Watch What Burns (10 page)

“You always make me feel so loved,” Austin spoke to him, her voice sweet and delicate,
her eyes swimming with impending tears. “No matter how many times you say it. I know they don’t matter.”

“They don’t,” Tyler confirmed the statement with a stern tone. “If anything they remind me of everything I got back. I got you, I got my daughter,
I got everything. Scars don’t change who you are, Austin. I would love you if you were bright pink, covered in polka dots, and were bald.”

Austin just burst out laughing. “You’re such a crazy man when you want to be.”

“Only crazy in love,” he said, drawing her naked body to his. “Now go and get into those PJs of yours and wait for me in bed.”

“Okay,” she whispered, lifted herself onto her tiptoes to kiss him before dropping down onto the flats of her feet and leaving him alone in the bathroom.

Tyler quickly dried himself, grabbing his pajama bottoms from the spot he had left them that morning. Walking into the bedroom, he saw her curled up in bed already, waiting for him to join her. He quickly closed the distance between them and lifted his side of the sheets to climb under. The moment he could, he pulled his wife into his arms, reaching over her to turn the bedside lamp off.

Snuggling down, Austin lavished the feel of her husband’s warm skin beneath her cheek. “I’m tired,” Austin yawned, and knew this was the backlash of burning through so many emotions in a mere few hours.

“Then sleep, baby,” Tyler murmured at her, exhausted as well after today. “I think we’re due a date night,” Tyler whispered at Austin lightly as they lay entwined together. He looked down at her expectant face as she turned to look at him and continued, “One without the worry of interruptions or anything. Just you, I, and our big bed,” he finalized, excited by a nonexistent plan.

“I like the sound of that,” Austin replied. Hell, she needed it. She hated how, even behind cast iron bars, Natasha still proved a stressful point to her life. “Until then, I need a good night’s sleep and over indulgence at breakfast.”

Tyler chuckled at that, but he could feel his stomach already yearn for that sort of meal. “And tomorrow, I will kill the problem,” Tyler breathed out into the night air.

Austin moved a little, leaning her chin to his bare chest, she looked him in the eyes and smiled with dead certainty. “I know.”

AUSTIN felt hands glide over her waistline, arms rushing around her midriff as Tyler’s lips came to kiss her jaw line gently. She closed her eyes, forgetting about cooking breakfast for a split second to indulge in this.

“Morning Sunny,” he whispered at her, his tone huskier than usually with the remnants of sleep.

“Mm,” Austin mused as she lavished the feel of his kisses. “Morning, husband of mine, did you sleep well?”

“Oh yeah, I slept more than well,” he purred at her. “Where’s Gracie?”

“Drawing in the den,” Austin commented back, and pushed the pan off the hot stove to turn around. “She wanted to do some drawing before we start baking today,” she told Tyler as she wrapped her arms
around his neck. “Plus, she wanted you to have a new masterpiece to take to work.”

Tyler grinned excitedly. “I’m going to need to seek out more wall space at this rate.”

“She’d love that,” Austin laughed. “Now go and grab her, the bacon’s nearly cooked and the pancakes have both your names on them.” She saw Tyler’s eyes light up. He never changed; food was always the way to that man’s heart. Much like it was to her brothers and her father’s. “Go on,” she pushed him. “Plus, after breakfast we need to arrange a date night before you go to work. I am not going through a dry spell like that again.”

Tyler chuckled as he listened to her. “Oh, sounds like a perfect way to end breakfast,” he said pulling her into his arms to kiss her heatedly. He pulled away as he heard Grace singing her way through from the den. “Guess I don’t need to go get her.”

“Is breakfast ready, mama?” Grace asked as she climbed onto one of the chairs. “My tummy just roared so loud it scared Clara.” She finished the sentence by dumping her doll onto the table. It was one that Tom had gotten for Grace over a year ago, and was now her best friend.

“Well you’re in luck,” Austin said turning back to the stove, grabbing the pan and pushing the bacon onto one of the white plates. She passed the plate to Tyler and pulled the stack of pancakes out of the oven where she had been keeping them warm. She had mastered the art of getting a proper meal done in the time it took Tyler to shower in the morning.

“Pancakes!” Grace yelled as Austin put the plate down in the center of the table.

“The plates hot so let daddy put yours on your plate for you,” Austin warned her daughter, and went back to the kitchen to get the fruit she had cut up and prepared. She came in and sat down, watching her daughter giggling at her father as he made silly faces while he dished up her breakfast. This was where her fighting spirit recuperated and tripled in strength.

“Mommy’s got that look again,” Grace suddenly spoke up, turning her attention to her mother.

