by Terri Marie
“I’d like to ask you if you can request the day off tomorrow or something.” He blurted out.
“Why?” Elissa looked at him nervously.
“Vinnie’s taking Carrie out on the town tomorrow night, so Renee’s going to treat her to a day at the spa. If you could stay with the boys, that’d be a big help.” Tyler didn’t know this would be so easy.
“That’s so sweet! Sure, I can ask him. But what if he needs me?”
“Make something up. By the way, don’t mention any of this to Vincent, and don’t say anything to Carrie, and don’t you dare tell Renee I told you.” He thanked her profusely, and then left the office. When he was out of eyesight, he heard her chuckle.
Tyler let himself laugh again too.
Shortly after he’d settled back down at his desk, Elissa rushed into his office. “Ty, Vinnie sent me a text saying he’d be in court all day and wasn’t planning on coming back here.”
“Text him back and say you have doctors’ appointments or whatever tomorrow. Seriously, if I go home and I haven’t gotten you off work, Renee will kill me.” He stared at her in desperation. If he had to contact Vincent, he knew that he’d be unable to remain serious enough while all the thoughts of Carrie popping him one rolled through his mind.
“Okay. I promise to think of something.” Elissa said as she turned to leave.
“Tell me as soon as you know.” Tyler couldn’t wait to hear from her. If Elissa got the day off, he’d be free to stop worrying about it. He should just hire a sitter, but then everyone would kill him.
At the end of the day, Elissa stopped back by his office to let him know that Vincent had given her the day off.
“I hated to lie to him,” she said with a frown.
“It’s for a good cause though. Vincent won’t be upset once he hears the reasoning. Unless his gut is sore.” Tyler smiled widely.
“What?” She quickly asked with concern.
“Nevermind. Thanks for your help in the education of my brother.”
Elissa shook her head, clearly baffled, as she left his office.
Tyler was in a great mood when he drove off the lot at Montclair Pharmaceuticals. He was excited to see Renee and Brian, and the best part would be seeing the approval on Renee’s face. She didn’t need to know that he’d risked it all and went directly to the source. It had worked and that’s all that mattered. He pulled up into the garage just as his phone rang. It was Vincent. Hopefully he wasn’t calling him to complain about Elissa being off tomorrow.
“Listen, Ty. I’m going to say something to you, but don’t overreact. Don’t yell, don’t think the worst—”
Tyler quickly cut him off. “Vinnie, tell me what’s going on.” He put the car in park and shut off the engine.
“They’ve found no evidence. There’s nothing the detectives have found to substantiate Brian’s claims of abuse. Anthony Chase, the prosecutor on the case, just called me.”
“What!?!?!” yelled Tyler. “Are you kidding me? Did they even look?” He balled up his fist.
“Ty, I have no doubts that Hank and Shirley Waters were bringing Brian harm. But, according to the prosecutor, there’s no evidence.”
“What about the house? Did they even bother to check it out?” Tyler slumped down in the driver’s seat. His mind was spinning.
“Evidence wasn’t found in, or around, that house. Nothing. They still have some people to question, but as it stands right now, it looks like Brian’s parents are going to get away with this.”
“No bloody way in hell, Vinnie…” Tyler slammed his palm down on the steering wheel. “What about the threats that I heard Hank Waters make to Brian. What about that?!”
“Boyd Simmons, their defense attorney, is claiming that you made it all up just so you could adopt Brian.” Vincent nervously cleared his throat.
“Oh my God! I am adopting him, even if it can’t be legal. He’s not going back there!” Tyler yelled.
“I hate to tell you this, Brother, but the adoption isn’t going to go through at this point. On Monday, the prosecutor is going to ask that the charges against the waters be dropped, due to the lack of evidence. When they’re released from custody, Brian is going to have to be surrendered to them. Shirley will be released at the hearing, but Hank is still serving time for assaulting a police officer. I’m coming over Sunday to meet with all of you. We have to pick Brian’s brain to see if there’re any other avenues we can explore. Until then, I’d keep this to yourself. There’s no reason to get everyone upset.”
