A Gift of Time (The Nine Minutes Trilogy Book 3) (42 page)

Epilogue

2007,
Fort Lauderdale, Present Day

He laid back
against the worn couch and closed his eyes,
letting the rhythm of her motions and the teasing of her tongue take him to a
different realm. He could smell diesel fuel and grease as it drifted in through
the open door that separated the garage from the office.

He should’ve
been grateful Axel had given him a job. After getting out of jail, he’d had the
option to work on his father’s landscaping crew or suck up to Axel for another
chance at car and motorcycle repairs. He had to stay off the law’s radar
awhile, and it seemed blending back into society as a mechanic was a good
start. He was crashing in his older brother Slade’s guest room until he could
figure out what he wanted to do with his life.

He chanced a
glance down at the girl who was furiously trying to spin magic between his
legs. It was working until she felt his stare and stopped what she was doing.

“You haven’t
even asked me my name,” she said coyly, still holding his hardness with one
hand. She batted her eyelashes and tried to look away shyly.

He rolled
his eyes, roughly shoved her away. They were done.

Not another
one. Another one who didn’t understand a blowjob was just a blowjob. Not a
fucking marriage proposal. He’d just turned twenty-three, and yet he knew the
type. How he kept getting tangled up with these women, he didn’t have a clue.
She would want to talk and connect with him. She’d tell him she understood the
depths of his pain and could heal him from the inside out.

So many had
wanted to try. So many had been kicked out on their slutty asses as soon as he
realized they thought they could be more than just a fuck.

There was
only one who could’ve been more. Only one he’d had feelings for.

How many
times had he berated himself over the years thinking about how tongue-tied he’d
been around Mimi? He’d barely been able to communicate back then, and he’d had
more than one opportunity. Then, by the time he was able to finally tell her
how he felt, it was too late. Her mother was moving her away to start a new
life in another state.

He
remembered how his mother had made a big dinner and invited Ginny, Mimi, and
Jason over for a final goodbye. Except he hadn’t known it was final. He’d
thought it was just dinner. Apparently, Ginny had sold their house fully
furnished and had already shipped their personal belongings to their new home.
They’d be spending the night in a hotel and then starting the long drive to
Montana.

He almost
dropped his fork mid-bite when he realized they were talking about leaving the
very next morning. Everything had been set in place.

How had this
slipped by him? How had he not known? How could he not have heard his parents
talking about a fucking cross-country move?

There is no
way his parents hadn’t known about this. They had purposely kept it a secret,
and he wanted to know why. And the fact that he was being caught off guard like
this pissed him off to no end. As everyone stood in the foyer of his parents’
house hugging and saying their final goodbyes, he’d slunk off to his room to
fume, beyond angry.

He was
throwing darts with his back to the bedroom door when he heard a soft knock. He
gritted his teeth. If his mother thought she was going to come in here and try
to smooth things over, she had another thing coming. His parents were guilty,
and he was hell-bent on playing judge, jury, and executioner.

He heard the
door open and was surprised when he heard Mimi’s voice.

“Christian?”

His arm
stopped in mid-toss, and he let the dart drop to the floor as he slowly turned
around to face her.

She was taking
something out of her backpack.

“I never got
to give this back to you.” She gave him a small smile.

He absently
reached for the jacket he’d given her so many months ago. It seemed like right
after the time he’d driven Mimi home, the contact with the families had died
down. He’d patiently waited, even suggesting a few times that his mother call
Mimi to babysit for Daisy. Christy said she had asked Mimi, but she was always
busy. It seemed they were starting to get their lives back together after
Tommy’s death, and Ginny had been keeping both her children and herself very
busy. Bullshit. Ginny was planning a move, and his mother knew it and had
purposely started pulling her family back from them.

Christian
also knew there had been a slight distancing from the community after Tommy’s
death. Nothing was ever openly said to the Dillons, but he’d heard Christy
telling Anthony that Ginny was upset because she knew there was a subtle buzz
in their social circle, that supposed friends were slowly slipping away. Ginny
wasn’t hurt by it, but she was feeling the sting of the rebuffs to her
children. Kids were mean. He wondered now if this had been true.

