by Jillian Neal
“Daddy.” Kaitlyn raced out of Grant’s and into her father’s. “Thank you.”
“It’s us that should be thanking you, sweetheart,” her mother vowed. “You held us all together for three long years. You gave up everything you ever wanted to try to save us.”
“You did, and as screwed up as I got everything, please know how proud I am of you.” Her father squeezed her tighter. “Your whole life I never knew what to do with you. You wanted to do things I didn’t understand. It scared me. You’re my little girl and I just wanted so badly to protect you. You wanted to go off to New York and be a chef. It finally occurred to me this morning when I saw your cowboy decimating the man I’d chosen for you that you don’t need me to make any decisions for you. The ones you make are far more sound than any I’ve ever made on your behalf. You never really needed our help at all, and we had no business using your hearing issues to try and control your life. So, if you want to go back to New York, your mother and I will support you completely.”
“I don’t want to go back to New York.” Kaitlyn’s gaze found Grant’s. Her teeth sank into that bottom lip and he was done for. Suddenly, he was drunk with possibility and relief.
“Come here to me.”
She raced back into his arms.
“I had a feeling.” Her father offered Grant a humble smile. “If you want to move out to a ranch half way between here and Wyoming, your mother and I will do whatever we can to help you do that as well.”
“What about Seth, though?”
Like it had been written into some kind of movie script, someone knocked on the door.
“The idiot did always have impeccable timing. Let him in,” her father ordered.
“Damn, you didn’t hold back none, did ya?” Austin spoke through his teeth as he viewed Seth, swollen, hunched over, and bruised, being escorted in the office in handcuffs. Josh and a man in a suit Grant had never seen before sandwiched themselves inside as well.
“Never have, never will. Not when it comes to her,” Grant vowed.
Kaitlyn whispered another kiss along his jaw. “Maybe don’t beat anyone else up on my behalf.”
“I’ll try to make that my general policy, but I will always keep you safe.”
“I know.”
“I don’t know what you’re up to, Chief, but he’s going down for what he did,” Seth spoke around his busted lips.
“I doubt that, Mr. Christensen. Did you convince one of my police officers that you could get an arrest warrant for Grant Camden and that all he needed to do was go and pick him up?”
Seth turned his head and refused to answer.
“That’s what I thought. Listen up. I was standing in my garage this morning when you explained how you intended to blackmail my family. I was there the entire time. I saw your hand strike my little girl, which caused you to fall down my front steps.”
Seth’s head snapped upward. He opened his mouth to protest, but Chief Sommerville held up his hand.
“I am the Chief of Police, and it is my word against yours.”
Grant couldn’t believe his ears.
“Yes, and I haven’t been in the courtroom defending anyone in so long, I’m anxious to return.” Her mother smirked. “If you’d like to continue to harass and abuse my daughter, I’d be more than happy to represent my family. In fact, there is nothing I will ever fight harder for. I’ve been wallowing in my own pain long enough. It’s time I learn to fight back. I owe them more than that.”
“They used to call her Evil Evelyn when she was the prosecuting attorney. I fell in love with her the first time I saw her in the court room. Consider your options carefully, Mr. Christensen.”
“It was a really bad fall. I was standing right there.” Kaitlyn taunted as she and her father shared a conspiratorial grin.
“But probably not as bad as this one.” Her father slammed several thick file folders down on his desk. “I used to be a damn good detective. Your mother helped me put all of the pieces together today. I knew there had to be some reason he needed me to pay him to keep quiet other than vengeance. Vengeance will make a man do a lot of stupid things. Treat his family like they’re worth nothing at all, for one. But blackmail reeks of desperation. It seems Seth, here, has been anxious to get a job paying more than he was making at the D.A.’s office. He was after something with a substantially higher paycheck, ever since his father cut him off because he discovered Seth had a gambling problem.
“When he figured out that state nepotism laws would not allow him to continue to work there and be married to you, he saw an opportunity and decided to auction off his upcoming position in our family to the highest bidder. Kaitlyn, when you decided to quit working at Baylor, Holsten, and Brown and to keep what happened to you a secret, you gave him all he needed.
