By Hook or By Crook (30 page)

Erin’s brows lowered in a frown. “Oh. Must be nice, I guess. But you must want to be independent, right? I mean, to take care of yourself?”

Stung, Ivy straightened, pulling back from where she’d been leaning over Erin’s bed. “You sound like your brother,” she noted wryly.

“Oh, now I’ve done it,” Erin said with a wince. Putting a hand on Ivy’s forearm, she squeezed in an apologetic gesture. “I didn’t exactly mean that. I’m always shooting my mouth off and getting into trouble. I’m sorry.”

Ivy nodded an acceptance, her hurt eased by Erin’s obvious regret. Joe’s sister often spoke the unvarnished truth, true, but never with an intent to hurt. Ivy knew where she stood with Erin, which she valued highly. She couldn’t imagine Erin treating her differently because she had money, she realized, or pursuing her for the material benefits her friendship could offer, and that meant a lot. Suddenly, she wanted to confide in her new friend.

“I’ve been very reluctant to make friends with people who don’t have a lot of money, like my family does.” She forced the words out awkwardly, but when Erin merely nodded sympathetically, she continued. “I’ve had some...bad experiences along that line. A boy in college who only wanted me for what I could do for his career, or more accurately, what he expected my father could do for his career. My father is Richard Smithson,” she confided. “The real estate developer.”

Erin’s jaw dropped. “Holy crap,
the
Richard Smithson? He’s worth millions!” When Ivy said nothing, Erin continued. “Well, no wonder you don’t feel the need to run out and get a job. I mean, when you said you were financially well off, I thought you meant your dad was a doctor or something. Jesus. I had no idea.”

Her sincere shock buoyed Ivy’s spirits when she realized what it meant. “So Joe hasn’t told you?”

Erin shook her head. “Nope, he hasn’t told me much about you. Not for lack of trying on my part, I can tell you. He did say you weren’t his usual type, which I took to be a good thing.”

Ivy’s curiosity overwhelmed her natural reticence. “What is his usual type?”

Erin shrugged. “Bimbos. None of them ever stick around for too long. He’s never bothered to bring anyone to meet me before, on purpose anyway. I’ve met a couple in passing.”

“Really?” This tidbit made Ivy’s spirits soar, until she thought about it a bit. “Well, it’s not like he brought me to meet you on purpose. He needed someone to help him, and I’m glad to do it.”

Erin shook her head. “I don’t believe for a second that he just brought you along to have another pair of hands to help out. I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”

Erin had noticed how Joe looked at her? She couldn’t contain her curiosity. “He does? How?”

“Infatuated. You’re as bad as he is,” Erin accused when Ivy head dipped shyly. “And by the way, it is hilarious to see my tough-guy brother mooning over a woman. He’s never been like this before. He barely tolerated it when I used to cry on his shoulder over some boy when we were teenagers. I honestly don’t think he ever understood what the big fuss was over any one particular guy. To him, one pretty girl was as good as another. It’s fun to see the shoe on the other foot.”

When she thought she had the upper hand, Erin grinned just like her brother did. The family resemblance, always strong, struck Ivy especially now.

Flustered, she began collecting the empty dishes and putting them on the tray. They rattled a little as her hands trembled.

“I’ve got to get going,” she said, eager to depart. Pure joy welled up inside her, and she wanted to be somewhere private where she could savor it. Most of all, she needed to think about whether she and Joe could make it last for a lifetime.

Chapter 16

The next night at dinner, Ivy made up a tray for Erin as usual and started to deliver it to her bedroom. “I’ll do that,” Joe said, taking the tray from her hands.

She eyed him, wondering what he was up to, he was sure. He had avoided spending much time alone with his sister since they’d arrived. Oh, he dropped in to see her every day, asking her how she was doing, whether she needed anything. He told himself he didn’t want to intrude on her and Anthony’s time together at this pivotal time in their lives, but he knew that was BS.

He’d had some time to think about Ivy’s words in the barn. His sister idolized him, and the distance he kept between them hurt her. He could see it in her eyes every time he beat a hasty retreat from her room after a quick visit.

