CHAPTER 12
ARDEN
When we were making plans a few days ago, the only day we didn’t talk about was his birthday. Now the day is upon us. Well, once the clock strikes midnight tonight. With my mom working tonight, I have a bag with me and the plan is for me to spend the night.
It’s not like he had to twist my arm to get me to agree.
Sleeping in Ford’s arms is an experience I am not stupid enough to pass up. Not when I slept without worry, without shadowed dreams which could tip over into being nightmares at any moment.
With Ford holding me I’m safe.
No nightmares. Just sleep. Cloudless and clear. Restful and rejuvenating.
I kind of missed it the last few nights. From how rough he’s sounded on the phone, when we’ve had the time to talk, I think he might be feeling the same loss as I am.
I’m aware of what the solution is, but it’s a big leap. A bigger risk.
When I stop in front of the Sagebrush farmhouse, there’s a slick car already parked there. The hair on my arm stands up and my gut churns. I can hazard a guess as to who is here.
Since Rosalie is visiting her grandchild, which she has every right to do, who knows what Barbara and Crystal Conners are up to inside.
They aren’t waiting out on the porch, which would be the polite thing to do when dropping in at a home you don’t live in. I don’t need to know the legalities of whose name is where to know they don’t live here.
I was dead serious when I pointed it out to Ford, and I still believe it now.
The last thing I want to do is talk to either woman. I’ve seen them over the years. I’m not impressed and I steered clear.
On purpose.
Well, it seems like my time has run out. When I slam my car door closed, a car which has seen better days considering I think I’m its third owner, the front door of the house opens.
Barbara appears and her clothes look expensive, even at a distance.
Her blonde hair is teased high, and I have to wonder if the smell of hair spray follows her everywhere; like it never goes away kind of follows.
Crystal’s hair is pulled back into a severe ponytail that has to be a miracle of modern gel with how slicked back the thing is.
She looks bald and the black ensemble she has on isn’t helping matters. Lots of angles. But it’s probably worth more than I make in a month. Or more.
They look ridiculous.
And terribly angry.
Barbara stomps down the porch steps, her fury palpable in the air.
“And just who might you be? I hope you’re about to tell me Rosalie,” she spits the name with disdain, “has finally stopped sucking this family dry and you’re the new cook.
” Her eyes roam over me and her mouth twists to the side.
“We need to have a conversation about the dress code, clearly.”
“Ma’am,” I start and she gives me a blank look, “I’m not the new cook. Rosalie is visiting her new grandbaby.”
Barbara’s face twists up and Crystal scoffs from behind her. She barely made it down the stairs in the heels she’s wearing without falling on her face so I’m not sure what she has an attitude about.
She looks like Bambi with the way she’s walking. I don’t think she has anything to be all that smug about.
“Okay,” Barbara holds her head up and looks down her nose at me. Literally. “Then who are you?”
Of course, she wouldn’t know someone who has lived in this town right alongside her. Honestly, I didn’t expect her to know me, but the rudeness is more than a little uncalled for.
I’m not sure Ford even knows they’re here. Our plan was to meet in the barn. I’ve never ridden before and I’m a little afraid of horses.
We’re starting small with introductions today. This way everyone involved can get comfortable. Have you seen how big horses are? I want them to be comfortable too.
Maybe the horses won’t even like me. I’ve seen it in dogs, why not horses?
“My name is Arden Mathis.” I stick my hand out between us, but I’m not surprised when neither woman takes me up on the offer to shake.
I wasn’t really expecting they would, but it would have been rude not to offer. They might not have a problem being rude, but that’s on them, not me.
“I see.” Barbara’s lip curls up as she looks me over again. She shifts while superiority she thinks is real drips off her. “Isn’t your mother named Ginger?”
“Yes, she is. She’s a nurse in town,” I remind her because how can you really have something nasty to say about people who devote their lives to the health of others?
Barbara has no such issue.
“Sad thing,” her voice is dripping with fake sincerity that is sickly sweet, “the lot of you. I remember when you arrived in town. The gossip mill was full of pity, but I always figured you stick it out when you’re married.
