“Um… newish. I worked for Lacey a long time ago. I’m just getting back in the field.”
“What were you doing in the meantime?”
“It’s complicated. I um… I was a victim of kidnapping for ten years.”
“Oh my God! Are you serious?”
“Very serious. I’ve been home for a little while, and I’m ready to get back into the swing of things.”
“Bless your heart. I’m happy you made it out safely. A lot of people don’t. How’s it been being home?”
“A challenge, but I have my family, and they’ve been a blessing. I think the hardest part was getting to know my daughter. She was only six months when it happened.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you. I’m loving the process. She’s an amazing kid.”
“My husband and I went through something like that a few years ago. Violet isn’t biologically mine. Her mother was my best friend. She died during childbirth and left me with her. We didn’t meet Malachi until she was thirteen. The girl looked him up and ran away from home to meet him.”
“Say what now!”
Eliana threw up her hands. “Chile, it was a mess. Malachi didn’t know anything about having a child. The man had a whole other life and a fiancée. That’s a story for another time, though.”
“My uh… my husband got engaged while I was gone. They aren’t together anymore, but it was some shit, so I can imagine the mess you had.”
“It was a nightmare. We almost lost Malachi when his ex-fiancée shot him.”
“Shot him?”
“Yes, girl.”
“Where is she now?”
“Dead. She uh… she had some trauma, some mental health issues that stemmed from said trauma. She killed her father and her son’s father before turning the gun on herself.”
“Wait, I think I saw that on the news while I was away. Was her father a judge?”
“He was. Our oldest son, Easton, was her son. Malachi loves that boy like his own, and we couldn’t abandon him. Even though his mom almost took my husband from me, that’s my baby. His siblings adore him, and he loves them so much.”
I thought for a moment about what life would have been like if Tyrion had decided to go through with the divorce and marry Iona. What if they had gone on to have children? Would her view of Summer Rose had changed once she had her own? Would she have been good to her? Would we have been able to come together as a family for important things?
All signs pointed to no. There would have been drama out the ass with that woman. What if we had ended up in a situation like Eliana? If a bitch shot my husband and lived to talk about it, she’d never talk about it more than once.
Eliana and I chopped it up a little while longer until Ms. Lacey and Malachi came back. We said our goodbyes and left the house, headed back to the studio.
“How are you feeling?” she asked.
“I feel good. It’s all coming back to me. Give me a week or two, and I’ll be back like I never left.”
She giggled. “I’m gonna remember that. You’ll work with me until you’re ready to step out on your own. I need you to be ready when I get ready to retire.”
I gasped. “Say what now?”
“I need a protégé. Before everything happened, I was going to train you to take over when I got ready to step down. You showed the most promise and reminded me so much of myself. If you want it, I would be happy to pass my legacy down to you.”
I didn’t know what to say. This was more than I was expecting my first day back. Lacey Timmons was a legend. Would I ever be good enough to step into her shoes?
“I don’t know what to say,” I voiced. “That’s a hell of an offer but a lot of pressure. You’d leave some big shoes to fill, Ms. Lacey.”