Lucky was feeling charitable this morning. “You did what you could with the information you had at the time.”
“Not good enough. It was never good enough in my book. That’s why I always kept trying.” Jase’s eyes were as apologetic as his words.
“I appreciate that. Thank you to everyone who’s been working to close out this case. I appreciate it. And now I can hopefully lead a normal, boring life.” She found a smile for everyone and hoped the spotlight fell away from her now.
Mason waved her over to the desk he seemed to have commandeered. “Jase will take Hawk’s statement. I’ll take yours. Since I had to write up my own report about whathappened, I’ve taken the liberty of putting yours and Hawk’s together, too. Just read through it. Make any additions or modifications you want, then we’ll print it out and you can sign it.”
She took a seat and read through the report, making changes and additions so that everything was clear and what she wanted to say. She wanted every detail spelled out so that Desiree had to account for every misdeed.
Mason went over some of the new evidence with her, letting her listen to some of the recordings Desiree had made.
It disturbed Lucky on a deep level, the lengths Desiree had sunk to, all because she wanted the attention on her and Lucky to suffer.
She and Hawk signed their statements together, then she turned to Jase. “Where is he?”
Mason frowned. “In holding. Desiree is back there, too. They’re being transferred later today. Are you sure you want to do this? You can always visit him in jail later.”
“I’m thinking this is going to be a one and done kind of thing.” Maybe she’d change her mind later, but right now it was all she could do to face the man who lied to her every day of her life, turned his back on her when he knew she was being abused, and who chose her sister over her at every turn.
Jase gestured for her to precede him down a hallway, where he unlocked another door that led into a reception area where several officers in uniform watched over three men and one woman, all in handcuffs waiting to be processed.
Hawk squeezed her hand. “You sure you want to do this?”
“Yes. He can’t hurt me anymore. Neither of them can. And once I finish this, nothing but happiness for me and you.”
Hawk stared at her, his gaze direct and filled with love. “So damn strong. So optimistic even when you’re facing betrayal. I don’t know how you do it.”
“You’re a thousand times better than what they’ve put me through. I can face this because I’m going home with you. I can fall apart because I know you’ll be there to hold me while I put myself back together. I can imagine the wonderful future I have waiting for me because I know you’re a man of his word and will build it beside me. For the first time in my life, I feel loved. Nothing can touch that. They can’t take that away from me.” She squeezed his hand back and kissed him softly. “Now, I’m going to say what I came here to say.”
“Go get ‘em, sweetheart.”
She walked through the door Jase help open and spotted the cells running along the wall with a wide walkway along the other side of the expansive room. Desiree was in the cell furthest away. Sheriff Collins was in the closest one to her.
Hawk stopped next to her, brought her hand up to his lips for a kiss, then let her go. He stepped back and leaned against the wall.
She stood facing the sheriff, for the first time knowing he was her biological father.
He stood up and met her sharp gaze. “I never wanted you to find out this way. I had no idea Desiree knew the truth about the affair I had with your mother.”
“How did it happen?”
“Desiree overheard Gayle and me talking.”
She shook her head. “No. How did the affair happen?”
“Oh. Well.” He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “We lived across the street when your parents moved in. Newlyweds like us. Gayle had just found out she was pregnant with Desiree. I’d befriended Marty, your mother and Gayle were like peas in a pod. One night about three weeks after they moved in, your mother showed up on our doorstep, bloody lip, swollen eye, and bruises on her arms. She swore he’d never hurt her before, that his rage came out of the blue. She was shaken and upset. I askedher to come inside so I could get her some ice and take her statement. I was just starting out in the sheriff’s department at the time. She refused to press charges, no matter how much I tried to persuade her that men like him were dangerous. If he hit her once, more than likely he’d do it again.”
The sheriff paced the small cell. “You have to understand, I didn’t mean for anything to happen. Gayle was away visiting her sister. I was missing her. I didn’t like being on my own. Joy was…nice.”
She hadn’t heard her mom and dad’s names in a long time. It wasn’t lost on her that the unhappiest wife and mother was named Joy.
“Your mother was a good woman.”
“Until she wasn’t,” Lucky snapped.
The sheriff nodded, acknowledging that her mother had turned just as hard and hurtful as her father. “I wanted to help her. I cleaned her up, made her tea while she iced her wounds and held her hand to offer her some comfort. I felt sorry for her as she confessed that she’d thought Marty was different. She couldn’t understand the man who’d been so sweet and swept her off her feet could turn on her like that.”
She couldn’t get past one thing. “Different how? From other men she’d dated?”
