Six Months Later
It was a Saturday afternoon.
Tired as could be from spending the week moving into the house that Chase had built for himself, Addie, and me, I’d spent the last two hours napping on the sofa downstairs. When I’d passed out, my mini-me had been cuddled up beside me, her soft puffs of breath dancing across my side.
Now though, she was gone.
So was Ziggy, who’d been asleep on the floor next to us.
Normally, that wouldn’t have alarmed me since she loved playing in her new bedroom, but the moment that the familiar scent of fingernail polish hit my nostrils, I grew concerned real freakin’ fast.
Oh, this is gonna be bad...
With images of my sweet girl slathering the entire room in the brightly colored polish Mama had bought her a week before, I jumped off the couch and bounded up the stairs.
Completely panicked, I raced down the hall that led to her room, and upon reaching it, I didn’t stop to knock before pushing it open and bursting inside.
“Addie, baby—”
My mouth instantly snapped shut when I caught sight of the scene before me.
“Hey, Mama,” Addie said, giggling. “Daddy and me are playing.”
I blinked as a smile spread across my face. “I can see that.” Moving my eyes to Chase, I tilted my head to the side. “Love the lipstick, Jock. The candy apple red looks great against your skin tone.”
Biting back a peal of laughter, I skimmed my gaze over him, taking in his appearance from head to toe. “Love the tutu too. It adds a dose of sass to the whole stud ballerina look you’ve got going on.”
I expected him to scowl in my direction.
But he didn’t.
Instead, he smiled like a loon and held up his hands. “Like my polish? Peanut said the hot pink looks great on me.” He shrugged and put his hands back on the table that separated him from her. “Grandmama is gonna be jealous as fudgesicles.”
Fudgesicles.
Heaven help me.
“You know,” I said, leaning against the doorframe. “I seem to recall a time when you said that you would never let someone paint your nails.” I quirked a brow. “It was around the same time you were fussing about stickers missing from your cereal box.”
Picking up a bottle of blue polish, he shook it before twisting off the cap. “I lied.” I could see that. “You want this one?” he asked Addie, his eyes twinkling.
My little girl nodded. “Yep!” Slamming her hand down on the table, she narrowed her eyes and chewed her bottom lip as she watched her Daddy paint her little nails. “Hey, Mama, guess what?” she asked me, continuing to watch his every move.
“What is it, baby?”
“Daddy painted Ziggy’s nails too!”
As if on cue, Ziggy sprang off the bed where he’d been lounging, apparently more than eager to show off his new pedicure. I couldn’t contain my laughter when I caught sight of his purple toes.
White husky.
Purple toenails.
Again, heaven help me.
“Well, who is going to paint my—”
“Principessa!”
I held up a finger, cutting my girl off. “I’ll be right back, baby.”
She smiled, and my heart skipped a beat. Just like it always did. “K.”
I looked at my Jock, finding his beautiful blues on me. “Behave while I’m gone.”
He smirked. “Not making any promises.”
Of course not.
After blowing each of them a kiss, I headed back downstairs and found the Dadinator waiting for me in front of the open front door, his hair in disarray, and his tie tugged loose from his neck.
I knew right away that something wasn’t right.
“Dad,” I said, descending the steps two at a time. “What happened?”
He glanced up at the ceiling before placing his hands on his lean hips and facing me once more. “Ashley Jo, we’ve gotta talk.”
I didn’t like how that sounded. “About what?”
“About Ellington,” he replied, making my stomach roll.
Why him again?
I swear no matter what I did, I couldn’t escape him!
Dad nodded toward the kitchen. “Come on, let’s go have a seat.”
I shook my head, panic welling in my chest. “No. Tell me now.”
He blew out a ragged breath. “Two weeks ago, Ellington,” he spat, “agreed to testify against Dominic and a dozen other known criminals for a reduced sentence.”
That didn’t surprise me.
Not in the least bit.