Snapping out of her dangerous reverie, she looked at her daughter who shot her a familiar all knowing look. “What look?” Austin asked as she reached for the pancakes.

Grace giggled, “You look like you’re away with the fairies.”

Austin laughed nervously as Tyler shot her an all knowing look, “Just watching you and daddy, that’s all, baby.” She looked as Tyler brought his hand to covers her and she smiled. “Now eat before this gets cold.”

“Okay!” Grace quickly turned her attention away from both her mother and father and began to eat.

Shooting her husband a smile to show she was okay, he began to eat his own food. She couldn’t help but count how lucky she was when she caught the little moments. This was a dream she had always wished would come true, and now that it
had, she could hardly believe it.

Hearing the doorbell, Austin and Tyler exchanged looks. It was far too early for unexpected visitors. “I’ll get it,” Tyler commented, placing his knife and fork down. “Eat all of that up, Princess,” Tyler said, pointing to the fruit on the side of Grace’s plate. He planted a kiss to the top of her head before rushing off to get the door.

“Don’t expect the bacon to be here!” Austin cried out, stealing a piece off her husband’s plate.

“Leave it alone, Sunny!” he yelled back, chuckling a little. He got to the door and immediately knew this
wasn’t going to end well. “Aus, you might want to come here for this.” He could see Diane’s nervous expression so clearly through the glass paneling in the front door, and he just knew she had something else to stir the situation.

“Behave for me,” Austin told Grace, rushing off to see what Tyler wanted her for. Coming into the hallway, she saw Tyler holding the door open to Diane.

“Hi,” Diane spoke nervously as she now stood in the open doorway of the Armstrong house. “I won’t be here long, but I needed to see you.”

“What is it?” Austin asked, hugging her arms around herself to try and remain as calm as possible.

“I’ve been to see Natasha,” Diane told them almost immediately, leaving no time to spare. “Last night, I called the prison and demanded a meeting. I was only granted ten minutes, but I said what I had to. I also got your photo back.” With reluctance, Diane passed the photo over; her hand was shaking a little. “I don’t know where the other part is.”

Tyler reached over and took the photo, immediately noticing the tattered edge, the missing half wiping out Austin’s existence. He looked at Diane,
disbelief catching him in a chokehold. “Is this some sick joke?”

Reaching over Austin took the photo and instead of feeling thankful for Diane’s bravado against her daughter, she only felt more anger rile within her. She had to admit that she felt a tremor roll through her. She had worked on the evil side of life before coming home, she knew what seemingly normal people were capable of, and it terrified her. She had been face to face with evil more than once, and she was worried that Natasha was one she had literally lived with.

“You had no right to give her this before anyway,” Austin spoke lowly, her voice came out strained as she tried to remain calm. She didn’t want to scare Grace, nor did she want to attract attention to them. “What did she have to say about this?”

“Not a lot,” Diane stated clearly and honestly. “She told me that she only aims to contact one other person besides myself and Robert, and that’s Tyler. She’s adamant that you are going to rush to her side and wait on her release.”

Tyler near enough barked in laughter at that comment. “She’s got a fucking long wait on her hands. You tell that daughter of yours when you next see her that the time I wasted on her was worthless. I took nothing from it apart from the realization that no matter how much I tried to outrun it, I will only ever love Austin. Other than that, I took an abundance of guilt and regret. I won’t turn my life over for that again.”

“I know that, but she’s not seeing that,” Diane defended her daughter.

“Yeah,” Austin snorted, and uncharacteristically spoke out of turn. “She’s a fucking psychopath; of course she’s not seeing it.”

“Austin,” Diane stepped in, trying to dampen the heat of Austin’s rage with an apologetic tone.

Feeling her anger reaching breaking point, Austin remembered how Grace was in direct hearing range of this entire conversation, and the last thing she wanted was for her to hear her mother completely break loose as she reached the end of her tether. “I’ll be right back,” she stated and left the pair.

Tyler stood awkwardly with Diane, listening as Austin asked their daughter if she could go and do more drawings. He loved how Grace reacted and agreed and he waited on the door to close Grace away in the sanctum of the den. He felt Austin close
the gap between them; as she approached she jumped straight back into the conversation.

“I’m sorry, but I never once lashed out about her after she turned the town against me, or after she played arsonist and nearly killed me, and I never once hit out at her when she stepped into my hospital room to torture me a little more, or hell, when you did, Diane. No, I remained the good guy, because that’s who I am. I never reacted when she targeted me in the courtroom when she was prosecuted, and I never ever spoke badly against her, regardless of the amount of opportunities I was given. I’m sick of biting my tongue when this is getting too out of hand.” Making an attempt to calm
herself, Austin landed one final blow, “And to top it all, I have to put up with Robert threatening me at every turn.”

