Love Under Two Benedicts(66)

Matt knew Adam could hear every word. He could tell by the hunch of his friend’s shoulders that Ginny’s story wasn’t what Adam had expected to hear. Although his friend had said he wouldn’t judge her until he’d heard what she had to say, Matt knew he had, he hadn’t been able to stop himself from doing so.

Matt signaled the waitress for coffee. When the woman came over, he said, “Would you like something to eat, Ginny?”

She looked startled, as if she’d forgotten he was there. She shook her head. “Oh, no…I couldn’t.”

“I’ll have a ham sandwich,” Kelsey told the waitress. Then to Ginny she said, “I won’t be able to eat the whole thing. You’ll have half. All right?”

“Oh. I…yes. All right.”

Kelsey fixed her coffee and waited until Ginny had put more cream into hers.

“I didn’t know what else to do. Deke threatened to take his belt to Benny, and…and he hadn’t even done anything! I wanted to get away from him, but he told me if I tried to leave him, I’d…I’d get worse than I was already getting. Then he told me I had to get rid of Benny. I thought…I thought if my boy was safe, then I could get away from Deke.”

“Is that what you really thought?” Kelsey’s voice went soft and quiet. From the corner of his eye, Matt could see Adam at the counter straining to listen.

“No.” Ginny sobbed quietly, and Kelsey waited. Finally, Ginny inhaled shakily. “I was going to try to get away from him, but I thought he’d likely kill me.

“I didn’t really want my baby in the system. I grew up in the system. There was one family where the missus got drunk and the mister would tell me I had to let him at me.” Ginny stopped and took a sip from her coffee. The waitress returned and set the sandwich down on the table. Kelsey took half and pushed the plate over to the other woman.

Ginny never looked up, just kept her gaze focused on the table. Matt didn’t think he’d ever seen a woman so broken down. At least, not since leaving Chicago. While working as a cop in the inner city, he’d seen a lot of women like Ginny, women who’d gotten themselves into bad relationships and didn’t know how to get out. The men who abused these women always managed to totally short circuit their self-esteem to the point that they were truly incapable of escaping on their own.

Ginny hadn’t been completely broken down because she’d gotten her son to safety, and then herself.

Ginny inhaled deeply and continued. “I didn’t want that for my boy. Then I read that piece in the paper. About you and your restaurant. I cried when I read about your little boy. Then I thought you’d be good for Benny. And maybe Benny would be good for you, too. He’d be safe. And loved.

“When I woke up yesterday, I knew had to get away from Deke. I had to find my baby. I couldn’t bear to be away from him another day.” She cried quietly, and Kelsey said nothing, just handed her some more tissues.

Finally, she looked up and for the first time focused on Matthew. “You’re the law, aren’t you? You came to arrest me. I did a bad thing, leaving my boy. I deserve to go to jail. As long as my Benny’s safe, that’s all I care about.”

Matthew wanted to assure Ginny he wasn’t going to arrest her, but it really wasn’t his call.

At the counter, Adam sighed heavily. He slowly turned on his stool so he faced Ginny. “No one’s going to arrest you, Ms. Rose. We’re not here to cause you more grief. We’re here to help.”



* * * *



Kelsey was glad to be back in her own kitchen.

Tracy had done a fabulous job handling things while she’d been off, and she felt better about impending vacation time when just a couple of months before, Kelsey had been certain she neither wanted nor needed to think about vacation.

Time off was all well and good, but Lusty Appetites was her baby, and she felt at her best when she was here, taking care of her business.

Kelsey laid her hand over her abdomen. Thinking of the restaurant as her baby led to other thoughts—thoughts of building families, having babies. She thought of the future for the first time in more than five years.

She couldn’t deny to herself any longer that she was in love, all the way in love, with two men. Despite all the living examples here in this town, she wasn’t yet one hundred percent convinced that the three of them could build a forever kind of future.

But then, life didn’t come with guarantees, not ever.

Kelsey grabbed her apron and tied it on even as she heard the door to the kitchen open.

“Welcome back, boss. How do you feel? I hear you found Benny’s mother,” Tracy said by way of greeting.