Chapter Twenty
Naomi sighed silently as she stared out the bedroom window while lying in bed with Joe wrapped around her. She knew it was past midnight, but she couldn’t get the turmoil inside her to diminish enough to go to sleep. She couldn’t get out of her mind the fact that she still had a lot going on in her life, and she didn’t want to put it all on Joe’s shoulders. She was terrified he’d get so mad he wouldn’t want to marry her anymore, and that would crush her soul.
Joe stirred behind her as she carefully slipped from the bed. She closed her eyes and pretended to sleep. She didn’t know what she would say if he asked her questions because she had no idea what she would tell him.
After getting dressed and making the bed, she moved down the stairs and into the kitchen. There was still some coffee in the pot, so she poured it into a cup. The edge of it touched her lips, and she grimaced and tossed the liquid into the sink. Some smells turned her stomach, and coffee was one of them.
She made herself a piece of toast and ate it while looking out the kitchen window, trying to find Joe. Then, she turned away and started the laundry.
A knock on the front door got her attention. She went to answer it and found one of the ranch hands.
“Boss told me to give these to you.”
Naomi smiled and reached for the mail. “Thank you.”
He tipped his hat and left.
Naomi barely glanced at them and was surprised when she saw one addressed to her. She pulled it from the pile and opened it. It was from Elliot Stevens, her lawyer, telling her that her stepmother was trying to get money from the house account. She’s also been looking for her and even hired a private detective. That sent chills down her spine. She knew she didn’t hide her tracks very well, so if a person was the least bit competent, he’d find her.
She felt nausea burning her throat and breathed through her nose to calm her stomach. She didn’t have a choice. She’d have to tell Joe about her situation, and she couldn’t put it off another day.
Naomi tried to keep busy because every time she thought about what he might say, her stomach twisted. By the time he came in for dinner, her nerves were shot. Joe took one look at her, and she knew he could tell something was wrong.
He came to her and put his arms around her. “What’s wrong, Love?”
“Can we wait until after dinner?”
He nodded and kissed her lips. “I’ll be right down. I’m going to shower. I know I smell like cow dung because I slipped and fell on my ass.”
She smiled. “I’ll have dinner on the table.”
Naomi was setting the glasses of milk down when he came back into the kitchen.
They sat and ate, asking each other about their day. It helped to settle her nerves a bit.
Naomi stood and grabbed some of the plates. Joe followed her with some more. He pressed a kiss to the back of her head.
“I’m going to get some work done. Come in when you’re done in here.”
“I will.”
She took her time and even wiped down the already clean counters again. When she knew she couldn’t delay it any longer, she went to him.
She watched him work on his computer.
He must have sensed her because he paused and looked her way. He sat back in his chair and held out a hand. “Come here.”
She walked slowly around his desk to take his hand. He pulled her onto his lap sideways so they could see each other’s faces.
“Now tell me what’s bothering you?” he asked.
Naomi took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts. “You know I answered your ad for a wife.”
He nodded and grinned. “More like my mother’s ad. But I’ll have to thank her again.”
She smiled. “One of the reasons—or the main one—was I needed to get away from my home.” His hand slid up and down her back in a soothing motion, and it helped her relax. “When my father died, it was only me, my stepmother, and my stepbrother. Both want to be part of the elite group in our city, and they need me to help them achieve this. They came from nothing and have become obsessed with it since they came to live with my father and me. They started making me go to parties when my father got sick, and I did it to please my father. He was too tired to hear Diana, my stepmother, complain about me. After he died, I was trying to find a way to get them out of the house.”
She stopped and drew in a few breaths. “My father left them a lot of money, several million dollars.” She saw his eyes widen, but he kept quiet. “But it wasn’t enough for them. They wanted it all, but my father gave me the estate, stocks, and most of the money.
“How much are we talking about here?” he asked.
“A little over a billion altogether.” She waited and watched for any anger on his face but saw none. “Anyway, since they had lived there, I couldn’t just kick them out. I had to go through several steps to get them evicted, but it wasn’t going through. Somewhere along the way, I was stalled for some reason. I suspect Diana had something to do with it, but I couldn’t prove it.”
