Touched (28 page)

C
HAPTER
N
INETEEN

I quickly get dressed, throwing on some yoga pants and one of Knox’s t-shirts. It swallows me, but it has his smell and is so comfortable. When I get near the end of the hall, my mom comes into view. I stop short, holding my breath, and when she looks over at me, and I see the tears in her eyes, mine well up too. I run the rest of the way and about knock her over as I barrel into her, our arms hugging each other and both of us crying into each other’s shoulders. “Mom! What are you doing here? How?” My voice is muffled by her shoulder and her crying. It seems our weeping will never stop, but finally, I move from her arms but keep ahold of her hands. “How did you know where I am?”

She pushes some hair away from my face and smiles. “Knox called me.”

My head whips around to find him leaning against the adjacent wall. I run over to him, throwing my arms around his waist as my head lays against his chest. “Thank you,” is all I can manage to get out through my tears. When his arms come around me the feelings I have are all over the place. Love, caring, tenderness, joy; so many hitting me that I’m completely overwhelmed.

He finally pushes me back and looks into my eyes, his full of love, and I’m lost in him again. “Angel, go spend time with your mother. I’m going to work for a bit and will meet you all in the kitchen for lunch. Go show her your special room and catch up.” His smile makes my heart swell. I can only nod and turn away from him only to turn back and kiss him quickly. I run back over to my mom, our arms going around each other, and I lead her down the hall but look back to see Knox watching us, and give him a smile, then turn back to my mom.

“He seems like he’s turned into a loving man, Jade. Why does his name sound so familiar to me and this is the penthouse, right? Must be doing quite well for himself.” We are sitting in my room, in my comfortable chairs and Mom started right into our conversation.

“Oh, Mom. He is the best person I’ve ever met. He’s so loving and treats me like a queen. He owns a design company that is top in the field. I can’t believe how smart he is, a great head for business and designs as well. Mom, who would have thought that sweet little boy would turn out to be one of the wealthiest and most successful men?”

“Oh, my! That’s wonderful, dear. How proud his parents must be.” Her smile is sweet but there’s so much she doesn’t know.

I get up and walk to my desk retrieving the pictures laying there and take them to her. “Mom, I was unpacking boxes and found these. Look at the ones from the playground.” She takes them, and her smile broadens. “He doesn’t have any parents.” She looks up at me and a frown quickly replaces her smile. “His stepmother just passed away and she was the most cruel and vile person to him. His dad committed suicide years ago.”

“Oh, the poor boy. It’s a wonder he’s turned out so well with such a sad life growing up.” She lays the pictures in her lap and looks down. “We’ve always loved you and I hope treated you well but it’s in excusable that we didn’t support you with what you went through.” She looks up at me with tears in her eyes. “I’m so very sorry, Jade. I’m just as horrible as his stepmother.”

“Mom…” We turn our heads when Ralph walks in with a tray of drinks and snack foods. “Please excuse the interruption but Knox thought you ladies might like some refreshments.” I smile and nod at him as he walks across the room and places the tray on my desk. “Is there anything else I can get you?”

“Thank you, Ralph. We’re good.” I give him a small smile as I watch him leave. Then I turn back to my mom. “Mom, you don’t have to…”

She sits up straighter in her chair. “Oh, yes I do. I have no reason to have let your dad do that to you. I’m just as at fault as he was for allowing it. I’ve always followed him, done anything and everything he asked and most of the time he’s made good decisions, the right choices but not that time.” She turns in her seat and frowns at me. “I don’t know what got into him, embarrassment maybe, I’m not sure but whatever it was it wasn’t right. No one should treat someone they love like that. No one. When I think of what you went through, all alone…”

I rise from my chair and squat down in front of her. “Mom, let’s put this behind us please. I have.” I take her hands in mine and give her a concerned look. “Now, tell me about Dad. What’s happening?”

