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Chapter Seventeen
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2024-10-29 19:42:56
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Monster Among the Roses Chapter Eighteen
chapterEIGHTEEN The silence that followed my confession was resounding. It echoed around in my head until sweat misted on my brow.I opened my eyes to find Isobel watching me, her expression bleak.She shook her head. “What do you mean?”Glancing down at my hands, I began to pick at a piece of skin coming loose around a callus on my palm.“I told you before, I originally went to your dad because of my mom, right?”She nodded. “What? Is that not true?”“No, it’s true,” I said. Then I drew in a deep breath and began my story.“I went to him because she owed him money. He’d given her a loan for her bakery. I swear, she owed everyone money. I have no idea how a single person could rack up that much debt, but she kept it from me for as long as she could. By the time I learned about it, it was out of my control. I sold my truck, sold her house, sold most of our furniture. And it still wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough. After I moved her in with me,
Monster Among the Roses Chapter Nineteen
chapterNINETEEN I might’ve followed Isobel around the rest of the day like an eager little child. I just had this pitch in my stomach, telling me not to let her out of my sight. What if she suddenly changed her mind and decided not to believe me after all? I mean, all she had to go on was my word alone and no physical proof whatsoever. Or what if she decided she felt deceived after all? Or she decided she didn’t like me? Or—Okay, I might’ve been a tad paranoid. But could you blame me? I’d just bared my heart to this woman, fully expecting her to stomp on the organ and throw it back into my face. That’s what I deserved. But, no. She’d taken it all surprisingly well and believed me when I had nothing to back up my story. I wasn’t sure if I could trust such an easy resolution. And so instead, I probably annoyed the hell out of her by refusing to leave her all day.Thank goodness she didn’t seem irritated by my neediness.But I think she un
Monster Among the Roses Chapter Twenty
chapterTWENTY Isobel pounced as soon as I exited her dad’s office. “Well?” she demanded, grabbing my hand.Her worry made me grin. “Well, what?” I teased, leaning in to shift my nose across her cheekbone.Huffing out her impatience, she nudged me back far enough to see my face. “Well, what’d he say? Did he try to fire you? Pay you off? Chase you away? Keep us apart?”With a laugh, I tugged her into my arms. “No, no, and no. He already promised you he wouldn’t fire me and…what? Pay me off? Are you kidding? He’s pretty much already paid me off by taking care of my mother.”“But—”“And how exactly did you think he’d keep us apart? We’re both adults. That’s not even…” I shook my head, cracking up over her concerns.Isobel sniffed and shoved against my chest. “Stop laughing. This isn’t funny. He could’ve—”“He couldn’t have done anything to keep me away from you.” Then I winked. “He has no mob ties, remember?”She shook her head slowly,
Monster Among the Roses Chapter Twenty-one
chapterTWENTY-ONE Oh, holy shit. Holy shit. Did that mean what I thought it meant?I had no idea, but my libido certainly started assuming plenty. Instantly hard, I shifted in my seat to make more room in my pants before clearing my throat and tipping my head toward the flower shop. “Didn’t you want to go inside?”Isobel glanced over her shoulder toward the store she’d purchased. Gaze disinterested, she turned back to me. “No.”Air puffed from my lungs. “So, you…just…anywhere?” I asked.When she nodded, I had to concentrate on exhaling again. “Okay,” I said. “Okay.”I put the truck in drive and pulled back into traffic. We drove for about five more minutes as the day slid into dusk and my headlights came on. At first, it was aimless. I wasn’t sure where to take her that would be private. Mom was at my house, and well…that’s as far as my brain could travel. Until I remembered the closed and abandoned shoe factory I’d worked at for nearly ten ye
Monster Among the Roses Chapter Twenty-two
chapterTWENTY-TWO I couldn’t stop glancing across the cab of the truck as I drove back to Porter Hall.Isobel anticipated every stolen glance and met my gaze before she sniffed out a laugh and rolled her eyes. But then we both burst out with crazy, delirious grins. I bit my lip before I returned my attention to the road. When I reached across the interior of the truck without looking, she took my hand and interlaced our fingers.Damn, I felt giddy. Light-headed. Downright decadent. It was the best feeling in the world.“I don’t want to take you home,” I admitted, even though that’s exactly where I was taking her.Night had fallen and I could only see her face in the bluish glow from the screen of the truck’s dashboard. Yet I still had no trouble making out the hope in her expression when she said, “You can stay the night…if you want.”I was tempted. Of course I was tempted, but then all the reasons why I couldn’t stirred in my head, an
Monster Among the Roses Chapter Twenty-three
chapterTWENTY-THREE The next morning, I woke early, eager to see Isobel. I made myself lie there for a good half hour until it was the usual time I got up. Then I pulled on my jogging clothes, stuffed another outfit into my backpack, tucked my new mirror into the front pocket, and checked on my mom who was still sleeping peacefully, before I hurried out the door. It took me about ten minutes to reach my truck, when it typically took about fifteen. And then I made it to Porter Hall in about half the time I usually spent driving.The gate opened a minute later, letting me in, and I pulled around the back to my parking spot.Isobel hadn’t made it out to the lake by the time I jogged up to our starting spot. I paced and stretched, impatient for her to show. When I finally heard the crunch of gravel as she approached, my body clanged with awareness.“Hey,” she called, her voice full of pleasure when she caught sight of me already here. “You’re early
