Tucker's Crossing (13 page)

If Cody had thought sharing space with Shelby would prove difficult, it was nothing compared to how alone he felt in the house now that she wasn’t around. During the day he worked himself into exhaustion. At night, he found himself pacing the floors just like Shelby had accused him of.

Every minute felt like an hour of sheer torture, the memories so intense they threatened to take him under. By midnight he realized no matter how hard he exhausted himself, he’d never erase the taste of her that still lingered on his lips.

Grabbing his keys off the hook by the front door, he headed out to his new Ford F-250 Dually truck. Destination unknown.

After three hours of driving and thinking himself into circles, he finally managed to wear himself out. Or at least got to the point where thinking about Shelby and her proposal was no longer an option.

He tossed his keys and wallet on the nightstand, toed off his boots, and lay back on the mattress. The second he closed his eyes Shelby’s image drifted into his mind and he cursed, smashing the pillow over his face, thinking that smothering himself didn’t seem like such a bad idea right about now.

Cody was no closer to figuring out what to do than he was yesterday and Shelby was due home tomorrow afternoon. He’d gone over that contract with a fine-tooth comb. It was straightforward and pointedly sterile. If they got married, which there was no way in hell he’d agree to, she gained nothing from their union, not a cent. And he wouldn’t even get to sleep with his wife.

So why now? Why after all these years did she show up, his son in tow, using her maiden name when Preston’s opened pretty much any door one would want opened?

At this point, the only thing he was certain of was that JT was his son and he’d missed the first nine years of his life. He wasn’t planning on missing any more.

Which only left Shelby. She invaded his thoughts and eventually his dreams until she was lying faceup in a tub. Her skin translucent, her eyes lifeless, her voice calling out.

Cody, can you come help me?

The moment Cody woke up, his clothes slick with sweat and clinging to his clammy skin, he knew two things—someone had been in his room, and it smelled like his mama. Survival mode kicked in. His eyes cautiously took in the room, noting every detail.

The moon was full, filtering in through the open blinds and reflecting off the polish of the furniture. At first glance nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. Nothing missing. Nothing moved. Nothing but that squirrelly feeling in his gut.

Everything was just like he’d left it. Except the instinctual knowledge that something was different. Exhaling, he admitted maybe he was losing it. Being in this house. Seeing Shelby. Finding out he had a son.

His head hurt and his body ached. Standing, he stretched out his tired muscles and was reaching for his keys when something glistened in the moonlight.

There, next to his wallet, was an antique silver brush. His mom’s favorite brush. It hadn’t been there before. He was sure of that.

Remington in hand, Cody carefully searched the house. When he was certain he was alone, he grabbed a Ziploc bag from the kitchen and placed the brush inside, careful not to touch it. A faint hint of honeysuckle wafted up, making his skin crawl.

Someone was screwing with him, wanted to spook him into running. The question was why?

Only one person stood to gain if he forfeited.

Cody’s stomach bottomed out. The only person he could figure Silas would leave the land to was a Tucker. And if he and his brothers lost their claim, then the only Tucker left standing would be JT. And by extension, Shelby.

Was Shelby behind this? Even before the question settled, Cody’s gut said no way. But he’d trusted her before and he’d been dead wrong. One thing he’d learned growing up under Silas’s rule, never make the same mistake twice. It was too painful.

Cody grabbed the phone and after significantly more effort managed to dial his father’s attorney, Mr. Parnell. It rang four times and went to voice mail. Cody ended the call and dialed again, ready to do it as many times as needed. Mr. Parnell picked up on the third ring.

“Parnell,” he rumbled, his throat thick with sleep.

Cody should have felt bad waking him up with tomorrow being a workday. Maybe it was even a court day for his dad’s executor. The thought made him smile. If he couldn’t sleep, neither would Parnell.

“I need to know who stands to inherit Tucker’s Crossing.”

“Mr. Tucker? It’s the middle of the night.”

Cody checked the clock on the nightstand. “Actually, it’s nearly dawn. Now, who’s the unnamed beneficiary?”

