C.J. Miller - Capturing A Colton

“I know your time is limited, but you could manage.” She could find a way if she were resourceful.

“Wow, thanks, Declan. I appreciate the vote of support. I can’t say that formal school appealed to me before opening the farm. I had a complicated childhood and that led to a confusing adolescence where I looked for attention in the wrong places. If it wasn’t for Mac, I would have gone way, way off the skids. Probably would be working some dead-end job that paid nothing and counting down to the end of the shift. At least with the farm, I love what I do. The hours pass quickly. There are days when I don’t have enough hours to finish. I’m never bored here.”

Declan knew of Mac and had heard good things about the older man from Edith. He had been involved with Livia and managed to leave her without being killed. He owned a ranch in the area and, since reuniting with Edith, had been good to her. “That’s great that you had someone to help you.”

He hadn’t had anyone who’d cared for him in that way. Not a single foster parent took an interest in him. He was a paycheck to them and while he wasn’t ever mistreated, he had never felt the consuming love of family. Edith was the only person in his life who had shared his triumphs and failures.

Jade’s eyes were bright when she looked at him. “For all my misfortune being a Colton, I’ve been blessed.”

Declan wasn’t sure what to make of Jade and that statement. His attraction to her defied explanation and while he had expected someone cold and hard, the warm and generous woman in front of him was a pleasant surprise.

“Can I be blunt with you?” Jade asked.

“I appreciate honesty,” Declan said. He anticipated a question about Edith or River, or maybe his father. He wasn’t quick to talk about any of those subjects, but he was curious what was on Jade’s mind.

“Why did you buy La Bonne Vie?” Jade asked.

Without getting into the emotional reasons for his decision, he could lay out his plan. “It’s a valuable property. The house poses a problem, but I’m tearing that down. I’ll divide up the land and use it for commercial or residential properties.”

Jade frowned. If she had sentimental attachment to her childhood home, he was sorry about that. He hadn’t meant to speak bluntly about the house, but when he spoke of business, he left emotion out of it.

Jade set her sandwich on the wrapper. “Do you think I could visit?”

“The house?” he asked. It was being taken apart by Rafferty Construction. Given Jade’s connection to Allison, she had to know that. Having anyone walk around in the middle of the teardown was dangerous.

“Yes. This might sound strange to you because my mother did bad things in that house, but I’ve had nightmares about that place for years. I’ve never visited, even when the state owned it, because it holds terrible memories and I wasn’t ready to confront them. But I’m ready now.” She lifted her chin.

He admired her courage. He knew all about the ghosts of the past and how they seemed to howl when they were needed the least. “Are you sure you want to see it? You could wait until it’s torn down.” Might give her a sense of peace to know that it was gone.

“No, I need to see it. As it is. I remember the house being huge and grand and I remember my mother moving through hallways like a queen. I want to watch it burn.”

Chapter 3

Like still photographs in her mind, Jade pictured La Bonne Vie. It meant “the good life,” in French, but for her, it was anything but.

Her father being struck in the head by Livia. His body unmoving on the ground. Hurt and pain. Livia flirting with men, touching their chests with her fingertips, leaning close, rubbing against them. Confusion and anger. Livia flying into a rage because something had happened or she’d perceived a slight. Fear. Livia calling to her children, asking them to line up along the grand staircase, looking them over for imperfections, like a hair out of place or not wearing the complete outfit she had purchased for them. As if wearing the wrong-colored socks would distort the image of the Coltons as the perfect family. Resentment and more confusion why they only mattered when other people were watching.

Livia striking her so hard across the face, she had fallen down the stairs. Sadness and hurt. When her father had asked her what had happened, she had lied and said she had slipped. Fear and desperation.

Memories that Jade had never made sense of until after her mother had been arrested: men coming to the house late at night with packages and people. Those packages and people being nowhere in the house the next day.

When Jade was older and bolder, she had found some of her mother’s secret rooms, hidden behind wainscoting and panels and some leading to a complex serious of tunnels under the property around La Bonne Vie. She had also found a book of passwords.

“Are you doing okay? If you’ve changed your mind, I can drive you back to the farm,” Declan said.

Jade had been wringing her hands and she stilled them on her lap. It wasn’t a long drive to La Bonne Vie, but the memories hammered at her so viciously, she wished she could scream out loud. The tension in her chest was nearly unbearable. By confronting the past, she could put it behind her. After La Bonne Vie was torn down, she wouldn’t have the opportunity to gain that closure.

“I’m fine. This is hard for me. There’s a lot about my childhood that still haunts me,” she said.

Declan reached across the car and set his hand over hers. “I’ll be with you. I called and Allison is on-site too. Is there anyone else you’d like to be with you?”

His compassion and warmth struck her and she felt a kinship with him. “I can do this. Maybe I can even help.”

“Help?” he asked.

“I’m sure you’ve found some of the secret passageways tucked around the main house and the other buildings,” Jade said.

“Edith and River found some. The construction team has since done a thorough search. They’ve found and closed a number of them,” Declan said.

“I can show you ones they may have missed,” Jade said.

“Only if you want to,” Declan said.

As he turned his sporty car into the driveway leading to La Bonne Vie, Jade’s breath caught in her throat. The house was different than she remembered. It wasn’t as big as it was in her childhood memories. It looked broken, like she and her siblings were, like anyone who was involved with Livia Colton eventually became.

Construction noises rose around her. Her mother wouldn’t have allowed banging and sawing on the premises when she was in residence. Renovations and additions to the house had been completed when her mother was traveling.

Declan parked his car a good distance away from the house.

Jade stepped out. Taking several deep breaths, she reminded herself she was an adult. Livia had no hold over her. Livia didn’t have power over Jade and her siblings the way she had when they were children.

“She can’t hurt me,” Jade said.

“What?” Declan asked.

Jade shook loose the thought of her mother. Thinking about Livia never brought anything positive. Getting sucked into a spiral of negative thoughts wasn’t something Jade could do anymore. She needed her energy to run Hill Country and she needed to overcome her fear of La Bonne Vie.

“Is it safe to enter anywhere?” Jade asked.

“Yes. Your choice,” Declan said.

Jade walked to the front of the house. She didn’t want to enter from the back as if she were sneaking inside. Piles of broken bricks and debris were stacked outside the house. Large Dumpsters were filled with wood, drywall and trash.

The front porch was crumbling, paint peeling from around the double-door frame. The window to the left was cracked and the window to the right was covered with cardboard. Jade stepped across the threshold.