A Hidden Truth

Leaving Home

[3rd person]

    Teddy pulled out his phone as he headed to his room. He knew he needed more than just Carson. This was the only chance they’d get at Hank’s office. He dialed Kelly.

    “Teddy? Why’re you callin’? I thought the thing worked.” She answered.

    “It did, but it opened a whole can of worms. Marie-Rose knew. She kicked Juni out. We need you over here tomorrow. We’re crackin’ his office while we work on movin’ me and Juni out.” He responded.

    “That fuckin’ b***h! I’m callin’ Tammy. We’re comin’ tonight. Amber can’t come ‘til tomorrow, but we’re gonna help you guys and get the fucker thrown in prison. Then Marie-Rose’ll suffer. She’s not gettin’ away with this.” Kelly snarled.

    He knew better to argue with an angry woman. Especially, since he thought Juniper could use all the support she could get.

    “Text or call me when you get here and I’ll open the gate. I need to find out if we can stay with Carson or if we need to find a place.”

    “Call the sheriff. He’ll need to know and he can find a place for you if you need.” She told him. “We’ll be there in a bit.”

    Kelly hung up and Teddy smiled. Those girls were much better friends to his sister than the others would have been. None of the rodeo or pageant girls were going to go against a sponsor, no matter how much they loved their friend. Teddy dialed Carson next.

    “Hey, Teddy. What happened?” Carson answered.

    “Mama knew. She kicked Juni out. I’m leavin’ too. We have until tomorrow night. Can you come over tomorrow mornin’? Do you have room for us at your place?” He asked.

    “I knew mama was half gone, but that’s disgustin’. I can come over first thing. I live in a one-bedroom, though, and I’m not sure Camille would be happy with you two joinin’ us in the bed. Talk to Red. He has houses around town and a few on the ranch. He might even be able to give you work until you find somethin’.” Carson answered.

    “Thanks. Kelly’s comin’ tonight. I told mama to stay in her room until we leave. It should give us plenty of time.”

    “How’s Juni?” Carson asked.

    “She’s doin’ her best right now. It broke her heart. She’s havin’ trouble processin’ how mama could let it happen. I’m callin’ Trace next then Red. Should I be callin’ Beau or Jaxon?”

    “No. Beau has other things he’s workin’ on tomorrow and I don’t want Juni or the other girls distracted by Jaxon. Let’s just focus on gettin’ y’all somewhere safe.” Carson told him.

    “Got it. Good night, Car. Love you.”

    “Love you too, big brother. See you tomorrow.”

    They hung up. Teddy was happier than he felt he should be. It was like their lives had stagnated in the last few years, but now there was room to grow and change. He called Trace and Red. Both said they would be over with trucks the next day to help with moving. Red offered a two-bedroom guest house on his ranch.

    He promised Clayton would stay away, and he would let Becca know bothering Juniper would result in her expulsion from training. There was nothing else they could do from there.

    Right after he hung up, the call came in from Kelly. They were at the gate. Teddy went to the entry and hit the button to open the gate. A few minutes later, he saw headlights and he opened the front door. Kelly and Tammy stormed past him and up to Juniper’s room. They each had backpacks and angry faces.

    He followed them to Juniper’s room and watched as they went in and wrapped her in a hug. She stood, frozen, confused. Juniper looked at Teddy. He shrugged.

    “You needed your friends. They wanted to come tonight. You try and stop ‘em when they get that angry tone. I’ll go work on packin’ for a while, then I’ll come check on you. If you don’t need me, then I can sleep in my room.”

    “Thank you, Teddy. I love you.” She murmured.

    “I love you too, Juni-bug. Have fun with your friends.” He said as he closed the door.

    Teddy returned to his room. He worked on packing. The positive about having a stagnant life was, he didn’t accrue much. His focus was on Juniper and Remy, so he didn’t have much time for hobbies. His phone buzzed and he looked. It was a text from Gary. He smiled and responded.

