by Susan Meier
His dad bounced from his seat. “I’m willing to negotiate.”
“We’re not negotiating. That money you want is part of an estate…family money. It doesn’t belong to Mom. It doesn’t belong to any one of us. It belongs to all of us.” Devon smiled professionally. “I believe a judge will see it our way.”
“You can buy me off and avoid the trouble of a trial.”
Finn shrugged. “Why? Mom has a job that provides for her needs. Ellie and I make a king’s ransom with our business ventures. Devon’s pretty much wealthy on his own. Cade over there owns half a grocery store that’s thriving now that the feud is over. We can wait this out.”
“I don’t think so. With appeals, I can tie up your money forever.”
Devon laughed. “Have at it. Maybe I’ll countersue. Our inheritance didn’t become active until a year after your separation. Which means I can go after half of everything you own because most of that was accumulated through the life of the marriage.”
Jeb leaped off the sofa, his hands out, as he dove for Devon’s throat.
Cade’s muscles hardened. His hands coiled into fists. His legs made ready to spring across the room, but Devon dropped his briefcase and shook his head.
“Is this really how you want to do it? You assault me, I don’t fight back, and you go to jail again?”
Their father backed up a step. “You little bastard.”
But the heat of anger still burned in Cade’s blood. He wanted a fight. He wanted a release for the years of frustration, the years of longing to be able to defend himself against a man twice his size who beat him ruthlessly. His father stood before him, egging them on, begging for a fight. If ever the time was right—
“You think you know everything, Mr. Big Shot Lawyer,” his father spat. “From the time you were a kid you got in my way. Took punches meant for your brothers. And all you ever got out of it was hurt.”
“I saved my own, took care of my own.”
“You did nothing but get yourself hurt.”
“Yeah, well, I’m different now. Smarter. I know enough to keep you away from Mom and to keep you from getting any of her family’s money.” He flopped his briefcase on the coffee table, opened it, and pulled out the agreement again. “This agreement allows you to keep every cent of money you have. Mom gets nothing from you. It’s a sweetheart of a deal. Take it or we drag your name through the mud.”
Jeb stood frozen, his breath coming and going in angry puffs that matched Cade’s.
Finn quietly said, “You are not getting another cent, and you are going to lose half of what you have if you make us go to court. Plus, Ellie has some friends in Pittsburgh who’d be more than happy to add you to a profile they’re doing on abusive homes. See how much your lofty Pittsburgh golf buddies love you once it’s out you beat your wife and sons.”
“You’re going to be sorry.”
Devon actually laughed. “I don’t think we are. I think you are.”
And that’s when Cade saw it. While Finn and Devon remained cool and logical, Cade and his father burned with rage. Their muscles stiffening. Their jaws jumping. His dad obviously longed to take a swing at the sons who could now easily beat him, and Cade longed to be given the opportunity.
He might be unflappable and efficient when it came to work and money, but he had inherited their father’s temper.
Chapter Nineteen
That night, Cade was quiet with Piper. She totally understood. She might not have had a confrontation with an angry, abusive parent, but she knew what it felt like to face trouble. To look it in the eye. To wonder why you were chosen to be put in this spot.
When they went to bed and he turned away from her, her heart jolted with fear, but she knew that he loved her. He might not have been able to say the words, but given his past, she’d resigned herself to the fact that he might never be able to say them. And she was okay with that. His actions spoke much louder than words.
So when he turned away, she turned in to him, spooned herself around him, offering the consolation that his past might have been traumatic, but she intended to give him a wonderful future…she and their baby intended to give him a wonderful future.
When she awoke the next morning, he was gone. Deciding to give him his space, she ate a leisurely breakfast, took a long shower, and dressed the way he liked to see her. Hair shimmering down her back. Tight jeans.
She arrived at the grocery store just in time to see Myrna Feodore starting another fight—this one over bread. Cade watched Myrna and Bunny Farmer get into a tug of war, with the plastic wrapped bread stretching between them. His eyes narrowed, then shifted. He shook his head, turned, and walked away.
Piper raced over to Myrna and Bunny. Grabbing the bread from both of them, she faced Bunny. “You’re a store employee. You should know better.” She whipped around to Myrna. “And what about you? Are you going to do nothing but fight? Are you trying to get a reputation for being a crazy old bat?”
“I had it first!”
“Who gives a crap! There are fourteen identical loaves on that shelf. Take. One. Of. Those.”
The entire store quieted. Bunny stepped back with a hiss of disbelief, and Piper’s heart stuttered in her chest.
Myrna gasped. “Did you just yell at me?”
Something inside of Piper shifted and clicked into place. Gone was her horrible fear of offending anyone. And in its place was a sense of right so strong, yet so mellow, that she actually burst out laughing.
“Yeah, I yelled at you. And I’ll yell at you every time you get into a squabble with someone. This is a grocery store. Not a bar. And you keep ruining stock.” She presented the stretched and bunched loaf of bread. “I can’t sell this to anyone now. Just like the head of lettuce you let bounce off the floor. So behave yourself or I’m going to call your son.”
