Fifteen
Branwen
At some point during the drive, I’d let go of my anger at Linc not consulting me about anything that concerned me or Stevie, and I began to grow more anxious about my seeing Hudson. I stayed focused at the apartment and pointed out things to the two men who had apparently driven my car to Nashville and would be packing up what we wanted to bring with us. I wished I could do this alone and have time to think, but Linc stood outside the door with a cigar, leaning against the rail, talking on the phone, waiting, while I was inside with Stevie and the men who I assumed were Mafia members.
“This box going?” the one who had introduced himself as Gathe asked as he pushed his surfer-boy blond hair out of his face.
“Yes, please,” I replied.
With my thoughts on what I was going to say to Hudson, there was a good chance that I would forget several things. He often talked over me to get his point across. I couldn’t let him do that this time.
Stevie came walking out of her bedroom, rattling away about something that had to do with her baby dolls to the tall, muscular, tanned one with messy, dark brown hair and light-blue eyes. His name was weird. Something like Than, I thought. My mind wasn’t computing things that well today. Too much to think about.
“You mean to tell me she can eat food and poop in a diaper?” he asked with a well-played look of surprise.
Stevie nodded her head. “Yep! She can! It’s gwoss too.”
“I sure hope she doesn’t do her business on the trip back to Linc’s,” he said, shaking his head and looking truly worried.
If I wasn’t so worked up with dread, I would have smiled.
“Than,” Gathe called out, and the guy carrying a box of Stevie’s toys looked up at him.
“Yeah?”
“How many boxes left in her room?”
“Five.”
“I’ve cleared out the other bedroom. Linc wanted to know how much longer.” He turned his gaze to mine. “You got anything else we need to box up?”
I studied the room, then looked back toward the bathroom. There really wasn’t much we needed from there. Our bathrooms at Linc’s were better stocked than ours had ever been.
I shook my head. “No. I think that’s gonna be it.”
He gave me a nod. “All right, we will get the rest in the moving truck and head out.”
When we had arrived, the two guys had already been parked outside with a U-Haul. Everything had been so efficient.
I glanced around for my purse and went to pull out some twenties I had tucked inside. “Here. Let me tip y’all. You’ve been so helpful.”
The blond one raised his brows and shook his head. “Thank you. That’s real nice, but we don’t want any money. This was nothing at all. Happy to help.”
His momma had raised him right, but I was still giving him something for doing this.
I held the money out. “Please take it. It would make me feel better.”
He shifted his eyes to Than, as if asking for backup.
“What he isn’t saying is that if we take your money, Linc will lose his shit. Besides, you’re family now, and we take care of family,” he said, shifting the box in his hands.
Family. They were Mafia. Born into this life, just like Linc had been. They looked close to Linc’s age when I had been a little girl. The brief moment of nostalgia helped ease the ball of tension in my chest.
“Okay,” I replied. “If you’re sure.”
“Positive.”
The door opened, and Linc stepped inside. The cigar was gone, but the breeze that blew in brought the scent of it inside. I wished it hadn’t. Not because I disliked it, but because that was his smell. I guessed I wouldn’t be coming back here for a year, so I shouldn’t care. It wasn’t as if I would ever get to live here again. That decision had already been made for me. My time in Nashville was over.
“You done?” he asked me.
I nodded. Walking out that door meant going to see Hudson, and the vicious dread was back. I had to get this over with.
Linc looked at the other two guys. “Finish up. Get this back.” His gruff voice made his words sound like an order.
He didn’t have to be rude. They had been a huge help.
“I have to leave with my weal dad. Be cayuhful with my toys,” Stevie told Than.
“I’ll guard them with my life. They’re in good hands.”
She smiled, seemingly pleased with that, and started toward Linc. He watched her with a smirk that held a touch of pride. That kind of thing was going to do me in. It wasn’t getting easier to witness. My heart only seemed to ache more every time I was reminded of what I had kept from her. But I hadn’t known that he’d be like this. That he would want her. If I had, it would have all been different.
Stevie reached up and grabbed his pointer finger, wrapping her small hand around it, and grinned up at him. “Let’s go watch Bluey .”
He nodded his head, and she started out the door, leading him. I watched them exit, then glanced over at the other two. Than looked ready to burst into laughter. Gathe’s eyebrows had risen, and he stilled.
“Fuck, that’s funny.” Than chuckled when they were gone, and then he swung his blue eyes over to me and winced. “Sorry.”
I held up a hand. “No need to apologize. It is amusing.”
“Seeing a female ordering him around is priceless. Especially one who is pint-sized.” Gathe smirked. “And what the hell is Bluey ?”
“It’s a cartoon with talking Australian dogs. Main character’s name is Bluey, and she’s blue,” Than told him.
Gathe frowned at him. “You know this how?”
I was kind of wondering the same thing.
“It’s one of Hawk’s favorite shows. We watch it during breakfast every morning.”
Understanding lit Gathe’s face. “Oh, okay. Yeah, that makes sense.”
Who was Hawk? Did Than have a kid?
