Page 10 of Taming His Honeydoll
Chapter 3
“Ithink Emma has sufferedsome sort of shock, but she doesn’t want to talk to me. I’m afraid to let her drive though. I was hoping to talk her into going to the Nickelback Coffee Shop with me and having a hot drink,” Chessy explained to Ty.
Emma just sat there ignoring them both. A part of her wished she could just hand off all her troubles to someone else and let them handle them, but she knew that wasn’t possible. Maybe if she didn’t look at them, they would magically disappear, like they were a figment of her imagination.
No such luck.
She cringed when Ty opened her door and put his hand under her elbow. “Up you come now, Emma,” he ordered with quiet authority.
“No,” she replied desperately, trying to shake Ty’s hand off. “I don’t want any coffee, just leave me alone.”
“You will come with us right now, young lady, or I’ll call Oliver and we’ll wait here together until he gets here. What’s it going to be?”
He reached in and took her car keys and Emma crumpled in defeat. How did they do that? Ty, Oliver and Oliver’s best buddy Nat were exactly the same. They all had that innate ability to make an immediate decision and then pull it off with all the authority in the world. No dithering, no agony of indecision rolling around in your tired brain, no self-doubt. If they could sell that macho groove, they’d be richer than Croesus.
“Fine, I’ll have a cup of coffee,” she retorted, pulling herself out of the car and marching across the parking lot. Now that the initial shock of the banker’s words was wearing off, her feelings were resurfacing, and the dominant one at the moment was anger at Ty’s highhandedness. “But I’m not talking to you,” she flung back over her shoulder.
“I think she’s on her way to recovery,” Chessy offered with a giggle at Ty’s expression.
“Someone needs to take that young woman over a knee,” he replied with a frown.
Ty ordered coffee all around after they sat in a booth inside the cheerfully decorated coffee shop. The black and white checkerboard square décor was very retro with all the chrome and red leather seat covers.
Emma caught their concerned gaze and flushed. “Look, I’m sorry if you were worried, Chessy. But I have to solve my own problems without calling for my brother to save me all the time.”
Chessy nodded. “I can understand that. It’s the way I felt after my dad died and I didn’t want to have anything to do with my grandfather. But sometimes we all need a little help once in a while. If there’s anything we can do to help, just let us know. It can stay between us, right Ty?” She looked over at her husband.
Ty’s expression was a bit more guarded. “I can concur on a certain level, Emma,” he said kindly. “But family is family. It’s who we go to when we are at our lowest. I’m more than willing to help if I can, but I won’t promise not to tell Oliver if I think it’s important enough. There’s independence, and then there’s just plain pigheadedness.”
Emma bit her lip. She was pretty sure he was referring to her as being in the pigheaded category. She studied him from beneath her lashes. He was always so confident and sure of himself. Maybe he might know something about the law. Before she could change her mind, she took the plunge and threw it all out there in one long breath.
“Okay, I need some legal advice. Henry and I were given our home as a gift when we married. Now we’ve decided to sell it but the bank just called and said Henry’s parents had a codicil attached to the loan that states the gift was only in effect as long as Henry and I were married. Since we are now divorced, they can take the house back anytime they want. They have plans to sell it themselves and I’m on official notice to be out in thirty days. They will be putting bank locks on the house after that. Is that legal?” She dragged in a deep breath and waited.
Chessy’s eyes widened. “Wow, that’s crazy,” she retorted, shaking her head. “Why would they do that? Where will you and Levi go?”
Ty frowned and put his hand over Chessy’s. “Are their names on the deed?”
Emma shook her head. “No, just me and Henry’s names are on the deed. I looked the whole thing over and I didn’t see any codicil attached to the papers either. The banker said they didn’t attach it to our copy of the deed. At first, I was really shocked, as Chessy saw. But now I’m starting to get angry.”
“Let me make a call,” Ty instructed sliding out of the booth. “You girls finish your coffee—I’ll be right back.”
“He’s not going to call Oliver, is he?” Emma asked Chessy anxiously. “I don’t want to bother him with this, I can take care of myself.”
Chessy stared curiously at Emma. “I’m sure Oliver would be on your side. Why are you so reluctant to tell him about this?”
