by Jane Jamison
“It’s Baldwin gold, young woman.” He coughed then cleared his throat and kept going. “You should know that already. I heard they found it in that old cabin, so that makes it ours.”
“The court hasn’t decided that yet, Dad.” She hated to argue with him, especially about the McLeans. It was a no-win situation.
He flattened his hand against his chest. Was he hurting? Fear edged its way into her. If anything happened to him, she’d never forgive herself.
“We’ve always contested that it was our land, and now it’s time to prove it once and for all.”
She frowned, hating the conversation, hating that she had to tell him while he was still ill. “We knew there’d be a legal battle over the gold, but we want to stay out of it. At least as much as we could. Please, Dad, I don’t want to be a part of it.”
“Seems to me you’re already a part of it.” He let out a long, slow breath. “If I hadn’t been so caught up in all this health mess of mine, I would’ve confronted you before now about my suspicions. You’re seeing those McLean boys, aren’t you?”
For a second, she considered lying to him. But that would be denying her love for Josh and Will. “I am.”
“I knew it. Those times you went out, I knew you were up to something, and I figured you were seeing a man. You’re a grown woman and you deserve that. But I never dreamed it would be with not one, but two, McLeans.”
“If you knew, then why didn’t you say something?”
“Like I said, I suspected it, but I was preoccupied with other matters. Plus, I would’ve hoped that you would’ve come to me and told me yourself.”
“I know how you feel about the McLean family, Dad, but I don’t care. I hate the damn feud and I always have. As far as I’m concerned, that’s all in the past and it has nothing to do with my love for Josh and Will.”
“Your love? Are you saying that you care for those men? That this isn’t just a fling?”
The monitor beeped louder as his blood pressure took another jolt upward. “Dad, please calm down. Getting upset isn’t going to help.”
“Answer the damn question, Tatum Baldwin. Do you love those McLean boys or not?” He gripped the side rails of his bed until his knuckles turned white.
“Please, Dad, calm down.” Her gaze flitted to the monitor and back.
“Tell me, damn it.”
She blurted out the words, hoping that once she’d admitted it, he’d calm down. “Yes. I do. I love them and they love me.”
“It can’t be, Tatum. You can’t be involved with the likes of them. I forbid you to see them again.”
Her fear for his health mixed with anger. “Dad, you can’t tell me who I can love. No one can do that.”
“Tatum, what’s going on?” Her mother rushed into the room with two nurses on her heels. “Joseph, are you all right?”
A tear skimmed down Tatum’s face. “I’m sorry, Mom, but he already knew. I’m so sorry.”
Her mother shifted her gaze from her to her father and back again. “I don’t know what went on in here, but I think it’s best that you leave.” She reached out and took Tatum’s hand. “I’ll talk to you at home, honey.”
“Dad, please try and understand.”
His face softened, yet his resolve didn’t. “Honey, I’m only trying to do what’s best for you. You’re my little girl.”
She answered the way she’d always had. “And I’ll always be damn proud of it.”
“Shh. Don’t let your mother hear you use the D-word.”
Part of her rejoiced that he’d played out the rest of the exchange as he always had. But she couldn’t let him think she’d given in. “I’m sorry, Dad, but I’m not backing down on this.”
“Tatum, listen to me, girl.”
A clog formed in Tatum’s throat as she pulled her hand free of her mother’s hold and backed toward the door. “I’m sorry, Daddy. But it is what it is. I hope you can accept that.”
She whirled and ran down the hall. The tears fell steadily by the time she reached her car. Had she lost her father? Yet having him forbid her to ever see Josh or Will again only solidified her determination to stay with the men she loved.
She’d give him more time and hope he came around. But if he didn’t, then she and her men would confront him again, once and for all.
Chapter Ten
Tatum jumped out of Aubrey’s car as soon as Farah emerged from the house and ran onto the wraparound porch to hug her. Breaking the hug, she stepped back and gave her friend a good, hard look. She still couldn’t believe that Farah was a detective, much less that she’d gotten shot during a drug bust.
