The Impostor, A Love Story (26 page)

We laughed as the snow whipped across our
faces. We were doing great until all of a sudden my parents whizzed
by us. They won the race! Of course, we had to have a rematch. And
before long, I had agreed to make dinner and dessert.

“I think somehow it was rigged,” I whispered
to Jess when we got home. Jess and I entered the kitchen. I picked
her up and set her on the counter.

“So what are we going to make tonight,
Angel?’

“Can we make chicken soup? I love soup!”
Jessica’s eyes lit up.

“That sounds perfect!”

“And apple pie.” She rubbed her little
tummy.

We worked hard at our gourmet meal. Jess
tasted the soup for approval.

“This is the bestest soup in the whole wide
world.” She seemed proud.

I tasted a tiny spoonful myself. “Wow,
Jessica, I think you are right. What did you do? This is the best
soup ever!” I smiled.

“Grandma says it tastes good when you make it
with love.” She looked at me with her big blue eyes, “And I feel
lots of love with you, Mommy.” A tear came to my eye, and I gave my
angel a kiss and scooped her up in my arms. I closed my eyes and
just held her. It was so good to be home.

“Grandma, Grandpa, close your eyes!” Jessica
wanted to surprise them. She had helped me set the table and
decorated it with a bouquet of red roses. Everything had to be
perfect. It was our first meal together in a long time.

As we sat down to the table, my little angel
bowed her head and intertwined her fingers. We all followed her
lead as she began to pray.

“Dear God, thank you for my mommy and the
love I feel in my heart.”

As I sat there at the table, a warm sensation
came over me. I leaned over and kissed my angel on the check. “I
love you, Jess.”

My parents’ eyes sparkled, watching the two
of us together. It sure was good to be home.

After dinner, Jessica fell asleep in my arms,
and I gently tucked her in bed, brushing her dark hair off her
porcelain face so I could kiss her goodnight.

I walked into the living room. The tiny Cape
Cod was an older home, the house clean but cramped. They had a lot
of my stuff stacked in a closet, but most of it they’d given away
because they just didn’t have the space to store it.

I walked over to the recliner where my dad
was relaxing and sat on the arm of the chair. Dad was in his
sixties. His black hair, dusted in gray, brought out the blue in
his eyes. He wasn’t tall, but he always made me feel protected. I
never doubted my parents loved me. He put the newspaper he had been
reading on the coffee table.

“How’s my girl?”

“It’s so good to be home. Thank you, Dad.
Thank you for everything.”

“Are you kidding? We love that little girl.
It has been fun.”

“Having her here with the two of you has
meant so much to me. I know all the crap with Ronald has been hard
for you all. Thank you for keeping her safe.”

“You know she is always welcome here.”

“Dad, why did you move all the way out here?
And you are not only unlisted, but I noticed the phone bill is in
Mom’s maiden name.”

“We didn’t want you to worry, honey. It all
worked out. He has put you through enough in the past. We knew you
would come back if you found out. That is what he wanted—to trap
you.”

“Ronald? You did all this because of Ronald?
What the hell happened?”

“We are fine and Jessica is safe. We found a
nice couple to rent our house. It all worked out.”

“Dad, what did he do? What did Ronald
do?”

He tried to change the subject, but I didn’t
let him.

“What the hell did he do?”

“He tried to take Jess. He tried to get her
from the babysitter’s.”

“He tried to kidnap her? He tried to kidnap
my baby?”

“It all worked out; he won’t find us
here.”

“How do you know? How do you know she’s safe?
How do you know you are safe? You know his temper. Why didn’t you
tell me? I would have come home.”

“That’s exactly what he wanted, Nikki. He
wanted to get you to come back. We are safe. My job let me transfer
offices. We are using your mother’s maiden name. This place is
small, but it suits us well enough. There is no way he will find us
here.”

I knew they changed their number but had no
idea what they had been going through. “I’m so sorry. I am so
sorry, Dad.”

“It all worked out, Nicole. Everyone’s fine.
It all worked out.”

