Chapter 24
Twenty-Four
Stop making different flavors of Coca-Cola. Either put cocaine back in it or leave it alone.
—Food for thought
Weaver
“I sent these to your mother and father already. They should be getting them via a messenger in the next hour. We’ll get them moved up here as soon as they go about selling everything down there.
Once we have everything in place there, we’ll slowly start moving them this direction.
They said they would travel the country in their RV first, though. ” Apollo continued with his plans.
“Perfect,” I said as he laid out Boston’s new birth certificate, learner’s permit for the state of Montana, school records, and anything else that Boston might need to for her new identity.
“I changed over everything in the system. As far as the US of A, Boston no longer exists. Your parents, after they sell everything, won’t exist, either.
All assets have been transferred over using multiple pit stops to obscure the trail.
Literally, there’s nothing left of y’all’s old life anymore.
” He paused. “I’m working on it for your sister, too. ”
My brows rose. “You think she’ll actually take the help?”
“Yes.” He grinned. “Once I show her that we can actually make everyone safe with her here.”
I wasn’t so sure that we could.
“Sonny’s pretty fuckin’ well equipped,” I admitted. “And he’s very obsessed with my sister.”
“Let me work on it. I’m not making any sudden moves just yet.” He paused as he looked me over. “You know, there’s one solid way to make sure that you’re safe, and she’s safe.”
I knew where his line of thought was going.
“You think we can accomplish it?” I asked. “He’s pretty well insulated there.”
“I know we can,” he said. “More importantly, I hate bullies.”
I did, too.
If there was a way for me to march myself into that prison, slit his throat, and walk out, I’d have done it by now.
Honestly, in the beginning, I’d been hoping that we’d be at the same fuckin’ prison so I could do it while I was in. I mean, I was already serving a life sentence. Why not make it worth it?
“You’re not doing it.”
I looked over at Denver and asked, “Why not?”
“Because you got a fuckin’ kid who adores you, and a woman that can’t stop looking at you like you hung the moon. You have a life. You have everything to lose, and nothing really to gain. Let us handle it.”
When he put it like that…
“She’s my sister.”
“She’s also an adult,” he pointed out. “She chose to leave and didn’t want you anywhere near this. I agree with her. It’s her turn to try to break free of this. Plus, Black’s with her.”
“Speaking of that,” I said. “How, exactly, is Black there with my sister, while being sheriff of this county?”
“Gentry is covering for him.” Denver paused.
“None of this is making national news. The people that used to care about that so-called pastor are horrified that they’ve allowed a man they trusted to take advantage of their kids.
To be brainwashed into thinking that he was a good guy.
They don’t want to think about it. They certainly don’t want to acknowledge that they had a hand in it.
Meanwhile, the rest of us want to keep everyone else out.
Once we find what we need on Minnie Wheeler, they’ll all go down.
A judge that we work closely with is already ready to throw the book at them.
One of the three of them will talk, and we’ll get Minnie locked up as well. ”
“Already talking.” Gentry came in carrying a thick file folder.
“Audrey was very helpful this morning after learning that Barton’s last-ditch effort to get himself out of this failed.
She’s shared all kinds of things with us.
” Gentry dropped the file folder. “I only brought this in case you wanted to see it all…but I highly suggest that you don’t. ”
I was going to take his suggestion and stay the hell away from this.
“I’ll take your suggestion and see myself out,” I said as I pushed my chair back underneath the antique that Denver called his dining room table. “I’ve been gone for a while, and it’s movie and dinner time.”
Denver winked. “I’ll keep you updated on your sister.”
“Thanks,” I said as I walked back out to my truck.
I stopped by the grocery store and got the fixings for hamburgers and french fries.
When I arrived home, it was to find Romeo and Mable there, though Romeo was outside on the porch swing.
“Hey,” I said as I got out and grabbed my bag. “What are y’all doing here?”
“You forgot to cancel my shift.” Romeo looked amused. “Though Mable was already set on getting to know your girl better. They’d seen each other in passing, but walk in different circles. I think that’s about to change, though.”
