Chapter 15

After a good night sleep and a morning nap, Meri cooked lunch from the groceries they bought the evening before. She giggled as she listened to Colt, Hank, and Trina cursing while they tried to find a place to put things in the still furnished house. Chicken fajita tacos and sides were an easy enough meal to make on the outside grill and away from the mayhem inside. Putting the food onto platters, Meri went inside.

She shouted, "Lunch is ready!"

Trina walked into the kitchen with a scowl, "So are you going to look into it? You're a deputy now."

"Junior deputy," correcting, Hank fetched two white ales out of the refrigerator. He handed one to Trina.

Trina loved them, but Meri had grown a strong dislike for the smell of anything made with hops since getting pregnant. Finally, he sighed, "I'm sorry for what happened to your mother, Trina. I just wanted you to know I am going to try to find out what really happened to her and who did it. I am also going to look for Winston, I want answers, just like you do. I want to know why he did it and how he got away with it all."

Tears threatened, as Trina answered coldly "You know it happens. Money means pervs want what they want, and they don't care who gets hurt or who dies. One piece of tail is as good as the next one, age doesn't matter. It's all about the prettiest or meekest one, isn't it? And those that fight back get hurt the worst, like Char. But if they have enough money like Winston did, people like your parents and my uncle look the other way."She stormed upstairs as he groaned. Meri remembered that he never knew when to keep his mouth shut.

Leaning on the counter, he watched as her prepare to make pico de gallo, and quick queso to go with the tacos. Meri said nothing as she worked because she had nothing to say to him. Hank watched her twirl a knife between her fingers as she had once twirled pencils, then Meri focused on the blade before chopping an onion, tomatoes, cilantro, and several peppers for the pico de gallo faster than he would ever be able to. Some went into the double boiler of melting cheese. The kitchen smelled of melting cheese and grilled chicken. Going back out to the grill, she brought in two cast iron skillets, one with refried black beans in it and one with corn, beans squash, chilis, onions, and tomatoes. The smells as the lids were set aside made his mouth water.

"What's that?" Hank inhaled appreciatively.

"Santa Fe succotash," Meri answered curtly as she clipped parsley and cilantro to sprinkle over the top. She was glad she took her spice container gardens with her from Vegas to California. And that Trina brought it to Colorado so Char's black thumb wouldn't kill it. She couldn't imagine cooking without fresh ingredients, she had enough bitterness in her heart at being in Veil Falls. She didn't need to compensate for the bitterness of dried spices in her cooking.

Meri still wasn't comfortable with the idea of living with Colt, but he was insistent that he wasn't going anywhere and Trina said she needed the help. Meri didn't think she would be that much trouble but twice since the funeral, her glucose monitor's alarm went off and Meri slept through it.

Hank just shook his head, asking, "So this is how it's going to be between us?"

Meri opened a package of tortillas and put them to warm. "Yes."

"I could be your friend again, Meredith. We could be, Heather and I both," He said and Meri snorted.

"Heather was never my friend."

"She's changed. Heather realized that what her therapist said about caring for others was true. The last few years, it made us all think about things." He sounded so sincere, as if he truly believed what he was saying. "If you hadn't left..."

"But nothing has changed here, Hank, the elitist and their gossip and money are still running the town," Meri declared, plating and dressing the tacos with restaurant efficiency. His expression told her he knew it was true.

"Change takes time," he started. "Heather wants you to know if she could talk to you, Trina, or Char some..."

"I'm sorry," Meri interrupted again, "Heather will never be my friend. I know you don't want to hear that, but it is true. I cannot begin to conceive that she has changed enough to make up for what she put me, Trina, and Charlene through. She tried to kill me."

"It was an accident."

Gritting her teeth, Meri refuted him, "It was no accident. Honestly Hank, it sounds like you are trying more to convince yourself than me. Will you go get Colt?" She finished getting herself a glass of milk when Hank touched her arm, begging, "Just give my sister a chance, she's trying, we're trying."

"Here's the thing, Hank, I left and I've change. We all have, but the only thing that changed here is my family died. The only reason we came back was for the DuBois estate. None of us wants to be here and while we will tolerate you for old time's sake; keep your family away from us and keep your distance from Trina. In five years, we are all gone again."

She carried the four plates of tacos into the dining room, before shouting up the stairs at her cousin,"Wash up, Trina! Time to eat!"

Back in the dining room, Hank waited for the others. Trina side-arm hugged me, "Thanks, sis."

While they ate, Meri didn't listen to the questions Colt asked Hank and Trina about Veil Falls.

"I'm going to lay down. Thanks for the help, Hank," Meri said, almost sincerely.

Trina looked at her for a moment then nodded. Meri listened to them talking through the walls, the hideous pale puce walls, deciding she really need to paint over her mother's most recent decorating color choice, the whole house looked like a giant bruise with mauve, scarlet, sage, and aubergine accents.

Listening as Colt told them about what happened between he and Meri, she thought he made it sound like there was hope, and that love would fix everything, but Meri wasn't so sure.

