Chapter 23
CHAPTER 23
WILDER
A fter a dinner that consisted of hearty stew and crisp rolls, Wilder donned a jacket and wandered out to the horse field. Fat snowflakes lazily floated through the air. Blaze trotted his direction when he was halfway over the fence, and Wilder wondered at how far they’d come since the beginning, when he’d had to stand stock still for twenty minutes just for the horse to build up the courage to approach him.
He’d ridden Blaze a handful of times since their fall. The relief he’d felt after that first time was immense. Feeling Blaze’s confident gait under his body was the final proof he needed that Blaze was really and truly okay. He’d take a hundred more injured legs if it meant Blaze was healthy. Better him than an innocent animal, always.
Absently, he checked his watch as he stroked Blaze’s golden neck. Cash and Lain should be in Bozeman by now. He wasn’t expecting Cash’s call for a couple more hours, so he fetched a lead from the barn and guided Blaze inside to saddle him and take him out for a run.
Nothing cleared his head like the rush of wind and the pounding of hooves. He guided Blaze along the fence-line, partly checking for breaks but mostly just for the sake of running. The dying sunlight streaked the cloudy sky in hues of every color from orange to violet. Out in the fields, the cattle raised their heads to watch him pass with idle interest.
By the time he made it back to the barn, the light in the sky was mostly gone, and the cold winter air sucked the heat from his jacket. The ground was steadily disappearing under the snow, but the barn was warm. He took his time with Blaze, hanging up his tack and gear and giving Blaze a long and thorough brushing before he finally sent him back out into the field with the other horses, who were romping in the fresh powder.
With a sigh, he turned toward the bunkhouse. It had been four days since he’d slept alone in his bed, and he didn’t look forward to it tonight. Cash’s apartment key was on his bedside table, and he steadfastly told himself he wouldn’t use it. He wasn’t so far gone on Cash that he would sneak into his room to sleep in his bed, no matter how much he missed the scent of him. He wouldn’t bury his face in his pillow and pretend he was there with him. He could handle one night apart, surely.
In his eerily quiet room, he took a long, hot shower, his thoughts on the phone charging by his bed. Cash would call soon. That would alleviate this strange feeling, like a piece of him had been hollowed out.
He felt ridiculous.
He’d barely pulled his shirt and pajama bottoms on when he heard a frantic knocking on his door. Rushing from the bathroom, he crossed to the door and yanked it open, surprised when he had to lower his gaze, because it was Annalise bouncing from foot to foot at his door at almost nine PM.
“Annalise?” He looked around for an adult, but there was no one else around.
“We need your help! Momma says she’s hurting and her ‘tractions are getting closer together and we need to go to the hospital but she can’t drive herself!”
Every thought in his head spilled out like a water balloon with a hole poked in the side. He took a breath to speak, but nothing came out.
Shit , he thought generously.
“Are you kidding?” His voice sounded high-pitched to his own ears.
The girl had springs attached to her feet, little pigtails bobbing against her shoulders as she bounced fretfully up and down. “No! Please, can you drive her, Uncle Wilder? You’re family.”
“Oh my God.” Before he could decide how to very nicely tell this little girl that her daddy would absolutely not want Wilder anywhere near his wife while she was in labor, the ranch house’s front door banged open, and Mary-Beth waddled out onto the front porch, slinging a bag over her shoulder and holding a goddamn towel between her legs.
“Annalise! Go to the truck!”
Annalise spun away from him. “Uncle Wilder’s gonna drive us, Momma!”
“Oh my God,” he said again, but he wheeled around and grabbed his boots, shoving his feet into them and barely remembering to grab his coat before he shut the door behind him. “I’m coming!”
“So are the boys!” Mary-Beth replied with a hysterical laugh. “Annalise, climb up in the back, sweetie.”
Wilder jogged over and took the bag from her. “Get in and sit down, Mar, I’ll handle Annalise and the bag.”
“Oh, thank you, Wilder.”
Adrenaline prickled through his body as he tossed the bag in beside Annalise and buckled her into her booster seat.
“Do you need anything before we go?” he asked Annalise. Mary-Beth seemed to have things prepared, if the bag was any indication.
“I packed her some things in the bag,” Mary-Beth said, breathing deep and steady. “We’ve had that bag ready for a month now, just in case.”
Wilder swung into the driver’s seat of the SUV and started the engine, his heart hammering. “Rose County Hospital?”
