The Damaged Heroes Collection [Box Set #1: The Damaged Heroes Collection] (BookStrand Publishing Mainstream)
Page 35
He dropped the remote on the floor, but then thought better of it and decided to put it on the table so he wouldn’t step on it later as was becoming his habit. Leaning down to get the pesky object, he saw it resting on the magazine that Ross had left behind. Seth reached down to pick the magazine up.
One of the teasers on the cover promised an in-depth interview with the “enigmatic Sterling Remington,” and Seth’s curiosity sent him searching through the table of contents so he could locate the story.
How much more damage could the Old Man do? Maybe there would be a revelation of some deep, dark family secret. Perhaps there would be some mention of how his father had managed to think up the cruel plan he’d devised for his will.
Settling back into the couch, Seth read the interview that was obviously given shortly before his father’s death. Sterling bared his soul to some reporter—told her intimate things he’d never shared with anyone, including his son.
Seth’s heart tightened in pain and grief at the idea of reading what his father had to say. He’d ignored the story when Ross left the magazine because his anger at his father still smothered him. But now, Seth felt that he had to read it, that something important sat quietly waiting for him to discover it.
And then he finally found what he was seeking in his father’s own words. Straight from the horse’s mouth.
The worst thing in life is living without love. When my Brenda died, a part of me died, too. I left my heart in that tomb with her. If the devil had promised to bring her back if I gave up every penny I had ever earned, I’d have asked him to draw up the contract on the spot and I would have signed it in my own blood.
Absolutely nothing is more important in life than finding someone you can love who loves you in return. If you’re lucky enough to find her, hold onto her with both hands, with everything you’ve got. And don’t you ever her let go. She’s worth her weight in gold.
How many times had Seth heard the same words from people who knew Katie? Hadn’t Sam said the exact same thing to him once upon a time?
Samantha Mitchell was a wise woman. A brilliant woman. She had seen things the correct way right from the very beginning.
Then the truth hit Seth with the intensity of a two-by-four slammed into his head. His heart began to pound a furious rhythm. His breath came in ragged gasps. Waves of nausea roiled through him. He suddenly knew.
Katie hadn’t left him for the money, for the hundred-thousand bonus. She’d pushed him away so that he could keep his inheritance.
Even worse. She’d turned the choice right back on him. Katie had let him decide his own future.
And Seth had chosen wrong.
Dead wrong.
Only now did he finally understand. Katie loves me! She really loves me! Katie had loved him enough to let him go.
“I’m a goddamn fool!” Seth threw the magazine across the room before he turned and kicked over the coffee table. “Katie loves me! And I left her behind!”
So what are you going to do about it?
Seth hoped the marvelous revelation didn’t come too late to fix the mess he’d made of his life, of Katie’s life, of any chance they had to make a new life together.
I have to fix this! I have to!
Seth grabbed for his phone. After taking a deep, steadying breath, he dialed the familiar number and waited for an answer.
“Mitchell Stables,” Samantha’s cheerful voice answered.
“Sam, it’s Seth Remington. I need your—” The line went dead. Seth was well aware that he deserved that response, but he wasn’t about to quit trying. Not now.
Pushing the redial button, Seth waited as the phone rang several times. Sam’s voicemail answered with her recorded message, and Seth waited for the perfunctory tone. “Sam, I know you’re there. I’ll just keep calling until you pick up. Come on, Sam, pick up! Fine. Well, you can expect me to call and leave a message every couple of minutes until you either talk to me or call me back.” He hung up and nervously drummed his fingers on the countertop, waiting as time passed at an interminably slow pace. “Come on, damn it. I need your help.”
After a few minutes, Seth dialed again. Sam’s message greeted him and the annoying tone sounded. “Hi, Samantha. Told you I’d keep calling. How are you? How’s Brian? I miss you guys more than you know. Pick up, Sam. Please pick up. Not there? Well, I’ll try again, real soon.”
Seth hated this game. For the first time in a very long time, he felt as if his destiny was back in his control, but he couldn’t get through to the one person he knew could help him. Now he was a man with a mission, and he wasn’t going to be stopped. He called the Mitchell number again. This time he shouted at the machine. “Sam! I’ll give you a million dollars if you answer the phone! A million bucks, Sam! Come on! Give me a break! Please?”
He waited a minute or two and tried the number again. He was shocked when he got the real McCoy.
“It better be a cashier’s check,” Sam demanded, answering her phone without any type of greeting.
“Thank God. I... I need your help.” God, that was hard to say—to admit that he wasn’t an island unto himself.
“Either tell me what the hell you want or I’m hanging up. And the check damn well better be in the mail.”
“I made a mistake. I never should’ve come back here.” His heart was still pounding and his mouth had gone dry. A mistake? A wrecked car was a mistake. Leaving Katie was a catastrophe.
“Is that all? You’re wasting my time.”
“And I want her back.” The words were choked out as tears formed in his eyes.
She snorted a rueful laugh. “Kind of late to be coming to that conclusion, isn’t it? You hurt her, Seth. Just leave her alone.”
