Walking Straight (The Walking Together Series Book 1)

by T. E. Killian

  Grace saw the tears and started toward her brother but Betty Sue stopped her with a touch on her arm. “No, Grace, these are happy tears.”

  Chapter Eight

  As they were leaving Matt’s apartment, Betty Sue hoped that Grace wouldn’t ask her what she and Matt had talked about, at least not right away. She needed to think about it all before she discussed it with either Grace or Trish.

  As soon as Betty Sue and Grace were settled in the car though, Grace turned to her and said, “You’re in love with my brother, aren’t you?”

  Betty Sue was shocked. Where on earth did Grace get such an idea? She didn’t even know herself what she actually felt about Matt. Did she love him? She really didn’t know if she did or not. But how could she, so soon?

  Grace laughed and steered the car out of the parking lot and onto the street. “Just by the look on your face, I can tell that you don’t even realize it yourself, but you will before long.”

  She turned her grin toward Betty Sue quickly and said, “Yep, that’s it all right. You love him but you’re not even ready to admit it to yourself yet.” She paused as she turned back to devote her attention to her driving. “But that’s okay, you will before long.”

  When Betty Sue still refused to speak to any of that, Grace giggled and said, “I don’t blame you.” She seemed to think about that for a moment then said, “For loving him and for not admitting it. My big brother has some major cleaning up to do in his life before I’ll feel good about you two being together.”

  That made Betty Sue feel somewhat better. She’d been afraid that Grace was going to push her toward Matt. She did want to wait for Matt to clean up his life as Grace had said. But she also felt the need to help him however she could. So she told Grace that.

  “I agree with you Grace that Matt has a lot to do before he can get his life in order.” She paused to word it just right. “But I still feel that he needs me to help him. Is that being too presumptuous of me Grace?”

  Grace grimaced. “No, I don’t think so at all. Heaven knows I’ve tried and haven’t been very successful. It’s about time that someone else tried. Have at it girl.”

  They both laughed at that as Grace pulled into Trish’s driveway.

  Grace turned the car off. “Brianna will be occupied with Grandma for a few more hours so I think I’ll go on in and if Trish is okay with it, we can all do some more talking.

  Betty Sue was glad for she did indeed need to talk with both of her new friends, especially since she hadn’t told anyone about seeing Dave back at the diner parking lot.

  She almost laughed when she remembered that Matt had thought she had hung back by his door because she was angry with him. No, she had still almost been in a state of shock and fear after seeing Dave.

  Trish, of course, was delighted that Grace could stay a while. She said she loved spending time with both of her favorite girls. So they were all three soon sitting in the living room with glasses of iced tea.

  Trish surprised Betty Sue almost on a daily basis and this time was no different. The older woman took one good look at Betty Sue and said, “Something’s troubling you Dear. Do you want to tell us what it is?”

  Betty Sue was disgusted with herself when tears came to her eyes. How could she have ever been so lucky to have been befriended by this truly wonderful woman. She could only nod at first and had to gather her wits about her before telling them about Dave.

  After a long moment, she realized that both of the other women were waiting patiently for her to tell them. So, she decided that she might as well get it out there in the open so they could all discuss it.

  She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay, I don’t know how to say this except to just throw it out there.” She looked at Grace. “When you and I were leaving the diner earlier, a car came by very slowly and I’m positive this time that it was Dave, my ex-husband, driving it.”

  She let that settle on the other two for a moment then said to Trish, “I guess I’ll have to move on again. I don’t want to put any of you in danger.”

  Trish almost came up out of her chair. “Oh no you don’t Betty Sue. Don’t you like it here? Don’t you like us? And I’m sure you were about to agree to manage the motel for me. You can’t leave now.”

  “Of course I love all of you and yes, I think I’d love to try to manage the motel. You’re all like family to me. But that’s why I should leave.”

