Hidden Away, page 2
part #2 of Hearts of Montana Series
Stacy was the only one she’d confided in when she realized her period was late. Feeling desperate and alone, Cherry had nowhere else to turn.
They’d gone to their grandmother who had formed a solution that would help them both.
Stacy and her husband Greg had been trying to have a baby for years. Stacy’s body had betrayed her again and again as it failed to hold the life she and Greg lovingly created. The last time had been the worst, and they had given up trying and were looking into adoption.
Broken-hearted and distraught, Cherry knew that she had nothing to offer a child. No money, no future, not even a home where she could take care of it.
Wanting desperately to do what was right for the baby, she made the ultimate sacrifice for the wellbeing of the baby and agreed to her grandmother’s plan.
Stacy had been great about keeping Cherry in her son’s life. She’d been there for every birthday and special occasion, and Sam loved her as if she were a favorite aunt.
But now Stacy was gone.
And Sam was in the hospital, scared and alone.
Red and blue lights flashed in her rearview mirror. Cherry looked up to see a squad car pull in behind her broken-down Bug.
She groaned as she saw the familiar face behind the wheel. What’s he doing here?
She swiped at her face, trying to brush away the tears. She rummaged under the passenger seat of the car, unearthing a napkin to wipe her running nose.
Taylor cut the lights as he pulled in behind the ancient blue Bug.
I can’t believe she still drives that old thing.
Cherry’d had the little VW since they were in high school, and memories flooded his thoughts of dark nights parked by the river.
He could remember the stickiness of the vinyl seats and the feel of his hands on her body as she squirmed under him in the tiny space of the car.
They took that stupid car everywhere. Road trips to the mountains and to Great Falls. To football games and church on Sunday. They’d spent hours in that thing, talking, laughing, and more.
So much more.
He shook his head to clear his mind of thoughts of Cherry’s skin and the way her hair always smelled like strawberries and sunshine.
Get a grip, buddy. What the hell does sunshine smell like anyway?
Like her.
He left the car running, not wanting to have to cool the cab again by turning off the a/c, and approached the car. The engine was dead, and Cherry’s pony-tailed head was turned away from the open window.
Geez, that hair, it still got to him.
He patted the top of the car, as he leaned in toward the window. “I can’t believe you’re still driving this old thing.”
“Lay off my car,” she snapped. “It’s all I can afford, and it’s not like I have any place to go.”
Whoa. What happened to the light-hearted banter they’d shared outside of the diner a few minutes ago?
She turned to him, a look of fury in her red-rimmed eyes. “What do you care anyway?”
He held up his hands in surrender and softened his tone. “Hey, I was just kidding. Are you crying?”
She laughed, a hard, hollow sound. “Wow. Good deduction. I can see why they made you the Sheriff.”
Ignoring her sarcasm, he tried again. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”
“No, I’m not okay.” She leaned her head on the steering wheel of the car, her shoulders slumped in defeat. “I don’t know that I’ll ever be okay again.”
He watched her fall apart, her body shaking as she cried, and each sob stabbed at his heart. This wasn’t like her.
Cherry was the toughest girl he knew.
He’d only seen her cry once before in his life. And that was when he’d left.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
He opened the car door and pulled her from the driver’s seat, tugging her into his arms. He held her against him and let her cry as she clutched his shirt, gripping it between her hands as if she were drowning and the fabric were a lifeboat.
Stroking her back, he did his best to offer comfort, not knowing quite how to handle this side of Cherry. “What is it? What’s happened? Talk to me, Cherry. You’re scaring me.”
Cherry tilted her head back, looking up at him with tear-filled eyes. “It’s Stacy. You remember my cousin? And her husband Greg?”
He nodded.
He’d met Stacy and Greg several times in high school when he and Cherry were dating. They were older, but Stacy had always been Cherry’s best friend, and he knew she thought of her cousin as the sister she never had. “What about them?”
“They’re dead.” Her face crumpled. “Oh God. They had a car accident. They’re both dead.” She shook her head in disbelief. “How could they be dead? I don’t understand.”
Her knees buckled against him, and he grabbed her before she could fall. Picking her up, he carried her to his car.
Recognizing the signs of shock setting in, he set her on the seat and tilted her face toward him, locking his eyes on hers. “I’m so sorry. I know you loved her. But it’s gonna be okay. I’m going to take you home. I’ll send someone to pick up your car.”
A look of panic crossed her face, and she pushed against him, trying to get out of the car. “No. I have to go to Great Falls. Stacy’s son was in the car, and he survived. He’s in the hospital. Stacy left Sam to me, and I have to get to him. He’s going to need me.”
“Okay, take it easy,” he said, easing her back into the seat. “We’ll get you to Sam. I’ll take you.”
“You will?” She looked at him in disbelief, and another stab of pain shot through his heart.
What kind of guy did she think he was that he would leave her stranded on the side of the road when she needed him?
Had her opinion of him sunk that low?
Making sure she was inside, he slammed the door and raced around the front of the car. Sliding into the driver’s seat, he put the car in gear and eased back onto the highway, then hit the gas and the lights, increasing his speed as they flew toward Great Falls.
