He knew the truth. She couldn’t do it alone any longer.
She didn’t want to.
And she didn’t have to, either.
Then Louis put his arms around both of them and hugged them. “Love you, sis,” he softly said. “I promise I’ll take care of you.”
“You’re my baby brother,” she mumbled against Walt’s chest. “I’m supposed to take care of you.”
“You can take care of each other,” Walt said. “And believe me, honey, I’m going to be teaming up with Louis to get reports on whether or not you’re taking care of yourself when I’m not around.”
She looked up at him. “Why wouldn’t you be around?”
“When I’m at work and you’re home, duh.” He kissed her forehead. Then he disengaged from both of them, pulled something from his pocket, and took her left hand in his as he knelt in front of her. “I wanted to wait to do this so he could be here for it. I love you, and I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Even if we’re swimming upstream, even if it’s the two of us against nature, then that’s fine by me. Will you marry me?”
More tears. At least today’s tears were mostly happy, mixed with melancholy.
Louis laughed. “You gonna give him an answer, sis?”
She realized she’d been staring at the ring and not answering him. “Yes!”
Walt slipped the ring onto her finger, standing and pulling her in for a kiss. Then he looked at Louis. “If you haven’t guessed, Kimbra’s family sort of adopted you and Holly. They still consider me family, so it’ll be a real party when they find out about this.”
Louis wiped at his eyes before going in for another hug with Walt. “Thank you, man. Thank you for everything. Ms. Luzon told me everything you did to make this happen.”
“Hey, all I did was talk to people. And I wouldn’t call her that, if I were you. She’ll expect you to call her Kimbra.”
They heard a car pull up outside.
Walt gave Holly another kiss. “That will be some of the troops invading. Let me get the rest of his stuff unloaded from my truck, then we can start celebrating.” He patted Louis on the shoulder. “Decide what you want for dinner before Momma does, or we’re going to have enough food here to feed a small Latin American country by the time she gets done cooking.”
Holly led Louis down to his bedroom. “I kept it the way you had it. I guess that’s kind of silly, but I couldn’t stand to change anything. All I did was dust and wash your sheets and the dirty clothes and stuff.”
“Thanks, sis. I guess I probably need new clothes. I probably won’t fit in much anymore.”
“We’ll take you shopping—”
Louis pointed at her. “You’ll take it easy.” He smiled. “Walt’s right. I’m going to snitch if you do too much. Kimbra said we’ll probably be able to earn money from speaking fees, and maybe even a book deal or something before the lawsuit goes through. I want to take care of you, sis. I want you to be able to quit working and heal.”
“I’m just glad to have you home. You have no idea.” She hugged him again and noticed now he was gentler that he knew about her fibromyalgia, not hugging her as tightly.
“I wish I could have seen Sasha one more time,” he said. “She’s gonna think I disappeared. She was doing so good.”
“Is that the dog you were training?”
“Yeah. She was real skittish when she came in. I had to work a lot more with her than we usually do, but she was doing so good. Best dog I’ve ever trained. Smart, too.”
Holly had a thought, but then Walt brought another two boxes in. “One more trip,” he said. “And Kimbra’s outside, on her cell. I think she’s got more reporters coming to film the homecoming.” He turned and left.
Louis sank onto his bed, Holly sitting next to him. “This doesn’t feel real, you know? You know how many times I dreamed I was home and opened my eyes and I was locked in a cell? I’d talk to a chaplain there every week. Not because I was religious, but just to keep from losing hope, you know?”
She stroked his arm, didn’t want to quit touching him. “You’re home. You’re home, and I’ll be damned if I’m letting you out of my sight for a while.”
* * * *
Walt was grabbing the last two boxes out of his truck when Momma and Papi pulled into the driveway and parked behind Kimbra’s car, followed immediately by Lynn and Terrie’s group. He ducked past Kimbra, leaning in.
“Hold ’em off for another minute, okay?”
