by Fiona Archer
Olivia’s heart broke for her mom. Young, vulnerable, and so very alone.
“What happened that night?” she gently prodded.
“That day I’d fainted at work. The owner panicked, sent me to the local doctor.” Her mom’s face softened. “Turned out I was pregnant.”
Oh, my gosh, to be caught up in that horrible environment and pregnant, too? But...she had no brother or sister, so?
Olivia held back the flurry of questions waiting to be voiced, instead letting her mom get her words out in her own time.
“I was…scared at first, worrying how we’d all survive, but I knew I’d do anything to protect my baby.”
An ominous chill invaded Olivia, starting at her toes and working up her body to lift the hairs at the back of her neck.
“Eugene was furious about my news. I couldn’t believe it.” She turned, facing Olivia. Her blue eyes, wide and filled with regret, pleaded for understanding. “You have to know, he was a charismatic guy. He knew what to say and when to say it to get whatever he wanted. This was the first time something had happened to him that he couldn’t charm away.” She let out a shuddering breath. “So he used his fists.”
“Oh, Mom.” Olivia wrapped an arm around her mom’s shoulders, feeling the slight tremors. Tears made their way down Maggie’s cheeks.
Right then, she wanted to stab the bastard herself.
Her mom sniffled. “We were at the kitchen sink. I’d just come home, cooked dinner, and was washing up.”
After having fainted at work. God, what else had her mom had to endure?
“He punched me, aiming for my stomach, but I turned. He got my ribs.” She wiped her nose with the back of her hand. Olivia grabbed the box of Kleenex from her desk and handed one to her mom, then wrapped an arm around her once more, needing to comfort her as much as her mom needed to be comforted.
“What happened then?” She replaced the used Kleenex with another.
“He slapped my face, screaming at me. Such horrible words.” She hiccupped a sob. “I reached for the knife in the dish drainer. I only wanted to stop him long enough that I could get away. But he was so strong and kept punching me. I struck out, hit him near the shoulder.” She drew in another deep breath. “So much blood.”
Olivia leaned her head against her mom’s. Self-defense.
“But he came at me again, this time he had the knife. I put my hands up to protect myself. That’s when he slashed me.” Her mom ran a finger down the faint silver scar that marred the pale skin on the underside of her arm from near her elbow to an inch shy of her wrist. Her mom had blamed it on a silly kid’s accident. “I knew he was going to kill either me or you, or both of us, so I grabbed a plate and threw it at his face. He ducked, slipped on the blood on the floor and fell, face first. He never got back up. ” She looked down at the light-blue carpet as if Eugene’s lifeless body was there before her. “I ran to the phone, called Ella-Mae, and hid outside until she came.”
Kill me or you, or both of us. Olivia blinked. No, no that wasn’t right. She must have misheard. Me or you.
She pulled back to look at her mom. “What did you mean by kill me or you?”
Maggie gasped, then swung her head to face Olivia. Her incredulous stare gave way to regret as her head dropped forward. “Oh, my God. I’m so sorry, baby. I didn’t mean for you to find out.”
She hadn’t misheard.
“Eugene Hicks is my father, isn’t he?” Even as she asked she already knew the answer. A sudden tingling washed over her skin. She needed to retreat, hide, pretend those words were never said.
Her mom turned, the photo of the knife dropping from her hands as she gripped Olivia’s upper arms. “He sired you, but your father is Matthew Fletcher.” She shook Olivia. Her eyes, bright with tears, fired with purpose. “No matter what, Livy, Matthew was your dad and he loved you.”
He had. She knew that. But still… Tears clouded her vision, spilled out onto her cheeks. “I can’t believe this is all happening.” Her safe world, the one she had counted on to never change, was turned on its head. “How, I mean, how soon did you meet Dad?”
