by Lena North
The door slammed shut with a loud thud.
At first, I stewed on it, thinking our argument through, and explaining to myself all the ways I’d been right to push my point.
After a while, I calmed down, though, and a sneaky suspicion that even though I’d been right, he had been too. He’d assumed that I wanted him to be at Double H with me, and when I thought about it – with how we were, why would he think differently? And it wasn’t like it was a full-time job. Annie hadn’t spent more than a few hours each week at Double H, and during the calving season she had help.
So, I decided, the bottom line was that I’d been right that we should discuss how our life together would evolve, but he’d been right to jump on the opportunity to be with me at the ranch when it came up.
Crap, I thought. Being in a relationship wasn’t easy, and also... now I’d have to apologize, at least partially, and I hated that.
I’d put my jacket on and was on my way out to Mac when my phone rang. I looked at the display and did a double take, turned and walked back into the kitchen as I answered.
“Hey, Paolo,” I said, making my voice cheerful and happy.
I wondered why he was contacting me all of a sudden, when he hadn’t picked up in the past few weeks when I’d called him. The others thought that he had gone back to Marshes to sulk over the fact that he’d had to abandon his crazy scheme to set up some kind of power plant in the mountains.
They’d relaxed, even more, when Mary had called to share that there were rumors in the art circles that Paolo Fratinelli had made inquiries to some of the major art collectors if they would be interested in buying some of the pieces Willy had acquired over the years. She’d laughed and told hilarious stories about the replies he supposedly had received, which had ranged from “no thanks” to “I hope Willy Callaghan comes back from the dead to shit in your bed before you go to sleep.”
I was still worried. The others didn’t know Paolo the way I did, didn’t understand his stubbornness and determination. If he wanted something, he went after it, no matter the cost. I’d talked to my father, but he calmly stated that, “The idiot is back to his usual petty smuggling and he’s doing okay on that. He’s still the richest man in Marshes, and that’ll be enough for him, I think.”
That didn’t seem like Paolo to me. He wouldn’t let go of such a lucrative idea that easily. I’d talked to Mac, but he wanted to wait until we had some proof and then go to Hawker again.
I’d asked my bird to circle the area almost daily and looked through her eyes. A few times I thought I saw movement, but it had turned out to be nothing. We were pretty sure that we knew where they thought the crystal was located and I wanted to go up there and bury it deeper, but Mac said to wait for more intel from Kit who apparently was working with some mysterious contacts.
All this waiting and inactivity was making me jittery, and I was anxious to do something, so I’d called Paolo a few times, leaving chirpy messages about how good our short time in Marshes had been.
“Hello, Wilder. I’m sorry I haven’t called you back. I’ve been away on a business trip, and got your messages just now,” he said.
Yeah, right, I thought, but I made my voice sweet as honey and cooed, “There’s no need for you to apologize, Paolo, I know how busy you are.”
“Everything is fine at Double H? Is Farnham better?” he asked.
“It’s okay, I guess,” I said, and added, “Uncle Andy is back at home, but he isn’t in a very good shape. It was an awful accident, and he can’t quite manage the ranch. My so called father made one of his men come, but he isn’t doing much, and Mickey is trying, but he can’t manage on his own…” I trailed off, and then I remembered how we had left Marshes, so I added hastily, “And we had an accident on our way back from Marshes, Paolo. It was all my fault,” I started and then I spoke for quite some time about how we’d slid on the gravel and how Mac had scraped his side.
“I had to go to Norton and help him while he was healing, and now I’m back at the ranch, but it’s all so much…”
“Oh, my poor girl,” Paolo murmured. “I’m sure it’s all too much for you. I could send someone to help you if you wish? I have a cousin –”
Oh no. I did not want that awful man to live with us at Double H, so I cut him off.
“I’m thinking about selling, Paolo,” I murmured, and the silence that came through the phone was deafening. “There have been some legal issues too, although I don’t understand why Hawker made such a fuzz about it all, and I think it’s all too much for me.”
I wondered if I was laying it on a little too thick because I had in no way ever been stupid or helpless and surely Paolo would know this?
“I’m sure it’s hard for you, and I would be happy to buy the ranch to help you out, but that will take some time, Wilder. It’s a big property, and I would need some time to shift money from my other corporations.”
Or get those foreign investors back into the deal, more likely.
“There are others who are interested,” I lied.
Then an idea popped into my head. It would probably have been better to have thought it through a little bit better, but I spoke before I could stop myself.
“I’m not really into the details, Paolo, but I thought that maybe we could do another kind of deal? Maybe the art collections you got from Gramps would be worth the same as Double H? Then we could just trade them?”
“What?” he breathed, and I could almost hear how he had started salivating.
“Or at least part of the collection perhaps? Then I could sell some and build a house somewhere else, maybe even in Marshes? Some of the wonderful things Willy gathered over the years could be used there?”
He choked and started coughing but collected himself quickly.
“We could do something like that. I still have the appraisal from the settlement of your grandfather’s estate, and –”
“You are much better at these business deals than me, Paolo,” I murmured. “Whatever you decide will be fine with me.”