“They’re getting ready to transfer him from the hospital to a rehabilitation nursing home. From the blackout and the dementia he needs physical therapy to be able to walk again and he just isn’t the same. He keeps thinking you’re still a young child and that we are back in Philadelphia.” She wipes some tears from her eyes, and I grab a tissue, handing it to her. “It’s just so sad. He’s not in the present much at all. It breaks my heart.”

“Mom, where are you staying? Do you want me to come to Colorado with you? I do want to see him. I… I need to see him before… Do they have an idea of when or if…?” I can’t even finish my sentences. All I can think about is my dad needs me, and he may not even remember me or anything that happened that caused him to shun me away.

She looks at me with such sadness. “I’m staying at the Hilton down the street and yes, I’m planning on returning tomorrow evening. I can order you a ticket too if you really want to come.” I pat her hand and smile.

“Of course I want to come, Mom. I need to see him. I need to try and make peace before… I’ll let Knox know and he may even want to come so don’t order the ticket yet, ok?” She nods and smiles.

We spend the rest of the afternoon reminiscing of better times. We had lunch with Knox and spoke about leaving tomorrow night, but he insisted on cancelling her ticket and taking his jet. The feeling of dread at seeing my dad after all these years starts weighing heavily on me, but I must be strong for my mom and hope that dad will forgive me before something happens to him. I can only pray that he will.

Knox left a little bit ago to go to the site of our castle and make some arrangements before we leave tomorrow. I walk Mom to the front door and say goodbye until we leave tomorrow. After hugging and kissing goodbye, I decide I’d better do a little laundry and begin packing a bag for the trip. I’ve got most of it packed except those things in the dryer when I hear the doorbell ring. Ralph had told me he was running to the grocery store, and I know I shouldn’t answer it without him or Emerson here but whoever it is keeps ringing it over and over, and it’s beginning to piss me off. Finally, I decide to go see who it is and when I look through the peephole, I see a beautiful woman. I figure she can’t possibly do me any harm, so I open the door.

“Yes, may I help you? Knox…” She interrupts me immediately.

“I would like to speak to Knox. Now.” My mouth drops open when I scan down her body to find she is very pregnant. What the hell?

“He’s not here right now.” My arms cross over my front pushing up my girls a bit higher and my stance changes to defense mode. “I’m his fiancée, what can I help you with?”

Her brows raise but then lower quickly and her entire body language changes to bitchiness. “Tell him Maria stopped by and I need to speak with him about his baby,” she snarls.

My hand moves to my hip and my inner bitch just appeared. “Prove it. You got DNA results?” Her face changes for a split second to worry but then back to her attitude. “I thought not. Tell ya what, get those and then maybe he’ll talk to you. Don’t get them, then leave us the fuck alone. Got it?”

“Yeah, well get this. Knox is the daddy and here’s proof.” She pulls out a sonogram picture, and it shows Knox’s name and the baby’s name of Trevor Dunway on it, plain as day. My brows burrow and my heart begins racing. My stomach is doing flips, and I feel nauseous. Then my dander rises again.

“Anyone can put a name on a sonogram, bitch. Doesn’t prove anything.”

She pulls out a piece of paper from her purse, shoving it in my face. “Fuck you, whore. Here’s your proof,” she growls. Grabbing the paper, I scan it quickly, tears forming in my eyes blurring the words and my heart just dropped. The paper is signed by Knox confirming this is his child with a Maria Torrent as the mother. As the paper drops from my hand and onto the floor, she picks it up laughing. Standing again, she looks up and down my body until her eyes stare daggers into mine. “Yeah. Tell him I stopped by and to call me. You’re nothing more than one of his many whores. Not even good enough for him, are you? Me? I’ll be living the life soon with him and his son. Get your shit outta his house, whore, cos I’m gonna be moving in.” She turns and walks to the elevator, the doors opening immediately. After walking into it, she turns and a smug smile of satisfaction is on her face.

I’m shaking. I’m so pissed and so hurt, but I manage to get to the bedroom, pack the rest of my things and close up the bag. Forget the things in the dryer. I grab the bag, call a cab and head down to the main floor of the building. The cab was quick, thank God, and I tell him to take me to the hotel Moms at. I pay for a room and then once I find out her room number, I quickly drop my bag off in my room and then walk to hers. Thank goodness it’s only a couple of doors away from mine. Tears are streaming down my face when she answers the door and all I can do is fall into her arms.

