A Thousand Lies (33 page)

“The day will never come when you bar a child of mine from this door.”

Anson felt the porch move beneath him, like the world had shifted a little bit off center, and once again, felt his power slipping away. He tried to play it down, but inside he was raging.

“It’s your call, Delle honey, but I would have thought you’d at least be more understanding of my feelings. He put a gun in my face.”

“After you hurt his mother,” she countered.

At that moment, Anson hated the people before him with a rage he could barely contain. He’d misjudged Brendan’s power-hold, but it wouldn’t happen again. He made himself smile.

“You’re right. You’re totally right, honey girl. My bad. So ya’ll come on in and take a look at how pretty I made it for you.”

But the moment had broken Delle’s euphoria. She glanced at Linny. The fear was back on her baby’s face, and she already doubted her decision. What the hell had she done? The word
wait
was on the tip of her tongue when Anson pulled her inside, and then it was too late.

The tour through the house left Brendan stunned and Delle in awe. She was so fascinated by the elegance and new furnishings that her earlier anxiety faded.

As for Linny, she did what she always did and disappeared.

Sam came up from the packing shed in the middle of the tour to welcome his mother home. When Brendan caught his eye, Sam managed a smile.

“Where’s Chance?” Delle asked.

“Oh, we had a bad day yesterday,” Anson said. “I think he’s just taking a little time off.”

Delle frowned. “What kind of a bad day?”

“I thought Anson would have mentioned that last night when he called you,” Brendan said.

Anson frowned. “How the hell did you find out?”

“I told him, Daddy,” Sam said quickly.

Anson cut an angry look at his eldest, but didn’t say more.

Brendan was happy to drop the bomb. “You’re out of the drug business, Mama, although temporarily, I’m sure.”

Delle spun. “What happened?”

Anson’s eyes narrowed and his lips thinned, turning his picture-perfect face into an unflattering caricature.

“Someone stole the crops and burned us out.”

Delle wanted to cheer. This was the break they needed to get back on track, but she had to take this slowly.

She put a hand on Anson’s arm. “Maybe it was God’s way of telling us that time is done,” she said softly.

Brendan shook his head. “God doesn’t make deals with criminals, Mama. Call if you need me.” He kissed her cheek and walked away.

When the screen door slammed, Sam flinched. He had never felt so alone in his life.

Delle wanted to cry. She had no one to blame but herself and looked around for her daughter.

“Where’s Linny? I don’t think she ever came up to see her new room.”

“I saw her running into the woods as I came up. You know how she is. She probably went to play,” Sam said.

Everything was going wrong. Near tears, all Delle could think about was the storm.

“But it’s going to rain.”

Sam was more concerned about the storm building inside the house, but was thankful for an excuse to leave.

“I’ll go find her, Mama.”

Delle’s anxiety eased as Sam hurried away.

The moment they were alone, Anson walked up behind her, put one hand on her breast and the other between her legs.

“I’ve been missing you, Delle. Come to bed.”

She turned to face him, saw the same expression in his eyes she’d seen the day he burned her feet, and in that moment, what was left of her spirit died. She dropped her head and walked ahead of him up the stairs.

Chapter Eighteen

Sam found Linny sitting on a big rock by the water. Her head was on her knees, her shoulders shaking. His heart sank. She was crying and he felt helpless to make it better. A twig snapped beneath his shoe as he started toward her, and when her head came up and he saw the look of terror on her face, it only made him feel worse.

“It’s just me, sugar. Why are you crying?”

She stood up slowly, rising tall on the knobby rock, her head up despite the tears.

“My kingdom is at war and my army is gone.”

Sam stopped. He knew the game and realized her need to escape into an alternate world.

“I’m still here, My Queen. What would you have me do?”

Thunder rumbled overhead, a sign that the storm was about to break.

Linny looked up into the dark swirl of gathering clouds, then back at Sam. “The Evil Overlord is back in control. Dark times have come upon the land and I need a plan.”

“How can I help?” he asked again.

She pointed her finger at him as if it was a scepter.

