Swelling with pride, Rhys nodded. “I don’t ever tell secrets.”
“I love your mom. In the way moms and dads love each other. I love you and Harlow in the way moms and dads love their kids. I don’t plan to ever stop kissing your mom. In a while, once I’ve brought her around to the idea, I intend to ask her to marry me, and I intend to ask you and Harlow to be my kids, all legal-like. If the three of you want me, that is.”
Rhys launched himself at his uncle and wrapped his skinny arms around Murphy’s neck, hot tears scalding Murphy’s skin.
“I thought you wouldn’t want us anymore if she didn’t want you to keep kissing her!”
“Son, I will always want you and love you, no matter what happens.”
“Are you moving in and gonna sleep in Mom’s room every night?”
“Not right now. Right now Mom and I are still figuring some things out. But I might sleep over sometimes, and you might see me kiss her. I don’t want it to be weird for you.”
Pulling back, Rhys looked Murphy in the eye. “Does Mom know? That you love her like that? That you want to marry her? And you want me and Harlow, too? All legal-like and everything?”
“Not yet, buddy. I’ve got to give her some time to come around to seeing it our way. Is it okay with you if it happens?”
Seriously, Rhys nodded. “I think it is. I wouldn’t have to change my name ’cause we all have the same one already. I won’t tell Mom. It’s like when I wanted to go sleepover at Chris’s house. I had to let her think it was her idea. Is it kinda like that?”
Laughing, Murphy climbed to his feet. “It’s exactly like that. We good?”
Following suit, Rhys stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Promise you won’t hurt her.”
“I promise.”
“Then we’re good. Can we have pancakes now?”
****
Beckett raced down the stairs wearing sweatpants and tennis shoes, dragging on a hoodie as she went. Glancing at Caleb, she grabbed her car keys from the bowl near the door.
“Will you get Harlow up and ready? I need to get to Rhys.”
Caleb crossed the room and laid his hands on her shoulders. “Honey, calm down. Murphy took him for some guy talk. He’ll smooth things over. You were planning to tell the kids eventually anyway, weren’t you?”
“After Harlow’s birthday party. We wanted to wait in case your parents freaked out.” Tears welling in her eyes, she reached for the door. “I need to go do something. Can you handle her?”
“I got it. Meet you at breakfast in a bit?”
“Maybe. I’ll try.”
“Be careful, Beck. If you see Jason call one of us or the police immediately.”
“I will. Thanks.”
Dashing to her car, Beckett started the engine and pulled out of the driveway, trying to think about where Murphy would have taken Rhys, her need to comfort her son overwhelming. Not finding the truck at his house or at Cassie and Alan’s, she parked the car and laid her head dejectedly on the steering wheel, fighting the urge to cry.
When someone tapped on her window, she jerked up, expecting to see Jason. Instead, Alan was standing outside the car, a cup of coffee in his hand and a newspaper tucked under his arm. Embarrassed, she rolled down the window.
“Planning to come in?”
“Not really.” Miserable, she tried to muster a smile for her father-in-law, but found she couldn’t. “I’m looking for Murphy and Rhys.”
“Far as I know, they should be on their way to have pancakes with the rest of you. Murph texted his mother not two minutes ago and asked if we wanted to join. Come on in, Beckett. Seems to me you could use a cup of coffee. Maybe a hairbrush, too, come to think of it.”
Rolling the window up, she turned off the engine and walked with Alan up to the house. He held the door for her, following her inside.
“Cassandra Anne? Beckett’s here. I believe she’s in need of some mothering.”
Cassie came to the top of the stairs wearing a robe over her pajamas with her hair up in curlers. “Beckett? What’s wrong, honey? Has something happened?”
Looking between the two people who had been more parents to her than her own, she took a trembling breath, opened her mouth to speak, and burst into tears.
“I’ve done something horrible!”
