by May Williams
“Your father?” Colette asked. “I thought he lived in Chicago.”
“I do. Had to drive all this way because my worthless son didn’t do his job. Hell, he’s helped you by getting your pretty face in the Chicago paper and doing God knows what else for you.” Liam stood only a foot from Colette, but his voice boomed.
“I don’t understand.” Colette turned her eyes to Ian. “What is he talking about?”
Ian blew out a desperate breath, trying to formulate his thoughts. His father couldn’t have delayed one more day before pulling this stunt? Radiant in her silver dress, Colette waited for an explanation. Her face full of the trust she had for him. Hard-earned trust his father was killing with every word. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
“Collie, Ian’s father owns Northfield Investments,” Adrien said quietly, coming up behind Colette and draping his arm across her shoulders.
“What?” Colette snapped her head toward Ian. “What?!”
“You heard him,” Kroft barked at her. “This dumbass is my son.”
“Lower your voice,” Jack advanced on the older man. “Don’t talk to my daughter like that. And you,” Jack froze Ian with his gaze, “you better start explaining.”
“It’s true. My father owns Northfield and hired me to arrange the purchase of the property.” Ian forced himself to meet Colette’s eyes while he spoke. Her skin went pale and she breathed rapidly. He wanted to reach out for her, but didn’t. For a moment, no one spoke.
“You…were after the property the whole time?” Her voice dropped to a whisper and her gaze dropped downward, tears welling up. “You pretended to care for me to score a business deal.”
“No!” He took a step toward her, but stopped short when Jack got in front of him. Nate moved to stand behind him with Jade and Lexy on either side, blocking his way to Colette. Adrien kept his arm around his sister, supporting her. A tight family unit, closing ranks against him. “Let me talk to her. Just for a minute,” he pleaded.
“Collie?” Jack said over his shoulder. “What do you want to do?”
His father sighed in disgust. “Enough of this namby-pamby shit. Make the deal or let’s go.”
“Please,” Ian begged again, looking toward Colette and ignoring the huffing from his dad.
She pushed away from her brother, her family parting to let her through until she was directly in front of him. A few tears tracked down her cheeks, but her voice trembled only slightly when she asked, “How could you have lied to me like this?”
“I’ll admit it started under a false pretense, but what I feel for you is real. Colette, give me a chance to explain. Please, you’ve got to trust me on this.”
Colette’s blue eyes turned frigid, freezing Ian’s insides. “I trusted you this whole time, and you were lying to me from the beginning! You…” She yanked the earrings out. “Here, take these back. I don’t want any reminders of you.”
Unthinkingly, he stuck his hand out to take them. When she took a step nearer, his heart stopped to be so close to those blue eyes. Then, her open palm struck his cheek and she shoved him back against the car. The earrings slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.
“You must be Trevor’s son.” Liam pointed to Jack, who stood next to Colette now. “You look like the son of a bitch.”
When Jack started forward with his hands squeezed into fists, Ian took hold of his father and tried to drag him around to the passenger side of the car. “I’ve got things to say to these people,” his father protested, fighting against him.
“We’re leaving.” Ian forced his father in the car, shocked at how much strength the old man had in his frail body.
Ian slammed the car door, shutting out his father’s curses. Colette’s family stood close to her, but he had more he needed to say so he walked back to stand in front of Colette. She might slap him again, any one of them might punch him, all of which he deserved. But this could be his last chance to tell her how he felt.
“I know you won’t believe me, but I love you, Colette. I never meant to hurt you. I knew weeks ago you’d never sell and I didn’t want you to, but I couldn’t leave. I want to be here with you.” On the fringes of his vision, he could see the other Petersons watching him closely, but he didn’t take his eyes from Colette. Nothing mattered but her.
“Get off my property.” Her tone was icy and controlled. “Get off now.”
