"I love you too, babe. Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right here with you."
There was no better place to be than by Knox's side.
31
Two months later...
"How about spaghetti? Or we could order in."
Just home from work, Knox held up a few takeout menus, waving them in the air. Jenna pulled a face and shook her head.
"We've ordered in too much lately. Let's fix dinner. I'll help."
Not that Knox needed help making an easy dish like spaghetti but they'd found that they liked cooking together. They liked working together too. Jason had offered Jenna a temporary job helping to work up profiles with his investigators. It was good work and she enjoyed it, but her long-term plan was to head back to school for her doctorate.
"Sounds good to me. I'm starving."
They both shuffled around the kitchen getting the boiling water and the ground beef started. Knox popped open a bottle of beer and then poured a glass of wine for Jenna. She accepted it gratefully, taking a sip.
"Am I going to need this? You haven't said a word yet."
He took a long draw from the bottle before answering. "Michelle made a deal with the prosecutor. She tells all against Tom for a reduced sentence."
"What sort of a reduced sentence? A few years?" Jenna was pissed off. "Is that all they think Lori's life was worth?"
"More like a few decades. Fifteen to twenty-five. That's a hell of a lot better than life without parole, which was what she was looking at. She has to tell the whole story and also reveal where Tom hid Lori's body."
Jenna squeezed her eyes together, a few tears slipping out. Tom had been captured that day but he'd stubbornly kept quiet, only saying that he was innocent and Michelle was guilty. That was easy while Michelle was fighting for her life in the hospital. No one had thought she would make it but she had. Now she had turned the tables on her half-brother and taken a deal.
"She gave a statement, Jenna."
Taking another fortifying sip of her wine, she then placed the glass on the counter.
"I assumed she would have to before they'd negotiate."
"I can tell you about it or not. It's up to you, babe."
She wanted to know. She'd had so many questions but hardly any answers. How many nights had she lain awake trying to wrap her mind around the fact that her two siblings were cold-blooded killers? How many times had she wanted to visit Tom in prison and ask him why he'd done it? Not that he would have told her.
"I do want to hear about it. I have to know the truth."
Knox sighed and pulled her close, letting her head rest on his chest. He was solid and warm and comforting. "I don't want you to hurt anymore. I want to make this better for you."
He'd been saying that almost daily for the last few months. She'd started into therapy about four weeks ago and he would often attend as well. She had much to grapple with when it came to her family - or what was left of it - and he did too. It was healthy for both of them, especially if they wanted to have a future together.
They both wanted that. Very much.
They hadn't known each other long but they both knew that what they had was special and important. They wanted to build something together that would last.
"You make everything better," she replied with a smile. "And you weren't the one to hurt me."
"I hope I never hurt you."
"We'll hurt each other at times. I'm not sure we can completely avoid that. I think the important thing is that we don't do it on purpose." She stepped back and looked up into his soft blue eyes. She could see the love there, revel in it. It was still so unbelievable that something good had come out of such complete shit. "So what did she have to say?"
Knox leaned a hip against the counter, rubbing the back of his neck. "Apparently, Tom had been angry ever since his father married Anita. It only got worse when they had Michelle and Lori."
Jenna nodded. "Lori said once that Tom had some anger issues in the beginning."
"He did and he went to therapy for them. It looks like all he learned was how to hide all of the anger that he had. Otherwise his father would have drummed him out of the family. It simmered in him for years until Lori brought you home. That's when he realized that Michelle resented you. From what she says he stoked that hate for years, constantly saying that someday they were going to do something about it."
It was hard to believe that Jenna had been the catalyst for all of that hate and anger. She'd honestly never suspected, although now looking back she could a few tell-tale signs in Michelle, but nothing overt. They'd been excellent actors. It had helped that the Waters family frowned on displays of anger. Jenna could now see that there had been a great deal of repressed emotion in that household.
"What were they going to do?"
"Michelle didn't say. Just that Tom was furious when his dad left almost everything to Anita and not to him. He was even more angry when he found out that Anita intended to split the inheritance four ways - Tom, Michelle, Lori...and you. He said that he wouldn't stand for it."
Poor Anita hadn't taken the news about Tom and Michelle well.
