Matt chuckled to himself as they approached his parents’ front door. They were a sight to behold, Tate and Matt along with three of her siblings. His momma would be in hog heaven.
Add to it the bonus of having Tate be more comfortable because her family was with her for that first dinner at the Chase household. And it was a big night, they were celebrating Kyle’s birthday too. In another three weeks Nicholas would be a year old.
He remembered back to July of the year before, Maggie was heavy with pregnancy and Liv was just about to admit to herself that she loved Marc.
It’d hurt then. Just a bit. To see his brother finding love before he had, and with the woman Matt had been with a few years before that. But part of the hurt had been Matt’s frustration that he just hadn’t ever loved Liv, even though he’d wanted to. He’d wondered if he’d ever find what his brothers had found and here he was, his arm around the shoulder of the woman who made him whole.
Not that she made it easy. The woman was a pain in the ass. Skittish as hell. Defensive and so damned strong. He loved her so much and he knew she felt deeply about him too, figured it was love even. But she was scared and he couldn’t do much more than ease her into life as his woman.
Thank God for her siblings who’d supported his relationship with her totally.
The door opened before he could reach the knob and his mother stood there, a great big grin on her face. Rushing onto the porch, she pulled Tate into a hug.
“Hey there, Tate. Don’t you look pretty tonight?” Polly stood back and Matt realized his mother and Tate were roughly the same height. He stifled a laugh but looked up to see his father making the same discovery as he stood in the doorway.
Tate blushed. “Thank you so much for having us, Mrs. Chase. I know it’s a family occasion and all. I told Matt we should come on a different night but he insisted.”
Polly waved a hand at that. “Pshaw. Piffle even. Come on in. Hello, Anne and Beth, it’s nice to see you two. And you’re Nathan, right? We’ve met once at a town hall meeting about the new high school. Come on in!” She shooed everyone into the front hall.
Edward looked at Matt and then down at Tate, his face softening. Matt wanted to sigh with relief. His father would temper his mother’s enthusiasm and make Tate feel at ease.
“Hello, darlin’. I’m Edward, Matt’s daddy. Welcome to our home.” Edward took her hand and kissed it and damned if Tate didn’t actually emit a girlish giggle.
Edward winked at her and Polly snorted. “Edward, don’t you go trying to trade me in on a younger model.”
Edward shook his head at his wife, smiling. “My darling wife, I’d never trade you in. But I do hear Tate’s quite the cook. I was just hedging my bets.”
Tate laughed and Polly grinned at Matt.
Edward introduced himself to her siblings and put Tate’s hand in the crook of his arm, escorting her into the family room where the other Chase boys and their assorted wives were already seated.
Tate saw Kyle and handed him a present, wishing him a happy birthday. Shane moved to her with purpose, giving her a kiss on the cheek and a hug as Cassie followed in his wake. Matt loved that his giant of a brother was so gentle with her. He supposed part of it was Cassie’s doing.
Nicholas saw Tate, squealed in delight and toddled over. She knelt at his level and within moments lay on the carpet, driving cars around.
“My sister is a good person. Kind, smart. She’d do anything for the people she loves.” Nathan stood with Matt as the rest of the group mixed and chatted.
“I love your sister, Nate.”
“I know. She’s afraid of it.”
“Why? I’d never hurt her. She has to know that. I’ve never been violent or even angry with her. I’m always gentle.” It tore him apart that she’d fear him.
Nathan sighed. “Matt, that’s not it entirely. She’s afraid to truly love you and have everything that makes the two of you so different come back to cause her pain. She’s afraid that once you know all of it, everything about our parents, how we came up, you’ll reject her.”
“That’s silly. I don’t care about any of that stuff. Nate, I don’t care where you grew up.”
“You don’t. But others do.”
“Who cares about them?”
“She didn’t tell you.” Nathan hesitated and Matt tore his eyes away from Tate and Maggie playing on the floor with Nicholas to face her brother.
“Tell me what?”
“She’s going to kill me. She needs to tell you herself.”
“Fuck that. Come on, Nathan, you opened the subject up, just tell me.” Matt kept his voice down, not wanting to alert her.
“Melanie and her friends cornered Tate at the market earlier this week. Taunted her. Said she was a gold digger. Called her a whore. They’re boycotting the salon. She’s lost some business.”
Matt blinked, disbelief clouding his brain as he struggled to understand. “What? Why would they do that? Is there some old battle between them or something? I broke things off with Melanie two months before I walked into the salon for the first time and met Tate. I don’t understand.”
“Matt,” Nathan shook his head, “you’re a good guy but you don’t know what it was like to grow up the way we did. Melanie has always been this way about our family. Well, mainly Tate. Always Tate because she’s different. She...” He broke off, pressing his lips together.
“She what? Please, Nathan, she won’t tell me any of this herself. I want to understand her, I want to protect her and I can’t if I don’t know.”
“She’s already going to be pissed I told you this much, Matt. She’s ashamed. We all are but she’s the worst. She protected us all at great risk to herself.”
Sickness roiled through Matt’s gut at the thought of her suffering. Of anyone hurting her, including Melanie. He’d have a few things to tell her when he ran her to ground.
“Dinner! Come on, everyone.” Polly clapped her hands to get attention and Nicholas copied her.
