Page 40 of Taming His Brat

Your dad,

Jimmy

P.S. I kept paying Vicky long after you hit eighteen, just to keep her out of the picture. As long as she gets her money, she’s been content to stay gone, but I deliberately made no arrangements to continue after my death.

She’ll be notified by the lawyer as soon as it happens, so I expect it won’t be long before she comes around to see what she can get. You need to be prepared. I know it’s not going to be easy but try not to let her get the best of you, sweetheart.

She dropped the last page, letting it fall to her lap. For a while she just stared off into the distance. She wasn’t really even thinking about what she’d just read at first. It took time to work through the sheer avalanche of emotions the words had inspired.

Her father’s last words. She wished she had Sam there, holding her in his strong arms. It would have made it easier to face this final goodbye. It was going to take a lot of time to process everything he’d said. There was so much … so much she’d misunderstood, gotten wrong.

If she’d just opened the letter that first day … most of her anger and frustration would have dissipated. She couldn’t argue with his reasons, not now that she knew the whole story behind them. And sharing with Sam hadn’t turned out so bad.

There were many things about running a ranch that she had never seen when her dad was in charge. He’d taken care of all of it and everything she knew was just the physical side of things. She’d slowly learned through Sam that there was so much more to it and she was content now for him to be in charge. For now.

When it came to the stuff about her mother, well, that was harder to accept. The warm, loving woman she’d come to know didn’t seem anything like the woman her father had described. And yet—and yet, so many times she’d found herself agreeing to things just to make Vicky happy.

She wanted to hold onto the hope that maybe Vicky had changed over the years. People did grow up, maybe her mother had, but she was full of doubt now. If she’d opened the letter earlier and gone into the relationship with those doubts in place maybe she would never have given Vicky a chance at all, but now she was knee deep in a complicated mess.

She folded the letter carefully and tucked it into the undersized pocket of her skirt. She’d show Sam and they’d talk it over together before making a decision. He was her Daddy after all. It was his job to help her with the hard choices and back her up while she made them.

It was only then that she remembered hearing a truck go by and wondered if he’d gone somewhere. It was quiet in the house, so the argument was over at least. She’d go see what was going on.

Halfway down the stairs she heard her mother talking in low tones, and she wondered if Sam was still there after all. She paused and tilted her head to see if she could hear what they were saying. If they were still fighting, she was going to go right back upstairs until they were done.

But it didn’t take long to realize that it wasn’t Sam she was talking to. And since there was only one voice, it had to be by phone, but by then she’d heard more than enough to catch her attention.

“I told you not to worry about it. It won’t be much longer. The kid is desperate to have her mommy back and as soon as I get rid of the boyfriend, she’ll do whatever I say. She only wants the ranch because she doesn’t know anything else. When we get out of here, she’ll change her mind and we’ll figure out a way around the damn will.”

Vicky sounded so cold and mocking. It was like being stabbed with an icicle and Charlie restrained the urge to storm downstairs and tell her off. She wanted to hear more first. Every word was confirming exactly what her father’s letter had told her.

There was silence for a minute and then the sound of a dramatic sigh. “I haven’t gotten much out of her yet, but I’ll send you half. Try paying the bills with it instead of blowing it on junk. I’m not made of money and it’s going to take time to get Charlie to turn over some of that inheritance to me. I’m working on it but if I go too fast even she’d get suspicious.”

Charlie covered her mouth with both hands to block the angry words that wanted to pour out. She wasn’t even crying, not this time. She’d used up all her tears on the letter. Now there was only a cold pit of anger coiling up tight in her stomach, ready to snap.

“It will be easier with her stupid hick boyfriend out of the picture. He’s already run off. It’s only a matter of time before he up and quits. I can’t even imagine what she sees in him. Ugh.”

And that was enough of that. If she heard one more vile word about Sam, she’d explode. She quietly backed up the stairs and then started down again with loud stomping footsteps to alert Vicky she was coming.

By the time she got to the bottom her mother was off the phone and looking in her direction with one of her perfectly (fake) smiles. “Hi baby, sorry about the fight. I just couldn’t handle seeing him bossing you around. It really worries me that you let him control you like that. I mean—”

“It’s okay, mom. I know. I should probably go talk to him though … where did he go?” It took a major effort to keep her voice calm and she wasn’t sure she quite managed it.

“I—well, I’m sorry honey. He said some nasty things about being sick of us, and then next thing I knew he was driving off like a maniac. I’m not entirely sure he’s planning to come back.” She reached out a hand and settled it gentle on Charlie’s arm. “Maybe it’s time to just let him go?”

Charlie didn’t need to hide her upset. Vicky had given her the perfect reason to let her emotions show. “He—he left?”

“Oh, honey … men are just—you really can’t trust them to stick around through the hard parts. But you have me now.” She pulled Charlie into her arms, hugged her, and patted her back gently.

A few hours ago, it would have soothed her, but now Charlie felt nothing. She was distant from the manipulations. She could see Vicky choosing exactly what expression to wear. It was so obvious now that she wondered how she’d ever been fooled. She supposed it was because she’d wanted to be.

She gently untangled herself from Vicky’s arms and stepped back. “Hey Mom? Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course you can, Charlie. That’s what mothers are for. I’m still getting used to it but I—”

Charlie cut her off. “Why did you act like you didn’t know Jimmy was dead when you showed up?”

“What?” Her head titled to the side with a complete look of confusion. “Because I didn’t know. How could I have?”

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