I just hoped and prayed they didn’t understand anything more than that.
Kettle was a smaller town. It spanned the length and width of many mountains, but very few people lived here. So gossip spread like wildfire. And if you didn’t want to be caught up in it, then you didn’t come into town. Ever. But if I wanted the library, I had to come into town. Which meant I was met with people who kept interrupting me every page just to make sure I was okay.
Which was code for ‘figure out exactly what happened’.
“Miss Ava, I’m so glad you’re all right.”
I looked up from my book and stared directly into the eyes of Miss Mabel.
“Thank you, ma’am. I appreciate it,” I said. “It wasn’t a bad accident. The car runs just fine. The water just took me off the road a bit.”
“Do you know what road you were on?” Miss Mabel asked.
“No, ma’am. I’m sorry. I was so frantic and there was so much rain pouring down that I didn’t get a chance to look at any signs,” I said.
“That makes sense. You were probably up in those mountains anyway.”
I stiffened at her response as she sat down in the chair next to me.
“Don’t worry about it. No one’s gonna tell your father. He’s a sweet man, but we know he rules with an iron fist,” Mabel said.
“My father is a decent man,” I said.
“Spoken like a true robot,” she said with a giggle. “I’m familiar with men like your father. Mine was one of them, too.”
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” I said.
“Abides by tradition. Looms over your every move. Expects you to look and act a certain way. I hated growing up with my father.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said.
“My favorite game was to swing around the columns of our porch out back and fantasize what it would be like to live without my father. I used to dream of owning my own home, buying my own clothes, and going to the school I wanted.”
“At least you got to go to school,” I said with a murmur.
I swallowed hard and looked up into Miss Mabel’s sparkling eyes. Mabel was a force in the community of Kettle. Her father had been the mayor for quite some time, which was a position her grandfather and her great grandfather used to occupy. Her family was well-known, well-off, and well-spoken in their manners. Her eyes were comforting and her smile was knowing. I felt that I could trust her, even though I’d only ever had a few conversations with her. She seemed to understand my circumstance more than most, and as she settled back into her chair I drew in a deep breath.
“I was never really in any trouble anyway,” I said.
“So you did get lost up there in the mountains,” Mabel said. “Don’t worry. I’ve done that more times than I could count.”
“There was a man that helped me. Travis Benson. He’s the one that got my car up and running the next day so I could get home,” I said.
“Travis Benson?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am. Quiet man? Big beard? Light brown eyes?”
“No, no. I know who he is. I’m just shocked he helped,” she said.
“Why?” I asked.
“First off, I’m shocked you don’t know the name. The Bensons own half of Kettle. Travis lives in the part of the mountains they own. But he’s been a recluse ever since that disgusting woman broke his heart.”
“What woman?” I asked.
“Alicia Burnheart, and her last name suits her perfectly. A gold-digging, good-for-nothing woman who had that man wrapped around her finger. Those two were all over one another, and when they announced their engagement, no one was shocked.”
“Engagement?” I asked. “I don’t think I can see Travis engaged.”
“Maybe not now. But back then? In his early twenties? He was a stunner. Still is, if he’d trim himself up a bit. They planned the wedding of the century.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“She never showed up. Left him standing at the altar making excuses for two hours before Travis accepted the fact that she wasn’t showing up.”
“What?” I asked flatly.
“She did. Rumor has it she ran off with one of the groomsmen. But I don’t think that’s what happened.”
“What do you think happened?” I asked.
“I think his mother intervened. That woman always thought there was something off about Miss Burnheart. I think she saved her son from a great deal of grief he would’ve suffered later. Either way, he hasn’t been the same since. Travis, that is.”
“Well, I don’t think anyone can blame him.”
“It wasn’t too long after that he renounced his job in the family business and had that cabin built for him. He built one for all of his children, the head of the Benson clan. Everyone was heartbroken after that wedding. I think he did it partially out of grief.”
My chest ached for Travis. The life he had lived and the things he had endured. I couldn’t imagine being able to fall in love, but to have it ripped from me on such an important date? The thought robbed me of the breath in my lungs. I had no idea why I was so invested in this story or why I cared so much, but I was hanging onto Miss Mabel’s every word.
“So that’s why I’m shocked. He only comes into town when he needs something and, to my knowledge, he doesn’t talk to anyone,” Mabel said.
“Well, I’m glad he was there. I’m not sure I would’ve survived the storm had he not been,” I said.
“I’m just glad you’re all right, my child. And don’t worry. This fun little encounter will be our little secret.”
Mabel gave me a playful wink before she picked up her cane and left. I watched her walk away as the story spun around in my head. Was what she said true? Had someone really broken that poor man’s heart like that? It would explain why he was such a recluse. But if he was a recluse, then why did he agree to have coffee with me the other day? We talked for the entire afternoon. That wasn’t what recluses did, right?
I wasn’t sure why I cared about any of it. But I knew I was curious.
And I found myself hoping I would run into him again.
