Raine's Haven

by Shari J. Ryan

  Raine takes the folded paper out of his back pocket and holds it open as he stuffs half of his freshly made sandwich into his mouth. With a mouthful, he says, "Look, you never changed the name on the title of this house." Raine looks at the paper while chewing with his mouth wide open, which makes me snort. "Do you need your glasses or can you see the name typed in?"

  "I can see just fine," Dad says, pulling the paper from his hand. "So, if the state repossessed the house as collateral damage for the debt incurred by my granddad, his name wouldn't still be on the title, am I right?"

  "Obviously, there was a mistake," Dad fires backs while burning a hole through the paper with his blazing glare.

  Raine smiles at him with a joker-sized grin, bigger than I knew he was capable of. "Must have been some awful mistake." Raine takes another bite of his sandwich. "You should go ahead and call the sheriff."

  "Look, I don't know what you're up to right now," Dad says, pulling his cell phone out of his back pocket, "but you aren't going to walk into my house and—"

  "Claim what's mine?" As if his words have a double meaning, Raine reaches for my hand and pulls me into him, wrapping his arm lovingly around my neck. “It’s all mine, Frederick. Even your daughter.” There is something thrilling about the way he’s claiming me to be his.

  “You don’t know what you’re starting right now, Mr. Carson,” Dad warns with his empty threat.

  "I'll be suing for damages, by the way, unless of course, you would like to hand over what you stole from me right this minute." Raine hands the sandwich over to Dad. "Want a bite?"

  "What damages?" Dad asks.

  "About 3.5 million dollars’ worth of damages. I have it all listed out. I'm happy to go over it with you if you'd like, but it might be easier and cheaper for you to just hand over what you stole. If I need to get the sheriff involved, you could be looking at jail time, especially with the other proof I've acquired from the town hall."

  Dad grabs me by the arm and pulls me out of the kitchen. Raine follows in our footsteps, and his hand is pulling at my other arm. "Let her go, now," Raine demands.

  "This is my daughter. She doesn't belong to you," Dad says.

  “Excuse me," I tell him. "Don’t you tell me who I belong to. I am a grown woman. Let go of me!" I tear my arm out of his grip. "Give him the money this second. I'm not on your side. I never will be. You're a thief and a coward."

  "Again, Freddy, I'm going to give you a couple of options: give me the money and leave, or I get the state involved. One of the two options will be completed within the hour. The choice is yours. I'm not waiting any longer."

  Standing behind the two of them, my gaze is fixed on Raine when I see a tremor working through his right hand. Sweat prickles over the back of my neck when I realize what might be happening to him. It's been almost a week since his last episode, and I hoped we would have longer, maybe even enough time to get him the medication he needs, but with Dad dragging his feet, it looks like we've run out of time.

  It's like watching an accident happen in slow motion, knowing there isn't a thing I can do to stop it. I place my hand within Raine’s, noticing his words have gone mute. We're sliding down the wall together as his weight carries me along with him. I know now that calling out to him, trying to help in any way, is useless. I'm forced to watch as his body fights against his brain.

  "What the hell is he doing? What's going on?" Dad shouts at us.

  I help Raine lie down as I watch a similar scene play out like it did in the motel room. "He has epilepsy," I seethe. "This is the person you have stolen from."

  "Should I call 9-1-1?" Dad asks.

  "No."

  I run my fingertips down the side of Raine's face over and over, trying to offer whatever soothing sensation I can give him. "I'm calling an ambulance," Dad says again.

  "Do not! He can't afford medical treatment. Because you're a fucking monster."

  As I lay down beside Raine, holding my hand over his chest, I feel scared half to death of what the worst possible outcome from a seizure could be. Dad's words are blurring around me as I keep my focus on Raine, but I hear guttural cries, and it's at this terrifying moment that I know dad just broke.

