Chapter 13

James

We make our way to Rush where she’s been taken. They give us the pass to see her, but we’re not sure how we’re going to be received. When we knock on the room, a woman mumbles, “Come in.”

“Oh, who are you? More detectives? Social workers?” she questions so sullenly. I’ve never seen a domestic violence victim in the flesh. It’s fucking terrible. Her face is swollen from her eyebrow down to her jaw.

“No, Mrs. Dow. I’m James Smith, and this is Piper Davis.”

“Oh, I heard that he came after you yesterday. I’m so sorry,” she sobs. Piper lets go of my hand and goes to Mrs. Dow’s side, who flinches at first, but then relaxes when Piper takes her hand.

“Mrs. Dow, I’m the one who’s sorry. I fired him,” I tell her.

“Please, people get fired all the time. I should have left him the first time he put his hands on me. Instead, we had three kids, and I brought this misery on them and you. If he’d been prosecuted for assaulting me then, you wouldn’t have even met him.”

“It’s no one’s fault but his. How are you feeling?” Piper asks.

“I’ll be fine once I get my kids back,” she responds. Her vehemence is true and strong. I’ll do whatever I can to get them back and on her feet. It can’t be easy.

I step closer, sliding my arm around Piper’s waist. “If you don’t mind me asking, where are they?”

“They took them to a group home until I get out of the hospital tomorrow.” The sorrow in her eyes is palpable.

“Well, I know that we don’t know you and all, but if you would like to join us for Christmas, I’m sure Piper wouldn’t mind.”

She looks to Piper who has a warm and loving smile on her face. “Of course I wouldn’t mind. I don’t have any family here, and my grandparents aren’t coming until the day after.”

“That’s so kind of you, but I don’t have any way to repay you. Dave spent all our money on drugs apparently. I didn’t know until we got our first notice of default on our mortgage. I don’t know what we’re going to do, but I have to find something.”

“Do you have any work experience?” I ask.

“Not after I met him. I was a nurse, but he made me quit within our first week of being married. He changed immediately from the guy I started dating.”

“Drugs do that to people.”

“I know. I swear I thought he got help the last time when I threatened to leave.”

“Well, let’s not dwell on the past. Maybe we can see if we can get you back to doing what you love.”

“You don’t have to help, but I can’t say I’m in any position to refuse. My kids need things and my soon-to-be ex-husband has really done a number on our finances.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll get you back on your feet. Trust me, I know what it’s like to have my world flipped on his head by someone I trusted and loved,” I admit. When Craig shot my mother and father, I couldn’t even understand it or even put it into words. A love triangle gone so wrong it couldn’t be right. I never told my sister why he did it. Money was never the objective. My parentage was. I’m not my father’s son. My mother and Craig had an affair before my parents married. She got pregnant then, and they never said a word until that fateful night. Apparently shit got real when my mom wouldn’t leave my dad. I lose myself in that memory until Piper squeezes my hand. Both of them are staring at me.

“Sorry. My parents were killed by their best friend, leaving me to raise my sister. And the memory is still strong.” Piper presses her head on my chest. Then pulls back to start asking Mrs. Dow a bunch of questions.

“Please don’t call me Mrs. Dow. My name is Amanda, and I’ll be divorcing him as soon as humanly possible.”

“Wonderful. Call me James,” I add, wanting her to trust us.

“Thank you both for your kindness.”

“It’s the holiday season. If there’s any time to be nice, no time like the present,” Piper says with that beautiful smile of hers etched across her face.

“You’re always nice,” I remind her, kissing her temple.

The doctor comes in to check on her, then we settle on the Christmas plans before I steal Piper away. There’s so much to do, and we don’t have much time to get it done.

 As we leave the hospital, my head is spinning with ideas of what fun things we're going to do. I want to make this Christmas fantastic well as good as we can considering everything that's happened.

First things first, Piper and I go Christmas shopping. I want them all to have a lot of toys, clothes, and all the fun stuff possible. Then we need to get a tree. As we make our way around Target, when Piper says, “I know that this is a bad situation, but I'm love shopping for them. I can't believe he was such a dick and didn’t even get them a Christmas tree.”

“Yeah baby, and from what the cops said, the house looked like it was threadbare.”

“That's awful. Let's give them a nice Christmas.” There are three kids two boys and a girl that are all under ten. This is the time that should be magical. It was hard for my sister when she was around that age. I look at all the cool toys they got out and fill the cart.