“Okay, Wilder. Don’t you worry, I’ll have everything drawn up and ready for you to sign within just a few days,” he crooned.
“Okay,” I said.
Then I raised my head and looked straight into two very green and very angry eyes.
“Oh,” I said before I could stop myself. “I have to go, Paolo.”
“Of course. You have a good night now, my girl. I will call you in a day or two?”
“Yes. And, Paolo…” I trailed off and held Mac’s eyes. Then I whispered sweetly into the phone, “Thank you.”
I closed the call and smiled weakly at Mac. I knew I had to apologize for our fight before so I gathered my thoughts.
Before I had the chance to say anything, he turned and walked away.
“Mac,” I called out.
“I need a minute, Wilder. Be right back,” he ground out between clenched teeth.
Then the door slammed shut with another bang.
I stared at it and heard vaguely how the door to the living room opened. As I heard Mac roar loudly outside, Mickey entered the kitchen.
“What did you do?” he asked with a grin.
He looked tired, and I felt guilty. I should have tried to do more at Double H instead of working with my bird or training with Olly. Mickey had school, and he’d taken on a lot of the business side of the ranch as well as helping his mother care for Uncle Andy. We’d not spent much time just him and me, and when I saw how he had dark circles under his eyes, I could have kicked myself.
What kind of friend was I, following my new boyfriend around like a puppy, not helping my best friend take care of what actually was my duty in the first place?
“You look tired, Mickey. I’ll hire someone to do the business side of the ranch. I’ll do more myself and –”
“Don’t. I spent last night with Olly and a few of the boys at the Roadside Bar and Grill. Hung over hugely, that’s all. Dad’s
doing most of the business side again, and Olly manages the rest. Mom doesn’t need any help either. They’re both driving me nuts, in particular on a day after a night out with the boys, so I came to ask if I could stay here instead of with them?”
“But –”
“So what did you do?” he asked and tilted his head toward the back door to indicate the thumping that came from our back porch.
Was Mac kicking the wall?
I quickly explained what Mac said, what I said, what Paolo said, and then what Mac said.
Mickey started laughing half way through my explanation, and then Mac walked back into the kitchen. He looked like he wanted to strangle someone and I hoped it wasn’t me.
“Wilder,” Mickey said before we could say anything. “You were right. Mac should have talked to you. But don’t you see? You did the same thing, made big decisions without talking to him first.”
Oh. Crap, I’d done that.
“Worse,” Mac growled. “Did she tell you? She deliberately baited Fratinelli. We almost have him on smuggling illegal substances into the country. Been doing it small scale for years but he’s stepped it up lately, and we decided to shut him down. If she’d just waited for a few –”
“How was I supposed to know that?” I shouted angrily.
I couldn’t believe what he’d said. Paolo was some kind of drug lord too?
“She’s got you there,” Mickey murmured. “When are you going to let her into your little private miniature army? Or me, for that matter?”
What? Mickey had not only figured out what they did? He wanted to be part of it as well?
“Shit,” Mac muttered and pulled out his phone, punched the screen angrily and put it to his ear. “Your daughter is a nuisance,” he barked.
There was a long silence, and Mac got a pained look on his face.
“This was not said to amuse you,” he growled to what I surmised was my laughing father, then he snapped, “Baited Fratinelli. Told him she’d swap the ranch for Willy’s art.”
Another silence ensued.
“Right,” he clipped, closed the call and threw the phone on the counter. “They’ll be here tomorrow by lunchtime.”
Mickey put an arm around my shoulders, and I leaned into him, grateful for the support. Then I took a deep breath.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, and went on, “About before because you should have talked to me but I get why you didn’t. And about Paolo, but I didn’t know that you were doing something about him. You all said that he wasn’t a problem, so I didn’t know you were investigating.”
Mac’s face softened and then he sighed.
“I’ll have more gray hair than Hawker before long.”
Since my father didn’t have any at all, that wouldn’t be so very hard, but I figured that this was not the time to inform him of that. Instead, I waited.
“I’m sorry too, baby. You were wrong to fly off like you did, but you were right. I should have talked to you,” he murmured softly.
I started smiling, but he wasn’t done.
“We shouldn’t have kept you out of what we did about Fratinelli, but Hawker and I just wanted to protect you.”
“Bad decision,” I said calmly.
“Yeah,” he sighed. “Guess we’ll have that talk tomorrow about including you in the group somehow. Hawk will have a shit-fit, but he’ll get around. Olly is on your side if that helps? Said all the time that we were wrong, so he’ll be one smug bastard for weeks now.”
“Fantastic,” I said.
I walked over to the fridge and brought out a bottle of water.
“What about me?” Mickey asked, and then he shocked me. “With dad out of commission, you’ll need someone handling the business side, looking at financials, taxes, that sort of thing. I’d like to be the one doing it. Dad said he’d help me as much as he could if I needed it.”
Uncle Andy was involved too, apparently, though when I thought about it, it wasn’t so strange.
