A Bad Day for Sunshine (Sunshine Vicram #1) - Darynda Jones Page 0,94
scent, so to speak.”
The delicate arches of Auri’s brows knitted together. “So, most people in town think you really married a man named Samson Vicram and that he died in Afghanistan?”
Sun nodded, almost ashamed. But they’d done it for a good cause. A beautiful cause named Aurora Dawn Vicram. She wouldn’t change a thing if she could.
Elaine remembered she’d made sandwiches and handed Auri one. “Auri, I am so, so sorry. I don’t know what you overheard, but it had nothing to do with you.”
“It wasn’t your fault, Grandma. I was the one eavesdropping, though I don’t think I meant to.”
Unplacated, Elaine looked at Sun. “She could have died because of us. We just keep messing up.”
“Are you crazy? You guys stuck with me when I wanted to keep her. You didn’t even question my decision when most parents would’ve tried to lock me up and throw away the key.” Sun stood and hugged first Elaine, then Cyrus, and then she stole a sandwich.
“So, this is it,” Quincy said as he took a bite of a ham and cheese. “No more secrets. I like it. I have questions. So many, many questions.”
“If you even think of asking my mom about her showgirl days . . .”
“Wait, why is that off-limits? No secrets means no secrets. Did you know the Rat Pack?”
Cyrus choked on his sandwich.
“Good heavens, I’m not that old, Quincy Cooper.”
His shoulders sagged in disappointment.
Auri was studying her sandwich when Sun asked, “Anything else you want to know?”
“No. I mean, maybe. It’s just, if we’re going for no more secrets, you might want to know one other thing.”
Sun put down her sandwich. “Okay.” There was simply no telling what would come out of her daughter’s mouth, and from her expression, it looked serious.
“I did plan to take my life that day.”
Sun forced herself to remain stock-still, to show no reaction. As a law enforcement officer, she was an expert, but Auri’s revelation pushed her ability to its limit. She had her daughter talking for the first time. She didn’t want to blow it now.
Auri tucked her chin and said softly, “I was going to jump off the cliffs at the lake.”
Elaine pressed a delicate hand over her heart, but Sun forced herself to suppress her reaction.
“I’d climbed up there and was standing at the very edge, working up the nerve to jump, when a man talked to me.”
Sun struggled to breathe, but only on the inside. Her outside was made of steel. “Who?”
Auri chewed her lower lip. “He talked to me like we’d known each other forever. He called me Red. He asked me how the water looked and if I thought it was going to rain and was I looking forward to the next school year.”
“Auri—”
“Mom, he knew.” She looked at Sun with pleading eyes. “He knew what I was going to do. I don’t know how, but he did.”
Sun’s cool fa?ade crumbled. She sat with her mouth hanging open before asking, “What did he say?”
“He told me he’d thought about it once, too, but then he realized that no matter how messed up his life was, there was always someone with a more messed-up life than his.”
Sun held her breath as her daughter spoke.
“He was with a boy,” she continued. “His nephew. He walked right up to me and took my hand because he said I was making him nervous and that if I jumped I could die. I told him that was the point, but he told me to quit being stupid. Nobody wanted to die in August. It was too hot for a funeral.”
Then it hit her. “Auri, was it Jimmy?”
She nodded. “And Levi. He saved my life, Mom. He saw me up there, and he ran up the mountain to stop me. He just knew. And you always talk bad about him and his family, but I know you’re completely in love with him. I can see why. He’s so handsome and kind. He looks after Jimmy when he doesn’t even have to. And I know his family is bad, but he saved my life, and I love him. I love him and I love Jimmy.”
Sun put a hand over her mouth as fresh tears cascaded over her lashes. Levi Ravinder. Of all the things she’d expected to learn that day, the fact that Levi Ravinder had saved her daughter’s life was not one of them.
She swallowed and thought back to all his uncles and cousins and cousin’s cousins. To his abusive father and