Chapter 27
Catherine
I peered around the corner as Hallie and Hayes stood in front of the TV, watching yet another report on the bombshell that had hit every major news outlet simultaneously. It wasn’t a trickle-down story that started locally and made its way to the national news.
It was everywhere, instantly.
The reports were chock-full of images of my father and the women he had taken advantage of, using money and power to eke out threadbare consent.
I wasn’t surprised there were more women like my mom.
Hell, there were probably more women and men like me—collateral damage to one man’s lack of self-control.
But maybe that was the upside to the story coming out when it did.
My mom was already resting in peace. She didn’t have to be subjected to mass scrutiny.
The floorboard beneath my foot creaked, and Hayes glanced over his shoulder. “Cath.”
Hallie grabbed the remote and changed the channel.
“Am I interrupting something?” I asked with an edge of irritation as I crossed my arms.
Hayes had been acting dodgy and avoiding me. I wanted answers, but it was hard to look intimidating when I was in shorts covered in paint, an old T-shirt I had stolen from Hayes, and ratty sneakers. My hair was in a knot on the top of my head, and I was fairly certain there was hay in it.
I had been working up at the cottage for the better part of the day, painting the trim and working on the landscaping now that the interior was refurbished and the ramp had been installed outside.
Mason had worked his ass off to help me get it move-in ready.
Thanks to some hired help, Levi’s extra set of hands, and Hayes pitching in, it happened faster than I anticipated.
“Not at all,” Hayes said as he abandoned Hallie. As soon as he took in my appearance, he pursed his lips to hide a smile. “You look like you worked hard today.”
The knot that had cinched in my chest when I walked in on yet another report of my father’s dalliances began to unfurl. I released a breath and rolled my shoulders, easing the ache. “Thank you for that very kind way of saying I look like shit.”
Hayes chuckled. “You don’t look like shit.” His nose twitched. “The smell, however…” He grimaced. “You smell like Dorothy.”
“Dorothy and I both take offense to that. But yes. We snuggled. Sue me.”
Hayes chuckled. “And here I was thinking that I was the only one you liked to snuggle with.”
“Shush!” I said as Hallie waltzed by, wearing a knowing smile. “Don’t you have work to do or something?”
“Clocked out,” he said. “You weren’t the only early bird today.”
Hayes’s discipline was one of the many things I loved about him.
It was so easy to slip into the habit of working nonstop hours to try to level up.
He wasn’t just regimented during his working hours.
He was disciplined when it came to stepping away from his computer when it was time.
I thought back to my days of nonprofit paper pushing.
I’d be the first in the office and the last to leave. And where did that get me?
Shoveling cow shit out of Dorothy’s stall every morning.
But it also got me Hayes. It got me one more blue jean summer with months of firefly magic, cherry kisses, warm air, and mountain majesty.
But with every breeze that whispered down into the Shenandoah Valley, it felt like I was inching closer to my last breath. This thing between us had an end date, and it felt more foreboding not knowing when it was.
At some point, we would annul the marriage. I would pack up and move out of the estate house, and Hayes and I would become strangers again.
Even though the Learning Cottage was mine and I loved being hands-on with it, the goal was to make it self-sustaining, then repeat the concept across the state. Maybe even across the country.
Staying was never in the plan. The job interview I had in an hour was a stark reminder of that.
It should have been an exciting thought. I should have been thrilled. Hayes had given me a launching pad in exchange for a few months of serenity.
So why did the idea of expanding suddenly seem so lackluster? Why did the impending interview make me nauseous?
Before I could respond to Hayes, there was a knock at the kitchen door.
Hallie hustled to open it while Hayes and I peered around the corner. Warren Grey stood on the other side of the door. He politely lifted his cowboy hat. “Ma’am.”
“Hey, there,” Hallie said. “What can I do for you? I believe you’ve already written me a check this month.”
“Yes, ma’am. Is Mrs. Wilder around?”
It took me a minute to realize he was talking about me. I looked down at my paint-smeared shorts. I didn’t exactly look the part of “Mrs. Wilder” at the moment, but I didn’t think Mildred’s ghost would mind. She’d probably get a kick out of it.
“Hi,” I said, walking into the kitchen as Hayes followed. “What can I do for you?”
If he was shocked by my appearance, he didn’t show it. “You still lookin’ for another cow?”
I blinked. “Yes?”
“I’ll leave her up by your little one.”
My hand shot out as if I could stop him with some kind of mystical power. “Wait—you’re…you’re giving me a cow?”
“No, ma’am,” he said rather succinctly. “I’m giving you to a cow. Treat her better than the last guy or she’ll disappear from your land too.”
And with that, he turned and walked away.
“I have so many questions,” I muttered as I stared at the open kitchen door. “Did he steal a cow?”
“With Warren, you never know,” Hallie said. “He’s a good man…I think.”
