Chapter 24
Hunter
B efore you start on me, keep in mind I haven’t had my second cup of coffee yet, and no, I have not watched the video either.” I point my phone at Katie and gesture for her to take a seat on an open bench. She declines, naturally.
I wonder sometimes if my niece’s social worker understands the meaning of the word “social.” We weren’t friends growing up. She was a few years younger than me and did rodeo pageants with Dev and Lemon, but she was always shut off to most of us. Unapproachable.
She’s pretty and strong, though. One of the smartest people I know. Props to the man—or woman—who manages to thaw her icy heart one of these days. As for me, I happen to be on the receiving end of the ice queen’s more lethal powers most of the time. Usually because of rules I’m breaking.
Like arguing with Ellie’s principal. But Mrs. Finkelman had it comin’. Ellie only hit the Presley boy because he’s a little shit and everyone knows it.
She had a mean right hook too. I grin, proud of my little cowgirl. She’s a fighter. Reminds me of a younger version of Devyn most days—fierce, loud, passionate.
I roll my eyes at Katie’s blatant disgust as she picks hay from her knitted cardigan and flicks it to the barn floor, checking beneath her heels for whatever it is she thinks she’s stepping in.
It’s shit. No question. But I don’t tell her that.
“If you’ll give me a sec, I’m gonna look at the video. I’ve had three phone calls about the damn thing this morning, and it isn’t even nine o’ clock.” I turn to Katie, the judgmental twist of her lips and one raised eyebrow telling me she knows something I don’t.
“I’ll spoil it for you to save everyone some time. You’re married,” she deadpans. “But you remember that much, don’t you?”
I nod, letting a slow smile break across my face as I thumb my ring finger. “Yeah, but it shouldn’t change anything, right? Whatever we posted online seemed to cause a stir, but why does any of that concern Ellie’s placement? It’s just a drunken TikTok and a fake marriage.”
“Not exactly,” she says, smoothing out her pants. “Lemon is a certified wedding officiant. She took a test online last summer for our cousin’s wedding.”
My eyes widen. “You’re cousins?” How the hell did I not know that?
“What? Yeah, I always thought everyone knew that. But that’s beside the point.” She squares her shoulders and puts her hands on either side of mine. “Your wedding may have been fake, but your marriage—it’s the real deal, Hunter.”
“You’re telling me Devyn and I are legally married?”
She nods. “It needs to be filed at the courthouse, still, but yes.”
“You’re fucking with me,” I growl, daring her to prove me wrong, but praying to God she can’t.
I stare ahead, the muscles in my face unable to move in any arrangement except for one that probably leaves me looking like a damn codfish, my mind returning to the first part of her statement.
“Lemon’s a minister?”
“Officiant. But aside from that, the video is rather harmless, so you can calm down where that’s concerned. It is a bit,” she pauses, wrinkling her nose in disgust, “sickeningly sweet. Promises of lifelong bonds and sacrifice.” She waves her hand. “Honestly, it was gross. However, the fact is you are now a married man, and that does affect custody matters.”
I freeze, my neck stiffening as tension rolls over me. Custody.
I hate that word where Ellie is involved.
“Why does anything need to change? She’s always lived with me as a permanent foster. Nobody has ever cared before now.”
“Because now that Aunt Sarah is dead, Eleanor’s mother has applied for custody review.” She lets out a frustrated sigh. “For once.”
Anger and something akin to desperation take hold of me, and it’s all I can do not to kick the stable door. “Why does that woman get any review at all? She’s a horrible human being, Katie. She doesn’t care about Ellie. The only reason she would ever care is for her inheritance from Aunt Sarah. Why do you think she’s never tried for a review before now?”
Katie shakes her head, resigned, like she agrees with me, but she’s spent the last of her resources tryin’ to fix it. And the look in her eyes tells me there’s not much more she can do. Her hands are tied.
“Look, Hunter.” She lowers her voice and chooses her words carefully, like she thinks I’ll break if she says something wrong.
I might.
“You’ve been a father to Ellie since the moment you knew she existed. I’m not giving up on this yet. Why do you think I send her off to all those meet and greets loaded up with pranks and smoke bombs in her pockets? Do you both seriously think you’ve been putting one over on me all this time? I don’t want her adopted out of this family and away from this farm any more than you do. I care about these kids, you know?”
I do know. Ellie isn’t the only kid on the farm, in this community, on Katie’s roster. She fights for our kids like she was one of them. Because she was one of us. It’s the same reason I run my farm. To be there and make this town everything it wasn’t for our generation.