Ten
Ava
It was a rainy day in Kettle and I was closed up in my room. My brothers were downstairs talking away with my father while my mother sat and worked on her needlepoint. Fucking needlepoint. Like we lived in the damn thirties. I was sitting in my room reading a book. Well, a book that was appropriate for a woman to read, according to my father. The classics were his favorite, so we were all well-versed in them. But I had a fun little trick. I would rent out the books I wanted to read alongside the books my father wanted me to read. Then, I would switch the book covers just in case my father barged in without knocking.
Which was always.
The cover said ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, but I was actually reading ‘The Art Of Public Speaking’. If I wanted to be a businesswoman one day, I had to get comfortable with the idea of talking to a room full of people. And with a father who expected me to stand in a corner and not speak until spoken to, public speaking wasn’t something I practiced on a regular basis. I devoured Dale Carnegie’s books. I thought he had a lot of valuable information for me to learn. But I had to be careful about when I read my books. I kept a book light stored underneath my mattress so I could read well after my parents had gone to bed.
Which meant I was taking a grave chance reading this book in the middle of the day.
“Ava! Sweetheart! Could you come downstairs!?”
I heard my mother’s voice waft up the stairs as I dropped my book in my lap. I opened up the secret compartment in my bedside table and shoved my book in there. I smoothed my dress out with my hands and tried to look appropriate before I started for the stairs, but my heart was pounding in my chest. My brothers told me they would talk to my father eventually, but had they already done it? Was this why I had been beckoned?
Had they convinced my father that I didn’t have to marry?
I saw my
brothers sitting around, but their faces were blank. I couldn’t get a read on them and that worried me. Finn shot me a comforting grin while Lorenzo nodded his head, but Hunter was still fuming. I could see it behind his eyes.
“Sit,” my father said.
I went over to my chair in the room and sat down with my back straight. I crossed my legs at my ankles and folded my hands together. I looked up at him as he raked his eyes over me, taking in my obedient form before he nodded in approval. Like he was prepared for me to do something wrong before he could grace me with his voice.
“Your brothers and I have been… talking,” my father said.
“Oh?” I asked.
“Just listen,” he said.
I nodded and bowed my eyes to my lap as I squeezed my hands for comfort.
“It has come to my attention that this Timothy Wells might not be all he claims to be,” my father said.
I slowly raised my head, my brow furrowed in confusion.
“No need to worry yourself over it. These are things dealt with between men. But, he is no longer suitable to marry my daughter.”
I felt my heart leap for joy in my chest. My eyes settled onto my brothers, but they didn’t look as pleased as I was. I knew there was a ‘but’ coming, so I tried to brace myself through my happiness.
But it was hard, because I was elated that I wouldn’t have to marry that man.
“In the meantime, you have a date this evening,” my father said.
“What?” I asked.
He shot me a look that should have prompted me to swallow my tongue. But all it did was fuel my anger.
They were setting me up on another fucking date!?
“There is a lovely gentleman that works in Mr. Wells’ company. He’s a bit younger. Up and coming. Graduated from Yale and was also educated at Cambridge. Comes from a good family and would make a suitable husband,” my father said.
“But that’s what you also thought about Mr. Wells,” I said.
My father shot me another look, but I wasn’t having it.
“Why in the world do I have to marry?” I asked.
“Ava, settle down,” my mother said.
“I’m not yelling and I’m not upset. I just want to know why I am expected to marry,” I said.
“Because that is your place, Ava. You are my beautiful daughter, and you will get nothing but the best. Mr. Wells was not the best, and it was to the courtesy of your brothers that you owe the dissolution of that proposal. I suggest you thank them,” my father said.
“I don’t think so,” I said. “Because me telling you I’m not ready to marry should’ve been enough.”
“That will be all, Ava,” my father said.
“No, no it won’t be.”
I stood to my feet as my brothers stood to theirs.
“The way this family operates is insane. We live in the twenty-first century, Dad. Women are running entire corporations,” I said.
“Not this again. Ava, I have explained to you why you cannot take over the family business,” my mother said.
“You have what?” my father asked.
“I’m not even talking about the family business! Dad, you’re trying to marry me off like I’m some sort of property to you. And I’m not. I’m not a business transaction. You can’t barter and borrow with my virginity,” I said.
“You will tone down that type of talking right this instance,” he said.
“And if I don’t?” I asked.
“Then you will be married to this man without so much as a courtesy date,” my father said.
“So if I listen to you, I’m married, and if I don’t listen to you, I’m doubly-married. Got it,” I said. “So if my circumstance doesn’t change, then I lose nothing but telling you this. I am a person who happens to have boobs. And just because you see Mom as property doesn’t mean I’m your property. I’m a grown women who wants to make decisions for her own life, and you rip those from me as if I’m your pet puppy. I want to be educated, but the only thing I get are the literature classics and a brush-up in my table manners!”
“You will calm down this instant!” my father said.
“I will do no such thing! That’s fine if I can’t help out with the family business. My brothers are smart and fully capable of doing such a thing. But I will not allow you to marry me off without my permission! That might as well be considered torture!”