  The seizure seems to die out quicker than the one last week, but the after-effects are slower to fade. "I wanted to give you a good life," Dad says through the hoarseness in his voice. "I couldn't get you medical care when you needed it, and I did something dishonest to get the money we needed. After that, it became easier and easier to do things I knew were wrong in order to get the money we needed to live more comfortably until finally, I did the unthinkable and took away everything old man Carson had. I did it all for my family."

  "That makes you less of a monster?" I shout over to him. "You're despicable, and the saddest part is that I think you’ve actually convinced yourself you did it for our family. You didn’t. You did it for you," I spit back at him.

  "I'm sorry," Dad finally whispers, sobbing like a coward.

  "You're sorry?" I scream. "You ruined lives! Sorry means nothing. Tell it to Raine...and Lauren. You can’t tell Lenore because she is dead, thanks to you. I guess that also makes you somewhat of a murderer on top of everything else."

  Dad pulls himself up from his cowering position against the opposite wall and walks into his office, where I hear clattering and banging. Less than a minute passes before he rolls out three black trunks I've never seen before. "What is that?" I ask, still holding my attention on Raine’s pale face.

  "The money. I will resign this afternoon, and your mother and I will be gone by the morning."

  These words should hurt me. I should feel something other than accomplishment, but I don't. I am completely numb, inside and out.

  "Good luck, Dad," I say with only my breath.

  Raine's hand steadies completely, and he reaches for my cheek. "Thank you," he says.

  "Are you okay?" I ask, kissing his forehead and cradling his head in my lap.

  "I will be." I help him sit up, propping him against the wall.

  "I had no idea," Dad says to Raine.

  "Doesn't matter what you knew or didn't know, Dad. You know you're a thief, and that should have been all that mattered. Not this." Raine's beautiful eyes are locked on my face, probably trying to figure out what just happened. "I'll never forgive you, ever."

  Dad leaves the room without another word, and the front door opens and closes seconds later. "Your money is all there," I tell Raine.

  He struggles to pull himself up since his arms must be weak from the seizure. "You're something else," he says. "Never in my life—” he breathes heavily. “Never, did I think I'd need someone to make me feel like I had everything in this world…” He takes another second to take in more air while he stares at me with contentment. “Even when I had nothing, I've always needed you to make me realize I did have everything.” Raine swallows hard and he places his warm hand against my cheek. “Money is just a bonus. A roof over our heads is great, food in our mouths is satisfying, but you…you are as much as I'll ever need—my Haven.”

  As the shock slowly fades from our current moment, it looks like ideas are flickering within Raine’s eyes. “There is so much I have to do right now, but—“

  “Lauren is first,” I say, assumedly finishing his thought for him.

  A ripple of emotions moves through Raine’s face as if he doesn’t know whether to be happy, relieved, or both at the same time maybe. I help him up from the floor of Dad’s office where we have been sitting for the past hour. “I have to grab something really quick, then we can go, ok?” I tell him.

  I jog down the hallway to my old bedroom and rummage through the closest I haven’t stepped foot inside of for years. I run my fingertips down the soft wool of a yellow cardigan I only wore a couple of times. This is perfect. I grab a small shopping bag and drop the sweater and a couple other items inside before finding Raine near the front door.

  “Ready?” he asks, sounding a bit breathless.

 
“We can take the spare car,” I tell him, grabbing the key from the small hook behind his head.

  We arrive at the care facility within a few short minutes and Raine is like a storm as he rushes inside and up to the front desk, demanding release papers for Lauren.

  The woman who wasn’t too friendly to us when we were here before is deadpanning while Raine speaks clear and concisely. “I am releasing my sister and she is coming to live with me under my care.”

  The woman surprisingly doesn’t ask many questions as she rummages through a filing cabinet. “I’ll be right back,” I whisper into Raine’s ear.

  I make my way down the hallways that lead to Lauren’s room and find her sitting on a wooden chair, staring out the smoggy window.

  “Lauren,” I call as I tap my knuckles lightly on the door.

