“You fucking bitch.”
That was all the further Sawyer got before Dad stood in front of him. It was going to be bad, she knew it, and stood up with the help of Chandler, one of Sawyer’s brothers. She didn’t touch Sawyer because she could feel his cat. It was like a very large monster just on the edge of being released. Raven was glad that her dad stepped in.
“Get out of here right now.” He turned to her attorney and glared at him. “You go with her and put her in a hotel or something around here. When you do that, you let me know. I have a few things to take care of myself.”
“Yes sir.”
Raven was surprised when her mother left without a word. Usually this was where she started screaming about how she’d done nothing wrong. That she was an Addington and above people getting pissed at her.
As she was led out the door, Dad turned to her and Sawyer. “I’m working on keeping my temper under control here, so if I sound pissed at you, I don’t want you to take it that way.” Sawyer nodded and pulled her into his arms. “I’m glad to have you a part of his family, despite what my wife said. And if you’d be so kind as to come to my offices on Monday, I’d very much like to talk to you about a few things there as well.”
“Sir, this is only Saturday. If you don’t mind, I’d like to wait until at least Wednesday.” Dad looked confused, then nodded after his face turned a nice shade of red. “Thank you, sir. And thank you for having your wife escorted out.”
“Well, I don’t know how she found out, but you can bet your ass that I’ll take care of that person too.” Dad shook himself as if he needed to shake off the anger that he had. “I’m sorry, son, I truly am, that she came here and did this to you both.”
“It’s fine, sir. I have to tell you something about her attacking Raven. You know what I am. What you don’t know is that in order to save her, I gave her some of my blood.” Roger nodded, and said that he’d figured that out when Merriam attacked Raven. “I’m not going to tell you that I’m sorry. It was her life that I was saving.”
“Never apologize to me about keeping my family safe, Sawyer. I don’t know why this is, but I trust you over all the men that work in security for me.” He looked at the door again, and then Dad turned back to her. “I love you, Raven. So much that it hurts me the way that your own mother has treated you. I wish that I could take Molly home with me for the next few days, but I have a feeling that I need to shelter her away from what is about to happen.”
“You’re going to divorce her, aren’t you?” Grandma came to Dad’s side as she asked him what he was about to do. “It’ll be hard on you, Roger, but I think that in the long run, you might be able to have a life that you’ve not been able to have before this. Good luck. And if you need me, you just call. I can have Brooks go along with you if you need him to. He’s been known to hustle things along when they’re needed.”
“I’d appreciate that, Mom. I’m sorry about this. I should have listened to you.” Grandma hugged Dad, then kissed him on the cheek. “You’re the best mom a man in trouble with his wife could ask for.”
“Change the locks as soon as you can, sir.” Dad looked at Sawyer and asked if there was more he could do. “Yes, sir. If the bank accounts are in both your names, I’d drain them into one she can’t get to. Cancel all cards, and make sure that you have a guard that you can trust at any of your businesses. I don’t suppose you have a pre nup, do you?”
“I do, as a matter of fact. All the business accounts are in my name. The checking account that we use to pay bills is only in my attorney’s name. Credit cards will be cut off as soon as I get into my car.” Sawyer told him to not allow anyone to pay his bills but him. That way he could have a better handle on his worth. “Thank you. I’ve known about that little tidbit for a while, but never got around to changing it. I think having you as a son-in-law will help me a great deal.”
After Dad left, Raven turned in Sawyer’s arms and looked up at him. He was a handsome man, and she sort of liked him. She smiled at him, and Sawyer asked her what she was thinking.
“I thought you could read my mind.” He told her that he didn’t do it unless it was necessary. “I think this would be considered necessary, don’t you?”
“Are you trying to seduce me, Mrs. Bishop?” Nodding at him, Raven thought of all the most erotic things she’d ever read in books. She knew the moment that he dove into her thoughts and saw what she’d been thinking of. “You keep this up and we’ll never make it to pictures.”
“Do we need a reminder of this day, Sawyer?” He picked her up off the floor just enough to have his body press against hers, groin to pussy, his hard cock so yummy feeling against her. Her breasts ached to have him touch them, make them his. “You’re going to make me come if you keep this up. And I want you to know that I’m a screamer.”
“Good. I plan on making you hoarse for the next several days. And forever after that.”
They stood for several pictures, but didn’t stop touching each other. Raven didn’t know where they were going to spend their honeymoon, but she hoped it was someplace with padded walls. Because for all his saying that he was going to make her scream, she planned to do the same to him.
~*~
Holly helped with the cleanup. She was thrilled that Sawyer had allowed her to pay for a hotel room for them. If they made it that far, she thought with a giggle. Holly was sure that the two of them were in love, but neither of them had realized it as yet. She was going to love having that young man around, she knew it.
“I’m sorry about your son and his wife.” She looked at one of Sawyer’s brothers and couldn’t remember his name. He handed her the next plate that she was to dry after he washed it, and grinned at her. “I’m Dwayne. Second from the youngest. Your son, he has his hands full, I think. That wife is a real treat, isn’t she?”
