Authors: Cassandra Cole
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
One of the things Belinda and Arianna loved most about having Uncle Ben living there was his chocolate chip pancakes. He’d made them the first Sunday morning after he moved in and every Sunday morning since.
“Uncle Ben learned to make pancakes at camp,” Ari said, happily shoving a huge bite into her mouth. She chewed merrily and reached for her milk. “Didn’t you, Uncle Ben.”
“I did,” Ben said with a smile. “Hundreds of pancakes a day.”
“Camp?” Belinda asked with one eyebrow raised. “What kind of camp, Uncle Ben?”
Ben mocked her face. “The kind where there are no girls allowed.”
“Doesn’t sound like a very fun camp,” Belinda said. She smiled as she finished off her stack of pancakes.
“No, it wasn’t much fun at all,” Ben said, wiping the batter off the island top with a wet towel. “Speaking of fun, I was thinking the three of us might get out of the house and go have some fun today.”
“What kind of fun, Uncle Ben?” Ari asked.
“Yeah, Uncle Ben, what kind of fun?” Belinda was having a great time teasing him, but he didn’t seem to mind. Ben gave her a devious smile that brought back memories of their amazing night together.
“Well…” He put a finger to his chin and pursed out his lip. He widened his eyes at Arianna. “Have you ever been to the zoo?”
“Zoo! Zoo! Zoo!” Ari said, bouncing and clapping.
Ben smiled at Belinda. “It that a yes or a no.”
“We have not been to the zoo,” Belinda answered, a little ashamed to admit that she’d never taken her baby girl to the zoo. She shrugged. “Is it any good?”
“I don’t know,” he said with a smile. “But I bet we can find out.”
“Yay! We’re going to the zoooooo!” Ari threw her arms in the air and started making monkey sounds. Belinda plucked her off the stool and set her on the floor. Ari took off through the house like an elephant on a rampage.
“I’m not sure we can all go,” Belinda said, turning back to Ben with a serious look. “I mean, I’ll have to see if we can get someone to sit with Abraham.”
“Way ahead of you, sunshine,” Ben said with a smile. “I’ve already talked to Mrs. Campbell. She can sit with him for a couple of hours. Come on, it’ll do us good to get out as a family.” He paused, afraid he’d overstepped. “I mean, you know what I mean.”
“I think a family outing is a great idea,” Belinda said, meeting his eyes, smiling.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“If you need us, just call my cell,” Belinda said, writing her cell phone number down on a Post-It and sticking it to the front of the fridge.
“Belinda, I know your cell phone number,” Mrs. Campbell said. She took Belinda’s hand and led her toward the kitchen door. “Go, have fun, Abraham will be fine.”
“I know, but…”
“Belinda, when was the last time you did anything other than look after Abraham and Arianna?”
Belinda thought about it, then offered a defeated smile and said, “I honestly don’t remember.”
Mrs. Campbell reached out her pudgy arms and gave Belinda a big hug. She said, “It’s time you started living your life, Belinda. Instead of living the life others have put upon you.”
Belinda pulled back with a frown. “I’m sorry, what does that mean?”
Mrs. Campbell took her hand and led her to the front door. They stared out at Ben and Ari, who were running around the front yard waiting for her to go to the zoo.
“It means you have a beautiful baby girl and a handsome man who loves you very much,” Mrs. Campbell said, her arm looping around Belinda’s. “That’s your family. Your life is with them. Go. Enjoy the day. Abraham will be here when you return.”
Belinda felt her eyes well up. She gave Mrs. Campbell a big hug and went out the door to spend the day with the two people she loved more than anything on earth.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The entire way to the zoo, Arianna bounced in her car seat, giggling as Ben told her about the animals they would see. He would imitate them and then prompt her to do it. She made claws out of her tiny hands and growled at him, doing her best to sound vicious.
