Chapter 9 The Wake
CASSIDY
True to his word, I was the only one there to watch as my father was laid to rest beside my mother, at his request. Good to know he at least never forgot she was the true love of his life.
I wondered what his reception was going to be like in the afterlife?
My mother was not an easy woman to deal with when you let her down, and as far as her only child was concerned, my father had dropped the ball big time with me.
She wouldn’t tolerate that. I hoped she was still giving him a piece of her mind as I stood beside his coffin and listened to Reverend Jacobs as he said kind words about my father.
“Did you want to say anything?”
I shook my head. “Anything that needed to be said between my father and I was lost a long time ago. He isn’t here to listen or answer my questions, and honestly, that isn’t much of a change from when he was alive.”
I turned to leave but a touch on my shoulder drew me back. “I know it’s hard to forgive, but if you can find a way to be at peace with the mistakes your father made, it will lift a burden from your shoulders.”
“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind,” I told him before I took off for the wake.
I didn’t have to go, but one of my good friends convinced me that I needed to see every bit of this trip home through to the end, so that I didn’t have any regrets when it was all said and done. I hoped like hell Collette was right.
The minute I walked in, a smile spread over my face. “You have got to be kidding me?” The men who used to work for my father on our ranch and a few of his friends I’d met over the years, including his lawyer, were all there to lift a glass in a toast the minute I walked through the door.
“Michael would be so proud of you, Cassidy. He wanted us to make a toast have a drink to celebrate the little girl who left home and also the soldier who came back for him in the end when he didn’t deserve it.
” Mr. Mathers could have kicked me in the gut and done less damage.
I managed to keep my emotions from showing as I offered each of the men I’d once known a smile and a warm hug or pat on the back.
“Been too long.”
“We understand.”
“Your father was a fool who realized too late,” Mitch Thompson said.
He had been my dad’s right hand at work, but by the time my mom passed and Tiffany came on the scene, I didn’t see much of him because I stayed as far out of the way as possible.
Every time I got near my dad, Tiffany would take it out on me later somehow.
I learned quickly to stay unseen and my father seemed just fine with watching me disappear. “Missed you, kiddo.”
“Missed you, too, Mitch.”
“You get the land?”
“Most of it,” I said.
“Then I’ll keep working it while everything goes through probate. Bitch hasn’t paid any of us for work in a good long while, though. Most of the men had to look for work elsewhere.”
“How strong is the herd?”
“I can handle it for now. We cut back a bit when your dad fell ill, but we still bring in good money.”
“Does it go to her? Mr. Mathers didn’t mention anything about the business funds.”
“Business funds transfer with the land and we don’t do any business on the land that bitch was given.”
I smirked at him. “If you already knew the land was mine, why’d you ask?”
He grinned. “Pretty sure you forgot how everyone in a small town knows pretty much everything.” He winked.
“Bet you didn’t know the house and that half of the property have been in my name since my mom passed.”
He jerked back like I’d hit him. “Are you shitting me?”
“I am not shitting you,” I said as I grabbed the beer out of his hand and downed it.
“The bitch is in for one hell of a rude awakening then.”
“She should get the eviction papers tomorrow,” I assured him.
“Thank fuck!” Mitch grabbed my cheeks and pulled me close so he could kiss my nose. “You are my fucking hero today.”
“I didn’t do anything but inherit my family’s land.”
“You came back when you didn’t have to and no one ever gave you a reason to want to. That’s enough for now.”
“I’m still in the Army, and half the land will be hung up in court for who knows how long as Tiffany tries to fight me for it.”
“I’ll get with Mathers and see where I need to move the herds and equipment so they’re not any of the contested land, that way she can’t put a stop to the work.”
“And I’ll see to it that you get paid this week as well as anyone you need to bring on to help out. Dad apparently kept some money aside from when my mom died and it is in an account that Tiffany can’t contest either. I’ll use that for now until I can get my hands on the business accounts.”
“Always were a straight shooter, girl. No need to go touching your trust fund, though,” he teased with another wink.
We had never been rich, so he knew it couldn’t be much.
“I have everything I need and will only need some part time help for now to get everything moved over. I know a few fellas who owe me some favors.”
“Don’t call in favors on my account, Mitch.”
“Hush now. I have to go hit the head and then you can buy me another round. We’ll call it even for now.”
He got up and walked away and suddenly I felt lonelier than I had since I left Violence. Was my father’s old ranch hand the only person in the bar I really knew well enough to carry on a conversation with?
My question was answered a minute later when someone tapped me on the shoulder.
“It really is you,” James Davis said. He had grown and filled out along with rocking a beard and what looked like ridiculously long hair that was pulled back into a long ponytail at his nape.
He looked even better than he had all those years ago.
“You have a lot of fucking nerve showing your face around here again,” he slurred at me.
