Page 67 of Mine to Love
“Sorry to interrupt,” Emmerson said. “But I have breaking news almost as important as my little brother losing his heart to the best damn thing that has ever happened to him.”
“Fuck off,” Miles muttered.
“Not on your life and it’s about damn time.” Emmerson laughed. “But I thought the two of you should know that the State Police, with the help of Mom and Nathan, just arrested Charlie. The charges are extensive and they bleed over to his father, who was picked up five minutes ago. Since it’s Friday, those two will be spending the weekend in a jail cell.”
“But they will get out on bail, right?” Liberty asked.
“It’s possible,” Emmerson said, waving his finger. “But our dad spoke to the DA and since they both booked a flight out of the country twenty minutes before they were picked up, they are considered a flight risk. Their bond will be quite high and I heard they were broke, so not likely.” Emmerson shook his head.“I only got a peek at what was in those documents, but whoever this Sandra person is, Rhett wants to hire her. She found hidden bank accounts that prove Charlie and his father were stealing money from Liberty’s dad for years. She only started flagging it when she went back to work for him a few years ago. Your dad’s been working on this for quite some time.”
“I wonder why he didn’t tell us all that,” Miles said.
“Because my dad’s a proud man.” She patted Miles’ chest. “Sandra understood his learning disability and helped him hide it from everyone else. My mom always made him feel like he was stupid, like my grandparents did, and he didn’t want anyone in the company to know. So the fact that Charlie and Oswald were able to exploit that, I’m sure burns my father’s ass and makes him feel foolish because he couldn’t see it in black and white. He’s like you that way. He relied on me and Sandra to help him. He lost me when he left us, and Sandra too, leaving him with my mother, who was trying to take him for every penny he earned the old-fashioned way.”
“He had to have someone helping him,” Miles said.
“My father was always resourceful and it sounds like Sandra was always helping. But, like you, he senses when things are amiss and that’s when he begged Sandra to come back full-time.” She raced to the island and shuffled through some of the paperwork, sorting through it by date until she found what she was looking for. “It all comes back to when I lost my baby.” She shoved the paperwork at Miles, who handed it to his brother. “The divorce attorney that landed in my lap. That wasn’t by accident. Sandra set that up, which means my father had a hand in that. Jesus, why wouldn’t he just come out and say that?”
“Pride. Shame,” Emmerson said. “And I could think of a million other reasons why he wouldn’t, including not wanting it to be seen as meddling, but let’s be glad that he did.”
“Not to mention he knows that you’d see all that anyway,” Miles said. “He doesn’t believe what he did is forgivable. All he wants is to do what he can to make up for it. And in a way, he did.”
“None of this is making it easy for me to continuing hating that man.” She tossed the papers back on the island. “Because I want to.”
“Forgiveness comes in stages. Ask our brother Jameson about that.” Emmerson squeezed her shoulder. “I need to go back to my wife. They are releasing her tomorrow and while she’s as cool as a cucumber about having twins and this whole needing extra fluids thing until the morning sickness goes away, I’m a fucking wreck.”
Liberty laughed. “Emmerson, you’re going to be a great dad and Miles is going to be the best godfather known to man.”
“If he doesn’t drop one of my kids on his head.” Emmerson slapped his brother on the back. “You two can sleep easy tonight.” He waggled his finger. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“Well, that doesn’t leave us much. I was hoping to use some handcuffs,” Miles said.
“Go right ahead, little brother.” Emmerson laughed. “See ya later, lovebirds.” Emmerson turned on a dime and strolled out the door.
“Handcuffs?” Liberty asked.
“Inside joke, but damn, he finally did it again.”
“I don’t think I want to know.”
Miles took her by the hand. “Come on. You should be at home in case Gabriel wakes up. I can sleep on the sofa if you want me to. But even though Charlie has been arrested, I’m not leaving your house.”
“I think it’s safe to say that my bed would be an acceptable place for you to crash for the night,” she said. “But what am I supposed to do about my dad?”
“Nothing tonight.” He kissed her palm. “My brother’s right. Whatever happens with your dad will come in stages. There is a world of hurt and it’s not going away overnight.”
She paused at the front door and gazed into the one man’s eyes whom she knew without a shadow of a doubt would never intentionally hurt her or her brother. Miles was hers to love. “I’m never getting a real date out of you because we’re way beyond that now.”
“Oh, no, we are not. I’m still doing that right no matter how we feel about each other. You deserve the world and I plan on giving it to you.”
15
Liberty sipped her coffee and stared at the two men she loved the most.
Miles and her brother.
Gabriel scarfed down his bowl of cereal like he hadn’t eaten in days, while Miles pressed an earbud in his ear and listened to the news.
They hadn’t kept anything about Charlie or Oswald’s arrests from Gabriel, but she had wanted to keep her father’s return from her brother.
