contact the authorities, I will be right here by her side. As will my entire family, and that is a group you do not want to challenge.”
Luanne rolled her eyes. “Princess here wouldn’t want her name dragged into the muck, anyway. So you can quit standing on our doorstep tossing empty threats around, you understand?”
Jess took a deep breath, feeling rage and courage combine into a boiling cauldron she needed to release.
“I would absolutely testify against you.” Her voice was quiet, but it was strong, and both Roxie and Luanne looked at her with new fear in their eyes. “I would absolutely get up in a court of law and tell whoever was listening about all the things you did. I will do this, because it’s something I should have done a long, long time ago.”
“You wouldn’t.” Roxie’s voice shook, though her chin hiked higher.
Jess nodded. “I would. So I’d encourage you to withdraw your petition to contest the will. I really would.”
Roxie rolled her eyes, but Jess saw her swallow hard. “Bullshit. They’d never believe you, anyway.”
“Oh, I think they would.” Jess paused, then put a hand on her shirt hem and lifted it. “They’d sure believe this. And I’m pretty sure this is all the proof they’d need to toss you into jail and throw away the key.”
Chapter 30
“I don’t think you’re going to be hearing from them again,” Cole said. He lifted his coffee cup and winked sadly at Jess. They were at a diner halfway between Smugglers’ Gully and Charleston, and she had finally stopped shaking enough to hold a mug of tea without slopping it into her lap.
“You put the fear of God into them.”
“Actually, I think you did that. I just helped you put the fear of the law into them. Which someone should have done a long, long time ago. You never should have had to endure what you did.”
“I know.”
“I can’t believe nobody ever turned them in.”
“Nobody knew, Cole.” Jess looked out the window. “I never told anybody.”
A look of pain crossed his features. “Why not? Was there no one who could help you?”
“I don’t know. Doesn’t matter, though. I certainly thought nobody would help me, so that’s why it was easier to be quiet. I was way more afraid of Roxie and Luanne finding out I’d ratted them out.”
Cole sat back, sipping his coffee. “Weren’t you ever tempted to tell Kyla? Hayley? How did you keep this bottled up for so long without going crazy?”
“Ha. I did go crazy. There were times I felt stark, raving mad. Especially that first few months after the baby. And then the due date came and went, and I thought I was going to die all over again. I was supposed to be holding a baby, and my arms were so painfully empty. I know she wasn’t even as big as my hand, but God, Cole. I loved her. I loved her so much that I thought I’d never come out of the fog.”
She sniffed, trying not to lose it here in the diner. “But once I got to Boston, I realized it was my one chance to be someone new, my one chance to really leave it all behind. And telling somebody—anybody—would have just opened up all those scars, and that’s the last thing I wanted. But then Grampy died, and—well, you know the rest.”
“What made you decide to donate the money? Where did you actually take it?”
“I donated it to the shelter Grampy took me to that last night. They saved my life, and I think he would be happy to know that’s where the money went.” She remembered Christyne’s mouth cracking into a huge smile this morning when Jess had showed up at Safe Haven. “They took me in as a broken-down, hopeless, angry teenager, and turned me into—well, somebody who believed maybe I was worth fighting for.”
“I love them.”
Jess laughed softly. “I know they’ll do good things with that money. It’s not much, but it will help. They’ll take another girl just like me, and they’ll give her hope, too. It was good to go back there. Good to let them see I turned out okay, you know? I bet they never know sometimes.”
He nodded, then reached for her hand. “I can’t imagine the guts it took to drive up to that trailer just now.”
“More than I had, I was afraid. I’m really glad you found me there.”
He smiled ruefully. “Kyla had the truck gassed up, a boarding pass printed, and