Authors: Ruth Cardello
Chapter Sixteen
C
harles picked up the magazine June had placed on his desk that morning and flipped it open to the page sh
e’d
marked with a folded paper that sported a round smiley face. H
e’d
made the list, “The Fifty Most Influential People in Manhattan,” and his bank account mirrored that accomplishment. Landing the Rawlings account had breached an invisible ceiling between him and those with real money to invest.
Which will make me even richer.
He threw the magazine in the trash beside his desk. Instead of hurting his business, his Internet video had brought him a level of celebrity that people in his line of work typically didn’t experience. People wanted to know the story of how h
e’d
met his equally famous “cowgirl.” Perhaps because neither of them had stepped forward with an interview, the press had run with their own versions and the story resurfaced now and then. There was even a trending YouTube fruit sitcom loosely based on them in which Melanie was played by a feisty apple and he by a bitter grapefruit.
And the initial video that should have faded into obscurity was now part of the Unleashed, Unchained tour. The rock band rereleased the song the
y’d
paired with the video as a single and was donating part of the funds raised to youth centers in New York City. Charles had negotiated for a portion of the profit to be awarded to Tanner and had tried to set up an account fund for him, but because he was a ward of the state, doing so had proved to be tricky. For the time being, Charles was putting Tanner’s share aside, to fund to him when he aged out of family services.
Charles’s phone line lit up. June said, “It’s Mr. Thorne, sir. Are you available for his call?”
“Put him through.” Once he heard his friend click on, he said, “I’m surprised you didn’t ring my cell.”
“I like to see how flustered your secretary gets when she knows it’s me. Is that wrong?” Mason asked.
“Yes.”
But not surprising.
Charles looked up at the ceiling and reflected on how patient his secretary had been with him over the past few months. Throwing himself into work had meant her time at the office had also increased, and he wasn’t positive h
e’d
always been nice to her during the push. Maybe a raise for her was appropriate. “Next time you come to my office, bring her flowers. I don’t want to lose her. Not too many flowers. I also don’t want you to sleep with her because—let me repeat myself—I don’t want to lose her.”
“One sorry-your-boss-is-an-asshole-but-please-don’t-think-this-is-a-come-on bouquet coming right up. Sounds interesting. I like a challenge. Back to why I called. You did it. You hit the top fifty. What’s the mood like in your office? Champagne? Streamers?” He lowered his voice. “Strippers?”
Charles sighed. “Yes, it’s a party with wall-to-wall naked women. I ordered five but they sent fifty. I’m giving them out as party favors.”
“I’ll be right over,” Mason joked back. Then, more seriously, he asked, “You realize this is a good thing, right? You can sound happy about it.”
Charles stood and stretched, putting Mason on speakerphone. “I am happy about it,” he said defensively.
“Did you call your parents?” Mason asked.
“No.”
“Did you call your sister?”
“Not yet.”
“Should I fly in and drag your ass out tonight?”
“No, I have a college fair I need to go to.”
“For that kid? You still see him every week?”
“Yeah, it’s important to him.” Then he admitted, “Important to me.” Charles paced in front of his desk. “In some ways I’ve helped him. In others, I’ve made it harder for him. He’s a bright kid, just angry. He doesn’t belong in a group home. No kid does, really. But I see real potential in him. H
e’d
do better if he stopped sabotaging himself.”
“You’re not considering adopting this kid, are you? I don’t want to be the bearer of unwelcome reality here, but he might think he won the lottery with you. You’ll adopt him, then he’ll kill you in your sleep. It happens all the time.”
“Really? All the time?”
“If you don’t think so, you don’t watch the same documentaries I do. Scary shit.”
“I’m not adopting anyone. Besides, he’s almost an adult.”
“You say that, but I haven’t believed a word you’ve said in months. I don’t know what happened to you. Oh wait, I do.
Melanie
.”
“This has nothing to do with her.”
“Right, and the sun doesn’t rise in the East.”
“I haven’t spoken to her in three months.”
