Chapter 25

Twenty-Five

Isla

The next week passed in a blur. I would get up at five a.m. and go to work. Damon would usually stop by at lunch, and we would eat our sack lunches together at the park. Then, after work, we would go to either my house or his house for dinner. I was getting to know Jason and Trent well. In fact, they liked to have me read stories to them at night, because I would read them in funny voices, and they liked it.

Saturday evening, after we got the kids to bed, we sat out on Damon’s porch and held hands.

Damon asked, “Are you going to testify at your father’s parole hearing next Wednesday?”

I shrugged. “I want to. I’m just not sure if I can face him.”

Damon put his arm around me and pulled me closer to him. “I don’t want you to do anything you don't want to do. Though, I always think it’s good to stand up to a bully. In my experience, bullies get smaller when people stand up to them.”

“I’ve been thinking I will. Will you come with me?”

Damon held me tighter. “I would love to. You know I will always support you in all that you do.”

Tears pricked my eyes, and I pulled back and searched his face. “I’m sorry that I ever told you I didn’t want a relationship back then. Or children. Because I already love yours.”

He wiped a tear off my cheek. “As we talked about, maybe we had things to go through to get us to this place.”

I leaned in and gently pressed my lips against his. “I’m still sorry.”

He smiled at me. “No regrets. Can we promise that to each other?”

Warmth filled me, and I sniffed. “Okay, no regrets.”

Damon smiled. “I’d say we’re lucky we have the future together.”

Abruptly, a whistle sounded through the air, and both of us looked up to see Kayla grinning as she strolled across the street toward us. “Seriously, will you two lovebirds get a room?”

Damon frowned at her. “That’s enough.”

Her teasing made me laugh.

She grinned wider, loving to tease her brother. “Hey, I’m just kidding. Are the two rascals asleep?”

Suddenly, we heard trampling down the stairs and the door flew open. “We’re not asleep,” Trent said.

Damon growled at him. “What are you doing?”

Jason followed and grinned shyly. “We were spying on you. Plus, we knew Aunt Kayla was coming.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. His boys were amazing. I turned to Damon and said, “You don’t need to have Kayla stay. I can go home by myself.” We’d gotten into the habit of having him come out to check the house and make sure the cameras were all doing what they were supposed to.

“I’m coming.” Damon said it firmly.

Kayla shook her head. “This is easy, and I love it. Don’t deny me of it, Isla.”

Trent clung to my leg. “Good night, Isla.”

I bent and hugged him and then hugged Jason. “Good night, you guys.” I touched Kayla’s shoulder. “Thank you.”

“Ella and Mom and I want to take you out for dinner tomorrow night. Just the girls. Can I pick you up from the station when you get off?”

I was a little taken aback. “That would be great.”

Kayla did a fist pump. “Girls’ night!”

I laughed. “Girls’ night!”

Damon followed me back out to the ranch house in his SUV, and nervous jitters hit me. I liked this house. I felt mostly safe. I was so grateful for Willow Harrington and her generosity. I didn’t want to tell Damon that I had this nagging feeling in my gut every time I came home. It was like I could sense that Kyle was searching for me.

We made it to the house. As was the custom in the past couple of days, Damon went through the house and checked everything with me. We both pulled up our apps and made sure that what we were seeing in person was what was on camera for every room. Then we went to the backyard and checked things out. It ended with Damon pulling me into his arms and kissing me.

Both of our phones buzzed, and when we looked down, I saw a text from Kayla. I can see you guys kissing. So can everyone else.

Damon looked up at the camera and kissed me again. “I don’t care if they can see me. I want them to see me kissing you for the rest of our lives.”

My stomach did a flip-flop, and I laughed.

He pulled back. “Okay, good night.”

“Good night.”

As he started to walk away, I kept his hand in mine and gave it a squeeze.

He turned back and said, “Have I told you I love you? Because I do.”

For a second, I didn’t move. More butterflies filled my chest as I moved back to him and kissed him again. “Are you sure? I probably bring a lot of drama to your life that you don’t need with two boys.”

He rubbed his nose against mine and said, “I think you bring just the right amount of drama.”

I kissed him, hoping that what he said was true.

The next day after work, Kayla picked me up in her red Mustang that had the top down. Her mother and Ella were with her, and it felt like we were young and free.

We decided to go to the pizza house down by the pier. I was nervous, because the bar where my mom worked was next door.

It seemed like Damon’s mom could tell that I was nervous, because she said, “Isla, if you don’t want to go here, we can go somewhere else.”