“That’s the one,” she said, her eyes closed.
He eyed the towel between her legs as he navigated down the long driveway. “Did, uh—did your water break?”
“What gave it away?” She shot him a weary smile, then winced. “Here comes another one.”
He wordlessly offered his hand, and she took it as she writhed, squeezing so hard he felt his bones grind together.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he chanted as she groaned through it.
“Bad words,” Annalise said.
“I know, I know.”
Mary-Beth laughed, and her grip eased. “Okay, it’s passing. Whew, they’re getting stronger. We weren’t supposed to do this for another six weeks. Actually, we weren’t supposed to do this at all. They scheduled a C-section for me, for a week before my due date. They warned us the babies could come early, but this is earlier than we’d hoped.”
“Is that bad?” he asked, glancing between her and the road. He didn’t know jack shit about pregnancy or childbirth. He was gay, for God’s sake, and a felon. The last thing he ever expected was to be driving a pregnant lady to the hospital five months after he got out of prison.
“Well,” she hedged. “It’s not terrible. I’d hoped we could make it to the C-section, though. The longer the babies cook, the better.”
“Fuck.”
Annalise helpfully said, “Bad?—“
“I know, I know!”
Mary-Beth laughed again, a weary but sweet sound. She was in good spirits. That had to be good.
“Thanks for doing this, Wilder. It’s the worst timing in the world. Lain was supposed to be here.”
“Yeah, of course. Do you have your phone? You should probably call and let him know what’s going on.”
“Oh, yeah, I—” She patted the pockets of her dress, her eyes widening. “Oh no. Maybe I put it in the bag?” She started to twist, but Wilder stopped her.
“Whoa, whoa, don’t upset the babies. Just wait a few minutes until we get to the hospital. As soon as they get you settled in a room, we can turn the bag inside out looking. And if it’s not there, I can—” He stopped, looking down at his pajama-clad legs. There were no pockets. “I don’t have my phone either.” Or his driver’s license, for that matter. He’d at least gotten it renewed a few months ago, but it was sitting in his wallet on his bedside table—right beside his phone, if he remembered right.
Mary-Beth huffed, edging on hysterical. “Great.”
“You know what? It’s fine. The hospital will have phones.” Worst case scenario, he could drive back to the ranch and get both of their cell phones, although he didn’t like the idea of leaving her alone.
“Right, you’re right.” She took another deep breath. “I’m trying to stay calm.”
“I’m glad one of us is,” he quipped, and she laughed again.
If there was one thing he never would’ve expected about childbirth, it was how much waiting around there actually was. When they made it through the initial rush into the hospital and into a birthing room, Mary-Beth was hooked up to monitors and settled into a bed, and there, they waited. They had a little TV in the corner, and Mary-Beth absently clicked from channel to channel to distract herself from the intermittent contractions. Wilder kept shooing Annalise out of the room with him every time the doctors needed to perform their checks, but Mary-Beth asked that he stay in the room and keep her company in between their invasive visits. He did indeed turn the bag inside out looking for a phone and found none, and then he reluctantly asked Mary-Beth to write Lain’s number down so he could use the phone at the nurses’ station. The snow was coming down hard now, and getting from the hospital to the ranch and back with their phones would take longer than he’d like.
“Could you also call my parents?” she asked. “The plan was for Lain to be in the room with me, but if he can’t be here, it might be nice to have Mom close by instead. She can be a little overbearing, but she’s still family.”
“Absolutely. Just write her number down and I’ll handle it.”
He had to coach himself on what to say for ten minutes before he finally picked up the phone and called Lain’s number, ignoring the covert looks from the two nurses standing nearby who looked vaguely familiar. He probably went to high school with them. There was no answer, and he didn’t know if that was because Lain was busy or just screening unknown numbers. It went to voicemail, and Wilder sighed.
“Hey Lain. Listen, it’s Wilder. I’m at Rose County Hospital with Mary-Beth. Her water broke, and she’s in labor. She’s doing fine right now, but they’re talking about getting her in for a C-section soon. I don’t know how soon. I’ll call again from this number if there are any updates, because we both left our phones in the rush, and now it’s snowing pretty hard. Uh, talk to you soon, I guess.”
