After the Storm: Midseason Episode 1 (Rising Storm) (3 page)

Patrick stepped back. “I don’t know, but she did go through something traumatic and she’s a very young girl. Neither one of us has any idea what it means to be unwed and pregnant, so cut her a little slack.”

“You’re only saying this because you’re trying to get in her sister’s pants. Hey, you should have gone for the younger Moreno.” Even before his brother’s shoulders squared and his eyes heated, Logan knew he’d gone too far. He held up a hand. What the hell was he doing? “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that, Patrick. It was wrong of me.”

“Yes, it was since Mari is a lovely lady who’s done nothing but attempt to raise her siblings.” Patrick took a deep breath. “Maybe you were right. Maybe you do need time alone to figure out if you’re going to handle this like a jealous asshole or a real man.”

His brother turned and strode out and Logan was left alone and seriously wondering about the answer to his brother’s question.

Chapter Two

Lacey Salt stared down at the phone and wished she could call her friend. The trouble was she didn’t know exactly where Jeffry had spent the night and who might be listening in. After the chaos of yesterday it seemed everyone had spread out and now they were hunkered down, trying to survive the storm Dakota had set off. So she’d woken up this morning and texted instead of calling, hoping for any news about how he was faring.

I’m all right. I can’t talk now. I promise we’ll talk later.

She waited a few minutes, hoping for more. It was all Jeffry Rush would say, it seemed. She wanted to go over to his place and force him to talk to her, but she wasn’t even sure where he was. He was the closest thing she had to a friend right now, and she hated the fact that she couldn’t talk to him.

I’m here if you need me.

The phone vibrated, a comforting sensation. It meant someone was out there.

You okay?

At least he cared. That made her feel a little better. Without Jeffry she might not have a friend in the world right now. Not after the way she’d screwed up. She typed back.

No, but I’m fine if that makes sense.
She was calm, collected. It was odd, actually. Yesterday had been horrible, but it had also freed her in a way. She didn’t have to think about her own misery.

Perfectly. Talk later.

She took a deep breath and sat back, looking out the window. The day was bright and sunny outside and that seemed so unfair. There should be clouds and storms. The sky shouldn’t be so blue when everything inside seemed dark.

She heard the sound of a door swinging open and then the slight squeak of footsteps on the stairs. Lacey stood up, watching the hallway. Her mother walked out and Lacey nearly teared up. Her mother was always buttoned up. Always prim and proper. The woman would wear pearls to clean a floor. If she cleaned floors. It always annoyed her before and now her heart ached at the sight of her mother still dressed in her robe and gown, looking disheveled.

“Can I get you some coffee, Momma?”

Her mother stopped as though surprised to see her standing there. “I can do it.”

Lacey moved into the kitchen. “Or you can sit down and let me take care of you.”

A frown creased her mother’s face. “Why would you do that?”

It was a valid question and one that usually would get her annoyed. She didn’t like to be questioned, but now she could see why. She’d never wanted to have to admit to her own motivations, which were almost always selfish. It was easier to deal with when all she wanted to do was comfort someone else. “Because I want to.”

“You never wanted to before.”

And her mother had never spoken to her quite so sharply before. Another gift from Ginny Moreno. Lacey sighed and got one of the coffee mugs down from the cabinet. She’d thought about it all night and couldn’t quite work up the will to hate Ginny. It had been easier to hate her when she’d been the perfect little daughter-in-law bearing the miracle child.

Somehow she was easier to relate to now that she was only human. The trouble was Lacey had figured out her parents were only human, too.

Adulting sucked. She kind of wished she could go back to being a real teenager—self-centered and unconcerned about anything or anyone around her. That had been her mere months before. Before she’d screwed up. Before she’d lost her best friend. Before she’d missed her brother so much it hurt.

It had struck her deep in the middle of the night that she and Sara Jane were all her parents had left and Sara Jane wasn’t around much. They’d lost Jacob and then Ginny and her miracle baby. If she was all that was left, perhaps she should be a better daughter than the one she’d been before.

