Ties That Bind
5. Moving OnNot long after Zac’s trial was over, Beth made some heartfelt, yet life changing decisions once baby Jenifer was released from the hospital. Beth had decided to move back to her hometown in Kingston, New York - which was right outside of New York City. It was as far away from California and Zac as she could possibly get and she figured he would never find her here. She had five years to move on and piece her shattered life back together with her children.
Beth’s best friend, Jen chose to stay back in California with a new guy she had met in a sex shop of all places. But they kept in touch regularly. Jen forwarded all of Beth’s mail to her new address and began receiving letters from Zac, four days after he had been processed at the county jail to begin serving his sentence, the letters never slowed. Beth got at least one to three letters a day. Beth read a few of them, before just storing the rest of them away in a tote. She knew she’d have to face her demons this man had caused her at some point and his letters might give her that closure someday, but those days were never the right time. Beth just kept putting it off, only trying to block out and forget about the past. Her children where her future, no matter how they came to be born into this world.
Soon after arriving in Kingston, Beth’s therapist from California suggested that she continue meeting with the Rape Victims Support Group, which she did. Most girls in the group were date raped like she was and some attackers were a boyfriend, close friends or family, only a few were attacked by a stranger.
It took Beth almost two months before she trusted anyone enough to be friends with another girl in the group who seemed to share a similar tale. Cameron and Beth discussed their attacks once to each other outside of group, the only thing that carried over from group was never revealing your attackers last name, if you knew it. It was a conversation Beth will never forget :
Cameron’s story was so heartbreaking when she told me what had happened to her.
Cameron’s boyfriend of two years had raped her one night after he had been drinking. I guess her former boyfriend, a guy named Taylor was a really sweet guy up until that night when something came over him and he forced himself onto her, stealing her innocence forever while leaving her the scars of bearing and raising his child.
I told her about my date rape and the nightmare I had to go through of Zac being released from court pending his trail and how he stalked me constantly, came to visit me and then the pain of testifying at his trial and the bittersweet ending of him being convicted of the crime he committed against me. She was glad to hear the judge had slapped on a few extra years of his sentence for causing me to become unwillingly impregnated with his child.
We became close friends in time and a great plus to our friendship was that our kids were not that far apart in age. Her son’s name was Andrew Bradley Cooper, he was two months younger than the twins. But the three of them were inseparable from the day they met, as if they had an unbreakable bond that no one knew about.
*
Fast forward five years and two months to the day that Zac was sent to lock up. He was being released for good behavior after only serving five years of his original eight year sentence.
It was a unusually hot day for early May in California as the large fenced gate ground open slowly.
Taylor was waiting patiently for his younger brother to be released from prison. He stood outside of the car, leaning against it with his arms folded.
A moment later, Zac emerged wearing the same suit from his trial.
Taylor stood upright and met his brother half way to the car, immediately embracing Zac into a hug.
“Hey, man. It’s good to see you other than behind plate glass.” Taylor laughed, patting Zac on the shoulder.
“You’re looking good, I see you were working out while I was gone.” Zac noticed his brother’s budging upper arm muscles.
“I hired a personal trainer. Joey’s been helping me eat right and exercise. I see you have been working out too, I think your guns are bigger than mine though.” Taylor spoke, noting his observation.
“Not much else to do in the slammer, so why not buff up?” Zac shrugged. “Let’s go, I wanna get out of here!”
Taylor and Zac climbed into the car, Taylor started it and began to drive away from the jailhouse.
“So, what are you going to do now that you’re a free man again?” Taylor asked trying to make conversation.
“I’m going to look for my girl and my son.” Zac announced as he put on a pair of black plastic sunglasses that were sitting on the dashboard and leaned back into his seat.
“But Zac, why would you want to track her down again she’s the one that put you in jail in the first place!” Taylor tried to reason.
“She was just afraid after she found out she was pregnant. It was a mistake and I forgave her.”
“How do you know?” Taylor glanced at Zac skeptically.
“She wrote me and told me! That’s how I know!” Zac spat bitterly.
“Zac, I was there during your trial. I listened to her testimony and it didn’t sound anything like that to me.” Taylor argued.
Zac turned towards his brother, wearing a rather annoyed expression on his face but it was hidden behind the sunglasses.
“Listen bro, I know your just looking out for me but I know I am meant to be with Beth. Why do you think I fucked her six times that night! I wanted to make sure there was a good chance that she would get pregnant so we would be tied to each other forever! It worked didn‘t it? So that means we were meant to be together. I believe it‘s fate.”
“And I think you’re nuts!” Taylor muttered and shook his head.
“What?” Zac shot up in the seat, leaned over and grabbed his brother by the neck and started to squeeze. “I suggest you take that back, before someone gets hurt!”
“I -I’m so-sorry.“ Taylor looked sideways at his brother, wide eyed as he pleaded for his life. Zac let go and settled back in his seat.
Taylor coughed a few times before clearing his throat and trying to pick his words wisely with his now much tougher and meaner younger brother.
“Bro, I was just saying - that you always fall too hard and fast for a girl. You are going to wind up driving her away like you did with Jenna, Katie and Christine.”
