Page 41 of Harley

Nobody apart from Grandad, Aspen, and Archer had ever cared. Not even my parents—as they’d been concerned about climbing the social ladder and being at the top.

“Everything’s okay,” Harley soothed.

“No, it’s not. But it will be,” I sobbed.

Harley hauled me onto his lap and wrapped me up in his arms. “Oakley, I know nearly everything. I had a PI look into you,” Harley admitted, and that stopped my tears.

I dried my eyes and leaned back, eyeing him suspiciously. “What do you know?”

Harley explained pretty much everything and added, “Hawthorne is searching for Aspen and Archer now.”

Hope blazed through me. “He is?”

“Yeah. Oakley, I’ve got a bad feeling they’re locked away somewhere. Hawthorne will find them,” Harley said adamantly.

“Jodie recommended him.”

“He’s a friend of the family. Dylan Hawthorne won’t stop until he has them. The issue we might have is getting them out. If your mom and dad had them committed or something… we could be facing legal issues,” Harley stated.

Despite a small sense of betrayal, I understood why Harley had checked me out. I would have done the same thing given the resources. That feeling faded, though, as he spoke, and a grin crossed my face.

“Mr Hawthorne only needs to locate them. I have Aspen and Archer’s power of attorney once I either turned twenty-five or got married. Hello, I’m married!The problem I’ve had is locating them. I have the legal documents. If I walk into a facility, nobody can stop me removing them. Unless the state put them away. And there’d be no reason to,” I explained.

“Then we’ll find them and bring them home. Could Aspen have run away with Archer to escape the forced marriage?” Harley asked.

“No. Aspen would have left a message. My cousin knows I would worry. I’ve torn Mom and Dad’s home apart, looking for a clue as to where she is. There’s nothing, but I’m certain they have them.”

“Not for long. Your parents need to pay for their crimes,” Harley growled out.

“They will. The house they live in is Grandad’s. The will bequeathed that to us. They’ve been trying to make us sign it over, but again, we wouldn’t. The only language they understand is money.”

“Then, when you claim what is rightfully yours, you’ll hit them where it hurts,” Harley said with a grin.

I got the impression that Harley was looking forward to sticking it to my parents.

“Feel better now?” he asked.

“Kinda, I just hope they are having a good Christmas, but I doubt it. Something tells me they’re alone and miserable,” I whispered.

“When we find them, we’ll ensure they have a Christmas. We can make Christmas any day we wish. Honey, I’m going to fetch breakfast, and then we’ll unwrap presents,” Harley said.

As he left, I thanked God I’d asked Jodie to pick up some gifts for Harley. I’d not bought for everyone. There’d been too little time. Harley returned after a few minutes, dumped an armful of gifts under the Christmas tree in my room, and disappeared again. He came back twenty minutes later with two covered plates of food and two mugs of hot chocolate.

“Fuck, it’s crazy down there,” Harley said as he kicked the door shut.

“The kids?” I asked, wondering how Christmas worked.

“Yeah.”

“How does it work? Does everyone gather near the large tree?

“No. Each room or cabin has a tree. The parents put the presents under that. Because there’s so many people buying gifts, each family open them in their rooms. We get breakfast early because Christmas dinner is always at one sharp. Thekids spend the morning tearing through the gifts, and then it’s dinner.

“After dinner, we head into the drawing room where we give out the Santa presents. The kids unwrap them, and then we all chill out. We have snowball fights or go sledging, whatever, really. Christmas tea is at six on the dot, and afterwards, we sing carols or watch a movie together. Everybody stays because on Boxing Day, we have the Christmas party where everyone is invited. That’s formal wear as well.”

“I don’t have a dress,” I said and bit my lip. Talk about assuming I was invited.

Harley chuckled.

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