I glanced at his hand, and there was no wedding band, but then that didn’t really mean anything. Linc had never worn one when he was younger. I wasn’t going to pry though.
“Thanks again,” I told them, making my way to the door.
“Y’all will get there before we do, but your things will be there by tonight,” Than said.
I glanced back at him as I reached the door. “We aren’t leaving yet. I have another matter to handle first,” I explained.
“Still, it’s a short flight. You barely get up before you start back down.”
Flight? I scrunched my nose. “We drove.”
He nodded. “Yeah. But Linc has the plane ready at the private strip to take you back.”
I stared at him, letting that process. We were taking a private plane back to Madison? He hadn’t said anything. What was this life he lived? I’d known it wasn’t like mine, watching the Hugheses as a child, but experiencing it was something much different.
I managed a smile, then headed for the limo. Stevie had never flown before, and she was going to be thrilled. Seeing her face when we drove up to the plane would be priceless. I would look forward to that and not think about my upcoming talk with Hudson.
When I reached the car, the driver was standing outside the door and opened it for me. I thanked him, then climbed inside to find Stevie already buckled into her car seat, her attention on the television screen while she ate a banana and held a box of oat milk in her other hand. Linc learned fast, it seemed. He was only on day two of this having a little girl thing, and he was figuring it out.
“I assumed bananas weren’t a choking hazard,” he said as the door closed.
They could be, but I decided against telling him that. He might never let her eat without me present again. She wasn’t a baby anymore, and it was mostly my own fears that had me still slicing grapes. The one time I’d tried to be brave and let her eat an apple without me peeling it and cutting it up, she choked. I had been traumatized.
“She looks content,” I told him.
The limo began to move, and I stared out the window at the other cars as we left the parking lot. Seeing them reminded me that I didn’t have my car. I had wanted to take it to Hudson.
“Where did they leave my car?” I asked.
“It’s parked in his driveway,” he told me, then reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out the key fob. “Here.”
I reached forward and took it.
He had known where my apartment was without having to ask me. He knew where Hudson lived. He’d known Hudson had bought me the car. I wanted to know what all he did know because I knew his information didn’t go all the way back to my childhood. It seemed to be that he had researched only current things about me. If he realized who I was, then it would uncover yet another thing I had hidden from him. Not that it mattered really. It wasn’t something that would change anything.
The drive to the dentist office was the shortest trip from my apartment I’d ever had—or my increasing dismay at having to tell Hudson all of this made it feel too quick. Prolonging the inevitable didn’t sound so bad about now. When the limo stopped, I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves.
Stevie looked around and then smiled brightly. “We awah at the office!” she said and clapped her hands together. “Let me out. I want to go show Hudson my weal dad!”
Oh good Lord. My eyes swung to Linc, who was sitting back with his long legs slightly spread and an arm resting on one of his muscular thighs and the other behind Stevie. He was smirking. I was torn between wanting to lean over there and slap him or rub up against him. I wasn’t sure which one of those was winning. He was the picture of raw, masculine power. Ugh. Damn him for being so incredibly sexy.
Straightening my shoulders, I turned back to Stevie. “Not today. I need to go inside alone. I’ve got to tell Hudson that you and I are moving to Georgia to live with your dad for a while. It is better if you and him stay in the car.”
She frowned, and I could see her trying to work this out in her head. She hadn’t been concerned about Hudson after finding out about Linc. But now that she was faced with it, the questions were starting to pop up.
“Will Hudson let us live with my weal dad?”
I didn’t look at Linc. I already knew he wasn’t going to like that question.
“Hudson doesn’t decide where we live. But he needs to know about it.”
“Will he live with us, too, aftah the wedding?”
Linc made a noise that was somewhere between a growl and a cough. Whatever. He deserved it. He had demanded we do this and given me no other choice. She had just met him two days ago, but she’d known Hudson much longer.
“The wedding isn’t going to happen this year,” I told her, preparing for tears. She had really been looking forward to that flower-girl dress.
Her brow puckered. “Why not?”
I should let Linc answer all these questions.
“Well, you see, since we’ve found your real dad and he wants to spend time with you and have you live with him, then that changes things. Madison is a long drive away from Nashville, and this is where Hudson lives and where his dentist office is. He can’t move with us.”
How was I supposed to explain this to a child?
She was silent for a minute, and thankfully, there were no tears yet.
“It’s okay,” she told me, patting my hand that rested on her leg. “We don’t need him now. I got a dad. My weal one. Hudson can be someone else’s dad.”
Unable to help myself, I cut my eyes over to Linc.
The bastard had a smug grin on his face as he lifted his shoulders slightly. “She’s got a point. Maybe you could just go tell him that.”
Glaring at him, I narrowed my eyes, unable to say what I wanted to in front of Stevie.
“I won’t be long,” I said and went to get out of the already-open door.
For a moment, I stood there and looked at the building in front of me. I’d been here four days ago, yet it no longer felt the same. The comfort and security that being here had provided was gone. Now, I would rather be anywhere else.