Truth and Humility

by J. A. Dennam

  No, anything but that. Herb straightened, rubbed at the indigestion in his middle. “I can’t imagine she’d be too thrilled about that, either.”

  Danny, wide-eyed, misty and at a complete loss for words, watched as her man shrugged, unruffled by the possibility.

  “If it makes you feel any better, I may get disowned over this.”

  “Oh…” Mary wiped tears from her cheeks, her voice nasally with emotion. “Not if I have anything to say about it.” All three pairs of eyes moved to her. “I’ll simply have to remind your mother of how things used to be. It seems she’s forgotten. “

  Herb backed up a step, scowled at his wife. “Mary, don’t you dare go into that!”

  “Patricia was the strongest advocate for peace when we married into these two families.”

  Austin went very still. “My mother?”

  Mary nodded, rose to fetch a tissue from the telephone table close by and re-took her seat. “She was the first to contact me, to schedule a prscheduleivate meeting and talk about the feud. I was only too willing to join forces with her. We took it upon ourselves to put this feud to an end. We became very close during those times.”

  Austin and Danny exchanged a look of pure disbelief.

  “Patricia was most determined. You see she recognized the patterns of past generations. She thought if our immediate families could unite against the feud, the others would soon follow.”

  “What happened, Mom?”

  “The usual. Facts get skewed, emotions run high. Herb and Foster gave it some effort at first, but being business competitors didn’t help.”

  “Your father was a shark,” Herb threw in sourly, aiming a glower at Austin.

  “You stole one of his biggest accounts, dear,” Mary accused from her seat without looking up, knew that glower was now aimed at her.

  “All I did was share a few drinks with a man who owned a lot of old buildings. Is it my fault he took a shine to me?”

  “Failure to admit fault is half of what keeps this feud going. After a while you were just as determined as Foster to sabotage our campaign for a truce.” Her husband was unable to deny the charge and she knew it. Daring him to try, Mary continued. “Austin,” her eyes, a little red with emotion, regarded the younger man rooted with shock across the table. “Your mother and I eventually found ourselves at an impasse.” Her shoulders moved up slightly. “Our goals were important to us, but the sum and substance was that we loved our husbands more. Eventually we just...fell back behind the lines. If you and Danny can avoid that one pitfall...the rest is most certainly achievable.”

  “It won’t work,” Herb predicted cantankerously. “It never does. This kid already tried it with our son and look how that turned out.”

  More shock. Danny felt the tension move through Austin and she stood, hugged her arms. “You knew about Derek and Austin’s friendship?”

  Herb opened his mouth but was instantly muzzled by his wife.

  “I knew,” Mary confessed without pause. “There isn’t much that goes on without my notice.” Her gaze fixed pointedly on her daughter and Danny blinked, colored with mortification. The corner of Austin’s mouth quirked with humor. “I allowed the friendship to go on because I had hopes that the two boys could achieve what Patricia and I couldn’t. It didn’t work out, unfortunately, and that’s when I filled your father in.” To Austin, “I believe...I hope...that you have learned enough from that to make a successful union with our daughter.”

  Austin nodded once, suddenly feeling very tender toward Danny’s mother. “I have,” he vowed with the appropriate dose of humility. “There is nothing,” his eyes shot toward Herb, “and no one who will keep me from devoting my life to yomy life ur daughter. She means everything to me.”

  A noise that sounded much like a muffled sob came from the darkened depths of the downstairs hallway. Danny knew she wasn’t the only one who’d heard it when all eyes turned toward the sound.

  “What was that?” she asked, her breath caught in her throat.

  Mary, the closest to the hallway, rose from her chair, moved cautiously toward her husband. Austin took Danny by the shoulders when she would have advanced toward the hallway. “Stay here,” he warned sternly.