Ian gave her one last look of appeal before backing away from her and climbing in the driver’s seat of his father’s car. When he glanced at Colette before pulling away, her face was turned into her brother’s chest, and Adrien was holding her close. The rest of her family gathered around them. No doubt doing what normal families do—offering sympathy and support.
His family sat huffing and complaining on the seat next to him. When Ian turned onto the main road, he realized how badly his hands were shaking. He took in several deep breaths to try to calm himself, but it didn’t help. The road ahead of him was as dark as he felt. Thoughtlessly, he drove south along the shoreline of Lake Michigan.
“You screwed this up from the beginning,” his father muttered. “I don’t know why I expected any better.”
“Shut up, Dad, or I swear I’ll dump you alongside the road. You just cost me the woman I love, so shut the hell up,” Ian warned.
“Where are we going?” Liam demanded, undeterred by Ian’s threats.
“I’m taking you back to Chicago.”
“I want to get a hotel room so I can go back to the farm tomorrow to negotiate the deal.”
“Are you out of your mind? Don’t you see?” Ian pulled the car off the edge of the road with a jerk. “It’s like I told you in your office, they aren’t selling. They don’t give a damn about your money. They love that land like you never loved anything in your life.”
Liam jerked toward Ian, his fist coming up to strike a blow. Before he could deliver it, Ian stuck out his hand, deflecting the punch. His father turned toward the window to stare out into the dark. “I did love someone once,” he said, belligerently.
“Really?” Ian couldn’t keep the sarcasm from his voice. “Because it sure as hell wasn’t Mom or Tom and me.”
“It was her.” Liam’s tone was sullen.
“Who?”
“Josephine Darien!”
“Who the hell is that?”
“Your little bastard woman’s grandmother, all right?” He roared, sending Ian shaking a bit in the tiny space.
“Colette’s…grandmother?” Ian struggled to comprehend.
“She was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. Lived in a little village in France.”
“During the war,” Ian said. “That’s why you’re in the picture with Trevor Peterson.” Understanding started to dawn through his anger. “Josephine picked the other guy and that guy was Colette’s grandfather.” Ian steered the car back on the road, unable to sit still any longer. “You’ve been carrying that grudge for sixty-five years?”
“Bastard stole her from me,” the old man barked. “She knew how we both felt. I went on leave for a week. When I got back, they were engaged. Trevor was already doing the paperwork to get her transported to the U.S. as a war bride.”
Ian shook his head. “I’m sorry, but they were happily married for almost sixty years. Maybe they loved each other.” He knew they’d loved each other. He’d seen it in the photographs of the couple.
“Son of a bitch was my best friend.” Liam faced away from Ian.
“Who? Trevor?” Ian gripped the steering wheel hard, feeling like he was entering some sort of time warp.
“Yes, Trevor. Who the hell else would it be?”
“I’m not connecting the dots here, Dad. Explain.”
Liam mumbled several curses under his breath. “You were always the dumb one. When I was a kid, my family had the property next to the Peterson’s.” He stopped as if that explained everything.
Ian waited for him to continue. When he didn’t, Ian commented, “
I never knew that.”
“Never bothered to tell you. Hurt too much to think about it, talk about it. For being so dumb, you sure want to know everything, damn it,” his father huffed. “But it didn’t matter anyway. I couldn’t change what had happened.”
The tortured overflow in Ian’s heart made him understand how something could hurt that much and appear that hopeless. Colette’s shattered face hung before him as he drove and tried to piece together his father’s story. “Tell me about it, Dad.”
Several seconds passed before Liam spoke. “My family came up from Chicago in the summer and a couple times during the rest of the year. Trev and I hunted, fished, worked on the farm. We planned our futures. Thought we’d go into business together, then the war came.” Liam talked to the window, his voice growing weaker. “I was a year younger so I lied about my age and we joined up, got put in the same unit, slogged through hell together.”
“So you lost your best friend and the girl you thought you loved all at once. And, what, you’ve waited all these years to get revenge? How was buying the property revenge?”
