Trish, Just Trish

Trish, Just Trish

by

Lynda LeeAnne

Published by Lynda
LeeAnne

Copyright 2013 © Lynda
LeeAnne

This ebook is licensed for your enjoyment
only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people.
If you would like to share this book with another person, please
purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this
book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use
only, then please return to seller and purchase your own copy.
Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Copyright 2013 Lynda LeeAnne at
Smashwords

All rights reserved.

www.authorlyndaleeanne.com

This book is a work of fiction. Names,
characters, places and incidents either are the products of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance
between persons living and dead, establishments, events or location
is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2013 © Lynda
LeeAnne

This book is dedicated to my amazing husband
who has stuck by me through my entire writing journey, whether
happy, sad or crazy. Joey, you’re the love of my life. I love
you!

I also dedicate this book to the two most
handsome and amazing little boys that a mother could ask for, and
to my incredibly sweet and beautiful step-daughter. Ethyn, Eli
& Tatiana, I love you all! You are my inspiration.

Mom & Abel, I love you both so much.
Thank you for always supporting me; even when I went through my
very odd, teenage, maroon-lipstick-wearing, gangsta phase. HA!

Dad, there are no words to describe how much
I miss you. I love you with all my heart. I wish I could say it to
you in person just one more time.

I have to give special thanks to Crysti
Perry, Shannon Nemsi, Yvette Pavlock, Jodi Negri and Bobbie Jo
Malone Kirby. You all have helped me so much and really touched my
heart. There really are no words to express how thankful I am. I’m
truly blessed to have met you all… I’m crying writing this, just so
you know.

To Jenny Aspinall and Gitte Doherty at
TotallyBookedBlog, you ladies kick some major bookie ass!

“Patricia, can I get you something to drink…
water… soda… maybe something to snack on?”

I opened my eyes. A big policeman stood in
the doorway. He asked if I was okay or if I needed anything a lot.
He looked nice.

Officer Mary, the police lady that sat
across from me, said that all men were to be kept as far away from
me as possible. But I wasn’t scared of these men like she thought I
would be.

Only two people scared me
.
I hope
I never have to see them again.

I closed my eyes and shook my head. “No,
thank you,” I whispered, and hoped the officer heard me.

My eyes hurt. I squeezed them so tight I saw
see spots.

But I had to hide my tears… I just
had
to. Momma
hated
my tears. She hated it when I
cried. She hated everything about me.

Don’t think about her… don’t think about
him… Just forget.

“I want my daddy,” I said in a trembling
whisper.

“He should be here any minute, Patricia. My
partner spoke to him moments ago and he was just down the street.
Are you
sure
you don’t want your mother to come in and sit
with you. She’s right down the hall and I can go get her if you
want,” Police lady Mary said carefully.

My stomach hurt at the mention of my mother.
I felt kinda sick.

Momma scares me.

I opened my eyes and the air made them burn.
I wanted to cry so bad.

The police lady smiled at me, but when I
looked in her eyes, I knew she wasn’t really happy. She was only
trying to make me feel better.

“Please don’t make me see my mama,” I begged
in a tiny voice. I knew Officer Mary didn’t understand why I
wouldn’t see momma, but she would as soon as my daddy got here.
They’d been waiting for him to get here.

“Patricia -” she started to say, but I
couldn’t take anymore.

I
hated
my name. I hated the
sound
of my name. I heard
him
saying my name over and
over again in my head. He loved my name. The way he said my name
made the hair on my arms stand up.

“Please don’t call me that… anything but
Patricia. I hear
him
saying that name in my head,” I said
softly as I fidgeted with the bottom of my pink shirt.

Officer Mary’s face quickly changed from sad
to angry, but I knew she wasn’t angry with me. I hadn’t done
anything wrong.

She opened her mouth to say something, but
she closed it before anything came out. And that’s when I heard
running footsteps outside the room.

“Patricia! Honey!
Where is she
?” I
heard Daddy shout hysterically.

He came for me
.

“She’s right in here sir,” the policeman
that stood at the doorway said as he pointed inside my room. Not a
second later, my daddy came running inside. He spotted me, ran
around the table and scooped me up into his arms. He squeezed me so
tight and held me as close as possible while we both cried. His
body shook. My little body trembled in his arms. I was so happy he
was here. This was all over. He would make me forget. Daddy always
knew how to make everything better.

“Daddy’s here, honey. I’m here,” he
whispered as he squeezed me tightly. “You’re never going back. I
won’t let you go. I won’t let her take you,” he promised me.

Daddy pulled back. He cupped my cheek and
wiped away my tears as he looked down at me. He swept the hair off
my face. “I’m so sorry, honey. I will never,
ever
, let you
go back. I swear it. I will
never
let your mother put you in
harm’s way again.”

I hated her
.

“I told her,” I managed to say through my
sobs. “I told her that man was bad. She said she didn’t care. She
said I was trying to get attention. She just left me there,” I
cried.

Daddy sucked in a sharp breath as he stared
at me through watery eyes. I saw his nostrils flare before he
pulled me in for another hug.

“Your mother needs help, honey, but I refuse
to let her see you again until she gets it. I swear baby girl, I
will never let anything happen to you again
.
”

“Mr. Kincaid, I’m so sorry to interrupt you
sir, and I’m sorry for everything that has happened, but the sooner
we can take your daughter’s statement the sooner we can file
charges against Mr. Danblerg. I want to make sure we do everything
in our power to guarantee he’s put away for as long as possible,”
Officer Mary stated.

