Heartbreaker
Page 26
“I’d like to book a trip,” said a familiar male voice. Her pulse leaped, and for a moment she couldn’t speak. Her heart thumped wildly against her ribs. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed the sound of Thorn’s voice.
“Where would you like to go?” she asked, her voice breaking.
“Surprise me,” Thorn said. “But only if you’re coming with me.”
Tears rushed to her eyes. “How long are you planning to be gone?”
“As long as it takes.”
“Takes to what?”
“Figure out how the two of us can take the next step.”
“The next step?” She felt like a parrot repeating everything he said, but she could barely get a breath out, her chest was so tight.
“I’m not good at long distance relationships.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat. “How would you know?”
“You got me there,” he said with a chuckle.
“I’m sorry, don’t you have some animals that need to be tended to?”
“That’s something else we have to work out—where we’re going to live.”
“I guess that’s where it gets complicated.” Her line buzzed, signaling there was a client waiting in the outer office.
“I’m going to have to put you on hold. Unless you want to call back and discuss this.”
“Put me on hold. I’ll wait as long as it takes.”
She buzzed the receptionist to tell her she was free and to send the client back. As she started to rise, she was surprised when Franklin Davenport filled her doorway.
“Mr. Davenport,” she said as the intimidating figure closed the door before approaching her desk. “What can I do for you?” To her surprise, the man looked nervous. “Would you like to sit down? It’s not Geneva, is it?”
He shook his head. “She’s fine. Well, as fine as she can be under the circumstances.”
“If it’s about me talking to the police, I already gave them and the FBI my statement.”
Again he shook his gray head. “It’s about the reason you were in my granddaughter’s house that night.”
Her heart dropped. She’d feared that this wasn’t over, hadn’t she? “Mr. Davenport, I’m so sorry. I know I shouldn’t have been there.”
“Please, call me Franklin. And that’s not what I meant. You were there because of your financial situation. I hope you don’t mind, but Willie told me. I can’t tell you how much I admire your tenacity in paying off your father’s medical debt, but I can’t stand by after everything that has happened and do nothing. I know you resisted taking even a little money let alone the vehicle.”
“I really appreciated both, but they were too much.”
He waved a hand through the air to cut her off. “I didn’t come here looking for another thank-you, JJ. I’ve done something a bit reckless since I didn’t ask you first. I paid off your father’s medical bills.”
She stared at him. “Mr.—”
“Franklin.”
“Franklin.” She had to sit down, her legs were suddenly too weak. “I... I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you’ll allow me this, since I’ve already done it. What you did to save my granddaughter...”
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. “I didn’t do it for money or—”
“I know. That’s why you have to let me do this.”
“It’s too much,” she finally managed to say, tears filling her eyes.
“It’s not near enough. You risked your life because of my granddaughter. You and Thorn both. I will always be in debt to the two of you.” Another line rang, signaling that she had another client waiting in the lobby. “You’re busy. I’ll see my way out. And I insist on paying for the honeymoon.”
Honeymoon?
Franklin winked at her. “Anywhere in the world you and Thorn would like to go for as long as you want.” With that he left.
The man was delusional. There was no honeymoon without a wedding. And she hadn’t heard from Thorn since he’d left. That was, until a few minutes ago. And he still hadn’t said those three words. Nor had she even though she knew she loved him.
Her line buzzed again, but before she could answer it, her doorway filled again. She recognized the cowboy standing there, holding his Stetson and smiling like a fool.
“Want to go for a ride in my new Gertrude?” Thorn asked. “I just checked with your boss. She said you could. When I told her what I had in mind, she said you should.”
“What you have in mind?”
“Asking you to marry me.” He reached into the pocket of his jean jacket and pulled out a velvet box. “I know you said we should take some time to think about things. If you need more time—”
JJ shook her head as she stepped around her desk and threw herself into his arms.
“I love you, Jenny Jo,” he whispered into her ear. “I love you.”
She drew back to look into the cowboy’s gray eyes. She didn’t need even another minute. How many times did a man have to rescue a girl before she knew he was the one? Only once, unless she was a fool. And JJ was no fool.
“I love you, Thorn Grayson. But how are we—”
“We’ll figure it out. Together,” he said, and kissed her, lifting her off her feet. As he set her down again, that grin she loved so much was all over Thorn’s face. “You wanna see the ring?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
THE JUDGE SPOTTED Helen the moment he entered the Kalispell airport. He’d cheated and called ahead so he knew what flight she would be taking and what time she would be boarding. She sat alone near the window at the gate, waiting for her flight. There was a book in her lap, but it was clear she hadn’t been reading it. Instead, she was looking out the window as if lost in thought.
He wondered if she might be wishing she’d done things differently in the past. He knew it had certainly been on his mind. He approached her slowly, enjoying just looking at her. She was a beautiful woman, dressed immaculately and with a poise and self-assurance he’d always admired.
