Page 41

Mindy

“Well, I’ve got some good news for you.” Barb steps forward from examining the stitches on my backside.

“I need some good news.”

“You’re healing up nicely. You can start sitting down for a few hours a day. You aren’t ready for anything strenuous. Even after we take the stitches out, you’ll need to avoid bending and lifting for a little while. Some of those cuts were very deep, and they need to finish healing inside.”

“But I can sit?”

“You can. Four or five hours a day max.”

That means I’m free. I’m free.

Does that mean I’ll have to leave this apartment?

How is my life about to change?

All I wanted to do was get out of here. Now I’m terrified that might mean not seeing Maddox anymore.

***

“What do you want to do first?” Fea asks as we flip through trashy magazines.

I don’t know.

The apartment door opens.

No one else is on the schedule.

Maddox walks in with a great big smile on his face. “I heard the doctor let you out of here.”

“Yeah.” I can’t help smiling back at him.

“Wanna go for a walk?”

More than I can say. “Absolutely. Let me just change.”

Instead of waiting for Maddox to lift me up, I slowly climb out of bed like I’m a hundred years old and the arthritis is winning. But I do it on my own.

***

The first hints of fresh air tickle my nose as I step out of the old brick apartment building. “Lovely.”

“There’s a little park right around the corner.” He loops his arm through mine as we walk down the street.

The simple things hit hard when they’ve been taken away. The feel of the sun on my skin. The cool wind tickles a strand of hair along my cheek. The sound of children laughing and playing makes my heart smile.

It’s almost too much to feel all of it at once.

We reach the garden, which is still covered in flowers even though the nights are getting cold enough that we might have snow soon. The first snow of winter is always the prettiest.

In one of the corners is a bench with a cushion on it. “Do you think of everything?”

“I try to.”

His answer is as simple as it is complex. He thinks of everything. Leonie told me about what he does, about Willow Street, and all of this started making sense. “Do you mind if I sit here alone for a little while?” I haven’t been alone since Adonis hurt me.

“Of course. I’ll come and check on you in a few minutes.”

Check on me. Care for me. “Thank you.” Maddox Locke epitomizes a giving soul. A protector. A caretaker. How could any one man take on a project like this and make it into a safe space for so many?

That’s what tears my heart out. When I woke up, I thought all of this was strange. Then a part of me hoped that it was because he wanted us to be more than friends. I started to believe that he could be my one divorce. Maybe we could make it a nice, long time before we broke up.

Only Leonie’s words made me realize that this isn’t about the ‘us’ in my mind. Caring for me, his employee, is just part of who Maddox is. He gives his all and cares for all the people who will let him. The generosity of his heart seems never-ending.

But I don’t want a generous man. I want a greedy man. A man who needs me more than he needs his next breath. A man who fights for time with me. A man who laughs because I smile…

“Hello.” An older woman steps up next to me.

“Hello.” Did I meet her? I don’t remember her from the schedule. Though I was pretty loopy for a few days.

“My name is Emilia. May I join you?”

Why do I think that wasn’t really a question? “Of course. I’m—”

“I know who you are. I know everything about my boys—even though Louisella keeps trying to claim Maddox—he’s one of my sons.”

This woman is Maddox’s mother? She looks too old to have a son Maddox’s age. I mean, it’s possible. But she seems more like a grandmother than a mother.

“But that’s neither here nor there. I heard about your attack.”

The world has, it seems.

“Why won’t you tell anyone who it is? Why isn’t that man rotting in a jail cell somewhere?”

I shrug. Because it’s easier to pretend nothing happened, than it is to shout it to the world. I want my life to go back the way it was. And if I put him in jail, nothing will ever be the same for me again.

She reaches out and takes my hand in hers. “I can see the pain in your eyes. A very long time ago, I was engaged to a man who enjoyed hurting women. No one else saw it. To them, he was a powerful young man with lots of money and good connections. The perfect man for their daughter to marry. But I saw it. Almost from the beginning, I saw the evil in his eyes when no one else seemed to. When we were kids, he’d bring me frogs and lizards that he killed in a horrible way. But people passed that off as boys will be boys. Then, when we were older, I always seemed to get hurt when I was with him, be it a branch to the face, tripping over nothing, or something falling on me when there wasn’t anything around to fall on me. I knew there was something evil about him. So, I found a man who was good and ran away rather than telling the world who the evil man was. He went on to kill several women that I know of and almost destroyed my family.”

“He was a sociopath.”

“I think so. I don’t know what’s going on in your head after that man hurt you, and right now, it might seem like a good idea to stay silent. But silence is never the right path when it comes to things like these.”

“But what if he’s a good man? A pillar of society. One little mistake shouldn’t destroy his life.” That is, if anyone believes me.

“Is this—” She looks me up and down. “—a little mistake? Or is it the start of many acts of violence against women? If you don’t stand up, you won’t know until another woman finds the courage to do it.”

Guilt wars with self-preservation. Mom always taught me to protect myself first. To let other women take care of themselves.

“I’ve given you a lot to think about for now.” She stands up. “I’ll expect to start seeing you at family dinners on Sundays soon.”

Family dinners? My life is so weird.

Reporting him will have long-lasting effects on my life.

And what if this was one drunken mistake?

I need to figure everything out.