Page 20 of Make Her Mine
“I never had a job in my life,” she told me. “Your grandmother paid the bills. She sent me a check each week to cover my expenses and took care of me. Collin couldn’t find me. He’d have killed us both if I hadn’t stayed hidden.”
“Wow,” Ella exclaimed, then looked at me. “This is so harsh. You come from terrible grandparents, Brandon. Are your mom and dad anything like them?”
“Not at all.” I bumped her shoulder with mine. “Don’t be anxious about us being like that.”
“So, you two are seeing each other?” Hilda asked.
“No,” we both said promptly.
I smiled at Ella. “She dislikes me.”
Ella didn’t say a word; her eyes were glued to the carpet. Hilda chuckled. “When your grandmother died, my family told me. I still stayed where I was. Collin paid my family to spill the beans, and he came and got me, brought me back to this house, and took me out to the ranch from time to time as well.”
“Yeah, we heard about that.” How did she get by now that he was gone? “Did he leave you anything?”
“I’m on the estate’s payroll.” She tapped her temple. “The ranch pays me for consulting. I make a pretty penny.”
Ella frowned. “But you don’t really do a thing.”
“No, I don’t.” Hilda sat there, looking at me. “Now that you know that, you’ll have those payments stopped, Brandon. Your mother must’ve told you what I did. You must hate me.”
Shaking my head, I had no intentions of cutting her out. “You can keep getting the money. My grandfather screwed you over enough as it is. Thanks for being honest with me, Hilda.”
“How is your mother?” she asked. “Is she happy?”
“My mom and dad are very happy.” I never had a clue what they walked away from, but they made the right decision. “We’ll get out of your hair now.”
Hilda got up, walking us to the door, she said, “It’s nice to know that she’s happy. I’ve felt accountable for a very long time. Responsible for keeping her locked up. And then letting her go with your father when he came for her. They thought they made the escape behind my back. They hadn’t. I watched them leave; I just didn’t do anything to stop them. I felt guilty over both of them. Had I kept her hidden away better, your father wouldn’t have lost everything.”
“My father didn’t lose a thing. He found love.” I knew now that love was worth more than all the money in the world. “Stop feeling guilty. None of what happened was ever your fault, Hilda.”
She nodded, but just saying that wouldn’t ease her guilt. She had carried it for a long time. But at least I knew things better than before.
As we got into the truck, Ella looked at the floorboard. “Times were really shitty back then. Your grandfather didn’t marry the woman he really loved because of her being from a poor family. Your dad wasn’t supposed to marry your mom because she was from a poor family and a maid at the ranch to boot.”
She should know I had no problems like that. “Being a maid doesn’t mean you’re less than anyone else. And it definitely doesn’t mean you’re not marriage material, Ella.”
She looked at me with wide eyes. “Do you really think that, Brandon?”
“I do.” I took my fist and lightly cuffed her chin. “I bet you have to beat the boys off with a stick.”
She shook her head. “Not so far, I haven’t.”
I took off to go back to the property. “So how many boyfriends do you have?”
“You don’t want to know.” She looked out the window.
“Come on, tell me.” I pulled onto the main street to find barely a car on the road. “Damn, this town is empty on Sundays.”
Ella looked at me. “How many girlfriends have you had, Brandon?”
“A few. Nothing serious, though.” I took a left to get to the county road. “So how many boyfriends, Ella?”
“Brandon, I’ve had no boyfriends. I haven’t even held hands with anyone before. Not like for real holding hands, you know.” She bit her lower lip; she was out of her element talking to me this way.
“Then, you’ve never been kissed either, huh?” My cock swelled in my jeans as she shook her head. “You’re a virgin?” She nodded, and my heart stopped a beat.
Chapter Ten
