Pucker Up (21 page)

“Do
you remember,” Harmony asked, “when we first had dinner, and I was surprised to
learn you were Ally?”  Faith nodded, and the girl continued.  “Who did you
think Ally was?”

“Me,
obviously,” she answered in confusion.

The
girls laughed.  “You think Uncle Dust would tell us about his love life?”
Harmony asked.

“He
is the most guarded person.  He doesn’t talk about himself – ever,” Melody
said.

“That’s
true,” Faith agreed, nodding along to their words.  “Okay, then who is Ally to
you.”

The
girls shared a look; Melody answered.  “To us, Ally is the heroine of our
favorite bedtime story.”

Harmony
smiled.  “
Ally and the Truly Remarkable Happily Ever After
.  After our
mother died, we went to go live at the farmhouse with Uncle Dust.”

“And
on one of the first nights there,” Melody said, continuing the story, “there
was a storm outside, and we couldn’t sleep.  We called for Mom but she wasn’t
there.”

“Which
started Dad crying, though he doesn’t think we heard him.”

“So
Uncle Dust came to check on us and decided to tell us a story.”  Melody smiled
at the memory. 

“And
the story he told us was
Ally and the Truly Remarkable Happily Ever After
. 
It has an awful lot of similarities to the first Apple Lodge movie.  And we
thought maybe you should hear it.”

Faith’s
heart was beating a mile a minute, her brain barely comprehending what the
girls were saying.  “You drove all this way to tell me a bedtime story.”

Harmony
rolled her eyes.  “Come on, Faith, we know it’s more than a bedtime story.” 
She pulled a jump drive out of her pocket and held it out to the singer.  “When
I went away to camp, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep, so Uncle
Dust recorded it for me.  I think you should listen to it.”

“Girls,
I really don’t think –”

“Where
are they?”  Peter burst into the room, his voice angrier than she’d ever heard
it.  Harmony placed the stick in Faith’s hand before turning to her father with
sheepish eyes.  “You two are so dead.  What the hell were you thinking?”

“I
was just trying to take a test,” Melody said, holding up her hands in
surrender.

“We’ll
get to you later,” Peter murmured before pointing to the teenager.  “Harmony
Joyce Andrews, what part of don’t drive that car did you not understand?”

“It
needed a road test eventually.  And it got me here fine.”  Some of the sparkle
in her eyes died.  “Though I’m not sure it’ll actually get anyone back.”

“Out. 
Now.”  His tone of voice brokered no argument, and the girls marched out the
door, one backwards glance at Faith.  Peter mouthed an apology before following
them, but he didn’t have her attention.  None of them did.  Not since Dustin
arrived two steps behind his twin, looking, if possible, even angrier. 

The
door slammed closed, and the air in the room stilled.  If she was alone with
Dustin again a decade from now, it would have been too soon, and now here he
was, one day later.  He looked anything but friendly.  Her greeting this time
was not going to be any more cordial than the last one.  She stood, unable to
stay seated.

“I
can’t believe this,” he said, his voice low and lethal.

“It
was a surprise to me too,” she murmured.

“So
you didn’t know every moment you were in my house acting like you were just
passing
through
?” he snarled.

“Dustin
– ”

“Why
did you even come?  Why didn’t you just send your lawyer in the first place so
we didn’t even need to see each other again?”  His voice was harsh, and she
felt his words cut her deep.

“I
wanted a better memory.  You had the image of me walking away, but all I had
was a voice, saying things that made my heart break into a million pieces.  I
wanted to replace it – erase the hospital room and the beeping and the sadness
with a sunny afternoon and a lemon tree.  Find any image that wouldn’t break my
heart.”  She stopped for a moment and turned, trying to compose herself.  “I
didn’t know you were going to be there.  I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“Wait,
what?”

“You
don’t believe me?  How much of a heartless bitch do you think I am, really?”

“No,”
he said, waving that away, “what do you mean you had a voice breaking your
heart?”

Faith
brought a hand up to her head, trying to massage away this whole conversation. 
The one she’d fled in the middle of the night so they’d never have to have. 
“Dustin, I really don’t want to talk about this.  Please don’t,” she pleaded, tears
clear in her voice.

“Tell
me,” he demanded.  “Tell me who broke your heart.”

“The
only person that could.  You did.”

“How?”

“How?”
she asked, her voice rising in agitation.  “How?” she screamed.  “Cut the crap,
Dustin.  It’s only you and me here.  You don’t have to pretend.”

