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How could the man look at her with such a complete absence of guile, crucify himself like this?
“And when you tell them, you might as well tell them one more thing. I didn’t just consort with prostitutes, as they say. I worked for the organization, as well,” he added tonelessly. “At the time, I had no idea there was a ‘business’ or that I was part of it. I didn’t hook up with a woman the way the ‘clients’ did. I met Whitney through a guy at work. But that doesn’t change the truth.”
His resignation tore at her. “How were you part of it?”
“I was the ‘higher up’ who checked credentials…left the business card…”
Sitting there with the man who’d touched her heart as no one ever had before, Martha knew only one thing.
Nothing was sacred.
Nothing.
THE KIDS WERE HAVING pizza when she got home. Martha barely managed a “No, thank you, I’m not hungry” on her way through the kitchen. She needed her room. Her bed. A pillow she could hold.
A place where she could think.
She had to tell the people of this town. But with minimum fuss. They’d been through so much this year. She could hardly breathe, realizing that she’d be the one to hurt them again. Whatever happened to the town she’d grown up in? With no mother and a mostly absent father, she could easily have felt deserted, lonely, afraid. Instead Shelter Valley had wrapped its arms around her. A safe haven. She’d always felt secure. Loved. Shelter Valley had always been a place where evil just couldn’t penetrate.
Even four years ago, when Todd had left, she’d felt loved. Secure. Safe.
Lying on her stomach, her face buried in the pillow she held, Martha didn’t feel the least bit safe. She’d allowed her heart to be swayed by hope, her mind to be shaped by beliefs that could have seen her through this life and beyond.
How had it all gotten so crazy?
How could she insure that David was able to leave quietly?
“Mom? What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
She hadn’t heard the door open. Hadn’t heard Ellen come in. Hadn’t known she was crying.
“Tell me! What’s happened?” The return of fear to Ellen’s voice got through Martha’s pain as nothing else could.
“Nothing’s wrong, sweetie,” she said inanely, rolling onto her back. Oh, God. She had to tell Ellen. Her precious, fragile daughter. David had been one of her biggest supports these past months.
“I guess I’m just on overload. With your dad. You. Shelley’s troubles. A prostitution ring in Shelter Valley.” Her voice broke on that last part.
“Hey, you’re the one who always says we can handle anything,” Ellen said, climbing onto the bed beside her mother, fluffing the pillows behind them so they could sit, side by side, backs against the head-board that Todd had put together so many years before.
Because she wasn’t ready to talk about David, didn’t know how to do what she knew she had to, Martha talked to Ellen about her father’s new baby. And how Todd’s betrayal reflected on him, not on them. They talked about Shelley. Ellen assured her mother that her sister would come around, but she didn’t sound any more sure of that than Martha was. They discussed Ellen’s counseling sessions. The girl wanted to continue them. At least for a while. They talked about Aaron. He wanted her to marry him when he graduated at the end of the term, and was giving her some time to think about it. Ellen didn’t need time to think. She’d known she wanted to marry him the minute she’d met him.
She was too young—barely out of her teens. But Ellen had always been mature for her age. She was obviously very much in love with him.
“Where does he plan to live?” Martha asked after hugging her eldest daughter a good long time and shedding a few more tears.
“Mom,” Ellen scoffed, nudging her in the ribs. “Don’t go getting all weird on me, okay? You know me. I’m raising my babies and growing old right here in Shelter Valley.”
As happy as Martha was to hear that, she still frowned. “Are you sure Aaron wants that? He might prefer to move back to Phoenix where his family lives. Or out of state.”
“That’s what’s so great. He’s already got a job lined up teaching at the high school. He wants to coach Little League, sing in the church choir and run for town council.”
Okay, so they’d talked about it.
“Now, why don’t you tell me what else is bothering you?”
Taking a deep breath, Martha realized she’d run out of time. Looking into her daughter’s wide, trusting eyes, she wished David’s angels hadn’t all been a lie. She could sure use some help choosing the words on this one.
In the end, she just told her. For years, David Cole Marks had been a client of prostitutes. A client and a worker in the same organization that had inadvertently been the cause of Ellen’s attack. Because there was nothing gentle about the words, Martha took extra care to make her tone as loving as possible. She held her daughter, her hand against Ellen’s head, smoothing the short ends of Ellen’s soft blond hair.