He regretted that he didn’t have Cash’s number memorized, if only because he longed to hear the man’s voice, his steady reassurance that Wilder could do this. He could stand in for his brother and hold Mary-Beth’s hand through the scary shit if that was what she needed. But God, he hoped Lain got there soon. He’d never felt more like an outsider here, watching this event unfold and knowing he was the wrong Blackwood. He didn’t want Mary-Beth or the life Lain had built for himself, but in another life, maybe Wilder would have been here supporting his twin as he helped welcome his new children into the world.
Blowing out a breath and offering a weak smile to the not-so-subtly eavesdropping nurses, he dialed the second number on the slip of paper and listened to it ring.
“ Hello ?”
Wow, somebody actually answered. He faltered for a heartbeat, words fleeing his mind, and then stammered, “Uh, hi, Mrs.—” Oh shit, he didn’t know Mary-Beth’s maiden name. “Sorry, um, is this Mary-Beth’s mother?”
“ Yes, this is Emily Dandridge. Who am I speaking with? ”
“I’m Wilder Blackwood, Lain’s brother.”
“ Wilder Blackwood? ” she repeated. It was a shocked tone. A scandalized one. One he recognized.
His lips pursed. “Yeah. Mary-Beth has gone into labor a little early, and?—”
“ Mary-Beth’s in labor? Where’s her husband? Where is Lain? ”
“He and the foreman went out of town to an auction.”
“ Lain’s not even there, Robert ,” Emily said curtly, and Wilder winced. To him, she said, “ We’re on our way, Mr. Blackwood. I assume you’re calling from Rose County General? ”
“That’s right.”
“ And our granddaughter? ”
“She’s here, too. They’ve got Mary-Beth set up in a private room, and they’re taking good care of her. I’m keeping an eye on her and Annalise.”
“ For now. We’ll be there shortly. ”
He took a breath to reply, but the line went dead. What a charming lady.
When he returned to the birthing room, Mary-Beth was staring hard at the television screen and taking deep, measured breaths with her hands on her swollen stomach. Annalise sat on the little loveseat against the wall, snacking on pretzels and watching a cartoon on a tablet, although she kept sneaking glances at her mom over the tablet’s edge.
Wilder went to Mary-Beth’s side and sat on the edge of the bed, letting her squeeze his hands until the contraction passed.
When the pain faded enough for her to speak, she said, “The doctor came in again while you were out. He wants to prep me for the surgery soon.”
“Good, good. Your parents are on the way.”
“Oh, good.” Her eyes were bright with nerves. “And Lain?”
Wilder winced. It was hours to Bozeman and hours back, and the snow would only make things worse. Even if Lain heard the voicemail right away and was already hitting the road, he probably wouldn’t get there in time to go into the surgery with her.
“I left a voicemail.”
She nodded. Her face remained calm, but her eyes filled with tears. “That’s fine. He’ll head back when he hears it. I can do this.”
“You can. You absolutely can.” He paused, hesitating, and his eyes bounced from mom to daughter, and she followed his gaze. Her whole face softened for her little girl.
Mary-Beth stroked her stomach. “This isn’t the way any of this was supposed to go. When they take me back… would you stay with Annalise? Help her stay calm? I’ll feel better knowing she’s safe with you.”
Those words didn’t really compute, but he nodded in acceptance anyway. Since when did anyone consider him a safe person to have around children?
“Yeah, I’ll stay with her. Maybe I’ll take her down to the cafeteria for something to eat, take her mind off what’s happening.”
“That’d be great. I don’t want her to worry.”
“I’ll take care of her, don’t worry about a thing.”
Time seemed to move differently in a hospital. Every contraction Mary-Beth experienced was agonizing for them all. Logically, Wilder knew they only lasted a few minutes, but she seemed to be in pain for hours. He let her squeeze his hand every time, and she handled each one like a goddamn champ, sucking down deep breaths and barely uttering a peep. He suspected a lot of her strength came from wanting to keep Annalise calm. She stared hard at her little girl during every contraction, squeezing his hand until he swore and Annalise giggled at his foul mouth. Wilder had no idea what he was doing. He felt helpless, really, watching a kind woman in pain and knowing there was nothing he could do about it. Maybe this was how everyone felt when someone was giving birth. He desperately wished that Lain and Cash would miraculously appear to be the responsible ones and let him fade into the background once again. It was exhausting .
But it wasn’t Lain and Cash who swept in through the door just moments before the doctor was due to take Mary-Beth back to prep her for surgery.
