“Hello, darlin’. I’m Edward, Matt’s daddy. Welcome to our home.” Edward took her hand and kissed it and damned if Tate didn’t actually emit a girlish giggle.
Edward winked at her and Polly snorted. “Edward, don’t you go trying to trade me in on a younger model.”
Edward shook his head at his wife, smiling. “My darling wife, I’d never trade you in. But I do hear Tate’s quite the cook. I was just hedging my bets.”
Tate laughed and Polly grinned at Matt.
Edward introduced himself to her siblings and put Tate’s hand in the crook of his arm, escorting her into the family room where the other Chase boys and their assorted wives were already seated.
Tate saw Kyle and handed him a present, wishing him a happy birthday. Shane moved to her with purpose, giving her a kiss on the cheek and a hug as Cassie followed in his wake. Matt loved that his giant of a brother was so gentle with her. He supposed part of it was Cassie’s doing.
Nicholas saw Tate, squealed in delight and toddled over. She knelt at his level and within moments lay on the carpet, driving cars around.
“My sister is a good person. Kind, smart. She’d do anything for the people she loves.” Nathan stood with Matt as the rest of the group mixed and chatted.
“I love your sister, Nate.”
“I know. She’s afraid of it.”
“Why? I’d never hurt her. She has to know that. I’ve never been violent or even angry with her. I’m always gentle.” It tore him apart that she’d fear him.
Nathan sighed. “Matt, that’s not it entirely. She’s afraid to truly love you and have everything that makes the two of you so different come back to cause her pain. She’s afraid that once you know all of it, everything about our parents, how we came up, you’ll reject her.”
“That’s silly. I don’t care about any of that stuff. Nate, I don’t care where you grew up.”
“You don’t. But others do.”
“Who cares about them?”
“She didn’t tell you.” Nathan hesitated and Matt tore his eyes away from Tate and Maggie playing on the floor with Nicholas to face her brother.
“Tell me what?”
“She’s going to kill me. She needs to tell you herself.”
“Fuck that. Come on, Nathan, you opened the subject up, just tell me.” Matt kept his voice down, not wanting to alert her.
“Melanie and her friends cornered Tate at the market earlier this week. Taunted her. Said she was a gold digger. Called her a whore. They’re boycotting the salon. She’s lost some business.”
Matt blinked, disbelief clouding his brain as he struggled to understand. “What? Why would they do that? Is there some old battle between them or something? I broke things off with Melanie two months before I walked into the salon for the first time and met Tate. I don’t understand.”
“Matt,” Nathan shook his head, “you’re a good guy but you don’t know what it was like to grow up the way we did. Melanie has always been this way about our family. Well, mainly Tate. Always Tate because she’s different. She…” He broke off, pressing his lips together.
“She what? Please, Nathan, she won’t tell me any of this herself. I want to understand her, I want to protect her and I can’t if I don’t know.”
“She’s already going to be pissed I told you this much, Matt. She’s ashamed. We all are but she’s the worst. She protected us all at great risk to herself.”
Sickness roiled through Matt’s gut at the thought of her suffering. Of anyone hurting her, including Melanie. He’d have a few things to tell her when he ran her to ground.
“Dinner! Come on, everyone.” Polly clapped her hands to get attention and Nicholas copied her.
Kyle laughed, scooping his son up and heading toward the dining room.
Matt went to Tate, holding his hand out to help her up, and the smile she gave him as she took it melted any anger he’d had at her for not telling him right away.
Nathan cornered her after the cake, telling her he’d let Matt know about the thing with Melanie.
Humiliation and then a sense of betrayal rushed through her. How dare he? “You did what? How could you do that, Nathan? If I’d wanted him to know I’d have told him myself.”
“He needed to know, Tate. He loves you. He wants to protect you.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I don’t need anyone to protect me, Nathan. I can take care of myself.” No one else ever had, she could count on herself, damn it. Melanie was a stupid bitch and Tate had handled her.
