Hey everyone! So this is a story I've been thinking about writing for a while now, and finally decided to do it. If you haven't seen the other story I just posted here's the thing: I am NOT going to be updating any other stories I currently have on the site. I'm just going to say it here instead of typing everything out again. If you want more info on why, go to the other story I just posted. It's in the first paragraph of the author's note. Also insert my usual speech about reviews. Okay, on with this story!
Other than Holly, I do NOT own any of these characters. They all belong to Brendan and Kathy Reichs.
It was New Year's Eve, and we'd all gathered on Morris Island to celebrate.
After graduating high school, Ben had decided to wait a year before college, then started with Shelton, Hi and I. We'd all attended College of Charleston, not wanting to travel far away and also not wanting to be separated. We were pack. We all still lived less than an hour away from the city.
"Tory, look!" Holly ran up to me and pointed at the horizon towards Charleston, drawing me back to the present. They were setting off fireworks in the harbor.
"They're pretty, Holly," I said, distracted, looking over the crowd of gathered families for Ben.
Who the hell is Holly, you ask?
Well, she's my seven-year-old half-sister. Yeah, I was pretty shocked when Dad and Whitney dropped that bomb on me senior year of high school.
A sudden cheer went up as a particularly impressive display of fireworks went off. As it lit up the sky, I was able to find Ben standing in a circle with Hi, Shelton, Ella and Chance. Hi had an arm around Christina, his wife. Ella was leaning against Chance, and Shelton was whispering something to Jessica, his girlfriend.
Hi and Ella had dated a while during junior and senior year, but when Ella announced she was going to California for college, they'd broken it off. And then, when she'd come back from school to visit for winter break, she and Chance had started dating. I still had never figured out whether they were madly in love, or if it was pressure from her parents, but they were married less than two years later. It was the biggest Charleston wedding of the decade. But whatever it was it worked out, because they were still happily married.
I know what you're all wondering. What about Ben and I?
Well, we stayed together and had gotten married five years ago, when I was twenty and he was twenty-two. Yeah, we were young, but we'd been together for over five years already and knew what we wanted.
Those few years were really confusing for Dad. He had a baby with his wife, only to see his other child get married less than two years later.
Holly ran off to find her friend, while I stood up to go over to Ben. Someone offered me a drink on my way over, but I turned it down for two reasons.
One, after mom's accident, I'd sworn never to drink and held true to that to this day. And two? I was pregnant. The person who offered me the drink must have been either truly stupid and not known pregnant women can't drink or drunk as shit (or both, you have to be stupid to get that drunk) because, at seven months in, it was fairly obvious to everyone who even glanced my direction.
Ben glanced up and saw me walking in his direction, and quickly excused himself from the group. He came over and wrapped his arm around my back. "Hey," he said and rested his hand over my stomach, where it looked like I'd swallowed a fully inflated beach ball. "How are you?"
"I'm fine."
"How's Colleen?" Ben asked. When we found out we were having a girl, all we needed to do was look at each other to agree: we were going to name her after my mom. For a while we were worried that she'd be born with weird wolf parts mixed in, but ultrasounds showed she was completely healthy, to our relief.
"She's fine, but I think she's trying to kick her way out of me," I said.
"She's just impatient, like her mother," Ben said, smiling, now resting both his hands over my stomach. He loved to feel her kick.
I snorted. "She has a temper, like her father."
We'd been through this conversation before, at least once a week since she started kicking. Among many other debates. It didn't matter, we already would do anything for her no matter what.
We started walking over toward the others, with a minute left until midnight. I noticed another car pull up. A bit odd, coming to the party this late. There was the driver and at least one passenger.
The countdown began, distracting me from the car. I joined in, shouting the numbers from ten as we neared the new year. "10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1!"
When the countdown reached zero, Ben pulled me in for a kiss. As he did, I got a glance over his shoulder at the man who'd gotten out the passenger seat of the vehicle.
And froze completely.
I knew that man.
Hated him with every cell in my body.
Ben sensed that I'd frozen, looked up at me, then turned around following my line of sight. He looked back, confused.
"Tory? Are you okay? Do you know him? Tory!" He was getting really concerned now.
The man had stopped, and was looking directly at me, too. I took a step back and sank into the nearest seat.
"Tory? Do you know him?" Ben persisted, grabbing my hands in his.
"Of course I know him," I whispered. "How could I forget the face of the man who killed my mother?"