“The next week.” Her mom’s grip on her arms lessened, turned soothing as she rubbed up and down, pushing the sleeves of Olivia’s T-shirt up her arms. “Ella-Mae went back into the house while I hid in the car. She gathered up my clothes and things, then got me back to her house. She patched up my arm, let me stay the night. The next morning she told me Eugene’s death was on the local radio. No leads. Just that he’d been found. She gave me enough money to last a few days and told me to get gone. After four days on a bus, I ended up sitting in a diner, wondering if I could afford my first meal in ages and then this man walked up to me.” Maggie’s lips spread in a soft smile. “He pulled off his Stetson, told me I looked like I could use a friend and a good meal, and said he’d pay for me to have whatever I wanted, even if I didn’t want him sitting next to me while I ate.”
She looked at Olivia, her eyes wistful, full of longing for the man who had been taken from her too soon. “It was the nicest thing anybody had ever done for me since I’d lost my parents.”
A bolt of pain wrenched Olivia out of her pity party. This wasn’t all about her.
Her mom, aged what, twenty-two or three, hurt and pregnant, had finally, after years of neglect, been treated with kindness.
And the man responsible for that act became the most wonderful father a girl could wish for.
She was indeed lucky.
Olivia swallowed, trying to get the words out around the tightness in her throat. “I’m glad he saw you, Mom.” Her sobs became muffled in her mom’s hug. Both women cried. Tears for her father, for the years her mom had held her secret, and for the pain it had dragged along with it, left her exhausted.
Maggie pulled out a heap of Kleenex and offered up a puff ball of the white tissues to Olivia.
She laughed, more a release than anything else. “Thanks, Mom.”
Maggie blew her nose, then asked, “How did this man, this blackmailer, find out about Eugene?”
“His name’s Richard Lawson. He’s an enemy of Alex and Kane’s. They share history that goes back to boarding school.” She shrugged. “He saw me with the guys in Seattle, investigated me, my past, and my family.” She nodded as her mom’s jaw dropped. “This man’s got enough money to dig deep. He found Ella-Mae, paid her ten grand, and she didn’t stop talking.”
Maggie’s upper lip curled into a sneer. “That bitch. I gave her my mom’s pearl necklace to keep quiet. It was the last thing of my parents I had.” She shook her head, her shoulders slumping in defeat. “She had her hand on her phone, ready to call the sheriff unless I handed it over.”
“I’m sorry, Mom, but Ella-Mae held on to the knife.” She stopped, remembered the horrible woman’s statement. “You said before you didn’t come running out of the house with the knife.”
Her mom shook her head. “No, it was partially under Eugene. I just ran.”
“Ella-Mae lied in her statement to Lawson. Figures.” Olivia scoffed. “She obviously grabbed it when she went in to get your stuff. When Lawson came sniffing, she gave it to him.”
Maggie snorted. “I hope she chokes on the money.” Then, with a glance to Olivia, her voice changed, became…resigned. “What now, Livy? If he was blackmailing you he wanted something in return for, I’m guessing, not turning me in to the authorities? What did he demand for his silence?”
“His company and MacKenzie Corp are competing for a bridge project overseas. There’s a lot at stake. The job would lead to many others on the island.” At her mom’s nod, she continued. “He wanted me to get him a copy of the MacKenzies’ bid document for the project.”
Her mom held Olivia’s gaze a long moment before asking, “Did you?”
Shame heated her face. “I took a copy of what I thought was the document from Kane’s computer. But then I decided I couldn’t go through with it. I couldn’t betray Alex and Kane that way.”
�
�But they still found out? Is that why you’ve broken up?”
Olivia nodded, the pain too fresh to confirm with words.
“Did you try to explain?”
“How could I? If I said why I copied the document, it would leave you vulnerable.” Olivia’s tone held no blame, just honesty.
Her mom’s face twisted in pain. That was the last thing Olivia wanted. She reached out, taking her mom’s hand in hers. “This afternoon I read something online that I think could provide a weapon against Lawson.”
She gave a brief explanation. Her mom deserved that much, but she didn’t go into too much detail. “You can’t share that with anyone, Mom. I’m taking a huge gamble tomorrow, but whatever happens, we’re going to stick together. I don’t want you worried.”
“How can I let you go off and face this man while I sit back here in King’s Bluff?”