Hayes shrugged. “Granddad wouldn’t have leased him the west side if he wasn’t.” He plucked the cowboy hat I had given him from the coat stand and dropped it on his head. “Let’s go take a look.”
—
Sure enough, there were fresh trailer marks in the grass where Warren had backed up to the gate. A cow much, much larger than Dorothy stood in the Learning Cottage pasture.
Dorothy and her new friend had plenty of room and a brand-new shelter to sleep in if the weather got bad. I would miss our long walks from the stables to the cottage, but she would be happier now.
The new cow studied Hayes and me with obvious mistrust as we leaned against the fence.
“Got a name for this one yet?” Hayes asked as he smoothed his hand up and down my back.
“She and I will figure it out,” I said as I rested against his shoulder.
Hayes lifted an eyebrow. “Should I be worried you’re talking to the cows?”
“Nah. Animals are great to talk to. It’s when they start talking back that you should get worried.”
He laughed. “Fair enough.”
We watched as Dorothy nosed around the newcomer, much more eager to have a friend than the older cow was to have a pasture mate.
The cow turned, and my eyes widened. Deep scars slashed her hind legs. Some were still red and angry.
“Poor thing…”
“No wonder Warren, uh, secretly rehomed her.” He tipped his head, making the brim of his cowboy hat point toward the cow’s udders. “Looks like she calved not too long ago.”
I may not have understood what she had gone through, but Dorothy did. The little one nuzzled up to her and latched on to one of the udders.
“Look at that,” I whispered.
Hayes was tense. “I hope the momma doesn’t reject her.”
The cow seemed to relax in the new space. She peeled her big, baleful eyes away from Hayes and me and hung her head in contentment.
“Hayes?” I said as we watched Dorothy nurse for a moment.
“Yeah, sweetheart?”
“You were watching the news with Hallie.”
“Yes.”
I worked my fingernails into a groove on the top slat of the fence. “But you haven’t said anything to me about it.”
Hayes peered down to where I was hunched over. “Do you want to talk about it?”
I hadn’t quite figured out how I felt just yet, but being outside helped. Having Hayes near helped. There was a magnetism that pulled me to him. It made me want to unpack everything with him.
“I thought you’d be happy about it,” Hayes said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Why would I be happy about it?” I scoffed. “I have no chance at a relationship with my dad now. Before everything came out, he and I could have gotten to know each other under the radar. But now…”
“Why would you want to get to know him?” Hayes pressed. “You know the kind of man he is. You know what he did. He’s hurt you repeatedly.”
“But—”
“What he got wasn’t nearly what he deserved,” Hayes snapped.
There was an anger there that I didn’t recognize.
“Hayes…”
He stared out at the horizon. “Voters might look past shit like that, but I don’t. Not when it comes to you.”
Hayes was too wound up, and Hayes was never wound up.
I reared back. “What did you do?”
“I simply arranged for him to experience the consequences of his actions,” he said coolly.
My hands tightened around the fence as the new cow sensed the energy shift and stared at us with distrust. My throat began to tighten in a knot. “So you ruined the only chance I had at having some semblance of a relationship with my father. And for what? A dick-measuring contest?”
“Catherine, he’s a piece of shit. He’s a lowlife who preys on women and feeds on the acquisition of power.
He’s corrupt. You don’t need someone like that in your life, and I’m certainly not going to let someone near you who has done nothing but let you down.
” I had heard the edge in his voice before, but it had never been aimed at me.
And it hurt.
“Who the hell do you think you are to make that decision for me?” I snapped, pointing a finger at him. “You don’t get to choose who gets a place in my life. Right now, you’re on very thin ice yourself.”
“How do you not see it?” Hayes asked with a caustic, exasperated laugh.
“He’ll do exactly what he did to those women to you.
He’ll figure out how he can use you, tease you with a relationship like a carrot on a stick, and then discard you when he’s done.
The only difference is that he can’t use you for sex. ”
“That wasn’t your choice to make!” I shouted as tears burned my eyes. “All I wanted was a shot at getting to know him and—”
“I do know, Catherine!” Hayes scrubbed his palm down his jaw in frustration.
“Where do you think the recording came from that’s been playing all over the news today?
Because I have the master copy if you don’t believe what they’re telling you.
” Hayes radiated with anger and vengeance.
“He hurt you, and I will not let that go as long as my ring is on your finger. No one hurts my wife and gets away with it.”
I clenched my jaw, nearly grinding my teeth down to nothing as I worked the wedding band off my finger.
The engagement ring was in my room since I had been working outside all day and couldn’t bear the thought of damaging a family heirloom.
“Well, you hurt me. So, congratulations.” I laughed sarcastically as tears spilled free and rolled down my cheeks.
“You got your ring back. Now let me fight my own battles. I’m going to get ready for my interview.
” I slapped the band into his hand before turning to stomp back to the house. “Enjoy sleeping alone, husband.”