He nudged open the bedroom door with the corner of the tray, and Erin’s face lit in surprise. Unease set in. For a moment, he wanted to dump the tray on the bedside table and get the hell out of there. He couldn’t possibly live up to all of her expectations, so why try? But he remembered Ivy’s faith in him, and the force of her quiet belief in him steadied him. He delivered the tray and took a seat beside the bed.

“Mind if I hang out with you while you eat?”

Erin paused in the middle of lifting a bite of pasta to her lips. “Of course not. Have you had something to eat? Take some of mine, if you want.”

He waved her off. “I’ll get some later. Ivy’ll keep a plate hot for me.”

Erin smirked. “I bet that’s not all she’s keeping hot for you.”

He scowled at his sister. “If you want me to stay, you’d better be nice.”

“Sorry,” she said with mock repentance. “I’m enjoying watching my big brother fall in love for the first time.”

He didn’t deny it. He did shift in his seat, however. The detail didn’t escape his sister.

“So you
are
in love,” she said, her tone full of wonder. “At last, the untouchable Joe Dunham succumbs to a woman.”

He rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Just because I didn’t jump to set you straight doesn’t mean you’re right.” His words had no force behind them, however.

Maybe he couldn’t admit his love for Ivy out loud yet, but the accusation didn’t send him screaming from the room. That alone spoke volumes. The thought didn’t trouble him as much as he thought it would.

“I got a call from Dad a couple of months ago.” Erin’s quiet out-of-nowhere announcement took a minute to sink in.

When it did, it made his fists clench, just like old times. “Oh, yeah? What did he want, money?” It would be just like the bastard to come crawling back to the daughter he’d abused when he wanted something.

“No, he didn’t want money. He wanted to tell me he’s been to rehab, and he’s remarried.”

Joe stared, not knowing what to say. “Remarried?” he repeated dumbly. And as for rehab, he’d believe that when he saw it. Tom Dunham didn’t keep promises. He only broke them.

He had a stepmother somewhere and he hadn’t even known it. No, not a stepmother. His father had a wife—two totally different things.

“Yeah, some widow he met in Florida.”

“He didn’t call me.” As he spoke the words, he realized how hurt they sounded. “Not that I care. I never want to see him again.”

“I think he’s a little afraid of you, Joe.”

“Afraid of me? Because I broke his jaw one time? Come on, I never would have done that if he hadn’t been coming after you.”

An emotion he barely dared to identify rose in him: guilt. He quashed it ruthlessly. He had nothing to feel guilty about. His father had deserved that broken jaw.

Erin smiled slightly. “I don’t think he’s afraid you’ll come after him again physically. But he knows you’re angry with him.”

“Damn right I’m angry. I’ve got nothing for him but anger. Don’t you?”

Erin sighed. “I feel a lot of anger toward him, yes. But I think it’s important to let bygones be bygones.”

“Bygones?” He shot to his feet and was on the other side of the room before he turned to face her. “We’re not talking about a dad who missed some of your soccer games or lost his temper once in a while. We’re talking about a lifetime of abuse! If he wasn’t beating on us or Mom, he drank up his pay until we had to duck the landlord on rent day and get free lunches from school! Have you forgotten what that felt like?”

“No. I also haven’t forgotten that he’s the only parent we have left, and he seems to want to make amends.”

“Tough shit. I don’t want to give him any chances to ease his conscience.”

“I didn’t think you would.” The sadness shining in Erin’s eyes made him want to punch something. Preferably his father.

“So why bring it up then?”

“Because I’m probably going to invite him here to meet the baby in a few months, and I don’t want you to hate me for it.”

“Hate you?” The thought brought him up short. “I could never hate you.” He resumed his spot next to the bed and brushed a strand of hair from her face. “How could I hate Erin-go-braugh?”

She rolled her eyes, even as she surreptitiously wiped a tear away. “I wasn’t sure.”

