Page 45 of Catch My Fall (Catch)

“I love you too, baby.”

Relaxing in his embrace, I fell asleep with an enormous smile on my face because evil didn’t win.

Chapter Twenty-Three

A lot has changed in the past twelve weeks. Tristan and I are doing so, so good, and every day I love him more. I haven’t had the dream since the day baby Mia was born, and I think it’s partially because of her and the joy that she’s brought back to Macy and partially because of Tristan and the joy that he’s brought to me.

Darby and I have abandoned the dorms and aren’t even pretending to live there anymore. I want to be with Tristan, he wants to be with me, and living together is amazing. My mom, Neil and Uncle Jesse weren’t thrilled at first when I told them what I was doing, but they’ve come around. I think they’re just so happy to see me truly happy that their fears and objections have faded away. It doesn’t hurt that they all love Tristan and are impressed by what a great man he is. All three of them are officially living in Amarillo now and my baby brother, Nathan Jesse Carson, was born two weeks ago.

The Evanses rented a house in Amarillo and moved in four weeks ago, which means that I get to see Macy and Mia as much as I want to… which is a lot. My heart hurt for Macy after she got in touch with Steve and he told her that he had no interest in her or his daughter. He wasn’t cruel about it, but he was blunt and he told her that if he had known she had gotten pregnant, he would have wanted her to have an abortion. His biggest issue was that he didn’t want to pay child support for a child that he didn’t want. Macy had flatly told him that he wasn’t on the birth certificate and that she would never be bothering him for money.

When Macy asked me if I thought she was doing the right thing by letting him off the hook without even trying to get him to see Mia, I reminded her that I had always known that, to my father, I was an unwanted child. There’s no doubt that his words and actions affected my self-confidence and I never want that same situation to play out in my niece’s life. Macy felt much better about her decision to let Steve walk away without another word once I had explained all that to her, and I’m glad. Baby Mia should always know that the people around her love her unconditionally and will be there for her no matter what.

Tristan, Trace and Darby have all turned out to be big softies, and they love having baby Mia over. Of the three of them, Tristan is the most affected by her. He even insists on babysitting when Macy, Darby and I go to get manicures, and it’s reason nine thousand and ninety-eight that I’m head-over-heels in love with him. Like me, Tristan has the scars left behind from knowing that he was unwanted, and he dotes on that beautiful little angel because of that. He loves her to death and there’s nothing like seeing my beautiful man with a baby asleep on his chest. I hope that someday, in the distant future, I get to see him holding our babies.

I know it’s early to be thinking that, but I love him more than I ever thought I had it in me to love someone and he tells me every day that he feels the same way. When I picture the future, I see Tristan.

I’ve told Macy all about him, even showing her that very first note he gave me the day that he asked me to be his friend. When I told her who is mother is, she was stunned. “Lynette was my midwife. Didn’t you recognize her?”

I didn’t recognize her because I’ve never seen a photo. To be honest, I don’t even remember what she looked like the night that Macy gave birth. I was so busy holding Macy’s hand and watching baby Mia come into the world that I didn’t even really notice anyone else. I asked Macy not to say anything to Tristan about it, and she’s kept silent. I also haven’t told him, but I did wrestle with the decision. In the end I decided that telling him was only going to upset him, and I’ll never do anything that will hurt him.

* * *

Turns out I’m pretty domestic, believe it or not. When I got home from class today I headed straight for the kitchen to start a crockpot chili for dinner. It’s practically a full-time job making sure that Tristan doesn’t start inhaling sugar the second he comes through the door, but I love the challenge.

While I was prepping, I thought about my father and all of his calls and emails over the last few weeks. He was pissed when Uncle Jesse and I both bailed out of the family Christmas party, but he was livid when I returned my car and credit card along with a check for the tuition that he had already paid. Once the baby was born, Macy and her family had stopped taking my father’s money as well. Now that Macy’s better, I have no reason to tolerate my father anymore… and I don’t want to. Uncle Jesse is the one that wrote a check for my college tuition and Neil bought me my dream car, a navy blue Jeep Wrangler. It doesn’t have air conditioned seats or Sirius radio, and I love it a million times more than the over-the-top car my father had forced on me.

