Chapter Thirty-three – He Called Me Baby
Chapter Thirty-three
Sadie
HE CALLED ME BABY
Performed by Lee Ann Womack
“Where are you going?” I turned at the door to find Mila with her hands on her hips and a rainbow-colored stuffed unicorn shoved under each armpit. Her dark-blond waves were fastened into braids that were already askew even though Mama had barely tied them an hour ago. Her hazel eyes, the same color as Maddox’s wife’s, glimmered with mischief.
“Fallon and I are taking Parker to pick up the rental car,” I told her, hand waving to the parking lot where both of them were waiting at the car.
In the four short days since we’d been back in Tennessee, Fallon and Parker had both embedded themselves into my family and the ranch. They’d stolen everyone’s hearts by rolling up their sleeves and working just as hard as anyone else. It made me ache all over again because it wasn’t just Fallon who I wanted welcomed into my family with open arms. I wanted her father to be accepted as well. I wanted our two families to be one.
“He’s really leaving? Right now?” Mila asked, looking sad. Of all my family, it was my niece who’d fallen the hardest for the Naval Academy midshipman, and he’d done what everyone who ever met Mila had done—he’d fallen right under her spell. He’d played poker with her, using M&M’s as chips, and patiently answered every one of her million questions about becoming a SEAL.
But true to his promise to Rafe, every time Fallon had left the house, Parker had been right there with her. He’d pitched in with the chores, gone riding with her, and taken long walks through the hills.
The time they’d spent together only increased the stars in Fallon’s eyes so they glowed almost as brightly as my niece’s. Parker saw it, and he’d done his damnedest to treat her as nothing more than a little sister. A friend. It made me think of Lauren’s words about how hard you’d try to make the boy you liked look at you in the same way, but I was pretty sure Fallon saw the difference in their ages as an insurmountable hurdle at the moment.
I’d told Lauren the truth when I’d said I’d never had that strong of feelings for a guy before. But I had them for Rafe, and there was no way I was letting him walk away from me, regardless of our age difference and the miles that existed between our homes.
For now, I’d concentrate on doing the one thing Rafe had asked me to do—I’d look after his daughter. Even though, with Parker here, I hadn’t had to do much—at least, not until today. With him leaving, I had to find a way to keep Fallon close while I continued to do the real job I’d ignored for nearly two weeks. Now, I had a pile of bills I needed to weed through, a fire marshal to make happy, and the next supply order to place.
That meant I couldn’t drag Mila with me along with Fallon this morning.
“You just finished saying goodbye to Parker a few minutes ago, kiddo. You knew he was leaving,” I told Mila.
I’d offered to drive him the hour and a half to the airport, but he’d refused. He said he’d feel better if Fallon and I stayed here, close to my brothers and our security until his replacement arrived. Ryder and Maddox had both been irritated Rafe was sending someone, but they’d let it slide. Maybe it was because they knew how it felt to have your loved ones under attack.
“But I may never see him again,” my niece pouted, her voice taking on that loud, demanding tone we all were known for caving in to. She had us wrapped around her finger from the time Maddox had found her in a dirty hovel and brought her into our lives.
“What’s going on?” Mama asked, hurrying down the stairs. Her dark hair, so like my own, swung about her face, and those blue eyes I’d also inherited flashed with concern.
“Nana! Parker is leaving forever . Auntie Sadie and Fallon get to take him to say goodbye, and I want to go too!” Her voice rose dramatically.
The concern on Mama’s face turned into a wry smile. “Well, chick-a-dee, I believe you already got your way once today. Weren’t you the one who convinced your daddy to take you and Addy to the lake?”
Mila spun her way over to my mother and tugged on the apron she had tied around her waist. “I can do both, Nana. I can call Daddy and tell him to pick us up later.”
Just as the words left her mouth, Maddox’s sheriff truck drove into the parking lot.
“Too late. Your daddy is already here,” I said. Then, I squatted down in front of her, unable to handle the sad look that took over her face. I’d sworn, after we’d almost lost her because I hadn’t been quick enough to save her, I’d give her whatever I could. “Fallon’s going to be just as sad as you are that Parker is gone. How about, before I work my shift at the bar tonight, I take you and Fallon on a long sunset ride?”
Mila loved the horses almost as much as Fallon did, so she considered this carefully before sticking out her little finger. “Pinkie promise?”
I hooked her finger with mine. “Pinkie promise.”
I tugged on a braid and then hurried out before my guilty conscience had me hauling her with me and messing up my brother’s day. As I met Maddox on the porch, I said, “Warning. She’s pouting.”
