“Well, you’re not going to be living with me when you’re old and gray. I’ve raised you.” He hadn’t, but her grandpa had. Penny said nothing. “I’m going to get my momma’s house, and you’ll never be welcome there. Especially if you don’t marry Dutch here like you promised.”
“I never promised Dutch anything. He asked, and I told him that I would give him an answer someday. Well, I did. Today. Not marrying him might be healthier for him than being married to me. Because as surely as I’m standing here, I’d have to kill him before the wedding vows were said.”
Sitting outside with her grandpa, she told him that she wasn’t marrying. He told her good and that he loved her. She loved this man as much as she would ever love anyone and told him that.
“I hope you find yourself someone that you can love and that will love you back, child. There is no greater joy than being in love.” Rocking in the chair, she asked him about her grandma. “She never loved anyone more than she did whatever project she was doing at the time. Wendy was a good mom, I suppose. But the more I think on that, I’m not so sure she was as good as I thought. Those boys of hers, Tony and James, they ain’t worth the spit that it takes to seal an envelope up if you ask me. Your daddy still hitting you?”
“Not as much since I’ve started pulling out my gun rather than waiting for him to drawback. Uncle James too. If I ever have the chance to shoot him, I plan on hitting him where his brains are. Right in his ass.” They both laughed. That was something that she had always enjoyed about Grandpa Joe, he’d let her be herself. “I spoke to Chandler yesterday when I went by there to find you. He seems like a nice guy.”
“There’s a good man. He has himself a wife now, and a little girl. That whole family is one you can depend on.” He looked at her then. “If these men give you too much trouble, you go to the Bishops, Penny. It won’t matter to them at all if it’s dark as coffee or bright in the day, you find one of them and be safe for me. Promise me that. You tell Emmie that too.”
“I will. And I promise.” Grandpa Joe looked out over the fields as she told him what the director had told her about Grandma’s funeral arrangements. “I didn’t think she’d have paid it off.”
“She didn’t. I did it. I paid off the ones for your daddy and uncle too. I made the arrangements with Mr. Benson when your grannie passed on, thinking that I’d like to have it all done and paid for in the event that I was gone and you were left holding the bills in your hands. A parent is never to outlive their children, honey. Not at all.”
“I’m so sorry, Grandpa Joe. My heart breaks for you.” He nodded, and she hugged him. When her cell went off, she answered the call from Emmie. After hanging up, she told him where Emmie was. “She must have heard you or something. She’s bedded down at the house of Wesley Bishop. She said that she was going to sleep there and then hide out in the morning. She’ll keep in touch with me.”
“You don’t tell them others. Not even your daddy. He’ll tell them Donnellys sure as I’m sitting here.” Penny agreed with him. “Also, I wanted to let you in on something. The house that your grandma was living in? There ain’t gonna be nobody getting that but you. Your name is on the deed, just like those buildings and the one that I work in downtown. You paid for them, and there isn’t any reason them meatheads should be getting anything. I’d not tell them today or even soon about it. They’ll find out soon enough when they hear from the lawyer that I hired to let them know.”
“Dad was bragging how he was going to be living in Grandma’s house when this was done, and that I’d not be welcome. I wish I could see his face when he figures out that he’s getting less than nothing from his mother’s estate. She only had a place to stay because I provided her with it.” Grandpa Joe told her that was all he had too. “Yes, but I love you. I only liked her. She was as mean as a rattlesnake, too, you know.”
“I do. I’m sitting here thinking about all the things that I didn’t want to think about. Like she wasn’t one to hold down a job, not on account of her being lazy, but because she had herself a record.” Penny knew that as well. “Penny, I’m thinking that we did you wrong somehow in not raising them better than we did.”
“Don’t say that, Grandpa Joe. Please, don’t say that. As Grannie used to tell me, I’m what I am because of the way I was raised. And living with you and her was the best thing that ever happened to me. My dad sure didn’t seem to have a knack for being a good parent. He was a terrible person my whole life.” Grandpa Joe said he didn’t want to think about what might have happened to her had they not gone to his place that day. “You saved my life. You’ve always been there for me. Even after you spoke to him about how he’d left an infant only three weeks old in a crib for two days, he seemed to think it was all right that I lived. Like he had something to do with that.”
