Sunset Rivalry: The Caliendo Resort (By The Lake: The Caliendo Resort Book 2) (25 page)

Pamela rushed to Anya’s side, yelling at her husband and brother-in-law. Marc and Carl ran to break up the fight while the rest of the women gathered around staring open-mouthed as the brothers wrestled on the floor.

Anya didn’t see any real fists thrown. She would have run over and grabbed hold of Quinn if she didn’t feel obligated to make sure Pamela didn’t do the same.

Carl pulled Quinn off and dragged him away, while Marc offered his hand to Dave. The men acting like boys weren’t finished. Dave dove at Quinn and swung his arm catching Quinn in the jaw with his fist. 

Quinn cursed. 

Dave yelled. 

And Anya felt a hand wrap around her arm and squeeze. 

“Anya...” The whisper just made it past Nicolette’s lips. Anya turned as the older lady’s eyes rolled back in her head and her feet gave out beneath her. Anya wrapped her arms around her, catching her as she fell. 

“Help! Quinn!” 

Anya was sinking to the floor with Nicolette when she felt the pressure taken away and Quinn lifted the thin, limp woman into his arms.

“Call an ambulance!” Dave shouted.

“My truck is parked outside. I will drive,” Quinn said.

Anya rushed behind them with her family. Quinn grabbed his keys and wallet from the table, balancing his mother, and walked straight out the door.

Dave picked up Memphis and helped his wife out the door. None of them looked back.

Anya watched her family arranging to go to the hospital while she listened to the cars peeling away from the suites.

“I can drive one vehicle,” Carl said, taking Eliza’s hand.

“Izzy, you stay and watch Sophia and Parker,” Eliza instructed.

“I am good with that,” Izzy said, heading toward the door.

“I will drive too,” Marc said. “Izzy, can you handle Rosemary too?”

“She’s not a child,” Kate scolded.

Marc sent her a look that said the statement was debatable.

“Got it!” Izzy hollered back.

“I will ride with you guys,” Emma said to Marc. “Anya, let’s go.”

“Stop it,” Anya said. “Just stop it!”

They all turned to look at her. She saw the concern in their eyes and the worry about Quinn’s family...a family who despised them.

“They don’t want us there. That’s what the whole fight was about. And now Nicolette is being rushed to the emergency room.”

Anya couldn’t believe her family was so blind they didn’t see the turmoil they’d caused.

“We ruined their family. They don’t want us at the hospital.”

Eliza reached for her. “Anya, that’s not true.”

Anya pulled away. “Yes, it is. Stop pretending we are going to be able to fix people. Don’t you all see the way Dave looks at us? He doesn’t trust us, he doesn’t even
like
us.
That
is how every single person that Dad hurt will look at us.”

Anya looked around her circle of family members watching her, their faces solemn. She stopped at her mom. “When you approach them, none of them will trust you or us. We are condemning ourselves worse by approaching them. We are making their lives worse thinking we are helping. I won’t be part of this.”

Anya had spent two years trying to right her father’s mistake, her mistake, and here she was and everything was falling apart. More people had been hurt.

“Leave the Barkers alone. All of you. Do not meddle in their lives thinking you can improve it. We are tainted. Dad has tainted us and there’s no fixing it. Don’t include me in anymore of Dad’s files. You should destroy them, before they destroy you.”

Anya walked away. Everything she’d been determined to fix was broken beyond repair.

THREE DAYS LATER and Anya still hadn’t answered any of Quinn’s phone calls. The first night they had stabilized his mother and the doctors told them she’d had a panic attack. However, because of her condition, they had decided to keep her for observations, assuring her family there was nothing to worry about. That was comforting.

Quinn had texted Anya the message, knowing the blame she would be carrying. That had been the only one she’d replied to.

Quinn would have gone to her that night. He wanted to talk to her, hold her. But Pamela had gone into labor weeks early and Memphis had been handed to Quinn with strict orders not to go anywhere near the resort. Considering the worry Dave held for Pamela, Quinn didn’t disagree.

After one hell of a long night and into the next day with Memphis making Quinn’s body his personal bed, the newest member of the Barker family decided to make it official. Rhiannon Nicolette Barker entered the world putting much needed smiles on the faces of the members of his family.

Deciding to come into the world early, Rhiannon and Pamela stayed in a different wing of the hospital from Nicolette. They were all being released this afternoon.

Quinn had been assigned Memphis duty for the last three days, driving back and forth from Oakston to Willow Valley, at Dave’s request...or rather order.

But by day three, Quinn couldn’t stay away from Anya any longer and planned on driving over after dropping Memphis off with Dave. If Dave didn’t want him to take Memphis to the resort then Quinn was sorry, but Dave was going to have to watch his son until Quinn got things sorted with Anya.

Anya thought she had said goodbye but Quinn wasn’t going to disappear that easily.

