Scars of the Past (14 page)

Chapter Nineteen

Josh and I spent the next few days doing as much as we could with his parents. He had been right; there was no reason for me to be nervous. I had quickly recognized his family to be some of the kindest people I’d ever met.

Watching Josh and Ben together was mesmerizing. The brothers obviously loved each other very much, and I wasn’t the only one who just adored watching them together. I caught Paul and Anna staring on many occasions, smiles on their faces.

At Ben’s request, we all headed over to San Diego zoo the second day we were there. Ben was a frequent visitor and directed us to all of his favorite spots. He tried walking as much as possible, using his cane for support, but his parents had brought his wheelchair and Ben would utilize it whenever he got tired.

At one point, Ben and I sat watching the elephants as the rest of his family took a restroom break. He turned to look at me, his face happy.

“The elephants are my favorite. I love them because even though they can be slow, they are still very intelligent. Like me.”

My heart felt like it was going to burst, and I leaned over to put my arms around Ben. He hugged me back hard, and when I pulled back he was beaming.

“Do you think you and Josh will get married? Then you’d get to be my sister.”

I didn’t get a chance to answer as Josh and Paul walked up behind us, but instead I just winked at Ben and he let out a chuckle that sounded eerily like Josh’s.

We spent about half of the day at the zoo before heading back to the Richards’ house. Once we got back, we played in the pool for hours until the sun had gone down. Josh wasn’t the only one with a love for basketball in their family, and I watched the brothers play many games of pool basketball. Josh was so patient with Ben, and watching them together made me realize that Josh was an even better man than I imagined, which was pretty hard to top.

Our last day there, Paul was cooking up a fantastic smelling pre-Christmas dinner. I spent the afternoon helping him in the kitchen while Josh spent some alone time with Ben. Paul was an amazing chef, and I wasn’t surprised to learn that he had once done it professionally. He taught me all sorts of tricks for making cooking easier that I’m sure my mom would appreciate.

After dinner we sat down to exchange Christmas presents, and Ben shouted in joy when he unwrapped the new Playstation 4 that Josh had bought him. Ben ripped the paper off my gift and grinned at me when he saw they were games for his new console.

“Thank you, Maddie! Josh, let’s go play.”

Josh chuckled and gave his brother a pat on the back. “In a few minutes, Benj.”

Paul opened his gift from me and his eyes lit up as he inspected it. “Oh Maddie, this is gorgeous. Josh must have told you I loved chess. This set is amazing. Thank you.”

He pulled the pieces of the antique set out and inspected each one, slowly, looking as excited about it as Ben was about the Playstation.

Anna was looking through the various gardening supplies I’d found for her, and she looked at me with a smile.

“Thank you, Maddie. These are so perfect.”

Josh gave me a proud smile before leaning over and kissing my cheek.

“You are too amazing, Mad.”

“I can second that,” Paul said, reaching out to give me a hug.

After he pulled away, he handed me a little box that was delicately wrapped. I opened it slowly, and gasped when I saw what was inside.

A pair of vintage sapphire earrings with little diamonds framing them sat inside the box, and they looked so beautiful I didn’t want to risk touching them.

I glanced up at Paul and Anna, my mouth hanging open.

Anna’s lips curved into a huge smile. “They were my mothers, and when Josh told us your birthstone was a sapphire I immediately knew they were meant for you.”

“They’re too much,” I whispered, gingerly picking one of them up.

“Oh hush,” Paul laughed. “Anna’s just thrilled to have someone with estrogen to give them to.”

Anna balled up some wrapping paper and threw it at Paul’s head before looking at me and shrugging. “He’s right.”

–––

Everyone went to bed late that evening, Ben insisting that Josh play as much Playstation with him as possible. Josh and I were the last ones up, watching some action movie in the living room.

“Go get your suit on,” He suddenly said, glancing over at me. “Let’s go relax in the hot tub. I hardly got any time in it between the basketball games we were playing.”

I hesitated, but the pleading look in Josh’s eyes had me getting up and changing out of my clothes.

Once we were in the gloriously warm water, Josh pulled me next to him so I was cuddled against his side.

“Thank you for coming with me. My parents are ready to tie you up and never let you leave.”

I giggled and kissed his bare chest. “Thank you for bringing me. You have an awesome family.

Josh nodded in agreement. “Between the two of us, we’re pretty lucky in the family department.”