    They ended up texting for a couple hours while he worked on packing. Gary promised to come help him out during the move. Teddy’s heart fluttered. It was like his life had moved from slow motion to fast forward. 

    Now, a gorgeous man wanted to spend time with him. And he didn’t have to turn him down. He thought about the kiss Gary had given him earlier. It wasn’t as big and flashy as Juni and Jaxon, but it made his toes curl and his face feel hot.

    Teddy went to check on the girls and they were all asleep. Most of the room had been packed up. He stood and watched his sister sleep. She looked peaceful. Something he hadn’t seen in a while. A soft moan came with a shift. Oh no… a repeat of last night. He hustled out of the room. Let the girls deal with her Jaxon dreams, he wanted nothing to do with them tonight.

**** 

    The next morning, Teddy was awakened by his phone ringing. It was Carson at the gates. He pulled on his pajama pants and went to set the gates to stay open. When he’d finished, he went to the kitchen to let Twyla know they were moving out. She only came in for an hour on Sunday morning, before church, to set a supper in the crockpot and write up a grocery list. She didn’t ask why, only told them to keep in touch since they both had her number. He promised they would.

    Teddy returned to the entry and opened the door. Red, Trace, Karen, Carson, his fiancée Camille, and Amber were waiting. They trooped into the house and were directed to the living room by Teddy while he went to wake the girls.

    Opening Juniper’s door, he found an angry looking Tammy. Juniper and Kelly were clinging together in their sleep.

    “What’s up, Tammy?” He asked.

    “She talks in her sleep. She never used to.” Tammy answered.

    “Was it another Jaxon dream?” Teddy grinned.

    “So that’s the guy she likes? The one who was in the motel with you? I thought he was your boyfriend.” She replied.

    “No. Jax is straight and just as hot for her as she is for him. Everyone’s here. Even Amber. We should wake them up.”

    “Wait.” She climbed off the bed and walked over to him. “It wasn’t Jaxon. The dream. I’m worried. Kelly’s a deep sleeper, she didn’t hear it. Teddy, it was Hank. She called him daddy.”

    “Marie-Rose accused her of tryin’ to steal him. Her brain must’ve decided to show her what it’d be like if she wanted him. If you’d seen her and Jaxon yesterday, you wouldn’t be as troubled. Juni’d been worried about last night for weeks. Her stress level was through the roof. Mix in her findin’ a guy she likes and her brain’s gonna go a little loopy.” He responded.

    “Actually.” Juniper said from the bed. “The other night. I thought of Jaxon the whole time. It’s more likely, part of me was getting excited about having s*x while thinking of Jaxon. But everything yesterday was reminding me, it was Hank I’d be sleeping with. Things got mixed up. I can assure you, in my dream, that was not my stepfather.” She blushed.

    “Thank god. Let’s get up and get you moved. Then we can work on fixing your brain.” Tammy said.

    They woke Kelly, then gathered everyone in Juniper’s room. She was introduced to Red, Karen, and Camille, who was Trace and Karen’s only daughter. Amber hugged Juniper tightly, while Carson hid behind the crowd.

    “I’m mad at you for speaking out of turn, Carson. But I still love you and I missed you. Can I have a hug?” She said after releasing her friend.

    Carson grinned broadly and bounded over to sweep his little sister up in his arms. He hugged her so hard things popped and she squeaked. Teddy was happy. So was Camille, who’d felt so badly about Carson’s estrangement from his siblings.

    “Okay. I want the sheriff and his wife with me. I can say I was giving them a tour of the house if we get caught.” Kelly said.

    “The house is minimally staffed on weekends. Only Twyla and she’s come and gone already. We can get Remy to help with carrying things so he won’t see anything. He likes helping out.” Juniper stated calmly.

    Kelly and Tammy had explained what they were doing and the plans the Cleaners had for Hank. She was going to make sure everything went off as well as possible. It gave her something other than her emotions to focus on.

