Chasing the Runaway Bride

by Susan Meier

  He opened the envelope and pulled out the single sheet of paper that held only a few handwritten lines.

  Sorry about this, Cade. But I want to settle this once and for all. There’s proof in my office that I didn’t cheat Piper’s dad. Once you find it, you’ll have to figure out the best way to tell Karen O’Riley and the rest of the town. Be delicate. The woman really did suffer.

  Cade closed his eyes and sucked in a breath, relieved that his grandfather had a way to clear his name. That he understood. But why was he making him work with Piper for an entire year?

  Jeff said, “Did you read it all?”

  He opened his eyes again, let his gaze fall to the last bit.

  I also want you to end the Lonnie Simmons lies. I can’t let you go through life without your family as you have the past years. You might think you love Montana, but I think you need to be home. Running the store, you’ve got a whole year’s worth of opportunities to tell people you aren’t Hunter Simmons’s father.

  Annoyed, he crumpled the letter, then realized he was destroying the last words his beloved grandfather would say to him. He smoothed out the sheet, folded it, and tucked it in his pocket. Only a fool tossed away his favorite grandfather’s last letter. No matter how angry it made him.

  He could understand settling the score with the O’Rileys. He loved that there was proof to clear his grandfather’s name. But the Lonnie Simmons lies? He’d seen DNA results that proved Hunter wasn’t his child two minutes before he would have walked to the altar to marry Lonnie. Then Doc had taken them back, knowing he’d lose his license if word got out that he’d revealed private test results. How the hell was he going to tell people he wasn’t Hunter’s dad without proof? Everybody would simply think he was lying.

  Meddling old man.

  “So you get it?”

  “He knows my leaving Lonnie at the altar can’t be fixed.”

  Jeff winced. “Is that why he gave the store to you and Piper? Not to end the feud, but to give you time to mend your reputation?”

  “You didn’t read the letter?”

  “No. I just wrote the will. But he told me that what he put in the letter would get you onboard with the bequest.” He leaned back in his chair and blew out a breath. “I think you’re right, though. Your grandfather was delusional if he thought the fallout from you leaving Lonnie could be fixed. In a town the size of Harmony Hills, people have long memories. And they like their gossip.”

  “No kidding.”

  “So what are you going to do?”

  “Well, Pap says there’s proof in the office that he didn’t cheat Sean. I could find that, clear his name, and leave.”

  “Then Piper gets the store.”

  Fury trembled through him again. She and her mom had lied about his grandfather for thirty years. But if he found the proof that redeemed his grandfather and went back to Montana, she got the store?

  Not on his watch.

  “I’m sure as hell not just handing over the store to an O’Riley. I’d rather see it become a parking lot.”

  “That doesn’t happen unless you and Piper both walk away.”

  “We could contest the will. I don’t need to be half-owner of the store to go into the office and find the proof that clears my grandfather’s name. And, once the proof is out, my family should be able to run the store or sell the store or do whatever we want with that store. We shouldn’t be bound to running it with an O’Riley.”

  Jeff leaned forward. “Cade, like it or not, you and Piper running the store together was what your grandfather wanted. I know you don’t like the people of this town. But your grandfather did. And I agree with him about the store and the feud. We’re a small town that should be like family. Instead, everybody over the age of thirty won’t look twice at a Hyatt supporter or an O’Riley supporter, depending on which side of the feud they’re on.” He leaned in a little closer. “Giving the store to you or Piper wouldn’t have resolved anything. Giving it to both of you might.”

  He snorted a laugh. “Right.”

  “Okay, if you don’t care about the town. How about this? If you contest the will, everything, every bequest, is open to reinterpretation.”

  Cade’s brow furrowed in question.

  “If you open the door, your dad could take you to court to try for part of your mom’s share.”

  Cade snorted. “What’s he going to want with a few thousand dollars? Without the store, Pap’s estate is probably worth about fifty cents. The store was his only asset…unless you count that rundown house.”

  “Just wait until you hear the rest of the bequests.”

