Part 17:
Lance jumped out of bed, unable to believe his stupidity. He dressed quickly and left, going straight to Miss Beckie’s place. He knew that was where he would find her. He strode purposefully through the door and just happened to catch her at the bottom of the stairs.
Cassie didn’t have time to even take a breath as Lance walked over to her, grabbed her, and kissed her forcefully. She didn’t react at first, then lost herself in the kiss. When they broke apart, both panting, her eyes were wide with shock. "I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you before now," he said softly.
"Well . . . I suppose changing my name to teach here didn’t help." She was grasping for words.
Lance smiled. "And you certainly look different than when I saw you last. I had given up hope of ever seeing you again, and I knew I could never love anyone else." He kissed her again and they didn’t break apart until the clapping and whistling from the top of the stairs seeped into their brains.
"Why don’t you come with me to the parlor?" Cassie said, blushing a lovely shade of pink. Lance himself was bright red. He nodded and followed her.
This time when he saw her, he knew his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him. He followed them to Miss Beckie’s place and everything fell into place. He knew who this mysterious "Angel" was and why Justin hadn’t wanted him to see her. They took no notice of him as he followed them. The mayor’s daughter had hugged her and then gone inside her house before they continued on here. He was slightly surprised to see the mayor and his wife come back out with their daughter and head straight for Miss Beckie’s, not caring who saw them. Oh, well, it was none of his business. He shrugged and opened the door. There she was, on her way up the stairs. "Aren’t you even going to say hello?"
Angel froze mid-step and turned around very slowly, fear and pain evident on her face. "What’s wrong, ANGEL? Think you’d never see me again?" One step closer. Two. Luke was still outside. "Do you know what it did to me to return home after that trip and find you gone?" Three. Four. She started to run up the stairs but he caught her by the arm. "Look at me!" His grip was like iron. She looked up slowly, tears pouring down her face.
"Just let me go," she whispered. "You don’t want me."
"Why? Because you left me? Because you abandoned our four month old child?"
"STOP IT! STOP IT!" she screamed, wrenching away from him and running up the stairs. He caught her again at the top.
"DAMN IT, MARIANNE! QUIT RUNNING FROM ME! YOU AT LEAST OWE ME AN EXPLANATION AS TO WHY MY OWN WIFE JUST LEFT ME WITHOUT A WORD!" He was yelling, but it was the pain behind his words that finally got through to her. She stopped struggling and just collapsed against him, sobbing. He just held her, unable to believe that it was really her. Slowly he sank down, sitting at the top of the stairs with her in his lap. He didn’t pay any heed to the various people staring at them. Miss Beckie was standing in the doorway of her room. Josh and Sarah were at the front door with Katie. Lance and Cassie had come out of the kitchen when the yelling started. Chris was on the porch, watching them through the open door. Elisabeth, Angela, Monique, and the others had all come from various rooms to find out what was happening.
Eventually she calmed down enough to stand. She took him into her room and closed the door, leaving the curious onlookers with no answers. Of all of them, Chris and Beckie were the ones who knew the most.
After locking the door, she sat weakly on the bed. "Why did you leave?"
"You didn’t want me anymore. That much was clear in your letter."
"Which letter?" he asked, clearly confused.
"Oh please, Joe, the only letter you sent the whole time you were gone."
"Don’t even try that. I wrote you every day, sometimes two and three times a day."
"I only got one." She stood and walked over to the desk, unlocking the drawer with a key she kept on a chain around her neck and taking out a small wooden box. She opened it and took out a worn letter. She handed it him and he took it out of the envelope. It had been read many times, as evidenced by the fact that it seemed ready to simply fall apart. His eyes got wider and his anger built.
"I didn’t write that," he hissed, "but I think I know who did."
She simply looked at him and shook her head sadly. "I still don't get it, Mare . . . even if you thought I did, why did you leave Rachel?"
Tears welled up in her eyes. Just the name hurt. "Don’t do that. Don’t act like she was there for me to leave. When Rachel died . . . they told me right before the letter . . . God, Joe, I just fell apart . . . I couldn’t stay there alone . . ."
He stared at her in shock. "What do you mean ‘When Rachel died’? Mare, nothing happened to Rachel. I got home and you were gone and they told me you just walked out. I was going to come after you, but they said there was an accident . . ." He stopped and stood, hands fisted. "I CAN NOT BELIEVE THEY DID THIS!" he yelled, punching the wall. He knocked a big hole in the plaster. He got control and looked at his wife. "Marianne, Angel-girl . . . it wasn’t true. None of it was true. I don’t know why but they wanted you gone."
The significance of that hit her and she started sobbing again. Her baby was alive and she wasn’t there. He held her while she cried and it felt so good just to feel his arms around her again. her sobs subsided and her anger grew. How dare they! They stole her baby, made her believe her marriage wasn’t real and that he didn’t love her . . . . By the time the tears had dried, she was as coldly furious as her husband. There was a knock at the door and they heard Justin’s voice. The door opened to reveal her equally furious brother. At the foot of the stairs, being watched by Luke and Anna, were the very people she was ready to shred limb from limb.
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