Her voice came out quavery, nearly sending Joe into a panic as he realized she was on the verge of sobbing. He never could stand to see a woman cry, but when it was his little sister...

He knelt and pulled her into his embrace roughly, pressing her face against his shoulder so he wouldn’t have to see her tears. “I could never hate you,” he repeated. “If you want to reconcile with the old bastard, go right ahead.” She chuckled through her tears, a good sign. “I can even understand how you might want to, I guess, since he’s going to be a grandfather and all.”

“Really?” Erin pulled back, wiping away her remaining tears on the sleeve of her long-sleeved tee. “So when you have kids, you think you might let him meet them?”

His eyes widened. “No! No, not at all. I mean, I’ll never have kids. Can you imagine me, as a father?” God, if he could ever screw something up, it was fatherhood. Imagine him, responsible for another human being. What a debacle.

“Yes,” she said softly. “I can totally see that.”

He shook his head. “It’s not for me. If you do something wrong, you mess up a human being, for life. And it’s not like I have a decent role model to follow.”

“You did okay with me without a role model, you know. You were like a father to me. Are you saying I didn’t turn out okay?”

He smiled. “You turned out great. But with such good raw material to work with, how could I go wrong?”

“You and Ivy would create some pretty good raw material, don’t you think?” The puckish grin on her face made him laugh.

“Erin-go-braugh, always trying to start trouble. What kind of mom are you going to be?” he teased.

He didn’t answer her question, but privately he thought that any kid that was half Ivy’s DNA couldn’t be all bad.

He couldn’t believe he had thought about himself, kids, and Ivy in the same sentence and not broken out in a sweat. How his life had changed in the few short weeks since he’d met her.

“I’m going to be a great mom, damn it,” she scowled with false anger. “But first I’m going to beat your ass at go-cart racing.” She clicked on the TV and turned on the video game with a remote.

“Dream on,” he scoffed, tossing her a video game controller and picking up one for himself. “You’ll never beat a cop at a driving game.”

It wasn’t until he was falling asleep that night in Ivy’s arms, peaceful and happy, that he realized he’d called himself a cop and no one had corrected him.

****

Scratching at the front door the next afternoon made Ivy smile when she discovered its cause: Snowdrop, one of the cats that lived in the foal barn. The foal barn, surrounded by a sizable fence, had a small door at one end that allowed the three cats to go in and out at their leisure. Erin and Anthony didn’t allow the cats in the house. They were mousers, not pets.

Ivy, who had never had a pet, had become slowly acquainted with the animals when she took on the job of feeding them each day. Snowdrop singled Ivy out as one of his favorite people early on, a distinction that secretly delighted her. His lean feline body could squeeze under the enclosure fence and roam the ranch at will, much to Anthony’s disgust. Today, he’d decided to pay her an unauthorized visit.

“Snowdrop!” she scolded. “What are you doing here? You know you’re supposed to be back in the barn. Anthony doesn’t like you in the house.”

That didn’t stop Ivy from bending down to pet him, however. She cast a swift glance around to see if Erin’s husband was watching. The men were all down at the barn today, and she couldn’t see them from the front porch of the house. Relieved, she had bent down again to rub Snowdrop behind the ears when a vehicle some distance away on the main road caught her eye.

Something about the dark SUV with deeply tinted windows made the breath catch in her throat. Clients came and went frequently, but none of them owned such an imposing vehicle. More than two hundred yards from the house, the SUV slowed and then stopped, idling in the middle of the road. After a moment, as Ivy watched, it made the turn into the long driveway. Sweat broke out on her forehead despite the chilled air.

Not ignoring her instincts any longer, she reached down and grabbed Snowdrop by his flea collar, eliciting a disgruntled purr. “Come on, sweetie,” she whispered to the cat.

The animal resisted her tug, so she scooped him up and brought him inside, shutting the door and locking it behind her. Feeling a tiny bit better with a solid doorway between her and the strangers, her calm shattered when she peeked through the glass window near the door and saw the SUV accelerating. It shot past the road that led to the barns and came straight for the house.