Parnell cleared his throat and Cody heard the rustling of sheets and a woman’s questioning voice in the background. Cody had the good manners to feel at least a little guilty. He hadn’t meant to wake the wife. “Like I said at the will’s reading, I can’t disclose—”

“You can either tell me who it is or I can make a visit to your office and we can hash this out like men, over and over, every minute of every day, until you tell me what I need to know.” He heard Parnell swallow. Good, he was scared. And scared men talked. “So why don’t you save us both the trouble and tell me who would be willing to break the law to get their hands on my family’s property.”

Cody usually didn’t subscribe to threat tactics. He hated men who did. Growing up with a bully for a father, he tended to find himself the champion for the underdogs. He’d even picked a career that let him use his mind instead of his muscle. But right now he was fire-hydrant pissed.

“It’s not that I won’t tell you, Mr. Tucker. I can’t tell you what I don’t know.” The lawyer rushed on, “Your father left explicit instructions that the identity of the beneficiary would remain a secret, unless you and your brothers fail to fulfill the terms of the will.”

“Are you saying we’ll never know who it is?” Cody asked, hating the way his insides twisted at the mention of failing another one of his father’s tests. A bigger part of him ached at the thought that Shelby could be behind this.

Was the proposal her plan B?

“Your father was so adamant on the matter that he placed the name of the beneficiary in a sealed envelope inside of a safety-deposit box. If the seal is broken, regardless of when, it is the equivalent of breaking the terms, and you and your brothers forfeit Tucker’s Crossing.”

“He expected us to fail, didn’t he?” Cody asked, and hated himself for it. But he needed to know if his dad had changed. Or had Shelby lied about that too?

Parnell hedged longer than necessary as if weighing his words too carefully. “At first, I believe he did. But by the end, I think he saw it as his way of giving you and your brothers the freedom to choose. And I am afraid that is all I can say without violating attorney-client privilege.”

Could what Parnell said be true? Part of him wanted to believe that his dad had loved them, and wanted them to be happy. But the other part of him, the part that grew up being told what a constant disappointment he was, didn’t buy it.

Cody hung up.

Knowing sleep wasn’t going to happen, he tossed his phone down and got some clean jeans and a shirt out of his dresser. There was no way he’d be chased off his own land. If Cody Tucker cut out of town it would be of his own free will.

He’d showered, eaten a breakfast of leftover corn bread and a slice of lemon pie, tended to the livestock, and was halfway into town to pay a visit to whoever the current sheriff of Sweet Plains was—dead set on fingering his ghost—when the sun began to rise.

Just don’t let this ghost wear a size-five ring and have gorgeous lapis eyes.

“Wait! He just said nothing?” Gina set two cups of coffee on the kitchen counter and pulled out the stool next to Shelby’s.

It was the end of the workweek and Gina’s house reflected as much. Her small kitchen was littered with legal briefs and stray paperclips. The table looked like it belonged in a law library on the last day of the semester, instead of in the historical Victorian—which was why Shelby sat at the counter.

“I didn’t really give him a chance to answer,” Shelby admitted. Quarter to eight and the air conditioner was already working overtime, a sign that today would be another scorcher. Still, she clutched the mug between her hands, needing the warmth.

It had been five days since the reunion in the bathroom, three since her humiliating proposal and no matter how many showers she had taken, or how high the triple digits grew, she couldn’t seem to get warm or forget the look on Cody’s face when he realized she was serious.

She’d walked into the situation with no delusions that Cody would confess his undying love at her proposal. So then why did his panicked expression hurt so much?

“Don’t make excuses for him,” Gina grumbled, knee deep in her cupboard. “He’s a dumbass, Shell. I can beat the crap out of him if you want. Verbally”—she stopped, tossing a look over her shoulder—“or not.” Bending low, she disappeared back into the pantry, only to emerge with two packing boxes, shove them aside and dive back in.

“Aren’t you ever going to unpack?”

“Nope. This is temporary.”

“You’ve been here three years.” Ever since her sister died and her mom moved out.

“If you don’t like the mess find another place to crash.” More rumbling from the pantry. “About Cody, just say the word, and he and I will have a come-to-Jesus meeting. His crotch and my knee. Now that’s a meeting you can bet he’ll be calling out to Jesus . . . Oh, here it is.” Gina straightened, holding up a bottle of whiskey, her eyes widening.

