Beautiful Outlaw(6)

“Sis, you need to hurry up.” He calls out.

This grabs my attention; it is the first time he has called me Sis in years. I jerk my eyes toward him and see the panic on his face. “I’m sorry.”

He shakes his head, when he finally steps beside me. “No worries, we just got to hit the road now.”

Without responding, I look back to the water and pull my wedding set from my finger. I stare at the sparkling diamond for the briefest of moments, before tossing it into the churning river. I watch as the last part of my old life disappears with an anti-climactic plop. Unlike my car, the rings don’t cause a splash. Instead, they sink into the abyss without notice.

I turn back to him and say, “I’m ready.”

“I know this has to be hard on you, but there’s no other way.” He says as he stares into my eyes.

It is hard, terrifying, but I would never admit it to him. Jeremy is putting his life on the line for me, Mom’s too. If Marcus ever finds out the truth, everyone will pay. “I’m okay. Let’s just go.”

He grabs my hand and leads me to his truck, which is hidden in the brush surrounding the river bank. Just as we climb inside, a car tops the bridge. I hear the screeching sounds of brakes as it comes to a stop. We watch from our hiding spot as a woman gets out and looks at the mangled railing. She quickly pulls out her phone and starts to talk.

“They’ll tell her to move off the bridge, to keep from causing another accident. As soon as she gets back in the car, we’ll head out.”

I look over to Jeremy and nod. “Okay.”

This was all his idea: faking my death and, running away to Kentucky; it was the only thing he could think of to get me free and save Mom at the same time. If Marcus thought I was dead, he would never fire Dad. Firing his wife’s deadbeat father wouldn’t be considered business savvy, but how could he explain terminating his dead wife’s parent? It would be uncouth, something Marcus strives to never be.

We sit in silence for a moment before the woman does exactly what Jeremy said she would. As soon as she starts to drive to the other side of the bridge, he starts up the truck and heads in the opposite direction. I watch the scenery, as we head toward my new life.

My nerves are getting the best of me; my mind is filled with what ifs… what happens if Marcus finds out the truth? Will Jeremy lose his job? Will my Dad get fired? Most importantly, how will my make-believe death affect Mom’s health?

After more than thirty minutes of silence, I’ve had enough. I turn my head to look at my brother and start to voice my worries. “I’m worried about Mom. How is she going to take this? I know she may not get to see me often, but thinking I’m dead is something completely different. It could kill her.”

His body shifts nervously in his seat. He looks at me for a second, before moving his eyes back to the road. I watch him, hoping that he will say something to ease my mind, but he never responds. Something in the way he is holding his body taut tells me that he is not telling me everything. Needing to know what is going on, I ask my question again. “Do you think she will be okay?”

Finally, he answers. “Mom knows what’s going on; she’ll be fine.”

Shock reverberates through my body. “She knows?”

He nods, not looking toward me. “I had to tell her and Dad. They deserved to know what you’ve done for the family.”

Oh my God! I can’t believe this. “I didn’t want them to know, ever.”

“They needed to be told what was going on. It was breaking their hearts thinking you didn’t want anything to do with them,” He says, his fists tightening on the steering wheel.

“I went to see them as much as I could,” I say, defending myself.

Over the years, my visits have become few and far between. Sometimes, I would only be allowed to go see them every few months. Last year, Marcus kept me from them for nearly six months. He wanted me to have a chin reduction, claiming mine was not as round as Gwendolyn’s, but I refused. My punishment was being kept away from my parents. I held out until my mother was put in ICU, after an adverse reaction to dialysis.

“I know you did and now they do too.”

“But...” I start, stopping when I realize I don’t know how to explain my feelings.

He finishes for me, knowing what’s going through my head. “You didn’t want Mom and Dad to know what you’ve been through for them, but I’m telling you the truth, it’s a hell of a lot better than thinking their daughter didn’t give a shit about them.”

I nod, not wanting to talk about it anymore. Looking back out the window, my mind starts racing again. Marcus will be home from work soon, and he will know something is wrong. Not once, in ten years, have I not been there when he walked through the door. I can’t even imagine what he’ll do. I can only hope he won’t cause any trouble for my parents.