Kyle laughed, scooping his son up and heading toward the dining room.
Matt went to Tate, holding his hand out to help her up, and the smile she gave him as she took it melted any anger he’d had at her for not telling him right away.
* * *
Nathan cornered her after the cake, telling her he’d let Matt know about the thing with Melanie.
Humiliation and then a sense of betrayal rushed through her. How dare he? “You did what? How could you do that, Nathan? If I’d wanted him to know I’d have told him myself.”
“He needed to know, Tate. He loves you. He wants to protect you.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I don’t need anyone to protect me, Nathan. I can take care of myself.” No one else ever had, she could count on herself, damn it. Melanie was a stupid bitch and Tate had handled her.
“You don’t need it but you deserve it. I don’t feel bad, honey, so spare me the look. It hasn’t worked on me in ages.”
“It worked on you Thursday, Nathan, when you were arguing with William.”
He tried not to laugh but he couldn’t help it. “Okay, okay, so it still works. Tate, I love you. You don’t know how much. I’ll never be able to put into words how much you mean to me, not in a million years. He wants to be part of your life, why hold him out?”
“What’s going on?” Beth approached and Nathan sighed.
“Nothing.” Tate waved it away. The last thing she wanted was to bring any drama to the Chases’ grand living room.
“I told Matt about what happened with Melanie.”
Tate gasped and then growled at him. He had the good sense to look worried.
“Well, good. I don’t know why Tate hadn’t before now.”
“I’m not having this discussion. This is mine. It happened to me. Not you, not Nathan, not Matt. You don’t own it and it’s mine to share or not. You don’t get to make my choices for me. No one gets to make my decisions for me but me. You had no right, Nathan, and you’ve made me look like a pathetic fool.” He took something and used it against her. Matt would feel sorry for her and there was nothing worse than having someone feel sorry for you. Especially when she’d handled it and quite well she thought. Those women didn’t make her feel bad, she meant it when she said she was better than they were. She was.
“Tate, you know I’d never...that’s not what it was. I wanted him to know, to see you, to understand what you face.”
“Damn you, Nathan! I’m not some pathetic little fat chick who needs crumbs from the table of anyone. I trusted you. You’ve humiliated me and I don’t know if I’ll share with you so readily the next time.”
Anger burning through her, she hardened herself against the way his face fell at her words. Instead, she spun and walked away, out into the hallway. And straight into Matt. Could the night get any worse?
“I hear you had quite the little run-in with Melanie earlier this week. You planning to tell me about it before the picnic day after tomorrow?”
“Don’t start on me, Matt. It’s nothing and it doesn’t concern you.” If he hadn’t been so angry at her for not telling him about Melanie, he’d have been amused at the way her chin jutted out and her eyes narrowed at him.
He grabbed her hand and tugged her outside onto the front porch. Cassie and Shane sat snuggled on the glider swing on one side so he hustled her to the opposite end, pulling her into the large chaise with him.
“Tell me.”
“Matt, I told you, it was nothing and I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Well, that’s not an option. You can’t not share with me. I care about what happens to you. When I track her down I’m giving her a piece of my mind.”
She stood, moving away from him quickly. “You will do no such thing! It’s handled. I handled it. I don’t need anyone to fight my battles for me.”
“You may not need it but I do. I need to help you, to be a part of your life.” He stood and she backed up a step. He exhaled with frustration. “Don’t do that. I hate when you do that.”
“I need to go.” She darted to the side, toward the steps to the front walk.
“Oh no you don’t, Tate Murphy! You can’t run from me every time I get close.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Matt saw Cassie stand and Shane rose shortly after that. Tate saw it too. Shane’s size worked against them both in that situation.
“You going to stop me?” Tate’s voice trembled a moment but steadied.
By that point several others had come out and at seeing Tate backed up against the porch railing and Shane and Matt looming over her, Nathan shoved them both aside until he reached Tate, pulling her into his arms.
“Get her things,” Nathan said calmly to Beth who turned and went to retrieve their stuff. “Come on, honey, let’s get you home. Why don’t you stay at my house tonight? I’ll even let you make me waffles tomorrow morning.”
Cassie’s hand caught Matt’s elbow and pulled him back. When he turned to her, she shook her head hard, pain clear on her face.
“What the blazes is going on? Matthew, what have you done?” Polly came out and Beth moved around her, their stuff in her arms.
Matt hated that Nathan kept his body between him and Tate as he drew her off the porch and down to the sidewalk.
“I wouldn’t have hurt her. I never...” Matt’s voice caught.
“Matt, there’s something so broken inside me. I know you wouldn’t have hurt me but look how I acted. I can’t control it. Just please, can’t you see how wrong we are?” Tate’s voice was thick with tears.
He moved toward her but Nathan shook his head and Cassie’s fingers dug into his arm.
“Why are you holding me back? I can’t let her go like this.” He looked to Cassie, begging her.
“Look at her, Matt. Leave it. Let her get herself together. Let them help her. You can’t fix her just now.” Cassie’s voice was thick with emotion.
Shane put his arm around Cassie and his cheek against her hair.
Polly looked to him and down at Tate. “Honey, please don’t go like this. This was all a silly misunderstanding. Matt wouldn’t hurt anyone, least of all you. He loves you. Let us be your family too.”
