Runaway Heart (A Game of Hearts #2)

by Sonya Loveday

  I made my way down a short hallway that opened up into what I’d always thought of as Aunt Della’s quarters—a cozy living room. Family pictures were hung on the walls. A smattering of knickknacks was placed here and there, along with the furniture. Elliot’s jacket was laid along the back of the couch next to a deep red throw blanket for those nights when the chill in the air required it.

  Another short hallway brought me past the bathroom and toward Elliot’s office. I heard the deep timber of his voice as he spoke. Another quieter voice answered and I wavered, wondering if I should interrupt. It was possible he was just going over last-minute details with Aunt Della.

  My body froze when I heard it.

  A laugh. But not just any laugh. It was her laugh.

  Hannah’s laugh.

  I flashed hot, and then cold. Excitement shot through me. Could it really be her? Why would she be here instead of finding me? I pushed past the questions and knocked a little harder than I’d intended.

  Elliot called me in, standing from one of the chairs placed in front of his desk. The other chair was occupied by a woman I’d never seen before, yet who looked strangely familiar.

  “Ed, I was just about to come find ye,” Elliot said, coming over and putting his hand on my shoulder.

  I couldn’t help it when my eyes darted over to the woman again, curiosity getting the best of me.

  Elliot followed my gaze, smiling. “Ed, this is my cousin, Danielle. Dany, this is my wife’s nephew, Edward.”

  “Pleased to meet you, Danielle,” I said, watching her shift uncomfortably in her seat.

  “Dany’s just arrived last week from America.” Elliot beamed.

  “America?” I damn near swallowed my tongue.

  “Moved there with her parents… what… when you were eight? Took the whole family by surprise when they did it. I think I cried myself to sleep for half the year. Not very manly to admit I suppose, but I was five when she left. Up until then, we were thicker than thieves ye might say.

  Danielle, or Dany rather, looked up at him, a pained smile on her face.

  I lost all ability to breathe. Her eyes, storm gray and haunting, seized my lungs.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Edward,” she said.

  Everything snapped back into place. The voice was wrong. All wrong. Looking closer at her, there were even more differences, slight ones, but they kept me from making a complete fool of myself. Her hair was dark, almost black. Her nose was a little more sloped, not the perfect roundness of Hannah’s, and she had a frail look about her, like a wounded bird. Hannah was strong, sure of herself.

  There was no way she could have anything to do with Hannah. That would be too coincidental. Too convenient. It had to be my mind playing tricks on me. My heart crying out for an answer to Hannah’s absence.

  But her laugh… God, her laugh had been exactly the same.

  Gutted. I felt completely gutted.

  I dipped my head, fighting to control the flood of emotion trying its best to drown me. Would there ever be a time when I would think of Hannah and not feel like I was capsizing?

  “Ready to set the bar up?” Elliot asked, guiding me out of his office. My feet followed the pressure of his hand on my shoulder.

  Elliot had no idea how twisted up I felt inside as he chatted away beside me. Telling me about his cousin and how she’d reached out to him after twenty-odd years, asking if she could come and stay with him for a bit.

  “Never thought I’d see the day really,” he finished as we uncovered the glossy surface of the rolling bar kept in the storage room.

  Dust kicked up around us as we wheeled the bar out, tugging and pushing it through the hallways to its allotted spot for the gala.

  “Bottles are in the kitchen pantry. Della wants only a half bar this go ‘round. Wine. Red and white. Scotch for the gentleman if they’d like. Water and tea will be provided should they ask for it,” Elliot said as I followed him to the kitchen.

  Wine glasses and tumblers were brought out as I uncorked a handful of bottles, allowing them to breathe before the first of the guests arrived.

  The quiet beforehand rattled me. I couldn’t wait for the gala to get under way to keep my mind from wandering back to Hannah like it always did in the silence.

  VIBRANT, SOUL-SCREAMING MUSIC THUMPED in the air, pounding against my eardrums.