“What? How? I never did a damn thing to piss anyone off.”
“No? Then what do you call covering for my fucking ex-wife while she had all her affairs?” I took a step back and gaped at James.
The leather cut he wore said he went by Knuckles now, but I didn’t know that man.
I only knew James Davis and didn’t feel like he had grown up at all in the emotional depth and intelligence departments.
“For years, she swanned off to that fancy college of yours and did whoever the fuck she wanted and you never said a word. Just kept letting her come there and do her thing. Even after college, you invited her to get away from her life and still not a fucking word that she might be fucking other people. You couldn’t tell me?
You hate me that much for not talking to you during school all those years ago?
Or was it because I said I’d never be with you?
Did you think I deserved to be cheated on over and over again?
Was it good enough revenge for you, you bitch? ”
“I have no clue what in the hell you are talking about, James Davis, but this is my father’s wake and you need to leave.”
The minute I mentioned my father’s wake, it was like the man sobered instantly and then looked around.
It was only then that we both seemed to realize there were pictures hung up everywhere.
Pictures of my dad, of he and I together when I was younger.
Of our family of three before we lost my mom.
There were no pictures of Tiffany, and since Mr. Mathers said he took care of the details, I assumed he was told by my father to leave her out of the celebration altogether.
“I didn’t know about your dad,” James told me as he reached out like he would pull me in for a hug.
Fuck that.
“Yeah, you’ve always been self-centered like that. Now leave before I get the law in here to help escort you out.”
The bastard just pinned all his marital woes on my back. He could eat a bag of dicks and choke on them while he was at it. I stepped back and landed squarely in Mitch’s chest. He wrapped an arm around me and then lifted me only to set me down to his side and just behind him.
“The lady told you that you aren’t welcome here right now, I think you better get the hell out of here. Your club won’t have your back on this one if you refuse.”
“I have him,” another man said. I glanced around Mitch in time to see a dark-haired biker there with a grim look on his face as he took hold of his friend and dragged him away.
“I didn’t know her dad was dead, but that doesn’t change the shit she’s done. She helped that bitch cheat on me for years.”
I shook my head and went to sit at the bar and ignore everyone who heard every piece of vitriol he spat about me.
It was all lies and I had no doubt he believed them.
Simone led him to believe I refused to be part of their wedding back before we graduated.
I had no doubt she continued to use me as a her scapegoat, patsy, or whatever the fuck anytime she needed an excuse to get out of town, lie, fuck off somewhere, or when she needed sympathy for something.
I hoped like hell their kid didn’t turn out like her.
Then again, the alternative was that the kid turned out like him and I wasn’t sure if being terminally stupid where women were concerned was better than being a manipulative bitch.
“What the hell was he talking about?” Mitch asked.
“Don’t know. I haven’t spoken to him or the woman he married since the day we graduated high school. She certainly didn’t visit me at college, since I never attended a traditional school in-house.”
“Know that much. Fucking fool if he thinks the woman who cheated on him repeatedly wouldn’t lie about other shit, too.
The crazy part is that he divorced her and he still believes the lies she fed him about you.
” Mitch chuckled then spun his serious gaze my way.
“He gives you anymore trouble before you head out, you let me know. I’ll go have a chat with Crutch and Bigfoot.
They transitioned over to Bigfoot having the presidency not long ago, but Crutch still has his ear when things count. ”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m headed out first thing in the morning.”
“You planning on coming back at all?”
“Not sure. I guess it depends on how everything goes with Tiffany and whether the Army is willing to let me go. I have nine more months left on my contract. I either need to decide to reenlist or get out, so I’ll let you know soon.”
The next morning, I made sure Mr. Mathers had my to-do list in hand.
Evict the bitch
Fight her in court
Take a picture of her face (if you can) when she finds out I already owned the house and the 25 acres it sits on.
Make sure Mitch Thompson gets paid along with any of his helpers he takes on.
That was the best I could do with the time I was allotted to come back to town to take care of things.
If I had thought for one second that my father might have actually planned for my future, rather than giving it all to Tiffany when he died, I would have asked for more time off to handle business and help Mitch get the animals moved.
We didn’t have enough land for cattle in New Mexico.
We did however do really well with sheep and goats.
Mitch mentioned alpacas, too. They were a newer addition and bringing in a mint according to him.
And no, Tiffany knew nothing about them or what they were worth.
They also did exceptionally well in the New Mexico climate where our ranch was located.
It was something I would look into once I figured out whether I should keep my mother’s family lands or not.
With everything set to the best of my abilities, I took off back to Fort Haze in southeastern Virginia to fill my friends in.
Funny how leaving home all alone, under the cover of darkness could shift to a life in the military with friends who were closer than family ever had been.
It was the right decision for me and I was thankful that freshly graduated me had the courage to sign those papers and head out on her own.