Single Daddy's Valentine

by Amanda Horton

  Lana

  About a week after Charlie’s funeral, I was just getting ready to go to class when Matt walked into the cottage unannounced, talking to a guy in a suit.

  “What the hell, Matt? You can’t just keep walking in here without knocking. This is our home.”

  He smiled insincerely at me and ushered the man into the kitchen. “Don’t worry, I’ll be out of your hair in a minute. I’m just showing the surveyor round so I can get a value on the estate.”

  “Why? This isn’t even your property. It’s Gabe’s.”

  Matt smirked and patted my arm. “For now.”

  Mom came out of her bedroom. “What does that mean?”

  “Oh, didn’t Gabe tell you? He’s going to be signing the estate over to me.”

  My mouth dropped open in shock. “What? Why would he be so stupid?”

  Matt made a big show of looking shocked. I hated it when he mocked me. He opened his mouth and took in a dramatic breath. “Really Lana, how rude! Now if you’ll excuse me, I don’t want to waste any more of this man’s time and we have a lot of property to get around.”

  Mom stopped Matt in his tracks. “If what you say is true, and Gabriel is going to give the farm to you, what are you going to do?”

  “Oh, I have big plans for this place.”

  “Yes, but what happens to us?”

  Matt cocked his head to the side. “Well, it will take a while to get planning approval but you’ll have to leave. Don’t worry though, you’ll be given adequate notice. Now, if you don’t mind, I really have to get back to business.”

  We stood in the kitchen as he showed the surveyor around. Mom looked like she was going to pass out. I could feel the fury rising inside me. The jumped up little shit had no right bringing people into our house like this.

  “Lana, what are we going to do? Surely he isn’t going to throw us out of our home?”

  “Not if I have anything to do with it mom.”

  “Please, you have to speak to Gabriel. We have nowhere else to go. Oh, your father is going to be destroyed.”

  I marched out of the house and up to the farmhouse. Not bothering to knock, I stormed inside and looked around. Gabe was on his cell talking to someone.

  “Hey! Hey Gabe!”

  He turned round and motioned that he was talking.

  “Put that phone down. I want to talk to you. Now!” My voice rose into an angry shout. My whole body was trembling as I took two steps towards him. He got my point and ended the call.

  “What the hell is wrong with you? I was talking to my business partner.”

  “I don’t care. I want you to explain to me why your brother just barged into mom and dad’s house with a surveyor.”

  Gabe’s eyebrow shot up. “What, right now?”

  Exasperated, I threw my hands up. “Yes. He’s going around the farm surveying it so he can put a value on the place. What the hell is going on?”

  I was shocked that Gabe didn’t seem to be surprised. In fact, he looked very sheepish, like he didn’t want to make eye contact. “Gabe, answer me. Why is your brother telling mom and dad that they will need to move out? I thought you were supposed to be taking over the farm.”

  He rubbed his forehead and sighed. “It’s not as simple as you think.”

  I planted my hands on my hips. “Oh really? Well why don’t you try and explain it to me?”

  At that moment, Louie came down the stairs and ran to his dad. “Why is aunty Lana shouting, daddy? What have you done wrong?”

  Gabe looked down at his mini-me and fluffed his hair. “It’s okay, bud. We’re just talking. Why don’t you go into the den and watch a movie? I’ll set it up for you, okay?”

  He looked up at me. “Give me a minute to set him up. Please.”

  Five minutes later, Gabe came back and invited me to sit at the kitchen table while he prepared coffee. He placed it in front of me and sat down. He still looked exhausted. A tiny piece of my heart wanted to melt for him but I was pissed as all hell about what Matt had done and I wanted answers.

  He took a sip from his cup and finally he was ready to talk. “Dad left the farm to me, but only on the proviso that I find and marry a local woman. Some shit about not blaming the town for the actions of one woman, whatever. Otherwise, the farm goes to Matt and he can do anything he wants with it. I assume that’s why he’s having the place valued. He made noises about having grand plans for redevelopment when we were at the lawyer’s office for the reading of the Will.”

