Chapter 34
MADDISON
“ A nd you didn’t think to tell me about any of this when you came in last night?” I stare at him in shock as he pulls on his jeans and buckles up his belt.
“You were sleepin’, sleep is good for you in the third trimester.” He shrugs his shoulders as if learning that his uncle is his real father is no big deal.
“So how do you feel about it all?” I ask, maneuvering myself so I can get out of bed. Jace sees me struggling, and he comes and takes my hand.
“I don’t know how to feel about it.” He stops putting on a front and sighs. Once I’m up on my feet, he sits on the end of the bed and grabs my hips. “Right now, I just want to focus on you two.” He rolls his hand over my belly. “I’m gonna get started on the nursery today.”
“And what about dinner? Will your uncle… I mean your da–”
“Don’t call him that.” He shakes his head and looks hurt. “Keith Sullivan was the man who raised me, DNA don’t change that.”
“Of course, it doesn’t but you are going to have to consider that Jamie is going to want a more active role in your life now. He is this little one's grandad.” I stretch my hand over the baggy tee I’m wearing so it tightens around my stomach and shows off how big I am. I’m getting more and more uncomfortable by the day and starting to really want this to be over.
“Jamie was with my mom the night her car went off the road.” His face is stern and serious as his hand delicately strokes me.
“Do you think they were still…”
“I don’t know. But that night he called her into the city because he wanted her to tell me the truth.”
I have no idea what to say back to that, so I drape my hands over his shoulders and do my best to comfort him.
“Me and Mom argued that night before she left the house. She told me she was going to see Billy McGee and I was mad because I knew he was bad for her.” He tenses his jaw. “The last memory she had of me would have been of me yelling at her.” He looks up at me, his eyes brimming with tears.
“Don’t think like that, she would have known you were just being concerned.”
“Jamie blames himself, but I think it was my fault too. Somewhere between leaving me and getting to him, she’d got herself drunk. She shouldn't have been behind the wheel.”
“Jace, you can’t blame yourself for that.”
“I don’t understand it, when we got the coroner report there was nothing in it that said anything about her being drunk.” He shakes his head and looks confused.
“Did you get the report from your uncle, by any chance?” I chew on my lip and wait for him to catch up with what I’m getting at.
“Yeah. What are you sayin’?” He’s got so much going through his head, I guess he’s not thinking straight.
“That, maybe, your uncle was trying to protect you from having to hear that,” I suggest.
“Then why not hide the fact that she had defensive wounds on her body? It’s what's been driving me crazy,” he admits. “It was him she was fightin’. He was pushing her to come clean and she was determined to keep it a secret. She wanted it to stay buried so badly that she attacked him while she was drivin’.”
“Jamie was obviously trying to protect your mother’s reputation, not his own.” I shrug.
“She was gonna keep me in the dark my whole life, Mads. She could have lost me everything. This place…you.”
“Me?” I look down at him in shock.
“My dad may have loved me but he had a duty to do what was right. He had no idea what was happening between Mom and Uncle Jamie, as far as he was concerned my father was a stranger. When I was sixteen, he changed his will and left this place to my uncle.” I can tell from the way he’s looking at me that he’s devastated.
“Wait…so your uncle owns this ranch?”
“Right at this moment, yeah.” He nods.
“Wow.” I sit down beside him and try to imagine how awful hearing all this must have been for him. It’s so much to take in
“I had no idea about that until the day you left for Denver, I swear.” He looks a little panicked as he takes my hand. “I would never have led you on or made ya false promises. When Grayson told me and–”
“Hang on, are you telling me that you’ve known about this for over a week?” The fact that Jace has been suffering this for so long makes me furious. He lives for this place, and the fact he didn’t share with me how much he was hurting makes me want to cry.
“Yeah.” He hangs his head and picks at one of the scabs on the heel of his palm.
“Jace, why didn’t you tell me?” I place my hand over his.
“Because you were busy getting kidnapped.” He turns his head and attempts a smirk.
“I’m being serious, this place is everything to you, you must have been heartbroken.”
“Baby, you’re everything to me. And, yeah, I built all my hopes and dreams around this place, but what I was more concerned about was losing you.”
“There you go again with the losing me. Why would you think that?” I laugh at him.
“Jeez, Mads, I don’t know, maybe because your parents got a big fancy house and money you couldn't live long enough to spend? At least owning this place made me feel like I had something to offer you.”
“You know, for a man who’s so respected by so many people around here, you can be really stupid,” I tell him straight. “I’m not here with this huge, heavy belly and swollen ankles because of what you have to offer me. I ran away from all of that. I’m here because I…”
“Because?” Jace frowns suspiciously.
“Because I love you, you fool. I fell for you straight away, and I know you think you railroaded me with all this.” I look down at my changed body. “But I wouldn’t want it any other way, and whether you own this place or live in the bunkhouse wouldn’t change that.” I stroke the back of his neck with my fingertips.
“You mean it?” His eyes narrow as they focus on mine.