We just sat in the water without speaking for some time, the only sounds coming from the hot tub jets. Eventually, Josh spoke, breaking the silence.

“I suppose we should get inside.”

I nodded my head slowly, and ran my hand down to his thigh. “We could. Or we could stay out here a bit longer.”

Josh’s inhaled audibly and he covered my wandering hand with his own, stopping it.

“I thought you were dead set against this?” He looked down at me and searched my eyes with his own.

“I’m not allowed to change my mind?” I freed my hand and started sliding it up the leg of his swim trunks.

Josh’s eyes fluttered close for a moment, and his lips parted slightly. When he reopened his eyes, he leaned towards me and connected his lips to mine briefly before sucking my bottom lip into his mouth.

My fingers had only barely brushed against him when he placed both hands on my hips and shifted me so I was straddling him. We continued kissing frantically before he dropped his lips down to my chest, sucking on my breast through my suit. A low moan slipped past my lips and he brought his hand up to softly cover my mouth.

“Shhh, you have to be quiet.” He let out a low laugh, moving to the other breast.

“Sorry, sorry,” I whispered as he moved his hand. “I’ll be quiet.”

Josh lifted his hips and shifted his trucks down to his thighs before reaching between my legs and pulling my bathing suit aside. Unhurriedly, I slid down on top of him until he was inside of me completely. I waited a moment before I slowly started to ride him, and his hands gripped my hips tightly. I moved faster and faster as the water sloshed over the side of the hot tub.

“Josh,” I whisper-moaned. “Josh, I’m going to…”

He covered my mouth with his own and prevented any words from leaving my mouth as my body slipped into pure pleasure. Josh continued to thrust into me from below until I felt his fingers tighten at my sides. He stopped moving as well, but kept our mouths connected to muffle the noises we made.

I dropped my head to his shoulder and waited for my breathing to return to normal.

“I love you,” I mumbled.

He kissed the top of my head, a hand rubbing up my back. “I love you too.

After a few minutes, we climbed out of the hot tub and wrapped ourselves in towels. We started walking towards the back door when Josh stopped suddenly and turned to face me.

“We’ve been in San Diego for three days, and I still haven’t taken you to the beach.”

I gave him a very serious nod and tried to contain my smile at his random facts.

“Nope, you haven’t. I’ve very disappointed in you, Joshua.”

“Well, I’ll have to fix it tomorrow before we leave then.” He tugged on my hand and I followed him back to his bedroom.

It felt like I’d only slept about twenty minutes when I was being shaken awake gently.

“Maddie, wake up.”

I opened my eyes, and Josh was sitting next to me with a smile on his face. I blinked a few times and just stared at him, confused. He was fully dressed, wearing jeans and a hoodie, and he looked completely awake.

“What’s wrong?” I rubbed my eyes, trying to make sense of everything.

“We’re going to go to the beach.”

After a lot of grumbling I was dressed too, and we were in Anna’s SUV, driving through the dark city.

“Josh. It’s five in the morning,” I said, the first coherent piece of conversation out of my mouth since he woke me up.

“Yeah, I want to get there before the sun starts to rise. Sunsets in California are amazing, obviously, but the moon from the beach is almost better.”

I didn’t respond, but a smile crept over my face and I just stared at him as he drove.

We parked at a beach after about fifteen minutes and Josh came around the side of the car, offering me his hand as I got out.

We walked through the sand until we were standing near the surf, and the only noises around us were the waves crashing. An almost full moon was off to the left, and it lit up the entire beach. It was freezing, the cool air seeping into my sweatshirt as if I wasn’t wearing one. Josh wrapped a blanket he’d brought around me tightly, and we sat on the beach huddled together as sunlight from the east started to illuminate everything around us. Slowly, the moon disappeared and we made our way back to the car without speaking a word.

He held open my door, leaning down to give me a kiss before walking back around to his side.

We were almost back to the house before I spoke, breaking the comfortable silence.

“That was perfect, Josh. Thank you.”

He brought our entwined hands to his mouth, kissing the top of mine gently. “Thank you for going with me.”

Everyone was awake when we got back to the house, and we sat down to eat breakfast. Afterwards, we packed up our things and moved the bags to the living room.

“The cab should be here any minute,” he said to his father.

Paul shook his head. “I called and cancelled it. Do you really think we would send you all off in a cab on Christmas Eve?”

Josh laughed and clapped his dad on the back. “We just don’t want to be a bother.”