“It wasn’t, damn it, I wanted to live where she had.”
“You were going to keep the property for yourself and live on it, mooning over a girl who didn’t love you and a life you left behind? Why?”
“I loved that house as a kid, loved the farm. It was always happy and warm. I thought I could be happy there, too, with my memories.”
Ian didn’t look at his dad, but he saw the man’s hand go up to his face and wipe away tears. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?” Ian asked.
“We’ve never understood each other, got nothing in common,” Liam grumbled at him.
“We’ve both been dumped by women in the same family and we’re never going to get back on that farm no matter how much we beg. We’ve got that in common.” Bitterness tinged his words, and he gripped the steering wheel harder.
The black ribbon of highway continued endlessly ahead of them. Ian rested his arm against the cool of the window and stared ahead. Silence fell over the car for miles, and in time Ian figured his father was asleep. The old man had to be tired—it was nearly midnight and he’d driven himself all the way from Chicago already today.
“I didn’t know you loved her.” His dad’s voice cracked through the darkness suddenly.
Maybe it was the stars, and the calm that came from the memory of Colette in that dress, but he found the words that came next easy to say. “I do. Not that it’s going to do me any damn good now.”
“You going to try?”
“Yeah. She’ll probably kick my ass and when she’s done with me, her family will kick my ass, but I’m going to try anyway.”
“You knew.” Colette sat with a cup of tea clutched between her fingers the next morning while Adrien ate cereal from an oversized bowl. Last night, she’d shrugged off all the kind words of her family as quickly as she could and crawled into her bed. At first, she shook with the pent up anger at Ian, then a great wave of loss engulfed her. The tears came fast and hot along with deep sobs until she was too exhausted to cry anymore.
When she woke just after the sun rose, she went to the barn to check on her animals. All the remains of the fundraiser were gone. Her family and the crew must have worked all night to tear it down. The only bitter reminder of the night was Ian’s car behind the house.
“I knew Ian’s father owned Northfield,” Adrien continued, “but I only confronted Ian yesterday.”
“You talked to him about it and didn’t say anything to me.” She sputtered out a sip of the hot liquid.
“It was your big day. I didn’t want to say anything and I told Ian not to. He was going to explain himself today.”
“Like it matters.” Colette poured more sugar into her tea. When the crunching of cereal stopped, she looked up. Adrien stared at her with a sympathetic expression. “You believe him,” she accused him.
“Yeah. No matter how it started, it’s clear the man loves you.”
“You can say that knowing he intentionally misled me? Did he tell you the whole story of our meeting at Grand Island?”
“He did.” Adrien waved his spoon at her. “What the hell were you thinking letting a strange man stay at the cottage with you? I think I’m more mad at you than him about that.”
“I learned my lesson. No strange men for me ever again. I’m sticking to animals.” She swallowed down the sob before it could escape from her. Rubbing her hand over her face, she tried to get herself under control. She had to talk this through with someone. “What about when he came here? You think he didn’t intend to get the property?”
“Told me the second he saw the place he knew he wouldn’t buy it.” Adrien rose and went to the refrigerator. “Do you want something to eat?”
“No. What else did he tell you?”
“He had a deal with his father.” Despite what she said, Adrien put a tray of leftover cheese and fruit on the table. “If he purchased the property, his father would give him a commission big enough to finish his book and start his own business. But, you know, that’s not all of it.” Adrien poured himself a glass of milk with an ease that just irritated her further. “We’re blessed with our family. Others don’t have what we do. A big part of his motivation was to appease his father.”
“Why are you being his champion?” She demanded, but it was so like her brother to analyze the situation rationally. Rational was the last thing she felt right now.
“I’m trying to get you to cut him some slack. He wasn’t trying to cheat us or seduce you.” He shoved the tray of food closer to her. “Eat something so you stop shaking before you call him.”
