Читать книгу Heartsong - Sara Walter Ellwood - Страница 8

Typical for an early September day in Central Texas, the day of the funeral dawned warm and bright. In the graveyard behind Bluebonnet Creek’s nondenominational church, Gabe stood by the side of the graves, suffocating in his new suit, which was much too warm for the hot day. He’d bought it yesterday in Brownwood, since he hadn’t brought anything suitable for the double funeral with him.

Bluebonnet Creek’s citizens, along with the ranchers and farmers in the surrounding area, turned out for the funeral. Beyond the white picket fence, Gabe spotted several local reporters; a few from as far away as Dallas were mixed with them. His father had been a respected businessman and rancher while Frankie had been an emerging artist, not to mention the estranged daughter of a local billionaire. Legitimate news agencies stayed back, recording their pieces for their eleven o’clock shows. The paparazzi weren’t as respectful of the mourners. He’d hired security to keep them back, but many were still trying to get pictures of them.

Normally, he didn’t mind the attention the media gave him, but today the jerks were pissing him off big time. They didn’t just want his photo; they were after his never-seen-before little brother and the woman Gabe had once been engaged to.

Jesse sniffled beside him and tightened his grip on Gabe’s hand. His little brother was doing his honest best not to cry, but the wet tracks running down his cheeks betrayed Jesse’s pain. Gabe’s heart broke for his brother’s loss, despite his confusion over his own emotions. He held nothing but numbness in his heart for the man they shared blood with and for his wife--a woman Gabe had once considered his best friend.

Gabe glanced at Michaela. She had her arm wrapped around the shoulders of the boy between them. They’d put their past aside for a few days while they worked together to arrange the funerals.

Grief had taken a toll on Michaela. Her once vibrant blue eyes were dull and red rimmed. She’d used makeup to conceal the smudges of dark circles under her eyes, which only made her fatigue more noticeable.

The black dress and low heels were also anomaliesy. She never wore anything but jeans and boots. Considering the circumstances, he shouldn’t have noticed how the jersey fabric fit over her breasts and hips and stopped just above her knee. Despite her pantyhose, the fabric showed off her long, toned legs in a way he hadn’t seen in a long time.

He looked back at the burnished bronzed caskets. Although he didn’t feel shame for his attraction to Michaela during this moment, Gabe reminded himself of the pain she’d caused him.

The narrowed gaze of the man standing on the other side of the grave drew his attention. If Lemont Finn mourned his eldest daughter’s untimely and tragic death, he hid the emotion well. Gabe squared his shoulders and met the man’s steady gaze with one of his own. Finn may be the richest man in the county, but Gabe’s bank account wasn’t as empty as it had been when he had lived here. He was never getting Jesse, who he wanted to bend and mold into the ruthless heir his daughters never could be.

Jesse sniffled again and Gabe glanced at his brother. Gabe’s heart bruised a little more every time he thought about the loss of Sam and Frankie in Jesse’s young life.

When the preacher tossed a handful of dirt onto each of the caskets, Michaela let out a loud sob. She’d held it together fairly well until then. She hugged Jesse and her back curved in with the weight of her grief. Before he thought his actions through, Gabe wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her to him with Jesse between them. She stiffened and stepped away when Jesse wrapped his arms around Gabe’s waist. Shaking from her tears, she turned to her mother. Michaela and Loretta held on to each other and sobbed.

Gabe held the boy as the preacher finished the final prayer.

Jesse pressed his face into Gabe’s chest and murmured too low for anyone else to hear, “I will always love you, Momma and Daddy.”

Gabe looked down at Jesse as he held him close. Emotion crashed over him so fierce and blinding, Gabe fell to his knees. Memories of his own childhood with his father hammered at the shell he’d built around his heart. Gabe had once loved Sam McKenna as much as this sobbing boy in his arms did.

The first tear Gabe had shed in public since his mother’s death dropped off his lash. “They know.”

Jesse met his gaze and hiccupped. “We’re orphans now, aren’t we?”

Gabe stroked his brother’s unruly black curls. He looked so much like Gabe had as a boy, except Jesse had inherited his mother’s blue eyes. “Yeah.” He swallowed the lump in his throat. “We are, buddy. But you will always have me.”

