by Jen Talty
“I called the Utica Station and told them about your father. They told me you took a temporary transfer up here. I took a chance you might be in the office, or if not, at least someone might be able to get you a message. Your dad is in really bad shape and he wants to see you.”
Jake sighed as he leaned against the Jeep and folded his arms. “I doubt that. It’s you who wants me to see him, which is why you keep coming around.” Standing so close to her, smelling her vanilla shampoo and coconut body wash, reminded him of leisurely rides through the trails, then breaking out in a full gallop as they passed into the line of trees heading up the hill toward the main barn. The one thing he truly did miss about his past life was her and horses.
Mostly her.
“Might be why I come around now, but not right after you left. I visited then because I still wanted you, but I gave that idea up when you slammed the door in my face the last time I saw you.”
“I got my point across.”
“Should have done that before you took me to bed,” she said softly. “That was really a dick move.”
“We were both drunk.”
“Not the point,” she said. “And not so drunk we didn’t know what we were doing.”
She had him there. He had known exactly what was going on, but when he woke up, and she was in his bed, it all came crashing down on him once more. “What happened to my father?” he asked.
“He drank some coffee in the barn office. Next thing I knew he was on the ground, grabbing his throat, coughing up blood. They said it was lye poisoning.”
“Christ, that’s bad,” Jake said. “Where was the poison?”
“They found traces of it in the coffee machine.”
“Doesn’t take much of that to do some serious harm.” He rubbed his unshaven face. “You occupy my old office, right?”
“I do.” She reached out and laced her long fingers around his bicep. Her palm was callused from hard labor, but her hand was still warm and tender. “Your father is stable, but the poison, its done so much damage. They don’t know if he’ll ever fully recover. Don’t let those hurtful words you both spoke years ago be the last thing you ever say to each other.”
He had relived that day over and over again in his mind over the years. It still haunted him how easily his father let him go, not once reaching out. Stubborn old mule. “Why do you care?” But what hurt more was she had chosen that farm over him.
“I care about your dad,” she said, staring at Jake with her dark eyes. “I once cared a great deal about you, too.”
“That was always the problem. You chose him over me.”
“That’s not true.” She climbed into the Jeep. “I promised your father I’d talk you into coming to see him. Please don’t make me go back and tell him you’re not coming.”
“I’ll think about it,” he said. “I need you to tell me something. He was poisoned a few days ago, but you called me two weeks ago saying we needed to talk. Why? What else is so important that you couldn’t just tell me over the phone or in a text?”
“Not here. We’ll talk after you see your dad. You can come now, yes?”
“I’ll go see him now.”
The Jeep engine revved to life. She slammed the stick shift into reverse before backing up, while he was still leaning on the hood. He nearly fell over.
He had to find out what else had been so important that she’d begged him to call her back. Kenzie Chorley never begged for anything her life.
2
Kenzie stood at the door to Ethan’s hospital room. His pale face blended in with the sheets.
Quietly, she stepped inside, closing the curtain behind her. Ethan lay on his back, an IV hung from the metal stand next to his bed, pumping him full of all sorts of things, trying to flush the toxins from his system.
“Hello,” he whispered, eyes still closed. “Did you track him down?”
“He should be here any minute.”
Ethan turned his head, his pale blue eyes moist. “Is he coming for me or for you?”
She looked toward the door and gasped when she saw Jake standing in the doorway. She hadn’t expected him to show up minutes after her.
“I came for you, Dad.” Jake stood in the middle of the doorway, hands deep in his pockets. His gaze darted between his father and her.
“Did you tell him?” Ethan whispered.
“Your father thinks the poison was meant for me, not him.” She wasn’t ready to tell him about the baby, and certainly not in front of his father.
“Why?” Jake didn’t move. He just stood there. Staring at her. Daring her to look away. A game he liked playing, pushing his powerful weight around. Something he’d learned from his father. “What would anyone gain from hurting you?”
Ethan laughed, but it came out more like a cough. “I changed my will.”
“I figured you’d leave the farm to her.” Jake’s grave tone prickled her skin and his words scorched her brain. “Still doesn’t explain why someone would want to poison her.”
“I didn’t leave the farm to her. At least not out right.”
“You can’t mean you’re still leaving it to me?” Jake asked, wide-eyed. “I don’t want the farm. I don’t want anything from you. She does and she’s worked it harder than I ever had.”
“I’m not blood,” she said, swallowing her pride. “It was always supposed to stay with blood, or be sold off.”
“That’s just stupid,” Jake said, shaking his head. “Why don’t you just leave it to Kenzie? Wills are easily changed. No big deal.”
“I told you. I did change it.” Ethan’s voice was so soft it was barely audible.
“How?” Jake asked, inching closer. “Be specific, please.”
She looked at Ethan, focusing on his kind, soft features. Looked like she was going to have to lay it all out there. “Everything goes to your heir,” she said, forcing her tone to be level and strong, though her hands trembled, telling a different story.
“I don’t have an heir and I still don’t understand why someone would want to poison Kenzie if she’s not named in the will.”