“Upset. Renee is going to freak and Brian will bolt. That means she’ll go right behind him. I’m going to that house myself, Vin. I’ll tear the damn thing apart!” Tyler yelled again, causing Renee to rush into the garage. He smiled and held up a finger to signal to her that’d he’d be just another minute. He watched her go back inside of the house.
“I’m sorry, Ty. I thought we’d have more time to prepare for this. I’m upset as well, but try to calm down before you get them all in a panic. I’m going to ask the prosecutor to request some extra time on Monday morning. I can’t guarantee the judge will go for it, but all we can do at this point is to try. I’ll see you guys on Sunday. Let me break the news to Brian and Renee. It’ll be better than letting them get all worked up over the next couple of days.”
“He’s not going back there, Vin. I promise you, I’ll get locked up for the rest of my life before I allow that to happen.” Tyler warned through clenched teeth.
“Let’s just keep our heads on straight and take one day at a time. I’ll see you on Sunday. Between now and then, you have to keep it together. I can’t even imagine how hard this is for you, Ty, but I’ll fight as hard as I can.”
After saying goodbye, Tyler let his phone drop from his hand. It bounced off of his leg, and fell onto the car floor. He sat there with his eyes closed, taking slow deep breaths. His previous experience with hiding the truth from his brothers, about their painful past, reassured him that he could do it again. When he had regained his composure, Tyler wiped the sweat off of his face with his hand, and got out of the car. He reached down to pick his phone up as Renee opened the door and stuck her head into the garage.
“Honey, dinner’s on the table,” she smiled and waved him inside.
“Great. I’m starving!” Tyler smiled. He couldn’t wait to down a glass of water. His throat felt like a desert. He had no idea how he’d be able to swallow his food though. Thoughts of Brian being chained up in a basement, beaten and starved, was putting him on the edge of vomiting.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Renee watched as Tyler vigorously washed his hands before sitting down at the table. Every time he looked up, he smiled at Brian, but his eyes were full of sadness and dread. His brow furrowed when he looked down at the food on his plate. He barely ate three bites, before taking his plate to the sink. Something had happened today, but she knew he wouldn’t talk about it right now. She’d wait until they were alone before she inquired. Maybe he’d heard something about Robert and he didn’t want to upset her. If he wouldn’t tell her, she’d call Vincent. But for now, she’d let him have his space.
While she cleaned up the kitchen, Tyler invited Brian outside to throw the football around. He gladly accepted. Even though Renee could hear the laughter as she watched them both in their element, she knew that something was wrong. Tyler was still in his suit and dress shoes. She saw the smudge of dirt on his light yellow shirt, and his tie clasp was crooked. Renee couldn’t help him if she didn’t know what was troubling him so severely. She picked up his phone off the counter to see the last person he’d been speaking to. Vincent. She sat his phone back down, and then dug hers out of her purse. She hoped Vinnie would answer her call.
“Renee, how are you?” His voice was pleasant.
“Something’s wrong with Tyler, Vinnie, and you were the last person he spoke to. Did you find out something about Robert?” She quickly got straight to the point.
“All I know is that Robert wal
ked out of the interview with the psychiatrist before she was done. She’s scheduled to go back to the jail to continue it though. Is everything okay?” She listened as the tension grew in his voice.
“Vinnie, I can’t help Tyler if I don’t know what’s wrong with him. Something bad has happened, and I want to know what it is. Tell me,” she insisted.
“He had a pretty crappy day at work dealing with a difficult client. He’ll be okay.” Vincent made a bad attempt at sounding chipper, but Renee wasn’t fooled for a second.
“Tell me, Vinnie!” She demanded in a low voice. What she really wanted to do was scream at him.
“I have another call coming in, Renee. I have to take it. Give Tyler a little time and I’m sure he’ll give you all the boring details. We’ll talk soon!” He hung up and Renee threw her phone back inside of her purse. She sat on the island stool and watched her two favorite people in the entire world run around the backyard. After a while, Tyler and Brian sat down at the picnic table and shared some humorous conversation. When they stood up to come back in the house, she quickly busied herself in the kitchen.