Quinn explained his plan to Dave and got exactly the reaction he’d expected.

“You are not taking my son back there,” Dave hoarsely whispered to him in their mother’s room while she slept.

“Then watch him until I get back.”

“You’re going to go back there? To her? A woman who is responsible for this?” He pointed at their mother.

“I love Anya and I’m tired of you talking shit about her. If you want to cast her out that’s fine, but you’ll be casting me away too.”

Dave stared at him.

“This isn’t about me screwing some random woman or her having a hold of my balls. This is about me falling in love with her two years ago and letting her walk away because I thought she deserved better than me. I’m not making that mistake twice.”

Their mother coughed, interrupting them. Damn, he’d thought she was in a deep sleep. He didn’t want her to have to worry about this too.

The men turned to find she’d wiggled into a sitting position, watching them, listening to every word they’d said.

“I’m sorry,” Quinn said right away. “We didn’t mean to wake you.”

“You’re in love with Anya Caliendo?”

It was incredible that after only three days the bond between mother and sons was so strong. No one had understood why she’d left two boys she adored to death and a husband who spent the rest of his life loving her. But after having a long conversation with her, the motives revealed themselves. She’d left to protect her family.

The truth she’d revealed didn’t take away the seriousness of the reasons behind her departure. Nicolette still had a past with the mayor they had yet to discuss. Right now, being back in Willow Valley wasn’t her safest location. They needed to get her back to Oakston. Mayor Murray couldn’t know she was this close.

Quinn planned to drive to Anya’s, kiss her scared lips senseless until all she could remember was that they were destined for each other and be back in time to pick up Nicolette when she was released.

That was, if he could convince his mother of his love for a woman who had put her into a coma for two years. Quinn had no idea how Nicolette felt about Anya, but he hoped it didn’t resemble Dave’s view.

“Yes,” Quinn answered.

His instinct was to apologize for loving the person who his mother might feel betrayed her. But he wouldn’t make it easy for them to dislike Anya for her father’s actions. It hadn’t been her fault. Quinn stood by Anya and wished she’d known he would.

“She didn’t mean for you to get hurt,” Quinn said.

“Shhh. Come here. Both of you.” Nicolette held her hands out to her boys. They walked to opposite sides of the bed, each enveloping their mother’s tiny hands with theirs.

“I can’t say that I trust the Caliendo family. I don’t know them and the side I have met is scary...”

Quinn felt Dave’s
I told you so
stare burning from the other side of the bed.

You want another tussle little brother?

“But I took the deal with Robert. I left you both, your father and Nikki. That was me. Anya didn’t do that and she certainly didn’t hurt me on purpose.” Nicolette turned to Dave. “She put her life on hold for two years taking care of me. Someone she didn’t know and could have so easily left on the side of the road. I owe her my life. She brought you boys back to me.”

Nicolette turned to Quinn.

“What are you still doing here?” she asked with a smile. “Don’t let the woman you love go. And don’t let the mistakes of both of your parents decide your future together.”

Quinn kissed her hand and then her cheek. “I love you Mom.”

“I love you too, son.”

“How I have missed you.”

She squeezed his shoulder. “You have no idea.”

“I will be back before you check out,” he said on the way out.

He caught Dave’s confused face and knew it would all work out. He would come around. How could he not? Now Quinn had to go find the woman he loved.

***

ANYA WALKED THROUGH the hospital doors with Eliza at her side. Her mother’s support meant the world to her.

She stopped on the other side and turned to her mom. “Are you sure about this?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” she answered so matter-of-factly that it would convince the biggest skeptic.

Anya wasn’t buying it. Too much had happened. “What if she doesn’t want to see me?”

“What if she does?”

Anya frowned. “I don’t see why she would.”

Eliza touched the file. “Because you saved her.”

“I almost killed her.”

“Nothing can compare to you reuniting her with her sons. As a mother, I promise you, Nicolette will not shun you when you’ve given her the most precious gift: her family.”

Anya still wasn’t convinced. Her mom sent her an encouraging smile before saying, “You have her freedom in your hands Anya.”

Anya sighed and looked down at her white knuckles squeezing the file.

“She’s been missing this part of her life for almost twenty years, always watching over her shoulder for Robert and Murray. Scared they wouldn’t trust her, or would track her down. Fearing for her life. Fearing for her family’s life and unable to protect them more than hiding. Give her this. We owe her this.”

This was exactly what she didn’t want to do, have her family involved with the Barkers, but her mother was right. Anya was left with no alternative. If she walked away right now, like her trembling legs were pleading, she would force Nicolette back into hiding, possibly uprooting Dave, Pamela, Memphis, and the baby. Not to mention Quinn.

Quinn.