“I know he wouldn’t hurt me!” Tate cried. “Can’t you all see? I can’t even have an argument without turning into some kind of freak. There’s something so wrong with me. Just please, leave me alone.” She paused, looking at Matt sadly. Matt felt a sob building in his gut. “Get away while you can.” She turned and let Nathan guide her down the sidewalk and help her into the car.
“Tate, I love you. You’re not broken, damn it. You’re beautiful and wonderful and I’ll call you tomorrow,” Matt called out.
Anne and Beth got in the car on either side of Tate, both putting their arms around her.
Matt saw her body shake, knowing she wept. He had to lean against the railing to keep his knees from buckling as the car pulled away.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me she was abused?” Cassie asked softly.
“I don’t even know the whole story! Bits and pieces is all I’ve heard. The dad is a drunk, the mom ran off a lot. They were poor, neglected. I don’t know the extent of the situation. I know she’s got major issues around eating because of whatever the hell the dad said to her and she took the brunt of a lot of emotional crap because she’s not really his.” Matt shoved a hand through his hair and began to pace. “I shouldn’t have let her go. We could have worked it out.”
“Matt, she was on the verge of losing it. Her family will know what to do.”
“You have to help her, Cassie. Will you help her?” Matt pulled her hands into his.
She nodded. Cassie had been physically and mentally abused for several years by her ex, a man who tried to kill her twice. In the wake of a devastated medical career and no longer able to perform the complicated surgery she used to excel at, she’d become a victim’s advocate.
“I’ll try, honey. You’ve got to try and rein in your frustration when she flinches from you. It’s not about you. She already knows it’s bad, she knows it has nothing to do with you or how she feels about you.”
Polly kissed Cassie’s cheek before hugging Matt’s side. “We’ll all help her. She’s a good girl. A smart one.”
“Melanie started all this and I’m going to have a word with her about that.” Matt wanted to shake some sense into his ex. How could she have been so stupid? And how could he not have seen what a horrible person she was while they dated?
“Melanie?” Polly’s voice held warning.
He told them all about what Nathan had said and Polly was fit to be tied. “You leave that girl to me, you hear? The last thing we need is for her to spread rumors that a Chase boy threatened her. She and I will have a talk. Boycott my daughter-in-law-to-be’s shop? I think not. Not if she wants everyone to keep shopping at her father’s florist.”
Edward laughed, the tension easing on the porch.
* * *
Matt was pulling on his shoes when his phone rang. He’d left multiple messages for Tate but she’d shied away from replying. He knew from Nathan that she was all right. Mortified by her reaction at his parents’ house and trying to process everything.
He left her a voicemail telling her he’d be picking her up for the July Fourth picnic at two. He planned to hash things out with her for a few hours before they met their assorted family members at the park for food and fireworks later on.
Half expecting it to be her trying to dodge, he was surprised to see Shane’s cell on the display screen.
“Hey there,” he answered as he stood to grab his keys and head for the door.
“Matt, Tate’s at the hospital.”
Matt sat down again. “What? Oh my God! Shane, is she all right? What happened?”
“I don’t know everything. It happened at her parents’ trailer. She’s got a head wound. I’m on my way to the hospital just now. She’s unconscious. One of my deputies is asking questions at the scene. I thought you’d want to know.”
“Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. I’ll be there as fast as I can.”
He ran out the door, calling Nathan and getting voicemail. Getting the same from every other one of her siblings he tried. He called his mother and she told him they’d meet him there.
He burst through the emergency room doors and the staff directed him upstairs. Rushing up the stairwell three steps at a time, he saw her family, Shane and Cassie there waiting.
“What happened? Is she conscious?”
“My father happened,” Tim said, his voice tight and very controlled.
“Your father put her in the hospital?” A sense of cold, deadly calm slid through Matt then. He’d never been one for fighting, always a kind of laid-back guy, but at that moment he was sure he could have beaten the hell out of Bill Murphy.
“One of their neighbors heard an argument. Nothing new. He called Tate because it got pretty bad. My dad and mom were on the steps, screaming at each other. He kept threatening to kill her.
“Tate went because that’s what Tate does. Tate fixes things. According to my mother, Tate arrived and tried to calm my dad down. Told him someone would call the cops if he didn’t stop yelling. She went up the steps to the little landing where he was standing. He pushed at her, to get her away, and she lost her footing and fell back. She hit her head on the concrete pad the trailer sits on.”
Nathan put his arm around his older brother and took up the story. It occurred to Matt that this probably wasn’t the first time something like this had to be related to someone else.
“Head wounds bleed a lot. My mom saw it and yelled at one of the neighbors to call the cops. My dad took off.”
“We were already on the way.” Shane put his hand on Matt’s shoulder. “Thank God, one of the neighbors had already decided things were too far gone and called 911. An ambulance got there right as we did and brought her here. We’ve got a warrant out for her father.”
“Can I see her? Is she going to be all right?” Helplessness clawed at Matt, thoughts of her alone and hurt in the hospital bed filled his brain.
“She’s unconscious but they said her vitals were good. I’ve had a few concussions. She’s in for a long night of being poked awake every hour but Tate is strong, she’ll be all right. Physically.” Cassie smiled at him, squeezing his shoulder.
