by Wyatt, Dani
When he sees me smirk, he screws up his face. “It got you here.”
“It did.” I nod. “And I’m happy about it. I’m always happy about you. Don’t be too long, I want you to cook me another Trapper’s Breakfast later.”
Once he’s collected his axe, chainsaw and a few other tools, and loaded them into the bed of his truck, he sets off down the dirt track that leads to the neighbor’s property, and I sigh as I look around the cabin. It really isn’t much to look at, but it’s solidly built. Only one bedroom, sure, but there’s another door that leads off the hallway.
After I’ve been sitting there, being good, for a full twenty minutes, curiosity gets the better of me. After all, if Miss Muffet were to sneak in there, I’d have to go in after her, right? It takes a little encouragement, but a few minutes later I’m tssking as I follow her in through the door to a cozy little office room, complete with a computer, desk, and a large oak cupboard that looks like it might be from the 1940s.
“Oh, Miss Muffet, you shouldn’t be coming in here, naughty little girl,” I mutter to myself as I take a seat at the desk, swiveling on his chair and looking around the room. There’s a dartboard on the opposite wall, and a painting of a cottage in the woods that looks a lot like this one. “What’s the password?” I ask the kitten as she jumps up on the computer keyboard, making it spring to life, asking me to log in.
I open a drawer or two in the desk. Nothing unusual, just a book of wood prices, a set of keys, an amber paperweight with some sort of prehistoric bug preserved in the center.
The next drawer down has me frowning. There’s a whole pile of papers, mostly to do with land purchases or building work, but in among them are newspaper articles, and one with a big picture of my dad, grinning, has little holes punched through it in several places. I glance up at the dartboard and pull my lips to one side. Still, it’s hardly a surprise. I already know that Miller and my dad aren’t best buddies. My dad can be an asshole in business, so I shrug one shoulder and put the picture back.
Miss Muffet turns and meows at me, and I nod. “Yes, I think we should just check he doesn’t have some sort of Voodoo doll in those other drawers, then we really have to get out of here.”
I wander over to the oak cupboard and try the doors and the drawer underneath, but none of them move. There are little brass key holes, one in the drawer and another on one of the doors, so I go back to the first drawer in the computer desk and pull out the bunch of keys.
There’s only one that’s small enough, so I try it in the lock on the doors and it works. But what I find inside has my pulse trying to beat a hole through my neck.
“What the...”
There’s some lingerie. Nice lingerie still in bags with gift boxes at the ready.
I know I shouldn’t but grab Miss Muffet like she’s my best friend going into battle with me as I march down the hall to the bedroom and start flinging open drawers on his dresser.
Inside is a whole load of women’s clothing. Panties. Bras. Some very short skirts and crop tops. Not enough for someone to be living here, but definitely someone that stays here.
Often. With Miss Muffet still in my arms, I head through to the bathroom and pull open the cupboard over the sink.
Pink razors. Shampoo like the one I use; not like the scent I know from Miller’s hair, all dark and woodsy. And most damning of all?
Tampons.
“What in the actual fudge?” I kiss the top of Miss Muffet’s head as I stand there, staring at the evidence, and try to come up with a logical answer.
What if Miller likes to wear women’s clothes? Which, you know, I’m an open-minded girl, but I’m struggling to imagine it...and even that wouldn’t explain all the other stuff. I mean, I’ve seen him naked, there’s no way he’s using those pink razors. Or tampons.
Which leaves only one possible answer.
I draw a deep breath to stop myself running to the toilet and throwing up. He hates my dad. I mean, he really, really hates him. He’s like, his nemesis. And my dad is an absolute asshole to everyone. Except me. He loves me. I’m his weakness.
Miller found his weakness, and he exploited it.
“He has a girlfriend, doesn’t he?” I ask Miss Muffet. “Have you seen her? No, probably not. He’s sent her off somewhere while he puts his plan into action. I’m the princess and he’s been acting like prince charming, but he’s actually the evil knight.”
Which means there is no prince charming, and the life lesson in this tale is actually that there’s no place like home.
I run through to the bedroom and start grabbing my stuff, stripping off the t-shirt that he lent me to use as a dress and wondering what to do about Miss Muffet. I don’t want to leave her, she’s as much mine as she is his, but the truth is it’s his name on the adoption paperwork and I have no right to take her.
“Oh, Miss Muffet.” I pull her in close for a hug when I hear the door boom closed.
“Where’s my kitten?”
Those words somehow seal it for me. I pull Miss Muffet in close, grab my purse and run. He’s lumbering through the living room when I get to the bottom of the stairs, but I push past him. “I’m taking her.”
“I didn’t mean her, I meant—” He turns and tries to grab my arm, but I slip out of his grasp. “Hey, where are you going?”
I stop, just for a moment, and fix him with a glare. “I saw all her stuff, Miller, whoever she is! I know you have a girlfriend. One who likes to walk around in nothing but lingerie and revealing clothes by the looks of things. You win. I’ll let my dad know.”
The tears are dripping off my chin as I head out the door and run for my car, but Miller is right behind me.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I mimic sarcastically as I pull open the door to my car.
And then he grabs me.
