Ladd Springs

by Dianne Venetta

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Delaney grabbed her gun from the dresser top, fear skirting through her pulse. Nine o’clock in the morning, who the hell was pounding on her front door? Had Jeb gotten out of jail?

  Nick and Felicity had gone, leaving Delaney alone. She edged her way along the wall and peeked around the corner. Holding the gun low by her side, she cocked the pistol and steeled her arm.

  “Delaney Wilkins! I know you’re in there!”

  Delaney bolted erect. Annie? What the heck was she doing here?

  Uncocking the gun, she slipped the pistol back into her boot, pulled her jean pant leg down and walked to the door. With a shake to her hair, she braced her nerves and opened the door. “Do you mind not destroying my property?”

  Annie marched past her and whirled. “So you’ve done it. You’ve finally done it.”

  As Delaney stared into Annie’s fiery blue eyes, her demeanor primed for attack, realization dawned. News travels fast. Delaney set hands to hips and stood astride. “Done what, Annie? Secured the rightful ownership of Ladd Springs?”

  “Oh, save your high and mighty tone with me,” she fumed. “I’m sick and tired of your holier-than-thou attitude. I’ve come to inform you that this is not over. My lawyer will contest the transfer of title.”

  “Since when is a man not within his rights to sign over his property?”

  “Since he’s working under duress.”

  “Duress?”

  “Duress.” Annie stepped forward and jabbed a finger toward Delaney’s face. “It is illegal to unduly influence a person to gain power over their property.”

  Delaney bit out a laugh. “You might want to get your terms straight. Which is it? Duress, or undue influence?”

  “Don’t get smart with me.”

  “Get smart with you? How about I educate you on the facts?” Staring her down eye-to-eye, Delaney could almost feel Annie’s heart pumping as hard and angry as her own. “Ernie signed the property over to Felicity. That’s the only thing that matters.”

  “What about Jeremiah? Don’t you think he’ll have something to say about it? He’d have to release his rights for Felicity to get Ladd Springs.”

  Annie sucked the wind from Delaney’s confidence. “What?”

  Now it was Annie’s turn to gloat. “Oh, yes. Or didn’t you know?”

  “But it was Grandpa Ladd’s name on the title, not Jeremiah’s.”

  “Tell a court of law. The fine print says otherwise.”

  Fine print? What the hell was Annie talking about?

  “Oh,” Annie added. “And don’t do anything to the property I wouldn’t do. It won’t be yours for long.”

  Nick exited the jewelry store and pulled out his phone. The sidewalk was deserted, most folks somewhere else at two in the afternoon. After one call to his attorney this morning, his plans were moving forward. He dialed Malcolm’s number. Once the paperwork was drawn up and Felicity signed on the dotted line, he was in business. The irony struck him. Felicity would have to sign. His new landlord was barely eighteen years old. He chuckled. Definitely new territory for him!

  “Nick.”

  “Hey,” he responded, glancing at the bags of manure and pine mulch piled in neat stacks outside a hardware store. “I have good news.”

  “I heard. Lanny called me right after he got off the phone with you.”

  Nick smiled into the phone. “Stealing my thunder, is he?”

  “Saving your butt. I’ve been on the phone with investors all morning, steering them back on course. Jillian almost snagged another one, so you can thank me later.”

  Well-acquainted with Malcolm’s paybacks, Nick smiled. “How much will that cost me?”

  “Plenty. But listen, I don’t have a lot of time at the moment. When are you coming back? We need to get started on drawing up the plans.”

  “Well, that’s one of the things I’m calling you about, Mal.” He swung his gaze into a thrift store, where ladies’ dresses lined the display window. “I’m going to have a survey done on the property. I have some leeway as to site location, so I plan to stay another week or so and explore the land by foot.”

  “Is that really necessary? I thought most of it was forest land. Seen one tree, you’ve seen them all, right?”

  Nick laughed. “Malcolm, haven’t I taught you better? You must become one with the land, get to know her secrets before you can exploit them for highest and best value.”

  “You met someone?”

  Nick laughed again, but this time it reached deep and low into his abdomen, stirring old feelings of want. “You know me too well.”

  “Yes, and sometimes your penchant for women translates into trouble for Harris Hotels.”

  “Jillian hasn’t made a dent in our reputation.”

  “Not for lack of trying!”

  Slowing as he neared his car, Nick chided, “Yes, well, who knew she was psychotic?”

  “She hides it well, I’ll give you that,” Malcolm replied. “But I thought you would have learned your lesson about mixing business with pleasure.”

  Nick stopped just short of his car. “Except this time I think I’m in love.”

  “Yeah, I’m in love every time—the point remains the same.”