  I rubbed my temple, trying to grasp what had just been said. “Why would Charlie do that?”

  He shrugged. “No idea. But it’s a no brainer for me. I have no stake in this place anymore. My life is in DC. I’m not going to haul my entire life back here and marry some local woman just so I can play house and keep the farm. As far as I’m concerned, if those are the stipulations dad has set – Matt can have it.”

  “Are you out of your tiny little mind?” I was absolutely incredulous.

  “Lana, I don’t really appreciate you barging in here and speaking to me like this.”

  “I don’t give a fig for what you think. You might not have a stake in this farm, but did you ever stop to think about mom and dad? What about the rest of the employees? Are they all going to be out of jobs? Where are we supposed to live?”

  Gabe drained his cup. “I don’t know. Look, I’ve just lost my dad. I don’t really know anything about what’s going to happen. All I know is that I can’t agree to the terms of my dad’s Will. So it all passes to Matt.”

  “So you’re just going to take off and leave us?”

  Sighing, Gabe stood up and rinsed his cup. “What do you expect me to do, Lana? What dad has asked me to do is crazy. I’m not going to marry some local girl just so I can keep my inheritance. I don’t need the money or the hassle in my life. For anyone to expect that of me is just plain crazy after what I’ve been through.”

  I stood up and paced the kitchen, no longer able to sit still. “Do you think every other woman is going to be like Rebecca?” He winced at the sound of her name. It didn’t stop me. “Look, Rebecca was a flake. What she did to you and Louie was terrible. I know that. I get why you left for DC. But not every woman is going to be like that.”

  “I had to leave a good position in the army because of that woman. I had to bring up Louie on my own, without a mother, because she was do damn selfish that she couldn’t stick around. It’s taken me nearly three years to try and get my head on straight. The last thing I need is having another woman tied around my neck like a noose, and the responsibility of managing the farm. My life in DC is fine the way it is.”

  His eyes bore into me in indignation. I felt a spasm somewhere in my belly as he continued to stare at me. Eventually he looked away and I let out a breath I didn’t even realize I was holding. I moved towards Gabe and wrapped my arms around him. He buried his head in my shoulder, and I knew he was trying to hold back tears.

  I closed my eyes, feeling guilt seep inside me for shouting at him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to shout at you. I know it’s hard.”

  He pulled away and rubbed his eye, clearly frustrated with the whole situation. “Anyway, who the hell would I find to marry me? It’s just a cockamamie idea that dad’s gotten into his head. The whole idea of marrying someone just to claim an inheritance is ridiculous. Especially someone from this town.”

  “What’s wrong with this town?”

  Gabe tutted in dismissal. “Are you for real? After what I’ve been though, you ask me this? Lana, this whole thing is like something out of a stupid fairy story. It’s not based on real life.”

  “Gabe, I sympathize with you, truly I do. But Charlie wasn’t the kind of person to ask you to do stuff that he didn’t think was good for you. There must be a reason for him putting this in the will. You’re just not seeing it yet.”

  He rolled his eyes and laughed. “If only he was here to explain his thinking. He waited to die before throwing this ridiculous curveball
at me, like my life isn’t complicated enough already.”

  “I know it is. But it’s not just your life that’s affected with this decision. You know if Matt gets hold of the estate he will fuck it all up. And look at all the lives that will be ruined because you decided to let it all go to your whiny-ass little brother.”

  “What do you suggest I do?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. There must be some nice women in this town that you would consider.”

  “No!

  “Well then.”

  “Jesus! What am I supposed to do? Marry you?”

  I recoiled in horror. “What? No. Where did you get that idea? Don’t be ridiculous.” I threw my hands in the air and walked away before I said something I would regret.

  Chapter Six

  Gabe

  It had been three days since Lana and I had argued. She had walked out of the farmhouse as abruptly as she had walked in. Despite the fact that she looked magnificent when she was angry, I was more than a little pissed that she expected me to go along with dad’s crazy idea that I find and marry a local woman. It felt as if the entire world had gone mad and I was the only sane one left.