  “I can’t believe you’re trading us in for an accent,” Cherry shouted over the music, beer in hand. “I met a rad-ass chick and you don’t see me packing all my ish and hightailing it to England.”

  “Like you would. You’re worse than Hannah when it comes to commitment,” Myra said with a snort.

  Cherry’s head whipped in Myra’s direction. “I’m committed. I still buy the same exact brand and type of peanut butter every week, even when they try to slap some honey or chocolate in it.” She lowered an eyebrow and pointed around the circle. “If that’s not commitment, then I don’t know what is.”

  A few of the girls snickered at Cherry as we all stood around the fire pit outside of Charlotte’s house. What was supposed to be a quiet, going-away dinner between the three of us, turned into a surprise party being thrown by the whole team.

  My tear ducts were already boycotting me.

  “So… you really love this kid then?” Cherry said, setting her jokes to the side.

  My heart skipped rope at the thought of Ed. Of his smile. His laugh. The way his body fit so perfectly with mine.

  “I do,” I answered, taking a sip from my cup to hide the flames burning in my cheeks. A small pang of panic shot like a virus through my veins. “I just hope I’m not too late,” I added, looking over to Maggie, who wouldn’t be leaving until tomorrow morning.

  “Why don’t you just call him?” Myra asked.

  “Because,” I said, my heart perched high on my shoulder, “I can’t tell him all that needs to be said on the phone. Can’t show him I’m ready. I can do that by going to him. By telling him how he’s changed me in all the right ways.”

  “He loves you, Hannah. There’s still time,” Maggie reassured me for the thousandth time. “True love doesn’t expire.”

  “That’s what I’m hoping for.” I released a pent-up exhale.

  “Look at you,” Harley said from across the fire, her arms crossed and her chin out. Blue glitter covered her eyelids. “And here we all thought you were immune to that infamous bite from the love bug. Who knew?”

  I smirked. “I guess my heart decided to grow four sizes.”

  A couple people around the fire laughed at the remark as I looked down at my watch to check the time. Only ten more hours until I boarded a plane and made the biggest change in my life. Until I found out whether or not my mother was doing okay.

  And if Ed would have me, whole and ready to love.

  “You ready?” I asked Maggie.

  “So, what are you going to do once you get over there?” Myra quickly threw in as a couple of the girls disappeared with Charlotte inside the house, saying something about Jell-O shots.

  I shrugged a little. “Find my mother for starters.” I dropped my empty cup into the garbage can. “I’ve already sold off most of my stuff and gave the rest away. I just have one more suitcase to pack tonight, and then the rest will be left to destiny.” A small rush spread through my veins.

  “You’re nuts,” Harley said, waving my plans off with a hand.

  “I think it’s romantic,” Maggie threw in, bumping me with her shoulder.

  “And roller derby?” Myra asked, searching my face.

  “It won’t be what it could have been for me, but I plan on finding a team after I get settled. My heart just isn’t in it the way it should be. I thought I could make it my career. Thought if I dove deep enough into it, then I would love it the way I wanted to so badly. But…”

  “But then you met Ed,” Myra finished for me.

  “Yeah,” I said on an exhale, running my hands over my pockets. “I found Ed, and I realized the love he offered… a
nd the love I felt for him in return… that was what I had searched for my whole life. And I’ll do any and everything I can to make sure I win it back.”

  “Well, I know I speak for all of us when I say we’re extremely happy, but mostly proud of you, Hannah,” Myra said, her smile touching the moon. “And… if you just stand still…” She cracked a devious grin. “Then we can¬ give you a proper goodbye.”

  I never had a chance to prepare.

  Ice-cold water froze my limbs as solid as tree branches. Everyone—the girls from the team and the random people who always hung out at Charlotte’s place—including good ole Daryl—clapped, hooted, and laughed as Charlotte and the other two girls lowered the large bucket.

  “Our going-away gift to you,” Charlotte said, pushing me in the shoulder with a wicked grin. “Figured you’d better get used to being wet and cold now.”

