Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. Here is the next chapter - enjoy!

Chapter 10 – Never Where You Think

"The past is never where you think you left it."
― Katherine Anne Porter

Jade waited impatiently. She flipped through her calendar on her PearPad, thinking through and preparing for the rest of the day and week. Ten minutes after the time she'd ordered him to arrive, Robbie entered the coffee shop. She set her phone aside, next to her empty coffee cup.

Robbie sat across from her at the small table, his expression sullen and suspicious. "I'm not going to apologize," he told her cautiously.

"I'm not worried about your apology," she snapped. "Have you thought about what you want to do? Are you going to take the baby away? Or give it up for adoption?"

"I don't want to leave," Robbie told her. "My job is here – we were just renewed for another season." Jade nodded briskly and passed to him a sheaf of paper. It was a legal document, he could see that much. He looked at the title and saw that they were papers that would release him from any rights to his child. It would give Cat, or Jade actually – since she had custodial power, the free and clear to put the baby up for adoption. Robbie looked hesitantly at the document. Four places were marked throughout the pages where his signature was required. Next to each of the blank lines were lines containing Jade's signature.

Robbie looked up at her. "You signed these?"

"Don't look at me like that," Jade snapped. "I sign everything that's legally binding. I have for over ten years." Robbie hesitated, leafing through the pages slowly. He read every word. Jade disregarded him, using the time to flip through a book she'd downloaded to her PearPad.

Finally, after almost an hour had passed and every word had been read almost twice, Robbie signed the papers. Jade took them, folded them in half, and shoved them into her purse. She stood.

"Can I be there, when the baby is born?"

"What good would that do?" Jade asked. Her voice didn't exhibit anger and he knew the question was one she was posing logically and not necessarily just to be difficult. Well, it might have been somewhat for the purpose of being difficult - but that was just her nature.

"I'm never going to see my own child after that – can't you give me that time – those few minutes?"

"I'll talk to Cat – it's up to her," Jade answered. She turned and left the familiar coffee shop and returned to her black Lexus.

It had been five weeks since Cat had been under constant supervision, and it was getting on her nerves. She stalked around the house like a pissed off hummingbird, whirring at high speeds and constantly circling, trying to find a refreshingly alone place to be. There was no such place.

She was angry one day, playful the next. Sad, then happy. Anxious about the baby, clueless that it was going to happen at all. The cycle was exhausting for her, for Jade, and for the two nurses that had been hired to watch her. Jade didn't know how much of it was the change in medication and how much was the actual disease under the drugs.

On good days, Cat would work on her portfolio, creating costuming ideas for the studio that had produced her last few movies. They understood she couldn't film, but were happy to have her costuming input when her agent, after encouragement from Jade, suggested it. She had done plans for three different scripts and had received word that at least two of the costuming plans were being used. On bad days, she wasn't allowed out of the room for fear she would hurt herself – or someone else.

On a Saturday, a full five weeks after the nurses had been hired; Cat was having a good day. Jade decided to take the opportunity to have a day out with her. Tori agreed to watch Violet since Beck was working through the weekend to finish his current film.

Cat skipped happily down the stairs, her black boots light against the solid wooden boards. She was wearing a loose pink blouse and darker pink sweater over blank pants. It had been her first trip out of the house – other than forays into the yard – in more than a week. Jade followed close behind, her black bag heavy in her hand. She shrugged a smooth leather jacket over her purple sweater and black jeans before kissing Violet, who had appeared in the foyer to see them off.

"Be good for Aunt Tori."

"I'm always good," Violet answered with a smile. Jade smiled back and waved playfully before walking to her car with her best friend. They had a nice day. They went to a movie that Cat chose, to a new restaurant that Jade chose, spent a few hours shopping, and then ended the day with ice cream. That always made Cat happy.

When they returned home, Cat trotted up the back stairs to her room, where Jade had confirmed Dianna was already waiting. As she closed the kitchen door, Jade set down her bags and called out – "Violet? Tori?"

"We're in the living room, Mommy," Violet called back. Jade walked from the kitchen into the dining room and then into the living room. She stopped dead in the doorway. Her daughter was sitting at the coffee table, working intently to help Tori build a puzzle depicting a bunch of puppies. A gift from Cat. Violet's head was tilted to the side, her eyes squinted, her lip trapped lightly between her teeth as she concentrated on fitting together a corner. Tori was sitting next to her, encouraging her decision on the pieces without making the fit for her. That was fine; that was normal. The other two people in the room did not belong there; it was not normal.

Jade's blood slowed in her veins and suddenly she felt cold; nauseous. But she couldn't allow this to continue. She lurched forward into Tori's view. "Tori, please take Violet upstairs." It was a phrased as a request, but her tone of voice clearly indicated that it was a demand.

Both brunettes looked up at her in surprise. Tori's brow wrinkled with worry, Violet's blue eyes registering shock. Her mother always said hello to her. But this was not hello. This was "go away."

"Mommy, we're building—"

"Violet, upstairs, now," Jade said sharply, causing the preschooler to latch immediately onto Tori, who was in the process of standing from her place at the coffee table. She hefted the child onto her hip and walked with her out of the room and up the stairs. Jade could hear her trying to softly comfort Violet – to explain that her mother wasn't mad at her.