“She’s a bitch, if you don’t mind me saying so.” They both laughed. “You and your brothers, you do a good job here taking care of your parents. I’m so glad that I got to meet them.”
“They really didn’t want to do this, have you guys over. Mom isn’t a proud person, but you have money and we don’t.” Holly asked if that bothered him. “I don’t know. I’ve never known anyone that had a great deal of money. Or if you’re asking me if it bothers me that we don’t have money, then I’d have to tell you that I think we might be richer than you on some things. Since we were kids, my parents have taught us to take care of each other and those that needed us. We have a great many friends here. Most of them have broken bread with us until they were able to find a way to feed themselves. My dad, he works hard, and most of the time there isn’t any meat on the table. But it’s good solid food that warms not just our bellies, but our hearts too.”
“What is it you do, Dwayne? I know that your brother Gunner isn’t here because he’s out on duty. Chandler there, he’s good with animals and had a desire to go to college to be a farm vet. Wesley, he works here, and that’s about all I could get from him. Quincy—well, it took Raven asking him point blank what he did for a living to get it out of him. He works at the local hospital in the nursery, caring for babies when they have no one else. Quincy would make a great doctor, don’t you think?”
“He would. It’s a dream of his.” Holly watched as Dwayne washed up two more dishes and set them in the drainer. “All of us have had dreams of making it big. Not in a flashy sort of way, but a way that could keep my parents in this home and us in pocket money. I had a chance at being able to go to college on a football scholarship, but I guess you could say that life got in the way. I fell off the tractor bed while loading hay on it, and busted my knee all to pieces. After that, all sorts of dreams came to an end. I’ve been working at the grocery store since then, ringing people out and bagging things up. It’s not the football career that I wanted, but it makes me feel good about myself when I get someone to smile at me. We all have a college education. Just the ba
sic stuff for each of us. Sawyer is the only one that went to night school to better himself. It was hard, but he made it work.”
“You were helping someone out, weren’t you? Gathering up hay or baling it for a neighbor that needed your help.” He didn’t say anything, but the look on his face was enough. “I’ve a job for you, Dwayne.”
“Mrs. Addington, you don’t have to treat us like little puppies that you’ve found on the side of the road. I’m happy for my brother. Not the least bit envious of him and his good luck at finding himself a mate. Well, perhaps the mate part, but not his future. The rest of us will be there someday.” She hugged him to him. “Thank you for that.”
“Now, young man. There are a few things that you’re going to learn about me. First of all, I never do a damned thing that I don’t want to. Including giving you a job. Secondly, I’m not one to beat around the bush on things. I’ll tell you like it is if I think you need it. I expect the same thing from you.” He grinned, and she was both charmed and happy with the boy. “You’ll come to my office on Monday afternoon. No, that won’t work. I have a meeting with several of my business heads for.... I’ll tell you what, Dwayne, I’ll send a car for you Monday morning. Is seven too early?”
“No ma’am, I live on a farm. We’re up at the butt crack of dawn, as my grandda used to say.” She smiled back at him, and they talked about all sorts of things while they finished up. When he was finished with the dishes, Dwayne took out the trash without being asked or told, put a load of laundry in the washer, then swept the floor, all the while talking to her about cows and such. Holly couldn’t wait to see this man in a three piece suit talking to businessmen that might need a helping hand once in a while.
After the dishes were cleaned up, she walked into the dining room. This was, she thought, the heart of the home. When she’d shown up today, they were making the wedding feast and talking and joking around. Even telling them what she knew about Sawyer, Holly noticed that they all looked her in the eyes, and didn’t say anything other than to convey politeness and good manners.
Holly wasn’t impressed by people that thought that they were beneath her, or even above her in status. She didn’t care for the classes that people would feel they were put in, no more than she liked it when people turned their nose up at someone that wasn’t as wealthy as they were. Holly knew most of the people that came to work in her offices, and had taken great measures to make sure that she knew birthdays and anniversary dates when they started working for her. It’s what she expected from those with people working under them, too.
Everyone at her businesses made a difference to the company, and she had better never hear of someone taking advantage of others working or she’d take care of them right now. That policy was one that she made sure everyone in her business followed, no matter if they were vice president or the man that mopped up the floors. Employees were to be treated like the higher-ups wanted to be treated.
Sitting in the living room of her home around midnight—Holly had always been a late nighter on the weekends—she realized how lonely she was all of a sudden. There weren’t any cows mooing around her home, no conversations that would have her smiling or even laughing out loud. She even missed the tea that had been brewed for her that had been the cheapest box, because that was all the Bishops could afford.
Her phone ringing took her out of the need to drive back to their home.
“I have to tell you, Holly, I’ve never seen Roger so happy before.” Brooks never started a conversation out with something so mundane as hello or are you busy. He, like her, got right to the heart of things. “The locks have been all changed, and he did just what Sawyer told him and drained the accounts that they had. I’m not sure that we could have planned this entire thing out without the help of young Sawyer.”
“He does seem to have a good head on his shoulders. What happened when he confronted Merriam? I’m sure that it didn’t go well.” Brooks laughed and said that it had yet to happen. “You’re not telling me that he’s backed out of this, are you? I swear I never beat him enough as a child. What’s he saying now?”