“Yeah, but Dad, you had to change
everything.”

“Let’s not worry about this now. It’s just
good to have you home honey,”

“I love you, Dad. Thank you for everything.
Really. Thank you for everything!”

I leaned over, wrapping my arm around
him.

“I had fun today.” He polished his nails on
his shirt like he was rubbing it in my face that they won the
sledding race.

“I did too, even though I think somehow you
cheated.” I grinned, giving him another squeeze, letting him change
the mood.

“Some may debate it was our extra weight, but
I maintain it was our extraordinary skill.”

The next morning, I walked into my mom’s
bedroom and sat on her bed like I did when I was growing up.

“You doing okay, Mom?”

“We are fine, dear.”

“I’m so sorry I didn’t listen to you when
you told me not to move in with Ronald.”

I could see the slight lines in my mother’s
face from the stress she had to deal with, but she still was
beautiful. Her dark hair was braided off her face and her hazel
eyes gazed at the knitting needles in her hands. The years had been
good to her despite all I put her through because I had been with
Ronald.

“You were young and thought you were in
love. We have to think you met him for a reason. You have a
beautiful daughter. It has been a little hard adjusting, but we are
managing.”

“How about Jess?” How is all this affecting
her?”

“She misses you,
Nicole
, b
ut she has no idea what is going
on with Ronald. We are trying to keep her life as normal as
possible and protect her from all the drama. That’s why we didn’t
say anything to you either.”

“You should have told me, Mom. I would have
come back sooner.”

“That is why we
didn’t
tell you, honey.
We didn’t want you to worry.”

“God, it’s so good to be home. I missed you
all so much.”

“We missed you too, but I’m so glad you are
away from here and away from him. You look good, Nicole. You seem
more at peace. I don’t think I have seen you this radiant in
years.”

“It really is good for me up there, Mom. I’m
starting to see things the way I used to. It’s so beautiful, and I
have a few really good friends. Emily’s boyfriend is great, and I
have a wonderful boss.”

“I can see it. You look happy.”

“And I met someone, Mom. I
really like him. He is showing
me a world I
used to just dream about.”

“You are glowing.”

“He took me to an art museum.” I could feel
my smile grow. “It was hard at first, but then I was able to relax
and remember just how much art meant to me.”

“I like him already.” My mom leaned over to
kiss me on the forehead.

“It’s the little things he does that I fell
in love with, and then he does things that make me feel like I’m in
a fairytale or something. He’s good for me, Mom. He is helping me
move past the pain, and he’s helping me to not be afraid. I never
told him how important art used to be to me, but somehow he was
able to see it. He has been encouraging me to paint. He even
surprised me with a canvas. He is helping me find myself again.
He’s helping me rediscover things I let die.”

My mother put the knitting needles on the
bed, went over to the closet, and pulled out an old picture
frame.

“You were really good, Nicole. And you loved
it so much.” She handed me the frame.

My hand rubbed against the dusty pane.

“It killed me to find out you had
stopped.”

It was my acceptance letter to college. My
mom found it torn up in my pocket when I went to the hospital. I
ran my hand across the glass again.

“You taped it back together and framed it?”
I swallowed, holding back my tears.

“God gives some of us gifts, Nicole, and you
were certainly blessed. But not only were you talented, you loved
it so much. It was a part of you. As a mother, it was hard enough
to have you go back to Ronald after he beat you so badly, but to
see you abandon your dreams—I will never forgive Ronald for robbing
you of that.”

“I haven’t been able to create anything,
yet, but I’m beginning to appreciate the beauty in the world like I
used to.”

“That is a good start. I really think Alaska
is good for you, and I can’t wait to meet this young man. Maybe we
can go visit you this summer.”

“That would be wonderful. I’m renting a
couple rooms in a beautiful house with a view of the mountains. I’d
love for you to come visit.”

The night before we were to go back to
Alaska, Emily and I decided to go to a bar a little out of the way
to see some old friends. We were sitting at a table when Ronald
came out of nowhere. I began to squirm, searching for the nearest
exit.

