Chapter Seven
Dalton, along with everyone else in the vicinity, heard the explosion of music and saw the balloons released automatically from the ceiling. Someone had hit the giant jackpot. He turned in his seat and hit his cash out button.
Nicole was not exactly sure, but it was clear she had won a jackpot of some sort! Four guards approached her and stood on sentry in a circle around her.
"Did I win?" she asked as more and more people crowded around her. The guards were fastening red-velvet ropes to stanchions as crowd barriers around her. The crowd was popping balloons and batting them around as sparkling streamers and confetti rained down from the ceiling.
Dalton weaved his way through the crowd and tried to step forward, but a burly security guard pushed him back.
"I'm with her," Dalton yelled over the noise.
"Sure, bud," growled the guard.
"Nicole," Dalton yelled, but she had clasped her hands over her ears.
More security was escorting Louis Addison through the crowds when Dalton waved and shouted at him. Addison stopped, spoke to his guards, and they let Dalton inside the barricade.
"I won!" Nicole shouted when he walked up to her. "I won a thousand dollars!"
"What?"
"I won," Nicole repeated as he bent so he could hear her. "It's flashing a big one! I think I won a thousand dollars!"
"Look again," yelled Dalton pointing to the top banner over the oversized machine. "You won a million dollars!
Nicole spun around to raise her eyes to the banners. She turned pale.
"Congratulations," Louis Addison said as he entered the roped-off area.
"I-I," Nicole stammered. "Million?" she asked and would have hit the floor if Louis Addison and Dalton had not stopped her descent.
When her ears stopped ringing, the first thing Nicole noticed was the quiet. The lack of sound was almost eerie after the raucous noise of the casino floor. She opened her eyes to see Dalton leaning over her.
"Did you say million?"
Dalton nodded. "Don't faint again. You scared the crap out of me!"
Louis Addison handed her a glass and she took a large gulp before choking and sputtering. "God, what is this stuff?"
"Vodka. I thought you might need it."
Dalton removed the glass from her hand and swallowed the remainder of the drink. "She doesn't drink. Another swallow of this and she'll pass out again!"
"A million dollars?" Nicole whispered, again.
Dalton nodded yes.
"More like six-hundred thousand and you're lucky you've lived in Nevada long enough to claim residency," Louis warned.
Nicole appeared confused at his statement.
"Nevada doesn't have state income tax," Dalton explained.
"If you're feeling better, we have forms to fill out," Louis said waving a thick folder in his hand.
* * *
"You've been awfully quiet this morning," Dalton observed over breakfast the next morning.
"I'm still in shock," Nicole said looking over at a ridiculously large cardboard check made out in her name for one million dollars along with a poster-sized picture of her holding the check. In reality, the sum deposited into her bank account would be a lot less.
"It's a lot less, now," Dalton warned as if he were reading her mind.
"It's more than I ever dreamed having in one fell swoop," Nicole replied. "Oh, I forgot." She went into the bedroom, fished around in her borrowed evening purse, and found the slot machine voucher. "I forgot to cash this in last night."
Dalton smiled, but she saw worry in his eyes. "We can cash it in on our way out. We can't leave until after Louis verifies the transfer into your bank account."
"You're my ride, so I leave when you do."
"Are you planning on staying with us?"
"I never considered leaving," Nicole said startled at his question and meeting his eyes.
"You can afford to go anywhere, now," Dalton said.
"Do you want me to go?" Nicole asked.
"God, no!" Dalton exclaimed. "It would kill me if I lost you and Matty, again."
Nicole moved over and sat in Dalton's lap to kiss him. "I haven't had time to think much beyond 'Wow, I won't have to scrimp for Matty's college fund.' He's only five, but he's been saying he wants to be a doctor since he was three!"
"You never should have had to worry about his college fund," Dalton said. "If I had known…"
"I'm sorry," Nicole burst out with a sob caught in her throat. "Dee Dee was right. What I did was unfair. I shouldn't have kept Matty a secret. Do you hate me for doing it?"
