The Sinful 7 of Delite, Texas 7: Her Double Delite Angels (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (18 page)

“Jesus, Jeremiah, that’s so horrible. I couldn’t even imagine how you felt. Did you know who Aaron was? What was his part in this when Alicia told him about her diagnosis?”

“Aaron still lives around here. Everyone knows him, including my sons.”

“What did you do?”

“Well, being the asshole that I was, a few days later, when her Aaron dropped her like a sack of potatoes and she cried her eyes out, I told her that I loved her and that I would be there for her and the kids and she told me to leave. She told me that I did it to her and that her sons were all she had left in the world to love.”

He lowered his head, and she heard his shaky breaths.

“You need to tell your sons. You need to explain this to them,” Ava whispered as she walked closer to Jeremiah and placed her hand on his shoulder.

He turned to look at her with tears in his eyes.

“They hate me. The only way I got through those months was by drinking and leaving that house. Hearing her cries of pain or just sounding miserable made me want to go and see her and help her despite her hatred for me. I tried to sit with her at night, without her knowing, but she awoke and cursed me, telling me to leave her alone. I didn’t want the boys to suffer more. At that point, I think the painkillers the doctor gave her made her lose her mind a bit. Colton and Evan suffered enough.”

“I’m so sorry, Jeremiah. I wish there was something I could do to help you. I just don’t know if Colton and Evan can get past what happened and how they interpreted the situation then. Why didn’t you try to tell them after she had passed? I mean, did you try to contact them?”

He turned to look at her. He was struggling to share this with Ava, a complete stranger. She understood that, but what did he expect her to do?

“I was at my bottom and in a bad place when she died. I’m sure they recall my drunken stupor and how I showed up at Alicia’s funeral. They told me I was dead to them.” He took an unsteady breath.

“I…tried to kill myself that night, but someone intervened. I still think of him as my guardian angel.”

“Who was it?” she asked.

“Someone we know well. Although he’s in the medical field and deals with tragedy on a regular basis, he has empathy for those around him. It was Dr. Nickles, Ava.”

She covered her mouth with her hand and felt the tear roll down her cheek. When Dr. Nickles broke the news to her about the surgery and having cancer, he’d hugged her and told Ava that everything would be all right.

“He’s an amazing man.”

“Yes, he is an amazing man. He got me the help I needed to stop drinking, to get counseling, and to take control of my life. I don’t drink, as you know. I’ve come a long way and I love volunteering at the hospital and being there, when people feel like they don’t have a friend or someone to lean on.” He looked at her and held her gaze.

“I was really worried about you when you showed up alone when you have all those Dixie Chix around you to care for you. I wondered why you chose to keep your appointment a secret, and then you shared your story with me. Remember?”

“I remember well. You shared a little bit about your wife with me. I remember thinking that you must have loved her a bunch. It was the way you spoke of her.” The words got caught in her throat.

“I’m okay with talking about it all now. I see that I should have done things a little differently, but what’s done is done.”

“Why don’t you try to talk with Colton and Evan, just the way you’re talking with me now?”

“I would like to, but you saw their reaction the other day. They hate me. I don’t know how to get them to listen.”

The back door to the dance hall opened up and Colton and Evan pushed through.

“What the hell is going on? Why are you out here with him?” Colton yelled as he stared at her, appearing shocked. Immediately she placed herself in front of Jeremiah as Evan surged forward.

“Stop. Jeremiah and I were talking. He’s a friend of mine and he was checking up on me,” Ava said very calmly. She hoped her soothing tone would calm the situation, but Colton and Evan looked hurt by her words.

“He can’t be a friend of yours. He can’t be trusted,” Evan stated.

“Son, we need to talk. I was just trying to—”

“I know what you’re trying to do. You just can’t stop yourself, can you? You won’t be happy until you’ve killed us, too,” Colton said, and Ava was shocked by the hurt in Colton’s tone and words. These men were all suffering so much.

She reached out to Colton and Evan. “Please listen to him. Please take a moment to hear what he has to say.”

“No, Ava. You don’t know him. We do. Let’s go,” Evan said as he grabbed Ava by her hand and pulled her against him. Evan wrapped an arm around her waist and held her close. She pressed her hands against his chest, compelled to make them understand that they were all hurting and it needed to stop.

“Wait, Evan. Please listen to me.” Ava pulled from his arms and stepped to the side.

“I love you both very much. Can you at least take a few moments to talk with him? He’s your father whether the two of you want to say he is or not. He’s a different man than the one you knew.”

“No, Ava, what he did is unforgivable. You don’t know, Ava. Come on,” Colton said then turned to walk away.

“Ava, come with us now. Please.” Evan reached his hand out to her. She glanced back at Jeremiah.

“Go,” Jeremiah whispered. She knew he was hurting as she walked away and Evan pulled her against him as if protecting her from harm. She didn’t know what she was going to do, but these men needed help and she would find a way to help them, just as they had helped her.

* * * *

“Hey, is everything all right?” Carl and Richie asked Colton and Evan as they walked through the hallway and into the main room.

“Fine,” Colton barked out. He knew he probably looked as angry as he felt, but his concern for Ava’s safety was first.

His brother had an arm wrapped around her waist as he guided her through the crowd.

“Ava, everything all right?” Carl asked her next, and she nodded her head then looked behind her at Colton. She was upset with him. She really didn’t know how bad their father was or what he had done to them.

“I’m leaving now. I told Susanna earlier,” Ava told Carl and he nodded his head.

“I said everything was fine,” Colton replied to Carl, and Carl squinted his eyebrows at Colton.

“I’m asking because I care. I’m not trying to be nosey.”

Colton stopped short and so did Evan and Ava.