“Make a list of every bad thing the Evil Overlord has done. Make another list of all the bad people he knows. Write down everything you know about both of them.”

Sam was stunned. Not only was the wisdom was sound, but it was something he would never have thought to do.

“What are you going to do with this information, My Queen?”

She was silent for a moment, and then she pointed into the storm. “There will come a day when you will use it to destroy him.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Sam said, wishing it could be true.

Lightning cracked somewhere nearby.

Linny leaped from the rock into Sam’s arms. The queen was gone, leaving behind a frightened child. Sam held her firmly.

“Mama sent me to find you. It’s going to storm.”

“Take me home, Sammy.”

He took her by the hand as they headed for home, trying not to think about how fragile she felt, and how easily she could break.

****

Anson strutted from his bed to the bathroom, satisfied that he was, once again king of his castle. He paid no mind to the fact that Delle had neither moved nor spoken through the entire sexual act. He didn’t care. He’d just as soon fuck a corpse as a whining woman.

Delle’s heart was broken. She’d finally accepted the fact that the man she loved existed only in her mind, and the one she was married to was a madman. She’d escaped once, but he wouldn’t let it happen again. Her chance for redemption had come and gone.

The moment he shut the bathroom door, she leaped out of bed, grabbed her clothes, and made a run for the door. He would most certainly want a repeat performance when he returned, and she had no intention of being available. She dressed in an empty bedroom with her hands shaking and her heart pounding. As soon as she was decent, she bolted for the stairs in her bare feet, carrying her slippers.

The rumbling thunder sounded as disgruntled as she felt. The first drops of rain were beginning to blow against the windows as she reached the first floor and she didn’t know where her daughter was. And then the moment she thought it, the kitchen door flew open, slamming against the wall with a bang. When she heard her children’s voices, she sighed with relief. Sam had found her.

“There you are!” Delle cried and opened her arms.

Linny ran to her mother and buried her face against her breast.

Delle brushed the flyaway wisps of hair from her daughter’s eyes and then tilted her chin until they were looking eye-to-eye.

“You shouldn’t have run away with the storm so close,” Delle said, then watched her daughter’s eyes well with unshed tears.

“Daddy didn’t even say hello.”

“I know. I’m sorry,” Delle said.

Linny shrugged. At the early age of nine, she already knew it wasn’t wise to show a weakness. “It’s okay. He’s just the Evil Overlord, and I don’t want to talk to him, either.”

Delle frowned. “Don’t talk like that. Your daddy wouldn’t like it.”

Linny’s chin jutted. “And I don’t like how he treated me. Like Bren says, things go both ways.”

Delle had no answer for the truth. “Your clothes are wet. Go change into something dry, okay?”

“Is
he
upstairs?” Linny whispered.

Delle frowned. “Don’t be so dramatic. Go change your clothes.”

Linny glanced up at Sam.

“I’m not going anywhere, sugar. Go do what Mama said.”

Linny feet were flying as she ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

****

When Anson came out of the bathroom, he was pissed that Delle was gone. But his mood quickly shifted as a clap of thunder rolled overhead, followed by a shaft of lightning so loud he thought it had struck the house. When he heard footsteps in the hall and then a door slam, he began to dress. By the time he came out, whomever he’d heard was gone. Once again, he felt abandoned and didn’t like it.

He was walking toward the stairs when he heard footsteps behind him, but when he turned, there was no one there. He looked down. There was something on the floor only a few feet away.

It was a match.

“What the fuck?”

Before he could move, thunder rumbled again, this time closer.

Linny came flying out of her bedroom and ran past him without acknowledging his presence.

When he looked back down, the match was gone. He frowned. Had he just imagined it? He must have. It couldn’t just appear and disappear on a whim. Then he heard the sound of distant drumbeats, and then closer, he heard the sound of rattles. He turned abruptly, fearing a rattlesnake had gotten into the house and was at his heels, but there was nothing to be seen.

Sweat beaded on his upper lip. He flashed back to the little black coffin on his doorstep, the same coffin he’d taken to Voltaire LeDeux’s.