Michaela rested her hand on Jesse’s shoulder, and he turned to look up at her. “And you’ve got me and Grandma. We won’t let anything ever happen to you.”

As Gabe stood, he glanced at Lemont. The man’s challenging glare sent a shiver down his spine. Lemont put his hands into his pockets, turned away from the grave, and headed toward the social center where a meal had been set up by the church ladies.

Jesse watched his grandfather walk away, and a tremble ran through the boy’s lean body.

“C’mon.” Gabe squeezed Jesse’s shoulders and turned toward the church. “Let’s go.”

Micki followed with her mother into the cool interior of the social hall. In her motorized wheelchair, Loretta stopped beside Gabe and Jesse. Gabe glanced at the older woman’s tear-streaked face as a grimace pinched her lips. Micki had told him yesterday that Loretta was in constant pain. A symptom of her multiple sclerosis.

“You okay, Loretta?” Gabe lightly touched her shoulder.

“I’ll be fine. Stop fussing over me.” Loretta’s speech was slightly slurred and slow. She closed her eyes and sniffed before moving away from him.

Michaela shook her head and held back the moisture he saw in her eyes. “Jesse, please help Grandma.”

He nodded and quickly caught up with her as an older couple stopped to offer their condolences. Jesse held Loretta’s hand and nodded at something Mrs. Owens said to him.

Michaela cleared her throat and folded her arms in front of her. “I hate all of this.”

“Yeah.” The tension tightened around Gabe like a belt binding his chest. “It’s got to be hard on you, seeing your momma like this all the time.”

She took a deep breath raising her shoulders; then she met Gabe’s eyes. “Usually she has a sensation of pins and needles, but recently her trigeminal neuralgia has been worse.”

He raised a brow. “What’s that?”

“Facial pain.”

“Can’t something be done about it?” They moved farther into the room. Although people observed them, quietly sending their sympathy, they kept their distance. They seemed to understand Gabe and Michaela’s need to be alone.

“There’s a surgery, but it’s expensive and Momma’s Medicare would only pay a very small part of it.” She glanced toward her mother. “I’ll get something worked out.”

Near a table set up for drinks, Loretta talked to an older woman he recognized as Mary Nelson. The woman poured Loretta a plastic cup of Seven Up, which she took with shaky hands. Jesse helped her hold the drink to her lips.

Before he had a chance to say anything on the matter, Michaela squared her shoulders and stared at him. “When are you leaving?”

Michaela had never been anything but direct.

Gabe shrugged and shoved his hands into his pants pockets. “I’ll be leaving tomorrow after the will reading. I have meetings with my record company and a show in Cheyenne next week.” He nodded an acknowledgement to a guy he’d gone to high school with. “I haven’t told Jesse yet.”

“He knows you live in Nashville. He’ll be okay with Momma and me.”

“About that…” He met her eyes again, the sparkling blue hauntingly deep and inviting. And scared. She’d had the same frightened look the day she’d given him the ultimatum--either he chased his dream or he stayed and married her, but he couldn’t have both.

“You can’t take him with you.” She stepped closer and dropped her arms to her sides, fisting her hands. “Gabe, dear God, he just lost his parents. You can’t rip him from everything he knows.”

“I know.” A terrible pain twisted his gut. The road wasn’t the place for a kid. There was only one thing to do. He took a deep breath and glanced at Loretta and Jesse. “If you need anything, Michaela, let me know. I could help you out.”

Her face became a storm cloud ready to burst as she stiffened her back. “We’re fine. And I most certainly don’t need your money to take care of my family. Excuse me.”

She spun away and shifted through the crowd and around the long tables filling with people. A younger man approached her and sat down beside her at the table in the back. He looked to be in his early twenties and was dressed in a dark Western-cut blazer and slacks. Something about him seemed familiar; then he recognized him. He was Mary and JP Nelson’s youngest son, Cash. He worked part-time on the Lazy M. Hadn’t he become a high school history teacher or something?

Michaela bit her lip and nodded to whatever he said. Cash pulled her into a one-armed embrace, and she laid her head on his shoulder.

Gabe wasn’t ready for the sudden jolt of jealousy zipping through him when she snaked her arm around Cash’s waist. Why did he care if they were an item?

“Aren’t they a handsome pair?”