  Trish jumped up and walked around the room for a brief time then plopped back down in her chair. “If old Smith and I can’t take care of you, then Hal and his bunch can. I don’t want you to go running away any more Sweetie. If you do, it’ll never stop.”

  Betty Sue dropped her eyes to her lap where her hands were clenching and unclenching nervously. Suddenly, Grace slid over next to her on the couch and then Trish was next to her on the other side. Together, they held her in the most wonderful hug Betty Sue had ever experienced.

  After a couple of minutes that way, Betty Sue swiped at her eyes and said, “I haven’t felt this loved since Granny died. Thank you both so very much.”

  That was all it took to send tears flowing down all three faces. They all continued to hug and cry for a short time. Then Trish leaned back and said, “Well, I’m going to call Hal right now and see what he has to say.”

  She paused and looked back at Betty Sue. “You did finish the paperwork for that Order of Protection against that skunk didn’t you?”

  When Betty Sue nodded, Trish grabbed the phone.

  While Trish was on the phone, Betty Sue couldn’t figure anything out. She wasn’t sure she would even be able to talk to the chief again or not. Finally, Trish turned the portable phone off and laid it down on the coffee table in front of them.

  “Well, I didn’t get to talk to Hal. It went straight to voice mail. If he doesn’t call me back soon then I’ll just keep calling until he does answer.”

  * * *

  Matt was glad that Grace and Betty Sue hadn’t stayed long after Grace came back. After all, hadn’t he and Betty Sue each said just about everything that could be said, at least for right now? Anything else would have to wait until after the DNA test.

  He almost laughed when he realized that he’d thought his life had been on hold because of the bike accident, but now, thanks to Crystal, it had come to a screeching halt. He couldn’t even think of going forward with Betty Sue or going to school until after he was able to prove that he wasn’t the father of Crystal’s baby. He sure did hope that would be soon too.

  He lay back down on the couch with his left leg down for a few minutes. He wanted to get up to go to the bathroom but needed to rest for a bit first.

  He’d just laid his head on his pillow when the doorbell rang. He called out for whoever it was to come in but nothing happened for a few seconds then there was a loud banging on the door. He waited but nothing else happened. What was going on now? He reached down and pulled his 9mm out from under the couch cushion where he’d stowed it.

  He sat there for a few minutes and nothing else happened so he slowly began to relax. Just as he slid the gun back under the cushion, another knock came on the door. This one was softer with the door opening immediately and Jerry sticking his head in.

  “Hey Dude, someone left you a note taped to the door.” He pointed at a folded paper taped to the door. “Want me to bring it in Dude?”

  Matt took his hand off the gun, which was still under the cushion, straightened up, and said, “Sure, bring it over here.”

  Jerry pealed the tape off the door and closed it behind him. Then he went over to Matt to hand it to him.

  It looked like a note all right. But who would give him a note this way? He unfolded it and read it. “STAY AWAY FROM BETTY SUE OR ELSE!”

  His shock turned to anger quickly and he looked back up at Jerry. “Somebody is threatening me. I need to call the cops about it.”

  Jerry, who had already dropped into a chair near Matt jumped up and ran for the door. “In that case D
ude, I’m out o’ here.”

  The door slammed behind Jerry and Matt almost laughed. The tweeker was probably loaded down with the stuff.

  Matt sat there thinking about Hal and wondering if he’d give Matt a hard time. But shouldn’t the guy realize that Matt had just been threatened by Betty Sue’s ex-husband? Man, he sure wished he didn’t have this broken leg. He’d like to find that guy and beat him to a pulp.

  Well, that probably wasn’t going to happen now. Even though it irked him, about all he could do now was call Hal and see what the guy had to say about it.

  He grabbed the phone lying on the coffee table. He didn’t know the number to the police station so he simply punched in 911 and told the operator he needed to talk to Hal immediately. She gave him a runaround at first but finally transferred him to Hal.

  “What’s got you so all fired upset now, Matt?”