“I support your decisions, sweetheart, all I ask is that you tell me about them from here on out. Anyway, you showed your strength yet again when you threatened Morris Holsten with a harassment charge. You told Seth what happened, and he immediately went to Morris to make him an offer. He would keep you from telling me about what happened if Morris would make him a partner in the firm. He agreed as long as Seth promised to pull strings with the police department using his perceived influence with me. When you left him standing at the altar in front of every member of the law enforcement of Lincoln, he assumed his deal making was over. If he had no access to our family, he was worth less to the firm.”
“Conspiracy is a second degree felony in the state of Nebraska, Seth,” Ms. Sommerville drawled. “And that will be weighed on top of your blackmail charges, and I don’t think it would be too difficult to add collusion and intent to illegally gather evidence for your clients from the police. I could put you behind bars for a very long time. And this morning you decided to hit my daughter. That alone makes me want to see you in orange.” Mrs. Sommerville spelled out exactly how this would work.
“You don’t have proof of any of this,” Seth voice shook.
“Oh, but I do. Morris sang like bird before I even got him in the interrogation room. He thought Kaitlyn had finally told me about the deal he wanted to make with her. He would have copped to most anything to keep me from going to his wife. And District Attorney Kelly was more than happy to turn over your computer from her office where your online gambling appears to be a very serious issue. And this afternoon, another witness came forward.”
Kaitlyn wasn’t certain she could take any more surprises. Her mouth hung open when her father returned to his office with Kelsey.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m so sorry about everything, Kit-kat.”
“Don’t call me … never mind. What are you here to say?”
“Sophie called me this morning and told me she’d seen Seth after uh, he fell. She said he was going to have your new boyfriend arrested. I couldn’t let that happen. Not after what I did to you. I will testify that everything your father found out about Seth I knew about and even helped him plan to get the partnership so he could get out of debt. I thought I was helping him. I was delusional. He swore to me he wasn’t gambling anymore, and that his parents wouldn’t help him because of you. I thought he loved me, but he was just using me because I’ve been paying his rent and his credit card bills. I went to his apartment and got his laptop. He’s still racking up debt. I was stupid and jealous of you, and I knew you didn’t really even like him so I thought it was okay.
“It wasn’t okay. I was so angry your dad got you that job and then you quit. And I’d had a crush on Seth for a very long time. It seemed to me you had everything I wanted. But I want to try to make this up to you. With my testimony, the case is open and shut.” She turned to Seth. “Unless you agree to get some help. Chief Sommerville is offering not to pursue charges as long as you no longer work in law anywhere, and you go to Gamblers Anonymous on a regular basis, and really deal with this. And you have to leave Kaitlyn and the Camden family alone.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then you will be arrested on conspiracy and assault charges,” Kaitlyn’s father stated succinctly.
“You’re seriously going to arrest me on assault charges after what he did. I have broken ribs, and look at my face.”
“A very intelligent young man told me a few days ago that no one else seemed willing to stand up and be strong beside my daughter. I’m standing up. My strength will never rival hers, but I will not let my family go down while I’m at the helm. And my wife is right, it is high time that she and my children were more important than my reputation. Besides, I’m married to one hell of an attorney and juries are far more sympathetic to the person who, pardon my language, beat the shit out of the man who hit his ex-fiancée than they are to the man that abused his intended. Might not be fair, but it’s the way it works.”
“I can still tell everyone about her affair,” he jabbed his finger at her mother. Kaitlyn almost wished Grant would hit him one more time for good measure.
“You do as you see fit. I had a long talk with Grant’s grandfather after Grant and Kaitlyn left this morning. He explained to me that angry people want you to see how powerful they are. I know you’re angry, Seth. And I know more than anything you want to feel like you’re still in control because that means you don’t have a problem and it makes you feel powerful. I know that hurt people hurt other people, because I was hurt and angry for so long. All I wanted was to believe that I was in control because that made me powerful. I’m still hurt and angry, I suppose, but I will not continue to hurt my own family. If you want to tell people what happened, I won’t try to stop you. You can also mention to them that it was largely my fault and not Evelyn’s. If we’re going to survive my son’s death, and put our family back together, we have to look forward and not back. Mistakes were made, and I made most of them.”