“Because you’re stubborn. Not because you don’t want to.”
There was the crux of lying to a good friend—it never worked. “I called her several times when she left. What was I supposed to do, fly out there? Drag her back here? Beg her to forgive me for something I didn’t do?”
“Man, you
are
in a bad place. Two of your three suggestions sound reasonable. The other one might land you in prison.”
“For all I know, she found Jace’s father and is now living with him.”
“But you won’t know that unless you go see her.”
“If I go to Texas, I’m not leaving without her.”
Mason groaned. “That does not sound like a man who has moved on. How about toning it down just a tad and asking her out on a date?”
“I don’t want to date her, Mason.” He slapped both hands down on the table as he finally vocalized the feelings h
e’d
been holding in. “I want her here with me. I’ll marry her if that’s what it takes. It doesn’t matter anymore that she has a kid. I don’t care.”
Before Charles had a chance to hang up, Mason said quickly, “One last piece of advice? Work on your delivery. I hear everyone down there has a shotgun.
I’d
miss you.”
In Tony’s living room, with Jace at her side, Melanie shyly held up the letter documenting how well sh
e’d
done her first semester back in college. She wasn’t used to having attention focused on her, but Sarah had organized the dinner in her honor and had asked her to show off her grades.
Not much about the past few months had been easy, but she had forged through and come out the other side. Sh
e’d
taken a job at a convenience store in town that offered her flexible shift hours so she could be home when Jace wasn’t in school. She was slowly paying Tony back for the initial investment in her education. And although she was tired, she felt better about herself than she had in a very long time.
She was also incredibly grateful to everyone seated around the table. Each had contributed in some way to her being able to juggle her classes and Jace successfully. Sarah and Tony kept him occupied for an hour each evening with “chores” around the ranch, which Jace exchanged for riding lessons. David was working with him to write his name in a legible way. During the week, the evenings had flown by with Jace’s reading log, the occasional ride, and bath time. The full days didn’t end for Melanie when Jace went to bed. Those quiet hours at night were when she studied. She had completed just one semester, but added to the credits she already had, she only needed one more.
Melanie’s father said, “Don’t see what all the fuss is about. We always knew you could do whatever you set your mind to. Now, just get your sisters in college and I’ll be happy.”
Her sister Bunny shrugged off their father’s comment. “Dad, as soon as I’m eighteen, I’m moving to LA. I want to model. You don’t need college for that.”
“Even a model needs to know enough about money to hold on to it,” Melanie’s father had argued. “You’ll be enrolling in a college or you won’t be going anywhere.”
“Don’t waste your breath,” Melanie’s sister Natalie, said. “She’s as hardheaded as Melanie.”
Melanie’s eyebrows rose in surprise.
“Something I take as a compliment,” Bunny said to Melanie. “You’ve always done what you wanted to do and no one could tell you any different.”
Humility followed shock at her sister’s praise. She looked around the room at those who had gathered in her honor that night. None of them were new to her life. She thought about how desperately alone sh
e’d
felt when she really never had been. Her mother had tried countless times to tell her that over the years, but sh
e’d
never heard her.
Hardheaded? Yeah, I guess you could call me that.
Too hardheaded to return any of Charles’s phone calls.
I should have. He deserved better than how I left. Even though he didn’t make the offer I needed to hear, he offered what he could. And he was honest. More than I was with him.
She wished she hadn’t left without telling Charles about Todd. She wanted to believe that, given the same circumstances now, she would have woken him up that last morning in New York and not run away like a coward.
I’d
like to think that.
Just like I tell myself that if he calls me again, I’ll answer and apologize. It’s not his fault I’m an emotional train wreck.
Melanie looked across the table at her mother and said, “If I could go back in time, there are a great many things
I’d
do differently. And
I’d
definitely tell myself to listen to Mom and Dad more. The older I get, the wiser I realize they are.”
Her mother smiled. “Can I get a hallelujah?”
Chuckles broke out around the table. Even her father smiled, then in a serious tone he said, “We’re proud of you, Melanie. Now all you need to do is find yourself a good man.”