She seemed to sense him and turned from the window. He tried to read her expression as she saw him. Definitely surprise registered, but what other emotions she’d felt at seeing him there, she hid well. It was a talent of hers, he realized. The woman was good at hiding her true feelings.
“William,” she said, smiling as she moved her large purse for him to sit next to her. “I didn’t know you were also traveling today.”
He shook his head. “I’m not flying anywhere, Helen. I just came to see you.”
“That was very nice of you, but I don’t think I mentioned that I was planning to take a trip.”
“The way you mentioned your pills to Curtis? No, you didn’t.”
Her smile faltered. “I’m sorry? Are you keeping tabs on me, Judge?”
“I never really understood what happened between the two of us,” he said.
Helen chuckled and seemed to relax. “So that’s what this is about? Closure? What do you want me to say, William?” She turned more toward him, her expression one of sympathy. Or maybe it was pity. “I cared about you. I might even have loved you. But it was so long ago, and you made it perfectly clear earlier that you no longer feel anything for me.”
“It would have helped back then if I had known you were pregnant with another man’s child.”
Her expression froze for a moment. “I don’t know where you got your information, but—”
“Helen, by now you must realize that I wouldn’t be here unless I knew everything.” He watched her swallow and look toward the gate longingly. She must have been so sure that she would be getting on a flight today that would eventually land her in South America, where she couldn’t be extradited. In another twenty minutes, she would have been gone.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The man you had the affair with in Mexico was Zachariah Judson,” he said. “Your name is on Zac’s adoption papers as the lawyer who handled it for the birth mother. All I had to do was the math.”
She pursed her lips, her skin paler than it had been only moments ago. “Didn’t you question, then, that the baby could have been yours?”
WT shook his head. “No. I knew that if it had been mine, you would have had an abortion. You had no faith that I was going to ever amount to anything. But what I don’t know was how Judson and his wife ended up raising your son.”
Helen looked away for a moment, her slim throat working. He watched a vein in her neck throb before she finally spoke. “He paid me,” she said simply, and turned to glare at him, daring him to say something. “I needed the money.”
For a moment, neither of them spoke. Flights were announced overhead along with warnings not to leave bags unattended. Some of the people at her gate had started to stand, anxious to board. He knew none of them were as anxious as Helen, though.
“Why Franklin’s granddaughter?” he asked. “Or were your aspirations much larger? His wife had died, and he hadn’t remarried. Why settle for ten million when you could have had the whole ball of wax? Franklin, at his age, could fall down the stairs at any time and die. But he wasn’t interested in another wife, was he?”
Her eyes narrowed to angry slits. “You think you’re so smart. You think you have it all figured out. You know nothing about me and never have. Yes, I wanted more than I got. But you’re right, Franklin and I did get close. Unfortunately, he wasn’t interested in me as anything more than his personal lawyer.”
“You got to know Geneva, though.”
She let out a bark of a laugh. “What a spoiled, obnoxious brat.” Helen practically spat out the words. “If I had married Franklin, I would have gotten rid of her first thing.”
WT felt a chill rattle through him. He’d never imagined that under this beautiful exterior lurked such cold-blooded hatred. “So you’d been in contact with Zac over the years?”
She shook her head. “I’d heard that he was more like me than his father. I’d also heard that he could use some money. He never knew we were related. He merely thought I was his father’s lawyer who took care of his adoption. I told him I had a proposition for him. All I had to do was throw him and Geneva together. With his boating background, he had no trouble getting a job teaching sailing up here on the lake. It was just a simple matter of purchasing Geneva sailing lessons for her birthday. Zac did the rest.”
“Why wouldn’t he opt to simply marry into the family and cut you out of the deal?”
“Because Franklin hated Zac from the moment he laid eyes on him. He was also threatening to cut off all of Geneva’s money if she continued to see Zac.”
“So the kidnapping.”
Helen chuckled. “It was the kind of thing she would have done—if she’d been smart enough. I watched the way Franklin was with her. It was difficult being around someone so wealthy. Didn’t you ever want to live like they do?”
WT shook his head. “It always looks better from the outside.”
She scoffed at that. “I wanted an easier life. Zac was enough like me that I knew he’d do whatever had to be done. The acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree, as they say. You should appreciate that, William. You with your perfect, righteous and law-abiding mother and father. Is that why you had to help all those misguided young people who came before you on the bench? Did you feel guilty that you’d had such an easy life?”
“Again, Helen, it only looked perfect and easy from the outside. Haven’t you learned that as you’ve aged? Things are seldom as they appear. But no matter, it doesn’t allow you the excuse to be the way you are just because your life was a little rough. You became a lawyer. How bad could it have been?”