This was something he could do. Here was an action he could take. He could get her to the hospital, and fast.
Reaching for her hand, he offered his support. She clutched it in a death grip, as she silently stared out the window.
He could do this for her, wouldn’t let her down. He wasn’t leaving.
Not this time.
Chapter Three
“They won’t let me see him yet, but my family is all down in the waiting room.” Cherry spoke over her shoulder to Taylor as she turned from the registration desk and hurried down the hallway.
Thank God for Taylor—he’d sped down the highway, and they’d made record time to the hospital.
She’d told him he could drop her off and go, but he’d insisted on coming in. She hated to admit it, but she was glad he was here.
Stopping outside the waiting room, she looked up at Taylor. “I don’t know if I can do this.”
“I know you can. Stacy picked you to take care of her son for a reason. She believed in you.” He squeezed her hand.
She squeezed back then dropped his hand, as if suddenly realizing that she was holding it.
Pushing back her shoulders, she took one deep, steadying breath then pushed open the doors to face her family.
Two women sat in the waiting room. Her Aunt Susan, her dad’s sister and Stacy’s mom, curled into the corner of one of the sofas, a crumpled tissue clutched in her hand.
Her Great Aunt Beatrice sat in the center, her back erect as she held court over the Hill family.
Cherry was all too used to the look of disappointment that frequented Bea’s face when she looked at her great-niece.
And today was no exception.
“Lord have mercy, Cherry. You are a mess,” her aunt said, the snideness slithering through her tone like a nasty little snake in the grass.
Ignoring her mean comment, Cherry headed straight for Aunt Susan.
Dropping to her knees in front of her aunt, she reached to embrace her, then awkwardly dropped her arms when the gesture was not returned. “I’m so sorry.”
Susan nodded, bringing the tissue back up to her mouth. “I know you are. I just can’t believe it.”
“How’s Sam?”
“Surprisingly good, all things considered. They think he might have broken his arm, and they’re checking for a concussion. They’re taking x-rays and running some tests to see if he has any internal injuries. We’re waiting to hear from the doctor.”
She gripped her aunt’s hand. “I’ll do whatever it takes to take care of him. You can count on me.”
The door to the waiting room burst open and Stacy’s older brother, Reed, walked in with his wife, Olivia.
Pudgy and spoiled as a kid, Reed had always been a bully, and Cherry had often been victim to his tactics.
He’d been mean and vindictive as a child, always wanting what someone else had. And except for losing the weight, he hadn’t changed much as an adult.
He became a lawyer and married a woman who was as cold and snobbish as he was. They looked the part of success in their designer clothes and expensive jewelry. His watch probably cost more than her car.
Actually her own watch might be worth more than her car now.
She adjusted her waitress uniform, suddenly conscious of her tangled hair and smoke-stained clothes.
They each carried two cups of coffee, and Reed handed one to Aunt Bea before looking down his nose at Cherry, which wasn’t hard since she still sat on the floor in front of his mother. “What are you doing here? We didn’t need you to come. Besides, we already heard that you burned the diner down, so we figured you’d be busy with that.”
Olivia’s head swiveled from Cherry to Taylor, and she shot a questioning glance at Bea. “Why did she bring a cop? Did you already tell her she’s not taking Sam?”
Cherry’s heart stopped.
She never considered the implications of Taylor’s sheriff’s uniform when they walked in. She glanced at Taylor, who crossed the room and helped her to her feet.
A small gesture, but at least she wasn’t sitting on the floor when she addressed her cousin’s wife. “I didn’t bring a cop. He gave me a ride. And what do you mean I’m not taking Sam?”
Olivia made a face as if she smelled something bad, and a tiny spark of anger lit inside Cherry’s belly.
She was usually pretty good at putting on a show and ignoring her family’s comments, but Olivia had never even pretended to like her, slinging insults at her every chance she got.
“Seriously, Cherry. Look at yourself. You look like a homeless person. You can’t seem to take care of yourself, let alone a child.”
Cherry ignored the kernel of truth to that statement.
Instead, she gathered strength from her anger, feeling it growing inside of her, swirling into a ball of rage. “I look like this because I was putting out a fire.” She turned to Reed. “And it was a grease fire. I did NOT burn the diner down.”
Reed shrugged, his smugness only adding fuel to the fire swelling inside of her. Bubbling like an active volcano, she took a breath, ready to spew lava at these horrible people.
Before she could speak, Taylor took her hand and gave it a warning squeeze.
He stepped to her side and addressed her relatives. “Why don’t we all just take a step back here and remember that everybody wants what’s best for the boy.”
Cherry looked up at his face, recognizing the charming smile that he wore and the easy tone of cop-speak.
She knew he was on her side, but it curdled her gut to have him be nice to them. To show them an ounce of respect when they deserved none.
Reed laughed in disdain, his demeanor even worse than his hideous wife’s. “Who do you think you are? Mr. Small-Town Policeman coming in here telling us what we need to do with our family.”
Taylor stood his ground, his charming smile slipping only a little. “First of all, I’m not a police officer, I’m the Sheriff. And I think out of respect for your sister, we need to honor her wishes.”
