Harper moaned as soon as she bit down on the bread. At the rate they were going, Sara would not only not have to make much in the way of dinner, but she’d also have to bake more bread tomorrow. Not that she cared. Baking bread was one of her favorite things to do nowadays.
After the three of them turned to four when Bryant joined them, they sat at the kitchen table and talked about their upcoming plans. Bryant had hired three kids from the high school to help out with the trees, and Harper told them that she was going on a quick trip to the zoo to take pictures of the polar bear that had recently been born. They were so tiny, she told them, that you had to be careful not to make the momma nervous or she’d hurt the cub. Getting up to get the phone when it rang, Sara wondered if they really needed the dumb thing. It only rang about once a week, and they all had cell phones now.
“Mrs. Prince?” She said that she was one of them. “I’m looking for Harper Prince. I was told that if she wasn’t home or in her studio, she’d be at this number. Is she there?”
“Well, I’d have to check. Tell me your name and why you’d want Harper, and I’ll go out and see if she’s still here.” Harper shook her head when she spoke to her and the man on the phone. “I want you to know right now that should she tell me that she doesn’t want to speak to you, you’d best be losing this number. In this family, no means no.”
“Yes, I fully understand. This is her attorney, Elwood Fitzpatrick. Harp calls me Fitz—that is if she’s in a good mood. Can you please find her for me? It’s about the pictures that she took of the poachers earlier this summer.”
After putting the man on hold, a thing that she was just now falling in love with, she told Harper and the rest of them what the man had said.
“Yes, that’s him. Will you tell him please that...? You know what? Never mind, I’ll talk to him. But first I’m going to have another cup of this tea. We can’t just have him thinking I was right here all this time.” Sara enjoyed this girl more than she had thought that she would. Additionally, she loved her wit and the way she told it like it was. After she drank her tea and ate another slice of bread, she picked up the phone. “Fitz, if you’re telling me that these fuckers got off, I’m going to come to your office and beat you with your fake assed leg.”
Okay, Sara thought, not so much her wit right now. Why on earth would she threaten a one legged man like that? But when she heard Fitz laughing, she figured it was a long standing joke between them as they got down to business. Harper put it on speakerphone when she had to keep telling everyone what was going on.
“I said that there is a substantial reward for catching those poachers. The government has cleaned out the police station there and put their version of the national guard in place like you suggested to them years ago. The pictures were very helpful, and your friend knowing just where they were hanging out helped a good deal more.” Harper explained how Aurora had helped with their exact location. “I’ve already put your money in the slush fund that we set up when you first started winning awards. However, as I said to you before, you’re going to have to start using that money for something. The taxes that you’re paying on that money are eating away at the balance. Don’t you have a charity that you can donate some of it to? I know you’re married now—congratulations on that, by the way. But perhaps they know of something you can help out.”
Sara had several places that she volunteered at and told her about those. When Harper asked the man on the phone how much it was, she nodded and said to divide up the total amount and send a part of it to each charity organization. He must have asked her whose name to put it under, and Buck spoke up when Harper asked them.
“The Prince family. That should do it, don’t you think? I don’t want any one person taking the credit in this, do you, honey?” Harper said she didn’t care, and settled up the call. When she sat down, Buck laughed. “If you’re dividing it up between the five charities, I’m assuming that it’ll make a nice little nest egg for them.”
“I think so.” He asked how much if she didn’t mind telling him. “There was just over three hundred thousand in the fund. With what was added with this last thing, it’ll be a hundred thousand to each charity. Bryant and I were just talking about the fund today, so you guys made the decision easy for us. So I’m thinking that much money should make a difference, don’t you think? Can I take some of this jelly and jam home with me? I think I’d like to have it every morning for breakfast from now on.”
After Harper and Bryant left them, Sara looked over at Buck. She reached over and closed his mouth when he looked at her with it hanging open. Shaking her head, she started to clean up their mess.
“I guess we’ll have to learn how to be rich too. I mean, she just donated an amount of money that I’ve never in all my life thought about having.” Buck just continued to stare at her. “But it will be used wisely, don’t you think?”
He just got up and left her there. Sara had to laugh. She’d never known him to be caught speechless before. She might have to think of ways to render him that way more often. It made for a very quiet evening.
Chapter 2
Sampson sat in the little chair that groaned every time he moved just a little. He was sure that it was going to break under his weight, so he tried his best not to move at all. But when a young woman came out of the bathroom, he stood up quickly and nearly knocked the lamp off on the table beside him. When she only stared at him, Sampson smiled.
“I’m Sampson Prince. My family sent me along to make sure you didn’t need some help. We’re willing to help you in any way that we can with your loss.”
She continued to stare at him. Sampson took a step closer to her before he could think that he might be scaring her. When she took a step back, her scent hit him hard enough to make him sway on his feet. Holding onto the table, he stood there waiting for something to tell him—anything to tell him—that he’d made a mistake. But he knew as surely as she was getting angrier by the minute that she was his mate.