“Of course, I mean it.”
I watch his shoulders sag with relief before he leans in to kiss me.
“Wait.” I pull back from him. “Is this why you’ve been so weird, lately? You’ve been purposely avoiding me, haven’t you?”
“Darlin’, it ain’t been easy,” he admits, moving in to kiss me again.
“Uh, uh.” I hold my hand against his shoulder to keep him distanced. “You better be intending on giving me far more than just a kiss, Jace Sullivan, because you have deprived me for far too long.”
“Deprived, huh?” I can tell from the way he bites his lip as he stands up, that he’s about to give me exactly what I need.
“Baby Momma, you better stand up and turn your pregnant ass around because I’m about to make you scream the roof off.”
Dinner is silent and very awkward. Kendra's eyes keep flicking across at me as if she expects me to say something to break the tension.
“So, Mr. Sullivan, what do you do when you're not lawyering?” She decides to do it herself, as she picks up her glass and takes a sip of wine.
“I don’t have much time for hobbies,” he answers her politely before getting stuck back into his pot roast.
“That's a shame, all work and no play makes for a very dull bo–” She cuts herself off when he looks up at her sternly. “Well, that's what my daddy used to say anyway.” She bites her lip and quickly gets back to eating. There's more silence and when the front door opens and Tyler steps inside, he takes his hat off and holds it to his chest like he’s about to sing in church.
“Sorry to interrupt your Sunday, Boss, but I can’t seem to find my good jeans, do you mind if I check the laundry room?”
“Go ahead,” I tell him, feeling bad for the fact I haven’t been pulling my weight lately. Jace will barely let me lift a finger. I was only allowed to help with the pot roast if I promised to sit at the kitchen table and just chop.
I notice the way Tyler looks at Kendra and lowers his head as he makes his way through, and I also notice how she blushes back at him. The door bursts open again and this time it’s Tyler's brother, Kyle, who bolts through it, out of breath and searching for him.
“Sorry, Boss, did Ty come through here?” he asks. Straightening himself up when he notices Kendra sitting at the table. He quickly takes off his Stetson and runs his hand through his floppy, blond hair.
“Laundry room,” Jace answers with a curious look on his face.
“Thanks, Boss.” Kyle rushes on through and when we start hearing mumbling and whisper-yells come from the other side of the wall, we all stare across the table at each other wondering what's going on. Tyler’s the first to rejoin us, holding his jeans under his arm and looking…oddly nervous.
“Kendra…” She takes a long, deep breath. “Now that I located my good jeans, I…I was wondering if maybe tonight you might–”
“You coming dancing, Kendra?” Kyle strolls out from the kitchen and interrupts, wiping the blood from his nose that I’m sure wasn’t there when he came in. “Me and my bro here are hitting up a bar in the city, it’s a real hoot.” He slaps his brother on the shoulder, clearly pissing him off.
“Dancing?” Kendra’s eyes widen and I don’t know if it’s out of shock or excitement.
“Well, Tyler here don’t do the dancin’ part, he got two left feet. He much prefers to watch but I could teach ya a thing or two,” he promises resting his elbow on his brother's shoulder and crossing his feet.
Tyler side-eyes his brother and I hear the growl he makes under his breath all the way from over here.
“Sounds great.” Kendra smiles at them both.
“Better have yaself ready by eight, girl.” Kyle winks at her while Tyler places his hat back on his head and nods her a subtle goodbye.
“You’re such a fuckin’ jerk.” I hear him utter under his breath as he shoves his brother out the door and closes it behind him.
“Looks to me like you're causing trouble in my yard.” Jace looks across at Kendra.
“Are you seriously going to go with them tonight?” I check, I don’t even know why I’m so shocked when she answers me ‘yes’. Kendra’s always looking to have a good time.
“Of course, I am. When two handsome cowboys offer to take you dancing, you don’t question it…you get your boots on.”
“Kendra, do you even have boots?” I laugh at her.
“Nope, but you do.” She lifts her fork to her mouth and scrapes the meat off it with her teeth.
“That was the most awkward dinner ever,” she whispers to me once we’re in the living room by ourselves. I can just about make out Jace and Jamie through the kitchen door as they do the dishes together, the same way they always do every other Sunday. I just wish I could hear what they’re talking about.
“I can’t believe he’s spent his whole life thinking that guy was his uncle when he’s hi?—”
“Will you keep your voice down?” I scold her, doing my best to listen in. “I don’t know if Jace wanted me to tell anyone, yet. He’s still very confused about it all.”
“Mads, I think he’s going to be confused for quite some time. His mom isn’t here to give him any answers, either, it must be tough.”
“I know, I just wish I knew how to make all this easier for him.” I’m still mad at him for keeping so much from me, and for thinking that I wouldn’t want him if he didn’t have this place. I’d still want that man if he was living under a bridge.
Though, he’s more than made up for his judgment errors by fulfilling all my needs, earlier this morning. Now, I’m just hoping that he and Jamie can eventually start to bond with each other. Jamie may be a hard man but even from the first time I met him, I could see he had Jace’s best interests at heart.
