Chapter 24
24
Liam
I n every room Liam entered or exited, he was tempted to slam doors. He’d never felt this angry before—or this betrayed. And he’d brought it on himself. He’d practically pushed Margot out the door and told her to have a good life… without him.
He hated himself for it.
She’d been gone two weeks, and still, he couldn’t shake his foul mood. The people at work had noticed and were giving him a wide berth. His family were managing to do the same. Even Caleb had stopped talking to him. That was one good thing that had come out of all of this.
Caleb no longer had anything to complain about. The best part was that Caleb would walk out of the room whenever Liam entered it. Sometimes, when Liam really wanted to have fun with it, he’d figure out where Caleb was and go there just to watch his brother leave. It was a pleasant perk to Margot being gone.
Actually, it was the only perk.
Prada was still on the premises, a dark reminder of the current state of his life. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to contact Margot’s father to have the animal removed. And none of his brothers seemed willing to do it either. So, the horse got to stay.
Liam didn’t know what his plans were for the animal. He didn’t want to think about a world where Margot wouldn’t return for her horse. He’d even confirmed that she’d left town. One of the neighbors had seen her leave with packed bags. That was the last anyone had seen.
For now, he would continue caring for Prada. Doing so made him feel closer to Margot. And perhaps a small part of him thought that if this was where she was when Margot returned to Copper Creek, then he’d have a chance to see the woman he loved again.
On a Saturday afternoon, he’d finished giving Prada a good brushing and headed inside. Originally, he’d planned on going straight upstairs to shower, but the temptation to force Caleb to vacate the living room was too much.
He kicked off his boots and wandered into the living space where Caleb and Daniel were drinking some lemonade. The second he entered, Caleb glanced in his direction, then got to his feet and left. Liam knew he shouldn’t get so much pleasure from his brother’s reaction, but at this point he wasn’t willing to change anything.
“When are you going to forgive him?” Daniel asked. “You can’t keep playing this game with him.”
“I’m not the one who started it,” Liam muttered, taking a seat on the couch.
“No, but you could end it.”
Liam snorted. “I don’t have to do a doggoned thing. Caleb brought this on himself. He’s the one who constantly put her down and told me that she wasn’t worth my time. If he’d been supportive, then none of this would have happened.”
Daniel gave him a disbelieving look. “You don’t think that Margot would have broken up with you?”
Liam’s expression hardened. “I don’t know what would have happened with Margot. Part of me wants to believe that if she hadn’t felt so judged, she might have stuck around. But no, that wasn’t my point. I was merely saying that if Caleb had kept his mouth shut, and my relationship with Margot ended, he wouldn’t be the one I focused my anger on.”
His brother took a sip of his drink. “I see.”
“What’s that look for?”
“I’m not giving you a look.”
“Yes, you are. You’re looking at me like you think I’m in the wrong here. You can’t believe that Caleb is innocent in all of this. He hated her from the start. Not once did he try to make her feel welcome or support me in my relationship. He was wishing for it to fail at every single turn. Tell me why I should care if he feels guilty.”
Daniel leaned forward from where he sat and placed his drink on the coffee table. “Because whether you like it or not, your brother cares about you. When no one else was willing to voice their concerns over your choice of girlfriend, he was.”
Liam stiffened. He didn’t want to ask Daniel what he was getting at because he already knew the answer. More of his brothers were concerned about Margot.
“Ah, so there it is.” Daniel tapped his finger on the coffee table. “The fact of the matter is that we all have concerns about who each of us is dating. Sometimes we worry for our siblings. Sometimes we worry for the girlfriend.” Daniel chuckled. “I remember thinking that Ella was going to get chewed up and spit out by Lucas. Mason thought the same thing. And when Wade started dating Brielle, we didn’t know what to do or say about it because we didn’t understand what she wanted from him.”
“You think Margot was a bad influence,” Liam ground out, hating the way this conversation had turned back onto him.
“I didn’t say that.” Daniel shook his head. He seemed to contemplate what he wanted to say next.
Each second that passed made Liam a little more agitated. He nearly shot out of his seat and stormed from the room. Thankfully, he was able to remain composed. He didn’t have anything against Daniel.