Cassie ran down the stairs and wrapped an arm around Beckett, leading her into the living room. “You couldn’t have done anything as bad as all that. What’s happened?”
In the middle of a full-on panic attack, Beckett had no control over what spilled out of her mouth. “Rhys is so hurt and upset, and I don’t know where they are. I feel like such an idiot. Ryan might be alive. He was involved in a drug cartel in Colombia and I had no idea, but last night I found all his other passports and identities. I don’t know what’s happening to my life. All I want is to run Vive and raise the kids and somehow figure out a way you won’t hate me when you find out I’ve slept with your son!”
Alan cleared his throat. “Honey, given that you gave us two grandkids, I think we all know you and Ryan were involved that way. He was your husband, after all. Now about this other bit…”
Before he could finish, Beckett continued. “No, not Ryan! Murphy!”
Cassie’s mouth quirked in a smile. “She’ll tell us the rest soon enough, Alan, but this part needs a woman’s touch. Go fix yourself some coffee and let the pastor know we won’t be attending services this morning. I expect this will take some time.” She reached up and began to unwind her curlers, one after the other. “I was wondering when you were going to tell us you and Murphy had been seeing one another. Goodness, I figured it out near two and a half months ago.”
Gaping, Beckett forced herself to take a deep breath. “You knew? How?”
“Well, Hattie Plunkett called me and told me Murphy marched right up to your door dressed up nicer than on Sunday morning—her words, not mine—carrying a bouquet of your favorite flowers. Then she said you came out wearing a lovely dress and it looked pretty near to a date in her expert opinion. Oh yeah, and after he brought you home, neither of you emerged until the next morning.” Cassie grinned knowingly and wiggled her eyebrows at Beckett. “I chalked it up to Hattie being Hattie and not knowing her head from a hole in the wall—bless her heart—but the very next day I saw the way the two of you were with each other, all nervous and shy and not at all yourselves, so I figured out maybe Hattie Plunkett isn’t quite as bat blind as I’d thought.”
“I’m sorry.” Beckett stared down at her hands. “I swear to you I never meant to let this happen. It never has before. It kind of hit us both unexpectedly. Alcohol may have been involved.”
“It often is.” Cassie finished taking out her curlers and crossed her legs. “What do you expect from me here? You had to have some reason for coming clean now.”
Tears rolling down her face, Beckett wrung her hands together. “I couldn’t keep everything in anymore. You and Alan have been so kind to me, and I couldn’t have made it as far as I have without you.”
Reaching out, she grasped Cassie’s hands and held them tightly. Taking several deep breaths to calm herself, she allowed herself a moment to gather her thoughts before continuing to speak.
“You helped me buy Vive, and there I was hiding this from you. It made me feel like some sort of fraud. And with everything else going on with the stuff about Ryan and now this morning with Rhys seeing me and Murphy together and freaking out, I didn’t know what else to do. We were going to tell you after Harlow’s party, because I wanted to wait in case you were going to hate me.”
“Do you think I should? Hate you?”
Miserable, she stared at the wall, releasing Cassie’s hands to fold them in her own lap. “I married Ryan before you’d even met me. I know you were hurt. Then you didn’t get to be there when Rhys was born, and I know that hurt you, too. After all that, you were still nice enough to let me live with you when there wasn’t housing for us in Georgia.”
“And the thank
s both of us got was my jackass son shacking up with a woman who wasn’t his wife.”
Smiling despite the tears, Beckett nodded. “Point is, you and Alan have been good to me no matter what. You’ve treated me as one of your own, and it felt like a betrayal to sneak around with another of your sons.”
Cassie laid her hands on her knees. “Truth be told, Beckett, I never could figure out why you and Ryan were together. You were so young and vibrant and lively, while he was structured and neat. I know now he was also a liar, a cheat, and a cad, but that’s neither here nor there. I’ll answer for raising such a man one day, but that day is not today, so it doesn’t bother talking about.”
