56. Trace
TRACE
F ive hours later, I'm standing beside my wife's bed, gazing lovingly at our son, on a monitor I've been provided. When we got to the hospital, we found she'd been hurt worse than we'd thought. Pushing for her wasn't going to happen. An emergency c-section was ordered and here we are. He's early and has been put in the NICU. They've assured me, I'll be able to go see him as soon as possible. We did skin-to-skin, but he needed to be checked out.
The video monitor on his incubator is one of the best inventions I've ever seen. I'm thankful and blessed. Happy to be in the situation I'm in now, and beyond grateful that both of them are safe, especially Katie.
She's asleep now, after the day she had. They gave her something to help her calm down and sleep, which is leaving me with our son.
The son we named Peter Warden Miller. We’ll call him Ward, though. He looks just like I remember Ward looking when he was born. I know that no matter what would have ended up happening with me and Ward, he'd be proud to be an uncle, and he'd be even prouder to have a nephew named after him.
With one last look, I make sure she's sleeping peacefully before I leave the room. Walking to the nurse's station, I inquire about where my Dad's room is. I've debated for hours if I want to go see him, if I want to give in and see how he's doing. In the end, I decide it's not for him, it's for me.
When she tells me where he is, I head to the elevator and go down a floor.
It takes me a few minutes to find the room. I knock on the door before entering, and I'm not surprised when I walk in to see both he and my mom sitting there.
"Trace," he winces as he tries to sit up. "How are Katie and the baby?"
At one time I might have believed he really was interested. Like he gave a shit about what was going on with my family. What was going on with me. Now though, I know better. I'm not naive. Anytime he's ever tried to act like he cares, it's been so he would look good in the eyes of others. Now I've got his number, and I know exactly who he is. "They're fine. I know that bothers you, that you tried to kill them."
"What?" He puts a hand to his chest, as if he's amazed I've made the accusation. "I went to pick her up for you. I was trying to help, I didn't think you would have time to go get her. There were more important things at home to worry about. The calves are needed for our future. You've worked so hard on it."
It takes everything I have not to spit on him or shove my fist in his face. "I have worked hard," I concede. "And you've tried to stop me at every turn. There's been nothing easy about this. You knew what we were about to do with these calves. When we send them to sell at the market, I'm going to make more money than you ever thought of. Because we'll not only do this once, we'll do it every time we can. I'm going to get the ranch out of the red and into the black. We won't be billionaires just because we own so much land, we'll have cash assets, and you can't stand that."
"This is insane," he scoffs.
"Is it though? You're willing to sit here and reap the benefits of what I'm doing, but you've never been one to lift a finger in order to help me. If it wasn't going to be Ward, it'd always be me. You were never going to work as hard as the two of us, and there was no doubt about it. But this? Going and picking up my wife and son? Purposely putting them in harm's way? What did I do to you that was so awful?" My voice cracks. For once I'm letting my emotions come through, letting him know I'm not unfazed by how he's treated us for most of our lives.
He doesn't want to talk, I know he doesn't. I can tell by the way he's not meeting my eyes. The way he's almost refusing to glance in my direction.
"C'mon, I'm allowing you once to tell me. Let it all hang out, Dad. Tell me what you've always wanted to say. Why have you hated me more than you ever hated Ward? Or are you not man enough to admit it?"
There we go. That's it. His pupils become pin points and he blows out a breath of frustration. "She trapped me," he points over to my mom. "I was working on a divorce when she got pregnant. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have had to stay married to her. You altered every piece of my life from the moment you were born."
"And you hated me," I complete the thought for him.
"Still do," he smiles smugly.
It's the smug look that pisses me off, and makes me say what I do next. "Don't come back to the ranch."
"That's my home," he shouts, a few monitors going off in the background.
"Was your home," I correct him. "I don't think you ever read the contract for the ranch. Now that Ward's gone and I have a son? I have fifty-one percent of the shares. I've already contacted the board of trustees that overlook the land to vote you out, instead of dissolving them. I've laid out to them how much money I'm going to be bringing in over the next decade, and then how we're going to scale that amount. They're going to see it in hard-earned cash. Not a bunch of empty land that they'll never get a percentage of because you refuse to sell." I roll my lips together as I say the next words. "If you don't go, I'll call Cain and have him arrest you for attempted murder of my wife and son."
His jaw is tight, a tick moving it this way and that. He knows I've got him by the balls, and he' d love to tell me to go fuck myself, but he can't. "Was this your plan all along?"
"Nope," I admit, rocking back on my feet. "But I had to answer what you did to us. You started this war. Katie and I finished it. Don't expect me to apologize for it. Unlike you, I've grown to love my wife, and we've decided to be in this together. I know you don't understand what that means, and you've probably been fine living the kind of life you always have. But I'm not built that way. I want a best friend, someone to reach to in the middle of the night, or first thing in the morning. I want a partner who's going to be willing to fight for this ranch with me. You thought Katie would be meek, and she'd follow your orders. You thought she wouldn't stand up to you, or me, or anyone. You didn't know her at all. Thank fuck for that."
He inhales deeply. "We're your parents. We've made your life easy..."
I laugh, but it's hollow. "There was absolutely nothing you made easy for me. If anything you gave me anxiety that's followed me around for most of my life. I never thought I'd be able to do anything that you'd approve of. It's why I wanted to leave the ranch, why Ward was willing to switch places with me. He saw the hate you had for me. Too bad neither one of us were destined to make it out together."
"Does this include me?" Mom asks quietly from where she sits. "I'm your mother. I carried you for nine grueling months and raised you."
"You're just as much to blame for this as he is. You'd think a mother would care for her children and not let their father treat them like shit. Yet there you were time and again, legitimizing his behavior. Not even making excuses for it, but basically telling me and Ward we were the cause of it. You think I'm going to let you have any say so over my child? You've lost your damn mind. I have no problem telling you to go to hell too."
She gasps, as if she can't believe I would say those words to her. I have many more I want to say, but now isn't the time. "I love you, Trace."
"You have a funny way of showing it, and to be real honest, I don't believe you. Both of your things are being taken out of the house tomorrow. You'll get your share of the proceeds up until today when my son was born and we took fifty-one percent ownership. Good luck finding a place, and have a nice life. Don't contact me again. I'll see you at board meetings, and that's all we need to communicate."
After I've said my piece, I head out of the door and walk back down the hallway. Looking in, I see that Katie is still asleep, a nurse is in there taking her blood pressure and checking her vitals. "Can you keep her company until I get back? I don't trust her being by herself with my parents down the hall. If they try to come in here, call the police."
She gives me a smile and a nod. Knowing she's taken care of, I head back out and toward the NICU to see my son.