The table went suddenly silent.
Melanie’s face heated while some looked on with sympathy and others with amusement. “Dad—” she started to protest.
Her mother said, “Steve, do we have to talk about this tonight? We’re here to celebrate. Melanie will find someone when she’s ready to.”
“I’m sorry,” he said without sounding sorry. “There are plenty of men around here interested, but I can’t recall the last date she had.”
Melanie’s sister Katie asked, “What happened to not wanting any of us to date until we’re thirty?”
The father looked at his youngest sternly. “It’s still true for the rest of you, but Jace needs a daddy. Melanie’s not getting any younger. What’s she waiting for?”
The front door of Tony’s house opened and closed with a bang. One of the newer ranch hands came in and said, “One of those long, fancy limousines just pulled into the driveway. I thought you should know.”
David asked, “Is it Jace’s grandparents again?”
Melanie shook her head. “No, they said the
y’d
come back around Christmas.”
Sarah stood and clapped in excitement. “It must be Charlie.”
Melanie went pale. “Charles?” she asked weakly.
Jace went to stand protectively beside his mother. “Is that the man who punched Tony?”
Katie ran to the window and said, “He looks even better in person than he does in the video.”
“Who is Charles?” Melanie’s father asked gruffly.
Her mother laid her hand on his and said softly, “I have a feeling we’re about to find out.”
Melanie took her son’s hand. “He’s not usually like that, Jace. He was very angry that day because he was worried about his sister. He’s Sarah’s brother.”
“That’s the only reason he survived hitting me,” Tony said, pushing back from the table and standing up. “What’s he doing here?”
David stood, too. “I thought you got along with him now, Tony.”
“I did, until Melanie went to New York.”
Melanie stood angrily and glared at Sarah. “What did you tell Tony about me and Charles?”
Sarah blushed and sank into her chair. “Not everything,” she said defensively.
Melanie’s father rose from his chair. “What the hell happened in New York?”
Her mother put a hand on his arm to caution him. “Why don’t we let the kids sort this out?” When he didn’t budge, she turned to her daughters. “Could you girls take Jace in the kitchen for some ice cream?”
Bunny and Natalie agreed to do so, but Jace refused to release his mother’s hand. “Mama?” he said, trying to figure out what was going on.
Despite the wildly churning emotions within her, Melanie forced herself to smile down at her son. “Go, Jace. Be good and listen to your aunts and have that ice cream.”
“In my day, we didn’t bribe childre
n . . .
” Melanie’s father said, though he stopped when his wife elbowed him. Melanie sent him a silent plea and was surprised when he added, “
. . .
with ice cream alone. I hope you’ve got some cake back there as well.”
“Do you? Do you have cake?” Jace asked, shrugging off his mother’s hand and joining his aunts. “Mom doesn’t let me eat dessert except for on Sunday. Is today Sunday?”
“Today is an exception,” Melanie assured her son.
“I love ecleptons!” Jace exclaimed happily and trotted off to the kitchen.
Looking up to see Charles in the doorway of the dining room, Melanie didn’t have time to do more than smooth a hand over her loose hair and lament her choice of jeans and a T-shirt that evening.
“Sorry to interrupt your dinner,” Charles said. Nothing in his expression hinted that he was sorry. His face was carefully devoid of expression. “Melanie, we need to talk.”
“Now?” Melanie squeaked, then closed her eyes at her inane question.
“Now,” Charles said, softening his command with, “if you’ll all excuse us.”
Melanie froze, wanting to go with him, but she held back because of all she was afraid he would say. Was it his pride that had brought him there—to demand an explanation and that apology she knew she owed him? Or was it something more?
Sarah crossed the room and hugged her brother. After a brief exchange, Charles turned his focus back to Melanie and waited.
In the silence, Melanie’s father’s voice rang out clear. “If he’s here to court my daughter, why the hell did he come dressed like he’s going to a funeral?”
