by EMILIE ROSE
“Rachel might need change for the machines. Excuse me.” He joined her, laying a hand on her rigid shoulder.
She startled, turned, glanced at him, then quickly averted her face but not before he saw the agony in every tense line. “Your parents...are wonderful. You have no idea how lucky you are to have them.”
“Yes, I do.” Tonight had made that abundantly clear. “I’m going to tell them about Chastity after this is over.”
“Matt—”
“They’ll keep it to themselves. But they deserve to know.”
She hesitated, then nodded. “They’ll hate me. But I can handle it. As long as they’re kind to Chastity.” She inhaled shakily. “I shouldn’t have let her stay at the party. I had a bad feeling about the whole thing.”
“Rachel, this isn’t your fault. Teens experiment. I see it all the time. The Joneses are good people. They’ve been hosting their annual bash for years without incident. There was no reason to expect anything to go wrong tonight. Someone is responsible for this. But it isn’t you.”
“You don’t understand because you’ve always been a rule follower. But I was her. I thought like her. I rebelled like her. Chastity is in the shape she’s in because she’s so much like me.” Her eyes filled, but she blinked away the tears.
Her pain eviscerated him. He had no clue what to say to make this situation any less hellish than it was. Fourteen years ago he’d been able to help her. But tonight he didn’t even begin to know how.
Then the double doors opened, and a woman in scrubs came out. “Mr. and Mrs. Bishop?”
Rachel hustled toward the lady. Gut in his throat, he went after her. “How is she?” Rachel asked immediately.
“She’s a sick little girl. But improving. I’m Heidi. I’ll take you to her.”
More relieved than he thought possible, Matt shot his parents a thumbs-up before following the nurse. She led them through a maze of curtained cubicles, finally stopping and pulling back one. Chastity lay on the bed, her eyes closed. Her face around the breathing mask covering her nose and mouth was nearly as white as the pillowcase. An IV dripped liquids into her arm, and she had wires running from her chest. A urine bag hung on the side of the bed. Machines beeped and clicked all around her. His short-lived relief snarled into a knot of worry.
Rachel hurried to her side, kissed her forehead, then started checking every IV line and the settings on each machine.
“We’re giving her fluids, electrolytes and supplemental oxygen,” the nurse said. “We didn’t find any indication of assault. Hear that, Dad? Stand down.”
Matt processed what her statement implied. As Chastity’s father, would he have sought vengeance? He wanted to believe he was better than that, but he’d experienced so many tumultuous emotions lately that he had no idea how he’d have reacted to a sexual assault.
Heidi turned back to Rachel. “I have a note here that says you’re a MED EVAC/RN. So you know Chastity’s not out of the woods yet. Luckily, we found no other drugs on board. That means we’re not worried about liver damage, but we can’t assess for brain damage until she wakes.”
Matt’s knee nearly buckled. “Brain damage? Is that a possibility?”
Rachel nodded. “It can result from the severe dehydration alcohol toxicity causes. Has she had any seizures?”
“No,” Heidi answered.
“That’s good. But you haven’t been able to rouse her?”
“Not for conversation, but she’s responding to stimuli and commands. The doctor will be with you soon.” Heidi left.
Rachel dragged up a chair and took Chastity’s hand. Matt wanted to do the same. But he hadn’t earned that right yet.
“Chastity,” Rachel called. “Chastity, wake up and talk to me.” Over the next hour she repeated the command five times. On the fifth Chastity’s lids fluttered open. Rachel’s breath whooshed out. “Hey, kiddo.”
Eyes so like Rachel’s groggily looked around before zeroing in on Rachel. Chastity reached for the mask with her free hand. Rachel stopped her. “No, you need to keep the oxygen on a little longer. How do you feel?”
Chastity grimaced. “Head hurts.”
“That’s to be expected. Do you remember what day it is?”
“Friday,” the teen croaked after a moment.
“It was Friday when I dropped you off at the party. Do you remember the party?”
Chastity’s eyes closed. Her chin dipped. She nodded and winced, a hand going to her temple.
“Do you remember what happened?”
A flush darkened her cheeks. “I drank punch, then... I don’t remember.”
Rachel glanced at Matt. The relief in her eyes was impossible to miss. “Memory intact. A good sign.” Then she turned back to Chastity. “Why did you drink the punch, Chastity? You know alcohol’s bad for you.”
Tears seeped from Chastity’s eyes. “Because I—I wanted to prove to those idiots that I’m not a Goody Two-shoes like Mom... And—” She sniffed and closed her eyes.
“And?” Rachel prompted.
“I heard you tell the girls at school that you’d have to give up traveling because of me. I’m going to mess up your life.”
“No, baby. You won’t. And what you heard me telling those girls was that I’d give up volunteering in dangerous areas. You are too important for me to risk that. That doesn’t mean I’ll give up traveling or helping people. It means I’ll only choose places where you can go with me. We’ll see the world together.”
More tears streaked Chastity’s cheeks. “You didn’t want me before. You gave me away. You probably want to again. Especially after th-this.”
“I wanted you then and I want you now, but I told you, I wanted better for you than I could have given you back then.”
