Chapter Thirty-Six – Meggie #2
Silence descended again, and Meggie shifted uncomfortably.
She was trying not to be suspicious of the woman, her sister-in-law, but she was close to Bash.
In Meggie’s mind, that made her a threat to Christopher, herself, their family, and his club.
He didn’t think Celia was a plant, so Meggie didn’t want to offend her and come between them.
She forced a smile. “Was there a particular reason you invited me to lunch today?”
“I’m thinking about going home, and I wanted to meet you.” Celia met Meggie’s gaze. “I’d also like to meet Kendall. What with her meeting with Bash coming up and all.”
Something that concerned Meggie greatly. “Hmmmm.”
Celia glanced at Diesel. He lifted his brows, not giving an inch.
“Did Christopher tell you why I went to him?” Celia asked, leaning forward and clasping her hands together.
“He did.” Hearing Celia refer to Christopher by his given name jolted Meggie. She had every right to do so as his sister, but it was just odd that a strange woman said it so casually. “You want peace. You want to save Bash’s life.”
“I love my brother.”
That was the issue. Celia loved Bash, which made Meggie doubt her true motives. “I understand.”
“I don’t think you do. I’m guilty by association.”
“The company you keep and all that,” Meggie replied.
“I mean your husband no harm.”
“Excellent to know, but I wouldn’t expect you to shout it from the rooftops if you did,” Meggie retorted.
Celia glanced at the clock and rubbed her arm absently. “Why did you come here today?”
“Why did you invite me?”
“Do you always answer questions with questions?”
Smiling calmly, Meggie shrugged. “It seems as if we’re both fishing, circling each other to see who will break first.”
“What can I do to convince you of my sincerity?”
“Tell me what Bash wants with me. My husband. My children. Will Kendall be safe at the meeting she’s hellbent on going to? Are my nieces and nephews safe? How big of a traitor is Johnnie? Show me that you mean my husband no harm and you might convince me.”
Celia studied Meggie for a moment, then burst into laughter. “You’re fierce. Christopher is lucky to have you.”
“I’m the lucky one. However, if you mean him no harm and his trust hasn’t been misplaced, then he’d be very lucky to have you.”
“Bash says he’s lucky to have me. I’m not sure what you’ve heard about him, but he loves me.”
Meggie thought about those stupid letters again. “He had someone to emulate.”
“Who?” Celia asked, frowning.
“Cee Cee. I understand he loved his sister very much. Bash saw that.”
“You’re offering them more grace than most people would.”
“Most people have one or two redeeming qualities. You’re that for Bash,” Meggie said. “Kimber was Cee Cee’s.” Probably his only one. He was an awful human being.
“I admire someone who doesn’t pass judgment on others.”
“Show me that person.” Meggie indicated herself with a sweep of her hand. “It isn’t me.”
“I stayed with Aunt Kimber and Big Joe for a little while. She wanted me. Your daddy worked out a deal with Cee Cee and suddenly I was flying across the country.”
Meggie met Celia’s gaze. So many times over the years, she’d seen the same vulnerable expression in her husband’s green eyes.
They were emerald, a mirror to his soul, and she’d always lost herself in their depths.
As much as she wanted to believe Celia’s defenselessness, Meggie knew what it would mean if it was all a game and a way to lure her into acceptance.
Sharper and his crew had once deemed her ‘the key’. She’d been crucial to their plans. Other times, rival clubs targeted her because she was essential to Christopher’s peace of mind. What if Celia was trying to win Meggie over to get close to Christopher and betray him for Bash?
“I know it’s hard to trust me. You have a lot on the line.
Please believe me. I don’t want death and destruction.
I want them to survive and thrive. Help me to achieve that.
Please. If you think peace is possible?” Celia whispered, posing it as a question, as uncertain about the outcome of this rivalry as Meggie.
Still, Celia’s guard dropped, laying her distress as bare as her heart. She really only wanted to find a way to save Bash’s life.
In one way, the revelation eased Meggie, but the situation was so complicated with so many moving parts.
Meggie leaned forward and grabbed Celia’s hand. “I want that more than anything, Celia,” she said softly. “Kendall wants that. It’s why she’s meeting with Bash. She’s trying to figure out everything.”
Celia nodded, squeezed Meggie’s hand, then pulled hers away. “I heard through the grapevine that you and she are…were…?...enemies.”
“We’ve had our issues. Like all families, but Kendall is brilliant. Tall and gorgeous like you. She is one of my best friends.”
“You’re opening up more than I could’ve hoped for.”
“You’re Christopher’s sister. You seem to genuinely want harmony among us.”
“I’m also Johnnie’s sister.”
“Unfortunately. I can forgive you for that since you had no choice in the matter,” Meggie grumbled.
“What’s Johnnie like?”
“He’s an idiot, which I’m sure you know. I’m equally sure you’ve met him even before he knew if you were friend or foe.”
“I don’t give away state secrets.” Celia made the motion of a key, locking her lips and throwing it away.
“You give if you want to get,” Meggie replied.
Celia’s eyes flared in surprise. “Meaning?”
“If a peace agreement can be reached, I would be so happy. But Johnnie has crossed several lines. I can’t help you, if you don’t help me.”
“I’m not sure how I can do that,” Celia responded, not unkindly. Just hopeless.
Meggie glanced at Diesel, a silent presence at her side. She nodded to him. “For starters, my son.”
“What about him?”
