Haunted hope, p.25
Haunted Hope, page 25
“She filled your head with lies, Mark! Can’t you see? Don’t you remember?” the man cut him off.
“Enough!” Sabrina said, her voice tight and her hands shaking. She stepped toward the man. “We’ve asked you to leave over a dozen times since you got here, you’ve refused, and you continue to insult me. This is your last chance. Leave right now or I will call the police and everyone here—and that includes an FBI agent and the county prosecutor—will be a witness to the fact that you’ve been asked to leave private property and you’ve refused.”
Hope looked imploringly at Alex and Josh, but the looks they gave her told her they couldn’t yet act.
“You ungrateful child! This is how you treat the father who raised you on his own, who paid for your schooling and took care of your bastard after you got knocked up, who—”
His rant was cut short by Sabrina, who was on the phone, saying, “I have a trespasser at 56 Ventor.”
Before she could say another word, the older man raised his hand as if to hit Sabrina, but both Matt and Logan were quick to hold him back. The man then spit in Sabrina’s face and tried to knee her stomach. He didn’t connect, but both Matt and Logan tried to turn the man to face them at the same time, Matt with murder in his eyes and Logan with his fist drawn back, but their collective momentum simply pushed him back, where Alex caught him and said, “You’re under arrest for assault,” before slapping handcuffs onto his wrists. The man began to protest while Alex rattled off his rights and Josh called the police, too.
Sabrina’s eyes widened as she locked eyes with Josh. “It won’t stick—he didn’t hit me this time. And he’ll be back. Again and again.” Matt and Logan went to her, to try to calm her, while Josh shook his head and said, “The definition of assault on the federal level includes the attempt to do harm, and you have plenty of witnesses.”
* * *
Later, when Logan, Sabrina, Matt, and Hope were finally alone, Hope went to Matt’s mom, blinking back tears. She had just called Mrs. Caputo and told her everything that had happened, and the woman was horrified. “Sabrina?” Hope began. “I’m so sorry. This was all my fault. I used a private investigator to find someone and, well, long story short, she recognized Matt from an age-progressed photo that a man she had met a few times at missing-persons conferences carried with him. She had no idea he was…” violent, she wanted to say, but it suddenly didn’t feel appropriate. This was Sabrina and Matt’s past. A past they had tried to keep private.
Sabrina took Hope’s hands in hers. “What was your fault? That a federal officer was here to arrest my father? That this time, I had the county prosecutor as one of over half a dozen witnesses?” She shook her head and looked down for a moment before meeting Hope’s eyes again. “It’s been twenty years. He can no longer have Matt taken away from me. And I’ve grown. I’d rather deal with him than run away now. I’ve even learned to manage the guilt it all causes.” Her throat worked. “I don’t want him in jail, but I do need the restraining order. I see this as a chance to finally put the past behind us, Hope. Matt can explain. You have nothing to be sorry for. To me, this was all fate.”
Hope nodded and they all hugged before Sabrina and Logan called it a night. Matt led Hope to the sofa, sat down, and settled her onto his lap. Zeus, Shakira, and Nicki Chopper lay down in front of them. “Three dogs. The cowrie shells called it.” He smiled.
“How can you be making jokes? What an awful evening for you and your mom. And I’m unworthy of your smiles. I lied to you about Mrs. Caputo and that led to all of this. If I had told you the truth, you’d have put two and two together, and maybe all this would’ve been prevented.” She looked away, unable to understand why he wasn’t angry at her.
“You didn’t owe me the truth back then, Hope. And didn’t you hear what my mom said?”
“Yes, but that’s because it all ended well. I don’t know how violent he is, but for him to attack your mom in front of all of us, and for you two to have had to run away and change your names all those years ago…” She swallowed hard. “What if he would’ve found her here alone?”
“Don’t, Hope. Don’t.” Matt turned her face so she would look at him. “I could say the same thing. If I’d opened up to you more, you would have had better context to tell me who Mrs. Caputo really was. But I became an expert at keeping this one, big secret from everyone from such an early age, that I didn’t know I could open up. My mom’s right. In some crazy way, both our pasts, including everything in them that was awful and everything in them that was good, led us to this moment, and in its way, this moment will lead to peace. Peace my mom hasn’t ever truly had. Do you know how much guilt her father has already piled on her, for life? She feels responsible for my burns and the resulting scars. She’ll never get over it. But it’s all on him.”
Hope stilled. “Did he…?” Again, she couldn’t continue. In her heart, she knew he wanted to let her in, but she didn’t know how to ask private questions.