  “Listen, Hal. I just had a note taped to my door and it had a threatening message on it. I think you need to take a look at it real quick. It almost has to be from Betty Sue’s ex-husband.”

  That changed Hal’s demeanor quickly. “I’ll be right there Matt. Don’t touch that note anymore okay.”

  True to his word, Hal was there in less than ten minutes. He had to have been close by since the police station was over on the other end of town at least five miles away.

  When Hal knocked and called out, Matt said, “Come on in Hal. The door’s unlocked.”

  Hal came through the door and said, “That’s not too wise Matt with you laid up the way you are.”

  Matt just smirked at the chief. “I’m setting on my equalizer.”

  Hal shook his head. “Just don’t take that thing out while I’m here. Let me see that note.”

  Matt pointed to where the note was lying on the coffee table.

  After Hal read the note where it lay face up, he produced a plastic bag and slipped it into it. Then he turned back to Matt but before he could speak, there was a knock on the door and Matt’s dad stepped in and went right up to Hal who showed him the note.

  When Matt’s dad looked up, his eyes focused on Matt who said, “What are you doing here?”

  His dad’s eyes went blank for a moment then he said, “You’re still my son, Matt, and I do care about you.”

  Matt didn’t know what to say to that so he just sat there while his dad and Hal discussed the note and the fact that it was probably from Betty Sue’s ex.

  Hal’s cell phone rang and he stepped outside to answer it. When he came back in, he looked at Matt then his dad.

  “That was Trish. Betty Sue saw her ex-husband a couple of hours ago driving a car through the diner parking lot.”

  Matt had suspected that was who it was but now that he knew for sure, he wanted to get up off that couch and go looking for the scumbag.

  “I’m heading over that way to talk to Betty Sue right now.” Hal said as he slid the note into a shirt pocket and headed for the door with Matt’s dad right behind him.

  Matt began working his way slowly to his feet. “I’m going too.”

  Hal stopped by the door with his hand on the knob. “What can you do with your leg like that?”

  “I can help Betty Sue.”

  A strange look passed between the other two men then Hal turned back to Matt. “Okay, you think you can get that leg and those crutches into my Tahoe?”

  “One way or another.”

  On the way over to Trish’s house Matt tried to get Hal to talk about what he planned to do but the guy wouldn’t talk.

  Finally, as he was pulling into Trish’s driveway next to Grace’s car, Hal said, “Not much I can do even with an Order of Protection against the guy until he tries to get close to Betty Sue.”

  With that, Hal was out of the vehicle and on his way to the door leaving Matt to fend for himself, which he did but with difficulty and much slower than he’d wanted to.

  * * *

  Trish hung up the phone after finally getting Hal and turned to the other two women. “Well, he said he’d be right over. I’m sure glad that he’s taking this seriously.”

  Betty Sue felt uncomfortable that everyone was making such a big fuss over her. But in a way, it felt really good too. Every other place that she’d tried to hide from Dave, no one would help her when he showed up. Either they didn’t want to get involved or they just didn’t care about her. Now things were drastically different. Here among these wonderful Christians, she felt like she’d finally found a home where people really cared about her. It brought tears to her eyes again.

  Misunderstanding the cause of the tears, Trish wrapped an arm around Betty Sue’s waist and said, “Don’t you cry now Sweetie, help’s on its way right now. There’s not going to be anything to worry about this time. We’re all going to stand up to that monster right along with you.”

  Betty Sue just shook her head as tears continued to flow. “Oh Trish, it’s not that. It’s just that I’m so happy to be with so many people who genuinely care about me. I just love you all dearly.”

  Grace stepped up then and the three women shared another three-way hug, which Betty Sue was beginning to enjoy immensely and start to look forward to just as much.

  Betty Sue looked up and dried her eyes. “This may not be a good time to be telling you Trish but I would really like to try to manage the motel. Do you think Mike would stay around long enough to teach me some?”

