Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Gunner chuckled as he walked toward Clara’s house. It was a Saturday night, and he was going to Clara’s to get her take on Rachel.
Regina and Baron, along with Rascal and Meg, were having a movie night with the kids. He’d heard Beth ask Rachel to come over to her house for a movie night with some of the women.
Last night, after he’d gone to bed, and when he woke up this morning, he couldn’t get what Marcus had told him about his dad and Chelle calling her dad a bad daddy out of his head.
He and Rachel had gone over items at the store, but it kept rolling around in his head—what Marcus had said was something Rachel needed to know if she didn’t.
His gut was telling him that he needed to talk about this with her, but he didn’t want to cause her more pain. He also had no idea of the status of Rachel’s relationship with her husband.
Earlier, Clara had told him she’d be in the kitchen and to just walk in. So he did.
“I’m here, Clara,” Gunner called.
“In the kitchen.”
Gunner paused in the doorway, then walked over to the sink to wash his hands. Clara had bowls and cookie sheets on the table in her kitchen.
“You said you needed to talk, and I always talk better when I’m also working on something,” she said.
“What are we making?” he asked.
“Well, I know they may not be up to the intricate items you make, but I wanted peanut butter blossoms. I’ve also never made spritz cookies but always wanted to try.
I have a brand new spritz machine, and I bought ingredients for a couple different recipes.
What do you think?” Clara asked, grinning at him.
Standing in her kitchen with the supplies around made him miss his mom. Sharing this time with Clara would be special too. Not the same but different.
“I think we need to get to work. What first?” he asked, sitting down.
“I mixed up the dough for the peanut butter blossoms, so let’s start on those,” Clara said, pushing a bowl toward him.
“Now, what do we need to talk about?” Clara asked, rolling the dough into a ball, then rolling it in sugar before placing it on the cookie sheet.
“Marcus shared something. I feel like I need to tell Rachel, but I don’t want to walk into the situation blind. I don’t want you to break a confidence, but are she and her husband still married?” Gunner asked.
“It’s not breaking a confidence. Rachel gave me all the information, and it’s been shared with Scoop and Sarah for them to do some research.
I believe if Rachel hadn’t shown up early, Scoop was supposed to share the situation with all of you in council tomorrow,” Clara said, rolling another ball and dipping it in sugar.
“Well, am I going to need to pull it out of you?” Gunner grumbled.
Clara smiled, and if he wasn’t mistaken, he recognized her mischievous look.
“No, but what are your intentions toward Rachel and the kids?” Clara asked.
Gunner rolled a couple cookies, dipping them in sugar, stopping to stare at Clara.
“She’s mine. They all are, but I don’t want to do anything to remind her of ‘bad daddy’,” Gunner said.
Clara nodded. “Good answer. Over a year ago, I met Rachel online in a craft forum. We started chatting over patterns and then drifted into family. She said she was married but things had changed. She was going to go see a divorce lawyer. Before she could, he left, taking anything of value in the house that could be sold and cleaned out one of their bank accounts. Rachel had already moved some money and her craft money to another account. She wasn’t destitute.
She suspected he’d started gambling and she had found drug paraphernalia.
He was nowhere to be found afterward. The police department said she couldn’t file anything against him because he had rights to everything in the house.
He’d also taken from a joint bank account.
Her lawyer must have been a loser because he basically told her not to worry about it. ”
“What a jerk,” Gunner said.
“I agree. Fast forward to the Saturday after Thanksgiving when I went to the craft fair, and I talked with her about the job. She decided to come but she wanted to wait until after Christmas. They’d already decorated, and she had presents wrapped under the tree.
The kids wanted to finish this semester with their school friends and both kids had parts in the school play,” Clara said, getting up to put one of the trays in the oven.
She poured both of them drinks and sat back down. Taking a drink, she swallowed, then stared at Gunner.
“Every time I think about this, I want to go find him and pop his head right off his neck,” Clara grumbled.
Gunner reached over and patted Clara’s hand.
“I’ll tell you, but you can’t change how you treat her. She’s strong, and she doesn’t want to be seen as a victim. Do you promise?” Clara asked.
“I do,” he said. Clara patted his hand back.