Unable to believe what she was hearing, Kaitlyn shuddered. Grant was right there, running his hands up and down her arms, enveloping her in his strength. She didn’t have to be strong alone anymore, and it wasn’t just going to be him standing beside her.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
“Kelsey,” Kaitlyn stopped her in the hallway outside her father’s office.
“I’m sorry, Kaitlyn. I really am. I know you have to hate me.”
“I don’t hate you. I wanted to give you this.” She dug in her pocket and handed Kelsey the ring. “I don’t know who to give it to. You can give it to his parents if you want. I don’t want him to sell it and gamble the money away. It sounds like he’s been living off of you for a while, so you keep it. All I know is I don’t want to have anything to do with it. And Kels, you deserve better, too. He’s an asshole, and he always will be.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m not so great at picking out good guys. I was really in love with him. I wish I could figure out if he really loved me too, or if he was just using me for money.”
“Piece of advice, figure out exactly who you are and what you want. Figure out if you and Seth are worth fighting for and worth working through his gambling addiction, because that won’t be easy. But the right road and the easy road are very rarely one in the same.”
Grant winked at her when he heard his grandfather’s advice coming from her lips. “Figure out what you need to make your life everything you want it to be and then go get that. Sometimes, you end up driving your car right into the life you always wanted. Sometimes, you have to work a little harder for it.”
“Yeah, I need to do that.”
Kaitlyn accepted Kelsey’s awkward hug.
“Kaitlyn, wait.” Josh chased after them as they made their way to the parking lot. Absolute shock and complete exhaustion competed for attention in Kaitlyn’s psyche.
“What do you want?” Grant kept his arm around her, never wavering.
“I wanted to apologize to both of you. Seth said Grant had hit you and that he’d beaten up Seth when he tried to stop him. He told me he had someone getting a warrant. Like an idiot, I believed him.”
“And you believed him because that’s what you wanted to be the truth, Josh,” Kaitlyn refused to sugar coat anything anymore. She wasn’t going to give Josh or anyone else a free pass to think she was weak.
“You want to tell her what you said to me while you had me illegally locked up in the back of police car or shall I?” Grant demanded.
Mutiny flashed in Josh’s eyes. His hands drove through his hair. Whatever he’d said it must’ve been bad. Kaitlyn sighed. The desperate desire to run coursed through her yet again, but she remained steadfast right beside Grant. She had to stop running from people who thought she was weak. She had to stand and show them how powerful she was.
“Look, Keith asked me to look out for you and Sophie before he left. It was kind of weird. Like he somehow knew he wasn’t going to come back. I was trying to do right by him.”
“Bullshit.” Grant rolled his eyes. Kaitlyn couldn’t help but giggle at Josh’s shocked expression. “You got a hero complex a country mile wide and you thought while her big brother was off fighting you’d get to come in and play her savior. If that got her right on in your bed, well, that was okay too, ‘cause she needed someone to look after her. She don’t need anybody lookin’ after her, but if she needs a little help now and again I’ll be right there every single time. You, on the other hand, need to get your head outta your own ass, and for God’s sake stop lickin’ other people’s. Figure your shit out and stop dumping it on my baby.”
“That’s pretty much it in a nutshell.” Kaitlyn grinned. She also had to stop viewing people she’d perceived as strong as being perfect, her brother included. No one was perfect. That didn’t mean they were worthless any more than it meant her hearing loss made her weak. People were complicated messes, sometimes trying to do what was right, sometimes giving in to things they shouldn’t. Josh had a lot of work to do. Everyone did, she supposed.
“So, you’re just gonna go off and marry him. Not live in Lincoln anymore. Have his babies or whatever,” Josh pouted.
“Not sure where you got the idea that we needed to run our plans by you, cityboy. She don’t need your help making decisions.” Grant wasn’t taking Josh’s crap anymore either, it seemed.
