Redeem

by Janice M. Whiteaker

  She had her there. Between Beth’s dead husband trying to kill the man raised like his brother and her actual mother-in-law trying to kill her chosen mother-in-law it shouldn’t have been so easy for her to blindly believe everything Tara said.

  However, there was still the chance his sister wasn’t lying. “But what if it is true?”

  Autumn’s nostrils flared and she crossed her arms, leaning back in her seat. “Then you punch him in his perfect face.”

  Beth rolled her eyes. “I’m not punching anyone in the face.”

  Autumn sighed. “You’re right. A little bit of a crooked spot on his nose would probably only make him hotter.” She picked up her cup. “Why is that? Makes them seem more rugged I guess.” She shook her head a little and sipped at her drink. “Just don’t sex him anymore if it’s true.” She looked off to one side. “Maybe just one more time.” Autumn looked back at Beth and pointed a finger her way. “But you have to promise to tell me all about it.”

  This was why Beth came here. Because she knew her friend would be spitting mad in her defense and then make her laugh. “You know I love you?”

  Autumn raised one eyebrow. “Enough to tell me how big his junk is?”

  “Not that much.” Beth took a drink of her lukewarm tea and pondered everything Autumn said. Maybe Tara did lie. Maybe she didn’t. Either way Beth deserved to hear the truth from Don. He’d said so many things and done so many things that made her think he was interested in more than just a casual relationship. Definitely more than a quick fling before he got outta Dodge.

  “Is that your phone ringing?” Autumn crossed the room, staring at Beth’s purse sitting on the counter. “Oh m’God it is.” She ran across the room and practically threw the bag in Beth’s lap. “I bet it’s him.”

  Beth unzipped her purse and started fishing around. “It’s probably my mom calling to check in. We haven’t been able to go up to visit my parents lately with the class—” Beth pulled the phone out.

  “It’s him isn’t it?” Autumn’s voice shook with excitement, her hands clasped in front of her. “Answer it.”

  Beth swallowed. She connected the call. “Hello.”

  “Hey.”

  She closed her eyes, trying to figure out what in the hell to say. Everything she came up with sounded lame and needy so she followed suit. “Hey.”

  “I didn’t want to call you. I tried to come talk to you face to face but you weren’t home.” Don’s words came out quickly, one on top of the last. He paused. When he spoke again his words were slow, clear, strong. “I need you to know Tara was wrong. I was never leaving.”

  “Oh.” Beth tried to ignore Autumn’s eyes. On her like white on rice.

  “Can I come talk to you?” His words were taking on an edge. “Please?”

  Beth looked up at her friend. Autumn looked like she was ready to explode. “Well I’m at Autumn’s right now.”

  “Oh.” Don sounded deflated. “I understand.”

  “No. I just meant maybe tonight. I should be home by six.” In truth she’d be home by four, but after her conversation with Tara yesterday Beth went home and moped on the couch, turning the living room into a virtual nest of used tissues and empty Diet Coke cans. Not to mention the fact that she was currently sporting sweat pants and what was left of yesterday’s make-up.

  She heard him let out a breath.

  “I’ll be there.”

  TWENTY-TWO

  “Why did you make such a big mess?” Liza picked up one of her shoes and kicked a stray wad of tissue across the wood floor, heading toward the stairs.

  Beth scoffed. “I didn’t make this whole mess. You and your sister helped.” She pointed at the single shoe in Liza’s hand. “You can carry more than that.”

  Liza huffed and jumped back down the three steps she’d climbed one at a time before picking up the matching shoe and a pair of boots. “I am so bored.”

  Beth shoved a handful of tissues in the grocery bag she was using to collect the random trash strewn across the large living room. “You had a very fun weekend with Nana and Paul. You will survive cleaning the house.” Beth dropped her trash sack on the coffee table and picked the large blanket from the couch off the floor and shook it, making sure there were no lingering snot rags clinging to the fuzzy turquoise material. “It won’t take long and then I will turn on a movie for you after I take a shower.”

