Hidden Truths (Violet Chain Book 2) (6 page)

“6:30, 7ish. Whenever you can get there. But try not to be too late, you know how Janis can be!” Janis was my mother and she was a stickler for serving dinner when it was hot. The one thing we never did was be late for dinner. My mother was very stern about dinner time. I remember when I was seventeen, I was fifteen minutes late for dinner and my mother refused to feed me, making me go up to my room and think about what I had done. At seventeen, missing a meal was torture. I was busy and had a habit of missing a meal here and there, but never dinner.

“Alright, Violet, David and I will be there no later than 6:45.”

“Thanks, Callie, see ya tonight.”

“See ya.” I hung up my phone and felt relieved instantly.

Chapter 2.0 – Chain

Why didn’t I tell her no? I should have told her no. I couldn’t tell her no!

For months, I did a good job of avoiding Violet’s parents. It took precise timing and quick thinking to steer clear of them, especially her mother. After Phillip’s attack, her mother was constantly over, caring for Violet. It’s not like I didn’t appreciate her for all her help, I did, I really did. Violet needed all the support she could get. I was just not prepared to meet them. I felt pressured.  It was too much, too soon.  God, how the hell did I get myself into this?

I could have easily made an excuse not to go to dinner tonight, but when she told me how important it was to her, my heart melted and the ‘no’ that had been on the tip of my tongue slipped out as a yes.

I had nothing in common with her parents. What would I say to them? I didn’t know how to deal with parents, I hadn’t had parents the entirety of my adult life.

I wish Violet hadn’t told me how important it was to her. How could she put me under so much pressure! Why was I blaming her, this wasn’t her fault. This was my fault. Had I not made such a big deal out of her ignoring me and not introducing me to her father the morning she was released from jail, I probably wouldn’t be in this predicament. I thought at the time that this would show that she had real feelings for me, that she wasn’t just using me for sex. And now here she was openly wanting me to meet them and I was dreading it! I didn’t realize at the time that my actions would come back to bite me in my ass!

It seemed like a good idea at the time. But now that she loved me and I loved her, what was the point? As I saw it, she had me and I had her, why did we need others in our life? All I could see was disaster in the making. Fuck! What if they didn’t accept or like me? As close as Violet was to her family, I knew she would break things off with me if her family didn’t care for me and I could never live in a world without Violet. What made it worse was that I had no family. What would they think when they found out that I was an orphan? They were a close-knit family, they worked together and even met once a week to have dinner. Double fuck! I didn’t have a chance in hell!

My head was beginning to throb, the stress, the anxiety beginning to drag me down. I rubbed my temples, trying to relieve the pressure. This was the downer of not having family, someone you could talk to, someone who wouldn’t judge you no matter what you said. If only my mother was here. She would know exactly what to do. She was always my rock, helping me when I was conflicted. She always had the right words, the right answers.

I inhaled gently as I opened the drawer of my desk and pulled out a picture of my mother. Her dark hair was pinned up on the side, the length cascading down her shoulders. Her blue eyes shone brightly, the white of her teeth gleamed through the photograph as she smiled widely. How I missed that smile. It was the smile only a mother could have, the one that comforted you in a time of need, the one that helped wash the nightmares away, the one that told you everything was going to be alright. How I wished I could see that smile right now. I missed her so much!
A lump began to form in my throat as I stared down at it. The anger and hurt I felt at the time of her death resurfaced within me, the pain still as fresh as if it was yesterday.

“Hey, I need you to sign these,” David said as he walked into the room. I slipped the picture back into the drawer and closed it.

David blinked before saying, “What’s wrong?”

I wiped the stray tears from my face before glancing up at him. “Nothing,” I whispered.

He sat down on the chair. “You’re lying. Talk to me, Chain, what the fuck is going on?”

“It’s nothing, Violet wants me to meet her parents, that’s all.”

“Well you knew this would happen someday. I mean if you love her and say she is the one for you, yours forever, then you do have to meet her parents, you know.”

“I know, I just really don’t know how I am going to handle it. She is very close to her family, David. If I screw up, I could lose her forever.”

He nodded before saying, “You’re worried.”

“Yeah, David. What if they don’t accept me?”

He laughed. “What’s not to accept? You’re a nice, considerate man and you make their daughter happy. Why wouldn’t they like you?”

“I don’t know, I guess I’m just being paranoid.”

“Yes, you are.”

“What if they ask about my family, what do I tell them?”

“The truth. You did nothing wrong, Chain. Your mother and sister were killed in an accident.”

“And my father? What do I tell them about him?”

“Tell them he’s a fucking asshole,” David blurted out. I didn’t know why but that made me laugh hard and I needed it.

After Violet and I got together, I finally sat down and told David the story about my relationship with my father. Although I didn’t tell him the entire truth, he understood and supported my decision to not have my father in my life. “Just relax, Chain, Violet loves you and you love her, that’s all that matters.”

“You’re right. But what if—” He silenced me with a raise of his hand.

“Stop with the ‘what ifs’, you will drive yourself insane.”

“I know, I just want to make sure I don’t do anything to ruin it.”

“You won’t, Chain, I have faith in you.”

“Thanks, David.”

He slid the papers across the desk. “Can you sign these?”

“Sure.”

The rest of the day I spent practicing what I would say to her parents, how I would act. Christ, I even thought about what I would wear. The more I thought about it the more it was apparent that I didn’t want to go. I just wasn’t ready, I needed to tell Violet. She knew me, she knew that this was not something I could do.

After I drove up her driveway, I sat and drummed up a bunch of excuses why I couldn’t go. I was going to get out of this if it was the last thing I did.

I walked into the house and went straight to the fridge, grabbing the gallon of milk, pouring it into a glass.

