Spring Fling Kitty: The Hart Family (Have A Hart Book 3)

by Rachelle Ayala

  “Okay, then off we go.” Mother wiped tears from her eyes while Rob snapped pictures and Melisa took the video.

  “I love you, Mom, Dad,” Connor said, hugging his parents in one big group hug. “Thank you for being here.”

  “You haven’t given her the engagement ring yet,” Mother reminded him. She pointed to the ring box she’d left on the dresser.

  “You’re right.” Connor fumbled with the velvet box. “But we’re running out of time.”

  “Do it right now,” Jenna said. “You have to. You can’t let Nadine miss out on getting engaged.”

  “Even if it’s only for a few minutes,” Cait said, smirking. Without waiting, she knocked on the bathroom door. “Are you two almost ready? Connor has something he needs to tell you. I’m sorry, but this is important.”

  “Cait!” Mother admonished. “Why’d you make it sound so dire?”

  Cait twisted her lips and shrugged. “More drama’s always good. Melisa, you’re videoing this, right?”

  “Right!” Melisa gave a thumbs up and panned her camera toward the bathroom door.

  The door opened, Connor clutched at his heart with a gasp, and every cell in his body expanded with love.

  Nadine was indescribably gorgeous. Her face was radiant, her eyes slanted and alluring, and more than that, she was smiling and looking at him as if he were the sun, moon, and stars combined. One thing was perfectly clear. She loved him, and he was a lucky dog.

  Connor dropped to his knee and took her hand. His fingers were clammy, and his heart was in his throat. He’d done this before, just the night before in private at the cabin, but this was different. This was Nadine’s moment. Dressed in a flowing fiery dress that did not look a thing like those splotchy tie-dyes he’d seen at street fairs, she was his goddess, on fire, and ready for him to claim her. He stared into her warm brown eyes.

  “Nadine Hunter Woo, there are not enough words in the entire universe to describe how much I love you. I know you feel it, and I’m grateful that you’ve taught me how to stay silent and soak in your love. Please take this ring from my heart and marry me. Will you?”

  She nodded, her lips soft with a closemouthed smile. No words were necessary as she held out her hand and let him slip the ring over her finger. That simple gesture and the single tear that clung to one eyelash spoke more words than an entire lifetime of talk.

  Connor kissed the back of Nadine’s hand, knowing they were bonded—heart to heart—letting no man or woman break them asunder.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  This was really happening. Nadine had the urge to pinch herself as she stood balanced on two stepping stones in the middle of a babbling creek.

  Connor held her hands, his adoring gaze intent on her. He was easily the most handsome man in the universe. Wearing his dark gray Stetson and his shearling jacket, he looked like a rancher out of a wild west movie.

  Her mother, who stood beside her as maid of honor, or mother of honor, held little Greyheart who purred contently, while Connor’s best man and the other groomsmen took charge of the dogs.

  Connor’s mother wept, blowing her nose loudly, and Connor’s father was a bulwark of strength as he kept his wife from falling to her knees with overcome emotion.

  The minister went through the usual vows. Nadine and Connor hadn’t had time to write their own, but it didn’t matter. She would love and cherish him, through sickness and health, through good times and bad, and no, she wouldn’t even part with him at death. Theirs was a love that transcended time and dimension.

  “I’ll always love you, Connor Hart.” She went off script.

  “Same here, Nadine Woo,” he said with a smirk that told her he knew very well that her name was changing in the next minute.

  “Ahem,” the minister cleared his throat. Somewhere behind the trees, a siren wailed, but Nadine shoved it from her mind. Even if the forest were burning down, she would never leave Connor’s side.

  “By the power vested in me by the state of Nevada,” the ministered intoned in a deep and important voice. “I now pronounce you—”

  Crackling sounds came closer and dogs bayed loudly. Harley and Cinder joined in on the barking.

  Booming thunder echoed through the woods, but Connor held Nadine still, tightening his grip.

  “Keep going,” he said to the minister. “Don’t stop now.”

  “Harumph.” The old man lowered his glasses and blinked.