“I was a mistake.”
Rachel brushed back her hair. “You might not have been planned, but you are the best thing that ever happened to me. I love you, Chastity.”
Chastity’s lips quivered. “You sure?”
“Absolutely. I’m so glad to have you back in my life. I’m sorry we had to lose your mother for it to happen, but life without you has been...hard.” Rachel’s voice broke over the last word.
Matt didn’t doubt her sincerity. Any lingering doubts he’d had about her being selfish and taking the easy way out by allowing Hope to adopt Chastity vanished. Rachel had put Chastity’s welfare first at great personal cost.
Her love for her daughter—their daughter—was unquestionable.
Chastity’s hesitant gaze skidded to Matt. “I bet you wish I wasn’t your kid now.”
The pain in her eyes hit him like a head charge to the gut. How was it that these two females could turn him inside out? “The only thing I regret is that I missed out on the past thirteen years.”
More tears streaked down her cheeks. “For real? Even though I’m dyslexic?”
“For real. And remember, I’m dyslexic, too. That makes us a pair.”
“I’m sorry,” Chastity whimpered, her gaze bouncing between Matt and Rachel. “I screwed up. I swear I won’t again.”
Rachel brushed Chastity’s cheek. “Yes, you will, baby. And so will I. We’re not perfect. We’re going to make mistakes, Chastity. I suspect we’ll make a lot of them while we try to figure out how to be a family. But what’s important is that we learn from them and we stick together.”
“Can we still move to our new house?”
Rachel looked at Matt. These two had a bond that he was not part of. He couldn’t tear them apart, and if he tried he’d lose any chance of having a relationship with either of them. How could he force them to stay in Johnstonville when it wasn’t in their best interest? But if he let them go, would Chastity ever be willing to visit and stay with him? Would he ever feel comfortable staying with her and Rachel? Or would he always be
on the outside of their circle desperately wanting in? And what if Rachel married someone else? Could he bear to see the woman he loved loving another man?
It gutted him to realize he might never have a close relationship with his only child or the future with Rachel that he wanted. But it was time he emulated Rachel and put Chastity’s needs first.
He nodded. Rachel held his gaze for a moment, then she turned to their daughter. “We’ll go as soon as your exams are over.”
Chastity smiled behind her mask. At that moment Matt had a taste of the agony Rachel must have suffered thirteen years ago when she’d placed their baby into Hope’s arms.
Game over. The buzzer had sounded. He’d thrown up a Hail Mary, missed his intended receiver and lost the most important game of his life.
He dug in his pocket and pulled out his truck keys. “Here. I’ll catch a ride home with my folks. I’ll pick up the truck later. Just leave the keys under the front seat.”
Rachel’s eyes widened. “Matt, you don’t have to—”
“Yeah, I do.” He leaned forward and kissed Chastity on the forehead. “I’m glad you’re okay. I’m even happier that you’re my daughter.”
With his dreams crushed again, he took one last look at Rachel. He loved her. And he’d lost her. Again. He left the cubicle, not wanting witnesses if he lost control.
He’d almost made it to the double doors when Rachel calling his name stopped him.
She grabbed his arm. “Thank you.”
“I still want to see her, and we’ll figure out some kind of child support. Tell me what you need and—”
“All we need is for you to love her.”
And then she left him, his pride and his heart in tatters. He knew his life was not over. But it sure as hell felt like it.
* * *
MATT’S FATHER SAT across the picnic table from him Sunday evening after his siblings and their tribes had gone home. He shoved a cold bottle of beer across the table.
“You look like you need this, son. What’s going on?”
Matt had been dreading this conversation for four weeks, but his parents deserved to know they had another grandchild—even if they couldn’t brag about her—before Chastity returned for cheerleading camp next weekend. He struggled to find the words.
“You have the most promising team since your return to Johnstonville High,” his father continued. “Everybody’s talking about the summer camp workouts, so it can’t be your job.”
His mother joined them, setting a chocolate cupcake she must have hidden from the hungry hordes in front of him. “I’ve never seen you so down. You barely even looked at the Fourth of July fireworks last night. Are you missing Rachel?”
His mom had always been perceptive.
“I made Rachel pregnant fourteen years ago. I didn’t know. She didn’t tell me.” He laid the bare fact before them. Both parents’ mouths dropped open. “Chastity is my daughter.”
His mother’s fist hit the table, toppling the cupcake. “How dare she keep that from you? A man deserves to know when he’s fathered a child.”
She should know. She’d told his dad when Matt’s pending arrival had surprised them both.
“Carol, just because Rachel made a different choice than you doesn’t necessarily make it the wrong one. Adoption might have been the best thing for Chastity,” his father, ever the diplomat, replied. “Hard to know without the facts.”
“I could never have given up my baby.”
“And I’m glad you didn’t give me up, Mom, but it’s more complicated than that. There’s a good chance Hope kept my letters from Rachel, so she didn’t know I wanted to marry her. Even if she had, Rachel didn’t think she had anything to offer me or our child. She hadn’t finished high school when she discovered her pregnancy. And she didn’t want to keep me from following my NFL dream.”
