Chapter Fifteen
“It’s a fact of life that people will lie. Sometimes to serve their own interests, sometimes simply because they’re algae dirtying up the bottom of a pond. And some will surprise you with their honesty. It’s up to you to decipher the truth.”
—Blu Johnson, life lesson #68
Heather sat on the front seat of Waylon’s truck, not glancing at the man beside her, and doing her best not to let the scene at the Jameses’ replay in her mind. And she’d been that way for the last thirty minutes.
While Waylon seemed to be processing the events by making small talk.
“Thank you for going with me.”
She glanced over for only a second. “Thank you for asking.”
At least, she’d meant those words before they’d arrived at Rose’s grandparents’. Since climbing back into the truck to come home, though, she wasn’t sure if she was more grateful to have gone—and witnessed what Waylon was up against—was more horrified that she’d started a relationship with the man sitting beside her to begin with, or if she was simply terrified at the idea that the reality lay somewhere in between.
She looked out her window, still not ready to bring up the moments after Waylon had pulled up in front of what had to be a million-dollar home.
“Rose asked me to tell you she’d draw you more pictures this week.”
Heather looked down at the paper in her lap. When Waylon had picked her up that afternoon, Rose had presented her with the picture of the three of them watching a movie at the park the night before. She’d also informed Heather how very much she’d missed her today.
Heather blew out a shaky breath. She could totally fall for that girl if she weren’t careful. In fact, she likely already had. The movie last night had been one of those special kinds of experiences that she wouldn’t mind repeating. The movie had started while she and Waylon had been talking, and Rose had sprinted back to their blanket. Only, instead of sitting by her dad, she’d settled in on Heather’s lap. Where she’d stayed until she’d fallen asleep.
Heather had carried her to the truck while Waylon followed with their belongings, and it had taken a huge effort not to climb into the cab of the truck and go home with them.
Waylon had looked at her as if he’d been considering suggesting the same.
“That’s part of our ritual.” He glanced at her now, and clarified, “When we whisper on the porch. We say the same thing every week. I’m going to call her every night, and she’s going to draw me a picture every day. But tonight, she said she’s going to draw you one every day, too.”
“Oh, geez,” Heather muttered. She pressed a fist to her chest. She’d definitely fallen.
“My girl is special,” Waylon said, his voice now more musing than telling, and when Heather glanced his way once more, she saw the worry he must carry with him all the time.
“I can’t imagine the judge won’t rule in your favor.” She didn’t know where her conviction had come from. That would have been her thought last night. Before speaking with Madelyn James.
But now?
Waylon’s chuckle fell flat. “I can’t imagine Marcus and Madelyn won’t pull out everything they have to keep that very thing from happening.” He gulped. “And you witnessed all you needed to understand how they plan to pull that off.”
“Please tell me what she said was lies.” Her words were pure plea. As Waylon had been talking to Rose on the porch, Rose’s grandmother had been filling Heather’s ears with vile thoughts.
Waylon does drugs—and has for years.
Waylon has a habit of leaving his daughter home alone. For hours at a time.
Waylon has a wide range of gambling issues, not the least of which is an absolute addiction to the game.
And Waylon was put in the hospital for conning the wrong person in a poker game.
Heather shook her head, wishing the words away, and Waylon pulled the truck over to the side of the road. He killed the engine and turned to her, and the two feet separating them suddenly felt more like fifty.
“Almost all of them were lies,” he said.
“Almost?” She didn’t even want to guess which was true.
Once again, he seemed to age before her eyes. “First of all, I’m sorry she cornered you that way. I should have guessed she’d pull something like that, but sometimes, even she surprises me.”
Waylon had overheard the taunts as he’d returned to the truck. Madelyn had been spewing it all out again, as if someone had hit repeat and she couldn’t stop talking. Upon realizing what she was up to, an all-out shouting match had ensued. Rose’s grandfather had hurried Rose into the house, Rose crying her eyes out, while Waylon had shut Madelyn down.
He’d then tried to get inside the house to comfort his daughter, but the Jameses wouldn’t allow it.