  But I hadn’t been able to get what she had said out of my mind. When I found out about dad’s stipulation, I hadn’t thought about the effect it would have on everyone else’s lives. Now I couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen if I just walked away from it all.

  Even though my entire being was screaming that I should just jack it all in and head back to DC with Louie, and never look back, my sense of duty to the farm and my father’s legacy kept poking into my brain and telling me I couldn’t just disappear and leave it all for Matt to destroy.

  I had to think smarter. So I did. I managed to get hold of Matt’s plans for the farm and saw exactly what he was planning to do. I visited the lawyer again and she confirmed that there were no loopholes in the will. I had to marry a local girl to keep the farm intact.

  Later that evening, I sat on the couch with Louie watching cartoons. I could hardly concentrate as I tried to figure out how to find a woman who would marry me. The thought of dating someone from this town filled me with dread. The thought of letting another woman into my life, from this place, who could potentially do what Rebecca did, filled me with so much anxiety that I became aware that I had been grinding my teeth.

  While Louie sat and laughed at the crazy characters on the TV, my mind kept drifting back to when Lana had dismissed the suggestion that she marry me as ridiculous. Boy, she had been scathing in her dismissal, and I could see her point. But I had only asked her out of frustration, in retaliation to her insistence that I should do as my dad asked in his Will.

  I couldn’t see any way around it. Unless…

  I drummed my fingers on the couch as the thoughts began to form in my mind. What if, instead of finding a woman to marry for real, I managed to convince one to pretend to marry me? Who would I ask? Only one person sprang to mind.

  Lana.

  Could I somehow persuade her to have a fake relationship and marriage with me? Just for the purpose of sorting out this fiasco with the farm? No. I should just put the idea out of my mind.

  But the more I thought about it, the more I thought it might just work. Lana was a beautiful woman, and had a kind heart. She was the kind of woman I would normally be attracted to, I guessed, so nobody would question me being attracted to her. Then there was the added bonus that we had known each other since we were kids, and we had a great friendship throughout the years. In fact, at one point I had kind of seen myself being with Lana, had it not been for Kyle entering the picture. I had always been too shy about asking her because it had seemed inappropriate somehow. Not that I wanted her to know that I had ever been attracted to her.

  Could this be the solution? How would we go about it? I figured that we would have to carry on with the pretense for a minimum of six months. I mulled the ideas over in my mind.

  I wondered how it would feel living with Lana, how it would be to act like we were a couple. Of course, she was incredibly beautiful, there was no denying that, and we had a natural chemistry. There would be Louie to think of, too. For me, it would be much easier to integrate Lana into his life more than some new woman, since he was already besotted with her.

  Could it work? I wasn’t sure. Would she even entertain the idea? I wasn’t so sure, considering the way she had reacted when I asked her out of frustration.

  I drummed my fingers on the couch, wondering whether or not to go and ask her. Then with my mind made up, I ruffled Louie’s hair.

  “Louie, why don’t we go across to Marta and Julio’s house for a quick visit?”

  Louie tore his eyes away from the cartoons and grinned up at me. “Do you think Marta has some special cookies for me?”

  “I don’t know kiddo. Let’s go find out.”

  We trudged across the dirt track and knocked on the Torres’ door. I almost chickened out and was just about to bolt back to the farmhouse when Lana opened the door and frowned at me in confusion. “What?”

  “Has Marta got any cookies?” Louie asked, throwing his arms round Lana’s legs.

  Lana didn’t take her eyes off me. “I think so little one. Why don’t you go inside and ask her?”

  Louie ran into the house and Lana closed the door behind us. I shuffled from one foot to another, trying to find the courage to say what I had come to say. I really hoped she didn’t hit me.

  “I suppose you’ve come to let us know that you’re leaving?” Lana folded her arms across her chest protectively.

