How Cassie Got Her Grind Back [Divine Creek Ranch 23] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Heather Rainier

  The plans were all laid out in front of her, and she mulled his suggestions over while she sketched. Keeping her hands busy helped her to think things through.

  “What did Uncle Antonio want earlier?” he asked, referring to her earlier phone conversation as he used the adding machine. “Whatever it was didn’t sound like good news.”

  “They told your grandfather he was moving into an assisted living community, and he was livid. Uncle Antonio wants me to talk to him, as if that would help. He was mad at me and decided to give Antonio the power of attorney to make his medical decisions. I don’t see what I can do to help.”

  “Sorry, Mom,” Joseph said, pausing in his calculations. “You want me to go see him? He might listen to me.”

  “You’re probably right, but the question is whether he would remember your conversation. He needs to see a specialist. The last time he wandered off it upset him, along with everyone else, and he agreed to see the doctor, but by the time the appointment rolled around, he refused and then said he was going to buy another car so he could drive himself around. I’m afraid he’s a danger to himself, but it’s not my call.”

  She had to fight back pangs of guilt. In her head, she knew it was the right choice to allow his family to make those decisions since she had enough on her hands taking care of her mother, but her heart was another matter. Antonio always made a point of reminding her that both of her grandparents had been cared for at home until passing away. He’d even gone so far as to tell her if she was still married she could take better responsibility for her parents, as if it was her obligation to somehow bring them both together under one roof and make them get along.

  “Do you think Uncle Antonio feels as though he’s betraying him if he puts him into a community where he’ll get more supervision?”

  “Yes, it’s not the way they have always done things in our family. But Aunt Rita shouldn’t have to babysit him full time. Personally, I’m not sure an assisted living community would give him the level of supervision he needs.”

  “I’ll go see him this evening.”

  “That would make him happy but don’t feel bad if he won’t listen to you either. You can’t save everyone, especially when they’re in denial about needing to be saved.”

  A chime sounded from within the office, and then Joseph chuckled. “Hey, Mom, come here. You gotta see this.”

  They spent the next few minutes watching a video Tamara had uploaded, and Cassie tried to set aside worry about her father. Joseph showed her some numbers based on his earlier calculations. “I ran into Jack Warner, and he said he’d love to talk to you about being your general contractor for the project.”

  “Oh, you ran into him, huh? Mi hijo, are you sure you should invest your inheritance in this place? Shouldn’t you save it for a down payment on a house or land?”

  Joseph laughed. “Mom, do I look like a rancher to you? I’m fine where I’m at for now, and you are a good investment.”

  Tears seemed to suddenly spring from her eyes. “My sweet boy! What did I ever do to deserve you?”

  Hugging her, he said, “You’re a good mother. I’m just returning the favor.” He frowned and said, “Did someone leave the gas on?”

  Frowning, Cassie sniffed and then froze. “Everything is turned off, or should be. Maybe the pilot light went out.” Wishful thinking, considering how strong the odor had gotten. That didn’t smell like natural gas.

  Joseph grabbed the fire extinguisher and placed her at his back. She went up on tiptoe as he craned his neck out of the doorway, and over his shoulder, she saw the source of the odor through the kitchen pass-thru window. Somehow a fire had started in the storage room on the other side of the kitchen—and the back door stood wide open.

  She was startled by a rushing whoom!, followed by a blast of heat as something in the storeroom exploded, igniting the liquid trail leading into the kitchen.

  No one knew they were inside except for Samson and Ivan, who were both at work in Morehead.

  * * * *

  Samson looked up from his desk as one of his coworkers came rushing up. “Your girlfriend owns a coffee shop in Divine, right?”

  “Yes,” he said, getting up from his chair as he took in the worry on his friend’s face. “Mike, what is it?”

  “DFD just called for engine back up. The whole building is engulfed in flames.”

  His blood ran cold. “She and her son were there! Did they get them out?”

