“That lumpy old couch? No thank you, I’ll sit right here. You should have let my son buy that nice leather one over at King’s Furniture when he wanted it. Now he will never get the chance to have nice furniture.” Mavis plopped back into Shane’s recliner, or what used to be his recliner, and dabbed at the corner of her eyes.
The zipper holding Amy’s repressed anger came undone. It wasn’t like she’d told Shane no out of spite or some sort of control grab. She’d told him no because they flat out didn’t have the money to pay for a new couch. They’d been too busy trying to cover their existing bills after Shane bought that shiny new jacked up four by four. His military pay coupled with her earnings from waiting tables at the Wharf covered the basics. Not leather couches and King Ranches with air-conditioned seats.
But as much as Amy wanted to tell Mavis where to shove her comment, she had a matter altogether more pressing. She had to get Mavis out of her house before Ranger woke.
The thought gave her fear of discovery a shot of steroids and left her hands shaking and cold sweat dripping down her neck. “I’ll start the coffee.”
“Make sure you put three teaspoons of sugar in my cup. And not that fake stuff either. And bring me the picture of my baby so I can hold him close.” Guilt trip? More like guilt voyage around the planet.
Amy grabbed Shane’s photo from the mantle, trying to steady her hand and pass it to Mavis. Whatever it took to keep the woman corralled and quiet. “Be right back.”
She bolted from the room, hit the brew button on the coffee maker and rushed into her bedroom, locking the door behind her. Today of all freaking days. What had Amy done to piss off fate?
15
Chapter 15
Ranger lay sprawled on the bed, his massive chest taking up over half of the mattress. His blond hair mussed with sleep. His expression peaceful. Relaxed. And so heartbreakingly handsome it took every ounce of her willpower not to dive back in there with him.
But fate was a twisted bitch insistent on carving out her pound of flesh. Mavis would only sit still for so long before she started snooping around. And the two-by-fours nailed over her kitchen door could catch a blind man’s attention.
Amy rushed back into the bathroom, washed her face and brushed her teeth at warp speed. She yanked a brush through her hair and didn’t even attempt makeup.
She ran back through the bedroom, pausing for one last look. As if sensing she were near, Ranger rolled to his side, one arm reaching out in his sleep to the empty space where she had slept. Her heart tugged at the gesture. He’d been so open and honest with her. He wanted her, he wanted all of her.
Amy trembled and took a step back, unsure if she had anything left to give.
She exited the bedroom and shut the door behind her. The coffee should be done by now. Mavis could have a cup while Amy got Chloe dressed and ready.
“What on earth?” Mavis stood in the kitchen, staring at the fragments of broken doorframe and glass still lying on the kitchen floor.
Amy’s heart stopped beating all together. Ranger’s clothes lay just out of sight, but if Mavis came in the room any further…
“Stop. There’s glass. I haven’t cleaned it up yet.” Amy moved to stand between her mother-in-law and the clothing.
“Amy Carter, what did you do?” Mavis propped a hand on her more than generous hip, glaring at the mess.
“I tried to break into my own house.” Amy immediately slapped a hand over her mouth but her smart-ass comment was out and she couldn’t pull it back in. She knew better than to poke a hornet’s nest.
“Excuse me?”
“What, you don’t like the way I redecorated?” She poked alright, and the hornets flew out with a venom.
“You little hussy. I don’t need your smart mouth. You can go to the cemetery by yourself. I’m sick and tired of wasting my time on a piece of trash like you.”
Amy’s first instinct was to turn tail and run. Mavis with her full venom unleashed was as pretty as rotting cow manure. But the calm control she’d perfected over the past year didn’t rise to the forefront. No, Amy lifted her foot and stepped right in the big pile of shit.
“Good, cause this piece of trash is sick and tired of listening to your big fat mouth.”
Mavis jerked back as if slapped. Good. Amy would be willing to bet no one in the state had had the guts to talk back to her. Her already bulging eyeballs seemed to swell, and Amy prayed they didn’t pop out of her head. “You-you-“
“Listen, why don’t you just go? You can stop coming out here for your monthly guilt trips and I can get on with my life. You can pretend like you never had a daughter-in-law.”
