Page 3 of Dancing With Redemption

2

Roxie

Liam’s dad had a new fiancé, her brain finally reminded her once she was standing in front of Dr. Bennet’s house, her finger poised over the doorbell. Was the woman matronly and nice? Or was she the young, snotty, and resentful of her future stepchildren kind? Roxie hoped she was nice, as someone came to the door and opened it.

“You must be Chloe, come in.” The older woman with long steel-gray hair, her eyes bright gray smiled at Roxie. She was probably in her late 50s but wore it well, Roxie decided. “I’m Olivia, George’s fiancé. Liam called me to ask if I’d meet you here. Come on in.”

Roxie blinked for a moment, trying to remember who George was before it dawned on her. Right, George Bennet, June and Liam’s dad. Roxie stepped into the house and memories immediately flooded through her mind. The millions of times she walked, or ran in, with June, so they could escape to June’s room and talk about boys or their classmates in secret. The holidays they’d spent together, here and at Chloe’s, the night she almost kissed Liam, all came flooding back into Roxie’s mind.

Roxie smiled at the other woman and held out her hand as the memories began to fade and reality came back to her. “Sorry, I wasn’t expecting to be hit with a walk down memory lane. Yes, I’m Chloe, Chloe Abshire.”

The name felt wrong on Roxie’s lips, foreign somehow, the name unfamiliar and alien. Still, that name was who she was for the first eighteen years of her life, it was what Liam and George Bennet knew her as, and using anything else with them would seem strange. June would use the name she’d taken, if June was in town, but that would be alright. It would all get explained somewhere along the way.

“You’re an old friend of June’s?” Olivia asked as she walked in the direction of the room the family had always used as the family living room. There was a more formal sitting room, or used to be, for visitors, so Roxie was glad when the woman took her to the non-formal family area. It meant she respected Roxie’s place in the family.

“I am, we used to be inseparable, really.” Roxie looked around as she walked, noting the changes made over the last ten years, and wondered if that was from the divorce, when Ms. Young left Mr. Bennet, or if that was just the sign of time passing. Probably both, Roxie decided, as she took a leather wingback chair as a seat.

“I see. Will you be staying here with the kids? George and I don’t live here, I just came over to make sure someone was here to meet you, since Liam asked,” Olivia asked politely, without judgment in her eyes. Roxie liked her already.

“I, well, I don’t know. I hadn’t got that far yet,” she answered honestly, feeling at ease with the woman immediately. “This was kind of an impulsive trip, and I’m sorry, I haven’t got everything straight yet.”

“It’s no problem. Only Liam and June keep bedrooms here now, the rest are all open to guests, anytime, especially old friends. Let me know and we’ll get you sorted out later. Are you hungry or thirsty?”

Roxie settled into the chair while Olivia went to get her a glass of tea. She would have looked at her phone, but she’d have to turn it on, and she knew what would happen if she did. It would probably vibrate to death from Lincoln’s calls and messages. Best save that for later and figure out what she was going to do now that she was back in New York.

This might not have been one of her best ideas. Too late for second thoughts now, though, she decided, as Olivia came back in with a tray. She was here and she’d better do what she came to do. Somehow. It might have been better to stay in South Carolina, to go to Lincoln’s and let this all go, but she needed closure of some kind. She wouldn’t get that in South Carolina, waiting on answers to magically appear.

“Here we are.” Olivia handed her a glass of iced tea before she picked up a cup of what looked like coffee. A very expensive porcelain one, Roxie noted when Olivia lifted the white, black, and gold cup with a Rosenthal Versace stamp on the bottom to her lips. Her mother had owned a similar set before the house burned down.

Sadness nearly took her breath away, the memory of her mother using those cups startling her abruptly.

“Oh, my dear, what’s wrong?” Olivia asked with kindness, putting the cup down with care.

“Nothing, I’m sorry.” Roxie turned her head away, trying to catch her breath and blink away the tears. “I have a lot of memories in this house, and well, I guess you don’t know, but my parents died in a fire not far from here. We had a lovely home, and I haven’t been back here since that night. In fact, I was here when the house caught on fire…”

Roxie’s words trailed off, knowing she was spilling private information to a virtual stranger. She wasn’t normally this open, but Olivia exuded comfort like a warm home on a cold night. Roxie blinked the last of the tears away and smiled with a confidence she didn’t feel.

“That’s terrible, I’m so sorry to hear that.” The tranquility in Olivia’s voice soothed Roxie’s rattled and bruised nerves. “I remember George mentioning something about that when we were out on a drive one night. You’re the girl who disappeared?”

Roxie’s eyebrows lifted, astonished that Mr. Bennet remembered her and had spoken about her. He’d always been nice to her, but that he’d even thought about her told her he’d cared more than she thought. Knowing that warmed her heart and made her glad she’d come back.

“I am, yes. It’s complicated, but I had my reasons. That’s why I came back, I’m at a point in my life where I need answers, and the only place I’ll get them is here.” Roxie shrugged, her words trailing off as she tried to decide what else she could say without making Olivia uncomfortable.

Roxie liked the older woman in a way she hadn’t experienced before. Trusting people hadn’t come easy to her since her parents’ deaths, but Olivia was different, and Roxie knew that instinctively.

Olivia picked her cup back up and smiled easily at Roxie. “He’ll be really glad you’re back then. And I’m sure he’ll help in any way he can. George is resourceful, after all.”

“He always was,” Roxie agreed, picking up her glass and settling back into her chair. “He was always so gentle with everyone around him and determined to make sure people were comfortable. I always thought it was because he was a doctor, but doctors now seem more bent on making sure their patients don’t bother them than putting them at ease.”

“George is always a doctor, but that doesn’t make him cold like some of his associates. He’s a different breed, I guess. Surgeons can be arrogant and rude, but he’s the exact opposite.” Olivia smiled a smile that was a mixture of inner peace and pleasure at the thought of the man it was now obvious she loved.

Roxie was glad to see that maybe the older man had found love at long last. Lincoln’s mother was a hard woman to love, but even Roxie had seen that Mr. Bennet had loved her. It was good to know he’d found a woman like Olivia to share his life with. If only Roxie could find that same kind of peace with Lincoln.

No, you aren’t thinking about him right now, she chided herself and put the glass of tea down. “He’s a very kind man.”

That seemed a lame statement, but it was true.

“He is.” Olivia nodded, the conversation was about to become awkward but Olivia inhaled and changed directions. “I have to go out for a little while, but feel free to make yourself at home.”