“I can’t, Sam. I love her,” Seth finally said aloud for the first time. The simple declaration made him feel free, made him feel powerful. Hell, he wanted to shout it to the entire world! “Really, Sam. I love her. I do. I love her more than living.” I love her more than ever damn penny of the Remington fortune. I love her so much it hurts. He scrubbed away his tears with his free hand.
He could hear Sam breathing, but she didn’t respond. “Sam? I know you’re still there.”
“Yeah, I’m still here. You’re an asshole, you know that? A big fat asshole.”
“I kinda figured that one out on my own.”
Seth heard her sigh.
“And you’re... you’re too late.”
Seth’s thought his heart might have stopped beating. He jumped off the couch and began to pace the room. “What the hell do you mean too late?”
“I shouldn’t be telling you any of this.”
“Come on, Sam. You’re scaring me here,” Seth pleaded.
“Katie is... Well, she’s... She’s marrying Ross Kennedy. They’re flying to Vegas Sunday morning.”
That miserable son of a bitch. I’ll kill him with my bare hands.
“Seth? You still there?”
“Yeah, I’m here,” he replied through clenched teeth.
“Well? Are you just gonna sit there or do you plan to do something about it?”
“I’m going to murder Ross Kennedy. He’s not good enough for her.”
“And you are?”
“No. But I love her, damn it. And she loves me.” Then a slew of memories came flooding back, swamping Seth with ideas and a ray of hope. “I know exactly what to do, but I’ll need your help. Can I count on you?”
“Only if you swear you won’t hurt her again. I don’t know if I can trust you,” she replied.
Was it possible that Samantha was on his side? Thank you, God!
“Cross my heart. I love her. Just wait, she’s in for the surprise of her life!”
“So are you, Loverboy.”
Chapter 33
Katie rolled out of bed to answer the incessant knocking on the barn door. She slipped on some jeans under the big t-shirt she’d donned for bed and walked barefoot through the barn as horses nickered their morning greetings.
“Oh, Ross,” she whispered. The man was certainly sweet. She felt a surge of guilt knowing that she didn’t return his feelings. A nice guy like Ross obviously deserved better than a woman who loved someone else.
I’ll learn to love Ross. I will.
Taking the clipboard and signing for the delivery, Katie accepted the flowers and took them back to her room where she set them on the desk next to her computer. She ran her fingers across the keyboard, remembering the night Seth had given it to her. The crippling pain of his leaving was always there, just below the surface. Katie refused to let it rise too high. If she did, she’d lose her nerve. She jerked her fingers back and wiped away the tear that had spilled over her lashes onto her cheek.
Katie went about her usual morning ritual of caring for the horses. There was only one to jog, and three were turned out to corrals for the day. Spun Gold would race that evening. She’d be leaving the next day to marry Ross Kennedy. By this time tomorrow, she would have changed her life in a “no going back” way.
Jogging Jack around the track, she had a hard time concentrating. Somewhere in the back of her mind remained a single thread of unrealistic and desperate hope that her love for Seth would bring him back to her side before it was too late.
You’re doing this for the baby. You’re marrying Ross because it’s the best thing to do. He would see that her son had all he deserved in life, all the things that she could never afford on her own.
“Katie Kennedy,” she said, hoping to convince herself that the name fit. But it didn’t.
Damn it, I don’t want to cry again.
Just as she guided Jack off of the small track, another truck pulled up to the barn. Not a delivery van this time, but a refrigerated grocery truck. Katie’s brow wrinkled in confusion as she pondered what could possibly be in the huge box the uniformed man carried from the big truck.
“Just a minute!” Katie yelled as she slid off the jog cart. The twenty-something guy looked around in obvious confusion as to where to deliver his burden. She steered the horse back to the barn and set him in cross-ties before turning to the courier who had dutifully followed her.
“Be sure and keep it out of the heat. Have a nice day,” he said as he handed her the box and left.
Katie set the delivery on top of one of her trunks. Jerking on the lid, she was finally able to wrestle it open. Inside rested a huge assortment of chocolates. There were big chunks of fudge and several varieties of her favorite candy bars. But what surprised Katie the most was the multitude of chocolate rabbits.
Katie was both amused and bemused. She couldn’t remember telling Ross about her fascination with Easter candy, but she figured it might’ve been an impressively good guess on his part. “Maybe he went to the trouble to ask Sam,” she told Jack. The horse didn’t reply.
Katie picked up one of the rabbits and sat down on a trunk. She unwrapped the treat and promptly bit off its ears. As the chocolate melted in her mouth, she sighed in contentment. Easter candy in August. It was sublime.
As she ate the rest of the rabbit, Katie absentmindedly touched the silver shamrock that always hung around her neck—a talisman that bound her to Seth. Their lives had been intertwined in the same way their engraved initials could not be separated. They had become one in their child.
When she suddenly realized what she was doing, she reminded herself to take the necklace off before she left with Ross.
Yeah, Katie. Like you’ll be able to leave it behind. Doing so would be akin to having a limb removed.
After finishing her work, Katie returned to her room to take a shower. As usual, the warm water ran out too quickly to suit her, but she felt clean and a little more relaxed by the time she was done.