Mavis made a full recover. “You can go on with your life while my son lays rotting in the ground? I don’t think so. I’ll be out here every third Saturday for the rest of your miserable life.”
“Why? Why can’t you just leave me in peace?” Amy had blown her top and now had no reserve fuel left to carry the fight.
“Because, if you hadn’t made him so miserable, he never would have joined the military in the first place.”
“Are you serious? Are we talking about the same person? Because Shane Carter was never made to do anything.”
“He didn’t have a choice.”
“If he was so damn miserable he should have asked for a divorce.”
Mavis gasped-and oh unholy mother of Jesus-divorce. What a blot on the family name. “Divorce? You know how I feel about divorce.”
“So maybe Shane was too scared of you to ask for a divorce. Maybe it was your fault.” Amy hurled the accusation.
“I can’t believe you said that. A sinner like you, daring to question my good judgment about my boy.” Mavis pointed a long fingernail in her face. “I’ve tried to be good. I’ve prayed for your soul and prayed for the patience to deal with you, but no more.”
“While you’re doing all this praying, maybe you should pray for yourself, cause you’re the most rotten evil person I’ve ever met.”
“Well I never!”
Amy held up a hand. This was going nowhere. “Please just go. I have to clean up my kitchen and call the sheriff with my official report. Someone tried to break in last night. The last thing I need is more drama.”
“Someone broke in?” Mavis put a hand to her neck.
“Yes. Not that you care. But I am tired. I was up all night. I really don’t have the energy for this.”
Mavis seemed to deflate, her shoulders sagging for a brief instant. Concern maybe? “I told you to sell this place didn’t I? Shane never wanted to live out here on this run down farm. You should have listened to us.”
Had she thought Mavis was capable of concern? As much as Dahmar had for the human race.
“Shane agreed we would live out here.” Amy couldn’t hold in her annoyance.
Mavis huffed, her heavy jowls jiggling. She reminded Amy of that giant evil marshmallow man on Ghostbusters - too bad Amy didn’t have a laser gun.
“Well, this place is filthy.”
“I would have cleaned it, but someone showed up at the ass crack of dawn uninvited.” Amy’s tolerance for hateful ex-mother-in-laws had reached the limit.
“Unplanned? It’s the third Saturday. You know what happens today. It’s not my fault you lazed in bed all morning,” Mavis said.
Amy forced her voice to drip with sweetness and resisted the urge to grab a shard of glass off the floor and stab Mavis. She had to get her out of the house. “You’re right. Now, please go.”
Mavis’s eyes all but disappeared in her swollen face, but she turned and walked back into the living room. “Make sure you clean up all that glass before you let my grandbaby crawl around in this pigsty.”
Amy waited until Mavis disappeared and let out one long breath. She’d done it. She’d gotten Mavis out of her house and bypassed the nuclear bomb in her bedroom.
Now she had time to grab her broom, sweep up the glass and maybe make breakfast. Or she could crawl back in bed with Ranger…
Amy froze, broom in hand on a half-sweep. Mavis stood inside the kitchen door, Shane’s photo clutched to her generous chest. Tears. Real live tears dragging her black eyeliner down her cheeks. “I know I’ve been hard on you. And it’s not right for me to blame you.”
Mavis took a step forward, her hand covering Amy’s own. The broomstick the only solid object holding her upright.
“What?” Not the most poetic response, but her mother-in-law had shocked the brainpower right out of her.
“I’m going to try harder to be nice. To be a mother to you. Lord knows you need one.” The small sliver of hope inside Amy cracked a little. Mavis’s version of nice still had vinegar.
But part of Amy understood. The woman had lost her only child. Her reason for living. If anything ever happened to Chloe…she couldn’t even finish the thought. She covered Mavis’s hand with her own. “I know it’s hard. It’s been so hard for me. I can’t imagine how much you hurt.”
They’d both lost someone. Amy had lost her husband. Mavis lost her only son.