Anna was sitting on the couch watching Ben play his video game and she scoffed. “Joshua Paul Richards, you’ve never minded being a pest before.”

He didn’t say anything, but just shot his mother a childish grin.

We all loaded in the Richards van, which had been modified to accommodate Ben’s wheelchair, and headed to the airport.

When we made it to the curb, I leaned over into Ben’s seat and gave him a big hug. “Thanks for having me over, Ben.”

He squeezed me tightly, and sighed. “You will come back, right?”

“Most definitely. I promise.” I kissed the top of his head lightly before pulling back.

“Soon?” Ben’s face was so hopeful, and I just wanted to do anything to keep it there.

“Soon.” He seemed satisfied with my answer and I jumped out so the brothers could have a private goodbye.

Paul stepped out of the van and engulfed me in his arms. “Merry Christmas, Maddie.”

He released me and I smiled. “Merry Christmas, guys. Thank you so much for having me.”

Anna hugged me too, and wiped a tear from her eyes. “No, it was our pleasure. Come back soon.”

They said goodbye to their son and we stood at the curb, waving until they were out of sight.

–––

We made it home by the early afternoon, and Josh dropped me off at my mom’s to do our traditional Christmas Eve baking.

Every year I would spend the morning helping her bake a multitude of sweets that seemed to increase each Christmas. It had become a tradition in our house to help mom, and then go with her to the shelters to pass them out. She had started two years after our dad left, and never stopped.

“Is Amanda bringing Karen over for dinner tomorrow?” Mom asked as she pulled another batch of cookies out of the oven.

I was sitting at her breakfast bar boxing up the previous batches, and eating more than my fair share.

“I think so, but it doesn’t sound like Sydney will be able to make it, though.”

“Well, I’ll make sure to send home some food for her with her presents.”

Matthew walked in and set some grocery bags on the counter, looking frazzled.

“I’m never going to the grocery store on Christmas Eve ever again. Years in Iraq didn’t prepare me for that kind of madness. Be glad I love you, mom.” He kissed her cheek and settled on a bar stool next to me, taking the cookie out of my hand and shoving it into his mouth.

“You’re such a snot.” I slapped his chest and he just gave me a chocolaty smile.

Mom glanced back at us with a smile. “Any time you two get together, you seem eight and six again.”

“He starts it,” I said at the same time Matthew mumbled, “She starts it.” My mom just laughed and shook her head.

As her laughter died down, she put the cookie sheet down and fixed us with a steady look.

“There’s something I need to talk to you two about.”

We glanced between each other before looking back at our mom in concern.

“Oh, get those worried looks off your face, it’s not like that. I’m going to have a friend over for Christmas dinner tomorrow.” My mom didn’t blush often, but all of the sudden she was blushing.

“A friend?” Matthew asked, giving her a suspicious look.

“Catch up, Matty. She means a ‘special friend.’” I grinned at him before turning back to my mom. “How long have you had a boyfriend?”

“Oh, they don’t call them boyfriends at my age.” She turned away to put a new batch in the oven, but I didn’t miss that she avoided the question.

I gave a side glance to Matthew, who was still staring at mom like she was an alien.

“Okay mom, what’s your
friend’s
name?” I started adding ribbons to the boxes of baked goods. “And how old is he?”

“His name is Craig, he’s fifty-two, and he’s an orthopedic surgeon at the hospital. He’s a very nice man, and I think you guys will like him.”

“Does he make you happy mom?” Matthew finally chimed in, a concerned expression on his face.

Mom wiped her hands on her apron and came around to give Matthew a big hug.

“Oh, my baby boy. He does. You did such a good job as the man of the house growing up. I don’t know what Madelyn and I would have done without you.”

I joined in the hug, wrapping my arms around both of them. We sat that way for a moment until mom pulled back, wiping her eyes before going back to her baking.

My brother excused himself to the bathroom, and I’m pretty sure he was trying to hide any emotion he might be feeling. I went back to tying ribbons and trying to avoid eating anymore. Eventually, we finished and the three of us set out to deliver all the baked goods.

The women’s shelter was our last stop, and we ran into Detective Bradley, Sarah, and her husband who were serving dinner to the women and children that were there that night. Sarah’s husband apparently was also a therapist, but specialized in drug abuse and rehabilitation. He was quieter than Sarah, but you could tell he was always observing and analyzing. Probably a hazard of the job.