Forbidden Falls (Virgin River #9)(102)

“He’s going to be arrested before court on Friday, Ellie. He might make bail, but he’s not taking on custodianship of any minor children. I can almost guarantee that.”

“Thank you,” Ellie said softly. “Really, thank you isn’t enough, but…It may take me a while, but I’ll make sure you’re paid for your work.”

“Sure. Whenever,” Brie said. “Thing is, I have a daughter. Before long I’m going to be looking for a good school. Right after this custody case is finished, I’m going hunting. I want to know why none of the teachers or directors at that private school were fingerprinted. Then I’m going to find out if all the employees of the rest of our county’s schools have had the required background checks. For that, Ellie, we owe you. And the price you could have paid is way too high.”

When she got back to town, Ellie checked at the Fitch house, but no one was home. It wasn’t quite time for Nick to be home after work and Jo often ran errands after collecting Danielle from school. She walked down the street and saw the carpenters who’d been tasked with installing pews loading up their trucks, finished for the day, and Noah’s old truck was gone. But unless Noah said otherwise, he would be home in time to be sure Lucy had her dinner. Ellie went in the side door and up the stairs to the sanctuary.

Ah, it was looking good. Just a little spit and polish, the accoutrements like kneeler, pulpit and baptistery in place and it would be absolutely beautiful for Saturday’s wedding. Ellie had offered to join Vanni, Shelby and some other women in decorating the pews with flowers. A florist from Grace Valley would bring a truckful and, while the women concentrated on the pews, she would adorn the front of the church. The church would be barely done and Noah would have his debut. Ellie sat in the front pew and imagined it. Her eyes were drawn to the stained-glass window. The peace in his eyes comforted her. Calmed her.

There was a voice from the back of the church. A deep, familiar voice. “You have to give me a chance.” A man she’d known only as Arnie spoke.

She stood and turned toward him. He was standing at the back of the church, a big, homely, unhappy man. “Robert? Or is it Bob?” she asked.

“I never hurt them,” he said. “I took good care of them, Ellie,” he said.

“You locked them in your house! And you scared me that night you followed me in your big SUV!” She wrinkled her brow. “Where’d you park that big thing? I didn’t see it outside.”

“Ellie, if you’ll just cooperate for once, I can make this right. All I ever wanted my whole life was to do a good job with a family. Do it right. Be respected. Maybe I shouldn’t have followed you, but—”

“Maybe?”

“You were with him. You weren’t supposed to be with him. You’re mine.”

“We’re divorced! We’ve been divorced over a year!”

“I never accepted that. Marriage is forever,” he said with a shrug. “That wasn’t part of the plan, wasn’t what we agreed. I let myself get mad about the way things went. You know me—I don’t often get mad.”

“You get mad all the time!” she said hotly. “You get mad, you threaten, you harass and badger! You punish!”

“No, no, no,” he said. “I just try to keep things on track, that’s all. You know.”

He took a step toward her and she said loudly, “What’s your name? Is it Robert? Is it Bob? What?”

He stopped in the aisle. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “I haven’t been Robert in a long time and I’ve been better off for it. Listen, just listen to me for once, if I apologize to the professor, all this will be over. We can pick up where we—”

“Pick up what? We were never even really married! Why in the world do you want me at all? We never even…You know what we never did! And you know you can’t be around children! You hate children!”

“I don’t,” he said, shaking his head, taking another step. “I wasn’t mean to them, Ellie,” he said, taking another step toward her. “I was strict and I didn’t mollycoddle ’em, but I didn’t mistreat them. I mean, that business with the house locks—really, I did that so no one could get in and hurt them.”

“They cried every night, you wouldn’t let them talk to me on the phone, they were scared and lonely—” She backed away a step. “Arnie, you need to see someone. You need help and I can’t give it to you. And even if I could, I wouldn’t take the job.”

“You don’t understand about the help,” he said, appearing frustrated. “The help doesn’t work. I take medicine for depression, but it’s not good. As long as things are calm, I’m just fine.”

“I’ve got news for you, Arnie—things can’t always be calm.”

“They can,” he insisted. “Look, you’re just upset, that’s all. Mad about what I said in that bar. That won’t matter, Ellie. We’ll just start over. You’ll see. We’ll apologize to everyone, you’ll just say it was a misunderstanding and we’ll just—”

“No,” she said calmly and firmly. “You’re on your own, Arnie or Robert or whoever you are. If you’re smart, you’ll get a lawyer, tell him you have problems and need some help. You probably won’t go to jail that way. And, for sure, you should talk to someone about, you know, the stuff you went through.”