Chapter 21
"Hey Maddie, can you come help me in here for a second sweetie?" Trish Stratus asked her daughter, smiling as she came bouncing in from the living room.
"Yes Momma, what do you need?" She asked politely with sparkling leaf green eyes, her black hair pulled back in a braid.
"Trista is coming over to have dinner with us tonight. Can you help me wash some of the vegetables?"
Trish proudly watched her daughter pick up her Cinderella stepstool and placed it in front of the sink, climbing up to reach it. She handed Madelyn a bowl of vegetables full of carrots, broccoli, peas and green beans, all plucked from the garden outback. They lived in a quaint 2 bedroom house on the friendly side of Tampa, down the street from Colby and Elissa. Trista had recently gotten a small apartment on the other side of Tampa, so it would take her a while to arrive.
"Hey Momma, I was thinking…" Madelyn trailed off while rinsing the vegetables, wearing a pair of blue jeans with a pink tank top.
"About?"
"Can we send Miss Irons some flowers or something?" They had visited Cassidy in the hospital, after reading about what happened to her in the paper the day after the fire, and Madelyn wanted to do something nice for her. "I want to make her feel better."
Trish loved her daughter's heart of gold and kissed the top of her head. "I think she'd like that very much, sweetheart. We can buy some tomorrow and have them delivered to her house. How does that sound?" She didn't want to bother Cassidy, knowing the woman had a lot on her plate right now.
Madelyn nodded, grinning from ear to ear. "That sounds awesome. Thanks Mom!"
She hugged her mother around the neck, kissed her cheek and went back to rinsing the vegetables. After they finished, Trish asked her to help set the table and handed over plates along with silverware. Madelyn did this a lot and expertly set it, remembering the forks went on the left and the spoons on the right. Her mother was brought up by people that believed in certain traditions. Trish did some of them, like eating at the dinner table, instead of in front of a television like 90% of the population these days. Some of their best conversations were made at the dinner table. Just as Trish popped the rolls in the oven, deciding on some fried chicken for dinner that evening, the doorbell sounded through the house.
"I'll get it!" Madelyn squealed with excitement, flying out of the kitchen and opened the front door, laughing when Trista pretended to scare her before they embraced tightly. "Tristy, you know that doesn't work with me!"
Trista smirked, kissing the top of Madelyn's forehead and set her back on her feet. "Yeah well, I tried kiddo. How're you doing?" She asked, letting Madelyn guide her into the kitchen where Trish was busy cooking away. "Damn woman, what's the occasion?"
Trish smiled up at her, taking the oven mitts off. "Nothing, just figured we could have a nice dinner and talk." She also had news from her lawyer regarding the lawsuit against the Levesque family.
"Good thing I brought my appetite then." Trista remarked, tickling Madelyn and watched the little girl fly back into the living room to play with her toys. "How is she doing?" She asked quietly, not wanting Madelyn to overhear.
"Fine actually, no more nightmares. We finally figured out what caused them, but after what Tampa Bay Times did for us, she hasn't had one since. I think she knows everything is going to be alright now." Trish replied softly, walking over to sit at the table since everything else had to finish cooking. "We really owe Cassidy Irons a lot. It was her idea to continue with the story even after she was threatened."
"You knew about that?" Trista sat down as well, raising a brow.
Trish nodded, looking solemn as a wave of guilt crashed over her. "Adam told me about it and I tracked her down, begging her not to release the story. I didn't want her to get hurt because of us. She looked me square in the eye and said she refused to break a promise to Madelyn. I couldn't argue with her and now look what happened." Her brown eyes lowered to her lap, blinking tears away. "I just hope she'll be alright."
Trista had no response since she didn't know Cassidy Irons well, only that she was the woman responsible for revealing Madelyn's story to the public. "I know you visited her while she was in the hospital. I should've went with you, would've liked to meet her in person."
"Yeah, I did it for Madelyn. She was determined to see Cassidy after hearing about what happened at school." They were still at Chime Junior High, the repairs for Bell Elementary going slow. "I couldn't deny her and Cassidy seemed really happy when we stepped through the door."