Reed took a threatening step toward Taylor. “Listen here. Stacy was our sister. You have no idea what her wishes were. And I don’t care how many piss-ant ‘deputies’ you bring in here, there is no way in hell that my nephew is going anywhere with that two-bit tramp.” He waved a hand in Cherry’s direction. “She already swindled the diner away from our grandparents.”
Tramp? Who the hell is he calling a tramp?
She hadn’t even been with a man in over a year. Who had time?
That diner that she supposedly swindled away from her grandparents took all of her time, energy, and money.
She didn’t have time for such frivolous things like a sex life.
A loud banging noise startled her as she turned to see her Great Aunt Bea whacking her cane against the side of the coffee table.
“Everybody needs to shut up,” her aunt scolded.
A hush fell over the room as they all deferred to Aunt Bea.
Cherry stepped back against Taylor, surprised at the feeling of comfort and support she got just from leaning against his solid frame.
Bea waved a hand in her direction. “For some reason, unbeknownst to the rest of us, my sister saw something in you. But she was always too kind-hearted. She gave you a chance to run our family’s legacy, and you seem to be running it into the ground. Or burning it to the ground, if your clothes and the phone calls I’ve received this morning are any indication of what happened today.”
Running it into the ground? Who did she think she was?
Cherry was the only thing keeping that diner alive. She spent all of her time there working to make the diner a success.
“When the rest of your cousins were seeking higher education and trying to better themselves, you were still goofing off in Broken Falls.”
“Goofing off? If by goofing off, you mean spending every waking minute on my feet helping with the diner, then maybe.” She’d foregone college, but only until she could raise the money to go. After high school, her grandparents had needed her, with the restaurant and to help them as their health failed.
Her mom had run off when she was a child, and her dad was of no use to her. He loved the bottle more than his daughter and couldn’t care less about his parents or their restaurant. But they were all Cherry had, and she would have done anything for them.
“I’m the only one who stayed. The one who took Gram to her doctor appointments and watched as Grandpa’s Alzheimer’s took over his mind and body. They were always there for me, and I wasn’t about to go off to college and leave them with no one to help take care of them.” Her voice broke, and she swallowed against the emotion. “I owed them more than that. And I was there for them until the very end.”
Her aunt wrinkled her nose in contempt and waved away her comments. “Yes, yes, we’ve all heard the supposed sacrifices you made for my sister. I’m sure you’ll be awarded your sainthood soon.”
Cherry gazed at her grandmother’s sister and wondered who in this room would be willing to care for her to the end. To feed her and wipe her chin. To bathe her and sit by her bed for hours.
Her Aunt Bea was a bitter woman, and her cousins were snobs. The thought of Sam growing up in this environment of meanness and self-importance curdled her stomach.
How did Stacy stand it? The sooner she could get Sam away from the influence of these cruel people, the better.
Her grandmother had been nothing like her sister. When she and Stacy had come to her with the news of her unplanned pregnancy, she’d had no judgement—hadn’t made her feel worse about herself. Instead, she’d cried, hugged them both, then used her connections to quietly get things done.
She’d taught Cherry how to wear her clothes to disguise the rapidly growing bump. When she was too far along for a sweatshirt to hide the proof, she arranged for the girls to take a trip together. A late graduation gift for Cherry and a nice get-away for Stacy.
When they got back, word had come through that a baby was available for adoption.
Through her grandmother’s connections, a quiet adoption took place, and Stacy and Greg became new parents. Cherry went back to her life, working at the diner.
Now her great aunt fixed her with a pointed stare, and she felt like she was six years old again and getting in trouble for running through the house. “Right now we need to focus on this situation. We are all aware that you were close to Stacy, and it is unfortunate that she has passed on at such a young age. I can’t begin to imagine what she was thinking when she appointed you the guardian of Samuel, but it is clear to everyone in this room that you are in no way prepared to take care of a child.”
Unfortunate? That’s what she was calling Stacy’s death?
Cherry opened her mouth to speak, but she had no words. The emotionless words of her aunt left her speechless.
Bea sighed. “You must see that what I’m saying is true. Look at yourself, girl. You have no money, no way to provide for the child. Your sole income comes from a place that requires you to work long hours and won’t allow you to spend time with Samuel anyway. You had to hitch a ride here so I assume you now have no mode of transportation. You show up here in dirty clothes with your hair a rat’s nest claiming that you are planning to take Samuel with you. Where are you going to take him? From what I’ve heard about the fire this morning, your apartment is unlivable. So you have no home, no money, not even a car. You have no education, no means of support, and you can’t even seem to find a man. Have you considered that you must not be much of a catch if you can’t even garner the interest of one of the local yokels in Broken Falls?”
Every word was like a knife delicately and succinctly slicing off a piece of her heart.
Each failing in Cherry’s life was being revealed and laid out on the table for everyone in the room to gawk at and inspect.
Her aunt’s word were cruel, but they held a ring of truth.
She had no money, no place to live, and a broken down heap of a car. What was she thinking?
Maybe her aunt was right, and Sam would be better off with her cousin.
