“I agree with ya, cuz, but there isn’t a damn thing we can do about it. We can’t exactly walk up to Chief Johnson’s door and insist he let us in so we can beat the shit out of his son.” Cord smiled, but we both knew he was right.
“I have to do somethin’. He hurt her, Cord…for years. He beat her and I did nothin’ to stop it.” My fists were clenched in my lap. My heart was racing. I wanted that bastard dead. I couldn’t believe what he had done to her for all these years and that I hadn’t stopped it. “Do you have any idea how the hell that makes me feel?”
“She didn’t tell anyone, Cade. You can’t blame yourself for that. Well, you can and I know you will. I would do the same damn thing, but that don’t make it right.”
“I shoulda known. I can’t believe I didn’t see what he was doin’ to her. I don’t think I can ever forgive myself for that.”
Cord laughed, stood up and took a seat next to me. He put his hand on my shoulder. “When the hell are you gonna wake up and smell the coffee, cuz?”
“What are you talkin’ about?”
“You really don’t know what I’m talkin’ about?” Cord raised an eyebrow at me. “You seriously think you can pull that shit with me? Or are you just a complete and utter dumbass?”
I shook my head. “You’re gonna have to enlighten me. I have no clue what you’re talkin’ about.”
“Yep, just as I suspected…you’re a dumbass.” Cord tried to smack me upside the head.
I jumped up outta the chair and away from his reach. “Don’t make me embarrass you in front of your secretary and beat the shit out of ya. I’m not a dumbass.”
“Yes, you really are.”
“What the hell are you talkin’ about?” He was really startin’ to piss me off. He needed to tell me what was on his mind before I decked him.
“You love her, dumbass. You always have. Why the hell can’t you just admit it?”
“Of course I love her…she’s my best friend. That’s why I feel so bad about not takin’ care of her all these years.”
“I feel bad about that, too. I wish we’d have known, but we didn’t and we have to just make sure to protect her and Isabella from now on. Cade, you have to admit the way you feel about her is more than ‘friendly’. I know she was your first and I know that you’ve never gotten over her. Why can’t you just admit that to yourself?”
I was lookin’ down at my boots and shakin’ my head. “We ain’t like that, Cord. We just ain’t.”
“You do know how easy it would be to change that, right?”
I looked up at Cord, “I can’t do that to her. Don’t ya understand? She deserves so much better than me. I ain’t the right man for her. I never have been. And she don’t want me like that. She’s made that clear to me on several occasions.” She did deserve better than me. She deserved the world and I wished that I could be the one to give it to her, but we just weren’t like that. We were friends who’d had sex a couple times. Amazin’, mind-blowin’ sex, but just sex. That was the way she wanted it.
Who the hell was I kiddin’? That woman was the best I ever had and I measured everyone up to her standards…always had. Why couldn’t we be together? Oh yeah, because I am an asshole who doesn’t deserve anything that special. Not to mention the fact that she wasn’t lookin’ at me like that. She needed me to be her friend and nothin’ more.
“Apparently, I’m not gonna get through to you on this, so I’m not gonna waste my breath. I got the paperwork all drawn up. We just need to find him and get him to sign it. Judge Miller is a good friend of mine and he said he’d sign off on it as soon as we get Branch to sign it.”
“Give me the papers. I’ll make sure they’re signed.” If I had to turn over every fuckin’ rock in this town, that asshole would sign those divorce papers and free Suzy Q from the hell he’d created for her.
“You better let me come with you.” Cord stood up and walked toward where I was standin’ by the door.
“I got this, cuz.” I said, takin’ the papers from his hand. “I promise I won’t kill him. I might not even tear him up…shit, I ain’t gonna be able to promise that.” I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Seriously, let me come with you. Where are we headin’ first?” Cord asked. He grabbed his suit jacket from behind the door.
“His parent’s house. We both know that’s where he’s at.”
~~*~*~~
I caved and let Cord drive. Dependin’ on what happened with Branch, it would probably be better for him to be in charge of gettin’ us out of trouble, which could mean bein’ the get-away driver.
“Stay in the truck. I’ll holler if I need ya.” I was tryin’ to keep Cord outta the line of fire.
“Um, I don’t think so, cuz. That’s the whole reason why I came with you. You never know when you might need my legal services or my muscle.” He flexed at me and smiled.
