Legal Heirs - Box Set Edition: Books 5-8 (Surrendering Charlotte Chronicles) (19 page)

“You don’t even know what that means you little pisser,” Matilda rolled her eyes and followed a young man out the front door, slamming it dramatically.

“Yes I do,” Cuatro yelled at the closed door, “it means you’re a dick and an idiot!”

Charles took Cuatro by the hand and escorted him up a wide stairway and Belinda finished her Mojito and said she really had no idea where children learned such things.

“We learn them in school,” Atticus said and didn’t miss a beat as he played on the floor with his and Cuatro’s toy ships.

“What’s a dick?” Hadley asked, her huge blue-grey eyes looking from Charlotte to Bly.

“You’re both going to private school next year,” Charlotte said, and Bly just laughed.

“Do you wanna see the horses, Alex?” Atticus asked, he was standing in front of Bly suddenly and motioned for Bly to follow him outside. Bly followed him willingly, turning to Charlotte with a euphoric smile. “You can come too, Mom, but you can’t come see the horses in a princess dress, Hadley,” Atticus said as he went out a set of tall glass doors.

“I don’t wanna come with you, Atti, and I’m not a princess, I’m a movie girl. I’m the star in a Disney movie not a real princess, I’m just pretending,” Hadley said and bowed grandly.

*

“Granddaddy is teaching me to ride, this horse is named Chief, he’s my favorite,” Atticus said, slipping under a metal fence and into a corral.

“Atticus no, come back here,” Charlotte called to her son, but he was walking fearlessly toward the horse and Bly climbed the fence and was next to him in a flash.

She watched the boy and the man as the horse approached them, Bly reached out a hand and stopped Atticus from going any farther. The horse was an Appaloosa, a large bay colored stallion with a blanket of white markings on his hindquarters. Charlotte felt a chill run through her as the horse tossed his head and snorted with the whites of his eyes showing. Bly pushed Atticus behind him but Atti spoke softly to the horse and it quieted and lowered its head to nuzzle his hand.

“He only likes me, the wranglers haven’t been able to break him yet,” Atticus said, smoothing his small hand over the horse’s nose and scratching behind its ears as the horse lowered its head further. “Everybody else is afraid of him, but he’s just a little wild and lonely. I should have brought him an apple or a carrot, he really loves those. You have to be careful though, have you ever fed a horse, Alex? You gotta be real careful and keep your fingers curled under or they might accidently get bitten off!” Atticus smiled up at Bly with a look in his eyes as wild as the horse’s.
He loves it
, Charlotte thought, at seven years old he was drawn to the risk of standing in a corral with something that was huge and savage and untamable.

“I do know about horses, Atticus, I played Polo while I was away at school,” Bly said, walking slowly backwards, pulling Atticus gently away from the horse. They climbed back over the fence and Charlotte let out a long breath. Her face was ghostly pale and Bly didn’t want her to know how dangerous it was for anyone to boldly approach an unbroken stallion.

“Atticus!” Charlotte said, her voice high and sharp, “don’t you know how unpredictable a horse like that can be? Dammit do you want to give me a heart attack?” She leaned down and scooped him against her burying her face in his unruly black hair and hugging him madly.

“Mom don’t say naughty words, it isn’t polite,” he said, and flashed a million watt smile as he grinned up at Bly. Bly tried hard to hide his smile, this was his son and Charlotte’s son, a combination that was awesome to behold.

They rode around the ranch in a golf cart and Atticus sat on Bly’s lap and steered and chattered nonstop. He was a boy who liked to have his way and like Bly, he could mesmerize with a glint in his eye and way too much charm. He had Charlotte’s killer style of winning an argument and having people see things his way. Finn’s influence had marked him with a big hearted spirit and true kindness, and also a powerful need for adventure.

“Would you like to go to a school where you can ride horses?” Bly asked and Charlotte shot him a look but he wouldn’t face her. “There’s a school called Country Day Preparatory, I think you’d like it, Atticus. Polo is one of the sports they offer and La Crosse and soccer…”

“I am the best at soccer,” Atticus interrupted, “my dad coaches my team cause he’s a great player. He’s from England so he calls it football, but it’s okay, I like the way he talks and nobody knows more about cool stuff than my dad. You should come see me play sometime. I have soccer camp next week, do you know where San Diego is? You could come see me in action.”