Gabe turned to face the man behind him. Lemont watched him with calculating blue eyes, reminding Gabe of a rattlesnake before the strike. Gabe didn’t justify his question with an answer. Straightening his shoulders, he unlocked his back teeth. “I’m sure you aren’t here to offer your condolences. So, what do you want?”

Lemont’s grin never reached his cold eyes. “You know what I want.”

“Jesse is not living with you. I believe DFPS made that clear.”

Lemont chuckled and rested his hand on Gabe’s shoulder. “My dear boy, hadn’t your daddy told you anything about me?”

Gabe glanced at the big, age-spotted hand on his shoulder. “He told me plenty, and so have Michaela, Frankie, and Loretta.”

Slowly nodding with a smirk Gabe wanted to knock off the bastard’s face, Lemont said, “Then you should know I usually get what I want.” He patted Gabe’s shoulder. “See you around.”

He moved away, leaving fear and anger tangling in Gabe’s belly. Lemont wasn’t an enemy anyone wanted. He’d destroyed more than one adversary, including stealing his father’s partnership in Finn Energy, his oil company. Lemont’s ranch was one of the biggest in west central Texas, and his wealth came from a variety of business interests he’d acquired along the way like a person might collect coins. Not to mention, he’d somehow gotten himself elected county judge twenty years back. Despite being out of office, he still held power in the county.

“Gabe, I’m so sorry for your loss.”

He took a deep breath and focused on Mary Nelson’s concerned brown eyes and friendly face. With her dyed-blond hair teased high, she reminded him of Dolly Parton, but that’s where the comparison ended. Mary was rail thin. She pulled him into a tight hug.

“Thanks.” He let her go and glanced over her head to her son and Michaela. “Cash still working at the Lazy M?”

She smiled and nodded. “When he’s not teaching.” He met her gaze, and she squeezed his upper arm. “You don’t have anything to worry about.”

“I’m not worried about Lemont Finn,” he lied. He’d be foolish not to be concerned over what the man potentially had planned for Jesse. Lemont was heartless and brutal. While he’d been judge, he swindled his daughters out of their trust funds and doctored evidence to prove Loretta had cheated on him before their divorce; therefore her alimony payments ceased. Not to mention all of the other crooked things he’d done while judge. Even the state attorney general investigated his office. After the AG’s investigator had been found dead in the woods behind the hotel he’d been staying in and the death ruled a suicide, the government never pursued the issue. Lemont walked away without so much as a wrinkle in his Armani suit and a pat on the back by the same Attorney General who’d been gunning for him. Gabe’s father suspected Lemont had something on the state’s top lawyer and had the investigator taken care of.

She patted his arm. “Micki and Cash are just friends. Oh, my son has been crushing on her since he was a boy, but she doesn’t feel the same.”

“What?” Her statement caused mental whiplash. She wasn’t talking about Lemont but Cash and Michaela. He didn’t care about what went on between her son and his ex. “I think you’re misreading whatever you think you saw.” The hard edge in his voice surprised him. “Micki and I have a common interest--Jesse.”

Mary nodded and smiled as if she knew he was talking bullshit, but she didn’t push the issue. “I bought your newest CD. I must say, I think it’s my favorite.”

He glanced down at the floor. “Thanks. I’m proud of the record.”

“At the grocery store, I saw you on the cover of Country Music Magazine.” Shaking her head, she snorted. “What were they calling you? The sexiest man in country music. Hard to believe I remember when you were born. Heck, I even changed your diaper a time or two.” She blushed and patted his arm.

He laughed for the first time in days. “And to think, women now would pay good money to see what you have.”

“Oh, you devil!” Her blush only got redder as she fanned herself with an old-fashioned lace fan. “So, is the movie actress shown in one of the photos with you--what’s her name? Tiffany Wills--is she your girlfriend?”

He looked past her shoulder. Cash left Michaela and brought back a Styrofoam cup of steaming coffee and a plate with a slice of chocolate cake on it. He sat beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders again.

Gabe wanted to be with Michaela. To be the one comforting her and taking care of her, which irritated him to no end. Since when did he want to spend time with Michaela?