Cassie leaned forward and stared at Beckett intently, love and anger shining in her eyes. She slowly reached out and gripped both of Beckett’s hands in her own, holding them tightly before speaking.
“When Ryan died and you came here, I told Alan we’d take you in as one of our own. Mother of our grandchildren, I said to him. We’d do anything we could to make sure you were okay. Well, you showed us both. Climbed right back up on your feet and then kept climbing. You work hard, don’t lie, cheat, or steal, and I know you want a family, a home, and stability. So tell me, Beckett McKenzie, why I shouldn’t want just that for my son?”
Recognizing the sharp tone as a warning, Beckett looked up and met Cassie’s eyes. “It’s not that, Cassie, not at all. Murphy and I have always been so close. I’ve been close with all of them. It felt like you might view it as something next to incest for me and him to go there. Or if not, then you’d be worried about what would happen if it didn’t take. Hell, I’m worried about that part of it.”
“And is it? Taking?”
“I almost wish I could tell you it wasn’t, but the truth is Murphy makes me happy. Part of it is that I’m not some girl with stars in her eyes but a full-grown woman now, but I look at him and I see everything. He’s always treated Harlow and Rhys like more than a niece and nephew. You’ve got good sons. They stepped in when my kids didn’t have a dad and have raised them just as much as I have. So have you and Alan. I can’t take all of the credit for Harlow and Rhys. It’s been a family undertaking.”
“As it should be. Do you love him? Murphy, I mean.”
“With all my heart. Which is what makes it so scary. I don’t want to lose him, but now I’ve seen what it can be between us I don’t think I can ever go back.”
“Then don’t. Go forward. Relationships sometimes work, sometimes they don’t, but as long as the two people involved are careful with the heart of the other, there’s no reason there has to be collateral damage. He’s a good man, my boy. Murphy wouldn’t have let anything happen with you if he wasn’t ready to look toward the future. The man’s thirty-two years old. It’s time he looked in that direction.” Smiling, Cassie leaned back and released Beckett’s hands. “Now, do you feel better?”
Beckett wiped her face on her hands. “I’m sorry to come here like this. I didn’t intend to.”
“Where else would you come besides to your parents’ house? Goodness, Beckett, you’re as much mine as they are in all the ways that matter. You’re a part of this family regardless of what happens.”
Her voice little more than a whisper, Beckett forced herself to speak. “Ryan was a monster. He was into bad things, Cassie. Really bad things. Worse than Elaina and Lyla. He wasn’t just a cheater and a liar, he was a criminal. He had passports with different names and his picture on them and money, more money than I could have dreamed up back then. There were more women than just the one. A lot more. I don’t even know how many.”
Alan cleared his throat from the doorway. “What kind of horrible things?”
“He was running drugs for some group named the Malatoa cartel. He was using his position in the Army as a way to get stuff back into the United States undetected. And when he was home, he was receiving packages and selling it. He was a drug-dealer. Worse, he was a thief. He stole from the cartel. The man who was doing it with him showed up here last night and claimed Ryan stole millions. The cartel wants it back, and they think I have it or know where it is. I don’t.” She took a deep, trembling breath and tried to keep more tears from falling. Failing, she angrily brushed them away.
Alan ran his hands over his hair. “You’re sure you didn’t know anything? If you ever did, or suspected, now’s the time to tell us.”
Beckett shook her head. “I’d never have gone along with anything like that. Ever. They want it back, all of it. I don’t even know how much it is, but they want it. I don’t know what to do. Caleb said we’d call the police and report it, give them all the stuff we found in the storage unit. God, this can’t be my life. It feels like a movie of the week or something.” Rubbing her hands on her knees, she told them the worst of it. “This man thinks Ryan is still alive. He apparently knew he was under investigation and was going to be arrested. They think he faked his own death.”
Alan stared at his wife, grief and anger in his gaze. “There’s one easy way to find out.”