“Because it’s what I need you to do for me. I can’t go there and threaten to take the knees out from under this bastard if I’m worried about you. I need you to stay strong. We’ll see this through.” She squeezed her mom’s hand to emphasize her point. “Dad wouldn’t want us to do anything less.”
Maggie Fletcher gently pulled her hand free to cup Olivia’s cheek. “I’m so proud of you, baby. You are your daddy’s girl.” She stood, dropped a tender kiss on Olivia’s forehead. “I love you.” She moved to the doorway, then turned back. “I’ll wake you in the morning. Have some breakfast ready before you head out.”
“Thanks, Mom.” She stood, moving to her desk, then stopped. “Mom,” She waited for her mom to turn back around. “You and Dad both have blue eyes. Mine are green.” She tilted her head to the side. “I have Eugene’s eyes, don’t I?”
“Yes, baby. You got the best part of him.” With a soft smile, her mom headed back down the hallway.
An hour later, Olivia lay wide-awake in her bed, the fresh-smelling cotton sheets drawn up to her chest. She had plumped her pillows twice, tried reading a romance, even attempted the obligatory counting of sheep, but nothing worked to slow her mind enough to allow sleep. Tomorrow was a huge day. And it was coming way too fast.
She gave up a silent prayer. Ingenuity she had in spades, but a little more courage and a lot of luck would be appreciated. Having already lost the men she loved, she couldn’t lose her mom, too.
Turning her face into the pillow, she added one last wish—that whatever path was now open to Alex and Kane would be filled with love. Her beautiful men deserved nothing less.
Not long after she managed to find the best alternative to counting sheep. Crying really did help a girl get to sleep.
Chapter Sixteen
Alex stared at the tan leather penholder on his desk, not ignoring Kane, Mike, and Quinn sitting in the chairs opposite, but not wanting to take part in their conversation either. Twenty-four hours ago fate had kicked him in the guts. He wanted a break from reliving it in any detail.
“Olivia’s belongings are at reception, waiting delivery.” Quinn interlocked his fingers over his olive-green shirt, covering his stomach. “I’ll take them personally.”
“Good, I want all traces of her gone.” Kane’s voice held the same hard edge of anger he’d been silently holding on to all night. Hair still wet and un-styled, and wearing a denim shirt open at the neck, his brother looked like he wanted to start a firefight with a group of hostile insurgents rather than sit in the luxurious confines of the lodge.
Alex couldn’t blame him.
A sharp squeak emitted from beside him. He glanced down to see Patch had deserted the dog bed and now sat beside Alex’s leg, his new plastic hamburger toy in his mouth.
“You had to love that toy most of all, didn’t you?” He rubbed the dog’s head, earning him a soft lick and a nudge from Patch against his hip. “Good boy.” His black T-shirt already had a smattering of the grayish blue dog hair. He didn’t mind one bit.
But the toy? He and Kane had endured the unending melody of its squeaks all night long.
Not that he would have slept easy anyway.
“How’s he fitting in, Alex?” Mike asked as Patch shuffled back to his bed and settled with a sigh, the toy still wedged in his mouth.
“Apart from Kane and me planning a secret raid of his bed to remove the squeaker mechanism from his toy, it’s going fine.”
“She probably bought the damn thing knowing it would drive us crazy,” Kane griped.
“Brother, I know you’re pissed, but that’s low.” Alex let the anger come through his voice.
“Why are you defending her? She screwed us over. Deceived us.” Kane sat forward in his chair, his face tight. “This isn’t someone who deserves our consideration.”
“She used you. What if Lawson had received the real document?” Quinn remained still in his seat but his words held the power of a right hook. “What if it didn’t end there? She could have been using Lawson as much as he used her. A free agent, out to get whatever she could.”
One part of his head said both men made sense. How could he deny it? They had caught her in the act of betraying them. But the other part couldn’t correlate the Olivia he had come to know, to love, as being so calculating.
Kane shook his head. “I owe you an apology, Alex. If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have lowered your guard. But I had to push.” He sank back into his chair, arms hanging off the chair’s armrests. “You were right not to trust her.”