He would have paid for Loretta’s surgery if it helped her, but Michaela wouldn’t want to owe him anything. She’d never acknowledge he’d been right to leave when Andrea Rose offered him the chance of a lifetime after he’d performed at a honky-tonk in Brownwood. If he’d listened to Michaela and stayed in Texas, he wouldn’t have been able to afford the suit on his back.

Instead, he was a superstar with another set of problems--money being the least of them.

“No. She’s a friend.” No way was he telling his mother’s friend the actress was nothing more than a fling. The photo was taken as part of the red carpet procession for some Hollywood shindig and used as part of the photo spread he’d recently done for the magazine.

“Better watch out. If she’s a smart gal, she’ll want to be more than friends.”

He grinned and shook his head. “She’s enjoying her new single status. I think she views marriage as I do. Once is enough.”

“Ah, I guess I understand that. Your divorce sounded awful.”

“It was.” He looked around, wishing he could escape. The last person he wanted to talk about was Andrea. Despite his dislike for his former wife, Andrea had turned him into a sex symbol. She’d transformed country bumpkin Gabe McKenna into a country music bad-boy. As long as he’d kept the reports of womanizing and wild partying on the magazine and tabloid pages and never lived the lie, she was happy. When he’d decided he was tired of her made-up life and wanted to live it, she went all kickass crazy on him and nearly destroyed his career. “But I’m better off without her.”

Mary grinned again and nodded; then she lost the smile. He followed her line of sight to Lemont speaking with Loretta and Jesse. Loretta openly scowled at her ex-husband and Jesse cowered behind her wheelchair like a scared puppy.

“That man has gall,” Mary said. “If he feels an ounce of grief over Frankie’s death, he sure hasn’t shown it. I better rescue poor Loretta before he agitates her more than she already is.”

Michaela got there before he and Mary did. She stood with her feet apart and rested her hands on Jesse’s shoulders. “Leave us alone, Lemont.”

Lemont frowned as if hurt, but the cold blue eyes bespoke of his true feelings. “Now, is that anyway to speak to your daddy?”

“Maybe if I considered you my daddy, I’d be more generous.” She moved around Jesse and her mother and glared up at her father. “What are you really doing here? Everyone knows you despised Sam and disowned Frankie long ago--just as you did me. Then you stole the trust funds your father set up for us.”

He squared his shoulders. “Maybe if you and your sister hadn’t turned your backs on me, I would’ve been a little more generous.” Glancing at Loretta, he smirked before looking at Michaela again. “But you chose your course in life. I won’t let that happen again. You both know you can’t provide for Jesse. I’m his grandfather, and I have every intention of curing the boy of the poison y’all have filled him with.” He stepped around her and smiled at Jesse. “I’m not as terrible as they all make me out to be, son.”

A peculiar glimmer in Lemont’s eyes as he looked at Jesse sent cold fear through Gabe. He’d do everything possible to keep Jesse out of Lemont’s clutches. Resting his hands on his little brother’s shoulders, Gabe pulled him snug to his side. “Jesse will be taken care of. Now leave before I call in my security.”

Lemont chuckled and put his hat on his head. As he walked to the door, the other people in the hall stared after him. Jesse looked up at Gabe and shivered.

* * * *

Samuel McKenna had been a fool and his wife an idiot.

Gabe ran both hands through his hair in frustration. The will reading turned out to be a disappointment. Everything Sam owned had been bequeathed to Frankie or to her estate in the event she passed on before him.

However, Frankie had never written a will, which meant probate court would appoint an executor to handle the estate. Fortunately, Jesse, by the simple fact that he was Frankie’s son, would inherit the funds from her estate. But Jesse was still a child, and now he was thrust into the system, too. How could Gabe’s so-called stepmother be so negligent?

“What do you mean she never kept the appointments?” Gabe stood by a bookcase full of old, leather-bound law books in the Brownwood law office of his father’s lawyer and friend Tom Fleming.

With a sigh, Tom shook his head full of thick, graying dark hair and leaned over his rich rosewood desk. “I think Frankie was afraid to make a will. A lot of younger people these days are. Or they don’t think they need to do it now and that they can wait until they’re older.”

“So, what happens to Jesse?” Micki held Jesse in her lap. He was too big for her to hold, but he clung to her and quietly cried against her shoulder.

