Ian came to stand beside him. “You can’t take out the trash without getting your hands dirty. We’re not machines. You and I have seen too much of the ugly side of humanity. No one can fight on the front lines forever without snapping. It’s time for you to give up that life, Bradford, and let someone else fight in the trenches. We’ve done our time there. Come work with me and we’ll help people do what we did—but better. There has to be a way to get ahead of the problem. Who were Tina and her brother before they chose violence and crime? Did they struggle in poverty? What happened to their parents? What made them into who we killed? If they’d had someone like us on their side earlier could we have prevented them from making the choices they did? I don’t know the answers, but that’s where I want to put my energy now. You should join me.”
Bradford shook his head and looked away. He understood what Ian was saying, but he couldn’t shake the knowledge of how close Joanna had come to dying because of him.
Ian put a hand on his shoulder. “Imagine how different your life would have been if someone had listened and helped your sister before it was too late. That’s the moment we’ll try to prevent and we can do it without shooting anyone. There are foster programs that can be improved, safe houses for people trying to escape gangs, job training and placement for those who feel they have no other choices. We can’t go back in time and change what we’ve done, but we can help others not have a need to follow in our footsteps.”
“What about when that’s not good enough?”
“There are people who’ll step in and handle it. We’ve done our tour of duty. I’m carving out a real life for myself now. I’ll help you do the same.”
Bradford rubbed his hands over her face. “I don’t know. I love her, Ian, but is that enough?”
Ian’s phone rang. He checked it and smiled. “It’s my mother.”
Bradford shook his head.
“I have to.” Ian answered then held out the phone to Bradford. “She wants to talk to you. Apparently you’re not answering your phone again.”
A laugh bubbled within Bradford. “Seriously?”
Ian waved the phone for Bradford to take. “She’ll only call back.”
Bradford took the phone and Ian stepped back inside the house. “Hi, Sophie.”
“Bradford. Is everything okay? I always worry when I can’t reach you.”
“Sorry, I misplaced my phone.” That part was true at least.
“Something’s wrong. A mother always knows these things. What happened?”
“Everything’s fine.”
“Did you have a fight with Joanna?”
“A fight? No.” His voice was tight with emotion.
“But something happened. Bradford, that girl adores you. Talk to me.”
He normally wouldn’t have said a word. Maybe it was the influence of the remaining drugs in his system. Or maybe it was how much he hated that he didn’t see the day ending without him breaking things off with Joanna. “I’m not the man for her.” Not being able to keep Joanna safe was a deal breaker for him—he’d told her so himself.
“Don’t say that.”
“Not saying it doesn’t make it less true. You don’t know the things I’ve done, Sophie. Unforgivable things that come with dangerous consequences. I can’t change that no matter how much I wish I could.”
“You listen to me, Bradford, there is no one on this planet who is perfect. You might think I can’t possibly understand, but I do. I know what it’s like to feel like I’ve let people down. I spent years doubting myself, hating myself. Danger? Yes, I brought that to my family as well. Ask Ian about my sister. He’ll tell you.”
Bradford didn’t need to. He’d watched the Patrice drama unfold through Ian’s eyes. She was the one who paid someone to kidnap one of the youngest Barringtons right out of the hospital nursery. Ian had told Bradford about the pain that had brought Sophie as well as the rest of the family. Patrice had tried but failed to kill Sophie’s child, ruined Dale’s political career, and anyone who’d stood in her way had met an untimely death. So, yes, Sophie understood how Bradford felt to a certain degree. “I appreciate what you’re saying, Sophie, but Joanna needs someone with a lot less baggage than I come with.”
“Joanna needs a man who loves her. That’s it. Do you?”
Bradford swallowed hard. “I do.”
“Then stick it out. Love wins against hate every single time if we stay faithful to it. Dale never left me. No matter what my sister did to our family, no matter how much I fell apart—he stayed. We both made mistakes, but we didn’t give up on each other. If you really love Joanna, love her enough to stay. That’s the kind of man she deserves . . . one who sticks out the bad times long enough for the good times to come back around.”
With his heart beating wildly in his chest, Bradford turned and looked back at the house. He’d always been good at leaving. He’d been about to do it again, but he was being given a choice again.
He could walk away and watch from a distance as Joanna moved on and started a life with another man or he could . . . stay. “Thank you, Sophie.” He thought of the way she’d always included him, continued to invite him to her home although he always declined, called even when he didn’t answer her. “For not giving up on me . . . and for everything.”
“You’ve been a good friend to Ian. I don’t know, and I’m sure I don’t want to know, the trouble the two of you have gotten yourselves into over the years, but he told me you saved his life more than once. He considers you his brother and that makes you family. We love you, Bradford.”
“I—I—”
“I know. Now, tell me about Joanna.”
“We’ve had a rough day. Regardless of what I decide, I wouldn’t blame her if she calls it quits after today. I put her through hell.”
“Are you in Iceland with Clay?”
Bradford groaned. “Yes.”
“Sometimes the best way to move on from a bad situation is to do something good for someone else.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“Clay feels like he failed with you and Joanna. He thinks you hate him.”
“Hate? No.”