“Who else is involved?” I asked Mac.
“Can’t tell. That’s for Hawker to share, if and when he feels like it,” he replied immediately.
“Okay,” I said.
That was only fair, I guessed.
“We good?” Mac murmured then.
I stared at him, not sure what he was asking. Of course, we were good. Or weren’t we?
“I don’t know. Are we?” I asked right back.
“Love you, baby, so we’d better be,” he muttered.
“Okay then,” I said, but I did it smiling.
We’d had another fight, and an important one, not about something silly like who went in the front seat of a car, and we’d gotten through it. I decided that we’d go to bed early that night because we had some more making up to do.
Then I realized what Mickey had asked, and turned to him.
“You can absolutely stay here, but you get the guest room down the hall, and you keep the door closed at night.”
“Jesus,” Mickey muttered.
Mac started laughing.
Chapter Twenty-three
Brain over brawn
They rolled in just after noon, all of them, led by Hawker. Miller was right behind him as usual, and I saw Byrd’s long hair in a braid underneath her helmet on the next bike. I wondered if this was an indication of their hierarchy and figured it probably was.
I stood on the front porch, flanked by Mac and Mickey.
Hawker looked searchingly at me and then at Mac as he walked up the steps to stop in front of me, and I think Mac managed to convey some kind of message to him because his jaws clenched.
“For fuck's sake, Wilder,” he growled in my face.
“Whatever,” I replied breezily and turned to the others who were waiting by the bikes. “Hi guys,” I called out happily and waved at them.
Miller was the only one who smiled, but Byrd had her lips pressed together, so I think she held her grin back.
“Wilder,” Mac murmured.
“No,” I snapped and turned to my father. “No,” I repeated.
I had planned all morning what I would say, and I did not hesitate to lay it all out.
“Except for the men who stands at my sides today, none of you know me. Not really,” I said.
My eyes turned to Hawker, and his face had hardened as I spoke. I felt sorry for him, but I clamped down on my feelings and stared straight into his eyes.
“If you keep pushing me away, you will eventually push me so far away you can’t reach me anymore. You have a choice to make today.”
Hawker started to speak but I raised my hand, and he closed his mouth again.
“I will not beg because I don’t have it in me, and also because I shouldn’t have to. All I’m saying is that either I am included, or I’m excluded. Your choice.”
Then I raised my chin and waited. I felt Mac grab my hand and hold it in a firm grip, slowly caressing the top of mine with his thumb. I didn’t turn to him, but I couldn’t stop my face from softening at his show of support. Out of nowhere, my hawk suddenly swept across the crowd in front of me. She shrieked loudly and then she landed on the fence that went around the front porch. I stared at her, and she turned her head slowly toward me, and I could have sworn she winked.
“Hey there, Wilder,” she chuckled and turned to look at my father.
Suddenly Olly walked out of the barn, took one look at the gathering, and walked past everyone, grinning hugely. He nodded at his mother when he passed her but continued up the steps to place himself next to Mac, facing the others.
“Morons,” I heard him murmur under his breath.
I held my father’s eyes and waited, hoping that he wouldn’t turn away but expecting him to put up a fight.
“For fuck's sake, Wilder,” my dad repeated, but kept right on growling, “You were included the second you were born, so it’s fucking ridiculous to watch you standing there making grand speeches. Now get out of my fu –�
�
A soft but incredibly determined voice cut him off.
“I thought I told you a thousand times that you need to clean up your language. Have I not done that?”
Then Sloane stepped out on the porch.
“For f –” Hawker cut himself off and to my surprise, he did what he was told. “What are you doing here, if I may ask?” he said with considerable snark in his voice.
“I called her of course,” I said amicably. “Now come inside everyone. Aunt Gwen has made lunch, and Uncle Andy is waiting.”
I turned and walked inside, trying my best to look cool and collected but my heart was beating wildly. Mac guessed accurately that my knees were shaking a little, so he put his arm around my shoulder, steadying me.
“You weren’t lying when you said you knew how to manage your da, baby,” he said.
“Don’t think I didn’t hear that,” my dad growled behind us.
“Assumed you would,” Mac said and threw a cocky grin over his shoulder.
The others chuckled, and Miller laughed out loud, but he also put a hand on Hawker’s shoulder, which I assumed was his way of offering support.
We sat down on the back porch and while we ate, they took turns in filling me in on how the group operated, and shared details about their investigation of Paolo.
I told them all about the deal I had made with Paolo and got mixed reactions back. Hawker and Miller thought he wouldn’t fall for it, saying that he couldn’t possibly be that stupid. Kit thought he absolutely was exactly that stupid, and so did Uncle Andy.
The afternoon passed slowly, and we’d just agreed to arrange for where everyone would sleep when my bird called out.
“Wilder!”
“Hey, Bird,” I replied.
“Bird by the water says Paolo is coming with men. Says good Snow wants you to know that he is desperate. Foreigners demand proof now. He is going to get proof.”
“What?” I breathed out loud and waved my hand to make the others stop moving and talking.