“You really are a good and true wife. You’ve been there every month, putting fresh flowers on his grave.” Mavis wiped her pudgy hand down her pressed pleated pants leg. She looked away, the first time Amy had ever seen her avoid her gaze. “I was wrong. About you. You really did love my son.”
Her mattress creaked in the bedroom, Ranger made some kind of cough snore sound and the quite settled back down. Amy froze and her heart clawed up her throat.
“What was that?” Mavis peered around her shoulder.
Not now. Please stay asleep. Please stay asleep. “Nothing.” Amy’s voice came out higher than normal and she cringed.
“That didn’t sound like nothing.” Mavis pulled her hand from Amy’s and her hawk like gaze zeroed in on her bedroom door.
Amy needed to think of something. Fast. Before Mavis stormed into her bedroom and found Ranger in her bed. Amy swallowed and glanced around, but for what? What would be her excuse? Her brain blanked.
”I know I heard…” Mavis’s voice trailed off and Amy closed her eyes in resignation. She knew without turning around that her bedroom door was no longer empty.
“No wonder you didn’t want to tell me.”
Amy opened her eyes, steeling herself for the explosion about to take place. But Mavis didn’t scream or rant or rave.
Unable to stand to torture a moment longer, Amy whipped around and had to grab onto the counter to keep from falling to the kitchen floor.
“I had a feeling you were hiding something. Thank goodness my son isn’t here to see this. You know how he felt about animals indoors.”
Jesus Christ almighty. A stray cat, she’d nicknamed Bodacious, strolled through the kitchen, curling his long black and grey tail up her leg. He must have come in last night. He normally preferred the old barn and it’s plethora of fat mice. Amy didn’t have to pretend to care, she dropped to her knees and grabbed Bodacious to her chest, relief robbing her of breath and muscle strength.
“I hope you had him wormed. He shouldn’t be around Chloe unless the vet cleared him,” Mavis said.
Amy still couldn’t get her mouth to work. Her heart was too busy trying to hammer through her chest.
Mavis took a step forward held her hand out to pet the cat, but he recoiled and leapt to the chair.
“I thought a pet would help cheer the place up some.” Amy rediscovered her voice and stood.
“I can’t blame you for that. Why, I was walking past the pet store the other day and stopped to look at one of Mr. Tom’s kittens for sale.”
Amy suppressed a cringe and quickly crossed her arms over her chest, silently thanking Bodi for saving her ass. “You should really give it a try one day Mavis. I think you’d be surprised at how easy it is to fall in love with a pet.” Just as easy as Amy had fallen into Ranger’s arms.
16
Chapter 16
Ranger rolled over in bed and grabbed nothing but cold sheets. The only proof Amy had been in his arms was the indentation in her pillow and the lingering smell of flowers and heaven. He rolled to his stomach and gathered her pillow to his face, inhaling her scent.
His chest tightened and he felt the loss of her presence. He needed to touch her. To talk to her and make sure she was okay with last night. He’d taken her so thoroughly, his every intention to replace her thoughts with nothing but him. What if he’d been too rough? What if he scared her?
His heart skittered and he pushed up from the bed, uncaring he was naked. If she ran, he might not get her back. She had his heart.
And he wanted hers.
Ranger ripped open the bedroom door, ready to run through the house to find her. To apologize, grovel, whatever it took to make her happy.
But when he opened the door, he froze. The deep down knowledge that this was one of those moments that could forever change his life settled in his gut. And he’d royally fucked up.
Mavis Carter, stood in the kitchen, her perfectly coiffed hair and tailored suit had no hope of restraining the unbridled rage growing with the ferocity of an atomic bomb. And he knew without a doubt the explosion of anger she was about to unleash would be on Amy, not him. Not the one who deserved it. Ranger grabbed for the sheet and wrapped it around his waist, ready to tell Mavis his thoughts.
But Mavis beat him to the punch. “You little slut. How dare you desecrate this house with your filth. After I came over, ready to accept you.”