Chapter Seventeen
F
rustration replaced whatever anticipation Charles had felt about seeing Melanie again. She was even more beautiful than he remembered. She wore her long hair loose down her back and was dressed in casual jeans and a T-shirt, just as she had been the first time the
y’d
met. But today she looked entirely different. There was a confidence in her that hadn’t been there before.
It made him want her more, and he hadn’t thought that was possible.
So far, their reunion wasn’t living up to how h
e’d
imagined it. Foolishly, h
e’d
imagined her running to him, wrapping her arms around his neck, and kissing him with as much need as had been building within him the past few months. He had fantasized about how he would carry her off to the nearest bed and enjoy her physical demonstration of how sorry she was before claiming her, again and again, as his.
Clearly, his prediction of how this day would go needed to be adjusted.
Tony Carlton, his sister’s fiancé, stepped between him and Melanie and drawled slowly, “We didn’t expect you today.” His tone implied, “or want you.”
Sarah gave Tony a look of reprimand over her shoulder and hugged him. “But you’re always welcome.”
Tony made a noncommittal grunt behind her. “Depends on why he’s here.”
Charles stepped back from his sister, removed his sunglasses, and put them in the breast pocket of his suit jacket, meeting Tony’s glare with one of his own. “I don’t have to explain myself to you.”
Melanie’s father went to stand beside Tony. “Just who the hell does this city slicker think he is?”
Charles looked past her father to the other young men in the room. He addressed his question to Melanie. “Are any of them the Todd you told me about?”
Melanie shook her head but with an expression of sadness that confused him. Was Todd still part of her life? Had she found him, been with him again? A dark jealousy gripped his heart and squeezed even as he hated seeing her unhappy.
He had a hundred questions he wanted to ask Melanie, but none of them in front of the present audience.
A small male voice rang out, “Are you going to fight again? Mama tells me to use my words and not my hands when I get angry.”
Charles looked down into the serious and critical eyes of Melanie’s young son, Jace. He forced himself to relax. “Your mother is a very smart woman.”
Jace studied the expressions of the three men as he shoveled a piece of cake into his mouth. “What does court mean?”
Charles shook his head in confusion. “Court?”
Jace patiently explained, “Grandpa said you were here to court my mom. What does that mean?”
Charles looked across the room at Melanie. She had covered her face with both hands in mortification, but as her son spoke she parted her hands enough to watch the exchange. “It means I want to marry your mother.”
Melanie gasped and sat down in a chair. Her three sisters chattered in the background.
Sarah joined Tony and slid beneath his arm, hugging him tightly. “Don’t laugh at him—you were just as bad.”
Tony shrugged unapologetically and returned her hug.
“Is anyone going to tell me who this guy is?” Melanie’s father’s growled.
Melanie stood and walked across the room toward Charles. “Charles, these are my parents and sisters—Bunny, Natalie, and Katie. You’ve met David. Lucas, Sawyer, Austin, Gunner, and Travis are ranch hands. They’ve been here as long as I have.” She turned to her father. “Dad, this is Charles. He’s Sarah’s brother.”
“How do
you
know him,” her father asked.
Jace pulled on the sleeve of Charles’s suit until he looked down. “Do you ride horses?”
“No,” Charles said absently. Every inch of him was humming with anticipation again now that Melanie was headed his way. He didn’t care that the general welcome had been less than warm. All he cared about was seeing Melanie again and convincing her to leave with him.
“Do you fish?”
Charles thought about his brother and the lake h
e’d
drowned in and shook his head. “No.”
“Why are you all dressed up for church if it’s not Sunday?”
Melanie stood just behind her son, and Charles lost the ability to concentrate on anything but her. “It’s just a suit. I live in suits.”
Jace glanced over his shoulder at his mother and said, “I don’t like him. Let’s go home.” He took Melanie by the hand.
Melanie gazed down at her son for a moment, and a knife of uncertainty twisted in Charles’s gut. When she looked up there was yearning and a good-bye in her eyes. Todd or no Todd, it didn’t matter.
