24. “Because You Loved Me”
TWENTY-FOUR
“BECAUSE YOU LOVED ME”
(CéLINE DION)
“W hy am I having déjà vu?” Roxie whispered.
“Because eleven women are huddling around a couple cars in a ritzy neighborhood, and probably five people have already called 911 on us. So the cops are gonna be here in approximately four minutes. All because a woman in love is doing something her man expressly asked her not to do,” Ally answered.
All true.
Eek!
Ally kept going.
“We’re gonna get arrested for trespassing, at worst, or escorted out of this development, we can hope.
Somehow, because it always does, this is going to get back to her man.
He’s gonna lose his mind. Drama is going to ensue.
There’ll be a kidnapping and perhaps a car bomb thrown in here and there for shits and grins.
And then someone is gonna get married or pregnant and they’re all gonna think it’s over, but it won’t be.
And I know this because a version of it has happened about ten times in Denver. To us. Including me. And you .”
“Oh yeah, that’s why I’m having déjà vu,” Roxie replied through a smile.
You guessed it.
The Rock Chicks horned in on our action.
There we were, sitting in Mace and Stella’s fantastic casita, where Tex and his wife Nancy were staying, innocently scrolling through mid-century modern home renovations and décor ideas.
We were sipping cocktails Jessie made. We were eating cashews (I’d noted the Rock Chicks had a thing about cashews).
All of this while alternately stroking or playing with a bevy of cats.
And then, after I’d given Nancy plenty of time to get a good number of ideas in her head about her new house, I ranted about Javi’s dad. Jessie threw a fit. The Angels threw down with me. The Rock Chicks joined in camaraderie.
And now we were all here. In a ritzy development. Standing in a huddle on the street outside Austin Atherton’s sprawling house.
I had a feeling Indy, Roxie, Stella and Annette were there for kicks.
And Ally was there to make sure we didn’t get arrested.
But I was stuck on Ally saying, “Woman in love.”
Was I in love with Javi?
Oh em gee !
I was!
Or, at least, I was falling. And fast.
Okay, so did this freak me out considering it was so soon?
Hmm.
No.
No, I was not in the slightest freaking out. Even if Javi strong-armed his way to buying the nutribullet, I knew down deep in my soul he was the guy for me.
Hark back to the groom carrying the bride thing.
Do you feel me?
“Lolo,” Raye called.
I stopped smiling moonily at no one and focused on my friend.
“This is your rodeo. You gonna get in the saddle?” she asked.
Oh.
Right.
Time to mount up.
I straightened my shoulders. “Let’s go.”
I’d practiced in my head on the way there what I intended to say, so I was ready.
We’d just made it to Javi’s dad’s impressive front door, the girls fanning out behind me, when my plan went awry.
This was because, materializing from the shadows, were Cap, Roam, Knox, Brady, Liam, Gabe, Jacob, Jeff, Cody and Eric.
They fanned out behind the Angels and Rock Chicks.
I looked to Jessie.
Accusingly.
She shrugged. “Okay, I got pissed on Javi’s behalf and rant-texted my man, and during that, I might have shared what we were up to.”
I kept looking at Jessie.
“And maybe I did the same with my brother,” she finished.
Jeff being that brother, who was also Javi’s closest friend, so naturally he’d rally Javi’s crew to get his dad to back off once and for all.
“Did you also rant-text the Terminator?” I inquired.
Another shadow formed, it pushed through the men to stand slightly in front of them, and we had Mace.
So now we had the Terminator.
“I didn’t rant-text him,” Stella shared. “I ranted face-to-face.”
I didn’t know what to make of this in my current situation.
What I did know was that I wished Javi was here to see it.
Speaking of my guy.
“Where’s Javi?” I asked, seeing as we left him, Cap and Eric having beers with Mace at Stella’s and Mace’s place, and now Cap, Eric and Mace were here.
“Left” was a nice way to say it.
“Snuck away hoping they wouldn’t notice we were gone” was more apt.
“He’s looking after the kids,” Mace said.
Javi was…
Babysitting?
“How’d you pull that off?” I asked.
“Wasn’t hard. Javi loves kids,’ Mace answered.
Oh my.
Now I felt super melty.
“Told him we had a callout, minor case, Cap and Eric and I could take care of it,” Mace explained further. “He thinks you and the women are still in the casita with Nancy, and I asked if he could look after the kids so my woman could have some time with her friends from out of town.”
Well, Javi would jump all over that.
Mace was done with our conversation, clearly, because he jutted his strong chin at the door.
And then he said one word, “Go.”
It was now or never.
