Page 110 of Keeping Kaitlyn

Not for long…

“I’m so glad you said that,” I say, my attention focused on Abbey. “I don’t sign any of it unless Abbey divorces Brock.”

When I say it, Abbey’s gaze jerks up and finds mine, her mouth open like she’s sure she heard me wrong while Brock practically vibrates with rage, Went wedged between the two of them.

“You touch her—I touch you,” Went growls out a reminder. “That’s how this works.” Advancing on him, Went drops his tone. “And then I’ll buy your daddy’s ranch—from what I cantell, he’s a pretty sharp businessman. I’m sure he’ll see reason if I showed him enough zeros.”

Blanching slightly, Brock jogs his gaze past him to look at my father. “Tom?—”

“He hurts her, Dad,” I say, talking over him. “Show him, Abbey,” I plead with her. “Show him your stomach.” When she doesn’t move, when all she does is sit there and stare at me, I want to scream. “Abs, please—it’s over now. He can’t hurt you anymore, just—” Turning away from her, I plead with the last person I’d ever expect to help me. “I know you didn’t care when it was me, but this is Abbey. You love her. You have to love her more than you hate me, Dad. Please?—”

“Abigail,” my father says her name softly, his face crumpling like an old piece of paper. “Do what your sister says.”

Standing slowly, Abbey lifts her shirt with shaking hands to reveal what I already know is there—large fist-size bruises, one layered on top of the other in a sickening array of purples and greens.

“Motherfucker,” Went growls it, his entire body vibrating with rage, sinister black glare stabbed into Brock’s face. “You sick?—”

“Get him out of my house,” my father says quietly, not bothering to look at Went when he issues the order. Instead of arguing, Went makes a low, angry sound of approval in his throat.

“With fucking pleasure.” Before Brock can offer up any sort of protest, Went fists his hand around his throat again and throws him through the open door. A few seconds later, I hear the screen door bang shut followed by the sound of something falling down the porch steps. Not long after that, a truck engine roars to life and speeds away, gravel spraying against the side of the house like buckshot. Brock’s gone.

For now.

“Kaity—” Lowering her shirt, Abbey looks at me, her eyes wide. She’s scared. I understand why—Brock will be back. He won’t give up that easily. He never does.

“It’s going to be okay, Abs,” I reassure her quietly before looking at our father. “It’s over. Dad’s going to agree to my terms, I’m going to sign these papers and you and Thomas are going to come home where you belong, right, Dad?”

“Yes.” Looking at me, my father gives me a jerky, shellshocked nod. “Your sister’s going to sign the ranch over to you and you and Thomas will come home,” he tells her. “Where it’s safe.”

I don’t know how true that is—I’m not sure Abbey will ever be safe as long as Brock’s around but I don’t dispute him. That’s another problem for another day. “Why don’t you let Dad and I finish up here while you go check on Thomas.” I know he’s still here. Went would’ve killed Brock before letting him leave with Abbey’s son.

“Okay…” Still dazed by everything that’s happened in the last few minutes, Abbey turns on wobbly legs to make her way out the door. As soon as she’s gone, I look at my dad.

“I didn’t know.” Shaking his head, he looks at me. “I didn’t know the kind of?—”

“Yes you did.” I cut him off before he can lie to either of us. “You knew exactly what kind of man Brock was. That’s why you were going to force me to marry him. You knew he hurtme—you just didn’t care.” Reaching for the packet of papers on the desk between us, I pull them closer. “You thought I deserved it,” I tell him. “And for a very long time, so did I.” Picking a pen out of the jar on his desk, I flip through the packet, initialing and signing my rights away to the ranch that was my home for the first twenty years of my life.

Swiping a final signature across the last page, I close the packet and look up at him. “I want you to take a good look atme, Dad, and I want you to know that you failed.” Standing up from my seat, I drop my pen back in the jar. “I’m happy. I’mloved. I have a life. I have a family and a man who would walk through hell for me.” Pushing the packet across the desk. “I let you punish me for the first twenty years of my life for things that weren’t my fault but all you did was make me stronger.” Turning away from him without waiting for him to answer me, I walk out the door and down the hall.

Pushing my way through the screen door on a tired sigh, I find Went waiting for me on the front porch. As soon as I see him, I start to shake, the tough shell I used to keep myself together, crumbling to dust under a torrent of tears.

Pulling me into his arms, Went holds me while I cry, telling me how proud he is of me. How strong and brave I am. How much he loves me until I’m all cried out. Until I’m dry and hollow and ready to move on.

Leaning down, Went frames my face with his big warm hands, wiping at my tear-stained cheeks with the pads of his thumbs. “Where to, Sunshine?” he asks with a crooked grin.

“Home.” Turning, I aim my gaze across the yard to watch Thomas and Mook chase each other across the grass while my sister sits on a bench with our mother, their arms wrapped around each other while they talk quietly. It’s going to take time but she’s going to be okay. They both will. Turning to look at Went, I give him a smile because I know, for the first time in a very long time, that I’m going to be okay too. “Let’s get your dog and go home.”

WENTWORTH

A YEAR LATER

“I don’t knowwhy you’re so fucking nervous,” Con says with a grin. “It’s not like the two of you haven’t done this before.”

He’s right. Kait and Ihavedone this before, but not like this.

The last time we got married, it was a secret—no one but Damien and Dakota to witness Kait and I take our vows in my family’s roof top garden all those years ago.

This time, it’s not a secret.

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