The Awakening (10 page)

Andy wondered if Diana knew that Clint had information on her household.

“You know, Andy, your cousin and his wife, what they are doing is admirable. But without this girl having steady employment a decent roof over her head, which is going to take some time… I hate to tell you this, but I wouldn’t count on her getting him back until she has all these things in place. She’s got too many strikes against her. She’s only twenty, a relative minor, under the legal drinking age of this state. The court does take all that into consideration: age, wisdom, knowing the best for her child. She’s barely getting by, forced to live on the street because she couldn’t pay rent, couldn’t feed her child. Child poverty is taken seriously, as is the fact that, through careless actions, she was fired with cause by your mother.”

That last comment had Andy gripping the chair arms. “Where are you getting all this? First of all, what my mother did was unfair. That was not Laura’s fault, and my mother withheld her salary…”

Clint cut him off. “For damages, which I understand doesn’t begin to cover the cost. She’s darn lucky your mother hasn’t gone after her for the rest.”

“What the hell, Clint? I was there. Where are you getting this from, anyway? My mother?”

Andy pulled back when he realized Clint knew something that he wasn’t telling. “You’ve talked to my mother, haven’t you?”

“Look, Andy, I’m the family lawyer. Your father and mother are the heads of the household. I have a responsibility to report to them.”

“What about lawyer-client confidentiality?” Andy didn’t like where the conversation was headed when Clint sighed.

“Andy, your mother is my client.” Clint tapped his fingers on the desk.

“Are you telling me you informed my mother of Laura’s situation?”

Clint stared for a minute and then nodded. “I had a duty, Andy. So is there anything else I can help with tonight?”

“Yeah, you can tell my mother she can…” He stopped and stood. He knew better. Clint may have been their family lawyer, but Andy now knew where his allegiance lay. “You know what? Never mind. Thanks for coming in, Clint.” He left, pausing just outside the door in the hallway, where he heard Clint speaking.

“He was just here. I told him… Is there anything else you want me to do?”

Andy felt poleaxed; he knew Clint was on the phone. He didn’t know who he was talking to, but he had a pretty good idea. He didn’t linger when Clint hung up the phone. He hurried out, taking the stairs and sitting in his truck for a few minutes before starting it and pulling out. It was too late to go out to Diana and Jed’s. They’d all be asleep, so he went home, but instead of going in, he went to the stables and lit up the round ring. He led Sugar, his Quarter Horse, into the ring and worked with her. It always helped him gain perspective.

After the guests started leaving, he snuck in a side door and retired to his room. All night, he tossed around what to say to Diana, to Laura, to Jed, whether he’d tell Diana about his visit to Clint. The next morning, as he pulled in to Jed and Diana’s, he didn’t know what to say.

They were all outside. Diana waved from the stables. Laura was in the corral, wearing a ratty brown coat and wool cap; she had rubber boots on her feet as she strode through the mud, dumping the contents of the bucket she carried into a wooden trough. She stared at Andy, her lips forming a thin white line.

“Good morning, Laura.”

She turned her back. Andy couldn’t remember the last time someone viewed him with such hatred that it bothered him.

“What brings you out here this morning?” Jed strode out of the barn.

“Wanted to talk to your wife, if that’s all right?” Andy said as he watched Laura latch the corral gate and enter the barn.

Jed followed his gaze. “Give her some time. She has a right to be angry with a whole lot of people, but she’s confused on who’s done what, so she’s thrown you right into the mix. Diana’s talking to her.”

Andy stared at his cousin. “We may have a problem. Didn’t sleep much last night after tossing around what my lawyer said.”

“Oh, and what is that?” Jed stepped closer.

“Paid him a visit last night. He pretty much said she’s not going to get Gabriel back now, that staying out here, crammed in with you two, won’t help her case. She needs a job, a decent roof over her head.” Andy stopped for some reason, not wanting to continue.

Jed, knowing him better than anyone, said, “There’s more, isn’t there? You may as well say all of it.”

