Chapter 28 #2
“Brayden didn’t think. He acted. He jumped the fence and beat the hell out of the man who’d made his life a living hell even before he attacked Brayden’s beloved horses.
Thankfully, his mother came home before he actually killed Clive.
Brayden served three years in juvenile detention, followed by five years of probation upon his release.
His mother sold the ranch and the horses to pay for lawyers to defend Brayden and divorced Clive.
She went on to become a fierce advocate for other children and recently died in a car accident, leaving Brayden with no remaining family.
I am his family now, and I’ll fight for him with everything I have.
” She looked to the people she didn’t know, who were sitting on sofas and chairs. “Tell me what we need to do.”
“We need to get his side of the story out there immediately,” one of the women said.
“We’ll do it through my social media,” Kate said.
“And mine,” Buddy said.
“And mine,” Taylor added.
“You guys don’t have to do that,” Brayden said, his expression pained.
“It’s happening.” Kate gave him a look that shut down his objections. “Lenore, you heard the story. Write it up.”
The woman typing on a laptop nodded. “Already on it.”
“Add this.” Kate waited for the other woman to let her know she was ready: “Brayden Thomas has the support of me and my entire family. I’m honored to employ a man with his skills and dedication in charge of the equine therapy program at Matthews House and to have a man of his integrity dating my sister.
Juvenile records are sealed for a reason, and the breach of Brayden’s privacy is outrageous.
I won’t have anything more to say about this situation and ask that you respect my sister’s privacy.
Neither she nor Brayden are public figures and should be treated as the private citizens that they are. ”
Maggie had never loved her sister more than she did in that moment. “Thank you, Kate,” she said softly, blinking back tears.
“Don’t thank me. None of this would be happening if we hadn’t done that stupid interview. They wouldn’t have even known who you were, and I should’ve kept it that way. I’m sorry, Maggie, and Brayden.”
“This isn’t your fault, Kate,” Brayden said. “It happened, and I own what I did. If I had it to do over again, I’d do the same exact thing.”
Lenore eyed him over horn-rimmed glasses. “Don’t say that to anyone outside this room.”
For the first time since the shit had hit the fan, Brayden cracked a small smile. “Got it.”
That small smile made Maggie want to weep from the hope it gave her.
They worked on the statement for an hour, tweaking it until everyone was happy with it, particularly Brayden. It was his story and needed to be told correctly.
“You’re sure about this?” Brayden asked Kate, his gaze encompassing Buddy and Taylor.
“Absolutely,” Kate said, speaking for the three of them. “Release it, Lenore.” To Brayden, Kate said, “Lenore works for all three of us.”
“Y’all are impressive,” he said, clearly wowed by them.
“We get shit done,” Taylor said.
“Thank you,” he said softly. “Thank you all so much.”
“You have a family with us, Brayden,” Jill said. “We’ve got your back.”
Sensing he was overwhelmed, Maggie put her arm around him and brought his head to rest on her shoulder.
“Now you just have to get past Jack,” Reid said. “You poor bastard.”
With the statement issued and blowing up Instagram, the others got busy making food and coffee and Bloody Marys.
They carried on as if everything were normal, when Brayden’s life had spun so far out of control, he had no idea what to make of everything that’d happened in the last couple of hours.
He had no idea what “normal” was anymore.
People knew what he’d done. Before this day was out, everyone would know what he’d done. Maggie’s family knew, and they’d gone to battle for him, risking their own reputations to restore his.
No one had ever done anything like that for him.
And Maggie, dear God, Maggie… Calling her a queen hadn’t given her enough credit. She was an empress, and he loved her madly. It occurred to him that he’d forgotten to tell her that earlier when she was pouring her heart out to him. As soon as he got a second alone with her, he would fix that.
Hanging over everything was the imminent arrival of her father, who was apparently known for dropping everything and jumping on a plane any time his daughters encountered trouble.
