Page 23 of Up In Smoke

Ivy’s voice pitched up suddenly, “I don't know how she figured out that that was the kind of thing that married people should do! Because my parents sure as hell didn't educate us on any of that.”

Small swears now. He imagined the family getting excommunicated for pulling their daughters out of the church or the minister getting driven out of the community. “What happened?”

He heard and felt her massive intake of air.

“Nothing …nothinghappened. My father and Alder told Peony that it didn't matter. They told the girls to stay quiet and told Peony to forgive him. They said that the minister had made amistake.”

If she had turned around and hit him with a flat palm right to his sternum, hitting at just the right moment to stop the electrical impulse that made his heartbeat, Luke wouldn't have been more stunned.

The women in Ivy’s community or church or cult weren't just subservient, they weren'tanything.

The anger boiled up in him as he thought of anyone treating a child that way. And then he thought of anyone treating Ivy that way—bright, beautiful, driven, and so intelligent Ivy. She had been stuffed in a tiny box, and told she wasn't worth anything other than serving a man. His rage flared hot and bright. But there was no one to hit. Ivy had saved herself and she didn’t need him.

He hadn't heard of Ivy dating at all since she arrived in Redemption. She'd run the library and befriended all the town's citizens and especially the children. She’d flat out taught some of them to read, he knew. She ran the library as a beacon of hope for them all. And he'd seen the way the kids were with her. He’d figured she’d made them all love books, and they all loved the librarian. And if they struggled, she helped them.

He knew now, if they had a secret, she would defend them. They loved her not because of her sunshine, but because she understood their darkness.

“I tried to protect Peony. Tried to keep her away, so she wouldn't have to be alone with him. When I told my mother that he was trying to do it again, my mother said he wouldn’t do that. But Peony said he did!”

Her voice cracked again. Luke's heart cracked right along with it.

“I told my mother! And she told me that Peony would just have to forgive him. Then they separated us, so I couldn't protect my sister!”

The pain and the tears tore at her. She was crying full out and there was nothing he could do to make any of it better. Luke couldn't fathom any pain of that level in his heart. He couldn't imagine a mother trading her own daughter this way.

But as a firefighter, he'd been inside so many of the homes in town and so many were unexpected. Some were full of secrets and wonderful surprises—bright colors, toys strewn about, and happy children. But some homes had held dark things he hadn't been able to shake.

When Ivy turned and opened her mouth to tell him more, Luke knew it was only going to get worse and he wasn't going to be able to bear it.

Chapter Eighteen

“Iwould never have left Peony.” The words came out on a broken cry that she couldn’t hold back. Despite all the pain, Ivy knew Luke understood.

Yet, obviously, she had left her sister.

This was the part she never told anyone. In fact, she hadn’t ever told anyone about her family. When she'd left them all behind, she’d decided that they were part of a past she didn’t want to be connected to anymore. Her family waslife number one, and she'd immediately enteredlife number two.

She could tell Luke wasn't blaming her, but he also didn't understand.

“When I was sixteen …” God, she needed more alcohol. She lifted the bottle and drained the last of it, wishing it weren’t empty. But since Luke didn't hop up and grab her another, she figured it probably wasn't the wisest move. She was just going to have to suck it up and deal with the hurt. “Several of us snuck out. We drove into town, changed clothes, got fake IDs and went to a club. Looking back, it felt so wild and crazy.”

But she knew now that it wasn’t even as much as the average teenager did. It was just shocking in her crowd. “I didn’t do anything but wear a short skirt and a T shirt. I wasn't dressed down half as much as most of the women there. I ordered one mixed drink—in fact, I didn’t even drink more than a sip.”

“That was it?” This time he seemed shocked by how tame she was.

“That was the extent of my rebellion.”

“But it wasn’t just you …”

Ivy shook her head. Lily had been there and so had Rowan, along with several other kids from their church. “I didn’t finish that drink. I went back for a coke and I had the nerve to kiss a boy in the back hallway. It was my very first kiss, and it was interrupted by Lily running in and telling me that our dad had showed up at the club.”

She felt it all again, the sudden fear, the ice in her veins, the knowing that she would be in harsh trouble. She’d thought she was so brave and bold and—aside from the one sip—she hadn’t even been drinking.

No matter that she'd liked kissing him, the terror of what her father would do changed everything. “I pushed him away and I froze. I should have run. I should have gone out the back door, and never let them know for sure that I had been there.”

She took a deep breath.

“Lily grabbed me by the hand and I told her to hide, but she just looked at me and saidwe can't. I didn’t want to face dad, but she and Rowan grabbed me and tugged me along. We all three went boldly out the front of the club, past the bouncer. Right past Dad and Alder, too. Dad was yelling at us. Everybody in the club was looking, and I remember being so embarrassed. I remember thinking, in that moment, that that was the worst thing that could ever possibly happen to me.”

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