I set my phone to vibrate at four so I could call off work. I still felt guilty about it, but I had a legitimate excuse. My boss couldn’t very well be angry with me since he was sleeping next to me.
I put on the plush bathrobe that was furnished by the hotel and took my phone out in the hall to make my calls so not to wake up Marcus.
I called Chase first.
“Mornin’,” he mumbled.
“Mornin’. I was calling to tell you not to pick me up this morning. I’m not coming in today.”
“Jeez, Jaz! You’re already starting to blow off work? That was quick.”
“Marcus won’t be there either. We had a family emergency.”
“Is Dad okay?”
“Sorry. My new family,” I explained.
“That is going to take some getting used to.”
“I know. For me, too.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Yes. It will be.” No need to worry him about my involvement.
“Will I be picking up the princess tomorrow then?”
“Yes, please.” I sighed heavily. “Don’t forget about after work.”
“I didn’t forget,” he said. “Later.”
Next I called Wayne since he was still my supervisor. I had his cell number so I called him directly rather than just leaving a message on the voice mail at the plant.
“Wayne, I’m not going to be in today.”
“Oh really?” he said with a tone. I could hear the smile in his voice.
“I’m down in Lexington helping Marcus,” I said without going into too much detail.
“I guess that would be an approved absence.” Yes. Yes. It was very funny that I was the princess now. Ugh.
“I’m going to call Clucky and tell him what needs to be done later so you won’t have to cover for me.”
“I can cover you. I remember how.” I could almost hear his eyes rolling.
“Okay. The work orders for today are in order and sitting on the top of my desk.”
“Of course they are, Ms. Efficient.” I liked being called Ms. Efficient more than princess.
“Thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow okay?”
“See you tomorrow.” He hung up.
“What are you doing out here?” Marcus whispered while squinting from the light in the hall. He had peeked out of our room to see me sitting on the floor in my bathrobe. He was just wearing boxers.
“I’m calling off work,” I walked back into our room. “I don’t want to get wrote up for not calling my supervisor.” I shrugged and he laughed.
“It figures I would fall in love with my most dependable worker so that when I encourage her to go do something better I end up screwed. Stupid, Marcus!” he said to himself while thumping his forehead with his palm.
As we dressed and ate breakfast, Marcus started to become nervous. I could feel the stress radiating out of him.
“Come here.” I beckoned him over to the bed. “So what’s the plan?” I asked while rubbing his shoulders. Marcus was more comfortable when he had something constructive to think about.
“You will take my car to Maddy’s school and meet her inside. I have the school programmed in the GPS.” Marcus was taking charge again and I could already see him calming down as he continued.
“My mom is going to swing by and pick me up and we are going to go to the police station to wait with Natalie. Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”
“Yeah. I’ll meet you at the police station when it’s over. Is that in the GPS?”
“No. Good thinking. I’ll take care of that right now.” He was better once I’d given him a task.
He gave me a long kiss before I got in the car. “Marcus?” I paused wanting to ask him if he had ever tried to move a bullet before. I thought better of it. The answer was most likely no, and there was no use making him worry more. “You threw away your sister’s security blanket?” He sniffed a laugh. “You are the worst brother e-ver.”
He nodded in solemn agreement and closed the door behind me. He already thought he was a bad brother. Why did he have to take everything on himself? Jeez.
I made my way to Maddy’s school. I had put on a pair of khaki capris since it was the beginning of June and I guessed teachers wore capris. I wore my hair in a teacherly ponytail and pulled it tighter when I got out of the car and headed inside. I tried not to look around too much.
Maddy was waiting in the office with the principal. She smiled and ran to give me a hug when she spotted me.
“I’m Jasmine Hinkley. I’m helping today,” I said, making it known exactly how I would be helping.
“Welcome, Ms. Hinkley. I’m Principal Hill. You will have the best little tour guide today,” she smiled at me reassuringly. “Can I speak to you for a moment alone?” she asked and I followed her part way down the hall. “You’re sure Maddy’s father will not be a danger to the other students?” She seemed to want some kind of guarantee from me.