Myrna’s eyebrows rose in shock.
Piper sucked in a breath. “That’s right. If you’re going to keep doing things like this, I’m going to assume you want attention, and I’ll call your son and tell him he needs to give it to you.”
“He’ll make me come live with him.”
Piper softened her voice. “Maybe that’s what you need.”
Myrna shook her head. “I like it here.”
Piper put her arm around Myrna’s shoulder. “Of course you do, and we like you. But maybe you do need to talk to your son about visiting more or maybe letting you visit him.”
“I do miss my grandkids.”
“How old is the oldest one now?” As Piper took Myrna’s attention away from the fight, she motioned with her head for the small crowd to disburse. Everyone trickled off in different directions, some going back to shopping, some heading for checkout lanes.
Myrna sucked in a breath. “He’s seven.”
“I’ll bet he’s cute.”
…
Cade watched Piper from the cashier’s cage. He’d walked away from the fight because his muscles had hardened the way they had in the confrontation with his dad. In his head, he knew that was a normal reaction. He saw a fight. He had to prevent it. His body ramped up.
But he couldn’t stop thinking about how he’d felt with his dad. How angry. How eager to pop him one. While his two brothers remained perfectly calm, he’d wanted just one punch.
On the ranch, his men respected him. There was no need to come to blows. Everybody knew he could take any man on his crew. The feeling that he’d had the day before, with his dad, was so foreign it had frightened him.
It had frightened him enough he’d almost slept at his grandfather’s house the night before.
And here they were today. He’d walked away from a silly fight over bread because his body had gone to DEFCON Five again. His worst fears were being confirmed. He might not be like his father, but he had bad blood. Finn had missed the worst of it because he was the youngest. Devon had pushed himself beyond it. But Cade? He’d stayed away so long he’d missed a part of the natural healing process.
Piper
turned from the little fight she’d just resolved and headed for the cashier’s cage. With a deep breath, Cade walked into the office.
After what seemed to be only seconds, she burst in the door, walked over to him, turned him around, and kissed him. Hot and demanding, her mouth pressed against his, and, God help him, he responded. Her little victory had put fire in her blood and her fire always sparked his.
Just as quickly as she’d kissed him, she pulled away, her eyes two green glowing embers. “I did it.”
He didn’t have to ask, “Did what?” He knew. She’d inherited the grocery store a frightened shell of herself. She’d faced him, faced the people who made sport of her life, faced a pregnancy and the revelation of their relationship when they announced their wedding. She’d faced it all and become strong.
And he was only now seeing his weaknesses. Forget about facing them. That might take years.
He stepped back. Confusion would have been better than the riot of truth stampeding his blood. “I saw.”
“I honestly did not care what they thought. I knew my responsibility and I did it.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “It’s like I’m free.”
“You are free.”
Her eyes popped open. “I know.”
She reached out to hug him, but he stepped away. Her head tilted in question, but he couldn’t answer her. So many thoughts poured through his brain.
He scrubbed his hand across his mouth.
She smiled weakly. “You know, you were so quiet when you got home last night that I didn’t ask about your dad.”
“It might have been best that you didn’t.”
“Did the conversation go badly?”
He put his head back, sucked in a breath. How did a man explain that one stupid conversation had shown him things he should have been seeing all along but was too stupid to look for?
“Honey?”
The endearment hit him right in the heart. He called her darlin’ all the time, but she’d never called him a term of endearment. The fact that she had, warmed his blood and made him want to relax and just be normal. Not so much because it was a sign she loved him, but because it was a sign that he was softening, mellowing. That he belonged to her.
But did she belong to him?
Did she deserve him?
A broken man who pretended he was fine? A man who only did well when he was alone—
Oh, God. That was the truth of it. Finn and Devon may be able to acclimate, but how he’d chosen to deal with their dad was solitude. A ranch so far away from everybody he didn’t have to worry about the past. But now he wasn’t going to run the ranch. At least not full-time. He was going to help Devon manage their investments. If they stayed in Harmony Hills, he’d face his past every day. Worse, if he married Piper, every time he got angry he would worry. Not about her. About him. He was so much like his father—
“I don’t think I can do this.”
“What?”
He grasped the back of the office chair and squeezed his eyes shut. “The talk with my dad yesterday?”
She walked over to him. “Yeah?”
“It didn’t go well.”
“You always knew your dad was going to push for half of your mom’s share of the money—”
“No. That’s not the problem. Devon threatened him with a countersuit that might cost him half of what he has, and Finn threatened to give his name to a crew that’s doing a documentary on powerful men who are abusive. He couldn’t handle the scandal of that. He may not sign today or tomorrow, but he’ll sign.”
She put her hand on his, and he jerked it away. “So what’s wrong? What happened?”
“I saw myself in my dad…or maybe my dad in me.”
“That’s absurd.”
“Really? Finn all but laughs at our dad. It’s like he knows a secret. And maybe he does. Devon has the power of the law. He can also bluff. And knows when to push.”
Piper softly said, “He is a lawyer.”
“And I was a Marine, then the foreman of a ranch. I dealt with big tough guys all day, and I ruled with an iron hand.”