  “They haven’t said.” He waved Samson away from his desk and grabbed the phone headset. “I’ll take over here. You go. Our guys are en route already.”

  He grabbed his keys as he took out his phone, and it started ringing in his hand. “Yeah!” he hollered into it as he ran out the door.

  “It’s me, Ivan! You’re not going to fucking believe what I just heard on the scanner!”

  “I just found out. We got a call for engine backup.” He heard the engine and siren horn in the distance. “I’m headed that way right now. You?”

  “Already on my way! I just pulled out of the parking lot.”

  “Ivan, if she’s hurt…if…” Pain lanced through his gut as he imagined her helpless and suffocating. And her son. Damn it!

  “No ifs, brother. Hang up the phone and focus on getting there in one piece, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  Samson prayed like he hadn’t prayed in years. He repented of everything he could think of and had moved on to bargaining with God by the time he reached the Divine city limits. The sight of the black smoke still billowing into the sky sent an icy chill down his spine. He prayed harder.

  “God, if you’ll let her live, I’ll never push her to do anything kinky ever again. I’ll put down the whip and cane forever. I’ll move back to Divine and devote the rest of my days to making her happy. Heck, I’ll even make pastry and serve coffee with her, if only you’ll please let them be okay. Please God, I love her so much. I need her.”

  He realized the truck he was gaining on was Ivan’s, and he about had a heart attack as they had to slow down for traffic through Divine to the shopping center where Cassie’s freestanding building was located next to the bank.

  It was near dusk by the time he slammed the gearshift into park and jumped out, leaving the keys in the ignition behind the area the police and fire department had cordoned off. Ivan jumped out of his vehicle, also in mid-prayer as they ran toward the first engine. Acrid smoke hung in the air, invading his sinuses and making his eyes water.

  He couldn’t bear to look at the flames licking at the crumbling structure. He spotted Jared and Kendry McCulloch, sitting on the bumper of an ambulance, both of their faces covered in black soot and wearing oxygen masks. The scene was controlled chaos as the rest of the firefighters did their best to keep the blaze from spreading to the bank and the other nearby structures.

  A police officer halted them. “You need to get back behind the line, sir. It’s not safe.”

  Vincent Elder walked over and nodded to his coworker. “They’re family, it’s okay. I’ll talk to them.” He turned to Samson and Ivan, and said, “Kendry and Jared recognized her car in the parking lot and went in for her. Cassie and Joseph were unconscious. Smoke inhalation. But they got them out.” Samson’s knees turned to jelly, and he and his brother held each other up as Vincent continued. “They were transported to the emergency room right after. I need to get back to work, but we’ll catch up with you guys at the hospital.”

  Ivan thanked Vincent and grabbed Samson’s arm. “Come on.”

  In the emergency room parking lot, he spotted Eli Wolf, who they’d gotten to know through Cassie’s friends.

  Ivan patted Samson’s shoulder and said, “You go check in, and I’ll see if I can get Eli to find out how they’re doing for us.”

  Samson nodded, feeling as though he wasn’t quite tracking. Normally he was the one who took charge, especially in emergency situations. He gave the receptionist their names and Cassie’s, and took a seat.

  Ivan
came in and sat down next to him. “Eli is back there right now.” After a few minutes of silence as they both tried to process what had happened, Ivan said, “I think I lost my job when I walked out of the restaurant.”

  “Huh?”

  “I told Hermione that Cassie’s shop was on fire as I ran out. She stopped me—literally jumped into my path—and said if I left her to not come back. I imagine she’s burning the stuff in my locker in the back parking lot right now.”

  “An ultimatum was a bad gamble on her part. She accused you of leaving her, even though she knew there was a fire?”

  “Yes.”

  “What about breaching your contract?”

