Mistaken Identities (27 page)

Kim made a disgusted sound. “How did we ever think she was cool?”

“We were young and stupid,” Stasia said and hugged her again. “I’m so freaking glad you’re okay. Don’t scare us like that again. Now go hug your brother. He was scared shitless he’d lost you.”

Kim smiled through her tears and called her brother over. Bryce didn’t need a second invitation. She was the last of his family and she was okay. He grabbed her up in a big hug and twirled her around. He could hear her crying against his shoulder and he hugged her tighter.

When he finally put her down, she reached up to cup his cheek. “How are you doing, brother of mine?”

“So much better now that I can see you, sister of mine,” he answered with a big grin. “But, hell, you scared the shit out of me.”

“I’m so sorry, but I had to do this,” Kim answered. “How is Mom?”

He frowned. “She’s Mom. She’s never going to change.”

“Which means she’s still visiting him in prison,” Kim surmised.

“I don’t want you to think about that—”

Kim cut him off. “But I have to, Bryce, pretending that it doesn’t exist didn’t help me, it hampered me.” Kim stepped back and spoke. “Our father raped me, he made me scared to live, scared to breathe, scared to sleep and scared to even be awake. He took my childhood and destroyed my life for too long. I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of taking it all from me. I was raped, molested, mentally and physically abused, but I’m still me in here where it counts.” She pressed a fist against her chest. “Saying the words still makes me panic a little but he can’t take my healing from me. I’m learning to live with it and I will survive it.”

“You go, girl.” Stasia said the words and was openly crying while Kim spoke and all Bryce could do was pull his sister into an embrace.

“Go you,” he said, echoing Stasia’s words as pride filled him. Damn right, she’d survive it. She already beat the evil old bastard at his game.

He let Kim go and she faced Cole. “Not going to say hello?”

“Didn’t know if you wanted me to,” Cole answered. Bryce had never heard his friend sound so muted.

Kim stepped closer to Cole. “I didn’t run away from you, Cole. I ran towards help.”

“Why couldn’t you come to me to tell me? You left my house without a word,” Cole said. “I was terrified. I thought it was something I did.”

“How about we sit out on the deck and I’ll explain why I left. The sun isn’t so bad out there this time of day,” Kim said gently. “You go on. I’ll grab us some bottled waters.”

They walked towards the doors but Bryce couldn’t help but look back.

“She looks good, better than she has in a long time,” Bryce said.

“She found her foundation and she’s rebuilding. She healing,” Stasia said. “It’s a good thing.”

“She’s amazing,” Cole said quietly.

“That’s because you love her,” Stasia teased. “You big softie.”

“Shut it,” he growled and Bryce saw his best friend turn pink.

Could it be that they were forming a bond or, dare he say it, a friendship? Bryce didn’t voice the words because he knew that Stasia would probably kill him with a dark look and Cole would deck him. They all wanted to be so tough, but each of them, including him, needed the other. They were connected now, but he’d let them realize that on their own.

They found a table with four chairs close to the deck. Bryce turned his face towards the warm, light wind and closed his eyes as it blew across his face. He inhaled the salty, fresh air and it felt as if the last of the darkness and turmoil within him began to fade, carried away on the breeze. Kim came out a few minutes later and sat down with them. She passed out the cold bottles of water and took a sip of hers before she began speaking.

Her first words were directed at Cole. “I love you, you know I do, but every time you looked at me I could see the fear in your eyes to touch me or that I’d use drugs again. Every time I even thought about the drugs I felt like I failed you somehow. My molestation put up a big wall between us even while we shared a bed. You touched me with kid gloves, but I’m a woman. For me to be a good wife to you and a good mother some day, I needed to get past my own fears. I needed to heal.”

Cole swallowed thickly and covered her hand with his own. “Well, then, I need to work through some things with you as well. If you’re healing, I need to go through the process with you.”

Kimberly smiled. “And you will, when I get home. I’ll have references to a good couples therapist when I am free to leave here.”

“When do you get to leave?” Stasia asked.