She took a deep breath. “I thought she didn’t know about my plan, so I pretended and acted like I usually did but kept fighting with help from my lawyer. In the meantime, I tried to keep up appearances. Recently, I started to hear things and conversations between the two. They talked about my stepbrother, Robert, marrying me so they could control everything. I was terrified they’d find a way, so I ran to you. I was isolated and didn’t have anyone on my side besides Elliot, but he could only do so much.”
He squeezed her shoulder when she paused. “Why are you bringing this up now?”
“Well, I planned on telling you before we got married. I didn’t want to drop this problem onto your lap later. I felt it was deceitful.”
“Why, Love?”
“Because you’ll have to help me deal with the mess I’m in, and you don’t have time.”
He swept the hair from her face. “Of course I’ll help. I’ll make time for whatever you need.”
“We’ll have to sell my house, and there are rooms of furniture and antiques that have been in my family for decades. I can’t leave them there. Then there are the stocks and bonds. We’ll have to put everything in your name.”
He shook his head. “No, Love. It all will stay in your name. I don’t need it. But I’ll still help you with it.”
“What am I going to do with that much money?”
Joe shrugged. “Set up accounts for the kids when they’re born, or give some to charity, or you could leave it alone to grow.”
Naomi bit her lip. “I have a few ideas.”
“Tell me,” he said.
“I want to add onto the house. I would love an indoor pool and solarium with a ton of plants. I had a pool at home, but I couldn’t use it because Robert always came out and stared. It gave me the creeps. And no matter when I tried, he was there. I still don’t know how he did it.”
“We can do that, but we could use my money, Love. I can build you twenty mansions if that is what you want.”
She smiled. She couldn’t believe how relieved she was that he didn’t seem angry. “You’re not mad at all?”
He smiled gently. “No, together we can do anything, and I’ll always have your back. No one will ever harm you.”
Naomi tucked her nose against his neck. “I love you so much it scares me.”
“I feel the same way, but I’m not going to let it change anything, and I’m guessing our feelings for each other will only grow with time.”
She nodded. “There is something else. What pushed me to tell you sooner was that I got a letter from my lawyer. He wrote that Diana was trying to get funds from the house account I set up. I didn’t want the staff to worry about anything, so their wages come out of it, and any house repairs.”
His brows snapped together. “Why would she do that?”
“She’s trying to get as much money from me as possible. There’s more. The letter also said they hired a private investigator to find me, and I’m afraid it will be easy. I didn’t hide. I didn’t know how to.”
He hugged her to his chest. “It doesn’t matter what they do. Give me the lawyer’s number, and we’ll get them evicted. They can’t take you from me, Love. I’d love to see them try. I’ve got a thousand acres of land I could bury them on.”
She gasped and then sputtered out a laugh.
Joe continued. “Let’s talk more about our plans. My first thoughts are building another barn and placing your things from the house in it until you can go through it at your leisure. The lawyer can set us up with great movers and a real estate agent. You won’t have to go back at all unless you want to.”
She thought about it a moment. “No. There’s nothing there I need to see before we sell. What about the staff?”
She watched and waited as he thought about it.
“How many are there?”
“There’s the cook, two maids, and a gardener.”
“If you like them and they agree, bring them here. I’m not going to want you to overdo it, and when the child is born, maybe we can get one or both maids to help with the child.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, wow, I would love that. They are both incredibly sweet.”
“Good. The house we have now is big, but it sounds like our family will be growing.” He smirked. “Let’s think about adding on another wing just for the staff.”
“I love that idea. Your house is huge, and I’ve only peeked into several of the rooms, but we only spend time in our bedroom, kitchen, family room, and here in the office. It will be nice to get help with everything, and our cook is awesome.”
“We’ll call them tomorrow and ask what they think. If they agree, I know of a construction company around here that does great work and is very fast. You and I will have to sit down and plan what we want and then have an architect draw up the plans,” he said.
“That’s a lot. Are you sure you have time?”
He pressed his lips to her forehead. “I was thinking about hiring a few more men, so that will help take some of the work off me. Damn, the construction crew is going to have their hands full with the building, the expansion for the pool, the wing for the servants, and the two or three more houses for the new guys.”
“Oh, my.” She was dizzy just thinking about it. “What should they start on first?”
“The building, because that won’t take long, and then the servants’ quarters. Do you think we can put off the pool for a month so they can get the cabins built?”
“As long as I have you, I’m content,” she told him, and it was the absolute truth. And she meant every word.