  Jeff rose as Cade’s mom stepped into the office with his older brother. In a black suit, Cade’s dark-haired, dark-eyed brother Devon motioned for their mom to enter first. Even wearing a simple skirt and pink blouse, she still looked better than she ever had living with their abusive father.

  Cade’s blond-haired, blue-eyed baby brother Finn and his bride Ellie filed in after his mom and Devon. At Jeff’s insistence, they’d postponed their honeymoon to be available for the reading of the will. But they were still happy. Really happy. The kind of happy Cade hadn’t believed possible for himself, his brothers, or his mom.

  Finn was happy. Devon looked happy. His mom was happy.

  Holy shit, his family had changed while he was away.

  No wonder his grandfather wanted him to try to mend his reputation. With their dad out of the picture, Finn deliriously happy, Devon a successful lawyer in Pittsburgh, and their mom safe, it seemed all the wrongs in their family were finally being righted. And his grandfather wanted Cade’s life fixed, too.

  His mom and Devon sat beside him on the captain’s chairs in front of Jeff’s desk. Finn got two chairs from the conference table in the corner and sat with Ellie to the right of their mom.

  “Okay,” Jeff said. “I have about fifteen minutes until my next client gets here, so I’m going to run through this quickly.” Jeff handed a sheet to Cade’s mom, and copies to Devon, Finn, and Cade. “That’s the value of your father’s property. LuAnn, your father decided the entire estate should go to you and your three sons, equally.”

  Cade’s mom raised her hand to her throat. “Oh my God.” Her gaze snapped to Jeff’s. “There’s a lot of money here.”

  “Just slightly over a billion dollars.”

  Devon gaped at Jeff. “A billion dollars? We’re billionaires?”

  Jeff laughed. “Yes, if you keep the money together, your family will be worth a billion dollars.”

  Stupefied that his grandfather had so much money, Cade quickly scanned the contents of the page.

  Jeff leaned back in his chair. “Richard lived modestly, and from the looks of things, he knew how to invest.”

  Still reading the list of assets, Cade said, “He owned stock in every major corporation in the US.”

  Jeff laughed. “Yes. And now you own stock in every major corporation in the US.” He leaned forward again, hands on his desk. “It’s up to the four of you how you want to handle it. You can divide it up. You can take monthly or yearly stipends. You can hire a money manager. You guys can manage the fortune yourselves the way Richard did. But no matter how you slice it, you are all rich.”

  He looked at LuAnn. “But your money comes with a problem, since you still haven’t signed a financial agreement with your husband for your divorce. If your husband finds out about this cash, he may not sign anything unless he gets a share. My advice to all of you is to keep this inheritance quiet until that part of your life is settled.”

  …

  Piper walked back to Health Aid feeling as if she were floating. Without a word to Darlene, she headed for the office. Closing the door, she sucked in a long breath, sat at the desk, called her boss, and resigned.

  Just like that.

  In one quick discussion, she was a free woman.

  After gathering her things, she found Darlene at the checkout counter, leaning against the back shelf. She handed her the keys fo
r the office cabinets, told her she’d quit, and just when she would have told her about inheriting half the grocery store, she stopped herself. Gossip traveled faster than lightning in this town. Before the word got out, she had to tell her mom and Lonnie.

  Oh, Lord. How the heck was she going to tell Lonnie she’d be working with—not just working with but partners with—Cade Donovan?

  Gossip had forced Lonnie out of town the day Cade dumped her. She’d moved to Cincinnati, far enough away to be out of Harmony Hills but not so far that she couldn’t get home in a day’s drive. She rarely came back, though. The only way to reach her was by phone. Calling Lonnie to say she had to work with Cade would be infinitely more difficult than telling her mom they’d gotten the store back.

  Piper decided to have the hard discussion first. As soon as she started her little red car, she said, “Call Lonnie.”

  Her phone took over the radio and within seconds, Lonnie’s voice came through the speakers. “Piper O’Riley! What are you doing calling me at one o’clock on a Monday?”