  Herb tiptoed to the laundry room, produced the side-by-side shotgun while Austin flattened himself against the wall, reached around and flipped on the hall light. After a quick scan, he turned into the narrow corridor and guardedly pushed doors wide as he took cover beside them. The last door at the end of the hall was to the grandkids’ game room. Austin pushed it open, quickly peered inside. A deafening shot rang out and he ducked just as the round put a hole in the opposite wall.

  Danny jumped, Mary screamed and Herb racked a round when he was able to recover from the shock.

  Austin caught Danny’s wide-eyed horror just as glass broke and yelled, “Call the police!” His quick scan picked up the silhouetted shape of a woman diving through the window she’d just broken. “Shit!” he ground out, and gave pursuit.

  “Austin!” Danny shouted, a panicked edge to her voice. There was no thought to her decision to follow as well. “Mom, call the police!” Then to her father, “Pop, don’t you fire a shot!”

  She feared at this point Herb wouldn’t be too particular with his aim.

  “Danny, you get back here!”

  But she was already slipping through the back door in her sweater and bare feet.

  Running footsteps disturbed the quiet of early morning. Her eyes picked up two figures in the distance, heading at break-neck speed toward the tree line. Gravel, sharp and painful, tenderized the bottom of her feet as she took chase.

  Thrashing, a loud snap. Someone went down in the woods. A very feminine screech.

  Following the sounds, Danny weaved through thick brush and came upon a furious Austin in the process of jamming his knee into the woman’s back as she struggled to rise from the ground. “Oh, no you don’t,” he growled, and twisted her wrists painfully behind her so as to keep her from reaching toward the gun she’d dropped.

  “No wonder you hired a grunt man,” he deduced through clenched teeth. “You aren’t very good at confrontation are you?”

  “Who is she?” Danny demanded angrily.

  Austin’s attention snapped to her and he yelled, “Get back in the house!”

  Instead, Danny moved toward the small firearm, retrieved it. “I’m as invested in this as you are, Cahill.” Her chest heaving, she moved flyaway hair from her face and stood her ground. “I want to know who killed my brother.”

  Lights were coming on in and outside the main house. Austin nodded, reached a hand out. “First give me the gun.”

  “Hold on.” Since Austin had the woman’s wrists in one hand, Danny secured the safety, checked the action and shook out the chambered round. “Here. This way if she gets her hands on it again, you’ll have time to react.”

  Something akin to admiration shown in his eyes as he took the piece from her and jammed it down the back of his waistband. “You’re pretty good with that,” he observed with a grin.

  Danny shrugged. “A girl should know how to defend herself. It’s what makes us equal against predators like Brett. Now, let’s see who this bitch is.” She knelt down in the early morning shadows of the dark canopied woods. “There’s the scarf,” she sneered and ripped the silk cloth up and over the woman’s head. A mass of thick raven hair settled around tensed shoulders. Definitely not blond.

  “Take my phone, use it for light.”

  Danny took the phone from him and woke it up. When the bright light was brought to the woman’s face, she quickly turned away to hide from it. Austin flattened his free hand agai

  nst her head to keep it still while Danny probed again.

  Cringing from the pressure applied to her cranium, the woman gnashed her teeth as tears slid down from her tightly closed eyes.

  “Recognize her?”

  Danny took her bottom lip between her teeth. The light revealed a contrasting
streak of bleached hair that fell from the center of the woman’s forehead, but the natural black color dominated. Thick eyelashes, dark eyebrows, pale skin and full cherry lips.

  The woman’s arm snaked toward her as she gnashed her teeth. A small arc of blinding blue.

  Danny’s breath caught. “Turn her over,” she demanded suddenly.

  By the sound of her voice, Austin knew Danny was on to something. He lifted up enough to yank heavily on one of the woman’s arms and pull her around. Fists came out and he caught them, slammed them to the ground beside her head. He was now straddling the woman, pinning her with his weight. Her eyes flew open.

  In the darkness, Austin was faced with two familiar orbs of emotion. At such close range, he didn’t need light to know the color of them.

  Danny’s hand flew to her mouth, watched as Austin’s face went through a myriad of changes. From anger, to blank confusion, to cataclysmic alarm.

