"I"m not the one who"s willing to commit the crime of kidnapping," I said softly.
Her torso swung back, her eyes got wide, and even Trent was smart enough to separate himself from Peggy at this juncture, this bit of news being shared in front of a cop. He shifted away from her side.
"Yeah," I whispered. "You threatened me. I took action. I"ll keep doin" that since I got friends who"re good at findin" out s.h.i.t, and I"ll find out so much s.h.i.t about you, about Trent, I"ll bury you. Nothing...not...one...thing is gonna be forced on my kid that he doesn"t want. I"ll go to the mat for that, Peggy. I"ll die for that. I"ll do anything for that. Mark my words, you battle me, you will not win. I"ll fight you every day of my life. I"ll spend every dime I have. And I won"t go down swingin" because I will not ever quit fightin"."
Only the barest hint of hesitation crossed her features before she leaned in and hissed, "He needs saved from you."
s.h.i.t, there it was.
"That, that right there," I returned instantly, "tells me precisely what kind of woman you are and what I gotta protect my boy from."
That seemed to confuse her.
"We"re his salvation," she decreed.
Oh my G.o.d.
Was she crazy?
"You bring harm to his mother in any way," Merry entered our conversation, "he"ll think you"re sent straight from h.e.l.l."
Trent got close to his wife again, grabbing her arm.
"Peg, let"s go."
She stared at Merry. Then she shifted her eyes and glared at me.
"Peg, babe, kids are in the car. Let"s go," Trent urged.
"Get an attorney," she warned me quietly.
"Whatever," I replied.
She kept glaring.
Trent tugged cautiously on her arm.
She turned her glare to him, tore her arm from his hold, and stomped her a.s.s to their minivan.
Trent gave me an unhappy look. He gave one to Merry. After that, he followed her.
We stood where we were as they got in, but we didn"t stand the way we were standing when they were with us.
Merry threw his arms around my shoulders.
That felt great.
I slid my hand around his waist.
He tucked me tight into his side.
I fit myself tighter.
And that felt even better.
We watched Trent fire up their minivan and we kept watching as they pulled away, our heads turning to keep them in sight as they drove down the street.
"Bad news, brown eyes. That church lady is f.u.c.kin" crazy," Merry muttered when the brake lights on the minivan lit at the stop sign at the end of the street.
"The Lord giveth great dinners with handsome cops, followed by fabulous o.r.g.a.s.ms and a mom gettin" to tell her boy he gets to eat pizza with a good man he looks up to," I replied, and as I did, Merry looked down at me and I looked up at him. "Then the Lord taketh away by sending a bats.h.i.t-crazy church lady to stand in my yard, throw down with me, and, while she"s doin" it, say words like "salvation.""
Merry started smiling.
"Not sure the Lord gave you those o.r.g.a.s.ms, sweetheart," he returned. "And He sure didn"t pay for dinner."
"I hear you," I agreed. "That doesn"t mean He wasn"t shining His light on me the last twenty-four hours, save, of course, the last ten minutes."
Merry didn"t quit smiling, it was just that his smile turned c.o.c.ky.
"Guys!" Ethan shouted from the house, and we both looked over our shoulders to see him in the storm door. "What"s goin" on? Why"re standin" out there, starin" at each other, and not comin" in to tell me why Dad and Peggy are actin" all crazy?"
I stared at my son, who looked angry and worried.
This meant I sighed, which was a choice I made because the other one was losing my mind that Peg and Trent made my kid angry and worried.
The good part was Merry being there, being close, having a hold on me, and shifting me around so we could walk connected to my house.
The bad part was my kid was in my house and I had to explain to him his dad and Peggy weren"t acting crazy, because, at least for Peg, she just was.
We made it into the house and Merry had barely closed the front door behind us when Ethan launched in.
"You don"t have to tell me what went down." He lifted his chin. "You told me to go to my room. You didn"t tell me not to open my window so I couldn"t watch and listen."
He was right. I didn"t.
I made a mental note should something like this happen again to do just that as I replied, "Then I"m not sure what there is to add, little man."
"You started whispering," he accused. "I didn"t hear that part."
"And that"s "cause you shouldn"t, buddy," Merry said carefully.
Ethan glared at Merry for a moment but only for a moment.
Then he declared, "Right," stomped to the phone, and jerked it out of its base.
I wasn"t sure that was good.
"Ethan," I said warningly.
He turned his angry face to me, then he looked down and punched b.u.t.tons.
"Ethan," I said again, moving his way.
He put the phone to his ear.
"Baby," I whispered, getting close. "Maybe you need to think about this. Don"t act in anger. That can lead to bad things, things you might regret, and I don"t want that for you, kid."