“My mother is up to something and may have her hand in this.” Andy could feel Jed’s gaze heating up, and his stance hardened. When he looked at Jed, he could see a telltale flush tingeing his cheeks. His cousin was furious, and when he was this mad, he became very quiet.

“I don’t know for sure, but my lawyer brought up my mother firing Laura for cause, and he said Laura was fortunate my mother didn’t go after her for all the damages.”

“What the hell, Andy? What did Laura do?” Jed growled.

“Well, that’s the thing. It wasn’t her fault. It was an accident; she tripped and fell in the tree and knocked it over, breaking some crystal and spilling liquor on the carpet. I was the one who told her to get rid of the tree. I was angry at my mother for sticking it there in the first place.” Andy watched as Laura strode out of the barn, pausing to stare at Andy before she hurried into the house and shut the door.

“There’s one more thing. I didn’t want to mention it,” Andy said, and then he cleared his throat roughly when Jed’s eyes darkened.

“Oh, and what is that?”

“You’ve applied for funding to start therapeutic riding for disabled kids?” Andy hesitated.

“Don’t remember mentioning my business to you, Andy. So I guess you better tell me everything, because it sounds like someone’s messing around in my affairs.”

“My mother’s apparently has an agenda that focuses on me. Unless I make a plan to wed the senator’s daughter, your funding is going to come under scrutiny. When I said that I can help you get what you need, she laughed and said something about licensing problems, that hidden skeletons have a way of popping up. Jed, you don’t know my mother and her political connections.” Andy wondered if he had done the right thing in telling Jed.

“So let me get this straight. Your mother is blackmailing you to manage your personal affairs. She’s looking for your weakness, which, let’s say, is me. And let’s say that the reason for you to marry this powerful senator’s daughter is the heart of the matter. Have you figured out what your mother’s getting out of this?”

“Oh, yeah. Other than a powerful political ally, this is about good old-fashioned money and power,” Andy said.

Jed shook his head. “I’m the wrong man to mess with. You better go talk to Diana, but don’t mention the funding for the therapeutic riding. This is Diana’s dream, to help kids without a voice, and I’ll walk through hell to make sure her dream becomes a reality. Do you understand?”

Something passed between them, a trust that hadn’t been there before with Diana and Jed’s need to protect her. Andy inclined his head and walked into the barn. Diana was in a stall with Scarlett, grooming her and talking in a soothing voice. He watched her for a minute before Scarlett snorted.

Diana glanced up and said, “It’s okay, girl,” then kept brushing. “What brings you out here this morning, Andy?”

“Diana, when you were a kid and Dad and I had you thrown out that horrible night…”

Her hand froze, and she shot him a quick glance, filled with so much pain and anger, before she glanced down.

“I’m sorry, Diana, for what I did. You never deserved to be treated that way. But I need to know this: When we tossed Faye, you, and your sister out that night and burned your house, how did you survive? I mean, look what you’ve done with yourself. You’re respectable. You didn’t become your mother.”

Diana sighed and rested her brush on Scarlett, looking away. “That was a really hard time, Andy. I suppose I still carry it with me. I was always respectable, but I was judged for my mother’s sins, if you recall. I was just a kid trying to hold together a whole family, and I prayed every night that everyone would see me for who I really was inside. I even prayed for you to really see me, to love me. I just wanted the one thing we all want: love. I was young and foolish, Andy. Oh, I look back now and see it had to happen to get me here. But the end doesn’t justify the means.” She unlatched the gate and slipped out, sliding the lock back in place.

Andy watched her now. Just being around her, he sensed that she oozed with passion, beauty that made him want to spend every moment with her. How he envied Jed. He looked away first to break the spell. She was his cousin’s wife, and he realized now that he’d always love her. What had then made sense didn’t now.

“Jed’s a lucky man, Diana.”

She tossed the brush into the box on the floor and wiped her hands. “And I’m a lucky woman to have found Jed.”

