Knocking at the door woke me and Sadie from our deep sleep with a start. After our incredible tryst in her bed and the beautiful moment we'd shared afterward, we'd cuddled up and fallen fast asleep. I don't even remember what time it was, but when I looked at the clock on Sadie's nightstand, it read 3:18am. Who the fuck would be pounding on the door so early in the morning?
"I'll go check it out," I told Sadie.
"Be safe," she said, likely scared that it was Ted returning.
I pulled on my shorts and nothing else as I staggered to the door. Whoever it was knocked once more while I was halfway down the hall.
"I'm coming!" I called out groggily and then yawned. When I opened the door, I froze in fear as two police officers were standing on the doorstep. "Oh," I said startled. "Good...morning, I guess it is," I said.
"Are you the man of the house?" the officer asked.
I had to think about it after what I'd said to Ted, but technically, it was still just my mother's house.
"No," I said. "This is my mother's house. I was just crashing for the night to keep my sister company. What's this about?"
"Is your mother home?" the officer asked. I looked at his name badge and the last name read as Lighthouse.
"Uh, no, her friend took her to the ER earlier. She'd hit her head on the coffee table," I said and sidestepped and pointed at the bloodspots on the carpet I'd tried to clean up. "She asked us to try and clean it up, but I couldn't get it all up. We were going to call a carpet service later this morning to see what they can do."
"How did she hit her head?" the second officer asked in a very accusatory tone.
I stared at them, wondering how much I should tell them. I settled on the cold, hard truth. "Ted, her husband, and I guess my 'step-dad'," I used finger quotes, "smacked her and she fell and hit her head. That's what her friend, Brenda, told me anyway on my way here."
"Where are they now?" the second officer asked.
"Still at the ER as far as I know," I told them. "I haven't heard anything since they left. What's this about?" I asked again.
"You said your step-dad's name was Ted," the first officer, who was slightly friendlier than the second, stated. "Ted Murphy?"
"Yes," I said, my stomach suddenly feeling cold.
"Is he the owner of a black, nineteen-sixty-eight Ford Mustang?" the second officer asked.
"Yes," I said again, wondering where they were going with this line of questioning.
"We responded to a call about an hour ago," the first officer took over but he paused and looked over my left shoulder. I turned to see Sadie standing there. She'd put on a pair of gray cotton shorts and a plain, black midriff t-shirt.
"This is my sister, Sadie," I said and she immediately understood how she should act in front of the officers. We couldn't be lovers. We were strictly siblings at the moment. I stretched out my arm to her and she joined me at my side, her arm around my back as I held her around the shoulders.
"Miss," the officer nodded at her.
"Hello, Officer," she said timidly.
"What were you about to say?" I asked.
"Yes," Officer Lighthouse continued. "We responded to a call about an accident involving your step-dad's car. His was the only one involved," he began to describe the scene. "He'd wrapped his car around a telephone poll. I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but he was already deceased when first responders arrived," he broke the news as gently as possible. Sadie fell into my shoulder and began to cry. I gritted my teeth and swallowed, more out of fear of what else they might have to say.
"You said no other vehicle was involved?" I asked.
Officer Lighthouse nodded. "Yes," he confirmed. "There was a shattered bottle of whiskey on the passenger's side floor," he continued. "It appears he was under the influence and lost control of the car. As tragic as it was, it was a miracle he didn't hit anyone else."
I nodded. "I'm glad no one else was hurt," I said. "Thank you for coming to tell us. I will let my mother know when she returns."
"I just have another question," Officer Lighthouse said and my stomach froze. "This is just my gut speaking, there's no evidence suggesting, so you don't have to answer the question, but you mentioned that he'd hit your mother. Was this a common occurrence? Or could he have possibly been feeling guilty for what he'd done and it drive him to this?"
I looked to Sadie. "I honestly haven't lived here in about four years. I was already in my own place when Mom and Ted got married. Sadie?" I said, deferring the question to her.
"No," she said. "They never fought. But..." she trailed off and took a deep, shaky breath. "He has, in the past, made advances towards me and has assaulted me sexually."
"I'm sorry to hear that, miss," Officer Lighthouse said. "Did something like that happen tonight?"
Sadie shook her head.
"No," I said, "but he did try to come back and I had an altercation with him." I admitted. "Nothing too serious. But I did hit him and threaten him to not come back because of what he's done to my sister and what he did to my mother tonight. I didn't want him around them ever again."
Officer Lighthouse nodded. "I understand wanting to protect your family," he said. "Did you injure him at all?"
"Other than his pride?" I asked with a nervous chuckle. "No," I said. "I might have broken his nose yesterday when he tried to enter my apartment without permission. He wouldn't take his eyes off of my sister."
"You were at your brother's apartment when this altercation took place?" Officer Lighthouse asked Sadie.
"Yes, Officer," she said. "I didn't want to be around Ted anymore, so I packed a bag and went to Jaden's apartment," she answered honestly. "I didn't feel safe here anymore. Jaden has done nothing but try to look out for me and our mom."
Officer Lighthouse smiled at her. "Your brother isn't in any kind of trouble. I'm just trying to put the pieces together as to why this could have happened," he assured her and then looked at me. "You've obviously been acting in self-defense and in the defense of others. You're safe."
I nodded at him. "Thank you, Officer," I said. "That actually makes me feel a lot better. And forgive me if I don't feel too bad about what happened to Ted. I think he had it coming," I told him honestly.
"Things sometimes have a way of working themselves out," he said. "Here's my card," he handed me a small, white slip of cardstock with his name, badge number and a number to reach him. "Have your mother contact the station as soon as she's able and ready to. Someone will have to identify the body once the coroners have performed the autopsy."
"I will let her know," I said. "Thank you, Officer."
The officers nodded once more and then returned to their car. I watched until they reached the end of the driveway and then shut and locked the door. Relief washed over me like a wave in the ocean. When they'd mentioned Ted, I'd assumed he'd taken his life and left a note blaming me for it. But karma had caught up with him and taken care of him for us. Sadie became a wreck, falling into my arms, crying into my shoulder.
"I was so scared," she said. "I thought he'd done something that was going to get you into trouble and take you away from me," she rattled off quickly as I held her close. "I can't lose you, Jade. I can't lose you!"
"Shh," I said softly. "Everything is okay. Ted is gone. You and Mom are safe. We have no one else that can get in our way of being together. No one is going to hurt you ever again, Sadie. And I'm not going anywhere."
She forced herself to look up at me. "Are you still going to move back here?" she asked.
I smiled. "It's late, sis," I said. "Let's not decide that now and wait until Mom is back to talk about it."
Sadie nodded and then let out a big sigh of relief. "I'm sorry, Jade," she said. "That took me completely by surprise. I thought you were in trouble," she began to repeat, "but then when they said Ted was dead, I felt so much relief, but then I felt guilty for being glad he was dead, and then stupid for feeling guilty..."
I walked her back to her room slowly. "It's okay," I told her. "Feel everything you need to feel and then we'll work on letting it go."
She stopped me at her door and then kissed me hard and deep. "I love you, Jaden," she said when she broke our kiss.
"I love you, too, Sadie," I said and then I bent and hooked my arm around the backs of her knees and literally swept her off her feet. She held onto me around the back of my neck as I held her under her arms as well.
"Whoa," she giggled. "I wasn't expecting that."
I leaned my head forward and kissed her. "We're completely free to do whatever we want now," I told her. "Mom knows about us, Brenda knows and doesn't seem to be too worried about it," I listed off. "There's no one standing in our way now."