“Bye, Josh.” Kaitlyn tugged on Grant’s hand and guided him out to the parking lot.
As soon as his eyes landed on his truck, he doubled over laughing. “Sweet Jesus, peaches, remind me to teach you to drive, and more importantly how to park my truck.”
“It’s a huge truck and I was kind of in a hurry saving your ass and all.” Kaitlyn tried with all of her might to be irritated with him but had no luck. She broke out in hysterical giggles.
“Mm-hmm. And I’m much obliged to ya, but the truck will fit in one parking space if you park it straight, and I’m pretty sure that bush that’s under the front wheel ain’t gonna make a recovery.”
“Would you just shut up and take me home.”
“Like you calling the ranch home more than I should,” he confessed.
“Grant, you’ve driven from Lincoln back to the ranch and then back to Lincoln. And you got in a fight this morning. Don’t you want to just stay at my parent’s house? Or we could maybe go back to your grandfather’s.”
“Pops is staying up at the nursing home with my grandmother tonight. Something he said he needed to do. Unless your parents aren’t gonna mind me tucking your sexy curves up in bed with me completely nekkid then we’re going back to the ranch.”
“So stubborn.”
“Yeah, I changed my mind about that.”
“You don’t think you’re stubborn anymore?”
“Nope. I’ve heard people call Seth stubborn and your daddy stubborn and I ain’t ever gonna be anything like either of them, so I decided I’m determined.”
“I see. Well, you are very determined, and I’m pretty sure it’s the motivations behind the stubbornness that can make it go from healthy to unhealthy.”
“And you’ll let me know if I’m getting too big for my buckskins.”
“I’m not even completely sure what that means, but I’m definitely not complaining about your size.” She wondered if she would ever get tired of flirting with him. Her parent’s marriage dampened a little of her enthusiasm, however.
He gave her a hungry growl as the truck bounced down from the curb she’d driven it up on. Shaking his head, he turned to study her. His goading grin disappeared in an instant. “What’s that look for?”
“Do you think if we ever got married that it would really be forever? Is forever even a possibility?”
“I think your parents are gonna put it back together, sweetheart. Sounded to me like they’re fighting to get back to where they’re supposed to be.”
“I know that, and that makes me so happy for them, but I just wish I understood why everyone cheats. Why can’t people just stay together forever? Isn’t that how it’s supposed to work? Unless the person you marry is awful or something? My dad was difficult to live with, but he wasn’t necessarily awful. And my mom is a wonderful person. I don’t understand how that happened and look how much pain it caused, even years after the affair. How do we know it won’t happen to us? And what if I’m a terrible rancher’s wife? I don’t even know what buckskins are. Not that you’ve proposed or anything, I’m just thinking ahead.”
“You just talking this out or do I get a say?”
“You get a say.” Kaitlyn sank her teeth into her bottom lip to make herself shut up.
“Don’t do that. I gotta drive all the way back, and I’m already hard up just having you in my truck talking about gettin’ married.”
Curious and almost drunk with the giddiness that he wasn’t going to prison and her parents were going to help her put their family back together, Kaitlyn snaked her hand down the front of his jeans. The man truly never lied. There was a distinctive bulge behind his zipper line. His left eyebrow cocked upwards.
“You really are impressive and relentless and determined.”
“Nah, sugar, I’m just a cattle rancher. Now, listen to me a minute, I ain’t ever understood a single thing about politics, or war, or trying to outdo your neighbors, or cheatin’ for that matter. It just don’t make no sense to me. Maybe it comes from growing up down a long dirt road and working my tail end off for as long as I can remember. But here’s what I think, I figure people get all caught up on having the big things. On the big house, and blowing a shit ton of money on a vacation, or buying a fancy-ass car, although I do love my truck. God in Heaven, help me, I love this truck, but anyway, seems to me they cage themselves in all these things so they can post about it on all them sites where people put pictures of their life so it looks good on the outside. Nobody seems to think they might wanna thank their lucky stars for all the little things they already got going on the inside.