    “Marie-Rose is in her room. We can send Camille to see to her. She’ll stay there if she knows Carson is here. Camille, can you get a good rant goin’? I want to make certain she doesn’t try sneakin’ around.” Teddy asked.

    “There are a few things I’ve wanted to tell your mama for a couple years now.” Camille told them with an angry scowl.

    “I like her.” Juniper whispered to Carson. “She’s got fire in her.”

    “Yeah. And endless patience for me.” He laughed.

    “Everyone else, let’s get these rooms packed up. We don’t need the beds, desks or dressers. The guest house has them. You can live there as long as you want, rent free. You two are helping out enough to pay for it several times over.” Red told them.

    “Thank you, Mr. Reed. I appreciate it.” Juniper said softly.

    “My son’ll leave you alone. You tell me if he or Becca get on you. Tamsin and I’ll handle it.” He smiled.

    The groups broke up. Juniper went to get Remy. He was sad she and Teddy were leaving, but was happy to help and to meet Carson again. He didn’t remember his older brother. Carson made sure Remy knew he was loved and they would come running if he ever needed them. All he had to do was call. He left his number in the address book by the house phone and made sure Remy knew it was a secret.

    While everyone else went to pack up, Camille went to pound on Marie-Rose’s door and call her every insulting name she could think of. She insulted her parenting, her womanhood, and her behavior as a Christian woman. Then she started telling her how disappointed her father would’ve been in her for how she treated her children and her purposeful ignorance.

    In her room, Marie-Rose was boiling with anger, but refused to say even one peep. She wasn’t going to give the rude girl the satisfaction of her response. Her gaze out the window showed her everything she needed to know.

    Three trucks had shown up and she had seen the sheriff and his wife get out of one. Carson and a woman got out of another. And Frederick Reed had gotten out of the third with Juniper’s friend Amber. Now, one of the most prominent men in town, was helping load trucks with her children’s belongings. Juniper had fooled some pretty powerful people.

    Kelly led Trace and Karen to Hank’s office. They all put on neoprene gloves Karen had taken from work and Kelly started to pick the locks on the door, after confirming the door was actually locked. Hank hadn’t thought someone would pick the lock, and he didn’t get a pick proof lock for the door. Kelly got it open in moments.

    Trace was impressed with the girl’s skills. They hustled into the room and started searching through everything. Whenever they came across a locked drawer, Kelly was set to open it. A couple hours later, they’d been through everything, but hadn’t found much to go on.

    Kelly started looking behind things and under furniture and drawers. Being careful to not disturb things as much as possible. She found a small manila envelope and a jump drive taped to the underside of the desk in a big drawer. Excusing herself, she ran back to Juniper’s room to get her computer.

    Trace opened the envelope and pulled out its contents. Karen gasped. They were pictures. Pictures of Juniper from much younger than fifteen all the way up. She didn’t seem to notice they were being taken. In some she was wearing swimsuits, in others shorts and tank tops, and in a few she was in the bath or shower. Toward the end of the stack she was sleeping with her pajama top opened or nightgown pulled up around her neck.

    “You have to put them back, love. He can’t know we were in here. I bet that’s going to be one of the first things he’ll look for when he comes back. Don’t let her friend see them. Just put them back in the envelope.” Karen whispered.

    “He’s been after her since she was little. This one can’t be much after Chance died. This is sick, Karen.” He muttered as he slid the photos back in the envelope.

    “I know. You saved her, though. All of you did as soon as you knew.”

    “The rumor from last summer. We should have looked into it more. That video was exactly what he said it was, and what she said it was. I didn’t even think past it being a jealous boy trying to get revenge on the girl who turned him down.” Trace sighed.

    “Don’t beat yourself up, love. Let’s get what we came for.” Karen told him, stroking his arm.

    Kelly returned with her computer and they began the task of downloading all of the information from the drive to her computer.