Cassie’s eyes widened. “Alan, no.”
“There’s no other choice, Cassandra Anne. We’ll have his body exhumed.”
Chapter 13
Beckett walked into Vive Monday morning in the worst mood she could remember ever having been in. Her head hurt from multiple bouts of sobbing, she was exhausted from five hours of sleep throughout the entire weekend, and she was annoyed Murphy had insisted on driving her to work after bringing over a duffel bag full of his clothes. It seemed he had decided he was staying with her until they figured out the situation with Ryan and Jason Robbins. It didn’t matter that it made sense. The man damn well should have asked.
Halle jumped up as soon as she came through the door, a pile of messages in one hand and an apologetic look on her face.
“Good morning.”
“What is it?”
Halle spoke quickly, matching her stride to Beckett’s, her tone professional and cool. “Here are your messages. Nothing seems terribly important, so it can all wait. There’s fresh coffee in your office, and Eliza brought donuts in for the staff. I commandeered you a Bavarian cream. It’s on your desk.”
“Thank you, Halle. I need it on a morning like today.”
“Do you want me to go ahead and give you the bad news or do you want to wait?”
Beckett marched into her office and hung up her coat. “Lay it on me.”
“Paulina has been coming into the salon after hours and on weekends when she isn’t scheduled. She’s not reporting the overtime or any of her earnings. We got the productivity statements for October and it looks like she’s running about half of what she used to.”
“How do we know she’s coming in after hours and off-schedule?”
“Security statement. She’s still using her badge.”
“Check her file and make sure she signed the acknowledgment form that movement to an employee system meant everyone worked a set, forty-hour schedule and had no after-hours appointments.”
“I already did. She has.”
Beckett dropped into her desk chair and laid her head in her hands. “Is anyone else coming in after?”
“A key swipe here and there, but they read as if someone forgot something. Five to fifteen minutes. Not enough to be doing appointments. Paulina’s is several swipes over a couple hours. She’s also placed twice as many orders for supplies as anyone else.”
“So she’s working off books and using the supplies I’m paying for to do it.”
“Basically, yeah.” Halle crossed her arms. “What do you want me to do?”
“Go get her and bring her in here. Then please clean out her station and prepare a termination package.”
Halle nodded and went to the door, pausing and looking back. “Beck?”
Beckett looked up from her messages. “Hmm?”
“I can tell you’re in a bad mood. If you need anything, well, I’ll do whatever I can to help.”
“Nothing to be done, but I appreciate
the thought.”
“Umm, have you thought about hiring an assistant manager? It would free you up to be more involved in the day-to-day stuff.”
Softening, Beckett offered a small smile and regarded Halle carefully. “I’ve thought about it. I don’t know if we have the money right now. With the expansion, things are way too close to red for comfort. I’m mortgaged to the hilt.”
Halle cleared her throat. “Would you consider me for it? I’d work for my current salary if you can’t swing a raise, but I’d like to move up. I have my associate’s degree in business management. I could handle it, I know I could. Then you’d just have to hire another receptionist.”
Beckett studied the younger woman, taking in the blonde hair streaked with purple highlights, the bright, crazy jewelry and clothes that didn’t quite match but always seemed to go.
“I suppose this is as good a time as any to tell you. When the café opens, we’re altering our hours and adding more stations. I could use the help. I need someone I can trust to look out for this place when I’m not here, and I feel like my kids are growing up without me. I’d love to be able to have a day off during the week and be able to leave when they get off school a couple nights.”
Nodding, Halle closed the door and sat down across from Beckett. “You’ve turned Vive around. It’s night and day from when I started. It keeps getting busier and busier. We’re getting traffic off the cruise ships, and people are coming up from Portland more and more. We’re even turning people away.”
“So what do you think we should do?”
“I think the expansion is good. I think adding more staff is good because we have the business to support it, but I also think we need to expand the products we offer. We could also start doing makeovers.”
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