“How are you?” She narrowed her eyes, putting more meaning behind her words. But knowing Farah the way she did, she wouldn’t push her or dig for details.
“Doing okay,” Farah replied. She gave Tatum another hug.
“You sure?” Tatum studied her friend. She seemed fine, but with Farah one never knew. She was tough and she hid pain well.
“Positive. And there’s no need to ask how you are. You look radiant. What’s caused that, I wonder? It has to be more than the satisfaction you get out of teaching high school, rewarding though that profession must be.”
“Thanks.” She grimaced. “I am happy, but I’m also stressed to bits. I feel like I’m being pulled in several directions at once.” She’d tried to keep a low profile, but word about the gold, and then about her relationship with Josh and Will had spread like a raging river after a hard rain. She still hadn’t spoken with her father after telling him the truth. But Josh and Will had a plan for that. She pushed the sadness away. Tonight she was determined to celebrate Farah’s return and to have some fun.
“It can’t be easy, but the path of true love isn’t supposed to be.” Farah shrugged. “Wouldn’t know myself.”
“Your turn will come,” Tatum said as she helped Farah to clamber, not very elegantly, into the backseat of Aubrey’s car. She almost asked her friend again if she was well enough to go out, but shut her mouth. Farah was Farah and once she’d made up her mind, heaven and hell couldn’t change it. She slid into the seat next to her.
“I’m real pleased for you, honey, although I’ll have a few choice words to address to that skunk of a brother of mine. He lectured me worse than anyone about giving up my job, not taking risks, and here he is breaking family ranks by colluding with a Baldwin and not bothering to even mention it. If you hadn’t called me, I’d never have known.”
Tatum giggled. “I think he was a little embarrassed.”
“So he damned well should be. Talk about double standards.”
“Cut him some slack, babe. Besides, he only lectured you because we’re all so worried about you.”
“Maybe so, but he doesn’t get away that easily.” Farah settled into her seat and flashed a smile at Aubrey. “Hey, Aubrey.”
“Hey, yourself. How you doing?”
“This feels like breaking out of prison.”
“Some prison,” Aubrey said.
Tatum followed the direction of Aubrey’s glance. She could almost hear what her friend was thinking. If all prisons were like the McLean home, then a lot more people would break the law to get inside.
“I didn’t say it wasn’t a five-star prison,” Farah replied. She sounded a bit petulant, which was unlike her.
“I hear you, babe.” Aubrey flipped her indicator as she reached the end of the long McLean driveway and headed out onto the highway. “That disguise won’t get you far, though. It’s dark in the club, but even so.”
“Ah-ha!” Farah produced her red wig, plonked it on her head, and poked her face between the two front seats. “Now what do you think?”
Tatum burst into laughter and Aubrey laughed so hard that she almost drove off the road.
“You trying to copy my style?” Aubrey asked.
“Not a chance. I’m trained to only take on competition I’m likely to beat.” Farah winked at Tatum.
“That oughta do it then. You migh
t want to straighten it up, though.” Aubrey focused her attention back on the road to Tatum’s relief.
Farah checked herself in the rearview mirror and adjusted her crowning glory. “Okay, now I’m good to go, except the damned thing itches like crazy.”
“We all have to suffer for our art. And, er, talking of suffering, do you think you can manage without the stick? People will notice, it’s a small town, and well…”
Aubrey’s right, thought Tatum. But could Farah do without it?
“Sure, if I don’t have to walk far or move too fast.”
“No problem,” Tatum said, wanting to do anything to help her friend. “We’ll carry you if necessary.”
“It’s not necessary,” Farah replied.
