by Mara McBain
A car sat in the drive with its lights on. Biting her lip, she waited for the driver to make a move. She couldn’t tell in the glare of the headlights what kind of car it was. Deserting the window, she retrieved the .38 from the end table drawer and went to the front door. Her hand hovered over the switch for the porch light. The driver’s door on the car opened, the dome light illuminating Ginny’s beloved features. Kat breathed a sigh of relief and opened the front door.
“Hey you! What’re you doing?”
“Hey!” Gin called back, jogging carefully up the snow covered walk. “I stopped at the bakery this morning and Miriam had just pulled a batch of applesauce donuts out of the oven. I had to bring you some on my way to work.”
“You are the best!” Kat said, accepting the bag and hugging her friend enthusiastically. “Do you have time to have one with me? I have coffee ready, or water is boiling for instant cappuccino, tea, cocoa…” she continued hopefully.
Gin checked her watch, teeth sinking into her bottom lip in indecision.
“What the hell? I own the place, right? Let me text Eva and make sure she goes down and opens up for prep.”
“Awesome!” Kat said, clapping like a little girl. “Come in!”
“Let me shut the car off and I’ll be right there. You get back inside before you freeze your ass off,” Ginny ordered, nudging her back in the door before running back to the car.
Kat was stirring up cappuccino when Ginny came back in trying to text and shrug out of her coat at the same time. She dropped her coat and purse in the breakfast nook and tiptoed in to peek at Camden.
“He’s so beautiful, sis,” she whispered, coming back to sink into the booth.
“Thank you. Even Crux has decided he is a keeper.”
“Men,” Ginny snorted, wrapping her hands around the warm mug. “So tell me, how’re things going?”
Kat smiled and tore a bite off one of the applesauce donuts.
“It’s going good. We couldn’t ask for a better baby. He’s eating and sleeping well. He’s sleeping so well that I have to get up and make sure that he’s breathing. Crux rolls over and mutters at me to leave the baby alone.”
Ginny laughed at Kat’s growly imitation of her husband’s voice.
“Is everything else okay? I saw that Crux went back to work today.”
“It was nice having him home with us for a couple of days, but he was ready to go back. He doesn’t know what to do with himself when he’s not working.”
“Zeke is the same way. It makes you wonder what they will be like when they retire, doesn’t it?”
“Bowie will probably have to throw Crux out. I can’t imagine him not working,” Kat said around a mouthful. “Which I guess is good seeing as we waited a little long to start a family.”
Ginny choked on her donut.
“Jesus, Kat! You’re hardly old!”
“I’m just saying I didn’t start as early as some of you did. Your baby is fourteen. Amber and Bowie’s girls are eighteen. The only little one is Kennedy.”
“So you didn’t step out of high school and get knocked up like some of us. You’re only thirty-four. That is hardly ancient,” Ginny scoffed.
“And thirty-nine is? You didn’t seem too inclined to pop one out when I suggested that you might be pregnant.”
“I said that Zeke would kick my ass. I didn’t say I was too old. And yes, it would be a lot different for us because we do have two twenty-year-olds and a fourteen-year-old. Your old man might want to work forever, but mine keeps promising me retirement and travel if we can clear the nest.”
“Are you falling for that?” Kat asked.
Gin rolled her eyes and shrugged.
“At the very least I might get him to use his vacation time and take me somewhere.”
“Don’t hold your breath.”
“Hush. You’re just jealous,” Ginny said, throwing a bite of donut at her.
“My father came to the hospital.”
Ginny fumbled her cup, sloshing cappuccino on the table and her lap. Kat started to get up and Ginny waved her back, standing to grab a hand towel and a dishrag.
“Sorry,” she muttered, swiping at her pant leg and the table simultaneously. Red-faced, she dropped back into her seat. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know why I just blurted that out.”
“Because we don’t keep shit from each other.”
Kat nodded, self-consciously turning her coffee cup.
“What happened?” Ginny asked. “Daddy Dearest hasn’t sniffed around in fifteen years.”