“You don’t need it but you deserve it. I don’t feel bad, honey, so spare me the look. It hasn’t worked on me in ages.”
“It worked on you Thursday, Nathan, when you were arguing with William.”
He tried not to laugh but he couldn’t help it. “Okay, okay, so it still works. Tate, I love you. You don’t know how much. I’ll never be able to put into words how much you mean to me, not in a million years. He wants to be part of your life, why hold him out?”
“What’s going on?” Beth approached and Nathan sighed.
“Nothing.” Tate waved it away. The last thing she wanted was to bring any drama to the Chases’ grand living room.
“I told Matt about what happened with Melanie.”
Tate gasped and then growled at him. He had the good sense to look worried.
“Well good. I don’t know why Tate hadn’t before now.”
“I’m not having this discussion. This is mine. It happened to me. Not you, not Nathan, not Matt. You don’t own it and it’s mine to share or not. You don’t get to make my choices for me. No one gets to make my decisions for me but me. You had no right, Nathan, and you’ve made me look like a pathetic fool.” He took something and used it against her. Matt would feel sorry for her and there was nothing worse than having someone feel sorry for you. Especially when she’d handled it and quite well she thought. Those women didn’t make her feel bad, she meant it when she said she was better than they were. She was.
“Tate, you know I’d never…that’s not what it was. I wanted him to know, to see you, to understand what you face.”
“Damn you, Nathan! I’m not some pathetic little fat chick who needs crumbs from the table of anyone. I trusted you. You’ve humiliated me and I don’t know if I’ll share with you so readily the next time.”
Anger burning through her, she hardened herself against the way his face fell at her words. Instead, she spun and walked away, out into the hallway. And straight into Matt. Could the night get any worse?
“I hear you had quite the little run-in with Melanie earlier this week. You planning to tell me about it before the picnic day after tomorrow?”
“Don’t start on me, Matt. It’s nothing and it doesn’t concern you.” If he hadn’t been so angry at her for not telling him about Melanie, he’d have been amused at the way her chin jutted out and her eyes narrowed at him.
He grabbed her hand and tugged her outside onto the front porch. Cassie and Shane sat snuggled on the glider swing on one side so he hustled her to the opposite end, pulling her into the large chaise with him.
“Tell me.”
“Matt, I told you, it was nothing and I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Well that’s not an option. You can’t not share with me. I care about what happens to you. When I track her down I’m giving her a piece of my mind.”
She stood, moving away from him quickly. “You will do no such thing! It’s handled. I handled it. I don’t need anyone to fight my battles for me.”
“You may not need it but I do. I need to help you, to be a part of your life.” He stood and she backed up a step. He exhaled with frustration. “Don’t do that. I hate when you do that.”
“I need to go.” She darted to the side, toward the steps to the front walk.
“Oh no you don’t, Tate Murphy! You can’t run from me every time I get close.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Matt saw Cassie stand and Shane rose shortly after that. Tate saw it t
oo. Shane’s size worked against them both in that situation.
“You going to stop me?” Tate’s voice trembled a moment but steadied.
By that point several others had come out and at seeing Tate backed up against the porch railing and Shane and Matt looming over her, Nathan shoved them both aside until he reached Tate, pulling her into his arms.
“Get her things,” Nathan said calmly to Beth who turned and went to retrieve their stuff. “Come on, honey, let’s get you home. Why don’t you stay at my house tonight? I’ll even let you make me waffles tomorrow morning.”
Cassie’s hand caught Matt’s elbow and pulled him back. When he turned to her, she shook her head hard, pain clear on her face.
“What the blazes is going on? Matthew, what have you done?” Polly came out and Beth moved around her, their stuff in her arms.
Matt hated that Nathan kept his body between him and Tate as he drew her off the porch and down to the sidewalk.
“I wouldn’t have hurt her. I never…” Matt’s voice caught.