  “I didn’t quit. I told her I had a dire emergency, which is allowable, and I can back it up with evidence, so technically she’s the one in breach if she fires me without proper notice or cause. I’ll tell you one thing, though. If I’d been in doubt about renewing my contract before, which I wasn’t, I certainly wouldn’t renew it now. She knew there was a fire and two people I love were in peril, and she acted as if the most important thing was that I not leave right before the Sunday evening dinner crowd began arriving, which my assistant and the staff were perfectly capable of handling.”

  “And what did you say when she ordered you to stay?” Samson asked.

  “I told her she had a few screws loose and headed for the truck. I guess that hastens my time line for moving back to Divine. That’s not the main priority right now, though.”

  With elbows on his knees, Samson took the first full, deep breath since getting the news about the fire and let his head hang down between his shoulders as he stared at the floor tiles. “This could’ve turned out so much worse.” The tension unwound as gratitude filled all the places inside him that had gone ice-cold earlier.

  She’s breathing. She’s going to be okay. They’re alive. He kept telling himself those things, except he knew breathing in toxic fumes from whatever had been burning could cause complications. At least she was in a setting where they could monitor her.

  After a few minutes, he lifted his head and looked his brother in the eyes. “I started training my replacement this week. I’m ready to come home, too.”

  Cocking his head, Ivan gazed at him. “What are you planning to do?”

  “Travis told me he could use some help out at the boy’s ranch. He wants to teach an outdoor living class, and while he can teach camping and survival skills, he needs to be on site as well. I could come on part time and see how it goes.”

  “Think that would be enough to keep you from going to seed? I sense something else in the works, brother.”

  Giving a slight shrug, Samson looked at his hands and said, “I’d like to try writing a book. This idea for a military thriller keeps rattling around in my head.”

  Ivan grinned slowly and then nodded his agreement and clapped him hard on the back. “You’ve always had a way with words. It could happen for you. And then, when you’re world famous, my claim to fame will be that I’ve known you since you were an embryo.”

  “Dork.” Samson’s laughter rumbled quietly in his chest. Showing too much happiness in the wake of Cassie’s tragedy seemed inappropriate.

  After an eternity had passed, Eli came out and sat down with them. “They had more than one ambulance come in so it’s busy in there. Her father is back there, too.”

  “Her father?” they both asked in unison. “Was he in the fire, too?”

  Eli shook his head. “Car accident. He was driving on Main Street and pulled out in front of a minivan. They swerved to miss him and were struck by another vehicle. He was hit as well by an oncoming truck. They’re taking care of Cassie and Joseph right now. I had a chance to talk to her briefly, and she wanted me to ask you to call her Mom and Tamara.”

  Ivan nodded. “We did, and Tamara said she would let her Dad know.”

  Samson rubbed his face with his hands. Good thing Ivan was thinking straight.

  He took a deep breath, and Eli patted his shoulder. “You doing okay?”

  “Yeah. Just relieved and shaken.”

  “I can recall the feeling from personal experience, man. Your lady is in good hands. Do you need anything?”

  Answers. Just answers.

  * * * *

  “I can’t believe it,” Cassie rasped through a sore throat as she looked at the charred wreckage that had been Divine Drip. There was nothing to salvage. “He could’ve killed someone. Either us or someone else.” Shock was giving way to anger, however.

  Once she’d explained what had happened the night before to Hank, they’d gone online to review her security camera footage, which was uploaded automatically and available on a cloud storage site regardless of the fact that the cameras had eventually stopped working. The images were clear enough for her to identify the culprit as he ran out the back door. The sense of betrayal was profound. Her father, with his twisted logic, had enacted a solution to a non-existent problem.

  At the hospital, Hank had detained her father in police custody, pending the investigation. That news had set her father off on a rant that was part tirade and part confession, which would take time to sort out. She couldn’t imagine he’d be any more cooperative with the sheriff’s department than he was with her or his family.

