Butler, Vermont Series: Boxed Set, Books 1-3

by Force, Marie

  The questions from his sisters had left Wade feeling drained by worries he’d pushed deep into the back of his mind after Mia appeared on his doorstep, half frozen, badly beaten and in need of his help.

  He had a ton of work to do, new product proposals coming out his ears and the training to endure that afternoon. But he couldn’t focus on any of that when the concerns raised by his sisters refused to be ignored. He opened a browser window, set it to private and did a search for her.

  The first few results were for a Mia Simpson in Washington state. Then he clicked on a link to the restaurant in Rutland where she used to work. She was shown in a photo of the staff. Wade zeroed in closer on the picture. Mia wore a crisp white shirt and black apron as she smiled for the camera, but he thought he saw a bruise on her neck. He couldn’t be certain, because the photo was grainy, but it looked like a bruise to him.

  How, he wondered, had she explained the bruise to her coworkers? Had they suspected she was being abused? Had they tried to help her? He thought about the people who’d tried to help her and had borne the brunt of Brody’s retaliation. Had others been afraid to get involved, as people so often were, especially when the alleged abuser was someone well known in a community as Brody had been in Rutland?

  Wade devoured the reports of Brody’s arrest, the disbelief among family and friends who’d grown up with him, the certainty that there had to have been a mistake. “Brody would never do something like this,” one high school friend told the Burlington Free Press, which had front-page coverage of the drug bust that had brought down Brody’s organization. “He was a youth football coach. He’s the last person who’d ever sell drugs to kids.”

  “You just keep thinking that,” Wade muttered as he read one testimonial after another to Brody, the homegrown hero. No wonder Mia, who’d grown up in Burlington, had been so afraid to ask anyone in Brody’s hometown for help—and no wonder she was afraid of what might happen to her when word got out that she’d helped the police make their case against him.

  “Someone needs to look at the girlfriend,” one of the homers said in the news story. “No one knows where she came from, and Brody was never in any trouble before he met her.”

  Wade’s chest felt tight as he read the statements about Mia. The paper had reported that she was never under any suspicion and had been cooperating with the investigation.

  He downloaded the PDF of the indictment against Brody and read every word of the charges that had been filed against him. He read that, in addition to the Vermont State Police, the Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI had been involved in the bust.

  “Jesus,” he whispered as the full scope of the investigation and the case registered with him. Brody and nine of his associates faced federal and state charges. On the front page of that day’s Rutland Herald was a story about Brody being taken back into custody on domestic assault charges. Mia’s name wasn’t mentioned. She was referred to as a woman who resided at his home.

  Wade clicked on the hundreds of comments posted below the Herald’s online article.

  The girlfriend is bad news. I’ve said it from the start—he wasn’t in any trouble until she came along.

  Brody wouldn’t harm a fly. I don’t believe this for a second.

  How can they lock him up when she’s the one who got him into trouble in the first place?!? Further proof that our justice system is totally F’d up.

  He’d never hit a woman. I’ve known him my entire life, and I’d stake my own reputation on that. It’s total bullshit. Who is SHE? Do we know??

  Wade scrolled through a hundred comments without seeing even one in support of her. Too bad he didn’t have photos of her bruises handy so he could post them to show she wasn’t lying. Brody had beaten the hell out of her.

  Or someone had…

  Wade hated that nagging voice in his head that had him questioning whether she’d told him the truth about who hurt her. He’d sat by her side when she reported the same information to the prosecutor, so if she was lying, that meant she’d also lied to law enforcement, which was a crime.

  She hadn’t lied. Brody had been roughing her up for a long time. Wade had seen proof of that himself more than once during the first year he knew her, when they would meet for coffee and he would notice bruises on her arms that looked like fingerprints. Once, he’d asked her about them, but she’d said they were nothing. He hadn’t asked again.

  His mind went a little crazy imagining a scenario in which she’d preyed on his obvious interest in her, giving him just enough information about her situation to ensure that he’d continue to worry about her, even after she ended all contact with him. Had that been a strategic move on her part? Stop contacting him, knowing it would freak him out so when she came running to him, he’d do anything for her?

  He dropped his head into his hands, hoping it would stop the sick feeling swirling inside him. If he allowed his thoughts to stray in that direction, he’d have to entertain the possibility that the woman he loved was a heartless monster who had played him for a total fool. So, he wasn’t going there. She wasn’t a heartless monster. She couldn’t be. If she was, he’d never trust anyone again.

  He clicked on another article, one that had him sitting up straighter.

  Girlfriend of Accused Drug Kingpin Ties the Knot

  Mia Simpson, 29, the girlfriend of accused drug ring leader Brody Dennison, 36, of Rutland, got married over the weekend to Wade Abbott, 31, of Butler. Mr. Abbott is a co-proprietor of the family-owned Green Mountain Country Store in Butler.

  Sources tell the Herald that Simpson, who accused Dennison of domestic abuse, resulting in his bail on the drug charges being revoked, was under pressure to marry Dennison so she couldn’t be compelled to testify against him in his upcoming federal trial.

