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“I can stare at it for as long as I want to, Mr. Lawrence,” I told him as I reached out to take our sleeping daughter. With a grin, he denied me, holding her away. But I should have seen that coming. He’d been very possessive over her since she’d been born.
“Alright, Mrs. Lawrence,” he responded just as cheekily. “But you’ll have to actually open it up to know one way or another what’s going on.”
I sighed. I knew what he was saying was true, but I couldn’t fight the nerves bouncing around in my stomach.
My life had changed so much in the past year alone, and while most of the changes were positive, I was still reeling from them all. After Ezra’s daring rescue, I thought I would never get over the trauma. But I did, quicker than I thought. And then, just a few weeks later, Ezra proposed.
We’d gotten married a few months ago in a small ceremony attended only by a few of his men. Erwin had walked me down the aisle, and he nearly cried when he did so. But with Brenda in jail, there weren’t that many people for me to invite. Still, it was a good event, and I felt like Ezra’s men made up for my lack of guests by bantering through most of it and making me feel like I was part of their family.
About two dozen of his men attended the ceremony, and I could tell they all loved and respected their boss even as they ribbed him. During the ceremony, I recognized Lance, who Ezra had been visiting more often over the months.
I was wondering how to go over and talk to him, but he solved it by approaching me on his own.
“Thank you,” he’d said when he did. I blinked, stunned by his straightforwardness. “Ezra told me what you did for my son. I can’t thank you enough for that.”
I shook my head, confused. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Yes, you did,” he insisted. “Randy would never have accepted the deal without you.”
“I’m not sure that’s true.”
“Regardless,” he said with a sad smile. “Thank you anyway.”
I felt my heart ache for the man and had a feeling he had a sensitive, caring soul underneath the damaged exterior. I laid a hand over his arm, hoping to give him some comfort without prying too deep into his issues. “He’ll forgive you. Don’t worry. Just keep at it.”
Thankfully, Lance wasn’t offended. He nodded and gave me a little smile. “I plan on it.” And then, with a final nod, he went off to find Ezra to deliver his congratulations.
The ceremony had been short but beautiful.
And my husband stared at me lovingly the whole time. At first, I’d found it difficult to believe Ezra really loved me, even after he risked his life to save me and then proposed to me. I thought I was dreaming and that the other shoe would drop soon.
But day after day, I couldn’t help but accept it.
Even as we’d returned to real life after the wedding, Ezra decided he would stay in Denton long enough for me to give birth and be comfortable, but we would eventually have to move back to DC. And until then, he traveled back and forth as needed.
Additionally, he continued searching for my mom, and a few weeks after Darla, our daughter, was born, he came to me with a forlorn, broken look.
“Hey,” he said to start.
“Hey,” I responded, quirking a brow. “What’s up?”
He sighed. “I didn’t want to tell you this while you were still pregnant, so I waited until after Darla was born. I also didn’t want you to hear it from somebody else.” He took another deep breath and then took my hand in his. “I found out something. About your mom.”
I nodded, readying myself for what he had to say. “She’s dead, isn’t she?”
He hesitated, then nodded.
I shrugged. “I figured as much. It’s okay. I wasn’t holding out hope that she was alive.”Not much, anyway.
“There’s more,” he said, and he kept his eyes on me as he continued, “We also found out that she died under relatively mysterious circumstances. Her last recorded appearance was when she boarded a train to Cincinnati, but there was no record of her ever arriving. She must have gotten off on the way there. It was like she simply disappeared. But then we also found out your dad left town around the same time. We don’t know where he went exactly, but Jeff saw him drive off, headed in that direction.”
My heart caught. “So you’re saying my dad killed my mom?”
“Maybe,” he said. “Probably by accident. We traced your dad’s movement to a motel off the freeway, and the only witness, the owner, said he heard the couple arguing, and then the woman went quiet. But when he went in, the man had already checked out. He didn’t leave any evidence.”
Rage filled me, and my heart shattered for my mother. I thought whatever I found out would have no power to hurt me. I prepared myself for what I thought was the worst, finding out my mother abandoned me and didn’t give a damn.
But this was so much worse. She didn’t abandon me. I knew it without a doubt now. She’d run for her life, but she was going to come back for me.