Matt swallowed and nodded. If he fell back on his professional training as well as the support of his family and his love for her, he’d be a bigger help to her.
“Where’s your mother?” Matt looked back at Tate’s siblings.
Nathan’s mouth flattened and he shook his head. “She’s at home. Apparently she told the cops she doesn’t remember much about what happened even though what she told Tim was pretty detailed. Said she had to get out of town. She’s more worried that she might have to testify and it’ll put a kink in her social calendar than about Tate.”
“I’ve got to see her.” Matt had to hold it together for Tate’s sake.
“Go on in.” Tim nodded. “She needs you.”
“Little Venus? Hey, gorgeous, time to wake up.”
Tate opened her eyes and found herself staring into the most beautiful eyes she’d ever seen. Matt. Then the light brought a sharp new blast of pain to her head and she winced.
“Your father,” he ground out through clenched teeth. “He was drunk and arguing with your mother. Threatening to hurt her.”
“Oh that’s right. I went up the steps to try and calm him down. His face was so red, I thought he might have a stroke or something. He turned to me, screaming, his hands waving all around. He went to push me back and I lost my footing and slipped. Hit my head on something.”
“Yeah, the damned concrete. He could have killed you.”
“Is he all right?”
“You’re worried about him?”
“He was so red. It’s hot. He was drunk, really drunk. Is my mother all right?”
“She’s fine.” Tate may have had a head wound but she knew enough to understand his silence meant her mother hadn’t bothered to show up. Tate wished it didn’t hurt as bad as it did, still years later.
Matt brushed fingers up her arm. “Your dad left the scene. There’s a warrant. Don’t you feel sorry for him. Damn it, Venus. My brother has blood all over his uniform pants from where he rushed to you when he got there. Why didn’t you call me?”
“He saw it?” She was horrified that Matt had been exposed to this part of her life and now Shane had been too? Great.
The doctor came in and pushed him out of the way to shine a pen light into her eyes and check her other vitals. Matt stood to the side, not letting her out of his sight.
“You’re all right. Concussion. I told you the last time to watch yourself. Ms. Murphy, your father—”
“Yes, I know, Doctor.” Tate cut him off before he could say anything else but she caught Matt scrubbing his hands over his face. The last time echoed in her ears and she knew he’d heard it too. Shame, sharp and acute, roiled in her stomach and she had to fight back heaving her breakfast.
“Well, you’re going to have a shiner where the railing of the steps connected with your face when you went down. We’re going to keep you here overnight for observation, you know the drill. Your eye is fine and the bruising should go away in a week or so. Your ankle on the other hand is sprained. You twisted it when you went down. You really shouldn’t wear such high heels, they’re murder on you.”
“I like ’em and they’re definitely murder on me,” Matt murmured and Tate snorted a laugh.
Before leaving, the doctor said a nurse would be in within the hour and to ring if she needed anything. She did indeed know the drill.
Once alone she turned to him. “Oh fuck! Your family picnic. Go on, now and get going. I’m fine. I’ll doze and be woken up repeatedly and you can call me tomorrow when I get home.”
He shook his head and kissed her temple. “Tate Murphy, you are the dumbest woman I know. I’m not going anywhere. What kind of man would I be if I went to eat fried chicken and watch fireworks when my girlfriend was in the hospital? Plus, there’s plenty of fried chicken here. Your whole family and mine are all in the waiting room. I doubt they’d let us picnic in here but I promise once I make sure it’s okay, we’ll get you a plate and you and I can snuggle and have our July Fourth lunch right here.”
She started to cry. What had she done to deserve this man? He took the hand that wasn’t hooked to an IV, alarmed. “Venus? Honey, what is it? Why are you crying? Are you in pain? Should I call the doctor?”
“They’re all here and I’m your girlfriend?”
“That makes you cry?”
“It’s a good kind of cry. Answer me.”
“Woman, I told your blonde ass I loved you over a month ago. Of course you’re my girlfriend. You think I’d let just any woman make me scratch biscuits and cherry pie with fresh whipped cream? And I hate to say this, Venus, but only a man who loves you would stick around after hearing you sing in the shower. You’re my woman. My heart.”
She nodded, wincing a bit at the pain but happy. So damned happy. “Good. Okay then. Matt? I love you too.”
She did. She always had in some sense as a fantasy but the reality of Matt Chase was beyond anything she could have imagined. Sweeter than her visual donut. He was special and there for her when she needed it. She’d have to worry about whether he’d bolt when he heard the full truth later. For the moment though, she let herself love and be loved.
At her admission, relief washed over him and he wanted to kiss her. Hell, he wanted to whoop at the top of his lungs, chide her for not saying so sooner, scoop her up and protect her forever and fuck her ten ways til Sunday all at once.
Instead, he sighed with a grin. “‘Bout time you said so. I was beginning to think you were just using me for the sex. And where else would your family be? They love you too. And mine. As a matter of fact, they’re all worried sick. Let me step outside and tell everyone you’re okay. Your brothers and sisters are going to want to see you too.”
“Matt?”
“Hmm?”
“Thank you for knowing they need to see me. Thank you for being okay with that.”
“Honey, family is everything. It’s one of the things I love most about you.”
He walked outside and leaned against the wall, relief that she’d finally allowed him to love her and herself to love him warring with the rage he felt for her father. Bill Murphy would never hurt Tate again. Not while Matt had breath to draw.