“Matt, there’s something so broken inside me. I know you wouldn’t have hurt me but look how I acted. I can’t control it. Just please, can’t you see how wrong we are?” Tate’s voice was thick with tears.
He moved toward her but Nathan shook his head and Cassie’s fingers dug into his arm.
“Why are you holding me back? I can’t let her go like this.” He looked to Cassie, begging her.
“Look at her, Matt. Leave it. Let her get herself together. Let them help her. You can’t fix her just now.” Cassie’s voice was thick with emotion.
Shane put his arm around Cassie and his cheek against her hair.
Polly looked to him and down at Tate. “Honey, please don’t go like this. This was all a silly misunderstanding. Matt wouldn’t hurt anyone, least of all you. He loves you. Let us be your family too.”
“I know he wouldn’t hurt me!” Tate cried. “Can’t you all see? I can’t even have an argument without turning into some kind of freak. There’s something so wrong with me. Just please, leave me alone.” She paused, looking at Matt sadly. Matt felt a sob building in his gut. “Get away while you can.” She turned and let Nathan guide her down the sidewalk and help her into the car.
“Tate, I love you. You’re not broken, damn it. You’re beautiful and wonderful and I’ll call you tomorrow,” Matt called out.
Anne and Beth got in the car on either side of Tate, both putting their arms around her.
Matt saw her body shake, knowing she wept. He had to lean against the railing to keep his knees from buckling as the car pulled away.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me she was abused?” Cassie asked softly.
“I don’t even know the whole story! Bits and pieces is all I’ve heard. The dad is a drunk, the mom ran off a lot. They were poor, neglected. I don’t know the extent of the situation. I know she’s got major issues around eating because of whatever the hell the dad said to her and she took the brunt of a lot of emotional crap because she’s not really his.” Matt shoved a hand through his hair and began to pace. “I shouldn’t have let her go. We could have worked it out.”
“Matt, she was on the verge of losing it. Her family will know what to do.”
“You have to help her, Cassie. Will you help her?” Matt pulled her hands into his.
She nodded. Cassie had been physically and mentally abused for several years by her ex, a man who tried to kill her twice. In the wake of a devastated medical career and no longer able to perform the complicated surgery she used to excel at, she’d become a victim’s advocate.
“I’ll try, honey. You’ve got to try and rein in your frustration when she flinches from you. It’s not about you. She already knows it’s bad, she knows it has nothing to do with you or how she feels about you.”
Polly kissed Cassie’s cheek before hugging Matt’s side. “We’ll all help her. She’s a good girl. A smart one.”
“Melanie started all this and I’m going to have a word with her about that.” Matt wanted to shake some sense into his ex. How could she have been so stupid? And how could he not have seen what a horrible person she was while they dated?
“Melanie?” Polly’s voice held warning.
He told them all about what Nathan had said and Polly was fit to be tied. “You leave that girl to me, you hear? The last thing we need is for her to spread rumors that a Chase boy threatened her. She and I will have a talk. Boycott my daughter-in-law-to-be’s shop? I think not. Not if she wants everyone to keep shopping at her father’s florist.”
Edward laughed, the tension easing on the porch.
Matt was pulling on his shoes when his phone rang. He’d left multiple messages for Tate but she’d shied away from replying. He knew from Nathan that she was all right. Mortified by her reaction at his parents’ house and trying to process everything.
He left her a voicemail telling her he’d be picking her up for the July Fourth picnic at two. He planned to hash things out with her for a few hours before they met their assorted family members at the park for food and fireworks later on.
Half expecting it to be her trying to dodge, he was surprised to see Shane’s cell on the display screen.
“Hey there,” he answered as he stood to grab his keys and head for the door.
“Matt, Tate’s at the hospital.”
Matt sat down again. “What? Oh my God! Shane, is she all right? What happened?”
