Page 90 of Snowbound with the Santas

“Maybe this will help you start to heal,” Nick says. “The both of you. You’ve held onto this hate and this pain for over a decade. I’m not saying it’s not justified, but I don’t think Harry wouldwant you both to keep suffering like this. Not when you have a bright future ahead of you.”

Archer sniffles and lifts his head, his eyes narrow. “A bright future?”

Nick pointedly glances at Rayne.

Rayne slides her hands an inch up the bar. “Hey, we might be in jail, but I’m sure they do conjugals between cells, right?”

Her small joke pulls a dry snort of amusement from Archer, and for a moment, things don’t feel as dire. We all settle on the stone bench, getting as close to Rayne as we can.

“What do you think will happen?” she asks, resting her forehead against the bars. “To us?”

Nick sighs. “Some assault charges for us. For you? I’m sorry, but I have no idea. But whatever it is, we will deal with it.” Then he groans. “Fuck. Amanda will have a field day with this.”

“Oh, shit.” I hadn’t fully clicked that she was even here. “Why is that witch here?”

“Checking up on me or something,” Nick sighs, drawing a hand down his face and pulling slightly at his beard. “I don’t understand how she can abandon our daughter at Christmas yet somehow, I’m still the bad guy. Nothing I do will ever be good enough, but the shit she’s pulled over the years? If I did that, my case worker would close the book in my face.”

“You have more to prove than she does,” Archer murmurs bitterly. “Your past controls that.”

“I know.” Nick closes his eyes. “I wouldn’t care as much if not for how much Freida loves Christmas. And she was alone for it because Amanda came here and then gotstuckhere because of the second storm. And yet, I’m the terrible parent?”

“Who knows,” I murmur. “Maybe your case worker can work some magic with that?”

Nick shakes his head. “Not with assault charges on top. We all know Ashton ain’t backing down from this.”

“Excuse me.” A new voice pipes up, and all four of us snap our attention to outside the cells.

Cecil Banks stands there, looking slightly unamused. “Perhaps I can help with that.”

34

RAYNE

“Uncle?” I rise from the bench and move toward the cell door. “What are you doing here?”

Should I be worried that Frankie and Archer will try to get to him through the bars? I get the impression that Archer’s anger is strong enough that there’s a real chance he might succeed. The revelation that Uncle Cecil is even linked to them still sends my mind into a spin. There’s a small bubble of guilt that comes with being associated with him. I briefly toy with the idea of how different this day could have gone if they hadn’t seen Cecil as soon as they stepped out of the truck.

“Rayne. Are you alright? Are you hurt?” Uncle Cecil regards me with the same cool indifference that he always does.

While he was a staple in my life growing up, the time I’ve just spent with Archer, Nick, and Frankie has taught me one thing. Presence doesn’t equal love. Just because he was there, doesn’t mean he cared. The same goes for my mother. These men have taught me and shown me what love and affection really are. My childhood seems extra cold now in comparison.

“No, I’m not hurt,” I reply. I have to fight the urge to look into the adjacent cell which has fallen deathly silent since Cecil’s arrival. “I’m fine.”

“Good. Well, as I’m sure you’re aware, charges were to be raised against you?—”

“It wasn’t my fault!” I jump in, cutting him off. “I mean, it was because I was driving and I accept that. I own that, but you have to understand, I was drugged. I had been off alcohol for a while, but Ashton…” My voice trembles slightly, and I curl my hands into fists at my sides. “He abused me. For years. And I put up with it because he was showing me more attention than you or Mom ever did. And I was scared. And that night, he spiked my drinks and then he kept giving me alcohol so I was past the point of saying no. I have no idea how much I drank. And then he forced me to drive. So yes, I was the one driving, but you have to believe that I had no idea what I was doing. I was so out of it, so under his control. He’s guilty. I don’t know how, but you have to make sure?—”

“Rayne,” Cecil snaps, interrupting me in turn. He holds up one thin hand and silences me. “Because of my job, I will be making sure that you will not serve jail time.”

My heart stops in my chest like a punch, and when it restarts, there’s an acidic taste coating the back of my tongue. “What?”

“I said, I will make sure you won’t see jail?—”

“I heard that part. I mean, how the hell are you able to pull that off?” I grip the bars in front of me. “When Mom was faced with that DUI, you couldn’t help her. You insisted, actually, because you said you could only help family and she was so pissed at you.”

“Well, the people who died in that accident don’t have any living relatives so there is no one with an emotional connection to push for a harsher punishment. At most, you’ll see some community service, but that’s merely a formality more thananything else,” Cecil replies as he adjusts his tie. “Just something to put down on the paper.”

“But that doesn’t answer my question,” I insist, and a hollow sensation opens up inside me. “How did you do this? Don’t tell me it’s because you’re sleeping with my mom because I kind of hate you for that, but it doesn’t make us family.”

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