“She’s related to you through your father. She wanted to take over your inheritance, but your father made an iron-clad will. He may have wanted to change it, but I have a feeling he would have given the rights over to her if that’s what he’d actually wanted. Anyway, I had a feeling you’d be back, even if she wanted to have you declared dead, so I’ve kept everything intact for your return. And here you are.” He held his hands out in wonder and Roxie couldn’t hold back the smile his happy face brought to life on hers.
“Thank you, Dr. Bennet. That means a lot to me. Even if my aunt seems like a horrible old cow.” Roxie grinned and took a deep breath, relaxing at last. “Wow, I had no idea about any of this. So I’ve learned a few things already that I wished I’d known back then.”
Dr. Bennet nodded and it finally occurred to Roxie that he’d said he’d bought the property where the house used to be. “So is that your house over there?”
“Yes, I live there with Olivia. This house is full of memories of the kids when they were children, and of…well, the past.” Dr. Bennet stopped and Roxie had a feeling he was thinking about Lincoln’s mother. He’d really loved her, even if he’d let her go. “It belongs to them all now. Would you like to see the house I built there? I can take you by tomorrow.”
“That would be great,” she replied, although she wasn’t sure it would be that at all. It would probably be weird, being in a place that should be familiar but wasn’t. It wouldn’t feel like the same house, even if the rooms had all been rebuilt in the exact same way. It couldn’t feel the same, she’d never lived in that new house. But, still, it would be nice to see what had replaced her old home.
“Tomorrow, then. Tonight we’ll have dinner here and let you relive the past. I’ll have to clear my schedule,” he said absently and got out his phone. “I’ll need to go by the bank with you, do you have an ID with you?”
“I have my license and social security card.” She lifted one shoulder with a frown. “But that’s, um, well, in my new name.”
“Ah, I see. Okay, well, there may be some documents in the safe deposit boxes at the bank that will help me transfer everything over to you. Don’t worry. If not, we can get my lawyer to settle everything. I may need to call him anyway. Let me see.”
Dr. Bennet stabbed at his phone with his index finger, typed in a message to someone, sent it off, but then he moved, and Roxie couldn’t see what he was doing anymore. It gave her time to think, to ponder over whether she wanted to reclaim her old, original identity or not. She’d have to in order to claim her inheritance, but then there’d be questions she didn’t really want to answer from other places. This could bring her trouble.
“Maybe we should talk to that lawyer first, Dr. Bennet?” Roxie said softly, not sure how to broach the subject.
“Oh, because you have a different identity now? Yes, we’re taking care of that, June explained it all to me this morning.” Dr. Bennet’s smile was full of pride when he looked up from his phone. “That was awfully clever of you, changing your identity.”
“Well, I recognized two of the men who were talking to the fire department that night. They’d been to the house before, and I knew they were trouble. I think the fire was deliberate, even if the cops think it was murder/suicide.”
“I always thought the same, myself. I just couldn’t figure out who would be the culprit. Your father was never a shady kind of man. He was always respectable, and so in love with his family that he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize any of you.” Dr. Bennet stopped, inhaled, and lifted his eyebrows. “Anyway, for now, let’s focus on getting to know each other again, shall we? We can do adulting tomorrow. Isn’t that what you kids all say now?”
His grin was as white and bright as it had always been, and just as infectious. Roxie let her dark thoughts of doom and gloom slip away as she smiled. Of course, Dr. Bennet already had a lawyer working to fix any problem she might have when it came to claiming her inheritance. Like Lincoln, he was a problem-solver, a take-charge kind of man who would never let his friends or family worry if he could help it.
She’d barely been back in town a few hours and already problems were being solved, answers being given, and she was about to step back into a life she thought she’d left behind. Being Chloe again wasn’t something she’d ever planned to do, but she might have to be that girl for a little while, in order to go back to her life as Roxie.
It was all giving her a headache, so she stood up and followed Dr. Bennet into the dining room with Liam.
“June is on her way,” Liam said after he picked up his phone and then put it down. “She won’t be long.”
