Chapter Eighteen
The walk was peaceful. The midnight air crisp and still. Overhead, the moon was a sliver or two from being full, and it shone down on them like a torch, illuminating the dark and creating a glowing path.
She tilted her head back and looked up at the moon, imagining the rays washing her clean and a million miles away from her past. “I wonder if this is what it’s like being on a stage,” she finally said, breaking the silence as Telford didn’t seem ready to.
“I was in a play once when I was six. I was sick with dread, but so excited because my mom and grandpa were coming.” His voice was warm, slightly amused.
“It was in the auditorium—each grade level put on a play. I was the cheese. Horrifying as I had the most lines—probably because I was an early reader and not particularly squirrely, and I was shy so not a lot of friends. The teacher probably thought she was doing a good deed.”
“A lot of good deeds go awry,” she murmured, remembering how she’d tried so hard to protect Alissa and had only brought her more to the Family’s ire and attention.
“Sometimes. Not always. I learned my lines. Had to wear a cheese hat, but it slipped a lot so I couldn’t really see the audience.”
Ayana smiled, picturing it.
“It’s a good memory. I don’t have many because I mostly remember my mom’s death. The horror. The fear. The helplessness. Trying to help but failing. The blood.”
She leaned into him. It was shocking how much they had in common though it didn’t seem like it initially. He was so easy to love. But could he love her—if he knew the truth? Had she fought hard enough for Alissa, or had she run—more focused on saving herself than her sister?
“You never asked me what I was running from.”
“I wanted to know only so I could be prepared to help you.”
Her heart fluttered at the sincerity she heard in his voice. “But …” She struggled to understand. “You don’t even know anything about me. About who I was. What I came from,” she whispered.
“I know who you are now,” he said. “That’s the woman I’m …” He sighed, looking a little embarrassed and shy. “I wanted to talk to you about this alone in our room.”
Her heart skipped a beat, and her breath felt trapped in her chest.
What had he been about to say? That he loved her? Could she be so blessed? So lucky.
“Telford,” she whispered, feeling emotion swamp her. “Let’s go.” Holding on to his hand, she walked up the stairs from the path and toward the Graff Hotel that gleamed gold in the night several blocks down.
“I have so much to tell you. So much to share that I’ve never told anyone before, but you make me want to believe that I really can be the woman I want to be. Have the life I want to create.”
His hands lightly squeezed her fingers in support, and she walked quickly, head down, unbothered by the cold as her mind raced as the words she needed to say churned over in her head—how could she make him understand?
Be honest.
She crossed the parking lot and saw the bellman at the top of the stairs, watching them approach, his hand on the golden handle. A man moved toward them.
“Hello, son. Have fun at the bachelor party?”
Ayana felt like she’d been splashed with cold water. She jerked to a stop and now it was her fingers that tightened on his in reassurance. He didn’t mean them physical harm. Whatever he wanted, she and Telford would handle this so that Cash didn’t have to right before his wedding.
So she had been right. He’d been stalking them from the shadows. So weak.
“Why are you here skulking around like a frontier villain in a spaghetti western movie?” She demanded. “You are an adult. Take responsibility.”
“You’ve been to the ranch. You’ve seen all I’ve been cut off from.”
“Ayana,” Telford said, his voice cool and steady. “Head up to the room. I’ll be there shortly.”
Tarek’s lip curled in a sneer—an expression she’d never seen on either Cash or Telford.
“I’ll stay with you,” she stated.
He was her husband. Hers to protect and support. Plus, now there was Petal and Bronte.
“Thank you.” He brought her hand to his lips and looked deep into her eyes. “But please, go to our room. It’s cold. And I don’t want this to touch you. I’ll be up soon and we’ll talk all about it.”
“Pussy-whipped you, son.”
She ignored the barb, her gaze searching Telford’s trying to see if she was missing anything. But he seemed calm. In control. And she didn’t want to undermine him privately or publicly.
She nodded and stepped around Tarek Telford, resisting—barely—kicking him in the back of his knee just so she could hope he’d stumble down the elegant stairs and land in a painful heap like he deserved.
“It must burn your ass to know that without your interference, both your sons grew up strong, successful, honest, and admirable. Men who are responsible. Men who are admired.”
She wanted to say more. But Telford had asked her to wait for him, and she owed him her loyalty. She walked into the hotel trying not to worry. Trying not to feel shut out. Hard to do when the custom-carved wood doors with historic restored stained glass swung shut behind her.
