AJ's Salvation (23 page)

Thomas Fairchild still lived in a big plantation home. In fact, nothing had changed about the exterior. Ever. She stepped up to the porch and rang the doorbell, her hands shaking as she held onto the manila envelope that meant everything to her now. This little thing held all people needed to make or break her. It was a scary thought, but Aly didn't mind. She no longer had anything to lose because she knew if Jam wouldn't manage to get Alessandro back to her, he'd hate himself even more than he had before coming to her door after ten years.

The judge opened the door himself, and Aly couldn't deny that she liked knowing he wasn't too proud for that. 

“Mr. Fairchild.” She smiled, trying hard not to run in panic right away. Maybe the old man wouldn't remember her. She had been eight maybe nine at the oldest when she had first seen him. She remembered well how fond her mother had been of him. Aly wasn't sure if anyone besides her knew that her mother had been here almost daily for a few years, but right now, that didn't matter, either.

“Little Aly,” he called out in surprise, opening his arms for her. She didn't hesitate for a second, letting him pull her into a hug. She couldn't help but worry about how quickly his mood could change.

“I heard what happened to your mother back then. I wanted to drop by, but you know how she always wanted to keep this a secret,” he mumbled sadly, and Aly squeezed his hand.

“My mother loved working in your garden. It gave her peace of mind, but she never wanted my father to know that the money she made here helped around the house. He felt bad enough for hardly being able to provide for a family, and she didn't want to add to that.” It had been some stupid, backward notion on his part since women sure could help with money, but Aly guessed it had something to do with the grandparents she never met. Obviously, long before Greg was born, they had a fallout, her parents and theirs, and the siblings had never bothered to get back in contact.

“Exactly, which is why I decided to respect her wish and just keep it under wraps. You obviously haven’t forgotten, though,” he remarked and then made room so she could step into the house. Instead, she shook her head. 

“I haven’t been by the house in way too long,” she started, but the man interrupted her with a shake of his head. 

“You moved away. I heard all about it. The town is proud of you, little Aly.” Mr. Fairchild smiled, and she swallowed hard, wondering what the town would think of her if they knew.

“I don’t think there’s much to be proud of. I opened a café and live a quiet life,” she replied and then started to walk around the house, wanting to see the garden. “Mr. Fairchild, I’m so sorry I wasn't here when your wife passed away,” she went on, and he touched her arm, making her look up.

“Please, you were always meant to get out of this town and as far away from here as possible. A corrupt town is nothing for the softhearted, especially not if they are anything like you and your mother.”

Corrupt town … he had given her the perfect in, but suddenly, Aly couldn’t find any words to start. Tears were spilling over her cheeks, and she wished there was just a hint of how this would end. Maybe, just maybe, she’d find the right words to say then. Trying to hide her wet face, she turned toward the roses her mother had once tended to and that now looked a little bit wild. There were weeds everywhere, and she took a deep breath, kneeling and starting to pull them out just because she needed to keep her hands busy.

“Oh, sweet girl, I have a feeling you didn’t come here for a social call,” Mr. Fairchild mused, and she shook her head, her throat too clogged to bring any words out. 

Aly worked in silence for a few minutes while he vanished and then reappeared with a chair and some lemonade. He took a seat next to her so he could see her and still wouldn’t be in her way, but she just couldn’t look at him. Suddenly, she wasn’t sure she should be there any longer.

“You stayin’ at your brother’s place?” he inquired, and Aly cleared her throat, figuring she might as well get this over with.

“Mr. –” 

“Oh please, would you stop that? Call me Thomas. There was a time when you used to call me grandpa just because you didn’t have one,” he announced, and she cringed at the memory. She had been so young and innocent, in dire need of
more
family just because everyone else had grandparents so she had started calling them that one day. They never bothered to correct her and so it stuck. It hurt her heart now because she finally knew that whatever family you had, you should appreciate.

“Yeah, you never stopped me,” she remembered and then sat back on her heels, looking up at him. There was a wistful expression on his face, and he even smiled.

“My wife was never able to conceive a child. When she heard that your mother had a daughter, she asked her to bring you along. We might not have been quite that old, but we didn’t mind you calling us that. It gave us a purpose of sorts. We lived to spoil you.” He winked, and Aly chuckled. It was hard to believe her mother had been able to keep their weekly trips a secret.

“I loved being here. I always imagined that one day I’d be living in a big house like that. It used to be my biggest wish,” she explained, lowering her eyes back to her now soil-covered fingers.

“And now?” Thomas asked, and she took a deep breath, turning her attention back to the weeds in the roses.

“Now, I wish I could change the past.” Oh, and wasn’t that just the truth? In fact, it was what she had come here for. 

“We can’t do that.” Thomas laughed, but he sobered quickly as she looked up. She could feel the tears ready to spill from her eyes.

“Well, to be honest, I hope we can.”

“I talked to some friends. You know a couple of the guys who went away to college and came back changed men. We no longer ignore what’s going on in the town. They are terrified out there in the streets, or they are corrupt. Either way, the Karmisons have almost everyone in their pockets. It wasn’t easy trying to get a feel for the people,” Greg explained the moment Shannon and Jamison had entered the guys’ house. 

Jam wasn’t sure he wanted to hear that. Maybe, if he pretended to be oblivious to all that was coming in the next hours and days, then he’d be able to take a shower and relax a little. He no longer understood why they tried to rush things. 

Dorly had made it more than clear that Alessandro was fine. In fact, she had seen him out in town with his grandmother, and he was taking his promise serious, it seemed. He was avoiding trouble and that was all Jam had asked of him. Frankly, that gave him a false sense of security that allowed him to worry about Aly. 

