It hurts me deeply, because I become aware of it being just a dream, just a way for my brain to process the day’s thoughts and events. This has been bugging me for a while—a desire to be more with her while dreading the moment she leaves. Our marriage isn’t real.
I open my eyes, and sunlight creeps golden through the cream drapes. My heart aches. Maybe the dream was my mind’s way of putting me off this idea of Michelle and me being more than we are, but all it did was make me want it even more.
I turn over, my throat slowly closing up as I find Michelle watching me. Her full lips stretch into a lazy smile. I kiss her. Over and over, I kiss her. We’re a perfect match, fitting like minutely designed pieces.
We stay like this for a while, saying nothing… just… waking up to the beginning of the end.
If everything goes well in court today, Michelle will pack her bag and leave.
I don’t want that. I understand what this nagging feeling is, now.
“Stay,” I tell her. It’s still early. Maybe seven. Maybe a quarter to seven. It’s nippy, and we’re naked beneath the smooth covers, bodies knotted together, legs tangled, skin on skin and hearts beating as one. “Stay, Michelle. Stay a little longer.”
She raises her head to look at me. “Daley… Do you mean it?”
“Stay.” I mean it with everything I’ve got. “We’ll figure the rest out, eventually, just… don’t go yet. I don’t know, a few more days, a week, two, whatever you can give me, I’ll take it.”
“Let’s get Cline out of the way, then we can plan the rest of our lives,” Michelle says, palm splaying across my chest. She kisses me, and it feels like a resounding yes.
I’ve fallen too deep and too fast.
I don’t know how I’m going to work this out.
But Michelle doesn’t want to leave too quickly, either. That much has just become obvious.
My heart’s about to soar, but I dare not dream the wildest dreams. My head’s a mess. The idea of her going back to Minneapolis and me following her is ludicrous—that much my subconscious has already made clear.
Would I do it, though?
Would she stay here for me?
It seems as though the idea of us being together demands a life-changing sacrifice from one of us. Will Michelle do it? Will she leave her career for me? Good Lord, that would make me a monster. I wouldn’t dare ask, yet I just did. I asked her to stay. But she didn’t tell me no, either. Hope is a fickle and dangerous thing.
Perhaps I should wait until I know my land is still mine.
Then, I can ask again, but differently.
It’s probably why she didn’t say the “yes” part out loud. I asked the wrong question.
Chapter 18
Michelle
Something is on his mind.
There’s plenty on mine, too, as we drive back up the mountain. It’s been an incredible week, and everything has changed. There’s no way I can return to my old life and pretend none of this happened. Daley has become a powerful presence, and I don’t think I want this thing between us to come to an end. Logistically, however, it’s a nightmare. The mere fact that he asked me to stay “a little longer” just proves it.
I want to. God, I want to stay here forever.
But my dreams, my own ideas of how I want to live… I put myself through law school for a reason. What would happen to my career if I move here?
Then again, Daley didn’t ask me to move here, only to stick around. I don’t understand what that means. I only know that what we started has turned into something much bigger and stranger and more beautiful than anticipated. Neither of us knows what to do with it, though. We both clearly want more…
“It’s a shame Judge Massey wasn’t at the courthouse yet,” I say, the road ahead opening wide and sunny. I get the feeling it’s going to be a beautiful day, or so I hope, at least. Hope, my dad says, is dangerous. “But at least we have the papers filed to push for a hearing.”
“Do you think he’ll grant it?” Daley asks, one hand resting on the wheel.
“I’d say yes. Just because Durbin approved the eviction order doesn’t mean Massey can’t overrule it. On the contrary, that was the whole purpose of the appeal. Whether you got married last week or today, it shouldn’t matter. We submitted the marriage certificate, so technically… the Bachelor Amendment should no longer apply, despite the age specification.”
In theory it sounds brilliant, but the amendment is tricky because so much of it is left open to interpretation, and a part of me is worried that today’s effort won’t translate into an irreversible success. I am determined to see this through, however, and I have already heard from two different attorneys who are ready to join me in the fight against the Bachelor Amendment.