“We’ll wait for her then. Hello, darling.” Dr. Bennet turned to face Olivia as she came into the room. She took the place to his left at the table, with Liam to his right. Roxie was beside Liam and sipped at a glass filled with water. It was strange to see the pair together, despite the years that had passed.
Roxie knew Lincoln’s mother was no longer in the picture, but in her mind, they’d spent all of these years together, her and Dr. Bennet. To see another woman in Ms. Young’s place was just…strange.
“Are you alright?” Liam bent towards her to ask quietly, prompting Roxie to nod.
“I’m fine, it’s just all kind of surreal at the moment,” she whispered. “I guess I wasn’t expecting all of you to take me back with open arms. Or for things to have changed so much.”
“Of course, we’d accept you back. You were like a part of this family. She and June were like sisters, always together, always whispering with each other,” Dr. Bennet said, speaking in turn to Roxie and Olivia after overhearing the conversation.
“I can’t thank you enough, Dr. Bennet, for everything.” Roxie smiled at him, feeling what must have been a glow in her eyes and on her face. She felt as if she’d come home, in a way. And when June breezed into the dining room, swooping Roxie into a huge hug, that feeling solidified into happiness.
“I’m so glad you’re here. I took the rest of the evening off, don’t worry, Dad, I made sure all my patients were good before I left,” June said, and Roxie caught the bemused smile on his face just before he spoke.
“I have complete faith in you, June, you know that,” he answered with a smile of pleasure at his daughter. “Your patients always come first.”
It was good to be back.
4
Roxie
Roxie woke up to the smell of coffee in her temporary room, and a smiling June bouncing on the bed. When they were kids, she’d wake up to find hot chocolate on the nightstand with a much younger June bouncing just like she was now. The sweetness of it all made Roxie smile as she reached for her friend.
“Good morning,” she said with a wan smile. “What time is it?”
“It’s almost 8:30, and I couldn’t wait anymore. Remember this?” June thrust a box at Roxie just as Roxie pushed herself up in the bed.
Roxie’s eyes went round, the box was one of the most familiar things she’d seen in a long time. “Your ballet box! You kept it?”
It was a plastic bin that June had decorated when they were about eight, a bin that June used to hide her tutus and ballet shoes in. Liam and his friends had taken some of June’s ballet stuff and all but destroyed it that summer, playing around in the backyard and the pool. It had made June so mad that she’d found the box and would hide it in different places every day to keep the boys from ever finding it again.
“Well, duh,” June laughed, rolling her eyes. “I can’t wear any of it anymore, but some of your stuff is in here too. I couldn’t get rid of it. Especially when I thought I’d never see you again.”
June’s sob of pain and the way she hid her head were like a stab wound to Roxie. She took her friend in her arms and let her cry, trying to soothe her as she mumbled words Roxie couldn’t quite make out. Roxie’s eyes started to leak too, as June cried, her hand clenching at Roxie’s arms. “It’s okay, June, I’m right here.”
“I knoooooow!” June wailed, sittin
g up a little to look at Roxie’s face. “But for so long I didn’t know. I missed you, I wished you’d come back into my life, I feared that you never would, but now you’re here, and, oh my God, I’m crying all over you.” June laughed at herself, grabbing a tissue from the box on the nightstand before she wiped at her face and blew her nose. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be, honey.” Roxie blubbered a little herself and grabbed for one of the pink tissues that smelled like baby powder. “I should have found a way to let you know I was alright. I just didn’t know how.”
“And you were coping with far more than I could have dreamed of. Pregnancy, everything with your parents, being alone. It all must have been overwhelming and merely surviving must have taken all of your energy.” June brushed aside anything that Roxie might have said and forgave her all at the same time.
It was something June had always done, forgiven easily, made excuses for others, found the reasons behind behaviors that many might not have accepted. She was too forgiving, maybe for her own good, Roxie thought now. “Yeah, all of that is true, but I still could have said something.”
“Don’t worry about it. Just get dressed and come with me. We’re going out for breakfast. And you can keep the box if you want. Like I said, some of that stuff in there is yours. Outfits and shoes we outgrew, things like that.” June got up and waited for Roxie to agree with a wide grin. “I’m not leaving until you agree.”