"That's good. The woman was kidnapped, did you read the paper? Unbelievable. She was taken from her own house and tied down in the basement of Tampa Bay Times." Trista let out a low whistle, shaking her head. "Whoever did it is still out there too. Makes you wonder if he'll be back. They're calling him a hit man. Apparently, someone hired him to kill Cassidy."
Trish blinked, brown eyes wide. "I didn't see that in the article. Or was there another one printed that I missed?"
Trista snorted, rolling her eyes. "It came out yesterday and also mentions that Jon saved her. They're starting to wonder how this fireman is saving all these people and suspicion is starting to arouse."
"They think he did it and then saved her?" Trish started laughing, the sound full of sadness. "That's such a crock! Jonathan Good is a hero and saved my daughter when he didn't have to. These people seriously need to get lives and leave the man alone."
"I hear you. I'm not disagreeing, but just telling you because I know you're gonna ask him to testify against Levesque in your case." Trish told her everything and Trista had one hell of a memory. "Speaking of that, what did Johnson have to say?" Dwayne Johnson was one of the best lawyers in the Tampa area and jumped at the opportunity to represent Trish and Madelyn against the Levesque's when he heard their story.
Trish smirked, brown eyes turning from sad to malevolent. "He said Levesque is going to pay for everything he's done to me and Maddie. Good enough for me. He sent me some stuff in the mail, papers to sign and whatnot. I'm going through it tonight after Maddie is in bed." It was bad enough her little girl would have to testify in court about what Surana did to her, according to Dwayne anyway."
"Good, that bastard Mayor of ours needs a wakeup call." Trista growled, having plenty of hatred for the Levesque family because of what their kid did to her goddaughter. "If I ever see Stephanie Levesque on the streets, you can bet your ass I'll be kicking the holy hell out of her."
"Geez, tell me how you really feel." Trish laughed, standing up from the table when the oven beeped and went to retrieve the rolls before they burned. "You might have to testify too since you were a teacher at Bell Elementary School."
Trista shrugged, not bothered with it. Wouldn't be the first time she dealt with the courts and probably wouldn't be the last. "Just tell me when and where, you know I'll testify against those pieces of shit any day of the week."
"Good, go get Maddie and tell her dinner is ready."
Trish set the basket of rolls on the table and checked on her fried chicken, glad it was still hot. She made mashed potatoes, a vegetable dish and corn on the cob boiling on the stove. Everyone sat down at the table and Trish made Madelyn's plate, letting her help. Trista waited until they had their food before making her plate, knowing Madelyn wasn't eating very well while enduring Surana's bullying. Now that it was over, she'd been eating Trish out of house and home, proving it by loading her plate enough to feed a small army.
Elissa sat in front of Trista, explaining her idea and sipped some lemonade, calmly waiting for her to say something.
"You are a fucking genius." Trista avowed, after mulling over everything Elissa told her regarding her encounter with Cassidy Irons. "What exactly does she want to know?"
"I honestly have no idea. So whatever you can get would be helpful. I've called and set up the time with her to meet with us on Thursday. We're meeting at Jack's restaurant at 7 PM, so keep your calendar and schedule open." Elissa felt proud of herself for coming up with the perfect revenge scheme for her sister-in-law. "Joe should have some juicy details and enough to satisfy Cassidy."
Trista suddenly became a little worried, knowing she was about to play with serious fire regarding Jonathan Good. "You don't think this is for her job, do you? She is a reporter after all." She had to point out the obvious.
"No, she assured me of that before I had a chance to ask her. She promised this had nothing to do with her job. She just wants to know a little about the guy who risked his life to save hers. It's common." Elissa remembered saying those exact words, or close to it, to Cassidy in the super market the previous day. "How do you plan on getting Joe to talk?"
Smirking devilishly, Trista shook her finger at Elissa and leaned against the chair. "I can't give away my secrets, dear sister. I will tell you this much though…" She leaned forward, waiting for Elissa to do so with gleaming hazel eyes. "He won't know what hit him."