Aubrey pulled into the parking lot outside Consensual. Tatum leaned over to study the place. A small, discreet sign with just the name of the club on it was the only indication of what it was. She’d only been to the club a couple of times before and had stayed on the sidelines just to watch. Even after everything she’d done with Josh and Will, she wasn’t ready to participate. Doing anything else would seem like she was cheating on them. Besides, she had the best partners in town, so she had no desire to play with anyone else.
“Far, there’s something we need to tell you before we go in,” Aubrey said, sounding nervous.
Tatum shot her a look. She’d hoped to forget about the troubles between the families for one night. But if Aubrey wanted to talk about it, then she’d go along. Besides, Farah needed to know and now was as good a time as any to tell her.
“Shoot.” Farah winced. “I mean, go right ahead.”
“This damned feud.” She could hear the frustration in her own voice. “Even before we found the gold, Aubrey and I, having interests in common—”
“Those interests being my brothers?”
“Your brothers and your cousin Josh, too. Anyway, Far, we thought we ought to do something about this ridiculous feud.”
Farah rolled her eyes. “Like what?”
“Well, funny you should ask, but it just so happens that I knew someone who’s good at that sort of thing.”
“Yeah, who?”
“Her name is Dr. Jocelyn Richards. We go way back.” Tatum cleared her voice, trying to get the edge out of it. “She’s kind of a genealogical detective.”
“A what?”
“I know it sounds weird, but she’s good at what she does, and she gets results.”
“How does she do that?”
“She looks into family histories.” Tatum sent Farah a pleading look. “Face it, Far, we don’t really know what started this stupid feud, but I do know it’s split the entire town into two camps. As far as the older generation of Baldwins is concerned, if you’re not for us then you must be against us.”
“I know, it’s the same way with my folks.”
Tatum knew Farah had felt the same way about the feud, but she was happy to hear her confirm it. She hurried on with her explanation.
“I was taught from the cradle that the McLeans diverted our water, killed our cattle…shit, I’ve even heard that the bad blood dates back to the Civil War when the families were on different sides.”
“We were brought up with similar stories painting you guys as the baddies,” Farah replied, shrugging. “We both know it’s ridiculous, and I can understand why you want to do something about it now. It’s crazy now that you’re involved with Will and Josh but can’t enter their family home. Still, it doesn’t affect our friendship.”
“But it does. I couldn’t come and see how my best friend was doing after she got shot. How do you think that makes me feel?” She struggled to keep her emotions from taking over.
“Okay, I hear you. Why didn’t you tell me about this before?”
“I thought you’d be cynical.” Tatum waited, ready to get blasted by Farah’s legendary sarcasm.
“Cynical?” Farah nodded. “Yep, that about sums up my reaction. Sorry, babe.”
“Hear her out, Far,” Aubrey said.
“Okay, I’m all ears. Presumably your friend…what’s her name?”
“Jocelyn Richards.” Tatum had to believe that Farah would go along with them.
“So Jocelyn’s down here poking around in our murky family histories. What shook loose? Did she find anything?”
“Er, my brother,” Tatum admitted with a broad grin.
“Oh no, not another threesome.” Farah laughed. “Definitely something in the water.”
“Actually, she searched through some old diaries and found out some interesting stuff that made it seem like six of one and half a dozen of the other.” Tatum shrugged, trying to appear less concerned than she was. “You know how feuds can start over absolutely nothing.”
“Do I ever!”
“Right, well, we were on the way to persuading your parents and mine that it was time to bury the hatchet. Then Jocelyn got up close and personal with my brothers and your family accused her of being biased. Then Jocelyn made matters worse by saying that actually, if she had to castigate blame, she’d place it at the Baldwins’ door.”
Tatum hated that everything had gotten so mixed up, but she still hoped that Jocelyn would find out the real truth and bring the feud to an end. If not, then although she and her men were determined to be together, their future wouldn’t include much of a life with either of their families.
Farah covered her mouth with her hand. “That can’t have helped much. There are times when it’s better to say nothing.”