"No. I was angry at first, but I have had to face the facts. Our breakup was my fault, not yours. I was the one who pushed you into a physical relationship. I loved you, Nic. Please don't think I didn't. However, I was under a lot of pressure and I caved. Finals were coming. I was on the brink of graduation. The job I expected with an established veterinarian fell through, so I was scrambling to find another position to get experience before branching out with my own practice. Then there was a lot of pressure for me to take over the reins of the Double C after graduation." Dalton stopped talking and shook his head.
"I'm sorry. What I meant to do is apologize for all the stupid things I said to you six years ago, and anything stupid I've spouted since. I didn't intend to make excuses. The plain old truth was I got cold feet. I loved you so much, it terrified me.
"Yeah, a lot was going on, but it was my fault you ran. Sometimes, I hear my words in my sleep and I wake up half sick to my stomach. You left because I pushed you away and made you feel unwanted. It was my fault. You only did what you needed to do to survive and raise our child. Thank you. I can't blame you when I acted like an ass. I messed up and drove you away. You deserved better than me. I don't blame you for running away."
"You married Barbara," Nicole said bitterly.
"Yeah. She was another colossal mistake," Dalton groaned. "I must've been brain dead. I fell head first into her trap, hook, line and sinker."
"You were an idiot not to insist on a pregnancy test from a doctor," Nicole said. "You were even more of a fool not to ask for a prenatal DNA match. She had a reputation for sleeping with any guy with a trust fund."
"I wasn't part of the social scenes or cliques when I was in college, Nic. I didn't know until it was too late. It was an expensive lesson to learn," Dalton admitted. "She's been out of my life for the past five years, but she keeps coming back expecting another payoff. Why are you rubbing it in?"
"Because it still makes me angry," Nicole admitted narrowing her eyes at him. "I wouldn't have been nearly as pissed off if it had been anyone except her. Why didn't you go to a bar and pick up a hooker? Why the fuck did you pick her?"
Dalton smacked her on the butt. "We've already established I was an idiot. I can't undo what I did. I can only apologize. I want to forget her and concentrate on you. You owe Matty ten bucks for that word. So far this weekend, you owe him twenty-four dollars and that's not counting the 'Holy Shit!' when you got your first look at the check. I'll let you get away with that one."
Nicole laughed accepting the change of subject. "It was excusable and my swearing doesn't count unless he hears me. Now, I can afford a whole lot more cuss words!"
"Not around me, you can't," Dalton warned. "I want my woman to behave like a lady. I know it's a double standard, but I live by the principles established by a long line of Calloway men. We treat women as ladies until proven wrong. I can't help but wince whenever I hear a foul-mouthed woman. It's ingrained in my Western culture. I've admitted my mistakes, and so have you. If you take the money and high-tail it out of town, you can bet your sweet butt, I will hunt you down this time. I'm not losing you or Matty, again."
"You sound very possessive and I think I like it," Nicole admitted. "As long as you don't get carried away. I'm not ready to do anything about it, yet. We need time. I don't want to hurry into anything."
"We have a five-year-old kid," Dalton grumbled. "I wo
uldn't call it hurrying."
"You know what I mean!"
"Yes, I do, but Gran and Roy Mac were worried this morning when I talked to them," Dalton said. "They were happy for your win but also afraid now that you have some extra cash, you'll leave the ranch. Promise me, you won't run out on me, again."
"I won't. I just got the studio set up and finished," Nicole said. "I'm still wrestling with the idea of all those zeroes. It's kind of scary. I'm making no immediate plans except to drop twenty-four dollars in Matty's piggy bank."
Dalton laughed. "Not even a little splurge?"
Nicole's eyes sparkled. "Maybe. If we go past an art supply store on the way home, you might have to restrain me. It could get dangerous."
* * *
An enormous basket of fruit, candy, and assorted pastries appeared in their suite, in addition to one of the largest flower arrangements Nicole had ever seen, all compliments of the Peppermill Resort. Nicole packed some of the items Dalton had ordered for her but called down to the main desk to return others to the shops.