Elissa did love her sister-in-law's evil streak, having a feeling her plan included some serious pillow talk. Honestly, that was the best way to get any information out of a man. Colby had spilled some deep secrets from the fire station he promised to take to the grave after a nice satisfying romp. She wasn't looking for the information either, but refused to stop her husband from sharing if he wanted to.
"Gotta go. Hey bro." Trista greeted as soon as Colby walked in and exited through the door, closing it behind her in a hurry.
Colby shook his head, already knowing where Trista was headed. "Hi to you too, sis." He muttered and smiled when Elissa sidled up to him, running her hand up his t-shirt covered chest. "And hello, sweetheart." His voice had dropped an octave at the darkened look in his beautiful wife's eyes. "Where are the munchkins?"
"Out with the neighbor. They'll be gone for a few hours." Elissa purred, already moving to stand in front of him and pulled his shirt from being tucked in his jeans. "What on earth should we do for the next couple hours?"
Colby could think of a few things, flaring his nostrils and groaned at the feeling of her hands against his bare chest. "I'm sure we can figure it out, Lissa…" He planted his hands on her jean covered clad backside and felt her legs wrap around his waist. "Mmm definitely have an idea…"
"Mmm why don't you tell me about it?" Elissa suggested seductively, rubbing against him teasingly and giggled when he carted her upstairs to show her what he had in store for the next few hours.
Cassidy had gotten a call from Elissa that morning, telling her that they were planning on meeting Thursday at a downtown restaurant. She hadn't told Peyton about her encounter yet, wanting to wait to see if she actually heard from Elissa. The woman didn't disappoint her and sounded amused about the whole thing, which confused Cassidy. It seemed like these women enjoyed tormenting the men in their lives. Jotting it down on the calendar, Cassidy proceeded to pull out leftovers for dinner that night since Peyton made enough to feed a small crowd. Peyton was currently out running a few errands to pay bills and to check on her apartment, wanting to make sure everything was in order. She had told Peyton to go back home shortly after being released from the hospital, but the woman was resolute. Deep down, Cassidy knew Peyton felt guilty for not staying with her until the hit man was caught the first time, but honestly nobody knew what this lunatic was thinking.
She refused to live her life in fear of him.
After heating up the meat, Cassidy cut up some fresh tomatoes and cooked a few of the shells on the stove, wanting everything done when Peyton got home. Just as the last shell cooked, Peyton stepped through the door and smiled at the sight of Cassidy cooking. That was definitely a step in the right direction to recovery, Peyton thought, and inhaled the air as her stomach rumbled demanding to be fed. While they sat down and ate, Cassidy decided now would be the time to bring up the meeting.
"So, I have something to say and I don't want you getting mad at me for keeping it from you." She watched as Peyton slowly rose a brow and set her taco down, sighing. "It's not bad…"
"Then why did you keep it from me?" Peyton tossed her napkin down on the table. "I thought we agreed not to keep anything from each other, Cassidy?"
"Trust me, I did it for a good reason, now shut up and listen." Cassidy ordered, starting at the beginning where she encountered Elissa Lopez at the super market.
Peyton listened intently, not saying a word and finally blinked when Cassidy finished, slamming her hand on the table. "Are you fucking kidding me? You actually trust these bitches?" She demanded, grey eyes lighting on fire and could see the hesitance in Cassidy's eyes. "What if they're just yanking your chain?"
"They're not because of what Good did to Trista. She's Colby's sister and she wants revenge on him. She's dating one of the firemen named Joe Anoa'i. He was there the day the behemoth rescued me." Cassidy argued, defending Elissa and folded her arms in front of her chest with determined azure eyes. "I'm doing this, Pey. I want you to come with me, but you don't have to if you don't want to. I just kept it hidden until I knew for a fact Elissa was serious about the meeting."
Peyton didn't like the sound of this, wondering why Cassidy was so hell-bent on finding out information about this fireman. He was vicious, cruel and volatile, three words Elissa had used with Cassidy. Why would she want to be near a man like that? This was a bad idea, but Peyton would tag along because she refused to let anything to happen to Cassidy again.
Not if she could help it.