proceedings myself.”
“Friday, at the courthouse. There is family—his is pretty extended—and friends.
The reception will be at their home later. I have that address in the file for you. It’s at
four in the afternoon. But with my plans, they’ll never make it to that.”
Nodding, he told Steward he had a lot of work to do and ushered him out with the
promise that if anything changed, he was to be informed. As soon as he was gone,
Baldwin pulled out his ledger.
Finding the number was harder than he thought it should have been, but then
Steward did this kind of work for him usually. Today, though, he needed to know what
the other man was up to. Something was off. Baldwin wasn’t sure what it might be, he
just wanted answers. Calling the man who had helped him create and make Anderson’s
signature perfume gave him some answers, but opened a lot more questions.
“I am sorry, sir, but I have done as you asked and have given this to no one but
your daughter. She is the only one, besides you that is, that has the code.” The tag
number on the perfume that was simply called Anderson. “I will check when the last
shipment was sent out. I know that it was recent.”
Recent. For a man as old as Toby had been back then, it could have been a decade
ago. But the longer he sat there waiting for him to get his information, the more he
thought the man was right. It had been recent. And Baldwin had a feeling that not only
did Steward know where his daughter was, but that he was fucking her too.
When Toby came back and confirmed his worst thoughts, he told the man that he
was glad that it was working out for him. He assured him that it was a pleasure to have
been able to speak to his daughter after so long.
“She is still just as bossy as she was as a youngster, is she not? Telling me that there
was a new billing address for the shipment and that the address was new as well. I did
as she asked, for she has been a good customer, and I love working with you as well,
sir. You tell her that it will be a pleasure to continue to work with her.” Baldwin asked
him for the address, saying that he wanted to make sure that it was the one he had.
“Yes, I can understand that. It’s good that you care for her so much.”
His daughter was alive, and ordering perfume as if nothing had happened. He put
the phone in the cradle, sure the man was still talking as what was going on started to
form in his head. Anderson was fucking with him. And so was Steward.
Now what to do. He’d been devoting his entire life for the last years, since he’d
gotten that call, in avenging her death. And now here she was, not only alive but acting
as if nothing had happened. And she’d not contacted him. In any way. Did she not
think he’d want to…? He leaned back in his chair.
Had Bartholomew known? Of course he had. The perfume was going to that house,
and had been for a while now. Did the kids know? Bart more than likely did not know.
Had he, then Baldwin was sure he would have said something…a slip of the tongue.
Steward knew, and that was going to get him killed. And he was positive for some
reason that Emma didn’t. This was something that bore looking into, much deeper than
he had before.
“Heads are going to fucking roll, that’s for sure.” He picked up his pen and the file
that Steward had given him, and decided that he needed to make his own plans.
Beginning with a list. “Why did she fuck with me?” headed the top of this one.
The courthouse was filled with people. Some Emma knew, most she didn’t. She was
surprised by that. No one but the family was supposed to attend, yet there were enough
people in the little room to fill a large hall. Emma looked at Aisha when she touched her
fingers to her cheek.
“You were so far away. Do you not want to marry Kenton?” Emma told her what
she was thinking and that she wanted that more than anything. “Yes, most of them are
friends of the family, but a lot of them are here in the event that we have unwelcome
guests. They can be such a bore, don’t you think? Kenton and the others, they’ll keep
you safe.”
“You mean from the people trying to kill me?” Aisha nodded and smiled. “I
thought this was going to be just a few people. We say I do and go on with our lives the
way it has been. Maybe a little less stressful but, you know, onward.”
“I would imagine that some of this stress, as you call it, will go away in due time.
But for now, it’s what we’re dealing with and we’ll do well.” Emma thought the woman
was just too calm and asked her why. “I’m gaining a daughter today. Perhaps
grandchildren, too, out of this. And Kenton is happy. That in and of itself has me
thrilled beyond words. He loves you very much. And, believe it or not, I’ve fallen in
love with you as well. You are a treasure to us all, Emma.”
“Thank you for that. I love you as well. All of my new family.” Emma looked down
at the dress she had on. It wasn’t white, nor was it the most traditional dress she could
have worn. But it had made her feel pretty, and she needed that right now. “He and I
have a lot of things to work out, you know. I mean…my father left me all his money,
and I don’t know what to do with it. Or even if I want it.”
“I can understand that. He wasn’t in your life for a long time, I know that. But he
didn’t know where you were. And for some reason, I believe that as well. I would
imagine that finding you alive and not being able to take you into his arms was difficult
for him. It would have been for me.” Emma knew that too. Her father, in his way, had
kept her alive. And it helped a great deal in dealing with things to know that. “I’m to
understand that there is a great deal of money from him, as well as properties.”
“Yes. Just over sixty million in money, and almost that much more in lands and
holdings. I had no idea that he was that wealthy.” Aisha said nothing. “I’ve made
Kenton my partner in all of this. My attorney, Douglas, said that making him a partner
is better than just giving him access to all of it. I have no idea why, but that’s what we
did. He has just as much right to it as I do, and anything that I have, he does as well.”
“You are equal, I think is what he was saying to you.” Emma said that they were.
“And this wedding, the rushing of it, is that what this is about too?”
“No. I mean a little. Because we’re not married as yet, Kenton was left out of a lot of
things that Douglas wanted to talk to me about. I don’t care for that. And I love him.