Belinda loved how Ben interacted with her daughter; and with her. She nearly jumped out of her seat when he suddenly turned around while they were stopped at a traffic light, making ape noises and tickling her.
Their day only got better from there. They wandered around the zoo, taking in all the animals, eating ice cream, and taking selfies with Belinda’s cellphone, which she held in her hand the entire time just in case Mrs. Campbell called.
Arianna was having the most fun of all, riding atop Ben’s shoulders; her little eyes were wide as she pointed out the monkeys and elephants. She’d seen them in her picture books and on videos, but seeing them live was much more exciting.
Her favorite part of the entire zoo was the reptile room, where little lizards of all shapes, sizes, and color ran free. Belinda was a little nervous about going inside until Ben pulled her close and smiled down at her. He leaned in close and pressed his lips to her forehead and said, “Don’t worry. I’ll keep you safe.”
His soft words and his light touch sent shivers down her spine. She bit her lip and nodded up at him, hoping the blush wasn’t too visible on her cheeks.
He made her stomach flutter and her heart beat faster. She hadn’t experienced anything like this since high school. She almost felt silly for letting him get to her the way he did, but damned, it sure felt good.
At the center of the zoo was a big playground for younger kids. There were benches all around in a huge circle where parents could rest while the kids wore themselves out. Belinda and Ben sat side by side, exhausted, arms touching, watching Arianna climb on the small monkey bars.
“She’s such a great kid,” Ben said softly, leaning back and draping his arm over the back of the bench behind Belinda. He let his hand come to rest on her shoulder.
Belinda snuggled back into him and smiled. She didn’t know when they crossed the line from stepsiblings to whatever it was they now were, but she wasn’t going to question it or argue about it. It just felt good having his body this close to hers. She rested her hand on his thigh.
“She’s quite a kid.” She gave his thigh a squeeze. “And you’re not bad yourself, Uncle Ben.”
She looked up at Ben and caught him looking back. Their eyes locked for a moment, then he lowered his lips to hers and they exchanged a brief, sweet kiss.
“Are we really gonna do this?” he asked quietly.
“Do what?” she asked with a smile. She dropped her cellphone into her purse and placed both hands on his cheeks. She pulled his face closer to hers. She ran her finger down the scar along his cheek and saw a troubled look in his eyes. “What is it? What’s bothering you?”
He blew out a long breath and leaned back to watch Arianna. After a moment, his face turned dark, his eyes took on a faraway look.
“What is it?” she asked, suddenly afraid.
“I have to tell you something,” he said quietly. “If we’re really going to do this, be a family, you have to know what kind of man you’re getting involved with.”
“I know the kind of man you are,” Belinda said, placing her head on his chest. “You’re a good man, Ben. I know you are. You could never convince me otherwise.”
“I’m not a good man,” he said with a heavy sigh. “I’m a killer, Belinda. And I don’t want my past to affect your future.”
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
“I was working the door in a dive bar downtown,” Ben began. He leaned forward with this elbows on his knees and stared at the ground between his large feet. “I was only nineteen, but always looked older because of my size. I barely graduated high school, wasn’t smart enough to go to college. Bouncing was about the only thing I was qualified to do.”
Belinda put a hand on his back and left it there. She didn’t speak because she didn’t know what to say. She would just listen. That’s what she figured he needed the most; someone who would just listen.
“These guys came in late one night, a bachelor party. They were drunk when they got there and just got drunker as the night went on. I told the bartender to cut them off, but the manager said to keep serving them. One of them, the best man I think, was a real asshole. A big guy with a lot of attitude and a big mouth.” He rubbed his eyes. “Kind of like me.”
“You’re not like that,” she said, her hand rubbing circles on his back.
“I was back then,” he said, glancing sideways at her. “Anyway, this guy was just being a jerk, grabbing the waitresses and bugging the other patrons, so I told them all they had to go. He told me to go fuck myself.”
“Can you do that?” she asked with a grin she couldn’t help. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Please, go on.”
