Chapter 13 #2
“So maybe you can adjust? Everyone will understand you being more vigilant when Wren is here. That’s expected. But right now? Trust us.”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay.”
“Okay.” He kissed my jaw, then nudged my side. “Lie down. I want to nap more.”
Chuckling, I made myself comfortable, then let him slide into the gap between my body and the back of the couch.
“You snug in there?” I teased.
He just hummed happily and cuddled into me. I had just had enough time to relax when he sleepily said, “I hope you called your cousin. Wren seemed really worried.”
Aw shit.
“I did. He’s taking care of it.”
“Good.”
Maybe it was the healthcare worker’s “take the rest when and wherever you can” brain of his, but it was as if someone turned Emery off. He powered down and was asleep just like that.
I let myself relax further into the cushions and tried my best not to think too closely about how good this felt. I was here for just about a month more, and then I’d be back on the road with Wren.
A month seemed too short and too long at the same time, somehow.
And just like that, another week had passed, and we were a week from Wren’s arrival.
I’d made sure all the cameras were installed where they were supposed to be. I’d also gotten an extra computer for the office that could handle the security stuff without messing with the one Jenn used for general admin for the ranch.
All that we still needed were the dogs that were arriving about two weeks after Wren and I left. There were plenty of people around to help Nessa with getting them settled, including Isley who was going to be on standby with all his veterinary wisdom.
I sat in the office, idly staring at the large monitor I’d also bought. I could put all the camera views on the same screen and while I didn’t need to do that, it was an easy way to get my brain to zone out just enough that I could also try to think if I’d missed anything.
I had yet to install the cameras for Hawk’s aquatic building, because I’d been waiting for it to be done. That’d be next week, and everyone was very excited about it.
Demi had joked that she wished her baby brother was as excited about her wedding as he was about his “horsey pool” which had cracked up the whole family.
I heard a peal of laughter from the kitchen and smiled. Nick had settled in, and Jenn enjoyed having him around. She was doing incredibly well, but nobody was ready to risk her health, and thus Nick was staying for now, at least until the wedding.
Because of course there’d been some tiny disasters. I’d been told this was normal for weddings. Some of them were things Jenn could work on while mostly sitting down at the house, so that’s what she’d been doing while Nick worked in the kitchen.
He now had his own code for the gate, since Carter had put him up in a studio apartment in town.
My phone rang, and I winced.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Your cousin called me.”
“Which one?” I played innocent.
“You know very well which one, Ville.” Then she went on to a tirade in Finnish about what kind of son would push the responsibility of helping his ailing and aging mother to someone else.
I zoned out. It was the only way to handle this. If I hung up on her, she’d just call back.
Once she seemed to come to some sort of a pause or an end, I wasn’t sure, I opened my mouth and shocked us both.
“When I was six years old, your husband, my father, threw me into the wall because I was too slow to get him a new beer from the fridge. I was bruised for weeks. After that it was something every other year. Your constant lies to the doctors and relatives about why I was bruised, or how my wrist got fractured, or why I had neck pain for years after he backhanded me. When I tried to talk to you about it, you brushed it off. Every time. Every time, Mom. You never stepped in. You never said anything. You didn’t even comfort me, because it would’ve made him more mad, and you didn’t want that to be directed at you.
So no, I’m not coming to help you out. Janne will.
He’s doing it, because he saw him hit me once at the cabin when we were teenagers.
He also saw how you didn’t react. Yet he’s still coming to help you, because he doesn’t want me to have to travel across half the world to do a favor to someone who was never on my side.
Goodbye, ?iti. I don’t think I’m going to answer any more of your calls. ”
I ended the call and sat there, feeling relieved. Feeling numb.
The door was pushed open, and Jenn walked in with tear tracks on her face. Silently, she crossed to me and pulled me against herself, and just held me close.