She’s walking away from me. Again.
If Jace weren’t holding her hand, sh
e’d
never get out the door, but what can I do?
“Melani
e . . .
” Charles said gruffly.
“I’m sorry you came all this way. I should have called you back.” She stepped away from everyone, still holding her son’s hand. “I can’t talk right now, and there is really nothing left to say except that I’m sorry about how I left everything. That was wrong. I’m taking Jace home now. Sarah, thank you for tonight. I wis
h . . .
” She let her words trail away and walked to the door. She paused before shaking her head and leaving with Jace.
Charles stood where sh
e’d
left him and cursed himself for being so wrapped up in Melanie that h
e’d
failed to connect with her son.
What the hell do I know about talking to a kid? What did I think, just because I’ve spent time with Tanner that I can do this?
Jace saw me for what I am—a poor choice for a father for him. I tell myself I’ve changed, put the past behind me, but even a five-year-old knows how full of shit I am.
Fuck.
The ranch manager, David, came to stand beside him. “The character of a man is seldom revealed when things go well.”
Charles didn’t look away from the door Melanie had left through.
That’s all I need right now, the Texan version of a fortune cookie.
Behind him, Melanie’s father said, “Looks like you have your answer, son.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Charles said with finality. “Not without Melanie.”
“I’m definitely moving to the city,” one of Melanie’s sisters said from across the room, fanning her face.
Sarah nudged Tony. “Do something.”
Tony asked, “What the hell am I supposed t
o . . .
” He looked down into Sarah’s eyes and then addressed Charles again. “Do you want to learn how to ride, Charlie?”
Charles knew Tony was being sarcastic, but he also knew that h
e’d
never been as sure of anything as he was about being with Melanie. It didn’t make sense. It didn’t have to.
It simply was.
“If that’s what it takes,” he said, challenging Tony to withdraw the offer.
Melanie’s mother walked over and stood directly in front of Charles. She raised her chin as she studied him critically. He held her gaze, unblinking. “Why do you want my daughter?”
Charles answered honestly. “Because she’s all I can think about.”
The older woman nodded her approval. “Then you take those riding lessons, Charles, and don’t let Tony give you any grief about them. But know that you can’t win my daughter’s heart unless you win her son’s first.
Her husband said, “I can’t believe you’re encouraging him.”
She smiled softly up at her disapproving husband. “My father tried to run you off with an old shotgun, but you kept coming back and you became as close as two coats of paint. Charles, you just worry about making our daughter and our grandson happy. That’s all we care about.”
“So you don’t care that he might steal them both away to God knows where he came from?”
“New York,” Charles said calmly. “I live in New York.”
Melanie’s mother asked, “Are you planning to ask her to move to the city with you after you marry her? Is that where you want to raise your children?”
“
I . . . I . . .
” Charles wasn’t a man who normally struggled for words, but her questions rocked him. “I hadn’t thought much pas
t . . .
” He blushed and continued, “
. . .
seeing her again.”
She reached up and gave him a sympathetic pat on the arm as if he were Jace’s age. Then she walked over to her husband and wrapped her arms around him, ignoring the sour expression on his face. She went up on her tiptoes and kissed her husband’s cheek. “I would have followed you to the ends of the earth if yo
u’d
asked me—and I wouldn’t have regretted one moment of that journe
y . . .
no matter what my father said.”
A blush spread up the older man’s face. “Why is it that after forty years, I still can’t say no when you give me that look?”
“Oh, gross,” one of Melanie’s sisters said from across the room.
Charles choked on an unexpected chuckle.
David made a similar sound and said, “Why don’t we have some coffee and dessert?” Everyone began to return to the table. “Do you have a place to stay, Charles?”
“I’m sure I can find a place in town,” Charles said smoothly.
Sarah left Tony’s side to hug her brother again. “I’m so proud of you, Charlie.”
“Because I’ve lost my mind?”
She whispered up to him, “No, because you found your heart.”