“If we’re lucky,” I tell Daley, “come next year, we’ll push a repeal of the Bachelor Amendment altogether. I’m sure we’ll get enough signatures.”
We drive past the farms skirting the mountain—sprawling acres of green and gold beneath the sunny skies, rolling orchards with branches weighed down by juicy plums and ripe vineyards, begging to be plucked, the grapes big and round and bursting with flavor. I can almost taste them as we leave the last winery behind and begin our ascent.
Daley keeps looking my way, but never when I’m looking back.
I wish I knew what he’s thinking. My answer earlier wasn’t the greatest, but I don’t really know how this dynamic of ours will play out. We can’t get enough of each other; that much is clear. Is it enough to sustain a relationship, though, when we’re living completely different and overall incompatible lives? I want this to work, somehow. I’m fuzzy on the particulars.
“I know I’ve said this before, Michelle, but thank you. No matter what happens, just having you here in my life and on my side, I’m better for it.”
His words strike deep and exactly where they’re supposed to. I hear the tremor in his voice. The treble of anxiousness. He means it.
“We’re going to figure this out,” I reply. “One way or another, we’ll get through this.”
“And then you’ll head back to Minneapolis.”
There it is. It has been waiting for us since we first kissed. The resentment of an undeniable future that neither of us wants yet is bound to come to pass.
“Daley…”
“No, it’s fine. I get it. We both knew this… this came with an expiration date.” He hates having to say this, I can tell. “I asked you to stay, earlier. That was selfish. I apologize.”
I sense him closing up. “You don’t have to apologize. It’s a tempting offer, but… my job. My life. It’s all there in Minneapolis.”
Silence falls heavily between us. Emptiness. Unspoken sadness.
We saw this coming, yet we averted our eyes and dared delude ourselves with what-if propositions and crazy dreams. Now, reality has returned, bitter as ever, ready to remind us that we’re creatures of different worlds and habits. Our bodies, our souls… they might fit perfectly together, but our habitats demand something else.
I’d probably lose my mind on this mountain, eventually. Or in Dickinson. I don’t know. I’ve never lived in small places, so every argument I have against a life with Daley is purely theoretical—with the exception of one absolute truth.
It was a week ago that we met. No matter how we feel, we cannot and should not let the current circumstances decide how we’re going to live out the rest of our lives.
“It’s way too soon.” I sigh, hating myself for having to spell it out—not for him but for myself. “We don’t need to rush anywhere. It’s not like I live in Alaska.”
“I did say I’d visit,” Daley concedes after a while.
“And I’ll happily come hiking.”
We look at each other again, and it seems like we’re reaching some kind of middle ground. My heart demands more, but my core buzzes with newfound energy. This sounds like a good compromise. A solid base to start with. Long-distance relationships are doomed to not work, but maybe we can k
eep it light and breezy and fun.
I’m already imagining how a visit in Minneapolis would play out. He’d ravish me first and foremost. We’d make love on my bed and on the sofa and everywhere else, for that matter. We wouldn’t leave the house for at least a day, maybe two. And then… I’d take him around the city to show him why I’d have a hard time leaving everything behind.
The forest road tightens, civilization left behind, now. It will be noon in a minute, and I’m getting peckish.
There’s barely anything certain about us at this point, but we have good and honorable intentions. It’s a decent starting point, not that it does much to soothe the ache in my chest. Deep down, I have to admit… I will need much more of him than what I am willing to take.
“What the…” Daley’s voice trails off.
I follow his troubled gaze as we pull up at the bottom of the path leading up to the cabin. There are several cars already parked here—a couple of SUVs, a van, and the sheriff’s squad Jeep.
My stomach tightens in a most uncomfortable pretzel, anticipating something… I’m not sure what, but it doesn’t look good.
“Daley,” I manage as we get out and rush up the path.
“No, no, no!” he cries out and bolts toward the cabin. Except… there’s not much of a cabin left.
