Men Of Honor Eric - Jordan Silver Page 0,34
Janine is the one responsible for bringing Sam and Kristen here.
Eric has told me from day one that I have no need to worry about her, and until last night I may have kept myself as far away from her as possible, but knowing what she’d done to her own little boy had shifted something inside me. No matter how horrible life had become, I would never have subjected Lora to something like that.
As a mother, her despicable act has touched off something in me that had long lain dormant. Tyler is, in essence, my son now, isn’t he? Though we aren’t overly close, mainly because I came into his life when he was too old to need a replacement for his mother, and I have no experience with teenage boys, he’s still my responsibility as his dad’s wife.
And though what he described had happened years ago, I know for a fact that she’s still bothering Tyler since I married his dad. I played the doormat with Kristen and Sam for so long that it has become second nature, but when I look at my little girl and imagine what she sees when she looks at me, it breaks my heart.
I’d told myself I was doing it for her. That I was suffering the humiliation and degradation for her sake, holding onto that last little bit of hope that Sam would come to his senses one day, and even though he and I were through, he might still want to have a place in his child’s life. I was wrong.
The boy I knew and loved when I was little more than a child myself was no more. I no longer recognize the man he’s become. I guess I can be grateful that he and his wife didn’t want anything to do with my daughter, something Kristen thought would hurt me, but I’m now thankful for. I can only imagine how she would’ve abused my poor little girl, who was the only innocent in this, just like Tyler.
For some reason, I can’t get the image of the soaked little boy running to his mama’s car and the callous way in which she’d driven off out of my head. My phone rang just as I fitted the mat into my Cricut machine, and I answered without first checking to see who was calling.
“Justine, it’s me, don’t hang up, please.”
“Sam? What do you want?” His voice sounded strange, nothing at all like it had the day before or the last few times when he called with threats.
“Listen, I’m sorry we came there to cause trouble, I never wanted to do that. But look, I think you need to be careful.”
“Are you threatening me? We’ve been all through this…”
“No-no, you’ve got it all wrong. It’s not me; it’s that Janine woman. I overheard her talking to Kristen. I think she’s planning something; I think she wants to hurt you bad.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know all the details. I just heard the tail end of the conversation. Look, just be careful, okay, and take care of Lora, and look…I’m sorry. I’m really sorry about all this.” He hung up the phone, leaving me stymied and wondering if I should take anything he said seriously.
But as much as he’s changed over the years, I know that voice, I know when he’s lying and when he’s trying to get one over on me. This didn’t sound like either of those things. I left the craft room and made my way up to the master suite. Even though the household staff was in the house, I hadn’t seen anyone. That’s Eric’s doing; he always tells them not to bother me when I’m in there. But the way I feel now, some human contact would be good.
I dropped down on the side of our bed, feeling listless. Sam had sounded terrified. What exactly had he heard? I knew Janine hated me, but to hurt me? Just the mention of Kristen’s name gave me shivers. She’s been after me for years, even though she was the one who’d taken my husband and stolen my life.
She’s hated my guts since day one because I think she resented the fact that I was Sam’s first love and that we shared a child, a child that she hated almost as much as she hated me. In fact, the only interest she ever showed in Lora was when Eric and I were getting married.
Once she realized that I would be in a