Ladd Haven

by Dianne Venetta

  She whipped the blanket from her body, swung her bare feet to the floor and said, “No, it can’t wait.” It was all she could do to let Nick convince her to go to bed and wait. Now that her daughter was home, she was finished waiting. Tying her hair into a loose knot behind her head, Delaney padded to her bedroom door. Peeking out through the crack of opening, her heart caught. Felicity looked horrible. Distraught. Had she been crying?

  Delaney burst out of the room and rushed to her side. “Felicity? What happened? Are you all right?”

  Her daughter turned, trapping Delaney within the hot confines of an angry gaze. Up close, Felicity’s fair skin was blotchy, mascara and shadow wiped from green eyes. No longer soft as heather green suede, her eyes were hard, jaded. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Fear razored through Delaney’s lungs. “Tell you what?” she asked, but she knew—with deadly precision—she knew what Felicity meant.

  “Why didn’t you tell me my father beat you and it’s the real reason you left him?”

  Delaney felt like someone punched her. Someone told her? Someone told Felicity the truth? But who—who would have done such a thing? Victoria? Jack? Images of each and every Foster filed through her brain, churned her heart with disgust. What vile person would have delivered such news during a friendly dinner?

  “It’s true, isn’t it? He beat you up and you left him.”

  Delaney didn’t want to relive the past. She wanted to erase it. But with Felicity staring her down like a criminal, she felt defenseless. “He hit me, yes.”

  “Why wouldn’t you tell me something like that? Why would you let me go over to that house not knowing what he was capable of?”

  “I didn’t want you to go, Felicity. I tried to talk you out of it.”

  “Without giving me any details!” she shrieked, whipping up a stiff finger between them. “In one sentence you could have stopped me. You could have stopped me in my tracks. Why didn’t you?”

  Because you were hell bent on going? Because I was afraid to hurt you? Regret poured into Delaney’s soul like salt on an open wound. Because I didn’t tell you when I should have and telling you now would have only resulted in this same scene.

  “I can’t believe you!” Felicity screeched, the intensity startling Delaney. She sounded like a dying animal. “You let me believe a monster could be a loving father! That his family could actually take me in with loving arms... How could you do that to me? Where was the overprotective mother when I needed her?”

  Delaney stood as though naked and vulnerable, each accusation lodging deeper than the last. Her final words hurt the worst. Because they were true. Delaney had spent Felicity’s entire childhood watching over her like a mother bear, scraping the flesh from anyone who dared hurt her daughter, even look at her wrong. Visions of Clem Sweeney and his threats rose sharp and raw in her mind. Delaney remembered the emotions thrashing through her at the time. If that skunk had laid a hand on Felicity Delaney would have killed him. Her guttural reaction would have been instinctual, automatic. Yet she had allowed Felicity to go in private with Jack. She had allowed the man to sink his claws into her daughter, and as expected, the man drew blood. Standing exposed in the headlights of her daughter’s wrath, Delaney shriveled to nothing. She had no response. None that would suffice.

  “You make me sick,” Felicity hurled nastily. “You’re as big a monster as he is.” Felicity’s gaze shot to the door behind Delaney, then speared her mother with one last withering look. “I don’t think I can ever forgive you for this.”

  Delaney thrust out a shaky hand. “Felicity—”

  But her daughter was gone. Footsteps pounded the stairs as she fled up to the loft, each one a hammer to her chest. Delaney hugged arms to her body, suddenly cold. Large masculine arms encircled her in a soft embrace. “Let her go. She needs time to cool down.”

  Standing rigid against the warm body of her husband, her life crumbled around her. “She hates me,” Delaney whimpered, her throat nearly closed. Tears filled her eyes. “My daughter hates me.”

  Nick dropped his face to rest on her head. Hot breath mumbled into her hair, “No she doesn’t. She’s angry. She’ll get over it.”

  Delaney’s eyes shot to the ceiling, the loft, her daughter’s safe haven—a safe haven unnervingly similar to one her mother Susannah had sought all those years ago. Abuse, violence. Callous disregard for others. It seemed inescapable. “That family stole her security, her peace of mind.”