“I’m
not pretending – I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh
my God,” she said, an unamused bark of laughter escaping her, “this is
ridiculous.  You’ve spent so much time hating me you can’t even tell the
truth.  You want me to say it?  You really want me to say it?”

Dustin
propped himself against the table and folded his arms.  “Please, enlighten me.”

“Dustin,
I heard you, okay.  I heard you.”

“Heard
what?” he asked in exasperation.

She
bit her lip, not able to stop the tear running down her cheek.  It had been ten
years, and the thought still destroyed her.  “I heard you tell your brother
that… that it was a mistake.  That everything, including our wedding, was a
mistake.”  Her voice caught on a sob, but she didn’t stop.  “That you found
yourself in a nightmare, and you wished none of it was true.  I heard all of
that, from you, when I was laying ten feet behind you in a hospital bed.”

She
looked down, tears flowing freely, but now that she’d started talking, couldn’t
stop.  “And you took me home and kept telling me that you loved me and
everything was going to be all right, but I’d
heard
you.  I knew that
was all lies.  You weren’t all in anymore.  You regretted it, but you were too…
honorable to do anything about it.  So I did it for you.  I set you free.”

She
wiped the tears from her eyes and met his gaze.  “My God Dustin, you’re such a
bastard for making me say that.  I’m leaving.  Don’t even try to follow me.” 

Dustin
was too stunned to go after her.  He didn’t think it was possible for his heart
to break even more, but her words shattered it.  Had he really said that?  That
their relationship was a nightmare?  If he had, he hadn’t meant it.  Their
relationship had been the only thing keeping him standing.  It’s why he fell so
hard after she left.

The
door opened, and he turned, but it wasn’t Faith.  “You okay?” his twin asked,
clamping a hand on his shoulder.

“Peter,
what did I do?”

“What?”
he asked, his eyebrows drawn in confusion.

“That
day when Faith was in the hospital.  Did I tell you I was living a nightmare?”

“You
were having a hard day.”

Dustin
cringed and dropped his head into his hands.  “Oh my God, she’s right.  This
was all my fault.”  It didn’t matter that the mistake he’d made hadn’t been
marrying Faith; all that mattered was that’s what she’d heard.  She lost their
child and thought he was abandoning her.  He’d have run for far less.

But
no, she didn’t even call it running.  She’d said “set you free.”  She was
trying to be gracious and magnanimous.  He remembered them having a
conversation once about guys trying so hard to be nice that instead of breaking
a girl’s heart they decide aloof is the way to go, forcing her to do the
breaking.  She thought that was him, trying hard not to break her heart even
more.  How could she think that was him?  Easy – she’d heard him practically
admit to it.  And she had no idea he’d run after her.

“She
heard me, Peter.  She heard me and thought I meant marrying her was the
mistake.”

“Shit,”
Peter murmured.  “Well, it all makes much more sense now.”

“Fat
lot of good that is.”  Dustin let the weight of their conversation register,
and a tear ran slowly down his face.  “Peter, what did I do?  What the hell did
I do?” 

“You
– ”

“I
fucked it up.  Me!” He jumped up, needing to pace the floor as reality
shattered around him.  “And I’ve been blaming her for ten damn years.  And it
was all my fucking fault.  Every last piece of it.”

“Take
it easy,” Peter said in his most soothing voice.  “She –”

“She
didn’t do a damn thing wrong.   Don’t you blame her, Peter!”  He felt a surge
of anger at his brother and knew that he was lost. 

“Calm
down.  This is a lot to process.  You need to take some time, take a step
back.”

“What
I need to do is find Faith.”

“No,”
Peter said in his most commanding teacher voice, placing a hand on Dustin’s
chest to stop him from tearing across the room.   “You need some distance.  She
needs some distance.”  Dustin opened his mouth to protest, but Peter leaned in
to whisper to his brother.  “Take a moment to think this time so the outcome
won’t be the same.”

Faith
sat in her driveway, sobbing and shaking.  This was why she didn’t think about
that day without gin or a guitar.  It really did wreck her.  Ten years should
have provided her distance, but the heartbreak hadn’t gotten any weaker with
time.  He was the love of her life, and she’d lost him.  Part of her knew she’d
done the right thing; part of her still regretted not fighting for him.  She’d
seen too many relationships implode, before and since, to think that her
feelings could have saved them.  Maybe she could have gotten a softer landing
though. 

