Key To My Heart: Stay (7 page)

“
I know Dem. But Nikki
always tries to work everything out in her head before she turns to
anyone for help. Even Jay.”

“
Has Jay said anything to
Garett?”

“
Not that I know of. But Jay
was never one to discuss the problems that he and Nikki had with
his brothers either. Not that they ever seemed to have problems.
I’m sure Nikki is fine. And if she’s not, then we will find out
what’s going on soon enough. How are you?”

“
I’m coming home Cas.
There’s no point in staying here anymore since Del decided he
doesn’t want to be a part of the baby’s life and I lost my job. I
already talked to Melda Gaines. She’s going to rent me her
daughter’s old house.”

“
That’s great. Isn’t
it?”

Demi sighed. “It feels a little like
giving up, but I suppose that everyone always knew I’d end up back
in Clinton eventually. My last day at work is next Friday, so I’ll
see you next weekend.”

“
That’s good. I miss you
baby sister.”

“
I miss you too big sister.
How are you? How are things with Garett?”

“
Dem.”

“
What Cas?”

“
I’m pregnant.”

“
Oh Cas. Aren’t you happy? I
thought things were going well between you and Garett.”

“
They are. But it’s so
soon.”

“
Have you told him
yet?”

“
No. I’m on my way out of
town.”

“
You’re running away from
him aren’t you? Oh Cas, you have to tell him. He’s going to be
happy. What are you afraid of?”

“
I’m afraid of everything
Dem. I’m so in love with him that I can hardly see straight. I know
he’s going to be happy, and I know that he’s going to make a good
father. It’s me that I’m worried about. I don’t know how to be a
mother.”

“
Do you think I know how to
be a mother? At least you know that Garett’s going to be there for
you. I’m facing it all alone.”

“
Oh sweetie, I’m sorry. I’m
such a bitch.”

“
You’re not a bitch Acasia.
We’re both going to be fine, and so is Nikki. The Brown sisters
never give up, remember?”

“
I love you Dem. I’m glad
you’re coming home.”

“
I am too. But I don’t think
I could stand living at home with Mom while I’m
pregnant.”

Acasia laughed. “I don’t blame you. I
suppose I’ll have to find myself another place soon
too.”

“
As soon as you tell Garett,
he’ll be there with his truck to move you into his
house.”

“
He’s made some progress on
it, but the Collins place is still a dump. Not exactly fit for a
baby.”

“
So you stay with me until
he gets his butt in gear and makes the place livable. You shouldn’t
be afraid to tell him Cas.”

“
How did you tell
Del?”

Demi laughed. “I made my first
absentminded pregnant woman move and left the test on the bathroom
counter. You did remember to hide the test so that Mom wouldn’t
find it didn’t you?”

“
Yeah. The last thing that I
need is Mom finding out before I have a chance to tell Garett. I
just need to clear my head, then I’ll be okay.”

“
Did you tell him where you
were going?”

“
No.”

“
Acasia, he’s going to worry
about you.”

“
I left a note for Mom, and
I told you where I’m going.”

“
Yes, I suppose you did.
Well, actually you didn’t, you just told me that you’re on your way
out of town. Where exactly are you going?”

“
Up to Trent. I’m staying at
some cheesy motel-“The Off the Beaten Track Inn” I think. It was
the only place I could afford. My finances aren’t exactly
spectacular these days.”

“
You know that Garett will
take care of you Cas.”

“
I don’t want him to take
care of me. Well, I do, and in some ways he does, but. . . I just
don’t know Dem. Why can’t things ever happen at a good time? This
should be happening later, not when we’ve only been together two
months.”

Demi laughed. “Babies don’t really seem
to understand that there’s a good time for them to born and a bad
time sis. I should know.”

“
I’m sorry. I’m only
thinking about myself again. How’s your baby doing?”

“
Seems to be growing bigger
and bigger every day.”

“
That’s good. Um, Dem there
was something that I wanted to talk to you about.”

“
What’s up?”

“
Gavin has been asking about
you.”

Her sister’s silence stretched on for
too long. “Demi?”

“
I’m here.”

She’d waited to talk to Demi about
Gavin, because she’d tried to plan out what she wanted to say to
her. She didn’t want to see Demi hurt, especially when she was
pregnant. But at the same time, Demi was a grown woman and she had
proven in the last few months just how strong she could
be.

“
Please be careful Dem. Even
if he loves you, it doesn’t mean that he won’t hurt
you.”

“
He doesn’t love me Acasia.
And why would he come back home now after being gone for so long?
For me?” Demi snorted. “Especially when I’m pregnant with another
man’s child.”

“
Garett won’t tell me
exactly what they talk about, and he claims that Gavin doesn’t ask
about you in anything more than a casual way. But I know that he’s
not telling me the full truth. He can’t look me in the eye when he
talks about Gavin.”

“
Yep. That’s a telltale sign
that your man is lying. He’s been the same way since we were kids.
But just because he’s holding something back about Gavin doesn’t
mean that he’s in love with me, and especially not that he’s going
to come home after all this time because I decided to move
back.”

“
You know that I love you
Dem, and I just want what’s best for you right?”

“
Of course I do Cas. And
I’ve always known that Gavin was not what was best for me. But I. .
.”

“
What hon?”

“
Never mind. If Gavin shows
up in Clinton, I’ll deal with it. But I sincerely doubt that it’s
going to happen. I’m gonna let you go sis. I love you. Have a good
time on your little getaway.”

Acasia laughed. “I’ll try. I love you
too Dem.”

“
Congratulations. At least I
don’t have to be pregnant alone now.”

