Chapter Two
They rode out of SabinePass.Then they flew once they were on the freeway.
It was almost midnight before they made it to downtown and slowed down to see the River Walk.They stopped and Kelly took off her helmet.
It wasn’t long before Kelly found Char, waiting on a bench half hidden under a canopy there for a bit of privacy.
Kelly stared at Char for a long moment.She turned out to be a beautiful young woman.She did have the same eyes and hair, but she was now curvy.She looked a bit pale but that was natural considering this situation.She kicked her stand down, swung her leg over her engine and rushed over to her.
Char stood slowly and just stared at Kelly.
Then Kelly reached out and pulled her into a hard hug.“God almighty girl, I’ve missed you,” she whispered in Char’s ear.
Char hugged her tightly and slowly closed her eyes.“I didn’t know if you would even remember me.”
“Are you kidding me?”Kelly exclaimed.“You were my best friend, then you were gone and nobody knew why or where you went.I tried to talk to your mom after she came home from the hospital but she was broken.She just sat there on your couch and she seemed to wilt a little more every day.She kept saying something about losing you and Rosie to her family.Then one day, I went to talk to her and she was gone.Her body had fallen to the floor but her eyes were just vacant.The state buried her because nobody else claimed her.I didn’t know where you were or if you’d ever be back.I tried to find you but nobody knew anything.I kept praying you would find me one day and tell me what happened to you.It took you a long time to reach out.I almost gave up hope.”
Char shook her head and said, “I didn’t know if you even kept the same phone number or not.It was a shot in the dark to even make that call.”Then she looked at Kelly like she was a ghost in the dark.“But you answered and it was really you on the other end.”
Kelly smiled.“I kept hoping you would remember my number.”
Just then, Char looked behind her and saw the three men waiting.“Who are your friends?”
Kelly smiled.“I met them along the journey to find my own past.We sort of stuck together through some really hard times and now we all have a good life, one that we can be proud of.”
Char looked at her again.“You got a man then?”
Kelly nodded.
Comanche snorted.“Oh yeah, Kelly went and got herself a good man.”
Char looked at her and hugged her again.“That’s wonderful.I hope he treats you good.”
The guys got off the bikes and the whole group went to sit down at a table next to the river.
Kelly looked at Char and said, “Ok, tell us all what happened to you and Rosie five years ago.”
“My mom’s brother showed up, that’s what.”Char looked angry as she told her story, “Mom never told me her family was nothing but rich white trash.Victor showed up and they had one hell of a fight.He accused her of running away from her duty and she told him she left because she didn’t agree with their mother’s threats.She said that she wanted to marry for love, not duty.”Char paused then fresh tears fell down her paling cheeks.“Victor told her that it took them too long to finally find her and take care of her little problem and that she was finally free to come back and do the right thing by her family.When she asked what that meant Victor just smiled and he whispered my dad’s name and how terrible it was that he had to die to get her to do the right thing.”
“And just what was that supposed to mean?”Comanche growled.
Char turned her head and stared at him.“Mom asked him that and Victor told her it was a shame that scaffolding was so loose that it just gave way and her husband had to fall six floors down to his death.”
No one said a word for a long moment before Kelly asked, “Is that how he died?”
Char nodded.“My mom just went crazy when he admitted what happened.My dad’s death just about killed her and she only went on to raise us girls.But she went into a rage when she heard this.She got a few good slaps in before Victor hauled off and hit her.That hit slammed her into the wall and she slid to the floor but Victor didn’t stop there, he kept hitting her, then he kicked her a few times.Then when he finally stopped, mom was unconscious.He just grabbed me and Rosie as he tried to drag us out.I fought him until he told me if I didn’t cooperate he would cut Mom’s throat.I had no choice but to go with him then.”
“Where did he take you?”Crusher asked.
Char looked up and said, “To his mother’s mansion in Kansas City.”She looked at Kelly and shook her head.“Talk about a wake-up call.She was worse than a red-headed stepmother with a temper.I was sixteen at the time and Rosie was fourteen.When I asked her about my mom, that devil of a woman told me to never speak my mother’s name in her presence again.My mother was dead to her but she told me I could take her place and try to make up for sixteen years of disappointment in her eyes.I asked her what she was going to do with us and she told me I would be offered into a marriage that would benefit the whole family and she knew exactly who would be my husband.She laughed and told Victor I would make them a lot of money in the deal that’s all she cared about.I asked her about Rosie.She shrugged and said, Rosie would have to be trained first but when the time was right she would arrange a marriage for her as well.That Rosie still had some growing to do.”
Kelly gasped and growled.“That’s just evil.”