“Long story short, he swung at me with a pool cue and hit me here, in the jaw.” He gently fingered the scar on his cheek. “Split my cheek open down to the bone, blood everywhere.”
“Oh my god,” she said. “What did you do?”
“I hit him as hard as I could in the nose.” He flexed the fingers of his right hand. “I hit him so hard it broke all the bones in my hand and most of the bones in his face. The coroner said the punch drove bone fragments into his brain. He was dead before he hit the floor.”
“Oh my god,” Belinda heard herself say again. She put her arm around his massive shoulders and tried to squeeze.
“I was charged with murder. My dad wouldn’t hire a lawyer, but the public defender worked out a plea. I pleaded to man one and got fifteen years; which was ten years with good behavior. If I had gone to trial I might have might have gotten life.”
“You were defending yourself,” she said. “You didn’t mean to kill that man.”
“That’s the thing,” he said, rubbing the palm of his right hand with the thumb of his left. “I did intend to kill him. I was out of control. If the one punch hadn’t done it, I would have hit him again.”
“You don’t know that,” she said.
“There were things in prison, too. Things I had to do to survive.”
“Ben, look at me.” She cupped his chin and directed his gaze at her. “You’re not that person anymore. You were a kid, for Christ sake. You’re a good man now. Do you hear me? You’re a good man and my daughter loves you.” She paused to search his eyes. “And I love you, too.”
“You do?”
“I do.”
Before another word could be said, Arianna came running toward them as fast as she could. Ben was ready. He got to his feet just as she jumped into his arms. Ari giggled, sounding happier than she had in a very long time.
Ben held out his hand to Belinda. “Come on, mom. Let’s go home.”
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
Their day at the zoo had been perfect. Arianna had enjoyed every minute of it and Belinda had gotten the affirmation she was looking for. It felt a little silly, but she grinned like a school girl the entire way home, realizing that she had never been in love before.
Yes, she was in love and it felt good. It finally seemed that Karma was coming back around to her side again. She was finally getting a little payback for all the hard work she’d put in over the years.
Belinda told herself not to get too excited. It always seemed like she got knocked down just when she was flying the highest. She squeezed Ben’s hand and looked out the window, praying that this time her happiness would last.
Belinda knew something was wrong the minute they pulled into the driveway. There was a police car there. Mrs. Campbell was standing on the lawn talking to a uniformed cop who was taking notes and trying to calm her down.
“What the hell?” Ben said. The sight of a cop car was like a cross to a vampire to him. He’d spent too much time in the back of the damn things, but he had the feeling this car wasn’t for him. He shoved the car in park and glanced in the rearview mirror at Arianna, who had dozed off in the backseat. “I’ll get Arianna inside. You find out what’s going on.”
Belinda nearly broke her neck getting out of the car. Mrs. Campbell met her coming around the front with her arms out. “What’s going on?” Belinda said, already knowing the answer.
“Oh, Belinda, I’m so sorry,” the old woman was saying, out of breath, big tears streaming down her pudgy cheeks. “I don’t know what happened. I ran home for two minutes to get Abraham a piece of chocolate cake I’d made and when I got back the front door was open.”
Belinda put her hands on the woman’s arms to calm her down. She forced her to look her in the eye. “Bonita, calm down. Where is Abraham?”
“I don’t know!” she wailed.
“Why didn’t you call me?” Belinda asked. She took out her phone and realized that she had three missed calls from Mrs. Campbell. Belinda did the math. Her phone was ringing in her purse while she was acting like a teenager on the park bench with Ben. Karma rears its ugly head again.
The cop approached with one hand on the radio clipped to his shoulder. “I think we have him,” he said, a concerned look on his face. “Just came over the radio. An old man has barricaded himself inside a building downtown that’s being torn down today. Could that be him?”
“Oh my god,” Belinda said. “It’s Abraham. He went to work.”