“Prince. Any relation to the man that helped take my brother and sister out?” Sampson flushed and told her that he’d done it. “Then you’re also a black tiger. Morgan told me that a cat had done it, killed them both, but he wasn’t sure if it was your family or not.”
“They were meaning to kill everyone in the bank.” The girl told him that she knew that too. “Are you pissed at me for it? I mean, I heard that there wasn’t anything between the four of you, but a person just doesn’t know.”
“No. I’m not pissed at anyone because they’re dead. I mean, I’m sorry that it came to that for you, but no, I’m not upset at you for having to do it.” She moved around him, and his cat growled a little at her avoiding them. “Calm that thing down, or I will. I’m not in the best of humor right now. That guy in the other room is treating me like I’ve been the leader of their merry band, and I should be as dead as they are.”
“Mr. Bash?” She said that it was his son. His first thought was to tell her that he’d take care of him, but instead, he smiled. “If you’d allow me to take care of him for you, I’d enjoy it. But I’m sure you would as well.”
“I don’t have it in me to be honest with you. After this, I have to go and tell my baby brother that he’s on his own with this shit.” She looked up at him. “My name is Allison Sheppard. Everyone just calls me Allie. I’m sorry. I should have told you that when you told me your name.”
“Nice to meet you.” He put out his hand and was glad when she took his much larger one into her own. “I’m going to take care of him for you.”
“You said that.” Nodding, he knew that he was looking sort of foolish. “Can I have my hand back now? I mean, you seem slightly deranged right now, and you’re scaring me a little.”
“I would imagine that I am.” He let go of her hand. “I’m so sorry to tell you this way, but you’re my mate. Don’t freak out on me, please. I’ll go take care of Billy for you,
then we can finish up here or go someplace to get some dinner before you see your brother.”
“You’re my mate.” Sampson nodded. “Well, it’s just another straw in the camel’s back, don’t you think? What will your family think about you being mated to a potential murdering bank robber?”
“Are you?” She laughed and told him no, not normally. “Me either. My family are farmers, for the most part. Raise cattle too, I guess. But as for your question, I don’t think they’ll care—”
The door behind him opened, and Billy Bash came out with a look on his face that told him that he was pissed about something. As soon as he breached the door jam, Sampson picked him up by putting his hand around his throat and holding him a good foot from the floor.
“Billy? What the hell are you doing to make my mate angry with you?” Billy’s eyes bugged out a little, but he couldn’t speak, so there wasn’t a forthcoming answer. “You, the last time I heard, failed college in becoming a funeral director. Unless I’m wrong about both those things, you have a great deal of explaining to do.”
Allie laughed, and Sampson thought it was the best sound he’d heard in a while. Putting the man down when Billy’s father came in the front door that he’d only just entered, Sampson asked him what was going on. William was a good man. He just had a blind spot where his son was concerned.
“I’d like to know that as well. Billy, what the hell have you done now?” Billy started talking like he’d only been talking to Allie, but she handed William the bill of sale that was apparently what he’d done for Allie. “You wrote this up? You can’t do that. Are you trying to get us shut down? Go home before I…. Just go home while I clean this mess up too.”
Things had changed, it seemed, and Sampson was glad to see that William was no longer treating his son like he was the best boy in the world. Allie snorted before speaking, and Sampson held onto Billy before he left.
“Oh no, he’s not leaving. I want to lodge a complaint about him. He treated me like I was some sort of whore in there. Touching me when I’d told him several times to stop. Then there were the comments. He told me that I’d probably be the next one of the Sheppards to be put in jail or killed. I came here to make arrangements for my brother and sister. Not to be treated like I’ve been running with them since they started this hairbrained shit.”
William was embarrassed. He was angry, too, but his face was bright red from being told that his son had done this to a paying customer. Sending his son away, William took them both into the office that Billy had come from, and apologized so many times that even Sampson wanted to tell him to shut the hell up. Allie beat him to it.
“Look. I don’t like my family. I’ve not had a thing to do with them since they left home. Howie killed our parents when they wouldn’t allow him to quit school and join Serenity. I’m here to get this shit over with, then head home.” When William opened his mouth, to no doubt say he was sorry again, Allie put up her hand. “The cheapest way to go for both of them. In a cemetery that is as far as you can go with keeping it in Ohio. If cremation is the cheapest, then I’m all for that too. However, you can dispose of their remains in any way you wish.”
William had several suggestions for what they could do. One of them seemed to intrigue Allie the most. It was donating their bodies to the labs at colleges and letting them take them apart or whatever they needed at the time, and they’d pay for them to be cremated when they were finished.
“I mean no disrespect, Miss Sheppard, but they might be more willing to take them both knowing what sort of people they were before they were killed.” She asked him if they still had to have a service of any kind. “Not if you don’t wish it. But if it’s a matter of cost, then there will not be a charge from this facility. Burial and the opening and closing of the graves I cannot give you, as they’re not affiliated with me, but the rest is—”
“Because of your son, you mean.” William nodded at her. “No. I wouldn’t allow you to do that. You have a family to support and bills to pay. I know about running your own business. Besides, you might not be here for me when someone else passes, and that would be a shame. Just so long as your son doesn’t have anything to do with the service.” She laughed, and he did as well.
