Page 14 of Severed Rivalry
“What?”
“I told you. I was desperate and I was willing to die to get out. He was hauling a load to Milwaukee. I didn’t know much about geography, but it was far enough away and a big enough place. I was free. Randy—that was his name—knew something was up and called his wife to meet us at a diner. She and I had dinner while he dropped the load at the warehouse. My façade of being eighteen and independent was gone. I was so tired, and I ended up unloading everything on her. I told her about our home… I didn’t know the words cult or polygamy or anything like that. It was my normal, so I didn’t know I’d shocked her and worried her.”
“Was she a safe person?”
“She was amazing. Rosie is, to this day, the best person I could’ve asked for. She’s fierce and loyal. She’s a bit feral for me and for Renée. She’s her grandma in every way but blood, and I don’t put much stock in blood.”
“Randy and Rosie?”
“Randy and Rosie. She’s here now. She stays with Renée after school and when I’m at work.”
“And Randy?”
I suck in a deep breath. “Randy passed away nine years ago. It was an accident in his rig. Rosie needs us as much as we need her, so we’ve stuck together.”
“So you were in Milwaukee,” Cian prompts.
“School was tricky since I didn’t have any foundation with traditional school. I could read and write and had some math skills.”
He opens his mouth to ask a question, but I keep going. “Rosie homeschooled me. I was behind. Crazy far behind. I didn’t know computers or any other technology, so there were basics I needed to understand before we could even begin. Since that’s how those programs work. We had electricity growing up, but nothing like what’s standard today. No microwaves or dishwashers. Absolutely no televisions or computers, so going from nothing to that kind of stimulation and sound took some serious adjustment.”
“I’d say.”
“I took the name Renée. I love that name. And it fit their Rs. Their last name was Ocotea.”
“Renée Ocotea.”
“It wasn’t a lie. It was who I was. When I met you, the girl I had been growing up was no more. I was Randy and Rosie’s daughter as much as I could be. And I willed the rest of it. I wanted to be Renée Ocotea. IwasRenée Ocotea.”
“How did you enroll at CSU if you were so far behind in school?”
“I—” I pause. “I wasn’t enrolled. I took every class I could fit in with my work schedule. I bought the books and went to the lectures. I couldn’t be graded, but I’d take the tests at home and grade myself to learn where I was missing concepts. While I was there, I worked.”
“You had the strongest work ethic I’ve ever known.”
A smile breaks across my face. “Thank you. That’s a huge compliment to me. I wanted better for my life. I’m not property. I refused to be uneducated stock to be bred.”
“So Renée Ocotea, the non-matriculating student who worked her ass off, ended up in Fort Collins. How?”
“We came this way on a vacation the summer between what would’ve been my senior year of high school and my first year of college age-wise anyway. It was beautiful. The blue skies were even better than South Dakota, and that’s saying something. I had a new identity and a renewed purpose and found a place that was worth the risk of leaving home. For real this time.”
“How did that go over with Rosie and Randy?”
“They never had kids of their own and were okay with thatdecision. Finding themselves with a teenage runaway was not part of the plan, though I never felt like a burden. They were okay with an empty nest so long as they knew I was safe and happy and that I’d come home for holidays. I did. They’d send plane tickets, and I’d get home every chance I could.”
“The picture you’re painting verges on idyllic.”
“It was great. Then I met you.”
His head snaps to mine.
I extend a hand. “Wait. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”
He nods once.
“It was great. Then I met you, and things were even better. With the exception of you potentially rejecting me based on the secrets I was keeping. My life couldn’t have been improved.”
He tilts his head. “Then why?” He leaves the question dangling.