  “Gee, thanks.” I smiled at her as I shook my hands, trying to get the excess water off.

  There was no use.

  She leaned in to my ear and whispered, “Give Charlie a hug for me,” and then ran inside the house, avoiding the goodbye that was about to come.

  “I guess this is it then,” Cherry said, the corners of her lips pointed to the earth. Eyes soft, glowing with love.

  “Guess so.” My face grew warm and my heart expanded past what my chest could contain. The love I felt for these girls, and the pride I had in myself and in my team, had a bitter taste to it. I didn’t want to leave them behind, but I had to do what I knew was best for me.

  “I guess we should officially revoke your nickname of man-eater then,” Cherry teased. But the humor wasn’t in her eyes. Just sadness.

  “I humbly pass it on to you.” I gave her a curt bow, trying to lighten the mood.

  Cherry made a gross face.

  “Ready?” I asked Maggie, knowing if I didn’t make a move to leave, then I would soon be a pile of tears on the floor.

  “Whenever you are,” she said, always a pillar in my corner.

  I turned back to the girls, promising myself I wouldn’t ball like the baby I was on the inside in that moment.

  “Get over here,” Myra said, opening her arms to me. I walked right into them, knowing it would only be a work of fate if we would see each other again.

  All the girls gathered around, taking turns hugging me, until my promise was broken and tissues were being called upon. And, in the cab on the way back to my apartment, it was Maggie’s words that glued all the pieces of my composure back together that tore from leaving them behind.

  She said, staring out the window of the cab at the whimsical city lights, “And it was then she found her courage and broke free from her cage.”

  I guess I had.

  THE FLIGHT TO ENGLAND FELT like a millennium and a second all in the same.

  Boarding the plane happened in a blur. I only stopped to part ways with Maggie, promising I’d come to visit more often so Autumn could have more of her aunt in her life.

  I tried my best to get some rest, knowing I’d need it come tomorrow, but trying to sleep was like trying to hurry up time.

  It wasn’t going to happen.

  When the wheels touched down and my heart leapt into my throat, I said a quick prayer to whoever was listening that I’d find the closure I needed with my mother. Maybe even a new relationship.

  With my bags in tow, I made my way through the airport, and then hailed a cab and read off the address my mother had left with Maggie’s father.

  “You know that’s a couple of hours from here,” the cabbie said, arm wrapped around the back of the passenger seat.

  I tossed my carry-on in the back seat. “I don’t care. Just take me there.”

  So that was what he did. I kept my eyes closed for most of the ride, trying to ignore the aches and pains from hours of traveling. My back felt like chisels were being taken to it and my legs were far past restless, but I didn’t care.

  I was about to find my mom. To close the last door to my past left open, haunting me for far too long.

  When the car shook and rattled from the bumps and curves in the road, I pried my eyes open, unprepared for the terrain I found. Scratching at my cheek, I tried to make sense of my surroundings—the same rolling hills I saw with Ed on the way to Della’s. The very same house she resided in seeming to drift toward us in the distance.

  My hand clasped on the driver’s seat as I leaned forward. “Where are you taking me?”

  He turned his cheek toward me so his words could be passed on. “This is the address you gave me,” he said, his accent thick.

  I fell back against the seat, heart stuttering as my temperature rose. My brain desperately clambered for a logical answer to my new predicament. I knew Della ran a shelter for women, but what were the odds that my mother would end up there? It just… it didn’t make sense.

  As the car rolled to a stop outside Della’s home, I tried to calm my rapidly firing heartbeat, but there was nothing that could slow it. I was prepared to face my mother… had practiced a ton of times what I’d say and how it would go.

  But this?

  I wasn’t ready for.

  I wasn’t prepared to hear how she ended up at Della’s, nor was I prepared to face Della, who told me to take care of Ed’s heart.

  Not to abandon it like I had.

  I swallowed thickly.

  Moved on autopilot when the cabbie opened my door and unloaded my bags from the trunk.

  “Do you need me to stick around?” he asked, removing his hat so he could smooth back his hair.

