Chapter Eighteen
Audra didn’t think. She just acted. Because she’d never been this physically close to anyone from her dad’s other family. Every overture she’d made since he died had been met with refusals or silence.
But Karly was here now. Here. And Audra wasn’t about to let that go. She followed her, pulling away from Copeland’s attempt to stop her. She moved between Karly and the car so Karly couldn’t get in and speed away without some kind of altercation.
“We’re sisters,” Audra said firmly.
But Karly appeared wholly unmoved by the word. “All you are to me is a reminder my dad wasn’t who he was supposed to be. I don’t need that in my life. Sorry.”
She didn’t sound sorry, and maybe that’s what had Audra’s temper straining. Or maybe she was emboldened by the fact that Copeland stood back, didn’t try and interfere or step in now.
“He wasn’t who he was supposed to be to us, either. You aren’t special or unique. We’re all in the same Tim Young shipwreck.”
“Maybe. We want to use that metaphor? My brother is lost at sea, so I’ve got more pressing concerns than someone else’s wreck.” Karly looked her up and down, like Audra was the center and cause of everything their father had done. It sent a cold chill through Audra.
“I’m sorry,” Audra said, and she meant it. As frustrating as this was, she understood more than anyone what it was like to be her—their—father’s victim. “I’d like to help.”
Karly shook her head. “I didn’t come here for help.”
“Then what did you come here for?”
Karly’s eyes darted to the house behind them. The broken windows. Audra couldn’t read the expression, but it wasn’t neutral.
“You knew this existed,” Audra said, striving to keep her voice even. “I invited you all here. I wanted… I wanted us to see if we could be a family.”
Karly snorted bitterly. “Benevolent of you.”
Audra shook her head. “No. I was trying to find some way to mitigate the grief of losing him twice. The finality of death, and the death of the man I thought he was. Which wasn’t all that great.
I wasn’t under any illusion he was great.
He was selfish. He was careless. He was so many crappy things, and caused me a lot of pain and strife, even before I knew he had a whole other family.
” The next words stuck in her throat. She didn’t want to admit them, but she saw Karly’s stonewall expression and knew the only way through was to find some common ground. “And I still loved him.”
Maybe Audra was taking it too far, but in the grand scheme of things, couldn’t Karly see that the man between them was the enemy? The man who’d put them both in this position and got to die rather than deal with any of the fallout.
Karly swallowed. Hard. The anger, the bitterness, the sharp edges didn’t dull, but something in her…slumped.
“Okay, yeah. Maybe Dad talked about his ancestral home.” Karly scowled at the house, encompassed it in one dismissive gesture. “Weaved big, tall tales about the Wyoming ranching life. How someday, it’d all be ours.” Her hard blue gaze turned to Audra. “I didn’t buy it then.”
Audra inhaled sharply, because the implication was clear. “But Austin did.”
There was a war playing out on Karly’s face. A face that had little hints of Dad in it—the sharp chin, the blue of her eyes Audra often saw in her own reflection. Little things that reminded Audra of Rosalie—the way her mouth turned down in anger, the arch of an eyebrow.
Audra didn’t know how the word sisters couldn’t mean anything to her.
“If Austin did this,” Karly said in almost a whisper, “I’m sorry. Dad’s death hit him hard. He’s…” She blew out a breath. “He’s spoiled. Only boy.”
Audra supposed she should have some sympathy since Dad’s death—or the secrets that had uncovered—had hit them all hard, but…maybe that was why she couldn’t work up any. “Only boy on both sides.”
Karly’s eyes fixed on hers, hard and cold. “I don’t want there to be sides. I don’t want you to exist.”
“I guess that’s too bad, because I do.”
“Not to me.” And with that, Karly sidestepped her and opened her car door. Audra didn’t know what else to do but let her.
It wasn’t a confession exactly, but it certainly added to the idea that Austin might be behind this. Ancestral homes. Ties to Florida…and yes, Mom lived in Fort Myers because of course she did. Spoiled men ruining the lives of the women around them.
Audra refused to let her life be ruined, even if it felt a bit like her heart was breaking all over again as Karly drove away.
Copeland came up behind her, put his hand over her shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. He didn’t say anything. Didn’t offer any trite words. Didn’t try to make it okay. He just stood there behind her, like some kind of…pillar.