He was the trouble that Maggie had encountered, and now Jack Harrington was on his way to Nashville to make sure he was good enough for Maggie—or to have him killed.
Of course he wasn’t good enough for her. He’d always known that, but damned if he’d been able to keep his distance from her, even knowing she could do so much better than him.
Bringing a mug of coffee with her, she sat next to him on the sofa. “How you holding up?”
“Okay. I guess.”
“Lenore said people are responding well to the posts.”
“That’s good.”
“I know it’s a lot to process, but maybe it’s better this way. People know. Life goes on. You no longer have secrets to protect.”
“Maybe, but they were my secrets to tell or not to tell. I bet I know exactly who it was that blabbed.”
“It doesn’t matter who it was. The damage was done, and we did what we could to repair it.”
“You did more than anyone has ever done for me in my life, Maggie, except for maybe my mom.”
She sipped her coffee and turned those potent blue eyes on him over the rim of her mug. “I told you why earlier.”
“We need to talk about that.”
“We will. Later. But you should know that if I had it to do again, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
He smiled at the way she’d turned his words around on him. “So much I want to say to you.”
“We’ll get to that. After we see my dad.”
“How bad is that gonna be?”
“Hard telling. He’s mellowed a bit in his old age—”
“Who you calling old, Mags?”
Maggie nearly jumped out of her skin when she realized her dad was standing behind them. “Jeez, how’d you get here so fast?” She handed her mug to Brayden and got up to greet her dad with a hug and kiss.
“Never mind that. What’s this about me mellowing in my old age?”
“Be nice, Dad. I mean it. This is Brayden Thomas. Brayden, my dad, Jack Harrington.”
Brayden stood to shake his hand, making eye contact the way his grandfather had taught him.
The man was tall with dark hair sprinkled with gray, handsome and formidable.
“Good to meet you, sir. I’m sorry it’s happening under these circumstances.
” Brayden couldn’t believe how much Jill looked like her dad.
Maggie resembled him, too, but Jill was him all over again.
“Yes, the circumstances are somewhat unfortunate,” Jack said.
“Dad, you need to know the full story.”
“I already know it. I saw Kate’s post.”
Maggie’s mouth dropped open. “You know what Instagram is?”
Jack gave her a withering look. “I live with a teenager and two preteens. I know what Instagram is, and when two of my daughters text me links to something I should see before I ‘come in hot,’ I’m also capable of doing what I’m told.”
“We both said the same thing,” Jill said to Kate as they joined them.
The sisters exchanged a high five, obviously pleased with themselves.
Brayden would be forever grateful to them as well as Buddy and Taylor for what they’d done for him today.
But Maggie… She was the one who’d made it happen, and his gratitude for her couldn’t be measured or summed up in mere words.
“I told you he’d mellowed in his old age,” Maggie said. “He never used to do what he was told.”
Jack gave Maggie a stern look that managed to also convey amusement and boundless love. “Brayden,” he said, “let’s take a walk.”
“Dad—”
“I’d like to talk to Brayden alone.”
Brayden knew it was time to man up and fight for her the way she’d fought for him. “It’s fine, Maggie. Lead the way, sir.”
“My name is Jack. Call me that.”
“Yes, sir. I mean Jack, sir.”
“It’s okay,” Reid said. “You get used to him, and once you do, he’s not so scary.”
“You,” Jack said, pointing at Reid, “shut your mouth. Not only did you marry my daughter after I told you to ‘keep an eye on her,’ you also made me a grandfather. Where is my sweet Poppy anyway?”
“She’s napping, Dad,” Kate said. “You can see her in a bit.”
“Excellent. Brayden, let’s walk.”
Brayden grimaced at Maggie.
“Be strong, grasshopper.” Maggie affected a comically serious expression. “As far as we know, he hasn’t bitten anyone in a while, and he’s up-to-date on all his shots.”
Jack rolled his eyes at her. “Don’t listen to my daughters, Brayden. They don’t know me at all.”