Kenzie swallowed the sob that bubbled to her throat. She lifted her eyelids, looking up at the powerful man she once loved. The same man that three months ago seemed to enjoy a trip down memory lane, revisiting what they had together, but then just as quickly, decided it wasn’t worth the trouble. “I am named in the will. Indirectly.” She placed a hand over her lower abdomen, staring at him with an all knowing glare.
He cocked his head, scratching the side of his cheek. “No. You can’t be.”
She couldn’t form any words, so she simply nodded.
“Are you trying to tell me that you’re pregnant? How?” His face drained of all color, looking as pale as his father.
She held her head high. “When we were together last—”
“I remember,” Jake muttered. His lips drawn tight. “Are you sure?”
“I know this is a lot to take in.” She thought the wretched ache she carried in the pit of her stomach would evaporate when she told him, but instead it grew deeper and darker.
“You have no idea,” Jake said. He leaned against the doorjamb, rubbing his temples. “When exactly did dad make these new provisions?”
“As soon as I found out I was pregnant, about two weeks ago.” Kenzie focused on Jake’s strong profile.
“We were together over three months ago, and you just found this out a couple of weeks ago? I find that hard to believe.”
“I’ll explain that in private.” She expected he wouldn’t believe her, and she was fine with that. She knew who the baby’s father was, and that was all that mattered.
“Okay,” Jake said with a shrug of his shoulders, as if he didn’t care one way or the other. “And true to form, you told him before you thought to tell me?”
“You didn’t answer my calls.” She clenched her hands.
“I was on vacation.”
“Good for you,” she said.
J
ake shook his head. “Let’s get back to the will. Was the wording generic when it comes to a grandchild, or did you lay it out?”
“I laid it out,” Ethan said with a raspy tone. “But didn’t name Kenzie.”
“What do the police think?” Jake continued look down, pressing his fingers against his temples, occasionally glancing in her direction with a judgmental glare.
“They have two theories,” she said, almost wishing she hadn’t brought Jake to the hospital. He’d always been a quiet man, which some took as moody.
Perhaps they were right.
“Either, I tried to kill your dad, or I’m the target.”
“They know you’re pregnant? Are you really sure it’s mine?”
“Positive.” She’d expected him to question the paternity, but never did she think he’d do it in front of his father.
“Who else knows you’re pregnant?” he asked.
“Just us three, my doctor, and a couple of detectives.”
“You have the cops contact information?” Jake pushed himself from the wall, shoving his hands deep in his pockets.
“We do. Why?”
He tilted his head. His brow pinched, wrinkling his forehead. His lips drawn tight.
She’d seen that look before when he’d left her ten years ago. That look didn’t hear a word anyone uttered.
“I’m going to have a chat with them,” Jake said, staring her down, as if he indented to make her small and inconsequential. “Find out what they have, don’t have. I’ve noticed there is security here for Dad, but what about the farm? You shouldn’t be there alone.”
“I’m not leaving the farm,” she said, lifting her chin, making sure he knew the pride, commitment, and respect she had for the land he once called home.
“Someone tried to kill one of you at the farm. It’s not safe for you, dad, or the baby.”
Well, at least he acknowledged its existence.
“We still have a business to run and I can’t do that if I’m somewhere else.”
“One of the troopers at the station knows a private detective. I’ll call her and get someone at the farm twenty-four seven, not just for protection, but to help figure out who did this.”
Ethan squeezed her hand and said, “Jake, you should come stay at the farm.”
“I plan on it,” Jake said. It was more like a growl, showing his deflation by the idea. “I’ll make some phone calls, talk with the detectives, go collect some of my things. Let someone know I’ll be at the house this evening and I’ll be staying with you…” He pointed to Kenzie. “…in the cabin.”
“That place is not big enough for the both of us,” Kenzie said, heat rising to her cheeks.
“That didn’t seem to bother you when I lived there.”
“You really are an ass.” She mentally shot daggers at the center of his chest.
“Stop it,” Ethan said, coughing. “Both of you.” He looked at her with the same blue-green eyes Jake had, but his showed deep concern…and sorrow. “We need his help. Don’t be a stubborn old fool like I have been. Do it his way.” He turned his head. “Thank you. You look good, son.”
Jake moved to the side of the bed. “I wish I could say the same.”
Ethan smiled.
“Get some rest, Dad. I’ll come by tomorrow.”
“I appreciate it,” Ethan said, wheezing between syllables.
Jake reached out and took his father’s hand. “I’ll get whoever did this. I promise you that.” He pointed to the Kenzie. “Can I have a word with you?”
She took in a deep breath and followed Jake out the door and down the hallway. He didn’t turn and look at her, just kept walking until he found a small corner across from the elevators. He leaned against the windowsill. A long silence filled the dingy corridor.
“It meant a lot to him that you showed up,” she said to break the silence. It had always made her nuts how Jake could sit quietly for hours when he was mad at someone. “He’s been talking a lot about you lately. He misses you.”
“He doesn’t look good at all.”