“Bash wants him to stay married to Tabitha for another six months. Families stick together. She’s only a Caldwell because of her marriage to Diesel.”
“He isn’t a Caldwell.”
Meggie stiffened and narrowed her eyes. “I beg to differ. We adopted him. He is a Caldwell as surely as any of the children I gave birth to.”
The look on Diesel’s face, the appreciation and awe, reminded Meggie of how damaged he was. How, deep down, he didn’t think anyone loved him.
“He doesn’t deserve to be attached to that woman because he married her on impulse.”
Celia’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. “I see.” She pursed her lips and shifted in her seat. “What else?”
“Christopher wants to kill Johnnie. I don’t care what happens to him, but Kendall does.”
“That’s a little hypocritical.”
“Not if she knows how I feel,” Meggie said evenly. “I want to save him for her. If you can’t tell me the truth about where his loyalties lay, tell it to Christopher. Or let Bash tell it to Kendall.”
“Johnnie did everything for the Dwellers, Meggie. He didn’t give Bash his allegiance and he isn’t a Scorpion.”
“Then he’s just a puffed-up peacock with a superiority complex and a flaming idiot.” Meggie blew out a harsh breath. “Lovely.”
Celia threw back her head and laughed, an infectious sound that drew chuckles from Meggie.
“I will talk to Bash,” Celia promised.
“I’ll think about how to approach Christopher. In the meantime, Kendall might find a way to pull it all together for us.”
“What is the main thing she’s looking for?”
“That my life isn’t on the line. If it’s a guarantee I’ll survive, everything else can be worked out.”
“And bygones will be bygones?”
“It depends on what else Bash wants. You want peace and I want peace. What does he want?”
“Money. His fair share—”
“Kendall and Diesel are the attorneys. They work out the deals.”
“What about Brooks Redding?”
Meggie shrugged.
“And his wife? Charlotte?”
At the odd question, Diesel straightened. “How do you know Charlotte?”
“I’ve heard of her.” Celia waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t remember where.”
“Charlotte and Kendall are really close,” Meggie said, studying Celia closely. “She and I are…frenemies.”
“That bitch is too old for that,” Celia grumbled.
Meggie smiled. “We’re closer than we once were.”
“Is she trustworthy?”
The question turned over in Meggie’s head. Something was amiss. She couldn’t help but wonder what had Charlotte done to get on Celia’s radar. That probably meant she’d gotten into Bash’s crosshairs as well.
“Charlotte can be a little overzealous. However, if she’s contacted you or…or Bash, ignore whatever she says. Don’t hurt her. Brooks and Kendall would be so devastated. I would be too. As I said, we’ve had our problems, but I don’t want her dead.”
“I like you, Meggie,” Celia said quietly.
“And I like you.”
“You have a beautiful family. Your boys love you very much.”
“Hopefully, you can meet Rebel before you return to Virginia.”
“I’d like that.” Sadness washed over Celia’s face. “I have three living children and one that was killed.”
Lowering her lashes, Meggie clasped her hands in her lap. “I’m so sorry.”
“I always thought…it doesn’t matter. It was one of Daddy’s women.” Tears spiked her lashes and she sniffled. “I’m sorry. After all these years, it still hurts.”
“You had a suspect in mind?” Meggie asked carefully. Christopher always said she couldn’t lie, but she had to pull out her reserves and rely on the same wherewithal that allowed her to keep another secret for so many years. “I couldn’t imagine—”
“I always thought it was Christopher’s mother,” Celia said quietly. “Daddy said it wouldn’t bring my daughter back if I knew the truth.”
“He was right.”
Celia met Meggie’s gaze and smiled. “I bet you never thought you’d say Cee Cee was right about anything.”
“Humans are complicated, Celia. Cee Cee frightened me, but he was loyal to my father. He paid to keep Christopher alive. For that I’m grateful to him.”
“Sometimes, I wish he was still alive. He was a hard, cruel man, but Bash adored him. My brother still mourns his loss.”
“Even men like Cee Cee can be good to someone,” Meggie said.
“Thank you for that.”
Meggie gave her a sad smile. “In the last years of my father’s life, he was a horrible person, but to me?
He was my prince. My everything. He helped me when Mama wouldn’t.
He was good to me. The Big Joe I remember.
He wasn’t good to Christopher at the end.
He got what he deserved. He would say the same thing.
It was him or Christopher. My husband won. ”
“He won against Cee Cee, too.”
“I know,” Meggie said softly. “If he hadn’t I wouldn’t be here.
This is such a difficult situation. I sincerely wish Cee Cee had rode out of town and left me alone.
For you and Bash. I’m as afraid of Bash as I was of Cee Cee, but he’s human and losing a loved one isn’t easy.
Grief is a long, lonely road, no matter how many other people have lost that person.
Grief is still singular, expressed differently by everyone.
I wish Big Joe was alive, so I can’t disparage you and Bash for wanting Cee Cee to have survived. ”
Celia swiped her cheeks.
Meggie jumped up and rushed to her, hugging her tightly. She wasn’t sure why she started to cry, but there’d been so much pain and death and hurt among them. So much turmoil.
“I’m so sorry to be a downer,” Celia said. “But no one has ever comforted me over the hole in my heart. Bash tries.” She smiled. “He just isn’t in touch with tender feelings.”
“I understand.”
“Are you too sad or can we eat? I found a chicken salad recipe that I thought you might like.”
“I’d love to try whatever you prepared.”
Standing, she towered over Meggie. “Lunch is coming right up.”