He looked up at me, his eyes sliding to the side as I felt Merry stop there behind me. Then Ethan opened his mouth.
"Yeah, Peg? It"s Ethan," he stated. He waited. Then he said, "Dad"s drivin"? Okay, I"ll tell you. I wanna see you again never. You got that? I never wanna see you again. Not you. Not Dad. But especially not you. I heard what you said to my mom and that isn"t right. Dad knows it isn"t. He knows. Don"t know why you don"t. He left us all alone, he can"t come back and be all stupid. And you can"t do nothin" because you"re nothin" to me."
He drew in a deep breath and I drew in one with him.
Then he kept giving it to her.
"I gotta tell you, this sucks "cause I"m gonna miss Mary and Tobias. But it doesn"t suck because I"m not gonna miss you. You bother my mom again, I"ll tell you to your face. You push it, I"ll say it to a judge. I"m never goin" with you. Not ever. You find a way to make me, I"ll run away. I gotta look after my mom and you made me hafta do that by making it this way. So, later. You got it in you to be halfway decent, give Mary and Tobias a hug from me. Maybe when all of us are grown up, we can get together and talk about how crazy you are. But that"ll have to wait until we"re all grown up."
With that, he punched a b.u.t.ton and tossed the phone to the couch.
He looked back to me. "Okay. Done. Now we got, like, no time to eat pizza. We"ll have to snarf it down before I gotta meet Teddy at the game, which sucks, and I"m blamin" that on Peggy too." He looked to Merry. "I gotta get my bag, then we can go."
On that, he tramped from the room, Merry and me turning to watch him go.
"Just to say," Merry started softly, and my thoughts on my kid, worried, my eyes drifted up to him, "not sure how much better I gotta get to know your boy."
I felt my lips part, but he wasn"t done.
He looked down at me. "Think I just fell in love, brown eyes."
I couldn"t stop it, no way.
I swayed toward him.
He caught me in both arms.
And he still wasn"t done.
"He"s a good man, takin" care of his mom."
"Yeah," I whispered.
Merry smiled at me, soft and sweet.
Ethan stormed into the room, looked at us, and stopped.
"Okay, maybe I was wrong about the gooey, "cause...gross," he declared.
Merry didn"t let me go.
Ethan threw out an annoyed hand. "We gonna get pizza or what?"
"We"re gonna get pizza, bud," Merry said, dropping one arm but keeping his other around me to guide me Ethan"s way.
"You okay?" I asked him as we moved.
"Uh...no," Ethan answered. "Peggy"s totally crazy and Dad just stood there and let her mouth off at you. All he cared about was that Merry"s a cop. What"s that all about?"
"Well..." I let that trail off, not sure I felt like sharing Trent"s rap sheet and drug history and thus his natural aversion to law enforcement with Ethan at this juncture.
"It doesn"t matter." Ethan lifted his chin again, eyes on me. "He"s weak. I"m not weak. I"m like you. I can take care of myself. I can take care of you. And I"m like Merry, who"s all, get in your vehicle and go, real angry-like but still patient when you just gotta take one look at him and see he so totally wanted to whale on Dad." Ethan looked to Merry. "I kinda wish you did, though Mom says. .h.i.tting people is wrong. Dad needs some sense knocked into him."
Merry let out a sharp, startled bark of laughter.
I swallowed mine back and, once I managed this, said, "Ethan, honey, you need to calm down." He looked to me. "You need a shot of tequila?" I offered.
"Yes," he answered instantly.
"Well, you"re gonna have to make do with the buzz of a two-liter gla.s.s of c.o.ke at Reggie"s," I returned.
He stared at me and suddenly the emotion that was controlling him shifted and I saw his jaw set, but he couldn"t fight it.
His chin wobbled.
My heart skipped and the pain of it nearly took me to my knees.
"They"re not gonna get me, are they, Mom?"
"No, baby," I answered quickly, firmly, but softly, holding back, wanting to rush to him and put my arms around him, but not wanting to mother him when he was going through a lot, holding it together, and doing it in front of Merry.
He looked into my eyes, nodded, and said, "Sorry, Mom, but he knows." He looked up to Merry. "You"re police. You know the law. Are they gonna take me away from my mom?"
"Absolutely not, Ethan," Merry stated quickly, firmly, and not softly.
Ethan swallowed.
Then he nodded at Merry.
"Maybe we should cancel things with Teddy," I suggested, and Ethan"s attention came back to me. "After pizza, we can all hang for a while."
"Only if Merry stays for waffles in the morning," Ethan decreed.
I tensed.
Merry didn"t.
He said, "If it"s cool with your mom, I"m here."
I drew in a deep breath and nodded.