“He might seem like someone who has everything, but he was raised by people who only wanted the money they thought they could steal from him. Lexi told me he never really had a home growing up; he was always at boarding schools. He never learned how to connect with people. This fairy godfather thing is his way of trying to get close to people.”
“I don’t need Clay’s help.”
“But he needs yours. If you’re looking for a way to put a smile back on Joanna’s face—ask Clay for magical assistance. All he’s looking for is acceptance.”
Bradford was trying to be a better person, but could he be that nice? He remembered the tent and all the work that had gone into planning it. Clay was confrontational, often condescending and a pain in the ass even on his best day—but he certainly knew how to wow Joanna. After what Bradford had put her through, he was willing to agree to almost anything to make her smile again. “I’ll talk to him.”
“You won’t regret it.”
“Sophie, can you see someone like me married with kids?”
When she answered her voice was thick. “Yes, but the real question is can you picture your children calling someone like me Grandma?”
Bradford chuckled as his heart opened and finally let those possibilities in. “As long as you’re okay that they might swear like sailors.”
She laughed. “Have you met my sons? Besides, I hear you have a swear jar now.”
“How—?”
“Lydia tells me everything. I can’t wait to meet Snowy. Promise to invite us out soon.”
“I will. Thanks again, Sophie.”
Bradford was on his way back to the group when Clay stepped into the hallway. They both froze. “Clay, I need to talk to you about something.”
Lips pressed together, looking like a boy being called into the principal’s office, Clay made
his way over to Bradford. “You don’t have to say it,” Clay said. “Ian laid into me about how I had exposed you when I shouldn’t have. I’ve hung my magic wand up for good.”
“What happened wasn’t your fault. There was no way you could have known she would divert my plane to the island.” After letting out a long breath, Bradford said, “Besides, I need your help.”
Clay’s face lit up. “You do?” Then his expression turned skeptical. “Is this a joke?”
Good comes from good? Here goes. “I’ve decided to propose to Joanna but I don’t want to do it here. And I want to do it in a way that is so wonderful she forgets all about what she saw back on that island. Will you help me come up with something that good?”
Clay was all smiles. “That’s why my card says extraordinaire.”
Bradford flexed his shoulders. You’d better be right, Sophie.
Chapter Sixteen
A few weeks later Joanna paused her work with a rescue mini to watch Bradford with Snowy. He had taught the horse to navigate his pasture on the stone paths and had moved on to verbal commands. When Snowy was grazing on grass and Bradford called him he did a kind of shuffle around until he found the pea stone. Then he’d run toward Bradford. The problem they were encountering was Snowy needed to stop before crashing into him. Patience, consistency, and compassion were paying off though. That morning Bradford called Snowy, spoke as he ran to him, then gave him a firm command to whoa. The horse stopped a few feet from Bradford and waited for Bradford to come to him.
The trip to Iceland, especially the start of it, still felt surreal. She and Bradford had stayed on with the group afterward and vacationed as if nothing had happened. They’d watched Dylan finish his filming, enjoyed touring glaciers and hot springs, and had a good amount of phenomenal sex. It was almost as if they hadn’t nearly both been killed.
Joanna would have pushed Bradford to talk about it, but he was showing her how seriously he’d taken the experience. When they returned back to the States, Bradford accepted a job offer to work with Ian. They had offices in Boston, New York, and Washington, but Bradford said most of his work could be done with a laptop and phone. When he explained the projects he was working on with Ian, Joanna understood he was making changes to his lifestyle so they could have a future. He didn’t need to say it when he was doing it.
Bradford had set up a security system at Joanna’s farm. Before Iceland she would have said it wasn’t necessary, but she understood his need for caution. She slept better knowing the extra precautions were there.
For a man who’d seemed reluctant at first to spend any time at all with her family, Bradford had warmed up to the idea of having her parents drop in often. He and her father had even gone fishing twice together. Once on a huge yacht with Connor and once at the pond on her parents’ farm. They all seemed to have equally enjoyed both.
A car pulled into the driveway and parked near the barn. Joanna waved to her parents and breathed a sigh of relief that they didn’t have a trailer in tow.
Another car parked beside them with Angelina, Connor, Whitney, and Dylan inside.
Aly pulled in beside them.
Joanna’s mouth dropped open when more and more cars pulled in and filled the field beside the barn. Sophie. Dale. All the Barrington children, their spouses and their children.
Mrs. Tellier? What’s going on?
One of the trainers came by and took the lead line and pony from Joanna. That was when Joanna realized all of her staff was circling around as well. Even Leslie was there with her son.
Just when she was about to walk over and ask Bradford what this was about, she heard bells ringing. Six white ponies were pulling a white wire-and-glass Cinderella pumpkin carriage. It stopped beside Joanna. A man in a white tux stepped down and unrolled a piece of paper. “Joanna Ervin?”
“Yes.”
“You are hereby invited to spend the rest of your life with a Mr. Bradford Wilson. If you’re interested in receiving a proposal from him, please step into the carriage.”
Joanna looked around at the smiling faces of all the people she loved then to Bradford who had left Snowy’s area and was standing on the side of the driveway in front of it. “I am definitely interested.” She took the man’s hand and climbed in.
