Intent(80)

When River goes in her room, I take a seat beside Ace and wrap my hand around his before I recount the entire “hypothetical” story George and Louise told me. As I move from one part of the story to the next, the events begin to make sense to Ace. They click into place, one after the other, until the whole jigsaw puzzle is pieced together to make one large picture.

“My guess is Marcia never told you for a variety of reasons. First, she was bound by attorney-client privilege and her client was a juvenile. Those records wouldn’t be available for just anyone to read. If she’d told you and it somehow got out, she would’ve been disbarred. Secondly, Margot was young, and Marcia was doing everything she could to get the young girl help. Revealing her secrets at that age would’ve been catastrophic to her. And lastly, she was the granddaughter of the judge. If the people of this town even suggested preferential treatment was given to her, he would’ve lost everything.

“You’re older than Margot, so a lot of the later events happened while you were away at college. Had you been here to witness it firsthand, you may have thought twice about dating her at all. Marcia wasn’t trying to control you or do anything behind your back. She was trying to do her job and save a young girl from a mental disorder that made her spiral out of control.”

“Mom?” Ace looks at Marcia. “Are George and Louise telling the truth? Did all that really happen?”

Marcia gives him a weak smile. “I can’t comment on sealed juvenile records. But to my knowledge, George and Louise have always been known to be honest, upstanding citizens. I can tell you that Margot intentionally got pregnant. She thought it would make you marry her, then you’d support her so she didn’t have to work. Coming from an influential family in this town spoiled her in some ways.”

“But, Mom, all this time I’ve been wrong about you. And you never told me. This all could’ve been cleared up years ago.”

“You have no idea how many times I’ve thought the same thing. That if I just called and told you everything that actually happened, you’d understand and we’d reconcile. But something you said to me the last time we talked stuck with me. You said I’d tried to control you and every decision you’ve ever made in your life.

“While I certainly never intentionally did that, I had to admit that I absolutely did it when I looked back over time. Part of me thought you’d think I was just trying to manipulate you if I told you after all this time. Another part of me said you had to come to the realization about Margot on your own before you’d really believe it.

“That didn’t stop me from keeping tabs on you. I am your mother, after all, and I love you with all my heart. Depression also played a big part in my inability to function. I never got over losing your daddy. I lost my way when I lost my soul mate. So I took the job in New York as a way to start fresh. Good thing I did, too, or I wouldn’t have my beautiful daughter-in-law right now.”

“I guess Martha and Ralph called you, huh?” Ace asks.

“No, they didn’t,” Marcia replies. “I was there for your wedding. Martha called me after the fire and filled me in on what was happening. I got a flight out the next morning, and I’ve been staying with her ever since. So when you two showed up at their chapel to get married, I snuck out the back door of her house and around the opposite side of the barn to find a good spot to watch.”

“Did you know Margot was behind it when you got the call?” I ask.

“I was ninety-nine percent sure. The way it was described to me was almost exactly the same way she’d planned to kill her parents and foster sister. I had the cameras installed for security last time I stayed here, but I didn’t use a local company to install it. Since we live out in the country, most people around here didn’t know anything about it.”

“George said he and Louise are leaving town for a while. They know the police are looking for Margot, but they don’t want to be here when she’s arrested. They also don’t trust her not to come after them in her retaliation plot. Louise said, at their age, they’re just not physically able to deal with the possible outcomes. It’s really sad that they have to fear for their lives at the hands of their granddaughter,” I tell them.

“They have good reason to fear. She’s hated them all these years,” Marcia replies. “I suspect the reason she set my house on fire is twofold. First, she knew you were in there and you’ve been dating Ace. Secondly, she hates me and wouldn’t think twice about destroying everything I own.”

“I have to question if she’s mentally unstable enough to try to burn this house down with all of us in it,” Ace adds. “I’ll be taking the night watch until she’s caught.”

“River, come on out here, baby,” I call to her. She comes bouncing out of her room and I release the breath I was holding. An overwhelming urge to make sure she was safe overcame me when Ace questioned Margot’s stability regarding River. Marcia and Ace give me a questioning look and I shrug. “As long as Ace takes the night shift, River will sleep with me.”

Ace pulls me into his lap and places a soft, sweet kiss on my lips. Then his brows draw downward and he pulls back to look me up and down. “Layne, what did you eat today?”

“Are you trying to say I’m too heavy to sit in your lap, Ace?” Irritated and instantly pissed off accurately describes my mood right this second.