Needing Happily Ever After - Elena Aitken Page 0,63
as though it might break if he squeezed too hard.
“This is your home. And now it’s yours. I had my lawyers draw up new paperwork earlier today. Tear that up.” He gestured to the papers Damon still held. “I want you and Katie to raise your own family here. It’s my gift to you both.”
“But you said—”
“Forget what I said.” He pulled his hand away. “Like it or not, it’s done. As of eight o’clock this morning.”
ElkView was his? Just like that?
Damon could hardly believe what his dad was saying to him.
He looked straight into Damon’s eyes and a tear finally slipped down his age-spotted cheek. Suddenly, his dad looked much older than his years. “I’m sorry, son. I hope you can forgive me.”
Guilt flooded through Damon. It was all too much. He sank into the chair in front of his dad, heavy with the truth. “I hope you can forgive me,” he said. “Dad, I need to tell you something. Katie and I…well, it’s not what it looks like. I asked her to—”
“I already know what you’re going to say.”
“There’s no way you could.” Damon shook his head.
“Do you think I’m stupid, son? Do you think I was as successful as I was in business by trusting blindly in what people told me? Or do you think that maybe I did a little bit of research on my own?”
Damon sat back and assessed his father, who continued to talk.
“I know you and Katie weren’t a real couple.”
“You did?”
Anthony chuckled, but it turned into another cough. When he finally composed himself, he continued. “Of course I did. But I also saw that it was what the two of you finally needed to realize your own feelings after all this time.” He shook his head in wonder. “Two more stubborn and clueless people as to what is right in front of them, I’ve never met.”
“But…we—you let us go through with the wedding…”
“Like I said, son. Sometimes people need a little nudge.”
It was a nudge, all right.
“But now Katie and I…well…we’re not really…”
“You’ll fix it.” Anthony raised his arm to signal his nurse. “A love like yours doesn’t come along every day.” He nodded. “Yes, you’ll fix it. And then you’ll live here and raise your family.”
Damon watched in silence as his father’s nurse collected him and started to wheel him out of the room. Before he left, Damon stood and called after him. “Dad?” The nurse turned him so Anthony could look at his son. “Thank you.”
It was gratitude for so much more than ElkView, and they both knew it.
Chapter Seventeen
Faith felt like she was on a mini-vacation. After her meeting with Brody earlier, she’d been certain that she’d return to the ranch to see that Logan hadn’t taken care of even half of her to-do list. She’d been wrong.
He’d not only taken care of her list, but even a few other things that she hadn’t thought to ask him about. If she wasn’t so perpetually irritated by him, she might have even considered thanking him. Of course, he wasn’t anywhere to be found.
Now, as much as she thought she would enjoy the little break from work, Faith couldn’t help but feel bored. She’d tried to busy herself around the house and had spent the rest of her morning lingering over coffee and cleaning the already spotless kitchen. Now, with the rest of the day ahead of her, she couldn’t think of a thing to do.
She sat down hard at the kitchen table again and picked at the corner of a placemat before reaching for her cell phone.
* * *
You up?
* * *
She typed the simple message to her sister and waited. Seconds later, the phone rang.
* * *
“Oh good,” Faith said into the receiver. “You’re up.”
“It’s five in the afternoon here.” Hope laughed. “And I’m not much of a napper, so yes, I’m up. Everything okay?”
Faith sighed and leaned back in the chair. “Of course things are okay. Why wouldn’t they be okay?”
“Because you don’t usually text me in the morning. What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” It was an honest answer, so she added, “That’s the problem. I don’t have a wedding this weekend, and everything else is done and I’m—”
“Bored.”
Faith nodded. Her sister knew her well. “It’s the craziest thing. I mean, I know it’s only been a few weeks, but I think I’m actually getting used to this whole wedding thing.”
“You mean, you’re enjoying it?”
“No.” She laughed, but it was sort of a lie. “But I don’t totally hate it.”
On