Melanie fought to calm down as she gave Jace a bath, read him his nightly stack of books, then tucked him into his bed with a kiss. Sh
e’d
have the rest of the night to overthink what Charles had said about wanting to marry her.
She was walking out of her son’s room when he said, “Mama?”
She turned back to look at him but couldn’t see his expression in the dim glow of his nightlight. “Yes, baby?”
“Are you mad at me because I didn’t like that man?”
Melanie let out a shaky breath. “No, honey. It’s good to be honest about how you feel.”
“Do you like him?”
“I do,” Melanie said softly. “I really do.”
Jace picked up a teddy bear and hugged it to his little chest. “Are you going to marry him?”
Melanie walked back over and sat beside her son on his bed, pushing a wayward lock out of his eyes. “I don’t think so, Jace.”
“Because he’s always so angry?”
Melanie smiled down at her son. “He’s not always like that. He’s actually a really nice man once you get to know him.”
“Lyle’s mom deported his father and married a new man. Now Lyle has two dads.”
“I think you mean
divorced
.”
“Nope. Lyle said his mom caught his dad cheating and threw all his stuff out the window of his house. He said she deported him.”
Whatever Lyle had called it, Melanie was sad that children went through those situations at all. It saddened her that her child had a word for it. She wanted to protect him from the harshness of the world, but the older he became the more she saw how impossible that would be. His world reached beyond the ranch and that was how it was meant to be.
His innocence twisted through Melanie’s chest. “I’m sorry that happened to your friend.”
Jace nodded solemnly, wise beyond his young years. “If you marry someone, will he be my dad?”
“If you want him to be.”
“What if he didn’t like me?”
Melanie swallowed hard as emotions clogged her throat. “I would never marry a man who didn’t love you as much as I do.”
“Does your friend like kids?”
Melanie rubbed her son’s arm reassuringly. “I don’t think he’s been around them enough to know if he does or doesn’t.”
“He doesn’t ride horses.”
“No, but he hasn’t been around them, either.”
“He doesn’t fish. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t fish.”
Melanie chuckled. “He lives in a big city, Jace. I’m sure he hasn’t had many chances to.”
“I could teach him,” Jace offered graciously.
Melanie ruffled her son’s hair. “You would do that?” She imagined Charles sitting with Jace on the rocks near their favorite fishing spot.
What would he do if handed a bucket of worms? Probably hightail it right back to New York.
“I’m really good at it. David says so.”
“You certainly are.”
“Maybe your friend would smile more if he fished. David says every man should know how to bait his own hook.”
“Then if I see Charles again, I’ll ask him if he wants to take a fishing lesson from you. Now go to sleep. You have school tomorrow.” She tucked the blankets tighter around her son’s sides, then stood and walked back to the door.
“Mama?” Jace said in the darkness.
“Go to sleep.”
“Don’t marry a man who doesn’t know how to fish.”
Melanie blinked back tears. “I won’t, baby. Now. Close your eyes and think about something happy.”
“Like kittens? Lyle’s cat just had kittens.”
“We are not getting a kitten. You have a dog. That’s all I can handle.”
“I’ll just dream about them. About how happy I would be if I had a kitten.”
“Good night, Jace. I love you.”
“Love you, too, Mama.”
Just outside Jace’s door, Melanie gave in to the emotions of the day. She leaned against the wall. Now that Jace was in bed, she didn’t need to pretend to be strong anymore. She covered her face with both hands and took a shaky breath.
Charles is here.
He came for me.
Said he wanted to marry me.
And I walked away from him.
She pushed herself off the wall and walked down the hall to her bedroom. On autopilot, she changed into her nightgown and brushed her teeth.
What else could I have done? Jace was there along with my parents. It wasn’t the time or the place for the conversation we need to have.
She padded back to her bedroom and picked up her phone.
No one is here now.
She scrolled to his number on her contact list and hesitated.
He’s probably on his way back to New York by now, wondering why he thought it would work between us. And he’s right.
She thought about how sh
e’d
let fear stop her in the past and pressed his number.