“Shoot, I forgot,” I said. “I didn’t want her alone because of everything, but Apollo drained the account that was being used to fund the hit. He also deleted everything that even mentioned her anywhere. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
“It’s fine,” he said. “It was good to see her up and moving.”
I winced. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough for that.”
His brows rose. “Like that, is it?”
“Yeah,” I admitted. “At the time that she was attacked by that bear? I knew I had feelings for her. Now, though? I can’t draw a deep breath without her.”
“She and your girl seem to be getting along great.”
I grinned. “Yeah. Boston had some girl crush on the two of them, though Nettie more so than Eddy. She’s in seventh heaven right now.”
“I’ll bet.” He paused. “They kicked around the ball today. Eddy took it way easy, but thought you should know.”
I shook my head. “I feel like that soccer ball is attached to all of their feet.”
“Nettie was here for a bit, but Boone took her to the airport.” Romeo stood up and gestured toward the kitchen. “I’ll gather my wife.”
We both walked in the door together and barely missed taking a ball to the face.
“Boston Leigh.”
“Sorry!” she squeaked.
“You’re about to have no ball in the house at all,” I growled.
“I didn’t mean to, I swear.”
“Yeah, Dad,” Eddy teased. “She didn’t mean to.”
I leveled her with a look that could peel paint.
She batted those beautiful eyes.
“Not helping,” I pointed out.
She winked at me.
“You ready to go, darlin’?” Romeo asked Mable.
“I am!” She stood up with a quickness that had me laughing. “I’m dying for that crockpot meal we put on earlier.” She turned to me. “We put on an elk roast. Mississippi style.”
“Yum,” Boston said. “Grandma and Grandpa used to do that with venison. Do you like elk better than deer?”
“It’s a bit gamier,” Mable conceded. “But the flavor just pops so perfectly.”
Romeo hooked his arm around Mable’s neck and turned to me. “You need me anytime, I’m here.”
I offered him my hand, and he shook it.
Walking them to the door while Mable and Eddy continued to chat, I couldn’t stop myself from laughing when they never slowed down.
“All right,” Romeo said as he picked up his wife bridal-style. “Let’s go, babe.”
“Bye!” Mable called out over Romeo’s shoulder.
Boston waved.
Eddy called out after her friend.
When the door shut behind them, it was Boston who said, “Start cooking, all right, Dad? I’m dying over here.”
“You’re not dying.” Eddy snickered. “You totally ate your body weight in snacks before he got here.”
“Semantics.”
“You don’t even know what semantics means,” Eddy teased.
She and Boston had a really good laugh at that, and it made my heart incredibly happy to see the two of them laughing together.
I liked that they liked each other.
“Speaking of things you don’t know…” I said as I gestured toward the kitchen table. “You changed your name?”
“Yep.” Bossy grinned and held out her hand to me. “Berkley Winn Grant, nice to formally meet ya.”
I grinned back. “Berkley?”
“I don’t know, I just kind of like it.”
“How’d you know that was what I originally wanted to name you?” I asked as I took her hand, but not to shake, to enclose in my own and pull her toward me.
“Grandma told me,” she admitted. “I was feeling pretty down and out after you were sentenced to prison, and she thought of this story when she saw a bank named Berkley. She told me that you and Mom really fought hard over the names, but Mom won. You named me Boston.”
“I had a great friend named Berkley in the Navy,” I said quietly. “He was a great dude. Died when we were on a mission.”
“I know,” she said softly. “I went with Winn as my middle name for you. Or the old you.”
I squeezed her just a little bit tighter. “Is that huge packet by the door all the information that Apollo said that was heading Bossy’s way?”
“It is,” I confirmed as I let Boston go. “This is going to be a weird transition, calling you Berkley. But maybe we should start doing that sooner rather than later, just to get everything ironed out before you start school next week.”
“How are you going to explain the nickname, though?” Bossy tapped her lip.
“Well,” I said. “We could just tell them that you’re incredibly bossy and that’s how you got the nickname.”
“She kind of is.” Eddy laughed. “She did force me to take a shower today.”
“You kind of smelled,” Bossy teased.
“I did not!” Eddy snickered.