“No. He didn’t hurt me that way.” He sighed heavily and shook his head, as if he didn’t know where to begin. “My mom’s mother died when she was young, and her father raised her alone. He was strict and exacting, and knocked her around and yelled at her when she didn’t live up to his standards. It took a toll on her self-esteem. He also wouldn’t let her go anywhere or have friends, said all the other kids were bad influences… I can only imagine what he did when he found out she was pregnant at sixteen. She doesn’t talk about it.”
He was quiet then, and Hope felt a deep sadness as she imagined a young, lonely, beaten-down Sabrina. “She must’ve felt very alone.”
He nodded, thoughtfully. “She met the man who fathered me when she was fifteen. He was in her grade, and her father was a visiting professor from Dubai. They were both peer tutors at their high school. He’d seen more of the world than my mom ever hoped to, she loved hearing about it all and dreaming with him, and he treated her more kindly and gently than anyone had ever treated her. He’s the one who gave her the book of poetry I told you about. They were both just kids, both felt out of place, and neither really knew what they were doing. They made each other feel like they had someone. But he moved back to Dubai and never even knew my mom was pregnant. She thinks they may have misspelled his last name in the yearbook because she’s never been able to find him. His first name was Masoud, though, and it’s why she wanted to name me something that started with M.” He blew out a breath. “Mark Watson. It doesn’t feel right anymore.”
He was silent again and Hope nestled against him, trying to offer what comfort she could as he absentmindedly played with her hair. After a while, he said, “My grandfather never physically hurt me, but he’d get on my mom so much and yell at her and pull her by the hair and threaten her until she became so small, that I’d try to help with her chores, to minimize the tension. She had school and a waitressing job and had to do everything around the house and yard. I found out later she was always planning on leaving and had been putting her waitressing tips away, which wasn’t easy because he always checked her pockets and took her checks, but she wanted to finish her associate’s degree first, to support us, and she knew he hadn’t hurt me so far. It was taking her longer, though, because he made sure she couldn’t take too many classes, telling her she had to spend time with me at home or he’d accuse her of neglect and sue her for custody.”
He stopped playing with her hair. When he spoke again, he sounded as if he was far away. “She fell asleep one day over a textbook while she was supposed to be making dinner, and I decided to help. My grandfather caught me standing on a chair in front of the stove, boiling water for pasta. He yelled at her to come into the kitchen, and I turned to tell him to stop. My hand accidentally hit the handle.” He paused and blew out a long breath, as if the memory was painful. “A few days later at the hospital she asked me how much pain I was in and I told her it was like the pain I felt when Grandpa yelled at her and hit her, only the pain was on my skin and not inside my chest. That was the moment she decided to leave.”
He paused and stared intently down at the carpet. “That night, my mom called this domestic abuse hotline she kept hearing on the radio. Her case didn’t qualify, and they didn’t have very many resources, but they helped us anyway. They even sold us the Vega for peanuts, basically, and they advised her to change our names legally and helped with that, because they knew if he found us we’d end up right back where we started. His threats to sue for custody scared her too much, and he had my burns as ammunition…” He shifted and looked away.
“You don’t have to say anything else.” Hope took his hand in hers and kissed it. “You don’t ever have to tell me any of it unless you want to, Matt.”
“I want to. Not all in one night, but little by little. The same way I’ll learn all about what made you you.” He met her eyes. “But you need to believe that my mom would go through it all again, except the parts that hurt me, if it would lead her to this life and to Logan. And that I would go through it all again, except the parts that hurt her, but even the parts that hurt me, if it would lead me to this life and to you.” The corner of his mouth lifted. “I once told you that I thought it would be nice to have half a town worry about me, and tonight, I did. And it turns out it was crazy. But it was nice, too.” His beautiful golden eyes glowed and he looked happy for the first time that night. “You know I love you, Hope, don’t you? I love everything about you, even Bessie White, the ghost who haunted me for months.”
At that moment, Hope knew peace. She kissed him softly on the lips, feeling closer to him, the man and the boy, scarred and whole, than she’d ever felt to anyone. “I think I understand now. I know it’s not the same, but I no longer care if I sleepwalk every night for the rest of my life, as long as it always leads me back to you. I love you, too, Matt. Your heart and my heart are very, very old friends.”
He gazed into her eyes and must’ve seen the truth of it there because he smiled and kissed her with more tenderness than she’d ever known.
Don’t miss the first two books in the Piper Sisters series!
PERFECT PAIGE and GOOD GRACIE
And if you love Spinning Hills
Read more in
FLIPPED!