Oh, good grief. My heart shatters into a billion pieces as I come face to face with a new reality.
Lauren and Deputy Banner are the first to grab Daley by the arms and hold him back.
“I’m sorry, Daley, it’s done. They had court orders and a direct note from the judge,” the sheriff tells him, but he can’t hear her. Daley has lost himself, and for good reason.
There are a dozen workers carrying stuff out of the house and making an inventory, while a dozen more are already tearing parts of the cabin down, one log at a time. Cline and Sykes stand by Daley’s workspace, arms crossed and smug smirks telling me everything I need to know.
I think I’m going to be sick.
“What the hell did you do?” I hiss, unwilling to forgive Lauren for this. “We just filed an appeal and an injunction with Judge Massey!”
“Durbin’s order precedes it,” Lauren replies, struggling to keep a raging Daley away.
Some of the workers glance at us, somewhat unhappy with what they’re being paid to do. My guess is they know him. They know what this means. My heart. Oh, my heart hurts. I can only imagine how Daley’s feeling.
Lauren is shaking her head. “I’m sorry. I tried to ditch these bastards on Friday, but Sykes came after me first thing this morning with an additional set of paperwork. He and Cline went all the way up to Durbin’s winter cabin on the other side of the park to get him to sign. I couldn’t do anything.”
“Damn you,” Daley curses, and I can barely recognize him.
Fury and despair twist his features, darkening his eyes and soul. All I can do is hope that the sheriff and her deputy are enough to hold my mountain man back.
I turn to face him, cupping his face with both hands. “Listen to me,” I try to say, but Daley yanks his head back, holding back tears as the sound of wood being torn off the main cabin structure echoes across the clearing.
“Jax!” he shouts from the bottom of his lungs. “Where’s my goddamn dog? The cats?! Why would you do this?” He looks to Cline, too. “I’ll kill you! You bastard, I should’ve shot you the moment you set foot on my porch!”
“Are you hearing this, sheriff?” Cline retorts, sneering back at Lauren.
“Be thankful I’m still holding him back!” she shoots their direction, and a flicker of fear dances across his and his lawyer’s faces. They know full well what would happen if she were to let go. “Daley, please, settle down.”
“The dog and the cats are secured in proper, safe cages,” Banner says. “I made sure they weren’t harmed.”
“Where are they?” I ask, trying to wrap my head around this.
Meanwhile, workers are cutting across the vegetable garden and crushing the last of the pumpkins and tomatoes in the process of carrying crates filled with things away from the cabin. Slowly, but surely, it will all be taken down by dusk, and it’s tearing me to bits because it renders my previous efforts useless. I can’t have that. I can’t let Cline win this.
“Already at the shelter on Henny Street,” Lauren says. “Daley, please, stop struggling. You’re not going anywhere.”
“I will never forgive you for this!” he snaps, fury burning cold in his eyes.
“It’s not over,” I tell him. “I’m not done here.”
It’s a promise, though I’m not sure what more I can do at this point. Legally, our hands are tied, but that’s only because the sheriff is present and able to enforce the eviction order previously signed by Durbin. I have an official receipt from court for the papers I filed to Massey, though. If Lauren is the sole figure of authority here, then maybe I can get her to—
“I told you I’d win,” Cline says, unable to help himself as he steps away from Sykes and saunters toward us. He has a dark blue suit on and a thick gray scarf wrapped around the chicken neck I know Daley wouldn’t hesitate to wring if given the opportunity.
Banner has a hard time holding him, now. The closer Cline gets, the angrier Daley becomes. The only thing that prevented carnage thus far was the distance between these two.
“Lauren,” I mutter. “This isn’t a good idea.”
“I told you I’d throw you out like a piece of trash,” Cline keeps gloating.
Daley just looks at him, suddenly still. Nowhere near calm, of course, but no one sees it until it’s too late. An image of Jax and the cats in cages flashes before my eyes before I see Daley slip out of the sheriff and the deputy’s hold.