We were going to marry anyway, but this makes it easier on both of us.” Aisha nodded
and smiled. “Did you know that your sons are afraid of you?”
“Yes. I encourage that. I would hope that you are a little as well, but I doubt you
will be. If you want to know the truth, you scare me a little too.” Emma asked her why.
“The way you handled those men that came to the house. You do know that I was
ready to invite them in, right?”
“Yeah. Well, I knew later. Jorden explained about the compulsion and that they
were making you do it. I’m learning. Did I tell you that I had a dream about you and
those men before it happened? Bart was there as well, and he shot you, I think.
Anyway, it wasn’t until afterwards that I remembered it. Dragon said that I saved
everyone by doing what I did.” Aisha asked her what the dragon said about it all. “He
has an opinion about everything, I think. But he’s right, saving you did make things
better for all of us. The dragon, you knew what he was, Kenton said. And that he’d
come back someday.”
“Yes. I had hoped that it would be in my lifetime, but I wasn’t sure. I’m glad, but I
have to tell you I’m terrified at the same time. Kenton’s dragon is beautiful. You gave
him that. But I do worry about what the others will bring with them when they bring
the other parts to us.” Emma nodded and walked to the window to look out. She was
nervous and needed a distraction. “Emma, the other person who is coming, do you
suppose she’ll be the mate to one of my other sons?”
“I do. I don’t know why, but I think that’s how it’s going to work. Dragon said that
the reason that Kenton can’t fly is because his wings aren’t here yet. I think I
understand that each part of him will give each of the men a part of their dragon too. I
don’t know what piece goes with what power, and Dragon doesn’t either, but I’m
nervous about that as well.”
Emma thought about Kenton’s dragon. He’d shifted last night while they were in
the yard looking over the property. She’d seen him before, of course, but she thought he
was bigger than before, and much stronger.
He was as tall as Kenton was, at just over six foot six. And he was big, muscular like
him too. The blue of his body was the same color as the ring she wore, and just as
brilliant. Scales seemingly moved along his body, brilliant against the stars that seemed
to be as much a part of him as they were the lights above his head. When he moved, his
colors seemed to capture parts of the earth, and he would pick up the greens, browns,
and any other color around him. It looked to her as if he could fade into them too.
His wings would open, but he couldn’t use them, they were told, until it was time.
It took them nearly an hour to figure out what time that would be. The dragon, it
seemed to Emma, was just as confused about things as they were. But Kenton wrapped
her in them. His wings had fit around them both and she felt safe, for the first time in a
very long time.
All parts of me have to be brought together.
She asked him what that meant.
I’m not
sure, my lady. The set of jewels must be here to bring forth that part of me that makes me whole.
That much I do know. As for the rest, I have been dormant for so long, I am no longer sure of it. I
think…I’m not sure, but I think some part of it will bring my wings out and all of you may use
them.
“So, of all the pieces that are coming here, you don’t have any idea which piece
brings what part of you awake? Nor what that means for the rest of us that have our
part here already.” Dragon told Kenton that he did not. “That’s not too terribly helpful.
You know that, right?”
“Emma?” Emma turned and looked at Aisha again, bringing her once again to the
present. She’d zoned out again and had no idea why she was doing that. “We’re ready
if you are.”
Nodding, she turned away from the window and then back. Someone was there,
just beyond the building across from her, and she thought she knew them. But it
couldn’t be. Why would her grandfather show up here, and seemingly alone, today of
all days? She moved to the doors just as they were opened, and she saw Dalton. And he
didn’t look happy.
“You saw him.” He nodded even though she’d not asked. “Did you talk to him?
Tell him to get the fuck out of here?”
“He wants to talk to you about something.” She nodded, waiting for him to tell her
that he told him no. “I think you should listen. If for no other reason than to clear the
air. He told me that there is a plan for you to be murdered on your wedding day, and
he’s glad that you didn’t do as you said. He knew that we changed the day to today and
not tomorrow.”
“You mean he wants to talk to me by him putting a bullet in my head?” She took a
slow deep breath when she realized how loud she’d been. “What did he tell you? That
he has had a change of heart and now wants to be my best bud?”
“He said that he had no idea that your mother was alive, and that he believes she’s
sleeping with his assistant. And that she’s plotting to have you killed.” Emma asked
him if everyone wanted her fucking dead. “I don’t. Neither does Kenton. Or the rest of
my family.”
“I don’t like you right now.” He laughed. “When does he want to see me? If it’s all
the same to you, I’d just as soon it wasn’t right now. I sort of have shit going on.”
“I told him that I’d talk to you and Kenton and then we’d set up a place where I’m
in charge.” Emma nodded, still not at all sure about this. “We’ll make sure that he’s
alone and not armed. And we’ll take him to the place from wherever we meet him
without his prior knowledge. He won’t be able to set things up so that you or the rest of
us are ambushed. You can trust me on this: he won’t be able to hurt you again.”
She wasn’t so sure about this, but they signaled for her to come to the judge’s
chambers. This was the best way, she thought, to get married. No muss no fuss. She
knew that Aisha was disappointed, but she agreed that it was safest.
After going to the dais and standing there, she looked around at the people that in a
few moments she’d be related to. Emma already loved them. Each of them were
friendly, loving, and polite to her. Well, everyone really. Aisha had done a very good