Escaping the Past

by Tammy Falkner

  Lou took a deep breath and looked over to see tears rolling down Sadie’s cheeks. Jeb reached over and took Sadie’s hand.

  “The business known as Western Skies is now jointly owned by each of you. Jeb and Sadie receive twenty-five percent, which they will share. Brody, Lou, and John each receive twenty-five percent as well. If any one person does not want to be a part of Western Skies, they can sell their share to the other three. They cannot sell outside of this group. Dr. Wester, you living at Western Skies is not mandatory. Your mother made specific instructions as to this fact.”

  Brody nodded tightly.

  “The business is currently valued at ten million dollars. Much of this is tied up in racing stock. But enough is liquid that it can provide generous salaries for all who participate in the running of the business.”

  The attorney closed the file. “There are other clauses and bequests to various charities and paperwork that need to be completed, but they can be done at a later date. This takes care of the biggest portion of the will. We will be in touch in the coming weeks and finalize all the details.” The man slid the file back into his briefcase, flipped the locks and walked out the door as quickly as he had arrived.

  Everyone at the table sat quietly for minutes on end. Finally, Lou spoke, though it broke her heart to do so. “At least your mother made no conditions about you having to live here,” she said.

  He raised his head and looked at her. “I hate to have my choices taken away. If she had done that, I would have walked away from it all.” He smiled softly. “She knew me so well.” He took a breath. “She also knew each of you and put the business in perfect hands. I look forward to working with you all.”

  Jeb and Sadie left the table to go and soak up the information while John did the same. Lou turned to Brody and steeled herself. “What’s your plan?”

  He shrugged. “I have to go home. I have things to do there.”

  She wilted. He reached over and bumped her chin with his index finger, forcing her to look at him. “But I won’t be a stranger. That’s for sure.” He kissed her swiftly and got up, walking toward the study.

  He sat down behind the desk and picked up the phone. He pulled his credit card out of his wallet and laid it on the desk in front of him. As Lou listened at the doorway, he made flight reservations to go home that night. She walked down the hallway, not stopping to listen to the rest of his phone calls. He spent the afternoon packing and left his bags by the back door.

  Lou avoided him for the rest of the day, unable to bear the thought of him leaving. I could tell him about the baby, and maybe he would want to stay. But if I take his choices away, he’ll hate me. Better to let him figure it out on his own.

  Lou decided it would be less painful to leave home for a while than to face the fact he was leaving. She whispered to Sadie that she would be home soon, and she and Sarah went to the park. Better to be oblivious than deal with the pain.

  ****

  Brody paced back and forth through the kitchen.

  “What’s got you so worked up?” John asked.

  “I have a flight in a few minutes and Lou’s not back yet,” he snarled.

  “Well, hell, I can take you to the airport.”

  “I can’t exactly kiss you goodbye, can I?” Brody said sarcastically.

  “I think that was what she was trying to avoid,” John mumbled.

  “What do you mean?” Brody asked.

  “To be so smart, you sure are stupid,” John said around a mouth full of Sadie’s pound cake.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” he growled.

  “She loves you, dumbass,” John growled back.

  “Well, I love her, too,” Brody said, dumbfounded.

  John grinned wildly. “You haven’t told her that, yet, have you?”

  “No. I’m going to surprise her when I come back. I quit my job back home and I’m just flying back to get a U-Haul to bring my furniture and stuff. I got a job at the hospital here.” He still looked unhappy. “I took my mother’s ring to be cleaned last week so I could ask her to marry me and put it on her finger.”

  “You picked it up yet?” John asked.

  “No. Why?” Brody wanted to know.

  John grabbed his hat off the hat rack and slammed it on his head. “You ain’t flying nowhere. Your apartment can wait a few days. Hell, I’ll pay your rent, if I have to. I’m rich now.” He guffawed. “Let’s go get that ring. I know where Lou is.”

  Brody steeled himself by grabbing the back of the chair in front of him. His doubtful eyes met John’s. “You think she’ll have me?”

  “Only one way to find out,” Jeb said from the hallway as he and Sadie walked into the kitchen, both smiling.

  Brody and John walked out to the car and Brody took the keys. “I’m still not riding with you, even with a bad arm.” He slid into the seat but dropped the keys when he went to put them in the switch. He reached down and slid his hand along the carpet. His fingers brushed a bag beneath the seat and he pulled it out. His eyebrows drew together as he opened it, and then his eyes grew wide.

  “Hey, that’s Lou’s girly stuff she bought the other day.”

  “This is Lou’s?” Brody croaked before a huge grin tugged at his lips.