Emily Dandridge was an imperious woman in high-waisted jeans and a blonde bob that curled around her chin, delicate diamonds twinkling in her earlobes. Her husband, Robert, towered over her, balding and wearing a faded flannel, his boots flecked with mud.
Oh, Wilder thought. Mary-Beth was one of those Dandridges.
They were ranchers too, he dimly recalled from his memories of Roselake, and the Dandridge Ranch had been as successful as Blackwood Ranch was now, but for far longer.
Emily’s flinty gaze absorbed the scene with a hammer of judgment ready to swing down on him. She noticed the tattoo on his neck, the way he held their daughter’s hand, and a sleepy Annalise sagging on the sofa cushions with a goldfish cracker stuck in the wrinkles of her shirt.
“We’ll take it from here, Mr. Blackwood,” Emily said, lifting her chin. “You can go.”
Go where?
“It’s okay, Mom,” Mary-Beth said. “Wilder’s been a real trooper.”
“All the more reason for him to go now that we’re here,” Emily insisted. “He must be exhausted.”
Mary-Beth opened her mouth to speak, but Wilder cut her off. “It’s fine, Mary-Beth. I’ll go see if I can find some coffee, and maybe I’ll try calling Lain again.”
Mary-Beth relaxed. “Okay. Thanks, Wilder.”
Robert didn’t move as Wilder approached the door, forcing him to squeeze past him.
Out in the hallway, he blew out a breath—and then stiffened when the door opened behind him.
“Uncle Wilder, I want to come with you,” Annalise said, covering her mouth as she yawned. “I’m tired of goldfish. Do they have other snacks here?”
He turned, his smile freezing when Robert followed little Annalise out the door. Right, couldn’t let the murderer be alone with an innocent child.
He refocused his attention on Annalise. “I’m sure we can find you something.”
“I think I’ll tag along for a cup of coffee, myself,” Robert said. “Looks like it might be a long night.”
Great.
They fell into step together, the three of them, with Annalise acting as a very small and oblivious buffer between the two men. Neither of them spoke, though Annalise chattered about the random things she saw in the hospital on their way to the cafeteria, like the bulletin board of thank-you notes from parents and children outside the pediatrics ward and the cute stuffed animals in the window of the gift shop near the lobby.
The cafeteria was all but deserted at this hour. A lonely janitor moved up and down the aisles between the long tables. A snack machine drew Annalise like a moth to a flame. Her little fingers smudged the glass as she looked from treat to treat.
“Uncle Wilder, can I get a honeybun?” she asked, pointing.
He tried to slide his hand into his back pocket only to remember he was wearing pajama bottoms, which was embarrassing, and his fingers found only cloth-covered asscheek. “Shit.”
“Language,” Robert admonished sternly, and even Annalise looked cowed. It was the first time all night she hadn’t giggled when he said a bad word.
Rather than address the man who talked to him like a misbehaving child, he looked at Annalise and said, “I’m sorry, kiddo, I don’t have my wallet with me.”
“You don’t? How did you drive them here?” Robert’s gaze raked down his body, judgment dragging like claws against his skin.
“Illegally, I guess. They kind of caught me by surprise. I didn’t have time to do my hair or sharpen my favorite shiv, either, but what can you do?”
Robert, if possible, frosted even further. Turning away from him completely, Robert bent at the waist and told Annalise, “Which one was it you wanted, peanut? I’ll get it for you.”
Wilder rolled his eyes so hard it hurt and turned away to hunt down a coffee machine. He found one helpfully waiting down the cafe counter, complete with a stack of polystyrene cups. He grabbed one and pulled the tab for regular, groaning in relief when steaming black coffee poured from the spout.
There was no cream or sugar, and the taste itself was barely worth it, but it was better than nothing. It was almost worth turning around and realizing Robert had ushered Annalise off without him.
That was fine. He didn’t want to spend any more time in Robert’s presence than he had to, anyway. It wasn’t like he didn’t know how to find them.
When he got back to the maternity ward, they were wheeling Mary-Beth out of her room. Robert, Emily, and Annalise hovered behind her as they squeezed her cot through the open door.
“Wilder, there you are,” Mary-Beth said, reaching out and snagging his hand. “Thank you for everything you’ve done. Have you heard from Lain yet, by chance?”
“No, not yet. I’ll give him another call right away.”