  Nick shook his head and replied, “Touché.” Pressing the key fob to unlock his door, he said, “Listen, don’t worry about my love life. This deal is sweeter than we could have imagined. But I need you here. How soon before you can catch a flight?”

  “To Tennessee?”

  He chuckled. “Well... I’m not in Bali.”

  “Are you kidding me? I’m up to my eyeballs in paperwork! I can’t come down there. What could possibly be so important that you need me on site and not in the office?”

  “Gold, Malcolm.”

  “Gold?”

  Nick nodded. “In more ways than one.”

  Delaney resisted the urge to place another call to her attorney’s office. She’d called twice, the man had her number, he’d return her call when he was free. She paced the kitchen, checked on the cornbread again and chastised herself aloud, “The bread won’t bake any faster, you keep looking at it!” She tossed the oven door closed.

  She spun on her socked heel and dropped back against the counter. But she was going crazy. Was Annie right? Did she have a point? Delaney didn’t recall any fine print referring to Jeremiah. What could she be talking about? Was there more to the title than what was listed in the public records? Were there other papers, other documentation regarding the property? If so, how did Annie know about them and Delaney didn’t?

  She wanted to call Nick, but she didn’t want to appear ignorant—especially after all the plans they started laying out last night in bed. Her lawyer could answer the legal questions about title and rights. He’d know what to do.

  But she wanted Nick to help her. She wanted Nick to make this go away—they were planning a hotel together! Maybe even a life. She couldn’t let Annie ruin her plans before they even got started.

  Footsteps sounded heavily across the front porch and Felicity burst in through the front door. “Mom!”

  The frantic call of her name gutted Delaney. She rocketed from the counter.

  Fear popped in Felicity’s delicate features. “It’s Casey!”

  “Casey?”

  “She’s in the hospital,” she cried.

  “The hospital?” Delaney clutched hold of the island, alarm crawling through her. “What on earth for?”

  “She overdosed.”

  Standing in the emergency room waiting room, Annie Owens was a wall of anger. Beneath the stark lighting, worry carved deep lines around her mouth, across her forehead. Ice filled her gaze and she raised her chin indignantly. “What is she doing here?”

  Waved off by Ashley, Delaney hung back, Felicity hovering by her side. With no time to change, Delaney still wore a tank top smudged with cornmeal and buttermilk, her hair pulled back into a hapless ponytail. But then again, there weren’t many folks wh
o would see her. The waiting room was practically empty.

  “I invited her,” Ashley stated crisply. She took a step forward, inserting herself between Annie and Delaney, her hot pink dress and boots ridiculously out of place in the somber environment. As usual, the woman looked as if she were headed for the dance floor and not a family crisis.

  “What for?” Annie asked. “She’s the one who caused this.”

  “Malarkey!” Ashley exclaimed. “That’s nothing but tomfoolery, Annie, and I won’t stand for you saying another evil word. Delly didn’t cause this any more than you did.”

  But the accusation stung. Part of Delaney felt it may be true.

  Ashley moved closer to Annie and lowered her voice. “The child is troubled, Annie. She needs help. This is just her way of cryin’ out for it.”

  Annie turned her back on her godmother, but her wrath didn’t dim. It scorched the room and everyone in it.

  Delaney hugged arms to her body. The girl was troubled, but drugs? She never suspected it had gone that far. After turning Casey away at Fran’s, an overdose was the last thing Delaney expected to happen. How had she fallen so far into depression? Felicity and Casey were friends at school. They ran in the same circles. It’s how Felicity learned of her condition. Did you hear? Casey Owens overdosed.

  From there, word spread like a Tennessee wildfire through the rural high school.

  “Annie,” Delaney murmured. “If there’s anything we can do...”

  Annie turned on her, fury setting the pain ablaze. “Do? Haven’t you done enough already?”

  “Annie—”

  “Don’t Annie me,” she spat. “You all but called my daughter illegitimate to her face—and you wonder why she’s upset?”

  Delaney balked. “I did not.”

  “’The property belongs to Ladds,’” Annie mimicked. “Ring a bell?”

  Delaney shrank in the wake of indictment. Casey must have run straight home to Annie and repeated the encounter verbatim.

  “Whether you like it or not,” Annie said, daggers shooting from her eyes. “Casey belongs to Jeremiah. She’s a Ladd, same as you.”

  Delaney didn’t come here to cause trouble, but she wasn’t going to roll over and play dead, either. Noting Ashley and Felicity had faded into the background of the confrontation, Delaney took the reins, she stepped forward and said, “Annie, whether she is or isn’t hasn’t been established. So under the circumstances I think it’s fair to say the property rightly goes to Felicity.”

  Resentment pulsed through Annie’s features, colored the blue of her eyes with an unsettling mix of worry and anger and hate. “Do you think I care any less for my daughter than you care for yours?”