  According to another source, who wished to remain anonymous, Simpson has known Abbott for two years. Calls to Simpson and Abbott have gone unanswered, but the Herald will continue to reach out to them for comment.

  Wade was reeling. How could they know all that? Who would have told them? No one knew but the two of them and members of his family, who would never breathe a word of it to the media. It was too soon for the marriage license to have shown up anywhere online. That would take days.

  The prosecutor and state police knew, but they wouldn’t speak to the media about it, would they?

  The only other person who knew was Mia, and she’d been with him all weekend.

  Except when he was in the shower.

  Chapter 17

  “Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.”

  —Thomas Merton

  I can’t think like this. I can’t, or I won’t be able to function.

  Running his fingers through his hair repeatedly, Wade tried to control his racing thoughts so he could focus on work. But the erratic thoughts wouldn’t be controlled or contained. This couldn’t be happening. What if their marriage was nothing but a great big lie? He thought about their lovemaking and decided if she was lying to him, she was one hell of an actress.

  Another thought occurred to him. He’d had unprotected sex for the first time in his life. She’d said she was on the pill, but what if that was another lie intended to further trap him?

  Wade picked up the phone and buzzed Ella’s extension.

  “What’s up?”

  “Can you come in here?”

  “Yep. Be right over.”

  As he waited for her, he forced himself to take deep, meditative breaths. There had to be a reasonable explanation for everything. There had to be.

  Ella knocked, came in and closed the door behind her. She took one look at him and said, “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m not sure. I’m kinda freaking out.”

  “About?”

  “Mia.”

  “What about her?”

  Wade gave his sister an abridged rundown of the things he’d found online. “Who could’ve told the Herald we got married? None of our
family would do that, and the prosecutors wouldn’t. The only other person who knows is Mia.”

  Ella’s eyes went wide with shock. “You think she gave them the story?”

  “I don’t know what to think about any of it. The stories online are crazy, El. People in Rutland say Brody was never in any trouble until she came into his life and that he wouldn’t harm a fly, let alone a woman.”

  “And you believe them over her?”

  “I don’t want to, but after what happened the other day, I’m not sure what to believe.”

  “What happened the other day?”

  “I heard from the prosecutor—and not her—that she helped to build the case against Brody. She’s the one who reported him.”

  Ella sat in the visitor chair on the other side of his desk. “Holy crap. And she didn’t tell you that before you married her?”

  He shook his head. “She said she didn’t think it mattered.”

  “Ahh, not sure I agree with that. It’s a whole different story to be associated with someone who did something illegal. It’s another thing altogether to have had a hand in getting him arrested.”

  “My feeling exactly. People in Rutland think she had something to do with the drug ring, and she’s the reason he got in trouble, which is ridiculous.” At least, he hoped it was…

  “Do you?”

  “No, of course not,” he said, but with less conviction than he would’ve had an hour ago. “I don’t know what to do with this info, El. Do I ask her if she told the Herald about our marriage?”

  “I suppose you have to.”

  “And now it’s out that she’s here, which is the last thing we wanted.” He sagged into his chair and tried to get his head around the implications. He was thankful the state police were watching her and his house, so he felt confident she was safe anyway. “When she showed up the other night, beaten, frozen and scared, and asked me to marry her, I never hesitated. Not for one second. What if I was wrong, El? What if this whole thing is a ploy to get her out of something bigger than both of us?”

  “Whoa, Wade, take a deep breath. You’re getting way ahead of yourself. First thing—call Aunt Hannah and find out if the marriage license has been filed yet. Do that. Right now.”

  Wade picked up the phone and dialed the number he knew by heart. His aunt answered on the second ring.

  “Hi, it’s Wade.”

  “Hi, honey,” Hannah said. “How’s married life treating you?”

  “Not bad. I have a question—how long does it take for a marriage license to show up online?”

  “Usually a couple of days, but I took care of it Saturday because I was snowed in. Why?”

  “No reason. I was just wondering how that worked. Thanks for the info.”

  “Anytime.”

  “Have a good day.”

  “You, too, honey.”

  Wade put down the phone. “She did it Saturday.”

  “So, it’s possible the Herald got the info from publicly available records. Remember how Cam set up alerts for the store name, our names and anything having to do with the business so we would know if we were mentioned somewhere online?”

  Wade nodded.

  “The media covering the drug case probably has alerts set up for her name, Brody’s and anyone associated with the case, so if anything is reported about them, they get a notification. When the marriage license went live, that would trigger the alert attached to her name.”

  “I can see how that would happen, but how would they find out Mia and I have known each other for two years?”

  Ella’s brows knitted as she pondered that. “That I don’t know. You should ask her who else knew about you two.”

  “I only told you and Hannah, and I hinted to Gramps that I’d met someone a while ago, but it wasn’t going anywhere.”

  “Maybe she confided in someone in her life, and that person is talking to the media.”

  He hated the thought of asking her, but he had to know.

  The extension on his desk buzzed with a call from Emma. “Hey,” he said. “What’s up?”

  “Hi, Wade. Mia is here for you.”

