Chapter 45
M aureen set about asking everyone in the small, bustling pub if they had seen a redheaded fourteen-year-old, but each shook their head. She felt herself crumbling. A few smirked, leaving Maureen in dismay and about to have a meltdown. “I’m her mother,” she finally yelled, followed by chortling.
“And I’m her father.”
“What?” Maureen spun around. “James?” she said to her husband. Was she hallucinating?
He looked down his aristocratic nose at her. “You have more than one husband?”
“No. But how did you get here?”
“I hired a private jet after Amanda texted me and told me you were leaving me for another man.” He looked the room over. “I’d like to meet this bozo.”
“He’s not a bozo, and I don’t know where she got the idea that I was leaving you.”
“Amanda isn’t always straight with me, but I truly doubt she’d make up a story like that. She begged me to come. Where is she?”
“I have no idea.”
None of his story rang true. How and why would James come here?
“Where is that little smarty pants?” His gaze scanned the crowded pub.
Maureen felt too depleted to give him a full explanation. “How did you get here?” She felt as if she’d been sucked into a zany dream from which she couldn’t escape.
He flapped his arms. “I just told you. In a private jet. And then I hired a four-wheel-drive Uber with chains.” He tapped his forehead in a condescending manner. “Remember I was a Boy Scout. Be prepared.”
“But I don’t understand how you knew where to come.”
“I tracked you on your Apple AirTag. Out of sight but never out of mind.”
“You stalked me?” Maureen felt flooded with anger—and yet flattered that he’d gone to so much trouble to track her down.
“Only for your own safety.” His smirking face grinned down at her. “If you lost your purse or luggage—that sort of thing. Say, I stopped by the hotel just now and spoke to your sister.” He had never liked Denny and vice versa. Maureen could not imagine Denny’s giving him a cordial welcome.
James widened his stance. “She confirmed that you have a love interest.”
“She did?”
“Yeah, and I’d like to meet him—if you don’t mind.”
Gordon stepped up beside him. Gordon stood a full six inches taller, so James could not look down his nose at him.
When James noticed him, he moved away so that he could scrutinize Gordon’s face. Maureen assessed bearded Gordon. Not that she considered him her lover. But if she stayed here long enough, who knows what might happen?
Maureen lifted her chin. “Right now, my first priority is finding Amanda.”
“I can’t believe you let her slip through your fingers.” James’s voice rose in pitch and volume. “What kind of a mother are you?”
“From what I’ve seen she’s a wonderful mother.” Gordon moved into the conversation. “She got me to drive out in the storm looking for Amanda.”
James whirled around to speak to Gordon. “Listen, buddy, shove off.”
“You want a fight?” Gordon grabbed hold of James’s collar. Maureen could envision them groveling on the floor. Gordon would be the victor, for sure.
The bustling room fell silent. A long moment ensued. Maureen had seen her husband lose his temper many times and feared the worst.
“Daddy, Daddy, you came.” Amanda ran over and hugged James around the waist. “I can’t believe you came all this way.”
“Of course, I did.” James wrapped an arm around her. He draped his other arm around Maureen’s shoulder, a rare occurrence. “There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for my two favorite girls.”
Empty man-talk, Maureen thought. Nothing more.
Gordon did not shrink back. If anything, he stood taller. My, oh my, what a handsome brute of a fellow. But Maureen was not about to divorce her husband on a whim. Yet, how could she continue to remain married to a man who treated her like chattel? A mere possession.
Maureen knew she should punish Amanda—James obviously wasn’t going to—but she was beyond thankful her daughter was safe. Yet her head was inundated with questions.
“How did you get here from the hotel?” She spoke to Amanda using her sternest voice.
“I hitchhiked.” Amanda put out her thumb and wiggled her hips. “Easy-peasy. A guy in a truck with four-wheel drive stopped and gave me a ride.”
“A stranger?” Maureen was horrified as she replayed all the nightmarish possible scenarios.
“Chill out,” Amanda said. “By the time we got here, he wasn’t a stranger anymore.”
“This is how you take care of our daughter?” James’s face turned red with rage.
“Hold on,” Gordon said. “This is one of the safest places on earth.”
James swung around to face him. “Says the man who is trying the steal my wife?”
“I never would steal another man’s wife.” Gordon folded his beefy arms across his chest. “Even though she be a Campbell. Or so I’ve been told.”
The crowd around them hushed and drew closer.
“Well, is she a Campbell?” Gordon asked.
“So what if she is?” James’s eyes zeroed in on Gordon’s. Then in a moment of fury, his fist balled and jutted out to sock Gordon’s jaw. Gordon fell backward on the floor.
“How dare you?” Gordon soothed his face for a moment, then sprang to his feet and came at James, pushing him.
The two men grappled, tipped over chairs. Cheering and placing bets, the crowd egged them on.
“Stop,” Maureen yelled, but her voice was lost amidst the crashing of breaking wood, laughter, and shouting.
Maureen was fascinated to see her husband and Gordon fighting over her—if that’s what they were doing. She would never understand men.
Amanda came streaking over to them and said, “Get off my dad,” her voice barely audible over the cheering of the pub patrons. In her hand, she supported a meat pie, which she hurled at Gordon but missed him. Hit a bearded man in the face.
The man swiped his face. “How dare you—”
A moment later, a woman, who might have been his wife or girlfriend, threw her sandwich at Amanda.
James clambered to his feet. Looking disheveled, he was panting. “Leave—my daughter alone.”
“That little brat is your daughter?” Gordon got to his feet. “Makes sense.”
The proprietor ran over to them. “Have you gone daft? No food fight or I’ll kick you all out in the snow.”
Maureen scanned the crowded pub. As if frozen in time, they all were looking at James and Gordon. She guessed they were hoping for a spectacle—a brawl.
James broke the ice when he said, “Drinks for everyone in the house on me.” A loud cheer with hoots resounded, filling the room.