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“Thank you,” I tell Marge, and the two of us chat as the line gets shorter and shorter. Eventually, I make my way up to the officer behind the window and let him know why I’m visiting. He takes my identification—I have to sign in—and then asks me a couple more questions. Within thirty minutes, I’m told to leave my cell phone, purse, and any other personal items with him, and then I’m taken back to the visitation room. There are aboutfifteen circular tables, and only a few of them are filled. There’s an inmate in an orange jumpsuit sitting across from what I imagine are friends or family members.
The guard escorts me over to the table I’ll be sitting at with my aunt, then I take a seat, waiting for him to return with her. Or maybe someone else does. I’m not really sure. As I glance around the area, everyone seems to be happy to be here with their loved ones, but I can’t say the same. I’m dreading the moment I see her because I know this isn’t going to be a good visit. Her phone call prepared me enough for that. She has no good intentions, and I’m sure that I’m going to find out exactly what she wants here today.
A few more minutes pass by, and then I see her. Her hair is tied back in a bun and the guard walking next to her seems annoyed as hell. The guard brings her over to the table, and after she sits down, he hooks her cuffs to a metal piece on the table. He walks off without saying a word, and I glance over at the clock just so I can remember how much time I spend with her.
“You look great, Emily,” my aunt tells me, and my stomach feels like it’s being tied in knots. I know not to expect anything good from her right now, not with the way she spoke to me earlier this week.
“You don’t look too bad yourself,” I say, hoping the compliment will ease whatever’s about to happen between us.
“Why, thank you. I actually spoke to your mother yesterday. Being in here has made me realize how important family is, so I’ve been working on repairing the relationship I have with my sister. In the process, she told me how proud she is of you with your new job and all of that, but as she kept talking, I kept wondering if she should really be proud of you. Especially after the secret you kept from her.”
I suck in a sharp breath, knowing I can’t hide the fear written all over my face. I should’ve known she’d use this against meone day, but I didn’t anticipate it. I thought I could trust her, but now she’s here using my secret as ammunition for whatever she wants.
“What do you want?” I ask, trying not to let my voice inflect with any sort of emotion. I don’t want her to know how much she’s getting to me right now.
“I want to remind you that you owe me, Emily. Your careless actions resulted in you coming to me at a desperate time of need. You had pre-marital sex, which is a big no-no in my sister’s faith, is it not? She would’ve been disgusted if she knew that you had given up her grandchild for adoption. I doubt she’d be as proud as she says of you if she knew about your secret.”
“What is it you want? Obviously, it’s something. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have called me the other day, and you sure as hell wouldn’t be trying to intimidate me right now if there wasn’t something you wanted.” I cut straight to the chase, and my aunt’s smile grows from ear to ear. I can’t believe I trusted this woman to help me find a suitable home for my daughter. Sure, she was unplanned, but I wanted the best for her… and her going with a family who was prepared to take on a child was the best thing.
“It’s simple, really. If you don’t load five hundred dollars into my commissary account every week, I’m going to tell my sister everything, and I mean everything.” My aunt blinks at me as she allows the reality of what she’s saying to settle in.
“You have some nerve trying to blackmail me,” I hiss at my aunt and rise from my seat. I don’t want to be sitting here across from her any longer. I don’t even want to look at her face.
“Emily, you don’t have much time before I make my move, so I’d think about all this very quickly.” My aunt cackles as I walk away, and I head for the doorway.
The guard lets me out, and then another escorts me back down the way I came. Once I’m back in the place where I metMarge, I sign out, get my personal belongings, and then head to my car. I can’t believe this just happened, and I mean that. I seriously cannot believe she’s trying to do this to me. I slam my hand against the dash of my car in complete and utter frustration. I trusted her in a very dark time with something so precious, and here she is years later, trying to use her knowledge of it as some sort of currency. What a fucking bitch!
My hands begin shaking as reality settles in, and I don’t know what to do. I really don’t know how the hell I’m supposed to handle this. I pick up my phone and scroll through my contacts until I find Lom’s name, then I call him. I bring the phone to my ear, and it rings a few times. I’m worried he’s not going to answer when he finally picks up.
“Emily, I was just thinking about you.”
“Lom.” I can’t hide the emotion in my voice. I’m freaking out. I’m pretty sure I’m going to have a panic attack if I don’t talk to him about this.
“Fuck, what’s going on? You don’t sound okay.”
“I… I went to the jail to visit my aunt, and she’s trying to blackmail me, and I’m just so overwhelmed. I can’t believe this is happening. I can’t b-believe she’s doing this to me,” I begin to stammer over my words, and tears threaten to fall, but I try to keep them at bay.
“Okay, okay. Slow down. Come to the hotel. You can stay on the phone with me while you drive if you want. I don’t know if it’ll make you feel any better or if you want to just see me when you get here.” As Lom’s speaking, I type in the name of the hotel, and my GPS brings up directions to it.
“Yes, please.” I buckle my seatbelt and start the process of leaving the jail’s parking lot. Once I’m past the guard, I drive out of the fenced-in lot onto a state road, then follow my GPS. Lom and I don’t say much as I drive, but he checks in to see how I’m doing and asks about my ETA. He’s trying to keep me off theedge of having a complete mental breakdown, and I need that so badly right now. After about thirty-five minutes, I’m pulling into the hotel’s parking garage. “I just got into the parking garage. I’ll see you upstairs in a few minutes,” I tell Lom. We say our goodbyes, and then we both hang up.
As I park my car and get out of it, my heart beats so intensely it’s in my head now. The elevator to the parking garage opens, and much to my surprise, it’s Lom. I figured he might send Ludvik down here… but the fact he came to me when I needed him this much tells me everything I need to know. His heart is as pure as they come.
He walks up to me quickly, and when I’m within his reach, he wraps his arms around me and holds me against him. “You had me so worried. We’ll go upstairs and talk about everything in a minute, but I need to hold you for a moment.” It’s like he’s trying to explain why he needs to comfort me right now, but I don’t care about any of that. I’m just so happy he wants to comfort me in the first place.
I wrap my arms around Lom’s body and hold him like my very life depends on it. I’m so damn happy he’s here. I don’t know what I’d do about any of this if I didn’t have him.
He leads me upstairs, and once we’re in his suite, I breathe a little easier. He hasn’t let go of me since he came to me in the parking lot. Even in the elevator, he had his hand on the small of my back, or his hand was in mine.
Once we get into his living area, we both sit down on the couch beside each other. He runs his fingertips against my chin and forces me to look at him. “What’s upsetting you so badly, Emily? You know you can tell me anything. I won’t judge you in the least bit.”
I give Lom as many details as I can about what happened when I was a teenager, and then I tell him about the phone call I received earlier this week and about what happenedtoday. When I’m finally finished, he shakes his head and seems aggravated. “This is only a desperate attempt to try and intimidate you. Let me ask you this, would it really be a big deal to your family if they found out about your daughter?”
“My family members are southern, and besides that, they’re very strict Christian people. I could get disowned for this, Lom.” I wasn’t trying to do anything malicious in the choices I made when I was a child. I wanted what was best for my daughter and for me too. I couldn’t have raised a child back then. It wouldn’t have been possible, and I wouldn’t have given her a good life.
“All right, well, there’s only one way to fix this.”
I raise a brow at his words. “What are you suggesting?”
