Chapter 38
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
BOOKER
I shouldn’t have been as nervous as I was. Hell, I wasn’t the only one. Strangely, it was Blake who seemed to watch everyone closely, waiting to see if anyone looked even slightly too uncomfortable.
I hadn’t noticed how much she looked out for the rest of us until today. She always hid behind her jokes and laughter. It was easy to not look too closely at the pink-haired dynamo in our midst.
Family dinner had been the strangest experience of my life because it was exactly how I’d imagined a family dinner would have been if there had ever been a moment in my childhood that was remotely happy.
After the initial awkwardness when Jasper had turned up at Delaney’s farm, we seemed to have settled into a strange atmosphere of just ignoring the issues no one wanted to discuss.
But as soon as we’d sat at the table, and as soon as the food was passed around, it was like everyone finally took a breath and relaxed.
The conversation flowed. There was laughter and smiles.
By the time Delaney stood up to get dessert, it was almost like it had always been this way.
“Pops, do you want to play catch with us?” Cade piped up. “Dad has an extra glove you can use.”
It was an unexpected offer with the innocence of a child. Jasper looked shocked, but then a smile broke across his face.
“I’d really like that. If your dad doesn’t mind,” he quickly added, looking at Trace almost pleadingly.
“Sure.” Trace nodded once and then stood from the table.
“Let’s have dessert outside,” Delaney declared, following Trace into the kitchen to have a hurried, whispered conversation.
This seemed too much and too fast for Trace, but he’d do whatever it took to make Cade happy. That was what you were supposed to do for your kids.
My gaze found Reece, and for the first time in my life, that thought made me happy. Because I’d do anything to make her—and the kids I wanted us to have one day—as happy as they could be.
And I couldn’t wait.
“Come and play, Uncle Booker,” Cade cheered, and I waved my broken arm in his direction with a sad expression on my face.
Finally, a good reason to be wearing a cast.
Some days I forgot I had it on, and others, I was seconds away from finding a saw and taking the damn thing off myself. Reece would probably kill me, though. I dreaded to think where I’d be right now if I didn’t have her as an excuse to look after myself for once.
We’d all only just stood from our seats when someone hammered on the front door of the farmhouse, and Delaney came through from the kitchen, her eyes wide in surprise.
“Who could that?—”
The door flew open, slamming into the window as it did, and a huff of distaste flowed through the house that could only have come from one person.
Xander froze, and that wonderful woman I was so in love with stepped in front of him, shielding him from the harpy that was invading Delaney’s home.
Only Regina Farrington would have the nerve to step foot into a house she couldn’t have been less welcome in like she owned the place.
“I didn’t,” Jasper rushed out, pale at the thought of getting the blame for being the one to bring her here.
For the first time in my life, I actually believed him.
“There you are,” Regina hissed as she stormed into the kitchen. She looked at the table we’d just been eating at and sneered before she turned her glare on my father. “Here, I’m not signing these.”
She threw a file of papers across the room, and then Regina looked around at the people silently watching her. There was no sorrow on her face that she’d walked into a family gathering she’d been excluded from. Any semblance of propriety she might have had before was completely gone, and there was nothing but hate on her face.
No one spoke. Xander silently picked up the papers that were now strewn across the table and shuffled them into a pile.
“You’re not welcome here,” Delaney said firmly, stepping forward while the rest of us stood in shocked silence. “If you don’t leave immediately, I will take an enormous amount of joy in calling the police to remove you from my property.”
Even I felt the corners of my lips twitching at the thought of poor Ethan, our police chief, having to drag Regina out of the house.
“There’s no need,” the woman answered, lifting her chin a fraction so she could look down on everyone like she so loved to do. “I’m leaving for Washington immediately. I just had to come and deliver your father’s ridiculous papers. I’m not signing them, Jasper.”
“They’re more than fair,” Jasper said, finally stepping forward and putting himself between the family he wanted and the woman who’d driven them away.