“Remember we’re going to need a bunch of wrapping paper.”

“And maybe an army of helpers to do the wrapping.” My phone starts buzzing. I pull it out of my coat to see it’s Becca.

“Hey, my favorite sister. How are you?”

“I’m your only sister.” Technically that she knows about. Craig has two daughters.

“Whatever. I thought if you and lover boy weren’t busy tonight, you could stop by and meet your future sister-in-law.”

“What!” she screeches into the other end. “Oh, we’ll be there. What time?”

“Six. And we’ll be wrapping gifts okay. Awesome. Bye.” I hang up before she can say anything else. Then I stuff the phone in my pocket with the ringer on silent. I know she’s going to ask forty-five questions. I look at Piper who is holding the latest Mickey Mouse toy in her hand with her mouth gaping open.

“What? You two were going to meet soon anyway. Why not make it tonight?”

“I suppose you’re right. I’m just shocked,” she says, showing me the toy. “Does this work for the little one?”

“I think so. And I love you, Piper. You’re going to see that she’s a sweetheart and she’s going to love you too.”

“Um, what do you want me to make for dinner?”

“I don’t know. I was thinking of ordering since we have so many decorations to put up and presents to wrap,” I tell her.”

“You’ve got a point.”

“I know this pizza place you’ll love.” Piper has a thing about pizza. She loves it, and I love to watch her eat. Every moan made me want to climb over my desk and fuck her, so she moaned for me like that.

“You know the way to my heart,” she sighs, pressing her hand to her chest and smiling at me.

“Damn right. And I’ll do anything to win it and keep it,” I growl, pulling her to me and kissing her in the middle of the toy aisle. I let go reluctantly.

“Let’s pick out a tree,” she says.

“Let’s pick out three of them.” She cocks her brow at me like I’m odd, so I add, “We have room for three trees in different spots all over the house. And we can give them two of them to take back home for next year.”

“But they aren’t going to have a home for long.”

“No, but I think they need a new one. I haven’t thought of it all, but I want to get them either a smaller house until she can get back on her feet or an apartment.”

“Well, I suppose you’re right.” She swats my ass and starts rushing the cart down the aisle. I catch up to her, and we move through the store to look at the trees.

***

Three hours later we’re home and unloading the back of the SUV with everything we picked up when my sister and her family come through the gate behind us.

“Okay, damn we took a long time,” I say.

Piper blanches even in the cold, tucking her hair behind her ears and patting her curls down. I shake my head and leave the stuff in the trunk. I want to introduce her as my world to my precious little sister.

Becca stares at her a little suspiciously, but she smiles anyway. “Becca, Rob, I’d like you to meet Piper, my fiancé, and my soul.” Piper blushes and nervously bites her lip. Fuck, I want to take her inside and bite her lip myself.

Becca tilts her head and stares before she blurts out, “Wait. Piper, as in your assistant Piper?”

“Yes,” I respond, hoping she behaves herself. I’ve never even had a date, but I expect her to be nice.

A broad smile spreads over her face and cheers, “I knew it.” She spins around to look at Rob and points. “We’re getting a dog.”

“You bet on us too?” I exclaim.

“Well, I’m sorry, but you were obvious.”

Then she closes the distance and hugs Piper.

“It’s so nice to meet you,” Piper says when they pull apart.

“It’s nice to meet you too. James has worked a lot over the years, but I never thought he’d work that late.”

“Well, I couldn’t give her time to find someone else,” I confess, getting a little nudge from Piper.

“I didn’t want anyone else anyway,” she admits.

“Well, let’s not stand outside fucking freezing,” Rob says through chattering teeth.

“Whose fault is it that you refused to layer up?”

I reach inside the trunk and grab the last round of bags.

We all go inside, and Becca is the first to say something about the mound of bags and boxes littering my foyer. “Wow, what’s with all the stuff?”

“It’s a long story, but Piper and I are having a family over for Christmas, and we want to make it nice for them.”

“I need details,” she demands. I go into the details which sends her into a pissed off attitude. “When the fuck were you going to tell me about it?”

“I just did. It only happened yesterday. Damn, I can’t believe it was just yesterday that everything changed.”

“Well, we’re going to make it nice for them too. We’ll help you wrap, and if you need me to cook, I can come over before we have Rob’s parents over.”

“No, it’s okay. We’ll be making food.”

“You are going to cook? Why did you bother buying all this stuff if it’s going to burn down?”