He rolled his eyes to the heavens, took off his cowboy hat, swiped a hand through his dark-blond hair that matched Daddy’s, and then set it back down. “Damn. What set her off this time?”
“She decided she needed to go with me to send Parker off and go swimming with Addy at the lake,” I told him before noticing he was in his uniform instead of swim trunks and a T-shirt. “Are you not going to be able to take her? I can wait. She can come with us.”
He shook his head. “McK and Gia are still going with the girls. I’m just swinging by to play taxi service while McK finishes her shift at the hospital. I got called in to handle some drama up at the West Gears’ Nest. Nothing urgent, but it can’t wait until tomorrow either.”
“Okay. Well, be safe out there,” I said, heading off the steps, and then turned back. “You haven’t heard anything today, have you? About Adam or Theresa?”
My family hadn’t been thrilled about any of the secrets I’d kept, but as always, they’d closed ranks around Fallon and me to keep us safe. The first night I’d been home, after Fallon had gone up to bed in Gemma’s old room and Parker in Ryder’s, we’d agreed we’d give the jewelry back to Rafe and the Harringtons. It meant I wouldn’t have a large enough down payment to get the performing arts center started anytime soon, or at all, but the truth was, I was ready to give it up if I could have a life with Rafe. If the diamonds could help his family keep the ranch, I wanted that more than anything I’d wanted in a long time.
I just didn’t know what it meant for me and my family. If I left to be with Rafe, would we have to sell McFlannigan’s? We couldn’t afford to pay a full-time manager to run the place. It was profitable, but just barely. In following my heart, would I have to give up more than just the dreams I’d started to form? Would I have to give up my family’s century-old legacy as well?
None of my family would blame me. They’d want me to be with the man I loved, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t snag at my heart, if it didn’t make me long to find a way to keep both.
“As far as anyone can tell, they’ve gone dark,” Maddox said. “My best bet? Theresa has hooked up with him, and they’re making their way down to South America using their stolen money.”
It wasn’t anything different than the last update I’d gotten from Rafe, but every time I asked, I hoped for a different answer. Just like I hoped every morning, the short, direct update I received via text from him would turn into something more. While the messages weren’t unlike the factual, curt ones he’d sent the day he’d flown to LA, for some reason, they hurt more now. Maybe because, the day of the wedding, I’d known he was coming back to the ranch to claim my last dance, whereas now I knew he was trying to give them away.
Fallon heard from him more often, and she got actual calls. Ones where I heard her laugh and saw her smile at something he said, and it made my heart nearly give out. I wanted to hear his voice too. I wanted to tease and taunt and listen to it as it went dark and commanding and sexy.
I tried not to show how much it stung not to get an actual call, but Fallon saw it anyway. Just this morning, she’d told me not to give up on him. “Sometimes Dad needs a slap in the face to make him pay attention.”
I’d laughed because she’d wanted me to, but I couldn’t help the little shred of doubt that had started to creep into my thoughts. What if he never shook himself out of this? What if he really decided the only way to give me the life he thought I needed was to walk away?
As I hurried down the porch steps, I couldn’t help but notice how Fallon and Parker leaned shoulder to shoulder up against the trunk of my silver Mustang GT. The sun peeked over the barn and cast them in a halo. His dark hair contrasted with her stunning blond waves as much as his gray eyes did her deep chocolate ones, and yet they seemed to fit.
I wondered if Rafe and Jim saw that the bond these two had forged wasn’t going to be easily shaken. I’d seen the same deep and lasting relationship develop between Maddox and McKenna as they’d grown up together. I may have only been ten when McK had come to live with us, and I hadn’t been able to put into words what I’d seen flashing between them. But just like everyone else, I’d known it was more than friendship, even when she’d left him behind for a while.
As I approached the car, Fallon looked away, brushing her cheek to her shoulder as if hiding tears. It made that knot around my insides tighten and twist. Parker bumped her arm gently and then rose from his relaxed position. “Noah texted and said his flight was delayed. He might not be here till closer to midnight now.”
“That’s okay. We have security,” I said, referring to the little addition that had been added on to the back of the barn that held not only a dozen computer screens watching over the ranch, our homes, and the bar, but also a person monitoring them around the clock. After Ryder and Gia’s horrific ordeal had come so shortly on the heels of what had happened to Mila and me, Ryder had insisted our security be improved. One, or all of us, would be alerted if anything seemed off in even the slightest, and the entire staff had pictures of Adam and Theresa burned in their brains.
We all climbed into the Mustang and made the drive into Willow Creek in silence. It took mere minutes to get to the rental car office tucked into the back of the chain hotel at the edge of town, but the heaviness in the air made it feel longer. It wasn’t just Fallon’s sadness at Parker leaving. A buzz hung about us that felt almost expectant. A turning point was on its way.