NEEDS A LITTLE TLC
FIXER-UPPER
Available now from Lyrical Press
Wherever ebooks are sold
PERFECT PAIGE
When three sisters arrive in Spinning Hills, Ohio, home of the third most haunted street in the state, they’re looking for solace and support as they clear out the ghosts of their own pasts. But what they find is something a whole lot sweeter . . .
Paige Galloway has built her life around one principle—being the perfect mom. When the FBI busts into the PTA meeting Paige is about to host in order to arrest her husband, she’s mortified. Fleeing to Spinning Hills, her grandmother’s hometown, Paige is determined reclaim her title as the mom with the most. That becomes much harder when her husband files for divorce . . . and she learns he’s a lying cheater. Being the perfect mom now means she has to save her ex-husband from himself. But when the agent in charge of the investigation—the man who witnessed her total humiliation—moves in next door, Paige is surprised to find herself drawn to the Fed with the suspicious frown and surprisingly sexy smile . . .
After Alex Hooke’s tough-as-nails childhood, Paige’s way of life seems shallow—at least until he gets to know her. Paige is as stubborn and smart as he is, and while his job is to find evidence against her ex-husband, he’s more tempted to investigate the attraction simmering between them. With help from Paige’s nosy family, and his own curious relatives, Alex may still get his man—but what he really wants is the woman who introduced him to love.
FLIPPED!
Filled with storybook architecture and rich with history, the town of Spinning Hills, Ohio, has seen better days. Now the Amador brothers are determined to restore the neglected community to its former glory. But it takes more than a hammer and nails to make a house a home . . .
Perfumer Holly Bell has a nose for scents and a head for dreams. A former military brat who longs to put down roots in Spinning Hills, she’s been saving for years to buy a certain ramshackle Craftsman for herself and her young daughter. For once in her life, everything’s going according to plan—until a real estate flipper steals the house out from under her! She can’t afford to outbid him—but she can’t seem to stop thinking about him either . . .
Dan Amador isn’t back in Spinning Hills to stay. Checking on his brothers and renovating one house in the family tradition will be plenty until it’s time to move on. Yet what seemed easy turns out to be anything but, especially when it comes to the gorgeous single mom who lives next door. Before he knows it, Dan seems to be creating the house of her dreams. He doesn’t believe in the kind of fairy tale ending Holly longs for—but he can’t deny that her stubborn optimism has found its way into his heart . . .
NEEDS A LITTLE TLC
In Spinning Hills, Ohio, “quirky” is a good thing—especially the charming houses that line the streets. One by one, the Amador brothers are restoring them, committed to a new beginning for the old-fashioned town. But they’re learning that every house needs a heart to be a home . . .
Real estate agent Cassidy Morgan specializes in historic homes, but her own history is something she likes to avoid. Back in Spinning Hills for the first time in ten years, she has a chance to put her small agency on the map as the premier realtor of restored houses. But it means a partnership with the one man she’s never forgotten—and can’t quite resist . . .
Sam Amador doesn’t quit—and he doesn’t run away from his problems, like a certain stubborn, extremely attractive real estate agent did all those years ago. Working with Cassie is a risk, but Sam knows his heart is more likely to suffer than his renovation business. How can he convince her that this time, Spinning Hills is where she belongs—and that his love has always been hers?
FIXER-UPPER
Spinning Hills, Ohio, sure is sweet, which might be why the Amador brothers are not only renovating the town’s lovely houses, but settling down in them. Because there’s nothing more blissful than coming home to a houseful of love . . .
Masquerade parties were not exactly Johnny Amador’s thing—until he found himself captivated by a witty, dark-eyed young woman in a peasant costume. Even her mask couldn’t obscure her beauty. Only after a disastrous case of mistaken identity did he discover that his mystery woman was none other than Marissa Medina, his best friend’s youngest sister—which brings a whole new set of challenges.
Marissa never forgot the night she and Johnny kissed—the feelings that flared to life. Not that she’s going to give the too handsome, too sexy charmer a chance. She knows how dangerous Johnny is and she can’t surrender to him at any cost. But that’s a tall order now that he’s showing how dedicated he is to turning his own fixer-upper—and his life—into the stuff of her dreams.
Meet the Author
Inés Saint was born in Zaragoza, Spain. She’s bilingual and bicultural and has spent the last ten years raising her fun, inspiring little boys and sharing her life with the man of her dreams, who also happens to be her best friend and biggest cheerleader. Her greatest joys are spending quality time with family and close friends.
Inés Saint, Haunted Hope