  For confirmation, Danny’s gaze darted to the woman’s chest.

  Huge boobs.

  Chapter 31

  “Hi, honey,” the woman greeted weakly, her lips stretching into a wobbly smile.

  Spooked, Austin sprang back, then gathered his wits enough to pin her again when she attempted to strike out. His captive screeched in frustrated anger, raged beneath him and struggled.

  “Christ,” Austin breathed, shaking his head to clear it. “How is this possible?”

  “Rena.”

  His ears pricked when Danny coldly verbalized his dead fiancé’s name. Only she wasn’t dead. Rena’s pulse pounded beneath the pressure of his hands in a hot and steady rhythm.

  “What the hell is going on?” he shouted.

  Rena flinched, shied away from his angry outburst.

  Danny sat back on her heels, bowled away as memories slammed into her head.

  Slowly, her brain began to unscramble. Slumped against the driver’s-side door, her muscles limp and useless, the snow and electric noise in her head began to clear. Her attacker repeatedly swore beside her.

  “No! Damn, damn, damn!”

  Helpless. Terrified of another attempt to jolt her before she could completely recover from the first one.

  The woman shook, sandwiched her head between her fists. Her posture straightened. She opened the door, got out.

  Eyes followed the shadow as it circled around the front of the car. When her own door opened from under her, her body slithered bonelessly to the ground. Pain as the crown of her head connected heavily with asphalt. She groaned.

  “Get up!” The demand was a quiet hiss. A hard yank brought her up to her knees. Muscles were coming back, though they were so very tired. Her head pounded.

  “Sorry, but you’ll have to get your fuck some other time, sweetheart. He’s mine tonight.”

  She was hoisted and shoved on unsteady legs toward the boat ramp. Rocks and gravel beneath her climbing shoes. Dark thunder. The boat ramp engulfed in raging current. “What are you doing?” she cried pathetically, stumbling under another shove.

  “You can’t be here when he comets back, so you’re just going to take a little swim, that’s all.”

  “No!” She gained enough strength to turn, struggle. The river had already taken three lives that week. The woman growled, readied the stun gun for another jolt. Her eyes widened, reflected the electric blue as it came toward her again. But this time, her forearm blocked the attack and the device dropped to the ground. They both dove for it, but it was kicked away. She couldn’t get up fast enough to chase it down and soon the woman was coming at her again. She finally rose, struggled with her attacker.

  “Who are you?” she cried, her muscles sapped of strength.

  The woman only bit her lip with sheer determination and delivered a stinging slap to her face. Ears ringing. Water rushing close behind her. She pulled herself together just as the weapon was brought back. Blue light.

  “Please! No!”

  Her hand wrapped around the woman’s wrist before it could lunge. “Why are you doing this?” Still, no answer. Only malicious intent. Anger took over. Drawing a small reserve of strength from it, she twisted, grabbed the device in her other hand and turned the direction of the current. After a hefty shove, the woman’s body jerked violently, sizzled, fell forward. A stunning impact.

  “We both fell. Into the river.”

  Though it seemed like an eternity, only mere seconds had passed. Danny’s eyes focused on the woman beneath Austin. “It wasn’t you the witness heard pleading with your attacker...it was me.”

  Austin swiveled to watch Danny in confusion. He wanted to ask what the hell she meant by that, but he was unsure of how to approach anything at the moment.

  Danny cocked her head, locked her gaze with a pair of large wild eyes.

  “Danny...look at me.”

  “What were you after, Rena?” she asked softly. “You expected to find Derek in the car. Not me. Just like you expected me to die at the grain plant, not Derek.” The woman’s eyes cleared, slowly filled with anticipated loathing. “And how does it feel to have failed in just about everything you have set out to do? All because you can’t seem to keep up.”

  “What?”

  Austin’s voice didn’t register. This was a private conversation between her and Rena. But the woman only glared, so Danny felt her way through the facts on her own. “When you realized you’d incapacitated the wrong person at the river, you went ballistic.” Her eyes rolled disbelievingly. “You thought I was one of Derek’s love interests.”

