North (Wilkerson Dynasty Book 2)

by Kathi Barton

  Uncle Wesley chimed in then. “I know you’re doing this year thing for money spent on shopping and such, but with this kind of information, there won’t have to be a payout for alimony. I know the prenup Fran signed says that Shelton can decide to pay her something over a few years if he wishes. But right here, as I would point out if I were trying this, would be more than enough for her to have been paid.” North was making notes on all the things they were telling him. “How do you feel about what we’ve figured out for your dad, Amy? You think he’ll go for it?”

  “I do. I mean, I don’t know him all that well. We’re getting there, but for now, from what I’ve learned about him, I’d say he’d think this was about the funniest shit he’d ever heard.” His family laughed too. “But seriously, I’m worried about Phoenix. She’s going to point out that her name isn’t on any of these receipts. Also, she didn’t sign a prenup. I have a feeling she’s really going to go beyond fucking him over.”

  “Is she over twenty-one?” Amy told his Uncle Wesley that she was nearing forty. “She still lives at home? And your dad still pays her bills? If I were your dad’s attorney from the beginning, I would have advised him to kick her to the curb a long time ago. Also, I’m to understand there was a failed wedding. Something about orgies?”

  “Yes. Abby knows more about that than I do, but there were pictures of both my sister and mom having fun with the groomsmen the day before the pictures were to be taken. Buck assed naked kind of fun.” They laughed again. “Phoenix isn’t a nice person. When I was living at home, I’d be a target for my mom and my sister every day. I was glad to leave home when I did.”

  “That sounds very familiar.”

  None of the uncles would look in his direction. They were all feeling the guilt of losing so many years with their sons and nephews.

  Uncle Wesley cleared his throat and spoke again. “If you’d not mind, North, I’d like to stay here with your lovely bride to be while you’re in court. I’m to understand it’s the day after tomorrow.”

  “It is. Phoenix is in jail still, as her mom won’t bail her out, so I know she’ll be there. It’s Fran I’m sort of worried about showing.” Dad assured him she’d be there. “Why are you so sure? I’m not doubting that you’re right, but why are you so sure?”

  “If she doesn’t show up, she’ll lose out on making herself look like the victim in all this. I’d be prepared to hear a great deal about how Shelton mistreated her. Left her out in the cold at times. A whole slue of things that aren’t true. Once you start telling the judge about her and her infidelities, it should wrap up easily.”

  “Do you think that will be the end of it?” All six of them laughed and said no way in hell. “Then what will happen after this? I mean, if I win a judgment in Shelton’s favor?”

  “All hell will break loose. Wear a vest to court.” He said he didn’t have one, then asked Dad if he thought it would be necessary. “If it’s not, no biggy, but once you need it and you don’t have it, then it’s too late to put one on. I have one at home. I’ll bring it over tomorrow. Abby has invited me to come over for dinner with you guys.”

  “What? Why are you so special?”

  Dad told them he just was. The rest of them looked at North. “I think, for all the hard work we’ve put in for you, that Abby should feed us too. Don’t you think so, son?”

  He said he’d call her. Going into the bedroom, he was waiting for Abby to answer when he saw a movement outside his bedroom window. He knew who it was without having to check a second time. Just as he was going to the front to warn this family he thought it was Fran, Dad opened the front door.

  ~*~

  “Where is he?” Clayton looked around the room, then back at her. “Tell me where he is, and I won’t have to get into your shit.”

  “While that is a vision I’ll never be able to get out of my mind, I don’t even know who you are. Besides, there are a lot of ‘he’s’ in this room, so you’re going to have to narrow it down a bit more.” She huffed at him, and Clayton laughed. “You’re not a nice person. I’m positive you’ve been told that before. Haven’t you?”

  “My husband. Where the hell—? What the fuck are you doing here? Never mind. Don’t answer that. I can see what’s going on. All these men paying you well, Amy? I’m betting this is how you’ve made your money. Isn’t it?” Clayton told Fran to shut up. “I’m sorry. What did you just say to me? I do not listen to people who are rude, you fucking shit hole.”

  “You sort of have a thing for shit, don’t you? I mean, in the last few minutes you’ve mentioned it twice. Are you constipated or something? Or the opposite…you have the squirts? It could be, I suppose, something akin to texture or the smell. I’m betting it’s the smell.” Clayton laughed at the expression on her face. It was quite comical. Then he turned serious. “By the way, you talk to my future daughter-in-law like that again, and I’ll bury you so deep in your favorite pile of shit you’ll never get out of it.’

  “Are you threatening me?” He said he wasn’t. “That’s good. Because my husband has a great deal of money, and he’ll stop at nothing to get your ass into prison. He’s very good at taking care of his family.”

  “Really? From what we’ve been working on all day, I’d say you’re way wrong about that. It seems to me that Shelton is building a pretty solid case against you.” North came up behind him. “This is my son, North. The one that is marrying your lovely daughter. The smart one, not the one that is currently in jail.”

  “How dare you.” Clayton told her he was getting better at all kinds of things now—daring her was just something he thought she deserved. “You’re going to regret this. See if you don’t. If my husband were here, he’d take care of you.”