“It’ll be a cold day in hell when Cade Walker needs his cousin’s muscle to fight a fight.” I jumped outta the truck and headed up the front steps. Cord was right behind me when I rang the doorbell.
When no one answered, I rang the bell again. Finally, Mrs. Johnson answered the door. She opened it, but kept the screen door locked between us.
With a tip of my Stetson, I said, “Mrs. Johnson, I need to talk to Branch.”
“He ain’t here, Cade. I ain’t seen him since, well since everything happened.” She couldn’t look me in the eye. She was holdin’ on to the door and lookin’ down at her feet. Word had got around town in the last couple of days.
“I ain’t here to hurt your son, ma’am. I need him to sign these papers.” I held the papers up and she finally pulled her gaze up from her toes.
“Divorce papers? Suzanna wants a divorce?” Was she fuckin’ serious? Her son beat the shit outta her and had been since the day they got married and she was surprised that she wanted a divorce?
“Does that really surprise ya, ma’am? Your son made a habit of beatin’ his wife and it surprises you that she would want a divorce?” I couldn’t believe I even had to say that.
“He never laid a hand on her. He explained it all to me. He told me exactly what happened. He wouldn’t have been upset if it hadn’t been for you. Maybe you shoulda stayed away from his wife.” She started to slam the door.
“I don’t think you’re hearin’ the true story, ma’am.” I tried to open the screen door.
“Mrs. Johnson, I think you should talk to Lisbeth. She can explain it all to you. She knows what really happened.” Cord had stepped in front of me and was tryin’ to take over the conversation. “You know she wouldn’t lie to you. She knows what Branch did. You’re protecting the wrong person. Suzanna and Isabella need to be protected from your son. I drew these papers up myself. They give all parental rights to Suzanna and Branch keeps the house, the truck, and everything else. She doesn’t want anything from him, but she doesn’t want him to be around Isabella.”
“She can’t keep me away from my granddaughter,” Mrs. Johnson stated with a look of pure hate on her face.
“She would never do that, but Branch is not fit to be around them,” I interjected.
She opened the screen door and stepped out onto the porch. She poked her finger into my chest and raising her voice, she said, “Don’t you speak that way about my son. He’s a good man, unlike you. If you’d a left them alone, none of this would’ve happened. You do know sleepin’ with a married woman is a sin, don’t ya son?”
“I don’t know what your son has told ya, ma’am, but I ain’t sleepin’ with Suzanna. I don’t sleep with married women…never have, never will. My momma raised me better than that.”
“Your momma? Your momma was a stripper. No wonder you don’t understand respect.”
“With all due respect, ma’am, don’t you ever say a word about my momma. She was an amazin’ woman and I might be an asshole, but at least she taught me to respect women and not beat the hell outta them like your bastard son.” I handed Cord the papers and I don’t think I felt any of the steps on the way to the truck. I jumped into the truck and tried to calm the hell down.
I looked up to the porch and saw Cord hand the papers to Mrs. Johnson. I couldn’t believe the way she spoke about my momma. I might not be an angel, but I’m not a fuckin’ monster like her son. I would never lay a hand on a woman. The more I thought about Branch, the more I wanted to lay a hand on him, repeatedly.
Cord climbed into the truck, started it up, and as we pulled out of the driveway he said, “She didn’t mean that shit, Cade. She was just mad. You gotta understand that no matter what he did, Branch is her son. She’s having a hard time believing that he hurt Suzanna. I told her to get in touch with Lisbeth and she would explain it all to her. Lisbeth will make her understand.”
“I just need those damn papers signed. I need this nightmare to be over for Suzanna and Isabella. They deserve so much more than what that bastard ever gave them. I want them to be happy, ya know?” I asked, finally gettin’ my breathin’ back under control.
“I know, Cade and they will be. Branch isn’t stupid. He won’t want the publicity of a sticky divorce. He’ll sign the papers. I think Mrs. Johnson will make sure of it after she speaks to Lisbeth. So, let’s not worry about that anymore today. We’ve done all we can do. We need to talk about the ranch.”
“What about it?” I asked.
“Well, we can’t get the insurance money until the arson investigation is complete. The size of our town isn’t gonna help with that. They sent everything off for forensic testing, but I don’t expect them to get it back for a few months. How is the rebuild coming along?”
“It’s comin’ along pretty damn slow. I went to the bank, but I’m just not willin’ to accept their conditions for a loan. I don’t want to put the ranch up as collateral.”