  “Shut up!” Rena hissed, bucked under Austin’s weight.

  “We already know what you planned to do with me at the grain plant. But what were you planning to do with Derek at the river? Once you had him helpless and twitching from electricity, what the hell were you going to do?”

  “He attacked me! I was defending myself!”

  “Danny!” Austin barked, holding Rena down effortlessly. When he had her attention, he spoke slowly. Clearly. “Talk. To. Me.”

  Her jaw moved. Suddenly she was aware of how her bits of information must be affecting him and she nodded. “Alright.” She cleared her throat. Started from the beginning. “As you know, I was at the river to meet Derek just like every Wednesday night. Only this time he had my car, I had his. It was before the rest of our group was to show, so I was alone.” His eyes told her to continue when she paused. The first hint of light put blue in the sky above the green canopy. “Rena pulled up beside me. She just barged into Derek’s car and...and came at me with a stun gun.”

  “Liar!” Rena hissed.

  “When I first recalled that, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why she would do that.”

  Austin’s face darkened. “You knew about this before?” She nodded, the movement slight and reserved. “I asked you if you remembered anything. You said no.”

  “I didn’t want to hurt you...at least until I knew more.” When he swore under his breath, she continued. “And now I think I know what her motivation was.” She was talking to Rena again. “When you dragged me out of the car, you told me...in so many words...that I’d have to ‘get my fuck some other time because he was yours that night.’” Her head tilted from one inquisitive angle to the next. “Were you planning to take advantage of my brother, Rena?”

  A choked gasp. The white of Rena’s skin darkened to an angry red. “I wouldn’t have actually gone through with it!” she raged, affronted. Her head swiveled to face the man above her and she went soft. “I loved you, baby,” she crooned. “I love you so much.”

  Her pleading sapphire irises grabbed him. Emotions tore through his system as he scoured her features with a perplexed frown. It had been almost nine months since he’d last seen her. Believed her to be dead, drowned, torn apart by wild dogs. But she was here now, living. Breathing. Only, her appearance had changed. His old love was still extraordinarily beautiful, but what was once full, bright and spirited was now emaciated, haunted...lacking sanity.

  It was all in those eyes.
He’d gazed into them countless times when they’d made love, danced together, kissed over the breakfast table, as he’d bent on one knee and presented a ring.

  And now...as he probed into her soul, his brow crumpled beneath the weight of what he saw. “You love me?” he asked, softly at first, tenderly. Her mouth – a mouth he’d amorously tasted in many different ways – spread into an adoring smile. “You love me,” he repeated, the words now taking on a frenzied edge. Then his face clouded with thunderous rage. “You left me!”

  Her smile dissolved, was replaced by something frantic. “I didn’t want to!”

  “Then why?”

  “I had to! Because of what I’d done!” Her wild gaze sliced over to the woman crouched beside them. “It’s her fault! She should have never been there, but she was and I had to get rid of her! It was supposed to be harmless!”

  “Harmless!” Danny broke in, fists at her sides. “You planned to set my brother up to look like a rapist!”

  “It could have happened! He hated Austin. It was believable that he’d want to retaliate if given the opportunity!”

  Austin blinked, bowled over by the reality of it. He’d confided in her about what had transpired between him and Brynn. How it had torn a close friendship apart. “Which is exactly what I believed.” Now that Rena’s eyes were on him again he reached deep down for a modicum of control. “Why? Why would you do that when you were so adamant to help me end the feud?”

  The smile was back, sick and pleading. “Because I had to prove to you how much you loved me, baby. You were all I ever wanted. I worked so hard to get you. But I knew you were losing interest in me. I could see it.”

  “What?”

  “It was only a matter of time before I...” she swallowed, evaded. “I adjusted my medication, but it only made me worse. I could feel myself slipping into that dark place. You saw it. You were going to leave me, I could tell!”