She poured the coffee into the mug and walked across the tile. It was cool on her bare feet and expensive as hell. Everything in the house was expensive and selected with the greatest care. None of it protected her parents from heartache.

“No, I didn’t,” she replied as she sat down across from her mother. “But I do now and I hope you’ll let me.”

Her mother put her hands around the coffee mug as though she could receive the warmth through her skin. “Don’t you have something you want to say? I assume you would like to tell me you were right about Ginny. That you knew all along she was up to something.”

“No. I want to say I’m really sorry, Momma. I know how much you wanted a grandchild from Jacob.” She wanted something of Jacob to hold on to. Her mother needed something of her son to still be alive and in this world. At the time there had been a whisper in Lacey’s brain that she wasn’t enough. That they would always love Jacob more and that the baby would take his place and she would remain nothing more than the second daughter. She understood so much more now. Love wasn’t finite. Her mother’s heart wasn’t a tiny thing to be portioned out. Her mother loved Jacob and she loved Lacey, too. She could have loved the baby and not a drop of her love would have been taken from her daughter.

Why couldn’t she have realized that before?

Her mother was silent and brought the mug to her lips.

“Lacey, can I speak with you?”

Lacey turned and her father was there, standing at the kitchen door. Unlike her mom, he was dressed perfectly, though she could see from the lines around his eyes that he hadn’t slept much. They’d come home the day before and vanished into their bedroom, closing the door behind them. Lacey had still been able to hear her mother’s cries.

“I’ll be right back.” Lacey couldn’t leave her mother alone. “I’m going to stay home with you today.”

Not that it was a big sacrifice. Since she’d lost her damn mind over Luis, she didn’t have many friends.

What was Mallory thinking today? Was she horrified at what her sister had done? Dakota was forever putting herself first. She likely thought she’d done everyone a favor, and Mallory and Joanne and Marcus would suffer for it because Lacey knew her uncle. Sebastian Rush wouldn’t go into a hole somewhere and hide. He would fight and he would fight dirty, and Dakota would be his first target. Her family would be nothing but collateral damage.

If she warned Mallory, would she listen? Or would she simply turn away again?

“What do you need, Dad?” Thinking about how lonely she was without Mallory did nothing but make a bad day worse. She’d made that bed and now she had to lie in it. Alone.

“I need you to stop talking to your mother about it.”

“About it?”

Her father’s jaw tightened. “About that girl. About Jacob. We all need to move on. We need to do what we should have done after Jacob died. We have to deal with it. There’s no bringing him back, and wallowing in self-pity isn’t going to help. The way you help your mother is to be as normal as possible.”

This was what her father did. He ignored the problem. He thought if he simply pretended everything was normal then it would be.

“I don’t think that’s going to help. I think Mom might need counseling. Maybe we should call a therapist.”

“I’ve already called her doctor and he’s written a prescription for antidepressants and something to help her sleep. I’ll bring both home with me tonight. You need to leave this to the adults.” Her father’s expression softened slightly. “I’m sorry if I sound harsh, sweetheart. It’s just I sat up with her all night. She’s very close to a breakdown and I don’t want to have to take her to a hospital. The scandal that girl caused is bad enough for our family.”

“I understand that this is hard on everyone, but we need to take care of Mom. We can’t care about how it looks to the neighbors.”

He put his hands on her shoulders. “I love that you care about your mom, but remember who she is. She will care about what the town thinks. We have to protect her. Yes, we have to take care of her, but we have to think about how she’ll feel in a few weeks.”

Horrified. Embarrassed. It was bad enough that she was in the center of a scandal the town would talk about for years to come, but to have a mental breakdown in the middle of it all might be something her mother couldn’t come back from. Lacey nodded. “I’ll try, but normal might mean something different now.”

Her father shook his head, his weariness beyond obvious. “Yes. But some things never change. Some things stay the same no matter what happens to us or how we age. No matter what pain we feel.”

What was he talking about? Sometimes it seemed like her father was so strong. Strong? That wasn’t the word she’d used all the time. Sometimes it seemed as if Jacob had died and her father hadn’t noticed. He’d gone back to work and stayed there. Same as always.