He cleared his throat before they went any further down that road, the one that was best left buried. “We may have a problem.” Andy quickly explained his visit to his lawyer and what Clint had said about Laura. He hesitated but then decided to share his worries of his mother’s involvement.

Diana listened and nodded, but she grew quiet when she was thinking, and she frowned. She reached out and touched Andy’s arm, patting it, and said, “I need to go get changed and take Laura to see her son. But thank you. I already suspected we’d have trouble convincing the court that Laura would be able to support her son, get them a home of their own. Your mother, though, that makes me nervous, Andy.” She started to walk away and then turned back. “Would you be willing to testify on Laura’s behalf of her mistreatment and vouch for her character?”

“Of course I will. And Diana, would you mind if I came along with you and Laura to see her son?” Diana had the most brilliant blue eyes, and with her deep red hair pinned up in a haphazard bun and dirt streaking her cheek, he had to swallow to think clearly. “I’d like to be there to support Laura in some way. I can only imagine how tough it will be for her.”

“It’s going to be really emotional, Andy. Laura’s going to be a mess, and her son… I don’t know what to say about him. But maybe it might help, having you there.”

He gazed over her head when Laura stepped out of the house.

Diana touched his arm. “I’ll go get cleaned up.” She turned and jogged toward the house, calling out to Jed before hurrying inside.

Jed followed her in, leaving Laura outside. Andy took a deep breath before taking his first step to Laura.

Chapter Eighteen

The drive to the foster parents’ house took almost half an hour. They lived on a rural acreage, the forest and mountains majestically set in the background. The weather, though, wasn’t as pleasant. The rain and wind had kicked up, and the temperature was dropping so low that the rain most likely would turn to snow before the day was out. So, of course, Jed jumped in, and he, too, insisted that Andy drive. Diana explained as she climbed into the back seat how her husband never liked her driving when road conditions were questionable.

Just being around Diana and Jed, Laura couldn’t help but envy what they had. Jed made her nervous, but most men did. He was so strong, tall, and solidly built, and she never knew what to say around him. But she realized that Jed wasn’t a talker. Neither was she, for that matter. When the two of them were put together, the silence could become awkward.

Andy, though, was a mystery to her. He made her nervous. He oozed power, everything alpha, and she was baffled as to why he wanted to help her. Oh, she got the part where he felt responsible, but he was going above and beyond, and that made her nervous. No one ever went out of their way for Laura. Even with Diana, helping as she did, Laura kept half expecting to wake up to Diana telling her she had changed her mind, that she had to leave, that her problems were too much. But she hadn’t said anything yet, and neither had Andy.

Diana and Andy chatted. She knew that every time Andy took his eyes off the road and glanced her way, she could feel his concern, his caring, and she didn’t know what to make of it. He was, after all, far too attractive for his own good. And the truth was that he made her nervous not because he watched her in a way that was inappropriate, but because she had watched him in the same way. Every time he walked into a room in the estate, she’d hidden behind a potted plant, a door, anything for him not to see her, to notice her.

Andy was driving down a gravel road with trees lining both sides. He came to the end and braked. “This the address, 3620, Diana?”

Diana leaned over the seat. “Good eye, Andy. I never would have seen it.”

Andy turned down a narrow dirt driveway. A rotted sign with the house address was painted onto a board as if a five-year-old had done it. The broken board was tilted sideways. The driveway angled around and opened into a cleared-out dirt yard, with broken-down cars piled everywhere, a chicken coop that had seen better days, several old buildings, and a two-story house that didn’t appear finished. The outside was covered in tar paper, and piles of lumber and garbage were stacked beside the house. Andy parked behind what appeared to be half a dozen vehicles. Laura gazed at the porch, which had a punching bag hung by chains and an old sofa with a big dog lying on it.

“Diana, is this where my son is?” Her voice sounded weak. When she looked over, she didn’t miss the hard set of Andy’s jaw.