“He’s a hustler. If he’s engaged, his fiancée should get the ring appraised.”
“Don’t be negative. Kristen is very sensitive. He believed women only wanted him for his looks—”
“He’s right about that,” Penni cut in with a laugh. “He’s one of the best-looking men I’ve ever seen.”
Jackal tensed. “That would have been nice to know before you convinced not me to beat his ass.”
Penni rolled her eyes. “Like you guys don’t look at beautiful women. Your eyes almost popped out when you saw Ginny last night.”
It wasn’t often that Stump saw the club’s enforcer embarrassed, but when he did, he enjoyed it for a moment, before he decided to wade in and save the brother.
“It would be hard for any man not to look. She went from a country mouse to….” He broke off, deciding to shut up before he got himself in trouble.
“That’s why she did it.” Penni sat down behind his desk, her eyes filled with concern. “She wanted the stalker focused on her. She confided to Shade after the show that, when The Last Riders were visiting, she found a note laying on her bed when she got home. He told her about the ones that Zoey was getting, and when she heard that you were attacked at the nursing home, she put it together that it was because of her. Shade tried to convince her to go back to Kentucky with them, but she didn’t want to put one of her friends in danger. That’s why she agreed to do the show, trying to draw him out so he could be caught. Unfortunately, we don’t know if he was there or not.”
“He was there. I felt him, but I didn’t see him.”
At Zoey’s bleak despair, Stump moved Hannibal to his other arm so he could put an arm around her shoulders.
“He’ll have trouble getting close to her now to leave any notes.” Penni also tried to make her feel better. “I doubled the security around her and Kaden’s family when Ginny asked me if she could be the opening act for Kaden. She was too frightened that Gianna would get hurt if he managed to get in their apartment again. She’s trying to protect everyone but herself.”
“Your brother won’t let anything happen to her.” Jackal crossed the room to reach for her tea.
“I wouldn’t…” Stump started to warn the brother, but it was too late.
“What the fuck is that?”
Stump grimaced in sympathy. “It’s hibiscus tea. And before you say anything else, Zoey’s rates have gone up. She charges twenty for cuss words.”
Jackal took his wallet out and laid three twenties down on the desk before turning back to his wife. “Why in the fuck are you drinking that shit?”
“I like it.”
Stump gave Penni credit for making the lie sound believable in front of Zoey.
“Count yourself lucky, brother. At least you didn’t taste the muffins she made and brought to the office today. All three of them are in the bottom of the trash can.”
Penni used her teacup to hide her burning face at Zoey’s reproachful gaze.
“You should have saved them for Max. He can eat anything.” Ice used the toe of his boot to nudge the trash can as if debating whether to save them from the dumpster.
Stump shook his head. “There are some things a man doesn’t need to discover, and chia seeds are one of them.”
“Stump, get in here!”
“What! I’m trying to plug my television….”
He came to a stop when he saw what Zoey was rummaging through. He meant to tell her about the box of letters before he moved in, but he planned to put it off until tomorrow, knowing it was going to make her cry. He hadn’t wanted anything to spoil their first day of living together by bringing up her past.
Zoey looked at him with a wounded expression. “How do you have the letters I wrote to my mother?”
He squatted down next to her, gathering the letters back into a loose pile. “I told you that I had your father checked out. These are what I found.”
“She never received them?”
“No, your father kept them in a basket. A friend of mine was able to retrieve them from your caseworker. The letters they sent out were also returned. The occupant kept sending them back.”
“She didn’t even bother to read them?”
Stump never wanted to see her cry, but anything would be better than the heartbreaking numbness that was totally out of character for Zoey.
“My friend investigated the occupant. He was an eighty-year-old man who had never been married. Your father gave you the wrong address.”
“He lied to me again?”
“Yes.”
Zoey took the letters from him, placing them back in the box. “I’ll never be able to find her now. It’s not like I can ask him. And even if he were alive, he wasn’t capable of telling the truth.”
