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“He made me promise to walk away if I saw that you loved Mike and he made you happy, not angry, and if he could knock me out in a fight. He wanted me to promise not to contact you again. I stupidly agreed because of my pride, but also because I trusted you.”
Jagger’s dark eyes were sparking fire, but not like the earlier sparks of passion and love. Now it was anger and frustration.
Belinda stared at him, too stunned for words or to mount any kind of defense. Her parents had believed Mike made her happier, and Jagger would definitely try to fight his way through anything, but she could never imagine him and her dad duking it out. This entire story sounded far-fetched, and that didn’t fit Jagger at all.
“Your dad and I hid in a stall in the barn,” he continued. “You and Mike came in laughing and flirting and touching each other.” Disgust and fury were thick in his voice. “After you put away your horses, he pinned you against the stall and kissed you. You threw your arms around his neck and kissed him back.” It was obvious he was barely controlling his anger. Even the memory seemed to make him irate. “He carried you out of the barn in his arms. You leaned into him.”
His shoulders drooped as if her betrayal had defeated him. He studied her, but she could hardly believe Jagger had been hiding in her barn with her dad. In fact, she didn’t believe it. Her parents would’ve told her if Jagger had come for her.
“I threw a punch at your dad,” he continued when she still said nothing. “He stunned me with a jab, then slammed me into the concrete floor. I was disoriented and a mess and he succeeded in knocking me out. Apparently he was a Golden Gloves boxing champion years ago. The next thing I remember is waking up in my truck several miles from your house. I’d promised your dad, so I drove away. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and I’ve regretted it every day. I should’ve broken my promise, come for you, and made you choose. At least then you would’ve known how deeply I loved you, not heard about my visit from your parents’ skewed perception.”
He stopped talking and stared at her, waiting for her response.
The details he had were uncanny, but there was no possible way any of this was true. Her dad would never do something like this to her and then hide it for fourteen years, eight of those during a loveless marriage. And to claim that her mom had seen part of the interaction? Inconceivable. Belinda had cried and moaned and wondered how to get Jagger to respond to her, and neither of her parents had once said that Jagger had come for her that fateful day she had let Mike kiss her.
There was no world where her parents would allow her to go through that kind of anguish and not admit to this whole cockamamie story that Jagger had just shared with her. No way. And claiming her dad was a lightweight champion? What a farce. Her mild-mannered and charitable father had never thrown a punch in his life.
“You … liar,” she gritted out, glaring at this man she thought she’d loved.
“Pardon me?” His dark eyes narrowed, but he mostly looked confused by her response.
“How could you know details like that about my interaction with Mike that day, and how could you make up such outrageous lies about my parents? Did you have some camera installed at my house and barn and monitor it? Was that a Navy assignment or just you and your buddies thinking you were clever or not trusting me?”
“Bee …” He shook his head. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Kidding?” Her voice rose to a shriek. “You make up these outlandish lies about my mom and dad, the two most charitable people who have been there for me through thick and thin, the two people who would never let me hurt like I did after you ditched me, and you think I’m kidding? ‘The Lord detests lying, but He delights in people who are trustworthy.’” She quoted the Psalm, but it didn’t make her feel any better. How could her Jagger not be trustworthy?
He stared at her. Stared as if she were unstable, unhinged, off her rocker. How dare he?
“Argh!” she screamed, threw her hands in the air, and ran through the sand.
Jagger raced after her. He easily caught her and wrapped his arms around her from behind, pulling her to a stop.
“Bee.” His voice was unsteady. “You have to see the truth. You have to believe me. How would I know details about that day? How would I have time to come install some camera and monitor it? I was in basic and A school. That day was the first break I’d gotten since I kissed you goodbye four and half months before.”
“I don’t know! You’re brilliant; you’d figure something out. Maybe you ran into Mike and he told you.”
“Mike would just up and admit that you cheated on me with him?”
Belinda yanked out of his arms and spun to face him. “I wasn’t … cheating! Okay, I guess in a sense I was, but I didn’t like kissing him and I only leaned into him because I didn’t want him kissing me again. I was only trying to give him a chance because my parents adored him and hated you.”
“Exactly!” He threw a hand in the air. “Exactly. You know your parents would do anything to get you away from me, and apparently they did. They resorted to lies and hiding the truth from you. I can’t believe the good pastor would lie to you all these years.” His voice dripped with derision. “And your mom, acting so sweet, pretending to like me, but hiding the truth from you to keep you away from me and push you on Mike.”
“My parents would never lie to me!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. How dare he disparage her parents? They were the only ones who had been there for her through every painful moment without him.
A bird flew into the air from a nearby tree and a couple of people down by the water turned to stare at them.
“You’re the liar!” She tried to think how to prove it. “Like my dad could knock you out. That’s such bull crap. You could best anyone in a fight, and my dad has never fought a day in his life.”
“He hid that from you too?”
She gasped in outrage. Her dad would never hide something like that from her.
Jagger grimaced. “I’m not proud of your dad beating me. His fist was like lightning. It stunned me and next thing I knew, he was slamming my head into the concrete.”
“You shouldn’t be proud, because you’re lying.” All he wanted to do was think the worst of her beloved parents. “You claim you drove your truck to my house?”
He nodded shortly.