  “I sure would look forward to that, Fran. I’m betting he has a nice firm handshake. He’d be thanking me for telling you you’re a fucking bitch.” He shut the door before she could comment.

  Looking at his family, Clayton was shocked to see them all staring at him like they’d never seen him before. Asking them what did he do, it was Josiah that spoke first. Amid his laughter, he explained what he was thinking.

  “I think I’d like to hang out with you a lot more, Clayton. You’ve picked up some balls since all this began.” He laughed harder. “I nearly pissed myself when you asked her if she had a thing for shit. Christ, I have to find a way to use that. I surely do.”

  The rest of the night was filled with laughter and fun. When his nephews showed up with food and Abby, he was amazed that in such a short time, not only had he gotten better acquainted with his son, but his brothers too. It was, to him, like an awakening. He’d been in a nightmare for so long, he was glad for every day he could spend with these men and women.

  It was nearing midnight when he and the rest of his family decided to call it a night. He only lived across the street from North, but tonight it seemed such a long distance. Hugging each of his nephews, Clayton felt the pull at his heart. He’d missed so much. Not just hugs, but everything.

  Holly, his baby sister, had been murdered. Before that, she’d been sold off to a bunch of men who brutally raped her. If that hadn’t been enough, when she managed to escape, her entire family, including he and his dad, had turned on her, shutting her completely out of their lives as if she’d never been a part of it. All of it, every part of her life, had been because of the wives of him and his brothers. Clayton didn’t think he’d ever be able to forgive any of them for what they did.

  “Dad. She’s coming.” Turning, he saw a movement out the corner of his eye and moved forward enough that he was able to shove North out of the way, taking them both to the road, in turn saving himself from the speeding car. It narrowly missed them both. “Dad, she’s coming back.”

  Getting up was harder than falling, he realized. Thankfully, Wats was close enough to drag his old ass up and between the cars parked in front of North’s condo. He was still
on the road but out of the way as the car sped by the lot of them. Clayton saw who the driver as she went screaming by them.

  “That was Fran.” No one moved as he laid his body back on the road to catch his breath. “She was going to kill us.”

  “I think she was after you.” He looked at Brandon, who smiled back at him. “I just wanted to make sure you realize you might have pissed her off. I don’t know, but it could be because you were into her shit.”

  No one moved for a ten-second count. Then it was like someone had touched a button and all dozen or so of them started laughing. Clayton was dismayed to see that in all the things going on poor Amy had made her way out onto the stoop. North went to her and put her back in the house while still laughing. Christ, it had been a hell of a night.

  “I have to call the police.” Clayton nodded at his nephew Brandon as he pulled out his cell. “I can’t believe North saw her. If he’d been a second or two later…. You know what, I don’t even want to think about it.”

  Neither did he, but Clayton knew it wouldn’t be something he’d soon forget either. He’d been threatened before—being an attorney and a wealthy man married to a bitch, he got it a great deal. But to have someone actually try and kill him, and his son was something he’d never had happen to him before. He leaned against the car he was near and let things settle into his head. That was when he heard Amy yelling for him from the condo.

  “Go to her, Dad. She’s really upset.” Clayton just wanted to rest a minute, let his mind realize he’d not been killed. But he made his way to Amy to see what she wanted before he made his way home. He was going to wrap himself in a blanket and just sit on the couch.

  “Are you all right?” He told Amy he was getting there. The slap to his face, then the hug, startled him somewhat. “While I’m enjoying the hug, would you mind telling me why you hit me first? I’m an old man, and I was nearly killed just now.”

  “That was for nearly getting yourself killed, you old buzzard. What the hell would I do without you? Answer me that. I just fell in love with your son and have you right there in my heart too, and you go and try to get yourself run over by a madwoman. Don’t do that again, Clayton. It would break me in half to know you were hurt. Especially by my mom.” She sobbed as she held him, and he wrapped her into his arms.

  “I’m sorry I nearly got killed. I’m trying to work it out in my mind if you’d rather I did get murdered or not. You’re not very clear when you’re all mushy like this.” She pulled back and looked at him. Her face was red, and tears streamed down her cheeks. “Oh, honey. I don’t think in all my life anyone has ever cared enough about me to get all sloppy before. I love you, Amy.”

  “I love you too. I’m so sorry she tried to kill you.” He said he wasn’t dead, so they had that in their favor. “I can see now where North gets his sense of humor. It’s an odd combination of smart assed and truth. I love it.”

  As he sat there, holding her hand while they were waiting on the police, every part of his body—and part of someone else’s, from the way it felt—was beginning to protest the fall and the subsequent ass dragging across the road. There wasn’t any way all this pain was just his. He had to be sharing with someone else. Wats came in with his little black bag, and Clayton told him he could give him everything he had.

  “I hurt.” Wats told him he thought he might. “I’m sure I’ll be all right, but right now, I’d gladly take whatever you have on you just to ease it. Even just a little.”

  “You’ve cut your leg here, and I can see some blood on your shirt. Let’s get you undressed so I can see what we’re working with.” He wasn’t ashamed to remove his shirt. However, crying like a baby because it hurt so bad had him telling Amy and Wats how sorry he was. “It’s all right, Uncle Clayton. I’m sure being able to save North was worth more than the pain.”