  “Fine.” Liza stomped up the steps.

  Beth went to the base of the stairs and yelled up. “Those better end up in your closet and not just thrown wherever.” She waited for a response but all that came was a series of consecutive thumps as each shoe bounced off the back wall of the closet in the girls’ bedroom.

  Beth started to go back to the task of straightening the living room but before she had time to step away from the stairwell Kate appeared at the top landing. “Mommy, Liza’s trying to hide under the bed.”

  “Liza!” Beth grabbed her own set of discarded shoes from beside the door, reducing the pile to three pairs of rain boots all sporting a matching paisley print on a shiny black background. She considered grabbing them too, but they were cute and they’d have to be hauled right back down the next time she and the girls wanted to set foot outside. Between the melting snow and massive quantities of rain over the past few days, they were the only shoes that could handle anything besides pavement.

  Liza finally appeared at the top of the stairs, her hands on her hips.

  “If you help Kate clean up your room I will take you out for ice cream tomorrow after I’m done at school.” Beth smiled sweetly at her daughter through clenched teeth. Don would be here soon and she wanted the house to at least be presentable, not to mention herself. Now was the time to skip any and all other forms of motivation and go straight for the big guns. Any mother who said you should never bribe your children with food obviously didn’t know the power a bowl of hot fudge held.

  Liza smiled back. “Okay.”

  “Thank God.” Beth huffed as she went back to work.

  Beth hurried to straighten the rest of the living room and then moved to the kitchen. Luckily with the girls gone yesterday the dishes were all done and put away, but there were still stacks of papers everywhere. Information from her fostering classes, school papers that she graded Friday night, and collections of Kate’s own school work covered the table, the island and at least two dining chairs.

  Beth grabbed all the stacks, piling one on top of the other and stood in the middle of the room, eyes bouncing from one side to the other, trying to come up with a spot to hide them. She rushed to the laundry room right off the kitchen and opened the dryer door, carefully setting the papers inside, trying to keep the haphazard pile at least mostly intact.

  She checked her watch and let out a breath. It was five. Plenty of time to shower and wash off the raccoon eyes and bed head she was sporting.

  Beth looked at her clean kitchen.

  Should she make dinner?

  No. There was no time. As horrible as it was, looking good was more important right now. No matter what happened this evening, she was going to look good while it happened.

  Beth ran up the stairs and checked on the girls. They were making surprising headway with the toy bomb that went off in their room. “Good job. Mommy’s going to jump in the shower real quick, okay?”

  “Kay.” Kate grabbed one of the large black fabric bins they filled with Barbies and drug it across the floor toward the shelf.

  “I’ll help you put that away when I’m done.” Beth went to her room and grabbed fresh clothes, jumping in the shower before the hot water made it all the way upstairs. She didn’t bother shaving her legs, but it still took ten minutes to wash her hair and her body and get the waterproof mascara out from under her eyes.

  Wrapping her hair in a towel, she wrestled a pair of straight leg jeans over her still damp skin then tugged on a tank top and a long-sleeved boat neck t-shirt. Her face got the bare minimum of make-up so she’d have time to dry and cur
l her hair which took almost fifteen precious minutes. When Beth bounced her head around to shake them loose and they fell around her face in soft, sexy waves she decided it was worth every second.

  She ran from the bathroom with twenty minutes until Don was supposed to show up, looking better than presentable, but not the smoking hot goddess she’d been hoping to have time to pull off.

  “Okay. Let’s get those bins on the shelf.” Beth walked into the girls room to find only Kate was still there. “Where is your sister?”

  Kate shrugged and threw a sequined covered dress-up costume in the laundry basket. “She said she was thirsty and went to get a drink.”

  Beth grabbed the dress from the basket before it made it into the washing machine and came out a gnarled mess. “You keep cleaning. I’ll go get her.”