She didn’t let herself have any pillars that weren’t her own two feet anymore. He was making that hard. He was making it seem like for once, for once, she really could depend on someone without losing her own sense of self.
Which was scarier than everything going on with Karly and Austin, so she focused on her half siblings rather than everything she was feeling for Copeland.
“I’m glad, in a way,” she said to him, even as she still watched where Karly’s car had disappeared.
“To meet her finally. I never could understand their point of view when it was just a refusal to talk to us. I still don’t fully grasp it.
Ignoring something doesn’t change it. But at least I see that’s what they’re doing.
If they pretend Rosalie and I don’t exist, they can pretend he wasn’t what he was. ”
“They’re not doing that great of a job of pretending though, are they?”
Audra shook her head. This visit hadn’t made much sense, but she tried to put herself in Karly’s shoes. What if Rosalie wanted to do something stupid? What if she wanted to hurt the other siblings in some way? Would Audra have been able to stop her?
No.
Would she have excused her?
Audra didn’t love the fact she would have. She would have done anything to protect Rosalie from mistakes born of her own grief. Which told Audra everything she needed to know about Karly and this visit.
She turned to face Copeland, met his gaze with her certainty.
“She came all the way here, this place she doesn’t want to exist, not for me. Not even about me. She came because she thought you’d be a lead to him since you’d tried to investigate him.”
Copeland’s response was measured. “Maybe.”
“But I don’t think she’s worried about his safety, or the fact he’s missing,” Audra continued. “She’s worried about what he’s going to do.”
“Or what he’s already done,” Copeland said darkly. His expression was as hard as his words and Audra hugged herself against all the cold she felt.
“Why… It still doesn’t make any sense. I reached out. I tried to… I would have invited them in. I would have…shared just about anything.” Emotion hitched in her chest, but she’d be damned if she was going to cry again. “And why is my mother involved, however unwittingly?”
He reached out again, pulled her into him. He was always doing that. Offering a hand, a squeeze, a hug. She had never considered herself a particularly physical person—it wasn’t how she or Rosalie were raised, and while they might hug on occasion, while they were easy together, it wasn’t like this.
Because you never let yourself lean, Audra.
And she knew she shouldn’t. There was a deep-seated knowledge this was wrong, but there was something new undermining it. She hadn’t meant to let him in, hadn’t meant to trust him, fall for him. She knew it was a bad, bad idea, but she couldn’t seem to help it.
Because he held her close, smoothed a hand down her spine. And she knew she was safe here, even if she tried to convince herself she couldn’t lean on anyone outside her tiny little circle.
“We’re going to get to the bottom of it,” he said firmly. He pulled her back, but only enough so he could look into her eyes. “Whether she’s covering for him or something else, she made a tactical error. She came here. She gave us something to go on. And we’re going to go on it.”
He was so certain. So determined to press that certainty upon her. So good at being there, no matter how she tried to convince him he didn’t need to be.
She knew she shouldn’t. She knew she would regret this. Leaning. Trusting.
Loving.
But it was already there. So she moved forward, onto her toes, pressed her mouth gently to his. “Thanks,” she murmured, against his mouth.
He held her close, kissed her again before tucking her head under his chin. “Anytime.”
THEY WENT IN and ate dinner. Copeland sent an email to Laurel, updating her on everything and requesting more background information on Karly Young.
It felt clear Austin was the threat, but there was something about the woman and her visit here that just didn’t settle right. He needed to know about her, just as much as he needed to track down Austin Young.
It was a gut feeling, and Copeland always trusted his gut. Occasionally, it led him astray, but no investigation was so straightforward a detective didn’t take some wrong turns along the way. It wasn’t about doing everything right. It was about knowing how to recalibrate if you went a little wrong.
After dinner, Copeland decided Audra needed a little bit of a breather from everything. Maybe it was a selfish decision, but he’d never claimed to be anything else.
He talked her into the shower, together, and loved that he was able to make her laugh—and tremble—as the specter of everything haunting them was pushed away for a little while. They curled into her lumpy bed together—she really needed to take better care of herself—and slept.
Copeland woke with a start to the sound of someone in the house. In less than a second, he had his gun in his hand and was out of the bed. Audra had barely stirred when someone shouted from out in the hallway.