She nodded and turned without skipping a beat in the conversation she was currently having, walking toward the driveway to intercept them.
Walt slowed as he approached the bedroom door, not wanting to interrupt this time any more than necessary. “The troops are approaching,” he joked as he set the boxes down.
“Okay,” Holly said. She wiped at her face. “I need to go put on…” She stared down at what she was wearing. “Wait, I guess I can’t just put on something comfortable.” She let out a heavy sigh.
“Why not, sweetheart?” Walt asked.
“The press. I don’t want them thinking… I don’t know. I just don’t want to look horrible.” She reached up and straightened Louis’ tie. “I don’t want to make him look bad.”
“Go kick your shoes off and take off your jacket, at least,” Walt suggested. “That’ll make you feel better.”
“Yeah.” She’d worn slacks, a blouse, and a blazer over that. “I took over Mom’s bedroom,” she told Louis. “My room’s an office.”
“Office?” He stepped out of his room and looked into the door of what had been her bedroom. “Holy…sis? What is all this?”
“That,” Walt said from behind them, “is how much she loves you. You think that’s a lot, you should have seen the boxes of files and paperwork Kimbra took with her and has at her office.” He kissed Holly. “Go get a little more comfy, sweetie. People are arriving.”
She did.
Louis stood there, still staring.
“I know the two of you need alone time,” Walt softly said. “So if you want me to go home tonight, I will.”
Louis shook his head. “I’m good, man.” But he sounded…in shock.
“You were her life,” he said. “Believe it or not. The whole time you were in, she never stopped fighting for you. Even when she felt horrible, she always put you first. Any time she had energy, or money, it wasn’t for her, it was for you. She even got ripped off by one attorney.”
Louis nodded.
Walt patted him on the shoulder. “I’m going to tell Kimbra it’s okay to let people in. You ready?”
“Yeah.” He seemed to shake himself, then turned. “Thank you,” he said. “Thanks for everything.” He hugged Walt.
“I love her,” Walt said. “Plain and simple. I’m not glad this happened to you guys, but I’m glad that I was in the right place at the right time to be here for you both.”
“Me, too.” His face drew tight, his lips trembling. “I just wish I’d been here at the right time to save Mom.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Momma and Papi had appointed themselves in charge of taking care of Holly’s house and the food and making sure everything was okay there while Kimbra and Walt shuttled the siblings through the first round of interviews. They had time to eat lunch before Walt drove them to Kimbra’s office to be there for the next round of interviews.
Holly didn’t think anyone would really care about what she had to say beyond how happy she was that Louis was finally home.
Boy, was she ever wrong.
As she talked with the reporters, she tried to point their focus back onto Louis, where it belonged, tried to let him answer questions as she sat there holding hands with him.
Maybe he was overwhelmed, she didn’t know. She knew she was overwhelmed and more than grateful when Kimbra stepped in to answer questions on their behalf.
Walt stood in the back of the conference room, always where she could see him, look to him and meet his gaze, his nods
of encouragement helping her get through the process.
Eventually, Kimbra wrapped it up and called an end to the interviews. Once the reporters started packing their equipment, Kimbra shuttled Holly, Louis, and Walt into her private office and shut the door behind them.
Kimbra brushed her hair back from her forehead. “Okay. That went well. Expect it to be a little less crazy tomorrow, because those will be one-on-one, not several reporters at once.”
“You’ll be with us, right?” Louis asked, echoing Holly’s sentiments exactly.
“Absolutely.” She hugged him. “I’m not leaving you two alone to face the media.”
“And me,” Walt added. “I’ll be there.”
“Don’t you have to work?” Holly asked.
“I told them I’m taking the week off. I want to be available for both of you.”
Kimbra glanced at the time. “Why don’t you take them on home? I’ll stop by the mall and pick up another couple of shirts for Louis.”
When they walked out to Walt’s truck, Louis wouldn’t let Holly sit in back and insisted she take the front passenger seat.