“Who told him I was here?” I demanded.

“He just wants to talk,” Bobby, an old friend
of ours, admitted.

“Bobby, why would you do that? He tried to
kidnap my daughter!” Bobby hadn’t heard what I had been going
through.

“Nicole, how are you, honey?” Ronald came
over to me like we were still dating and nothing was wrong.

“Don’t
honey
me, Ronald.”

“I’m sorry, Nicole. Things are different now.
I’ve changed.”

“Last time I heard that, I ended up with a
black eye.”

“I was drunk. It’s different now, sweetheart.
I stopped drinking. It’s best for Jessica that we are together. She
needs a father.”

“Like hell she needs you in her life. Don’t
you ever try to take her again.” What had I seen in this idiot
before? Dylan made me realize I deserved better. “It’s over,
Ronald. Give up. I have full custody. Leave us alone.”

I could see the anger build under his skin,
but he didn’t react. Instead, he left the bar. A few hours later
when we were walking back to our cars, Ronald startled us, grabbing
my arm. He reeked of alcohol. The veins in his neck began to
bulge.

“No one walks out on me.” He slammed me
against the building, hitting my head against the concrete. “No
one!” He banged me again against the bricks, and my nose started to
bleed. “You think you can leave me? You think you can make a fool
of me?” He punched me in the ribs. As I doubled over, he jabbed me
again.

“Calm down, man,” Bobby and John screamed. I
heard them running out of the bar. They grabbed Ronald’s arm before
he could punch me again. “Calm down.” I looked up, holding my
stomach. As I wiped the blood from my nose, I saw the guilt in
Bobby’s eyes. He had led Ronald right to me.

“You bitch! You think you can put me in jail
and get away with it? You think you can leave me? I’ll find you
again, bitch. I
will
find you, and you will get what’s
coming to you!”

Ronald continued to scream as Emily helped me
make it to the car. With each step, I could feel a stabbing
sensation between my ribs.

“Calm down, man.” Bobby yelled, and turned to
John. Call the cops.” The two guys kept Ronald cornered.

John looked over to me.“You okay?”

I nodded.

“We’ll make sure he can’t follow you,” He had
seen me in the hospital before, and he was not going to let it
happen again. “Someone call the cops.”

Em and I sped down the highway. Ronald didn’t
want me. He just wanted to control me. He just wanted a convenient
punching bag that cooked and cleaned and even paid all the
bills.

When I got home, I tried to hide the
confrontation from my parents, but they saw I was favoring one
side, and Emily let it slip. We told them the whole story.

“Nicole, it’s not safe for you here,” my
parents said hysterically. They had spent too many years trying to
save their daughter from an abusive relationship.

“Let’s get you to the hospital.”

“No, I’m fine. They are just bruised. I’ll be
fine, really.”

Even though it was hard to say goodbye, they
were happy Jess and I were getting away from him. They were worried
that if I spent too much time home, something would happen to me
again.

The next morning, tears filled my parents’
eyes as they hugged us in the airport.

“You will have to come and visit us soon!” We
waved, blowing kisses as we began toward our gate.

Emily, Jess, and I boarded the plane back to
Alaska. I held my baby’s hand and kissed her little forehead.
Ronald could never hurt us again.

Flying back to Alaska over the hundreds of
miles of snow-covered mountain tops was so exciting for Jessica. We
pointed out the airplane window, one mountain top more beautiful
than the other. I focused on the beauty out the windows and my
wonderful daughter sitting beside me. I put my arm around her,
squeezing her tight.

We landed in Alaska. The streets were covered
in snow as far as the eye could see, decorated like a winter
wonderland. It wasn’t like the few inches back home. There were six
feet on the ground. Steve picked us up from the airport and took us
out to dinner.

“Where are the boys?” I asked. “Are they with
Marta?”

“She had some issues with immigration again.
It’s nothing to worry about, but it will hold her up about a week.
The plan is still that she will pick up the boys on her way back,
so they don’t have to fly alone.”