  “You don’t know what happened. Let’s reserve judgment until we get all the facts.”

  “I don’t need any more facts.” A well of fury gurgled from deep within. “Jack did this to her.”

  “Life did this to her.”

  Delaney’s heart hardened. “Jack will rue the day he ever tried to lure her back in the Foster fold.”

  “She’s a big girl. She’ll deal with him.”

  With ramrod determination, Delaney said, “Right after I deal with him first.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Delaney was up and out of the house before sunrise. No sense wasting time in bed. She couldn’t sleep, might as well do something useful. Besides, when stressed, there was no better place for her than the stables, spending time with her Palomino, Sadie. Standing in her stall, Delaney brushed the blonde coat of her horse, the movements releasing the earthy musty fragrance of her animal. Mixed with the sweet scent rising from the hay-covered floor, the combination provoked a visceral reaction, a deeply-rooted pleasure. Delaney had been around horses all her life, practically riding before she’d walked.

  It had been her mother’s doing. Susannah Ladd loved the animals and like her, only rode bareback. Walk or run, river or trail, it was a passion they shared, a pastime they spent hours enjoying as mother and daughter. As Delaney brushed, Sadie stood idle, her ears flicking forward and back as though she were bored. Delaney grunted. Nice life, standing around and getting stroked to her heart’s content while her owner ruminated over what to do about the mess her ex-husband had made.

  Felicity was upset, angrier than Delaney had ever seen her. She lost her temper so seldom Delaney couldn’t remember the last time. Felicity was the calm one. She was sensible, quiet. Of the two of them, she was the level-headed one. Seeing Felicity riled up to the point of losing control—shouting, crying—Delaney had been shocked. Not only by the words her daughter had spoken but the intensity with which she’d said them. Stroking a hand over the enormous belly, Delaney shook her head. Maybe the girl was more like her than she thought!

  “God love the smell of horses.”

  Delaney flinched at the sound of Nick’s deep voice. She hadn’t heard him approach, though half-expected as much. When he was in town, the two shared a cup of coffee amidst the horses in the quiet of morning. It was a ritual she had come to love. After last night’s episode, he’d know she’d need company. “It’s glorious, isn’t it? Nice and stinky.”

  He chuckled. “I need to get you out of here and soon. You’re losing your sense for the finer fragrances in life.”

  Her hand stopped mid-motion and she turned. It was a razz he’d begun soon after he met her, continuously commenting on her affinity for her horse as though Sadie were human, and more important to Delaney than him. Far as Delaney was concerned, it was a close call. “What? Don’t you like the smell of a good stinky horse?” Sadie shook her mane, rolling her head back to face him.

  Leaning against a post, Nick screwed his expression. “Unfortunately, I have to admit that I do. Better when combined with the rich scent of expensive leather. Which reminds me, I bought you a new pair of chaps.”

  Delaney rolled her eyes and went back to her brushing. She followed the brush with her free hand, soothed by the solid muscular feel of the animal beneath her touch. “I’m not in the mood.”

  “Well, you should be. A good roll in the hay might relax you.”

  She grunted in response.

  Pushing free, Nick strode over to her. “C’mon. You’ve got to calm d
own and think straight. You had a fight with your daughter. It happens.”

  Gliding her palm over the round of Sadie’s rear end, she said, “Not to us, it doesn’t.”

  “Happens to everyone eventually. It’s nothing that can’t be fixed.”

  Pausing, Delaney looked up at him, glad for the quiet strength emanating from his dark eyes. Combined with his dark hair and tanned skin, his six-foot four stature, his were eyes that exuded calm and wisdom. Eyes that could also blaze with fire and temper. Right now, she needed the former. “You heard her, she hates me.”

  “She doesn’t hate you. That girl doesn’t have a hateful bone in her body.”

  “She does now.”

  “She doesn’t.” Nick grabbed hold of Delaney’s hand, pulling it from Sadie. Turning her within his arms, he brushed the hair from her face, curved a finger under her chin. Gaze darting back and forth across hers, he said, “She loves you. She’ll come around when she’s ready. Give her time.”