Wrapped only in a towel, Katie went back to her room to rifle through her drawers to find some clean clothes. She glanced over at the duffle bag sitting on the chair. In it she had packed all the things she would need for her trip, her elopement. A shiver of hurt ran through her as she wished for the millionth time that things could have been different. Katie took one of Seth’s green stable shirts from the drawer and threw it on the bed next to a clean pair of jeans. She dressed and dried her hair as she fought off a slew of yawns and a wave of fatigue.
Checking the clock, she was pleased she still had time to catch a short nap before she and Gold would have to leave for the track. As she stretched out on the bed, her head had no sooner touched the pillow when she heard another vehicle approaching. With a weary sigh, Katie got up and walked to the end of the barn to see what else the day held in store for her.
Yet another delivery truck had pulled up next to her barn. Katie watched the man get out holding a medium-sized box covered in floral wrapping paper. “You Katie Murphy?”
“Yeah. I take it that’s for me.”
“Sign here.”
Back in her room, Katie set the box on her bed and just stared at it. Ross was certainly going overboard, but the gestures made her horribly uncomfortable. She desperately wished she could return the obvious affection the man had for her.
Her hand moved over her stomach. “Oh, Sweetheart. Am I doing the right thing? God, I miss your daddy.” Tears formed in her eyes. She wiped them away and shook her head. She had to be practical about this if she was going to be able to force herself to follow through. “Ross will take care of us,” she said with conviction she didn’t really feel. She reached for the box.
Ripping off the wrapping paper and then lifting the lid, Katie freed the contents from the container. Inside was a variety of CDs. Katie lifted several and shuffled through them like playing cards. The names were familiar to her heart. Michael Bublé, Billy Joel, Barry Manilow, and Clay Aiken were all there. All her favorites.
A caution sounded in the back of Katie’s mind. Ross couldn’t have possibly known which albums were the ones she’d listened to so many times that she had to replace them. She dug through the box looking for a card, anything to tell her who sent the present. There was nothing to be found. Her heart started to drum a fast rhythm in her chest. Seth?
Katie turned to the flowers and quickly ran her fingers through them trying to find a card. Again, she found no evidence of the person who ordered the gorgeous bouquet.
When she looked at the chocolates, Katie’s stomach rebelled. The typical afternoon nausea was short-lived, but it deterred Katie from burrowing into the stash of candy.
What the hell is going on?
Taking a CD from the box, Katie opened it and pushed it into her small stereo. The sound of Barry Manilow’s “Even Now” filled the room as Katie moved the box to the desk so she could stretch out for her nap.
Sleep never found her as a small spark of hope wound its way from her heart to her head. She tried to force it back down, but the more she fought it, the louder it became.
Maybe Seth is coming back.
Don’t be absurd, Kathleen.
She rolled over to face the wall. She knew it was her imagination, but she could feel Seth mold his strong, warm body to hers, just as he had so many times before.
At the insistent beeping of her watch alarm, Katie finally pushed her weary body out of bed and pulled on her work boots. It was time to get Spun Gold to the track.
As she eased her truck and trailer off of the main road heading to the back entrance of the track, she suddenly encountered her next surprise. Flashing lights moved in a chase around the borders of a big yellow sign. Enormous red letters spelled out “I love Katie Murphy.” She almost drove off the road.
Ross is going to be in a shitload of trouble when I get my hands on him.
She could almost hear the gossip that had to be rolling through the track like wildfire burning through some autumn-dried leaves.
She pulled up to the security checkpoint. “Hi’ya, Katie,” one o
f the guards said. Then he laughed. “You didn’t happen to see the sign, did ya?”
Katie frowned as her cheeks grow hot. “You guys been here all day?” she asked as the second guard checked her license plates and filled out her information on his clipboard.
“Yeah. Since noon, but it was here when I got here.” He nodded toward the embarrassing sign.
“You mean that stupid sign has been here all day? Everyone has seen it?”
The guard laughed again. “Oh, yeah. Joe told me it was here before daylight broke.”
Katie wasn’t sure if she should be flattered or pissed. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t given the gossips more than enough to chew on in the past few months. Now they could tease her unmercifully about that embarrassing sign.
After getting her colt out of the trailer, Katie led Gold to the paddock, hoping that the surprises had finally come to an end. As she walked the length of the aisle, several people smiled, nodded, or laughed as they passed her. Her face felt as if it had been sunburned.
Approaching the stall assigned to Gold, Katie noticed several people gathered around looking at a large white paper that had been taped to the gate. When they saw Katie, the crowd quickly parted to give her and her horse room enough to get through. Katie turned Gold loose in the stall and slammed the gate before looking at the message.
A large mockup of a claim form stared back at her. Where the name of the horse to be claimed was to be written, someone had used a red marker to write “Katie Murphy” in huge letters. The amount of money being spent on the claim was listed as “priceless.” Katie groaned in frustration as people around her patted her on the back and laughed at the humor of the message. She reached up to rip the paper from the door and crumpled it in her fist. “I’m going to kill Ross when I see him,” Katie hissed through clenched teeth before going about her job preparing her colt for his warm-up.