Her
front door opened, and houseguests came spewing out.  She sighed, wishing they
weren’t here to see her like this, but that thought fled when she registered
the panic on their faces.  “What’s wrong?” she asked, jumping out of the car.

“Can
you give us a ride?” Trevor asked.  “We sent Barrett out for ice cream.  No
matter how many times he likes to remind me he’s a bodyguard and not a butler,
Mady charmed him into it anyway, so now he’s gone, and we don’t have any wheels
and – ”

“We
need to get to the hospital,” Madison said, her voice perfectly calm but a hand
flattened against her belly.

“What?” 
She looked from Madison’s pained face to Trevor’s slightly manic expression.  “You’re
having the baby?!” Faith asked.

“We’re
having the baby,” Trevor said.

“I’m
having the baby,” Madison corrected, placing a hand on the car to steady
herself.  “He’s freaking out.”

“I
am not freaking out,” Trevor said with a deep breath, giving his wife a smile
and placing a kiss against her temple, “as long as Faith will give us a ride.”

“Of
course, yeah, get in!”

They
clamored into the back seat, and Faith reversed the car down the driveway. 
“Does Barrett know you’re on your way to the hospital?” she asked after Trevor
directed her on where to take them.

“Good
idea,” Trevor said, pulling his cell phone from his pocket and texting one-handed. 
The other remained in his wife’s deadly grip.

“How
you doing back there, Madison?” Faith asked, her voice full of the forced
cheerfulness she was known for.

“This
is too soon,” Madison said, her brow creased in pain.

“It
is a bit earlier than we planned,” Trevor admitted with a sheepish grin, “but I
wouldn’t expect anything less from our kid.  Gonna have her mother’s flair for
the dramatic.”

“I
don’t have a flair for the dramatic,” Madison argued through clenched teeth.  “And
you don’t know it’s a girl.”

“You
do remember how we met, right?” Trevor winced as she squeezed his hand even
harder along with the contraction, but continued smiling. 

“Vividly,”
she murmured.  Faith looked at them in her rearview mirror and hit the gas. 
“Faith, I owe you big time.”

“For
driving you to the hospital?  I didn’t even turn on the meter.”

Trevor
laughed, but Madison only shook her head.  “No, to get the car cleaned.  I’m
pretty sure my water just broke.”

Faith
put on a brave face and waved that comment away, but inside she was panicking. 
She didn’t have any good experiences with childbirth.  “I’m not the neat freak,
remember?  A little water never hurt anyone.  And it’s just a car – I have
three more of them.”

“Three
more?” Trevor said.  “I would have thought with a garage that big you’d have
had a dozen.”  He turned to his wife with a quizzical look.  “Does she make
that much more money than you?  Because she has double the amount of cars we
do.”

“Do
you really,” Madison asked, her breathing labored, “want to compare our modes
of transportation right now?”

“Why
not?” Trevor asked.  “Faith, you seem like the kind of person with a private
jet.  Yes or no?”

“Trevor,”
Madison warned.

His
face sobered.  “Honey, I’m trying to distract you.”

“I
don’t want to be distracted.  I want to be comforted.” 

Faith
checked on them in the rearview mirror as she came to a stop at the light. 
Trevor placed a kiss against the top of her head, his free hand coming up to
stroke her hair.  “It’s going to all be fine, honey.  You’re the strongest
person I know.  You got this, sweetie.  You got this.”

Faith
threw the car into drive and sped away from the intersection.  She hoped he was
right.  Dear God, she hoped he was right.

Peter
glared at his daughters as he paced in front of their car.  The girls were
leaning against the hood, still possessing enough sense to look chagrined at
what they’d done.  Dustin was across the parking lot in his own truck, ignoring
them all.

“Crap,”
Harmony murmured.  Peter looked up to see Jackson, buttoning his suit jacket as
he made his way across the parking lot to them.  After the scene they’d made in
the lobby, Peter was surprised security wasn’t with him to escort them the hell
away from his building. 

“Language,”
Peter barked before turning his attention back to the attorney.

“Hello
again, ladies,” Jackson said.  The girls nodded without looking at him, their
gazes never leaving the ground.

“That
one,” Jackson said, pointing at Harmony while leaning conspiratorially towards
Peter, “would make a pretty fierce lawyer one day.” 

“Arguing
has always been her strong suit,” Peter grumbled in agreement.

They
fell silent for a moment before Jackson cleared his throat.  “Okay ladies, are
you going to tell him or should I?”