Monster Among the Roses Chapter Twenty-four
chapterTWENTY-FOUR By the time Saturday arrived, I was nervous.I’d never been to a fancy restaurant before, and everyone said Urbane was the crème de la crème of eateries in the area. I didn’t want to do anything to embarrass Isobel. Shit, I wondered if I should’ve taken one of those lessons to learn which silverware went with which course.I was totally going to bomb this.But at least I was going to look good doing it. Driving Henry Nash’s truck and wearing Ezra Nash’s suit, no one would be able to tell I was a nobody. A fake.Henry had set the reservations for seven thirty. Since I got off work at four, I went home to spend a couple hours with Mom before I dressed. She gave a low, impressed whistle as soon as I exited the bedroom, trying to figure out the cuff links.“My goodness, don’t you look handsome?”I glanced over to where she sat in her worn-out chair, wearing a floral muumuu and watching Wheel of Fortune on TV with her walker sit
Monster Among the Roses Chapter Twenty-five
chapterTWENTY-FIVE It was nearly one in the morning by the time they let me into Mom’s hospital room to see her. Visiting hours be damned, I think they realized I wasn’t going to leave until I could see her in person. And then, once I finally did get shown to her room, there was no way they could pry me away. I was there for good, a permanent fixture plastered to her side.A large white bandage circled her head. She’d received a concussion but that wasn’t the worst of her injuries. I guess whenever she’d fallen, she’d rebroken the not-fully-healed hip from five months before. What was worse, some bone marrow had escaped and gotten into her bloodstream. The doctors had been forced to perform immediate surgery to keep the marrow from reaching her heart.If I hadn’t found her when I had and gotten her to a hospital when I did, she could’ve died right there on those stairs. If my night had gone well and Isobel hadn’t pushed me away, my mother would b
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Monster Among the Roses Behind the Book
behind MONSTER AMONG THE ROSESINSPIRATIONfor Porter Hall, Residence of Entrepreneur Henry Nash:At the time of writing this story, a very real place called Chestnut Hall Estates was on the market for sale in Georgia for a cool $48 million. http://www.priceypads.com/chestnut-hall-48000000/# This 17,000 square feet of living space boasted of sitting on 18 acres of land, but it was the collection of artifacts that came with the house that made it so pricey. Some of the statues came from a garden in Versailles. It contained a chandelier from the Civil War era, which brought about the idea of the chandelier in my fictitious Porter Hall coming from a mansion in France that was confiscated from the Gestapo in World War II. Also in Chestnut Hall, there was a bronze eagle from Benito Mussolini. So I stuck that statue in my Porter Hall as well. Shaw helped Constance move it across the hallway to preserve the carpet.INSPIRATIONfor Isobel’s Rose G
Monster Among the Roses Epilogue
EPILOGUE The bell over the door of Rosewood dinged, alerting me to the entrance of another customer. I smiled even as I lifted my face to greet the new arrival, only for my grin to stretch wider when I recognized him.“Hey, it’s Cinderella.”Ezra’s eyes narrowed as he strolled inside. “That’s still the lamest comeback ever.”I shrugged. “Hey, if the shoe fits…” Then I pointed and started laughing at my own corny pun.His glare was dry as dust. “You are so not amusing. I’m seriously thinking about sending my sister to a psychiatrist for falling for an idiot like you.”“What can I say? Love doesn’t care about brain capacity.” Then I sent him a wink. “Which means there’s still hope for you too, buddy.”He sighed. “Just tell me where my sister is.”“I’m right here.” Isobel emerged from the door behind the counter that led into her workroom. “I could hear you two bickering all the way from the back.”Nearly three months had passed since my mother’s funeral. It’d
Monster Among the Roses Chapter Twenty-nine
chapterTWENTY-NINE One day actually spanned into two. My five siblings cleaned out pretty much everything that once belonged to Mom. The only things left were her walker, some clothes no one would ever want, and a bunch of broken bakery remains. I did find a chipped cup she used to love to drink from, so I kept that, but everything else, I boxed up and hauled down to the dumpster.Every time I passed the base of the stairwell where I’d found her, my throat would go dry and my chest would twist with pain. I really needed to move out of this hellhole.I had no idea what I was going to do with the rest of my life. I hadn’t received any word that Henry had rescinded any of the loans or bills he’d paid off for my mom, but I hadn’t seen any proof of the opposite either. If I ended up owing him, at least I was free to find a job somewhere that actually paid me so I could attempt to pay him back. I wasn’t tied to taking care of Mom anymore, so I was free
Monster Among the Roses Chapter Twenty-eight