“I’ve never met him, but he’s been hanging around this school for at least a week and none of your staff was even aware of it. It seems to me that your school wasn’t doing a very good job of protecting the children in the first place,” I said steadily. If she saw that as rude, well, I didn’t care. I was a little pissed off. I mean, come on! Weird guy hanging around the school every day and no one gets suspicious?
Maddy showed me to her classroom. The students were all abuzz about the last day of school on Friday and Sadie’s pony party. Maddy introduced me to her friends like I was eight too.
I sat in the back of the room. When it was time for recess, I pulled Maddy to the side casually.
“Maddy, I saw a picture of your dad so I’ll look out for him, but if you see him before I do, tell me okay?”
“Okay. He’s not allowed in the circle.”
“Right. The police are going to show him where the circle is if he shows up today.”
She walked outside with no other worry than if I would swing with her. I looked around nonchalantly while my heart pounded away. Maddy was pushing me on the swing and she missed a push. I twisted around to see her staring off toward the street.
Without panicking, I turned my head in the direction she was looking and saw a man standing by the fence. It was Sam. I was sure.
I felt a slight sense of relief when I saw he was on the other side of the fence from us. He wouldn’t be able to get any closer.
“It’s okay, Maddy. We’re safe in this circle. He can’t come in here.” I hopped off the swing. “Let’s go to the see saw,” I suggested because it was the furthermost piece of playground equipment from Maddy’s father.
She sat on the end, and I put my hand on my side pretending to push down but using my gift instead.
I looked in his direction again and saw him stagger backward in confusion. I was pushing him away with my thoughts.
I had tried to rein it in but it was hard because my instincts had taken over. I wanted him away from Maddy.
I didn’t have to worry about it long. The police descended on Sam Hoover quickly. He was facedown on the sidewalk in a matter of seconds.
“Come on, Maddy!” I said to distract her. “I’ll race you to the door!”
Sam was yelling by then, and I didn’t want Maddy to hear it. I got her to come back inside with me by saying I needed to use the bathroom. I took my time. We chatted while I washed my hands.
“Oh no!” she said in worry as she pointed at me. I looked in the mirror to see blood running out of my nose, a big drop landing on my shirt.
“It’s okay,” I quickly grabbed a paper towel and held it to my nose. “It will stop in a second. It happens sometimes.” It did happen sometimes but usually only when I exerted my power. I hadn’t pushed Sam that hard.
My nose didn’t stop bleeding right away. I went through three more paper towels and by the time I got it stopped and we left the bathroom, recess was over.
I walked Maddy back to class. “I have to go now.” I bent to give her a hug.
“But…” She started to get worried as she looked toward the door.
“When you go out for recess after lunch, you won’t see your dad there anymore. You don’t have to worry about it. He’s going to stay outside of the circle.”
“Are you okay?” she said worriedly as she shifted her gaze down to my nose.
“Yeah. I’m fine. I’m sorry if I scared you.”
“Will you be at my house when I get home?” Her little pout just about broke my heart.
“No, Uncle Marcus and I have to go home and go to work. You have fun at the party. I’ll call and see how it went.”
“Okay!” she said, happy that the party was still in her future.
“I hope you know that if you ever have a problem again, you can talk to someone about it. Sometimes a grown-up can come up with a plan that you don’t know about. Like the circle of protection.” She nodded understanding. “Even your mommy can help. She will do whatever she needs to do to keep you safe.” She nodded again and smiled.
“So, would you like to be the flower girl at our wedding?” I asked her. “You would get a pretty dress and we could do your hair up like a princess,” I added to make the sale. It was unnecessary; she was elated. She hopped up and down in excitement unable to speak. “I’ll let you know when it’s time to pick out your dress.” I bent to give her another hug.
“Thank you, Aunt Jaz,” she said, giggling at my new name. I smiled.
“You’re very welcome.”
Before I left the building, I took another stop at the bathroom to throw some water on my face and have a minibreakdown of sorts. My hands had started to shake when I thought of how close he had been to her every day.