Hearing noises coming from the living room, I smiled. Tristan wasn’t due home for another fifteen minutes but I was thrilled he was early because it gave us even more time to make love in the daylight before Trace and Darby came home.

Running out to the living room with a smile on my face I sang out, “Babeee I’m making you chiliiiiiii….” Skidding to a halt, I gasped and stopped talking when I saw my father and Brady in the room.

Backing up fast, I walked right into a wall. “Get out of my house!”

My father let out a rude snort of laughter. “Your house… Aren’t you precious? Just like your fucking mother did with me, you’ve lassoed this fucking idiot so you can take his money.”

“I want you out of this house. Get. Out. You’re trespassing.”

“Shut up you ugly little bitch! I don’t know whom the fuck you think you’re dealing with, but you do not get to one up me. Sending me back the car and the money.... I know you’re trying to destroy my boy and I won’t stand for it. My son has already been tainted enough by you and your white trash filth. Pretending that he raped you and your slutty little friend was low, even for you. The tramp didn’t even have Brady or Chad’s kid! She fucked the entire town and wound up with some loser’s ugly baby that he doesn’t even want.”

“Shut up! I didn’t pretend anything—your son is a fucking pig and he raped my friend and assaulted me. I’m not doing anything to you or him. I want nothing to do with you and I want you to leave MY house. If you don’t go now, I’m calling the police.”

He was across the room like a shot as he raised his hand and smacked me across the face so hard I fell to the side. “Lying fucking cunt! Anything that you got, you deserved. All you want to do is destroy my family because you’re jealous. My son got thrown out of his University because of you and your lies!”

He punctuated those words by grabbing me and I saw red. Without even realizing that I was doing it, I started fighting back. Using the moves that Tristan taught me, I got myself out of his grip by elbowing him and slamming my foot down on his instep. He howled in rage and pain as I brought my knee up and smashed it into his groin.

I screamed when Brady grabbed me from behind, and as I fought him I heard one of our lamps smash onto the floor as an end table got flipped over. I fought hard, twisting out of his grip and smashing my fist up into his nose, disgusted by the spray of blood that erupted from him and dripped to the floor. He’s filthy inside and out, and I didn’t want him in my house, much less leaving his DNA in it. I kicked him in the groin again and again as I let out a never-ending stream of curse words, but I was so intent on hurting him that I didn’t realize my father was regrouping until he grabbed my ankles and yanked me down. I hit the tile floor hard, and my body oophed out all the air in my diaphragm with a giant whoosh. I gasped huge lungfuls of air as I saw stars and my knee throbbed in pain.

I tried not to panic, but it was a losing battle. With my good leg I kicked at my father’s hands hard, but with only one leg to work with he was disabled me quickly. I screamed in agony when he sat down on my legs and yanked my hands behind my back. He barked out a series of instructions to Brady that turned my stomach and I fought not to throw up.

“Son, get a knife from the kitchen and see if you can find some tape. This bitch is about to find out what happens when you and I get fucked with. We can have a little fun and get rid of her without too much trouble.”

This bitch? I’m his child! He isn’t even Brady’s real father. What is wrong with him?

“How can you do this to me? I’m your daughter!”

He laughed at me, a cruel sound that chilled my blood. Yanking my arms back painfully, he pushed them up until I saw stars and started to scream.

“You’re nothing but a fucking pile of garbage, bitch. I have hated you since the minute I knew I got that fucking cow knocked up. Didn’t I make that clear to you? If you chose to ignore the obvious, you’re a fucking idiot. Every single day that I was married to that bitch and I was forced to live in a house with you, I fantasized about both of you dying. The only thing that kept me there was the knowledge that someday my parents would die and I’d get all that fucking money. Only I didn’t get it all because they left half to my retarded brother and a quarter to you. To you! Between the two of you getting what you got, I was left with chump change. You have no idea how badly I wanted to put a pillow over your face that day, you little brat.”

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