Smiling down at her, he kissed her again, then turned. As they moved through the lobby, Noah suddenly burst through the glass entry doors. There was a moment’s pause, a silent communication, and then he nodded his head.
“So, we’re really doing this?” Noah asked, looking from one to the other.
Patrick shifted a questioning glance in her direction.
Naomi nodded back. “Yeah, we’re really doing this.”
* * *
Nolan’s secretary greeted Patrick warmly, a bright smile creasing her face. The woman was stunning, tall and model thin, with skin the color of licorice.
“Mr. O’Brien, it’s so good to see you again. You’ve been missed.”
“It’s good to see you, too, Brenda. Is he in his office?”
She nodded. “Is he expecting you? I don’t see you on his calendar.” Her eyes scanned her computer.
Patrick shook his head. “No, he’s not expecting us.”
The secretary reached for her phone as Patrick sauntered past her, pulling Naomi along with him.
“It’s fine, Brenda. He’ll see us,” he said, tossing her a look over his shoulder.
“Mr. O’Brien, you can’t... Mr. O’Brien!”
Noah winked at the woman as he followed behind them.
When the office door swung open unexpectedly, Nolan and his wife looked up from a stack of papers they were reviewing. As Patrick and Naomi pushed their way inside, the Perrys stole quick glances at each other, shock registering on their faces.
Patrick greeted them both politely. “Mr. Perry, Mrs. Perry, good morning. Excuse us for the interruption.”
Brenda pushed through the door behind them. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Perry. Should I call security?”
Nolan held up a hand. “Have you lost your mind, son? What’s the meaning of this?” He appeared confused as he recognized Naomi and her brother.
Patrick gestured for the secretary’s attention. “Would you ask Garrison to join us, please, Brenda? And if the girls are in the building they should be invited, as well. Thank you.”
Nolan waved the woman away. “I’m not sure what you’re hoping to accomplish, Patrick, but this is not the time or the place.”
Grace Perry interjected, “Perhaps you can come to the house later this week, Patrick?”
Naomi took a step forward. “This has nothing to do with Patrick, Mrs. Perry. This is about me and my—”
Grace interrupted, her curt tone bristling with indignation, “Young lady, I was not speaking to you! In fact, I’m not sure why you’re even here.”
Noah stepped up behind his sister. He pressed his hands against her shoulders, stalling the ire he knew was rising. “Excuse me, ma’am. I don’t know you, but my sister hasn’t spoken to you out of turn, so you need to show her the same respect.”
Grace bristled. “Who are you?”
Naomi felt her brother tense. He took a breath and then answered, “My name is Noah Stallion and I’m your husband’s eldest son.”
Grace suddenly looked ill, the color having drained from her face. She shot her husband a look. Before she could respond Garrison came through the door, his sisters following on his heels.
“Hey, family, what’s going on?” Garrison exclaimed. He hurried to Patrick’s side, the two men slapping palms and bumping shoulders. “So, you’ve finally come to your senses?”
Patrick shook his head. “Why don’t we all take a seat?”
“Well, hello there,” Giselle exclaimed, as she brushed past Noah. She extended her hand. “I’m Giselle Perry. And who might you be?”
Naomi rolled her eyes. “Down, girl. You are definitely not his type!”
Giselle shot her a look. “What are you doing here? What’s going on?”
Naomi shifted her gaze to Nolan. “Do you want to tell them or would you like for me to?”
“What I want, young lady, is for you three to get out of my office before I have you arrested for trespassing.”
“Well, that’s not going to happen, either,” Patrick interjected.
An awkward silence suddenly blanketed the space. They each looked from one to the other, waiting to see who would jump first. Naomi finally broke the quiet. She moved to where Nolan stood, her arms crossed over her chest. “Why did you burn down my property? Why would you set fire to Norris Farms?”
“What is she talking about?” Georgina asked.
“Hey, don’t talk crazy to my father. Patrick, you need to check your girl!” Garrison interjected.
Nolan held up his hand, his voice rising. “Everyone, quiet!” He met the stare Naomi was giving him. “Clearly, young lady, you’ve been misinformed. I’m not sure what you think you know but—”
Naomi interrupted him. “Why have you gone out of your way to hurt us? We were your family, too, and we didn’t do anything to deserve what you did to us. We don’t deserve what you’re doing now.”
“Family? What is she talking about?” Garrison shot Patrick a confused glance.
Nolan swiped his hand over his face. He’d gone bright red and looked like he might have a heart attack. He moved as if to make a run for the door. “I’m done here.”
No one was prepared for the vase that flew past the man’s head, just missing him. It hit the wall and shattered, the clinking of broken glass silencing the room.
“Baby, you okay?” Patrick said to Naomi between clenched teeth.
She cut him a glance, rage seeping from her eyes. “He is not going to turn his back on us and disappear again. Not this time.”
Noah chuckled nervously. “Just don’t throw things, Naomi!”
Grace looked deflated as she rose from her seat and went to stand between Naomi and her husband. “That will be enough of that. Nolan, sit down.”