“Daley, no!” I scream, but it’s too late.
He’s got Cline on the ground, crying out in pain. He punches the light out of him. Left hook, right hook. Something crackles, either one of Daley’s knuckles or one of Cline’s facial bones. Holy crap!
By the time Lauren and Banner grab Daley and pull him off Cline, it’s a tad late.
“This is assault! Attempted murder!” Sykes shrieks as he rushes to his dazed client’s side.
This is trouble, all right. The worst kind of trouble, too, because Cline can’t pull himself back up just yet, blood dripping from his eyebrow, his nose, and the bruised corner of his mouth. He’ll swell up in minutes, and I’m betting he has a concussion. Daley did not hold back.
I catch a glimpse of him as Lauren and Banner force him away from the cabin and down the path. He’s still struggling and cursing, bloodthirsty and nowhere near done with breaking Cline’s face. Alas, whether he likes it or not, it ends here.
I’m tearing up, terrified and unsure of how I can make this better. I promised I would keep fighting, but my mind is a blank. I’m frozen, my resolve lost in a cloud of confusion and utter shock.
We didn’t see this coming.
“I’ll be pressing charges,” Cline says as Sykes helps him sit up and offers him a handkerchief. The white tissue turns wet and crimson quickly. He’ll need a few stitches and a doctor’s attention, maybe an MRI, too. But these kinds of people make it hard to empathize with their plight when they behave so terribly.
“You’re a monster,” I reply.
My voice sounds like an echo at the bottom of a well. I’m succumbing to a strange and cold darkness, drowning in my own failure. I didn’t just tell Daley that a relationship between us is practically a nonstarter but that we could still visit… I also failed to see this coming.
Dammit. I should’ve anticipated this move from Cline. He was too desperate to take his land. Ready to tear the place down.
As the workers carry the fridge out, and as I hear the sheriff’s Jeep door shut down below, I understand that I came bare-handed to a knife fight.
“I’m a businessman,” Cline says defiantly. “And I know the law better than that oaf.”
“If you think the town’s gonna still like you after what you jus
t did, whew, boy, you’ve got another thing coming,” I retort, my synapses swiftly recovering their initial firing speed. My promise to Daley wasn’t empty. I meant every word.
“I don’t need the town to like me anymore,” Cline says. “I already got what I wanted.”
Except he doesn’t. Not really.
Not while I’m still standing, and I can tell from the alarmed look on Sykes’s face that he knows exactly what I am going to do.
Chapter 19
Daley
I’ve been standing on the edge of a cliff this whole time.
Blindfolded. Or willfully blind.
Either way, life as I knew it is over, and I never got my say in it. Here I am, sulking in the back of Lauren’s car, hands cuffed behind my back. My knuckles are torn and bleeding, but it felt good, if only for a moment, to punch that bastard’s face in.
Why would anyone do this? Why would anyone destroy another man’s livelihood the way he just did? And like a snake, too. Without anyone knowing. The rage within me has boiled over. The gates have been slammed open, and there is no way of stopping the deluge.
My very soul is broken beyond repair. My home. My dog. Poor Jax. Spark and Felix, too. What am I gonna do with them? Where am I gonna go? My things. My tools. My… life. It’s over. Michelle had honorable intentions, but I don’t see this going anywhere better. Simeon Cline won. At least I gave him a beating to remember.
Lauren stands by the car, with Banner back up there, overseeing the rest of the eviction. I hear the wood moaning and tearing as they pull the place apart. Years’ worth of love went into every nail and beam. Countless hours of care and polishing.
My whole history is crammed into that cabin, and they just… they just tore it down. My garden. My workshop. The pieces of furniture I was still working on. This is insane! My entire existence has been rudely and ruthlessly interrupted. This cannot be right…
“I will never forgive you,” I tell Lauren through the cracked window.
“Daley, I told you, I had no choice. They showed up with the paperwork, and I had to accompany them,” she says, shaking her head.
The Fake Bride Loophole - A Mountain Man Romance Page 12