“A baby definitely would have made it difficult for you to always be on the road.” Leave it to his father to stick with the facts while his mother stewed, emotions chasing across her face too fast for Matt to decipher. “How did Hope end up raising my granddaughter?”
Matt had a knot the size of his fist between his shoulder blades. It had been there since he’d said goodbye to Rachel and Chastity in the hospital.
“Hope promised if Rachel relinquished Chastity to her instead of strangers she’d allow Rachel to be a part of Chastity’s life.”
“Hope lied,” his mother snapped. “She lied to all of us and played on our sympathies with that fictional story of tragically losing her husband. And she cut Rachel off from her own baby. If Hope was here I’d tell her what I think about that.” His mother’s about-face surprised him.
“Why didn’t Rachel tell us when she was here?” asked his father, again trying to defuse the emotions. Matt had never appreciated his father’s peacemaking as much as he did now.
“She didn’t want to sully Hope’s reputation or jeopardize my future candidacy as mayor with news of me impregnating a seventeen-year-old and having a child out of wedlock.”
His father whistled out a breath. “Valid points.”
His mother’s eyes narrowed on him. Matt knew that look. It meant he wasn’t going to like what was coming. “You love her, don’t you?”
A direct hit. Matt searched for a way to avoid answering.
“That’s why you’ve lost weight and why you’ve been moping around all month.”
Caught in the crosshairs, Matt shifted. “Yes.”
“Then why didn’t you ask her to marry you and stay here?”
“I did. She refused.”
Anger sparked in his mother’s eyes again. Matt held up a hand. “Besides worrying about sabotaging my future, she’s afraid of what finding out that Hope was a liar and that Chastity is the daughter of ‘Rachel the Rebel’ would do to Chastity. People here aren’t kind or forgiving. And Chastity’s already caught some flack.”
The starch seeped from his mom’s shoulders. “Yes. I know. Memories are long in Johnstonville. Rachel and I had a couple of unpleasant encounters with people when she volunteered with me. She handled them well, but I could tell she was hurt. Does she love you?”
Matt focused on the untouched beer in his hand. The sweat rolling down the brown glass mirrored the trickle down his spine. “I don’t think so.”
“Have you asked her?”
“Mom, what difference does it make? My life is here, and she and Chastity are better off elsewhere.”
“Do you want to be mayor, son?” his father asked.
“Generations of Johnstons—”
“Stop right there. Forget your ancestry and answer the question. Do you want to be mayor?”
Matt had never considered whether he wanted to fill his father’s shoes. It was expected. “Not particularly, but—”
“There is no ‘but.’ The job is unpleasant if your heart’s not in it. The phone rings all hours of the day and night, and, frankly, people are crazy.”
But his dad loved the job. “Even if I decided not to run for mayor, I can’t move out of state. What about my job?”
“Last time I checked there were schools in Georgia.”
“True, but I owe the people of Johnstonville for standing by me when I...when I let them down.”
“You haven’t let anyone down, son. Except maybe yourself.”
“What about the NFL? That was your dream. And then it was mine.”
“I traded a few years of potential glory for decades of being a man who makes a real difference in his family, his church and his community. Do you think I’m sorry I chose you over that?”
“Aren’t you?”
His father reached across the table and covered Matt’s hand. “No, son. I’m where I’m supposed to be. I was blessed to work beside my daddy on the farm till the day he
died, and I wouldn’t trade one second of that for a dozen years playing pro ball.”
Matt’s throat clogged. “You don’t farm now.”
“Why should I when I can lease the land for enough to pay our bills and not battle weather, insects and market fluctuations or get dirty?”
Matt’s mother laid a hand over his other one. “I’ve never known you to give up on something that mattered to you. If Rachel and Chastity matter to you, then maybe you need to rethink a few things.”
Matt frowned. “To be with them I’d have to move away.”
“That’s what it sounds like,” his mother stated.
“Son, all we want is for you to be happy,” his father said. “Follow your heart whether it leads you around the corner or across state lines.”
His mother nodded.
Dumbfounded, Matt stared at the most inspirational coaches he’d ever had. This was not the way he’d expected the afternoon to go. He had some reevaluating to do. And then he had to decide if he was brave enough to take the field and throw up one more Hail Mary pass.
* * *
RACHEL TOOK ONE last look at Hope’s empty house, then stepped out onto the porch to lock the door for the last time. Tires crunched in the driveway. She spun around, then her stomach dropped with disappointment when she recognized Carol Johnston’s van rather than Matt’s truck pulling in.
She hadn’t seen or heard from him since that night in the hospital. Had he told his parents about Chastity? If so, did they hate her? But that didn’t look like anger on Carol’s face as she made her way up the walk.
Rachel blotted her damp hands on her pants legs. “I’d invite you in, but the movers just left with the last of the furniture.”
Carol nodded toward the for-sale sign. “So it’s done. This one’s sold, and you and my granddaughter have a new home.”
She knew. Rachel’s knees wobbled. “Yes. The agent’s surprised we got an offer so fast.”
She ached to ask about Matt. She’d driven by his house numerous times, but his truck hadn’t been there. “I’m sorry for keeping Chastity from you.”
