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His uncle was silent and his aunt answered once again, “We didn’t think it made good sense either, but we didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth and I guess we just put it down to him wanting to bury bad feelings.”
Josh didn’t buy it. “I don’t think so. It doesn’t sound like the Zach McIntyre we know.” He studied the older couple. “I’m damn glad I’m not having to say this in front of Hannah, it would make her unhappy, ya’ll understand that, right?”
His aunt answered quickly, “We won’t say anything to her, baby. That’s your business with your wife.”
Josh got back to the problem at hand. “He had to have a reason. I need to know what it is.”
“We don’t know what it could be,” his uncle said.
“Okay, well—I’ve got some good news.” His mouth broke into a half grin, knowing he was about to take the majority of the burden from them. “Ya’ll ready?”
“Yes! Quit that,” his aunt remonstrated when he remained silent for too long. She reached out and tapped him on the hand. “What news?”
Josh looked at his uncle and refused to utter the word father when he referred to the man who had sired him. “Chris didn’t have time to spend all the money before he died. He put it in a joint account with my name on it and it’s at the bank in town. I just found out about it this afternoon.”
The blood drained from both of their faces. “How much?” his uncle asked.
“A little over three-hundred grand.”
“Oh my God,” his aunt whispered in a stunned tone.
“How much do we owe him?” Josh asked.
“Three-hundred and twenty thousand. That’s how much we borrowed originally and the payments we’ve made have only gone to interest,” his uncle answered.
Josh looked the other man in the eye and nodded his head in satisfaction. “I’ve got more than enough to make up the difference. We’re paying him off.” Josh caught himself before he referred to his brother-in-law as the bastard, refusing to create any more animosity, even in his own head.
His aunt jumped to her feet at his words. “Josh, no! That’s your money. You deserve it for what you’ve been through. We can’t take it.”
The chair he was sitting in made a scraping noise in the silent room as Josh slowly pushed back from the table and came to his feet. He focused his attention on the woman standing before him, wringing her hands in agitation. He slowly walked to her, wrapped his arms around her and held her gently to him.
He lifted her chin and stared down into her agitated eyes; eyes already swimming in tears. He took a deep breath and attempted to convey his feelings. “I don’t want to dredge up old wounds, or talk about who owes who what, but as it stands right now, we’re a family. Ya’ll, me, Katie, and now Hannah.” She bit her lip as she listened earnestly to him. “I don’t care whose name the land is in. I know that ya’ll love me.” He looked down into his aunt’s eyes, eyes spilling with silent tears. “I know this will always be my home, every bit as much as it will always be Katie’s.” He lifted his thumb and wiped a tear from her cheek as he heard his uncle clearing his throat from the emotion lodged within. “I have ya’ll to thank for that. For loving me, for making me whole again.” His fingers tightened on her face. “It’s our family, our land, our money. And nothing you can do or say will stop me from using it to secure our home. Don’t even try.”
Josh had never seen his uncle cry, not even when his brother had died. And he didn’t cry now, but the sheen of tears was unmistakable in his eyes. “What can we do for you, son? Everything can’t be about us, what about you and Hannah?” the older man asked.
Josh let out a pent-up breath and told them what he’d been thinking about. “You know the strip of fencing on the south side of the property adjacent to the McIntyre spread?”
His uncle answered, “Sure. Where the old well house is?”
“Yeah. I’d like about two acres for a home site. I want to build a house for Hannah. That’s the place I want, where she can be here, with me, but she’ll always be able to look across the fence and know she’s at home, surrounded by everyone who loves her.”
“Oh, sweetheart, yes.” Diana laced her hands together and smiled. “That’s a wonderful idea. Don’t you think so, David?”
“Absolutely. We couldn’t be more pleased.”
After more talk and plans about the future, his aunt and uncle agreed to take the money to pay off the loan, but only if they added Josh’s name to the property deed for the entire six-hundred and forty acres. Josh knew it would be the only way to sooth them about taking the money, so even though he didn’t think it was necessary, he agreed.
****
Late that night while Hannah was taking a bath and David was dozing on the couch in front of the television, Diana motioned for Josh.
He followed her to the back of the house, and she began speaking in a flood of heated, whispered words. “Your uncle doesn’t know what I’m about to tell you. And I pray to God that it means nothing, but you’ve got me worried with all those questions about why.”
At his enquiring expression, she continued, “About Zachary’s reasons.” She took a deep breath. “When the bank began the foreclosure process, Zach took over the loan and gave us three years to come up with the money. It was a balloon note.” She searched his face. “When the three years was up, I told your uncle that Zach extended the time frame. But that’s not entirely true. What David doesn’t know is that at first Zach seemed like he was going to foreclose, but then he suddenly changed his mind, for no reason that I could understand—I admit, I was so thankful that I didn’t try very hard to understand, but—”
“But what?” Josh asked, feeling like he was on the cusp of finding out a glimmer into the other man’s motivation.
He watched as Diana’s face blanched of all color and then she whispered, “I told Katie.”
For a long moment Josh didn’t put two and two together, didn’t understand what his aunt was trying to say to him. “Katie?”
“Yes, I—I was so worried about not having the money to pay Zach, and hiding the fact from your uncle that Zach was ready to start foreclosing on us, that I had to tell somebody. I told Katie.”
Josh was getting a seriously bad feeling in his gut.
“You told Katie, and then—?”
“And then about a week later, suddenly Zach was giving us more time to pay.”
Realizing the implications, Josh slashed his fingers through his hair and barely managed to cut off the stream of obscenities that almost spilled from his mouth. He refused to utter the curses that his aunt hated to hear. Her lessons had been drummed in his head so many times about his colorful language, that even now, he was able to cut off the vitriol that tried to erupt from his mouth.
His lan
guage was not the only thing he needed to protect his aunt from. What the fuck had the bastard done? The fact that Diana had told Katie and then they were given a reprieve was too suspicious to be coincidental. He felt a surge of anger at the other man and fear for his cousin. A fear that he had to hide from his aunt. He couldn’t have her worried about Katie. It would drive her insane.
He would have to handle it alone.
He set out to soothe her. “It’s okay. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about,” he lied. “Don’t say anything, and don’t worry about it. I’ll check it out. Soon. I’m sure there’s no connection.”
That was an out and out lie.
He was damn sure there was a connection.
It irked the shit out of him that he’d have to wait until tomorrow to delve into this. It was already too late; he’d have to let it go for the moment. Josh was tense, pissed and worried, and he could think of only one thing that would make it better.
****
Josh walked into his childhood bedroom and found Hannah sitting at the desk where he’d done his homework when he’d been growing up. She had a hand mirror propped up, and she was combing the tangles from her wet hair. She turned toward him when she heard the door open and close.
Josh stared at his wife and let her presence infiltrate his system and bring him the peace he needed. She was so beautiful, so delicate, and so his. He felt a surge of unadulterated satisfaction, and knew that no matter what else happened in his life, if he could always have Hannah, he could face anything.
As he watched her, she finished what she was doing and slid around on the stool until she faced him. As she calmly waited for him to say something, he felt his hunger for her surge and a tidal wave of lust hit him hard. Had there ever been a day when he hadn’t wanted her? As he studied the pretty lines of her face, her eyes glanced off his and began to roam around his room. She must have gotten tired of waiting for him to speak, because as she looked around the small bedroom, her eyes got dreamy and she said, “Do you know how many times I wanted to be in this room?”
