Rudd shrugged. “Iris and I have known for some time now that you two young ones were meant for one another. Today’s young people live together before they marry, unlike in our day, but I’m okay with that.” He looked up at Iris. “What do you say?”
Iris grinned. “Wes, just ask Chappy to get some of the hands to help with furniture and such. We’ll take Kam’s things from her suite and move them over to your new house.”
“Thank you,” Wes told them gravely, with a nod. He’d thought Rudd might not go along with his request. He was old-fashioned in many ways, but Wes saw the man wanted his only daughter to be happy. “I’ll go get Chappy now.” Because tonight, he wanted Kam in his arms and his bed. He could see the devastation in her lovely eyes—the realization that she could have been killed today. And more than anything else, Wes wanted to give her a safe haven against the future. The entire family would have many adjustments to make.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“I CAN’T BELIEVE all that’s happened in the last seven days,” Kam told Wes. Their bodies still damp, they lay in bed together after making love for the second time that night. The window across from the bed showed dawn chasing the darkness away. Kissing Wes’s roughened jaw, Kam nestled her head in the crook of his shoulder.
Wes pulled the sheet up to their waists and then brought Kam back into his arms. Inhaling her womanly scent, the freshness of the earth combined with a sweetness that was only her, he nuzzled her hair. “Allison is going to stick to her story. I knew she would.”
“She can’t explain away her credit cards or the money pulled from all those bank accounts to pay Jenkins for those two hits.”
Wes sighed and felt a contentment he’d never experienced before. “In a jury trial, I’m sure Allison will be found guilty on that evidence. It’s just a matter of time.”
Closing her eyes, Kam slid her hand around Wes’s lean rib cage. The grayness of the dawn slid silently into their bedroom. Every day brought new shocks and surprises. Zach and Regan were reeling from the events. They’d decided to leave the ranch to stay with their mother at her new condominium in Jackson Hole. Kam couldn’t blame them; after all, she was their mother. “I feel sorry for Allison’s children. They’re torn up and they don’t know what to believe.”
“I think when Rudd and Iris sat them down with them and showed them the results of the DNA tests, they could no longer refute the truth.”
“It’s a tragedy,” Kam whispered, her heart aching for Zach and Regan. “I don’t know what’s worse—not knowing anything about your birth parents or suddenly being told that your father isn’t your father. Allison denied each of her children their real father as they grew up.”
Wes held Kam gently and kissed her brow. He understood Kam’s heartrending words. “I always felt Allison coddled her children and protected them too much. She never let either of them take the hard knocks of life that you need to survive out in this world,” he said. “It’s going to take time, a lot of time, for them to get right with what’s happened.”
“I wonder if they’ll be angry with Allison?”
Wes threaded his fingers through Kam’s soft, dark hair. “In time. It’s more important that they create contact with their individual fathers at some point. Rudd’s attorney just contacted their biological fathers. Neither of them knew they had a child by Allison.” He sighed. “Now, their lives and the lives of their families are in chaos, as well. Allison’s decisions have caused pain for a lot of people.”
Kam closed her eyes and felt her scalp tingle beneath his ministrations. “Right now, neither of them seems to want to contact their birth father.”
“They’re scared Allison will be thrown into prison and they won’t have her around to protect them as before,” Wes said. He propped himself up on his elbow, his hand moving across the sheet that outlined Kam’s hip. “She never created inner strength in them. All they know is to circle the wagons around Allison, who continues to lie to them. Until they can start pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps, they’ll hide from the truth.”
“Allison was the perfect helicopter mother in many respects and now, her children are going to suffer because of it,” Kam said. “I just couldn’t believe all her affairs. I’m not a prude, but her way of getting a part is just beyond me. I could never do that.”
“Allison was desperate to leave her unhappy past behind.”
“We have no right to judge her on that,” Kam said quietly, pressing a small kiss to the column of his strong neck, “but what she has done to her children is plain wrong. It’s one thing to make life decisions for yourself, but to make them for others and not think about the consequences for them is sad.”
“No question,” Wes breathed, pressing his mouth to hers. For a moment, the awakening world around Wes halted. This was the sweetest moment he could have except to be inside her, loving her. They’d loved each other to exhaustion tonight without regret. It was as if he could not get enough of Kam, nor she of him. Wes knew this was a heady, wonderful time in their lives. Easing his mouth from her soft, full lips, he looked into her half-closed eyes. “I love you, Kam. I did from the first day I saw you as I rode by on Bolt. When you climbed out of the car, my heart did double-time.” He gave her a tender look.