Trina came into the room and sat at the end of the bed, "I need to replace the insulin in your pump."

Meri obediently raised her shirt. Opening a cartridge, Trina wiped it with a swab, and put it in, using Meri's phone she synced it to the monitor on her arm. Then she swabbed Meri's finger and used a lancet to prick it. The drop of blood went onto a strip and into a handheld glucose tester. Looking around the room, Trina grimaced as they waited, "The colors remind me of a dead body."

"What?"

"The color palette... It looks like a corpse that died violently in a car accident."

"I thought it looked like a fading bruise," Meri said tiredly.

Trina nodded. "Your mom always had weird tastes in colors. Remember when she painted one wall in every room blood red, and the rest white with black accents."

"Then she got drunk and tried to scrub the red off the walls with a toilet brush," Meri reminded and they laughed.

Trina looked at the number when the handheld beeped, and compared the two tests. "One-nineteen on both. That's okay. Better than the two to three hundreds."

"That's better," Meri agreed.

"What about that orange she covered the red with? So not Orange is the New Black." Trina snickered, revealing, "My mom thought it was awful, just said she missed painting numbers on the left side for her Prison Elegante' motif." They giggled for several minutes then just held hands.

Meri begged, "If it is okay, I'd like to redo it like your mom's house. Natural wood and fruit tones. I always loved it there so much more than being here." Meri squeezed Trina's fingers gently. "I just don't want to make you sad."

Trina hugged her, "Meri, you are always so worried about me, you don't need to be. I got some therapy, I'm better. Get some rest, tomorrow we'll make Colt take us to the paint store if you feel up to it."

"I love you, Trina," Meri murmured as she settled herself deeper into the oversized king bed.

"You say that now, but we'll see how you feel after I've been sticking your fingers and harassing you for your glucose monitor readings for the next two months." She grinned, "And Colt is sleeping in here with you, wake him if you need to go to the bathroom, I don't want to risk you fainting."

"Trina, I'm not..."

"Nurses' oooorderrrrsss... I loooove yoooou." She sing-songed as she went out and Meri stuck out her tongue at the closed door.

Dinner was a simple meal that Trina and Colt brought back when they went to turn in the moving trucks. Hank declined staying after he brought them home. Meri sat in Trina's room and unpacked boxes until she was nodding off. Colt carried her to bed then went back to sherpa-ing boxes upstairs for Trina.

Meri had just drifted off when the bed dipped, it amazed her that someone as big as Colt could move so quietly. He was like a cat. He stayed on his side but when she woke at dawn, she was curled into his broad back. Her arm around his chest and trapped under his as their fingers curled together. Breathing his scent made her feel sleepy again but her bladder was aching. He shifted and she rolled away only to be encompassed by his arms and tugged against his chest.

"Colt..." Meri whispered.

His head popped up immediately. "What's wrong, Darlin'? Do I need to get Trina?"

"No, but I need you to let me go."

He sighed in an exaggerated, frustrated way, "We been through this, Meredith. I am not letting you go without a fight."

"But I have to pee," Meri whined and almost giggled. "Unless you want to sleep in a wet bed?" "Nope." He helped her up and when she came out, Colt was sitting up. "I'm sorry I snapped at you."

"You hurt me when you left, and I know you have to leave in a few days for the first qualifier of the season. If you and Coby meet there..."

He interrupted, "I ain't leavin' you in your condition."

Putting her hands on either side of his face, Meri shook her head at him. "As I was saying, I was wrong to try to make you choose. You need to go, take Sam to the competitions, win and then come back. I don't want you to regret missing part of your dream like I will."

He looked at her with searching dark eyes. "Are you sure?"

Meri made herself smile, "I am. Last thing I want is Sam grumpy at me, he hasn't had cookies in months."

Colt chuckled, then he gave Meri a chaste kiss before they settled back into bed. She enjoyed feeling him close, but this morning, she needed more than to be held. She needed him to prove to her that she was loved and wanted, despite being eight months pregnant and round as a beach ball. She needed to feel something beyond the stress and worry about being trapped in Veil Falls, and the fear for her baby... their baby. She had given up everything for the next five years to return here so they could all afford to keep their dreams. Meri turned to face him and traced his jaw with tentative fingers.

Opening his eyes, he looked down at her. "What do you need, darlin'?"

In the twilight before dawn, she was going to allow herself to be selfish. "I need you."

Their lips met and he hesitated for only a moment before his kiss dominated her, and they let their passion consume them. It was the first time since the night before he left that they had been intimate, and Meri didn't care if she was going to regret it later.

~~~~~

Trina sat in the kitchen sipping coffee and thinking about what Hank said to her when they were alone. Her mind was boggled but she had no idea what to do or who to ask. The ones alive wouldn't tell the truth and everyone else was dead. She picked up her phone and looked at it, then closed her eyes. Opening them, she texted Hank.

I'll do it. Just tell me where and when.