  “I just got out of an appointment with Jeff Franklin.”

  “Oh my God. The Nelsons are suing you, aren’t they?”

  “No.” She winced. “Well, maybe. Eventually. But today Jeff called me in because I inherited half of O’Riley’s Market.”

  For a few seconds, there was dead silence, then Lonnie gasped. “Oh. My. God! Piper! Did he admit he’d cheated in that poker game and stole the store from your dad?”

  “Nope. He told Jeff he didn’t like the feud and thought maybe it would die if a Donovan and an O’Riley ran the store.”

  Dead silence, then, “A Donovan?”

  Piper winced. “Cade.”

  Lonnie groaned. “Oh, Piper!”

  “Rather than focus on the whole Cade thing, I thought maybe just for today we could be happy that I finally have a decent job.”

  “I know.” The two words came through Piper’s speakers like one long whine. “Working for Health Aid sucks. I know exactly what it’s like to fill out the same paperwork every week. To reorder the same crap and restock the same shelves…” Lonnie managed the Health Aid in Cincinnati and did exactly the same things Piper did every week. “But Piper, Cade? Really?”

  “It wasn’t my choice. It was Richard Hyatt’s.” She drew in a breath. “And as much as I’d like to work with anybody else, the oldest Donovan is a lawyer in Pittsburgh and the youngest, Finn, has three other businesses in town. Cade’s the only one who’s free.”

  Lonnie snorted. “He could be the king of the world and I wouldn’t know. I haven’t heard one word from him since the day he left town. No explanation. No child support. No time for his son.”

  Piper winced. “I’m sorry.”

  “Yeah, I’m sorry, too. But as you said, this is your big break. A chance not to be a cog in a wheel.”

  The thrill of how her life would change washed through her, and she wanted to shout for joy. Instead, out of respect for Lonnie, she said, “I promise not to like him or be nice to him.”

  “You also better be careful.”

  “Careful?”

  Lonnie didn’t answer right away. When she did, it was quietly. “From what I’ve heard from my mom, the whole Donovan family is falling apart. My mom says Devon’s going after their dad big time in the divorce, looking to get half his money.”

  Expecting Lonnie to continue to disparage Cade, Piper was surprised that she’d more or less changed the subject. “My mom says that, too.”

  “My mom thinks they made up the whole beating story for leverage in the negotiations.”

  Piper winced. “That was the gossip at the drugstore, too. Except half the town is on LuAnn’s side, saying it’s crap.”

  “Well, whatever the case, be careful.”

  “I will.”

  “And call me. I wanna know everything.”

  The light finally dawned for Piper, and she gasped. “Knowing where Cade is and how much he makes, you can sue for back child support!”

  Lonnie unenthusiastically said, “Right.”

  “I mean it.”

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Piper. I’ve been supporting Hunter on my own for years. I also haven’t had any interference on how I’m raising him. Sometimes I think no dad is better than a crappy dad.”

  Piper said nothing.

  Lonnie groaned. “Oh, geez, Piper. I didn’t mean that as a slur against your father.”

  “It’s fine. I actually understand. After my dad’s heart attack, my mom and I became a team. We had fun.”

  “And that’s what Hunter and I are doing. Adding a third party into the mix would only confuse him. We’re settled now. We don’t need or want Cade Donovan in our lives.”

  “Okay, then I won’t spy on him for you.”

  Lonnie laughed. “I’ve gotta go. I work at four. But you call me tomorrow night after your first day.”

  “Okay.”

  “And Piper…congratulations.”

  Piper grinned.

  She disconnected the call, made three turns, and kept going until she reached her mother’s cute little white Cape Cod. Blue shutters matched the bright purple petunias that poured from the blue window boxes, giving the house the look of a fairy-tale dwelling where Snow White or Cinderella might live.

  And that’s how she’d thought of her childhood. Two girls going shopping, having lunch, making dinners together, ultimately sharing the chores like roommates. Not that her mom didn’t have rules or wasn’t strict. But the sense that it was the two of them against the world had sort of caused Piper to grow up quickly.