  Nadine could feel panic exploding like fireworks all through the grove as Connor’s sisters exclaimed and rough voices yelled above the frenzied barks.

  “Where are they?”

  “We got them.”

  “She’s over there,” a female voice shouted. “Get her.”

  “Are you two in trouble?” the minister asked.

  “No, but you’ll be if you don’t finish this,” Connor all but growled.

  “Fine, I now pronounce you man and wife and you can kiss the bride.” The old man snapped shut his Bible. “There, happy?”

  “Waarooahhh!” Harley bayed.

  “Yip, yip, yip,” Cinder snapped.

  “You didn’t ask if anyone objected!” It was Elaine. She charged at the minister who slipped on the stepping stones. He fell into the water with a splash as all hell broke loose.

  “Yeow!” Greyheart snarled and the next thing Nadine knew, her mother pitched forward, losing the cat.

  “My cat.” Nadine tried to catch the kitten, but Elaine grabbed her dress and yanked her to face her.

  “You bitch. You stole my car and my fiancé.” She raised her hand to slap Nadine.

  Connor blocked the shot. “Stand back.”

  Another rumble of thunder roared through the grove, and the first fat drops of rain splattered Nadine.

  “Police. Everyone hands up!” A man ordered, backed up by growling police dogs.

  “What’s going on?” Nadine whirled around and glared at her sister.

  Behind her, their father clutched at his chest. His face was pale and he breathed hard. “Nadine, how could you betray your sister? I’m so disappointed in you. I’m cutting you from my will.”

  Her brother, Michael, stood mutely next to a younger Chinese woman, one who looked suspiciously like Dr. Emmeline Lu Su, or at least like the picture from her website.

  “Dad, this isn’t what it looks like.” Nadine reached for her father. “She told me to put on an act.”

  “Liar! You’re marrying him, you slut,” Elaine shouted, then waved at two police officers who appeared in the clearing with their guns drawn. “This is the car thief. We caught her.”

  “Police. Everyone put your hands up,” the first officer said.

  The second officer took Nadine’s arm roughly and yanked them behind her back. “You have the right to remain silent, you …”

  “Wait, there’s been a misunderstanding,” Connor said. “Elaine lent her car to her sister. It’s all covered by permissive use.”

  “I did not lend her the car. She stole it,” Elaine said. “Dad, tell them. Didn’t I tell you I was looking forward to a weekend with my fiancé when I realized my car was missing?”

  “Yes, you did call me,” her father said, weakly. Sweat seeped over his face and he fanned himself. “I’m so disappointed in Nadine.”

  “She used us,” her brother Michael said. “She found out about Emmeline and you wanting to kick her out of the apartment and she came to us with all these schemes to make you worried. And now, look, she stole Elaine’s boyfriend.”

  “It’s not true,” Nadine said. “I have text messages to prove it. You set it up, Elaine. You told me to go to the cabin so you could spread a rumor.”

  She gulped, realizing that wasn’t the story she’d told Connor.

  “Rumor? What rumor?” Connor shook Nadine’s arm, but the officer shoved him back.

  “I can explain, please, just let me explain.” Nadine beseeched Connor with her eyes.

  “She’s a Woo, all right,” Elaine said to Connor. �
�She’s much more conniving than you give her credit for. Now, stupid chump, you’re stuck with No-Good Nadine forever. Ever wonder why she didn’t finish college, never found a job, and was living off her mother and father? Has she told you about the two thousand dollars she stole from me?”

  “We had a contract,” Nadine said. “I was doing a job for you.”

  “Contract? What contract?” Elaine turned to the policeman. “Take her away. She’s a liar and a thief.”

  “Dad, do something.” Nadine turned to look at her father. “You know me better than that. I would never steal from my sister.”

  Her father shook his jowls and his eyes bulged. “You stole Connor from her. Look at this. Look what you’ve done.”

  Her father bent double, clutching his chest, and fell to his knees.

  “Gerald.” Nadine’s mother lunged for him. “Oh, no. He’s having a heart attack.”