I just didn’t know if it was theirs or mine or all of ours.
Fallon and I waited outside until Parker reemerged with keys to a tiny sedan in hand. He tossed his canvas bag into the back seat, and she threw her arms around him, hugging him tight. He hesitated for a second before squeezing her back and then setting her carefully aside.
He tapped her on the nose and said, “You take care of yourself, Fallon,” before turning and giving me a chin nod. “I hope I see you again soon, Sadie.”
Then, he got in the car and drove away.
Fallon watched him until his car was out of sight, and I swore the ache in her heart mimicked my own. It hurt to watch the person you cared most about driving away.
“I need to stop by the bar this morning and pay some bills. Can I bribe you into coming with me by offering up a latte and one of Tillie’s world-famous fritters?” I asked.
“I thought you didn’t want me at the bar,” she responded with a frown burrowing between eyes that looked just like Rafe’s.
“Not at night. It can get pretty rowdy, and I promised your dad I’d keep you safe, not throw you to the wolves.” I smiled. “No one will be there at eight in the morning but us.”
She seemed to perk up a bit as we drove down the few blocks to the bar, taking in the restaurants and shops with interest. I parked in the back lot and headed for the rear door, stopping only when Fallon’s feet stalled, looking at the apartment building across the street. The roof had fallen in in places, and the ‘For Sale’ sign was so old it was now hanging off its hinges.
It was an eyesore. Thinking about tearing it down and building something in its place had been what had given me the idea for the performing arts center. McKenna had lived some of her worst nightmares in that building. Replacing it with something good, something beautiful and uplifting would be a gift, not only for our community but for her.
When Fallon continued to stare, the hair on the back of my neck went up. “What’s wrong?”
She shook her head and then started toward me. “Nothing. Just imagining ghosts.”
I scoured the dying vegetation and boarded-up windows but saw no movement. Nothing out of the ordinary. “Let’s go inside, and I’ll beg Tillie to send someone over with our order.”
I unlocked the back door, punched in the mile-long code Gia changed once a week, and then locked up behind us. As we made our way down the hall lined with green wallpaper, dark paneling, and dozens of frames with images of my McFlannigan ancestors, Fallon stopped to take in each one.
Some of the pictures showed our family in Ireland before they’d come to America, and others were the bar as it was being built. But the one that had gotten to me the most, ever since finding out the jewels were real, was the one of Great-grandma Carolyn holding Grandma Sarah in a white baptismal gown. Great-grandpa Harry had his arms around them both, and he was beaming like a loon. Carolyn was more reserved, but her lips were turned upward at the corners. I wished I could ask her what had happened—whether she’d stolen the jewels on purpose, or if she’d run from her family without ever knowing the diamonds were in the trunk. It shouldn’t matter either way, but it did to me. I wanted to think the best of her.
“How long has the bar been here?” Fallon asked as we made our way into the office.
“Opened its doors in 1912,” I told her proudly.
As I placed a call to Tillie’s, Fallon wandered around, taking everything in with those old-soul eyes of hers. The place didn’t quite smell like Phil anymore, but it still held the scent of years of alcohol and sweat and old wood.
After I hung up, she turned and asked, “What can I do?”
I set my phone and bag down on the large desk with its claw feet that matched the pillars on the bar and headed out of the office into the bar itself. “Let’s see how Ted left things last night.”
The man was a good bartender, and he’d been here almost as long as Phil, but he’d told me repeatedly he didn’t want to manage the bar. He said he was happy mixing drinks, offering an ear to those who needed it, and going home to his small house on a few acres of land where he kept emus that probably brought in more money than he made as a bartender.
Fallon took in the old vinyl booths that needed updating, the floor that needed rebuffing, and the huge carved expanse of polished mahogany that was the centerpiece of the bar. Carved in old-world style elegance, it had been much too fancy for Willow Creek in its inception, but it had aged well. It needed refinishing, and it was on my list of things to do with the money I’d been saving, but then I’d gotten sidetracked with diamonds and bigger dreams.
I did a quick check of the tubs in the small refrigerator behind the bar and asked, “How would you feel about cutting up lemons and limes while I pay bills?” I asked. “Or you could just play a little pool while you wait.”
Fallon took in the pool table at the back shoved in by the small stage. “I actually don’t know how to play pool, and I’d rather do something that helped.”
“Okay, let me go into the kitchen and pull out what you need from the big fridge,” I said just as a knock came from the back door. “Saved from work by fritters!”
And then I did the dumbest thing I’d ever done in my life. I opened the door without a second thought.