“In another few months. The doctors think I’m ready now, but I know I need the extra time. The good thing is that they let you make the decisions on your care, but they give you firm nudges out of the nest too. The combination works.”

“At least I know you aren’t afraid of me. That really tore me up. I thought I did something to scare you,” Cole said huskily.

She leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss on his lips. “No more kid gloves. If we love each other, you can’t be scared all the time. I won’t break. I’m done with that.”

Her next words were to Bryce. “You have so much anger towards him and for the longest time I kept thinking you blamed me for the choices you made in my defense.”

“I never did. I wouldn’t,” Bryce said fiercely. “He needed to pay.”

“I know he did, but you’re his son and that day when you caught him, I swear you’d have killed him if Mom hadn’t started screaming,” Kim said.

“I hate him, for all of it. I can’t say otherwise,” Bryce said.

She nodded. “You’re allowed to, but I’m going to let it go and you have to eventually as well. We need to put this demon back in the ground and be brother and sister. Not brother and sister with a father who raped his daughter. It’s a dark shadow in our lives and we need to bury it.”

The anger that he felt any time he spoke about his father burned in his chest until it ached. He focused on Stasia who was sitting beside him and his hand that lay in her lap. She took hold of his hand, running her thumb over the skin of his knuckles.

“I’ll try, Kim,” Bryce answered.

“I need more than that. I need for you to go with me to see him when I get home,” Kim said. “I’m going up to the prison to stare that monster in the face and let him know I will never give him a second thought again. What he did won’t define me.”

“Does your doctor know about this?” Bryce asked.

“They recommended it when I’m ready, and I’m ready now. I won’t let him be a faceless nightmare anymore. I will face my rapist and see him for the man he is—my father,” she answered. “He shattered your life too, so will you face him with me? Will you sit with me when I speak to Mom and let her know how it affected me when she knew it was going on and did nothing?”

“Of course I will,” Bryce said automatically, “but it’s going to be hard as hell, Kim.”

“If it were easy it wouldn’t be called recovery,” she teased. “I should also let you know that I won’t be living in Caldwell anymore. I’m buying Piper’s Glen and running that bed and breakfast. I will make a life for myself.” Kim took Cole’s hand. “I want to make a family there.”

He kissed her hand. “You bet your sweet life on it.”

He watched his sister beam a smile at Cole. She was getting better, she was doing it and he was proud of her.

“Stasia, have you been giving my brother trouble?” Kim teased.

“No more than necessary. I went to see Mom and my sister. We kind of have a truce going on too,” Stasia replied.

Kim clapped her hands. “I’m so happy to hear that. Are you going to stay around?”

Stasia shook her head. “I can’t stay in Caldwell, too many ghosts walking around.”

“We’ve got a plan. We’re going to open a map and both put our fingers on a spot and pick the place in between,” Bryce said.

“Way to research,” Cole said.

Stasia pointed at him. “Shut it. Let’s not forget we’re trying to play nice.”

“I think it’s a good idea,” Kim said. “A little adventure is never a bad thing and Piper’s Glen is your home when you come visit me.”

“I paid off the other half for you,” Bryce said. “I paid Mrs. Eden because she didn’t know if you were coming back. I wanted that place to be waiting for you.”

Kim smiled. “Thank you, you big old goof. When I get home I’ll cut you a check.”

“You don’t have to—”

“I know, but this is my life and I’m in control of it, so, yes, I’ll be paying you back,” Kim said firmly. “Now you guys need to go grab dinner or walk on the beach. My visiting time is over, but you can come back tomorrow and for the next few days so we can talk, and if you would like you can come to a few sessions with me.”

They all agreed to be back without hesitation and she hugged them all as they left. He could see Cole felt the same way—that if they left she might be gone in the blink of an eye. He knew it was an overreaction, because he’d never seen his sister so levelheaded in her life. Her eyes were no longer haunted. He was supposed to be the one who was put together and here she was trying to heal all of them. She was taking big steps, like confronting their father and making plans for a future. It was all he ever wanted for her and it was finally happening.

Back at the hotel, Cole begged off having dinner with them to walk on the beach alone.