“Please, yeah, and thank you again. I guess I’ll see you in a few hours.”
“Yes. Good luck in there.”
She turned the other way, leaning over to give Annalise a quick kiss on the forehead. “Stay with Grandpa and Uncle Wilder, okay?”
“Yes, Momma.”
“I’ll see you soon.”
Emily followed along beside the cot as they wheeled her away, leaving Wilder standing in the hallway with Robert and Annalise. After they turned the corner and disappeared from sight, Wilder blew out a breath, his shoulders sagging with exhaustion.
“I guess I’ll go try to call Lain again.”
Annalise perked up. “Can I come? I want to talk to Daddy.”
Robert opened his mouth, but Wilder beat him to it. “Absolutely. Come on, it’s right over here. The nice nurses at the desk let me use their phone last time. They probably will again.”
“I could be a nurse when I grow up,” Annalise said. “I like helping people.”
“You also really like animals,” he pointed out. Robert followed at their heels like he expected he’d have to jump between them at any moment to protect Annalise from a stray shiv. That kind of behavior could make a man self-conscious. Wilder resisted the urge to shoot him a scowl.
“I do! Maybe I could be a vet, then. Nurse animals back to health like Doc McStuffins.”
“I don’t know who that is,” he replied blankly.
“I’ll show you! I have her show on my tablet. We can watch an episode together when we get back to Momma’s room.”
“Sure thing. Sounds fun.” They reached the nurses’ station, and he leaned on the tall desk and offered the lady sitting behind it—one he didn’t recognize, thankfully—a weary smile. “Hi, they let me use the phone here earlier. Do you mind if I try my brother again? His wife’s going in for a C-section.”
“Sure, no problem.” She picked up the office phone and set it on top of the counter beside him. “Just press nine to dial out, and then the number you want to call.”
“Thanks so much.” A glance over his shoulder revealed that Robert was near enough to eavesdrop. Wilder stared until Robert did a double-take, rolled his eyes, and moved away to study the bulletin board against the far wall. Then he dialed Lain’s number.
“ Hello? ” Lain’s voice was frantic.
“Lain, it’s me.”
“ Thank God. I got your message. We’re on our way back right now, but we’re still five hours out. What’s going on? Is she okay? Are the babies okay? ”
“She’s fine. They’re taking her back to surgery now.”
“ Alone? God, I knew I shouldn’t have taken this trip. We thought we had more time, I can’t believe ? — ”
“No, she’s not alone. She asked me to call her parents. Her mom is with her.”
Lain inhaled and exhaled loudly. “ Her parents. Okay. That’s—no, yeah, that’s fine. Annalise? ”
“Is standing right here beside me. She wanted to talk to you. Here, I’ll put her on.”
He passed the phone to her, and she bounced on the balls of her feet as she put it to her ear. “Hi, Daddy! Yeah, we’re at the hospital. Yeah, Momma’s been fine. Her ‘tractions were hurting her but she kept squeezing Uncle Wilder’s hand until he said bad words and that made her feel better.” She giggled, and Wilder’s face flamed. “Yeah, he has been. Grandpa’s here now, too. When are you gonna get here? …Oh. Okay, well, that’s fine. As long as you’re coming. Okay, I love you, too.” She held the phone out. “He wants to talk to you again.”
Wilder wanted to sink into the floor as he raised the phone to his ear again. “Hey.”
“ Call me if there are any updates, okay? We’re coming just as fast as we can, but Cash wouldn’t let me drive. ”
Distantly, he heard Cash’s raised voice. “ Because we want you to get to the hospital in one piece, and you were driving like a maniac in the snow ! ”
Wilder couldn’t have stopped the way his whole body melted against the desk if he’d tried. Just hearing Cash’s voice soothed the tension in him. There was a very real chance he’d collapse right into the man’s arms when they finally made it to the hospital. That would be quite a way to announce their relationship to Lain.
“ I was not! Ugh, whatever. Listen, Wilder, just stay there. We’ll be there as soon as we can. ”
We . Cash was coming. Cash would be there in a few hours. Lain would take over as Mary-Beth’s support person—he didn’t count Robert and Emily in that regard, because they didn’t seem to care about being a go-between for Mary-Beth and Lain—and Wilder could sink back into the background where he belonged. This wasn’t his show. He wasn’t meant to be here, and he was hanging on by his fingernails.
“Okay. See you soon.”
