Chapter 24
Harry and Victor hadn’t been lying. That night at Harper’s Bar, Ingram’s next line of attack started. His father walked into the bar surprising Nell enough to pause mid-bite of a truly delicious burger. She looked from her table to the door as Mayor Faust scanned the area looking for her.
“Ingram’s father, Mayor Graham Faust, just arrived.”
“Well, this should be interesting.” Bex grinned and pulled out her phone. She pressed the record button and waited for the inevitable. Mayor Faust would try to intimidate her.
“Nellie Katherine,” Mayor Faust said as if he were scolding a child. “I believe you were ordered to come back to Holland Springs.” He sounded angry that she didn’t follow orders.
“Yeah, I’m not going to do that mayor. This isn’t Holland Springs. You can’t force me to do anything. Hell, even in Holland Springs you can’t order me around.”
“I can force you to tell me where my grandchildren are. You have no rights to them, but I do. I’m filing for guardianship of them since it’s clear your sister is not in her right mind and can’t care for them as evidenced by the ER visit you tried to cover up.
Dr. Townsend, I presume,” he said glancing to Wilder by mistake.
“You’ll be hearing from the medical board about lying to my son about his children. ”
“No,” Wilder said, who had been sitting on the other side of Nellie, said to the mayor. “I’m Rowan’s brother, Wilder Townsend. And this is my wife, Bexley Townsend.”
Mayor Faust ignored them and turned to Rowan. “Get ready to lose your medical license.”
Nell was about to beg him not to hurt Rowan, when Rowan’s hand closed around her thigh and gently squeezed. “Is that a threat?” Rowan asked, sounding mildly interested.
“You bet your ass it is. Turn over my grandchildren and maybe I’ll drop the complaint.”
“No. I don’t think I will.” Rowan seemed completely relaxed as he moved his hand from her thigh to drape over her shoulder as if he were completely at ease. “I don’t think you have the power you think you do to get my medical license revoked. Why do you even think you can do that?”
Nell looked to where Bex was casually sitting back in her chair.
Her phone propped against a water glass, recording the entire exchange.
When Nell looked up from the table, she saw that Bex wasn’t the only one.
Half the bar had turned to record the conversation, some more discretely than others.
Nell relaxed into Rowan’s embrace and let Mayor Faust bury himself with a federal agent, two deputies, a DEA agent, and half a town, including a pregnant America’s Sweetheart and a reverend, as witnesses.
“I am mayor,” he said, pointing his finger at Rowan. “I can do whatever the hell I want, including reaching out to my old fraternity brother who is on the state medical board. One word from me to him and your license is gone.”
“So, what you’re telling me is that it doesn’t matter that your son was abusing his wife and son.
I should have just handed those children over to your son because .
. . you’re the mayor and your son is a judge?
I don’t think so. I don’t tolerate abusers.
Your son should be in prison and I’m guessing the only reason he isn’t is because of you and your cousin, the sheriff. ”
The mayor’s jaw tightened. “Give me my grandchildren or I swear to God I will throw you in jail.” He slammed his hand on the table and the whole bar went quiet except for the sound of knives being drawn from sheaths.
Anger instead of fear raced through Nellie as she slammed her own hand onto the table as she stood up to face off against Mayor Faust. “I’m not scared of you anymore,” Nellie told him.
Her voice was tight with anger. “You are nothing but a corrupt asshole and a bully. You want my sister and my niece and nephew? You want to protect them? Where were you when he gave her black eyes? Where were you when Ingram hit his own son? When he broke James Avery’s arm?
You know what? To hell with you. To hell with your son.
And to hell with your whole family. I’m not backing down, and I will fight you every step of the way to keep my sister and her children safe.
This isn’t Holland Springs. You have no power here. It’s time for you to leave.”
“You going to make me?” the mayor spat.
That’s when every chair scraped against the floor as the entire bar stood up. Men, women, staff—it didn’t matter. They were all advancing, ready to physically throw him out. Most were openly armed at that point, too.