” She waves a hand at the beautiful land beyond the house; the land I would live a thousand lives to see over and over again.
“Look at what I had to put up with because of who I married. I didn’t realize what being a rancher’s wife meant, and I was the one who ended up being trapped. ”
My eyes widen and I sputter, “W-wh-what?”
Crystal shifts uncomfortably, which is a feat in the heels she’s toddling around in.
“Oh,” Barbra bats her hand in my direction, her tone dismissive, “you heard me perfectly fine.”
I clear my throat, my love for Ford keeping my feet in place because there is no way I would ever leave him to deal with these women alone. Well, Crystal has yet to show her true face. There could be hope for her still.
“I think your situation and my mom’s situation were a little different,” I point out, my jaw clenching and making the words taste like glass.
“Yes,” she sighs, her voice seeming to ring out much farther than the space between us, “but then she shouldn’t have kept giving him a reason to remind her of her place.”
The look on her face is full of pity that is just as fake as her breasts. Crystal’s mouth drops open before she snaps it shut. For a moment, I’ll admit, I don’t quite know what to do.
Having this kind of conversation, if you can call it that, is not something I’m used to having. I’m unprepared, even I can admit as much. And I might be out of my depth.
But the audacity of this woman, the venom and barbed personality is shocking.
“What did you just say, Mother?”
Ford’s voice whips through the air as the screen door slams open. If I had to guess, they didn’t bother closing the house door.
His footsteps sound like gunshots as he stalks closer to the three of us. Barbara fights the impulse to flinch with every step he takes. If I wasn’t looking right at her, I might have missed it.
But I don’t look away.
“Uh-oh,” I singsong under my breath.
Barbara’s eyes cut in my direction, but Ford slides into the space between us, his large back shielding me.
And blocking my view. Damn it.
“Nothing that wasn’t true,” she tries out the words, but we all know they won’t land.
“I’m not even sure why I asked,” he grunts out the words, and I shift into the space next to him.
When he looks down at me, I grin up at him and wink. “I wish I had popcorn. I’m thinking putting pause on this so I can get some going wouldn’t work, huh?”
Ford barks out a laugh, his body softening as he leans down and kisses my forehead. I melt into him and soak up his warmth.
We only get a moment before Barbara all but shrieks, “I knew it. You better throw this gold-digger out of here, Ford. You don’t need a woman like her. She’ll probably make up some stories about you too. For all we know it’s what her mother did.”
Ford stiffens, his eyes blazing as he stares at his mother.
“Mother,” Crystal hisses in admonishment.
Barbara turns towards her daughter, the one who probably felt like she had no choice but to become this version of herself to keep her last parent in her life. “Shut up, Crystal. Just stand there, it’s all you’re good for.”
“Enough,” Ford snarls, the word ricocheting.
“I see now that I have allowed your behavior for too long, Mother.” Something glints in Ford’s eyes and I’m not above finding it hot as hell. Even in the current circumstances. I won’t act on it, but I can tuck it away for later.
When I lean into his side, he wraps an arm around my waist like it’s the most natural thing in the world to do. Maybe it is.
It feels damn good.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Barbara’s question is gilded in fake status, her tone far from elegant.
Ford slides his hand into his pocket and rocks back on his heels slightly like he’s bracing and my stomach knots in response.
“There is a clause in Dad’s will you are not aware of,” his voice is a deep timbre that vibrates through me, “because he didn’t want you to know about it.”
“Your father never hid anything from me,” she tries to sound like she has the high ground here, but I’m thinking it’s all bluster.
“No,” Ford shakes his head, “he was afraid you would run the business into the ground. That’s why it’s all mine.
The land, the house, the business. It’s all mine.
The shell will, the one you were told about, named us as co-owners with a percentage payout as I run the business.
I allowed you to continue to believe that was the reality of the situation. It’s not. It’s all mine.”
Barbara’s mouth drops open and Crystal looks just as shocked. I guess she didn’t get read into the sham will, or bait and switch will or whatever this is, situation.