“What’s he testifying about?” I asked, pushing my hair back from my face. “Does it have anything to do with me?”
“No,” he said, his grey eyes boring into me. “But, it does have something to do with Carmen and Jade.”
My spine snapped straight. “What about them? Ellington wasn’t there the night Dominic killed them, so there’s no way he knows about the murders. I mean, he was, but he left before...” My voice trailed off as my throat tightened.
I didn’t want to think about that night.
Not now, and not ever.
“He knows where Clyde dumped their bodies,” he retorted, his jaw clenched tight. “Apparently, Clyde didn’t know how to keep his mouth shut after he got a few drinks in him.”
“Did you find them?” I asked, my stomach dropping to the floor. “Because if you did, then I need to bury them. They deserve to have—”
“I found them,” he interrupted, his cheeks tinged red. “Took a while, but I found both of them.”
Months had passed since I last felt my heart crack down the center. But at that moment, I felt it shatter for what must’ve been the millionth time. I wanted nothing more than to give both my girls a proper funeral before laying them to rest, but I didn’t know if I could do it.
Seeing them die had been enough.
I wasn’t sure I could bury them too.
With tears streaming down my cheeks, I blew out a breath. “How do I claim their bodies? I know there can’t be much left but—”
I froze, completely rooted to the spot when a flash of white caught my eye from the front yard. Brows furrowed, I narrowed my gaze, focusing my vision on the small sedan that sat parked in front of the house, its engine still idling.
“Who is that?” I asked my Dad.
I felt rather than saw, his hand clamp down on my shoulder. “Principessa, I told you—”
My hearing dulled as I watched a woman climb out of the driver’s side of the car, her long, tawny hair blowing in the slight breeze that stirred. It was hair that I would’ve known anywhere.
“Dad,” I cried, turning to face the woman fully. “Tell me...”
He spoke, but with the sound of my pounding pulse filling my ears, I couldn’t make out a single word he said.
I was too busy focusing on her...
The woman I’d watched die.
Feeling my legs shake, I bent over, my breath quickly leaving my body. “It can’t be,” I said, clutching my chest as denial set in. “There’s no way.”
My Dad wrapped his arm around my bicep, stopping the tumble I was about to take. “It’s her, sweetheart.”
Ripping my arm from his hold, I stumbled through the door, tears streaming down my face. Gasping for breath, I fought to remain standing. Then, reaching the porch steps, I did the only thing I could.
I screamed.
“Carmen!”
That was all it took for her to move. “Chiquita!” she yelled right back, running as hard as she could toward me, the white summer dress she wore twirling around her legs.
Finding my inner strength, I latched onto it with everything I had and raced toward her.
Meeting her in the middle of the yard, I slammed my body into hers, knocking us both to the ground. “Carmen!” I cried out, my heart both healing and breaking once more as I wrapped my arms around her, holding her tight. “You’re here… you’re not dead.”
The words I spoke…
&n
bsp; They sounded ridiculous.
Running her hands all over my body as if to check for injuries, Carmen buried her face in my hair. “I’m not dead, Chiquita,” she said, her tears wetting the top of my head.
I didn’t understand.
Not at all.
And I didn’t get a chance to ask a single question before a second voice, another which I recognized immediately, screamed out my name. “Ash!” The slamming of a car door followed, and I pulled myself free of Carmen’s hold and jumped up.
This can’t be happening…
Heart climbing high into my throat, I nearly crumpled when I saw Jade and her beautiful, freckle-covered face headed straight for me, taking the same route Carmen had taken seconds before.
“Oh, my God... Ashley!”
I was knocked down a second time when she tackled me to the ground. My back met the grass with a thud, but I didn’t care because right there, with her body half blanketing mine was Jade.
My sweet, sweet Jade.
And next to us was Carmen.
Neither was dead.
Both were breathing.
I had no clue what was going on or how any of the things I was witnessing were possible, but it didn’t even matter, because right there, at that moment, the last two pieces of my once broken heart snapped back into place, completely mending my remaining tattered pieces.
