31

31

Aaron stared up at Lauren. She’d pulled her hands out of his hold and stood firmly on her feet, looking down at him with everything from shock to excitement in her widened eyes.

“She killed him herself, Aaron,” Lauren whispered, nodding her head. “I’ve finally f-figured it out...she kept saying it in her journal. Kept saying she’d do it if he hurt her again. Kept saying she had to protect me and that she w-would’ve rather gone to hell as long as she killed him and she...she did it.”

Aaron was beside himself with anxiety. His jaw clenched as he stared worriedly up at Lauren. These were all the things he’d been terrified of her finding out. He just couldn’t tell how she’d react and he was scared she’d fall apart.

“Lauren…” he moved closer to her, ensuring that her gaze met his directly and she was staring right into his eyes. “Babe...all of this happened for a reason, honey.”

Silently, she listened to him, numb beyond feeling the tears on her cheeks, so his thumbs rose to wipe them off.

“Your mother was so brave,” Aaron continued firmly. “You were so little, you barely know all the details, but I swear that all she did, she was driven to. She was never an evil person, ever! She had to defend herself and in that defense, the Reverend died. It was an accident, but—”

“You think I’ll think less of her.”

Her words stopped him cold.

“You think,” said Lauren. “That because she killed him, I’ll love my momma less?”

Her brows rose with the question and Aaron stared at her silently, because that had, in fact, been his fear.

“Aaron…” He looked up at her and her eyes held the most satisfaction he’d ever seen. “My grandfather was a bastard. He raped and murdered so many young girls...he raped and abused my mother! The fact that she got to kill him with her bare hands, even by accident, makes her a fucking hero, in my eyes!”

Every single one of her words was a trembling snarl and the rage in her tone made him wince, but he was still amazed and intensely relieved.

Slightly terrified, he took her hand and gave it a squeeze.

Suddenly Lauren gasped and he looked back up at her. A new admiration had entered her eyes as she studied him, a look like none he’d ever seen before and Aaron blinked at her in askance.

“Dear God…” she whispered.

“What?”

Lauren gulped and slowly dropped to her knees between his parted thighs where she brought her face within inches of his and let him see every bit of emotion swirling in the grey depths of her eyes.

“Aaron...for the past twenty years...you’ve been protecting my momma?”

His heart did a hard slam against its cage and Aaron held his breath.

“Aaron, you …oh, my God...you took the blame for something that you didn’t do! Something that my mother did, just to protect her?!”

Her fingers gripped tightly at his knees and Aaron covered her hands with his.

“Honey, there was no other way.” He said quietly as he shook his head, his mind replaying for him every horrifying moment of that night. “I was...I was drivin’ my dad’s old truck by when I heard her scream. It was sharp and damn hauntin’, scared the shit outta me. It was straight chance, Lauren. I jus’ happened to get out the car and run up to the front door, thinkin’ she was home alone and hurt…”

When he frowned and stared at the floor beside her knee, Lauren gave his knee an encouraging squeeze as her eyes continued to stare admiringly up at him.

“She’d told me…” Aaron whispered. “She’d told me what he’d done to her. The first time I went by the house with a delivery and she was beaten, she told me what happened and I thought she lied. Then I went by more often to see the Rev., even when I knew that he was at the chapel, and each time...she’d tell me somethin’ more, each thing more terrifyin’ than the last. The thought of the Reverend doin’ such cruel, disgustin’ acts just...it was unbelievable. My sixteen-year-old mind couldn’ process it.”

“But you believed her eventually,” Lauren said, wrapping a hand around his. “You believed her, Aaron and when the time came, you protected my momma. You protected her from this town, this evil town!”

Aaron pursed his lips. “Had to. Catherine Burns was a lonely woman, who I felt terribly sorry for. And terribly apologetic towards ‘cause she’d been goin’ through hell in this town and none of us...none of us helped her. She didn’ deserve the punishment for murder. So I took it.”

Lauren stared at him, the tears pouring ceaselessly down her face. “Aaron...th-thank you…” she whispered. “And I’m sorry, baby. God, I’m so sorry…”

“Hey, it’s alright.” He stood up and drew her up with him as she sobbed, pulling her tightly into his arms where she was enveloped by his warmth. He placed his mouth at her ear. “I’d do it all over again if I had to.”