  “What?” Wats looked at him. “How did I save my son?” Wats told him he’d pushed him out of the way. That he’d thought Fran was after North, not him. “I only pushed him away so I could get us both out of the way of the woman. You really think she was after him?”

  “That makes sense.” He asked Amy why she thought so. “She would be more pissed off about me being happy than she would be someone just talking to her like you did. Mom was never happy until everyone around her was as miserable as she seemed to be all the time. Yes, I agree. She was after North.”

  By the time the police arrived, they’d all talked about how it had gone down. It did seem, upon reflection, that she’d been more going toward North than she had Clayton. The very telling part was that there were no skid marks prior to them jumping out of the way. Only afterward, when she turned around to make her way back to them.

  “I’d like for you and North to go to the hospital.” Clayton started to protest, saying that whatever was wrong, he was sure a little rest would help it. “Perhaps. But there should be a record of you having to be seen by a physician other than me for any kind of court appearance she might have to go to because of this. I’m sure you’ve thought of this, Uncle Clayton, but that was attempted murder just now. That’s a biggy when it comes to having her put away.”

  “I guess you’re right.” He looked over at Amy. “Are you all right with this? Us taking action against your mother? I don’t ever want there to be hard feelings between the two of us. I won’t even press charges if you think it’s a bad idea.”

  “You’d better press charges.” He kissed her on the forehead. “Clayton, she meant to take you both away from me. Because as surely as I’m sitting here if anything had happened to North, neither one of us would have been able to cope.”

  “No, you’re right on that. I’ve lost so much in my life. Mostly due to Eita. But I’m to blame as well. If I had lost my son, or you, my dear, I wouldn’t have had the strength to go on. I don’t think I want to think on that much.” She told him she didn’t either. “I’m going to press charges against your mother then. You just be safe too. Until she’s caught, she is going to get more and more desperate to hurt someone for what she feels is an injustice to her. My wife was the same way.”

  “I’ll be safe if you will be.” Clayton told her he would. “When you get to the hospital, please make sure you two keep me updated. I can’t go with you, and you have no idea how much that bums me out. Really, it pisses me off.”

  “I’ll call you when I can. I’ll have North do the same.” She asked him why he was called North. “That’s a story I hope you’ll think is hilarious. Eita, for all her planning and scheming, could not spell worth crap. Her handwriting was just as bad. Asked to fill out the birth certificate, she put Roth as his middle name, but couldn’t think of a first name. So she put N, for nothing, so she could go back and fill it in. There is no filling in later, she figured out. The certificate came back with North on it, and she never changed it. She didn’t want anyone to think she was stupid and couldn’t even spell her child’s name correctly. Good thing for him he was born in a time where records people could think they were doing someone a favor and change names if they thought they were spelled wrong. Nowadays, however, he would have been ‘Nothing Roth Wilkerson.’ Try naming your son that someday and see what I mean.”

  The police took pictures of his wounds after asking questions. There were far more bloodied places than he’d first thought. Wats told him he’d meet him at the hospital, and left ahead of the ambulance. Since they were both up and moving, he and North rode there in the same one. He noticed that North was banged up as well.

  “You need to marry that girl, son. Soon.” He said he’d planned on surprising her tomorrow by doing it at the courthouse. “You don’t want a large wedding? I would think with you both having professional careers, you’d want that.”

  “That is the reason we don’t. It would be this large overly priced get together that neither of us would enjoy. I came back here to get away from all the noise and crowds. Not the only reason, but it had been
my plan before Aunt Holly was killed.” Clayton nodded, feeling just a little hurt by not being a part of his reasons. “After Mom was killed, I had no idea what sort of relationship you and I were going to have. Or even if we were going to have one. My plan to live here was to be nearer to my cousins. You’ve no idea how glad I am that you and I are making up for lost time, as well as getting to know each other again. Perhaps, I guess for the first time, we’re having a good solid relationship.”

  “Thank you, son.” North nodded, then pulled out his cell phone when it rang. After talking for several minutes, he put it away again. “Trouble?”

  “They’ve arrested Fran. She was at the hotel. Not only did they get her for a hit and run, but apparently she didn’t have a valid drivers’ license either.” North grinned. “She’s telling them that I’m her attorney. I had to thankfully decline to represent her.”

  The two of them were still laughing when they pulled up in front of the emergency room entrance a few minutes later. Wats, true to his word, was right there waiting. As they were both taken to separate rooms, Clayton thought it would be a quick in and out. He couldn’t have been more wrong. Wats had ordered a whole list of things to have checked, and he knew his son was getting the same treatment. Clayton could hear him bitching about it in the next cubical. This might not be so bad, after all. Not with his son entertaining him as he was.

  Yes, Clayton thought, life certainly was a great deal more fun with his family around. He supposed it would get even better when the grandchildren came along. Christ, he thought, he could be a grandpa soon. Clayton couldn’t wait. He was going to spoil them rotten. And there would be no one around to bitch at him for getting a little dirty with them either.