His brother finally sighed. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that you and Margot—you’re very different. From the way you were raised to what you find important.”
“So, it’s because she was rich and we were poor.”
Daniel dragged a hand down his face. “No, it’s not about wealth or status. It’s not even about her living in the city and you being a cowboy. You’re too close to the situation to understand what I’m trying to say.”
“Apparently,” Liam said, sarcasm lacing the word.
Daniel groaned, sitting back in his chair. “Think about it. From the time you graduated from high school, you worked yourself to the bone. You developed a reputation that you could be counted on. Whenever someone mentions Liam Keagan, people are at ease. You’re someone people can trust.” He let his words sink in. “Margot… she’s different. She dropped out of college. Came home to move in with her father. She didn’t try to get a job. Everything I’ve heard from you and in town suggests that she doesn’t have her life put together. She’s a mess.”
“That was changing,” Liam said, softer this time. “She was getting back into dance. She was making something of herself.”
“You’re probably right. And who am I to say anything at all when I don’t know her.”
“Exactly. You can’t judge her when you don’t know her like I do.”
Daniel lifted both hands. “I’m not making judgments. I’m simply pointing out some things you might have missed. Can you honestly tell me that she was doing well when you saw her last?”
He hated reliving that night. The more he revisited it, the more depressed he became. All he could remember was the pain he felt when she’d walked away, and he’d let her leave.
“Caleb said?—”
“I don’t want to hear what Caleb said,” Liam shot back. He jumped to his feet and scowled at his brother. “I don’t care what you or anyone else has to say on the matter. If any of you had bothered to get to know Margot the way I did, then you would have seen her for who she really was. Margot wasn’t just some party girl who had a hard time keeping a job or finishing her degree. She was a dreamer. She cared about animals and other people. Just because you didn’t get to see that side of her doesn’t mean it didn’t exist. And I’d ask that in the future, you don’t bring any of this up again.”
Liam stormed out of the room and headed straight for his bedroom. He paced near the window, growing angrier by the second.
Margot had her flaws. He wasn’t so blinded by love that he couldn’t see that. But she was trying to become a better person. She’d been trampled on, and yet she continued to fight for a better life.
He’d seen the way she worked with the students for that ballet production. Much like the way she’d treated him as a child, she’d been able to bolster and uplift the young dancers. She had a raw talent for helping others reach their potential.
His brothers were wrong. All they wanted to see was a woman who was beaten down. Caleb had insisted right up to the day that Margot had broken things off that she was using him. Well, maybe it was the other way around.
Liam marched back and forth in front of his window. He could make similar arguments about himself. He wasn’t perfect, either. He let her do things that she probably shouldn’t have done—like staying out late when she had a curfew. He was just as much responsible for the demise of this relationship, and he refused to let anyone tell him that Margot was the bad guy.
The one good thing he did for her was let her go. If she’d finally found her place in the world, then she deserved to take it. He wanted her to be happy—even if it meant he became the miserable old man who never married.
Movement outside caught his attention, and he stopped dead in his tracks. Caleb was outside, standing by a trailer with Callahan plastered to the side. He was talking to Margot’s father, but Prada was nowhere to be seen.
Liam gripped the windowsill tighter. If his brother let Rhett take Prada away, that would be the end of their relationship. His brother would officially be dead to him. He watched for a few seconds and nearly charged out of his room to stop whatever this was from happening, but then he noticed Rhett getting more agitated.
Caleb folded his arms and shook his head. He jerked his chin toward the trailer and shook his head again.
Rhett pointed to the barn and attempted to move around Caleb but was blocked. One of the guys who worked on the Callahan ranch came around the trailer and stood beside Rhett. Then he said something to the man before the two of them got back into the truck and drove away.
Caleb didn’t move from his position. His focus followed the truck and trailer until they left the property. Then he spun and disappeared inside the barn.
None of it made sense. His brother disapproved of Liam taking care of the horse. He hadn’t wanted the horse on the premises from the very beginning.
Liam scowled and turned away from the window. This was probably just a way for Caleb to ease his guilty conscience. He didn’t want to help that horse any more than he wanted to help Margot. It was his sense of duty to his family that drove his current choices.
Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t going to make a lick of difference. He was still the source of Liam’s fury, and nothing was going to change that.