Lauren shook her head and broke herself out of his arms. “I-it’s not, Aaron! It’s not okay. The things I thought of you! I thought you were a monster! Treated you like one, the-the whole town treated you like one, and for what?!” Aaron ran a troubled hand through his hair as she cried, her sobs coming from a deep place, so sorrowful that he could hear how broken her heart was and his own yearned to ease her distress.

Desperate to do something, anything besides standing and watching her cry, he moved forward and crushed her against his chest, letting her sobs be muffled against his body.

“Shh-shhh, Lauren,” he soothed. “It’s okay, honey. Don’ cry.”

"Y-you didn’t d-deserve any of it...”

Aaron painfully swallowed the lump in his throat. “It’s alright, baby...please don’ cry. It breaks my heart.”

He held her tightly for a long while, rocking her gently in his arms, despite the twinge of pain from his wounded one. Aaron stroked a hand over her hair, realizing that for the first time in twenty years, his heart felt unburdened. The tears she’d shed, the sadness she’d expressed, it was like she’d mourned all the injustice served to him for so long. It felt like someone else had finally been in his shoes and walked around in them.

Like he wasn’t alone anymore.

She quietened, hiccupping her tears away as she tried to regulate her breathing.

Lauren sighed, leaning into his warmth and absorbing it into herself. She could hardly believe it. Aaron Spencer, whom she’d always hated and called a monster... he was really actually her hero.

“Wow...” she whispered on a shaky sigh.

“You alright?”

She nodded slowly. Leaning back, she looked up at him in apprehension. “This is it, right?” she whispered. “No more shocks, right? Can I let myself relax?”

Aaron looked down into her eyes, wanting to reassure her, but knowing very well that he couldn’t. They were far from done.

“I wish, babe,” he murmured.

Lauren stiffened in his arms. “There’s more? What is it?”

His arms slowly slipped away from her and she watched as he made his way slowly around the bed, her heart rate increasing with each step he took away from her.

Aaron braced himself, keeping his back to her because he knew that if she saw the expression on his face, she’d start to panic. His arm had suddenly started to throb painfully and he placed his other hand against it, wincing in discomfort.

“Lauren…” He bowed his head, the words getting stuck in his throat. God, she’d be so angry with him. She’d probably never want to see him again.

He heard her impatient exhale. “Aaron, tell me! Just... just tell me. Please.”

Slowly, Aaron spun around to face her.

“Lauren, I didn’ kill the Reverend that night. Catherine did,” he began slowly, attempting to lead her to the answers.

Lauren swallowed and nodded, her arms longing to be wrapped around him again. “I get that...”

“So... when I got there, I found his body layin’ at the bottom of the stairs, she stood back frozen in shock and covered in blood. So much blood. I tried to revive him but only managed to get blood on myself. That’s when I realized that he was dead and there was no waking him.”

Her skin was covered in goosebumps, making her shiver. She stared at him silently, reading the encouragement in his eyes. Lauren could tell that Aaron wanted her to realize something, but she was blank. Whatever it was, it wasn’t coming to mind.

“What happened then?”

Aaron closed his eyes for a second. “Uhm, yeah and...then after Abigail came in, I...panicked and... I struck her, she passed out and I...I realized that they would kill Catherine. The town council in those days was no joke, and they would hang her, no questions asked. So, in my panicked state, I did the only thing I could think of. I hid it.”

Lauren frowned. “Hid it?”

“Hid it,” repeated Aaron, suppressing the tremble in his hands. “Hid the whole matter. I cleaned it up. Washed everything down, took the rug cause it was... too bloody. Hid the Reverend’s body...and hid Catherine Burns.”

Lauren stared at him. And then she blinked.

“Hid...hid Catherine?” she whispered.

Fisting his hands, Aaron nodded. “Yeah, Lauren. I hid her. I hid her in my house at first. Told my mom what had happened and like a miracle, she believed me. She helped us. Then before the council could search our house, Hutson took her and hid her in a different town, he made sure there was no evidence for the case. I let everyone believe she was dead, that I killed her because that way they wouldn’ look for her. And she’d finally have the peace she’d always wanted. I helped her run away...and I been hidin’ her since.”

Silence surrounded them.

