Love on the Sweet Side, page 21
A rider had fallen from a mount a few weeks back. It was the rider’s fault. Colton had told the guy not to kick his horse, but the balding, self-important jerk had fancied himself a Wild West cowboy. The guy kicked, the horse bucked, wannabe cowboy fell flat on his ass. The only thing he hurt was his pride, but he’d been ranting and raving about contacting his lawyer and suing them into the ground.
The guy had no case. Safety was top priority at the ranch, but accidents happened. They had every rider sign a waiver before they could even come within ten feet of a horse. Still, he was glad his brother—with his even temper—handled situations like this. He’d probably threaten to throw the lawyer and his asshat client in the pen with Thunder and let the stallion use them as a tap dancing mat.
Dade emerged from his office just as the sun was going down. It must have been some call, because his cool-headed sibling looked livid. Being the little brother, he had to take the opportunity to tease.
“Have a nice chat with the attorney?”
“Don’t start with me, Colt.” His brother stalked toward him. “I’ve been on the phone all afternoon with that guy explaining to him about the waiver his client signed. He’s trying to bring up all these chump charges against us, but he has no case. His lawyer knows it, but the guy is a big cash cow so the law firm is trying to find anything to bring us down.”
Dade removed his Stetson, running a hand through his short, dark hair.
Colton held up his hand in surrender, knowing when to stop. “Hey, I gotta talk to you about something.”
His brother raised a brow. “This have anything to do with the goofy grins you and Maggie were wearing this morning before you drove her home?”
Said grin tugged at his lips. “Maybe.”
“Congratulations.”
“You don’t even know what you’re congratulating me on.”
His brother slapped his hat back on his head. “No, but judging by the stupid expression on your face, I’d wager it’s good news.”
He resisted the urge to flip his brother the bird. “My expression is not stupid, and yes, it is good news. Maggie agreed to move in.”
Only now did it occur to him that he probably should’ve discussed it with his brother first, considering Dade lived there, too.
“That’s great, Colt.” His brother’s strong hand slapped him on the back. “So, you told her you love her?”
“Yup.”
“And she loves you, too?”
He rubbed the back of his neck, wincing. “Uh, well, she didn’t exactly say it, but she did agree to move in.”
Dark brows furrowed before blue eyes went soft. “Don’t worry. She does. Love you, I mean. I think she’s loved you since we were kids. Sometimes…women have their reasons for holding things back.” Dade slapped him on the back once again. “She’ll say it, little brother, don’t worr—”
The sound of a phone interrupted his brother.
“I think your pants are ringing.”
Startled, Colton pulled his cell out of the front pocket of his jeans. No one called his cell except for his brother or Maggie, and since his brother was standing right here…
Elation turned to disappointment followed by confusion as he realized the call wasn’t from Maggie. It was an area code he didn’t recognize. Solicitor? He didn’t think they had access to cell phone numbers. If it was someone trying to sell him something, they were in for a rude awaking. He was in no mood to be polite to someone who wanted him to buy crap he didn’t need.
“Yeah?” Rude right off the bat, that ought to deter them.
There was a beat of silence, then. “Is this Colton, Colton Denning?”
It was a soft feminine voice. She didn’t sound like a solicitor. In fact, she sounded scared.
“Who wants to know?”
“My name is Elizabeth Hayworth. I’m a friend of Maggie’s.”
“Lizzy?”
“Yes.” This time her voice held a note of relief. “She gave me your number in case of emergencies—”
“What’s wrong?” He cut her off, concern superseding suspicion in a heartbeat. “Is Maggie okay?”
“That’s the thing,” Lizzy said, voice shaky. “I was talking to her on the phone. She was in her shop, and then someone came to the door, I think. I kept screaming her name, trying to get her to tell me what was going on, but she just hung up on me.”
He could hear tears in the woman’s voice.
“Maggie would never hang up on me. Never.” She sniffed loudly. “And there’s more. I’m pretty sure I heard someone else there with her. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but it didn’t sound friendly.”
Shit, shit, shit!
“I’m really worried. I would have called the cops, but I don’t have the local number. Please, can you go check on her?”
“Dade, call the sheriff. Send him over to Maggie’s shop. Right now!”
Bless his brother. He didn’t ask what was going on or who was on the phone, just whipped out his cell and dialed Sheriff Ryder.
“Lizzy, I’m heading to Maggie’s right now. My brother called the sheriff.”
He ran, full sprint, to his truck. The ranch hands glanced at him, jaws wide open, but he didn’t care. He had to get to Maggie. That was his only concern.
Had Natalie been let out of jail? No, Ryder wouldn’t do that. Unless she made bail…or she wasn’t the attacker. He’d thought something was off when his ex clammed up in the interrogation room.
“Hurry, Colton. Please, she means the world to me.”
“Me, too,” he said, ending the call.
He put pedal to the metal as he hauled ass out of the driveway. This would be the fastest he ever made it into town. He wasn’t slowing down for anything, because Maggie didn’t just mean the world to him.
She was his world.
Chapter Thirty-One
“What’s going on Mrs. Brake?” Maggie tried to keep the tremble out of her voice as she spoke.