What if her father didn’t feel too little? What if he felt far too much?

She’d noticed yesterday that the minute Dakota made her big announcement, everyone had looked at her mother. All those sympathetic eyes had turned on Celeste Salt and not a single person she’d seen or heard had spoken to Travis Salt except to ask about how they could help with Celeste.

Her father lost a son, too. He’d lost his potential grandchild and no one comforted him. Lacey took the single step that brought her to her father and wrapped her arms around him. How long had it been since she’d done this? Years perhaps. Not since she was a little girl.

“I’m so sorry this happened, Daddy.”

He hesitated as though uncertain of what to do, and then finally his arms came around her. “We have to think of your mother.”

She was about to argue when the doorbell rang. Lacey stepped back and nodded, saving the discussion for another time. “I’ll see who it is.”

Travis frowned. “Likely it’s some nosy biddy using a Jell-O mold as an excuse to come and see the freak show.”

Lacey winced, but there was some truth to it. After Jacob had died there had been endless rounds of ladies and men who came to “visit.” They brought offerings of cakes and casseroles, but mostly they’d quizzed her parents about the details. And of course, they’d wanted to know all about how Ginny had come to live with them. When they’d needed peace most, they’d gotten a sea of “concerned” folk.

She would get rid of whoever was there.

Unless it was Jeffry. God, she hoped it was Jeffry. She needed to know he was all right. He might not have worshipped the ground his father walked on, but she couldn’t imagine how hard it was on Jeffry to watch everything collapse around his dad. She opened the door and her jaw dropped open. “Ginny? Oh, you can’t be here.”

Ginny stood in the doorway wearing a simple dress and sensible shoes, her hair pulled back in a bun. She looked shockingly young and innocent for the most scandalous girl in town.

But then Lacey had held that title not too long ago.

Ginny’s dark eyes seemed so very sympathetic. “I came by to pick up my things and I was hoping to see how your parents are doing. And you.”

Lacey shook her head. “That’s nice, but it’s not a good time.”

“Oh, I think it’s a perfect time.” Her mother stood behind her. “Come in, Ginny. I have a few things to say to you.”

Lacey opened the door fully to let Ginny inside and prayed this didn’t end in another scandal.

* * * *

Celeste watched as Ginny Moreno stepped into her home. It was something she’d done a hundred times before. A thousand, likely. She used to show up on her doorstep looking for Jacob and asking Celeste if she’d made those chocolate cookies she loved. Ginny had been a little girl in pigtails, sitting at her breakfast table giggling with her children.

Now that image was forever replaced with one of Ginny Moreno spreading her legs for Sebastian Rush.

“I assume you’ve come for your things,” Celeste said, not recognizing the sound of her own voice. It was husky, as though she’d smoked for years. That wasn’t true, of course. A lady didn’t do that. But a lady did cry enough over her dead boy and lost grandchild that her voice was hoarse and crass the next morning.

The girl had the good sense to not look her in the eyes. “Yes. I didn’t want you to have to pack them when I can do it. There’s not much here so it won’t take too long. I really don’t want to cause you any more trouble.”

“I’ll help her.” Lacey stepped up, her precious daughter getting between her and the interloper. “She’ll be out of here in a few minutes. No more.”

“I wasn’t going to pack anything,” Celeste heard herself saying. “I was going to throw it all on a fire and watch it burn. Light a match to it the same way you did my family’s reputation.”

Now the girl looked up. “Your reputation is intact. None of this was your fault. Not yours or Lacey’s or your husband’s. All you ever were was kind and thoughtful toward me. Everyone knows that. You’re the victims in all of this.”

How very naïve. She might have been brazen enough to pull the con she had, but she was still a child when it came to some things. That was obvious if she truly thought this scandal would play out and leave the Salt family intact. “But that’s not what they’ll say now, is it? They all know that Travis and I knew Jacob couldn’t father a baby. That medical report Dakota stole proved it.”

Ginny paled. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Lacey said with a shake of her head.