Lauren stood stock still. Transfixed by what she was hearing. Her entire mind was too altered by twenty years of believing that her mother was gone forever, brutally killed, believing that she’d never see her again, to suddenly now believe something so vastly different. Something too good to be true.

She stared at Aaron with overflowing eyes as she slowly raised a shaking hand to place it firmly on her own chest. “My…my momma…” Her words were barely a whisper, but Aaron heard her.

“Yes. Lauren, she’s alive.”

* * * * * * * *

It was five hours later when Lauren and Selena strolled through Montgomery Hutson’s impeccable rose garden. The bushes were so precisely trimmed, the flowers so large and luscious that Lauren was nearly afraid to touch them and by some inexplicable way, sully their perfection.

Her fingers were gentle as she brushed the tips along the petals of a majestic rose, her heart light with gladness that Lauren could admit that she’d never felt before in her life.

“Five years...”

Lauren’s head jerked up and she turned to Selena.

“You said something.”

Selena smiled and straightened, pulling herself away from the flowers and their entrancing scent.

“It’s been five years, honey. Five years since I let myself leave the house.”

Lauren’s brows nearly touched her hairline. “What? That long? But... why...?”

Selena brushed back wispy strands of blonde hair with long graceful fingers as Lauren trailed off.

She smiled at the young girl. The young girl who looked so much like Catherine, it was damn uncanny.

“I wasn’t strong enough,” Selena said softly. “I’m not even certain if my current strength is mine... or just a temporary healin’ cause my Rick’s back.”

Lauren studied the sad smile curving Selena’s lips and understood. Her eyes flitted over to the impressive mansion owned by Hutson.

Aaron’s father was in there along with Aaron. They were in Hutson’s office, discussing God only knew what. Lauren and Selena hadn’t wanted to be present, they’d chosen a breath of fresh air in the garden that Selena was so anxious to see again, and had left the guys to discuss things.

After reassuring Aaron for the hundredth time that morning that yes, she was okay and no, she didn’t hate him, Lauren had left to catch a bit of sunlight.

Her eyes returned to Selena’s baby blues. “I think it’s yours,” Lauren said quietly. “Maybe Mr. Spencer’s had a hand in helping you get there, but I’m convinced that the strength is yours.”

Selena’s smile wobbled, but she kept it on. “I’m mighty scared it’ll leave me, Lauren. Scared I’ll wake up tomorrow and not know you and not understand why my Aaron’s so grown up suddenly.”

“Selena—”

“I don’ want Richard to see me like that. I haven’ been able to remember things for a while, Lauren. Sometimes I can’t remember people I saw yesterday—”

“It’s alright,” Lauren said firmly, rounding the bush to wrap a hand around Selena’s more delicate one. “Your condition isn’t one like that, Selena, it’s not Alzheimer’s. You had recurring Amnesia and because of my sudden appearance, your thoughts became very confused for a while. The doctors had told Aaron that it wasn’t permanent, but they weren’t sure when all your memories would return, right?”

Sniffing, Selena nodded, “Yeah, I think so.”

Lauren nodded, giving her hand an encouraging squeeze. “That’s exactly it. A lot has happened and I think that recent events might’ve triggered your memories to return. Don’t be scared, it’ll be alright.”

Another wobbly smile and one huge exhale later, Selena was nodding. “Okay. I’m alright."

Lauren smiled. “Yeah, you are.”

She turned to walk away, but Selena held her back. “Are you, dearie?”

Lauren’s lips curved more, but her smile didn’t particularly brighten. “I will be.”

“I heard you this mornin’,” Selena whispered.

Lauren cringed. “Oh, no. I hope I didn’t bother you and Mr. Spencer.”

Selena clucked her tongue. “We were done by then, so you didn’ bother us with anythin’ rather important.’

When Lauren understood, she gasped and burst out laughing. “Aw, geez, Selena!”

Aaron’s mother chuckled and winked, making Lauren laugh more.

“I can’t believe you!” she told the older woman with an amused chuckle.

Selena smiled angelically and shoved her hands into her coat pockets with a content sigh.

“I sure missed my man,” she commented.

Lauren smiled at her. “I’m sure you did.”

A thought occurred to Lauren and she tilted her head at Selena.

“It’s amazing how you haven’t shown an ounce of anger about Mr. Spencer’s sudden reappearance,” she said quietly.