Anger transformed her features into an ugly mask. “I wanted your life and Franklin’s all rolled into one,” she snapped. “I wanted prestige or at least to have people respect me for the wonderful things I’d done, like you, William. Since I couldn’t have that, I went for the money.” She lifted her chin. “Don’t you dare judge me.”
He heard the woman at the gate call her flight. “I’m retired, Helen. I’m not going to be the one to judge you.” He stood and saw her grab her purse, as if afraid he would take it from her. But he already knew that she’d had Zac wire the ten million to a Swiss bank account as per her plan. And now she was going to lose a lot more than ten million dollars. “I used to tell those young people who came before me in court that we all reap what we sow. That seems to be a lesson you didn’t learn. Until now. I’m sorry, Helen, but I don’t think you’re going to like prison.”
She looked past him as two men in uniform and two FBI agents in plain clothes headed toward her. With that poise she’d perfected, she rose to her full height. “You could have let me go. For old times’ sake,” she said quietly.
“You know me better than that.”
Helen turned to smile at him. “Yes,” she said, her voice breaking. “Unfortunately, Judge, I do know you. Otherwise, I might have tried to pass off the baby as yours. I knew you would have married me for better or worse. I spared you, William. You should be thanking me.”
EPILOGUE
“CAN I OPEN my eyes now?” JJ asked as Thorn took her hand and helped her from the pickup. Spring had come to the Flathead Valley. She breathed in the sweet, familiar scents, filled with a love for this place and this man.
“Not yet,” Thorn said. “Just a few more steps.” She could hear the excitement in his voice, feel it in his touch. The man had swept her off her feet—literally. Whisking her away in a whirlwind of wedding and honeymoon. Franklin had insisted they do something amazing, and they had. Over three months cruising around the world.
They’d gone to places she’d never dreamed she would ever see, eaten amazing food, explored old ruins, climbed mountains and swum in turquoise seas. They’d laughed and danced and watched sunsets on deck chairs.
“What about my job?” JJ had demanded when Thorn had told her what Franklin wanted to give them.
“Your boss told me that you never even took your vacations. You have the time coming. She’s happy for you.”
“But how can you be gone that long? What about your critters?”
Thorn had kissed her and said, “Let me worry about that, okay?”
For all the amazing places they’d gone, she was thrilled to be back in Montana, back to the Flathead Valley that she loved. She could feel the breeze stir her hair, the sun kissing her face as she waited, her hand in his. He’d said he had a surprise for her. Last night they’d flown into Kalispell and stayed at a hotel near the lake. He’d promised that the honeymoon was never going to end. It certainly felt that way.
“Okay,” he said with what she knew was a grin on his handsome face. “Open your eyes.”
JJ breathed in the sweet scent of pine and spring in the Flathead Valley before she slowly lifted her lashes. Her breath caught in her throat. Tears welled in her eyes. “It’s a house?”
“It’s our house.”
She couldn’t speak for a moment. “How?”
“I know how much you love this area and the lake. I sold my place and bought us this.”
“All those questions on our honeymoon about what I would want in a home...”
His grin broadened. “Whatever you had in mind, I then would call the contractor and tell him to add what you wanted.”
“Oh, Thorn.” She threw herself into his arms. “I never dreamed...”
> “I know how hard it was on you when you had to sell your father’s house and how much you missed a roof over your head.”
“You mean how much trouble it got me into,” she said with a laugh.
“But if it hadn’t, we might never have met.”
It was a sobering thought.
“Ready to see inside?” he asked.
She nodded, feeling like a kid on Christmas morning. Well, at least the kids she used to see on television on Christmas mornings until her father saved her.
The moment she stepped in, she fell in love with all of it. Thorn had listened to her dream of what she would want in her own home. The Craftsman-built house was light and airy with lots of windows.
He led her through the house, pointing out small things he’d had added for her. It was too much to take in. “But this is what I really wanted to show you,” he said as he drew her over to the front window.
“The lake,” she cried. She could see Flathead Lake.
“It isn’t as good a view as from Geneva’s.”
“It’s wonderful.” He put his arm around her and she leaned into him as they admired the sliver of glistening surface seen from their home. Their home. JJ couldn’t believe it. She looked up at her husband, wanting to pinch herself.
* * *
WT TAPPED AT the bright red front door, finding himself smiling. The house looked like JJ, he thought, and knew that Thorn had built it especially for her. It was bright and cute and perfect.
JJ opened the door, smiling as if happy to see him standing there. “Judge,” she said. “I’m so glad you could make it.”
“A housewarming present,” he said as he handed her a wrapped package.
“Thank you.” She beamed, the happy bride. He couldn’t have been more delighted for her and Thorn.
“Nice place you have here,” he said, looking around the Craftsman-style house that Thorn had told him sat on twenty acres at the foot of the Mission Mountains. The cowboy had been so excited, wanting to surprise his new bride once they returned from their honeymoon.