~~~~

Colt began clearing out the parents' retreat in the master bedroom. He was happy to be dragging out all the old, dark furniture. He could tell that under several layers of paint it was solid wood construction. He decided to strip it and refinish it. Carrying the pieces out to the garage, he put them in the space where the car his in-laws died in belonged. More than once he had found Meri sitting in the basement crying for her baby brother and he wanted to work on that area after they finished the upstairs. He couldn't imagine losing Leighanne or Cody. As he pulled out drawers from tables and dressers, he brushed a coat of paint remover on the layers of paint. He couldn't understand why a wealthy family like the DuBois would hand paint over good wood every year for a decade or more.

"Colt!" Trina shouted out to him. "I got another one of the upstairs dressers cleaned out."

He sealed the can of solvent then wrapped his brush before going out to see her lugging another four trashbags of clothing for donation. He had never imagined that one woman could have so many clothes. Most were years to decades out of fashion according to Meri and Trina, but all were very expensive and in pristine condition. It made him wonder if they had been worn more than once or twice. Going back inside, he climbed the stairs. Trina had stripped the bed and curtains from the room to wash them and started taping the windows and outlets for painting.

"Whose room was this?" Colt asked.

"It was Meri's room until her accident then Miranda gave it to Chuck, but he lived in the mancave downstairs more than he did up here. Then they gave it to me after my mom was murdered because they didn't want to look bad to the community by not taking me in." Trina looked around in confusion, admitting, "I took all my stuff to Granny Nina's. I don't know why she put all those kids' clothes in here that look like the ones from Meri's childhood, but they weren't Meri's. She did the same thing in Char's old room. It's so weird." She took a frame with a blue butterfly in it off the wall and put it in a box.

"That's pretty. Do you think Meri would want it in the baby's room?"

"This wasn't Meri's, nothing in here was hers. I mean it looks like a teenage girl's room, but it wasn't one of ours." Trina chewed her lip for a minute then said, "I don't know where all this fairy and butterfly stuff came from, and neither do Meri or Char." Turning away from him, she continued packing the butterfly and fairy knickknacks.

Shaking his head, Colt began taking out the drawers of the dresser so it would be easier to move. Putting one down, he pulled out a hidden journal with a blue butterfly printed on the cover. He was about to open it when Meri called up the stairs.

"Dinner time."

He laid it aside and let Trina go out ahead of him. They ate and talked about how much longer it would be before they could start painting. The carpet was in good shape despite the color, as were the polished marble floors. Trina insisted the house was just dated.

"You mean depressing," Meri complained.

"Once we get the carpet dyed, and the walls painted, it will be fine," Trina promised.

"It will feel different once I get the furniture stripped and sanded and refinished in a lighter stain," Colt promised. "Then I'll do the kitchen cabinets."

"What about the bathrooms?" Meri scowled. "We can't just paint those rooms. Dark gray, green, or brown granite with gold fixtures was popular forty years ago, but now they just seem like dungeons."

"Let's get the bedrooms done first, then we'll worry about those," Trina encouraged. "One interior design disaster at a time."

Her tone made Meri giggle and Colt smiled listening to his wife and her cousin bickering. As they laughed and made lists of things to change, he finished eating and went back to work. Upstairs, he went to put the notebook in the box when he noticed half the pages had been torn out. Opening it, he read the words scribbled in red felt pen on the first page.

I knew what he was the moment he smiled at me, but I pretended it would be fine. I lied to myself that my monster couldn't follow me here. It couldn't crawl out of the red mud like the filth he was, but he did. I didn't mean

Several words were blotted out with red ink bubbles. Drops of something made the ink run slightly before it was wiped away.

I had no choice. I didn't want them hurt like I was, then they were... It laughed when we asked why. I had to make it stop. The noise was so loud, so red. I can still feel it vibrating in my palm. He screamed and screamed so she finished it with thunder. It wasn't my fault I couldn't kill it alone. None of it. All of it. I'm glad we did it. The monster is dead. I wish I killed it before it came here. I wish I killed him when it smiled. I just want it to stop. I want the bruises to heal and the walls to stop bleeding.

Colt dug through the box looking for more pages, then he went downstairs. "Trina, did you find any loose pages written in red marker?" He held out the journal with the butterfly cover.

Meri and Trina leaned together reading it. They looked confused then Meri asked, "Where did you find this?"

"It was under the drawer of the dresser in the room we are cleaning out to paint. Who wrote it?" Colt asked, looking over their shoulders at the scrawled words.

"My mom and she was really drunk when she did it," Meri revealed as Trina chewed her lip. "But I have no idea what she is talking about. She scribbled out part of it and it looks like she was crying when she wrote it."

"But what is she talking about? This is disjointed like some of my psych patients," Trina murmured, then she asked, "Do you think your mom was losing it? Maybe getting dementia?"

"I have no idea. She drank so much, maybe?" Meri shrugged.

Colt read it again and muttered, "It sounds like your mama murdered someone with someone else."

The cousins looked at each other then back at the page, neither knew what to say.