“Sweetheart,” Walt said, using that tone, “get in the front.”
His tone brooked no resistance and it took everything she had not to reply with the, “Yes, Sir,” that wanted to escape her lips.
“I can’t believe how much has changed,” Louis said as Walt drove them home. “Feels like I’ve been gone forever. I can’t believe I’m not going back to that cell tonight.”
“A lot of people have been fighting for you,” Walt said. “I’m sorry I held back the news about the evidence, but I didn’t want to get your hopes up.”
Holly reached over and rested her hand on Walt’s thigh. He laid his over it, stroking the back of her hand with his thumb.
“Kimbra said I should expect to feel pretty emotional right now,” Louis quietly said. “I don’t think that even comes close to how I feel. I didn’t even get to go to Mom’s funeral.”
“I didn’t have one,” Holly told him. “For either of them. All I did was go to a memorial service some of Mom’s friends set up. I had a feeling I wasn’t very welcomed there, though. They thought you were guilty. I stayed for a little bit, then left when they started talking about Jason. They didn’t know the real him.”
“No,” Louis said, sounding angry. “They sure didn’t.”
Other than at the trial, they hadn’t really talked about what Louis had walked into that afternoon. He’d seemed reluctant to burden her with the details. She looked back at him. “He was an adult, Louis. Retired military. And he was drunk. You’re lucky he didn’t kill you. Thank god he taught you how to shoot.”
He stared out the window. “I keep thinking how maybe I wasted time at first. I saw you and him struggling when I walked in, and then I saw Mom, but I thought maybe he was fighting whoever had attacked Mom. There was so much blood on your face, I didn’t realize it was you until I saw your watch. I was in shock. I screamed at him, and he looked at me like he didn’t even know me. That’s when I saw the gun on the table and I grabbed it. He dropped you and came for me and I didn’t want to shoot him.”
Louis let out a sniffle. “I begged him to stop. He hit me and tried to grab the gun and I realized I had to shoot him. I smelled the booze on him. I just pulled the trigger and kept pulling until it was empty, and he fell. Then I grabbed the phone and called 911.”
Her brother looked at her. “I heard you moaning so I checked Mom and she had a pulse but she wasn’t moving. There was so much blood on both of you. I was scared, but at least I knew if he was hurt badly enough, he probably couldn’t get up again and come after me. I begged you both not to die.”
She knew some of that from the 911 call tapes, where Louis could be heard sobbing, crying, barely coherent and able to understand the operator as he begged Holly and their mom to open their eyes.
Tears rolled down his cheeks. “The damn cops who showed up didn’t want to believe I was your brother at first. Finally looked at my ID and the pictures in the living room. Assholes. They still handcuffed me even though I begged to go to the hospital with you and Mom. The jerks who questioned me are the ones who told me Mom died. Wanted me to confess to doing it. They shocked me with it. Assholes.
“I told them Jason had to be drunk or crazy or something. That I smelled booze on him. Even the next day, after they found out he’d been fired and realized he had been drunk, they still tried to get me to confess. To say I hurt you and Mom. Threatened to say it was pre-meditated and give me the death penalty unless I confessed to a lesser charge. I told them I wasn’t going to lie and say I hurt you and Mom when I didn’t. And I shot Jason in self-defense. Would love an apology from those bastards.”
She reached back and held her hand out to him, relieved when he finally took hers and gently squeezed. “I always believed you,” she said. “Even when the cops questioned me and tried to get me to say you did it, I told them there was no way you could have done it. That if you said Jason did it, then Jason did it. They didn’t tell me about him getting fired, either. Your attorney did. I didn’t know anything about the court system then. I thought the attorney would show the evidence and you’d be freed. I never thought they’d convict you.”
“Kimbra will make sure all that comes out,” Walt said. “She wants Salazar’s head on a platter. He’ll be lucky if he’s not up on charges by the time she finishes with him. Any cops who engaged in misconduct will be in her sights, too.”