  “I’m a doctor,” Rob said, stepping forward.

  One of the officers dropped to the ground to assist her father, but the other one kept a firm grip on Nadine’s wrists, snapping the handcuffs in place. “Come on, let’s go. You’re under arrest.”

  “Connor, look through my cell phone. There are text messages. It’s all there,” Nadine shouted as they led her away. “My passcode is the numbers that spell H. A. R. T.”

  Lightning zipped through the wooded area and sheets of water pelted Nadine as she was led to the squad car.

  “Quick, grab the cell phone and let’s get to the station,” Connor said to Larry as he ran to his pickup truck.

  Rob had accompanied Elaine’s father in the ambulance while Connor’s mother and two sisters had gone back to the motel with the dogs. Brian and Cait were in charge of looking for the cat. He had no clue where the Woos went, nor did he care.

  They were all a pack of liars, and he had to clear his wife’s name before she spent a minute more in jail.

  He started the engine and waited for his buddy to join him with Nadine’s phone.

  “Got it,” Larry said moments later.

  “Passenger door’s busted, so I’ll slide over and I’ll let you drive,” Connor said, taking the phone.

  “Okay, let’s spring her. I can’t believe Elaine hates you so much. What was that all about?” Larry said as he backed the truck from the parking spot. “That thing she said about you being stuck with No-Good Nadine for the rest of your life?”

  “I have no clue.” Connor spat under his breath. He entered the passcode and was rewarded by the icons on the phone screen. Things weren’t clicking into place. Elaine mentioned a contract for the surrogacy, but now she was denying it. Had he ever seen the contract? There was also the two-thousand dollars. Nadine had mentioned she’d have to give it back to her sister and that she was glad she hadn’t spent it, so in that case, she was innocent. But why would Elaine set her up to be arrested for theft?

  He scrolled through Nadine’s messages. He found the sequence where she texted Elaine the pictures of the damaged car.

  “Find anything?” Larry asked.

  Connor’s jaw dropped at one of the messages Nadine sent to her sister.

  I’ll try coming back today, if we can figure out what to do with the bumper, she had texted. Connor hates me, so this trip might have backfired on your plan to spread a rumor that he got me pregnant naturally.

  “Wait, this doesn’t make sense,” he muttered more to himself. “They’re talking about a rumor about me getting Nadine pregnant naturally. Why would Nadine participate in that?”

  “Seriously?” Larry raised an eyebrow. “What does it say?”

  Connor repeated the text message and Larry whistled loudly. “Sounds like entrapment. Are they trying to blackmail you? It doesn’t make sense, it’s not like you’re some big politician running for president.”

  “No, but I am the fire chief.” Connor clamped his fist. “Maybe it’s city politics. There was a member of the Fire Commission who hated my father and felt he got passed over all the years my dad was chief.”

  “Oh, yeah, Dabir. He’s a real snake slumlord. Anything else on the phone?”

  “I’m looking.” Connor scrolled beyond the time period of when he knew Nadine. “Nothing out of the ordinary. Her mother texting her. She’s got a friend who lives in Fremont and they post pictures they’ve painted to each other. I don’t get it. If Nadine wanted me to look at her phone, it meant she had something on it she thought would help her.”

  “I agree. I’m sure there’s a good explanation for this thing about trying to get you to knock her up naturally.” Larry chuckled. “I’m sorry, but if a hot chick like that wanted me to …”

  “Stop. You’re dating my sister.” Connor shoved the phone into his pocket.

  “I was speaking hypothetically, of course. But yeah, Nadine is hot, and knowing you and the way you played the field, I can’t believe she didn’t succeed.”

  “She wasn’t even trying,” Connor said. “She wanted to get to know me. She told me her sister asked her to come so I would like her and agree to the insemination.”

  “Looks like she lied to you at least once,” Larry said. “I’m sorry, but doesn’t that make you wonder what else she’s lying about?”