  Trish smiled at first then frowned. “I don’t ever know about Mike. He seems to be in such an all fired big hurry to sell the place and move to Florida. But I guess it’ll just depend on his mood when we ask him.”

  She looked like she was about to say more but the doorbell rang. Trish looked at the other three and said, “Why don’t we sit with them in the living room where we can all be a little more comfortable?”

  With that, they all went into the living room and Trish opened the door to let Hal and Henry Livingston in. She was about to close the door when Matt called out and hobbled up to the door on his crutches.

  Betty Sue started to help Matt get situated in a chair but Grace was there ahead of her, so she backed off and found a chair of her own on the edge of the room.

  Trish plopped down on a couch that faced the one that Grace was helping Matt onto and said, “Betty Sue, why don’t you sit here next to me so everyone can hear what you have to say better?”

  Betty Sue had no choice. Every eye in the room was on her now so she moved over and sat next to Trish who wrapped an arm across her shoulders and squeezed briefly before letting go.

  No one said anything for a long moment then Hal cleared his throat, turned to Betty Sue, and said, “Betty Sue, why don’t you tell us some more about this Dave Hamilton. I think we need to know a lot more so we can try to figure out what he’ll do next. Okay?”

  When she didn’t begin immediately, he added, “I didn’t get much from the other police departments. About the only thing I was able to get was from your lawyer down there and he only told us the basics like you’ve already told us.”

  She nodded but had to pause to gather her thoughts.

  “Okay. I guess I should start from the beginning. Like I told you all Sunday, Dave was so smooth and persistent in wanting me to marry him that he finally just simply wore me down and I agreed.”

  She swiped at an errant tear and continued, “Well, looking back, I guess you could say that was probably the worst mistake I ever made.”

  “Did he ever get violent with you during that time?” That was Hal again.

  She shook her head. “No, he was always so much in control and treated me so nice that I never suspected for a minute that he could ever be so violent.”

  Hal snorted. “That’s pretty much the way all abusers are. They can put on a good act when they think they need to.”

  He motioned for her to continue so she did. “I guess for the first year, he continued to treat me almost like a queen. But, when I look back on that time though, I can remember a few times when it looked like he was just
barely able to hold his temper in check. But he did. So I still didn’t suspect anything.”

  Hal muttered something under his breath that sounded like, “Typical.”

  “Dave wanted children badly. No, I guess I should say that he wanted a son badly. I think I realized some time since then that the only reason Dave married me was because I was so tall. He wanted tall sons. With me being 6’2” and him 6’5” he thought our sons would be much taller than him.

  Well he said he didn’t want to wait so we started trying not long after we were married but it never happened.”

  She blew out a sigh. “After several years of that, he started losing his temper with me. He always accused me of being the reason that we didn’t have a baby. He said that I had to be infertile. He never even thought that it could just as easily be his fault.”

  The room was silent as Betty Sue paused but everyone in the room kept their eyes on her. So she kept talking. It was as if once she’d started, she couldn’t really stop until she’d gotten it all out.

  “Then he started yelling at me a lot and finally started hitting me too. He’s a big strong man and I didn’t have much of a chance against him.”

  Matt growled and Betty Sue smiled at him. “Not nearly as big as you though Matt, but still he has always stayed in very good physical condition.”

  Hal gave Betty Sue a thoughtful look and said, “I guess that tells us how all that happened, but how about since the divorce. Didn’t you say you’ve lived in two different places since then and he’s found you both times?”

  Betty Sue sat there for a few seconds not wanting to think about the past two years but having to nevertheless.

  “Okay. After the divorce, I tried to stay in Dallas, but he was always coming around, not only to my apartment but to where I was working and he finally got me fired. That was when I decided that I needed to make a new start of it somewhere else away from Dallas.”

  A tissue appeared in front of her and she hadn’t realized that tears were streaming down her cheeks again. She nodded her thanks to Trish, dabbed at her cheeks, and went on.