He hung the phone up gently, bowing his head over it and sinking his fingers into his hair as he gathered his will to turn around and face reality once more.
Annalise smiled up at him, the most resilient of them all. “Doc McStuffins now?”
He chuckled. He was supposed to be strong for her, but he had a feeling it was the other way around. “Yeah. Only if you’ll relax and try to rest while we watch it.”
“Okay! Momma packed my favorite blanket. We can share.”
Robert looked like he might pop a blood vessel in his forehead, but Annalise was oblivious, taking Wilder’s hand and leading him back to Mary-Beth’s room.
Sometime during the second episode of Doc McStuffins treating her little plushie animal patients, Annalise fell asleep wrapped in her feather-soft blanket speckled with stars and galloping horses, tucked under Wilder’s arm and snoring softly against his chest. Robert sat stiffly in the rocker across from them, watching like he thought Wilder might try to smother her at any moment. For lack of anything else to distract him, Wilder kept watching the show with the volume turned down low. He intended to ignore Robert for as long as possible.
Finally, Robert broke the silence. “You should leave while she’s asleep.”
“If I move, she might wake.” He kept his voice low.
“You can tell her you’re going to the bathroom or for a cup of coffee.”
“I’m not in the habit of lying to children.” He brushed one of Annalise’s braided pigtails with his thumb.
“Let’s not discuss what you are or aren’t in the habit of doing.”
Enough of this. Wilder met Robert’s eyes. “You don’t know me.”
“I know enough.”
“You’re judgmental.”
“You’re a monster.”
“She doesn’t think so.”
Robert scoffed. “She’s seven. She doesn’t understand the way the world works.”
“Nor should she. She’s seven,” Wilder repeated.
Robert’s expression hardened. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“I promised Lain I’d stay, so I’m staying.”
“Don’t even get me started on that boy. He should’ve known better than to go anywhere in the last months before her due date. And the fact that he entrusted these precious girls to you ?—”
Wilder rolled his eyes. “He didn’t. This wasn’t part of his plan. Annalise came to me, begged me to drive them to the hospital because Mary-Beth’s water broke. What was I supposed to do? Say no?”
“As I understand it, there are at least half a dozen ranch hands living on Blackwood Ranch. Any one of them could have driven her to the hospital.”
“I’m family. That’s why she came to me.” He could barely wrap his head around it, but for some reason this little girl liked him. Trusted him. And so did Mary-Beth. She held his hand while she was hurting, trusted him to take care of her and her child. He’d never squander that.
“You’re going to pretend to care about family now?” Robert’s eyes narrowed.
“What business is it of yours?” Wilder shot back, barely above a whisper.
“My daughter left home because of what you did.”
“ What? ”
“We were never happy about their relationship, even before you went to prison. The Blackwoods were trash. They’ve always been trash. Alan was driving that ranch into the ground. What should have happened, if you hadn’t gone so far off the rails, was that Alan would have eventually been forced to sell the ranch. And we would have bought it. Turned it into an extension of Dandridge Ranch. Maybe even employed you boys as hands. Instead the ranch was left to that boy, and he dragged Mary-Beth along on his desperate scheme to keep the land for himself.”
Wilder had a lot of practice with patience. There wasn’t a lot to do in prison. Biding one’s time became something of an art form. But now, Robert was testing him. The very fringes of his patience were in sight for the first time in a long time, and he didn’t know what he’d do if he snapped. Hitting Robert would land him back in prison for sure. A man like Robert would definitely press all the charges, and his parole strictly forbade violence of any kind. Assaulting his sister-in-law’s father definitely qualified.
“They lived like paupers for years. And now, when they’re finally getting comfortable, what happens? You show up. The plague of the Blackwood house, returned.” His lip curled as he waved a hand at Wilder, like he was something particularly foul.
Annalise stretched, settling her head more comfortably against his chest. “Wha’s a plague?” she murmured sleepily.
Wilder ducked his head down to speak softly to her. “A very handsome man. Go back to sleep.”
She sighed, and then her snores resumed.
He shot Robert a dark glare, measuring his words carefully. “I’m here, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“For now,” Robert said. “When Lain arrives, you’ll no longer be needed. You will leave, and I expect you to keep your distance from my daughter and my grandchildren in the future.”
Wilder bit his tongue. There was nothing he could say to change Robert’s mind about him. It would be a waste of breath to try.