Natalie’s mother sneered. “What’s going on is that you can’t take a message unless it’s spelled out for you.”
Her cell phone started to vibrate again, but she kept her focus on the older woman. Kind of hard to pay attention to a phone when you had a gun pointed at your head. There was always the possibility the gun wasn’t loaded, but she wasn’t taking any chances.
“I tried for months to get you to leave town. Little hints, subtly. Should have known that wouldn’t work on a girl like you. No manners, no class, a selfish bitch just like your grandmother!”
Now that was too much. Gran had been a wonderful woman. She’d be damned if she let this crazy old loon talk poorly about the woman who’d taught Maggie her passion in life. Gun pointed at her head or not.
“Gran was a good woman.”
“She was a liar!” Deloris screamed, eyes going wide with rage.
The wrinkled, frail looking hand holding the massive gun started to shake. This was not a stable woman.
“Okay, Deloris. Why was my grandmother a liar?” If she wanted to get out of this alive—and she really, really did—she would have to be smart.
Gray brows drew together. “She promised me a job for as long as I needed. She said the store would be mine after she was gone. She lied.”
Deloris had worked for Gran? It must have been after Maggie left. She didn’t remember anyone working at the shop. Her grandmother never mentioned anything about needing help when they had talked on the phone. Guilt, for the way she abandoned her grandmother, swamped her. She shook it off. Now was not the time. She had to stay focused if she wanted to stay alive.
“You worked here, for Gran?”
Deloris huffed in irritation. Her mouth pinched, giving her the expression of someone who had just tasted a sour lemon. “Of course I worked here, you idiot. When you decided not to come out for the summers anymore, like the selfish brat you are, your grandmother needed help during the busy season.”
There was that guilt again.
“After my Carl died, I needed to bring in some means of living. The old bastard didn’t leave us a dime. Jackass liked to bet on the ponies. He was an idiot, too. Never won. Gambled away our life savings. The life insurance was gone after a few months. With Natalie off at school, I had to do something. Your grandmother offered me a job working for her. She promised to leave me the shop when she retired.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know. Gran never said anything about you working for her or leaving you the shop. Her will left everything to me. I would have kept you on if I knew you were an employee when Gran died—”
“I wasn’t,” Deloris interrupted. “That bitch fired me two years ago.”
That’s why she knew nothing of the old woman’s employment. Gran’s record keeping was not the best, and it only went back a year.
“Why did she fire you?” Her grandmother would never fire anyone without good reason.
Shuffling her feet, Deloris lowered her face. But not before a flicker of something close to shame fill it. “Money was tight. Natalie’s tuition was more than I figured on and I—I would have put the money back, once I got it. I was just borrowing it. Like a loan.”
“You stole money from the shop.” Yeah, that was a good reason to fire someone. “You could have asked Gran for a loan. I’m sure she would have given it to you.”
Her grandmother had been a very generous, caring woman. Gran tried to help everyone, but Betty Browning didn’t suffer liars. Once, Maggie lied about breaking a mixing bowl. When her grandmother discovered her fib, she had been grounded for a week. Not for the broken dish, but for the lie. Her grandmother had been nobody’s fool.
Wrinkled hands, shaking with anger, raised the gun. “I am not a charity case!”
She ducked her head, not that it would help. She was pretty sure she couldn’t dodge a bullet. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry.”
Deloris took a few deep breaths. Once the old woman appeared to have her outburst under control, she continued. “Betty fired me on the spot, even though she promised I could have my job until I didn’t need it. I still needed it.”
You probably shouldn’t have stolen money then. Not a wise comment to make, so she kept it to herself.
“I had to sell my home, my land. That land had been in my family for three generations! It killed me to sell it, but I needed the money. There was tuition to pay, and then Natalie wanted to start up a spa in town. I was able to put a down payment on the shop right next door.” The old woman sneered. “I figured when Betty died, we could expand into this place. I thought your grandmother would at least make good on her promise to give me the shop. But then you came to town.” Cold, dark eyes raked her with an ugly sneer.
A sickening thought occurred. “Deloris…did you—did you kill Gran?” She could barely get the words past her dry throat, but it was a valid question. If this crazy old woman was willing to pull a gun on her, then it stood to reason she may have done something to get Gran out of the way. In order to get what she thought was hers.
Mrs. Brake laughed, cruelly. “No. Mother Nature did that for me. Old women like us have death following us every day. I was content to wait her out. I knew with all those sweets around her, Betty would kick the bucket before me.”
Since her grandmother died of heart failure, she wasn’t sure that was entirely accurate. As far as she knew, sugary treats didn’t give you heart attacks. But Deloris was out of her mind, so logic wasn’t really the old lady’s forte.
“I was sure the shop was coming to me. I was going to give it to Natalie as a present. She always talks about expanding her spa. I even put in an offer with what little savings I had left.”
She had no idea Mrs. Brake had been the one trying to buy Gran’s shop. Not that it would have changed her mind.
“I could finally give my baby girl something worthwhile. More than that sorry excuse for a father ever gave her.” The older woman looked around, as if envisioning her daughter’s store in the cupcake shop. “But then you came to town and snatched away what was rightfully mine!”