“Right.” Tatum grimaced. “Then the guys and I found that gold and matters are now worse than they ever were.” How often had she second-guessed their decision to bring the gold out into the open? There were times when she still thought they’d made a mistake.
Farah sighed. “Our families are soooo damned stubborn. I think their feelings are way too deeply entrenched for anything to ever change, no matter what skeletons your friend unearthed. If you ask me, the gold’s just a useful excuse to maintain the status quo. Saves both sides having to admit they’ve behaved liked jerks for all these years.”
“Agreed. I thought my father would have another heart attack when he confronted me about being with Josh and Will. He’s out of the hospital now and resting at home.” She took a big breath, trying to fight the tension growing in her neck. “The men and I are going to tell him that he has to either accept us or live without me in his life. I pray that he can. But he still has the cancer surgery coming up. So you can see how much ending this feud means to me. And to Aubrey.”
Farah touched her hand. “I can understand that.”
“So what can we do?” Aubrey asked. “I think your respective brothers would be willing to forgive and forget, but the parents never will.”
“I don’t know,” Farah said. “But I agree things can’t go on the way they are. I mean, what if Tatum was to get pregnant?”
Tatum startled. What if she got pregnant? Would that help to heal the rift between the families? Or would it make things worse?
“Perhaps that would shake them out of their stubborn refusal to be reasonable,” Aubrey said.
Tatum thought she sounded like she was trying to convince herself as much as them. As for having a child? She knew that was too much to handle with everything else that was going on.
“I’m not ready for motherhood yet,” Tatum said. “Especially if I get pregnant for the wrong reasons, like trying to unite warring factions that don’t want to be united.”
“Exactly,” Farah said, taking a deep breath. “Come on, that’s enough of that. I’ll think about what you’ve told me and see if I can come up with a cunning master plan. In the meantime, let’s go have some fun.”
Tatum shot her friends a relieved smile. She’d push aside her worries for now and have a little fun.
Tatum helped Farah down from the car, linking her arm with hers. Together the threesome approached the club, ready to do their best to have a good time just as they had so long ago. In two days, she and
her men would face down her father. After that, nothing would be the same.
* * * *
Tatum stood between Josh and Will. She took each of their hands and squeezed them as she looked at her family home. “You’re sure you want to risk this? There hasn’t been a McLean over that threshold in forever.”
Will squeezed her hand back. “We’re sure. We love you, Tatum Baldwin, and we’d go to hell and back to have you.”
She laughed even as the knot in her stomach twisted tighter. “You might be doing exactly that.”
Josh blew out a breath. She’d never seen him so nervous. “Let’s stop yapping about this and get it done. How bad can it be anyway?”
“Yeah, you’re right. How bad can it be to face my father and tell him that we’re going to live together?” She shrugged, making light when she felt anything but jovial. “Let’s hope he doesn’t have his shotgun nearby.”
She’d dropped their hands and had taken a few steps toward the house when she noticed that they weren’t beside her any longer. Pivoting back to them, she lifted her hands in a what-the-hell gesture. “Are you serious? Now that you’ve gotten my nerve up, you’re going to bail?”
Will’s long strides ate up the distance between them. “Of course not. But when you mentioned the shotgun, I kind of got dizzy for a second.”
Josh grinned and strode past her. “Same here. But I’m over it. Come on, you two. Let’s go face the king in the castle.”
She’d never been prouder of them than at that moment. Facing Joseph Baldwin for any reason was hard enough for a McLean. But facing him to say that they loved his only daughter and wanted to live with her? That could bring lesser men to tears.
Tatum opened the door and entered in front of her men. “Mom? Are you here?”
Belinda Baldwin had her head down as she pushed through the door of the kitchen. Once she saw who was with her daughter, she stopped dead in her tracks. “Oh, my word. Tatum, have you lost your mind?”
“Nope. In fact, I think I’ve finally come to my senses.” She shifted her gaze to the second floor. “Is Dad in his room?”