chapterTWENTY-EIGHT My lips parted. “My…what?”Isobel’s eyes were large and horrified. “She...she…”“When the hell did you meet Gloria?”“At the hospital,” she rushed her answer. “I came to visit. She was there with your mom. She said…she said...”I shook my head, then pushed Ezra aside so I could see her better. “You came to the hospital?” My voice cracked and eyes misted. “Really?” My lips trembled, wanting to smile, except…except everything was still so wrong.Isobel bobbed her head up and down. “I wanted to come the first day, but you didn’t ask me to. I wasn’t sure if you wanted—”“Of course I wanted you there,” I hissed before clenching my teeth. “But I didn’t know if I should ask. You said you wanted space, and you acted as if you never wanted to leave your house again. It felt selfish to ask you to come.”“I would have,” she said, wiping tears from her cheeks. “I wanted to, and when I finally did, she was there. She was there with yo
Monster Among the Roses Chapter Twenty-seven
chapterTWENTY-SEVEN Three days passed.They were a complete blur as if they flew by at warp speed, and yet each hour, minute and second ticked along too slowly for me to handle. Time was so messed up.I was messed up.It was hot, dry, and sunny when we buried Mom. Amazingly, all five of her children made it to the service. I don’t know how Alice found them, but they filed into the cemetery just in time for the final farewell to begin. I glanced at them but said nothing. I wanted to be mad that they waited too late to show, except I couldn’t summon the emotion.I was numb.Mom was gone. My purpose these last six months was done.What the hell was I supposed to do now?I’d worked so hard to save her, to make her life better. I was a complete failure.Jesus, I was going to miss her.How could my mother be gone? Forever?After the ceremony, Alice invited the other four to my place. “We need to go through Mom’s things and get all her affairs i
Monster Among the Roses Chapter Twenty-six
chapterTWENTY-SIX My mouth fell open.Shock and confusion mixed with anger. But seriously, what the fuck? I’d just survived a week from hell, almost lost my mother, and still might lose her if she didn’t recover. Why would he do this to me?Offering no explanation, he held out his hand. “The keys to the truck, if you please.”I blinked, not quite able to process what he was saying. After a second of making no sense of his words at all, I shook my head, even as I dug the keys from my pocket. As I dropped them into his waiting palm, I said, “I don’t understand. What happened? Is this because I missed four days?”“Of course not.” Henry stepped closer, his eyes narrowed. “I thought I made it explicitly clear to you not to hurt her.”I squinted, even more confused. “You mean Isobel?”He drew in a sharp, livid breath as if offended I would dare to say her name.“I didn’t hurt her,” was all I could think to say. “I would never.”“Oh really?” he ch
Monster Among the Roses Chapter Twenty-five
chapterTWENTY-FIVE It was nearly one in the morning by the time they let me into Mom’s hospital room to see her. Visiting hours be damned, I think they realized I wasn’t going to leave until I could see her in person. And then, once I finally did get shown to her room, there was no way they could pry me away. I was there for good, a permanent fixture plastered to her side.A large white bandage circled her head. She’d received a concussion but that wasn’t the worst of her injuries. I guess whenever she’d fallen, she’d rebroken the not-fully-healed hip from five months before. What was worse, some bone marrow had escaped and gotten into her bloodstream. The doctors had been forced to perform immediate surgery to keep the marrow from reaching her heart.If I hadn’t found her when I had and gotten her to a hospital when I did, she could’ve died right there on those stairs. If my night had gone well and Isobel hadn’t pushed me away, my mother would b
Monster Among the Roses Chapter Twenty-four
chapterTWENTY-FOUR By the time Saturday arrived, I was nervous.I’d never been to a fancy restaurant before, and everyone said Urbane was the crème de la crème of eateries in the area. I didn’t want to do anything to embarrass Isobel. Shit, I wondered if I should’ve taken one of those lessons to learn which silverware went with which course.I was totally going to bomb this.But at least I was going to look good doing it. Driving Henry Nash’s truck and wearing Ezra Nash’s suit, no one would be able to tell I was a nobody. A fake.Henry had set the reservations for seven thirty. Since I got off work at four, I went home to spend a couple hours with Mom before I dressed. She gave a low, impressed whistle as soon as I exited the bedroom, trying to figure out the cuff links.“My goodness, don’t you look handsome?”I glanced over to where she sat in her worn-out chair, wearing a floral muumuu and watching Wheel of Fortune on TV with her walker sit
Monster Among the Roses Chapter Twenty-three
chapterTWENTY-THREE The next morning, I woke early, eager to see Isobel. I made myself lie there for a good half hour until it was the usual time I got up. Then I pulled on my jogging clothes, stuffed another outfit into my backpack, tucked my new mirror into the front pocket, and checked on my mom who was still sleeping peacefully, before I hurried out the door. It took me about ten minutes to reach my truck, when it typically took about fifteen. And then I made it to Porter Hall in about half the time I usually spent driving.The gate opened a minute later, letting me in, and I pulled around the back to my parking spot.Isobel hadn’t made it out to the lake by the time I jogged up to our starting spot. I paced and stretched, impatient for her to show. When I finally heard the crunch of gravel as she approached, my body clanged with awareness.“Hey,” she called, her voice full of pleasure when she caught sight of me already here. “You’re early