Everyone looked up expectantly when he entered the waiting room. Marc, Liv, Kyle and Maggie had arrived. “She’s awake now. The doctor came in and checked her out. She’s got a shiner, apparently she whacked the railing with her face on the way down. A sprained ankle, you know the heels she always wears.” He laughed, emotion still tight in his chest. “They’re going to keep her overnight.”
Shane put his arm around Matt’s shoulder.
Tim and Beth stood. “Can she see people?”
“Yeah, I know she wants to see you all. They said two at a time.”
“We’ve done this before.” Anne sighed. “You guys go first. Nathan and I’ll go next. Then William can go in. Jacob and Jill should be here in an hour or so. Go on, I’ll call them and check in. Mom too, I suppose,” she said. Tim and Beth nodded before going down the hall toward Tate’s room while Anne headed outside to use her cell phone.
“You okay, son?” Edward asked.
“Yes, sure. No, no I’m not. Damn it. She could’ve been really hurt.”
“Well, it’s happened. You knew you loved her, but now you really see the power of what it means to love someone. A powerful thing, love. The power of the connection you feel but also the power of the fear of losing it,” his mother said as she patted his hand. “Bend on down here and give your old mom a kiss. I’m proud of you. You have excellent taste.”
Matt smiled and bent to hug and kiss his mother. “She told me she loved me.”
Nathan grinned. “About time. I’m glad. You’re good for her, Matt. But, you know this isn’t going to be easy.”
“Hasn’t been so far. But it’s been fun when I’m not scared to death.”
“I’d like to see her too,” Cassie said quietly, telling him with her eyes that she’d try to help Tate through the trauma if she could.
“Thank you, Cassie.” Matt breathed a sigh of relief.
“We all want to see her. We’ll wait for her kin and then we’ll go in and let that girl know we love her too.” Polly squeezed Matt’s hand.
“Fine, that’ll be fine, Momma. I’m here for the night,” Matt said, distracted.
“You sure about that? You won’t get any rest with them waking her up hourly,” Nathan said. “We’ll all be here if you need to get home for work.”
“You think I’d leave her alone here? After what happened to her today? If she’d only called me before she went over there.” He sat down, head in his hands. “Why didn’t she do that?”
“Because, she’s been handling my dad—and worse—for most of her life. She’s ashamed,” Tim said, after coming out of Tate’s room to sit across from Matt.
“I’m going to go in now while Beth’s still with her. Tell him. It’s been a secret too damned long,” Anne said softly. Nathan kissed her cheek as she passed him to go toward Tate’s room.
“It’s not her fault, why should she be ashamed?” Matt didn’t like feeling helpless and he really didn’t like it that she’d feel responsible for being hurt by someone else.
Tim started to speak but he seemed so angry he had to shake his head and point at Nathan.
“Look, you have no idea what it’s like to live in a family like mine. Your parents are educated, you grew up with money and prestige. Yours is one of the premier families in this area. You were all loved and cherished.
“My family wasn’t. My mother took off for weeks at a time, leaving us with my father. It’s no secret that he’s a drunk, a mean drunk. He didn’t work much so Tim and Tate had to take care of the rest of us. You can look at Tate and see she’s not his, he knows it too. She embodied my mother’s infidelity, a slap in the face every time he saw her.”
Beth and Anne came out and Nathan stopped the story. “I need to see her. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” William joined Nathan as they went to Tate.
Matt heaved a sigh and Polly dabbed her eyes.
Beth settled in next to Tim and Susan.
Tim took a swallow of his coffee and continued. “So I’m big. Big like he is and after a few memorable knockdowns with my dad, he left me alone, physically anyway. But Tate is small. I had to work, to bring food in for the others. She stayed at home for the kids, to take care of them that way. So the only way she could keep safe was to fade, to stay unnoticed. Other than me, she had no one who could protect her. She had to keep her focus on the little ones, he wasn’t above hurting them to hurt her.
“I’ve seen your house at Christmas, by the way. All lit up with sparkly lights, that big tree in your front window. My house, our trailer, wasn’t on the Petal Christmas lights map. You think Tate’s reservations about your differences are silly, I know you do. And I know it’s because you don’t know any better. But at our trailer Christmases were hell. Any excuse to drink more was a disaster. We didn’t have a big shiny tree with loads of presents. We had one tree and my mother set it on fire to get back at my dad for something.
“My senior year in high school I only went enough to get my diploma. By then I worked two jobs and Tate did housework on the side for different families around town to bring in the money. I moved out and we brought all the kids with us. Tate finished school the best she could but worked every spare moment. Then she graduated and Anne did it, Nathan after her.” Tim’s voice broke.
Anne took over the telling and Matt realized what a unit they all were, with Tate at the heart. “We tried but we’d have fallen apart if it weren’t for Tate. She missed a lot of school, didn’t go to dances, didn’t date. She dumpster dived for clothes even though it got her teased. But let me tell you, none of us missed school. She wouldn’t allow it. She worked nights for Doctor Allen in Riverton so we could have healthcare.” Anne worried her lip with her teeth. “Tate isn’t heavy because she eats for stress or whatever, she’s always been curvy, and our father would use that like a bludgeon. The stuff he says to her, it’s repugnant.”