“Oh, I see,” Roxie said playfully, throwing the white duvet back from her legs. “Blackmail is the first order of the day?”
“Yes, my dear, it is. Now, are we going out to eat or not?” June bounced in place, obviously supremely happy to have her friend back in her life.
Roxie was happy to have June in hers, too. “Of course, we are, June! Just let me get ready and we’ll go wherever you want.”
“Good!” June cried, and danced out of the room on her tiptoes, the way she used to do when they were young.
Roxie showered, put on a pair of jeans and a black sweater, tied on a pair of black and white canvas shoes, and decided to go without makeup. Her black and purple hair was decoration enough for the morning, even if she looked about twelve without makeup on days like today. It didn’t matter. She was only going out with June for breakfast. It wasn’t like she was going on a date.
It did turn out the morning was a walk down memory lane, however.
June drove them into town, past the cemetery, prompting a question Roxie hadn’t thought about until now. “Do you know where my parents are buried?”
June stiffened beside Roxie, her eyes leaving the road for a minute. “Yeah, want me to take you after breakfast?”
“I’m supposed to meet your dad at some point today, but he said he’d text you when he was ready for me. Yeah, that sounds like a plan.” Roxie had left her phone off, not wanting to let Lincoln know where she was, if his family hadn’t already told him without her knowing, that is.
“I can take you tomorrow if dad needs you after we eat.” June smiled with reassurance at Roxie.
Roxie just nodded, suspecting where they were going.
“I had a feeling we were coming here,” Roxie said when June pulled up in front of a familiar restaurant. “Mr. Parker’s pancakes were always the best around.”
“You remember? Awesome!” June said as they took a booth seat and gave their order to the waitress.
Roxie didn’t bother to look at the menu, she knew what she wanted, the same thing Lincoln had brought to her that one day that seemed like so long ago. Only, it wasn’t that long ago. She asked for coffee and orange juice before the waitress left.
“June! Where’s Lincoln at?” Mr. Parker asked as he came out of the back with two plates piled high with pancakes, bacon, and sausage links. “Wait…Chloe?”
Roxie smiled up at the man, a little rounder and grayer with age, but still Mr. Parker. “Yeah, it’s me, Mr. Parker.”
“It’s so good to see you. How are you?” He beamed at Roxie as he set the plates down on their table and stared at her in amazement. “You look great.”
“Thanks.” Roxie felt her cheeks going red and ducked her head down. Her fingers brushed at the back of her neck, before she finally looked back up at him. “I’m good, how are you?”
“Great, even better to know you’ve come back. What a day! It’s not even lunchtime yet and my day has been made. I’ll let you eat. Enjoy it, girls.” Mr. Parker moved away with a small wave and June grinned at Roxie.
“I knew he’d be excited to see you.” June’s brown eyes gleamed with tears, but she blinked them away. “He asked about you for the longest time, but then he stopped one day. I guess it was painful and he knew it.”
“I’m sorry,” Roxie said, feeling the sorrow she expressed. “I guess I didn’t know what I meant to everyone here.”
“You meant a lot to a lot of people. You still do. Now, let’s eat and not start off a crying jag again, alright?”
“Yep, sounds like a plan.” Roxie picked up her fork and dug in.
The taste of pancakes covered in fresh-cut strawberries and maple syrup was too much to resist and Roxie ate everything on her plate. “These are as good as I remember.”
It was even better than the treat Lincoln had brought to her as a surprise, but that was only because this plate of food was fresh. Roxie would have told June about that surprise, but it was personal, a moment she’d shared with Lincoln that she didn’t want to share with anyone else but him. And right now, she didn’t want to think about him at all, so it was time to do something else.
“Has your dad pinged you?” Roxie asked, prompting June to look at her phone.
“Not yet, no. Shall I drive you over there now? I’ll have to head in to work after, but we can fit a quick trip in. If that’s alright?” June looked kind of like she’d said something wrong, but Roxie waved it off.
“I know you’re busy, June. I can get a cab over and back to the house if you need me to?” Roxie offered, not wanting June to feel guilty.