“He came in while we were sleeping. I woke up and he was standing over the basinet.”
“Jesus! Where was Crux?”
“I think he woke up a half second before I did. He came flying out of the chair and clotheslined my father. They were rolling around on the floor. I was screaming like a banshee. An orderly and a nurse came out of nowhere. I don’t know if they were already in the room, or they heard me scream. All I know is they grabbed Crux and pulled him off my father before he could kill him. Then Security showed up, and a deputy. Why is it that everyone knows my husband by name? The cop called him Croston, just like the bartender over at Hillside that night he got into it with the college boy that felt me up.”
“Why am I just now hearing about this? Did they arrest him?”
“No. He wanted them to arrest Crux for assault or some bullshit like that. The deputy said he wasn’t wasting his time and didn’t back down when my father pulled his do you know who I am bullshit,” Kat said shaking her head. “I’m sorry. I was upset and I just wanted to bring Cam home and forget about it.”
Ginny’s frown crumpled in sympathy and she reached across the table to cover Kat’s hand.
“I don’t blame you. How did he even know? It’s been years since he came around.”
“That’s just it. We’ve been asking ourselves the same question,” Kat admitted, biting her lip in worry.
“Did he say what he wanted,” Ginny asked, a frown twisting her features as she picked at her donut.
“Cam has a penis so he is worth something in my father’s eyes. He was spouting off about making Cam his heir.”
“Did you tell him to go to hell?”
“I told him he would have nothing to do with Cam. Crux would lose his shit if I ever accepted a cent from my father.”
“God Kat, please remember that. Crux is a proud man and he loves you. Rich or not, he takes good care of you.”
“I would never do that do him. Crux would do anything for me. I know that. He would bust his ass to give me anything I wanted. Trust me. I don’t miss my father’s money. From the beginning Crux has given me something that John Merrick can’t buy. He makes me feel safe and loved. That’s all I ever wanted,” Kat said fervently.
Ginny stood and slipped into Kat’s side of the booth to wrap her in a tight hug.
“I love you, little sister. Don’t you forget, anything, anytime.”
“I know that, and right back at you.”
Ginny reached across the table to retrieve the rest of her cappuccino. They sat in silence for a few minutes, each lost in their worries and picking at their donuts.
“Lately it seems like we’re cursed. It’s always something,” Ginny murmured.
“I know. I swear nothing stays buried in Trinity.”
“What does Crux think?”
“He thinks if we refuse to let him in, he will eventually crawl back under his rock.”
Ginny lit a cigarette and nodded chewing on her thumbnail.
“Has he changed much?”
“He’s a little balder on the top, but he hasn’t changed much more than that.”
“I think I’d still recognize him. He’s a hard man to forget. His eyes still haunt me. I thought Zeke’s could be cold.”
“They’re like a shark’s, so pale they’re almost clear,” Kat said, hunching her shoulders against the chill the mental image inspired.
Suddenly straightening in her seat, Ginny turned, her eyes wide.
“Kramer. Fucking Kramer said that he talked to your dad. You said you didn’t know how he knew about the pregnancy. Remember when you ran into the little weasel at the festival? You said that he congratulated you on the baby and that he said your father was worried about you. Maybe he told your dad that you were pregnant.”
“Oh my God, he did! He said that my father was concerned for me and for his grandchild!” Kat said, hand covering her mouth. “I remember thinking how much Kramer sounded like my father, a raving nut job, but I completely forgot about him saying that until just now.”
“A lot of shit has happened since then,” Ginny said, shaking her head and taking a long drag on her cigarette before she looked down at it. “Jesus! Why didn’t you remind me that I can’t smoke this in here? Shit!” she said, jumping up to douse her cigarette under the faucet.
“Because you’re worried about us and you smoke when you’re stressed.”
“You’re trying to quit and Camden doesn’t need to breathe my nasty habit,” Ginny said waving ineffectively at the smoke.