Regina scoffed. “Oh, dear stupid Jasper. If you think I’ll just sign your documents and leave without a fight, then you never did really know me, did you? You can have this tiny insignificant town, but I’ll be taking the rest. Everything. When I’m finished with you, you’ll be nothing but a penniless fool in the gutter with the rest of this trash.”
“Enough,” I growled, stepping to my father’s side.
I was so done with this woman. Why had she stayed all these years when she was clearly so unhappy? Why make the rest of us as miserable as she was? Didn’t she have even the smallest shred of decency inside her?
“ You ,” Regina sneered in response. “At least you’re not the only failure of a son now.” Her eyes darted to Xander, and I saw Reece stiffen out of the corner of my eye.
But Regina’s attention came squarely back to me, and I was actually relieved about that for once. This was my place in the family. Standing up for them against anyone that wanted to hurt them. Even if it was our own mother. And it was a place I’d gladly stand in any day of the week.
“I should probably finally confess that I’m your mysterious investor,” she said smugly, an evil smile touching her lips when I gritted my teeth. “I would have enjoyed taking that patch of land from you, but obviously, I’ll be pulling my money, along with the rest of them. I’m almost impressed that you could upset someone as important as the governor, Booker. Maybe you’re not the biggest disappointment of the family after all. Knowing that your project is dead in the water is nearly as good as breaking it myself, though. You should know by now, Booker. You’re not meant for success. If you could just learn your place in life, things would go a lot smoother for you.”
My mouth opened to finally tell her exactly what I thought of her, but Xander took that moment to gently move Reece aside and come to stand with me.
“The ranch project isn’t dead in the water. I’ll be investing,” he said firmly.
“And so will Delaney and I,” Trace said, coming to stand on my other side.
I looked at both of my brothers in shock. “You don’t have to.”
“We can’t let you always be the one that gets to save the day,” Xander said, shaking his head as he laughed. “What else have I got to do? Besides, you need a doctor, and I need a job. It’s a match made in heaven.”
“I don’t know what to say.” They couldn’t know what this meant to me. Not just because the project was going ahead, but because it would be a family project. For once, we were putting the Farrington name on something good. On something worthy of a legacy.
“If there’s anything I can do,” my father said. Then he held his hands up in surrender as if he was trying to hold me off from arguing with him. “I might as well sign it all over to you than let your mother have it.”
Delaney barked out a laugh, and I took the opportunity to look at Regina, who had come bursting in here thinking she’d be the center of attention and was now basically being ignored.
My father looked at her and shrugged. “You should have signed the papers, dear. It was a generous offer while it was still valid.”
Xander passed him the paperwork he’d collected, and my father tore it in two.
“I’ll have my lawyer contact you with a new proposal more fitting of our future financial position.”
“This isn’t over,” Regina seethed, taking one last look at the people who would never stand on her side.
She didn’t wait for a response. Apparently, that was all the goodbye our mother had for her family because she spun on her heel and stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind her.
I should say something. This was probably the part where I was supposed to try to reassure my father. Tell him that the money didn’t matter. We’d help him fight her.
But Jasper surprised us.
He turned to Delaney with a look of relief on his face and smiled. “Now, did you mention something about pie?” he asked, rubbing his hands together.
Everyone moved at once. The conversation started up, and we walked to the porch like we’d intended before.
As soon as I had the chance, I grabbed Reece’s hand and drew her to a stop. When she looked back at me in surprise, I tugged her back into the dining room and pressed my lips to hers as I backed her up against the wall.
She hummed happily against my lips as her arms wrapped around my neck.
“You’re incredible,” I whispered against her lips.
“I’m not sure what I did to deserve that, but write it down or something so I can keep doing it.”
“I saw the way you were ready to stand up for Xander.”
“Well, he’s family, right?”
“Yeah, baby. He is.”
I kissed her again, my teeth nipping her bottom lip, so she gasped, and I deepened the kiss just the way I wanted.
“Ick, put the girl down, Booky bear, or I’m eating your pie for you.”
I ignored Blake, and kissed Reece again. Damn the pie. I had something else much better, and I couldn’t wait to get her home to take another bite.
Turn the page to read the first chapter of The Life We Left Behind .