“No, it’s fine, I think,” June said, but her smile was tight. June would never admit she was inwardly panicking about being on time, but Roxie knew her friend, even if ten years had passed.
She’d be quick at the cemetery, then, to make sure June got to work on time. Only, she didn’t anticipate how seeing the gravestone would make her feel. As she looked down at her mother and father’s names on the single headstone in the sprawling cemetery, grief surged to life.
It came over her like a heart-wrenching tidal wave, nearly knocking her to her knees. She’d grieved over the years, in bursts, when she had time, but nothing like this. It was like a dam bursting, and it was all she could do to breathe in and out.
“Oh, Roxie, I’m so sorry.” June embraced Roxie in a tight hug. Roxie wrapped her arms around June’s small waist and tried to stop the outflow. Nothing worked though, no matter how hard she tried to swallow the tears. Time ticked by and Roxie eventually pulled away, to tell her friend to get to work, despite the grief that still stung at the old wound as though it were still new and raw.
“I think I want to stay here for a while, if that’s okay? I’ll walk back into town and catch a cab. No, really, go to work, I’ll be fine.” Roxie stopped June’s protests with a frown. “I need some time here, more than I thought. You get off to work. Really.”
“I don’t like this, but I do have patients I need to check on this morning. Here, take this phone, it’s a spare I keep for personal use.” June dug around in her phone until she pulled out an older generation iPhone. “It’s been off, but it’s charged, so you’ll be good to go. There’s a number for the local taxi in there.”
“Thanks, June. I appreciate it.” Roxie dropped the phone in her bag and grabbed a tissue. “I’ll be fine. Go on.”
“Okay, I’ll buzz you later.” June looked around, maybe for someone to stay with Roxie, but the place was empty at this time of day, except for a small funeral taking place at the other end of the cemetery, so far away tha
t Roxie could barely see the people standing around an open grave.
“That’s fine.” Roxie leaned over, kissed June’s cheek, and then shooed her away. “Go on now.”
“See you later.” June waved, then turned to walk away. Roxie watched, saw June turn back, and waved at her to tell her to go one more time.
Finally, she was alone with her parents, well, as alone as you could be with a cemetery as full as this one. “I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to find you two.”
Roxie sank down to the ground and traced the letters on the gravestone. One line underneath their names nearly tore Roxie’s heart open.
We will always miss you, Chloe.
They were loved and respected. Roxie knew that because Dr. Bennet had made sure their wishes were respected. They must have chosen that sentence knowing that she would come back to them one day, here, without them in the real world. Of all of their accomplishments in life, of all the things they could have boasted about on their gravestone, they’d chosen to let their daughter, and the world, know that she was loved just as much as they were.
Tears streamed out of her eyes and her nose was running, but the deep sobs of grief had passed. “You have a granddaughter, you know? Her name is Lily and she’s so beautiful and smart. Like her dad in many ways, but so many things about her remind me of you two as well.”
Roxie paused, pulling her lips in to try to stop another sob. “You know her dad, Lincoln Young. We made her together, on the night you died. I didn’t know what to do, I was so afraid, but she was this spark that I couldn’t get rid of. I wondered when Dr. Bennet told me that I’d been accepted into the Paris Ballet Academy if I’d have chosen differently when it came to her, but now? Now, I know I’d have kept her. I needed a part of you two with me, and she is that. A part of you, me, and her dad. I think I made the right choice, knowing what I do now.”
Roxie brushed at her face with another tissue and tried to smile. “This is kind of strange, talking to you like this, but I think you can hear me. I hope you can anyway. I know you two were wrapped up in each other, but despite that, you still made me feel loved and I miss that so much. I haven’t allowed myself to think about it really, because it hurts so much, what happened to you. But I want you to know, I haven’t wasted my life. It hasn’t turned out the way I planned for it to, but it hasn’t been wasted. And I won’t ever waste a moment of it, I promise you that. I’ll find the people responsible for your deaths, somehow, and I’ll make sure they pay.”
Dancing With Redemption (Barre To Bar Book 5) Page 3