I turned and was about to hit the doorbell, but since we’d all huddled on the street, then semi-huddled under the portico, it wasn’t surprising the door opened before my finger connected with the button.
And Austin Atherton was there, Julia clinging to his arm.
She looked terrified to see me.
He looked braced.
They both looked wrecked.
What happened that morning had visibly affected them, just as much, if not more, than it had Javi. And in the ensuing time, it hadn’t let go.
Austin’s eyes flicked beyond me, and yeah, okay, my ambush was a bit more in-your-face than his (right, more than a bit, thanks to the Hottie Squad), but whatever.
I decided it was time to get this done, even for Austin and Julia.
“I’d like to introduce you to Javi’s family,” I said.
Austin flinched and Julia’s lip quivered.
“Now,” I went on softly, “I don’t want to be cruel. We’ll make this quick.” I looked to Julia. “He’s going to contact you.”
She brightened immediately.
Austin grunted in surprise.
“And when you agree to meet him,” I continued, “and as your relationship grows with your brother, no matter how much you’ll want to coax him to let your dad in, you are going to tamp down that instinct.”
Julia went pale(r).
“If you can’t do that,” I carried on, “you will find reasons not to see him. The same goes for Cath.”
“I—” she began.
“I’ll warn you now, this isn’t a negotiation,” I stated.
Oh my God!
Look at me!
I could be a bad-A!
She shut her mouth.
See?
Bad-A!
“She’ll do it,” Austin said.
Julia looked up at him. “Dad.”
He peered down at her. “You’ll do it, honey.”
I did not want to witness how much love he openly shared with his daughter, this mingled with how determined he was to give her—and Javi—something he’d denied them both for decades.
Unfortunately, I witnessed it.
I tucked that somewhere safe so I could share it with Javi if some future him ever considered letting his dad in. For now, though, it would remain where it was and stay there if my guy never got to that place.
“As for you—” I began, my attention on Austin.
“I’ll leave him alone,” Austin promised.
Julia turned her head and pressed her forehead against her dad’s arm, which she was still clutching.
“However, I would like to see that he’s…financially secure,” Austin said hoarsely.
“Continue to pay his mom’s hospital bills,” I replied.
“I will, but if something happens to me—” Austin started, making Julia’s head jerk back.
“Nothing’s going to happen to you, Dad,” she said quickly.
Wait.
Was there something we didn’t know?
“You, Patrick and Catherine have trusts,” Austin told his daughter. “You have since you were born. I rest easy knowing, if something happens to me, at least you won’t suffer in that manner.”
I tried not to get pissed that Javi had none of that.
On the flipside, it was good there wasn’t some dread news underlying Austin’s desire to get to know his son.
Austin turned back to me, his gaze moving behind me for a moment before coming back to mine.
“I understand he’s got a good job with excellent pay, but even so, it would cripple him to take on his mother’s care if I wasn’t around to pay for it.
He’d have to move her to a facility that is not nearly as good, it would cause her confusion, and that would cause Javier distress.
I want to ensure her care, and that he can rest in the knowledge he can provide it. ” Heavy pause. “At least.”
Mace spoke up. “You can do that without dragging Javi into it. He’s a proud man, but he isn’t a stupid one. He also loves his mother. If you set that up and something happened to you, he’d take what was given so she wouldn’t suffer.”
In other words, don’t use this as your in with our boy. Do what you gotta do and leave him alone.
Austin got the unspoken message and nodded to Mace.
“So,” I began to sum it up. “The girls will wait for Javi to make his approach. Neither of them will attempt to push him into a relationship with his father. And you’ll back off. Do we have a deal?”
“We have a deal,” Austin said, sounding like he was choking on his words.
Dang it all, that cost him. A lot. Maybe too much. I saw the pain in his eyes.
But this wasn’t my call.
I did what I came to do.
“Thank you,” I said.
Austin swallowed and drew his daughter back, starting to close the door.
We were to the driveway, Willow holding my hand, Jessie at my other side, whispering I done good, when Ally grunted, “Hup.”
At this strange noise, I turned to see the men were (unnecessarily, this was a super good neighborhood) escorting us back to our cars, and Julia was dashing toward me.
Up at the house, Austin stood in his door, obviously not about to approach but keeping an eye on his daughter.
She rocked to a halt in front of me. “I just want you to know?—”
“Don’t,” Jessie clipped.
Julia ignored her. “Mom threatened to take us all from him if he had anything to do with Javier.”
“Goddammit,” Jessie bit under her breath.
“She can be…nasty,” Julia told me. “She would make it…” She again struggled for words. “A mess and drag it out forever. For Dad, it was lose one child, or lose three.”
“He still could have—” I tried.