“This isn’t her first concussion,” Cassie broke in gently.
“No. I told you, she was, is, his favorite target. Most of his abuse was verbal and emotional along with neglect. But when he got really drunk and if she was around...” Anne paused, taking a breath. Her hands shook and Tim ran a hand up and down her arm. “He broke her arm when we were in elementary school. She’s had two concussions. He knocked her into a door when she shielded Nathan, she was like fifteen maybe? And another time, right after we’d moved out. Technically, Tim and Tate had no right to take us. She paid him to let her bring us with them. She doesn’t know we know that, it would kill her with guilt if she knew. She was late with the payments and he beat her pretty bad.”
Anne put her hand over her mouth, unable to finish. Nathan rejoined them with William at his side.
“That’s a shame, Matt. Living with secrets, living with people who’d shake you down for money, people who harm you because you’re the face of their failures. So no, she didn’t call you. We were raised to hide it. Tate has lived her life for all of us, even for my asshole of a father and my waste of a mother. It’s not that she didn’t trust you to protect her, it’s that no one has ever protected her ever. She’s only had herself.”
“She never said. I’ve asked her about it but she wouldn’t talk about it. I knew it had to be sort of bad, but why didn’t she tell me?”
“Jesus man, have you not heard a thing we told you? She’s ashamed of it! She’s afraid you’ll judge her, the way people have judged us all our whole lives. Deal with it. How does one tell someone they’ve been abused anyway? Is it appropriate between courses at dinner? After a picnic? How should she have told you and how would you have reacted? She’s afraid of letting anyone in, because people hurt her or they ignore it when she’s hurting.” Nathan shook his head sadly.
“Good Lord,” Polly whispered, holding Edward’s hand.
“If you’re going to leave her over this, please do us, do her a favor and wait until after she’s recovered and home,” Beth said.
“You think I’d walk away from her because of this? God, what kind of man do you think I am? I love her. I wasn’t making that up. She’s...in the months we’ve been together, she’s become so much to me. I would never hurt her, especially not over something that wasn’t her fault.”
“We’ll be her shiny Christmas mornings,” Polly said quietly. “We’ve got room around our tree for fourteen more.”
Matt kissed his mother, fighting back tears. “Thanks, Momma. Why don’t you and Daddy go to see her while I get myself together.”
His parents nodded and headed down the hall. Matt stood and faced her siblings. “Thank you for trusting me to tell me this and for helping me to understand her better.”
“We trusted you with the story because you seem worthy of her. Please let us be right.” Anne stood and hugged him.
“I love Tate with all that I am.”
His siblings and their wives surrounded him, hugging him.
Shane looked into his face. “You gonna be all right? We’ve got your back.”
“Yeah, but thanks. Thanks to all of you.”
“It’s gonna be hard to make charges stick if the mother won’t remember anything. If he says it was an accident they may not go forward. It’s not my choice, I want you to know I’ll do all I can, but you should be ready for that eventuality.”
Matt sighed, swallowing hard. “We’ll handle it if it comes along. Maybe the mother will do the right thing.”
Shane’s face told Matt just how dubious he was at that idea.
Matt’s head spun. He didn’t quite know how to process all he’d heard. He felt a deep, murderous rage toward Tate’s father and bottomless tenderness toward his own woman. He knew he couldn’t show her any pity or she’d be hurt. Knew she didn’t want it, just his love and respect.
* * *
Tate looked up to see Cassie Chase come in. Deep, bone-deep exhaustion settled into her. She wanted to be that cultured, that beautiful and graceful, and that wasn’t going to ever be. She’d never be tall and beautiful like Cassie.
“Hi, Tate, how are you feeling?” Cassie sat in the chair next to the bed and kicked off her shoes.
“Been better.” She smiled weakly.
“Yeah, worse too, haven’t you?”
Tate stilled as Cassie looked at her through alarmingly perceptive eyes. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Yes you do. Takes one to know one, Tate. I’ve been there in a hospital bed after a man gave me a concussion. More than once as a matter of fact. I know the bitterness of shame in my gut too. I know what it is to hide it and think people will judge. Do you know my story?”
Tate shook her head. “I know someone tried to hurt you a few years ago.”
“My ex-husband. Tried to kill me actually. For the second time.” Cassie told her the story of her years of abuse and of how her ex skipped out on his sentencing and then came to Petal to try and finish the job he nearly succeeded in before.
Cassie held up her right hand, the middle finger was bent at an odd angle. “This is what he did with the hammer. I’ll never be a surgeon again. Funny how life works. Still, it drove me here to Petal, which brought Shane into my life and I realized what happened to me wasn’t my fault. Wasn’t my shame to bear and it’s not yours either, Tate.”
“I can’t...how did you know?”
“I saw how you reacted after dinner the other night. I saw myself in your eyes. Heard more from your family just now.”
Tate felt the heat of her blush, replaced by the familiar coldness of the shame. “They told you? All of you? They told you all of it?”
Cassie reached out and took Tate’s hand. “I’m sure there’s more. Years of shame. They told us enough that I know you were abused and still are. Enough that I know what an amazingly strong woman you are for stepping in with your younger siblings. You have a family with them. Your father tried to destroy it but you didn’t let him. You win, Tate. That’s what he hates so much. He can’t break you.”