“This is why I became a social worker. But the truth is, the system is shit for cases like yours and Ellie’s, and with Sam’s prison sentence extended to life,” she pauses, offering me an apologetic smile as I wince at the sharp, factual, way she presents that information to me. I know my brother will be in prison for life, but hearing it never gets easier. It makes me sad for Ellie, but she’s better off without him.
And she’s definitely better off without that woman called her mother .
I tense, raking my hands through my hair and tugging in frustration at the precarious situation we’re in. Katie goes on.
“The courts will try to place her with the closest biological parent of sound of mind and clear of issues. Right now, the courts are favoring parental rehab so children can be placed back with bio parents long term.” She frowns, shaking her head. “Even years after the child has been removed from care of that parent.”
I can’t listen to this.
My heart is so loud, I think it’s possible I’m outside of my body entirely. Floating around in another time and space where down is up and wrong is right. And only then would it make sense that the courts would think sending Ellie to live away from me is even within the realm of possibility.
Katie grabs my hand and squeezes. It’s not normal for her to offer anyone comfort, but she does. Because she knows how horrible that possibility would be, and I start to falter. A tear runs from the corner of my eye, rolling down my skin, and that’s when I let the dam break. The water rushes in. Floods over me. I lay my head down on Katie’s shoulder, slumping over her tiny, five-foot-four frame, and cry.
“I can’t lose her.”
I don’t know how long she lets me cry on her. It’s likely she’ll go back to being standoffish next time she sees me, and we’ll never speak of this moment again. I’d prefer that, I think. What with the crying and all.
I pull away from her, using my sleeve to wipe the mess that is my face, and snort so loud even the pigs give me a look.
“Thanks, Kate.”
“Yes, well.” She pushes her glasses back up on the bridge of her nose with one pointed finger, reminding me of a British nanny, and it makes me laugh. I wish she had some kind of magical powers in that bag of hers. An umbrella with the power to smack some sense into the guardian ad litem and steer Ellie far the fuck away from Cruella De-Mom would be handy.
She takes a seat on the empty bench and pats the spot next to her, surprising me, because I thought she just came here to break bad and peace out, but she’s got more to say.
So, I sit.
“Like I said, I’m not giving up yet.” She pulls out an iPad and stylus that she clicks and scrolls around for several moments. “You and Devyn got married last night, no mistake.”
I groan and rub my forehead. “I know, I know. I fucked up. It just—”
“Let me finish, please.” She clicks her tongue, like I’m one of the kids at the group home who won’t listen.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You got married. And you are the next closest living biological relative, who isn’t in jail with a life sentence, aside from Eleanor’s mother, who has a hefty record and history of drug addiction.”
I nod, following so far, but still unsure of where she’s going with this. I’m still not her damn mother. I’m not even her father. I’m her uncle. How do I compete with that kind of biology?
“But if she’s been clear on drug tests and out of rehab, isn’t that what you’re saying? That the judge will still favor the mother?”
“Well, there are several case studies that would confirm the courts favor a strong, healthy, two-parent home with any biological relative regardless of whether that person is the mother or father. It can be a grandparent or even an uncle…if they’re married and both upstanding people.”
“Are you saying that being married makes me the better option?”
Katie’s lips slide into a sly smile, one of the first I’ve ever really seen reach her eyes. A smile that says she’s found a loophole she’s confident she can use to win.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. We have a strong case already since you’ve raised her from birth and have taken all the parenting classes adoptive families are required to have undergone. We have a very good shot here, Hunter.”
I holler, scooping Katie up and earning several swats and yelps from her in the process of spinning her around in celebration. “We’re going to win this, aren’t we? For good!” I yell, setting her down and hugging her tighter than I imagine she’s comfortable with.
But I can’t help it.
“You’re the best, you know that? I don’t know what Ellie and I would do without you on our side.”
She stiffens in my arms, but then settles into my hug once she realizes I am not letting her out of feeling emotions for once. I’ve seen this woman twice a week or more for Ellie’s whole life, and this is our first hug.
“Thank you,” she says, politely peeling my arms from her body. “I appreciate your candor.”
I laugh. God, this woman needs to get out more.
“Now,” she says, looking to me with all the seriousness in the world, “you need to tell Devyn.”
I sigh heavily, backing up and nodding. I turn away, mulling over the ways to break this to her when our relationship is already fragile enough.
“How?” I ask Katie, hoping she’s got more magic up her sleeve for today, but she’s used it all up. No spoon full of sugar for me.
I just have to confront the woman I love. Tell her I’ve been raising my brother’s daughter for the past nine years, that she’s everything in the world to me, and keeping her with me could hinge solely on her decision to stay married after one drunken night back together and a damn dare ?