I tried to wash the blood out of my shirt, but it wouldn’t budge.
I listened to loud rock music on my way to the police station to help me calm down.
When I walked in everyone’s face was grim.
“What’s wrong? Is he getting out?” I asked in horror.
Marcus saw me and then the blood. “Jasmine! Are you hurt?”
“No. It was just a bloody nose,” I told him so he understood. He relaxed and grabbed me and held me tight. “Thank you for helping,” he said before he kissed me all over. “I love you.”
“I love you, too. What’s going on?” I was distracted by everyone’s demeanor. Certainly they should be happy that they have time to move Maddy and Natalie. “How long is he going to be in jail?”
“Probably a long time,” Marcus assured me softly. “When he was taken into custody they found ropes, duct tape, and sleeping pills in his car, along with two guns and a ton of ammunition. They think he was planning to kidnap Maddy and take out anyone who got in his way. They also found passports for him and Maddy at his home. He already has a place in Mexico. This could have gotten really bad, Jasmine. Really bad.” He put his head against mine.
“Oh.” Was all I could say and then I needed to sit down. My legs were apparently not up for the task of holding up me plus all this news. I rested my head in my hands, which were propped on my knees while Marcus rubbed my back. “Well, we won’t need to buy a pony.”
“Let’s go home,” he said wearily. I myself was exhausted again and it was only noon.
“You want to go out tomorrow night?” Marcus asked when we were almost home.
“Uh. I can’t. I have plans. Is that okay?”
“Yes, Jasmine. You are permitted to have plans.” He tilted his head to look at me. “I’m marrying you, not locking you in a castle and controlling your every move.” He shook his head. “I trust you. I hope you would trust me to go out by myself.”
“Of course,” I said like I’d never even thought twice about it. I really hadn’t thought twice about it.
Marcus was still sleeping Thursday morning when I got up. I kissed his head and went to the bathroom to get ready for work. I was rinsing off my toothbrush when I remembered what day it was.
My mother had died ten years ago. After work I would go visit her grave and all day I would be replaying what happened. Wishing I could go back and stop it.
I started crying. I kept it quiet so not to wake Marcus. It was going to be a horrible day.
Chase picked me up with a smile. His brow creased as he took in my expression. I could tell immediately he had forgotten what today was though I had reminded him numerous times.
“You’re not going with me today after work are you?” I asked point-blank as he pulled away from the curb.
“Going…? Oh! Uh.” He looked like he wanted to throw me from the truck to get out of it.
“It’s fine!” I lied. “I’ve been going by myself for years.”
“Jaz, you know it’s not that I don’t think about her. I do. Every day. I just get creeped out at the cemetery. Seeing her tombstone…it’s just too much. Everybody deals with things differently.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” I frowned.
“I don’t miss her as much as you do, because I have you,” he said. I looked at him confused. “You’re just like her. You give me hell about the same things she would have. You take care of me and make me pancakes. It’s like you took over for her when she died so I haven’t lost as much as you have,” he explained further.
I guess I did try to make it easier on both of them when my mom died. I took up the slack because I felt it was my fault they didn’t have a wife and a mother anymore. I felt I had to make it up to them in some way.
I looked out the window the rest of the drive to work.
The staring was hardly an issue anymore. I decided not to take lunch with the others. I was already in a bad mood and knew their teasing would only make it worse.
“Where’s Chase?” I looked around for him at our afternoon break.
“He went home sick,” Robby told me.
“Hell! He drove me in today!” I threw my hands in the air and then realized that my first priority should have been with Chase’s health. “Is he okay?”
“He said his chicken-salad sandwich didn’t taste right at lunch.”
“But, he ate it anyway?” I asked incredulously.
“Oh, yeah!” Robby laughed.
“Idiot!”
“You want me to give you a ride home? Wait. Which house are you going to? Do you still ride in a car or do I need to have a horse drawn carriage?” Dennis taunted me.
I glared and got up to go call Marcus.
“She’s going to tell on you,” Dunner joked musically.
I was actually starting to look forward to getting out of there. What a difference a week made.