  “Yeah,” John replied hesitantly. “I never would have thought a box of tampons would make a man so happy,” John mumbled.

  “You have no idea, John,” Brody said, flying out of the driveway.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Lou stood by the pond at the park, watching Sarah as she played. Her mind was so full of problems she couldn’t tell which way was up and which was down. She was definitely her mother’s daughter. She was pregnant and alone. Brody didn’t want her enough to stay or even to ask her to go with him.

  Lou squared her shoulders, though, and sat up straight. “I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again,” she whispered quietly against the wind.

  Then Lou heard a male voice behind her, breaking into her thoughts.

  “Lou?” Brody said.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, looking at her watch. “I thought you had a plane to catch?”

  “I do. I did.” He ran a hand through his hair. “But, when you ran away, I realized I needed to explain a few things to you before I go.”

  Lou’s eyebrows drew together. “What do you need to explain?”

  “I wasn’t leaving you,” he said slowly.

  “But you had a plane to catch,” Lou said, bewildered.

  “I did. It was supposed to be a surprise. But I am afraid I might have waited too long.”

  “Would you stop talking in riddles?” she said, growing cross.

  “I was going to go home, pack up my apartment and rent a U-Haul to bring it all back here. I quit my job. I have a new job at the hospital here in town.”

  “You do?” she asked quietly.

  He sighed. “Do you remember that day we went to the jewelry store and I had the big box and the little box?”

  “Yeah,” she said cautiously.

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small box. He flipped it open and held it out for her to see. “I took it to have it cleaned.”

  “It’s beautiful,” she said, still not understanding.

  He dropped to one knee. A tear rolled down her cheek and she gasped, covering her mouth with her hand.

  “I took it to be cleaned so I could give it to you…” he said shyly. “When I ask you to marry me.”

  “Why do you want to marry me?” she asked, taking the box from his outstretched hand.

  He stood up and drew her close to him. He kissed her forehead.

  “Because I want you,” he said.

  Her face fell.

  He kissed her nose.

  “Because I need you.”

  She frowned.

  He lifted her chin and kissed her lips. He looked into her eyes and said, “Because I love you and can’t live without you.”

  She immediately threw both arms a
round his neck and pressed herself against him, tears rolling down both cheeks.

  He peeled her off of him and said, “Can I take it that this reaction means you feel the same way about me?”

  “Oh, Brody! I love you, love you, love you.” She rained kisses across his cheeks, chin and nose. Her lips finally met his tenderly. “I always have.” She paused. “I feel a little guilty, though,” she said as he slipped the engagement ring onto his finger.

  “Why?” he asked.

  She said quietly against his ear, “I think I may be pregnant.”

  He clutched her closer.

  “You think or you know?” He smiled against her neck.

  “I think I know,” she said. “I was afraid to tell you because I didn’t want to take your choice away. I didn’t want you to feel like you had to stay. Or like I trapped you.”

  “Woman,” he said, swatting her bottom. “You had me trapped from the first time I saw you.”

  “In a good way?” Lou asked.

  “In a wonderful way,” Brody replied.

  Brody felt a small tug on his pants leg. He looked down to see Sarah standing there with John beside her, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

  Brody dropped to a crouch and picked Sarah up with his one good arm. “Yes, ma’am?” he asked.

  “Are you in love with my mommy?” Sarah asked directly.

  “Absolutely,” Brody replied.

  “Are you in love with Brody, Mommy?” she asked, gazing at Lou.

  “All the way,” she replied, smiling fondly at her daughter. Then she added. “Brody just asked me to marry him. What do you think of that?”

  John took his hat off and flung it in the air, whooping loudly.

  Sarah laughed out loud. “Sounds good to me,” she said, kissing Brody on the cheek. She whispered in his ear. “Now we’ll all be a family?”

  “You better believe it.” Brody said.

  ****

  The four of them left the park and headed for home. Sarah rode with John while Lou and Brody took the Jeep. Their hands were clutched together on the console, his fingers toying with hers. He flipped the engagement ring around on her finger and said, “You sure you want to marry me?”

  “A better question would be, are you sure you want an instant family? There will be Sarah and me, and baby makes three.” She fondly placed his hand on her flat stomach.

  “I sure hope so,” he said, his eyes meeting hers.

  “Really?” she asked. He nodded. “There’s a pregnancy test under the seat,” she informed him shyly.

  “You don’t say,” he replied, suddenly swerving into the parking lot at a gas station. Lou grabbed the dash and shrieked.

  “What are you doing?” she gasped.