She made her way toward the staircase, mind whirling.
Should she stay downstairs and wait for Telford?
But if they came back into the lobby, it would look like she didn’t trust him to take care of his business.
And Tarek was his father. Maybe he wanted to try to forge a relationship.
He didn’t need to feel like she was judging him for that.
If the Family came back, would she want Telford to be by her side, or face them alone?
She shuddered just thinking about it and wanting to be alone in the privacy of the room so she could think about what Tarek’s appearance might mean, she turned toward the stairs.
And in her struggle to give Telford what he wanted, combined with the thought of facing her past, she tripped over the rich, vibrantly patterned lobby carpet when two men and a woman rose up from a small grouping of chairs in the lobby.
Father Josiah. Pastor Jacob. Her mother.
“Greetings, Ayana. It’s been too long.”
She stared mutely at the triad—too stunned to move. Inside, she could hear herself screaming like the child she’d once been. Why were they here? How had they found her?
No. No. No. The word was a drumbeat. She’d been too lax. The social events this week. She’d been happy. Not as focused on keeping her anonymity because she’d felt safe. She was changing her name again. This time legally.
“It’s time to come home to your family, Ayana. Do your duty. Serve your husband and God.”
She felt the nachos she’d nibbled at Grey’s churn in her stomach, burn the back of her throat.
Her vision tunneled, and her hearing was muffled.
Blindly, she turned and fled through the lobby to the fancy restaurant and through the ballroom and out the side door into the small garden.
She had her go-bag in her room in her work bag, and it was the one time she hadn’t brought it, but she had cash sewn into the small clutch purse she carried in case of emergencies.
She could get away. Go dark. Hide. She didn’t have to bring another hell down on Telford.
*
“Why do you keep hiding?”
“Hiding?” Telford’s bio dad hadn’t expected that opening.
Good.
He rocked back on his boot heels. “I’m right here. Talking to my son.”
It took a lot of control to not sneer right back, fall to his level, which was maybe what he wanted—to drag him and Cash down to his low level.
“Yes, hiding.” Telford had no patience. “Hanging out in a parking lot, waiting for me to return. I saw you near an exit door in the hallway yesterday when my wife and I returned to the hotel. Wondered if you’d make a move—make an appointment. But no, you hide. Ambush.”
“Looked like you were going to get lucky, so I hung back out of respect. Chip off the old block,” he said his voice heavy with satisfaction.
Telford’s stomach curdled. “I’m nothing like you.
DNA doesn’t define me or Cash. There is far more to life than casual and serial sex.
Ayana is my wife. I will never betray her or abandon her.
If we are blessed with children, I will be by her side to raise them.
And Cash too is joining his life with a woman. ”
“Get off your high horse.” Tarek blew out an impatient breath. “You’re not so superior to me. You haven’t done so badly without your old man. You’re both rolling in it. While I’ve been cut off from my legacy. From what I’m owed.”
“You’re not owed anything.” Telford’s temper flared, but he stomped it down. “Cash and I earned everything that’s ours. We worked. We strategized. We stuck. You lost your legacy because you walked away.”
“You don’t know anything about ranching.”
“Exactly.” Because he’d been cut out; his mother and he had been abandoned. “Doesn’t mean I can’t see the value in the land, in the stewardship of it, in teamwork and family. I can learn and work hard to deserve a chance.”
Every word rang true, shocking him a little. He wasn’t just talking about Cam’s legacy, but one he wanted to build for himself.
“Think you’ll take my share?” He closed the distance, his fist clenched.
Telford read his bio dad like a book. He was used to bullying his way or charming his way depending on what he wanted.
Anything but earn it. Contempt filtered through him.
But he had to be smart. Cash didn’t deserve their bio dad sauntering in and making a hateful scene at his wedding, especially with the media there covering the ceremony and festivities.
That was his plan all along.
Or part of the plan. Cash and Maddy had done their best to shut down the coverage, but Telford had spotted a few drones and long-range lenses over the past few days.
He’d done his best to protect Ayana from any scrutiny as he’d seen how she avoided group shots, offering instead to take the photos of the friends and family enjoying themselves.
“No. I earn what I want.”
“You’re as arrogant as your mother, thinking you’re all that when you’re nothing.”