  “Of course not.”

  “You divorced, Jack. We're both single mothers.” Annie screwed her face into a display of disgust. “Tell me how we’re so different again?”

  Delaney shifted her weight from heel to heel. “Annie, please. You’re not even sure who Casey’s father is,” she quietly accused.

  “I am. It’s Jeremiah Ladd.” Annie hesitated for the briefest of seconds, like a cat ready to pounce, but then her expression calmed and Delaney’s skin tingled. She flashed a glance to Ashley, as though warning sirens would ring out any moment. “I wonder how he’d feel,” Annie added, “knowing that you’re stealing his inheritance.” Delaney felt the hit swift and firm to her gut. “Perhaps someone should call him.” Annie’s nostrils flared. “Before it’s too late.”

  Delaney was floored. Annie Owens was a lot of things, but calling Jeremiah? Was she out of her mind? She knew how Ernie felt about his son—how Jeremiah felt about his father. Was she that bitter? Hell bent on destroying the family to get what she wanted, no matter the cost?

  The mere thought of Jeremiah entering the picture was toxic. Pure poison.

  Staring at Annie through a haze of disbelief, the waiting room felt like it was suspended in time. Delaney ran a hand over top of her head, down her ponytail and asked, “What’s the point, Annie? Is it money you’re after?”

  “I’m after what rightfully belongs to my daughter, same as you,” Annie declared.

  Placing a hand to her forehead, Delaney drew it halfway down her face and stared. Deep down, Delaney had the sneaking suspicion that, given the chance, Annie would sell the place and run with the money. She didn’t care about the legacy of Ladd Springs. She didn’t have memories that bound her to the land, family members buried in its soil. She wanted money. Legitimacy. Delaney spewed out a sigh. “This is stupid.”

  “I agree.” Ashley stepped in and seized the opportunity to bust them apart. “Hissing at each other like two angry possums isn’t gonna solve a thing.” She pointed toward the emergency ward, bracelets clanging at her wrist. “We’ve got a child in their fighting for her life. She needs all the support she can get, and I demand you two put your differences aside and focus on what’s important.” She checked with Felicity, as if seeking her agreement.

  Felicity nodded, her green eyes glistening.

  “There’s plenty enough time later to argue over who deserves what. Right now, we’ve got to come together, bow our heads and pray for Casey.” Ashley reached out and grabbed hold of Annie and Delaney, drawing them to either side of her. Felicity filled in between her mother and Annie. “We’re family,” Ashley declared and bowed her platinum head of hair. “Let’s start acting like it.”

  Nick was waiting for Delaney at the cabin when she arrived home. The sight of his car parked near Ernie’s was a welcome sight—more so than she could have imagined. Like a mountaintop breath of fresh air, the knowledge that Nick was here to help her through this maze of legal wrangling and emotional bribery eased her spirit. Throughout the entire ordeal, Nick had managed a calm mind, a firm hand—a can-do attitude. Unfortunately, it was more than she could say for herself.

  Delaney hurried up the last stretch of trail, looking forward to losing herself in his capable arms. She had dropped Felicity off at Travis and Troy’s home, securing Betty Ann Parker’s promise to drive Felicity home after dinner. In the wake of Casey’s tragedy, Felicity wanted to be with the boys. And Delaney? She wanted to be with Nick.

  He met her at the door with the warm hug she had been yearning for. “Delaney...” he murmured her name into the top of her head and squeezed her to him.

  She slid her arms around him, the hard line of his body warm and reassuring as she buried her face in his chest.

  Nick squeezed harder and asked, “Is she okay?”

  She will be, Delaney thought. But as it stood, Casey was facing an uphill battle. According to Ashley, this wasn’t the girl’s first experience with drugs. She’d dabbled with pills before, but never to this extent. “I hope so.”

  Nick pulled away and peered into her face. He brushed the hair from her eyes, glided his thumb over her cheek. “You look tired. Come in and let me get you something to eat.”

  The offer pulled a smile from her. Nick was in her home, offering her something to eat? She shook her head. Now there’s a twist! A twist she liked.

  It was a twist she liked. Nick helped Delaney pull the boots from her feet, taking the pistol from her as he escorted her inside and onto the sofa. He set her gun on the end table and settled in beside her. He gathered her in his arms and asked, “What’ll it be? Cornbread? Grits? What do you southern girls eat around here when in need of some comfort?

  Nestled in his warmth, Delaney laughed. “Would you know how to make either one?”

  “Not exactly.” Nick returned a sheepish grin, rendering his tough masculine features to boyish innocence. “It was a side of him she enjoyed. But I’m always game for experimenting. Found a half-baked loaf in the oven.”