  He reached beneath the seat and pulled out the brown paper bag. “We’re going to take a test,” he said.

  “Here?” she questioned.

  “Here,” he said, opening her door and ushering her out.

  Lou giggled and followed him to the restroom. He pressed the brown bag into her hand and whispered in her ear, “Need some help?”

  She blushed and went through the bathroom door.

  Inside the stall, Lou’s heart raced as though she had run a four-minute mile. She capped the test and slid it back into the bag without looking at the results.

  She washed her hands and ran her fingers through her hair in front of the mirror.

  Brody knocked insistently on the door. “You had better get your cute little fanny out here,” he said.

  She blew the hair from her eyes as she walked back out. Her eyes met his, her cheeks rosy and her heart still fluttering.

  “Well?” he asked.

  “Well, what?” she toyed with him.

  “Are we?” he asked.

  She held the bag out to him. “I don’t know. I’m afraid to look.”

  He snatched the bag from her hand and opened it. He read the side of the stick. His face fell. “I’m sorry, Lou.”

  “We’re not?” she asked, her hand over her heart.

  He grinned wildly. “Oh, no! We are!” He picked her up with his one good arm and swung her around as she clutched his shoulders, tears pouring down her cheeks.

  “Then why are you sorry?” she scolded, slapping his shoulder.

  He dropped low in front of her and kissed her belly. “’Cause now, you’re stuck with me forever.” He stood back up and kissed her lips. “You would have been stuck with me anyway. This just makes it better. Let’s go home.”

  Lou and Brody drove up to the house and saw Jeb, Sadie, Sarah and John sitting on the porch. They got out of the truck slowly and walked up the steps to join them. Lou held out her left hand to show it to Sadie.

  “I just heard the good news,” Sadie said, clutching Lou to her in an embrace.

  Jeb held out his hand to Brody. “Congratulations, son.”

  “Thanks, Jeb,” Brody said.

  Lou shaded her eyes with her hand as a cloud of dust rumbled up the driveway. “Who could that be?” she asked.

  The dark sedan stopped in front of the house and Wes stepped from the car. “I hope you guys can stand one more surprise,” he yelled as he walked over and opened the passenger door.

  They all held their breath. Lou watched as one beaded shoe hit the ground and then the other. Then she gasped out loud to see a woman stand up and look over the tinted glass of the open door.

  Lou stood still for just a moment and then said, “Mom?”

  The woman nodded and started to run toward Lou. Lou met her halfway and grabbed her in a tight hug. Everyone on the porch was silent.

  Lou stepped back and grabbed her mother’s hands in her own. Barely able to talk past the lump in her throat, she asked, “How did you…?”

  Wes answered for her. “Witness protection program. We were watching her the whole time. We let Jerry think they had killed her by reporting to the newspapers that a woman’s body was found inside after the fire. In fact, I got her out through the back door as the fire started.”

  Lou felt a tug on her shirt and looked down to find Sarah’s brown eyes, so like her own, staring back up at her. “Who is that lady?” she asked in a whisper, one hand cupped around her mouth.

  Lou’s mother dropped down to kneel before Sarah. “You must be Sarah,” she said, taking in the girl’s dark hair and eyes. She ran her hands up the child’s arm, as though checking to ensure she was real. “I’m…”

  “Mom, wait,” Lou interrupted, suddenly nervous. Brody’s arm slid around her shoulders, offering moral support.

  Her mother held up one finger and placed it to her lips, saying, “Shh.” She looked at Lou. “It’s okay,” she added softly.

  She looked at Sarah again and said, “I have not seen you since you were a little bitty thing. But,” her eyes met Lou’s as she ended, “I am your Grandma, your mother’s mother.”

  Sarah took her Grandma’s hand in her own and said pleasantly, “My mommy is getting married.”

  “She is?” Lou’s mother said with wonder, tears falling from her eyes. She walked along with Sarah as she pulled her over to the swing set, talking non-stop.

  Brody pulled her closer. He kissed her softly.

  “Does it get any better than this?” she asked.

  “Oh, yeah,” he said with a smile. “It only gets better from here,” he said as they turned to go inside.

  Keep reading for a sneak peek at the next book in the Wester Farms trilogy, A SOFT PLACE TO FALL.

  A Soft Place to Fall

  Prologue

  Olivia Barrett rolled over in the hospital bed and clutched the pillow to her middle, fighting back the tears that threatened to fall. The door to her room opened with a click and she held her breath. She glanced over her shoulder and visibly relaxed when her doctor, dressed in baby blue scrubs, entered the room holding a small plastic cup in his hand.