  The sheriff’s department had sent an investigator to verify the actual cause of the fire. The insurance company also promised an investigation since they’d gotten wind from some helpful soul that Cassie had been heard talking about expanding the business and renovating the building. They had to look at the possibility the fire might’ve been set to facilitate a windfall, which would pay for the expansion. All the evidence supported her claim, and she was willing to wait for all the investigations to shake out because she needed time to recover.

  When the storeroom had exploded into flames, the stainless steel ovens had created enough of a barrier to the blast that the office hadn’t immediately caught fire. Joseph had cleared them a path to the drive-thru station where he’d tried to break through the window before they’d both been overcome by the smoke. Joseph had protected her from the fire with his own body. He’d suffered burns. The thought made her irritated eyes tear up and sting. The memory of the heat and the horrible, thick smoke, and the terror she’d felt as they’d been overcome would give her nightmares and flashbacks for months to come, she knew, but the betrayal was even more painful.

  Miraculously, she’d suffered only second-degree burns on small exposed areas, but Joseph was still in the local hospital, awaiting transport to the burn unit at SAMMC because he required skin grafts to third-degree burns on his arms. Considering the shape the coffee shop was in, they were extremely fortunate the McCulloch brothers had recognized her vehicle in the parking lot and had gone inside after her and Joseph.

  The emergency room doctor had kept her there for the night and had agreed to let her go home if she got plenty of rest and fluids and called if there were any changes in her respiration. But once in Samson’s truck, she’d insisted on seeing what was left of the building. Now there she stood, the tender skin on her face and throat tight and stinging, as she stared at the still-smoking remains, aware of the slow traffic of rubberneckers and curiosity seekers streaming past the building.

  “Baby?” a soft voice said, and she startled out of her daze, realizing she’d practically fallen asleep on her feet. She relaxed into Ivan’s supportive arm around her waist. “I think we need to get you home.”

  Giving in, she nodded sheepishly.

  By the time they got Cassie home, her mother was in a tizzy, and they’d both been put straight to bed. Cassie fully intended to get to the bottom of all the events, just as soon as her head cleared a little bit.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Two days later, feeling no better in body than she did in spirit, Cassie sat on a hard straight-back chair in her father’s hospital room. He’d given the hospital staff no choice but to use padded cuffs on his wrists and ankles to keep him in his bed. He’d been admi
tted for his injuries but also for the testing he needed, after her Uncle Antonio had confirmed her report of her father’s erratic behavior with the medical professionals.

  “Daddy, why?” she asked, looking down at her hands, which trembled. She’d barely gotten any sleep in the last couple of days and her nerves were well past frayed. Ivan had even tried to help, fixing her whatever foods and drinks he thought might soothe her, but the flashbacks had her in a state of adrenaline overload and her sleep had been plagued by nightmares.

  “Huh?” he asked sharply, his grouchiness still evident despite the painkillers he’d been given.

  “Why set my business on fire? You’ll probably be arrested for what you did at the shop, besides taking Aunt Rita’s car and causing a multi-vehicle accident. There were children in one of those vehicles who were injured. What if someone had died?”

  “I don’t know anything about an accident!” Had his twisted mind and faulty brain already erased the incidents from his memory?

  “I saw you on the security camera footage, running out the back door of my coffee shop after setting the fire. Why would you do that?”

  His face twisted into a grimace as he yanked at the cuff attached to the bed rail and pointed a bony finger at her. “Women belong in the home, taking care of family. Cooking! Cleaning! But you? No! You are off serving strangers and having an affair!”

  She frowned. “I’m not having an affair. I’m a single adult.”

  He shook his head vigorously. “You’re my wife, and you are going to hell for having an affair with that son of a bitch Cutter. Bill told me! He saw you!”

  “When? Bill doesn’t mean anything to me anymore.”

  “He told me after you were arrested that he saw you and that Cutter son of a bitch together, kissing! How could you?”

  She froze as realization came to her. “What is my name?”

  He scowled at her. “¿Eres estúpida? I know who I married, Delicia!”