  She turns to find me, a smile immediately touching her lips. “Haven!” How could she be so excited to see someone she hardly knows, especially if she truly understands who my father is? It somehow makes me feel a little worse.

  “Raine has a surprise for you,” I tell her. “But first, I wanted to give you something. I hope that’s okay?” Taking caution, I walk over to her and hand the bag over.

  With excitement, she takes the bag and pulls out the sweater, letting it unroll and hang from her fingertips. “It’s yellow, just like the sun,” she beams.

  “It should fit and I think it will look beautiful on you,” I tell her, feeling my smile match the greatness of hers. I take the bag back and reach inside, retrieving the hairbrush and a hair elastic I brought. “May I?” I hold them up.

  “Mama always did my hair every morning. She said I have a lion’s mane, but people would pay lots of money for hair like this.”

  “It’s true. You have incredible hair, and I can try to do it just like your mama if you’d like.”

  She turns around in her chair, showing me the back of her head. “Okay,” she says. I run the brush carefully through her thick waves, avoiding snarls and tangles while smoothing each section out so I can pull it into a ponytail. “It feels nice to have my hair brushed.” Her words break my heart, knowing how little they did for her here.

  “There, perfect,” I tell her. “Can I help you with the sweater now?”

  As she’s slipping her arms into the sleeves, Raine walks in and stops as if he’s taken aback by the sight of Lauren and me together. He doesn’t say a word, though.

  “Haven said you have a surprise for me,” Lauren tells Raine.

  “I do,” he says quietly. A smile that stretches from ear-to-ear forms over Raine’s lips as he walks in closer to us. “How would you like to go home?”

  Lauren looks a bit confused and glances between Raine and me. “We want you to come live with us. We can explain everything on the way out of this place,” I tell her.

  Tears trickle from Lauren’s pretty chestnut eyes and her hand shakes as she covers her mouth. “I get to leave?” she cries out through muffled words.

  My heart hurts with sadness and gratefulness at the same time. This poor woman has gone through so much and I want to undo everything Dad caused her. I know a lot of it isn’t possible to fix, but I need to do whatever I can to make things better for her from here on out.

  “Yeah, sis, we’re getting a second chance,” Raine tells her.

  A second chance. We’ve all gotten a second chance now.

  33

  Raine

  ONE YEAR LATER

  “I wasn’t sure I’d want to come back to this place again after the last time we unintentionally rendezvoused here,” Haven tells me, nudging her shoulder into mine. “But this is kind of our place whether we’re rich, poor, or somewhere in between.”

  We take a seat at the edge of the dock and let our feet dangle over the side. The quiet here is something I always yearn for. It’s the peacefulness I can’t seem to ever create anywhere else. “This is our place,” I tell her, staring at her gorgeous smile as she gazes up at the sun. I run my fingers through the length of her silky hair and place a kiss on her warm, bare shoulder. “Haven?”

  “Mmm,” she hums and glances over at me, shielding her sparkling, hazel eyes from the sun with her hand. “Raine?”

  I scratch at the back of my neck and clear my throat, disregarding my frayed nerves. “Will you marry me?” I considered getting down on my knee, doing the whole typical routine, but that’s not us. This is us, like this. “Will you be my sunrise and my sunset, the one I’ll never be able to compare anything else to for the rest of my life?” It’s precisely how I have always thought of her. That feeling never changed.

  My apprehension dissolves as I hear the questioning words come from my mouth. It feels like a release—it’s both a confession and a plea for everything I’ve ever wanted.

  Haven looks blindsided since we haven’t talked about marriage or anything more than getting our lives back on track. We have done a good job at taking things one day at a time, but I want to know that the rest of my life will feel as fulfilling as the last year has felt. “You want me to be your wife?” her words are hardly audible as she cups her hand over her mouth. Tears fill her eyes, and I know in my heart they are tears of happiness.

  Haven places her hand on my cheek and a smile trembles across her lips—a look of pure elation. “I want to be your wife more than I’ve wanted anything in my entire life.”

