Chapter 10
Gleason was happy to find out that her father was glad to meet her.
As soon as they had a few days off, they were headed there to meet and greet the family.
He didn’t expect anything to happen; it had been almost ten years since she’d had anything to do with them, but he also knew that if things got out of hand, they could leave and be on the way home in no time.
He wasn’t going to allow anyone to hurt his new wife, no matter what sort of relationship they had with each other.
Standing at the front of the house, he asked Hailey if she was all right. When she nodded, then shook her head, he understood perfectly. She wasn’t as happy as she’d been at home, but she was willing to meet them if that was what they wanted. And she seemed to want things to go well.
“I’m here for you if you need me. And if they get out of hand, I’d go to jail for you.
” She laughed, and he kissed her on the forehead.
“There’s my girl. You be what you want to be, and I’ll be there for you.
If they give you any shit or even ignore you again, we’ll just go home and have a nice dinner out. All right?”
“Yes, that’s wonderful. I think it’s going to be all right.
He really seemed like he wanted to meet me again.
” He didn’t know what to think about this sudden change in attitude from her dad, but he was willing to do what Hailey wanted.
“And like you said, if they act like I’m something beneath their feet, we’ll head home.
Nothing is holding us here.” She rang the doorbell and was surprised at how quickly it opened.
She smiled at the person standing there.
“I’m Hailey Pennington, and this is my husband—”
That was as far as she got when she was pulled into the house and hugged.
The older man was crying about how he’d missed her and that he was so happy that she came to see him.
He could tell that the man was sincere, but he wasn’t going to let his guard down just yet.
After shaking hands with the older man, he was hugged too.
Welcoming them into his home, he took them to the living room, where he thought his parents were.
They looked good for being in the late seventies, as they had surmised.
Everyone hugged again. The elderly couple seemed to be a bit confused as to who he was, but after answering a few questions, they seemed to understand.
They didn’t seem any less confused, but the mister welcomed him into the family.
Marshall Sheppard, Hailey’s father, started to tell him who he was when he hugged him again.
For a man who had ignored his daughter for most of her life, he certainly was acting like he was glad to see her now. And him, for that matter.
“We were such fools in our younger days as parents. I can’t believe at times here of late just how cruel and mean that we were.
” He sat down in what he presumed was his chair and wiped his face with a large handkerchief, wiping away tears that seemed to just stream down his cheeks.
“We shouldn’t have had children if we were going to treat them like we did our Hailey. ”
“We’re here now, so it’s all that has to be said about that.
We’ll move on from here, all right?” Hailey started to talk to her grandparents, but they seemed to be too focused on each other.
He’d bet anything that Marshall had taken his thinking from raising a child from them.
They seemed cold and heartless to him. “Grandmother, aren’t you two happy to see me too? ”
“No I’m not. I liked it better when you were out on your own, where you should be right now.
” He started to rise up and have a word or two with the older woman, but he was cut off by Mrs. Sheppard.
“You were never a good girl. Grabbing all the attention away from my son when you were around. What makes you want to see him now? If you have your hand out, it’s not going to do you any good. We still hold the banking accounts.”
“I want nothing from any of you. And you were never what one would consider grandmotherly like at all. Pinching me to get me into trouble when I was young.” She said she’d do it again.
“I’m sure you would. And I want to thank you for showing your true colors today.
I thought I remembered you as being a bitch, but time was on your side for a while there. ”
“I’ll not have you calling me names like that. You tell me you’re sorry, then I’ll see if I want to forgive you.” Hailey said she couldn’t care less if she did or not. “See what I mean, Marshall? She’s a brat and always has been. I don’t know why you agreed to this meeting at all.”
“She’s my child. I wanted to see her again before I died.” Mrs. Sheppard huffed and then stomped her foot. “Did you really pinch her to get her into trouble, Mother?”
“I did worse than that, but she just kept coming around. Why you had her is beyond me. I wish you’d had a son like I did.