“Hey.” I glanced up from my glass of milk to find Violet standing in the kitchen.

She fiddled with her fingers, indicating to me she was nervous—really nervous. I grabbed her hands and rubbed them gently, trying to calm her fidgeting.

She frowned, looked down then let out a deep exhale. “Chain, I know you don’t want to do this, go to my parents’. So I’m going to let you off the hook. If this is not something you want to do, then you don’t have to.” She said it, she gave me my escape. It was that easy, well it would have been if I hadn’t caught the glimpse of the disappointment on her face. I slid my index finger under her chin, lifting her eyes to mine. “What’s wrong?”

She faked a smile. “Nothing.”

I clutched her hand and walked her into the living room, sitting her down. I searched her eyes, reading them before saying, “It’s very important to you that I meet your parents, isn’t it?”

“Not really,” she responded unconvincingly.

“Yes it is, Violet.”

“It is important, that’s true. But you don’t want to go and the last thing I want to do is force you into doing something you don’t want to.” There she was again, my considerate, beautiful and amazing Violet. The woman I loved. The woman I would move the world for, put my life down to save hers, if I had to. Yet I couldn’t get past my own selfish needs to do the one thing that was important to her, meeting her parents. I felt like a self-centered prick. I didn’t deserve her, I didn’t deserve her one bit. I had to do this, for her, for me, for us.

I cleared my throat, clutched her hand and sat straight up. “I want to go.”

Obviously I wasn’t convincing enough, because she mumbled half-heartedly, “No you don’t, Chain, you’re just saying that to make me feel better. You always say things to make me feel better.”

I squeezed her hands and put on my biggest smile. “No, sweetheart, I really want to go. I want to meet your parents.”

She perked up. “Really?”

“Yes, really. I love you and your family are a part of you and I want to know every part of you there is.” Just like that my fear of meeting her parents dissipated. It was true, I wanted to know everything there was to know about Violet, including her family. She snaked her arms around my neck and pulled me into an embrace.

“Oh, Chain, I love you too. Thank you, you don’t know how much this means to me.”

She pulled away and a smile beamed across her face so brightly, I felt my heart flutter. That smile, that wonderful, beautiful, heart-warming smile. That alone was worth it all.

I gave her a quick kiss, patted her thigh and stood up. “I’m going to change, I’ll be right back.”

***

We drove up to Violet’s parents’ house and I was a little surprised, with the amount of money that Violet’s father’s business brought in, that the house was a simple, lower-middle-class ranch, yellow sided with a black roof. The sidewalk was a brick-stamped gray and the front was decorated with large flowery bushes. Violet pushed open the front door and we walked inside. The small foyer had a dark table leaned against the wall, with an array of pictures. I glanced at the pictures and they were of Violet and her brothers growing up. I lifted up a photo of Violet. Her name was embossed on the bottom and by the year, I could tell it was her senior picture from high school. Her hair was blonde, obviously bleached, and it made her look so different. Although her beauty still shone, I definitely preferred her natural dark locks.

“Do you like my hair blonde?” Violet asked as she leaned her chin on my shoulder, her eyes tilted up at mine.

“It is pretty, but no, I prefer your hair the way it is now.” She took the picture from me and placed it back down. “Come on, time to go meet the parents.”

Violet clutched my hand as we stepped down into a large living room. A large brown playpen couch with an attached chaise covered one wall, along with two side tables. Pictures covered the rest of the walls along with large paintings of flowers.

“Mom, we’re here,” Violet screamed out.  A tiny woman with short dark hair and Violet’s eyes scuttled towards us. She had a purple knee-length dress on and a blue apron strung around her neck.

She smiled as she approached. “Hello.”

“Mom, this is Chain. Chain, this is my mother, Janis Townsend,” Violet introduced.

I held out my hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Townsend.” She waved my hand away then reached up and wrapped her arms around my neck, giving me a big hug.

“Sorry, I should have warned you, my mother is a hugger.” Violet chuckled.

Mrs. Townsend gave me a tight squeeze before releasing me. “You are a handsome devil, aren’t you?”

“Mom!” Violet exclaimed.

“Well he is, Violet.” I bit my lip, trying to stifle a laugh.

“Thank you for the compliment, Mrs. Townsend. But I do have to say that you and Violet could pass for sisters!”

She blushed as she waved her hand in response. “You are a charmer, Chain. So tell me, where do you buy your suit coats at?” she asked out of the blue as she adjusted my collar. That was a very odd question. Who asked such a question?

Violet leaned to my ear. “I told you she asks weird questions.” Ah yes. Violet had told me that about her mother.

Vince and Victor walked into the room.

“Chain, how the hell are you?” Vince queried as he shook my hand.

“I’m good, and you?”

“Couldn’t be better.”

Victor eyed me before holding out his hand. “Chain,” he grumbled.

“Hey, Victor,” I responded as I shook his hand.

Violet’s mother wiped her hands on the side of her apron. “So dinner is just about ready, how about you all go in and have a seat at the dining room table. There are appetizers and wine.”

Clutching Violet’s hand, I followed her brothers into a large room. The walls were a dark oak with large candle holders attached to the walls, flames burning from the white candles. The table was long and could sit at least twenty people. It was dressed in a white linen tablecloth and large black leather chairs encircled it. In front of every chair, there was a set of three plates all stacked on top of each other, with a white linen napkin shaped like a hat in the middle. The silverware was set up like a restaurant, two forks, two spoons, a butter knife and a steak knife. A wine glass and a filled water glass sat to the left of the plates. I slid out a chair for Violet and she sat down and I sat down next to her.

The middle of the table had white platters filled with escargot, tomato slices beneath circular pieces of mozzarella, and breaded mushrooms.