  To behave.

  To always do the right thing.

  And then—positive she’d missed out on zing, romance, sexual attraction—she’d ended up leaving two grooms at the altar.

  Deciding not to think about that, she got out of the car and walked to the back porch and the kitchen door. Opening it, she called, “Mom!”

  No answer.

  She ambled through the kitchen into the hall, past the stairway. “Mom!”

  Wearing old jeans and a ratty T-shirt, Karen O’Riley rushed down the steps, her short red hair hidden under a scarf, the way she always “protected” it when she was cleaning.

  “Piper! What are you doing here?”

  “I have some news.”

  “Well, the Dinner Belles are scrubbing the church hall this afternoon. I have to be out of here in ten minutes.”

  “It won’t take me ten minutes to tell you that I inherited half of O’Riley’s.”

  At the bottom of the steps, her mom stopped dead.

  “I got called to Jeff Franklin’s office. Apparently they’re reading Richard Hyatt’s will today. I only got to hear the provision that applies to me, but I get half the store.”

  “Oh my God! We got the store back?”

  “Half.”

  Her mother’s mouth fell open. “I don’t even know what to say. There are so many things.” She pressed her hand to her chest. “First, this is so good for you! You won’t just have a job, you’ll own a business.”

  Piper laughed. “I know!”

  “Second, Richard virtually vindicated your father!”

  “I think so, too.”

  Her eyes filled with tears. “Giving you that store is like Richard saying I’m returning the store to the O’Rileys where it belongs.”

  “Mom, I only got half, remember?”

  Karen frowned as that sank in.

  “Richard wanted to end the feud, so he gave the grocery store to me and his grandson.”

  Her mom’s frown became a look of total confusion. “The other half goes to…Finn?”

  She winced. “Cade.”

  “But he doesn’t live around here! Isn’t he a cowboy or something?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Karen groaned. “Oh, Piper. No one’s really seen him in twelve years, since he left Lonnie and poor Hunter. He could be as big of a thief as his grandfather.”

  “That’
s not my call. Besides, I only have to work with him for one year.”

  “One year?” She walked to the foyer table and picked up her purse and keys.

  “And if Cade backs out, the entire store is mine.”

  Her mother’s happy face returned. “Really?”

  “Yeah. I think his grandfather was trying to strong-arm him into taking the job.”

  “But if he leaves before the year is up, you get the store? Sole owner? Free and clear?”

  She nodded.

  “It almost sounds like Richard knew Cade wouldn’t want to stay in town a whole year, so he baited him with the one thing he couldn’t tolerate. An O’Riley getting the whole shebang.”

  Piper hadn’t really considered that.

  “It would be better if he just walked away.”

  “That’s walking away from a lot of money.”

  Karen patted her hand. “His family doesn’t need it. Especially if they force Jeb to give LuAnn half of what he owns.”

  “I don’t know anything about that.” Fighting the urge to shake her head because she hated the way this town gossiped and speculated and poked their noses in where they didn’t belong, she added, “And maybe it’s best we just focus on the store.”

  Karen nodded. “You’re right.” She peeked at Piper. “But, you know, I used to run O’Riley’s with your dad. And managing a chain pharmacy didn’t really prepare you to run a grocery store. Or deal with somebody like Cade. Maybe it would be a good idea if you hired me?”

  Piper laughed. “You want a job?”

  “I’d like to be part of the store again.”

  Seeing the serious look in her mom’s shiny green eyes, Piper shrugged. “Okay. That’s the big perk of being the owner. I can hire anybody I want. If you want a job, you’ve got a job.”

  “Thanks, Piper.” Karen hugged her. “I can’t wait to tell the Dinner Belles… Oh, and we have a food pantry meeting tonight!” She pulled away from Piper. “I can tell people, right?”

  “No one said anything about keeping it a secret. Besides, I’ll be in the store tomorrow…working as owner.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Oh, Mom! This is going to be so great.”

  Except for the fact that she had to work with Cade Donovan.