Was this part of what happened when someone was cursed? Refusing to believe it, he started toward the stairs.

The rattle sounded again and he moved faster.

“No way,” he said, but he lengthened his stride.

The rattle was louder now, encircling him—then it was in his head, drowning out the sounds of the storm.

“NO!” he shouted, and all but threw himself down the stairs in an effort to escape, but there was nowhere to run. Not when the enemy dwelled within.

****

Two weeks later

Even though Juliette’s nights were stuck on a rewind of waking up in Chub Walton’s arms and the ensuing events, her body was healing at a steady pace. Portia March continued to run interference with Grayson and Lana, giving Julie time to regroup. As she began to heal, the ability to cope with her parents constant pressure became easier. The bottom line was obvious. They didn’t want to be associated with the name Poe, no matter who wore it, and she wasn’t going to leave Brendan to suit their social status.

Brendan visited daily, sometimes to bring cupcakes from Julie’s favorite bakery or cold, smooth vanilla shakes for both Julie and her grandmother, and always to bring her mail.

Today, when he rang the bell at the gate to Portia’s house, Julie was the one who came bouncing out, eyeing the mail tucked under his arm.

“Neither rain not sleet nor dark of night,” she said as she unlocked the gate to let him in.

When he swooped down for his hello kiss, she resisted the urge to throw her arms around his neck. It wouldn’t do to make out on Portia March’s front lawn.

“Come in,” she said.

“Only for a minute,” he said. “I’m going for an interview in less than an hour, and don’t want to be late.”

“Ooh, come tell me about it,” she said, then led him into the house.

Portia came out of the library, delighted with their guest’s arrival.

“Welcome, Brendan. Will you stay and have lunch with us?”

“No, ma’am, I have an interview shortly, but thank you for the invitation.”
“Another time then,” she said sweetly. “I’ll leave you two to visit. If you need me, I’ll be in the kitchen with Janie.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Brendan said.

Portia was still smiling as she walked away.

“Nonny adores you,” Julie said as she led him into the living room.

“Can’t ever have too many people loving on you,” he said.

“As long as I’m at the head of the list, I’ll share,” Julie said.

He leaned in for a long, hungry kiss, then caught himself, shortened it to a quick kiss, and quickly backed off.

Julie frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“What do you mean?”

“You kiss me and then act like I taste bad.”

Brendan was quiet long enough that it made Julie nervous. She scooted closer.

“Talk to me, Bren.”

“I don’t want to push you into something that makes you uncomfortable.”

Her frown deepened. “What do you mean? We’ve been naked together too many times to suddenly get weird here.”

Brendan’s head came up and the look on his face startled her.

“Yes, but that was before you were kidnapped and beat half to death. We haven’t talked about any of this because I didn’t want it to seem like I was in some big-ass hurry to get in your pants after all you’d endured. For all I knew, you would be disgusted with the thought of ever having a man touch you again, and I would gladly spend the rest of my life doing without, as long as you didn’t stop loving me.”

“Oh, Brendan.” Julie’s vision blurred.

He wrapped his arms around her.

“I do want to be with you again, but not until I can look at myself without cringing,” she said.

“Duly noted, and totally agree,” he countered.

“We’ll seal this deal with a kiss, please.”

He happily obliged.

And now that the moment of crisis had passed, Julie was back to the question at hand.

“So where are you going to interview?”

He shrugged. “It’s at a car dealership. Just grunt work that will keep my bills paid and food on the table until I finish what I really want to do.”

Julie slid off his lap. The certainty in his voice was a new facet.

“What’s that?”

“I made a decision the other day that came from something Detective Carson told me the night you were rescued.”

“What did he say?”

“He said I had good cop instincts, and that if I was interested in going to the police academy, he’d put in a good word for me.”

Julie’s eyes widened, and then she threw her arms around his neck all over again.

“I think that’s wonderful, and I support you one hundred percent.”

“You wouldn’t mind being married to a cop?” he asked, then watched her eyes widen.