Once they were out of sight, Jade counted the steps to Violet's room. She waited sixty seconds to be sure they were inside a room. She turned sharply to face the two figures sitting motionlessly on one of her living room sofas. A sofa she had liked – and would now be forced to destroy due to bad karma.

"Get the hell out of my house before I call the police," she said, her voice sharp and fierce, if not loud. Camilla West stood from the sofa and eyed her daughter from an equal height.

"For god's sake, Jade. It's been ten years."

"One thousand wouldn't be enough," Jade told her. "Get out." She turned to look at the man accompanying her mother. "And you – come near my daughter ever again, and I will castrate you with my bare hands." John laughed but Jade could see he was uncomfortable.

"Well, princess, you certainly haven't gotten any nicer," he said, mocking her. "But that little girl of yours – she's a sweetheart."

Jade seethed. "You don't get to look at her – ever again," she told him scathingly. "You're both unwelcome here – you need to leave." Her mother walked up to her and put a hand under Jade's chin, holding her face up so that their eyes met.

"You have no right to be angry with me," Camilla told her. "I am your mother and I deserve some respect."

"You are a cold-hearted, soulless bitch and you deserve to burn in hell for eternity. Not respect," Jade spat. The sound of flesh-on-flesh rang throughout the room. It was not a sound that house had ever heard, but Jade knew it well. Her cheek burned from the harsh slap and a small trickle of blood was forming where her mother's emerald ring had cut her.

Her hand fell to her pocket and retrieved the cell phone that rested against her hip. "That will be the last time you touch me," Jade told her darkly. Now, both of you, out." She dialed the first 9 – then a 1. Her mother and John backed away and eventually reached the door. Once they were outside, she locked the door behind them and watched them walk calmly to the blue sedan parked in a neighbor's drive.

She cleared her phone and called Beck immediately, begging him to get home as soon as possible. When he didn't answer, she texted his director and told him to have Beck check his phone. She rarely reached out to Beck while he was filming – they would forgive an emergency.

She was shaking. The fact that this was happening seemed impossible. Over ten years. It had been over ten years since she'd seen her mother – even longer since she'd seen her mother's long-time pig of a paramour. She had worked so hard to put her past where it belonged – in her past. How had this happened? Why was her mother showing up out of the blue? How in the hell had she gotten past the gates that sat at the front of the neighborhood?

She called the guard at the gate and explained the situation, described the vehicle and her mother, and asked them to keep an eye out and not let her back into the gated community. Walking around the first floor, she checked every door and window lock until she was certain everything was solidly protected. She set the alarm and texted Beck to let him know he needed to disarm it before entering. Tori was leaving Violet's room quietly when Jade appeared in the hallway. "She just cried herself to sleep," Tori told her, somewhat angrily. "What has gotten into you? I know you don't like your parents—"

Jade pulled her into the master bedroom and shut the door to the hall.

"Never let those people into this house – or anywhere within viewing distance of my daughter," Jade said, her voice cold and sharp. Tori barely recognized her.

"What is going on? Why are you so upset?"

"They are dangerous people, Tori. I don't want them anywhere near Violet. If you see them, you call the police. Do you understand?"

"No," Tori said wearily. "I really don't. Tell me what's going on. I don't understand where this is coming from." She looked up as Beck walked through the door, his expression stormy and concerned.

Jade knew he'd probably broken a million laws getting home so quickly, but she didn't care. She launched herself into his arms. It was only then that she realized she was shaking, heavily. Beck picked her up bridal style and carried her to the bed, sitting on the edge and pulling her close in his lap. "Everything is going to be fine," he promised her in a whisper.

Tori was upset; Beck could see it from across the room. She saw Jade's reaction and the pieces were sliding into place. "You have never said anything about not letting your mother in the house –" she said tearfully, apologetically. "I knew you didn't like her—"

"She's dangerous," Beck told Tori softly. "But you couldn't have known that."

"We should have told you," Jade said, biting her lip as she moved off of Beck's lap and sat next to him. "She was abusive and cruel and he was – a monster. I never had any intention that they would ever, ever meet Violet. I never planned to see them again myself."

"I'm sorry," Tori said softly.

"It's not your fault," Beck told her sternly.

"It's not," Jade agreed. "I'm sorry I got so angry – I just see stars when it comes to them." It took a long time for Jade and Tori to settle down. The latter took one of her anxiety pills and went straight to bed after she was sure Jade wasn't angry with her. Jade left Beck in charge of dinner and went for a walk to clear her head. Beck ordered a pizza and checked on Cat. She hadn't heard a bit of what had happened on the lower two floors.

"Everything okay?" He asked, poking his head into Cat's sitting room. She was curled on the sofa, watching Finding Nemo.

"Hi Beck," she said neutrally. Dianna was sitting in the corner of the room, reading a book. She looked up and smiled slightly and gave him a tiny nod; it meant everything was fine. He was relieved; at least one person in the house wasn't upset. It was a start.

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