And I became whole.
* * *
“How?”
The one-worded question rolled off my tongue as I sat in the middle of my living room sofa, my hands shaking profusely as I stared at Carmen, her eyes shining bright. “I watched you die. I watched you both die.”
“You watched us almost die, Chiquita,” Carmen replied, crossing one of her legs over the other. “But as you can see, neither of us actually croaked.”
She winked, and my head grew fuzzy.
For a moment, I could’ve sworn I was going crazy.
Did I get into Grandmama’s moonshine or something?
I shook my head as I clutched an emotional Jade’s hand. She hadn’t stopped crying since she slammed into me in the front yard. Not that I blamed her. Heaven knows I hadn’t quit either.
“Then tell me,” I said, looking from one woman to the next. “Tell me how.”
“I woke u-up,” Jade said, between sobs. “I woke up when Clyde pulled me out of the t-trunk. And I stayed awake as he threw me into the water.”
She sucked in a breath, fighting for calm.
Needing to comfort her, I wrapped my arm around her, holding her close, just as I’d done many times before. “It’s okay. Just breathe for me.”
Doing as I said, she took a second breath.
Then, “He was d-drunk.” Not surprising. “And didn’t realize I was still alive. Carmen either.”
Drunk or not, I couldn’t blame Clyde there.
Even I hadn’t known they were still alive, and I’d held Carmen in my arms.
Dad, who was sitting on the loveseat next to Carmen, spoke up next. “How did you get out?”
Jade shrugged and swiped away her tears with the back of her hands. “I don’t know. I just... did.”
“Dominic shot you in the chest,” I said, my disbelief evident.
“No, he didn’t,” she replied, shaking her head. “He got me in the shoulder. Wanna see?”
My eyes bulged as Carmen laughed. “Even from two feet away, that pendejo couldn’t hit what he was aiming for.”
“But what about you?” I asked Carmen. “I saw Dominic stab you.” My heart twisted at the memory. “Over and over.”
She nodded. “I know you did, Chiquita. Seeing you fight against him to save me... that hurt worse than my blade did as he jabbed it into my belly half a dozen times.”
Her confession made my stomach hurt.
I’d tried to save her...
So hard.
“But how did you—”
“—survive?” she finished for me.
“Yeah,” I replied, needing to know every detail. I’d spent so much time mourning their deaths when I should’ve been celebrating their survival.
It was just another thing Dominic had stolen from me.
The bastard.
“Well, I almost didn’t survive,” she said, uncrossing her legs and leaning forward. “If Jade hadn’t found the strength to pull me out when she did, and then crawl to the road and stop someone in order to get help, I wouldn’t have made it to morning. Between the hemorrhaging and the infection that had already begun to set in, I was dying. Quickly.”
“You’re okay now, though?”
Again, she nodded. “I’m missing half a spleen, a foot of intestine, and I’m down to one kidney, but I’m here.” She smiled. “And I’m clean. Have been since that night.”
Unable to contain myself, I squealed like a child, which made her and Jade both laugh.
“Now, Chiquita,” she said, flicking her gorgeous hair back over her shoulder. “Tell us about you. I hear you’ve got a man now.” She waggled her eyebrows. “Heard he’s in the NFL too.”
Heat crept up my neck and into my face. “His name is Chase.” My smile fell thinking about what I’d need to say next. “But there’s something you should know. Chase is Clyde’s—”
“They know, Principessa,” Dad said. “I made sure they knew before I brought them here.”
“He did,” Jade said, nodding against me. “And it’s okay, babydoll. I promise I won’t hold who his father is against him.”
Relief washed through me.
“I only have one question,” Carmen said, a look of trouble spreading across her radiant face. “Does Chase have a brother?”
Jade laughed as I rolled my eyes. “He does, but he’s married, so you can’t have him.”
Carmen blew out a breath. “Such is my luck, Chiquita.”