  “Thanks. I’ll be right out.” His stomach swirled with what felt like a thousand butterflies—and not the good kind, not the kind he normally experienced when Mia was nearby.

  “Deep breath, Wade,” Ella said. “Don’t jump to any conclusions until you have all the facts.”

  Nodding, he took two deep breaths and released them. Deep breathing usually did wonders for him whenever he felt anxious. It didn’t help at all in this case. If he’d made a huge mistake with her, he would never get over it or trust his own gut again.

  “Thanks.”

  “No problem.”

  “You won’t say anything—”

  “Wade, give me a break. I’d never repeat a word of what you said to anyone, not even Gavin.”

  “Thank you.”

  She squeezed his arm. “I’m going to hope and pray that she’s as sincere as she seems.”

  “Me, too.” The alternative didn’t bear thinking about.

  Mia waited for Wade in the reception area and chatted with Emma, who was very nice and welcoming.

  “I’m new around here, too,” she said. “We should form a support group.”

  Mia laughed. “I have a feeling that might be a good idea.”

  “This family is formidable.”

  “The sheer numbers are overwhelming.”

  “That they are. Wait until you see all eighteen of them together in one place.” Emma shuddered. “The volume alone would deafen you.”

  “Yikes. I’m an only child. I have no experience with such things.”

  “You sound like me back in the day,” Cameron said when she came out of an office across from Emma’s desk. “Sorry to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t help but overhear.”

  “No problem,” Mia said. “I need all the pointers I can get about fitting in around here.”

  “The key,” Cameron said in all seriousness, “is to never let them see you sweat. The minute they sense fear, all hope is lost.”

  Emma giggled behind her hand. “That’s very true,” she said. “Lucy told me the same thing when I started seeing Grayson.”

  “Remind me again,” Mia said. “Lucy is your sister?”

  “Right,” Emma said. “She’s engaged to Wade’s brother Colton.”

  “The maple syrup guy,” Mia said.

  “Yep. That’s him. He’s got my city slicker sister living up on a mountain. She calls it the penthouse because it’s the only place in the area with reliable cell service. She runs her business from that mountaintop.”

  Mia made note of the information. At some point, she needed to check her phone for messages. Maybe Wade would take her up to Colton and Lucy’s so she could do that.

  Wade came out of his office, and her heart did a funny swooning thing in her chest. She had a bad case if the mere sight of him caused that.

  “Hi,” she said, suddenly feeling shy about coming to his office and interrupting his workday.

  “Hey. What’s up?”

  “I thought I’d come in early to see if I could take you to lunch before the meeting. I also have to take care of the employee paperwork.”

  Wade checked his watch and seemed surprised by the time.

  “Unless you’re too busy. If you are, that’s no problem.”

  “I’m not too busy. Let me grab my coat, and we’ll go across the street to the diner.”

  “Sounds good.”

  After he went back to his office, Cameron leaned in to whisper, “You two are super cute together.”

  “You really think so?”

  “Uh, yeah? Everyone does.”

  “That’s nice to hear. I think he’s super cute.”

  Cameron and Emma laughed.

  “I feel the same way about his brother,” Cameron said.

  “I feel the same way about his cousin,” Emma added.

  Their humorous commentary made Mia feel welcom
e, and she hoped they would both become her friends over time. She’d missed having girlfriends over the last couple of years, when Brody had tried to control everything she did. Her world had become very small, and the isolation had made her wary of new people. But these people… They were lovely, and she already felt at home with them.

  Her sexy husband came out of his office wearing his coat and gestured for her to lead the way downstairs.

  “I’ll see you at the meeting,” Mia said to Cameron and Emma.

  “We’ll be there, much to our dismay,” Cameron said. “I wish I wasn’t pregnant. If there was any day for a liquid lunch, this is it.”

  “I’m just the office manager,” Emma said, “so I get a pass on the meeting, thank God.”

  “Don’t listen to them,” Wade said as they headed down the stairs. “The presentation won’t be that bad.”

  “Yes, it will!” Cameron called after them.

  Mia laughed. “Is it wrong of me to be excited to see how this goes?”

  “It’s very wrong of you,” he said, but the statement lacked the humorous tone she’d come to expect from him when they were being silly together.

  Outside, she took a closer look at him and noticed he seemed tense. “Is everything okay?”

  He hesitated before clearing his throat. “The Rutland Herald had a story about our marriage this morning.”

  Mia felt like she’d been punched. “What? How did they find out?”

  “My aunt is required to make the license publicly available.”

  “Oh my God. I never thought of that. I’m sorry, Wade. I know how private you are, and to have it blasted all over the news…”

  “They reported where I live, which means everyone knows where you are, too.”

  Mia wrapped her arms around her torso as she absorbed the latest blow. “I thought we’d have more time before that info went public.”

  “There was something in the story that I found odd.”

  “What?”

  “It said we’ve known each other for two years. How would they know that?”

  “I don’t know.” She took a closer look at him and saw something hard in his eyes that she’d never seen before. He always looked at her with such affection. “Are you accusing me of something, Wade?”