“Almost,” he said again. The sides of his face pulled down. “And for the record, I’d already planned to tell you everything I’m about to share with you now. I’d intended to do it tonight. Even before Madelyn started in on you. That’s why I wanted you to come with me to take Rose back. Dad is gone to visit with some friends for a couple of days, and I’d decided I needed to share everything before we go any further.” His eyes begged for understanding. “I was selfish, though. For not telling you before now. But it’s only because I wanted to enjoy a bit more time together before I risked losing you for good.”
Fear blossomed at his words. She didn’t want to lose Waylon, either.
“Which part is true?” she asked.
“The hospital.”
Her thoughts tripped over themselves. Madelyn had said he’d been put in the hospital for conning someone in a poker game. Yet hadn’t he told her that he didn’t do that anymore? That he hadn’t since high school?
“You lied to me,” she accused.
“I lied to you. And I apologize for that.”
Thankfully, he didn’t try to reach out and touch her. Because she would have pulled back.
“And no,” he continued, “I don’t have an excuse for lying other than shame at admitting my actions. But I do have a reason for doing what I did.”
Heather wasn’t sure she wanted to hear it, but he had her trapped in his truck. She looked out the window. They hadn’t even made it back to Red Oak Falls.
“You did it because you have an addiction to gambling?” She spoke without looking at him.
“No, Heather.” There was certainty in his words. “I do not have an addiction to gambling. I don’t have any addictions, and I never have. Not to gambling, not to screwing people over, not to drugs.”
She didn’t mean to, but she glanced back at him. She didn’t speak, though.
“The rest of what she said was lies,” he repeated his earlier claim. “I did experiment with drugs in the past. Years ago. And there were parties when we first moved to Vegas. Sometimes I would join in and sometimes I wouldn’t. But the rest of it”—he shook his head—“not even close.”
“You’ve never left Rose home alone?”
Pain carved deep lines in his face. “Nikki did that,” he admitted. “The Jameses have money, as you could see, and they aren’t above using it however it will benefit them best. They found someone Nikki used to party with, who plans to testify to that lie. She’ll say it was me who was supposed to be home with Rose that day. Not Nikki. And certainly not that Nikki had gone off partying herself, and had blacked out and completely forgotten our child.”
Revulsion swept through Heather. “How can they do that?”
“They can do anything their money will allow.” He laid his hand on the seat between them, palm up, but Heather only stared at it. She couldn’t take his hand. Not yet.
“Is someone going to testify about drugs, too?”
He nodded. “A guy I went to high school with. We got into some trouble together early on, played poker a time too many. I haven’t talked to him since I moved away.”
“Then how are you going to fight them?” Her voice shook. “How are you going to get Rose back?”
“That’s where the hospital stay comes in.” He pulled his hand back and clenched it in his lap. “They’d already tried to get custody of Rose once. After Nikki died. I guess they thought they could win by fighting fair at that point, simply by going on their name. Because they’re ‘somebody’ in San Antonio. But the case was heard in Vegas, and the judge sided with me. Rose was best off with her dad.”
“Of course she is.”
His mouth twitched with her vehemence, almost curving into a smile.
“But then they tried again.” No hint of a smile remained. “After I moved back to Texas. I was working on a farm close to Odessa, and I got another subpoena. They were filing for custody again, and this time they were doing it in their hometown. And they’d hired the best attorneys money can buy.”
“And they’d found people to lie for them,” she guessed.
“Yes. Though I didn’t realize that at the time.” He stared over her shoulder, looking out the window but likely seeing little. Darkness was fast approaching, and they were sitting on the side of a mostly deserted road. “I got wound up worrying about shelling out more for legal fees. I don’t have a lot of money, and I never have. But Rose and I do okay. Only, the first round of lawyers depleted me. And now I had to do it again?”
He brought his gaze to hers.
“And I had to compete on their playing level?”
“So you started cheating at poker?” She didn’t understand how he could get away with something like that for very long.