“Don’t tell me—”
The woman shouted, “Sit down now, Nolan!”
He bristled, but moved behind his desk and dropped into his leather executive chair.
Grace pointed toward the couch. “Garrison, you and your sisters sit over there. Naomi, if you and your brother would take those two leather chairs, please.”
Looks darted back and forth as everyone waited for someone else to move first. Patrick finally stepped to Naomi’s side as Grace leaned against her husband’s oversize oak desk. The woman waited for her children to obey, and when everyone was seated, she continued, “We should have done this years ago, Nolan. Now, your daughter asked you a question and you need to answer her.”
Nolan grunted. He shifted forward in his seat and back again, clearly uncomfortable. Everyone was staring at him and he was suddenly struggling for words.
Naomi repeated herself, “Were you responsible for the fire that destroyed my land?”
“No, I would not have done that,” he answered.
“Did any of your children?”
“I know she’s not talking about me,” Giselle quipped.
Nolan shot the young woman an admonishing look. He shook his head. “No, I can say beyond any reasonable doubt that none of my children were responsible.”
Naomi shot Garrison a look. For the first time, there was something that seemed genuine in the look he gave her back.
He held his hands up as if surrendering and shook his head. “I didn’t do it, Naomi. I swear. I’m a lot of things but I’m not an arsonist. Besides, Patrick’s my brother, even if we do see things differently. I’ve got mad love for him, I just couldn’t bring myself to be that low.”
Giselle sighed. “We were joking when we said we should take her business out. We didn’t really try to do it. At least I didn’t.”
Georgina shrugged. “I am so confused! I don’t have a clue what any of you are talking about.”
Naomi turned her attention back to Nolan. “Thank you.”
Grace looked at her husband. “Now you need to answer her second question.”
Nolan leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desktop. He dropped his head between his palms, covering his face. When he looked back up a tear had rolled down his cheek. Rising from his seat, he rounded the desk and went to stand before Naomi and Noah. He leaned back against the desk, his eyes shifting between them.
“I never meant to hurt any of you and I never meant to hurt your mother. You have to understand, it was a different time, and I didn’t always make the right decisions.”
He shifted his gaze toward the three on the sofa. “Naomi and Noah are your half siblings. And there are three more. The twins, Nathaniel and Nicholas, and my baby girl, Natalie.”
“Half siblings?” Garrison looked confused.
“Their mother and I were lovers. For many years. Norris Jean and I had five children together.”
“Why didn’t we ever know this?” Georgina questioned, her incredulous gaze sweeping around the room.
“Because your father refused to have anything to do with us. He abandoned us and our mother years ago,” Noah said.
“I never abandoned you,” Nolan declared.
“You never took care of us. You never supported us. What would you call that?”
The man looked confused. “I did support you. Your mother received money from me every month, right up until the day she died.”
“Our mother never received a dime from you!” Naomi snapped. “How dare you tell that lie!”
“We struggled for years. While you and your other family were living well on your side of the tracks, we had nothing in the trailer park we grew up in. Nothing!” Noah added.
Nolan shook his head. “I don’t know what your mother did with the money, but we paid her. We paid her very well. We made sure she...” He suddenly paused, turning to stare at his wife.
Grace sat with her eyes closed, tears streaming down her face. When she opened them, everyone in the room was staring at her.
“What did you do?” Nolan asked in a low voice.
Grace shook her head. “I had to protect my children first.”
“First? Woman, what are you talking about?”
“I had to ensure their futures, and back then I didn’t know what was going to happen.”
“What are you saying?”
Her voice rose. “I’m saying everything wasn’t always about that Stallion woman or your bastard children. That’s what I’m saying.”
A collective gasp echoed around the room. Naomi balled up her fists, looking like she was about to throw a punch. But Nolan looked like he was going to throw more than a fist.
He took a step toward his wife. “You never paid her, did you? You never sent Norris that money.”
Grace hesitated, her chin lifting slightly in defiance. “No. I didn’t.”
Noah and Naomi exchanged a look. Their gazes shifted back to Nolan, who was visibly shaking.
Grace moved to the window, her arms wrapped protectively around her torso. “I need to start at the beginning so you’ll all understand. Norris Jean and I were friends. Very good friends. My grandparents owned a laundry in Texas and Norris’s mother, your grandmother, was a washwoman who worked for them. She used to bring Norris to work with her and we would play together. We had some of the best times!
“We tried to keep in contact when my family moved from Texas here to Utah, but it was a different era back then. We were pen pals for a while, but that didn’t last long. I met Nolan shortly after we moved. I was very young, but even then I knew he and I were destined to be together.”
She gave them all a weak smile as she continued, “His ministry was just starting out, but I could see the potential in him. He was destined to do great things. He came from a very prominent family and he was a great catch for any girl. I was smitten from the first moment I saw him.
“One summer the church sent him to Dallas to do ministry, and I gave him Norris Jean’s information and asked him to contact her for me. And he did.”