“It isn’t even eight in the morning!”

“Says the woman with enough makeup on to moonlight at the TeXXXas Gas and Strip.”

“I work today.” Shelby rolled her eyes, but dabbed a napkin to her face just in case. After a good swipe she pulled the cloth back. No makeup. According to Gina, using a leave-in conditioner was excessive primping.

“And?”

“In less than an hour. Plus after sixteen hours on my feet and not a lot of sleep, one shot of that and I’ll go from being annoyingly whiny to a snotty bawling mess.”

“And that would be different from the past few days, how?” Gina returned the bottle to the shelf, only to backtrack to the pantry. Rummaging for what, Shelby could only imagine.

“Men just don’t up and change colors. He ran away before, odds are he’ll wait out the twelve months and then go back to Austin.” Gina set the sugar and cream on the counter, pulled up a stool and studied Shelby through thoughtful eyes. “That man broke your heart a million ways to Sunday. I say screw him. We take him to court, sue for back child support. You buy your own house. Maybe even the cute little blue one across the street.”

“Logan lives in the cute little blue one across the street.”

“Exactly.”

Shelby knew that her friend avoided Logan because he was overprotective and drove her nuts, but also because loving him felt like a betrayal of her sister’s memory.

Shelby took a sip of her coffee, suddenly regretting the little she had already consumed. “What if I said I’m not so sure Preston was telling the truth back then?”

Gina’s eyes, hidden behind her mug, came into view, wide with surprise. She set her cup down with an accusatory thud of ceramic on wood. “What is that supposed to mean? And why is this the first time I’m hearing it?”

“Maybe because it’s the first time I’m voicing it,” Shelby said, feeling a little guilty.

In the more than three years she’d known Gina, this was the first thing she’d ever kept from her. Shelby completely understood why Gina was having such a hard time hiding her surprise. But how could Shelby have confided something that she didn’t even have the courage to admit to herself?

As her due date drew near, Preston had convinced Shelby that he would make her happy, that he loved her enough for both of them. Shelby finally agreed, telling herself that it was for the best, her baby would have a loving father.

Even as she said “I do,” she knew it was a lie. In the end that lie had come full circle, bringing with it a whole different kind of hurt and misery, and showing her a side of Preston she had never imagined. A side that made her question what had really happened all those years ago.

“When Preston told me what Cody had said, what he did, I remember being shocked.” Shelby shook her head. “No, more like dumbfounded. There was no way the man I loved would walk away and leave me pregnant. It went against everything that he was.”

“Maybe that’s who he was all along and you just never saw it?”

“He showed up on my porch, Gina, covered in blood and bruises, only to make love to me like it was as necessary as breathing. Then he straightened my clothes and, without so much as a ‘nice knowing you,’ took off. When he never returned my calls, never came back, I began to wonder if I really knew him at all.”

“Sweetie, from what I remember, all three of those Tucker boys packed up and left town the day they turned eighteen. They didn’t even come back for their dad’s funeral.”

“I know. But that’s the point. I’d lived with Cody for over two years, shared his bed, loved him enough to make a baby with him, and I didn’t even know he had a family.” Shelby stopped, needing a minute to collect herself before she went
there.

“When Preston came home, with his split lip and story, it felt like everything had just been one big lie. But looking back, knowing Preston like I do now, I wonder if—”

“If what? If Preston lied?” Gina’s eyes narrowed. “Good God, woman, the man also promised to be faithful and respect you. Yet he had a thing for coeds and made you beg for grocery money. Telling a few lies doesn’t seem like such a stretch.”

After the wedding, Shelby had done her best to put Cody behind her and move forward, determined to make her marriage with Preston work. To create a home for Jake. But it hadn’t taken long to realize that Preston had married her, not because he loved her, but because he wanted what was Cody’s. Period.

“What if Cody never knew?” Gina asked.

“About Jake?”

Could Cody really not have known?
Shelby’s heart lurched at the thought. All these years she’d just taken it at face value that Preston had been telling the truth. Now that she knew Preston for the kind of man he really was, his lying was easier to buy than Cody’s leaving her alone and pregnant.