He’d never forget the pain of being forced to leave them behind. He’d been planning their escape for years and had saved every cent he’d earned working at the marina throughout high school. One of the older guys he worked with had hooked him up with a fake ID and opened a bank account where Scott had stashed his savings. But a few weeks before the date he’d hoped to leave with the girls, he’d come home from work and his father had given him hell for something. He couldn’t even remember now what it was. Scott had been fighting back forever, but he’d recently hit a growth spurt and stood eye-to-eye with his father. When his father got in his face and pushed him against the wall, Scott went after him with everything he had. He’d been blinded by rage, punching and shouting, and his father had given it right back to him. Fists and blood were flying. Josie had been only thirteen and Sarah sixteen, both of them screaming and crying. Josie was huddled in a corner, Sarah stood in front of her, protecting her as their mother shouted at them to shut up. Sweet, delicate Sarah had jumped on their father’s back, trying to pull him off Scott, and their mother had gone after her, slapping her on her face and back and clawing at her, and Scott had lost it. He slugged his father so hard he’d cracked open his knuckles, and then he’d shoved his mother away from the girls, hollering for Sarah to get Josie downstairs. Thank God she’d listened so they didn’t have to witness the worst of it. He’d gotten his father in a choke hold, and then he’d thrown him across the room, intending to get the girls and leave. But his father had threatened to have him arrested for assault and kidnapping. At seventeen, with no reported history of abuse, it would have been his word against his father’s, and the charges probably would have stuck. Scott couldn’t take the risk of being hauled into jail and the girls going right back to those monsters. He’d given Sarah the bank card, told her to guard it with her life, and that he’d get another job and put more money in the account. He left, intending to come back for them in a day or two, but his fucking father had reported him to the police after all, and they were looking for him. In desperation, he’d stolen two hundred bucks from a convenience store, bringing his savings to four hundred for the girls. His friend helped him hide out in another town until things calmed down, but by the time he went back, his sisters were gone without a trace.
“Yes you did, Scott,” Sarah insisted. “If you hadn’t been there for us for all those years, I might not be alive today.”
“What is this really about, Scott?” Josie asked. “What does that have to do with Penny? You guys were all over each other last night.”
“Nothing. Everything,” he admitted. “I’m fucked up, terrified that I’ve got that bastard in me.”
Josie shook her head. “That’s crazy. You’re amazing with the kids.”
“It’s not crazy,” Sarah said solemnly.
Scott’s stomach plummeted.
“I was terrified that I’d be like them, too,” Sarah admitted. “I kept waiting for the monster in me to come out. When I had Bradley and Lila, I stayed up at night, afraid if I slept, I’d wake up a different person. I think that’s normal after what we’ve been through. Josie, you never had to live on the streets, with an abuser, or on an oil rig with no one to show you any love. Thank God you had Brian, and he loved and cherished you from the moment you left home with him. You were so young, I think he washed away most of your fears. But our experiences were different and left brutal scars.”
“What about when you had Maggie Rose, Sarah? Did you worry then?” Scott asked.
“No. I already had two babies, and I wasn’t fearing for my life anymore. I had Bones, and I had you and Josie and the Whiskeys and all of our friends. I understand your fears, Scott. We lived every minute not knowing if it would be our last, and you endured it longer than any of us.” Sarah took his hand, looking at him with empathy, not pity, and said, “But do you remember when we got into the accident? You had a collapsed lung and two broken legs, and you fought to help us get out of the car. As soon as you saw Bullet reaching for us, you told him to get the babies and me, over and over. Even after he had us all out, I still heard you saying it.” Her eyes dampened. “And when you woke up after surgery, the nurses had to hold you down because you were out of your mind with worry over us. You wanted to get to us that badly, and you’d only known my kids a few weeks.”
Scott remembered the fear that had gripped him that night. He’d thought he’d lost them all after having only just found Sarah again.
“You’re more patient with our kids than Sarah and I are. You never even lose your temper with them,” Josie said.
“And not only that,” Sarah said. “You took me and Josie and our children into your home and treated our kids like your own. You bathed them, changed diapers, fed them, took them out places, put them to sleep. You helped teach them what it means to be a family and how to love like a family should. It’s been more than a decade since we got out of that house. If you were capable of what our parents did to us, we’d have seen signs of it by now. You’re not a monster, Scott. You’re just scared, and that’s okay.”
The door flew open, and Red Whiskey breezed in. “Who’s ready to get—” Her smile faded, and her eyes narrowed, making her look even more like her doppelgänger, Sharon Osbourne. “Oh boy. What’s going on in here? Please tell me it’s not cold feet, because my son is going to jump out of his skin if I don’t get you down that aisle soon.”
“Don’t worry, Red. My feet are hot to trot. Nothing could stop me from saying I do to my wonderful Bones,” Sarah said with a grin.
“Whew,” Red said.
“I’m just working on my shit, Red,” Scott admitted to the woman who had welcomed him and his sisters and all their children into her family with open arms.
“Ah,” Red said, as if she’d heard it a million times. “Your heart is kicking you in the ass, isn’t it?”
“Something like that,” Scott said.
Red’s expression softened. “That’s a good thing, honey. It’s the men who don’t realize they have shit to work on that we worry about.” She turned to the girls and said, “Dixie has made Bradley and Lila practice their walks down the aisle so many times, they’re going to do it in their sleep. Let’s go, ladies. We have a wedding to get to!”
“Yes!” Sarah exclaimed as they followed Red and Josie down the hall.
Scott took Sarah’s hand and said, “Remember how nervous you were when you went on your first date with Bones? And look at you now. I’m so happy for you. You and Josie deserve all the happiness in the world.”
“So do you, Scott,” Sarah said as they descended the steps and headed for the back door.
“Thanks. I’m sorry for raining on your parade.”
“Don’t be silly. Just don’t rain on your own parade.” She leaned closer to him as they crossed the marble floor and said, “Our parents are dead and gone. They can no longer hurt us. Don’t let their evilness overshadow your greatness. Penny loves you, Scott, and I know you love her. Let that love shine through, and the rest will come naturally.”