“It turns out that our old man is still alive and well and apparently friends with Ava.”

“Shit, that’s good news, isn’t it? I mean, you thought he was dead,” Richie said.

“He’s dead to us. We want nothing to do with him,” Evan added. Carl and Richie both seemed to get the message.

“You’ll work it out. You’ve got us here if you need to talk,” Carl offered.

“Nothing to talk about. We’re leaving. Have a good night.” Colton gave his brother a tap on his shoulder, and Evan guided Ava out of Dixie Chix.

As the warm summer air hit his skin, he saw Ava holding herself as they headed to the truck. Evan opened the door to let her in.

“Here, you drive,” Colton told Evan, who looked at him strangely then shrugged his shoulders before running around the front of the truck and getting in on the driver’s side. Ava scooted toward the middle of the seat and stared straight ahead.

She was upset. It bothered him to know that his father spoke to her. He hated the man so much. He was the reason Evan and him had joined the service and disappeared for years.

They drove out of the parking lot, and Ava remained staring out the front window.

Colton reached for her hand and she took an uneasy breath.

“Ava, I don’t want you talking to him. Not ever.”

“Me either, Ava,” Evan added firmly.

She looked at Colton and shook her head. “You are being stubborn and close-minded. Perhaps there is more to what happened years ago than two teenage boys could have understood.”

“Is that what kind of lies he was spewing to you back there?” Colton pointed his thumb backward and away from the direction Evan was driving.

“Yeah, suddenly it’s our fault that he was a drunk and a loser who left our mother to die and her sons to handle the mess? We were kids ourselves, damn it.” Evan raised his voice then slammed his hand on the steering wheel.

“He’s trying to push you away from us,” Colton added. She turned to look at him. She seemed calm and almost as if she was biting her tongue.

The closer they got to their ranch and home the angrier at his father Colton became. He couldn’t stop the thoughts running through his head of how their father had left them every day to disappear and they were responsible to care for their dying mother. Jeremiah Banks couldn’t even look at their mother, and she hadn’t wanted him there either. She had been dying. What the hell?

As Evan pulled into the driveway and parked the truck, Ava whispered, “Do you think that perhaps your father was trying to protect you?”

Colton slammed his fist on the dashboard and got out of the truck. Evan did the same, and Ava followed them.

“Well?” she pushed when neither Evan nor Colton answered. Colton unlocked the front door, opened it, and allowed her to walk in first.

She stood there with her arms crossed in front of her chest, wearing one of her pretty outfits that showed off her body. She was sexy, gorgeous, and apparently naive when it came to men like Jeremiah Banks.

He stared at her and spoke his mind.

“He’s a liar. He doesn’t care about us and never has. You don’t get it, Ava. He basically abandoned us when mom was dying. What kind of man does that to his wife and children? Can you tell me that?”

“Colton, all I am saying is that perhaps there is more to your father’s behavior than he let on.”

“Jesus Christ, woman, he’s got you thinking he’s a fucking saint and not the bad guy. Wake up, Ava. We went through it, not you. We didn’t have a father to care for us and make losing our mother easier or at least stand beside us and help. He didn’t do shit.”

“You think that I don’t know how you feel? You had parents and I had no one. Even in an orphanage, I was alone in this world. Yeah, you know what, it was horrible what you went through, losing your mom and dealing with her care the way you both had to, and maybe your dad didn’t make the right decisions, but he felt he did at the time. I’m saying that maybe he had good reason.”

“Good reason? What good reason could a man have for not caring for their dying wife and making their kids handle it? What kind of man gets drunk and doesn’t help or show his dying wife an ounce of tenderness? Answer me that, Ava.” Evan raised his voice this time, and she lowered her head as she clasped her hands in front of her.

“You should talk with your father. You should listen to what he has to say.”

“No,” Evan stated firmly and she looked at him and took a deep breath.

“Your father shared some things with me this evening. I’ve known him for a while now and I believe what he told me was true. Just as you suffered, so did he for different reasons. Perhaps reasons that, if he could share with you, they might ease your pain a little.”

“Nothing he said was true. I’m not going to listen to him beg for forgiveness for acting like an asshole. It’s too late. He just wants to get rid of his guilt. Well that’s something he has to live with,” Colton replied.

“Colton, please listen to me. Please just hear him out. If you don’t like what he has to say, then so be it. But the man wants to speak with both of you.”

“You don’t understand, Ava, the sight of him angers me like nothing else.”

Ava reached for their hands and took them into her own and squeezed. “Sometimes the hardest and scariest thing a person has to do is give someone they once loved the chance to make things right. Could you both, please, just listen to what your father has to tell you?”

“I don’t know if I can, Ava. I just don’t know if I can,” Colton said then pulled her into his arms and hugged her tight.

“Why is this so important to you, Ava? Why do you think we should let him off so easily for what he did?” Evan asked.

She pulled back slightly from Colton and stared up into Evan’s eyes. “I’m not asking you to let him off. I’m asking you to move on and perhaps find some closure and heal from the pain that is still so alive and strong inside of you. You had two parents that loved you. One is gone, but the other still lives. I don’t have any parents. I’ll never have any. Just let him talk to you, and if afterward, you still feel the same way, then it’s over. I’ll never bring Jeremiah up again or ask you to make amends.”

Colton looked at Evan, and then they looked at Ava.

“We’ll think about it, Ava,” Evan said then pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply.

“Bring her upstairs, Evan,” Colton said. Evan pulled gently from Ava’s lips then swung her up into his arms, making her squeal.

“Hey, what about dinner?”

Colton gave her body the once-over. “Dinner can wait. Being inside of you definitely can’t.” Ava blushed.