“I can see you’re surprised.”
Barbara’s mouth starts again, her tone incredulous, “You’re lying.”
“I’m not,” there’s no room for argument in Ford’s tone.
He’s completely serious. “The only reason I’m telling you about the reality of the situation is because I am enacting a clause in his will.
There are two stipulations for enacting this clause—if you are a threat to the longevity of Sagebrush, or I choose to not have any further contact with you. ”
The words hang in the air and for a second regret crosses Barbara’s face. Because we all know how this will end. I hate it for him.
As if he knows I’m sad for him, Ford gives my hip a squeeze. I hope he can feel my love for him, and it bolsters him.
“You will now be getting a fixed monthly allowance. If there is a time when you feel the need for your allowance to be raised, you may contact the lawyers, and the case will be reviewed. Not by me, by neutral parties. The allowance is generous. It has nothing to do with the success of the business. It also does not fluctuate as the business does.”
“You can’t do this to me,” his mother fumes. “I am your mother. I gave you life.”
“The way you just spoke to Arden is reprehensible, Mother. I’m ashamed to be your son and be related to someone who could say such things.
I don’t know who you are and why you became this version of yourself, but I no longer want you in my life.
I don’t want you to have anything to do with Sagebrush; you never appreciated it.
” He scoffs, “Clearly, I heard that too.”
The look of disgust on his face, directed at his own mother, is heartbreaking. But I understand it and I’m not going to stop this train from rolling.
Pure hatred, rage like I’ve never seen before, contorts her face. “You’re going to regret this,” she spits out the words, but they sound flat.
“I don’t think I will,” my man’s voice takes on a note of sadness, and I slide my arm around his waist while knowing it’s not nearly enough.
“But you will regret it. I hope.” He sighs.
“Instead of meeting Arden, the woman who I will be marrying and who will be the mother to your grandchildren, you threw vitriol at her. You tried to claw her down. And why? For ego? Or because you’ve been so entitled for so long that you can’t recognize what really living is like? ”
Crystal has tears shimmering in her eyes, but Barbara is not affected in the same way.
Personally, I’m about to fall on my ass. Did he just say he’s going to marry me? And we’ll be having babies together?
The wail of rage that Barbara lets out is right on the edge of comical.
Then she’s storming to her car, and Crystal is left to hobble after her, looking more and more like a kid’s drawing of a giraffe the longer I look at her.
When she finally makes it to the car and reaches for the handle, her head comes up and she looks at her brother.
Even I can see the war there.
“Crystal,” he calls out to her, his voice carrying, “if you ever need a place to land, if it’s ever too much, you are always welcome here but only if you want to remember who you really are.”
She swallows hard and just when I think she might step away from the car, Barbara revs the engine. Crystal jumps before somehow managing to get into the car without falling.
It’s a miracle, honestly.
Ford grips my shoulders and turns me toward him. His whiskey-colored eyes are filled with concern. “I’m so sorry,” his voice is rough and I find myself blinking up at him.
“What do you possibly have to be sorry for?”
“What she said?” He swallows hard and his eyes glisten with emotion which has my throat closing up.
“Ford,” I grip his shirt and yank him a little to make sure he’s listening to me. “You have nothing to be sorry for. Yes, she was awful, but you defended me. You didn’t have to do that. Do you hear me, you can still take it all back.”
His fingers dive into my hair, and he holds me in place as if I’m about to disappear. If enduring Barbara Conners is the price of being in Ford’s life, then I’ll handle it.
“I’ll never take it back. If she wants to keep being this person, it’s her choice. I’m done. I want a future that’s mine. I want to be proud of Sagebrush and of my legacy. She’s toxic.”
“Ford Conners,” I shake my head while I look up at him, “you’re a good man and a damn good cowboy.” I arch an eyebrow and remind him, “You also said a lot of things we need to talk about.”
He smirks as he scoops me up in his arms and walks us back inside. I can smell the soap on him as I let my head rest on his shoulder.
“We can talk,” he rumbles, “but we’re doing it naked and in bed.”
My giggles follow us all the way to his room.