  Delaney wanted to believe him. She wanted it with all her heart. Last night had been miserable. Felicity was her whole world. To hear her spit venom and spite was painful. Her accusations were white-hot daggers through the chest, especially because they were true. This was partly her fault. Mostly Jack’s, but partly hers. If she had been honest with her daughter, none of this would have happened.

  “Listen, I have to go out of town.”

  She started. “What?”

  Nick took hold of her shoulders, her body narrow and small within his grasp. “Come with me. It’ll give you time to think, give Felicity space.”

  Sadie kicked a restless hoof to the ground. “I can’t go anywhere—I have stables to run, a hotel full of guests. How can you get away?”

  “I got a call from Lanny. Seems we have some legal trouble with our property in St. Kitts.”

  “What kind of legal trouble?”

  “One of our vendors is suing over a contract dispute. It’s nothing serious, but I can’t ask Malcolm to go with a newborn on his hands. Besides, it will give you and me a chance for a honeymoon.” He winked. “You want one, don’t you?”

  “Well, sure, but...” Delaney glanced to her horse, the Palomino lazily bumping against her. Delaney placed a light hand to Sadie’s back. “There’s too much going on here, you said so yourself. It’s why we didn’t take a honeymoon in the first place.”

  “I know, but business happens.”

  “When are you leaving?”

  He frowned. “You, as in not we?”

  Delaney sighed. “I can’t. Not with Troy newly signed on. I want to be sure he gets a good foothold.”

  “Because he can’t handle himself without you?”

  “Because I feel responsible for the hire.”

  Nick smiled, a dash of merriment livening his gaze. “Hate to inform you, Mrs. Harris, but as owner and stable manager, you’re responsible for all the hires.”

  She furrowed her brow. “You know what I mean. Troy is on rocky ground. I think I might be able to get him and Casey back together, but he can’t mess up this time.”

  “You’re a matchmaker now?”

  “Add it to the list,” she said, unexpectedly overwhelmed by a slew of emotional turmoil. Casey and Jimmy were playing games, Jack was leading Felicity astray, the Fosters were stirring the pot and Felicity wasn’t speaking to her. It felt like people were going mad around her, tossing her between them like a rag doll. Delaney prided herself on being made from some tough fiber, but she could only take so much! Settling on Nick, she longed for his support, not his absence. “When will you be back?”

  “Few days. Shouldn’t take too long to nail this one down. In the meantime I don’t want you confronting Jack about Felicity. Let it lay until I get back.”

  “Why? I’m not worried about Jack.”

  Nick pulled her to him and looked at her directly. His smile was gone, replaced by a seriousness she thought excessive. “I am. The man has already proven he’s willing to stir up trouble. Don’t antagonize him until I return, okay?”

  Delaney suppressed a smile. “I can handle Jack, Nick.”

  “I’m sure you can, but I’d feel better knowing you don’t have to handle him alone.” She hesitated and he pressed. “Promise me.

  “Fine.”

  Nick peered over her shoulder. “There aren’t any crossed fingers I have to worry about, are there?”

  “Not my style.”

  “Good.” He kissed her forehead. “That’s one of the reasons I married you.”

  “What were the others?” she asked, trying to lighten the weight of his leaving.

  He grinned. “Tell you when I get back.” Nick leaned down and kissed her. Long and deep, filled with an unexpected urgency. A swell of desire surged low in her abdomen. Maybe a roll in the hay wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

  Felicity checked her watch. She was meeting Travis for breakfast at Fran’s Diner, though she lacked the first ounce of appetite. She couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep. She could only think—how everything she thought she knew wasn’t true. How her mother lied to her, allowed her to believe in a man who was no man at all but a monster. An abuser.