What harm would it have done for you to leave this one behind at the hospital and bring home a son?
Nothing. That’s why we have money so that things go our way.
” Marshall just stared at his parents. “I’d do it again, too, if I had to, and that’s all I’m going to say about that.
Sons make the world a better place. Women are just for breeding sons, and that’s all she was good for.
And just look at her. Married to some milk sop that more than likely has no money at all and is depending on you to bail him out of something. ”
“I have more money than the three of you combined.” Mrs. Sheppard huffed again and told him that he lied. “I don’t lie. I have several million dollars, to your one million each. I did an investigation on the three of you before we came here. And Hailey was there with me.”
“You investigated us? For what purpose?” Marshall looked at Hailey when he didn’t answer him. “Did you really do that, child? Investigate your own parents to see what sort of money holds you could have over us?”
“I don’t know you. I’ve never known any of you.
” He said that was true, but it didn’t explain why she’d do that.
“Because I didn’t want to fall into a trap again.
Don’t you remember the last time you saw me?
How you had it arranged that I was going to marry your partner?
I was only eighteen, and he was fifty-four. ”
“At the time, I thought it was a good idea.” Mrs. Sheppard said that it had been her idea, and she didn’t understand why she didn’t agree to it. “I want you to know that I never wanted you to marry him, but Mother said it was a good partnership between the families. Then he beat you.”
“Yes, then he beat me.” Gleason could feel his temper getting the better of him.
Hailey reached down and took his hand into hers, and he felt better.
But someone was going to pay for his wife being hurt.
“You gave me the money to leave and never return. You said that I was better off living on my own than with some man who was going to hurt me. Isn’t that right? ”
“Yes. I did pay you off. I don’t regret that at all, but I do regret not keeping in touch with you better.” Mrs. Sheppard stood up, and so did he. “It’s all water under the bridge now. We’ll have no more talk about Colin.”
“You told me that she ran off with your money. You never told me that she was paid by you to keep away. It was a good marriage.” Marshall said he’d do it again when he beat his daughter.
“So? What’s a few stitches where there was money involved?
It would have made us powerful and a family to be reckoned with. ”
“You didn’t see what he did to her.” Marshall stood up to his mother.
“You arranged the entire thing and knew what sort of man he was. Giving her money to get away from him was the smartest and most likely the only loving thing I did for her. And as I said, I’d do it again if I had to.
Colin should have gone to prison for what he did to her.
And it took me a long time to realize that I was wrong about so many other things you told me to do concerning my daughter.
But she’d left by then, and I had no way of getting in touch with her but for the occasional calls that I’d get from her when you were around. ”
“I knew that I should have kept better control over her. She was nothing to you but a bad influence. Christ, when I think of the expense I had to spend just to keep her from getting knocked up when she was a teenager. That’s why she was never able to date.
I was saving her for Colin.” Marshall seemed shocked, but Hailey didn’t.
“I’m going to take care that you do this family right starting right now.
You’ll divorce this person and marry who I say.
He won’t mind that you’re not fresh like you would have been back then. ”
“You still think I’m going to do what you want?” Hailey laughed, but it sounded bitter even to his ears. “You were never in control of me. I did what I wanted when I wanted, and there was nothing you could do about it. Mother helped me.”
“Your mother was nothing to me.” She said that she was everything to her.
And her dad, too. “You think you’re so smart.
Tell me, what kind of family have you married into?
Nothing, that’s what. You think that he’s going to love you for all time?
Think again. I’m going to make your lives so miserable that he’ll leave you as soon as I tell him.
He’s going to be out the door before I finish with you today. See that I’m right.”
“Gleason loves me.” He wrapped his arm around her and held her tightly. When Marshall came over and stood on her other side, she looked up at him. “Father, I’d very much like to visit with you and not grandmother. You wouldn’t believe the things that she’s done to me in the name of family.”