  I breathe—the deepest breath I may have ever taken. “Okay, then.” I’m grinning from ear-to-ear as I slip my hand into my back pocket and pull out the small ring box I had been saving. I pull apart the aged suede box and remove the ring from the cushioned slit, holding it carefully between the tips of my fingers. “It was my grans, the woman who made my granddad believe there was nothing stronger than the love he had for her, even after she was long gone. It’s what I want for us.”

  She doesn’t let me put it on her finger before she throws her arms around my neck, squeezing so tightly I can almost feel every ounce of emotion flowing through her body. “I know...that’s us. I just know. I love you. I love you so much.”

  After a long minute, she pulls away with a smile brighter than the sun and allows me to slide the ring on her finger. I hold my hand around hers, squeezing gently, knowing now I finally have a family again, and I will be sitting here with her hand in mine when we’re old and gray, understanding the true meaning of our life’s path.

  Raine’s Epilogue

  SIX YEARS LATER

  I promised myself years ago, if I had the opportunity, I would give back. I'm a firm believer that the wealthy only get poorer when they don't share. Maybe it isn't true, but I can't bear the thought of another human being going through what I've been through. I may not be able to save every person in this country, but I can start small, right here at home.

  At the end of the day, Frederick's option of money or integrity were a hand-in-hand type of decision. Word got out quickly, and his reputation chased him right out of this town. People learned of the monster he was.

  "Mayor Carson," a woman calls out from a few feet away. "Here are the scissors." The town clerk hands me the oversized, shiny metal scissors, and I make my way over to the ribbon stretched from one store front to the other.

  Cameras are clicking, news reporters are scribbling notes, and my heart is bursting with joy. "Lauren, will you do the honors?" I hand the scissors to my sister and watch as she cuts the ribbon. The applause and happy cheers make Lauren spin around in circles as she joyfully watches every released balloon float wildly into the bright blue sky. "Lenore's is officially open for all!" I shout. "No one in this town will ever be hungry again."

  I stare up into the sky with Lauren, feeling Haven's arms loop around my waist. "I'm so proud of you," she whispers into my ear. "You have fixed this town and made it better than it ever was. You have made our lives perfect too."

  Frederick spent almost seven years pushing every lower-class person out of this proclaimed rich town, and it has taken me almost the same amount of time to bring them all
back. This shelter will always be the reminder of how far I've come. I realize, maybe if I didn't lose every dime I was graciously left by Granddad, I wouldn't appreciate how lucky I truly am today. I want to help those who can't help themselves and give everyone a chance at a better future. This would make Granddad proud.

  "Dad!" Mikey shouts from behind Haven, "Look!" I glance behind us to where Mikey is pointing, and I see a line forming in front of the door to Lenore's.

  "That's a lot of people, Daddy," Grace says.

  Haven's head rests on my arm, and I scoop Mikey and Grace into my other side, holding my family tightly against me, knowing I will never let them down. "Doesn't this feel good, guys?" I ask them. “Helping people.”

  "I love seeing people smile," Grace says.

  Lauren finds her way back over to us and takes Mikey's hand in hers. "Look what we did!" she shouts. "Mama would be so proud."

  "She is proud," Mikey says. "Dad says she's watching us from heaven."

  "Lauren," Haven says, "Could you take the kids over to the ice cream truck for a minute?"

  Lauren smiles in return and takes Mikey and Grace by the hands, skipping over to the ice cream truck with them.

  "I might cry," Haven murmurs.

  "What's the matter, baby? We've got everything," I tell her, cupping my hand around her warm cheek.

  "This feels so good, and I never thought I would experience a day where I felt like I was a part of something so fulfilling, especially in this town. I was miserable for so long, walking along in the shadows of undeserving people who cared so little for others. I have always felt that something like this was my purpose in life, and while I know we couldn't have done any of this without your granddad, I feel lucky to be able to help people alongside you." Haven releases a gratifying sigh with a pleased smile. "We're very fortunate. I'm so lucky to have you."