“Yes, I know where it is, I live in San Diego too.”

“How did you get here? Texas is a long way, you have to fly,” Atti said and swerved the golf cart to miss an armadillo slowly crossing the dirt road. “Those are usually road kill, and there are lots of rattlesnakes out here too.”

“Okay that’s it, we’re going home; this place is too dangerous. Ugh, I hate snakes,” Charlotte said.

“Oh Mom, it’s not dangerous if you know what you’re doing. I decided I might not be a Navy SEAL after all,” he said, to which Charlotte said ‘thank goodness for that’ and Bly asked what he did want to be when he grew up. “A Navy pilot, that’s what granddaddy’s son was, it is so cool. You have to be the best at flying cuz you land on a ship in the ocean. I am going to do that Mom, so don’t worry about me doing dangerous stuff anymore.”

Charlotte laid her head back against the seat and closed her eyes, “Atticus, my days to worry have just begun, I’m afraid,” she said and sighed heavily.

“Atticus did you get to fly in Belinda’s jet when you came here?” Bly asked, they were driving aimlessly among the wild beauty of south Texas. Live oaks, mesquite, scrub-cedar, and brush were sprinkled across gently rolling hills and long eared jack-rabbits and roadrunners skittered in and out of view.

“Yes but she wouldn’t let me go into the cockpit, I could see the pilots but they told me to stay back,” he said with a look of annoyance.

“Well I have a jet here at the ranch, its sitting on the runway. If you’d like I’ll have my pilots take us up and you can take the controls and fly.”

Atti’s face burst into the biggest smile Charlotte had ever seen and he shouted, “YES! Woohoo, I get to fly a real jet!”

“So you’re going to play dirty, huh?” Charlotte whispered in Bly’s ear as Atticus ran across the tarmac and climbed the steps to the jet.

“I thought you liked it when I play dirty, Charlotte. At least from the sounds you made when you and I played,” Bly said and took her hand as she walked beside him.

“You don’t play fair, Bly. What do you want to do, send him off to school in Switzerland? You have a say in his life of course, but don’t hurt me through him. I will never let you send him far away from me,” she said and stopped squarely in front of him and her eyes were deadly serious.

“Country Day Prep is one of the best private schools in the nation and it’s in San Diego. He doesn’t have to live there as a boarder, he’ll be home at night… with us. I don’t want him living away from me any more than you do,” he said, brushing his thumb across her pouty bottom lip. “I told you I wouldn’t send a child of ours away.”

“Your twins are at boarding school in Switzerland, how can I be sure that you won’t…”

“The twins don’t have a mother who cares about them. The same nannies they’ve had all their lives are with them at school. I made special arrangements for that. When I’m not at
your
beck and call or tending to whatever needs my mother or Amanda throw at me, I work twenty-four-seven. I have an apartment in Geneva and I see my children at least once a month. Don’t judge my life, Charlotte. As I’ve already made quite clear, it would all be different if you and I were together,” he had to fight not to cover her mouth with his as he stared down at her. His love for her was stronger than ever now that he had met the wonderful little boy who had come from their passion and love. Charlotte also made him mad by judging him and his erection pressed hard against her as he pressed her body to his.

“Hurry up,” Atticus yelled from the doorway of the jet, “let’s go, let’s go!”

“You heard him,” Bly said, letting Charlotte go reluctantly. “What he wants, he gets.”

“No Bly, I don’t want him raised in some hermetically sealed life where he has a body guard and you will indulge his every whim,” Charlotte said, catching Bly’s arm before he walked to the jet.

“We’ll raise him the same way you have been, Charlotte, he’s a great kid. I want you to be with me, to marry me, for the love of God, and I’ll never give up on that idea. If you’ve suddenly changed your mind and have some romantic notion about your life with Finn… well, you always do what you want in the end. The truth is out in the open now, he
is
my son and whether you like it or not, he was born to a life of privilege. He has to be prepared for what will be handed over to him. He will go to Country Day and I think your daughter should attend the school as well so they can be together. I won’t budge on that point, he needs to understand the mechanics of society and an empire he’s destined to control.”

