Just Between Us (The Kings)

The drive to Haven Pines,the assisted-living facility on the outskirts of town, was spent in tense silence. An hour after I’d bid Veda farewell and crawled back into bed, my phone was blowing up with texts and calls.

JP insisted I get my ass down to the office immediately.

Relieved to see Veda was safe and fine, I met my brother and a frantic-looking MJ.

“Let’s go.” JP motioned to his vehicle, and we all piled in.

When Veda tucked herself into my side in the back seat, my chest swelled. “So what’s up?”

“You’re not going to believe this,” MJ said as she swiveled from the front seat. “Veda dropped a bomb that Bowlegs may not be as dead as we’d assumed.” Her finger shot up. “But she’s not the only one. I was working my shift at Haven Pines when Red Sullivan said something that stuck with me. He knows something.”

My skin prickled. “Isn’t he losing his mind?”

MJ flattened me with a look. “He has early-onset dementia, but he’s doing really well. He participated in a drug trial that changed everything for him.” She pointed a finger at me. “Be. Nice.”

I raised my hands in silent apology. I wasn’t trying to be a dick, but if we were rallying the troops for some kind of revelation, I wanted to be sure the source was accurate.

“Pull down that road.” MJ pointed past the main building and down a long winding driveway that led to what looked like a small neighborhood.

“I thought he lived in the memory care wing?” JP asked.

“He did. Like I said, he’s doing really well. He lives in a semi-independent home now. But, to be fair, his memory can still be shaky. I freaked out after our conversation this morning and had to tell someone.”

“So what did he say?” Veda asked, and I patted her knee.

MJ chewed her lip. “I think maybe you need to hear it from him. It might help you connect some of the dots on your mystery board.”

I frowned and studied Veda’s profile. Mystery board? Still, I was grateful to be a part of whatever mystery mission we were on.

My sister directed JP where to park, and he stopped in the small driveway. MJ turned in her seat. “I think maybe Veda and I should talk to him alone. Sometimes things like dates and timelines are a bit fuzzy, and I don’t want to overwhelm him. I don’t know that he’s quite ready to talk to a King yet.”

“You’re a King.” I scoffed and gestured toward MJ.

“I’m his friend,” she said. “There’s a difference.”

“I’ll stay back,” JP offered. “Be the lookout.”

I smirked at his joke. It was uncommon for JP to let his rigid demeanor soften.

“Well, I’m going in,” I said and exited the car.

MJ and Veda followed, climbing out of the vehicle and standing in front of the small white house with green shutters.

“I’ll do the talking.” MJ exhaled. “Veda, can you take notes?”

Veda tapped her temple. “I’m on it.”

With a nod, MJ knocked on the door. After a moment Red Sullivan pulled open his front door, and a huge smile spread across his face as he recognized my little sister.

“Well, hey there. Do I know you?” He was tall and broad and strong. His blue eyes twinkled with delight.

“Memory jokes? Really, Red?” MJ teased. She smiled and patted his shoulder in a way that showed she had done it a thousand times before.

“Hey, I wanted you to meet someone.” MJ turned and gestured toward Veda. “This is my friend Veda, and you know my brother Royal, right?”

I stepped forward and offered my hand. “Nice to see you again, sir.”

Red was shorter than me but still managed a hard, icy glare. Despite his obvious contempt, his hand slipped into mine and shook.

After a moment Red looked at MJ and softened. “Well, come on in then.”

In silence, we followed Red into his home. It was small and plainly decorated, but it was cozy. Pictures of Duke and Sylvie with little Gus were on the mantel. I recognized an old photograph of Wyatt and his daughter Penny when she was first born. Taped to the wall near the door was a list of tasks for leaving the house: bring your keys, grab your wallet, lock the door.

A similar list of reminders was taped to one of the cabinets in the kitchen. I had assumed that they were helpful ways that Red managed to live independently despite his condition.

“Lemonade?” he asked.

MJ shook her head, and instead we all sat in his living room. The couch was small, and my knees bent nearly to my shoulders.

MJ slipped a picture from her purse and handed it to Red. “Do you remember me showing you this today?”

He accepted the photograph and studied it. I searched for recognition in his eyes, but his brows pinched. “Can’t say that I do.”

My shoulders sank, and beside me Veda tensed.

“I can tell you, though,” Red continued, “Maryann sure was pretty as they come.”

Undeterred, MJ smiled. “You were friends, right?”

I leaned in, curious to know a piece of my mother I had yet to learn.

Red chuckled. “For a time. Things changed a bit when she and Rusty got together.”

Rusty? Shit. He must mean Dad.

Red sighed. “Juney tried to warn her. You see, he courted my wife, but June saw a side of him that she would only ever describe as chilling. My wife loved everybody, but she was always uneasy around Rusty. You can ask her yourself—she’ll be back anytime.” Red glanced over the couch toward the front door.

Veda sucked in a quiet breath, and I patted her knee. Red’s timelines were a little off, but we needed him to keep talking.

“Great.” MJ smiled, seemingly unfazed by his lapse in memory. “What did you mean that things changed?”

Seriousness darkened Red’s features. “Maryann wasn’t allowed to be friends with June, but that didn’t stop them from chatting at the book club. One night Maryann showed up here in a panic. She looked like she’d been crying and wasn’t making a lot of sense.”

My jaw tightened as he continued, “We dropped everything. Tried to get her to calm down and explain what happened. We offered for her to stay at our place, but she was frantic. Kept saying she couldn’t put anyone else in harm’s way. Went on and on about keeping the kids safe.” Red chuckled. “Back then, those kids were wild.”

He scoffed at the memory, and I felt Veda’s hand slip into mine and squeeze.