  Beth headed down the stairs her mind racing right along with her pulse. “Li-. You are supposed to be cleaning.”

  Beth went to the kitchen. Empty. She spun around, looking under the table and in the laundry room. No Liza.

  “Liza. Where are you?” Beth checked the living room and the downstairs half bath. “Liza.” She started to go back upstairs to check the spare room when the shoes by the door caught her eye.

  Two pairs of matching rain boots.

  No.

  Beth shoved her bare feet into her own boots and ran out the front door yelling Liza’s name but the only sound she heard was that of the rain that’d been steadily falling all day.

  She ran back through the house to the back door, grabbing her phone as she went, heart pounding like thunder in her ears. Flinging open the door Beth ran into the yard, the cold rain pelting her hair and sinking into her clothes. She squinted into the dark night, saying every prayer she knew that Liza was in the back yard. But deep down she knew where her daughter was.

  And knew she would never get to her in time.

  But there was a chance someone else could.

  ****

  Don checked the clock on the dashboard and forced his foot off the gas.

  He’d blamed leaving early on the rain. The bad weather would slow down his drive. Traffic would be as clogged as the overworked sewers. But it wasn’t the case. Never would’ve been. There wasn’t much right now that could successfully slow him down. His eagerness to see Beth and the girls and straighten this whole mess out could have won him the Daytona 500.

  He was already outside town with less than ten minutes left on his drive and over twenty minutes before he was supposed to be at Beth’s house. He had to slow down. Luckily the roads were deserted so he could cruise along under the speed limit without pissing anyone off.

  Besides himself.

  Thirty miles an hour felt like five as the car crept along the rain soaked road to Beth’s house for the second time today.

  By the time Levi was back safe with Chuck and his wife last night it was late and his head had time to clear a little. Enough to tell him that showing up on Beth’s doorstep still covered in filth and stink from working and ready to fall over from exhaustion might not be the best way to persuade a woman to listen to what you had to say. So he went home and tried to sleep.

  This morning Don went to her house, clean, groomed, well-dressed, and as ready as he was ever going to be to try to explain what happened.

  And Beth wasn’t home.

  So he sat there, longer than he probably should have, hoping she would be right back. But Beth didn’t come home and he had to resort to a phone call. It was a lame way to start off an apology, but he didn’t want to waste any more time. He’d already wasted too much falling back into old, stupid insecurities.

  But she was there now and since she didn’t immediately hang up on him, that meant Beth was at least willing to listen to what he had to say. And he had a lot to say.

  Don glanced out his side window. The fields, now mostly mud and slop were passing faster than they should be. He tried to pull his foot back and ease off the gas again. Instead he pushed harder.

  What the hell. He was tired of waiting. Tired of not seeing her. Tired of not holding her.

  Tired of not telling her he loved her.

  Don’s phone rang just as he passed the first small field at the edge of the farm’s property. His heart stopped when he saw Beth’s name across the screen. He was less than three minutes away. What if she changed her mind? What if she was calling to tell him it was too late?

  He was going anyway, that’s what.

  He answered, ready to plead his case. “Hey Beth.”

  She screamed his name. A ragged, guttural cry that sent a chill down his spine.

  “Beth what’s wrong?” He floored the gas, his wheels jumping over the wet asphalt.

  “Liza’s gone.” He could barely make out her breathless and tear distorted words.

  Everything stopped.

  Goosebumps covered his body as the realization of where she’d gone fell into the pit of his empty stomach.

  “I’m almost there.” He whipped his car off the road and onto the access road that split the property in two. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

  He hung up the phone, hating to do that to Beth, leave her alone and panicked, but he needed all his focus to get his car as close as he could to the back of the field. Rocks smacked at the sides of the sedan as he took the gravel drive at a faster speed than it was intended to handle, but he had to make up as much time as he could before the water soaked ground forced him to slow. Or worse, stop.

  The drive could be re-rocked. His car could be repainted.