Tears rolled down Tate’s face. The wall of shame, the barriers that’d kept it all back were gone and it rushed out in wave after wave of emotion. Cassie got in the bed next to Tate, putting her arms around her.
“You win, Tate Murphy. Don’t you see? You’re worthy of all the people who love you. And let me tell you, your brothers and sisters love and respect you so much it made me proud to know you. And Matt, he loves you, Tate. It’s not charity. It’s not pity. He loves you. All of you, flaws and alcoholic father, neglectful mother, everything. Let it go and stop letting him get to you.”
“That’s so easy to say,” Tate sobbed as Cassie continued to hold her. Wanting with all she was for it to be true.
“It is. Now. It wasn’t just a few years ago when it was me in your place. I was a successful vascular surgeon, Tate! I had a good family who loved me, privilege, all the advantages in life and I ended up with a man who raped me and tried to kill me. I didn’t deserve love. I didn’t deserve a man like Shane. I didn’t want a bossy, pushy control-freak cop who barely fits through doorways without having to turn to the side.”
Tate couldn’t help but laugh.
“I know. He’s huge. Heh, yeah, that way too. But I digress. Listen, you, Polly is on the case so just give in. The woman will stop at nothing, do you know that? Matt loves you, you love him. He wants you and she’ll stop at nothing until she helps him get you. And since you want him too, why fight it? Stop letting your father control you. Stop going over there. If neighbors call, call the damned police. I promise you your father won’t be shoving Shane around. You are not responsible for your mother and the life she’s created for herself. You are not responsible for your father’s pain that you’re not his. It is not his right to harm you. Stop letting him control you. It’s the only way you’re going to heal and be free of it. And your siblings will follow your lead. They look to you for guidance.”
“I have to eat with them at least once a year. For Jacob and Jill’s loan stuff.”
“Fuck that. Come on, Tate. Look, there are six of you and all the Chases too, we can come up with alternatives. It’s one year. Don’t let him control you this way. Let the people who love you help.”
Could she believe it? Grasp the hope that she could have a normal relationship with Matt?
Matt tapped on the door, poking his head in. Seeing the state Tate was in, he rushed to her bedside, alarmed.
“Honey? Cassie, what did you do?”
“She just helped me. It’s okay. Really.”
“You’re feeling better?”
“No. I have a horrible crying headache to go along with the concussion headache. My messed-up childhood has been exposed to my boyfriend and his family without my permission and I’ve had a very emotional discussion with someone who knows where I’ve been. But I only have up to go, there’s no more down at this point.”
Cassie got up, hugging Tate carefully. “Please, give me a call or stop in at the bookstore if you want to talk. I’m trained as a victim’s advocate but more than that, I’m your friend. I like you, Tate. You have excellent taste in shoes, I’m not sure if I told you that before or not.”
Tate smiled. “Thanks. For everything.”
“That’s what friends, and family, are for.” Cassie kissed Matt’s cheek and headed for the door as Jacob and Jill burst in.
“Easy!” Matt grabbed Jacob before he jostled Tate.
Jacob winced. “Sorry. You okay? Tateness, I told you to stop going over there. Let the cops sort them out.” Jacob kissed her forehead gently and Jill moved around to the other side, taking Tate’s hand.
“If you just let them kill each other, we’d all be better off anyway,” Jill mumbled.
Tate sighed. “Don’t. Don’t let them make you bitter. You’re better than that. Now what on earth are you doing here? Jill, I know you had plans today with that new guy you’re seeing.”
“Shut up! My God, Tate, he could have killed you. You think making out and watching fireworks is more important to me than you are?” Jill looked offended but Tate saw the tremble in her bottom lip and knew she was about to lose it.
“I do think it’s more important, Jill. Yes, I do. Damn it, they’ve disrupted our lives enough. I don’t want him to do it anymore. Now get your butts back to Atlanta. Make out, watch fireworks. Use a condom!”
“I don’t need a condom to kiss for cripes’ sake! I’ve only known him a few weeks, he’s not getting any just yet.”
“Enough information, thank you very much. Tate, you’re out of your mind if you think Jill and I are leaving before you get home from the hospital.” Jacob crossed his arms over his chest and glared.
The nurse came in and frowned. “Too many guests. She needs to rest and you all need to let her.”
“I’m staying.” Matt stayed at her side.
Tate looked up at him and wondered why his voice sounded that way. Was he trying to be alone to dump her? That was probably it. Loving a woman with some family problems was one thing, now that he knew the whole story surely he’d see how impossible it was for them to be together.
“Go on, guys. I need to talk to Matt and then I need to nap. You have the key to my place. There are leftovers in my fridge and clean bedding in the guestroom.”
Jill kissed her cheek. “We’ll get it ready for you to come home to. I’ll stop by the library to grab you some books.”
Jacob followed, kissing the other cheek. “We’ll be back tonight. Rest. Love you.”
“Love you both too.”
They left and Matt settled into the chair next to the bed. Reaching out, she touched the softness of his hair for a moment and he leaned into her hand.
“They told you about my father.”
He nodded. “Yes. God, Tate, I don’t know what to say it’s so awful. I’m just relieved you’re all right.”
A tear rolled down her cheek. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you, it was embarrassing. You...you don’t have to stay here anymore. I understand.”