“Robert?” Diane gasped in shock horror.

“Yeah, the man you married has been threatening me and I have no real reason as to why,” Austin answered back, allowing Diane some insight to what had been going on in their sleepy town. “He’s been trying to scare me, and last night he actually told me I will get what I deserve for what I did to your family.”

Tyler put his arm around Austin, hoping to offer her support and calm her all at once.

“I have never spoken badly of your daughter or your husband, because I am the better person, but all of this.” Austin held the tattered photo up, taking a pause for a second. “This is beyond unfair. I have done nothing to deserve her constant pestering in mine and Tyler’s life. She lost, she needs to accept responsibility and move the hell on. As for Robert, he is acting like a man scorned for me just living my life.”

Feeling Austin shudder slightly, Tyler knew he had to step in and save the moment. “Look, Natasha is always going to be a sore spot wherever Austin and I, hell our families too, are involved,” Tyler stepped in, becoming the calm one. “You were out of line giving her any photographs of our daughter without our permission, and even though we understand why you did it, and what you were trying to do, you still broke our trust. We still have to live with what Natasha did all those years ago, and we do not need her thinking she deserves some chance in our life, in my life, and that ex of yours will know that too. It won’t work,” He shook his head in disgust. “I won’t let it happen.”

“I know it won’t,” Diane stepped in, stating the fact with hard certainty.

“Looks like
it’s judgment day again,” Austin stated seeing the mailman come into view, changing the subject entirely. “I wonder what the mailman brought us today,” Austin pondered sarcastically.

“I’ll go and grab it. See if we have any other surprises,” Tyler said as he watched the mailman coming up the street, sifting through his pile of letters and packages before stopping at their mailbox. He didn’t mean to make callous remarks, but like Austin, he hated these pointless games. He came back slowly, rooting through their pile. He saw a few bills, a piece or two of junk mail, one that looked to be from Michael and then one that struck him hard. Looking to Austin, he didn’t hesitate. “Here. It’s for you,” Tyler said handing over a letter. The cop in him had told him to keep a hold of the letter, claim it as his, but he knew the consequence of that would be far worse than just giving Austin the letter. “It’s for you.”

Taking the letter, she slipped her hand under the lip and tore it open. It was hand written, and she knew there was only one culprit behind the signature scribble on the front. She knew from Tyler’s tone of voice he knew as well.

“Fucking great,” Austin laughed, ignoring her anger. She flashed her gaze to Diane, before she began to speak, “Want to hear what your daughter has to say to me? I mean it seems she no longer wants to
contact just you, that darling ex-husband of yours, or my husband.”

“What has she done?” Diane dared to ask, her tone cautious.

Clearing her front, Austin readied herself to speak, holding the letter, she hated every word she was about to read out. “Dear
Home Wrecker
, I managed to get insight into your life the other day, and the only thing I can be thankful to you for is keeping my main man happy. I’m sure you did enough to pass the last three horrible years for Tyler, and that darling daughter Grace of his. I know we’ll get along like a
house on fire
, me and Grace that is, once you’re gone. I mean, you won’t be here forever playing happy family. That’s completely ridiculous if you ask me. You and Tyler no longer belong together. You proved how little you cared when you left him in the middle of the night nine years ago, and how little you loved him when you blew back into town expecting everyone to just love you again. Well, it’s all a pipe dream, Austin. I’ll make sure you realize that before it’s too late for Tyler and I to get our happily ever after.” The last words caught her, she knew not to believe them, but that seed of doubt that always tortured her unleashed a new rampage upon her. “I look forward to the day that man of mine wakes up and realizes what a monster he sleeps beside every night. I cannot wait for the repulsion to drive him away from you and back to me. Lots of love, the future Mrs. Tyler Armstrong.” Looking to Diane, Austin allowed all of her emotions to hit the surface and palpate the air around them. “Your daughter is a fucking psycho. That’s all there is to it.”

“I’m so sorry this is happening,” Diane sobbed, horrified by her own daughter’s malice. She then quickly ran from the porch to Tyler and Austin’s house, unable to confront them any longer.

Weakening suddenly, Austin needed her husband. She didn’t want to feel like this, and she hated the feelings that Natasha still managed to evoke in her. Even now, all these years on, she still managed it. Covering her mouth to withhold the sob, she turned to her own support and strength she had and fell against Tyler’s strong build.

Tyler wrapped his arms around Austin. He knew she was reaching her breaking point, and it worried him to think how she was going to completely snap. So he held her tight, letting her draw whatever she needed to from this moment.