“Those are pretty normal conditions, Cade.”
“I know that, but what if I can’t get it back in runnin’ order and they take the ranch? I couldn’t handle that. Walker Ranch is my whole life. I don’t have anything else, and I ain’t willin’ to sacrifice it. My daddy never had to take out a loan, and I ain’t gonna start.”
“I’ve got a few thousand saved up. I’d be more than happy to loan it to you, just until you get back on your feet again.”
“That’s a nice offer, cuz, but I cain’t accept it. I’ll do this on my own. We ain’t outta funds yet. I’ve got some people that owe me some favors. I’m lookin’ to call those in and see where we go from there.”
My family had helped everybody in this town out at one point or another, so I was hopin’ to get some deals on some new cattle. I’d had lots of help with cleanin’ up after the fire and helpin’ to rebuild the barn. The hardware store extended my line of credit, which was a Godsend. It was gonna be a lot of hard work, but it was gonna be built even bigger and better than it was before.
~~*~*~~
A few days passed and I was standin’ in line at the feed store when my cell started ringin’ in my pocket. It was Cord callin’.
“Hey,” I answered.
“He signed them. He signed the damn papers.” Cord was practically giddy. He sounded like a girl.
“That was quick. Bastard must’ve known he was as good as dead if he didn’t.”
“Lisbeth dropped them off at my office this morning. She still wouldn’t tell me where he was, but she insists he isn’t at their parent’s house. I believe her, Cade.”
“As long as he signed the papers, I don’t really give a shit. I’ll meet up with him someday and he’ll pay for what he did to her, but right now all that matters is he signed the papers and my girls are free.”
“I called the Judge and he said it would be final by the end of the week. I think he’s fast-tracking it because he hates Chief Johnson, but it really doesn’t matter. She’s gonna be divorced by the end of the week.”
“Cord, I can’t thank ya enough for this.” I really couldn’t. He had taken the reins on this and I was pretty sure if he hadn’t stepped in with Mrs. Johnson this wouldn’t have happened.
“I know, I know, I’m fuckin’ awesome.” Cord laughed. “Now get your ass home and tell Suzanna the good news.”
That had to be the quickest trip I’d ever made home from the feed store. I couldn’t wait to tell Suzanna she was free. Her nightmare was over.
“Suzy Q!” I yelled as I walked in the front door of my house.
“We’re out here, Cade,” she called from the back porch. When I walked out onto the porch the strangest feelin’ hit me…I was home.
This was the way my life was supposed to be. Izzy B was playin’ out in the dirt. No doubt makin’ one of her famous mud pies and Suzy Q was sittin’ in the old rockin’ chair readin’ one of those girly romance books. I didn’t want this to ever end. I wanted them to be my family. I realized they were what made this house a home and even though they’d only been here a short while, this was where we all needed to be. I finally understood after all these years that this was my home - Suzanna was my home.
I kneeled down in front of Suzanna’s chair and pulled the book from her hands. I looked up into those big, beautiful brown eyes and just about lost it. I was either gonna explode with happiness or break down in tears. What the hell was happenin’ to me? I was feelin’ stuff…stuff I didn’t know exactly how to deal with.
I took her hands in mine, “He signed them. The Judge is fast-trackin’ it, so it should be final by the end of the week.”
A tear fell from her eye before a huge smile broke out across her face. She pulled me up with her to standin’ and threw her arms around my neck.
“You saved me, Cade. I always knew you’d save me.” She was sobbin’ and laughin’…I couldn’t tell if she was sad or happy.
“I’m sorry it took me so fuckin’ long. I shoulda saved ya years ago. I shoulda never let you marry that asshole. I’m sorry…I’m so sorry.”
She pulled away from me. The tears were dryin’ up and she had stopped the weird laughin’. She ran her hand down my jaw, “I love you, cowboy.” She placed a soft kiss on my cheek and then we stared into each others eyes for what seemed like forever. I saw somethin’ in her eyes that I’d been waitin’ a long time to see. I was pretty sure my Suzy Q was ready for more with me. Finally…
Our stare was broken when Izzy B asked with a big ole grin on her face, “Uncky Cade, wanna piece?” She had a big wad of mud in her little hand.
“Looks delicious, baby girl. Why don’t you go feed it to your dolly?”
“She wubs mud pies!” she laughed as she ran down the back steps to find her doll.