“He looks better than he did a few days ago, that’s for sure.” Sadness seeped into her pores.
“What does everyone at the farm know about what happened to my dad?” He looked out the window, never glancing her way.
She leaned against the windowsill and tugged her hat off, letting her hair fall wild. Her eyes burned from sleep deprivation. Her stomached ached from lack of nutrition. “No more or less than me. A lot of people are afraid. It’s made for a volatile work environment and for many of our summer programs, people just aren’t showing up.”
“I can see how this would put a damper on some aspects of the business,” he said. “Is there anything I should know? Any problems? Anything out of the ordinary?”
“Its business as usual.” Sitting here, with him, discussing business like they still worked together, didn’t do anything to ease her growing fear he was going to fly off the handle at any minute. Another one of his flaws. His father had called him a hot-head his whole life. In some cases, he’d been correct.
“Can you think of anyone that would want to hurt you or dad?”
“I can think of a lot of people who don’t like me,” she said. “When you left and I stepped in as COO, it pissed off more than a few people.”
“Did he even consider anyone else for the job?” Jake asked, still staring out the window at the blue sky.
“Not really.” Tears threatened to sneak out form the corner of her eyes. There was a part of her that would always love Jake.
“Any new hires that seem off?”
God, he could be so annoying with his questions. He’d been like this before he became a cop, and now it just seemed to get worse. “Higher level jobs we’ve only hired a few new people. One is a great breeder that came recommended from a farm in Central New York. He’s quiet. Keeps to himself, but I don’t think that constitutes odd.”
“Does he seem happy at the farm?”
“I’d say so.”
“What about farm hands?” Jake continued his line of questioning, making her feel more and more like a suspect, or at the very least, a person of interest, as one detective called it.
“Kicker deals with most of them, but we still have a very low turnover rate and into this season, everyone came back, so no new hires.”
“What else? Tell me anything you can think of that might help us narrow down suspects.”
She sighed. “Charlie is worried about Jordan Thatcher.”
“Why?”
“He’s stolen some of our business, working with trainers in Saratoga.” With all the focus on the poisoning over the fact she’d just told him he was going to be a father added to her already frazzled nerves, which were about to erupt in flames, directed at him.
“He’s always been our biggest rival. We’ve taken their business over the years, too.”
“Thatcher tried to buy the property on the west side of the creek. We got it. Pissed him off and it’s been a toxic fight ever since.”
“You mentioned that once,” he said, turning his head and for the first time since they left the hospital room, he made eye contact. “Has my dad pissed off anyone else lately?”
“Ethan’s changed. He wants to make things right.”
He sat on the windowsill next to her.
“Because of you.” He pointed to her stomach. “And I bet because of the baby.”
“That might have something to do with it, but it started before I told him. I think me being pregnant made his decision to swallow his pride easier,” she admitted. She’d been prepared for a screaming match of sorts with Jake. For him to accuse her of lying. That the baby wasn’t his. She’d been prepared for anything but Mr. Calm. “He’s tired and knows he made a mistake, but he’s more stubborn than you.”
Jake laughed. “In almost ten years, he’s not once reached out. Does he even know what I’ve done with my life?”
“Do you know what he’s done in the last te
n years?”
“I know some.”
“You didn’t even know he was in the hospital,” she said, wishing she could take back her accusatory tone, but one would have to live on a different planet not to know Ethan Prichard was in the hospital.
“Until today, most people I work with didn’t know he’s my father and I spent two weeks in a cabin with no Internet or phone or anything. I would have found out today at some point, I’m sure,” he said.
“Once you found out he was here, would you have come?”
“Honestly?” He glanced between his hands and her. “Yes. He was poisoned. My job is to protect and serve, and he’s still my father. I can’t erase that. I am human.”
“All right.” It wasn’t the answer she wanted, but it was an honest one and she valued that.
“Your turn,” he said.
“For what?”
“Honesty,” he replied with a stern scowl. “Was this what you were calling about two weeks ago?” He raised his forefinger, gently tapped her belly, then retreated.
“Yes.” She sucked in a breath. While his touch was brief, the feeling lingered. “You’re taking this better than I thought you would.”
“You’d rather I get mad? Yell at you? Storm off?” He continued to hold her gaze. “Because I’ve thought about that and if my father wasn’t lying in a hospital bed, I just might have. And since we’re on the subject, I think it was pretty shitty to tell me in front of my father.”
“Are you kidding. You pushed me into it and besides, if you had just answered my calls instead of sending me a nasty text message, that could have been avoided.”
“It wasn’t nasty,” he said under his breath. “It was direct.”
“I called you from the doctor’s office minutes after I was told,” her voice screeched two octaves higher. “You were the first person I wanted to tell, but you couldn’t pull your head out of your own ass.”
“Maybe if you had done what I asked years ago and stopped coming around, none of this would have happened,” he said, folding his arms across his chest.
Her heart sank. “I’m not going to do this with you.” She twisted her hair between her fingers, trying to calm her raging pulse. “I’m having this baby.”