I can’t believe what’s happening as I’m slung over his shoulder and he carefully takes Miss Muffet from me in one of his massive hands.
“Hey! Put me down.” I bang my fists against his back as he carries me toward the house. “This is kidnapping.”
The screaming is pointless, since we’re out in the middle of nowhere, but I do it anyway. A few seconds later, he drops me onto the couch and stands there, folding his arms over his chest, but I just glare right back.
“You do know this is illegal, right? You can’t hold me here.”
“I don’t know what is going on.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “I told you. I found them. Women’s clothes? Razors? Shampoo? Tampons?” I draw a breath through my nose. “Your girlfriend’s things?”
A slight smirk tugs at the corner of his lips. “Yes, but it’s not what you think.”
My mouth gapes. I can’t believe his grinning over this. How wrong could I possibly be about a guy? “Don’t you have any shame? You’re not even sorry, are you?”
He nods. “I am sorry. I feel guilty about those things. But they’re not what you think. They do belong to my girlfriend. Because they belong to you.”
“What?”
“They’re your things, Katarina. I got them, for you. I can’t stop planning, like you’re here already. I couldn’t get you off my mind.”
“You got them for me?”
He breathes a deep sigh. “I didn’t want you to find out about all this. I’ve...been planning our life. For three fucking years. I buy things, plan. Pretend you’re here. It’s weak I know but believe me, there is no one else.”
I shake my head.
Heat rises to my face and, despite myself, sinks to my girly parts. The idea of being this obsessed should scare me. But instead it turns me on. It makes me feel safe.
But I grit my teeth. “I don’t believe you.”
“Look...I wasn’t going to show you this, but I guess I don’t have much choice.” He grabs my arm and pulls me along to his office, where he gets the key to the cupboard and opens the drawer. “Here.”
He hands me over a piece of paper, and I stare at it. “What is this?”
“The deed to a house. The one opposite yours.”
“The house opposite mine?” If he’s been there, then maybe... “No. This is all just a part of an elaborate act. You’re a liar. You’re trying to get back at my father, aren’t you? Hurting me will hurt him. Maybe you hypnotized me or something to get me here, I should have known made me come in here and snoop around and...”
“Hypnotized you?”
I nod. “People can be hypnotized.”
“Why were you snooping around in here?”
I feel the blush rise to my face and my voice starts to shake as I answer. “Well, Miss Muffet came in here and I was trying to get her out...”
“So, you decided to go through everything?” The smirk comes back to his face and I want to slap him.
“So what? The important thing is that I found out all about this plan.” I turn around. “And now I’m going. And I’m taking Miss Muffet.”
Miller growls, and I feel it vibrate through my ovaries, stopping me in my tracks. “I didn’t want to do this yet, but I guess I have no choice.”
I turn around, and he heads to the picture on the wall. When he pulls it aside, there’s a safe behind.
“Are you serious right now? You have a safe hidden behind a painting? Is this an episode of Mission Impossible?”
He shakes his head as he turns the dial a few times, then pulls the safe door open. A moment later, he puts a box in my hand.
“What is this, Miller?”
“Just open it, kitten.”
I watch him, but I do as he says, pulling open the lid of the box to find a ring. And not just any ring. It’s a ring ring. Like, probably the most expensive piece of jewelry I’ve ever seen. And it’s not fair that my heart nearly explodes as I look at it, thinking that it might be for me. But that’s stupid, right. I mean, he hates me. He hates my dad, and this is all just a part of his plan to get even. Just like those dart holes in that newspaper picture.
Right?
“A wedding ring? Who’s getting married, Miller? You and your girlfriend?”
“Katarina.” He takes my hand between his massive paws, dropping to one knee as he looks up at me. “I didn’t want to do things like this. But I guess it’s kind of fitting. Everything for us has been dictated by some higher power, making sure I do things the way I should. I’ve wanted you for three years, ever since I met you, but it’s taken that kitten, and a storm, and a fallen tree...”
“Miller, what’s going on?”
“Just read the inscription, please, before I have to find more words.”
I raise the ring to my eye, and read the inscription around the band. Katarina + Miller. You’ll always be my kitten.
I can’t breathe. Disbelief covers me as I stare down at Miller and see the smirk pull at the corners of his lips.
“Please, marry me?”
Finally, I nod, and whisper: “I can’t believe this is happening...”
Chapter Thirteen
Miller
ONE WEEK LATER...
“What’s he doing here?” Her dad glares as I slip my hand into Katarina’s.
She nods. “We’re...” She turns to me and I smile as I look down.
“Together,” I finish. “And getting married.” When I meet her dad’s eyes, a look of fury passes over his face, but it’s gone just as quick.
“No, you’re not. This is a joke.”
Katarina shakes her head. “It’s no joke, Dad. Look, I know the two of you don’t see eye to eye.”
“Don’t see eye to eye? Look at him. Nobody sees eye to eye with that monster.”
“He’s my monster,” she says, sounding annoyed. “I want the two of you to bury the hatchet. For me.”
We’re meeting in a cafe, which Katarina said was for the best. She arranged to meet her father here, and just brought me along as well. Simple. Not that I’m any happier about it than her dad, to tell the truth, but I will do anything for her, even if that means making peace with my nemesis.