“I won’t call him,” Colette declared. “I’m not interested in getting my heart broken again.” She picked over the food anyway. “Since when do you believe in true love anyway?”
“I may never have experienced it, but I’m smart enough to know when I see it. And it’s going to piss me off if you let it go. That’s going to hurt you more.”
Colette ate a slice of cheese. “What about you and Gracie?”
“What about us?” he demanded.
“We can discuss my disastrous love life, but I can’t ask about yours. Before the bomb dropped, you looked like you were enjoying yourselves.”
“Yep, but I’m going back to Ann Arbor for the next year. I’ll be in the lab sixteen hours a day. I can’t get involved.”
“You’ll move back here a year from now.”
“What am I supposed to do? Ask her to wait for me to come home because maybe we’ll go on a date then?” He popped a grape in his mouth. “You’re just trying to deflect anyway.”
“No, I’m trying to think of something that doesn’t make me cry.”
“Call him.” She shook her head. “Alright, then take his call if he calls you.”
“No. I’m going to get some work done. I need something to do. All the clean up’s done. The house is spotless, the animals are fine.”
“You could go to the cottage for a few days,” Adrien suggested. “It should be beautiful there this time of year. Great for kayaking.” He ate a leftover appetizer. “I saw in the paper that there are going to be solar flares, so the northern lights will be visible. I’d go with you, but I started an experiment cultivating on Friday I have to get back to.”
“It would be nice, but why do I think you’re trying to sell it to me?”
“Just saying in your shoes, I’d want to have some solitude. You’re lucky Mom and Lexy haven’t descended on you yet to take you shopping or something.”
“Crap. You’re right. I’ll think about it.”
“Think fast. I just heard a car door,” Adrien said. The voices of her mother and sister wafted through the open window into the kitchen. “Time for me to clear out. Think I’ll go for a ride.”
“Chicken,” Colette shot at him.
“It’s called self-preservation. Talk to them, then get away for a few days.” Adrien disappeared into the living room as Lex
y and Jade entered the kitchen from the driveway.
“Brought you something.” Lexy placed a pastry box on the table. “Chocolate mousse cheesecake. It’s a new recipe.” She reached in the cabinet for plates. “Where’s Adrien?”
“Hiding, no doubt,” Jade answered. “I brought something, too.” Jade opened a large bag of potato chips. “There’s nothing better than salt and chocolate.”
“Except alcohol,” Lexy added, putting a slice of cheesecake in front of her sister, “but we decided it was too early in the day for that.”
“Thanks.” Absentmindedly, Colette picked up a fork and poked at the cheesecake. Without eating anything, she laid the fork back down.
“I’ve never seen you not able to eat cake. That bastard.” Lexy jabbed her fork in the air at an imaginary Ian. “I’m so mad at him. I could…”
“Lex, you’re not helping.” Jade gave Lexy a warning look before taking Colette’s hands. “I know you liked him, honey, and I know it hurts.” Colette managed to meet her mother’s eyes. “I wish I could say you’ll get over it quickly, but I know you. The most beautiful thing about you is that you love deeply. I don’t want that to change because of this.”
The first tear of the morning spilled down her cheek. “I guess I have to find something to love other than men. Men suck.” Her cell phone on the counter rang and Lexy jumped up to grab it.
“It’s him.” She held the phone out so Colette could see the caller ID. “Do you want me to talk to him? I’ve got plenty to say to the jackass.” She brandished the phone like a weapon.
“No, just let it go to voicemail. I can’t talk to him now.” Colette took the phone from her sister and shoved it in her pocket.
“You’re never going to talk to him again, right?” Lexy demanded.
“I don’t want to, but he’s got to pick up his car and things.”
“Have it towed. He deserves that the…” Lexy spouted a string of curses under her breath until Jade waved her out of the room.
“You could come stay with your father and me for a few days,” Jade suggested, “then you won’t have to see him.”