  “No, not at all,” Connor said, staring at the rain swishing off the windshield. “You know that song at the beginning of the ceremony? ‘When You Say Nothing At All.’ That’s our song. Nadine doesn’t need to say anything for me to know what’s going on in her heart. I think this is all on Elaine. She wanted to throw us together so we’d cause a scandal. Then she could go off and play the martyr, with what purpose, I don’t know.”

  The truck pulled up to the Reno police station. Connor’s father was already there.

  “They’re putting her in a holding cell and are waiting for the San Francisco Police to fetch her since the alleged crime took place there,” his father said. “Was there any evidence on the phone?”

  “Not much,” Connor admitted. “Just one line about her sister putting her up to cause a rumor about me getting her pregnant naturally. That may be enough though. This is completely bogus. I believe one hundred percent that Elaine gave Nadine the key.”

  “Let’s hope so,” Dad said. “Let’s get you in to speak to her. She’s wet and cold.”

  Connor peeled off his sheepskin jacket. “She can have this. Let’s go.”

  Minutes later, Connor was seated across a bulletproof divider speaking to the woman he loved over a handset.

  Thankfully, the police had given her his jacket, after checking for weapons and metallic objects.

  “Connor, I’m so sorry. I should have told you everything,” Nadine began.

  “Shhh, don’t say you’re sorry. I already know. I found the message where you told Elaine the plan on seducing me would fail. Look, I’m sure Elaine set you up.”

  “Didn’t you find the other messages? All the three-way messages between me, Michael, and Elaine? They were in one of the apps.”

  “Apps? You mean a chat app?”

  “Yes, I think it was SnapApp.”

  “I had to leave the phone with Larry, but I’ll check.”

  “Oh, crap.” Nadine hit her forehead. “If it was SnapApp, the messages disappear after I read them. I didn’t think to save them. But you believe me, don’t you?”

  “Of course. Tell me everything, from the beginning. Did you come with the intention of seducing me?”

  “No, of course not. Elaine said I shouldn’t. Just make it appear like I did. Take some compromising looking pictures.”

  “Why would you go along with something like this?” Concern crowded any other feeling from Connor’s gut.

  “I wanted to help get rid of Emmeline, my father’s girlfriend. I figured if he had to worry about the three of us, he wouldn’t have time for her. Did you notice her standing there? When my father had the heart attack she didn’t even move. It was my mother who went to his side.”

  “I noticed, but let’s get back to the plot to get rid of E
mmeline. Why did you agree to come to the cabin?”

  Nadine pressed her palm against the plastic divider and Connor put his palm up on his side.

  “I wanted to see you. It was an opportunity. I already had a crush on you, but I wasn’t trying to seduce you.”

  “I think you had more than a crush on me.” Connor couldn’t help the arrogant grin that creased his face. “So, basically, Elaine wanted to use you to make waves with her father, and you agreed to go along.”

  “Actually, it was my idea at the beginning,” Nadine admitted. “I didn’t want to be evicted, and once we started, I felt part of the team. It was me and my brother and sister trying to help my father. Only now, he got so stressed he had a heart attack. Is he okay?”

  “My father’s contacting Rob. As soon as we know, we’ll let you know. Meanwhile, is there any other way we can get you out of here? Prove that you didn’t steal your sister’s car?”

  “Yes. I went to her office to pick up the keys. Someone must have seen me there.”

  “She could say you picked up her apartment keys, and then went to her apartment and stole her two thousand dollars and the car keys.”

  “That’s a lie. I’ve never been to her apartment. I’m sure we can prove that.”

  “It’s impossible to prove a negative.” Connor shook his head and rubbed the back of his aching neck. “But don’t worry. We’ll call the San Francisco Police Chief and get this thrown out as a false arrest. I’m going to ask him to find witnesses who saw you at her office picking up the keys. Anything else?”

  “Yes, I’ve been thinking,” Nadine said. “How did she know where we were? You didn’t have your phone and she couldn’t have tracked your family.”

  “Wait. You think the ovulation app had a tracker? Then that’s the key.”

  “Why would an ovulation app have a tracker?”

  “I don’t know, but I wouldn’t put it past Elaine to have installed one. Did you install the app or did she?”