With our past.
I close my eyes, rubbing at my temples as I pace in the barn, my boots wearing a path beneath my feet as I think.
“I know this is complicated.” Katie straightens her cardigan, dusting the hay from her backside as she stands. She pauses, and I see a rare smile curve up on one side of her face. “But the way the room comes to life when you and Devyn are together is something I’ve never quite seen before. And that kind of love is what Ellie deserves.”
B eau comes trotting through the field, a whinny echoing through the open doors of the barn. Brooklyn must be riding him since Ellie stayed next door with her last night. I peek out the window and see Lyle trailing behind, Ellie riding with damn near perfect form and laughing like a song my ears can’t get enough of. There’s no way I’m letting them take her from me. I’ll tell Devyn. I just need to figure out how.
But what if she thinks I lied to her again? What if she thinks the only reason I did this was for Ellie’s sake and she runs? I could risk losing her and Ellie. My stomach seizes with the idea of it. I can’t let that happen. I can’t.
On the other hand, Devyn was the one who initiated the marriage dare. And it got us both the job we’ve been after, so it’s not like she isn’t gaining something by staying fake married.
But it isn’t fake.
Katie supposedly has copies of the napkins we signed. I pull out my phone as the text pings to see the copies she said she’d send me. It’s miraculous that Lemon was sober enough to pen down the legal jargon so thoroughly…but still. It’s there. Both our signatures. And Lemon’s. In pink pen and signed with Devyn’s lipstick kiss.
My stomach tenses. Devyn might not be okay pretending if she knows it isn’t pretending.
Turning on my heel, I grab the brushes and tools I’ll need to help Ellie get the horses cleaned up from their run and ready for lessons before I pop back in to wake Dev. I smile, imagining this could be our new normal, as I make my way through the barn and toward the sound of laughter.
But it isn’t Brooklyn with Ellie.
It’s Dev.
She rides into the barn.
On my fuckin’ horse.
And if the sight of my woman bareback on my horse doesn’t damn me straight to hell for the sins I want to commit against her right here in this barn, then I don’t know what will.
Not just my woman… my wife .
Fuck, I like the sound of that.
Devyn’s hips sway with the motion of Beau’s canter, her smile stretching from ear to ear as they trot behind Lyle and Ellie. And she wears her hair down.
Fuck, Dev.
“What a perfectly good boy you are, Mr. Beau,” she baby-talks to him. Her blonde hair whips from one side of her body to the next when she lifts her head to the sky, laughing and smiling brighter than the summer sun when he seems to neigh in response. I chuckle; my horse is such a damn flirt for Devyn. I’d swear he might just remember her.
She doesn’t see me yet, as she dismounts Beau, kissing his nose like she’s visiting an old friend.
And I like that. Watching her fall back into her element in Pine Forest is like a drug. I can’t seem to get enough of her wonder and nostalgia as she makes up for lost time with the place she remembers, her practiced movement around the horses as she pads along in filthy bare feet with her heels dangling from her fingers, evidence enough that you can’t take the country out of the girl.
The animals are eatin’ her up, and I don’t blame them one bit. Hell, I’m jealous of my own damn horse as she runs her fingers through his mane.
But this wasn’t how I was going to introduce her to Ellie.
“You’re awake.” I stride toward Devyn, giving Beau an affectionate pat. He nuzzles my cheek, demanding attention. Devyn breathes in audibly and gives me a look I can’t quite place. But she’s not angry.
Her eyes swipe to Ellie and one eyebrow raises at me in a silent question. A sad smile ghosts across her lips.
“You’ve met—”
“Ellie?” Her smile falls then, taking pieces of my heart along with it. I don’t want to hurt Devyn, yet I always seem to be the source of her pain.
“I’m sorry, it isn’t—”
She stops me, placing a finger to my lips and meeting my stare dead on.
“Don’t you ever apologize for that little girl. You’ve done a damn good job, from what I can see.” She swallows, saying more with her eyes than words ever could. It kills me that she never lets those tears out, even after all these years. That hasn’t changed. I see them on the tips of her irises, glowing, shining, daring someone to break the impenetrable wall that holds them back.
“I’ve missed you so much,” I say. But I’m not as strong as Devyn Lynn. My walls do break.
I let my tears fall as I tug her close, and we mourn the loss of a life together we never got to live. A child neither of us properly grieved. A child who was ours.
When I pull away, and she wipes the tears from my face with painted thumbs that look something like sunflowers, I feel the pieces of my life click together. A movie playing out before me with only one possible ending ever in mind. Perfectly plotted and planned.
My destiny.
And this time I’ll do whatever I have to do to protect it.