Most of Joanna’s life was grounded in reality, but a part of her had always dreamed of something like this happening. It was over-the-top romantic and so perfect she almost burst into tears.
The ride to Bradford was short, and she hardly took a breath the whole way. He met the carriage and raised a hand to help her out when she arrived. There was both laughter and love in his eyes. “Too much?”
“It’s fucking perfect,” she said, knowing the swear would make him laugh and it did.
“Clay helped with the details.”
She wiped a happy tear from the corner of her eye. “Really? I would never have guessed.”
The next look he gave her was so intense she stopped laughing and swayed. This was the part of the fantasy that mattered—the only part that really mattered. He dropped to one knee and took out a ridiculously ornate ring box. “I didn’t want to fall in love. I never imagined myself married with children. I thought I was the type who could never settle down. You drove me insane for so long I was sure we wouldn’t work out.”
She smiled. “Maybe skip to the part where you changed your mind.”
He laughed. “Sorry. I’m nervous.”
Her heart melted then. “Don’t be. You already know what I’ll say. I love you.”
He blinked a few times quickly as if fighting back his own tears. “Marry me, Joanna, not because I can promise you that everything will go smoothly, but because I swear to you that no matter what life throws our way I will be there, every day, every time, right at your side. Loving you taught me that I didn’t understand love at all before you. You’re beautiful, intelligent, and so damn sweet I couldn’t help but fall for you. But I’m in this for the long haul. I know now that I will love you just as much when you’re full of wrinkles, can’t remember shit, and get all crotchety with age.”
“Well, who could say no to that? Yes, Bradford, I will marry you.” Joanna was laughing when he opened the ring box and revealed a diamond about ten times bigger than she would have imagined choosing, but it was perfect because she guessed he’d taken Clay’s advice. She was still laughing when he slipped the ring on her finger.
He stood and they kissed to the sound of applause from all over her farm. “You know the problem with rescues?” he asked.
She looked up at him, so in love she could barely focus on what he was saying. “What?”
“There’s always the risk you’ll fall in love with one of them and they’ll take up the spot that could have gone to others. Snowy and I are kind of a package deal. I’d like to build a barn for him and another horse we rescue to be his pasture buddy.”
“We can do that.”
“We now own the farms around us. If you decide to expand to working with full-size horses there will be room for that as well.”
“Farms? How much land are you talking about?”
“A few hundred acres.”
“You’re crazy,” Joanna said, trying to wrap her head around that. “Were they even for sale?”
“I don’t know. You’d have to ask my fairy godfather. He assures me sellers were all well taken care of and happy with the deal he gave them.”
“Why would Clay do that for us?”
“He called it a security buffer. When I told him we didn’t need that, he called it an early wedding present. I tried to say no, but it made him happy, is probably a tax write-off for him, and it’s for a good cause.”
“Yes, it is. Wow. Looks like we’ll be hiring more help.”
“Connor asked if we could employ some of the veteran families he works with. Especially the families who hit hard times after the loss of a spouse.”
Joanna threw her arms around Bradford and broke into happy tears against his chest. “B
radford, I am in this for the long haul too. Get as old, ugly, forgetful, and grumpy as you want. You’ll be my old grump.”
“Crotchety and Grumpy. You think the sex will still be good?”
Joanna burst out laughing. “If you asked my mother she’d tell you it only gets better with time.” At his widened eyes, she added, “Don’t actually ask her. She’d tell you way more than you want to know. But she and my father are doing great so that’s all that matters.”
Bradford looked down the driveway where her parents were standing, arms around each other. “If that’s our future it doesn’t look bad to me at all.” He waved to them.
They waved back.
He said, “Not bad at all.”
A short time later Joanna stepped away to show her friends her new ring and Bradford stood alone, okay with having a moment to catch his breath. As if by magic, servers with trays of champagne and hor d’oeuvres began to circulate. Tables were being set up with the insane amount of flowers Clay thought necessary for an engagement party. It was unfolding seamlessly and actually looked really nice.
Sophie and Dale walked over to join Bradford. “You did good,” Dale said, holding out his hand for Bradford to shake. “Really good.”
Bradford shook his hand and smiled. “Thanks, sir. I had help.”
Sophie stepped forward and placed her hands on either side of his face. “You deserve all of this and more, Bradford. I’m so proud of you for believing in yourself enough to let it happen.”
He gathered her to him and hugged her. They stood there for a long, healing moment. When Bradford stepped back he was a little embarrassed by the display of emotion, but not sorry he’d done it. Ian caught his eye from nearby and smiled with approval.
Lydia and Gerry joined them. “There’s my future son-in-law,” Gerry said, clapping Bradford on the back.
Lydia gave him a hug so tight Bradford laughed when she stepped back. “I always wanted a son and now I’ll have one. We can go to auctions together. Oh, Bradford, the trouble you and I will get into.”
Joanna slid in under Bradford’s arm. “Neither of you are going without me or Dad. You two softies would bring the whole lot home each time.”
Reluctantly Rescued (The Barrington Billionaires, Book 9) Page 20