“Marcus Weller,” Marcus answered his phone.
“This is Jasmine Hinkley, not Wayne.” The phone still hadn’t been changed.
“Oh, thanks for clarifying. Your voice is so much like Wayne’s.”
“We get that all the time.”
“What can I do for you?” he almost purred.
“I was wondering if I could ride home with you tonight. Chase left sick.”
“Is he okay?” Marcus took the higher road.
“He’s not smart,” I concluded.
“Ah.” Marcus wasn’t going to touch that. “I can wrap up early tonight.”
“That’s okay. I can wait.”
“You said you had plans tonight,” he reminded me.
“Yeah, but I can do it whenever I get there.” I almost felt like I should tell him what I was doing, but I didn’t want him to worry or feel obligated to go with me.
“It’s all right. I need to stop and pick something up this afternoon anyway. I’ll meet you downstairs at three.”
“Okay. Thanks!”
At three, Marcus was waiting by the time clock with a smile. He didn’t notice, but he was freaking out all the other employees as they swiped their badges.
He gave me a kiss and held my hand as we walked out of the plant. Everyone was back to staring again.
I made Marcus check my pants before I got into his car. He checked them over very thoroughly.
“I’m sorry I’m messing up your day. I can’t believe Chase left me. Today of all days!” I threw my hands in the air again. “When something tastes funny, that is nature’s way of warning you that there is a problem. I thought everyone knew that!” I ranted as we drove through town.
He turned down the wrong street and I remembered that he had said he needed to stop somewhere on the way home. I pulled out my phone to check my two text messages from Chase.
im dying the first one said. im sorry for bailing the second one announced.
I gave him a quick call to check on him as Marcus parked the car and got out.
“Are you okay?” I asked as soon as he answered.
“Chicken salad is evil,” he told me. “I think I’ve thrown up stuff I ate in third grade.”
“Make sure to drink plenty of water. Do you have ginger ale?” I mothered him while remembering his comments that morning.
“Yes.”
“I’ll check on you later. If you’re not better I’m taking you to the ER,” I warned.
“Okay. Thanks. I…have to…go.” He hung up, thankfully before I had to hear anything else.
I closed my phone and looked up to see where we were. I hadn’t been paying attention when we pulled in.
We were at the flower shop and Marcus was exiting with a large box in his hand.
He got in the driver’s seat and handed me the box. On top of the white box was a single pink rose.
“What’s this?” I asked curiously.
“The pink rose is for you, because I love you.” He paused as I opened the box. Inside was a spray of white roses and other white flowers tied with a lavender bow. I gasped. “Those are for your mother’s grave. Ten white roses. One for every year she’s been gone. I know what today is, Jasmine,” he said flatly.
The tears started immediately. “I would have told you, but it’s kind of a family thing.” I made an excuse.
“Oh, yes. I’ve seen the memories of you sitting at her grave by yourself. It definitely looked like a family thing.” He seemed upset as he stared straight out the windshield. He hadn’t started the car yet. “Listening to you cry in the bathroom this morning just about killed me. I wanted you to come to me. To let me help you with this, but you didn’t.” He took a deep breath. “I get it if you want to this alone. But, can I at least drive you so I can be there for you when you’re done? Please let me be here for you. I’m going to be part of your family, and I’m not just in it for the good stuff either,” he repeated my words from the other day.
“Believe me, I know that. There is no good stuff with my family.” I laughed once through the tears.
“Your brother and I will be having a talk about this. You do so much for him. He could do this for you.”
“He’s sick.”
“Is he? He put in to leave early today on Monday,” Marcus’s face was angry. He started the car and put it in reverse while I thought it over.
I had reminded Chase about today on Monday. He was a coward. He wasn’t able to drop me off at home, knowing where I was going and knowing I was going alone. I wanted to find some tainted chicken salad and feed it to him.
I closed the box and looked over at Marcus. His dominant expression was still anger, but I could see underneath it was concern for me. I took his hand in mine and kissed his warm palm.
“White roses were my mother’s favorite,” I told him.
