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Owen was gob smacked. “Are we even in Winter Peaks? Or is this a parallel universe?”
Tara giggled against his chest.
“At least some things haven’t changed…” he said.
“What things?”
“I didn’t stop loving you and I would still do anything for you, Gorgeous.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Tara crawled over Owen’s body, pressing her lips against mouth. “I love you, too. I never stopped loving you.”
His grin was infectious as he said, “I know.”
“I’m sorry for leaving you that night.”
His grin fell from his face, as he turned serious in the blink of an eye. “I know you’re sorry. I accept your apology. It doesn’t mean that I’m suddenly okay with it, or that I fully understand why you didn’t confide in me.”
“I was scared… Eric threatened to kill me and that he wouldn’t rest before putting me six feet under like my mother.”
“He killed her?”
“Yes. I know he did. I went over to that place he said my mom worked, and found it burned to the ground. The place was crawling with cops and fire fighters. I overheard a police officer talking to an EMT on the scene that they found a woman tied to a chair with her head bashed in.”
“Oh, sweetheart…”
He let her go when she sat up straight, her grey wool socks touching the long grass.
“I had tried calling my mother after Jenny got rid of my father at the door, but her phone was out of service. She never once called me, Owen. She never picked up her things from the apartment above Jenny’s—I checked with Jenny a few days after I left town. I watched the news and saw that the police were trying to identify the woman that was killed in the massage parlor even before the fire started. I already knew it was my mother but when the news showed her clothing and jewelry, I knew for certain that he’d killed her.”
She looked him in the eye and smiled when she said, “My mom was griping about me not keeping our apartment tidy as she couldn’t find her pink skirt. She called me a lazy ass for not pulling my weight while she did all the hard work. I pulled that stupid skirt from under the sofa and gave it to her. It had those hideous sequins on it and she must have seen by the look I gave her that it wasn’t my taste.”
He gave her a watery smile. “I’ve never seen you wear anything pink.”
She nodded. “Did you know what the last words were my mother said to me?”
“No?”
“She said: ‘It’s a good thing you’ve got tits and ass, because with the way you dress you’d otherwise look like a guy.’”
Owen narrowed his eyes, getting angry with Gloria even after her death. Tara had tried to let go of all the nasty comments her mother had made. Even though Gloria had saved her from a horrible life in Detroit, living with Gloria still hadn’t been healthy.
She got up from the swinging bench and walked a few steps. She plucked a pink flower, not knowing if it was a wildflower or one of Mrs. Bear’s award winning flowers she used to brag about.
Owen held still next to her, his hand resting on her shoulder. “Maybe we can hold a service or something for your mother?”
“She hated people. And I think most people hated her, too.”
“Maybe. What about planting a flower or a tree or something? We can ask Frankie to help us plant the thing in the backyard?”
She smiled at Owen trying to make her feel better. He had always been sweet like that. Young Owen was a force to be reckoned with. She had been drawn to his cheeky grin from the first moment she laid eyes on him.
But the mature, sweet and caring Owen? He made her ready to settle down and make a home for her and Frankie. She knew deep down inside that he would have their backs.
She held out her hand and he instantly wrapped his hand around hers.
“Aren’t there flowers named Gloria? I think my cousin Mira can help us out. Maybe we can make a flowerbed filled with Gloria flowers?” Owen asked.