Daddy’s eyes closed. I knew he was losing
his patience when he pinched the middle of his nose, but after a
few seconds, he lifted his head and spoke, “Let’s get this over
with. I want to get her home and the longer I stay here, the more
tempted I’ll be to commit murder if I find out that he’s anywhere
in this building,” he growled dangerously. He lifted me up, sat me
in the chair I’d been sitting in and sat in the chair next to
me.

Officer Mary nodded in understanding before
she turned to face me. “Okay sweetheart, before we start, are you
sure you don’t want anything to drink?”

I shook my head. I wanted her to hurry
up.

“Okay, I know you don’t want me to call you
Patricia, so what
would
you like me to call you?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw daddy’s
head turn to me.

“What does she mean, honey? Why don’t you
want her to call you Patricia?” he asked.

“I just don’t like it anymore,” I answered
in a shaky voice. He was already so angry. I was scared to tell him
why. He would hurt.

“Whatever you want baby girl. Anything you
want,” he said softly. I rubbed my hands on the top of my jeans,
played with my fingers and thought about my name.

How did I choose a name? What could I make
out of Patricia?

Pat?
No…
Patty?
Eeekkk! Hamburger
Patty… Uh huh!

If Lex was here, she’d know what to call
me
.

“What about Trish?” Officer Mary asked. Her
voice cut into my thoughts and I lifted my head. “Would it be okay
if I called you Trish? I think it’s the perfect name for such a
beautiful, strong, brave little girl.”

I stared at her while she spoke. I studied
her. She was a pretty lady. She wore no makeup and her brown hair
was pulled back into a tight bun on the top of her head. She was
really nice to me and had been since the moment she first saw me.
She was small too, but somehow, deep down, I just knew her size
probably didn’t matter. I had a feeling she could be mean if she
wanted… probably very mean. I bet she could shut up some of the
policemen with a stink eye.

I liked that.

I liked her.

I wanted to be like her; a strong woman. A
woman that would be nothing like the horrible woman my momma
was.

Trish… if she liked it, I liked it.

I smiled a little to myself. Officer Mary
smirked.

“Trish, just Trish. I love it... thank you,”
I said in a tiny voice.

Eighteen Years Later

Twenty-Seven Years Old

“I’m worried about you, Trish,” Lex admitted
softly, but I didn’t like her tone. When I lifted my head to meet
her eyes, I couldn’t stop the sigh that escaped my lips. Her
expression was a mixture of concern and pity and I was not in the
mood to hear another one of her lectures.

I stood opposite Lex at the center island in
her kitchen. As I sliced potatoes, Lex worked on making her special
mushroom wine sauce. Lex’s seven year old daughter, Layla, sat
diagonal from me on a bar stool while she colored a picture for her
daddy and listened to One Direction on her iPod.

Lex’s one year old daughter, Laura, sat in
her high chair and also colored a picture for her daddy. Though,
Laura did a much better job of breaking the crayons into a million
pieces, but it was still cute to watch.

I put my knife down, far away from Layla.
Not that I thought she’d do anything crazy with it, but the girl
was curious. She was a nut, and if I had to guess, she was going to
grow up with a half Lex, half Trish personality.

And with a dad like Landyn… those poor high
school boys didn’t stand a chance.

It irritated the crap out of me that Lex had
to bring this shit up now; today of all days. I mean, from the
moment Lex told me the news of her third pregnancy I became an
emotional wreck when I thought of all that was missing from my own
life. I didn’t have a family of my own. I didn’t have children, not
even the prospect of one.

Kinda need a man for that
.

I didn’t have the unconditional love that I
craved from a husband or a boyfriend, and I didn’t have any of that
because I threw it all away.

And with tonight being the night Lex planned
to tell Landyn (her completely obsessive, completely dominant, on
the verge of needing therapy, husband of nearly a year and a half)
about the pregnancy, the last thing I wanted to hear was pity from
my best friend.

It annoyed the shit out of me.

Sure, I’d been on dates since Tony, and some
of them were even wonderful, but my heart had been taken two years
ago and I couldn’t seem to get it back.

“I’m fine, Lex. Can we please not talk about
this right now,” I asked. I crossed my fingers and hoped, for her
sake, that she understood the warning in my tone.

I had to admit that I was slightly jealous
of my best friend. And when that realization hit, it hit hard. It
was tough to accept, but that didn’t make it any less true. To know
that I wanted what Lex had, that I wanted the family and the love
that she had was a bit…
disturbing
.

I kept my feelings to myself, of course;
only shedding my tears in the privacy of my little garage apartment
located on the side of Lex and Landyn’s property.

I practically lived with them.

I needed to move.

I wasn’t necessarily an evil person for
being jealous. It was only innocent and I was only human, right?
Don’t get me wrong, I wanted Lex to be happy. I wanted nothing more
than for my best friend of nearly twenty-three years to be happy
and have everything her heart has ever desired.

She deserved it after the horrific things
she’d been through; nearly being raped and killed over two years
ago by her looney toon ex-boyfriend, Ryan, at the top of the
list.

If anyone understood going through something
that traumatic, only to have that one person, your soul mate, come
into your life and make you forget the ugliness of the past, the
way Landyn did for Lex… it was me.