It was mid-afternoon before she and Dalton were ready to leave. The casino provided an attorney for Nicole and she had filled out a seemingly endless supply of federal tax forms. She made a dozen phones calls to tell Mrs. O'Cleary, Phillip, and a few other friends of her good luck. She had to keep reassuring Matty she would be home soon.
Nicole was exhausted since she had barely slept the night before from all the excitement. To comply with the rules of the casino, she had to have her picture taken with the large check for publicity purposes. It was a small price to pay for a bank statement in the six digits. She wasn't rich, but it was more money than she'd ever expected to see in one lump sum. A dozen phone calls from news outlets had come into the hotel suite. More calls came from people she didn't know who were soliciting donations or outright gifts of money. She wondered how they found out so quickly. The hotel screened the calls the best they could and Dalton answered most of them. Nicole thought her cell phone was safe, but eventually, she had to screen her private calls, too.
As they walked out of the suite, two security guards accompanied them to the elevator and stayed with them as they crossed the casino floor together.
"We need to check out," Dalton told one the guards.
"We have to stay with her until she leaves the premises," the guard responded.
"Okay. She has a voucher to cash in, so take her to one of the redemption machines. Meet me by the fountain at the front door."
As Dalton walked away from them, the guards led her toward a kiosk near one of the cashier stations. As Nicole and her guards passed by a bar area on the way back from the redemption kiosk, a voice stopped her and a woman slid off a barstool.
"Well, well, if it isn't Little Miss Lucky," Barbara Ruiz exclaimed. She still wore an evening gown, badly wrinkled, and appeared to be intoxicated. She was holding a drink.
Nicole didn't respond. As she tried to step away, the woman caught her arm.
"Hey, lady, back off," growled one of the guards.
"You bitch!" Barbara exclaimed loudly grabbing Nicole's hand. "How dare you wear that? That ring belongs to me!"
"Let go of me!" Nicole cried pulling away. "I don't have anything that belongs to you!"
"That diamond was supposed to be mine!" Barbara yelled as one of the guards caught her arm and held her back.
"It was never yours," Dalton declared as he walked into the commotion caused by his ex-wife.
"Only because your precious Gran thought I wasn't good enough for you," Barbara snarled. "It should have been mine!"
"She was right," Dalton said coldly. "You are a liar and a cheat and have never been anything else. You played a con on me and lost. Go find another sucker."
"I'm not through with you, yet," she threatened. "I'll see you in court!"
"No, you won't," Dalton said. "The judge made his ruling final. It's over. It's done."
"It'll never be over," Barbara warned. "Not until I get what I deserve."
"Unfortunately, women like you rarely get what they deserve," Louis Addison said walking into the confrontation. "Randy, escort Ms. Ruiz out of the hotel and put her in a cab for wherever she needs to go. She is barred permanently from the premises. Find out why our facial-recognition software didn't send out an alert when she entered the casino."
As the guard escorted the intoxicated woman to the nearest exit, Louis Addison turned to his friend. "I apologize for the breach in security. I have a limousine waiting to take you to the airport. Best of luck, Ms. Bennett, and to you too, Dalton."
"Wow," Nicole said after they slid into the backseat of a long white limousine. "She's bitter."
"She is a user of people," Dalton spat out, his voice tight with anger. "I might've been stupid enough to marry her, but I wasn't so dumb as to do it without a prenup. Roy Mac threatened to dismember me if I didn't have her sign a legal prenuptial agreement. She agreed willingly enough, but she later told the judge and mediators we forced her to sign it. Roy Mac's attorneys had made it ironclad, though. Her crook of a lawyer wasn't able to break it. When our investigation revealed we weren't even legally married, the crap hit the fan. Even then, with everything my lawyers had against her, a bleeding heart liberal judge gave her an excessive settlement." He glared at Nicole angrily. "I backed his opponent in the next election. He lost his seat."
Nicole had no idea how to respond to the kind of visceral anger Dalton was exhibiting. He was clearly a man who did not like to be crossed.