He gave me a worn smile. “I know. I saw. I watched the whole funeral one night when you were asleep.” He brushed the tears from my cheeks and more came.
He reached across to hold me as soon as he parked the car in my driveway. “I couldn’t be there to help you then. I can be here today,” he offered again.
“Thank you.”
He waited downstairs while I got a shower and dressed. He hugged me tightly.
“Would you mind driving me? I’ll buy you dinner after,” I suggested, causing him to smile.
“Okay,” he said without a fuss, though I doubted he would actually let me pay.
He drove to the cemetery in silence as I sat in the passenger seat with the flowers and my blanket. It took a while to fill someone in on a whole year of your life. Even if normally your year wasn’t that momentous. The last months with Marcus made the past year the most momentous in my life.
Marcus opened my door and helped me out. Being there made moving on my own difficult. Bad feelings were creeping up my spine. The loneliness, the emptiness, the loss.
Marcus kissed my head. “I’m just going to sit over here on this bench,” he informed me before walking off in that direction. I noticed all the bad feelings intensified when I watched him walk away from me.
Unable to go to the grave, I stared at Marcus while he sat down and wiped his hands down his face nervously. He bent over, resting his head in his hands. It reminded me of the other day when I walked into the police station. He was worried about me.
He glanced over his shoulder in my direction and then turned when he saw I was still standing the same spot.
“Would you mind…?” I pointed over my shoulder with my thumb. “I’m just going to be telling her about us anyway.”
Marcus walked to my side. When he took my hand I felt strong enough to go on.
We sat on a blanket in front of my mother’s grave as I told her about how Marcus and I got together.
“I told her about my gift,” I explained to Marcus.
Marcus didn’t say anything. He would smile and touch my face every once in a while.
“Don’t forget to tell her about the double oven,” he reminded me when I was telling her about the house.
It took about an hour, but I had filled her in on my life and given her the abbreviated version of Chase’s. I only mentioned that Dad was happy, without going into too much detail.
“Thank you for sitting with me,” I said as we walked back to the car. “It was better having someone with me. And having something nice to tell her. You did that too, so thanks.”
Marcus gave me a long kiss when we got to the car. “Thank you for letting me be a part of your life. I’ll be here for you whenever you need me. You just have to ask.”
I nodded. “Thanks.”
“Dinner?”
“Sure. Anywhere you want to go. It’s my treat,” I said happily as he drove toward town.
“Anywhere?” he asked with a nervous smile on his beautiful face.
“Yes. Anywhere.”
I sat gaping at the ice-cream shop as he turned off the car and got out. I wanted to be angry at him, but I couldn’t even manage that.
He opened my door and waited for me to get out.
“What are we doing here?”
“You said I could pick. I picked. I want ice cream for dinner.”
“But…I…don’t…”
“Eat ice cream? I know. For ten years, you haven’t had ice cream. It’s time. Get out of the car,” he demanded.
“Marcus…” I looked up into his dark eyes begging him not to do this. He blinked a few times, but held his ground.
“Jasmine, whether or not you should have died ten years ago, you didn’t. You’re alive.” He held my face in his warm hands. “You can’t feel guilty about that. We have a big, amazing future ahead of us, and it’s starting tonight. With ice cream,” he said definitively. “You’ll feel better. Please. Can you trust me?” I nodded and took his hand to walk up to the nonthreatening ice-cream stand.
Marcus ordered for me, knowing what I would like from my memories. He handed me my small vanilla cone with sprinkles, and with his matching cone we walked over to a bench to sit.
He wasn’t gawking at me waiting for me to take the first bite, to my relief.
“Why don’t you play golf with your dad?” I asked as I dug in. Two could play at this game. He looked over at me and sighed but smiled as I took another bite of ice cream. It was delicious. And surprisingly, guilt-free.
“The same reason I ran from you when we first started seeing each other,” he confessed, but I didn’t understand. “Defiance. To make people like me for who I really am.”
“I’m sorry, I—”
“You didn’t know me then, Jasmine. It’s okay. Your mind was just filling in the blanks. You know me now, and I know you love me. My father, on the other hand, has known me my whole life. He still doesn’t really know me.”
