Page 23 of The Next Mrs. Parrish

Jackson’s eyes were trained on her.

“As I was saying, I moved to Colorado. I met someone—a widower, an older man—and we fell in love. His name was Jake Crawford. We got married.” Amber stopped, looking at Jackson and deciding she needed to up the emotion. Her lower lip trembled, and tears filled her eyes, tears not of grief but of anger at the humiliation she’d suffered tonight. “He was killed in a hunting accident. It was horrible. I was devastated.”

“Why are you telling me this now, Amber? What’s prompted this sudden confession of yours.”

“Jake’s daughter never accepted our marriage. She hated me. Never gave me a chance. She was terrible to me at the funeral and afterward she kicked me out of her house.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did she kick you out?”

She shifted in her chair. “Daisy Ann—ridiculous name, isn’t it—accused me of killing her father. Jake was rich. Very, very rich, and she made it her business to see that I got nothing from his massive estate. She got it all by saying I killed him.”

Jackson frowned and shook his head. “Wait. I thought you said he was killed in a hunting accident.”

“Yes. We went hunting together. I fired the shot, but it was an accident. I thought he was an elk moving.”

A look of skepticism crossed Jackson’s face. “Sounds pretty suspicious to me.”

“No. It was a total accident. The police and the sheriff, and even the National Forest law enforcement thoroughly investigated andruled it an accident, but she wouldn’t accept that. I left there with nothing, abused and humiliated by that spoiled princess.”

Jackson swiveled his chair, bringing it closer to the desk, and leaned forward. “Where is this all leading, Amber?”

“I saw her tonight. Daisy Ann. She owns the jewelry company that held the trunk show.” Amber rose from her chair. “She screamed at me in front of everyone. Said I was trash and a gold digger and that I murdered her father. That no one should trust me. She humiliated me in front of all those people. It was horrendous. She’s vile. I want to kill her.” She was pacing now, her voice getting louder and more strident. “I want to amend our deal.”

His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll still help with your plans for Daphne, but you have to help me get even with Daisy Ann.”

– 14 –

DAISY ANN

Daisy Ann had been living with hate in her heart for the last three years. She had nursed it daily, and as it fed, it grew to such immense proportions that it had threatened to obliterate every other feeling inside of her. The hate had one focus: Amber Patterson. The woman who had tricked Daisy Ann’s father, Jake Crawford, into marrying her, and then murdered him.

She still missed her father so much. They’d always been close but had grown even closer after her mother’s death. He had been the steady influence in her life, the voice of reason when her temper got the best of her, the one who could always right her course. She’d been in her twenties and newly married when her mother, Marylou, had died. She and her father had grieved together, but while she had a new husband and a growing family to distract her, he had floundered. Then he’d met Susannah, a thirtysomething knockout and he fell fast and hard. Despite being suspicious of her intentions at first, Daisy Ann had hoped that she’d provide a respite from his loneliness. Even though Susannah was twenty years Jake’s junior, she seemed to be genuinely in love with him. However, shortly after the marriage, her true colors emerged and she walked away with twenty million dollars in the divorce settlement. After his marriage had ended so swiftly and badly, Jake had sworn he’d never marry again. And he seemed happy in those interim years between Susannah and Amber. He worked hard, played hard, and was an involved grandfather to her children. After she’d given birthto her first son, she felt overwhelmed with a paralyzing fear that she was ill equipped, that she had no idea how to be a good mother. She longed for her own mother then, to dispense words of wisdom and comfort, but of course Marylou was gone by then. Daisy Ann would never forget that first night, lying in the hospital bed after Mason had left, staring at the ceiling, feeling so alone and desolate. It was after midnight when she heard footsteps entering the room and was shocked to see her father walk in and take a seat next to the bed.

“What in tarnation are you doing here at this hour?” she asked as she brushed a tear from her cheek.

He gave her his trademark grin. “I may have bribed the nurses to look the other way. I saw that look in your eye earlier. I know you’re thrilled to be a mama, but I know my girl, and I’m betting you’re lying here listing all the ways you’re gonna mess this up.”

She tried to smile, but the heaving sobs came instead, and he sat on the edge of the bed, holding her as her shoulders shook and her tears fell.

“Shh, shh now. It’s gonna be fine. That little boy doesn’t know it, but he just won the mama lottery. You are the kindest, most warmhearted woman I know. And when he needs someone to fight for him, there’s nobody better he could ever have in his corner.”