Now, looking
back, he realized it had been his own fault. He should’ve made an effort to
pursue Mimi, not sit and wait for an opportunity to be around her again.

And he had
to admit, even if just to himself, that a two-month stint in jail back then
hadn’t helped his cause. He knew his parents purposely hadn’t bailed him out
that time like they had the night he was hauled in for resisting
arrest—the night Mimi was almost raped. He could recall his father’s
words when he’d been arrested: “You want to engage in this lifestyle, you need
to be prepared for what it might bring. This is for your own good, Christian.”
Anthony had stared hard at his son then, and Christian had seen in his face
what he was really saying but couldn’t voice in the police station. “You want
to engage in this lifestyle? You want to carry on my legacy? You need to earn
it the hard way.”

That night
in his room, Mimi had looked at him with her big, brown eyes as they both stood
clutching the jacket, neither one willing to let go. He slowly tugged, and
instead of releasing it, she held on and let him pull her closer. He saw
something in her eyes then. He saw recognition. She was realizing at this very
moment how he felt, how he’d always felt, for reasons that he’d not even known
or understood himself.

“You have to
go?” he heard himself ask her.

She nodded.
“I want to go,” she said in a soft voice. “At least, I think I do.”

A pause. She
looked at him with uncertainty and wonder.

Just then,
Jason poked his head into the room, breaking the spell.

“Mimi, Mom
said c’mon.” They could hear his footsteps as he ran off.

“The guy
that Jason mentioned at dinner, James. Is that why you’re leaving? Your Mom is
seeing someone?”

“He’s part
of the reason. I’m glad my mother has fallen in love again. I want her to be
happy, and I just don’t think she can stay here.”

“James who?”
Not that he cared. He was just trying to think of conversation to prevent her
from leaving, if just for a few more minutes.

“Just
James.” She looked away.

Christian
nodded. He was honestly happy for Aunt Ginny and respected her privacy. She was
a good woman, and Christian thought she deserved some happiness. But her
happiness was taking his happiness across the country and out of his life.

“Mimi, I’ve
waited too long, and now it’s too late.” His words were quiet.

She’d
finally let go of his jacket, and he now held it in a crumpled ball.

She laid a
hand on his arm. “No. It’s not too late, Christian. Look—we’re going away
to start over. Mom doesn’t want us connected to anything from her old life. I
don’t blame her. We’re going ‘off the grid.’” She emphasized the phrase with
air quotes. “But it won’t be forever. I know how to get in touch with you, and
I will. You’ll hear from me, okay?”

“When?”

“I honestly
don’t know. I have to go now. They’re waiting. Trust me.”

She stood on
her tiptoes, softly kissed his cheek.

“Mimi,” he
called after her. She stopped and looked back at him, her hand clutching the
doorknob. “Were you disappointed Slade wasn’t here tonight? You know, to say
goodbye?”

He looked at
her, then almost shyly at the floor. The tilt of his head caused his long,
black hair to fall over his shoulder and hide the right side of his face. When
she didn’t say anything, he chanced a glance up, his bright blue eyes in stark
contrast to the dark tone of his skin. He wanted to eat his words the minute
they left his mouth, but then Mimi smiled at him.

“I don’t think
he knew tonight’s dinner was to say goodbye,” Mimi said softly.

“You didn’t
answer my question.”

She looked
at him a long moment, like she was trying to guess his intent.

“No,” she
said finally. “I wasn’t disappointed at all.”

And then she
was gone. That was five years ago.

And he’d
waited.

And there
was nothing.

He went to
his parents, who both told him to leave it alone. They didn’t have an address
for Ginny in Montana, and even if they did, they wouldn’t be giving it to him.
He’d finally come right out and asked the last name of the man Ginny was
seeing. He’d pestered them to death, even doing his own feeble research online.
The social networks proved futile, not to mention that he totally sucked at it.
And Mimi had only said her mom was “seeing” a man. Who knows—that
could’ve lasted less than ten minutes. She could be with anybody now. Maybe
even nobody.