Where was she? Whom exactly did she want to talk to? Maybe he should have stayed with her and tried to convince whoever she hoped to draw over to their side.

Maybe he should have just tried to keep Aly out of it after all.

“Hey,” Dorly said quietly next to him, and Jam shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. “Did everything work out for the two of you?” A sparkle in her eye indicated she knew exactly that things were fine between Aly and him, but he couldn’t help the curl of his lips. It wasn’t exactly a smile, but it came close.

“She’s pretty forgiving,” he admitted, and Dorly gently patted his arm, her papery skin cold. It made him worry. He and Greg never froze, but the house maybe was a little too air-conditioned for an elderly woman. “Do you need a blanket? A sweater?” he instantly asked, ready to jump up, but she just pulled him back, stopping him in mid-movement.

“No, I’m fine. I always have cold hands. I’m old. My body can’t pump the blood like it used to.” She winked at him and then turned serious again. “You look different.”

He gave her a questioning look, and Dorly reached out to touch his face. “You look more relaxed. The lines on your face are no longer as deep as they used to be. And while you look worried, you don’t constantly frown. Something changed you,” she explained, searching his face as if the answer would be written there.

Aly had changed him from the core, but telling Dorly that would mean to admit to the rest of the story as well. He didn’t want to go there yet. Maybe never.

“Aly is my salvation. She is my one shot at the perfect life. I don’t know how I ever deserved someone like her, but I’m ready to make this right. That’s all I can say.”

“She knows exactly the right words to say, doesn’t she?” Phil asked, and Jam realized the silence had spread in the room so everyone could follow his whispered conversation with Dorly.

“Which is why we need to say the right things,” Jam announced, hoping to bring everyone back on track.

“As I was saying,” Greg continued, giving him an annoyed look, “I found two officers who I trust. I didn’t tell them what I might need them for, but I made sure their cards got into Alessandro’s hands.”

“And a weird little lady may have made sure that Alessandro knows to call one of those numbers if anyone should hurt him,” Phil quipped and then beamed proudly. Jam had no doubt that she could pull off the weird woman. It made him grin, and he bit his cheeks to keep it from showing.

“What are you smirking about?” Phil wanted to know, her eyes now narrowed in suspicion. 

“Shut it, Phil. He just knows you aren’t exactly normal,” Greg teased, and Jamison realized that those three had gotten close in the last days. Then again, he guessed that an extraordinary situation could cause this.

“How much do you trust those two?” There still was the unsolved problem of getting Aly back into town if she came down here to talk to that mysterious judge. They hadn’t spoken about where she would stay, but Jam guessed she’d need a base from where she’d be able to operate and complete her mission.

“If you’re thinking about getting Aly back here, forget it, buddy,” Shannon instantly cried out, and Jam decided to ignore her, just raising an inquiring brow at his friend.

“Jam, Aly won’t come back,” Dorly said quietly. “She’ll stay as far from here as she can because otherwise she could risk it all.”

Jam finally pushed to his feet. He couldn’t stay seated if he thought about the fact Aly was there all by herself and everyone else was here with him.

“Whenever she’s ready to meet that guy –” 

“Jam, sit down. She won’t tell you. You won’t find out unless it either worked or not. In both cases, she will call you, just the location will differ a little,” Philomena pointed out, and even though he knew she tried to lighten the mood for his sake, he couldn’t get himself to appreciate it.

“When is she planning to come down here?” Maybe one of the women knew something since Alessia had refused to tell him anything.

“Whenever she’s ready,” Phil repeated, and he didn’t like that at all. It could be now, a week from now or a whole month. He just wanted this to be over. Rubbing his face and then drowning his hands in his hair in frustration, he growled, ready to kick the table aside. There was nowhere to go with his rage, and it pissed him off even more.

Everything depended on a tiny, soft female who held his heart.

“That tiny female held everything once before in her hands, Jam. Remember?” Greg asked, making it clear Jam had spoken out loud against his intention. “The night she took your baby boy away, she did the same. And look how well she did that job. Maybe you should trust her another time?” Aly’s brother suggested.

Before Jam could say something, the doorbell rang. He pointed at everyone to stay seated and that this would take just a second then he went to the hall and opened the door. His heart stopped almost instantly.

“Thea,” he growled, holding on tightly to the door just because otherwise he was tempted to do something he’d regret later on.

“Zack has been such a good boy, and I know he misses you, so I promised him he could see you today,” she stuttered, and Jam’s jaw almost hit the floor as he realized that Thea actually cared about his son. Something in her eyes pleaded with him not to make a scene. Jam’s mind was one-tracked, though. Lesso was there.

Looking over the shoulder of the tiny woman, he saw his son in a car. Without hesitation, he pushed past Thea Karmison and walked barefoot down the little driveway while Alessandro already scrambled from the car, squealing in delight. Jam knelt, catching his son as he all but flew into his arms.

“I missed you so much. I wanted to see you so much, but a crazy lady said I needed to be good or the family would hurt me. I don’t wanna be hurt. I wanna go back home, Dad,” the boy sobbed, and suddenly, he seemed so young, so broken. Jam squeezed him a little tighter, breathing him in. He would give everything to have Aly there and let her hold Lesso, but that was impossible.

“Your mom really misses you,” he choked out, and Lesso pulled his arms closer around his neck, obviously not wanting to let go. Jam got up with him in his arms, wondering what best to tell his son. He was getting heavy and definitely shouldn’t be carried around, but Jam didn’t care or mind. This was his son and he needed to know he was okay.

“I need to see her, Dad. She probably thinks I don’t love her anymore. I should have stayed with Mom and not left with grandma,” the boy mumbled and then sobbed some more. “I didn’t know it would be like that.”