“Thank you, Daddy. I just feel so overwhelmed. I want to do everything right. I miss Mama so much.”

“I know you do, darlin’. But I’m here. As for doing everything right, you won’t. But it’ll be okay, because you’ll do the most important thing right and that is love him with all you’ve got. And I promise you, I’ll be right there beside you every step of the way.” She felt herself well up at the memory. He was supposed to be here now.

Daisy Ann still couldn’t understand what kind of witchcraft Amber had employed to ensnare him so easily. Her father had met Amber in the beginning of the summer. She’d been a waitress at the café in Gunnison where he went for breakfast every morning. After knowing her only a few short months, he had married herthat September. Two weeks later he was dead. She’d never forget getting the phone call telling her that there’d been a hunting accident. And before that even had sunk in, that his wife had been the one to shoot him. His wife? He’d never even mentioned that he was seeing anyone to Daisy Ann. Amber casually announced she was Jake’s new wife and then in the next breath, with no change in tone, told her that he was dead. When she flew to Colorado and met Amber, she’d known the minute she laid eyes on her that she was a stone-cold killer. The blankness in her stare, the rehearsed way she told Daisy Ann what had happened, all rang false. Her father had been hunting for over fifty years with no accidents; he wasn’t some amateur. Daisy Ann knew he would have impressed upon Amber the importance of safety. The sheriff told her and Mason that it was officially an accident but she could see in his eyes that he didn’t believe it either. There was just no proof. Amber’s story was that she had stopped to go pee and Jake was ahead of her in the woods. She claimed she saw movement, thought he was an elk, and shot him in the back. It was ludicrous.

Daisy Ann had been determined to find out everything she could about the woman who’d breezed into her father’s life and within a matter of months had become his wife and then shot him in the back in an alleged hunting accident. Daisy Ann’s husband, Mason, had at first been supportive and sympathetic. He’d stepped in with the children to fill the gap, had listened to her go on for hours, updating him on every detail of her investigation into Amber. She’d hired a private detective shortly after Amber left Texas with her tail between her legs. Daisy Ann now had an extensive file showing all of Amber’s moves from the moment she’d arrived in Gunnison, Colorado, where Daisy Ann’s father owned a summer ranch. The detective had tracked her back to Eustis, Nebraska, where she’d been working as a waitress. No one there knew where she’d lived before Eustis, or much about her background, for that matter. She’d been in Gunnison only for a few months before she’d latched on to Daisy Ann’s father. After his death, Amber hadmoved to Connecticut and gotten a job working at one of the local real estate offices.

The detective had sent Daisy Ann weekly reports, but there was never anything of significance. She had been confident that it would only be a matter of time before Amber set her sights on her next rich target. Daisy Ann would spend her whole week waiting for the email that would update her on Amber’s moves, no matter how small. It took a toll. On her marriage and on her children. No matter how hard she tried to move on with her life, the unfinished business of proving Amber’s guilt and making her pay, had driven her to the point of obsession. When finally, in desperation, Mason had threatened to leave her and take the children if she didn’t stop, she’d reluctantly agreed. She’d let the detective go and forced herself to refrain from any more investigating. She resigned herself to the fact that she’d exhausted every avenue. She was never going to be able to prove Amber’s guilt, and she had to stop letting the woman infect her life. She continued to pay the staff to look after the Colorado house, but she hadn’t been back since she’d brought her father’s body back to Dallas three years ago. Other than that, she’d done her best to resume her life and push everything to do with Amber to the back of her mind.

But now the hatred had returned with a more consuming zeal than ever. The moment she’d laid eyes on Amber, it all came rushing back. She hadn’t even planned on attending the trunk show, but at the last minute she’d decided to make a weekend of it with some shopping and a show. When she returned home from New York after the show, the first thing Daisy Ann did was call the detective and put him back on the case. Just as she’d suspected, Amber had married for money again. She’d snagged millionaire Jackson Parrish who interestingly had just been released from prison for tax fraud among other financial crimes. They still lived in their estate by the sea and based on the lavish party she’d thrown for her husband’s release, money didn’t seem to be an issue. Seeing Amber thriving and living among the elite in her town made Daisy Ann’sblood boil. A renewed sense of purpose filled her, and she was determined to find a way to make the woman pay. Her first stop would be Gunnison, Colorado, to personally interview everyone who had known Amber back then. Maybe the detective had missed something. She picked up the photograph on her dresser of Jake and her children at the Colorado house. “I’ll bring her to justice, Daddy. I promise.”

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