Tyler walked inside first. “I’m going to jump in the shower real quick, Honey. I’m afraid this suit is going to have to make a trip to the cleaners.” He gave her a small laugh, ruffled Brian’s hair, and then slowly climbed the stairs.
“He’s so much fun!” laughed Brian. “He’s in pretty good shape for an old man. I’m kidding!” Brian pecked Renee on the cheek before flopping down in the recliner.
“I’m glad you two had a good time out there. What did you guys talk about?” she cautiously asked.
“Just stuff. We talked about me being a big brother, and he even said how proud of me he is. My life is so good now. I can’t wait until we’re a real family in the eyes of the court. Tyler is an amazing dad!” Brian smiled from ear to ear.
“We both love you an enormous amount, Sweetie. It won’t be long now and you’ll legally be a Montclair.” Then it hit her. Nothing could upset Tyler like this, except for something bad happening to one of his family members. But if that was the case, he would have said something. Renee knew Vincent wasn’t being upfront with her either.
Tyler came downstairs with a book in his hand. He sat down in the living room with Brian and opened to the page with the bookmark. He turned on the lamp beside him, smiled up at them, and then focused on the page. Renee sat on the sofa across from Tyler and Brian. The television was on, but Tyler never lifted his eyes from the book. He also never turned the page. Now Renee definitely knew something was wrong. Waiting for bedtime was killing her, so she got her phone back out of her purse and went upstairs. She called the only other person who knew Tyler the best.
“Emma, how are you?” she asked brightly.
“I’m doing great! I just got back from dinner with Jacob. How’re things with you?” Renee could hear her opening up a can of soda or something.
“I want to ask you how Tyler’s day went? Did anything upsetting happen?” Renee didn’t want to beat around the bush. She had to know.
“He had a great day. He was all smiles and stayed in a really good mood. What’s wrong?” She heard Emma’s voice become serious.
“There’s something eating at him and I don’t know what it is. He won’t open up to me. The last person he spoke with was Vincent. And he’s not saying anything either.” Frustrated, Renee sat down on the bed.
“Well, he didn’t say anything to me. One thing I do know is that Tyler hates to upset people. Give him some time and he’ll come around. He always works it out in his head before sharing his thoughts.” Emma was trying to reassure her, but it wasn’t working. Whatever had happened to upset Tyler, had everything to do with that conversation with Vincent. If something went wrong at work, Emma would definitely know. “Renee, do you want me to ask Jacob or call Vinnie for you?”
“No, it’s okay. I’ll wait until we go to bed. Hopefully he’ll say something then.” Renee said goodnight and hung up the phone. She laid back on the bed and closed her eyes, going over all the possibilities in her mind. Elissa was taken care of, the Montclair brothers were all okay, the business was obviously fine, Renee was healthy and strong…Brian. It had to be Brian.
Renee took a long bath before going back downstairs to say goodnight. Tyler kissed her with a promise to come upstairs soon, and Brian gave her a big hug. Once her head hit the pillow, her thoughts began to race even more than before. She tossed and turned. She heard Brian turn on the shower and then go in to bed, but Tyler never made it upstairs. At four in the morning, Renee walked quietly back down the steps, just to find him sitting outside with the afghan around his shoulders. Even though she was tempted to go outside, she remembered what Emma had said. Tyler needs to think things through in his mind first. She went back up to the bedroom, closed her eyes, and placed her hand on the cool pillow next to her. When she woke up at seven to get Brian’s breakfast ready, Tyler was already gone.
It was killing her inside, but she loved Tyler enough to give him as much time as he needed. Whatever the secret was, it was securely locked away between him and his youngest brother. Renee would be seeing Carrie in a few hours, so maybe she’d have a clue. One thing she did know for sure was that Brian would remain happy and safe…forever.