“Like your one to talk Taylor - you fucked up relationships too! Did you forget about Jen and Danielle? Oh and lets not forget that sweet piece of ass, Cameron.” Zac smirked at the thought of Cameron’s hot body, he would have loved to get a piece of that himself but he respected Taylor’s relationship with her and didn’t bother trying to get in her pants and found his own girl.
“No need to remind me of what I did! I just don’t want to see this girl run away from you - or do something even worse like what Stacey did to get away.”
Zac was tired of hearing Taylor talk and cut him off.
“Don’t talk about her! That wound is still fresh for me and I am still not fully over it.” Zac said in an extremely pissed off tone.
“That’s what I mean! Just let this one go.”
“No! I love her and she’s got my son. I want to see him. And that‘s why I refuse to let this one go.” Zac argued.
“I don’t think this is such a good idea.” Taylor conveyed his concern.
Zac turned towards his brother, sitting forward slightly in the passenger seat as he gave his two cents.
“Taylor, my boy is five years old and I don’t even know what he looks like or even what his name is! There is a child out there that belongs to me. I helped create him and now I want to see him and you are going to help me do that!” Zac spoke with urgency.
“I don’t really want to get involved with this.” Taylor said fearfully, unsure of how his now changed brother would react. He was no longer the sweet, nice, innocent Zac that went off to prison five years ago. He was now an older, bitter, uncaring man. Prison had done a number on Zac and Taylor didn’t like the changes his brother had made.
“Taylor, you know that you’re my favorite brother but I really don’t want to have to hurt you if you refuse to help me find my girl and my son.” Zac’s words reeked with deadly venom as he uttered each word while squeezing Taylor’s shoulder to intimidate him even more.
It worked. Because the next words out of Taylor’s mouth were exactly what Zac wanted to hear.
“So, where do we start in trying to find this girl?”
“New York, my ill witted brother.” Zac chuckled to himself.
“New York? But I thought that girl lived here?” Taylor questioned, rather confused.
“Yeah, she did when we were together but she apparently moved at some point within the last five years back to her home town of Kingston, New York.” Zac informed Taylor.
“How do you know that?” Taylor asked. His brother was starting to really creep him out.
“I asked her where she was from, amongst other things on our date.” Zac pulled a folded white envelope from his front pocket. “And the letter she sent me was post marked Kingston. She gave me a nice trail of breadcrumbs to follow. She’s going to lead me right to her and my son.” Zac laughed, such a sickening laugh. It made Taylor literally sick inside at what his younger brother had become.
*
Beth and Cameron finally rebuilt their lives. Having undergone such enormous hardships, it had taken tremendous strength for them to feel whole again. It took therapy, support groups, and new found friendships to make Beth and Cameron see the bright side of the world again. However slowly, they had found it.
One single instant was enough to diminish their hard, laborious work.
Beth and Cameron had a strong friendship, as did Cameron's five year old son Andrew with Beth's twins Jacob and Jenifer. Bonding over their past had been good for the girls. They spent a lot of days and nights together - sometimes for the sake of their children, sometimes just as a support system for each other. After five years, the heartache and fears weren't as strong but on some level, they were still there.
Beth and Cameron didn't think they'd ever see them again, the men that had crushed their confidence and changed their lives forever. They didn't ever want to face that again.
But a warm May afternoon saw their worst nightmare become a reality.
Beth and Cameron were enjoying an afternoon of shopping, avoiding the first heat wave of the year. It had come early this year, and the girls decided to take refuge in the air conditioned shopping centre.
The kids had effortlessly coaxed their mothers into the Toy Store when Beth had noticed him. While her footsteps faltered, her heart rate accelerated.
"Cam," Beth whispered nervously. "Cam, he's here."
"Who's where?" Cameron replied absently, paying little attention to her friend.
Cameron had her eyes fixed on Andrew, who was tediously working at removing a board game box from the bottom of its display. She pulled him by the hand, away for a mess he was undoubtedly about to make and looked to Jacob and Jenifer. The stood quietly watching a mechanical train ride circles around another display. Cameron sighed. Beth's children were so much more relaxed and well-behaved than Andrew was. As if she needed something else to blame Taylor for.
"Cameron!"
Cameron started at Beth's exclamation. Keeping Andrew in tow, Cameron gave her full attention to Beth.
"I'm sorry, Beth." Cameron belatedly noticed her friend's fearful expression, immediately jumping into helpful-friend mode. "What's wrong?"
"Z-Zac. Zac's here." Beth stammered. She glanced discreetly to where he had been to find the area clear. She panicked. "Zac's here. He was just right there, and now he's gone. He's here. Oh, God, where is he, Cam?"
Cameron scanned the area around them and came up with nothing. "I don't see anything. Oh shit - Taylor’s here!"
“Taylor? As in Andrew’s father Taylor?” Beth asked in shock.
“Yeah, how the hell can two different guys from our past be in this shopping center with us at the same time? Does karma really hate us that bad for running from our old lives? Or is this heat causing us to see mirages?” Cameron looked up to the ceiling in disbelief.
“I don’t know and I am not waiting around to find out! We have to go! Mirage or not, I don’t even want to deal with him!” Beth said fearfully as she grabbed the twins hands and walked quickly towards the exit.