“Ava, what in the world has gotten into you?” my mother asked.
“A pair of balls, Mom. Something you should’ve grown a long time ago,” I said.
I heard my brothers snicker just before something cracked against my cheek. I could feel it stinging as Hunter cried out for me, my head whipping around on my neck. Tears sprang to my eyes as my hand came to my cheek, touching the burning skin as my father panted. I slowly looked back at him, watching his hand stay raised as if he was preparing for another blow.
“I will not have you disrespecting me in my own house,” my father said. “I have raised you to be a proper woman. One who is respected and polite and beautiful. I put you through the best schooling as a child and paid exorbitant amounts of money for you to have the best clothes and makeup and guidance I could afford. You will not throw it all back in my face because you have decided to be ungrateful.”
Tears fell onto my cheeks as my body began to tremble.
“Now, get upstairs and clean yourself up. Your mother will be up in a couple of hours to help you prepare for your date tonight,” my father said.
I looked over at my brothers and they were poised to lunge at my father. Why they hadn’t already done it was beyond me, but they had done all they felt they could do, I supposed. I drew in a shaking breath as I backtracked upstairs, my mind reeling as I closed my door. I sank to the floor as tears continued to stream down my cheeks as my hand cupped my red-tainted skin.
I had to get out of here.
I couldn’t stay here another second.
I went and ripped the last suitcase I had out of my closet. I pulled out the few pieces of clothing I had snuck in over the years. Three pairs of jeans, two sweatshirts, some cotton panties, a pair of flip flops, and a two-piece bathing suit. I ripped at all the shirts my mother had made for me and grabbed a couple of the dresses I still enjoyed. I threw all of my library books in there and stuffed my favorite pillow on top, then I sat on the suitcase as I zipped it up.
I grabbed my phone charger and my phone, but I took the battery out of it. I grabbed the coffee can from underneath my bed that I had stowed money away in for a couple of years now. It wasn’t much. Maybe four hundred dollars. But it would get me to somewhere other than here, and that was the point.
I shoved it all into the pockets of my dress I had secretively sewn onto the outfit I was wearing.
Then? A knock came at my door.
“Who is it?” I asked.
“It’s Hunter.”
I pushed my suitcase off to the side and slowly opened the door.
“Are you packed?” he asked.
I furrowed my brow at him as I looked back at the suitcase I had concealed.
“How did you-?”
“Come with me,” he said.
He held out his hand for me and I took it within mine. I grabbed my suitcase and tossed it over my shoulder as we wove through the house. We went out the back entrance, avoiding Mom and Dad as we booked it for the far corner of our property. We ran until we couldn’t hardly breathe, and as we got passed the small amounts of brush, we came to a road.
And my car was sitting there with Finn and Lorenzo in it.
Hunter took my suitcase from me and stuffed it into my car. Finn and Lorenzo got out, then handed me an envelope. I opened it up and found a numerous amount of bills in it, and I gasped as tears streamed down my face.
“The first thing you need to do when you get to wherever you’re going is you need to change your phone number. Open your own account if you have to. Then? You call us. We want to know you’re okay,” Lorenzo said.
“That’s enough money to get you set up somewhere for a couple of months. But if you do a nice extended stay hotel, you can get four months out of it,” Finn said.
I turned towards Hunter as tears streamed down my cheeks.
“What they’re doing to you is wrong, Ava. And if running is the only way you can get away-- if that’s the only way we can help you-- then that’s what we’re going to do,” he said.
“Because we’re your brothers. And we love you,” Finn said.
I hugged each of their necks tightly before Lorenzo ushered me into my car. I gave them one last wave before I left, watching them recede in my rearview mirror. It hurt to leave them. To watch them wave me off. This was what my life had come to. Running from the only life I had ever known-- the only family I had ever known-- just to try and make something better for myself. I sighed as I got out onto the main road, my head on a swivel as I tried to figure out where the hell I was going to go from here.
I wasn’t sure if I was ready for California anymore. But I did know where the last place was that I felt safe.
I followed my streets as best as I could remember them. But the torrential downpouring of rain concealed a lot of my memory. I wove through the mountains for three hours before I finally happened upon Travis’ cabin, and I grinned when his truck came into view. I stuffed the money I had into my purse before I grabbed it, then made my way for the porch.
I knocked furiously on the door until he opened up.
The door flew open and his eyes were wild. His sparkling amber orbs were looking around, preparing for some sort of fight. But as his eyes gazed down at me and he studied me closely, the happiness I thought I saw in his eyes quickly morphed into a slow-burning anger.
Then, his hand came up and cupped my cheek.
“What happened?” Travis asked.
My heart thundered in my ears as his thumb stroked my cheek. I could feel it swelling the more he began to manipulate it. His eyes danced around my face as I took in his strong form, my pelvis churning with a heat I’d never experienced before. My mind went blank as his eyes connected with mine, and I found myself at a loss for what to do.
Baby For The Mountain Man: A Secret Baby Mountain Man Romance Page 6