Chapter 15
Carrie couldn’t believe her luck. Elissa was taking the boys today, so that she could go out with Renee. She woke up with butterflies already flapping in her stomach. When it was actually date time, she was sure she’d be doubled over in the bathroom. Renee picked her up at nine, and drove her directly to a luxurious looking spa in downtown Southfield. When Carrie started to object over the prices, Renee gave her a wry smile and pulled her by the wrist to the counter.
She was in absolute awe over the many things Renee had scheduled for today. Carrie had never been so pampered in all her life. The red nail polish on her fingers and toes would match her outfit perfectly, and her beautifully highlighted blonde hair, made her hazel eyes come to life. Her fear was turning to excitement, and she found herself hoping that Vincent would approve.
“Are you sure my hair isn’t too big?” She was tempted to smooth it down some.
“Not at all. You look absolutely fabulous! You’re just not used to having curls in your hair. Now, we’re going to stop by my house, and I’ll do your makeup. That’ll give you enough time to relax a bit, before having to get dressed. Are you excited?” Renee held Carrie’s hands and stepped back to get a good look at her.
“I’m nervous, but I’m also excited! Are you sure Vincent will like me?” She turned back to the full length mirror.
“I’ll tell you a secret about the Montclair men. What they’re attracted to the most is a woman’s heart. If Vinnie didn’t like you already, you wouldn’t have lasted through the second day at his house. Although these men may seem complicated, they aren’t. Trust me, Vinnie is going to fall in love with you.” Renee smiled, and Carrie busted out laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Renee stared at her.
“I’ve never been in love before. I’ve liked guys, and they’ve liked me, but love? No, not for this girl.” Suddenly Carrie stopped laughing. How pathetic is that? she thought. Renee must think I’m some kind of a loser.
“Listen to me, Carrie. It’s a lot better to wait and fall in love with the right guy, as opposed to falling for a nightmare. If you ever feel like putting yourself down over that, just think of Robert.” Renee winked at her and handed a credit card to the cashier.
Back at Renee’s, Carrie found herself sitting on a bench in the master bathroom, while Renee completed her transformation. She didn’t want her to put a ton of makeup on her face. Hopefully she wouldn’t have to wash her face when she got home. Saying something to Renee about it was out of the question, as she’d been so good to her. She didn’t want to hurt her feelings.
“Close your eyes and relax. I’ll tell you when to open them.” Renee smiled proudly.
Before Carrie got out of the car, o
nce they’d arrived back at Vincent’s house, Renee reached in her purse and pulled out a bag.
“Here. Open this once you get inside. It’s just a little surprise from me to you. Don’t forget to call me if you run into any problems. I’ll be here in a flash if you need me.” Renee leaned over and kissed her cheek, before getting out to open the back door. She pulled Carrie’s dress off the hook and handed it to her.
Carrie thanked her profusely for everything before she raced into the house and headed upstairs. She hung up her dress, turned the lights on in the bathroom and stared at her image in the mirror. A smile spread across her face. The ringing of her cell phone snapped her attention towards her purse on the floor. She quickly grabbed her phone from the inside of it. Looking at the display, she saw Vincent’s name and number. She took a deep, calming breath before answering.
“Are you looking forward to this evening as much as I am?” Vincent chuckled.
“Yes, I think it’ll be fun,” she responded nervously.
“I’ll be home around five thirty to jump in the shower. Our reservations are for seven and it’s a little bit of a drive to get there. Does that sound alright with you?” If he was nervous too, he wasn’t showing even an ounce of it. She could only assume it was because of his experience with a multitude of women.
Carrie looked at the time on her phone when they hung up. Vincent would be home in about an hour. Making herself look halfway decent wasn’t the hard part. Acting the way a confident woman should, was going to be an impossible feat. Maybe if I get ready now, I can walk around in the heels, until I feel more comfortable, she thought. She set her phone down, and then slowly walked over to the closet and uncovered the shoebox that she’d hidden underneath some spare blankets. Carrie opened the lid and upon seeing the heels again, the knots in her stomach grew even tighter. “What am I doing?” she asked herself out loud. She sat the shoes down on the floor and closed her eyes. They began to burn, but she knew if she cried, her makeup would be ruined.