"Is this a diamond?" she asked looking at the ring on her finger and wanting to change the subject. "You told me it was an aquamarine, a birthstone."
Dalton nodded. "I didn't think you would accept the ring if you knew it was a diamond."
"Was it an engagement ring?"
"No. It really was my mother's ring given to her by my father three days after my birth. It's a mother's ring. Why he gave her a blue diamond instead of the genuine birthstone, we never knew. I wanted you to have it to represent Matty."
"Why does Barbara think it should have been hers?"
Dalton sighed wearily. "Why does Barbara think she's entitled to anything? She is a greedy con artist. According to the private detective Roy Mac hired during our divorce, Barbara targeted half a dozen other guys based solely on their net worth. She was determined to get a rich husband. Most guys she dated were from high-income brackets and living off trust funds. However, they were used to being wealthy and had backgrounds safeguarding them from being taken in by someone like her. Oh, they took what she offered, but they never had any intention of getting involved with her permanently.
"I think she targeted me because somehow she found out about the insurance settlement from the accident that killed my parents and almost killed Roy Mac. Before the settlement, my family was land rich, not cash rich. We weren't poor, but we didn't live extravagantly, either.
"It took five years for the insurance settlement to work its way through the courts. After Roy Mac's hospital bills had been paid off, there was still a substantial sum left. Our lawyers clearly proved the driver of the truck was intoxicated. The court also found the driver's employer culpable for my parents' death and Roy Mac's injuries. My grandparents controlled the estate by then. While they didn't expect me to pay for my education, they weren't willing to let me live in luxury, either.
"Barbara was after money, pure and simple. She wanted as much as she could get, and she didn't care what she had to do to get it. My gran saw through her from the beginning. She didn't trust her and she was right. It was up to Gran to pass on the family jewelry. She didn't pass it down to Barbara during the short time she was supposed to be my wife. I asked Gran for it last week. She gave it with her blessing because it was going to you."
* * *
"It's a lovely portrait of Penelope," Helen said standing behind Nicole and watching her paint. It must be wonderful to have such a God-given talent."
"I think she'll be pleased with it."
"Roy Mac
would like copies of the photographs you took of her if you don't mind," Helen said. "We don't get to see his sister very often. It's difficult for Roy Mac to travel long distances, and she spends much of her time overseas. He wasn't able to make this last trip to Washington."
"I'll make copies," Nicole said. She went to her laptop, pulled a flash drive out of a drawer, and copied the folder to the drive.
"Helen, could I ask you something?" Nicole asked.
"Of course."
"It might be too personal," Nicole warned. "If you don't want to tell me, it's really none of my business."
"What do you want to know?"
"I would like to know about Dalton's marriage to Barbara Ruiz. We ran into her the other day on our way out of the casino. There was a confrontation and I haven't been able to get it out of my mind since."
Dalton's grandmother closed her eyes and sat on the ledge of the stonewall surrounding the studio. "I'm sorry. I don't know why she can't go away and stay away. Dalton was through with her the day he walked out of court. Yet, she seems to think my grandson owes her and she always wants more money. He generally turns it over to our lawyer and lets him handle it. It doesn't stop her from harassing Dalton and pretending to be the victim. He thinks we don't know about it. My grandson wants to protect his family.
"You have a right to know, except I don't know the whole story myself. I must admit I never liked Barbara. She was uncomfortable around Roy Mac. She acted as if his being in a wheelchair was a contagious disease and we should be ashamed of him. Her behavior strained our relationship with Dalton. It was almost like she had a split personality. She acted one way around us and another around our grandson.
"We felt since Dalton inherited the ranch from us that the main house belonged to him and his wife. We moved to Carson City and spent more time than usual in Minnesota visiting my relatives during their brief marriage.
"I don't know what to say about his ex-wife except she didn't make Dalton happy. I don't even know how he came to marry her. For months, Dalton told us he was madly in love with a young art student, who I assume was you. Immediately after graduation, he appeared with a young woman who he wanted to marry as soon as possible.
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