She let a smile touch her face briefly.
She felt a little better after talking to Demi, but now she was
worried about Nikki, and more than a little worried about Demi as
well, wondering how her sister really would react if Gavin showed
up in Clinton. No she thought, WHEN Gavin showed up in Clinton. She
knew that he was going to. It was just a matter of when.

“
Thank you. I’ll talk to you
soon, and I’ll try to get a hold of Nikki.”

“
Okay. Bye Cas.”

“
Bye Dem.”

Acasia ended the call, wishing that her
head weren’t so damned muddled. She felt like she was already
suffering from pregnancy brain and wondered how in the hell she was
going to deal with it for nine months. She wondered how she was
going to deal with any of it. She tried to shut it all out as she
drove, but it was hard, especially since Garett tried to call her
three times.

She ignored him, and vowed to herself
that she wouldn’t answer his calls until she knew what she was
going to say to him. She wondered exactly when that would be
though, as she pulled into the rundown motel where she’d made her
reservation.

Garett

When Acasia continued to ignore his
phone calls, he knew something was up. Not answering her phone once
or twice would have been normal, because his beautiful girlfriend
did have a life of her own and was sometimes too busy to answer of
course. But after his call went straight to voicemail for the third
time, he knew that she was ignoring him.

He wondered what he had done wrong. He
had wanted to tell Acasia that he loved her for weeks now, but he
was unsure of how she would take the words. The last thing that he
wanted to do was scare her when things seemed to be going so well
for them. He had known that she’d wanted to run from her feelings
for him before, and it had made him proceed even more cautiously
with her, though he supposed making love to her two weeks after
their first date hadn’t exactly been cautious. Nothing had ever
felt more right though. Making love to Acasia was like no other
feeling in the world. He could no longer imagine the rest of his
life without her, the mere thought of it made him sick to his
stomach.

He racked his brain, going over their
last few dates over and over again in his mind until it threatened
to drive him crazy. He wished for the thousandth time that Elden
Brown were still alive, and wondered if he should call his mother
or Acasia’s mother for advice. But he didn’t want to bother Heather
Brown and he wasn’t sure that he wanted to admit to his mother that
he may have already screwed things up irrevocably with the woman
that he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life
with.

He had found himself wandering into a
jewelry store when he’d been at the mall the other day, feeling
like an idiot as he checked out the selection of engagement rings.
He had found a ring that he’d thought Acasia would love though and
had been tempted to buy it. The price tag had made him pause a
little, but she was worth every penny and he couldn’t imagine a
more beautiful sight than the promise of marriage on her finger. He
had imagined her wearing nothing else, and he knew that his face
had been red when the salesgirl had asked him if he’d needed help.
He had shook his head at her and left the store, hoping that the
news that he had been looking at jewelry wouldn’t be flying around
town the next day.

Luckily it hadn’t, but he had been
tempted to go back to the store, had actually transferred the money
that he would need to purchase the ring from his savings to his
checking account. But then he’d been so damned worried that she
would refuse him, especially since he hadn’t told her he loved her,
and had decided to wait on buying the ring. And now he was afraid
that he’d lost her. The thought of losing her almost made him want
to cry, and he felt like an even bigger moron.

He was tempted to call Gavin for
advice, but then he figured that Jay would probably be the better
one to ask for relationship advice since he was the one with the
picture perfect marriage. He dialed Jay’s number with a chuckle,
thinking that it was no wonder that Gavin had always been afraid to
fall in love.

When Jay answered the phone, Garett
could hear his niece wailing in the background. “Hey Gar. Can you
hold on a sec? The little princess is screaming like the world is
going to end.”

“
Sure.”

Garett wondered why Nikki wasn’t
attending to Sammi, but then figured she was out or something. Jay
had always been a hands on father anyway, never shying away from
any of his fatherly duties, no matter how unappealing they may
seem.

Jay returned several minutes later.
“Sorry about that. My daughter can be very demanding. I dread to
think what she’ll be like as a teenager.”

Garett chuckled. “Yeah. Jay, can I talk
to you about something?”

“
Sure little bro. What’s
up?”

“
I think I screwed up.
Acasia seems to be avoiding me.”

“
Women are tricky. Maybe she
just needs some time to herself. Maybe she’s got something on her
mind.”

“
But why wouldn’t she talk
to me about it? Doesn’t Nikki talk to you when she has something on
her mind?”

Jay sighed. “Nikki is different than
her sisters. She keeps everything locked up inside. It drives me
crazy. I’ll know that she’s hurting or bothered over something, but
she won’t talk to me until it’s threatening to eat her up
inside.”

“
It sucks when your woman is
hurting and she won’t tell you why.”

Jay sighed again. Garett had begun to
wonder if there wasn’t something going on with him and Nikki, but
he figured that if Jay wanted to talk to him about it, he would.
“Yes, it certainly does. I thought that things had been going
really well for you and Acasia. What makes you think she’s avoiding
you?”

“
She won’t answer my phone
calls. I love her Jay. The thought of being without her makes me
sick. Being with her feels so right. I’m in so deep already. It
scares the shit out of me.”

“
Nothing to be scared of
bro. Falling in love is supposed to be a good thing. And you
couldn’t have chosen a better woman than Acasia. Things will work
themselves out. Just give her some time.”

“
But what if she’s decided
that she doesn’t want to be with me?”

“
Gar, you’re overreacting.
I’m sure that Acasia just has something on her mind and she’s
having a hard time figuring out how to bring it up to you. Have you
told her you love her?”

“
No. I want to, but I don’t
want to scare her. She tried to hide her feelings for me. She tried
to run away from me before. I already picked out the engagement
ring that I want to buy for her.”