“They had a fantastic Christmas together. The kids loved the toys that Rachel was able to buy them. Rachel had an after-Christmas craft fair. She and the kids drove to it and spent the weekend there. When they returned home, one of her neighbors came running over. Her missing husband had returned and had a yard sale while they were gone. He’d sold almost everything.
The neighbor had tried to call Rachel and tell her but was unable to reach her.
The only things that were left were the items that Rachel had in her van and the small amount of stuff that she’d started moving to a storage building as she packed.
She also couldn’t go in the house because he had told the landlord that they were moving and needed the deposit back.
The landlord had changed the locks, and suddenly Rachel and the kids were homeless,” Clara said.
A wave of anger washed over Gunner. If he had her husband in front of him, he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t beat the man until he couldn’t walk.
“How could he do that if the lease was in both their names?” Gunner asked.
“Exactly what Rachel wondered. She’d noticed the landlord and her husband being very chummy a couple of times. She has no proof, but she wonders if the landlord got a cut from what her husband sold,” Clara said.
Gunner got back to rolling the cookies because he needed something to do with his hands. How was he going to show Rachel and the kids that they could trust him?
“Where’d she live?” he asked.
“Kansas City,” Clara said.
“Well, that I can work with,” Gunner said.
Clara chuckled and got up to pull a cookie sheet out of the oven and add the chocolate kisses.
“Hmm, could you be thinking of contacting the Saint’s Outlaws MC possibly?” Clara asked.
“Oh, you can count on it,” Gunner said.
He and Clara chatted as they finished the peanut butter cookies and then started on the spritz cookies. When they were finished, Gunner washed the cookie sheets and bowls after sending Clara to go sit in front of the television. She had a show she liked to watch.
Once the dishes were done and the counters were clean, Gunner walked into the front room, leaning over to kiss Clara’s cheek.
“Thank you for a fun evening. I’m going to make sure that Rachel, Chelle, and Marcus never want for anything,” Gunner vowed.
Clara patted his face. “I know you will, Gunner, because you are a good man. You’re exactly the man they need. Grab some of those cookies to take with you and share them with the boys in the clubhouse,” she said.
He nodded, grabbed one of the containers and walked out the door. Oh, he’d definitely share with the boys in the clubhouse. He’d also share that she called them boys just because he enjoyed teasing his friends.
Rachel took a sip of her soda. It had been a long day, and Rachel was ready to head to bed. Between not sleeping well because her head hurt and then meeting Gunner, she’d been going all day long.
Her new friends had wanted to welcome her, and despite being tired, she couldn’t say no.
She’d tried to remember something about each of the women she’d met tonight.
The Franks sisters were easy because Clara had talked about them so much.
Remi, the oldest who ran the bail bonds, and Sarah, who was the tech person, had both given her hugs as soon as she walked in.
Winnie, who ran the bail bonds gym, and Jesse, who ran the garage, were in the kitchen fixing drinks for everyone. Beth had taken her around to introduce her to the women, but she’d told them that they might need to tell her their names again.
“Hey, Stella, how are you doing without Rose or Tasha here?” Remi asked.
“It’s been different,” Stella said, taking a sip of her drink.
“Oh yeah, it’s been different. I’ve heard that truck pulling in as you get dropped off some mornings. It always leaves so fast that I don’t have time to get up and to the window to see who it is,” Hope said, chuckling.
Rachel was sure Hope was married to Locks and was Faith’s sister. Her son Benji had asked Marcus to play.
Stella blushed, and Rachel had to join in the laughter with the other women.
“What are you—the neighborhood watch?” Stella sputtered.
“Oh, way to try to deflect. Do we know the mystery man?” Faith asked.
Stella rolled her eyes. “It’s new, and I’m not sure I’m ready to share yet.”
“Fair enough. We have new blood to interrogate. I mean, get to know,” Frankie said.
Rachel grinned. Frankie had introduced herself and marveled over what she called Rachel’s virgin skin. She, Harry, and Emerson worked at Bluff Creek Ink and had offered her a free tattoo if they got to be the first.
“Come sit by me. I’ll protect you,” Beth said.
Rachel settled by Beth.
“Since I’m married to War, I know about your situation.
I want to tell you that this is a safe place, and we’ll be better able to take care of you if you share.
But if you’d prefer not to talk about it, then I can let people know later.
Your safety and that of your kids is a priority for us,” Remi said.
“You all seem so put together that I’ll feel like a failure if you know,” Rachel said.