“First of all, I started playing poker again. I’d quit when I began working in the casinos. It had become a bad hobby, and one I no longer wanted to be a part of. I still had legit skills playing the game, though. So, I started entering tournaments. Took home good money. Occasionally there would be a weekend game someone pulled together—and I usually took home their money.” His mouth twisted to the side. “There was this one guy who lost a lot to me one night. And I mean a lot. He wasn’t happy about it, but I was desperate. No way was I about to give him a chance to win it back. But then I got news that the Jameses had someone to testify that I do drugs. As in, actively doing them today. That I can’t be trusted around my own kid.”
“But a drug test—”
“Couldn’t prove I hadn’t done anything prior to the thirty days before the test was administered.”
She stared at him. “And you said this is a guy from your past?”
He nodded, his expression solemn. “Whom I didn’t end on the best of terms with. He’d hooked up with Nikki one night, didn’t treat her the way I thought he should have . . . so I cleaned him out the next time we got together. He’d been saving for a much-needed car, and I walked away with all of it.”
“Oh, Waylon.”
“Yeah,” he muttered. “Karma and all. So anyway, I panicked. I set something up, just like I used to do. Just that one time. And I walked away with a hell of lot of money.” He thumped a closed fist on his thigh. “I’m still shocked at how it all came off. That money would have given me the cushion I needed. But they caught on to my scheme, and they wanted their money back—as anyone would. And they made that very clear, in a very physical way.”
His slid his palm over his side.
“They didn’t just beat me to within an inch of my life. They sliced into me, too. It’s a wonder I’m alive.”
Tears trickled over her cheeks, and she reached for his hands. “I’m so glad you are alive.”
He gave her a half smile. “I am, too. But I lost my daughter because of my stupidity. And that’s all on me. It’ll forever be on me. It was four days before I woke up, and by the time I did, Rose was hundreds of miles away and my dad was sitting vigil at my side.”
“Your dad loves you,” she whispered. “I see it every time I talk to him. He may not have done things right when you were a kid, but he does love you.”
Waylon nodded again. “I know. He wiped out his savings for me—not only for the down payment on the house, but for a chunk of my legal fees—and he lost a job he’d had for several years to stick around and bring me back to life. So yeah, I know he loves me. And I love him.”
Heather wasn’t sure she’d ever heard such a lack of enthusiasm in a ringing endorsement. Poor Waylon. His seven-year-old heart still beat with pain.
“You’re prepared for your upcoming court date?” she asked. Fear for both Waylon and Rose had her contemplating the investments she’d made with the remainder of her parents’ insurance money. It had to be worth quite a bit by now. She hadn’t touched it in years.
She could offer it to Waylon. Maybe that would help.
Then it occurred to her what she was doing. This wasn’t her battle, and Waylon and Rose weren’t her responsibilities. No matter how much she might want to help. She hadn’t even been officially dating the guy for two weeks, yet here she was thinking about cleaning out her bank accounts for him.
Would she never learn? She couldn’t simply jump in the deep end and insist people love her.
So she kept her mouth shut. Because she was learning. Because whether she had the desire to help due solely to Waylon being a good guy, or whether it was because she did want this to turn into more, she had to help herself first.
“I’m as prepared as I’ll ever be,” Waylon answered, his words returning her to the present. “We can disprove everything they intend to bring up. It’ll just be a matter of who the judge believes. Money”—he lifted a shoulder—“or me.”
“My bet’s on you.” She scooted across the seat, and when she got close enough, she lifted his arms and put them around her. “Thank you for sharing this with me.”
“You believe me?”
She could see the doubt in his eyes. “I believe you.”
And she’d believed in him even before she’d gotten the details. Even if she was afraid to.
“I also believe in us,” she told him. “And since I do”—she decided on the spot that she’d had enough romancing—“and since your father isn’t home tonight, I want you to take me home. I’m going to pack an overnight bag.” She gave him a tender smile. “And then I’m coming over to your place.”
Surprise touched his eyes, and almost as quickly, the heightened tension of the last few moments lifted. “Thank you.” Sincerity burned heavy through his words. “I won’t let you down.”