Days slowly
become weeks, which became months and finally stretched out into years, and
there was no word from Mimi. She was gone, and he’d never gotten over her.
Never gotten over the fact that he’d seen something in her eyes that night.
Something maybe she didn’t even know was there herself. Something he’d wanted
to pursue and would have—if she hadn’t driven out of his life the next
morning.

He was no
longer the shy, tongue-tied teenager who couldn’t bring himself to ask Mimi
out. He was now a man. A man who knew what he wanted.

He barely
noticed when what’s-her-name pouted her way out of Axel’s office and slipped
out the back door of the garage. It was a Sunday, and the place was empty.

He absently
looked around the small office and wondered if Axel had any liquor stashed. He
rummaged through drawers and file cabinets and finally came to the last one. It
was an old metal number that had seen better days, and the drawers gave a loud
screech when he opened and closed them.

The last and
final drawer didn’t contain files. A brown paper bag was sitting on top of
something black. Maybe there was a bottle buried in here somewhere. He grabbed
the paper bag, but could tell by its weight that it was full of paper. He
wasn’t interested and tossed it aside. Next, he came to a black leather jacket.
Maybe there was a bottle of booze tucked into its folds. Christian carefully
lifted it out, but it wasn’t concealing a bottle, either.

He started
to put it back when he noticed part of a patch. Was this Axel’s old club
jacket? Standing up from his crouch, he grabbed the jacket by both shoulders,
stretching it out so he was looking at the back. His eyes slowly took in what he
was seeing. It was a sinister skull with devil horns. A naked woman was draped
over the top of the skull. She had dark hair and dark eyes. He knew he was
looking at his Aunt Ginny’s image, but he was seeing Mimi.

All the
suppressed feelings of his past started to rise to the surface then. She had
said, “trust me.” He’d waited. Trusted. And she’d never come back.

Well, he was
tired of waiting. He knew he could have someone find her. Yes, he would have
someone track her down. Life wasn’t fair, and there were too many rules.

He didn’t
play by rules.

It was no
secret that Mimi’s real father had Ginny abducted back in 1975. It was no
secret that Christian’s father, Anthony, had taken his mother, Christy.

He’d grown
tired of waiting. It was now time for Christian to take what he wanted.

And he’d
always wanted Mimi.

**********

Two
Weeks Later

Ginny

North
Carolina

I felt Grizz’s presence as he
walked up beside me, carrying Ruthie. He knew not to interrupt the moment I was
having with our son. Once again, Ruthie’s twin brother traced each letter in
the headstone, proud of himself as he said them loudly and slowly.

“D...I…L…L...O…N.”
He lay back against my chest and looked up. “You look upside down, Mommy.”

I smiled and
kissed his forehead.

“Who’s ready
for our picnic?” I asked as Dillon wiggled around on my lap, his interest
already leaning toward what I had packed for lunch.

“Me!” he
shouted as he jumped up and ran toward the picnic table, which sat under an
outside pavilion.

“Let me
down, Daddy!” Ruthie squealed.

She started
to squirm, and I could see Grizz was ready for her this time, clasping both of
her tiny legs together with his gigantic hand.

“Not until
what?” he asked her.

“Please?”

“What else?”
His eyes twinkled.

Ruthie
puckered her lips and waited for him to lift her high enough so she could press
her rosy, pursed lips against his hairy cheek. He grinned and set her down.

“You smell
good, Daddy, and your beard itches my lips!”

And then she
was off, too, barreling toward her brother.

Grizz
reached for my hand and pulled me to my feet. I wrapped my arms around his
waist and looked up at him.

“I saw that
kick when you picked her up. Still hurts?” I was speaking about a bullet he’d
taken in his side back when we’d lived at the motel.

“Only when I
get kicked there, which isn’t often, so I can live with it.”

He pulled me
closer and rested his chin on top of my head. We stood like that for a few
minutes. Words weren’t necessary. I used the quiet moment to reflect on our
decision to name our little boy Dillon. We had talked about naming him Tommy,
but we realized that honor should be given to Jason, should he ever have a son.
I wasn’t ready to dismiss how important Tommy had been to me, to all of us. The
wedding band I’d worn while married to Tommy had been safely tucked away for
Jason to give his bride one day.