“Sure, I’ll bury the hatchet,” her father says, meeting my eyes. “In his head.”
“Dad, that’s enough. I can’t have the two men I love clashing with each other for the rest of my life...”
“Look, Mr. Harcourt, I know I have to share part of the blame for anything that’s gone on between us. And I know this is a shock to you.”
He shakes his head. “It isn’t.”
“Sorry?” Katarina says.
“It’s not a shock, honey. You don’t think I’ve seen the way you look at him, or the way he looks at you? I’m not blind.”
His words take me by surprise. I had a plan when I came in here, and I’m desperately trying to gather the threads back together. “Mr. Harcourt...um...about the easement over my land. Maybe if I take another look at the contract, I can see my way to finding an arrangement that works for both of us and—”
“You think I’ll sell my daughter to you?”
“What? No...” I shake my head violently. This isn’t going at all as I’d hoped. “What if I just tear up any paperwork that’s going through the courts right now and we call it a family arrangement? No need for any money to exchange hands.”
He grins. “Done.”
Katarina and I answer in unison: “What?”
He just nods. “I win, Miller. I was always going to, because I’m the better businessman, the better bluffer and the better deal maker. Face it, I’m smarter than you are. You think I could keep my daughter away from you even if I wanted to? I couldn’t even stop my wife from going off and doing her own thing. But this right now?” He leans forward over the table and indicates for us to take a seat. “This means I win.”
I feel a growl start in my throat as I realize what he’s done. He had no intention of causing trouble between us, he just wanted me to give him something in return. And more than I was prepared to give when I came in here.
But as I take a seat, I feel Katarina relax beside me, and I decide to hell with it. It’s worth it.
“Fine,” I grunt. “You win.”
He nods, as if I’m just confirming what he already knows. “And another thing.” He fixes me with a stare. “If you ever hurt my daughter, I’ll—”
“Won’t happen,” I interrupt, enjoying taking back control of the situation. “I love her. I won’t be without her. I’ll take care of her for the rest of my life.”
Katarina turns to me and smiles, and her dad watches her for a moment before taking a deep breath.
“Fair enough then. To tell the truth, if I had to pick a man for my daughter to be with, from what I’ve seen of you, Miller, I’d pick you. You’re tough, not just physically but in business too. Not as tough as me, but—”
“Dad, let it go,” Katarina murmurs, and he nods.
“I’m giving my blessing, honey. There’s a condition though.” He waves the waitress over, and I sigh, wondering what other hoops he’s going to have me jumping through. “Double cheeseburger, fries, lots of hot sauce, maybe a side salad? And a coke. No, make that a whiskey, we’re celebrating. Hell, just bring the whole bottle, sweetheart. And whatever these two lovebirds are having.”
After we’ve ordered, Katarina fixes him with a stare. “What’s the condition, Dad?”
The grin spreads over his lips, and he looks at me. “He’s paying.”
Chapter Fourteen
Miller
EPILOGUE – FIVE YEARS Later
I wanted to do this five years ago.
I would have married her that first fucking night we were together.
But, as she tells everyone, we just got busy.
I didn’t worry too much. I had the ring on her finger and just because the paperwork wasn’t signed, didn’t mean we didn’t belong to each other.
Doesn’t matter. We’re here now and I know it will be perfect.
Because my kitten has taught me to let go of trying to make everything perfect, an
d just let it be perfect.
She’s taught me a lot, and everyday I’m thankful as I tell everyone that will listen, I’m the luckiest mother fucker in the world.
In the years since we got together, my girl has forced me to become this social butterfly around town. Sometimes, she even makes me carry Miss Muffet around with us.
My street cred had dropped a few notches.
Her father and I run our businesses separately, but we partner on a bunch of projects and still give each other a hard time when we can.
My kitten still works in the NICU, and I do a lot of the home and child care which, to my surprise, is more fun than running the construction business.
We’ve added on to the cabin, it’s still rustic but more functional for a family and last summer, we put in a swim pond and bought a horse to go along with our six dogs, five cats, two ferrets and a few other birds and reptiles Kat has brought home from the rescue over the years.
The church is packed. Five years ago, I knew probably twenty of these people, spending most of my time on the mountain and generally not speaking.
Her mom is here as well. A few years ago, she showed up. I was proud of Kat, she opened the door but kept her guard up and set some boundaries. I can’t say they have the dream of a mother daughter relationship, but she’s in our lives and the kids call her grandma.
Yeah, we have three kids and Kat is ready to walk down the aisle in her white dress, eight months pregnant again.
Fine by me, I think she’s beautiful all the time, but when she’s in her last few months?
Fuck. I’m a stone-cold fuck machine. I can’t keep my hands, mouth, eyes off her.
When the organ music starts, I look down the aisle and see her there, glowing like an angel on her dad’s arm.
As the wedding march plays, my throat starts to close and I’m not sure I’ll be able to get our vows out without choking up.
The minister reaches over and gives my arm a squeeze as Katarina takes her spot next to me and I’m a full-on blubbering baby in front of God and everyone.