“So Maryann wouldn’t let you help her?” MJ redirected.

Red shook his head. “No. She left that night. Heard she took off and never looked back. The guilt about ate Juney alive.”

“Guilt?” Veda asked. “Why would June feel guilty about Maryann leaving?”

“Oh, well.” Red sighed. “My wife never did believe Maryann left on her own. She saw with her own eyes how frightened her friend was and claimed Maryann would never leave her children. Those kids were her whole world. When Rusty tried to carve out a parcel of land with the lake on it, June was even more convinced he was hiding something. Just last night she was bending my ear about that damn lake.”

“Wabash Lake?” Veda asked, leaning in. “What can you tell me about it?”

Red eased back in his chair and swatted the air. “Ah, it’s nothing. Small-town ghost stories.”

“Still.” MJ smiled, and I could see it wobble at the corners as she tried to maintain her composure. “I just love a good mystery.”

Red stood and I felt panic set in. We were so close, and he needed to keep talking.

He sighed and walked toward the kitchen. “Juney always worried that something happened to Maryann, and she was somewhere in that lake.”

A throb started at the base of my skull. “Did you go to the police? Get someone to drag the lake?”

Red nodded. “A few times, but there wasn’t any proof. No one would come forward to say they ever saw or heard anything untoward. Russell simply said his wife left him, and that was the end of it.” Red patted his knee. “June’s worries only increased when Rusty tried his damnedest to buy it. June was determined to not let him have it. She called the DNR and orchestrated the whole thing just to stop him.”

My head throbbed as the information sank in. If he was accurate in his retelling, everything was so much worse than I’d imagined.

My eyes locked with Veda’s as worry creased her forehead. I squeezed her hand in reassurance—for her or myself, I wasn’t sure.

“Wow.” MJ sighed and stood, unshed tears clinging to her lashes. “That is some ghost story.”

“Ah.” Red smiled. “Just tall tales, I’m sure. It’s like I told my oldest Duke—he keeps finding tracks on our land—it’s probably just kids. But, knowing my son, he’s going to have to do something about it.”

I looked at Veda and my sister to find each looking shell-shocked. I stood and extended my hand. “Thank you for the visit, sir.”

“Anytime.” He gripped my hand. “You have her kind eyes, you know.”

My throat expanded as I nodded. “Thank you, sir.”

Without looking back, I exited his house and climbed into the back seat of the car. The door slammed, and JP looked at me in the rearview mirror.

“So what happened?” he asked.

My molars ground together. “We’re taking Dad down . . . but we need the Sullivans’ help to do it.”

JP sighed and watched MJ and Veda exit Red’s front door. “Fucking fantastic.”

That night,curled around Veda, I couldn’t let go of what Red Sullivan had said. He was convinced, even after all the years that had passed, that my mother would not have left us. My mind was scattered, and my chest ached.

For so long I’d come to accept the fact that some mothers just left. Some mothers chose a different life. Some mothers found something better.

But not my mother.

“Hey,” Veda’s soft voice dragged me back to the present. She faced me in the bed, her fingers brushing across my forehead. “Where’d you go?”

“Sorry.” I swallowed and exhaled. “I’m right here.”

Her eyes were forest green in the dim lighting. I wanted to dive into their depths and get lost in a place that was safe and where I didn’t have to dredge up old, painful memories.

“We’ll figure out what happened,” she promised with a tiny, determined nod.

My hand slid up her back. “I know what happened. I know what I saw all those years ago, and Red confirmed what I didn’t want to believe. My mother didn’t leave on her own. She’s dead. My father was responsible.”

Unshed tears wet her dark lashes. “I’m sorry.”

I shook my head and swiped away a tear. “Don’t be. You pulled the threads, and it all unraveled. We would never have known had it not been for you.”

Veda pulled in a deep breath. “I keep thinking about little Dwayne.” She chuckled through the tears. “I’m so sad for him.”

I smiled and pulled her closer. “Me too.”

I breathed deeply and accepted the silence that filled the room. I couldn’t change the fact that my mother was gone. I couldn’t change the type of man my father was. The control I loved so much was slipping through my fingers, and the only thing I had to hold on to was lying right in front of me.

“I wasn’t the same after she left. There’s a sadness in me that never really goes away.” Veda looked up at me, but I held her close and was determined to continue. “Sometimes I cover it up with tattoos or humor or being the life of the party but, even then, I still always feel just a little broken. When you lose someone like that, I don’t know . . . you never really get over it. Once I realized it wasn’t going to get better, I embraced it—tucked it away and learned to live with that secret part of myself.” Emotion swelled in my throat, and I didn’t bother hiding the thick gravel in my voice. “Now I don’t want to forget her. I tried for so long to forget, but she doesn’t deserve that.”

My voice cracked and I finally broke down. My shoulders shook as guilt and sadness racked me. Veda held space for me. She didn’t tell me it was okay or that I was wrong. She simply allowed me to pour out my emotions.

When I finally caught my breath, I inhaled deeply. “She was gentle and kindhearted and funny. Part of me hates that for the rest of my life, I’ll be without that particular thing, you know? The thing that made life with her so special.”

“Oh, Royal . . .” Veda was also crying, and she held me. I searched her jade-green eyes as they bounced between mine. “Don’t you see?” She planted her hand on my bare chest, across my heavy heart. “That part of her lives here. It’s one of my favorite things about you. You are gentle and kindhearted and funny. That’s a part of her that you carry with you, and it will never go away.”

Vulnerable and wrung out, I clung to her in the darkness. With my face buried in her dark hair, I finally understood—when it came to Veda Bauer, I was no longer in control.