25. A Princess & Her Boots
A Princess & Her Boots
Imust have dozed off at some point because I awoke with a jump to the sound of clanging metal.
“First light’s coming soon, princess,” Casey said with a bright smile, shiny and crimson from her freshly applied lipstick. “Time to get up and get on with your life.” She opened the stall door to reveal a single suitcase and my purse on top.
“Don’t worry about calling the police to report that I’ve stolen your ID. Everything that’s legally yours is in these bags.” She patted them. “Which means it’s time to go.”
I slowly stood and went to my mare once more.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, pressing my head against her shoulder. “I tried so hard!” Tears were running down my face, but a moment later, someone else’s crying far exceeded my own.
“No!” Jaelyne wailed as she ran through the barn doors. “You can’t kick her out! She lives here! This is her home!”
“Jaelyne!” her mother snapped, grabbing her before she could reach me. “Go in the house right now and go back to bed!”
“No!” Jaelyne shouted again. “I won’t let her go!”
“Jaelyne,” Casey hissed, “if you don’t–”
She was cut off by the doorbell.
“What now?” she growled, pulling Jaelyne behind her by the wrist as she moved toward the house. But even as she walked, she paused to shout over her shoulder, “Ella, if you’re still here by the time I’m done with whoever this is, I’m calling the cops!”
I kissed my horse’s muzzle once more before slowly taking my suitcase and my purse and dragging them out of the stall, pausing only to shut the stall behind me.
I was still wearing the princess dress, but what had seemed so beautiful the night before only now seemed to mock me more with each step.
And even worse was that I still didn’t have any shoes.
I would go to Margaret’s. That was the only thing I could do. And once I was there, and I’d cried myself silly, she would tell me what to do.
I swallowed hard as I realized I was walking across the arena for the last time.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered to my parents, pausing to glance back at the stables once more. “I tried. I really did try.”
But as I spoke, another voice met my ears that was oddly familiar. Pulling my suitcase up onto the porch, I peeked around the corner of the house to see a pickup truck in the parking lot. Then my heart nearly stopped.
Asher and his father were standing at the front door. As was our neighbor, the county sheriff, Doug Paskins.
Asher’s father was in the front, presumably talking to Casey, and Doug was standing behind him, but Asher saw me first.
“Ella!” he called. “Wait!”
Jay turned to look, and his thick black and white peppered brows drew down into a heavy frown. “Just wait a moment, Miss Verre,” he said with a nod. “I think you’re going to want to hear this.”
In a daze, I pulled my suitcase up to the edge of the front porch.
“That girl has been ordered off my property,” Casey snapped.
“Actually,” Jay said, “it’s you who are trespassing on her property, is it not?”
I stared at him. Surely I hadn’t heard correctly. She was… what?
Jay gently took the suitcase from me and then handed me a folder containing a thick stack of papers. In a daze, I opened the folder and glanced inside.
“These look like legal documents,” I said.
Jay nodded. “And you would be correct.” He turned back to Casey, who was growing redder by the minute.
“What’s he here for?” she snapped, nodding at Doug.
“Just to make sure everyone stays civil,” Doug said with a smile. But his sharp eyes stayed on her. “Situations like this can get a little heated.”
“What situations are you talking about?” Casey demanded.
“Back when we started to get to know you, I was curious to know about the girl my son was interested in. So I started asking questions. But the more I heard from Asher and Miss Margaret, and then everyone else in town, the more something felt off.”
“As if anyone should believe a word of the town gossips.” Casey huffed.
But Jay went on as if she hadn’t spoken at all.
“So I hired a private investigator and had him do his own investigation.” He tapped the folder in my hands.
“It turns out that the property was never owned by a Mrs. Casey William-Verre. It belonged solely to Ella’s parents, and upon their deaths, according to the trust, should have been Ella’s property alone once she turned eighteen. ”
I stared at him, afraid to believe my ears.
He gently took the folder from my hands and flipped it open to a tabbed page in the middle. “Did you sign this?” he asked, pointing to a signature at the bottom.
Unable to speak, I shook my head. That was my name, but it definitely wasn’t my signature. And I’d never seen that piece of paper in my life.
“That’s because Miss Casey here forged your signature and transferred the property to her own name. And that’s a felony.” He closed the folder. “It looks like she might have committed several of those, actually.”
I looked at Casey, sure she would explode into a long-winded denial about all the reasons she couldn’t possibly be guilty. But to my surprise, she had paled until she was nearly green.
“You have no proof,” she said in a small, petulant voice.
Jay tapped the folder. “I have all I need right here. And as I’ve already shared it with the sheriff’s office, they’ve had a chance to look at it. As far as they can tell, everything checks out.”
Casey took a step backward and grasped the edge of the door, but before she could get it shut, Doug was at her side.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he said politely.
“Because if Miss Ella presses charges, I’ll be forced to enter this house in a very unpleasant way.
And I would prefer not to do that in front of your girls.
” He glanced at the window to the left of the door, where Harper and Jaelyne were staring wide-eyed through the glass.
Casey’s jaw flexed, but she stopped trying to back up, and Jay turned to me.
“Because this is really your business–”
“Business that you had no right to butt your nose into!” Casey snapped, but Jay calmly continued.
