Saving Us (Mitchell Family #6)(35)
Author: Jennifer Foor

“Amy, thanks for coming. I know Conner hates my guts. I don’t blame either of you for that. I made my bed. I deserve to have nothing.”

Heather was sitting on the edge of one of the beds. I sat down on the one across from her and looked right at her. “Heather, I can’t speak for Conner or anyone in his family, but I hate that you got dragged into my Hell. That bastard played us both. I can see the fear in your eyes and I recognize it because I live with that same fear every single day.” I grabbed my belly and started to rub it. “I have a real chance at a future with someone who loves me. The Bible says that we should forgive, even the worst of sinners. I forgive you, Heather. I will never forget what you did, but I can try to forgive you.”

Heather started to cry. She buried her face into her hands. “You don’t know how much that means to me. I swear that I’ve changed Amy. I know that family would never give me a second chance, but I appreciate that you would. I will do whatever it takes to help find Rick and get him locked up. I want to be able to see my family again. My God, the last time I saw my mother, she was being thrown to the floor by that bastard. You don’t know awful it was to see that and keep running. I miss them so much.”

I could feel the tears forming in my own eyes. I grabbed Heather’s hand. “We are both going to get our lives back.”

She nodded, but continued to cry.

Conner was going to be mad at me, but Heather and I had more in common than he understood. I was living the same way she had been.

A life in fear.

It was time for it to end.

Chapter 22

Conner

When I got back into the room, the girls were holding hands like old friends. I wanted to walk back out and then in again to see if I wasn’t just imagining it. They separated once they saw my dirty look and both climbed into bed without saying anything. After using the facilities, I climbed into bed next to Amy and wrapped my arms around her. Amy was already half asleep, while the baby was wide awake and moving all around. I kept my hand placed right on her stomach and fell asleep with my family in my arms.

The next morning we all got up and got showered. Heather had a small book bag with her, while Amy and I had packed a whole change of clothes and other things we needed. We got on the road at about nine and within a couple minutes were pulling up to a nice size single family home.

Amy and Heather were being cordial to each other. It pissed me off, but I wasn’t exactly in a place to be saying anything about it. I knew they had both been scared for a long time. I didn’t blame them for having that in common.

We all three got out of the car and went up to a large red front door. The sign above it read Silverman. Heather stepped in front of us, which made sense since she already had met the woman. The lady was nothing like I expected. She was tall and lean with long blonde hair. From far away I could see where she would have been mistaken for someone much younger. The woman must have had a lot of work done on her face and probably more parts of her body.

“Good morning. I wasn’t sure if you would be coming by today. Come on inside.” She walked us into a little room with two couches but no television. The furniture was all a light crème and I felt like just sitting on it was going to ruin it.

“This is Amy and Conner. They drove from Kentucky last night.” Heather sat down next to the woman, while we sat across from them. I kept my hand on Amy’s leg, feeling like I needed her to know that she wasn’t in this alone.

We both leaned over and shook hands with the woman. She smiled and noticed Amy’s belly. “How far along are you?”

Amy looked over at me. “Six and a half months.”

She kept smiling and staring at her stomach. It was kind of weird.

I cleared my throat. “Excuse me for bein’ blunt, but why did you need to see us?

She stood up. “How about I get us some refreshments first. My mind isn’t that reliable unless I’ve had some morning coffee.”

Amy and Heather both asked for water, while I asked for nothing. The woman brought back two bottles of water and handed them to the girls. “I supposed I should just get right to it. I’m sorry for asking you to come all this way, but after sixteen years, you can imagine that things haven’t been easy for me to let go of.”

“I don’t understand. We don’t know anything,” Amy explained.

“I supposed I should start from the beginning, back when I was married to Rick Martin. I’m not really sure when you met him, but when I met Rick he was still married. His wife was the daughter of some big attorney. At first he didn’t tell me he was married, but after I had seen them out in public together, he had to come clean. He told me that their marriage was a joke and that they hadn’t been in love for some time. I wanted to believe him, because he was the sweetest man that I’d ever met. For months we snuck around stealing kisses and meeting in hotel rooms for heated moments together. Every time we were alone he would ask me to marry him. You can imagine how something like that would make me feel. What woman doesn’t want to be seduced by such a sexy man. Rick told me that his wife wouldn’t give him a divorce. He claimed that she said she would take away his son and he would never be able to see him again. I guess you don’t know that part either. Rick had a three year old son. That kid was his world. It was all he ever talked about. He was so afraid of his wife that he couldn’t take the necessary steps to leave her. It wasn’t until I got pregnant that things got all messed up. I’d given him an ultimatum. He could be with me or he could be with her. I wasn’t going to share him anymore. I had a child to consider. I never saw a man cry like he did that night.” She paused and stared off for a moment.

“When Rick made his choice, I moved on like I said I was going to. I started working for a doctor as a secretary and put myself through night school. I shared an apartment with seven other people, just to be able to afford to live. I will never forget that night I came home and Rick was on my porch. He had flowers in his hand and was all smiles. He wasn’t wearing his wedding ring. I remember looking there first. Rick then proceeded to tell me how his wife had taken a terrible fall. She died before the paramedics could arrive. He told me that we were finally going to be together and a family. God, I was so naïve. I believed every word out of his mouth. I even believed his lame excuse why we couldn’t live together at first. He neglected to tell me how he was being investigated for the murder of his wife.”