“Jade. Honey. What’s wrong? What is it?” She leads me inside and I sit on the edge of a bed, still crying as she hands me tissues.

I look up at her, my chin quivering and I’m still shaking. “Oh, Mom. A woman showed up at Knox’s door claiming to be having his child. He was such a womanizer before we found each other again and she showed me a paper he signed confirming the baby is his. I’m just… I’m just so… Why can’t anything go right in my life? I’d finally found peace and love and now this.”

She sits down beside me, her arm wrapping around my shoulder, and I lay my head against her arm. “Oh, my! I don’t know what to say. What are you going to do? Jade, you should really talk to him. I’m sure there’s a logical explanation.”

I begin to cry harder but when I start to calm down my dander rises. “I’m going to call the airlines and get two tickets on an early flight, without him. Then I’m going to head over to my bank and withdraw all my money.” I sit up and turn to her. “Then, I’m coming home.”

And I did just that. After getting our tickets for tomorrows flight set up, I called a cab and withdrew all my money. Knox began calling and texting my phone every couple of minutes, so I had to turn it off. Thank God he doesn’t know where Mom is staying. I can’t talk to him. I don’t want to hear all the excuses, all the lies he’ll tell me. That evening I lay in my bed at the hotel and wrote a letter to Tabbie and Amber, explaining what happened, and that I’d be in contact. After placing them in envelopes and addressing them, I place them on the nightstand intending on giving them to the front desk in the morning to mail for me. Our flight is at eight o’clock in the morning, so I lay down on the bed in hopes that sleep will take me but all I can think about is Knox and how broken my heart feels and how messed up my life is.

Mom and I leave early in the morning taking a cab to the airport. The flight takes off on time but there are reports of bad weather in Colorado. There is torrential rain and gusting winds, and I pray we are able to land. After the five hour flight and having to circle the landing strip twice, we finally touched down and another hour later got our bags and found Moms car, heading home. I haven’t been back in seven years but after pulling through the front gate and into the circle drive, it feels as if I had never ever left.

When I get my bag upstairs to my old room, I look around and see that nothing’s been changed, nothing has been moved. I sit down on my old bed while the memories rush through my mind. I’m exhausted and emotionally spent so I curl up into a ball, throwing the covers over me and close my eyes.

“I don’t give a shit, Teresa! I wanna see my Angel! Get her or I’ll go looking for her!”

My eyes open with sudden dread when I hear Knox screaming downstairs. It’s darker now, but it was not real light earlier due to the rain. I look over at the alarm clock. Five o’clock. Wow, I slept for a long time. Rising quickly, I walk out of my room and to the top of the stairs. His eyes snap to mine, and he starts to move but I head down the stairs and begin to walk passed him. He grabs my arm, halting me abruptly. My head turns to him, his eyes full of concern and confusion but mine are wide with anger. “Let me go,” I snarl.

“Angel, listen. It’s a…”

“I tried to stop him, Jade. I’m sorry but he just bolted through the door. Do you want me to call…?” Mom tried to speak but I can’t talk, I’m so hurt, and so angry that I may snap at her.

I yank my arm free and run to the front door. Turning my head, I give him a stern look. “Don’t call me Angel.” I run down the front stairs and into the beating rain. I start to jog down the sidewalk and notice a black SUV sitting at the curb and can make out Ralph and Emerson sitting in it. The rain is pelting me. My hair already soaked as well as my clothes when I’m jerked back and almost fall. Swiftly, I turn and yank my arm free again. “Leave me the fuck alone, you asshole!”

His face morphs into anger and I turn to run away but he grabs me around my waist and holds on tightly. “Don’t run from me dammit! Hear me out!” he growls into my ear. Thunder roars and lightening brightens the sky but only for a second as we yell at each other trying to out shout the loud sounds of the storm, the entire time I’m struggling to get free of his hold.