“There’s another way. I was waiting to tell you when I told you about the letters tomorrow.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
He felt heat rising in his cheeks. “It’s hard for me to watch you cry. I didn’t want anything to spoil today.” He scooted closer to her, seeing her battling back the glossy sheen of tears in her eyes.
“I’m not going to cry.”
“It’s okay. Go ahead.”
She bravely shook her head. “I’m not going to cry. What’s the other way?”
“A DNA test.” He got up from the floor, going to another box. Taking out a smaller box, he brought it back to Zoey, sitting back down beside her. “My friend has contacts in this company that works for the government. The test will find relatives that are within their system. It’s one of the largest databases in the world. If she’s there, we’ll find her.”
“I don’t know if I can bear to be disappointed again. Maybe she doesn’t want to be found.”
“That’s not why you’re afraid to find out. You don’t want to find out she’s dead.”
She took the box from him. “I’ll do it tonight.”
He stood up, pulling her to her feet. “Let’s do it now. Then we can put it in the mailbox before the postman comes. It will be our first package we mail together as a couple.”
Going into the bathroom, they took the DNA swab, and then they walked out to the mailbox together, with Hannibal under his arm.
“Morning, Zoey, Stump,” Creed greeted as he jogged past them.
“Good morning, Kent.”
“All moved in?”
“Yes.” Placing an arm around Zoey’s shoulder, Stump pulled her close to his side, letting Hannibal down to do his business. “Once I get settled in, we’ll invite you over to dinner,” he invited magnanimously. “You can invite a girlfriend to bring along. Wait. Sorry, I forgot you don’t have one.”
“Stump!”
It was worth the elbow Zoey planted into his ribs to one-up Creed.
“I have a date tonight.” Creed gave him a retaliatory glance as he started to jog away. “I’m meeting Zoey’s designer friend for dinner. I have high hopes.”
“Kent… it’s a consultation, not a date…,” Zoey began, but Creed was already jogging away, not letting her finish.
“He’s going to be disappointed.”
“Why? Is your friend ugly?” Stump took the poop bag out of his bag pocket, narrowly missing the elbow aimed at him.
“Where are you going?” he asked, seeing Zoey about to go to Creed’s house instead of theirs.
“I need to talk to him that he has the wrong idea. It’s not a date. He’s meeting Kristen.”
Stump, picking Hannibal back up, lagged behind her long enough to leave a small gift on Creed’s lawn before going inside the house. Then he barred the door with his body only to see Zoey already had her phone out. Reaching for the phone, he barely managed to snatch it away before she could call Creed.
“Let that asshole find out for himself.” He held Hannibal up to keep her from fighting for her phone.
Taking the dog from him, she sat Hannibal down on the ground, giving him his favorite bone to play with before wiggling her fingers in front of his face. “You o
we me twenty dollars.”
“What happened to ten?”
“You’re not learning. Obviously, it’s going to have to hurt to make you change your bad habits. And go wash your hands before you pay me.”
Going to the bathroom to make her happy, he washed up. When he was done, he came out reaching for his wallet and placed a twenty on the palm of her hand. “If Penni hadn’t hired me full-time, I wouldn’t be able to afford you.”
Zoey tucked the twenty into her wristband before plastering herself against him. “If you run out of cash, I’m willing to take payment out in trade.”
Stump lifted her off her feet to meet his amused gaze as he carried her toward the bedroom. “I can think of a few things to further your education.”
“Like what?”
“I’m pretty good at fixing plumbing.”
“Patrick replaced all the plumbing before I rented the house from him.”
“I can teach you how to build a computer.”
“I prefer to buy mine already put together.” She giggled when he dropped her onto the bed.
Placing his hands on either side of her head, he gave her a lingering kiss before standing up to open the closet, furiously waving his hand to show her that no one was inside. Then he smiled when she giggled again, sitting up on an elbow as she watched him go to the bedroom door.
“I can teach you anything you want to know about sex,” he said, reaching for the doorknob.