Every time her thoughts turned to him, she forgot everything else. The phones ringing at the hospital’s reception desk were drowned out by the memories of the phone calls and texts from Quinn for the last three days. Three long, agonizing days of wanting to pick up the phone and listen to what he was insistent on saying. He wasn’t mad at her. He wouldn’t come right out and say it on her voicemail or write in a text, but his gentle words told her he didn’t blame her. That eased some of her guilt. But Quinn was one person in his family of a lot of Caliendo haters. Dave was angry and it was clear he was unforgiving. Anya couldn’t stand in the middle of his family and tear them apart, or make Quinn choose her over them...not when they were finally together again.

The days had passed, seizing the strength to disregard her phone, only to curl up at night unable to resist finally reading the messages from him pleading her to phone him and crying herself to sleep. She wouldn’t contact him, knowing that she was his poison. So she had to free his mother, for his whole family.

“You’re right,” Anya said. Her numb body sent her a wave of hotness, curdling nausea.

Breathe, just breathe.

When they stopped at the receptionist’s desk Anya found herself speechless and Eliza had to do all the talking. What would she do without her mother? She knew now that instead of running and hiding her secret, Anya should have told her mother about Rebecca years ago.

Soon Anya was walking away from the support of her mother and down the long corridor, alone.

With each step, the click of her shoes against the linoleum floors sounded like the musical drum to her doom.

Give her the file, her freedom and walk away.

Anya stopped at Nicolette’s room. The door was closed. Taking a deep breath, she knocked fighting a battle of
answer
and
don’t answer
in her head.

“Yes?”

You can do this.

Her legs trembled and her heart hammered so fiercely that it was difficult to focus on her surroundings.

Inside the private room, Nicolette was sitting on one of the two bucket chairs by the window. Against Anya’s wishes three days ago, Eliza had made a few calls, pulling favors and showing her appreciation by making donations, all for Nicolette to stay in a private room.

Nicolette looked at Anya and smiled. She looked good, as good as one could after waking from a coma, being flown across the country, reuniting with your sons only to watch them fight in the resort where the owner had taken them away. Ironic...sad.

“Hi,” Anya said. “Do you mind if I talk to you?”

Nicolette nodded toward the empty chair. Anya’s legs couldn’t wait to collapse into it.

“How are you?”

“I’m being released this afternoon.”

Anya smiled. “That’s wonderful.”

“I’m not sure what I’m going to do. Or where I will go. My boys say that I can stay with them, but we all know the danger in that. Dave has a family. A new daughter. Her name is Rhiannon Nicolette Barker.” Tears welled in her eyes and she sniffled, reaching for a Kleenex. “I’m sorry. I’m emotional.” She had every right to be.

Anya would have loved to listen to more about Nicolette, but she hadn’t come to make her cry.

“That’s why I’m here.”

Anya held the folder toward her. Nicolette’s eyes flared and she stared at the folder with fear. She made no attempt to reach for it. 

“This is the partial file of what my father had about you.”

Nicolette’s shaking hand took it.

“I didn’t want to get any more involved with you or your family,” Anya admitted. “I planned on leaving you and your sons alone so you could move on with the life that was stolen from you without worrying about me or my family.”

“But you love my son.”

Anya snapped her mouth shut. “Yes. No. Well, yes, but no. That’s not why I am bringing you this.” She paused and took a deep breath. “You can’t move on without putting your family’s lives in danger. My uncle has talked to the mayor...”

Nicolette’s eyes darted out the window and around the room like she was a target.

“It’s okay. After hearing Carl out, Mayor Murray is convinced that Robert had been playing him...misleading him.” Nicolette remained confused and on edge. “You know nothing about what is missing from that file. It is clear now to the mayor that he’s been chasing the wrong person. My uncle placed him accountable and set you free. You are no longer wanted by the mayor and Carl made it clear that nothing is to happen to you, Quinn, Dave or any of your family.”

“And the mayor doesn’t go to jail? He just walks away free?”

“For now.”

Nicolette frowned and looked away unhappy. 

“I know it’s not a great solution but is the justice against him worth losing the family you just got back? You can leave Willow Valley and not have to worry anymore. You can leave with your sons.”

“What about Quinn?”

“Please don’t tell him I was here. Give him the file. It will ease his worry and you can all move on. You all deserve to move on, together.”

“He’s at your house right now, trying to talk to you.”

Anya nodded. “I know. He texted me. That’s why I’m here now. I won’t hurt him again.”

“You’re only hurting him if you walk away.”

“You don’t know me. I’m a Caliendo. I’m poison. You don’t want your son with me.”

“I want for my son what he wants. He’s a grown man. If his heart tells him that he wants you, then I stand by him.”

Anya felt a tear slip down her cheek. “There will be women in his life that you will like and women that Dave can look at without being angry. That’s who Quinn needs.”

Nicolette reached over and took Anya’s hand. “Anya I like you. You saved my life.”