His eyes widened and then narrowed. “Good God, Tate, what do you take me for? Have I given you any indication that I’m that shallow a man? I love you, damn it. Not your father. You. I want to be with you and continue to build something with you. If you weren’t suffering from a head injury I’d be offended.”
“Matt,” she sighed, “I worry that you’ll regret this.”
He cocked his head. “Why would I regret loving you? You don’t seem to understand and that’s my fault I suppose. Tate, I’m old enough to know what I feel. Old enough to know this is very different than anything I’ve ever felt before. It’s you. You and me and it’s right. Surely you can feel it.”
“We come from very different worlds.”
“So you keep saying. And I keep saying—so? Seriously. Yes, you had a fucked-up childhood. One I can’t even begin to imagine. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have a future together. Sometimes I’m going to do something stupid and thoughtless because I don’t know any better. I’m a guy, it’s what we do. And sometimes you’re going to react in ways I don’t understand and it’s going to piss me off or confuse me. We’ll get through it.”
Tate put her head against the pillow and closed her eyes. He was fooling himself to ignore the real fact of the situation. People in town were going to talk. They already were talking. He’d always been on the inside, how was he going to take it when he risked that to be with her? Still, she was too damned tired to deal with it right then. And she didn’t want to.
“Rest now, Venus. I’ll be right here. If you wake up and I’m gone, I’ve just nipped out to get something to drink or to make a call to fill in your family or mine.”
He kissed her forehead gently and she let herself fall into sleep.
By the time they were ready to release her the next morning, his normally good-natured Tate was a very grumpy woman. He didn’t blame her, they’d woken her up every hour on the hour and she looked dead tired.
He’d slept in her room all night, which meant he woke up every hour on the hour as well. And every three hours a new one of her siblings showed up and stayed in the room with them.
Shane had gone to Matt’s apartment and packed him a bag, bringing it by the hospital. They’d found Tate’s father and arrested him sometime overnight. Her mother had gone off to Dallas after trying to borrow some money from Tim, who’d refused.
Once the release papers had been signed, Matt and Tate got into a heated argument. He’d wanted to carry her to his truck and she’d looked at him like he’d lost his mind.
“I’ll do the wheelchair thing like I’m supposed to but you’re not carrying me.” She slapped his hands away as he’d tried to pick her up.
“Why not? Tate, honey, let me help you.”
“You’re insane. You can push the wheelchair.”
He growled at her and she raised a regal, white-blonde brow at him. Sighing, Nathan pushed his way into the discussion.
“As fascinating as it is to watch you two argue over stupid shit like this, let’s motor. Matt, push the damned wheelchair, she doesn’t want you to pick her up because she thinks she’s too heavy. You, Tate, sit your ass down and shut up.”
Tate did that cute little hmpfing thing and Matt thought about arguing over how stupid it was that she thought he couldn’t pick up a bitty scrap of a woman like her. He could carry two hundred pounds on his back up a ladder during a fire for God’s sake, but she really was cute when she made that sound.
They got her settled in at her house. He tucked her into bed with some magazines while one of her sisters made tea. His mother had wanted to come over but already Tate’s little house was bursting at the seams with Murphys so Polly agreed to bring over some food later that day.
Tate had fallen asleep by the time the tea had steeped so he left her to rest in the cool, darkened room and snuck quietly out to the living room where her family waited.
“Is she all right?” Beth asked, putting the tray with the tea on it down.
“She’s asleep.” Matt fell onto the couch.
“You need the sleep too. Do you need to go home? To work?” Tim asked from across the room.
“I’m good. I took the next three days off. I planned to stay here. Are you all okay with that?”
“More than okay with it. But one of us will stay here too.” Anne drank some iced tea, rocking slowly. The house was shaded by several large willow and oak trees and the air conditioning kept it cool as well. Still, it was July in Petal and the heat rose from the pavement out front in dizzying waves.
“Mostly me, Anne and Nathan,” Beth spoke up. “Jill and Jacob have summer classes so they need to go home and William and Tim have kids and wives.”
“Hey, doesn’t mean I won’t do my duty here!” William grumbled. “She’s mine too, damn it.”
“William, we know that. She knows that. But you know how she is. She’d worry about Cindy being alone with the kids and you being here. She’d worry about you not being at work. She’ll worry about Susan at the shop and Tim’s business if he’s not there. You can come by in the evenings. Back me up when I insist she take the rest of the week off.”
“She can’t mean to go back to work just yet anyway!” Matt looked at them all.
Tim snorted. “She’d have gone back today if we’d let her. Tate views any kind of illness or injury as a weakness. She’s the hardest worker I know. We’ll have to wrestle her to keep her from going to the shop this week, crutches and all.”
“She’s going to do no such thing. She’s got four stitches on the back of her head, she had a concussion, she doesn’t need to cut hair just yet.”
Beth waved it away. He recognized the gesture from Tate. “If you put it that way she’ll go back just to spite you. Anne and I have worked the schedule out. We’ve got it covered until Monday. That gives us four days. Let us handle that part. Although I like that you put her first. I like that a lot.”
Pride swelled through him that her family approved.
He excused himself, going into her room and closing the door. Quickly stripping to his boxers, he carefully slid into her bed, pressing himself against her before dropping into sleep.