Amy paled to a shade he’d never seen and her bleak eyes turned to him. Ranger cringed, knowing he was the reason behind her please kill me look. His own anger rose and he clutched the sheet tight to keep from throttling Mavis. “Don’t talk to her like that.”
Mavis straightened her shoulders and glared at him. “I always knew you’d be trouble. I tried to warn Shane to stay away from you. From both of you. And look, both of you standing in his house. Naked. Cavorting in sin. And my son is cold in the ground because of both of you.”
Mavis might be spiteful but she aimed true, her arrow of guilt shot straight to his soul. But no matter how much Ranger regretted not saving Shane, he’d come to realize he wasn’t totally at fault either. “A terrorist killed Shane. I tried to save him.”
Mavis stepped toward him, her body visibly shaking. “The terrorist might have killed him, but you left him. You left him behind. And I hope it haunts you for the rest of your rotten days.”
Ranger straightened from the doorway, his own fury rising to match that of Mavis’s. “You better watch what you say to me woman. You being my best friend’s mother will only protect you for so long.”
But Mavis didn’t back up. And she didn’t shut up. “You think I worry about your threats? I died the day my boy died. You can’t do anything else to hurt me. But by God, I can hurt you.” Mavis turned towards Amy. “And I can destroy her. Your slut.”
“Mavis, please. It’s not like that. Ranger and I… We never…” Amy trailed off and Ranger knew she was struggling to find the words.
He wanted to stride to her, take her trembling body in his arms and tell her it would be okay. Everything would be okay.
“You mean to tell me you and Ranger never slept together? Never cavorted in my son’s bed?” Mavis bit out.
“We, please…” Amy paled even more.
Rage rolled through Ranger. He’d be damned if last night was their last.
Mavis cut Amy’s words off with a slice of her hand through the air. “No. I see that it isn’t. So, when did you start betraying my son? Was it when you were still with him? While you were still married?” She seemed to swell. Her rage palpable.
“It’s none of your business. We don’t owe you any explanation. You know that Amy is an honorable woman, just like you know she would never betray your son. And you know, deep down, that she was too good for Shane.” Ranger’s chest constricted. His heart swelled. He met Amy’s broken gaze. “Ju
st like I know she’s too good for me.” But he loved her anyway. He had loved her since he first met her. He didn’t know why she ended up marrying Shane, and he didn’t know why they’d been given a second chance, but he wasn’t going to waste it. Not one minute.
Ranger strode across the room and took Amy’s hands. Her pulse beat wildly at the base of her throat. Her gorgeous chocolate eyes, the color of spring in full bloom, watered.
“I know you’re scared. I’m scared too.” Ranger tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, wanting to touch her more. “I loved Shane like a brother. I will always love him and miss him. And I know you will too. But I love you too. I’ve always loved you Amy.”
She shook harder and he cupped her face. His stomach tight, knotting and twisting.
“I cannot believe what I’m hearing. Traitors, both of you.” Any façade of calm completely disappeared from Mavis Carter’s face. Her voice rose sharp and grating. “I’ll make sure everyone knows. Your ruined Amy. If it takes the rest of my life, I’m going to make sure you suffer.”
Ranger held Amy’s face between his palms, attempting to shield her from the gross fury. The need to protect her strong and righteous. His woman. His heart. He turned to face Shane’s mother, restraining his violence by a steadily fraying thread. ”Get out. Get out of this house and don’t ever come back.”
Mavis didn’t move. Ranger let go of Amy and grabbed Mavis’s arm and pulled her to the door. She yanked back. “You can’t kick me out of my son’s house.”
He grabbed her arm again, pulling her hard and yanked open the door, “I can. And I did. Don’t come back. And if you do anything to hurt this woman I’m going to make you regret it.” Ranger slammed the door in the older woman’s face and turned to Amy.
Her pale face turned parchment white, all the color completely leeched away. His heart twisted at her pain. Ranger took her in his arms, wrapping her close and tucking her head against his chest. “It’s okay. She’s not going to do anything.”
Resurrection River: Men of Mercy, Book 2 Page 9