“This is private property,” Harper said, her husband Dare towering next to her with his hand on his government-issued weapon. “You are hereby trespassing. I’ll have you arrested if you don’t leave right now.”
Dare, Tristan, and Kord all stepped forward. Bex sat quietly with a little smirk on her face and her arms crossed as the mayor was escorted out of the bar and given a warning to never return, even as he ranted at them.
Bex lifted her phone and stopped the recording.
“Great job, Rowan. You got us enough to prosecute the mayor on even more charges.” With a couple of clicks, the video was sent to Peter and the federal prosecutor’s office.
This would be more than enough evidence to get the mayor indicted on top of Ingram.
“Glad I could help. And way to go, sweetheart. I bet it felt good to stand your ground.” Rowan gave her hand a supportive squeeze as they sat back down.
The bar was alive with calls to find Mean Abe to handle the mayor, which only made Nellie smile.
They all had her back and that gave her the strength to stand up for herself.
Bex looked down at her phone. “Well, my night is over. They’re calling me in to discuss the video I just sent.
I’m sure I’ll have news for you soon. Ro, I’m sending you and Liv the video too.
Someone make sure Sue Ellen’s attorney gets it so she can get a restraining order against the entire family.
And you need one too, Nellie. I’ll talk to you all tomorrow.
I’ll probably have news for you then.” Bex stood up, kissed her husband, and waved goodbye to everyone.
Nell stood back up and used her school voice to get everyone’s attention.
“I wanted to thank you all for having my back just now. I’m sorry I brought my problems to your doorstep.
I would buy you all a round of drinks, but I was fired from my job at the school.
Your support really helped me stand up for myself.
Thanks again for making Shadows Landing feel more like my home every day. ”
There were a lot of cheers in response that made Nell feel really good as she sat back down. It was all true. This town, which had opened their arms to her, felt more like home than the town she spent almost three decades in.
“Excuse me.” Nell looked up at a woman in her fifties in jeans and an SLHS T-shirt.
“I’m Susan Kingsley. I’m the principal of Shadows Landing High School.
Gator called me this morning about open jobs for your sister and yourself.
I pulled up your résumé on your school’s site, and this afternoon I talked with the heads of our elementary and middle schools.
We were all in agreement. We wanted to ask you if you’d be interested in interviewing to be our school psychologist. You’d be covering all three schools, which is a lot.
And you’d be our first one, so you’ll have to work with all three schools to establish the framework for the position.
But we think you’d be perfect for it. If you’re interested, we can set up a time to talk. ”
Nell’s whole body practically vibrated with excitement. “I’d be able to set up the program? What would be my constraints?”
Susan smiled as if she’d been expecting this line of questioning.
Holland Springs had only been marginally accepting of her there.
They had vetoed a lot of her ideas to be more proactive and involved in the daily life of the students.
“Correct. You would outline your ideas and work with our principals to implement them. I have to admit, I talked to your previous principal. I didn’t tell her I was calling about you, just about how they set up the role of their school’s psychologist. I believe you were very limited in your role there and we would like you take a more active role in the schools so that the children feel comfortable coming to you without any hesitation. ”
Nell could cry. This was everything she wanted in a job and it was here in Shadows Landing. Away from the Faust family. Away from the stupid country club. Here, with real friends. Here, with Rowan. “I would love to talk to you, Ms. Kingsley. I have so many ideas.”
Ms. Kingsley smiled and pulled out her phone. “Let’s meet next Monday at ten. Does that work for you?”
“It does, thank you.”
“Good. Have your sister join us. We have a teacher who will be going on maternity leave in October and we have a couple of elementary teachers retiring at the end of the school year. If your sister can get some certificates done before then, she can come in as a long-term sub while we work with her to get the rest of her credentials up to date by the time they retire. She could then be hired full-time. We can talk it over if she’s interested in that.
Here’s my card. Call if you have any questions before then.
” Susan handed Nellie her business card, told her she looked forward to talking, and headed back to her group.
“That’s exciting, right?” Rowan asked after Susan left the table.