“I hope you packed a dress, because we’re going out on the town to celebrate,” Bryce said.

“I’d prefer jeans and Downtown Disney,” Stasia said.

“Really? You want to do the Disney thing?” Bryce asked.

“I’ve been in Arizona working my ass off and, trust me, there has been very little time for entertainment,” Stasia said. “I want a stuffed Mickey and Minnie.”

“Oh, you do, and what do I get?” Bryce asked.

She gave him a sidelong glance and teased, “You may be surprised what I would do for Mickey and Minnie.”

“You have fifteen minutes to get showered and dressed. Let’s get this ball rolling so we can get to the after party.” Bryce hustled her along to the bathroom.

Stasia laughed. “Just the assumption that you’ll get laid puts a fire in your steps.”

He kissed her hard. “Wrong, the promise that we’ll be making love later puts a fire everywhere, not just in my steps.”

“You and those charmer words will be my downfall,” she called over her shoulder before closing the bathroom door.

Life was certainly dealing out many cards in his life and while a few of them made him wonder at times if Karma was truly a bitch, right now it felt like he was the luckiest man in the world. She came out of the shower wrapped in a towel and he thought about preempting Disney and dinner for room service and naked romps in the bed. Stasia put that notion to rest and insisted they go and be kids again. She was dressed in cargo shorts that showed off her long ebony legs that seemed to shimmer in the sunlight and a belly cropped T-shirt that said ‘wicked’ across her breasts. She wore white sneakers and pulled her hair into a high ponytail and finished the look with a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses. She looked good enough to eat and this time she took his hand and led him out the door. At the theme park, Bryce felt like they were on the first date he never got to ask her out on. They rode rides and visited every area of Disney.

“That was just plain creepy,” she said as they came out of the
It’s a Small World After All
attraction.

He laughed. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“Were you even looking? Puppets dressed like natives from every country in the world singing
It’s a Small World After All
over and over again while their beady little eyes blink at you?” Stasia shuddered. “They look like they come alive after dark and kill people. I’ve seen horror movies like that. Nothing good can come from millions of evil-looking puppets. And that hippo has an eye problem.”

Bryce laughed out loud. “You are insane and highly critical of a beloved Disney ride.”

“Who said it was beloved? Show me the people who said it, but you can’t and you wanna know why?” Stasia asked.

“Okay, I’ll bite, why?” Bryce said.

“Because the puppets ate them and their bones are under that water we were floating on,” she answered.

“That’s morbid. You are a very unusual person,” he said.

“Just calling it like I see it,” she replied and took his hand. “Let’s find junk food.”

They stayed until the sun set and watched the light parade of Disney characters covered in lights. She whooped and yelled like the kids when Alice in Wonderland passed by on her mushroom, then stared in awe as Tinkerbell flew across the sky before the firework show began. He watched the wonder in her eyes as the lights from each set of pyrotechnics played across her face. She was beautiful and each minute he stood there watching her instead of the show he loved her all the more. She looked at him with a big smile of her pink lips and Bryce swooped in for a kiss. Their lips clung and she held on to him as the sound of fireworks went off not just around them but also in his heart. She stared at him with her full lips parted after the kiss ended and he caressed her cheek with his thumb.

“Let’s go get some dinner,” he said and took her hand.

“After I get my Mickey and Minnie.” She dragged him off to the Disney store.

The night was perfect and when they got back to the hotel, the bubble of fun and magic stayed with them.

“You go shower and then I’ll go after you,” Stasia said.

“It would save time if you showered with me,” he said and wrapped his hands around her waist.

“Be gone with you, and take your shower. If not, no surprise,” she said firmly and slapped his hand away.

“There is a surprise?” he asked.

“Oh, yes, there is a surprise,” she purred.

That sealed it. He was gone in a flash and her laughter followed him. Bryce hummed as the hot spray ran over his body and by the time he opened the door, she was waiting to get in the bathroom and slipped in before he could get his hands on her. He noticed she took a bag in with her and it piqued his curiosity all the more.

“Be in bed waiting for me, lights on low, sliding door open so we can catch the breeze,” she ordered.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said and did as she requested.