He took a bite of his ice cream and then kissed my cheek with his cold lips. I laughed.
“I suck at golf naturally. I used to try really hard because I wanted to hang out with him and make him proud.”
“So it was like the Camaro?”
“Very much like the Camaro. But, at least you are good with cars. After the accident, I used my gift to play golf the next time and he was a completely different person. Bragging to his friends about our score. I thought it would feel good to make him proud, but it didn’t.”
“Because he wasn’t happy with the real Marcus?”
“Right,” he answered sadly. “I just gave up and went back to sucking so he wouldn’t bother me with golf anymore.”
“I’m sorry.” I rubbed his back sympathetically.
We sat in silence as we finished our ice cream.
“So how was it?” he asked as we got up to head to the car.
“Unbelievable.” I admitted.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. Thank you for everything. I really appreciate it. Really,” I said graciously.
“I’m glad it worked out. It could have completely blown up in my face.”
“I’m going to have a talk with Chase.”
“Should I have let you think he was sick?”
“No. I’m glad you told me the truth. I knew he didn’t want to go, and I wasn’t going to push him into it. He didn’t need to lie to me just because it was easier.”
“Yeah, he’s a big jerk. I mean anyone who would lie to their sibling to get out of telling them something they thought was too difficult? He should just be taken out back and shot,” he said, dripping with sarcasm at my hypocrisy.
“Okay. I see what you’re saying.”
“Your house or our house?” he asked at the deciding stoplight.
“My house, please.” He made a left.
“I wanted to talk to you about your house,” Marcus said. “I was going to wait until tomorrow, because I knew today wasn’t going to be a great day.”
“It’s okay. What is it?”
“My old house was sold yesterday.”
“Excellent.” I was happy that the dungeon of doom—as he called it—would no longer be a burden for him.
“I was going to have my Realtor come over to your house and appraise it so you could sell it.”
“Already?”
“We have two months until the wedding.” I couldn’t tell by his expression if he was saying that was a short time or a long time. I guessed depending on what we were discussing it could be either. “Do you feel like you’re being pressured?”
I didn’t know, so I didn’t answer.
“I kind of feel like I’m stealing your security blanket and throwing it in the Dumpster,” he said quietly as we pulled in my driveway.
I smiled at him as we stood in my tiny front yard looking at my house. He took my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
“After my mom died, the house I grew up in didn’t feel like my home anymore. It got worse when Cynthia moved in and changed everything. When I turned eighteen, I moved in with Chase. I just felt like an unwelcome guest in his house. We fought a lot. When I moved here, it was the first bit of peace I’d felt in five years. It was a home. And then it turned into a place to hide from everyone.” I sighed remembering those dark days before Chase started racing and forced me to help. “I want to marry you. I want to move into our new house together. I don’t know why I should feel sad about selling my house, but for some reason I do.”
“Right now, this is your home and our new place is just a house. But, when we move all of our things in, our new place will be our home,” he reasoned. “I’m just glad the reason you’re reluctant to sell it isn’t because you wanted an escape plan,” he said quietly and led me inside.
“Escape plan?”
“In case you decide to bail on me.” He cocked his head to the side.
I chuckled. “Marcus, I assure you, I will not be bailing on you. You’ve seen my thoughts. I’ve been daydreaming of being married to you since I met you, though I do admit my earlier fantasies starred a fabricated Marcus and were very unrealistic.”
“Well, except for the size. I think I’m on par with the size.” He grinned.
“Oh, yeah. You’re even bigger than my imagination.” I smiled and then turned serious. “I know I scared you away before, because I had put you on a pedestal in my mind. You were afraid you couldn’t live up to my expectations.” I looked up into his eyes. “After what you did for me today, I hope you realize you had nothing to worry about. You are more perfect than anyone I could have ever made up in my head.”
“Thank you,” he whispered and put his forehead against mine.
I looked around my living room and nodded once.
“I’m ready. Let’s put it on the market.”
I was ready for my future to begin.