“All I want to do now is get on with our lives,” Louis said. “I want it to be over. I want to take care of Holly. Mom and Dad would want me to do that. I need to get a job.”
“You need to spend some time decompressing first,” Holly said. “You might be taller than me, but you’re still my little brother. And you need to go to school.”
Louis smiled. “At least I can get stuff out of the top cabinets for you now without needing a chair.”
A laugh escaped her. “Yes, you sure can.” That had been a running joke between them. He loved to help her cook, and instead of her getting stuff, he’d jumped to do it, needing to climb onto a chair to reach the top cabinets. “I missed my cooking buddy.”
“I missed you, too, sis.”
They’d been a team, inseparable growing up, and still close even as teenagers and after Holly graduated college and started working.
There’d hardly been a day she hadn’t seen her little brother.
Until that day.
“I’m so glad you’re home, you have no idea,” she said.
“Me, too, sis.”
* * * *
By the time they returned to Holly’s, there was a veritable feast set out in the kitchen and on the dining room table, the house overflowing with food and Luzon relatives all eager to meet and hug their newest addition.
Even Walt, who was used to the large family, found it slightly overwhelming. He couldn’t believe Holly hadn’t already retreated to her bedroom for a few minutes. At one point he snagged her arm and led her down the hall, closing the door on the celebrations.
“Are you all right?”
She didn’t look all right. She looked like she was in agony. “I’ll be okay.”
“Get your clothes off and lay down on the bed.” He headed for her closet.
“What?”
“You heard me. I’m going to put your TENS unit on you, and you’re going to change into something comfy. You need to decompress or you’re going to be unable to move tomorrow.”
She finally started following his orders. When he returned with her TENS unit kit, he quickly got it positioned and set for her, then helped her pull on one of her soft jersey sundresses. She had to hook the unit onto the front neckline, where it awkwardly hung there.
She stared at it. “Well this is attractive.”
He smiled. “Hey, at least people will think twice before trying to hug you.”
“True.”
When they emerged from the bedroom and rejoined th
e others, Momma had hooked an arm through Louis’ and was talking with him and one of Kimbra’s sisters.
“Looks like Momma’s got a new son,” Walt murmured in Holly’s ear.
She smiled. “I hope he likes them. This is a lot for him to take in.”
“I think Louis is going to do just fine once the shock wears off and Papi stuffs him full of picadillo and fried plantains.”
* * * *
Walt was the last one to leave at a little after ten that night. He stayed to make sure everyone else cleared out at a reasonable hour so Holly and Louis could get some rest, and to help clean up, knowing if he didn’t that Holly would wear herself out.
He’d left the choice for him to spend the night up to her. At first, she’d wanted him to, but then she changed her mind.
Not because she didn’t want him there, but she needed alone time with Louis. Walt would return early the next morning to stay with them throughout the day, support them.
Be their steady rock.
She stared at the engagement ring she now wore. Another huge change in her life, another good change.
Now that the hard part was over, all she wanted to do was collapse and cry.
Holly kept walking down to Louis’ room and peeking through the open doorway to check on him.
To make sure he was really there.
To make sure it hadn’t just been a dream, that he was home and free and finally out of that nightmare.
Kimbra warned that there might be some posturing on the part of the state attorney’s office, threats to refile the case, but as more people jumped on the bandwagon about how horrible Salazar was, the chances of the state wanting the additional embarrassment of a retrial dramatically dropped. Especially since Kimbra would argue double jeopardy if they were stupid enough to refile the case, an argument the judge would likely agree with, given the circumstances.
There was also the possibility of them being able to settle the lawsuit much sooner than anticipated, especially since Kimbra wanted to go after the sheriff’s office for their investigation. With that amount of ugly raining down on the county’s head, along with pressure from the media, they’d be eager to settle, Kimbra hoped.