Page 7 of Dancing With Redemption

“Thank you, Dr. Bennet. That means a lot to me. Even if my aunt seems like a horrible old cow.” Roxie grinned and took a deep breath, relaxing at last. “Wow, I had no idea about any of this. So I’ve learned a few things already that I wished I’d known back then.”

Dr. Bennet nodded and it finally occurred to Roxie that he’d said he’d bought the property where the house used to be. “So is that your house over there?”

“Yes, I live there with Olivia. This house is full of memories of the kids when they were children, and of…well, the past.” Dr. Bennet stopped and Roxie had a feeling he was thinking about Lincoln’s mother. He’d really loved her, even if he’d let her go. “It belongs to them all now. Would you like to see the house I built there? I can take you by tomorrow.”

“That would be great,” she replied, although she wasn’t sure it would be that at all. It would probably be weird, being in a place that should be familiar but wasn’t. It wouldn’t feel like the same house, even if the rooms had all been rebuilt in the exact same way. It couldn’t feel the same, she’d never lived in that new house. But, still, it would be nice to see what had replaced her old home.

“Tomorrow, then. Tonight we’ll have dinner here and let you relive the past. I’ll have to clear my schedule,” he said absently and got out his phone. “I’ll need to go by the bank with you, do you have an ID with you?”

“I have my license and social security card.” She lifted one shoulder with a frown. “But that’s, um, well, in my new name.”

“Ah, I see. Okay, well, there may be some documents in the safe deposit boxes at the bank that will help me transfer everything over to you. Don’t worry. If not, we can get my lawyer to settle everything. I may need to call him anyway. Let me see.”

Dr. Bennet stabbed at his phone with his index finger, typed in a message to someone, sent it off, but then he moved, and Roxie couldn’t see what he was doing anymore. It gave her time to think, to ponder over whether she wanted to reclaim her old, original identity or not. She’d have to in order to claim her inheritance, but then there’d be questions she didn’t really want to answer from other places. This could bring her trouble.

“Maybe we should talk to that lawyer first, Dr. Bennet?” Roxie said softly, not sure how to broach the subject.

“Oh, because you have a different identity now? Yes, we’re taking care of that, June explained it all to me this morning.” Dr. Bennet’s smile was full of pride when he looked up from his phone. “That was awfully clever of you, changing your identity.”

“Well, I recognized two of the men who were talking to the fire department that night. They’d been to the house before, and I knew they were trouble. I think the fire was deliberate, even if the cops think it was murder/suicide.”

“I always thought the same, myself. I just couldn’t figure out who would be the culprit. Your father was never a shady kind of man. He was always respectable, and so in love with his family that he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize any of you.” Dr. Bennet stopped, inhaled, and lifted his eyebrows. “Anyway, for now, let’s focus on getting to know each other again, shall we? We can do adulting tomorrow. Isn’t that what you kids all say now?”

His grin was as white and bright as it had always been, and just as infectious. Roxie let her dark thoughts of doom and gloom slip away as she smiled. Of course, Dr. Bennet already had a lawyer working to fix any problem she might have when it came to claiming her inheritance. Like Lincoln, he was a problem-solver, a take-charge kind of man who would never let his friends or family worry if he could help it.

She’d barely been back in town a few hours and already problems were being solved, answers being given, and she was about to step back into a life she thought she’d left behind. Being Chloe again wasn’t something she’d ever planned to do, but she might have to be that girl for a little while, in order to go back to her life as Roxie.

It was all giving her a headache, so she stood up and followed Dr. Bennet into the dining room with Liam.

“June is on her way,” Liam said after he picked up his phone and then put it down. “She won’t be long.”

“We’ll wait for her then. Hello, darling.” Dr. Bennet turned to face Olivia as she came into the room. She took the place to his left at the table, with Liam to his right. Roxie was beside Liam and sipped at a glass filled with water. It was strange to see the pair together, despite the years that had passed.

Roxie knew Lincoln’s mother was no longer in the picture, but in her mind, they’d spent all of these years together, her and Dr. Bennet. To see another woman in Ms. Young’s place was just…strange.

“Are you alright?” Liam bent towards her to ask quietly, prompting Roxie to nod.

“I’m fine, it’s just all kind of surreal at the moment,” she whispered. “I guess I wasn’t expecting all of you to take me back with open arms. Or for things to have changed so much.”

“Of course, we’d accept you back. You were like a part of this family. She and June were like sisters, always together, always whispering with each other,” Dr. Bennet said, speaking in turn to Roxie and Olivia after overhearing the conversation.

“I can’t thank you enough, Dr. Bennet, for everything.” Roxie smiled at him, feeling what must have been a glow in her eyes and on her face. She felt as if she’d come home, in a way. And when June breezed into the dining room, swooping Roxie into a huge hug, that feeling solidified into happiness.

“I’m so glad you’re here. I took the rest of the evening off, don’t worry, Dad, I made sure all my patients were good before I left,” June said, and Roxie caught the bemused smile on his face just before he spoke.

“I have complete faith in you, June, you know that,” he answered with a smile of pleasure at his daughter. “Your patients always come first.”

It was good to be back.