Nolan took up the story as he dropped into reflection. “Your mother was so beautiful! Everything about her was breathtaking. It was love at first sight for both of us. Her father had forbidden her to see me and well...we didn’t listen. All we wanted was to be together. We didn’t see any of the things that were supposed to keep us apart. It wasn’t about race or money or anything else with us. We just loved each other. She became pregnant with you that summer, Noah, and we were so happy!”
Grace sniffed and then continued, “I was devastated when I found out. And angry. Angry at Norris Jean. Nolan and I were engaged to be married. She had no respect for our relationship. I convinced Nolan not to tell his parents, and I convinced Norris Jean that she shouldn’t do anything to ruin his future. Him impregnating a black woman would have destroyed everything he had been working for. We couldn’t let that happen.”
Nolan shook his head. “When I came back to Utah, I brought your mother with me,” he told Naomi and Noah. “We had a plan. We were going to marry, and if need be, we would have moved somewhere else. But then, out of nowhere, she refused. She threatened to take the baby and go back to Texas. I didn’t know that Grace had gotten into her ear. Norris Jean just said that she wanted what was best for me. And apparently, what was best for me was what everyone else wanted. Before I knew it I was married to Grace. So Norris and I tried to make it work the only way we thought we could. We couldn’t be together, but we couldn’t stay away from each other.”
“You wouldn’t have had any of this if you hadn’t married me,” Grace snapped, waving her hands in the air. “Your father would have disowned you for even thinking about marrying her.”
“You don’t know what the hell I would have had,” Nolan snapped.
“So, you knew about our mother the entire time?” Naomi met the woman’s gaze. “And you stayed with him?”
“I loved Nolan. I stayed because...well...”
“Because you didn’t want Norris to have what you had—the power, the prestige, the wealth...”
“I wanted your heart. I didn’t have that. Norris had your love. You gave me the leftovers and I wouldn’t have had that if I hadn’t taken it.” The bitter undertones of the woman’s words didn’t go unnoticed, Naomi bristling with ire.
“So, you stole the money our father meant for us to have?” Naomi asked.
Grace blew out a heavy sigh. “I thought if things got hard enough for her, Norris Jean would go back to Texas. To her family. But she didn’t. She stayed. And in the back of my mind I knew there was always the chance that Nolan would choose her. And all of you. I needed to ensure that if that happened I’d be able to take care of my family.”
Nolan flinched. “You selfish...” He caught himself, squelching the profanity that clearly threatened to spew out.
“No, selfish was always promising her that you would find a way for the two of you to be together. Selfish was thinking you could keep me in limbo while you tried to make things work with her. Selfish was you never trying to make our relationship work!”
Naomi cut her eyes from Grace to Nolan. “Mr. Perry, why did you stop coming to see her? Us? After Natalie was born we never saw you again. At least before that you would bring things, and Norris Jean was happy.”
Nolan looked toward Naomi. “I don’t know,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “I guess, if I’m honest, I’ll admit I was a coward. Grace believed if the church found out, it would ruin my standing. This business was just beginning to take off and do well. It became a regular argument and I...well, I just gave up. I hated myself for it, but it wasn’t fair of me to keep stringing your mother along. I thought maybe she’d find someone else and she could be happy. So, when Grace made me promise not to have anything else to do with Norris and all of you, I agreed. I thought it would be enough as long
as I could support all of you, and Grace promised she would handle that. She swore she was sending your mother money every month to take care of you. And I trusted her.”
He paused. “I trusted you.” The couple locked gazes.
Grace shook her head. “Do you know what it’s like to love a man who is in love with someone else? After everything I did for you? For us? And it was Norris Jean who was always in your head. You were always thinking about her. Wanting her. Wishing things were different. Someone needed to protect our name. To preserve your legacy. I did what I had to do.”
Nolan shook his head. He moved to Naomi as she stood up from her seat. He cupped her face in his palms and trailed the pad of his thumb across her cheek. “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice low. “I failed you. And I failed your mother. And I’m so very sorry.”
Naomi’s tears rained down, a sudden storm she hadn’t expected. She felt Patrick wrap his arm around her waist as Nolan pressed a kiss to her forehead and then stepped away from her.
She and Patrick moved toward the door, Noah leading the way. She suddenly stopped, turning her attention back to the Perry family. The lot of them looked broken, weathered from the wind that had snapped them like twigs. Grace Perry was still standing at the window, staring out over the landscape. Naomi called her name.
“Mrs. Perry?”
“Yes?”
“Why did you burn down my farm?”
The woman bristled visibly. Her eyes skated around the room before settling back on Naomi’s face. “When your father saw you at the auction, you were all he could talk about. How proud he was. How successful you had all become. How much you looked like your mother. I just wanted you gone.”
“Grace!”
“Mom, how could you?”
Naomi nodded, turned and exited the room with Patrick and Noah close behind.
No one said anything as the trio rode the elevator down to the lobby. Outside, Patrick clutched her shoulders, looking her in the eye. “Baby, are you okay?”
Sweet Stallion Page 15