The men join us when the kitchen’s straightened out and when Jamie makes his excuses to leave, Kendra quickly stands up.
“I noticed there's a vacant shop in town, that cigar store next to the salon.” She blurts her words out before he can make it to the door.
“That's Billy McGee’s place.” Jamie’s eyes shift over to Jace’s in a way I really don’t like.
“Well, I was wondering if you knew who I could talk to about taking on the lease?”
“You want to lease a building in town?” I question her.
“Mads, it's always been my dream to own my own store, and I’ve seen some serious crimes of fashion since I’ve been here. Imagine how well a little boutique in the center of this quaint little town would do.” She looks full of hope and ambition and I can tell from her tone that she’s been thinking about this for a while.
“So, you intend to stick around?” I try not to get my hopes up, but all the evidence seems to be pointing in that direction. I really didn’t think I could ask for much more but to have my best friend here with me would be the icing on the cake.
“My online business is doing well, I can still run that from here.” She smiles.
“This is the best news.” I move as quickly as my body will allow to get to her and ignore Jace’s warning to be careful when I wrap my arms around her body and squeeze her tight.
“That is good news.” Jamie smiles. “But I’m afraid the store is owned by Billy, and he’s been missing for some time now.”
“Well, I heard about that.” Kendra’s got that clever look on her face that she always gets when she thinks she has the inside scoop. “I was in the diner, picking up some pie for little JJ here.” She taps my tummy affectionately. “And Jean told me that the sheriff is going to be launching a murder investigation. Something about new evidence. No one seems to have had a nice thing to say about the man, was he so terrible?” she questions.
“Yeah,” Jace pipes up, and when I spot another nervous glance that he makes toward Jamie, I quickly take his arm and drag him into the kitchen.
“You promised me that you had nothing to do with Billy going missing.” I let him see how mad the thought of him lying makes me.
“And I didn’t.”
“Then why in the hell are you and your…whoever he is, looking so worried?” His face drops and he looks away from me.
“Look me in the eyes, Jace Sullivan, if you're about to lie to me. Be a man and look me in the eye while you do it.”
“I ain’t gonna lie to ya,” he assures me, taking my hips in his hands and holding me in front of him.
“I had nothing to do with it but I do know that no one’s gonna find Billy alive. He’s dead.”
I slam my hand over my mouth in shock.
“Don't go getting yourself worked up over it, like I said it wasn’t me, and Jamie gives me his word that it wasn’t him either. I believe him. The trouble is–”
“The trouble is what?” I stare back at him fiercely.
“He did have a hand in cleaning up the aftermath,” he admits, scratching at his stubble and looking uneasy.
“Why? If he had nothing to do with it, why get involved,” I question him, none of this makes sense.
“Because it was Eli who found him, and you know how he gets, he was panicking. He was sure he was the last person Billy spoke to and when he’d called him earlier that day, he’d said he knew something about my mom. Eli went to the house to find out what that something was, Billy was dead. Then he came here and–”
“ He came here!? ” Now, I’m the one panicking.
“Baby, calm down. It was the day your parents came to town. I told him I couldn’t help and suggested he try Jamie or Sawyer. They’re the ones who know people.”
“People? People who what? Hide bodies?” I snap and when I feel a sharp kick to my ribs, I grab the kitchen counter to steady myself.
“Mads, are you alright?” His hands move up to cradle my bump and I give him a reassuring nod when I see how concerned he looks.
“I’m fine, it’s just a kick, and these days they can really hurt.” I straighten myself back up because we are not dropping this subject.
“He can sense you getting wound up,” he warns me and when the look I give him tells him to quit it, he holds up his hands in defense.
“Look, these people know what they're doing. We call ‘em cleaners, and they do their job. We don’t know who killed Billy but we do know that whoever it was, was trying to hide something about my mom. Why else would they have killed him?”
“Something like the fact she was lying about who your father was? Jace, can you really trust your uncle? What if he killed Billy?” I don’t want to say it, I don’t even want to think it but I can’t come up with a better motive.
“Nah, he swore it wasn’t him, and he’s got no reason to lie to me. Besides, if he wanted him dead, it would have been me who he asked to kill him.”
I look up at the father of my child and wonder how the hell this has become my life. I’ve known for a while now that Jace is no average guy, but sometimes, on days like this, reality really takes the wheel.
“Don’t look at me like that, please. You asked me to be honest with you, always. This is me doing that. You have to understand that there are gonna be times when you won’t like what you hear.” He looks at me sadly, and I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him because he’s right.
“I’m sorry, I just?—”
“I need you not to worry about this, not now, when you should be relaxed and taking things steady. Hale can launch whatever investigation she wants, she has nothing on me.” He tugs me in close and wraps me in his arms.
“Just promise you won’t leave us,” I whisper, I can’t stand to think about him being in jail.
“Never.” He kisses me softly.