“You’re very kind, miss. You can bet that I’ll be having a few words with Billy when I get home.” William put his head down on the desk they were sitting around. “I’ve allowed him to get his way much too often since his mother passed, and now I’m paying the price. How I wish I had done things differently. I know that it’s too late now.”
“Not necessarily.” William looked at him with such hope in his eyes that Sampson had to smile too. “You want him whipped into shape? Send him out to the ranch. My dad will have a long talk with him and then put him to work. He’s done it before with kids that have gotten too big for their britches, and I’m sure he’d be more than happy to help you out as well.” William didn’t hesitate or even say he’d think about it. Instead, he asked what time he should be there. “Let me ask my dad, and I’ll get back to you before we leave here.”
Contacting his dad and telling him what was going on, Sampson was as surprised at Dad as he had been with William. Not only did Dad know the young man, but he also knew that he’d been in trouble a great deal.
You’d think that he’d grown up in the woods, as wild as he’s been most of his life. Mostly I do think it was his father, but I’ve seen William try and discipline him and to no avail. Billy needs a good swift kick to his butt, is what he needs. But I can handle him. You going to be around? Looking over at Allie, he decided not to say a word to his family until he and Allie spoke. Telling his dad that his plans were up in the air seemed to satisfy him. Well, when you have a little bit of time, come on over, and we’ll work on him together. I think that Marcus is going to be around, as well as Fisher. Bryant and Harper are away at the moment. Something about a newborn at the zoo that they’re going to see.
Sampson told his dad that he’d talk to him later. After closing the connection, he watched Allie. She seemed to be in a better frame of mind at the moment, so he took some time to look at her, to really see the woman that he was going to be spending the rest of his life with.
She certainly was beautiful. There was an inner strength there that he was sure she didn’t realize she had. Allie was charming too, when it suited her, as well as a hard ass when it didn’t. Right now, she was reading over the contract that would come with donating the bodies of her family to a college while William made a few calls. Allie looked at him when William left them alone.
“I don’t suppose you know what some of this crap means.” She handed him the contract when he asked for it. “I don’t care what they do with the two of them. I just don’t want it coming back to bite me in the ass when they find out that they’re some sort of alien or something like that.”
“I doubt very much they’d care or even tell you if that was the case.” Sampson explained the part she was having trouble with. “There are some things that we should talk about, Allie. Mostly it has to do with me and what I can do, and that you can do now.”
“I’m not ready for that.” He nodded. “You’re old then, aren’t you? I mean, like really old. Morgan said that you were probably twice his age, and he’s almost eight hundred years old.”
“Yes, I’m about twice his age. A little more, actually.” She nodded and looked at the paperwork. “I have magic too that has passed on to you. Even though we’ve only touched, me being what I am to you gave you what I have.”
“I thought you’d be demanding or something. Why aren’t you?” Sampson asked her if she wanted him to be. “Not particularly. I mean, you keep saying things like you just did. That you gave magic to me. Not that I’m going to take it and like it.”
“I don’t think that would fly any better with you than Billy treating you like you were a piece of meat. He’s lucky that he didn’t get his ass killed.”
Allie asked him if he’d have done that. “I would have if necessary, but you would have done it easily enough, I think. I would have supported you, but I think you can handle a lowly human such as him.”
“I own a bar not far from here. It only took me a couple of hours to get here from there. I live on the upper floor of it, so I don’t have to pay rent. It took me a long time to get it up and going.” She looked at him again. “I was just thinking about selling it when all this came to be. I mean, now that I’ve achieved it and have gotten it running, I want to move onto something else. Some project that might need me to go in and take it over to make it work again. Do you understand?”
“I do. More than most. When we were farming, it was fun for me to start seedlings that weren’t supposed to thrive in our state. Not big things, but fruits and vegetables that Ohio had been deemed too cold of a region to grow them in. Or simply because we have such a short window of warm weather. We have a good deal of it, but not enough for some things to mature and grow.” She asked him if he still did that. “On a much smaller scale. My family and I have been farmers for most of our lives, mostly, I think, to keep food on the table. But as my mom was fond of saying, we had a roof over our heads and food in our bellies. That’s a good deal more than most have had over the decades.”
“I have no one left in my family but Howie. I don’t plan on helping him out of his mess either. Well, that’s not quite true. I want to help him. Every part of me wants to march right over to the jail and demand that they let him go. Tell them that he was misled by my sister and brother. But that’s not true either. He murdered my parents simply because they told him no.” Sampson told her that he was sorry. “I am as well. Howie got it in his head that he wanted to be famous like Serenity and Heath were. We tried to tell him that they were famous for all the wrong reasons. He told my mom that if he could, he’d kill a hundred people just so she’d know that he was serious about joining them.”
Samson Page 2