“He’s going through with it, I promise you. But he’s had her put in a hotel along the route into town. A smallish one that has barely a rating anywhere. Clean and efficient was what it said, and she’s already calling him, bitching about how she is an Addington. You’d think that she was the first one of you guys rather than just someone that married an Addington. To be truthful, Holly, I’ve never cared for her. Not ever.”
“Me either. What else has Roger done? I’m sure that I’m going to love every minute of it. I’ll have to be at his house when he talks to Merriam.” Brooks told her that it was going to be at the hotel. “Even better. I love it. Perhaps I can purchase the hotel, and then have them record the meeting from every angle. That would be something that I’d play on the big screen and watch over and over again. What do you think, Brooks?”
“I think that you should just stay away and let me do the recording for you.” Holly pouted, and realized that Brooks couldn’t see her. “They’re meeting at ten. I’m to understand that you’ve hired one of the Bishop boys. Which one, and what will he be doing for you?”
“I did hire one. Dwayne. If this works out the way I think it will, I might just hire the whole lot of them. I’ve been around for a long time, Brooks, and I’ve never met a family so dedicated to each other in my life. And kind to those that need them.” He agreed with her. “Dwayne is going to be my reasonable mind. I think once he understands what it is I do, he’ll be the strong arm that makes the men that I’m trying to buy out realize that I only have theirs and the rest of the world’s best interest at heart. Not that they don’t know that now, but I’m going to need someone to help me in my golden years. And I think he’s just the man.”
“I agree with you on that. And as for golden years, I think—” Holly reminded him that he worked for her. “Yes I do. And never has a man enjoyed a job as much as I do. Also, Roger hired Sawyer. He’s going to teach him the business for the same reasons that you are Dwayne. I think Roger has been waiting for someone to come along for a while now that he could mold into his image. Sawyer might be a better man than Roger is, if I don’t miss the clues from them.”
“What do you think that Raven will say, if Roger takes Sawyer over her? I mean, she does have her own money-making business, but her daddy is a great man, now that he’s gotten his head out of his ass.” Brooks laughed, and then told her that he didn’t foresee anything coming between the couple. “I surely hope not. But I have to tell you, I’m betting that Merriam won’t go quietly into the night. She’s going to be coming back on them, blaming them for Roger getting his act together.”
“I’m sure of it. And so is Roger. He told me on the way to his house that he thought that Sawyer could handle himself, but he was more worried about Molly. He thinks she’ll be hurt the worst if Merriam interferes in their lives more than she has before.” Holly asked him what he thought Sawyer would do if that happened. “He’ll kill her. There is no doubt in my mind that he’ll protect Raven and Molly with his life.”
“I hope you’re right.”
After hanging up with Brooks, promising him once again that she’d stay at her offices, she thought of the list she needed to make up of things she wanted Dwayne to be able to do at her first meeting. Then she tossed it away. Dwayne needed to be passionate about what he said, and having a script would not allow that. She’d not throw him to the wolves, so to speak, but she would keep an eye on him when things got out of hand.
Holly had been trying to broker a deal with Sampson and Sons for three months, and this was her first meeting with him. Sampson would play ball with her or she’d have to take him to court. Loaning someone money to bring their company up to standard did not mean that they could use that money to go on lavish cruises or long vacations. He’d pay her back or she’d own his ass. And his home, his cars, and the new b
oat he’d gotten just last week.
“Fool. He thinks that putting the things he got into his son’s name would throw me off. I have news for him—I’m a great deal smarter than he’ll ever be.”
Making her way up to her bed, her cell phone went off. It was Merriam.
“What is it? I’m off to bed, Merriam.” She told her what her son had done to her, as if she’d not been there with him. “If you’re looking for me to bail you out of the mess you made, you’re far stupider than I first thought you were. You made your bed, Merriam, so you deal with it.”
“He thinks he’s going to divorce me. Holly, I’m an Addington. Addington’s do not throw their wives aside like nothing. I’ve given him thirty years of my life.” Holly told her that she’d given him thirty years of hateful words and meanness. “I have not. I swear, there are times that I wish that I’d poisoned you. You’re the meanest woman I know.”
“You just threatened me, Merriam. What do you think the courts are going to say about that?” Merriam screamed into the phone, making it so that Holly had to pull the phone back from her ear. When she finished, Holly was laughing as she continued. “You are aware that this phone call is being recorded, aren’t you? I mean, it says it about three times before you get connected to my life.”
“Oh, go to hell, you old bag.”
Holly was still laughing as she made her way up the rest of the stairs. Boy, was Merriam going to pay for that little outburst. Laughing harder, Holly forwarded the voice message to her son and got into bed. Tomorrow was going to be the beginning of a whole new day, and she was going to enjoy it more than any she’d had since her husband passed away. Kissing his picture that had been at her bedside since they’d been wed, she laid back down and smiled. Closing her eyes, she let sleep take her.
Holly thought that she might be having more fun than anyone with this divorce. She might even enjoy the hearing too, if it came to that. Her son had never made her more proud than she was of him right now.
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