She could say it had been Gran’s shop to leave to whomever she pleased. She could point out that Gran’s promise was broken when Deloris betrayed and stole from her. She could also mention Natalie’s store was hardly a spa. Bringing up all those points would more than likely get her another hole in her head—and not the kind you could put a piece of jewelry through—so she kept her mouth shut.
“After you rejected my perfectly reasonable offer to sell, I tried subtle hints to get your attention. Calling Pansy’s and changing your orders, switching delivery times, things like that.”
She owed Pansy’s an apology, big time.
“But you didn’t take the hint. So, I tried to be a little more obvious. I started attacking your equipment next, thinking you’d see how troublesome this all was and give it up. Move back where you belong.”
It had been Deloris the whole time? She never would have guessed. And now…
“When you were too stupid to grasp even that hint, I decided to go on full attack.”
The rock through the window. Her trashed apartment.
“But you just wouldn’t leave! Can’t you see no one wants you here?”
According to her, maybe. “Some people want me here.”
Cold eyes edged with crows’ feet narrowed. “Yes, I know. You’ve sunk your claws in that Colton Denning boy. Spread your legs for him like the slut you are, and he fell for it like a puppy dog.”
That was rather crude imagery for an eighty-some-year old woman. Did she kiss her daughter with that mouth?
“He’s not yours either, but you don’t care about that do you?”
“I never claimed Colton was mine.”
“But you took him anyway didn’t you? Took him away from my sweet Natalie.”
That did it! Time for this nasty woman to learn about the consequences of actions.
“Natalie cheated on him. That’s why Colton broke up with her. She was unfaithful. It had nothing to do with me. I wasn’t even here when they broke up. Besides, that was years ago.”
“They would have gotten back together, if you hadn’t shown up!” Deloris screamed with fury, waving the gun around. The woman was out of her mind. “But with you out of the way, I can buy the shop for Natalie, and then she and Colton can get married. Everything will be as it should.”
Change that to flat out delusional. Even if Maggie weren’t in the picture, Colton would never go back to Natalie. He didn’t love Natalie. He loved her. He told her so. Colton was a good man, a solid man. A man who meant what he said. A man who protected her, respected her, loved her. And she loved him, too.
Standing in front of a mad woman with a gun pointed at her face, she could finally admit that she loved her sexy cowboy with every fiber of her being. They could make it. They would make it. All she had to do was get out of this situation alive so she could tell him that.
Piece of cake, right?
“I was going to give you a choice to leave on your own, but I’ve changed my mind.” One winkled hand clenched into a fist. “My precious girl is in jail because of you. That requires punishment.”
Natalie, the necklace, it must have been—”It was your necklace?”
“A matching set,” Deloris said with a sniffle, her eyes tearing up. “Natalie got them for us on my last birthday. She’s such a sweet girl.”
Yeah, so sweet the other woman clammed up the second she knew it was her mother attacking Maggie. She could understand wanting to protect your mother, but Natalie had left the door wide open for another assault by withholding information from the police. And here they were. The wrong Brake in jail, and the other pointing the business end of a gun in her face.
“I’m sorry, Deloris.”
“Not as sorry as you’re going to be.”
That was such a movie line; fear gave her a momentary lapse in sanity, and she laughed.
Mrs. Brake took a step forward raising the gun higher. “You think this is funny?”
Maggie shook her head. Nothing about this situation was funny. In fact, it was pretty damn sad all around. She and Colton were just starting their life together, just admitting how they really felt about one another. Would she even get the chance to tell him she loved him?
Her phone vibrated again. Lizzy? Probably wondering why she hung up. Hopefully, she lived long enough to call her best friend back and explain.
No, she would live long enough. She wasn’t done with life yet. She had things to do, and a man to confess to. Leaving this earth without telling Colton she loved him was not an option. Deloris would have to be disappointed yet again, because Maggie refused to die today.
When the phone continued to buzz, Deloris grabbed it off the desk and threw it across the room. It slammed into the wall, shattering into pieces at the force of impact.
There went her lifeline. Guess I’m on my own now.
The old woman placed both hands on the gun, bracing to take the shot. Maggie knew she had to do something, quick, or she was done for.
“No one is going to miss you when you’re gone,” the crazy lady taunted.
“I will.”
Maggie’s gaze flew to the back door. As did Mrs. Brake’s.
“Colton!” She was equally happy and terrified to see him standing there. “Colton, get out of here.”
“Not a chance, Magpie.” He slowly made his way toward her. His gaze remained fixed on Deloris and her freaking huge gun. Which was now moving back and forth between the two of them.
“You,” the old woman hissed. “You broke my sweet baby girl’s heart. How could you?”
“Now, Deloris, you know that’s not true. Natalie and I were never right for each other. She and I both know that.”
“She still loves you.” Wrinkled lips frowned in protest.
“She just wants what she can’t have. Always has.”
Must be a family trait.
“No, no, no! This isn’t fair! This wasn’t how it was supposed it be!”
“Life often isn’t fair,” he said calmly, still making his way to her side.