  But Liza was irreplaceable and with the amount of water that fell from the sky today, coupled with the rapidly melting snow, all it would take was one wrong step and she would be gone.

  He gripped the steering wheel as his tires left the end of the drive and slogged into the field. The tread was no match for the thick muck and almost immediately he spun out, flinging spatters of watery mud into the field behind him. Don tried to back up, get a grip on something, but he was stuck and didn’t have a second to waste trying to break free.

  Don jumped out into the pouring rain, not even thinking to shut his door, focused only on getting to the creek and pond as fast as he could. His boots sunk into the mud each time his feet hit the ground, making it feel like he was running over quick sand.

  His thigh muscles screamed under the stress. His eyes stung from the rain. His chest burned. His shoes filled with mud. But Don felt none of it. Right now he’d run through fire if it meant Liza would be safe.

  The creek came into view. He could hear the water rushing as the narrow passage way struggled to accommodate the water dumping in from the fields and the sky as it hurried to pour into the large pond.

  A small pink umbrella sat upside down on the ground beside the creek bed.

  “Liza!” Don pushed his body harder, running as fast as he could toward the little umbrella, praying he would find her stuck in the mud, or fallen in the field. Anywhere but that freezing, fast moving water.

  If he could find her.

  She was so small, so young. She’d be no match for a current intent on dragging everything in its path straight to the depths of that damn pond.

  His chest seized as he reached the edge of the water with no Liza in sight. Don ran up the bank, eyes covering every inch of the water as he went, praying she wasn’t there, shivering in the icy water.

  He froze. Holding his breath and straining to hear over the pelting rain and the whoosh of the water.

  He heard it again. A small sound that could be easily missed. A small sound that confirmed all his worst fears. Yanking off his coat he ran toward the sound.

  When he saw the tiny bob of the top of Liza’s little head barely break the water Don dove in. It was impossible to see in the murky runoff grabbing at him, pushing him along. It forced him to the surface.

  He flailed in the current, hoping he could grab her. “Liza!” His own voice was barely audible over the sound of the water. Don wiped the water from his eyes as his teeth st
arted to chatter.

  A tiny wave with a pinkish cast rippled a few feet in front of him. He dove at it, arms stretched as far out as he could force them. His fingers brushed satiny fabric. Don grabbed hold with both hands and pulled, shoving her heavy body up first.

  Liza’s coat held so much water it was difficult to make it up to the surface and harder to stay up, even for him. Don yanked down the zipper and shoved the water logged garment free. Liza’s arms immediately flapped up, nearly catching him in the face.

  He wrapped his arm tightly around her, fighting to keep them both above water as she coughed and twisted, not realizing she was safe.

  “Liza honey. It’s okay. Everything’s okay.” Don fought toward the bank with his free arm, his muscles twitching with cold, making the action nearly impossible.

  Liza started to cry. “I-m-m-m s-s-s-so c-c-c-cold M-m-m-ister D-d-d-d—”

  “Shhh.” Don pulled her tighter against his body hoping he had at least a little heat to give her. “I know honey, we’re almost out.”

  Don looked around for a branch, a rock, something to grab, but the creek was full to the brim, overflowing its eight foot banks leaving the water’s edge free of anything that would help him.

  He spun around. The pond loomed in front of him. He turned his back to it and wrapped both arms around Liza, letting his body float as high as he could, hers breaking the surface above his, as they coasted toward the pond.

  If he could keep them high enough on the water, he wouldn’t have to fight the undertow as the water dumped out from the creek into the depths of the pond.

  Don barely felt a tug on his feet as the deeper water rushed to the bottom of the pond. The momentum of the rushing creek pushed them into the more calm, but still unbearably cold waters of the pond.

  Liza’s shivering was so strong, it felt like she was nearly convulsing against his chest, her teeth clanging against each other in his ear. Don used the last strength remaining in his wasted limbs to push through the water until his feet slipped against the muddy bottom of the pond. He dragged them onto the shoreline, panting and sputtering.