Kat reached out and caught her friend’s hand.
“It’s okay, Gin. No harm, no foul. Crux smokes. It’s not like we’re going to be able to keep it away from Cam completely. We’re just trying not to smoke right around him. Give his lungs a chance before he decides to take up cigarettes or the welding booth.”
“Is Crux still filling in for Reaper?”
“He was before he took the vacation days. I don’t know what might have happened while he was off. I guess I will find out tonight. At least I can tell him I have an idea what prodded Daddy Dearest’s interest again.”
Camden’s cry interrupted their talk.
“Hark! Mommy duty calls,” Ginny said with a sympathetic smile. “I better get going. Call me later.”
“I will, sis. Thanks for the donuts and the chat. I always feel better when I talk to you.”
“I’m the same way. I hate secrets between us,” Ginny said giving her a hug. “Take good care of my nephew and I’ll talk to you soon.” She paused at the door and looked back. “Put this away so you know where it is if you need it.”
Kat glanced at the .38 she’d left on the foyer table and nodded with a blush. Locking up behind her friend, she took the gun and put it away. Ginny missed nothing. Kat hadn’t been kidding; it felt better to tell Ginny what was going on. Even if Gin couldn’t do anything, it just felt better to share with her sister. Troubles shared are troubles halved; her nanny had used to say. When they had met, that saying had finally made sense to Kat.
Picking up her son, she cuddled him close. He wailed lustily. Grabbing up a clean diaper, she thought she’d start at the bottom rung of the ladder and work her way up.
A smoky haze hung over the Lords of Mayhem conference table. At the head of the table, Zeke frowned listening to his club brother recount the visit from his father-in-law. They all knew Kat’s history. John Merrick and his piece of shit politician brother had abused Kat in just about every way imaginable. The news that a man like John was sniffing around Trinity Falls, just didn’t sit well with any of them.
“Have you heard anything from him since the hospital?”
Crux shook his head, his disfigured mug twisting in a scowl.
“Nothing.”
“You’re sure that Kat hasn’t had any contact with him?” Murphy asked.
Crux’s scowl darkened and he leaned forward, emphasizing his words with the jab of his cigarette. “Kat hasn’t had shit to do with her father.”
“You should have killed the scumbag years ago,” Reaper snarled as Crux slumped back in his chair.
“Yeah, because he would’ve been such a help to Kat in prison,” Murphy said with an eye roll.
“Who said he’d get caught?” Taz asked with a sinister chuckle.
“I’m saying that sometimes there are other avenues. Soriano was taken down legally.”
“And Eva almost died,” Mox said pointedly.
“Merrick’s political ties make him a dangerous man to go after,” Zeke mumbled around his cigar.
“Are you saying we can’t touch him?”
“I’m saying that he’s one that would be very difficult to bring down from that side of the law.”
Murphy looked at Zeke in surprise. It wasn’t often the partners disagreed.
“What was it that Big Red said? When an animal is sick you put it down,” Reaper sneered at Murphy. “Sorry if that offends your cop sensibilities.”
“You don’t know Kat’s father or his sick fuck brother, the governor. Reaper is right,” Crux said stubbing out his cigarette.
Bowie shifted his hulking frame and nodded.
“You weren’t here for that chapter, Murph,” Zeke said, his voice holding a rumble of warning.
Murphy held their president’s gaze for a long moment and then nodded, looking around the table. He raised his hand off the flat surface in a gesture of placation and acceptance. Crux nodded his understanding at the silent apology.
“This was before our time too, so what do we need to know?” Mox asked. Rhys leaned forward beside him, his gaze sweeping over the men at the table.
“The Merrick family has more money than God. John runs the family’s multi-billion dollar corporation and Connor is our illustrious governor, with aspirations to sit in the White House. What you really need to know is that they’re sadistic animals that make Rocco Soriano look like an amateur. Physical torture is just a warm up to their sexual depravity, and they like to play mind games. It’s amazing Kat made it out of there with her sanity,” Zeke said gravely.