I pushed away my nerves, and I told myself that if I was going to live in this town, I had to get used to it. “It’s okay.”

We got into the pizza place and sat out on the balcony that overlooked the beautiful lake. There was light music from an open mic at the restaurant, and people were casually taking strolls along the shore.

Ella turned to me. “Okay, you have to give us the scoop, because Damon tells us close to nothing.”

“What do you want to know?” I raised an eyebrow at her.

Nora put her hand on mine. “Anything you want to tell us.”

I couldn’t help but laugh, because I wasn’t intimidated by these women. I had known most of them most of my life.

Ella took a sip of water. “Why don’t you tell us how things are going at the police station?”

That was an easy topic. “It’s like I’ve been doing it my whole life. I love taking the calls. I love problem-solving and figuring out who needs to go out on the call. I love talking to the people, and I guess it makes me feel good that I can use my experience to help others. There was a call the other day where the woman was facing some PTSD, and I could talk her through that.”

Kayla looked concerned. “Do you have PTSD from Kyle?” She glanced at her mother, who was giving her a scolding look. “I mean, you don’t have to share.”

I knew I was blushing. “I do. And I know I have some from growing up the way I did. Especially from my father. I’ll have dreams about when he beat me up.”

We went silent for a minute. Then Kayla put her hand over mine, too.

My eyes misted up from their concern. “I’m fine, really.”

Kayla got up from the table and went around it so she could hug me. “I’m so sorry for all of the things you’ve gone through.”

I was taken by surprise at her gesture, but I hugged her back. “Thank you. It’s fine. I’ve talked a lot to God, and He’s helped me.” I smiled at all of them. “He led me back here.”

Ella hugged me next. “We are so glad you came back here, and we are here for you if you ever need it.”

Nora squeezed my hand. “We are.”

I was overwhelmed with support. “Thank you.”

The pizza and our salads came, and we ate. Ella talked about what it was like to be married to Noah, about the new house, and about working at the hospital. Kayla talked about real estate. Nora talked about working in the shelter, and I admitted how grateful I was for the shelter.

Nora took a drink of water. “We all have much to be grateful for.”

My mind spun, and I thought about how nice it was to have these women in my life. I decided to open up to them. “I have a confession for all of you. My father has a parole hearing in a couple of days.”

Kayla covered her mouth and gasped. “A hearing? They are honestly going to let that scumbag out?”

It made me so happy that she was on my side.

Nora shook her head. “No way.”

Ella said, “Damon didn’t say anything about it.”

I shrugged. “I must admit to you ladies that I’m scared. I could go testify against him. I could probably make a difference on whether he gets out or not. But I’m scared. I don’t want to face him.”

Nora nodded. “That’s understandable.”

Kayla grunted. “I want to talk to him. I want to testify for you. I remember it. I remember the way you looked. I remember how long you were in the hospital. I remember going to visit you.”

“Everyone hated it for you,” Ella agreed. “I remember too. I’m so sorry you ever had to go through all of that.”

Nora patted my hand. “I remember the way Damon looked after visiting you in the hospital. He was so angry. That night, he told me he wanted justice for people. I honestly think that that might have been a key reason he went into law enforcement. Because he wanted truth and justice for you , and he wanted it for everyone.”

I hadn’t considered that all of them would have their own memories of my pain. I really hadn’t thought about how the whole situation had affected Damon. “Wow.”

Kayla crossed her arms. “What are you going do?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I want to. I really want to.”

Ella smiled at me. “What would you do if this was someone you loved?”

“What do you mean?” I asked, frowning.

Ella sighed. “Would you stand up for Damon?”

I sputtered out a laugh. “If someone beat the crap out of him? Well, yeah.” All of a sudden, warmth surged through me, and I knew what I had to do.

Kayla put her hand over mine. “Right. Stand up for yourself. You deserve it.”

“Have you prayed about it?” Nora asked.

My heart fluttered. “I have been praying about it, but I think I just got my answer. Thank you. All of you.”

Later that night, as I lay in bed, I called Damon.

He answered on the first ring. “Hello?”

I laughed upon hearing the eagerness in his voice. “Hello.”

“Did you have a good night tonight?”

“Had a great night. Did you?”

“Well, yes, but I missed seeing you.”

My heart softened. “I missed seeing you, too. But I got an answer to something.”

“What is that?”

“I’m going to speak at the parole hearing.”

“Good.” He sounded proud of me. “You know I’ll be right by your side.”

I sighed, feeling like this was the right thing to do. “I’ll count on it.”