  “Didn’t have a lot of notice when I left.” Delaney leaned into his shoulder, burrowing into the crux of his chest and arm. “Thanks for the offer to cook, but I’m not hungry.”

  “Glass of wine?” he asked. Pulling the elastic band from her hair, he stroked the length of it.

&nb
sp; She laid her head against him. Such a simple gesture, but she found it incredibly soothing. After their nights together, his tender way of lovemaking, she found him incredibly soothing. “I think I’d like to sit for a while.” She looked up at him. “If you don’t mind?”

  He gently pushed her head back. “Not a bit. This works perfectly for me.”

  The two sat in silence for several moments, the wooden interior of her cabin painted in gold as sunlight simmered into evening. Delaney contemplated the best way to broach the subject of Annie’s threat. The fact that she had the audacity to bring Jeremiah into the picture terrified Delaney. As Ernie’s direct descendent, Jeremiah Ladd was the one person Delaney feared could interfere with her daughter’s future with regard to Ladd Springs.

  “Why so tense, Delaney?” Nick asked, rubbing his hands up and down her arms, the length of her thighs. “What’s the matter?”

  Everything. She hugged him closer, relishing the solid feel of him, the warmth of his body. Nothing. Not with you by my side.

  Nick slid a hand along her cheek and pushed the hair away from her neck. He massaged the muscles along her neck and shoulders, his large hands pulling the tension from her, replacing it with desire. It felt good to have Nick touch her, but right now, she needed his brain. With a fierce squeeze, she pulled away from him—but not too far. She needed the feel of his body next to hers, the sense the two were connected, that they were a team. “Annie made some threats at the hospital this afternoon.”

  “Threats?” Black eyes and brows gathered like a building storm on the horizon. “What kind of threats?”

  Gazing into the depths of his dark gaze, hot, fluid—unreadable—Delaney hesitated. After all, she and Nick weren’t family. They might be becoming important to one another, but they weren’t family. She searched Nick’s eyes, as though she could detect the truth. She wanted to trust him, to build a future together. She knew Jeb had most likely been lying to save his own skin, but... After all, how much did she really know about the man?

  Nick moved the hair from her eyes. “Talk to me, Delaney. Something’s going on, I can see it.”

  “Annie threatened to call Jeremiah.”

  “Jeremiah?”

  “Ernie’s son.”

  “I thought you said no one would call him?”

  Delaney didn’t like the sudden pour of concern into Nick’s eyes. Tentatively, she revealed, “Annie says Ernie doesn’t have the power to transfer title to Felicity without his son’s approval. Something about the fine print.”

  Nick stiffened. “And you believe her?”

  “I don’t know,” she answered meekly.

  “Listen,” he said, and pulled her up from the sofa. “Enough of this negative talk. We’ll deal with things when and if they arise. In the meantime, I have something for you.”

  She paused, swamped by confusion. “Have something for me?”

  “Yes. I’ve been waiting for the right time, but there doesn’t seem to be a right time around here.”

  Delaney followed Nick over to the kitchen island where his briefcase sat. He reached into the outer pocket of the soft leather bag and pulled out a small velvet box. A quick lump formed in her throat. Oh my—was he proposing? Her pulsed skyrocketed through her chest, her limbs. He opened the box, and her heartbeats fluttered wildly. Inside laid a gold pendant. “Nick?”

  “I had this made from the gold piece I chipped off from the rock in the woods.” Nick pulled it free, gathering the delicate chain in his fingers. “It’s a wishing well.”

  “A wishing well?” she asked, trying to unravel the odd look in his eyes.

  “Yes.” He unclasped the chain and placed it around her neck. The brush of his fingers tingled across her skin as they secured the chain behind her neck. Drawing his hands forward, he tenderly held her face and gazed into her eyes. “I want you to think about all your hopes for the future, all the possibilities that await you in life.”

  Delaney touched the petite chunk of gold at her collarbone, the metal cool and heavy against her skin, heedless to the tremble of her hand. “You had this made?”

  He nodded. “After I had it tested for authenticity, I had the jeweler in town form it into a wishing well.” Admiring the piece, he said, “He does good work.”

  Delaney laughed nervously and fiddled with the pendant, she said, “He’s been there for years.”

  “Well, it looks great.” Nick dropped his gaze to her lips. “You look great,” he murmured, then kissed her, soft and sweet. Delaney’s insides melted and she privately scorned her ridiculous leap to conclusion. Propose. They’d only been together a few weeks!

  But truth be known, Delaney would have said yes.

  Nick’s dark eyes moved between the pendant at her breast and her face. He rubbed his thumb over her fingers and murmured, “Diamonds would suit you, too.”

  # # #

  The End