She cried, I could both hear it and feel the tremors through her body. When a couple of minutes later, Mike peeked into the office, he took one look at us, then joined the hug. He wrapped his arms mostly around her, but put one hand on the back of my neck and squeezed.
Eventually, Jenn hiccupped and said, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to listen to your call, but—”
“I get it. You heard a snippet of a story of a kid being abused.” Anyone who cared would stop to listen.
She gasped. “Not just a kid, Ville. You.”
“No, I know.”
“I don’t know what she heard or what happened to you, but you didn’t deserve whatever it was,” Mike said in a stern, loving dad voice I had never, ever heard from my own so-called father.
I gave him a tremulous smile. “I know that, too.”
“I just think you need to hear it from a dad,” he said firmly. “It wasn’t your fault. You did nothing wrong. You should’ve been protected.”
I nodded and wiped my eyes. “Thank you.” Then, “Your kids are so fucking lucky.”
Jenn immediately shook her head. “No. Absolutely not. There’s nothing ‘lucky’ about having decent parents. That should be the norm, the bare minimum.”
“Jenn?” Nick called out. “Why the hell wouldn’t you put nutmeg in the lasagna? I’m doing it!”
I snorted. What a way to release the tension and slight awkwardness.
“Don’t you dare! I’ll be right there and so help me if you mess with my recipe!” she called back, then hugged me extra tight. “You’re a good man, Ville. You’re part of this family now.” Then she stepped around Mike and went to see a man about a recipe.
Mike leaned against the wall and looked at me thoughtfully. “What she said is right. All of it. I don’t know what will or won’t come of you and Emery, but you’re part of the family now.”
I made a face. I didn’t want to say that nothing would come of me and Emery, but I also didn’t see a way for there to be anything in the long run.
“I know,” Mike said gently. “It’s complicated. But you’re stuck with us now. People need family.” He pushed away from the wall, clapped my shoulder with his big hand, and then followed his wife to the kitchen.
I rubbed my hand over my face and wondered how I’d gotten so damn lucky. I didn’t quite feel as if I was part of them, the Harringtons, but I also knew Jenn and Mike wouldn’t say something like this just because they were sorry for me.
I was folded into the family like every other close friend or partner of their kids was. Hell, Wren had been an honorary Harrington since elementary school. He’d always said these were the best people, and I now understood even better.
I texted Janne to let him know mom had called, and that I would be going no contact. I also told him she now knew he’d seen things when we were kids, just to give him a heads up if she acted weird around him.
By lunchtime, I was done watching the screens, and went to eat with everyone else in the kitchen.
As there was a lull in the usual conversation around the table, I cleared my throat. “If anyone has anything for me to do, let me know. I can only stare at the screens for so long.”
Hawk grinned. “I can use you. I’m doing some jumping practice with one of the horses I’m training, and I’ll need someone to move the poles around.”
“Sounds good. I’m in.”
An hour later, I was slathering myself with sunscreen as I walked to the outdoor arena.
“You know, I thought it was only western riding you do,” I told Hawk who was already there with a big, bay mare.
She looked frustrated as he kept a treat just out of her reach to one side, so that she needed to really stretch her neck.
“I do plenty of that, sure, but I’ve done pretty much all the things so I also train jumpers and even some low level dressage. Hell, I spent a week at a stable with race horses a couple of years back, just to see that side of the business, too.” He made a face as he let the mare have the treat.
“Not your scene?” I made an educated guess.
“No. Not the best methods, and I will never encourage people to ride two- or three-year-olds. It’s a whole different sport and I want nothing to do with it.”
“Yeah. I get that.” I looked at the jumps that someone had already set up. “So, what do you need me to do?”
He moved to the other side of the mare and explained his plan to me while he continued to annoy her for a while more. By the time he was trotting over some ground poles, he was completely absorbed in her movements, and it was like watching poetry.
Competent people were exceedingly interesting to me, and on this ranch, there were plenty. Wren was amazing at what he did, too. I could only hope I was half as good at my own job.