“That could be interesting, and something I could use.” Zoey suggestively patted the bed.
“I’m ecstatic we can find something that will benefit us both. I didn’t want to say anything, but you’ve developed quite a few bad habits yourself.”
“I have?” Zoey’s eyes went slumberous.
“You have,” he mocked, swinging the door closed. “Don’t worry; this isn’t going to hurt… too much.”
Epilogue
Dear Mom,
I don’t know how to start this letter. It seems like I’ve been writing to you forever and waiting for a reply that never came. I hope this letter reaches the right person this time.
Every time I start to write this letter, I have to start over because I don’t know how to begin. I decided to begin by introducing myself.
My name is Zoey, and I think I’m your daughter.
My husband and I sent a DNA test off, and it came back with these results that I’m placing in the envelope with my letter. I didn’t really expect to find you. I had given up hope a long time ago, and truthfully, I was afraid you wouldn’t want me or that you were dead. What I didn’t expect to find was that I have been missing since I was two years old. That I had been taken when you left me with a friend who was babysitting for you.
You were a single mother, working two jobs to keep a roof over our heads, and when you came back to pick me up, I was gone with your friend.
Stump, my husband, thinks the babysitter was killed by the man I believed to be my father. He raised me to think that you didn’t want me, and sadly, I didn’t know better.
He’s no longer alive, so he won’t be held responsible for his crimes. I do believe justice will be served on him, though. Karma is a witch, and he hurt enough women, so he has several years of bad Karma to atone for.
I would like to meet you, but if you don’t want to meet me, I understand. I know you’re married to my real father and have other children. I’m glad something good came out of my disappearance, and that it drew you and my father back together again.
Stump is sending this box to you with this letter and the others I have written to you. He’s sending it return receipt requested, this way, I’ll know as soon as it’s delivered.
I noticed a park across the street from you when we arrived in Carolina Beach, so I’ll be waiting there if you want to meet me. I’ll be waiting….”
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Love,
Your daughter,
Zoey
“How long do you want to wait?”
Zoey pushed the swing with the toe of her sandal as she wound her arm around the chain. She placed her cheek on her arm as she studied him instead of the house he was staring at.
“How long did it take you to read all my letters?”
“About two hours.”
“The box was delivered an hour ago. We’ll wait two more, and then leave.”
“I wish you would have let the FBI handle this. They could have contacted your parents, and you wouldn’t have to put yourself through this torture.”
“I need to see her face… if she wants to meet me.”
“Baby, she’s going to meet you.”
“You think so?”
“I know so. I showed you the newspaper articles. She never gave up hope that you would be found.”
“I’m not a baby anymore. I have a brother and sisters. She could be worried about their reactions.” Her doubts flashed through her mind one after the other.
“Zoey….” Stump placed his hand on her arm that was on the swing.
At his expression, she turned her head toward the house. In fear, she watched the door being flung open, and then a boy and two teenage girls came running outside. They were followed by a crying woman who was still holding a letter in her hand, and a man who was just as emotional as they were but was trying to put on a brave face. The tears coursing down her fathers cheeks soothed the part of her soul that the man she thought was her father had tried to destroy. He had failed the family running toward the swing set where she sat, had somehow given her the strength to survive.
Holding back her own tears, Zoey slowly rose, afraid to take the final step toward the family who was waiting to meet her.
“Zoey…”
She looked at her husband who was rising to stand next to her, as he always would.
“It’s okay, Zoey. Go. Don’t keep them waiting. They’ve waited long enough.”
Zoey flew, feeling like she was running on air.
If she had let the authorities contact her mother, she would have had to wait in agony for yet another reply, one that would end her last hope of having the relationship she wanted with her mother. The one she wanted with the rest of her family that she had instinctively known was just out of her reach. She had needed to see her mother’s face, to see that she was wanted. What she saw on all their faces was so much more.
It was love.
Jamie Begley, Stalked
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