*

“Mom, you’ve gotta see this cockpit, come sit with us,” Atticus called over his shoulder. Once the jet reached its cruising altitude Bly had unfastened their seat belts and taken Atticus to sit in the copilot’s seat. He was in heaven, Charlotte could see that, and what little boy wouldn’t be? He asked the pilot a million and one questions and Bly kneeled between them and smiled and watched and listened to his son. Bly was different with Atticus, she could see that as well. He was softer and less tightly wound, he laughed constantly and genuinely and his sea-glass eyes sparkled so that it was impossible for her to look away. He was like a father holding his new born baby for the first time, Bly was hopelessly in love with their child.

It was nearly dark when they landed the jet and Charles was waiting to drive them back to the ranch house. He was quieter than usual, he hadn’t spoken to Charlotte or to Bly. He just listened as Atticus rattled off a rapid fire account of the day’s adventure.

“Go on inside and get cleaned up for supper, Atticus,” Charles said, and he told Charlotte and Bly he wanted to talk to them in the study. “What’s going on here, Bly? Are you so selfish that you’ll break up my daughter’s family to have what you want?”

“Charles, that boy is my son, now maybe you knew that or maybe you’re a fool, but I’m entitled to what’s mine,” Bly said, settling casually into a chair facing Charles.

“I’m no fool, but I know what’s right and the child loves his father. He loves Finn and you will cause him a world of pain if you try and change that now, is that what you want? Is it what you want Charlotte?” her father asked as he chewed the end of an unlit cigar.

“Dad, I want…”

Bly’s cell phone rang and he cursed and answered it, “Billy, what is it? I’m in the middle of something important. When? Alright, assemble a team and get on it, find him and do it quickly.”  Bly closed his eyes then ran his hand through his hair before he stood up, “I have to go back to California. My cousin Bennet is missing. He was being transported from prison to a psychiatric facility, he killed the driver of the transport van and two guards as well. The guards were shot and the driver’s throat was cut. There’s a statewide man hunt and Billy Kipling will put together a group of operatives to find him and deal with him one way or another. Charlotte and the kids should stay here until we find him, Charles. Do you understand that Charlotte? I don’t want you to leave this ranch until he’s been found. Are you listening to me, this is serious,” Bly snatched her out of her chair and kissed her, he didn’t give a shit what Charles Tremont might think. Bennet Sommerfeld was out there and he would want to settle a score with the man who shot him and put him in prison. That man was Finn and his wife and children would most certainly become his targets.

“We’ll stay until I hear from you,” Charlotte said, and her face was flushed as she glanced at her father.

Chapter Five

Charlotte worried about Bennet Sommerfeld being loose in the world. She knew he was probably scheming to kill her and Finn, or worse yet, the children. The murders he had committed were horrific and it chilled her to the bone to imagine that she had been his target years before. She kept her mind busy by spending quality time with her kids including Matilda and Cuatro. Hadley slept in a guest bedroom with Charlotte and late at night Matilda would come in to lie across the end of the bed and talk. She was a wealth of knowledge in all things concerning fifteen year olds. Matilda liked confiding in Charlotte, she said, mainly because her own mother was clueless and too old to be cool.

She confided in Charlotte that she wanted to be kissed by an exceptionally handsome boy and that she already had a lot of practice. None of the boys she knew rocked her world, there were only the red necks that worked on the ranch and a couple of preppies from school who were mildly interesting. All the guys she had let kiss her were sappy fools and nowhere near worthy of her attention. The man she would love had to be blazing hot and sexy, and definitely brilliant. She wanted a convertible Bentley and no matter what her mother said, she was getting one when she turned sixteen. Most importantly she intended to be a lawyer and the first female president of the United States. Other than that she couldn’t wait to get out of Texas and live anywhere that people weren’t stuck in the dark ages, maybe California where smoking pot was legal.