But he had trusted her. And once he had ripped away his own fear, it had seemed natural with Olivia. She was different, unhindered by agendas or placing importance on things that seemed to matter to so many women in the social circles they grew up in.
She had guzzled down a chocolate Sunday, not caring whether the fudge was low fat, hadn’t counted carbohydrates with the same attention to detail as a neurosurgeon wields his scalpel—as if one extra gram could mean life or death by diet shame.
Sunday morning he had seen her crocheting some fancy pattern along the edge of a large square of soft material. A baby blanket for Chloe, she had said. He’d sat there, drinking in her excitement as she showed him two sheets, one yellow with bumblebees and the other mint-green with rocking horses. Her face had glowed with joy as she had turned the sheet this way and that, saying she would wash the sheets by hand before wrapping them in tissue paper.
That wasn’t an act. It was genuine. Her pleasure for her friend and her generosity of spirit in sharing that with him was as real as the sun that shone outside his window.
So how the fuck did she become a thieving liar within forty-eight hours?
“We missed something,” he said more to himself but the three men in the room with him heard them, too.
“What?” Quinn’s gaze sharpened.
Kane shook his head. “Alex, I want her to be innocent, too, but we both saw the video.”
“I don’t mean that.” He scrubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “There’s no denying what we saw. But it’s what we didn’t hear that I want answers for.”
“Her reason why,” Quinn answered.
“She never gave one?” Mike frowned.
Alex growled. How stupid he had been, letting his anger at the time fog his brain.
Idiot. An amateur’s mistake.
“No, just gave in.” Kane leaned forward, his frown as deep and furrowed as Mike’s. “It’s what made me so fucking angry. She just gave up on us.” He looked at Alex, comprehension dawning in his gaze.
“Red’s hiding something.” Once the words were out, Alex couldn’t contain his impatience, needing to get on with it. Rising from his chair, he grabbed his wallet and shoved it in his pocket.
“Something that would provide an explanation for her actions?” Mike stood, joining Quinn, who headed toward the door.
“Right.” Both he and Kane answered together. His brother looked at him as they shared a grin. They were a team. And speaking of team members…
He whistled to Patch, who padded over and started wagging his tail when Alex clipped th
e leash to his new soft, black collar. “Let’s go get our girl.”
Their Red better have her story ready because they weren’t letting her go without a fight.
* * * *
“So that’s it, all of it. I’ve left nothing out.” Maggie sat at her kitchen table and waited as her best friend, Penny Gordon, processed her news. Her bright-red lipstick-coated mouth opened but nothing came out. For once, Penny seemed lost for words.
Not so much the two Hammond sisters, who had jumped into Penny’s car with her when her friend dashed out of the diner after getting Maggie’s call. She had waited until the diner’s breakfast rush was over before calling, but not a second longer.
“So you stabbed a man, who hasn’t?” Adelaide Hammond waved her hand as if shooing away a fly.
“I haven’t.” Matilda’s back stiffened. Then, seeming to remember Maggie’s presence, she was quick to add, “Not that I’m judging, Maggie. That fella deserved what was coming to him. Hitting you and trying to kill our Livy.” Her lips hardened, drawing them into a thin shell-pink line. “That’s just not on.”
“I’m so sorry, Maggie.” Penny squeezed Maggie’s hand. “I’m sorry you’ve carried this for so long.”
Maggie nodded. She blinked away threatening tears. Everyone remained silent, accepting. These were women who understood bad things happened to even the best of people and didn’t judge.
It was one of the reasons she had always felt safe in King’s Bluff, this wonderful town Matthew had carried her off to all those years ago.
“Matthew knew, but only because he wouldn’t stop asking. But I made him promise not to tell anyone else.” She lifted her chin, sharing her gaze with each of her friends. “I’m telling you this now because Livy needs my help. And I need yours.” She gripped her hands around her coffee mug, hearing the clink of her gold wedding band against the china cup. She would wear that ring until the day she died, no matter where she ended up. “I don’t know what’s in front of me, but I know I’m going to fight for my daughter to have the future she deserves.”