Gabe’s heart broke at the sight. How could his father be so callous as to involve a ten-year-old boy in this mockery? Sam had given the boy an inheritance and some old junk, but he shouldn’t have been here to be subjected to all the rest.

“Loretta, would you take Jesse out into the reception area, please?” Gabe leaned down in front of Micki and Jesse. Loretta nodded, and he rubbed over Jesse’s quivering back. Swallowing hard, Gabe met Micki’s imploring gaze before taking Jesse into his arms. “Hey, buddy, go out with Grandma for a little while, okay?”

Jesse sobbed and wiped his nose on the back of his hand. “What’s gonna happen to me, Gabe? Will I have to go with--with Momma’s daddy? Why can’t I stay with Grandma and Micki or with you?”

“We’ll figure it out.”

With a hopeful gaze at Gabe, Loretta rolled her chair over to take Jesse’s hand. “C’mon, sweetheart. Let’s go outside.”

As they exited the office, Jesse glanced over his shoulder at Gabe. “Don’t send me away to live with that mean man.”

“We won’t let that happen.” Micki stood and gave him a weak smile. When the door closed, she turned to the lawyer. “Now what?”

“As the family’s lawyer, I’m going to suggest to the court to appoint me executor of Frankie’s estate.” He shrugged and leaned back in his leather chair. “Unless either of you have someone else in mind.”

Micki shrugged and sat in her chair again. “Sounds good to me. I’d rather have a lawyer I trust take care of things than me trying to figure it out. Lemont’s less likely to take over with you handling things.”

Gabe paced before the bookcase. “I agree. Besides, I have to go on tour.” For the first time in his career, he hated the thought of being on the road. Stopping at the end of the case, he turned and rubbed the back of his neck. “What will happen to the ranch?”

“Since Frankie doesn’t have a will and Jesse is too young to inherit it, the Lazy M will be sold and the funds set in a trust fund for him as her sole heir. Same goes for the businesses.”

Micki gasped and ran her hand through her long hair. She’d worn it unbound and Gabe’s fingers itched to touch it. He fisted his hands and stomped on the treacherous thought.

“That means Momma and I will have to move.”

“Yes. However, I’ll ask probate court to allow you to stay as long as there’s stock to be taken care of on the ranch.”

Micki nodded, but the worry etching a frown on her forehead wasn’t eased by the news.

“You haven’t answered our question about Jesse.” Gabe’s heart raced. He’d known Tom his entire life, and the one thing he’d always admired about him was his honesty.

Fleming cleared his throat and leaned over his desk. “I think you both know what will happen. In most cases like this where a child is orphaned, he is given into the care of a grandparent, which means he’ll go with Lemont since Loretta wasn’t Frankie’s mother.”

“He doesn’t even know the man.” Micki shook her head. “He’s cruel and hated both Sam and Frankie. All Lemont Finn ever wanted was a son. Why the hell do you think he named his daughters Frances and Michaela? We’re named for his grandfathers, Francis Finn and Michael Harper. He’ll twist Jesse into a ruthless man like he is. And considering the world of hurt Jesse is in right now, that might not be a hard thing to do.” She looked at Gabe, her eyes pleading him. “Please, isn’t there something you can do?”

Gabe swallowed hard. He wanted his little brother taken care of, but he had no room in his life for a ten-year-old. “I’m his brother. Doesn’t that hold some kind of clout with the court?”

Tom sighed and his brown eyes bore into Gabe. “I’ve represented your family for years and I considered Sam a good friend, so I won’t lie to you, Gabe. Your being Jesse’s brother normally would have some sway. However, your lifestyle is questionable. Especially for the current batch of conservative judges in the county. Maybe if you would take a break from touring, things would be different.”

“You know I can’t do that.” He fisted both hands and shoved them into the pockets of his sports jacket as another possibility came to him. Was he crazy to suggest this? “What if Michaela and I fought for Jesse?”

Micki turned in her seat and gaped at him. “What do you mean?”

He shrugged and sat down beside her. “Think about it. If we had joint custody of him, that would get him away from Lemont and give him a stable home with you and Loretta. I can provide for him and even help you find a place to live. Then we can adopt him.”

“I don’t need your help.”

“Actually, that’s not a bad idea.” Tom smiled and stood. “I think right now it’s your best option if you want to keep Jesse away from Lemont.”