  “What? No! Actually, I was thinking about what we talked about the other day. I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. Because you’re right. I can’t just walk away from the farm and let Matt do what he wants. Dad didn’t want that.”

  Lana uncrossed her arms, letting her guard down a little. “No, he didn’t. He wanted the farm to carry on. He wanted you to run it just like he did.”

  “Yeah. I see that now. But all I could think of before was how crazy it was that I had to marry a South Dakotan woman just to get my inheritance.”

  Lana tipped her head to the side and her lips curved into a wry smile. “It is a little crazy, I know.”

  “So, you can see why I initially just wanted to run off back to DC?”

  “Yeah. And when you asked me if I would marry you…hell I knew you were really grasping at straws there.”

  Her deep brown eyes bored into me fiercely. I wasn’t sure I could carry through with what I needed to say. I took a small step back, just in case she tried to hit me. “Um, you see, I’ve been thinking about it, and I don’t actually think the idea is ridiculous.”

  Silence. Her eyebrows raised in disbelief.

  I held my hand out to stop whatever onslaught of vitriol she looked like she was about to release on me. “Hang on, Lana. Hear me out.”

  Her eyes narrowed, her face a picture of doubt. Finally, she nodded. “Okay. I’m listening.”

  I breathed out a shuddering sigh, anxious to get it over with. “I think that asking you to marry me is a great idea. Genius even.” She opened her mouth to speak, but I kept going. “Think about it, Lana. It means I don’t have to go through the rigmarole of finding and dating some strange woman. I don’t want to disrupt Louie’s life just so I can pull this off. We’ve known each other since we were kids, and we get on well with each other, so we shouldn’t have any issues living together. It’s the only logical thing to do!”

  “Hang on, wait a minute. Are you seriously asking me to marry you?”

  “Yes, you’re perfect! I mean, it won’t be a real marriage. You won’t have to kiss me or sleep with me or anything. You could even have your own bedroom if you like.”

  Her jaw dropped open as she backed away from me, incredulously. “You want me to have a fake marriage with you?”

  I held my hands out. “It makes the most sense to me, if you think about it from the point of view of saving the farm. It only has to be
for about six months to a year. Then once the inheritance has been transferred to me, we can quietly divorce and go back to living our own lives. Is that something you think you would be able to do? To fake it, I mean?”

  Lana’s face was unreadable. I put my hand on her shoulder, which made her look up into my eyes. “Do you honestly think this is the only way to save the farm?”

  I nodded. “If there was some other way, I wouldn’t be here asking you now.”

  Something passed behind her eyes. I felt a thud in my stomach and had to breathe out slowly to steady my nerves.

  “I don’t know whether to assume you’ve lost your mind, or whether you’ve actually come up with a viable plan. Gimme a moment while I try and figure this out. Do you think anyone would believe it was real?”

  “I think so. I mean, we would have to act all lovey dovey in public and in front of Matt, but I don’t think it’s too hard a leap. I know I would find this a lot easier than actually having to marry someone for real.”

  “And I don’t actually have to sleep in the same bed as you, or anything like that?”

  “No. The whole thing will be fake.”

  She thought for a moment, her brows furrowing deeply. “It all seems a bit duplicitous. I don’t know if I can be involved in something like that… Ah fuck it. Okay. If it will help save my parents’ livelihood and house, I’ll do it.”

  “Really?” I wasn’t sure if I had heard right.

  “Yes, Gabe Dawson. I will fake marry you. What could possibly go wrong, huh?”

  We stood for a moment as we considered what we had just agreed to do. Then awkwardly, as though to seal the deal, we inched closer and wrapped our arms tentatively round each other in a hug. It felt awkward at first, hugging after such a strange conversation. This woman, my childhood friend, had just agreed to become my wife. My fake wife. It was such a surreal experience.

  The longer the hug lasted the more Lana seemed to relax into my embrace. I think it was probably the relief at finding a way of stopping Matt from taking the farm and throwing out her parents. As she relaxed, I relaxed a little too. Somehow the tension of the last few weeks began to disappear.