  “No,” I said weakly. Not because I knew I wouldn’t need him, but because I didn’t know what to say. My mind wasn’t capable of making rational decisions. It was on hyper drive, heading toward crazy town.

  “Okay, then,” he replied, walking back around to the car. A moment later, dust billowed up behind me as I stood and gazed up at Della’s home, unable to process that my mother could be behind the very same walls I once walked. She could be laughing or crying, or maybe even thinking about me while I stood outside the front door, wondering about her.

  You got your courage back. Now use it! I told myself, grabbing a bag in each hand. Each step I took felt like my feet had been dunked in rubber cement. I wanted to see her, but I didn’t want to face the unknown. I had never been good at that.

  There’s a first time for everything.

  I took a quivering breath, and then blew it out. One knock, then two, before a man’s face appeared in the doorway.

  “Hello,” he said, not taken aback by my presence in the slightest. I was sure he was used to women appearing on Della’s doorstep… I just wasn’t sure he would be prepared for my circumstance.

  “Hello,” I said, scanning his face. I had seen it before. In a picture Della and Ed showed me during my short visit. “You’re Elliot, aren’t you?”

  “In the flesh,” he said, all smiles. “And you are?”

  “Hannah.” I dropped my bag and stuck out my hand. “Hannah Adamson.”

  His face turned the color of the moon. “Adamson?”

  “In the flesh,” I reiterated his comeback, instantly regretting it. My skin felt like it could melt right off for the stupidity of my attempt at humor as I shuffled my feet awkwardly against the pavement.

  “Ye’re looking for Dany, aren’t ye?” he asked, his eyebrows pressed into a perfect vale of wrinkles.

  My head quirked to the side. “No. This might sound odd, but I met Della a while ago through Ed. And, anyway, that doesn’t really have to do with why I’m here. I actually wasn’t expecting to show up here. You see,” I said, aware I was rambling but continuing on, “I came here to find my mother. I’m from America.”

  His eyes began to cross.

  I paused. Laughed at myself.

  “Obviously you can tell. Anyway, I think she’s here. Her name is Danielle Adamson. Would it be okay if I spoke with her? She contacted my best friend’s father to let—”

  “Dany is Danielle,” he said
, his smile returning color to his face.

  It took me a second to understand what he meant. Okay… maybe that was a total lie.

  “Huh?”

  His features changed, melting like snow under the heat of the sun. “Come in out of the cold, lass, and I’ll explain it all to ye.” He grabbed my bags for me and ushered me into the house.

  It was weird, being back in Della’s house without Ed and for total different reasons.

  “Dany and I go way back,” Elliot said as he stepped around me and toddled down the hall with my bags in hand.

  “You do?” I asked, feeling like the plane had taken me to another planet instead of England.

  “Yes. In fact, she’s my cousin.”

  My feet hit the brakes.

  “Cousin?” I repeated, as if it were an entirely new word he just made up.

  He turned. Smiled warmly. “That’d be the proper term for it, yeah.”

  “Right,” I said as he turned back around and continued forward, taking me to a mother I realized I knew absolutely nothing about.

  What kind of daughter was I?

  “I didn’t know she had family in England,” I meekly said. “In fact,” I continued, feeling my face crinkle as I looked to the side, “the only thing I do know about her is she married a complete asshole and lived the majority of those years in fear of him because he considered her his personal punching bag.”

  I saw him tense. Watched the tendons in his neck pop out a little as he cranked his head to each side. He really was her cousin. Really did love her the way he said he did.

  And she only just reached out to him?

  He slowly turned around. “Your mother wasn’t always like that.”

  And the award for world’s biggest jerk goes to… Hannah Adamson! I thought, watching his eyes crease at the corners.

  “She was the toughest girl I knew. She used to jump fences with me and race me to the barn on her neighbor’s property. She beat me climbing up the ladder to the loft where we would sit and hang our feet over the edge, listening to the horses in the stable and eating the sweets her father gave her.