Page 5 of Rancher's Pride

CHAPTER FOUR

FALLON

Present Day - Three Years later

Cutlery screeching and scraping across the fine bone china plates was the only sound in the huge dining room. My husband, Andrew, sat across from me, but the table had the ability to seat twelve comfortably. It felt like we were in different zip codes, even when we were in the same room.

He must have felt me staring at him because he lifted his eyes from the plate, gripping his knife in one hand, and his fork in the other, his knuckles white as they strained against his tight grip. I waited for the outburst that was inevitable.

Would it be because the chicken was too dry? Ormaybe because he’d wanted rice instead of mashed potatoes? This morning it was because I’d laid too close to him. My lip felt like it was ripping apart every time I opened my mouth.

The back hand I’d received this morning split my bottom lip and no matter how much salve I applied, it kept pulling open. How had I let this happen? I’d agreed to stop working, I’d allowed the isolation, and now I’d been so lost after I found out I was pregnant. When I looked in the mirror, I saw a shell of the person I’d been once, but I hadn’t forgotten who I was.

His cell phone buzzed on the table. He didn’t even look at it, just grabbed it and walked out of the room.

It was her.

She had her own ringtone, and I’d figured it out months ago. I knew better than to question him. Sitting at the table, I put my hands in my lap, waiting for him to return so I could finish my meal. His rule was we ate together, and if he left the table, I waited for his return. Her calls sometimes lasted minutes or hours. The calls that lasted hours always resulted in him returning in a happier mood. It made me want to vomit.

He rushed back into the room, downed the wine in his glass, and threw his napkin on his plate. “I’m leaving. Don’t wait up, I doubt I’ll be back tonight. Chrissy isn’t feeling good. She’s pregnant with the boy you couldn't give me.” His eyes lit up and his smile was ridiculous.

Bile rose in my throat, but I kept a sweet smile onmy face. He seemed so proud with his chest puffed out and that stupid smirk on his face. What kind of man was proud he’d knocked up his mistress? I gripped the napkin in my hand. Flying off the handle would only give him another reason to hit me. I didn’t care that she was pregnant. I didn’t even care about her or the fact that she’d been my best friend for five years. She knew what he’d done to me, and yet, there she was, sleeping with him behind my back, pregnant with his baby. I suppose his affair wasn’t awful. His temper wasn’t as bad when they were happy together, and it had given me the time I needed to plan my escape.

Pushing my chair away from the table, I grabbed the plates and set them in the sink. I reached for the plug and stopped. Why was I worried about the dishes? This wasn’t my home, it was his, and I was leaving tonight.

No, I was leaving now.

Rushing to the basement, I grabbed the suitcases I’d had packed for Josie and myself two months ago. Andrew never went to the basement, and certainly never went into the back corner without an overhead light, full of dust and cobwebs. He thought it was creepy. What kind of grown man was afraid of a basement?

It was laughable compared to my dad and brother. They weren’t afraid of anything, always there to stand up for someone who needed it. “God, I miss you, Dad,” I whispered as I climbed the stairs. He would have gotten me out of this situation the first time Andrewput his hands on me. No. He wouldn’t have allowed any of this to happen in the first place. Kipp wouldn’t have either, but I quit talking to him and the rest of my family since the man who meant the world to me died. I couldn’t handle the grief of living without him, and being in Montana was the last place I wanted to be.

Kicking the door to the basement closed, I looked around the large mansion. There was nothing of mine. Andrew had hired a designer who only cared about his tastes and preferences and he’d made this his castle.

The sound of the zipper reverberated through the empty house. It was just a house, not a home. I’d grown up in a home, one that was full of love and laughter. This wasn’t a home. There was no love here, no true happiness other than Josie, it was only a place to live.

The manilla envelope felt like gold in my fingers as I pulled it out of the suitcase. I’d signed the papers the day I’d gotten them, so I set them on the table. Reaching in for the note I’d written that same day, I read it over again.

Andrew,

Please sign the papers where the blue tabs are and return the papers to the Gonzalez Law Firm. They are expecting them.

Good luck withChrissy.

Fallon

I signed my real name, not the one he preferred to call me. Andrew always thought Fallon was too flighty of a name, so he used my middle name, Lynne, instead. Inhaling deeply, I climbed up the stairs to the second floor. I quietly opened Josie’s door and had to smile at her sleeping. She always had a slight smile on her face, as if nothing bad ever penetrated her little world. Hopefully, I had been successful in that. I always hid my bruises and keep our fighting away from her. She didn’t ask to be here and she shouldn’t have had to suffer that because of me.

I went to the side of her toddler bed, and kneeled down, rubbing her back to wake her. “Josie, wake up, baby. We're going on an adventure. We have to put our coats and shoes on.”

Her precious gray eyes peered up at me through a haze of sleep. “A venture? Where, Mommy?” She didn’t even wait for a response.

As if lightning had struck her, she was up in a flash. Darting around, getting her shoes and coat and filling her backpack with ‘friends’. “I'm ready now. Let's go on our venture!”

I gathered up the rest of our stuff and guided us out to the car. As I was securing her in her car seat, she placed one of her little hands on my face. “Daddy go too?” I clicked the last buckle in place and gently cupped her chin.

“Not this time, munchkin. Daddy has work.” It was all I could think to say. “It's otay, Mommy. Daddy notsfun anyway.” She scrunched up her face, and I was oddly relieved that she wasn’t going to fuss about leaving.

“He just doesn’t have the awesome imagination you have, kiddo, that's all.” I smiled and kissed her cheek. The garage light caught my engagement ring, and I tried to pull it off my hand, but my fingers were swollen, so I licked the band and pulled. Still no movement. Moving to the workbench, I found a pair of tin snips. Andrew had insisted he needed all these tools, and the only person who’d used them was me, mostly because I was the only one that knew how.

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