The
teenagers shared a look, and Peter’s unease ratcheted up.  “What?” he asked in
defeat.  Harmony mumbled something under her breath.  Jackson chuckled, but
Peter wasn’t having any of it.  “Again.  So the people in the back can hear
you.”

“I
recorded everything that happened when Jackson was in our house.”

Peter’s
eyes bugged out so far he was sure he looked like a cartoon character; the
girls were smart enough not to laugh.  “What?”

“I
– ”

“No,
uh uh.  No talking,” Peter said, interrupting her response.  He placed a hand
over his mouth, trying to stop the curse words from spilling out.  He closed
his eyes for a moment before continuing.  “And you listened to it?  All of it?”

“Oh
they listened to it,” Jackson piped in.  “The future DA thought threatening me
with the information was a good tactic.”

“I
would like to clarify that when I woke up this morning, I was just trying to
take a test,” Melody protested.  But then she glanced at her sister and squared
her shoulders.  “And while I can’t believe she actually did that, she did it
with the best of intentions.  Let’s not pretend you guys don’t agree with us. 
We did listen to the whole thing, remember.”

The
men shared a glance.  “You have to learn,” Peter finally said, “that
interfering in someone else’s personal life is not how you should be spending
your time, no matter how right you think you are.”

“You
mean like you, Dad?” Harmony said cheekily, a smirk on her face.  Peter’s eyes
narrowed at her, but she didn’t stop talking.  “Because I’ve heard the story of
you and Mom hundreds of times, and there is a lot of interfering in there.  And
that worked out pretty freaking fantastic if I do say so myself.”

“Harmony—”
Peter began, his voice full of both chiding and resignation.

“No,
Dad,” Melody murmured in a calm voice, “she’s right.  We don’t go around
sticking our noses in other people’s business just because we can.  This is
different.  This is family.”

“Everyone
keeps telling me that this is what being an adult is like and there’s nothing you
can do about it.  Well, I’m not an adult yet, and I refuse to accept that. 
Especially when I know I can do something to help.”

“Told
you,” Jackson murmured. “Lawyer.”

“Right
now I’d settle for not criminal,” Peter replied, shaking his head.

“Mr.
Shaw agrees with us,” Melody said, turning her eyes to the lawyer.  “He’s the
one that let us see Faith in the first place, and he knew exactly what we were
going to do.”

Peter
shot him a questioning stare.  Jackson just smiled and shrugged his shoulders. 
“These two make quite a convincing pair.”

Peter’s
eyes slipped across the parking lot to Dustin, sitting stone-faced in his
pickup truck trying to figure out how to get out of this mess.  “Okay,” he
sighed in defeat. “Give it to me.  Tell me what your plan was.  Let’s hear it.”

The
girls smiled, and he had a feeling that this was not going to end well.

Faith
finally pulled the car into the hospital, and Trevor sprinted ahead to get a
wheelchair.

“You’re
doing great,” Faith assured Madison with a smile.

“I
don’t know if I can do this,” she replied.

“You
most certainly can.  You’re a kick-ass alien freedom fighter, remember?”

“I
don’t think the plasma guns are going to help with this problem,” Madison
murmured through gritted teeth.

“Come
on, Geek Queen, you got this,” Faith whispered as she helped her out of the
car.  Madison graced her with a huge smile as Trevor and a couple of nurses
returned with the wheelchair.

“Stay,”
Madison said as they wheeled her down the hall.  “Please.”

“Of
course,” Faith assured her.  Trevor had to wait while they got her checked out
and stood next to Faith as they watched her disappear down the hall.  “Trevor,
you were so calm.”

He
turned to her, and she saw his face crumble into a state of absolute terror. 
“Calm?  Calm?!  I’m not calm, I’m freaking out!”

He
started pacing across the floor, talking a mile a minute.  “We’re not ready for
this.  We’re practically homeless at the moment.  And I haven’t finished
reading any of those parenting books.  They’re like the instruction manuals for
babies, and I’m not done.  You think I can Google that?!”

He
stopped in his tracks and focused on Faith.  “Who am I kidding?  I’m not ready
to take care of another human being.  Last week I couldn’t figure out where the
laundry went, I just threw it back in the washing machine.  Last time Mady went
out of town without me, I ate cereal for three days, and then got my mom to
cook for me.  I can’t even take care of myself, how am I supposed to take care
of a baby?!”