“Because it’s your business, you have to be the one to press charges.
I can’t do that for you. But I can promise you that my legal team is at your beck and call and will be your representation for as long as you need it.
And as I’ve said, my investigator and I have already shared all of this with the sheriff’s office, and they’ve verified it.
Which means that the sheriff here can execute an arrest without a warrant if you want to press charges. ”
I stared at him, unable to find the words I needed to express the thoughts and feelings that were swirling around in my head.
First, I was in shock. Asher’s father, who had only met me twice, had spent what was probably an exorbitant amount of money on a private investigator to do for me what I never could have done for myself.
It had never crossed my mind that my parents would leave their home to me after Casey had so adamantly insisted that everything in it was hers.
And now he was offering me his legal team?
It wasn’t like I was his daughter. Heck, I wasn’t even officially dating his son.
And yet… he had done it. And now he was giving me the power that I’d never imagined could be mine.
And here were Asher and the sheriff, here to support and protect me as I faced the woman who had worked so hard to take everything that was mine.
But then there were the girls looking with terrified eyes through the glass. If I pressed charges, I would be essentially taking away their mother. They would be like me in a way, without someone to help or guide them.
Even as my conscience was pricking me about this, however, I thought back to all the ways Casey had, in a way, harmed them as well.
She’d encouraged Harper to be cruel to me when we were young, and she’d spent countless dollars and hours on conferences to be away from them as often as she could manage, leaving me to be their sole guardian, even when I had been far too young to safely carry such a responsibility.
She’d also neglected the horses more times than I could count.
Last night, after years of threats, she’d mistreated and then fired Derrick despite his long and faithful service.
She’d even put me in danger by trying to force me to spend time with creeps like Ron.
She waited more than half a week to check on me after I’d passed out in the barn because she wouldn’t stay to help me.
Like a predator, she’d seen my father and had gone after him to take what she’d wanted, lying and cheating and stealing until she got it.
“Ella,” Casey said. For the first time, her voice was full of tears, and she was trembling. “I was only doing what I had to to take care of my girls.” Her voice was barely under a whisper. “Can’t you forgive me? We can… make things right. You can move back in, and we’ll hire Derrick back, and–”
“I can forgive you, Casey,” I said in a quiet voice. “But I can’t give you what you want.” I met Asher’s gaze. “Not this time.”
The porch was eerily silent for an eternal moment before Casey’s face contorted into an expression of rage. “You… you ungrateful girl!”
She lunged at me, but before she could reach me, Asher had snatched me away from her and pulled me safely against him.
At the same time, Doug and Jay grabbed her by the arms. She thrashed so hard that Doug had to shove her down and press her to the ground so he could get the handcuffs out and around her wrists.
“Well,” Asher said as Doug began to recite Casey’s rights to her, “we’ll just add attempted battery to that long list of poor choices now, won’t we?”
I hadn’t realized until he spoke that I was shaking. Asher kept his arms wrapped around me, his hold gentle but firm.
“She’s never attacked me before,” I said in a trembling voice.
In response, he only kissed the top of my head and rubbed his fingers across my back again and again. And I closed my eyes, trying to focus on the pressure of his hands as I breathed.
“And she’ll never do it again,” he said into my hair.
Just then, another vehicle pulled up in front of the house. It was Miss Margaret’s.
“Margaret?” Jay asked, looking confused.
“I figured I would be needed this morning,” she said briskly. “Oh, good, Doug. You’ve done an excellent job.”
“Um, thanks,” Doug said, also looking confused.
“How did you know–” I began, but she just waved her hand at me.
“Asher, take Ella somewhere quiet so she can calm her nerves. Harper and Jaelyne?” she called to the girls, who were still watching, horrified, through the window. “Come with me, girls. We’re going to have a good breakfast while the sheriff calls your grandparents to come get you.”
I looked up at Asher in awe. “How did she–”
He gave me a wry smile. “I’ve learned to not even ask.” Then he took a deep breath. “I think she’s right, though. Let’s go somewhere quieter.” He paused. “Actually, let’s go to my car. I have something for you, now that I think about it.”
I was slightly disappointed, as I had been hoping that calming me down would mean more time in his arms. But as he led me by the hand to his truck, I found myself curious. What could he possibly have for me now that he hadn’t last night?
But when he unlocked the door and pulled out my boots, I laughed.
“Thank goodness you remembered!” I exclaimed, reaching for my boots.
Much to my relief, Margaret’s gem decorations were completely gone, and the leather boots were soft and supple once again.
But instead of handing them over, he pulled them back and knelt instead.
“A beautiful princess left these at my house last night,” he said. “And I think it only right that I help you try them on to make sure they’re yours.”
I shook my head but couldn’t help laughing again as he gently guided the boots onto my feet.
“You’re ridiculous, you know,” I said as he stood.
He nodded slowly. “Possibly. But no one could ever accuse me of being less than chivalrous.”
That was an understatement.
“You also forgot something else,” he said, suddenly stepping closer and wrapping his hands around my waist.
I looked down at my boots. “But you already–”
“Not those,” he said. And then he bent forward and gave me my first real kiss.