“Me, too,” Kam whispered, gliding her fingertips up across his cheek and his temple. “There was just something about you, Wes. Your strength and confidence.”
“I feel kind of guilty being so damned happy when Rudd’s and Iris’s lives are being torn apart.”
Sadness filled Kam and she sat up, the sheet pooling around her hips. “I know. I’m walking on air every day and I see the stress, the pain and anguish in their faces. I wish I could do something to lift it off them, but I know I can’t.”
Wes pulled her into his arms. He loved the warm, quiet strength of Kam’s body against his own. “You are helping them. Just maintaining a schedule with them gives them stability, Kam. And in times like this, that’s what you need—sameness. Fixedness.”
“I just hurt so much for them.”
“Until Allison is out of their lives, the pain will continue. Rudd’s attorney said that if Allison doesn’t confess, this will go to trial. I guess it’s too much for me to hope she’d do the right thing for once and save this family from more suffering.”
“I know,” Kam said. She leaned her full weight into his arms and languished against his strong, hard body.
Wes gave her one last kiss. “Let’s forget about this for a while and go take a shower together.” He got to his feet.
“Perfect.” Kam gave him a teasing smile. His hair was tousled, his beard darkening his face. He looked incredibly virile and handsome. Throwing off the sheet, Kam climbed out of bed and took his hand. Together, they walked down the hall to the bathroom. It held a claw-foot tub and a large shower stall. The rest of the house might be small, but the bathroom had been given ample space.
“When we have dinner with Rudd and Iris tonight,” Wes told her as they ambled down the hall, “I’m going to announce our engagement.”
Brightening, Kam halted. “Really?”
“Sure. Are you game?”
Just absorbing Wes’s smile sent a wave of heat through her. She halted and slid her arms across his shoulders. “That would be wonderful! I know that will lift their spirits.”
“I’m not doing it for them,” Wes growled playfully, kissing her cheek, “I’m doing it for us. I want to marry you, Kam. Make it legal. Real. I want to stay here at the ranch and work. My mother is doing fine with her ranch. She’s happy with Braidy as the new manager and things are going right for her, for once.”
“It’s sort of sad, though,” Kam murmured, catching his hand and pressing a kiss to his work-worn fingers. “I feel when your mom writes her will, she’s going to leave the three of you the ranch. She’ll give you what you deserve.”
“I don’t care,” Wes said, bringing Kam against him. “Everything I’ll ever want is right here in my arms, le
aning up against me, smiling at me. I can lose everything but not you, Kam. Maybe we could also set a date for our wedding.”
“I’d like that,” Kam said. “I can contact Morgan and Laura and let them know the date, too. I’m sure they’ll come down and help. They need to meet Iris and Rudd. I’m lucky to have two families instead of one.”
Nodding, Wes pressed a kiss to her hair. “They both love you. This happy occasion will offset the trial.”
“It will,” Kam whispered. “Such a positive celebration for everyone.”
“You bet,” Wes said, smiling at her.
Joy thrummed through Kam as never before. She knew the wedding would probably take place in September, a beautiful time of year here in Wyoming. The colorful fall leaves would have turned and all of nature would bless their union, as well. “I like your plan, darling.”
Leading her into the white-tiled bathroom, Wes felt his heart expand until he thought he’d explode with bliss. All his life, he’d lived a life of trauma and stress. Now, with Kam at his side, that seemed like another world—one that he had left behind him. All he had to look forward to was a life with her. It would be a good life, he knew. There would be trials, no question. Hard times. Sad times. But through it all, he knew she’d stand at his side like the courageous woman she was. As he handed her a white fuzzy washcloth to take into the shower with her, Wes gazed down at her flat belly. One day, she’d carry his child. That thought blazed through him powerfully and he felt euphoric. Their child would have a loving father, not an abusive one. And he knew Iris would dote on her great-grandchild. Wes hoped that it would give the senior a measure of happiness that she had long deserved. They would be a family again. A real one with no lies or deception between them any longer.
As he closed the shower door and the steam began to curl and flow around them, he hoped that someday Rudd might meet another woman who would love him for who and what he was. He would hold that thought for the man because he deserved the same kind of happiness Wes had found with Kam.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-4430-0
SHADOWS FROM THE PAST
Copyright © 2009 by Lindsay McKenna
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