“You didn’t, but you looked like you could use a cold shower after Dad left…”
Eddy’s face flamed.
I turned to survey Eddy. “Is that right?”
Eddy’s face went even redder.
I fucking loved it.
“On that note,” Boston said. “Y’all get dinner going, and I’m going to go and shower. Dad, we really need to talk about the fact that you didn’t put an en suite bathroom in the guest bedroom. It’s incredibly awkward to walk down the hall naked at fifteen.”
“Uhhh.” I hesitated, unsure what to say.
Boston laughed as she made her way toward the guest bathroom.
Eddy leaned her hips on the counter and watched her go.
When the door closed behind Bossy, I turned to survey Eddy.
“You have a good kid,” Eddy said as she finally looked at me. “One of the best people I’ve ever met.” She studied me for a long moment before saying, “I’m jealous.”
That warmed my heart.
As well as soothed some invisible fear that I hadn’t been acknowledging until now.
I wanted Eddy to love Boston. I wanted her to be just as important to her as I was.
And I knew that I was important to Eddy.
I didn’t miss the way her eyes would light up when I entered the room. Or when she would say “thank you for everything” and give me the tightest hug she could manage. I didn’t miss the way her eyes lingered on my mouth, or the way they followed me around a room.
Hell, I didn’t miss it because I was doing the exact same thing to her.
I…loved her.
I wasn’t sure when it happened.
But one day a couple of days ago I’d woken up with Eddy’s face buried against my side and I realized…I wanted that for the rest of my life.
I wanted to wake up with her close.
I wanted to go to bed with her warm body snuggled up against mine.
I wanted to walk in the house and see her laughing with my daughter.
I wanted to see her at the end of the aisle when I walked Boston toward the man that would be her forever.
I wanted Eddy in my life for the rest of what I had left to live.
Whether that be this weekend, or fifty years from now, I wanted her there with me.
“Eddy?” I asked softly.
Eddy focused her eyes on my face, her shoulders drooping. “Yeah?”
“You’re one of the best people I know,” I said softly. “Your attitude on life. Your always uplifting personality. You literally bring so much joy to my life, and the worst thing is, you’ve been suffering your ass off while you do it.”
She smiled. “I figure it’s better to be happy than always angry all the time. There’s always something to be happy about.”
“And that’s why I love you.”
She inhaled swiftly, her eyes huge.
“When I walked in the door that night and saw that blood on the floor…” I shook my head. “I have never, in my life, been so disappointed in myself.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I knew I loved you before then, and I hadn’t told you,” I whispered. “In that moment before you called out to me, I saw that blood and thought you were dead. Thought you and Boston were gone. And I thought…I didn’t tell them I loved them before I left.”
She walked carefully to me, still broken, just not as bad, and came directly toward me.
I opened my arms to pull her into my chest before saying, “And just so you know, I was pretty hot when I left this morning, too.”
“It was the standing in your t-shirt brushing my teeth thing, wasn’t it?”
I grinned and pressed a kiss to her head. “Yeah. There’s just something about just barely seeing what I’ve been thinking about non-stop with you lying in bed next to me that really does it for me.”
“I…” She fisted her hands in my t-shirt. “I’ve fallen in love with you, too.”
“That’s…”
“I need shampoo!” Boston yelled.
I blew out a breath. “She used to yell at me to come wipe her butt like that, too.”
“I’ll get it.” She snickered as she let my shirt go and walked backward toward m—our—bedroom, because there was no way that I was ever letting her go. “What do you think about burgers and fries for dinner?”
“And bring an extra towel when you come in here! Jekyll decided to take a shower!”
Except, when the door opened as Eddy slipped inside, it definitely didn’t sound like Jekyll was taking a shower willingly.
It especially didn’t look willing when the cat streaked out of the bathroom like Boston had set him on fire, sopping wet and trailing water everywhere.
He ran into our room, and I just knew I’d find the fucker on my pillow later.
But when Eddy came out of the bathroom with a towel in her hands, tears filling her eyes from laughter, I knew I wouldn’t care.
Not if I had her to snuggle up to and share a dry pillow with.