Blind Faith (21 page)

Will turned back to McKinley but he wasn’t really listening to her.
 
He was thinking about Serena and the nice, quiet evening he’d planned on having with her.
 
True, the things he had to tell her were going to cause some emotional upheaval but they would work through it together.
 
He
would
hold her for as long as she needed, kiss her for as long as she’d let him, and then maybe they would talk about the future.
 
Their future together
.
 

But none of that was going to happen if he couldn’t get McKinley to shut up and leave.
 
Serena would be so upset she’d probably spend the rest of the night alone in her room, recalling all the things McKinley had told her and possibly wondering if it was true.
 
Will didn’t have to be privy to what had been said to be certain it was a pack of lies.
 
Why else would McKinley be displaying her anger and hostility with such boldness?
 
She
had
to get him to leave, otherwise Serena might tell him everything and
give him the chance
to refute it.
 
No, McKinley didn’t want her sister to know what she really was; a cruel and selfish woman whose heart was as cold and black as a winter night.

It filled him with disgust to even look at McKinley.
 
She was poison; a cancerous growth that needed to be excised from their lives before it was too late.
 
Arguing with her would only cause more stress for Serena, and even though he possessed the physical strength to pick McKinley up and dump her in her car, using force would give her the ammunition she needed to convince Serena he was capable of violent behavior.
 
Take away her power
, he told himself.
 
Turn around and walk away
.
 
And he did, but not before he got in one last parting shot.

Will locked eyes
with her
.
 
“
I see you
,” he said pointedly, his voice low enough so only she could hear.

McKinley blinked, her tirade grinding to a halt.
 
He could tell by her startled expression that she knew exactly what he meant.
 
Maybe Serena and the rest of her family didn’t
see what a snake McKinley was, but
he
did.
 
With a derisive smile, Will turned around and headed towards the house, his surly mood diminishing with every step that carried him closer to Serena.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

“I won’t let you do this,” McKinley shouted.
 
“
You’re
the one who needs to leave.”

Will kept walking.
 

“Serena, can’t you see what he’s doing?” her frantic voice called after him.
 
“He’s using you to get what he wanted seven years ago…what those other boys got and he didn’t.
 
He’ll hurt you just the way they did.”

Will whirled around, eyes blazing, his voice a
lethal
growl.
 
“
That’s
ENOUGH!
 
Get out of here, McKinley, or so help me God…”

“You’ll
what
,” she taunted, “hit me?
 
You see how easily he’s provoked, Serena, how easily a man can turn violent?”

McKinley was partially right; Will was having some very violent thoughts at that moment which involved a gag and locking her in the trunk of her car.
 
As appealing as the idea was, he refrained from acting on it, although it was evident by the sudden wariness in her eyes that McKinley suspected what was going through his mind.
 
He didn’t trust himself to speak, and he certainly didn’t trust himself to move
;
the urge to clamp his hand over her mouth was almost too powerful to resist.
 
It was probably fortunate for both their sakes that he was distracted by the sound of Serena’s measured footsteps as she descended the porch stairs.

“Stop it,” Serena croaked out.
 
“
No more
.”

Hearing the distress in her voice was difficult enough
,
but to see her beautiful features marred by worry lines gouged a jagged hole through his heart.
 
He should never have let the banter with McKinley go on for so long,
or
allowed his temper to get out of control.
 
It killed him to think he was responsible for inflicting even more pain on Serena than she’d already endured.

 
“You’re right,” Will said, shooting McKinley a warning glance.
 
“There won’t be any more verbal bashing from either of us tonight.”

“This discussion is
not
over,” McKinley protested heatedly.
 
“We haven’t settled
anything
and I
am
not leaving until we do.”

Serena shook her head.
 
“No, I want this to end now.
 
Do you think I like listening to the people I love tearing each other apart?”

“I’m only trying to protect you,” McKinley feigned a wounded tone.
 

“I know you are, and I know that’s what Will is doing too.
 
No, let me finish,” Serena said when McKinley started to interrupt.
 
“I discovered things today that are…disturbing, and I need some time to think it through, to examine it more closely and figure out what it all means.
 
That’s why I’m asking you to leave…both of you.”

McKinley managed to inject a note of sincerity into her words even as she directed a triumphant smile towards Will.
 
“If that’s what you really want, of course we’ll give you all the time you need.”

Will disagreed wholeheartedly.
 
If anything, Serena needed emotional support, now more than ever.
 
“I don’t want to leave you alone when you’re upset.
 
I won’t ask you to talk about anything you don’t want to, just…let me stay with you, Serena.”