“They’re all good for nothing. I can see that now. My heart, it was making things seem a little better when I didn’t want to see it. Now that it’s sort of hitting me in the face, I see all kinds of things that I wish I’d done something about. It’s too late for me to do anything, but you keep on your toes about them. I don’t trust any of them.” She said she didn’t either. “I’ve given Chandler my practice. I signed it all over to him a few months ago. I knew that he’d be the best man for the job. He thinks my kids didn’t want it when in truth, I’ve no idea what they would have done to it but run it in the ground.”
The door opened behind them, and neither of them spoke. It was James again. He told her that she needed to get in the house and deal with them some dinner. She just stared at him.
“Did you hear me? I need something to eat. Grandpa has plenty here for us to eat, and you’re going to come in and fix it up.” She told him to fuck off. “Well, you sure do have yourself a mouth on you when Grandpa Joe is around, don’t you? Penny, I’m not shitting you. Get in here and make some dinner or else.”
He stood there for several minutes until she got up. When James went into the house, she told Grandpa Joe they were leaving. He asked her where they were going as he stood up to follow.
“I’m hungry too. And since I have no intentions of feeding them all, you and I will go and get us something. I don’t even care if it’s the leftover pizza that I have in my apartment. We’ll get something. All right?” They were to the car when she realized that the house might be a mess by the time they returned. “I’m calling in reinforcements for the house too. We’ll stay at my place for a couple of days, and make sure that they’re all out of the house so they won’t burn it to the ground.”
Grandpa Joe was laughing as they pulled out of the driveway. Pulling out her phone, she had him make the call and put it on speakerphone so that she could talk to them while she drove.
“Hey, Michael. I’m sure you heard about my grandma dying yesterday.” He said that he had and that he was sorry. She and Michael had gone to school together. “I am as well. I was wondering if you could go by Grandpa Joe’s house and make sure that it’s locked up tight for him. He’s going to be spending a few days at my place so that we can think. There are people there that don’t need to be hanging around his home and stealing from him while he’s down.”
“Who’s all out there?” She told him. “Good. I have an outstanding warrant for Dutch. I hope to Christ you’re not really marrying him, are you?”
“No. I’m not. I have no idea why I didn’t just tell him that straight out.” Michael said that he’d take care of them. “Thank you so much. If you could go by there once in a while, I’d be happy.”
“I was going to see if Wesley could go out there too. His place isn’t too far from your grandpa’s, so that should keep it safe enough. He’ll tell that family of his, and it’ll be as safe as a baby when Mr. Joseph returns.” She thanked him for that. “I wanted to also tell you that in addition to the warrant out for Dutch, there is one for your daddy. I’ll be taking them both in. They might not be able to make the funeral, just a
heads up.”
Thanking him again, she smiled at Grandpa Joe when he said good. After closing the phone, they pulled into the parking lot of the Jim and Jam. It was a bar, but they had the best fish sandwich she’d ever eaten. Grandpa Joe was walking a little straighter when they entered.
It was going to be a long few days, but she was hoping that it would be safer now that they had some kind of backup. Penny called Emmie to tell her what they were doing, and she said that she’d pass on joining them. She said that she was going to head deep into the woods for a few days. Whatever that meant, Penny was all for it. The safer, the better for them all, she thought.
Before You Go…
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Kathi Barton, a winner of the Pinnacle Book Achievement award as well as a best-selling author on Amazon and All Romance books, lives in Nashport, Ohio, with her husband, Paul. When not creating new worlds and romance, Kathi and her husband enjoy camping and going to auctions. She can also be seen at county fairs with her husband, who is an artist and potter.
Her muse, a cross between Jimmy Stewart and Hugh Jackman, brings her stories to life for her readers in a way that has them coming back time and again for more. Her favorite genre is paranormal romance, with a great deal of spice. You can visit Kathi on line and drop her an email if you’d like. She loves hearing from her fans. [email protected].
Follow Kathi on her blog: http://kathisbartonauthor.blogspot.com/
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chandler: Bishop’s Snowy Leap – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance (Bishop's Snowy Leap Book 2) Page 15