  Last night when she confronted her mother, she didn’t have anything to say. She stood there, the truth rearing between them like a two-headed monster. That’s what her father was—a man with two heads, two personas. Like the people she read about in her novel, When Families Hurt. The father in that story was leading a double life. He was Mr. Wonderful and Professional at work but when he came home he was mean, criticizing everything his wife and son did as inadequate. The mother in the story was weak, turning to alcohol for escape. The boy had anger issues—issues Felicity suddenly understood. How could he not when presented with two adults making bad choices? Overcome by a fresh swell of her own anger, Felicity deemed the son’s role was the only one that made sense to her!

  Bells clanged at the front door, snapping her attention. Casey Owens stood behind an elderly couple waiting to be seated. A glance around the restaurant showed, the place was packed, standing room only. Shooting up from her seat, Felicity waved to her cousin. “Casey!” She turned at the sound of her name. “Over here!” Felicity gestured her to her table.

  Casey reacted, accepting the invitation to join her. “Guess I should have come earlier.”

  “You can sit with me,” Felicity said. “I’m waiting for Travis.”

  A shadow flitted behind Casey’s blue eyes. “Oh, well,” she said, brushing fallen black strands of hair behind an ear. “I don’t want to intrude.”

  “Don’t be silly. It’s no intrusion at all.”

  Reluctantly, it seemed, Casey sat. As was becoming her habit, she caressed her growing belly in what Felicity thought a protective manner. Casey was going to be a good mom. “How’s the baby?”

  Casey’s smile was quick and bright. “Good. She’s an active one.”

  “Really? Watch out. That means she’s gonna keep you on your toes.”

  Casey looked down as she paused, a hand over her stomach. “I’m looking forward to it.”

  “Travis told me Troy is working for Delaney.” Casey nodded. “Are you happy about it?”

  “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “I don’t know. You haven’t told him about the baby. I assumed you didn’t want him around.”

  Casey paused. Uncertainty pulled a veil over her gaze. “It’s not that I don’t want him around...”

  “You want him to stay around.”

  Her expression slackened. “Well, yes.”

  Felicity nodded. “I understand.”

  “You do?”

  “Sure. If a guy’s gonna commit, you want him to mean it, to follow through. There’s nothing complicated there.”

  “Right.” Casey relaxed. “That’s the way it should be.”

  “I think so.”

  Casey smiled and for a moment, the two young women sat alone with their thoughts. Felicity knew Casey was going through a hard time with Troy, given the
unpredictability of his behavior. One minute he was here, doing a great job, the next minute he was gone. She couldn’t blame Casey for having mixed feelings. Having a baby changed things. A child needed stability, commitment. It wasn’t a game. Casey couldn’t up and leave to follow Troy when the whim struck—or his bad luck. She couldn’t uproot a child, separating them from everything they knew and loved. She had to stay and commit. Something a lot of parents seemed to have trouble doing.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “Do you blame your mom for being with Jeremiah Ladd?”

  Confusion tangled in her eyes. “Blame her?”

  “Yeah, you know, like, are you mad that she slept with him and made him your dad?”

  Easily readable, thoughts rose and fell as Casey considered the question, actively examining what she thought, how she felt. Seconds passed before her gaze filed to a fine point. “No. Not really.”

  “Even though she picked a man like him?”

  “Like him?” Casey parroted warily.

  Felicity immediately walked the statement back. “Like him, I mean, you know, a man who has proven not to be such a great guy.”

  Casey stiffened. “Why are you asking?”

  Felicity dropped her gaze to her lap then faced Casey fully. It was time to spill. “I went to the Fosters for dinner last night. I found out my dad isn’t a great guy.”

  “Was that a surprise to you?”

  Casey was genuinely astonished. Felicity felt foolish. Was she the only one who didn’t know? “Do you know why my mother left him?”

  “They didn’t get along?” Casey offered.

  “He hit her.” Spit it out, Felicity told herself. Say the words aloud and remove the stigma of secrecy. It’s what Travis told her to do. Don’t let this man hurt her any more than he already had. She needed to hold her head high, not hide from the truth. “He beat her and she left.”

  At Casey’s mouth agape, a strange relief swept through Felicity. She didn’t know. At least Casey hadn’t been part of the rumor mill around town like all the others.