She seemed to waiver for a moment before slowly shaking her head.
 
“I’m sorry, Will.
 
I know this is your home too and I have no right to put you out
,
but I’m sure you understand that it would only be adding fuel to the fire if you stayed.”

“All right, I’ll go.” he replied reluctantly.
 

It was obvious by McKinley’s arched eyebrows that she was surprised he was folding so easily
,
but given the situation, he didn’t have any choice.
 
Will leaned down and dropped a chaste kiss on Serena’s cheek then waited until she’d gone inside the house before trudging to his car like a beaten dog.
 
A sidelong glance at McKinley as she climbed into her own car confirmed his suspicion she was gloating.
 
She followed him for several blocks, no doubt to make sure he didn’t double back, but when he made for the freeway on ramp, McKinley finally stopped tailing him.
 
Only then did Will allow the grim expression to slip from his face.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                          
***

Serena slumped
against the door, drawing in a ragged breath when she heard both cars pull away from the house.
 
She felt numb inside, but she welcomed it because it was better than the shards of pain that
had
sliced through her when she first realized McKinley had set her up.
 
When she was sure her wobbly legs would sustain her, Serena shoved away from the door.
 
Her movements were mechanical as she made her way to the kitchen to feed Rufus, but by the time he finished eating, the numbness had begun to wear off and the unshed tears to fall.

She couldn’t afford to cater to her emotions right now but she
did
allow herself to mourn the death of something she’d held close to her heart for years; the belief that McKinley loved her.
 
When everyone else was trying to coax her into remembering what happened that night, only McKinley seemed to understand she didn’t
want
to remember and reassured her it was okay to block it from her mind.
 
And when Serena finally gathered the courage to tell her parents she wanted to discontinue visits to the psychiatrist, McKinley had taken up for her and gotten them to quit pestering her about it.
 

It was McKinley who convinced her not to let the dream of becoming a teacher die just because she was blind.
 
She encouraged Serena to learn Braille and even took a couple of college courses with her, and they’d formed a closeness that had never been there before.
 
At least that’s what she’d thought was happening, but now Serena knew her sister had only been playing her.
 

She tried not to dwell on it while she showered and blow dried her hair, but the sting of betrayal lingered even as she slipped into her favorite dress and her thoughts turned to Will.
 
Would he understand why she’d sent him away too?
 
God, she hoped so.
 
Will was smart, she reasoned,
and
he seemed to be able to read her better than anyone else except maybe Rose.
 
Surely, he
would
be able to decipher the meaning of her cryptic plea for him leave.

Serena went to the closet and pulled out a pair of matching sandals with a wistful sigh.
 
Even that small task had been made easier with McKinley’s help.
 
Recalling the memory was
like
pouring salt into an open wound, but she couldn’t seem to help herself.
 
It happened about two months after her release from the hospital.
 
Serena
was
sprawled across her bed, feeling particularly sullen that day because her mother had
purchased
several new outfits for her.
 
Not that she didn’t trust her Mom to pick out her clothes, but it was a painful reminder that she couldn’t even dress herself anymore.

“I know she did it to cheer me up,” Serena said when McKinley popped in to check on her, “but it’s not like I can tell what top goes with what pants just by touching them.”

“I have a great idea,” McKinley plopped down beside her.
 
“I’ll arrange your closet and drawers so you don’t have to ask for help from anyone.”

“What good will that do?  I still can’t distinguish between a color clash and color coordination without my sight.”

“I don’t mean just arranging them by color.
 
I could do something with the labels…like sew knots to represent the color.
 
The letter “B” in Braille looks like a colon, right?
 
Well, I could sew two knots into the label so you
would
know it was blue.”

“B could stand for brown or black too,” Serena pointed out, still intent on being disagreeable.

“Then we’ll use “BR” for brown and “BL” for black.
 
Come on, Serena, it
will
give you back a little bit of independence and it wouldn’t take long to do if I ask Mom to help me.
 
We could even do something similar with your shoes, maybe make small indentations on the soles.”

Serena gave herself a mental shake.
 
She had to stop thinking about McKinley and concentrate on what she was going to do about Will.
 
Time was running out, and there were still a few things that needed to be done if she hoped to avoid a replay of what happened outside.
 
The first thing she did was make sure all the lights were turned off;
not an easy task since she had to remember where all the switches were.
 
The only light she ever bothered with was in the living room, and that was
only
so Rufus wouldn’t be in the dark all the time.
 
Once Will moved in, he took it upon himself to turn off all the lights and lock up for the night.