she would come to town and then leave again so quickly. “I don’t understand. Does Michelle know you’re in town?”
Jenna looked up at the man sitting across from her and tried to come up with the words to explain how much she dreaded sticking around. “Look, I wasn’t planning on staying, but I could manage a few days if it meant I wouldn’t have to come back again in the future. And no, Michelle doesn’t know I’m here. At least, I don’t think she does.” I bet Missy has already called everyone!
Trey was confused at the change he saw come over Jenna. She was very agitated at the thought of sticking around Cathedral Hills, but that made no sense. This was her home. She’d been born and raised here. She was the owner of property here. Why would she throw all of that away?
Jenna gathered up her stuff and headed for his office door, “Call me when the paperwork arrives and I’ll come by and sign it.”
Trey stood up as she walked towards the door, “Jenna, where are you going?”
“Truthfully, I don’t know. I wasn’t prepared for this. I guess maybe I’ll see if Mrs. Thomas has a room I can rent for a few days.”
“Why not just go home?” Trey asked, confused as to why she would stay in the old boarding house when she owned a perfectly good house at the edge of town. Trey had been present at the reading of the will and the house and all of its belongings had been given to Jenna. “I know the electricity and water have been kept on. The bank’s been paying the bills…”
“Be sure to have your bookkeepers total up everything the bank spent. I’ll make sure you get paid back every cent.”
“Jenna,” Trey began, an edge of exasperation in his voice, “that’s not why I told you. I just wanted you to know you can stay at the house while you’re here.”
Jenna shook her head, trying to still the feelings of unease and fear that rushed her, “I don’t think so. In fact, if you know of a good real estate agent, I’ll be headed there next. I want the house sold as quickly as possible.”
Trey watched her for several long moments and then asked, “What are you so afraid of?”
Jenna huffed out a breath, “You have to ask? You must have a pretty short memory. Let’s just say that I’m not a big fan of reliving the past. I’ll be at Mrs. Thomas’s…” She broke off when Trey started shaking his head. Placing her hands on her hips, she inquired, “And why not?”
“Jenna, Mrs. Thomas passed away three years ago. Her daughter and family moved back to Cathedral Hills and now live in the house with their five children.”
Jenna hung her head and closed her eyes as she struggled to figure out her next move. She could walk back to Ridgway and get a room at the motel there. It was only 11 o’clock, so if she got started right away, she could probably be back in town before dark.
“Fine. I’ll call you and let your secretary know how to get ahold of me.”
Trey reached out and stopped her from leaving the office, “Jenna, talk to me. Are you headed over to your house?”
“Don’t call it that. It’s not my house. Not anymore.” Jenna pulled her arm away and headed towards the front of the bank. Trey watched her push through the glass doors and then he watched her reach behind one of the tall pillars and pull out a battered suitcase. When she headed down the sidewalk, away from the parked cars, Trey found himself following her progress.
Approaching the security guard at the front of the bank, he asked, “Charles, how did that young lady arrive this morning?”
“Why, she was walking, sir. She asked if she could leave her case out here and I told her I would keep an eye on it. Is there a problem?”
Trey looked after Jenna and shook his head, “No, I don’t think so. Would you let Mrs. Withers know I’ve stepped out for a bit? I have my cell with me if she should need to contact me.”
“Certainly, sir.” The security guard smiled at him and followed his progress down the sidewalk as he went in pursuit of Jenna.
Chapter 4
“Jenna! Jenna, wait up,” Trey called after her.
Jenna heard her name called and stopped to wait for Trey to catch up to her. “I’m sorry, did you have something else you needed me to sign?”
Trey stopped and caught his breath, “No. Where are you going?” He put his hands on his hips and bent over slightly as his breathing started to slow down.
Jenna thought about lying to him, but then decided why bother? “I going back to Ridgway. I’ll get a room at the motel there and once you have the paperwork organized, I’ll come back up here and sign on the dotted line.”
Ridgway? What on earth was she thinking? Trey shook his head, “Why are you being so stubborn about staying here? In Cathedral Hills?”
“Why indeed? Let’s think about this. I left almost seven years ago, and save for the one time I called my dad, not one person from this town ever tried to contact me. Not one!” Jenna felt tears fill her eyes and strove to find the control to hold them back. She hated when her emotions got the best of her, and she’d promised herself on the bus trip across the mountains that whatever happened, she’d never let the fine people of Cathedral Hills know they could make her cry!
“What do you mean, no one ever tried to contact you? The morning after I dropped you off at that shelter, Michelle made me drive her and your other friends all the way back down there to see that you were all right. They wouldn
’t tell her anything over the phone, but when we got there, they wouldn’t talk to her either.”
Jenna was shocked speechless. “They didn’t tell you that they flew me to the hospital in Denver, a few hours after you dropped me off?”
It was now Trey’s turn to be shocked speechless, “Hospital? No! No one said anything about that.”
Jenna looked at him and suddenly wished they weren’t standing on the sidewalk. She had the sudden urge to spill forth all of the questions she had about that time around her arrival at the shelter and what had happened in the months after that. She’d never had that urge before, even though all of her counselors had advised of the need to do so if she ever wanted to truly put the past behind her.
“Jenna, you have to know I would have never left you there if I had known you were injured seriously. Michelle is going to be really upset when she finds this out. She had me take her back to that shelter a half dozen times, trying to get someone to tell us where you had gone.”
“Really?” Jenna asked, so badly wanting to believe him, she was almost afraid to find out any more.
“Listen, let’s go grab a cup of coffee and I’ll fill you in on what you might not know, and maybe you can answer some questions for me.”
Jenna shook her head, “No! Not the Diner. Missy works there and is already planning this huge get together with the girls tonight.”
“Yet, you were planning on going back to Ridgway? How? By walking?”
Jenna slowly nodded, “It’s not that far.”
“You are not going anywhere. If you don’t want to talk in the Diner, come along with me then.” Trey turned and started walking down the sidewalk. “I bet Michelle is already headed into town right now.”