She sidled up to him and put her palm on his chest. “That’s because you’re a big strong guy.”
“Or maybe it’s because that’s all I know how to do.” He moved away from her. “I’m like my dad. I don’t punch people, but I push people. On a ranch, everyone expects it. In a grocery store? Raising a child? Living with a wife?” His eyes met hers. “I might not be the husband you think I’m going to be.”
“I trust you.”
“You shouldn’t.” He all but spat the words. “I come from bad stock. You should be afraid. Not naïve.”
“That’s ridiculous. You make yourself who and what you are.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Devon and Finn have dealt with this. I haven’t. I didn’t become a guy who can live in a small town and make nice because he needs the town’s business.”
She pressed her hand to her chest. “What are you saying?”
“You deserve better.”
“That’s silly. There is no one better for me than you.”
He turned away and grabbed his Stetson. An ache formed behind his heart, but he ignored it. For once in his life, he was going to do the right thing. The honest thing. The fair thing. Even if it hurt him.
“There are lots of people better than me. And you won’t even try to meet them unless I leave.”
Her eyes widened with fear, and he cursed himself. He felt her pain as if it was his own, and maybe it was. No one had ever made him feel what she made him feel. No one made him long for love the way she did. But he knew in his heart of hearts this was what was best for her. “I will take care of you financially. Once I leave, the store is yours. But I’ll pay child support. If you want to be a stay-at-home mom, whatever you need, I’ll do it. But I won’t tie you to me.”
Chapter Twenty
He walked away and Piper collapsed on the tall-back chair behind the desk. Tears pooled in her eyes and her chest hurt so badly she could barely breathe.
Every cell in her body shook from a loss so great, so intense, it couldn’t even be quantified. He wasn’t just the love of her life. He was her life. He was her breath. Loving him had made her understand what love was supposed to be.
Desperation rose from the pieces of her broken heart. Swinging around, she grabbed her jacket and purse and raced to the office door. It slammed closed behind her, and she didn’t bother locking it. She ran to her car, jumped behind the steering wheel, and headed for the quiet street on which his grandfather had lived.
She was not letting him go without a fight.
With effort, she tempered her speed so Red Garmin wouldn’t stop her for speeding. But she was still going fast enough that when she hit the brakes, her car screeched to a stop. She popped out, ran up the stairs to the front door, and knocked.
And knocked.
And knocked.
When her knuckles were too beaten to knock any more, she realized his truck wasn’t in the driveway. Fear gripped her, but she reminded herself that sufficient time hadn’t passed for him to get home and pack and leave again. So even though he wasn’t here, he might be saying good-bye to his family before he came home and gathered his things.
Determined steps took her to the porch swing. When he came back to pack, she would be here and she would tell him that no matter where he was going, she was going with him.
The sun set.
The moon rose.
Fluffy white clouds rolled by, occasionally blocking its light, then they’d roll away again and moonlight would spill across the wide planks of the front porch.
She thought about how beautiful the house could be with a little love. She could almost hear the laughter of children as they played in the corner where the front porch turned and continued down the side. She could see flowers in window boxes and baskets that hung from the front porch railing. Flowers along the sidewalk. Smell the newly mowed grass of the wide yard.
; This house was meant to be a home.
Her home.
The thought surprised her so much that she gasped. This was the house she and Cade were meant to live in. Cleaned up. Spruced up. Changed enough that it could accommodate a laughing, happy family, this house was her home. She could feel it in her bones.
She spent the next hour making plans in her head for how she would remodel it. Where she’d put the master suite and nursery. The kind of kitchen they would need to accommodate their kids. How they’d put a patio and a playhouse in the backyard.
But Cade never returned. She sat on the porch swing until two o’clock. Until it got so cold that the autumn night put a chill in her bones that made her shiver. She didn’t know how he’d gotten home and packed before she’d raced over from the grocery store, but he had.
The porch swing creaked.
The night was as silent as a stone.
He was gone.
And she was as alone as this old, lonely house that nobody wanted.
She hoisted herself from the porch swing and headed back to her car. Tears tried to form in her eyes and she fought them. What had she expected? She was the one who always stopped halfway down the aisle, frozen with fear, absolutely positive she wasn’t meant to be married.
It looked like she was getting her wish.
She didn’t sleep that night. Sorrow turned to anger, which became confusion. Neither of her potential grooms had ever asked her why she’d run. Neither had ever fought for her. And maybe, just maybe, Cade needed someone to fight for him.
She dressed for work but, trusting April to open the bakery on her own and Bunny or Jen to open the cash registers, she headed for Finn and Ellie’s. She considered going to Cade’s mom’s, but she wasn’t sure LuAnn would be up at this hour. Finn and Ellie both had work. Both always got an early start.
At a quarter till seven, she knocked on the door of the brown brick house. Ellie opened the door wearing dress slacks and an auburn sweater that brought out the best in her red hair.
“Piper?” Her eyes narrowed as she took in Piper’s appearance, and she stepped forward, catching Piper’s shoulder and helping her into the house. “Oh, sweetie.”