Selena sighed and looked at Lauren with a smile. “Mm. I know. Aaron was angry ‘bout that.” She looked down at her shoes for a second. “When my Rick was away, dearie... all I wanted was to see him. To hold him and tell him I love him. I missed him so much, it was unbearable. It was a sudden disappearance he made, I never got the chance... So when I laid eyes on him... Lauren, I didn’ wanna waste time on emotions like anger. I just want to hold my man and be grateful I didn’ lose him.”

Lauren nodded quietly, in awe of the strength of their love. “I understand.”

A moment of silence passed between them and Selena looked quietly at Lauren.

“Did Aaron tell you everythin’?”

Lauren smiled grimly and nodded. “Yeah. I nearly died from the shock... it’s surreal. All of this.”

“I’ll bet it is, hun,” said Selena. “But when you see her, you’ll know, more than anythin’, how real it is.”

Lauren swallowed, willing her eyes to not fill up. “I didn’t thank you yet...”

Selena tilted her head. “What for?”

“Aaron told me how you took my mother in and hid her. Gave her a place in your home and in your heart.”

A dainty hand wiped away Lauren’s tears of gratitude. “I coulda never turned Cathy out if I wanted to!” Selena said firmly. “She needed us and I’m only so glad that we were there for her. I’m so glad the good Lord gave us the chance to reunite a mother with her daughter, Lauren. It makes me much happier than you know.”

Lauren smiled and nodded, her heart filled to the seams with love for every single member of the Spencer family. All her life, she’d thought that her momma and pops were watching over her as guardian angels. Turns out that was a fat lie and her real heroes were hidden behind the dark tales and stories that preceded them.

Suddenly, Selena shifted impatiently from foot to foot.

“Alright, that’s enough ‘No Richard’ time for me, let’s go back in. I miss my husband.”

Lauren laughed, hooking her arm through Selena’s as they headed back inside.

* * * * * * * * * *

Aaron strode into the kitchen running a frustrated hand down his growing stubble. Jason lounged against a counter as Higgins Jnr threw spices into a stir fry, both looked up at Aaron’s sudden entrance.

“You got any hard liquor?” he asked Higgins.

“Yep,” said Higgins and tilted his head at Jason who read the signal and pulled out a glass and one of the bottles of whiskey that they hid from old Hutson.

Once Aaron’s drink was poured, he grabbed the tumbler, sending the liquid burning down his throat.

Jason winced. “Yikes. What’s got you so edgy? You’re not a fan of alcohol.” In Jason’s opinion, Aaron Spencer wasn’t a fan of anything in particular, but that was irrelevant at the moment.

Aaron shook his head. “Hutson went without me.”

Jason raised his brows, puzzled. “What? Went where?”

Aaron barely kept the scowl off his face. “He just told me he went and got Catherine without me!”

“Oh, yeah...” murmured Higgins Jnr as he squeezed fresh lemon onto some elaborately decorated fish. “We did that last night after leaving your place.”

Aaron narrowed his eyes at him. “And y’all didn’ tell me?! Do you not realize the gravity of the matter?!”

Jason scratched his chin, trying to hide the fact that he was studying Aaron’s injured arm. What happened to the perfect sling he’d made for him? “But you were already planning to—”

“I brought Lauren here,” interrupted Aaron in a growl. “Not knowin’ that Cathy was here! She’s in the same house as her mother right now, her mother who she only found out was alive this morning! She’s not ready to meet her!”

“Oh,” said Jason with widened eyes. “Shit.”

Higgins Jnr stopped squeezing lemon and turned to Aaron. “I didn’t think of that,” he said quietly.

Aaron sighed and paced the kitchen.

“Last I checked, Lauren’s outside in the garden with Ma, so if I can just...”

He trailed off when he saw the looks Higgins and Jason were giving each other.

“What?” demanded Aaron. “Am I missin’ somethin’?”

“Uhm,” Higgins began, inching as far away from Aaron as he could without making it obvious. “Lauren’s not outside anymore...”

Aaron’s frown was so dark, Jason looked out the window, expecting to see thunder clouds gathering.

“What the hell do you mean? Where is she?”

Higgins pointed to the kitchen entrance. “Inside the house somewhere. She and Mrs. Spencer came in here asking which way they could go to find one of the bathrooms...”

Aaron cursed and without wasting another second, disappeared through the doors.