“I don’t know everything. It happened at her parents’ trailer. She’s got a head wound. I’m on my way to the hospital just now. She’s unconscious. One of my deputies is asking questions at the scene. I thought you’d want to know.”
“Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. I’ll be there as fast as I can.”
He ran out the door, calling Nathan and getting voicemail. Getting the same from every other one of her siblings he tried. He called his mother and she told him they’d meet him there.
He burst through the emergency room doors and the staff directed him upstairs. Rushing up the stairwell three steps at a time, he saw her family, Shane and Cassie there waiting.
“What happened? Is she conscious?”
“My father happened,” Tim said, his voice tight and very controlled.
“Your father put her in the hospital?” A sense of cold, deadly calm slid through Matt then. He’d never been one for fighting, always a kind of laid back guy but at that moment he was sure he could have beaten the hell out of Bill Murphy.
“One of their neighbors heard an argument. Nothing new. He called Tate because it got pretty bad. My dad and mom were on the steps, screaming at each other. He kept threatening to kill her.
“Tate went because that’s what Tate does. Tate fixes things. According to my mother, Tate arrived and tried to calm my dad down. Told him someone would call the cops if he didn’t stop yelling. She went up the steps to the little landing where he was standing. He pushed at her, to get her away and she lost her footing and fell back. She hit her head on the concrete pad the trailer sits on.”
Nathan put his arm around his older brother and took up the story. It occurred to Matt that this probably wasn’t the first time something like this had to be related to someone else.
“Head wounds bleed a lot. My mom saw it and yelled at one of the neighbors to call the cops. My dad took off.”
“We were already on the way.” Shane put his hand on Matt’s shoulder. “Thank God, one of the neighbors had already decided things were too far gone and called 911. An ambulance got there right as we did and brought her here. We’ve got a warrant out for her father.”
“Can I see her? Is she going to be all right?” Helplessness clawed at Matt, thoughts of her alone and hurt in the hospital bed filled his brain.
“She’s unconscious but they said her vitals were good. I’ve had a few concussions. She’s in for a long night of being poked awake every hour but Tate is strong, she’ll be all right. Physically.” Cassie smiled at him, squeezing his shoulder.
&nbs
p; Matt swallowed and nodded. If he fell back on his professional training as well as the support of his family and his love for her, he’d be a bigger help to her.
“Where’s your mother?” Matt looked back at Tate’s siblings.
Nathan’s mouth flattened and he shook his head. “She’s at home. Apparently she told the cops she doesn’t remember much about what happened even though what she told Tim was pretty detailed. Said she had to get out of town. She’s more worried that she might have to testify and it’ll put a kink in her social calendar than about Tate.”
“I’ve got to see her.” Matt had to hold it together for Tate’s sake.
“Go on in.” Tim nodded. “She needs you.”
“Little Venus? Hey, gorgeous, time to wake up.”
Tate opened her eyes and found herself staring into the most beautiful eyes she’d ever seen. Matt. Then the light brought a sharp new blast of pain to her head and she winced.
“What happened?” she croaked.
“Your father,” he ground out through clenched teeth. “He was drunk and arguing with your mother. Threatening to hurt her.”
“Oh that’s right. I went up the steps to try and calm him down. His face was so red, I thought he might have a stroke or something. He turned to me, screaming, his hands waving all around. He went to push me back and I lost my footing and slipped. Hit my head on something.”
“Yeah, the damned concrete. He could have killed you.”
“Is he all right?”
“You’re worried about him?”
“He was so red. It’s hot. He was drunk, really drunk. Is my mother all right?”
“She’s fine.” Tate may have had a head wound but she knew enough to understand his silence meant her mother hadn’t bothered to show up. Tate wished it didn’t hurt as bad as it did, still these years later.
Matt brushed fingers up her arm. “Your dad left the scene. There’s a warrant. Don’t you feel sorry for him. Damn it, Venus. My brother has blood all over his uniform pants from where he rushed to you when he got there. Why didn’t you call me?”