Jett
The next morning, I hung up the phone with a sinking feeling in my chest.
I had news that I had to tell Ruby, but I wondered what kind of price she’d pay for hearing it.
I shoved my cell back into my pocket, and left my bedroom where my bags were being loaded for our departure to Seattle.
I stopped in the hallway as I saw Ruby tugging her suitcase out of her room, which would have amused me on any other day since I’d told her to let the valet pick it up.
But today wasn’t any other day.
“Leave it,” I told Ruby as I took her hand. “We have to talk.”
She gave me a questioning gaze, but left the suitcase in the hall to follow me.
The connection that Ruby and I had was strange to me, but not unwelcome. She always seemed to sense my mood, and had an uncanny way to judging when to say something and when not to argue based on my expression.
“What’s wrong?” she said as we rode the elevator to the ground floor.
“Nothing is exactly wrong,” I hedged.
Jesus! The last thing I wanted was to talk about her past again, but it was unavoidable.
“We need to stop in Ohio, Ruby. Or we will if you want to recover your inheritance.” I hoped to hell she’d say she trusted me to take care of her so she didn’t have to deal with this right now, but it wasn’t fair for her to be cheated out of anything she deserved.
“I didn’t inherit anything,” she said as we arrived in the kitchen.
“Your uncle is dead, Ruby. He died of a heart attack a couple of months ago. Apparently, your mom and dad did have life insurance and you were the sole beneficiary. When your parents died, your uncle had to put it in a trust for you. The only things that were ever claimed from the account were some small costs from your high school. He couldn’t touch it for anything else, and it was yours when you turned twenty-one.” I tried to explain as briefly as possible so she didn’t have to digest very much at one time.
I watched as her expression changed from confusion to recognition, and then finally went completely blank. “He lied,” she said stoically. “He told me I was a burden to him, and that I was lucky to have a roof over my head. He said my parents hadn’t cared what happened to me, and that they wanted me to fend for myself because I was a burden to them, too, and I made them even poorer. He actually said he’d had to pay their debts.”
“He lied,” I replied.
My gut ached with the desire to get vengeance for her, but I couldn’t. The only thing I could do was help her pick up the pieces after her uncle had destroyed her even before she’d been old enough to walk away.
I’d been searching for the bastard since I’d first met Ruby. When his niece had run away, he’d moved to the other side of Ohio, but some of my personal team had finally dug up the information that he’d died and had been brought back to his home town to be buried in the same cemetery as Ruby’s parents.
His estate was up in the air since there were no immediate relatives, but Ruby’s uncle hadn’t really had very much to settle after he’d been buried. Mostly just the money that had been left in trust for Ruby.
“How much?” she asked.
“Two hundred and fifty thousand was paid out,” I told her. “He managed to claim some for your food and living expenses. But most of it is still in trust.”
Even though Ruby’s parents had been tight on money, they’d always made sure their only daughter was protected since they didn’t have a lot of family. They’d obviously wanted her to be taken care of if they weren’t around to do it themselves.
In reality, they’d obviously put their daughter’s safety over their own comfort.
“What do we have to do in Ohio?” she asked, her expression still unreadable.
“You’re going to need to sign some paperwork to get your trust,” I explained.
She nodded. “Then I guess we’re going to Ohio.”
“Are you okay?” I asked, worried that she hadn’t really said much.
“I will be,” she answered vaguely.
I expedited things so we could get in and out of Ohio quickly. There was nothing there for Ruby anymore, but she was going to have to deal with her past one more time.
While we were on our way to the airport, I swore that this time would be the last.
“I’m glad it’s over,” Ruby said in the same monotone voice she’d used all day.
She was actually starting to scare me.
She’d signed the paperwork involving her trust like it was just another task she had to complete, asking the necessary questions with very little emotion.
We were in the car I’d rented, and we were headed back to the airport after going through everything with an attorney who had taken on the task of getting Ruby’s trust to her bank account.
She still had very little to say. Her words had been her first since we’d gotten back into the vehicle I was now driving.
“Can you turn left up here?” she asked.
It was a small town, and we were approaching the edge of the city limits. It wasn’t difficult for me to make the sudden adjustments to make the requested direction.
She moved forward in her seat, her expression pensive for a moment before she said, “I think it’s the next right.”
I knew exactly where she was going, and I’d anticipated the instructions. I had come to know Ruby pretty well, so I knew she wasn’t going to leave town without visiting her parents.
“I know where the cemetery is,” I told her soberly, making it unnecessary for her to keep trying to guide me to where she wanted to go.
I also understood her need to find a way to make a connection. I hadn’t gone to see my parents’ resting place for some time, but I’d flown back to Rocky Springs fairly often to visit my parents’ graves for the first several years after their deaths.
Once we passed through the gates, she guided me straight to the site, and then jumped out of the car.
I met her on the passenger side of the vehicle.
“I wish I would have brought some flowers or something,” she said in a wistful tone.
Clasping her hand, I answered, “I took the liberty. I hope you don’t mind.”
We walked together silently to the place where Ruby’s parents had been put to rest. I wasn’t exactly sure of the spot, but I’d arranged for flowers to be put on their stone.
I stopped when Ruby halted next to me. “This is it,” she informed me as she looked down at the single stone that marked the site.
“I’d wanted a lot more for them, but my uncle said it was all he could afford,” she murmured.
I squeezed her hand. “He didn’t pay for this, Ruby. It came out of the life insurance before it was put into your trust. But your parents had everything laid out in the will. They didn’t want a big stone. All they wanted was for you to be well if something happened.”
“They were like that,” she said, her voice starting to tremble with emotion. “Neither one of them ever wanted much except to be together.”
“That’s all they wanted, even after their death,” I said solemnly.
“I hate my uncle for making me second-guess how much they loved me,” she stated. “They were everything to me. They were all I had. But he told me they had never really wanted me, and I had spoiled their opportunities for a better life. He made me rethink everything I knew was true. And I believed it because he’d forced me to listen to him. And I guess after a while, you start to believe it if you hear it enough times.”
I squeezed her hand again, but my gut was rolling with fury. “They knew you loved them, Ruby. I know they did. You loved them even when you weren’t quite sure if they loved you.”
“But they did love me, Jett. They did. But I believed everything bad that my uncle said about them.”
I turned her toward me and grasped her shoulders. “No, you didn’t,” I growled. “In your heart, you always knew the truth. But there’s no way you couldn’t have had your doubts when crap was being pounded into your head every damn day. You were a kid, Ruby, a teenager who had lost the two people you loved the most. Give yourself a damn break. Your parents would have understood.”
She looked up at me with her liquid dark eyes, and it broke my damn heart to see the turbulence in their depths.
“They loved me, Jett. They always loved me, and my uncle was just…evil. But they had no way of knowing that because he didn’t show that part of himself to them.”
I nodded, relieved that she was finally seeing the truth.
“Oh, God,” she said as she stared back at me.
I gathered the broken woman into my arms as she did something I’d never seen before.
She started sobbing against my shoulder, crying like she’d never stop.
I held her against me, comforting her in her grief, recognizing Ruby Kent finally trusted me, even if she didn’t know it yet.