“Even with Kat’s testimony there was nothing that could be done?” Rhys asked.
The low chuckle that rumbled from Crux’s chest was anything but humorous.
“They had her committed for a while and convinced people that she is unstable and delusional. The lawyers said she’s not a credible witness.”
“That one is crazy like a fox,” Eddie muttered, shaking his head and stroking his blond horseshoe mustache.
“My old lady is no more crazy than any other woman, but that doesn’t change what the paperwork says,” Crux said, crumbling his empty Marlboro pack before bumming another cigarette from Reaper’s pack.
“Since you made it clear that he wasn’t going to be in the kid’s life, what do you think his next step is?” Tech asked softly.
“I don’t know what the fucker’s agenda is. He was babbling about making Cam his heir, and something about this being the first thing that Kat has ever done to make him proud. I will take care of my family. I don’t want his money. I’ll never allow Kat to be beholden to that monster.”
“So, if it’s being part of Camden’s life he wants, he might just be licking his wounds before he tries to talk to Kat again?” Sambo asked.
Crux nodded with a shrug.
“If he comes around when you’re not home is Kat going to be able to handle it?” Bowie asked, concern in his deep voice.
“She’s scared shitless of the man. She won’t let him in. She knows where the guns are and I’ve made it clear that she is to call the cops and then call me. We’ll see which one gets there first,” Crux said, eyes flickering to Murphy. “That might be the deciding factor.”
“Or Kat might finish it herself,” Zeke said with a little smirk. “I don’t know if that would be more traumatic or cathartic.”
“I know it would feel good for me,” Crux chuckled.
“If this was about you feeling better you would’ve shot the asshole years ago, dumbass,” Reaper said, bouncing the crumpled cigarette pack off Crux’s forehead. He laughed as Crux winged it back and missed.
“We don’t know if Merrick will even come back to Trinity, but it’s better to be forewarned. Tech, can you bring a picture of this prick up on your phone?”
“You could if you weren’t technologically challenged,” Murphy muttered under his breath.
Zeke fl
ipped him off and waited for Tech to find a picture.
“This is a recent picture of John Merrick and here is…actually here is one of John and Governor Merrick together from a fundraiser,” Tech said, passing the phone around the table. “I can forward the picture to your phones if you want. We don’t know that Merrick will come around himself. He might send someone to do his dirty work for him. He might send a lawyer, for example, to offer Kat money in exchange for access to his new grandson.”
“He can shove his money up his ass,” Crux growled.
“Tech’s right. We don’t know, but those of you that work in town, keep your eyes open. Crux, keep us updated and let us know if there is anything we can do. You know Ginny designed that plush employee lounge at The Lantern to be nursery friendly. If Kat doesn’t want to be home alone, I’m sure the girls would be glad to fawn over her and the kiddo.”
“Thanks, brothers,” Crux said simply as the meeting ended. There were slaps on the back and reminders to call if he needed anything all around.
“Don’t worry, man. We have your back. If that rich prick comes around bothering Kat and the baby, I will be more than happy to liquidate his ass,” Reaper said with an evil gleam in his eye.
“I’m sure little Alex will appreciate that.”
“I got your little Alex hanging,” Reaper snapped, cupping his crotch with a sneer.
Crux laughed, shaking his head.
“I didn’t say tiny Alex,” he chuckled. “I was talking about your namesake, Camden Alex Croston.”
Reaper blinked, forehead furrowing in obvious confusion.
“Alex, for me?”
“You’re the only Alex I know.”
“And Kat signed off on that?”
“She thought it was a great idea because it was her idea,” Crux said with a derisive snort. “I didn’t like any of the names she was coming up with until she suggested Alex for you, and I said hell yeah.”
“Well I’ll be fucked.”
“You’ll need to talk to Lee about that, but it can probably be arranged.”
“Seriously, man. That’s cool,” Reaper said with a huge grin on his face.
Crux clasped his hand and brought him in for a back thumping hug.