A light bulb flashed in my head. “You know what though? I can always hook you up with Pop. He’s single as can be.”
I thought it was a great idea.
Especially since Pop was a catch.
Built and handsome as could be, I truly didn’t understand how he was single.
Mama said it was because he’d loved a woman a few years back, but before he could claim her as his own, she’d run from him, breaking his heart in the process.
He hadn’t heard from her since.
It killed me to think about.
“No worries,” she replied. “I’m just going to concentrate on work and getting Jade’s culo through nursing school.”
Eyes wide, I swung my gaze to Jade. “You’re in nursing school?”
Smiling shyly, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Started last year. After what we all went through, I wanted to help people. Becoming a nurse is me doing that.”
I squealed, clapping my hands together. “I’m so proud of you!”
“I’m proud of you too, Ashley Jo,” she fired back. “I mean, look at you! You escape el diablo, stabbed Ellington—guess Dad told her about that—finished school and found love. Like, I am seriously so dang proud of you!”
“Sweetness! Can we come down now? Your Dad said I had to stay up here until you said I could come down.” He paused. “I feel like a damn teenager whose been grounded and restricted to his room.”
“Christ,” Dad groaned, shaking his head.
Standing from the sofa, I blew out a breath. “I think it’s time for y’all to meet someone.”
“Yes,” Carmen said, smacking the loveseat. “Bring the man down so I can interrogate him a bit.”
Lord.
“As fun as that sounds,” I said, shooting her a warning look that only made her grin grow. “There is someone else I want you to meet first.”
Both ladies looked at me curiously as I hollered out, “Peanut, come down here, baby!”
Footsteps echoed through the house as my sweet girl bounded down the stairs, the plastic high heels Chase had gotten her clicking against the hardwood. I held my breath as I waited for her to turn the corner into t
he living room and appear.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long.
“Mama!” Addie hollered as she sprinted toward me. “Daddy said he’s hungry and that—”
She came to a sliding stop when she caught sight of Carmen and Jade.
Carmen, though, she nearly hit her knees when she got her first look at my girl. Hands flying to the base of her throat, she gasped, her shoulders beginning to tremble. “Chiquita, is—”
“It’s her,” I finished for her, much like she’d done to me earlier. “It’s my Addie girl.”
“Oh God,” Jade cried, standing. “She’s beautiful.”
Yes, she was.
No doubt.
Tilting her head to the side, Addie looked at Carmen, her assessing gaze on her face. “Hi!” she suddenly yelled, her infectious happiness radiating through the room. “I’m Addie!”
Carmen glanced at me, then back to Addie. “Hi Addie, I’m Carmen.”
Addie beamed before looking at Jade. “Hi!”
“Hi, baby,” Jade whispered, her entire body trembling. “You look just like your pretty Mama.”
Giggling, my girl ran to me and wrapped her arms around one of my thighs. “Mama, I like your friends. They’re beautiful just like you.”
“They are,” Chase added, suddenly appearing in the threshold of the room. “All three are gorgeous.”
Upon seeing him, Jade snapped her mouth shut and blinked.
But Carmen? She whistled. “Well damn, Chiquita. I may be a bit jealous. If I could find a man as—”
“Knock knock,” a familiar voice called out. “Where’s my girls—”
I felt like I’d been hit in the chest the moment Pop, of all dang people, rounded the corner opposite Chase and saw Carmen for the first time.
Coming to an immediate stop, his jaw slackened as his eyes filled with an emotion I could read like a book.
That emotion? Heartbreak.
It made my chest ache.
Seriously.
As for Carmen, she looked like she’d been kicked in the belly. “James,” she said, tears filling her eyes. “It’s been a while.”
At that, everything clicked.
The woman Pop had been in love with, the same one who’d disappeared years back, it was Carmen. He’d been in love with her, the woman who’d fought to save my life, and who in return had almost lost hers.
Every Kiss You Steal: A Redeeming Love Novel (Book 7) Page 34
